Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929. Based on two plays by the  German dramatist Frank Wedekind, Die Büchse der Pandora, or Pandora’s Box, tells the story of Lulu, a lovely, amoral, and somewhat petulant showgirl whose behavior leads to tragic consequences. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the singular femme fatale. As Brooks' biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” And not just men. . . Lulu’s sexual magnetism had few bounds, and this once controversial film features what may be the screen’s first lesbian character. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.

The film went into production at the Nero-Film Studio in Berlin, with production lasting between October 17 and November 23, 1928. The film premiered on February 9, 1929 at the Gloria-Palast in Berlin, Germany.

Under its original German title, Die Büchse der Pandora, documented screenings of the film took place in Austria, Danzig, Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and the United States.

Outside Germany, Die Büchse der Pandora was exhibited or written about under the title Loulou (Algeria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Argentina); Le boîte de Pandore and Loulou (Belgium); A caixa de Pandora (Brazil); Кутията на Пандора (Bulgaria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Chile); Lulu La Pecadora (Cuba); Pandořina skříňka or Pandořina skříňka (Lulu) and Umrít Büchse der Pandoru (Czechoslovakia) and Pandorina skrínka (Slovakia); Pandoras æske (Denmark); De doos van Pandora (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Pandora’s Box (England); Pandora laegas (Estonia); Pandoran lipas (Finland); Loulou and Le boîte de Pandore (France); Λούλου and Lulu- το κουτί της Πανδώρας (Greece); Pandóra szelencéje (Hungary); Lulu and Il vaso di Pandora and Jack lo Sventratore (Italy); パンドラの箱 or Pandoranohako and The Box of Pandora (Japan); Korea (Box of Pandora);  Pandoras lade and Pandoras Kaste (Latvia); Pandoros skrynia (Lithuania); Lou lou La Boite de Pandore (Luxembourg); La caja de Pandora (Mexico); De doos van Pandora (The Netherlands*); Pandoras eske (Norway); Lulu and Puszka Pandory (Poland); A Bocéta de Pandora and A caixa de Pandora (Portugal); Cutia Pandorei and Lulu and Pandora szelenceje (Romania); Lulu and Pandorina skrinjica (Slovenia); La caja de Pandora (Spain); Pandoras ask (Sweden); Meş’um Fahişe and Meş’um Fahişe (Lulu) (Turkey); Dzieje Kokoty Lulu (Ukraine); Box of Pandora and Pandora’s Box and Pandora szelencéje (Hungarian-language press) and Ящик Пандоры (Russian-language press) (United States); La caja de Pandora and Lulu and El alma de la herrera (Uruguay, sound version); Lulu and Лулу and Ящик Пандорьі (U.S.S.R.); La caja de Pandora (Venezula).

Since the late 1950s, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Pandora’s Box in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Northern Ireland, and elsewhere. Within the last few years, a showing of the film also took place in Turkey under the titles Pandora’nın Kutusu and Pandora’nýn Kutusuö. The film has also been shown on television across Europe as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.

*Despite the film being banned in The Netherlands in 1930, it was shown on October 18, 1935 in Amsterdam at De Uitkijk.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

 — The jazz combo seen playing in the wedding scene in the film is Sid Kay's Fellows. They were an actual musical group of the time. Founded in 1926 and led by Sigmund Petruschka (“Sid”) and Kurt Kaiser (“Kay”), Sid Kay’s Fellows were a popular ten member dance band based in Berlin. They performed at the Haus Vaterland (a leading Berlin night-spot) between 1930 and 1932. And in 1933, they accompanied the great Sidney Bechet during his recitals in the German capitol. Sid Kay’s Fellows also accompanied various theatrical performances and played in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and elsewhere. The group’s depiction in Pandora’s Box predates their career as recording artists. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Sid Kay’s Fellows were forbidden to perform publicly. They disbanded, and transformed themselves into a studio orchestra and made recordings for the Jewish label Lukraphon.

— When Pandora’s Box debuted in Berlin in 1929, an orchestra playing a musical score accompanied the film. The score was reviewed in at least one of the Berlin newspapers. The score, however, does not apparently survive. What is also not known is if the music of Sid Kay’s Fellows, or any sort of jazz, played a part in the music of Pandora’s Box. [Interestingly, director G.W. Pabst included another jazz combo in his next film with Brooks, The Diary of a Lost Girl.]

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Street of Forgotten Men & Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, part two

In a previous post, I mentioned that in the course of my research into the history of The Street of Forgotten Men (Louise Brooks' first film), I came across a rather interesting article in the January 1926 issue of  Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, a trade journal. I thought the article interesting because it not only touched on Louise Brooks' life story, but it also illuminates the experience faced by motion picture exhibitors in the silent film era.

The previously mentioned article, “An Exhibitor’s Problems in 1925,” was authored by Eric T. Clarke, the Director of the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York (Louise Brooks' future home). The article focused on how an exhibitor went about selecting appropriate films for their venue. Notably, The Street of Forgotten Men was mentioned in Clarke’s article. 

The following year in the same journal, Clarke followed up his article with a similar piece, "An Exhibitor’s Problems in 1926,” and again, The Street of Forgotten Men was mentioned! I think Clarke's January 1927 article is interesting, as it gives a thoughtful, man-in-the-trenches, perspective -- something we don't often see. Double click on the individual pages to call up a larger version of the image.

 

 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926

The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, but the first for which she received screen credit. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.

Production took place in the fall of 1925, beginning around August 24 and ending around November 10. (The exact dates are not known.) The film was shot in part in early September at the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, and later at Paramount’s Astoria Studios on Long Island (located at 3412 36th Street in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens), as well as on the Coney Island boardwalk, in Greenwich, Connecticut (in the vicinity of Round Hill and Banksville), and “near a swimming hole” in Ocala, Florida (the future shooting location of It's the Old Army Game).

In the United States, the film was also presented under the title La Venus Americana (Spanish-language press) and A Venus Americana (Portuguese-language press). Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada (banned in the province of Quebec due to “nudities”), China, Dutch Guiana (Surinam), India (Bengali censorship records from 1927 called for the elimination of close-ups of women in the film’s tableaux, noting “The figures are too naked for public exhibition”), Ireland, Jamaica, Korea, New Zealand, Panama, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).

Elsewhere, The American Venus was shown under the title Vénus moderne (Algeria); Die Amerikanische Venus (Austria); A Venus Americana and La Venus Americana (Brazil); La Venus Americana (Chile); La Venus Americana (Cuba); Americká Venuše (Czechoslovakia) and Die amerikanische Venus (Czechoslovakia, German language); Den amerikanske venus (Denmark); La Venus Americana (Dominican Republic); De Moderne Venus (Dutch East Indies - Indonesia); Vénus moderne (Egypt); The Modern Venus (England); Miehen ihanne (Finland); Vénus moderne and Vénus américaine (France); Die Schönste Frau der Staaten (Germany); Az amerikai Vénusz (Hungary); Il trionfo di Venere and Trionfo di Venere (Italy); 美女競艶 or Bijo dai Kei tsuya (Japan); Venus Moderne – Die Modern Venus (Luxembourg); La Venus americana (Mexico); Moderne Venus and De Amerikaansche Venus (The Netherlands); Amerykan’ska Wenus and Venus Pokutujaca (Poland); A Vénus American (Portugal); Miss Amerika (Slovenia); Американская Венера (Soviet Union); La Venus americana and La Venus Moderna (Spain); Mannens ideal and Mannens ideal–Venus på amerikanska (Sweden); and La Venus moderne (Switzerland).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

Miss Bayport, the role played by Louise Brooks, was originally assigned to Olive Ann Alcorn, a stage and film actress who had bit parts in Sunnyside (1919) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

Townsend Martin, whose story served as the basis for the film, was a college friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald. According to the New Yorker and other publications, famed humorist Robert Benchley wrote the film’s titles.

The film was privately screened at the Atlantic City Ambassador Hotel as a benefit under the auspices of the Atlantic City Shrine Club on December 26, 1925. A benefit screening of the film also took place at midnight on December 31, 1925 in Oakland, California -- the hometown of star Fay Lanphier.

The American Venus officially premiered at the Stanley Theater in Atlantic City on January 11, 1926. It then opened at the Rivoli Theater in New York City on January 24, 1926.

The film was a hit. Such was it's "buzz" that according to the 1999 book, Russian Writings on Hollywood, author Ayn Rand reported seeing The American Venus in Chicago, Illinois not long after she left the Soviet Union.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.
 

Street of Forgotten Men & Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, part one

In the course of my research into the history of The Street of Forgotten Men (Louise Brooks' first film), I came across a rather interesting article in Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, a trade journal. I think the article interesting because it not only touches on Louise Brooks' life story, but it also illuminates the experience faced by motion picture exhibitors in the mid-1920s, the silent film era.

The article, “An Exhibitor’s Problems in 1925,” was authored by Eric T. Clarke, the Director of the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York. (Louise Brooks future residence.) The article focused on how an exhibitor might select appropriate films which might draw an audience. Clarke’s 16-page piece was, in fact, the text of an earlier talk given before the S.M.P.E. (Society of Motion Picture Engineers), to which was added the transcript of the discussion which followed Clarke’s address. 

Notably, The Street of Forgotten Men, and its merits as a film, were mentioned in Clarke’s article, as were some of the other films in circulation in 1925. Double click on the individual pages to call up a larger version of the image.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Beggars of Life, with Louise Brooks, screens in NYC TODAY

Sorry about the late notice, but thought some might want to know .... Beggars of Life (1928), the terrific William Wellman film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at Film Forum in New York City later today. 

Wellman’s long-thought-lost silent, starring Louise Brooks and Wallace Beery and featuring dazzling location work on speeding trains, screens on Sunday, January 22 at 3:10 pm! The film will be shown with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner and a special pre-recorded introduction by Leonard Maltin & Bruce Goldstein. More information HERE.

From the Film Forum website: 

Partial inspiration for Sturges’ SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (screening immediately after).
♪ Silent, with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner
Pre-recorded introduction by Leonard Maltin, with Bruce Goldstein

U.S., 1928
Directed by William Wellman
Starring Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen
Based on Outside Looking In, a stage play by Maxwell Anderson, adapted from Jim Tully’s 1924 autobiographical book, Beggars of Life
Approx. 81 min. DCP.

On the run after killing a molesting stepfather, dressed-as-a-boy Louise Brooks is befriended by Richard Arlen and falls in with Wallace Beery’s band of hoboes. Long-thought-lost silent classic, with Brooks’ best pre-German work (director G.W. Pabst was so impressed by her screen presence that he soon cast her in PANDORA'S BOX) and dazzling location work on speeding trains.  The set-up of a young woman impersonating a boy, traveling with hoboes on a box car, may have inspired Preston Sturges to re-create it — this time, with Veronica Lake dressed as a boy — in SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS. 

“A rowdy, violent, romantic adventure…The bladelike Brooks, domineering with a mere glance, looks right at home in a man’s suit… [Wellman] has an eye for the physical and moral degradation of the persecuted and despised.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

If you love this film as much as I do, be sure and check out my 2017 book, Beggars of Life: a Companion to the 1928 Film. It is available on amazon all around the world.

This first ever study of "Beggars of Life" looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. Based on Jim Tully’s bestselling book of hobo life—and filmed by Wellman the year after he made "Wings" (the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar), "Beggars of Life" is a riveting drama about an orphan girl (screen legend Louise Brooks) who kills her abusive stepfather and flees the law. She meets a boy tramp (leading man Richard Arlen), and together they ride the rails through a dangerous hobo underground ruled over by Oklahoma Red (future Oscar winner Wallace Beery). "Beggars of Life" showcases Brooks in her best American silent—a film the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" described as “a raw, sometimes bleeding slice of life.” With more than 50 little seen images, and a foreword by William Wellman, Jr.

"I can say (with head bowed modestly) that I know more about the career of director William A. Wellman than pretty much anybody anywhere -- always excepting my friend and co-author John Gallagher -- but there are things in Thomas Gladysz's new book on Wellman's Beggars of Life that I didn't know. More important, the writing is so good and the research so deep that even when I was reading about facts that were familiar to me, I was enjoying myself hugely." -- Frank Thompson, co-author of Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman

"Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film is a quick, satisfying read, illustrated with promotional material, posters and stills as well as press clippings. In these pages, Gladysz takes us through the making and the reception of the film and clears up a few mysteries too.... Beggars of Life is a fascinating movie, made by some of the silent film industry's most colourful characters. This highly readable book will deepen your enjoyment and understanding of a silent Hollywood classic." -- Pamela Hutchinson, Silent London

"I cannot help but give this an enthusiastic two thumbs up. It really is the perfect companion, before or after you have seen the film. The volume might be slim, but, it is packed with information and rare photographs. It has been impeccably researched and beautifully executed.... This is a thorough examination of the film from start to finish and written in a breezy style that is not only informative, it is a very entertaining read." -- Donna Hill, Strictly Vintage Hollywood

"Read your book. I love it. It is thorough and extremely interesting. The art work is compelling." -- William Wellman, Jr., author of Wild Bill Wellman

"Gladysz has written a brief but informative book .... offers a profound and true insight." -- Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"For this film, including details on what is known about the original recorded soundtrack, I highly recommend Thomas Gladysz's book Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film." -- Rodney Sauer, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

"There is an affordable and highly recommended book that goes perfectly with the blu ray. Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society, has written a companion book to the movie that features a wealth of information, insight, and photos.  It really puts this film into historical perspective and helps to further understand and more deeply appreciate its status as a  screen classic." -- James Neibur, film historian and author

 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

 

Speaking of Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box, and speaking of Weimar Cinema

Speaking of Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box, and speaking of Weimar Cinema . . . be sure and check out the newly updated WeimarCinema.org website. Although created by film scholars for film scholars, this resourceful website might well be of interest to everyone interested in silent film... and what's more, the site is bursting with information, essays, and links to resources about films and filmmaking in German-speaking world between the two World Wars.

As the site explains on its About page, "The website WeimarCinema.org is designed to foster and inspire new scholarship about Weimar cinema. Under the heading RESEARCH, we provide an overview of current publications (for the moment restricted to work done in Germany and the United States), including online blogs and websites." One of those website, I am proud to say, is the Louise Brooks Society, whose description reads:

"This blog and website center around the American film star Louise Brooks who acted in such iconic German films as Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora’s Box. The Blog also contains numerous links to international film websites and magazines about the Jazz Age."

The "numerous links" referred to above exist on both the Louise Brooks Society website and the here, on the LBS blog. When I compiled them over the course of a couple-three days last year, they were one of the most complete list of links to silent film era magazines just about anywhere. Be sure and check it out HERE on the Silent Film Links page.

As the site's webpage also notes, "WeimarCinema.org has its roots in the sourcebook The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory, 1907- 1933, edited by Anton Kaes, Nicholas Baer and Michael Cowan and published by the University of California Press in 2016. In this book, the editors gathered and curated more than 250 historical documents that contemplate the nature and function of the new medium of film, its promise and potential. The book’s media-archaeological approach opened up past debates to current discussions about new media and sought to reconsider what cinema was when it began." It is a tremendous book, one which I am very pleased to own. It is well worth checking out, as it the adjunct Promise of Cinema website.

 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Lulu by the Bay: Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box in the San Francisco Bay Area

On Saturday May 6th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will show Pandora's Box (1929) at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. This special live cinema event, featuring a restored print, will feature live musical accompaniment by the Club Foot Orchestra and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. More information about the event can be found HERE. Ticket are on sale.

In honor of this forthcoming event, I'm posting a recent snapshot of yours truly wearing a vintage Clubfoot Orchestra Pandora's Box t-shirt. I likely obtained this shirt in the late 1990s, probably around the same time I purchased a massive poster depicting the same image found on the shirt. I may not look my best, but the shirt is still cool.

 
The upcoming Oakland screening is significant for a couple of other reasons. One is that it marks the first ever showing of the film in Oakland, California - at least as far as I could tell. The May screening is also significant as it marks something of homecoming for the character of Lulu, whose creator, Frank Wedekind, was almost born in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

As film goers likely know, Pandora’s Box is loosely based on two plays, Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandora’s Box (1904), by the German writer Frank Wedekind (1864–1918). Today, he is best known as the author of Spring Awakening (1891), which was turned into a hugely popular Broadway musical few years back.

What’s little known is that Wedekind’s parents were one-time residents of San Francisco in the years following the 1849 Gold Rush. Wedekind's German father was a physician and progressive democrat whose participation in the Revolutions of 1848 (in what would become Germany) led him into exile. Wedekind’s Swiss mother was an attractive singer and Gold Rush actress / entertainer twenty-three years his junior. This unlikely and unconventional union has led some scholars to speculate that the relationship between Wedekind’s parents could have served as a model for the similar, unconventional relationship between the older and respected Dr. Schon and the much younger showgirl Lulu in Pandora’s Box. 

Of course, such things are open to interpretation. However, what we do know is that Friedrich Wedekind and Emilie Kammerer’s second child—the future writer—was conceived in San Francisco, and later born in what is now Hanover, Germany. According to the future writer's biography, early in the pregnancy the homesick couple risked a return to Europe and Friedrich Wedekind's homeland, and stayed. And that’s where Benjamin Franklin Wedekind, named for the free-thinking American writer, was born in 1864. Fast foreword....

 
Controversial, censored, cut, and critically disregarded when it first debuted, Pandora’s Box is today  considered one of the great films of the silent era, largely in part because of the stunning performance given by Louise Brooks in the role of Lulu. However, that wasn't always so. 

Pandora’s Box had its world premiere in February of 1929 at the Gloria–Palast theater in Berlin. Reviews at the time were mixed, even dismissive. Some months later, in December of 1929, when Pandora’s Box opened at a single theater in New York City, American newspaper and magazine critics were similarly ambivalent, and even hostile. In its now infamous review, the New York Times critic stated, “In an introductory title the management sets forth that it has been prevented by the censors from showing the film in its entirety, and it also apologizes for what it termed ‘an added saccharine ending’.” Adding salt to the wound, the Times critic noted, “Miss Brooks is attractive and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction it is often difficult to decide.” 

Yikes!

Despite poor reviews, the film drew crowds. The New York Sun reported that Pandora’s Box “ . . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse’s box office records,” and was held over for another week. With its brief run completed, Pandora’s Box fell into an obscurity from which it barely escaped. Though the film was shown sporadically in the United States in the early and mid 1930s, it was hard to be a silent film at the beginning of the talkie era. Few film goers cared. (For a detailed account, see my earlier 2018 blog, The Lost History of Pandora's Box in the United States.)

Things have changed, and the reputation of Pandora’s Box has grown steadily. The film has been screened numerous times in the last few decades, and perhaps nowhere more often in the United States than in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chances are if you are still reading this piece, you saw an earlier print at the Castro Theater in San Francisco or the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, where between those two venues the film has been shown nearly two dozen times since the mid-1970s.

As far as I have been able to document, the first screening of Pandora’s Box in the City of San Francisco took place at the old Surf Theater in January of 1974, as part of a double bill with The Last Laugh. A couple of years earlier, in October of 1972, the Pacific Film Archive screened it in Berkeley in what was one of the film’s earliest East Bay screenings. 

One of the early Berkeley screenings was likely prompted by film critic Pauline Kael, who was then living in the Bay Area and had a hand in local film exhibition. At that time, Kael was also corresponding with Louise Brooks, who was living in Rochester, New York. On at least one occasion in their exchange of letters, Kael implored Brooks to come to the Bay Area to be present at a screening of Pandora’s Box. But Brooks, who was reclusive, wouldn’t budge. (Louise Brooks even had family in the area.... but still she wouldn't budge.)

But before that, in all likelihood, the very first screening of Pandora’s Box in the greater Bay Area took place in 1962, when the Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey screened a print of Pandora’s Box as part of its Peninsula Film Seminar. The event was organized around a visit by Brooks’ early champion and friend James Card, who brought with him a small collection of rare films, including a messy, unrestored version of the Pabst masterpiece. 

At the time, Card’s print of Pandora’s Box was probably one of the very few prints of the film in the United States. And in all likelihood, Pandora’s Box and the other films shown at the Seminar were works the attendees had only heard of but not seen. 

According to newspaper reports of the time, the Peninsula Film Seminar was a big deal in local film circles. And notably, it was attended by Bay Area cognoscenti like Pauline Kael, future San Francisco poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, a few East Bay film promoters involved with the Berkeley Film Guild, and others. And there, in Monterey, the seeds were first sown for the film’s now large reputation in the Bay Area.   

 

That's me again, with my Clubfoot orchestra shirt. To my right is a large poster for the 2006 San Francisco Silent Film Festival showing of the film, which not only took place during the Louise Brooks centenary, but which I and artist / filmmaker Bruce Conner introduced.

In honor of the May 6, 2023 screening of Pandora's Box (1929) at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, here is a list of all known theatrical showings of the film in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. If you know of others, please send an email. Or, if you attended any of the early screenings of the film, especially those marked in bold, I would love to hear your memories.

1960s - 1970s: Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey (between Aug. 2-5, 1962 as part of Peninsula Film Seminar); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 5, 1972 as part of Women's Works); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 21, 1972 special matinee); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 21, 1972); Cento Cedar Cinema in San Francisco (February 1-7, 1973 with Threepenny Opera); Surf in San Francisco (Jan. 22-23, 1974 a “new print,” with The Last Laugh); Pacific Film Archive (Wheeler Auditorium) in Berkeley (July 24, 1974); Cento Cedar Cinema in San Francisco (Sept. 18-20, 1975 with The Blue Angel); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (Nov. 9, 1975 with L’Age D’Or); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 7, 1976); Noe Valley Cinema (James Lick Auditorium) in San Francisco with Oskar Fischinger’s Composition in Blue (May 21, 1977); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (Feb. 10, 1978 with L’Age D’Or); Sonoma Film Institute in Sonoma State University (Feb. 28, 1979 with The Blue Angel); 

1980s: Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley as part of “Tapes from the Everson Video Revue” (Jan. 20, 1980); U.C. in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (March 10, 1980); Roxie in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 31, 1980); Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco (April 11, 1980 with Un Chien Andalou); Castro in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (May 2-3, 1980); Rialto in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (May 14-20, 1980); Castro in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Aug. 28, 1980); Strand in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (December 15, 1980); Rialto in Berkeley with The Threepenny Opera (December 17-23, 1980); Roxie in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 17-19, 1981); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with Foolish Wives (Mar. 3, 1981); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (March 6, 1981); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Mar. 7, 1981 as part of the series “Starring Louise Brooks” with Organ Accompaniment By Robert Vaughn); Rialto in Berkeley with Salome (June 24-27, 1981); Rialto in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 12-16, 1982); Electric in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 10-11, 1982); Avenue in San Francisco with She Goes to War (May 6, 1982); York in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (June 22, 1982); Roxie in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 17-18, 1982); UC in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 25, 1982); Darwin / Sonoma Film Institute at Sonoma State University (Jan. 20, 1983); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with M. (Feb. 1, 1983); Castro in San Francisco with Diary of a Lost Girl (Oct. 26 – Nov. 3, 1983); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley with Kameradaschaft (Dec. 7, 1983); Santa Cruz Film Festival in Santa Cruz with A Conversation with Louise Brooks (Jan. 19, 1984); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Jan. 27-28, 1985 with M.); U.C. in Berkeley (Sept. 18, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 13, 1985 as part of the series “A Tribute to Louise Brooks (1906-1985),” accompanied on piano by Jon Mirsalis); Castro in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Nov. 29, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 29, 1986); San Francisco Public Library (main branch) in San Francisco (Dec. 18, 1986); Castro in San Francisco (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series); Castro in San Francisco (Jan. 7, 1988); U.C. in Berkeley (June 30, 1988); Castro in San Francisco (Nov. 8, 1988); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Nov. 17, 1988); 

1990s: Red Vic in San Francisco (Feb. 13-14, 1990); Castro in San Francisco (Aug. 7, 1990); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Dec. 4, 1990 as part of the series “Surrealism and Cinema”); Castro in San Francisco (Apr. 29, 1991); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Apr. 5, 1992 as part of the series “Silent Film Classics”);  Castro in San Francisco (May 11, 1992 with Diary of a Lost Girl); Castro in San Francisco (May 5-8, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra, as part of the San Francisco Film Festival); Castro in San Francisco (Dec. 16-17, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra); Castro in San Francisco (Apr. 2, 1996 with Wings, accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Towne Theatre in San Jose (June 28, 1996 accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Castro in San Francisco (May 18, 1998 as part of Femme Fatale Festival); 

2000s: Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (May 28, 2000); Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept. 5, 2001); Jezebel’s Joint in San Francisco (Feb. 10, 2003); Castro in San Francisco (July 15, 2006 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with introductions by Thomas Gladysz and Bruce Conner); Rafael Film Center in San Rafael (Nov. 11, 2006 introduced by Peter Cowie); California in San Jose (Mar. 9, 2007 as part of Cinequest); Castro in San Francisco (July 14, 2112 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival); Niles Essanay Film Museum in Fremont (Sept. 12, 2015); Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept. 23, 2016); Niles Essanay Film Museum in Fremont (March 23, 2019).

Notably, Pandora's Box was also shown on local PBS broadcast television in Northern California. Here are some early instances, which include Christmas eve and Christmas day showings. I wonder how viewers felt watching this film over the Holidays and seeing the murderous Jack the Ripper scene at the film's end - a scene which takes place around Christmas: KTEH Channel 54 – San Jose television broadcast (Dec. 18, 1977 and Dec. 24, 1977 and Dec. 25, 1977); KQEC Channel 32 – San Francisco television broadcast (Dec. 24, 1977 and Dec. 25, 1977); KVIE Channel 6 – Sacramento television broadcast (Dec. 18 and Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, 1977). Incorrectly, the PBS promo image shown below incorrectly identifies Lulu as a London streetwalker. A Berlin showgirl is more like it.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Pandora's Box screens at Paramount theater in Oakland, CA on May 6

Breaking news.... The celebrated German silent film, Pandora's Box starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Paramount theater in Oakland, California on Saturday, May 6. And what's more, this live cinema event will feature live musical accompaniment by the Club Foot Orchestra and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. More information about the event can be found HERE.

PANDORA'S BOX

LIVE CINEMA AT THE PARAMOUNT!

Club Foot Orchestra with SF Conservatory of Music

Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:00 pm

 

From the San Francisco Silent Film Festival website: On May 6, 2023, the Club Foot Orchestra will join forces with San Francisco Conservatory of Music to accompany G.W. Pabst’s 1929 masterpiece Pandora’s Box at Oakland’s magnificent Paramount Theatre. The film stars the radiant Louise Brooks whose mesmerizing performance as the sexually adventurous Lulu catapulted her to worldwide fame. Here is praise for Brooks through the years:

An actress who needed no directing, but could move across the screen causing the work of art to be born by her mere presence.—Lotte H. Eisner

Those who have seen her can never forget her. She is the modern actress par excellence. . . . Her art is so pure that it becomes invisible.—Henri Langlois

Her youthful admirers see in her an actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality, and a beauty unparalleled in film history.—Kevin Brownlow

One of the most mysterious and potent figures in the history of the cinema . . . she was one of the first performers to penetrate to the heart of screen acting.—David Thomson

SFSFF will screen the restoration by Angela Holm and David Ferguson in a DCP from the Deutsche Kinemathek.

Tickets are now on sale for SFSFF's May 6 event. All tickets ($35 general admission) are being sold through the Paramount's official ticketing partner Ticketmaster and there is a $3 per-ticket fee. Those who would like to avoid Ticketmaster fees can visit the Paramount's Box Office in Oakland between 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm on Fridays to buy tickets in person. SFSFF members receive a $5 discount per ticket. 

The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

The Louise Brooks Society, a statement, something to get off my chest

At one of my San Francisco Public Library exhibits

I launched the "Louise Brooks Society" website in 1995. I did so because I had recently "discovered" the actress and was enthused about connecting with others of like-mind, sharing not only information and images but also the small discoveries which came from my ongoing research into Brooks' life and career. For me, the Louise Brooks Society is a labor of love to which I have given a fair amount of my time.

Over the years, a handful of other Louise Brooks websites and fan pages have come and gone. With the launch of Facebook, even more groups have sprung up, including one similarly called the "Louise Brooks Appreciation Society." I figured the more interest in Brooks the better.... I would do my thing, and others could do their thing. Live and let live.... And that's the way it was for a good number of years. I never felt I had "ownership" over Louise Brooks, and never tried to control how others expressed their interest or passion in the actress. "It's all good," as they say. I have, as well, on numerous occasions, supported and promoted other's projects, be it another fan's art, video, article, novel, documentary, or webpage. There was plenty of Louise Brooks to go around.

However, not everyone feels the way I do. The petty internet trolls who have attacked the Louise Brooks Society and its social media accounts are a nuisance who are, in effect, trying to control Louise Brooks. Just today, they had Etsy remove a 25 year-old t-shirt I had for sale by claiming this vintage piece of clothing, lawfully manufactured by a third party decades ago, somehow infringed upon their intellectual property rights. Bull, shit. They have also managed to get the Louise Brooks Society Instagram account suspended, and now, its 5300 followers no longer get their daily dose of our Miss Brooks via the LBS. My apologies to those 5300 Louise Brooks-loving Instagramers, but my appeals have gone nowhere. The same thing happened to the Louise Brooks Society fan page on Facebook, which had gained a similar number of followers and has also disappeared. [For the record, the LBS LinkedIn, Patreon, CafePress, POST and LinkTree accounts have also been attacked on the grounds of alleged infringement of intellectual property.]

Admittedly, these attacks have left me feeling a bit discouraged, but not undaunted. I still have my Louise Brooks Society website and blog, and I still have pride in the fact that the Louise Brooks Society helped bring both the Barry Paris biography and Louise Brooks' own Lulu in Hollywood back into print. I am also proud of the considerable research I have done, of the many articles I have written, the four books I have published, the various events I put on or participated in, the exhibits I curated, the books and documentary films I have helped inspire, and the films I have helped restore. I did all this, and more, for one simple reason -- to bring greater awareness to the life and films of someone I find endlessly fascinating.

One thing that I am proud of is the acknowledgement given me by the estate of Louise Brooks, with whom I have worked on a project (the retrieval of some rare material from an archive). They thanked me for placing that material in their hands, and for all that I had done.

Someone once said, "living well is the best revenge." The Louise Brooks Society will go on. At present I am working on a new book, with another in the works. (To get the latest news from the Louise Brooks Society, please subscribe to this blog or the LBS Twitter account.)

Also, a BIG THANK YOU to those who made a donation to my GoFundMe campaign towards the publication of my forthcoming book about Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond. It is full of rare images, including a handful of Louise Brooks. Find out more HERE.

The Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering silent film website. And, I think it has made its mark. Not more than a few years after I started the site, I met the much loved film critic Roger Ebert, who told me he had used the LBS to research the actress and her films. I was thrilled. I also felt I was doing something right.

A few years after that, Ebert tweeted about an article I had written for the Huffington Post about the 1928 film, Beggars of Life. In his tweet, Ebert encouraged Kino Lorber to release the film on DVD, and they did, a few years later. (You can hear my audio commentary on the DVD/Blu-Ray!)

I would love to see this nearly-lost Louise Brooks film! Kino! Get on the case! http://t.co/nbPqdQdI

— Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) February 20, 2012

Others, like Louise Brooks fan (and 8th Doctor Who) Paul McGann have praised my website, as have others both in and outside the world of silent film and film history. What follows is some of the press and praise the site has received in magazines and newspapers from around the world. This first clipping shown here, from May 23, 1996, came as a big surprise. It also reveals the ugly old URL of the site before I secured www.pandorasbox.com (Otherwise, here is the earliest Wayback Machine capture of the site at pandorasbox.com, from April 11, 1997.) If you are out there Sam Vincent Meddis, "thank you."

 

PRESS & PRAISE FOR THE LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY

Meddis, Sam Vincent. "Net: New and notable." USA Today, May 23, 1996.
-- "Silent-film buffs can get a taste of how a fan club from yesteryear plays on the Web. The Louise Brooks Society site includes interview, trivia and photos. It also draws an international audience."

Silberman, Steve. "Fan Site Sparks Biopic." Wired News, April 10, 1998.
-- "The Louise Brooks Society is an exemplary fan site."

Evenson, Laura. "Lovely Lulu Lives Again." San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 1998.
-- "Hugh Munro Neely, director of "Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu," credits Gladysz's site with helping to sell the idea for the documentary." (alternative archive link)

Garner, Jack. "Movie buffs can find trivia, reviews online." Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, September 12, 2000.
-- "A fine example of a fan page, a thoughtful, artful site devoted to the life and times of a fabled silent movie legend." 

Anderson, Jeffrey M. "Thirteen great film sites." San Francisco Examiner, November 29, 2001.
-- "This San Francisco-run site pays tribute to one of the greatest and most under-appreciated stars of all time."

Pattenden, Mike. "An era of glamour." London Sunday Times, April 27, 2003.
-- "With her sculpted dark bob and rebellious lifestyle, Louise Brooks was perhaps the ultimate flapper icon. A screen star to rank with Bacall and Hepburn, Brooks' career straddled the silent era and early talkies. She bucked the system to make movies in Europe, notably Pandora's Box, which lends its name to www.pandorasbox.com, dedicated to her remarkable life and including some of her more risque poses - a reminder that the 1920s were as much about sex and style as any era since."

Maltin, Leonard. "Links We Like: Louise Brooks Society." Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy, August 1, 2005.
-- "Not many sites of any kind can claim to be celebrating a tenth anniversary online, but that’s true of the Louise Brooks Society, devoted to the life and times of the magnetic silent-film star and latter-day memoirist. Thomas Gladysz has assembled a formidable amount of material on the actress and her era; there’s not only a lot to read and enjoy, but there’s a gift shop and even a 'Radio Lulu' function that allows you to listen to music of the 1920s. Wow!"

Matheson, Whitney. "Happy birthday, Louise!" USA Today, November 14, 2006.
-- "My favorite Louise Brooks site belongs to the Louise Brooks Society, a devoted group of fans that even keeps a blog." 

SiouxWire. "Interview: THOMAS GLADYSZ, founder of the LOUISE BROOKS Society." SiouxWire, April 5, 2007.
 
Garner, Jack. "Get hard-to-find films on custom DVD's." Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, September 10, 2010.
-- "But it's not everyday that a 1929 film generates a reissue of a book, yet that's the case with Margarete Bohme's The Diary of a Lost Girl, which was originally published in 1905. The surprising reissue in 2010 is the brainchild of Thomas Gladysz, a San Francisco journalist and director of the Louise Brooks Society."  

Blackburn, Gavin. "Forgotten book by Margarete Boehme to be revived in US." Deutsche Welle, November 3, 2010.

LaSalle, Mick. "Diary of a Lost Girl to be screened at main library." San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 2010.

Toole, Michael T. "Reopening Pandora’s Box in San Francisco." Film International, August 22, 2012.

Marcus, Greil. "Where the Song Leaves You." BarnesandNobleReview, January 19, 2015.
-- a 2012 LBS blog about Bruce Conner and Louise Brooks is singled out by the well known critic 

Brady, Tara. "Louise Brooks: ‘I was always late, but just too damn stunning for them to fire me’." Irish Times, June 2, 2018.
-- "She has super-fans. An online tribute site, the Louise Brooks Society, contains an extraordinary day-by-day chronology of her life."

(Above) With Louise Brooks biographer Barry Paris in the year 2000. The publisher was appreciative of my efforts in helping bring the acclaimed biography back into print, so-much-so they arranged for an exclusive event at the San Francisco bookstore where I once worked, flying Barry Paris from his home in Pennsylvania to the West Coast. The book has remained in print ever since, and, I am told, it was among the publisher's best selling back-list titles for a few years running. Pictured below, my copy of an original edition of the biography, which reads, "For Thomas - who resurrected me & LB, the way Tynan did in the New Yorker!"

This blog is a middle finger to the internet trolls trying to damage the Louise Brooks Society. The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Reminder: 1926 Louise Brooks film, The Show Off, screens in Chicago area on Jan 10

The little seen Louise Brooks film, The Show Off (1926), will be screened in St. Charles, Illinois one week from today, on January 10, 2023. This screening, presented by the Silent Film Society of Chicago, will include a live theatre organ score performed by Jay Warren. More information about this event can be found below.

The Show-Off is gem. The film is a satiric comedy about an insufferable braggart who disrupts the life of a middle-class family. While remembered today as a Louise Brooks film, The Show-Off is really a vehicle for Ford Sterling, a comedian best remembered for his starring work as a member of the Keystone Kops. As a broad comedian, he is the perfect choice for the role of the titular blowhard Aubrey Piper. Brooks plays a supporting role as the love interest of the boy who lives next door. Based on a popular stage play by an acclaimed playwright, The Show-Off was considered a prestige project — and thus drew a significant amount of critical attention along with inevitable comparison to its Broadway namesake. 

A bit of trivia: 

 — The Show-Off (1924) was authored by Philadelphia-born George Kelly (1887–1974), an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. Besides being the uncle of the Oscar winning actress Grace Kelly (the future Princess Grace of Monaco), George Kelly was considered by some (Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and others) as one of the finest  dramatists of the 1920s — alongside the likes of Sherwood Anderson and Elmer Rice. Besides The Show-Off, Kelly was best known for Craig’s Wife (1925), which won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a motion picture on three occasions. His first play, The Torch Bearers, was also highly regarded.

— The Show-Off was the hit of the 1924 Broadway season, where it ran 571 performances. Famed critic Heywood Broun called it “the best comedy which has yet been written by an American.” The play’s success drew the attention of the motion picture stuudios, and in October, 1925 Paramount had a synopsis of the play written by F. M. Macconnell and others.

— Widely acclaimed, The Show-Off was in the running to receive the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for drama, but last minute dealings denied Kelly the award. According to various books, the Pulitzer drama committee recommended Kelly’s work for the prize, but the higher ranking Pulitzer Advisory board overruled their selection for reasons which were never made clear. One book, Chronicle of the Pulitzer Prizes for Drama: Discussions, Decisions and Documents, notes “In the following year, 1924, the recommendation of the jurors was brief and concise…  ‘The Committee have decided that the Pulitzer Prize for the best current American play should go to The Show-Off by George Kelly. We think this is an extremely good and original American play.’ But before the Advisory Board could discuss the suggestion of the jury, a docent of Columbia University [the institution which awarded the prize], although neither a member of the jury nor member of the Advisory Board, intervened and spoke out against it’s verdict. He ‘wrote privately to (Columbia University) President Butler … to protest the Drama Jury’s selection of George Kelly’s satirical comedy… Instead… (he) called for a prize for Hell-Bent for Heaven, a hillbilly drama set in the Kentucky mountains, by a fellow member of the Columbia faculty, Hatcher Hughes.” Kelly was vindicated two years later when Craig’s Wife won the award.

— The Show-Off  enjoyed New York revivals in 1932, 1950, 1967, and 1992, with regional theatrical runs in 1930, 1941, 1975 and 1978. The play was the basis for motion pictures of the same name made in 1926, 1934 (with Spencer Tracy), and 1946 (with Red Skelton), as well as the 1930 film Men Are Like That (directed by Frank Tuttle). There was also a radio adaption in 1953.

— As happened in at least a few instances, a theatrical production of The Show-Off was being staged in major cities at the same time as Paramount’s film version was shown. In San Francisco, California a stage production starring Louis John Bartels as Aubrey Piper proved especially popular, with the cast of the play invited to view the film when in opened locally. Bartels (who originated the role on Broadway) later went on to act in films, including The Canary Murder Case (1929).

— C.W. Goodrich, who plays Pop Fisher in the film, originated the role on Broadway when it opened at the Playhouse Theater in February of 1924.

— The Show-Off is one of two films that co-starred the popular Broadway actor Gregory Kelly (no relation), who died shortly after The Show-Off finished production. Gregory Kelly was the first husband of actress Ruth Gordon.

Louise Brooks and Gregory Kelly

The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.