Looking for something good to read? Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and her films? Looking for the perfect gift for the silent film buff or Louise Brooks fan on your holiday list? Check out one or more of these Louise Brooks Society publications.
by Thomas Gladysz
-- The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond is a 380 page deep dive into the history of one film, the 1925 silent, The Street of Forgotten Men. A popular and critical success at the time of its release, the film is based on a story by a noted writer, made by a significant director, shot by one of a greatest cinematographers, and features a fine cast which includes a future screen legend at the beginning of her career (Louise Brooks) The story of the film is told in rich, historical detail — not only the film’s making, critical reception, and exhibition history but also its surprising legacy. Along with dozens of rare images and vintage clippings, this new book contains all manner of documents from the story on which the film was based to censorship records to a French fictionalization of the film to detailed credits and trivia, and even a review by a candidate for sainthood.
The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond features forewords by Robert Byrne, whose restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men saved it from an undeserving obscurity, and film historian and Oscar honoree Kevin Brownlow, who revealed little known details about the film drawn from his correspondence with Louise Brooks.
by Thomas Gladysz
-- This 296 page book brings together 15 years work by the Director of the Louise Brooks Society. Gathered here are the author's best articles, essays, and blogs about the silent film star and her films—Beggars of Life, Pandora’s Box, and Diary of a Lost Girl—each are discussed, as are many other little known aspects of Brooks’ legendary career. With many rare illustrations.
“Historian Thomas Gladysz has put together a number of his articles and essays from the past 15 years for the book Louise Brooks: The Persistent Star. Gladysz is the director of the Louise Brooks Society, and his detailed essays will be fascinating reading for any fan of the iconic actress.” — Lea Stans, Silentology
“… this (fully illustrated) book proves that ‘the persistent star’ is a perfect accolade.” — Tara Hanks, author of The Mmm Girl and Wicked Baby
by Thomas Gladysz
-- This first ever study of Beggars of Life looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. With more than 50 little seen images, tons of information, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by William Wellman, Jr. A must read for every fan.
“I can say (with head bowed modestly) that I know more about the career of director William A. Wellman than pretty much anybody … 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, author of Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman
“This highly readable book will deepen your enjoyment and understanding of a silent Hollywood classic.” — Pamela Hutchinson, author of Pandora’s Box (BFI Film Classics)
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by Thomas Gladysz
-- This companion to the once "lost" 1927 film tells the story of the film’s making, its reception, and its discovery by film preservationist Robert Byrne. With two rare fictionalizations of the movie story, more than 75 little seen images, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by Byrne. A must read for the discriminating fan. Your purchase helps support the LBS.
by Margarete Bohme (author) and Thomas Gladysz (editor)
-- The 1929 film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. By the end of the 1920s, it had been translated into 14 languages and sold more than 1,200,000 copies - ranking it among the bestselling books of its time. Was it - as many believed - the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This contested work - a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication - inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two silent films. The best remembered of these is the oft revived G.W. Pabst film starring Louise Brooks.
This corrected and annotated edition of the original English language translation brings this important book back into print after more than 100 years. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations.
“In today’s parlance this would be called a movie tie-in edition, but that seems a rather glib way to describe yet another privately published work that reveals an enormous amount of research and passion.” — Leonard Maltin
“Gladysz makes an important contribution to film history, literature,
and, in as much as Böhme told her tale with much detail and background
contemporary to the day, sociology and history. This reissue is long
overdue, and a volume of uncommon merit.” — Richard Buller, author of A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran
Or, buy the English-language edition from Amazon Australia | Brazil | Canada | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Netherlands | Poland | Singapore | Spain | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom
The English-language edition is also available from Saxo (Denmark) | Open Trolley (Indonesia) | MightyApe (New Zealand) | Bol.com (Netherlands) | Archiwum (Poland)
