Empty Saddles, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1936

Empty Saddles, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1936. The film is a B-Western starring one of the biggest cowboy stars of the time, Buck Jones. The somewhat confused plot revolves around Buck, who attempts to convert the seemingly haunted “Empty Saddles” ranch into a resort, but soon discovers a group of crooked sheep ranchers have other plans. Louise Brooks plays Boots Boone, Bucks’ love interest, who helps out on the ranch.

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page. 

In 1930, Brooks turned down an offer to appear in a Buck Jones Western. In 1936, however, she could not afford to be so picky. Brooks had been out of films for five years and was attempting a second comeback. Universal issued a press release quoting a supposed interview with the actress:  “I am delighted with my role in Empty Saddles. It gives me an opportunity to do something, not just stand around and look pretty. I wouldn’t trade it for all the other roles I ever had because I am really acting now, not just being an ornament, and I feel that, at last, I am on the road toward getting some place in pictures.” Brooks received $300 for a week’s work.

One syndicated newspaper article, no doubt echoing the language of the studio press sheets, reported “Of outstanding interest is the fact that the picture marks the return to the screen of lovely Louise Brooks, the Ziegfeld Follies girl who won film fame and then quit pictures at the height of her career. Her brunette beauty and her fine acting making her a splendid leading lady.” Another stated “Do You remember Louise Brooks? She is the lovely brunette whose beauty carried her from the Ziegfeld Follies to screen stardom. Well, she has returned to the screen. She Is back in pictures again as Buck Jones’ leading lady in Empty Saddles, the Universal outdoor adventure film at the Grand Theatre. The actress is the same shapely Louise Brooks. The only change in her is that she is wearing her hair with a new style of dress.”

Prior to its release, Empty Saddles was previewed at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, a neighborhood house considered similar to the small town theaters where the film was likely to show. According to reports, “The audience was satisfied with what it saw on the screen.”

Most of the trade journals were similarly satisfied. Daily Variety reported, “The yarn has plenty of suspense, numerous spooky situations, a good love theme and enough of a western touch to top a western dualer or fill out the action requirements of a mixed bill and leave the cash customers well satisfied.” Selected Motion Pictures stated the film was “A somewhat unusual western story, packed with excitement, fast-paced dramatic action, mystery and superb riding. . . . The natural scenic effects are of exceptionally high quality.” Box Office added, “Several new angles and Buck Jones’ usual capable performance as a hard-riding, square shooting son of the saddle makes this an above par offering in the Western class.”

Until Empty Saddles, Jones’ westerns were generally well regarded — each crisply edited and action-packed, and each with lots of the aforementioned hard riding and straight-shooting. Despite satisfactory reviews, this and Jones’ following films marked a decline in the actor’s productions. The Hollywood Reporter offered the lone critical review, “This Buck Jones Western must be set below par because of a rambling and cluttery story that is almost menaceless until the last reel or two and then, in the final chase and battle, is confusing and inconclusive.”

The film showed in the west and in small towns and neighborhood theaters elsewhere around the United States. J.E. Stocker, manager of the neighborhood Myrtle Theater in Detroit, reported in Motion Picture Herald, “I tried out a Buck Jones picture for a Sunday play date once before, on January 17^th, which drew better than average so I tried again with Empty Saddles, March 14-15, and again it drew better than average so we can assume that Buck Jones is still popular.”

Film Daily liked Brooks in Empty Saddles, stating “Louise Brooks has quite a dramatic role as the heroine, which she handles very well.” Variety wrote, “Louise Brooks, cast as a poor trader’s child, is not flattered by the camera, but does a good bit of acting. She is the outstanding femme player in the slight romance.” Despite these few favorable notices, Empty Saddles failed to reignite Brooks’ career. Only one more featured role, another Western, awaited.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao), Palestine (Israel), South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland).

Elsewhere, Empty Saddles was shown under the title O Rancho das Feitiçarias (Brazil); Prázd né sedlo and Vyprázdnit sedla (Czechoslovakia); Cowboyens Hvilehjem (Denmark); Elátkozott farm (Hungary); Puste siodła (Poland); and De tomma sadlarnas hus (Sweden).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Buck Jones (1891–1942) was a major star in the 1920s and 1930s. He had his own fanclub, endorsed products, and developed a huge following, especially among youngsters attending Saturday matinees. Some of his silent films were directed by the likes of John Ford, William Wellman, and ‘Woody’ Van Dyke. Though much of his work was in genre films, especially Westerns (and some of those were B-pictures known as “oaters”), he was still among the higher paid actors of the day. In 1936, the year that Empty Saddles was released, Jones’ reported income was $143,333. By comparison, fellow cowboy star Ken Maynard earned only $37,100. The highest salaried movie star in 1936 was Gary Cooper, who earned $370,214. With the vogue for singing cowboys, Jones career went into eclipse in the late 1930s.

— Buck Jones was one of the 492 victims of the historic 1942 Coconut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts. He died two days after the November 28th blaze. For years, legend held that Jones’ fatal injuries were the result of his going back into the burning building to save victims.

— Jones’ daughter Maxine was born in 1918. She also had an uncredited bit part in Empty Saddles. She later married actor Noah Beery Jr., the son of the actor who co-starred in the Brooks’ film Evening Clothes (1927).

More about Empty Saddles can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Empty Saddles (filmography page).

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Just Another Blonde, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926

Just Another Blonde, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film is a romantic drama about two small-time gamblers and the two Coney Island girls they romance. For the film, Louise Brooks was loaned out by Paramount to First National. Of the four principals, Brooks has the smallest role, playing a supporting role as the brunette to blonde Dorothy Mackaill, the star of the film.

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

The film was shot in and around Luna Park, an amusement park on Coney Island in Brooklyn. During production, stories came out on the excitement generated by the making of the film. The New York Evening Post reported that the stars mingling among the crowds generated too much attention, so much so visitors threatened to demolish the dance hall were one scene was set. Director Alfred Santell was forced to wait until the park closed, and then recruited 200 extras and “kept them busy dancing for the rest of the night.”

Despite its promotion as a “dainty, dazzling, golden glorification” of a “thrill packed tale of love and romance,” Just Another Blonde fared poorly among critics. To capture local interest, the film was shown in-and-around New York City as The Girl from Coney Island. But even the local angle couldn’t spare the film from the barbs of local critics. The New York Telegram was the most blunt, “The Girl from Coney Island, the so called feature picture, is interminable and stupid.” Dorothy Herzog of the New York Daily Mirror was less cutting, “Dorothy Mackaill, as Blondie, and Louise Brooks, as Blackie, enter in celluloid during the second reel. Apparently most of them was left on the cutting-room floor to permit the sub-titler a chance to resurrect jokes so old that even Cleopatra would have been prompted to justifiable murder.”

Some criticized what they saw as a rather slight story. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote, “The new film at the Strand Theater in Manhattan, The Girl From Coney Island, appears to be an excellent example of the common practice in Hollywood to stretch two-reel screen materials in to so-called feature productions. This mildly amusing picturizatlon of Gerald Beaumont’s story, ‘Even Stephen,’ would, I daresay, have made a fairly interesting short-reel movie. In its padded state of six or seven reels the drama falls considerably short of maintaining its pace beyond the very earliest sequences…. And so The Girl From Coney Island wallows along, a mawkishly sentimental narrative heavily burdened with lengthy subtitles.” Eileen Creelman of the New York American was a bit more forgiving, “Santell has taken a fifth rate plot, surrounded it with first rate atmosphere and a couple of amusing characterizations, and turned out a picture.”

What critics did appreciate was the acting, and Brooks. The Atlanta Constitution wrote “Although Miss Mackaill and Mr. Mulhall’s parts are listed as the leading roles, the acting of Louise Brooks and William Collier, Jr., as second roles, has a vital part in the picture and must be given due credit. Their acting was unusually good throughout.”

The Cincinnati Post went a little further, “Jack Mulhall is assisted in this bit by William Collier Jr., and two really good-looking girls, Dorothy Mackaill and Louise Brooks. Somebody told us Brooks was ‘Miss America’ a year or two ago. At any rate, she will knock your eye out and Mackaill will attend to the other one.” The Cedar Rapids Republican gushed, “Louise Brooks, who is said to be Clara Bow’s only rival as cinema’s most ravishing flapper, is a convincing argument in favor of modernism."

Under its American title, Just Another Blonde, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia, Canada, China, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and the British Isles (England, Isle of Man, and Northern Ireland). When shown in and around New York City, Just Another Blonde was promoted under the title The Girl from Coney Island. In the United States, the film was advertised under the title Just Another Blond (Portuguese-language press). The film was also shown under the title The Charleston Kid in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cuba, and Czechoslovakia.

Elsewhere, this motion picture was known to have been shown under other-language titles including The Charleston Kid and Una de Tantas (Argentina); Die Braut am Scheidewege (Austria); The Charleston Kid (Australia); The Charleston Kid and Entre a Loura e a Morena and O Garoto do Charleston and Laços de amor (Brazil); The Charleston Kid (Cuba); The Charleston Kid and Pouze jiný svetlovlasý (Czechoslovakia); Den blonde fares (Denmark); Le Danseur de Charleston and Marchands de Beaute (France); Die Braut am Scheidewege (Germany); Girl from Coney Island (Hungary); Blonde Piker and Sommerflirt (Norway); Caixeiro Viajante (Portugal); Una de Tantas (Spain); and Den blonda faran (Sweden).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Just Another Blonde was based on Gerald Beaumont’s short story, “Even Stephen,” which appeared in Red Book magazine in October, 1925. Beaumont (1880 – 1926) died shortly before the film was made, and a few advertisements noted his passing. During the silent and early sound era, dozens of his stories would be turned into films.

— Just Another Blonde began production under the working title The Charleston Kid. Though released under Just Another Blonde, the film was shown in and around New York City under the title The Girl from Coney Island.

— Just Another Blonde was also an early effort by cinematographer Arthur Edeson. By the time he shot Just Another Blonde, Edeson had already shot The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Lost World (1924), Stella Dallas (1925), and Subway Sadie (1926). His later credits include All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Sergeant York (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942).

— According to rare surviving records of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, the film came under the glare of local censors in St. Louis, Missouri who thought advertising copy which accompanied the film, i.e. “Neckier than Subway Sadie,” was in poor taste, and an example of “bad advertising.”

More about Just Another Blonde can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Just Another Blonde (filmography page).

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

New Book - Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures

Just out is Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures, by Bill LeFurgy. This new book was published by ‎ High Kicker Books on November 17th of this year -- just one month ago. More information can be found on amazon HERE.

About the book: the publisher text on amazon.com reads... "Louise Brooks: A Bold and Defiant Icon of the Jazz Age

A silent film actress known for her bold bob haircut, captivating beauty, and magnetic presence, Louise Brooks continues to enchant audiences nearly a century later.

Arriving in New York City from Kansas at fifteen, she became a Broadway showgirl with the Ziegfeld Follies. Signed to a movie contract at nineteen, she starred in over a dozen films during the height of the Jazz Age. Her unforgettable role as Lulu in Pandora’s Box redefined acting, blending innocence, sophistication, and hedonism with remarkable naturalism.

As the author of the acclaimed memoir Lulu in Hollywood, Brooks offered rare insights into Hollywood love, career struggles, and the life of a career woman during Hollywood’s golden age.

This book showcases a stunning collection of photographs capturing Brooks’ timeless beauty and natural elegance. It is perfect for fans of classic cinema, books about old Hollywood stars, or anyone intrigued by the lives of rebellious, 'difficult' women in Hollywood.

Beyond her dazzling looks, Brooks’ life story reveals a fascinating blend of intelligence, wit, and resilience. Her journey through Hollywood was marked by triumphs and challenges, including relationship struggles that deeply shaped her personal and professional life. Rediscovered by cinephiles in the 1950s after decades of obscurity, she remains a symbol of grace and uncompromising individuality."

Front and back of Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures

About the author: "Bill LeFurgy is a professional historian and archivist who has studied the gilded glamor and seamy underbelly of urban life. He has put his years of research experience into writing gritty historical fiction about Baltimore, where he lived for over a decade. It remains his favorite city.

While working at the Library of Congress, Bill headed a national program to preserve digital cultural heritage materials. In addition, he toured the world to speak to hundreds of libraries, archives, and museums about digital cultural heritage.

Before the Library, Bill served as Manager of the Modern Records Program at the National Archives and Records Administration and as Baltimore City Archivist. He also worked as Manuscript Archivist at the Maryland Historical Society.

Bill has a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University and graduate degrees from the University of Maryland. In addition to his Sarah Kennecott and Jack Harden Historical Mysteries Series, he has published many nonfiction books and articles about Baltimore history and other topics."

A short write-up: This 8.5" x 11" book is a 119 page pictorial, with many, but not all, of its more than 100 black and white and color / tinted images reproduced as full page or near full page illustrations. (Notably, the color images are authentic - as none seem to have been colorized.) Each photo is captioned; there is a three page introduction, a list of Brooks' films, and suggestions for further reading. Otherwise, there is little here that any devoted Louise Brooks fan will not have already seen. According to the introduction, most all of the images included in this indie press book were sourced from Wikipedia Commons, an open access digital media repository.  

There is a sentence in the introduction which stands out, and left me thinking: "While Brooks was undeniably beautiful, there is something else at play in her photographs (as well as in her best films)." I couldn't agree more.... Louise Brooks: A Life in Pictures should serve as a pictorial introduction to any film buff unfamiliar with the actress.

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Indestructible Lee Miller and the Destructible Louise Brooks

Lee Miller and Louise Brooks, Louise Brooks and Lee Miller -- the artist and the actress, the actress and the artist. Should you know their lives, the two women at least a few things in common -- including a vulnerability. Though it is unlikely they ever met, it is likely Lee Miller was aware of  Louise Brooks.

Carolyn Burke, in her stellar 2006 biography of the artist, writes, "Breaking free of conventional roles for women, whether in traditional or avant-garde circles, Lee Miller stirred up trouble for herself and for those who loved her. Like screenwriter Anita Loos and actress Louise Brooks (whose careers she followed), she helped reshape women's aspirations through her embrace of popular culture . . . ."

Lee Miller                                         and                            Louise Brooks

We know, for example, that Miller saw Brooks dance when both were still teenagers. The occasion was a performance by the Denishawn Dance Company -- of which Brooks was a member, in Poughkeepsie, New York in January, 1923. Miller grew up in Poughkeepsie, and when the famed dance troupe came to town, Miller -- herself then an aspiring dancer, insisted she attend.

Before she left for Europe, Miller modeled and did a bit of dancing in New York City. (As did Brooks.) Once in Paris, Miller came into contact with Man Ray, a key member of the Surrealist group. The aspiring photographer and the established photographer drew close, and collaborated as artists. Miller was drawn into the surrealist circle, and soon befriended with many of its leading members, such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau. 

One of the Surrealist hang-outs in Paris was the Ursulines theater, "one of the oldest cinemas in Paris to have kept its facade and founder's vision" as a venue for art and experimental cinema. The Ursulines opened in 1926 with films by André Breton, Man Ray, Fernand Léger, René Clair and Robert Desnos. In 1928, it premiered the first film by Germaine Dulac, The Seashell and the Clergyman, from a story by Antonin Artaud. Another film that debuted at the Ursulines was A Girl in Every Port, which the noted writer Blaise Cendrars called "the first appearance of contemporary cinema". It was a big hit, and was seen by many French intellectuals, including Jean Paul Sartre.

Louise Brooks was especially popular in Paris, and in 1929 and 1930, she must have seemed to have been everywhere. The actress was widely written about in the French capital's many newspapers and magazines. Her image, as well, was also everywhere. Shown below is a picture of Brooks' portrait on display in the window of a photographer's studio in Paris in 1930, around the time her one and only French film, Prix de beauté, was in production.

Prix de beauté was in production between August 29 through September 27, 1929, and debuted at the famous Max-Linder Pathe on May 9, 1930. With a popular American film star in an important French production (one of the first French sound films), Prix de beauté was BIG NEWS. Prix de beauté was also a huge success, and it went on to enjoy a three month run in various theaters. After two months at the Max-Linder (and for part of that time also at the historic Lutetia-Pathe to accommodate the crowds), the film moved to the Folies Dramatiques, where it was advertised as an "immense success" and would play for nearly a month. This extended run was at a time when most films played only a few days or a week.

Remarkably, the successful run of Prix de beauté took place at a time when another of Brooks' films, the German production Diary of a Lost Girl (Trois Pages D'un Journal), was also playing in the French capital, at the Au Colisee. (It was also shown at the Rialto and Splendide theatres in 1930.) As was the 1928 film, Beggars of Life (Les mendiants de la vie), at the Clichy-Palace in March of the same year. Like today, films were advertised in the newspaper, and on one occasion, the two film's respective advertisements sat side-by-side.

Diary of a Lost Girl would be revived in Paris throughout 1930. It was even shown at the Ursulines theater in November of that year as part of a trippple bill. As shown below, the evening's program begins with G.W. Pabst's Joyless Street, followed by Howard Hawk's A Girl in Every Port, starring Brooks, followed by G.W. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, also starring Brooks!

The Ursulines was not only the Surrealist's favored movie theater, it was also an important venue which debuted important films which found favor with the cognoscenti. In December of 1930, Diary of a Lost Girl and Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel shared what must have been a memorable bill. 

We know now that Man Ray was something of a fan of Louise Brooks. When the artist and the actress first met, in  late 1958, Man Ray recounted how he had seen her image in Paris years before. Perhaps he had first seen Louise Brooks in 1928, when A Girl in Every Port shared the bill with a short Man Ray film, L'Etoile de Mer, at the Ursulines during the months of October, November, and December. L'Etoile de Mer (The Starfish) was scripted by the surrealist poet Robert Desnos and features Desnos and Alice Prin. Better known as Kiki de Montparnasse, Prin (Man Ray's one-time paramour) famously sported Louise Brooks-like bobbed hair and bangs. Perhaps Man Ray had a "type". Anyways....

Man Ray was fond enough of Brooks that after their 1958 meeting he sent her a small abstract painting in memory of their meeting and in memory of his memory of her. Here is a picture of the reverse of the painting, which goes to auction in 2025.

I mention Brooks' popularity in Paris and the various documented screenings of her films around 1930 because I wonder if Lee Miller might have seen one or two of Brooks films -- most notably Diary of a Lost Girl. The picture of Brooks shown at the beginning of this blog is a still from G.W. Pabst's second 1929 masterpiece with Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl. It is remarkably similar to the portrait of Lee Miller. (Admittedly, I am not certain if the image of Lee Miller is by Miller or Man Ray -- or both.)

In case you are not aware, a film about Lee Miller, titled Lee, has recently been release. It stars Kate Winslet. I am looking forward to seeing it. For more on Lee Miller, be sure and check out either Carolyn Burke's Lee Miller: A Life or Antony Penrose's The Lives of Lee Miller. The latter was written by Lee Miller's son.

If you are interested in the many lives of Lee Miller, I would also recommend this YouTube video recording of a lecture Antony Penrose gave 9 years ago. It is informative and visually rich. (I was fortunate to have seen Penrose speak some years ago at the San Francisco Silent Museum of Modern Art. As a fan of Man Ray, Lee Miller, the surrealists, and Antony Penrose's Father, Roland Penrose -- that was a thrill.)

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

It's the Old Army Game, with W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks, screens in May 2025

Attention W.C. Fields fans, save the dates May 22-25, 2025! That's when the Columbus Moving Picture Show in Columbus, Ohio will screen 16mm prints of four of the legendary comedian's classic films, including It's the Old Army Game, with Louise Brooks. More information about this annual event can be found HERE.

The schedule of events for next year's Columbus Moving Picture Show includes:

* IT’S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926, with live piano accompaniment, preceded by 5 minutes of rare footage from the premiere and trailer of the lost silent THAT ROYLE GIRL, from 1925)

* MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932)

* THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (1933)

* THE OLD FASHIONED WAY (1934)

Plus, a seminar and signing by author Richard S. Greene on his just released book, Bantering Ballyhoo! Selling W. C. Fields to 20th Century America  ‎ (BearManor Media, 2024). 

"Bantering Ballyhoo! Selling W. C. Fields To 20th Century America presents the many ways in which The Great Man was sold to American audiences in newspaper advertising, movie posters, lobby cards, publicity stills, magazine covers and retail merchandise. Bantering Ballyhoo! takes a colorful visual journey through all of W. C. Fields' sound features and shorts through more than 775 rare and compelling promotional images, many in full color and never in print before!" This softcover book, with a foreword by Ronald J, Fields, is available on https://amzn.to/49nIMoo.

When It's the Old Army Game first played in Columbus, in July 1926, the film received good reviews in the city's three major newspapers, the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Citizen, and Ohio State Journal. The Dispatch wrote, “Louise Brooks, a dainty little brunette, with cute girlish ways, a way of flirting, a way of kissing and with a figure that formerly earned Ziegfeld or Carroll honors, looks like a good screen personality. If properly handled, she will be a real comer.”

Indeed, she was.

More about It's the Old Army Game can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its It's the Old Army Game (filmography page). 

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Kansas Silent Film Festival to Screen A Girl in Every Port in February

The line-up of films for this year's Kansas Silent Film Festival has been announced, and this year the venerable event will screen the Howard Hawks' film, A Girl in Every Port (1928), starring Victor McLaglen, Louise Brooks and Robert Armstrong. Brooks will light-up the screen on February 28. More about the Kansas Silent Film Festival can be found HERE.

Here is the full line-up of films and related events.

LIVE EVENT, with FREE ADMISSION for all showings
@ White Concert Hall, Washburn Univeristy, 1700 SW Jewell, Topeka, KS 66603

Friday Afternoon, Feb. 28, 2025: Begins @ 1:00 PM

Overture & Welcome
___________________________

The Curtain Pole 10 min.	(1909)	Mack Sennett, a D.W. Griffith film  —Music by Bill Beningfield
Valley of the Giants 51 min.	(1919)	Wallace Reid, directed by James Cruze  —Music by Ben Model

Guest Talk: Scott Eyman 20 min.

Scott talks about how he chooses subjects for his celebrity biographies and their roots in silent film

The Johnstown Flood 68 min.

(1926)

George O'Brien, directed by Irving Cummings —Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

—BREAK, 15 min.—

A Girl in Every Port 78 min.

(1928)

Victor McLaglen & Louise Brooks, directed by Howard Hawks —Music by Marvin Faulwell & Bob Keckeisen

_________________________

—DINNER BREAK—
_________________________

Friday Evening, Feb. 28, 2025: Begins @ 7:30 PM
@ White Concert Hall, Washburn University

His New Mama 15 min.	(1924)	Harry Langdon, directed by Roy Del Ruth —Music by Jeff Rapsis
The Second Hundred Years 21 min.	(1927)	starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by Fred Guiol —Music by Ben Model
Lady Windermere's Fan 89 min.	(1925)	Ronald Colman, directed by Ernst Lubitsch —Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

Sat. Mar. 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m.-Noon
@ White Concert Hall, Washburn University

Overture & Welcome

Film Documentary 60 min.

An opportunity to see a documentary on the history of silent film comedy.

—BREAK, 5 min.—

Max Linder Compilation 20 min.	(1907-1912)	Max Linder —Music by Ben Model
Ice Cold Cocos 20 min.	(1926)	Billy Bevan, directed by Del Lord —Music by Ben Model
Something New 57 min.	(1920)	Nell Shipman, directed by Bert Van Tuyle —Music by Jeff Rapsis

___________________________

Lunch Break (on your own), resuming at 1:30 p.m
___________________________

Sat. Mar. 1, 2025, 1:30-5:00 p.m.
@ White Concert Hall, Washburn University

Overture & Welcome
___________________________

An Eastern Westerner 27 min.	(1920)	Harold Lloyd, directed by Hal Roach —Music by Jeff Rapsis
The Enchanted Cottage 80 min.	(1924)	Richard Barthelmess, directed by John S. Robertson —Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

—BREAK, with Scott Eyman Book Signing—

The Balloonatic 22 min.	(1923)	Buster Keaton, directed by Edward F. Cline —Music by Marvin Faulwell
Mantrap 71 min.	(1926)	Clara Bow, directed by Victor Fleming —Music by Ben Model

Dinner

Special Dinner Event, Our Sixteenth Annual CINEMA-DINNER, Seating begins @ 5:15 p.m. Dinner from 5:30 to 7:20 p.m. Special Guest Scott Eyman speaks about his work as writer of celebrity biographies of those with roots in silent filmmaking. — This event is by reservation only. Dinner is $40. Contact Bill Shaffer at bill.shaffer@washburn.edu to reserve your space —

---

Sat. Mar. 1, 2025, 7:30-10:00 p.m.
@ White Concert Hall, Washburn University

---

Overture & Welcome

Ambrose's First Falsehood 11 min.	(1914)	Mack Swain, directed by F. Richard Jones —Music by Bill Beningfield
A Night in the Show 24 min.	(1915)	Charlie Chaplin, directed by Charles Chaplin —Music by Ben Model
Don Q: Son of Zorro 111 min.	(1925)	Douglas Fairbanks, directed by Donald Crisp —Music by Marvin Faulwell & Bob Keckeisen

 

 

More about A Girl in Every Port can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its A Girl in Every Port (filmography page).

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926

Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, featuring Louise Brooks and Evelyn Brent, was released on this day in 1926. Based on a popular stage play, the film is a topical drama about two flapper sisters — one “good” and one “bad” — who work as shop girls in a department store. A popular and critical success, the film marked a turning point in  Brooks’ career. Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em was the last movie Brooks made on the East Coast. And soon, she would leave for Hollywood and Paramount’s studio on the West Coast.

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

The Chicago Tribune named the film one of the six best movies of the month. Its critic, Mae Tinee, proclaimed, “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em is one of the snappiest little comedy dramas of the season. Full of human interest. Splendidly directed. Acted beautifully.” Dorothy Herzog, film critic for the New York Daily Mirror (and Evelyn Brent’s later romantic partner) penned similarly, “A featherweight comedy drama that should register with the public because of the fine work done by the principals and its amusing gags. . . . Louise Brooks gives the best performance of her flicker career as the selfish, snappily dressed, alive number — Janie. Miss Brooks sizzles through this celluloider, a flapper lurer with a Ziegfeld figure and come-on eyes.”

Critics across the country thought Brooks stole the show. The Los Angeles Record wrote, “Evelyn Brent is nominally starred in Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, but the work of Louise Brooks, suave enticing newcomer to the Lasky fold, stands out most. The flippant, self-centered little shop girl is given sly and knowing interpretation by Miss Brooks, who is, if memory serves aright, a graduate of that great American institute of learning, the Follies.” The Kansas City Times went further, “Louise Brooks does another of her flapper parts and is a good deal more realistic than the widely heralded Clara Bow. Miss Brooks uses the dumb bell rather than the spit-fire method. But she always gets what she wants.”

And once again, New York critics singled out the actress, lavishing praise on Brooks with the film almost an after-thought. The New York Herald Tribune critic opined, “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em . . . did manage to accomplish one thing. It has silenced, for the time being at least, the charge that Louise Brooks cannot act. Her portrayal of the predatory shop girl of the Abbott-Weaver tale was one of the bright spots of recent film histrionism.”

John S. Cohen Jr. of the New York Sun added, “The real surprise of the film is Louise Brooks. With practically all connoisseurs of beauty in the throes of adulation over her generally effectiveness, Miss Brooks has not heretofore impressed anyone as a roomful (as Lorelei says) of Duses. But in Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, unless I too have simply fallen under her spell, she gives an uncannily effective impersonation of a bad little notion counter vampire. Even her excellent acting, however, cannot approach in effectiveness the scenes where, in ‘Scandals’ attire, she does what we may call a mean Charleston.”

 

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was presented under the title Amalos y Dejalos and Amalas y Abandonalas (Spanish-language press) and Ama-o e Deixa-o (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em was shown under the title Amalos y déjalos and Se corrió una fija (Argentina); Zwei Mädel und ein Mann and Zwei Mädchen und ein Mann (Austria); Een Galant uitstaller (Belgium); Amal-as e deixal-as (Brazil); Amalos y déjalos (Cuba); Láska ’em a odejít ’em (Czechoslovakia); Het Meisje van ‘t Warenhaus (Dutch East Indies – present day Indonesia); Le galant etalagiste (Egypt); Oekesed võisfejad and Schwestern als Rivalinnen (Estonia); Rakasta heitä ja jätä heidät (Finland); Le galant etalagiste (France); 浮氣はその日の出来心 or Uwaki wa sonohi no dekigokoro (Japan); Le galant Etalagiste! (Luxembourg); Het Meisje Van ‘T Warenhuis and Meisjes die je Vergeet (The Netherlands);  Hvad en kvinne tilgir (Norway); Kobieto nie grzesz (Poland); Amá-las e Deixá-las (Portugal); and ¡Amalos y déjalos! (Spain).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— John Van Alstyne Weaver, Jr. (1893-1938) was a poet, novelist and screenwriter whose slangy, vernacular poems (written in what was once described as “Americanese”) attracted the approval of the famed critic H. L. Mencken. Weaver’s stage play, Love ’em and leave ’em; a comedy in three acts (with George Abbott) was adapted from his earlier verse novel.

— The character Lem Woodruff was played by Osgood Perkins, an accomplished stage actor and the father of famed actor Tony Perkins.

— Ed Garvey, who plays Mr. Whinfer, was a star football player at Notre Dame.

— In 1929, Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em was remade as The Saturday Night Kid, a talkie starring Clara Bow, Jean Arthur, and James Hall with Jean Harlow in a bit part. The remake was directed by Brooks’ ex-husband Eddie Sutherland.

More about Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (filmography page).

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

More new illustrations of Louise Brooks by Corinne Adams

As I stated back on September 9, Corrine Adams is a gifted artist / illustrator and fan of Louise Brooks. And just recently, she sent me a couple more illustrations of the actress. I am so pleased. My previous post depicted six of her illustrations, including Corrine's original "made-up" movie posters for A Girl in Every Port, Beggars of Life, The Canary Murder Case, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. 

The other day, I received another "made up" poster, this time for Prix de Beaute. Corrine wrote that she had recently seen the film, and was impressed, especially at the film's memorable ending. 

Along with these prints of Corrine's film posters, the artist also sent me an original ink drawing of Louise Brooks. I was thrilled. I plan to hang it alongside some of the other original art fans have sent me over the years.

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Books about Louise Brooks from the Louise Brooks Society

Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and her life and films? Looking for something interesting to read, or the perfect holiday gift? To date, the Louise Brooks Society has published five books. Each is the product of considerable research, and each features dozens of images. The books shown below may be purchased online (via amazon.com, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, etc…). More about these and other publications of the Louise Brooks Society may be found on the acclaimed LBS website.

Additionally, autographed copies of each of these titles may be ordered directly from author Thomas Gladysz, the Director of the Louise Brooks Society. To place an order for a signed book, please send an email to louisebrookssociety AT gmailDOTcom  Thank you for your interest. Your purchase helps support the Louise Brooks Society™. 

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond
by Thomas Gladysz
(softcover) published in 2023

— The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond is a deep dive into the history of a single film – its literary source, its making, its exhibition history, critical reception, and, most surprising of all, its little known legacy. This 380 page book tells the story of the Louise Brooks’ first film in rich, historical detail. As it also shows, this forgotten gem is exemplary of film making & film culture in the mid-1920s. Along with vintage clippings and unusual images – including rare production stills and location shots, this book features all manner of historical documents including the short story on which the film was based, the scenario, a rare French fictionalization, newspaper advertisements, lobby cards, posters, and more.

 

This film, considered a provocative stab at realism, was described as “strange” and “startling” at the time of its release. The Street of Forgotten Men was directed by Herbert Brenon, who is best known for Peter Pan, The Great Gatsby, Beau Geste and other early classics. The film was shot by Harold Rosson, one of the great cinematographers whose credits include Gone with the Wind and Singin’ in the Rain. And, it features a stellar cast (Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, Neil Hamilton) which includes a future screen legend at the very beginning of her career (Louise Brooks). The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond includes dozens of illustrations and images and features two forewords; one is by noted film preservationist Robert Byrne, whose restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men saved it from undeserving obscurity. The other, by acclaimed film historian and Academy Award honoree Kevin Brownlow, is an appreciation of director Herbert Brenon which reveals little known details about the movie drawn, in part, from his correspondence with Louise Brooks.

 

Buy The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond online from Amazon (USA, UK, and around the world) | Bookshop.org |  Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

 

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Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star
by Thomas Gladysz
(softcover) published in 2019

— This 296 page book brings together 15 years work by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. Gathered here are a selection of articles, essays, and blogs about the silent film star. The actress’ best known films — Beggars of Life, Pandora’s Box, and Diary of a Lost Girl — are discussed, as are many other little known aspects of Brooks’ legendary career. These pieces range from the local (“Louise Brooks, at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and 16th Street”) to the worldly (“Making Personas: Transnational Film Stardom in Modern Japan”), from the provocative (“A Girl in Every Port: The Birth of Lulu?”) to the poignant (“Homage to George W. Lighton of Kentucky, idealistic silent film buff who perished in the Spanish Civil War”), from the quirky (“Louise Brooks’ First Television Broadcast”) to the surprising (“A Lost Girl, a Fake Diary, and a Forgotten Author”). Also included are related interviews with actor Paul McGann, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, and novelist Laura Moriarty, author of The Chaperone…. with dozens of 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

Buy Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star online from Amazon (USA, UK, and around the world) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million
 

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Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film
by Thomas Gladysz
(softcover) published in 2017

— 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 dressed as a boy. She meets another 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 once described as “a raw, sometimes bleeding slice of life.” With more than 50 little seen images, and a foreword by William Wellman, Jr. A must read for every fan, and the perfect companion to the KINO DVD

“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)

Buy Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film online from Amazon (USA, UK, and around the world) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

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Now We’re in the Air: A Companion to the Once Lost Film
by Thomas Gladysz
(softcover) published in 2017

— I helped with the preservation of this once-lost Louise Brooks film, and wrote this book afterwords. This companion to the once “lost” 1927 film tells the story of the film’s making, its reception, and its discovery in Prague by film preservationist Robert Byrne. This 130 page book includes two rare fictionalizations of the movie story, more than 75 little seen images, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by Byrne. Also considered is the surprising impact this otherwise little known movie has had on Brooks’ life and career. (Did you know that a promotion picture from Now We’re in the Air is shown in Pandora’s Box?) A must read for the discriminating fan. [This WorldCat page shows libraries that carry this title.]

 

“The absolute final word on the film from the world’s foremost expert on Louise Brooks. Thoroughly researched and expertly written, oh, and did I mention lavishly illustrated? If you love silent film and if you love Louise Brooks (and who doesn’t) you really should pick up a copy for your library.” — amazon.com review

 

Buy Now We’re in the Air: A Companion to the Once Lost Film online from Amazon (USA, UK, and around the world) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

 

 # # #  

The Diary of a Lost Girl “Louise Brooks edition”
by Margarete Bohme (author) and Thomas Gladysz (editor, introduction)
(softcover) published in 2010

— 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 a long 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 rare illustrations. [This WorldCat page shows libraries that carry this title.]

“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

Buy The Diary of a Lost Girl online from Amazon (USA, UK, and around the world) | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.