Searching for the Louise Brooks Holy Grail

"There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich, there is only Louise Brooks."

Henri Langlois' now famous declaration marked the beginning of the rediscovery of Louise Brooks. The year was 1955, and Langlois, the director of the Cinémathèque Française, had organized an exhibit, "60 Ans de Cinema," marking the 60 years of motion pictures. It was an historic exhibit.

Outside the exhibit building, according to various accounts, visitors were greeted by two large portraits looming over its entrance. One was of Falconetti in Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc (1927). The other was of Louise Brooks in G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box (1929). [George Eastman House film curator James Card, who attended the exhibit, stated it was an image of Brooks from Pandora's Box, not Diary of a Lost Girl.] 

Such a prominent display of the two actresses baffled some. It also led a journalist to ask why an image of someone like Brooks, who was then little known, was featured. Why not another celebrated actress like Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich. Langlois' strident answer, "There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich, there is only Louise Brooks" was a ringing declaration that became a rallying cry that changed film history.

I have always wanted to see a picture of the exhibit building, and of the two large banners. BUT, I have never come across one. Despite the fame of the exhibit -- as well as Langlois' now legendary proclamation, I have yet to find a picture of the event. Does anyone know if a picture even exists? One would think someone would have taken a picture of the building. And, one would think, because of its significance, such a photograph would have been reproduced in a book. I've looked, and looked. 

The closest I've ever come to "60 Ans de Cinema" is the catalogue which accompanied the exhibit. It is a rare thing, which few libraries have in their collections and even fewer second hand bookstores have for sale.

I was thrilled to acquire a copy, and to search it for any and all mentions of Louise Brooks. In conjunction with the exhibit, a number of early classic films were shown, including Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Abel Gance's Napoleon, Chaplin's The Circus, Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, Pabst's Joyless Street, and Harold Lloyd's Safety Last. Also scheduled were Dreyer's The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc, and Pabst's Le Journal D'Une Fille Perdue. (Notably, Pandora's Box was not screened -- despite the reported image of Brooks as Lulu hanging at the entrance.)

Here is the entry Le Journal D'Une Fille Perdue, or The Diary of a Lost Girl. No author is given for the catalogue entry on The Diary of a Lost Girl, but given its rapturous tone, it was likely Langlois. The Brooks' film, whose release date is mistakenly given as 1928, was shown on August 6 at 9 pm. The catalogue entry reads. My Google assisted translation can be found on my new Louise Brooks Society webpage detailing the friendship between Louise Brooks and Henri Langlois.

Brooks and Langlois encountered one another some four times over the next few years, twice in Paris, and twice in Rochester. Like the absent picture of the "60 Ans de Cinema" building, I have never come across a photograph of Brooks and Langlois. 

In preparing my LBS page, I came across photographs of a number of the other film world personalities meeting Langlois, such as Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurasowa -- bot none with Brooks. As with the exhibit building with the two large banners, I wonder if a picture exists of the silent star and the film preservationist.

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.