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.