Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society! 

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.

Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, to screen in Italy

Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Teatro di Fiesole in Fiesole, Italy (outside of Florence) on Saturday November 9, 2024. This screening is part of the Autunno Fiesolano 2024. Additionally, the film will be shown with live musical accompaniment by Remo Anzovino. More information and ticket availability can be found HERE.

According to a translation of the Teatro di Fiesole page, "A masterpiece of silent cinema, presented in a restored version, with a soundtrack composed and performed live by one of the most creative pianists on the contemporary scene. Diary of a Lost Woman comes back to life with the music of Remo Anzovino.

Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in 1929, Diary of a Lost Woman stars Louise Brooks, the first real movie star and a style icon, thanks to her legendary bob cut.

Remo Anzovino composed the film's soundtrack on commission from the Cineteca di Bologna, a very fortunate partnership – to which a degree thesis was also dedicated, at the Dams of Bologna – for a musician that critics have defined as the 'new true heir of the Italian tradition in film music'."

The film is being promoted under the Italian title of Diario di una donna perduta. Notably, it has also screened in Italy under the titles Diario di una perduta and Diario di una prostituta.

The accompanist, Remo Anzovino, is a prominent Italian composer, musician and criminal lawyer. He has accompanied many classic silent films, including Pandora's Box and Beggars of Life. His official website can be found HERE.

In 2010,  the Louise Brooks Society published a corrected and annotated edition of the original 1907 English language translation -- notably, this edition, the first in English in 100 years -- brought this important work of feminist literature back into print in English. 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.  (Purchase on amazon.)

 

More about Diary of a Lost Girl can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Diary of a Lost Girl (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.

Beggars of Life to be screened in Jim Tully's hometown

Beggars of Life, the sensational William Wellman-directed silent film starring Louise Brooks, Wallace Berry and Richard Arlen, will be screened on November 16th at the St. Marys Theater and Grand Opera House in St. Marys, Ohio. And what's more, this special screening will feature a live musical accompaniment by silent movie organist Dennis James. A link to the venue can be found HERE.

 Jim Tully was a well known "hobo writer" in the early decades of the 20th century The 1928 film, Beggars of Life, was based on Tully's 1925 book of the same name. Also on hand for this event will be Tully biographers Paul Bauer and Mark Dawidziak, who will introduce the film. 

For anyone in the area, this Tully celebration not to be missed. A special 10 minute slide show prepared by Thomas Gladysz will also be shown at the event. It features rare images and audio drawn from the collection of the Louise Brooks Society.

The first ever book on the film, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, was published by the Louise Brooks Society in 2017. The book is authored by LBS Director Thomas Gladysz, and features a foreword by author and actor William Wellman Jr. -- the son of the film's Academy Award winning Director.  (Purchase on amazon.)

More about Jim Tully and Beggars of Life can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Beggars of Life (filmography page). 

And, be sure and check out one or both of these book, a recent reprint of Tully classic work, Beggars of Life (purchase on amazon), or the highly recommnded biography of the writer, Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler. (purchase on amazon)

 

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.

Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929

Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in Germany in 1929. In this once controversial production, Brooks plays the title role — the “lost girl”. The film is the sensational story of a young woman who is seduced and conceives a child, only to be sent to a home for wayward women before escaping to a brothel. Beneath its melodramatic surface, the film is a pointed social critique aimed at German society. The film was controversial enough to have been withdrawn from circulation and only re-released in Germany in January, 1930.

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

Diary of a Lost Girl is the second film Brooks made under the direction of G.W. Pabst. The first, Pandora’s Box, was also released in 1929. Like Pandora’s Box, this second collaboration was also based on a famous work of literature. Diary of a Lost Girl was based on the bestselling book of the same name by Margarete Böhme. At the time of its publication, one critic called it “the poignant story of a great-hearted girl who kept her soul alive amidst all the mire that surrounded her poor body.” That summation applies to the film as well.

Böhme’s book was nothing less than a literary phenomenon. First published in 1905, it was hugely popular, and continued to sell for many years. Though issued a quarter-of-a-century earlier, European movie goers in 1929 would have known its story. In fact, German, French and Polish ads for Pabst’s film emphasized its literary origins, some even noting that Böhme’s book had sold more than 1.2 million copies. Pabst’s 1929 film, in fact, was the third cinematic adaption of Böhme’s work.

Diary of a Lost Girl debuted in Berlin on October 15, 1929. By December 5, the film had been banned by the state censor and was withdrawn from circulation. After cuts were made, the ban was lifted on January 6, 1930, and the film re-released. Diary of a Lost Girl was poorly received, not only because sound was coming in and there was diminishing interest in the silent cinema, but because the film continued to be censored and cut wherever its was shown, leaving its already problematic story in shambles.

At the time of its release, the film received many negative reviews – but for reasons which sometimes had little to do with the movie. As Brooks’ biographer Barry Paris notes, some German film critics devoted their columns to savaging Böhme’s then 25 year old book. Siegfried Kracauer, a critic at the time of the film’s release, was among them. He commented on the film in his famous 1946 book, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, writing about the Pabst film and its literary source — “the popularity of which among the philistines of the past generation rested upon the slightly pornographic frankness with which it recounted the private life of some prostitutes from a morally elevated point of view.”

The Berlin correspondent for Variety wrote something similar, but went further: “G.W. Pabst is among the best German directors still working here but has had atrocious luck with scenarios. This one, taken from a best seller of years ago, is no exception. . . . This time he has been unfortunate in his choice of his heroine. Louise Brooks (American) is monotonous in the tragedy which she has to present.”

Though screened across Europe and in Russia, the film faded from view — and film history. Diary of a Lost Girl was not shown in the United States until the 1950s, and did not receive a theatrical release in America until the 1980s. Recent restorations, however, have brought renewed attention, and in the eyes of some critics, Diary of a Lost Girl is now considered one of the last great silent films — and the near equal of Pandora’s Box.

Under its German title, documented screenings of the film also took place in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Danzig.

Outside Germany, Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen was exhibited under the title Tres páginas de un diario (Argentina); O diário de uma perdida and Diário de uma mulher perdida and Jornal de uma perdida and Jornal de uma garota perdida (Brazil) and Diário de uma Pecadora (Brazil, 1954); Dnevnik jedne izgubljene (Croatia); Deník ztracené (Czechoslovakia) and Denník ztratenej and Dennik padleho dievcafa (Slovakia); Diario de una perdida (Ecuador); Kadotetun päiväkirja (Finland); Journal d’une fille perdue and Trois pages d’un journal (France) and Three Pages of a Daybook (France, English-language press); ΤΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ ΜΙΑΣ ΠΑΡΑΣΤΡΑΤΗΜΕΝΗΣ (Greece); Egy perdita naplója (Hungary); Diario di una donna perduta and Diario di una perduta and Diario di una prostituta (Italy); Diary of a Lost Soul (Japan); Das Tagebuch einer Verfuhrten and Kritušas dienasgramata and Pavestas dienas gramata (Latvia); Diario de una mujer perdida and Diario de una muchacha perdida (Mexico); Dusze bez steru and Dziennik upadley dziewczyny and Pamiętnik upadłej (Poland); Jornal de Uma Perdida (Portugal); Jurnalul unei femei pierdute (Romania); Dnevnik izgubljenke (Spain); Tres páginas de’un diario and Diari d’una perduda (Spain – Catalonia); En fallen flickas dagbok and En förlorads dagbok (Sweden); Le journal d’une fille perdue and Trois pages d’un journal (Switzerland); Bir Kadinin Guniugu and Eczacinin kizi (Turkey); Tres páginas de un diario and Diario de una perdida (Uruguay); Дневник падшей  (U.S.S.R.); Diario de una joven perdida (Venezuela).

Since the late 1950s, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Diary of a Lost Girl in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland), and elsewhere. The film was first shown in the United States in the late 1950s.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl was the third film adaption of Böhme’s bestselling book. The first was directed by Fritz Bernhardt in 1912. The second was directed by Richard Oswald in 1918. Both are considered lost films. The second version starred Erna Morena as Thymian, Reinhold Schünzel as Osdorff, Werner Krauss as Meinert, and Conrad Veidt as Dr. Julius. The film was well reviewed, but demands of the wartime censor led to cuts and even a change in its title. Once censorship was lifted after the end of WWI, scenes thought too provocative or critical of society were put back and its title restored.

— Along with Oswald’s Diary of a Lost Girl, the year 1918 also saw the release of a film based on the sequel to Böhme’s book, Dida Ibsen’s Geschichte. Also directed by Richard Oswald, the part of Dida Ibsen was played by the infamous German dancer, actress, and “performance artist” Anita Berber, with Krauss and Veidt reprising their roles. The film is extant, and was shown in Bologna in 2011.

— Elisabeth, the departing housekeeper, is played by Sybille Schmitz. She was a prominent German actress of the 30’s, and something of a tragic figure. She drank, had multiple affairs, struggled with addiction, and ended up committing suicide in 1955. The downward spiral her life took after the second World War inspired the Fassbinder film, Veronika Voss.

— The elder Count Osdorff is played by Arnold Korff. He was an Austrian stage and film actor who counted James Joyce among his friends. Korff also knew Frank Wedekind and Karl Krauss; one of Korff’s earliest roles was in the first stage production of Pandora’s Box in 1905.

— The tall blonde sitting with the young Count in the brothel is actress Elisabeth Schlichter, also known as “Speedy”. In life, she sometimes worked as a prostitute and was married to Rudolf Schlichter, an important Dada artist and key member of the New Objectivity movement — to which Pabst’s film-making was allied.

— The sausage vendor, who we first see out on the street and who leads Thymian to the brothel, is played by Hans Casparius. He had a bit part in Pandora’s Box, but is best known as a German photographer of the twenties and thirties who was noted for his street photography.

— Otto Stenzeel (1903-1989) is credited for the music for Diary of a Lost Girl. He composed music for films from 1926 through 1930; among his best known efforts is the music for Menschen am Sonntag / People on Sunday (1930). In the 1930’s under the name Otto Stenzel, he led the orchestra at the Berlin Scala, one of the largest revue theaters in Germany. He also led his own swing-style dance band and made a number of recordings, including a Tango with with the Spanish-born Juan Llossas, who has an uncredited role in Diary of a Lost Girl as the leader of the small combo playing in the corner of the nightclub.

— In 1961, John Huston was beginning work on a biopic about Sigmund Freud. In an archive of correspondence about the film, Huston’s longtime assistant Ernie Anderson wrote to the director that Sigmund Freud had no involvement with the making of Diary of a Lost Girl.

— In 2010,  the Louise Brooks Society published a corrected and annotated edition of the original 1907 English language translation -- notably, this edition, the first in English in 100 years -- brought this important work of feminist literature back into print in English. 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.  (Purchase on amazon.)

More about Diary of a Lost Girl can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Diary of a Lost Girl (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.

Now We're in the Air, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927

Now We're in the Air, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927. The film, once thought lost, is a comedy about two fliers (a pair of “aero-nuts” called “looney Lindberghs”) who wander on to a World War I battle field near the front lines. The film was one of a number of aviation-themed stories shot in 1927 (following Lindbergh’s historic solo flight across the Atlantic), as well as one in a popular series of “service comedies” pairing Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. Louise Brooks plays the unusual role of twin sisters, one raised French and one raised German, named Griselle & Grisette, who are the love interest of the two fliers.

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

Arguably, Now We’re in the Air was the most popular American silent in which Brooks appeared. Generally liked by the critics, the film did big box office where ever it showed. In New York City, it enjoyed an extended run, as it did in San Francisco, where it  proved to be one of the biggest hits of the year. At a time when most new releases played only one week, Now We’re in the Air ran for more than a month in San Francisco, where it was extended due to robust ticket sales. In Boston, it also did well, opening simultaneously in five theaters in the area. The Boston Evening Transcript noted, “most of the audience at the Washington Street Olympia this week were so moved by mirth that they were close to tears. Presumably the experience has been the same at the Scollay Square Olympia, the Fenway, the Capitol in Allston and the Central Square in Cambridge.” Newspapers in other large cities like Atlanta, Georgia and St. Louis, Missouri reported a similar reception.

The New Orleans Item noted, “The added feature of Now We’re in the Air is the presence of Louise Brooks as the heroine. One of the cleverest of the new stars, she has immense ability to appear ‘dumb’ but like those early Nineteenth Century actresses, commended by Chas. Lamb, she makes the spectators realize that she is only playing at being dumb.” Radie Harris of the New York Morning Telegraph wrote, “Louise Brooks is seen as the feminine lead. She essays the role of twins. Which, if you know Louise, is mighty satisfactory. She is decorative enough to admire once, but when you are allowed the privilege of seeing her double, the effect is devastating.” The Boston Post added, “You see there are pretty twin sisters, Grisette and Griselle, both played by the fetching Louise Brooks, who marry Wally and Ray, who cannot tell their wives apart except by their dogs, one a poodle, one a dachshund.”

The dual role played by Brooks made the film for many critics. Curran D. Swint of the San Francisco News stated, “Both the hulking and ungainly Beery and the cocky little Hatton give goofingly good accounts of themselves. Then there is Louise Brooks. She’s the girl — or the girls — in the case, for Louise is twins in the story, and about this fact much of the comedy is woven.” Across town, A. F. Gillaspey of the San Francisco Bulletin added, “Louise Brooks is the leading woman of this picture. She appears as the twin sisters. This results in some remarkable and very interesting double exposures.”

Mae Tinee, the Chicago Tribune critic who seemed to always champion Brooks, put it this way, “Louise Brooks as twins, is — are — a beautiful foil for the stars and if you think she doesn’t marry both of them before the picture ends, why, cogitate again, my darlings.”

In America’s non-English language newspapers and magazines, Now We’re in the Air was generally advertised under its American title. However, in the Spanish-language press of the time, including the New York City-based Cine-Mundial, as well as the Paramount Spanish-language house organ Mensajero Paramount, the film was promoted under the title Reclutas por los Aires. In Portuguese-language newspapers in the United States, the film was advertised under the title Agora Estamos no Ar.

Under its American title, Now We’re in the Air, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa, and the British Isles (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, and Scotland). Elsewhere, this motion picture was known to have been shown under other-language titles including Deux Braves Poltrons (Algeria); Dos tiburones en el aire (Argentina); Riff und Raff als Luftschiffer (Austria); Nous sommes dans les air (Belgium); Dois aguias no ar (Brazil); Reclutas por los Aires (Chile); Ted my jsme ve vzduchu and Rif a Raf, Piloti (Czechoslovakia) and Riff a Raff strelci (Slovakia); To muntre Spioner (Denmark); Nüüd, meie oleme õhus and Riffi ja Raffi õiged nimed (Estonia); Sankareita Ilmassa and Hjaltar i luften (Finland); Deux Braves Poltrons (France); Riff und Raff als Luftschiffer (Germany); O Riff kai o Raff aeroporoi (Greece); Megfogtam a kemét! or Riff és Raff (Hungary); Katu Njosnararnir (Iceland); Nou Vliegen We (Dutch East Indies / Indonesia); Aviatori per forza and Aviatori … per forza and Ed eccoci aviatori (Italy); Yagi and Kita in the Air and 弥次喜多空中の巻 (Japan); Reclutas por los aires (Mexico); Hoerawe vliegen and Hoera! We Vliegen (Netherlands); Luftens Spioner (Norway); Riff i Raff jako Lotnicy (Poland); Recrutas Aviadores (Portugal); Riff es Raffal a foszerepekben (Romania); Reclutas por los Aires (Spain); Hjältar i luften (Sweden); Deux Braves Poltrons (Switzerland).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Early on, William Wellman, James Cruze and even Mauritz Stiller were announced as the director for Now We’re in the Air. Among cast members who were announced but did not appear in the film were Ford Sterling and Zasu Pitts. An outline (by Tom J. Geraghty) and a treatment (by John F. Goodrich) for the film were completed as early as February 2, 1927.

— Frank R. Strayer (1891 – 1964) who was assigned as director, was an actor, film writer, and producer. He was active from the mid-1920s until the early 1950s. Strayer is credited with having directed 86 films, including 13 movies in the series based on the Blondie and Dagwood comic strip.

— Now We’re in the Air cinematographer Harry Perry also worked on two other notable aviation pictures, Wings (1927) and Hell’s Angels (1930). He was nominated for an Academy Award at the 3rd Academy Awards for his work on the latter.

— Fifteen airplanes were hired for the making of the film, including a 76-foot Martin bomber which was deliberately wrecked for one of the film’s “big thrill scenes.”

— Though a silent, Now We’re in the Air continued to be shown into the early sound era. In January, 1930 it was screened in Fairbanks, Alaska and in December, 1931 it was screened in the Darwin in Northern Territory, Australia.

— The first ever book on the film, Now We're in the Air: A Companion to the Once Lost Film, was published by the Louise Brooks Society in 2017. The book is authored by LBS Director Thomas Gladysz, and features a foreword by film preservationist Robert Byrne.  (Purchase on amazon.)

 

More about Now We're in the Air can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Now We're in the Air (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.

A new book and a new Louise Brooks cover

A new book featuring Louise Brooks on the cover has just recently been published in The Netherlands. This 2024 book by Dorian D'Oliveira is titled In de schaduwen van de toekomst, or In the Shadows of the Future. The book is published by Uitgeverij Aspekt Aspek, and is available on amazon around the world, including amazon.com in the United States.

In translation, the Dutch description reads: "This collection of essays discusses various expressionist films. The visually enchanting Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari is used as a starting point. The dark M by Fritz Lang serves as the conclusion of In the Shadows of the Future.  

Between the lines, the reader sees Louise Brooks dancing seductively. The Polish actress Pola Negri suddenly appears as a ferocious mountain cat. Moreover, Hertha Thiele's tears keep streaming down the words as soon as Mädchen in Uniform is mentioned.  

The battle between Berlin and Hollywood was settled in the 1920s in favor of the latter dream factory. Directors such as Ernst Lubitsch, Paul Leni and Friedrich Murnau were bought away. European actresses such as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich only became stars in the United States. As true goddesses from Hollywood, they then made cash registers ring worldwide.  

For a long time, expressionist films were mainly understood in relation to the two great wars that ravaged the European continent. In the new millennium, these films form the backdrop to a frenzied culture war. Woke scholars resolutely criticize Western civilization in their film interpretations. In a sense, these princely paid academics are at the front every day. All of this is described in detail in this paperback."

Dorian d'Oliveira is a cultural philosopher. In 2018, he published his first film essay in the magazine Bühne. He made his literary debut with Nachtengeltjes en driedriekjes (Aspekt 2018). After that, it was time for Lulu in Leiden: A women's history (Aspekt 2020). Films play a major role in both novellas. His essay on the American actress Barbara Stanwyck was included in the collection Markante vrouwen (Aspekt 2023).

# # # 

And here is the book's description in its original Dutch: "In deze bundeling essays worden verschillende expressionistische films besproken. Het visueel betoverende Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari wordt benut als beginpunt. Het duistere M van Fritz Lang dient als sluitstuk van In de schaduwen van de toekomst.

Tussen de regels door ziet de lezer Louise Brooks verleidelijk dansen. De Poolse actrice Pola Negri verschijnt plots als woeste bergkat. Bovendien biggelen de tranen van Hertha Thiele langs de woorden aldoor naar beneden zodra Mädchen in Uniform ter sprake komt.

De strijd tussen Berlijn en Hollywood werd in de jaren twintig van de vorige eeuw beslecht in het voordeel van laatstgenoemde droomfabriek. Regisseurs als Ernst Lubitsch, Paul Leni en Friedrich Murnau werden weggekocht. Europese actrices zoals Greta Garbo en Marlene Dietrich groeiden in de Verenigde Staten pas uit tot sterren. Als echte godinnen uit Hollywood lieten ze vervolgens wereldwijd de kassa's rinkelen.

Geruime tijd werden expressionistische films vooral begrepen in relatie tot de twee grote oorlogen die het Europese continent teisterden. In het nieuwe millennium vormen deze rolprenten het decor van een bezeten cultuurstrijd. Woke geleerden hekelen in hun filmduidingen gedecideerd de westerse beschaving. In zekere zin staan deze vorstelijk betaalde academici dagelijks aan het front. Dit alles wordt in deze paperback uitgebreid beschreven.

Dorian d'Oliveira is cultuurfilosoof. In 2018 publiceerde hij zijn eerste filmessay in tijdschrift Bühne. Zijn literaire debuut maakte hij met Nachtengeltjes en driehoekjes (Aspekt 2018). Daarna was het tijd voor Lulu in Leiden. Een vrouwengeschiedenis (Aspekt 2020). In beide novelles spelen films een grote rol. Zijn essay over de Amerikaanse actrice Barbara Stanwyck werd opgenomen in de bundel Markante vrouwen (Aspekt 2023).

# # #  

Very soon, I will add this title to the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society 250+ page website, in particular the page titled, "Louise Brooks - Contemporary Books Covers II (nonfiction)", a companion page to "Louise Brooks - Contemporary Books Covers I (fiction)".

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.

Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks, to screen in Bath, England

Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at Green Park Station in Bath, England on October 20 as part of the FilmBath Festival 2024. This screening will feature a live musical accompaniment. More information about this event, including ticket availability, can be found HERE.

The promoter of the event is FilmBath. Here is what they say about the film: "Silent film & live music: Sonic Silents is a trio of masters of Bluegrass & American old-time country string-music, playing live, original, specially-composed scores to bring new life to legendary Hollywood silent movies of a long-gone era.

Presented by renowned musicians Kate Lissauer (Buffalo Gals band lead), Jason Titley and Leon Hunt, these three remarkable talents have joined together to reveal a thrilling, fresh, moving and often humorous approach to the legendary black and white Hollywood movie 'Beggars of Life', starring iconic actress Louise Brooks.

In an absorbing, poignant glimpse of a bygone time, this trio’s evocative playing and inventive percussive highlights reawaken the 1928 work of revered filmmaker William Wellman as they delight in joining the FilmBath Festival 2024

Bath Pizza Company and Bath Music Workshop Cafe will be open during the evening selling food and drinks. 

This event is part of BFI's Art of Action Season."

The first ever book on the film, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, was published by the Louise Brooks Society in 2017. The book is authored by LBS Director Thomas Gladysz, and features a foreword by author and actor William Wellman Jr. -- the son of the film's Academy Award winning Director.  (Purchase on amazon.)

More about Beggars of Life can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Beggars of Life (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.

Alpha Video Releases 3 Film Louise Brooks Collection on DVD

JUST AN FYI: Alpha Video, a budget label, has just released the Louise Brooks Collection, a three film - three disc set comprised of the Eddie Sutherland directed It's the Old Army Game (1926), the Frank Tuttle directed Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926), and the Howard Hawks directed A Girl in Every Port (1928). Over the previous few years, each of the three films had been released by Alpha Video on individual discs. The Louise Brooks Collection runs 219 minutes, and is available through Amazon. 

The Alpha Video release notes, "Louise Brooks, the most iconic actress of 1920s cinema known for her piercing eyes, athletic dancer's figure, and black helmet of bobbed hair stars in 3 films she made in America before leaving for Germany to make the groundbreaking Pandora's Box.

 

It is worth mentioning that It's the Old Army Game (starring W.C. Fields) has also been released on DVD by Kino Lorber. In my opinion, that is the preferred version. As of now, the other two films in this new release are also available elsewhere. Both Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (starring Evelyn Brent) and A Girl in Every Port (starring Victor McLaglen) are available through Grapevine Video: each of the Grapevine releases also includes a bonus short.

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.

Reminder, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Rochester, NY

This year, the now annual Silent Movie Day takes place on September 29, and to celebrate, the 95 year old Little Theater in Rochester, New York will screen Pandora's Box, which stars longtime Rochester resident Louise Brooks.

The Little Theater (240 East Ave. in Rochester) will screen Pandora's Box (1929) twice on September 29th, at 10:30 in the morning and 7:00 in the evening. More information, as well as ticket availability, can be found HERE. Thanks to Rochester resident Tim Moore for allowing me the use of this snapshot of the Little marquee.

According to the Little Theater website: "One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box.

Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.

Restored from the best surviving 35mm elements at Haghefilm Conservation under the supervision of the Deutsche Kinemathek with the cooperation of George Eastman Museum, the Cinémathèque Française, Cineteca di Bologna, Národní filmový archiv, and Gosfilmofond."

This showing of Pandora's Box is certainly a special occasion. A local website, RochesterFirst.com, ran a story on the screening titled "The Little Theater celebrates it's 95th anniversary." It includes a WROC-TV interview with Little theater communications director Scott Pukos.

The Little Theater opened in 1929, the same year Pandora's Box was released. Over the years, it has become the area's leading venue for classic films. Notably, in the 1960s and 1970s, while Louise Brooks was living in Rochester, the then former actress would sometimes go to the Little Theater to watch movies. 

UPDATE 9/29/2024: the NPR affiliate in Rochester, WHAM, ran a story titled "Rochester's Little Theatre celebrates Silent Movie Day with 'Pandora's Box'". And what's more, the story mentions me, Louise Brooks Society director Thomas Gladysz.

More about Pandora's Box can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Pandora's Box (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.

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Cambridge, Mass

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, will screen at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Friday, September 27 and Sunday, September 29, 2024 -- as part of a venerable theater's weekend long silent film series celebrating national silent movie day. More information about the event, as well as ticket availability, can be found HERE.

The venue's brief information page states: 

New 4K Restoration!

Director: G.W. Pabst Run Time: 141 min. Format: DCP Release Year: 1929

Starring: Carl Goetz, Francis Lederer, Fritz Kortner, Krafft-Raschig, Louise Brooks

Sensationally modern, PANDORA’S BOX follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu (the legendary Louise Brooks), whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, PANDORA’S BOX is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks. – Janus Films

An article appeared in Cambridge Day, a local publication, highlighting the other silent films being shown over the weekend. The other films include Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924) and The Navigator (1924), as well as Charlie Chaplin's The Circus (1928).

 

For more about the film see the newly revamped Pandora's Box filmography page on the new revamped Louise Brooks Society 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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Ambler, PA

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, will screen in Ambler, Pennsylvania (outside Philadelphia) on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 as part of the national silent movie day celebration. And what's more, the film will be shown with live musical accompaniment by the wonderful Ben Model. More information about the event, as well as ticket availability, can be found HERE.

According to the Ambler Theater website: "We’re celebrating Silent Movie Day with esteemed Accompanist and Film Historian Ben Model, who will join us to provide a live original score to a new restoration of one of silent cinema’s great masterworks, G.W. Pabst’s PANDORA’S BOX (1929).

German filmmaker G.W. Pabst had an innate eye for talent, which led him to cast one-time Ziegfeld girl and icon of flapper culture Louise Brooks, whose bob haircut was widely emulated. Brooks' legendary persona was suited for this modern tale of an amoral yet naive showgirl named Lulu, whose sexual vivacity leads to a downward spiral of violence. Upon release, PANDORA’S BOX was deemed lurid and controversial due to its subject matter, but the film now stands as a work of daring and stylish filmmaking. Featuring a truly enduring performance from the inimitable Brooks. In German w/ English intertitles. Presented in a new restoration. 

Restored from the best surviving 35mm elements at Haghefilm Conservation under the supervision of the Deutsche Kinemathek, with the cooperation of George Eastman Museum, and the collaboration of the Cinémathèque Française, Cineteca di Bologna, Czech Film Archive, and Gosfilmofond."

For more about the film see the newly revamped Pandora's Box filmography page on the new revamped Louise Brooks Society 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 © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1928

Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1928. Directed by William Wellman the year after he made Wings (the first film to win an Academy Award), Beggars of Life is a terse drama about a girl (Louise Brooks) dressed as a boy who flees the law after killing her abusive stepfather. With the help of a young hobo, she rides the rails through a male dominated underworld in which danger is close at hand. Picture Play magazine described the film as “Sordid, grim and unpleasant,” adding, “it is nevertheless interesting and is certainly a departure from the usual movie.”

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

Beggars of Life is based on the 1924 novelistic memoir of the same name by Jim Tully, a celebrated “hobo author” highly regarded by H.L. Mencken and other literati of the time. Though shot as a silent and released in that format, Beggars of Life has the distinction of being Paramount’s first sound film: a synchronized musical score, sound effects, a few lines of dialogue and a song were added to some prints at the time of the film’s release. Advertisements for the film boasted “Come hear Wallace Beery sing!” The gravel-voiced character actor and future Oscar winner plays Oklahoma Red, a tough hobo with a soft heart. Richard Arlen, who the year before had starred in Wings, plays a vagabond and Brooks’ romantic interest.

In 1928, Beggars of Life was named one of the six best films for October by the Chicago Tribune; it also made the honor roll for best films of the year in an annual poll conducted by Film Daily. Musical Courier called Beggars of Life ” . . . one of the most entertaining films of the littered season.” And Photoplay thought it “good entertainment.” Nevertheless, it is not especially well known today, and its grim story set among the desperate and the downtrodden drew mixed reviews upon release. One Baltimore newspaper said it would have limited appeal, quipping, “Tully tale not a flapper fetcher for the daytime trade.”

Louella Parsons, writing in the Los Angeles Examiner, echoed the sentiment when she stated, “I was a little disappointed in Louise Brooks. She is so much more the modern flapper type, the Ziegfeld Follies girl, who wears clothes and is always gay and flippant. This girl is somber, worried to distraction and in no comedy mood. Miss Brooks is infinitely better when she has her lighter moments.” Her cross-town colleague, Harrison Carroll, added to the drumbeat of disdain when he wrote in the Los Angeles Evening Herald, “Considered from a moral standpoint, Beggars of Life is questionable, for it throws the glamour of adventure over tramp life and is occupied with building sympathy for an escaping murderess. As entertainment, however, it has tenseness and rugged earthy humor.”

Critics in New York were also divided on the merits of Beggars of Life, and many of them instead focused on Brooks’ unconventional, cross-dressing appearance. In the New York Times, Mordaunt Hall noted, “Louise Brooks figures as Nancy. She is seen for the greater part of this subject in male attire, having decided to wear these clothes to avoid being apprehended. Miss Brooks really acts well, better than she has in most of her other pictures.” The New York Morning Telegraph stated, “Louise Brooks, in a complete departure from the pert flapper that it has been her wont to portray, here definitely places herself on the map as a fine actress. Her characterizations, drawn with the utmost simplicity, is genuinely affecting.” While Quinn Martin of the New York World wrote, “Here we have Louise Brooks, that handsome brunette, playing the part of a fugitive from justice, and playing as if she meant it, and with a certain impressive authority and manner. This is the best acting this remarkable young woman has done.”

Also getting attention for their role in Beggars of Life was Edgar “Blue” Washington. The Afro-American newspaper wrote, “In Beggars of Life, Edgar Blue Washington, race star, was signed by Paramount for what is regarded as the most important Negro screen role of the year, that of Big Mose. The part is that of a sympathetic character, hardly less important to the epic of tramp life than those of Wallace Beery, Louise Brooks and Richard Arlen, who head the cast.”

Girls dressed as boys, pastoral life gone wrong, the mingling of races, desperation depicted among the glitz and glamour of the twenties — there is a lot happening in Beggars of Life. It is, arguably, Brooks’ best American silent.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), France, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and Scotland). In the United States, the film was presented under the title Mendigos de la Vida (Spanish-language press) and Il Mendicante di Vita (Italian language press).

Elsewhere, Beggars of Life was shown under the title Les mendiants de la vie (Algeria); Bettler des Lebens (Austria); Meias indiscretag and Mendigos da vida (Brazil); Mendigos de la Vida (Chile); Mendigos de la Vida (Costa Rica); Mendigos de la Vida (Cuba); Žebráci života and Žebráky živote (Czechoslovakia); De Lovløses Tog (Denmark); Menschen Zijn Nooit Tevreden (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Elu wõõraslapsed and Eluvõõrad hinged (Estonia); Les mendiants de la vie (France); Az élet koldusai and Az orszagutak angyala (Hungary); I mendicanti della vita (Italy); Bettler des Lebens and Dzives ubagi (Latvia); Bettlers des Lebens (Les Mendiants de la Vie) (Luxembourg); Mendigos de vida (Mexico); Menschen Zijn Nooit Tevreden and Zwervers (The Netherlands); Ludzie bezdomni (Poland); Mendigos da Vida (Portugal); Strada cersetorilor (Romania); Mendigos de vida and Los mendigos de la vida (Spain) and Captaires de vida (Spain, Catalonian language); and Les mendiants de la vie (Switzerland).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Beggars of Life was under consideration by Paramount as early as September of 1925. 

— With an added musical score, sound effects, and a song sung by Wallace Berry (either “Hark the Bells” or “Don’t You Hear Them Bells?” or “I Wonder Where She Sits Tonight”), Beggars of Life is considered Paramount’s first sound film. In Baltimore, Beggars of Life was the first “talking sequence picture” to play in the Century Theater.

— “Beggars of Life” by J. Keirn Brennan and Karl Hajos was recorded by The Troubadours, Scrappy Lambert and other artists and released as a 78 rpm recording. The label of these recordings describe it as “Theme Song of the Motion Picture production.”

— Edgar Washington (1898 – 1970) was a prizefighter and noted semi-pro baseball player (in the Negro Leagues) before entering films in the late Teens. He was a pioneer among African-American actors, and was given the nickname “Blue” by friend Frank Capra. Also in the film in a bit part was Michael Donlin, an outfielder whose Major League career spanned from 1899 to 1914.

— In 1965, director William Wellman wanted to bring Louise Brooks to San Francisco and screen Beggars of Life as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival, but it never came to be. Instead, he screened Wings for a packed house at the local Masonic auditorium.

— The first ever book on the film, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, was published by the Louise Brooks Society in 2017. The book is authored by LBS Director Thomas Gladysz, and features a foreword by author and actor William Wellman Jr.  (Purchase on amazon.)

More about Beggars of Life can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Beggars of Life (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.

Overland Stage Raiders, with Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1938

Overland Stage Raiders, starring John Wayne, was released on this day in 1938. It was Louise Brooks' last film. In Overland Stage Raiders, the “Three Mesquiteers” (led by Wayne) fight bad guys in the modern-day west. The “stages” being raided are buses bearing gold shipments to the east. Airborne hijackers steal the gold, but the Mesquiteers defeat the crooks and then parachute to safety. The film stars John Wayne, who was then on the brink of stardom. Brooks plays his love interest.

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

For Brooks, Overland Stage Raiders was little more than a $300.00 paycheck. For columnists and critics, Brooks’ supporting role in this lowly B-western was yet another attempt at a comeback for a once famous star. Louella Parsons wrote “Louise Brooks, who used to get glamour girl publicity about her famous legs, is starting all over again as a leading lady in a Western with John Wayne.”

In the Fox West Coast Bulletin, the East Coast Preview Committee noted “The production is well acted and directed and presents several novel touches, as well as excellent photography.” Film Daily thought the “Fast-moving cowboy and bandit story will entertain the western fans. . . . George Sherman directed the picture, and gets a maximum of action and speed from the story.”

Variety went further, “This series improves with each new adventure. Starting out as typical cow country stories, Republic has seemingly upped the budget as successive chapters caught on. Raiders is as modern as today, yet contains plenty of cross-country hoss chases and six-shooter activity. . . . Louise Brooks is the femme appeal with nothing much to do except look glamorous in a shoulder-length straight-banged coiffure. . . . Should please juveniles and elders alike.”

Despite Brooks’ new hairstyle, and despite her appearance in this lesser film, there is little to redeem it. Brooks adored Wayne, but could not stand the humiliation of this sort of film. Overland Stage Raiders would be Louise Brooks’ last movie. She soon left Hollywood, and slid into decades-long obscurity.

As the years passed, John Wayne became of superstar, and in the 1950s his early films were re-released both in the United States and in Europe. And once gain, Overland Stage Raiders was shown in movie theaters, and in the 1960s and 1970s, on television. (Brooks was sometimes mentioned in the TV listings.) The posters and lobby cards for the later reissue emphasized Wayne’s name, while Brooks’ was deleted.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in the late 1930s and early 1940s in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Netherlands Antilles, Palestine (Israel), Sweden, and the United Kingdom (including England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, and Scotland); in the last-decades of the 20th Century, the film has also been shown, either in theaters or on television, in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, and elsewhere. In a few instances in the United States, the film was also promoted under the title 3 Mesquiteers.

Elsewhere, Overland Stage Raiders was shown under the title Bandidos Encobertos (Brazil); Pozemní stádioví lupiči (Czechoslovakia); Guet-apens dans les airs (France); Gold in den Wolken (Germany); Cavalca e spara (Italy); Ringo Cavalca e spara (Italy – later retitle); Gouddorst (The Netherlands); Gold in den Wolken (Poland); Guet-apens dans les airs (Switzerland); Грабители дилижансов (U.S.S.R.); Cavalca e spara (Vatican City); Ringo cavalca e spara (Vatican City – later retitle); Cabalga y dispara (Venezuela). In Italy, Overland Stage Raiders was re-released along with another John Wayne film, Red River Range, under the joint title Cavalca e spara.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— There were three movies based on William Colt MacDonald’s Three Mesquiteers books, all made before Republic took their turn with the series. Hoot Gibson played Stony Brooke in RKO’s Powdersmoke Range (1935), with Harry Carey as Tucson Smith and Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams as Lullaby Joslin. The movie was billed as ‘The Barnum and Bailey of Westerns!’ — its cast of cowboy stars, included Bob Steele and Tom Tyler (both would later become Mesquiteers in the series), along with William Farnum, William Desmond, Buzz Barton, Wally Wales, Art Mix, Buffalo Bill Jr., Buddy Roosevelt, and Franklyn Farnum.

— In the course of the 51 Republic movies, there were twelve actors who played the Mesquiteers in nine different teams. Robert Livingston was the first to play the part of Stoney Brooke in the Republic series. Wayne played the lead in eight of the 51 films in the Three Mesquiteers series released between 1936 and 1943.

— Overland Stage Raiders was one of two Westerns John Wayne filmed at Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California — a well known location for genre films. The other, made a few months after Overland Stage Raiders, was John Ford’s legendary Stagecoach (1939).

— On August 3, 1938 Joseph I. Breen, a film censor with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, wrote to  M. J. Siegel of the Republic Pictures Corporation recommending that the number of killings in the film be reduced and pointing out actions cut by censor boards, such as firing into the camera.

— Yakima Canutt and Tommy Coats performed stunts in Overland Stage Raiders.

More about  Overland Stage Raiders can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Overland Stage Raiders (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.

 

Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks, to screen in Denver on September 27

The Denver Silent Film Festival has announced its opening night film will be William Wellman's acclaimed hobo drama, Beggars of Life (1928), starring Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen and Louise Brooks. This screening will take place on Friday, September 27 at 7 pm. And what's more, the film will feature LIVE musical accompaniment by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. More information about the screening can be found HERE.

The Denver Silent Film Festival notes: "Louise Brooks – not yet an international phenomenon -- plays a young woman who kills her abusive stepfather, runs off with a hobo and hops trains disguised as a boy. Director William Wellman makes visceral the feeling of being unjustly pursued and living in constant danger. A beautiful and touching film, chosen for the festival by David Shepard honoree Anita Monga."

The print being screened comes from the collection of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.

Directed by William Wellman the year after he made Wings (the first film to win an Academy Award), Beggars of Life (1928) is a gripping drama about a girl (Louise Brooks) dressed as a boy who flees the law after killing her abusive stepfather. On the run, she rides the rails through a male dominated hobo underworld in which danger is close at hand. Picture Play magazine described the film as "Sordid, grim and unpleasant," adding, "it is nevertheless interesting and is certainly a departure from the usual movie."

In 1928, Beggars of Life was named one of the six best films for October by the Chicago Tribune, and, it made the honor roll for best films of the year in an annual poll conducted by The Film Daily.  Nevertheless, its grim story set among disheveled tramps drew mixed reviews upon release. One Baltimore newspaper said it would have limited appeal, quipping, "Tully tale not a flapper fetcher for the daytime trade."

Abroad, the film fared well. In Japan, Beggars of Life placed third among foreign films in the 1929 Kinema Junpō ranking of the year’s best motion pictures. Beggars of Life also placed on the 1932 Pour Vous readers poll of the best films of all time. 

In fact, at a time when most American films were shown only a few days or a week, Beggars of Life proved especially popular in Paris, where it enjoyed an extended weeks-long run. In fact, the film continued to be shown in Paris for another three years, with multiple screenings taking place in the French capitol as late as February, 1931. 

 

Why was Beggars of Life so well received in France? I think Louise Brooks' unusual starring role had a lot to do with it, but just as much of its popularity can be explained by the film's very American story line. French film goers then and now seemed to love cinematic Americana. For more about this classic film, see the newly revamped Beggars of Life filmography page on the new revamped Louise Brooks Society website.

Looking to learn more about Beggars of Life, both the film and the Jim Tully book on which it was based. I would like to recommend one or more of these three books. There is the 2003 reissue of Jim Tully's Beggars of Life: A Hobo Autobiography (from AK Press). There is the 2012 biography, Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler, by Paul Bauer and Mark Dawidziak (from Kent State University Press); and there is my own Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film (from Pandora's Box Press). The latter features a foreword by William Wellman Jr., the son of the acclaimed director of Beggars of Life.

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.