The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, opened on this day in 1926

The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, opened on this day in 1926.** The film is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. In The American Venus, Brooks plays Miss Bayport, a beauty contestant and "mannequin" (then a term for a fashion model). The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, but the first for which she received screen credit. Brooks made something of a splash, and it was this film and her next, A Social Celebrity, which proved to be her “break-out” roles.

Notably, The American Venus was among the earlier films to feature Technicolor. Based on what can be gleamed from surviving records and reportage of the time,  there are three scenes in the film which utilize the process. One is of the boardwalk parade of beauty contestants at the Atlantic City beauty pageant, the second is of an artistic tableaux, and the last is a fashion revue. 

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website's filmography page. Surviving  material from the now mostly lost film can be found on Focus on Louise Brooks, a Blu-ray release from Flicker Alley. It's essential viewing for any fan of the actress.

Louise Brooks and Ford Sterling in The American Venus

The American Venus proved popular upon release. Rose Pelswick, writing in the New York Evening Journal, stated “Famous Players-Lasky tied up with the recent beauty contest, and the result is a bewildering succession of events that range from artistic tableaux to a Keystone comedy chase.” Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded favorably to its scantily clad bathing beauties, elaborate tableaux and fashion show, as well as the film’s pioneering use of Technicolor. The critic for the Boston Herald wrote, “The scenes made at Atlantic City and during the prologue are artistically done in Technicolor. Comedy relief in abundance is furnished by a wild automobile chase replete with giggles and thrills. The picture on the whole is entertaining.”

All-in-all, The American Venus proved to be a popular if not a critical success, and it was widely reviewed. However, not all were pleased with this otherwise frothy comedy. Quinn Martin, writing in the New York World, called the film “A glittering piece of dramatic trash, as cheap a thing and still as expensive looking as anything I have seen from the Paramount studio…. It presents a raw and effortful desire to photograph scantily attired women without any sensible or appreciable tendency to tell a reasonably alive or plausible story. Any nervous high school boy might have done the plot and there isn’t a director in captivity who could not have told the cameraman when and where and how to shoot.”   

Harrison’s Reports, an industry trade journal, echoed the comments found in other publications: “The only striking feature about it is the technicolor scenes; they are extremely beautiful. But some of them will, no doubt, prove offensive to church going people, particularly in the small communities, because of the fact that women’s legs, backs, sides and abdomens as low as below the navel, are shown aplenty. Women in tights have been shown in his pictures by Mack Sennett, but he has never been so ‘raw’; at least he had the girls wear brassieres, whereas Jesse Lasky has his girls wear nothing under the bathing suits, with the result that the women’s outlines of their breasts are clearly seen. In places there isn’t even the thin cloth of the bathing suit to cover the flesh.” Likewise, the Washington Herald noted, “Many of the tinted scenes of the fashion review were very daring in their exposure of the Atlantic City bathing girls. Once scene especially drew forth gasps from the audience; whether from shock or admiration, we cannot say.” The New York Daily News put it succinctly, titling its review, “American Venus Has Small Plot — But Also Few Clothes.” 

The American Venus even drew the notice of the future Pulitzer prize winning poet, Carl Sandburg, who was then reviewing films for the Chicago Daily News. Soon-to-be famous poet liked the film, calling it "a smart takeoff on our national custom," meaning beauty contests. Sandburg added, “The tricks of the magician, who produces an amazing array of gowns worn by picked mannequins, employs the motion picture technique at what it can do most skillfully. Esther Ralston and Fay Lanphier are the feminine talent, also Edna Oliver and Louise Brooks.”

The film also found tongue-in-cheek favor with renown playwright Robert E. Sherwood. Writing in Life magazine, Sherwood call the film “The primmest bit of box-office bait ever cast into the sea of commercialism…. The American Venus is to cinematographic art what the tabloid newspaper is to journalism. It is designed to appeal to those charming people who fill out the coupons and enclose their dollars for ‘Twelve Beautiful Photographic Studies of Parisian Models in Nature’s Garb’. Not that it is the least bit immoral. On the contrary, it is flamingly virtuous and teeming with the highest principles of 100 per cent American go-gettery.”

The stars of the film, which was even called a “shape show” by some publications, were Esther Ralston, a renown beauty, and Fay Lanphier, the reigning Miss America. Ford Sterling, one of the original Keystone Kops, and Lawrence Gray, were in support. Louise Brooks, who had a smaller role and was billed fifth, was noticed and made something of a splash. Brooks was featured in the film's promotion, on a lobby card and film poster, as well as in advertisements. She was also mentioned in reviews and singled out by a handful of critics. The female critic for the New York Evening Journal noted Brooks’ “distinct screen personality,” while the male critic for the New York World stated Brooks was “better looking than any of the other brunettes now acting in films.”

Despite criticisms, The American Venus proved popular, and continued to play in the United States for more than two and a half years — often as part of a double-bill or in second run houses — well into the spring and summer of 1928.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

– Fay Lanphier enjoyed considerable fame after winning the 1925 Miss America contest; she wrote articles and made personal appearances around the country – many in conjunction with the screening of The American Venus. Her movie career, however, never developed. Lanphier appeared in only one other film, a Laurel and Hardy short titled Flying Elephants (1928). Later, the honey-blond beauty worked as a stenographer in Hollywood. 

– Miss Bayport, the role played by Louise Brooks, was originally assigned to Olive Ann Alcorn, a stage and film actress who had bit parts in Sunnyside (1919) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

– Townsend Martin, whose story served as the basis for the film, was a college friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald. According to the New Yorker and other publications, famed humorist Robert Benchley wrote the film’s titles.

– Joe Mielziner, who designed the film’s artistic tableaux, was the brother of actor Kenneth MacKenna, who played Horace Niles in The American Venus 

– According to the 1999 book, Russian Writings on Hollywood, author Ayn Rand reported seeing The American Venus in Chicago, Illinois not long after she left the Soviet Union.

More about The American Venus can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The American Venus (filmography page).

** See the next Louise Brooks Society blog post on this film's tangled release history.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

Louise Brooks and a lost technicolor tableau from The American Venus

Back in 2018, a three second fragment of technicolor film featuring Louise Brooks was discovered at the BFI (British Film Institute) National Archive. The all-to-brief piece is from The American Venus (1926),  Brooks' second film though her first credited role. 

The American Venus was one of the earlier examples of the use of Technicolor. In fact, the use of Technicolor in the Frank Tuttle-directed film was considerable, as there are at least three scenes -- according to reportage from the time -- which utilize the process. One is the boardwalk parade of beauty contestants at the Atlantic City beauty pageant, the second is of a series of artistic tableaux, and the last is of a fashion revue. 

In all likelihood, the three second fragment comes from one of the tableau, which does not survive. Here is a screen grab from that three-second fragment.

In The American Venus, Brooks plays Miss Bayport, a beauty contestant and "mannequin" (then a term for a fashion model). The film includes at least one tableau, which were a kind of still-life staging of a scene.  The three second fragment is certainly from a staged scene in which models held their pose --  notice the dark pole at Brooks' feet, which was used to position and steady the actress.

That tableau was pictured in the June, 1926 issue of Film Fun magazine. The window grate seen in the clipping below matches the grate seen in the video fragment. I wonder if the faint figure behind the left window grate shown below might be Louise Brooks? As in the video fragment, this figure is also standing on a raised platform.

Film Fun was a humor-focused movie magazine, and the caption to the image below read "Lady in the left window: I wonder why Helen of troy had such a reputation for beauty. Lady in the right window: Why, that's easy to see. She got all her clothes from Paris."

At the time of the film's release, both newspapers and local censorship boards noted the skimpy outfits worn by many of the women in the film. To our eyes today, this is pretty tame stuff. But back then, such skimpy outfits -- like the one Brooks is seen wearing in the video fragment, amounted to nudity. (The term "nudity" was in fact used in a few critiques of the film.) As is evident in the above clip, Brooks' belly button and midriff are clearly visible. At the time, such exposure pushed the boundaries of decorum.

The American Venus was a big success, and was widely reviewed. Rose Pelswick, writing in the New York Evening Journal, stated “Famous Players-Lasky tied up with the recent beauty contest, and the result is a bewildering succession of events that range from artistic tableaux to a Keystone comedy chase.” However, Quinn Martin, writing in the New York World, called the film “A glittering piece of dramatic trash, as cheap a thing and still as expensive looking as anything I have seen from the Paramount studio…. It presents a raw and effortful desire to photograph scantily attired women without any sensible or appreciable tendency to tell a reasonably alive or plausible story. Any nervous high school boy might have done the plot and there isn’t a director in captivity who could not have told the cameraman when and where and how to shoot.”  

Soon-to-be famous poet Carl Sandburg liked it, calling the film a "a smart takeoff on our national custom," meaning beauty contests. The film also found favor with playwright Robert E. Sherwood. Writing in Life magazine, Sherwood call the film “The primmest bit of box-office bait ever cast into the sea of commercialism…. The American Venus is to cinematographic art what the tabloid newspaper is to journalism. It is designed to appeal to those charming people who fill out the coupons and enclose their dollars for ‘Twelve Beautiful Photographic Studies of Parisian Models in Nature’s Garb’. Not that it is the least bit immoral. On the contrary, it is flamingly virtuous and teeming with the highest principles of 100 per cent American go-gettery.”

The still below from The American Venus, another posed scene with very little movement, features a small group of models wearing what appear to flesh-colored body stockings. (Louise Brooks is not among them.) On first glance, they appear "nude" -- which suggest why some called the film a "shape show". There were also reports from the time of audiences gasping at what they perceived to be nudity, or near nudity. Consequently, there were calls for censorship from Chicago to Canada and India and beyond. The film was banned in the province of Quebec due to “nudities.” While Bengali censorship records from 1927 called for the elimination of close-ups of women in the film’s tableaux, noting “The figures are too naked for public exhibition.”

Another tableau in The American Venus (and which likewise does not survive) was made into a still and later featured on a German postcard. In Germany, the film was titled Die Schönste Frau der Staaten. And, BTW, that is Louise Brooks seated front and center.

One other tableau-like fashion show can be seen in the surviving footage from The American Venus on the soon-to-be-released Blu-ray, Focus on Louise Brooks, from Flicker Alley. This same staged scene is also pictured on one of the film's jumbo lobby cards, which is shown below. (My apologies about the poor quality, but this is the best I have.) Louise Brooks makes an appearance in this scene, slapping the MC.

More about The American Venus can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The American Venus (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 content copyright © 2026. 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. And what's more, this is one of the four films featured on the forthcoming Flicker Alley Blu-ray, Focus on Louise Brooks. Pre-order your copy today.

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 content copyright © 2025. 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 content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.    

The Show Off, with Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926

The Show Off, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film a satiric comedy about an insufferable braggart who disrupts the life of a middle-class family. While remembered today as a Louise Brooks film, The Show-Off is really a vehicle for Ford Sterling, a comedian best remembered for his starring work as a member of the Keystone Kops. As a broad comedian, he is the perfect choice for the role of the titular blowhard Aubrey Piper. Brooks plays a supporting role as the love interest of the boy who lives next door. 

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

 

Based on a popular stage play by an acclaimed playwright, The Show-Off was considered a prestige project — and thus drew a significant amount of critical attention along with inevitable comparison to its Broadway namesake. Motion Picture News proclaimed, “The picture is funnier than the play.” However, Billboard magazine disapproved, stating the film “has emerged considerably worse for the wear in its trip from the legit to the silver screen.” The critic for the San Jose Evening News countered, adding “The Show-Off is undoubtedly one of the biggest comedy hits of the year.”

John S. Cohen Jr. of the New York Sun wrote, “Directed by Malcolm St. Clair, the film boasts of exceptional naturalistic acting on the part of Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Claire McDowell, C. W. Goodrich, Gregory Kelly and – in one sequence – Louise Brooks . . . . Miss Brooks is best in the scene where she burlesques the pantomime employed by Mr. Sterling to describe his automobile experience.”

Famed author Robert E. Sherwood, named it a “recommended” film in McCall’s magazine. Writing in Life, he said the director “has taken a simple play of average American life and made a genuinely tender, touching, sympathetic picture of it”. Sherwood went on to call the film “a worthy reproduction of a great comedy.” Later, in Mirrors of the Year, an annual published in 1927, The Show-Off was deemed “a remarkable artistic achievement” and one of the best films of 1926.

Along with comparison to the play, criticism of The Show-Off also focused on Brooks. The critic for the Ann Arbor Times News thought Brooks almost “ran away with the picture.” While Peggy Patton of the Wisconsin News said Brooks “adds a dash of color to the offering with her daring personality.”

Other critics, however, disagreed — and a number found fault with her appearance. Dorothy Herzog of the New York Daily Mirror wrote “Louise Brooks spitfires, prisses, oogles and calls it a day of heavy emoting. Miss Brooks is a distinct type, but she seems to suffer from inefficient direction and miscasting. She also appears a trifle rounded, for and aft, in this opera, but this may be due to her skin-tight dresses.”

Norbert Lusk of Picture-Play echoed Herzog’s comments, stating “Lois Wilson tossed aside opportunities for shrewd characterization by wearing Paris frocks as a daughter of the Philadelphia poor. Louise Brooks, another little sister of poverty, likewise offended.” Frank Aston of the Cincinnati Post added an exclamation mark with a bit of snark when he noted, “And henceforth and forever when we think of The Show-Off we shall picture Louise Brooks and her display of hosiery.”

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hong Kong, Jamaica, New Zealand, Panama, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).

The Show-Off was shown elsewhere under the title Moi; Moi… (Belgium); O Mostrador and O Fanfarrão (Brazil); El Fachendoso (Cuba); Se chlubit (Czechoslovakia); De Windbuil (Dutch East Indies); Aubrey, sa oled kangelane! and Rahamehest (Estonia); Storskrytaren and Suurkerskuri (Finland); Moi; Moi… (France); Il Vanitoso (Italy);  駄法螺大当り or Dabora dai tōri (Japan); El Fachendoso (Mexico); Før og efter Byllupet (Norway); El Fachendoso (Spain); and Moi (Switzerland).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— The Show-Off (1924) was authored by Philadelphia-born George Kelly (1887–1974), an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. Besides being the uncle of the Oscar winning actress Grace Kelly (the future Princess Grace of Monaco), George Kelly was considered by some (Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and others) as one of the finest  dramatists of the 1920s — alongside the likes of Sherwood Anderson and Elmer Rice. Besides The Show-Off, Kelly was best known for Craig’s Wife (1925), which won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a motion picture on three occasions. His first play, The Torch Bearers, was also highly regarded.

— The Show-Off is one of two films that co-starred the popular Broadway actor Gregory Kelly (no relation), who died shortly after The Show-Off finished production. Gregory Kelly was the first husband of actress Ruth Gordon.

More about The Show-Off can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The Show-Off (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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Love ’Em and Leave ’Em, starring Louise Brooks, shows at BFI in London on August 18

Love ’Em and Leave ’Em (1926), starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the BFI (British Film Institute) NFT 2 in London on August 18. A 78 minute, 16mm print from the BFI National Archive will be shown at this rare screening, which will include an introduction and live piano accompaniment. (There are no details on who will give the intro or play the piano.) Tickets go on sale July 4. More information can be found HERE.

Love ’Em and Leave ’Em is a delightful film, and it proved popular in its day on both sides of the Atlantic. According to the BFI website,"Louise Brooks proves she is more than just a proficient at the Charleston in this snappy comedy of sibling rivalry. She almost out-acts the film’s star, Evelyn Brent, who plays the elder sister who has promised her mother to keep the vampish youngster out of trouble. It was Brooks’ best performance to date – ably directed by Frank Tuttle – and heralded her transfer to Hollywood and true stardom."

Critics praised the film and Brooks' role in it. In fact, many suggested Brooks stole the film from star Evelyn Brent. 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.”

Along with Louise Brooks and Evelyn Brent, Love Em and Leave Em also features leading man Lawrence Gray as well as Osgood Perkins, an accomplished stage actor and the father of later famwed actor Tony Perkins. Also in the cast is Ed Garvey, a star football player at Notre Dame, and Anita Page, who reportedly had an uncredited bit part.

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. And what's more, the remake was directed by Brooks' ex-husband Eddie Sutherland.

More information about the film can be found on the Love Em and Leave Em (filmography page) on the newly 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.