Focus on Louise Brooks Blu-ray set for release TODAY

Focus on Louise Brooks, the new disc of never-before-released films featuring Louise Brooks, is set for release today on the Flicker Alley website. (Amazon.com has a later release date set as February 13.) Focus on Louise Brooks is a must-have disc. Why? Because this is Louise Brooks like you haven't seen her before... this is Louise Brooks as she hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years! More information can be found on the Flicker Alley website HERE.

regular release (left)   and the   limited edition (right)

Focus on Louise Brooks, a single-disc Blu-ray compilation of the iconic star’s early performances, including her film debut in Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men. This exceptional 1925 melodrama has been fully restored and is being made available for the very first time, joined by extant materials from three additional Brooks features, The American Venus (1926), Just Another Blonde (1926), and Now We’re in the Air (1927). 

The Louise Brooks Society has long been intimately involved with this project, which was ten years in the making. This multi-region Blu-ray contains a treasure trove of early & rare Brooks performances with extant material from her earliest films brought together in one place, newly restored, and presented in a deluxe edition. Fore more about each title, see the LBS pages about each film.

• The Street of Forgotten Men /1925 / Directed by Herbert Brenon / 75 minutes / U.S. / Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• The American Venus (Extant Materials) / 1926 / Directed by Frank Tuttle / 8 minutes / Famous Players–Lasky (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Just Another Blonde (Fragment) / 1926 / Directed by Alfred Santell / 32 minutes / First National (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Now We’re in the Air (Fragment) / 1927 / Directed by Frank R. Strayer / 23 minutes / Paramount Pictures (LBS pages on the film)

Besides the above mentioned films and the rarely seen trailer of Just Another Blonde (which contains footage not seen in the surviving fragment), Focus on Louise Brooks also contains a generous selection of bonus materials. 

• Restoration Demo - A look at the painstaking process that went into preserving the films included in this set

• Audio Commentaries - Informative audio tracks are included with film scholar Pamela Hutchinson on The Street of Forgotten Men, with author and film historians Thomas Gladysz and Kathy Rose O’Regan on Just Another Blonde, and with Gladysz and Robert Byrne on The American Venus and Now We’re in the Air.

• Looking at Lulu - Explore the fascinating behind the scenes life of Louise Brooks with an extended featurette hosted by historian Pamela Hutchinson 

• Image Galleries - Featuring production stills and promotional material

• Booklet Insert - With an essay by film historian Thomas Gladysz and restoration notes by Rob Byrne

• English closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as subtitle tracks in English, Spanish, French, and German

• Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

And if that isn't enough to tempt you... There is a gorgeous limited edition spot gloss slipcover only available at the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. No major retailers will be stocking this item.

Louise Brooks may well be the only actress in the history of film who's uncredited bit part in her film debut nevertheless got her a review, in the Los Angeles Times, no less. As another newspaper stated following the release of Just Another Blonde, “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.” 

Focus on Louise Brooks presents Louise Brooks as she hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years. She is lively, coy, flirty, drop-dead gorgeous and a joy to behold. She is, indeed, something else. This new release is a disc silent film and Louise Brooks fans will want to own. 

Focus on Louise Brooks represents the first entry in a new Flicker Fusion series that will explore newly restored films, some lost and/or fragmentary, ripe for rediscovery, and featuring some of early cinema’s biggest names. I'll end this post with a few screen grabs which may tempt you further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More information can be found on the Flicker Alley website HERE.

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.   

Focus on Louise Brooks Blu-ray release delayed

FIRST THE BAD NEWS: Due to an unforeseen slow-down in the production process (including disc replication and quality control), the release of Focus on Louise Brooks has been delayed by two weeks. Flicker Alley had initially announced the Blu-ray disc would be released on January 13th, but that date has now been set back to January 27th.

AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS: The two week delay in the release of Focus on Louise Brooks means fans of the actress have a little more time to pre-order this must-have new disc. And what's more, those who pre-order can save $5.00 on either the standard or limited edition releases. More information can be found HERE.

Focus on Louise Brooks is a must-have disc. Why? Because this is Louise Brooks like you haven't seen her before... this is Louise Brooks as she hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years! 

Focus on Louise Brooks, a single-disc Blu-ray compilation of the iconic star’s early performances, including her film debut in Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men. This exceptional 1925 melodrama has been fully restored and is being made available for the very first time, joined by extant materials from three additional Brooks features, The American Venus (1926), Just Another Blonde (1926), and Now We’re in the Air (1927). More information on this new release can be found HERE.

The Louise Brooks Society has long been intimately involved with this project, which was ten years in the making. This multi-region Blu-ray contains a treasure trove of early & rare Brooks performances with extant material from her earliest films brought together in one place, newly restored, and presented in a deluxe edition. Fore more about each title, see the LBS pages about each film.

• The Street of Forgotten Men /1925 / Directed by Herbert Brenon / 75 minutes / U.S. / Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• The American Venus (Extant Materials) / 1926 / Directed by Frank Tuttle / 8 minutes / Famous Players–Lasky (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Just Another Blonde (Fragment) / 1926 / Directed by Alfred Santell / 32 minutes / First National (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Now We’re in the Air (Fragment) / 1927 / Directed by Frank R. Strayer / 23 minutes / Paramount Pictures (LBS pages on the film)

But wait, there's more.... 

Besides the above mentioned films and the rarely seen trailer of Just Another Blonde (which contains footage not seen in the surviving fragment), Focus on Louise Brooks also contains a generous selection of bonus materials. 

• Restoration Demo - A look at the painstaking process that went into preserving the films included in this set

• Audio Commentaries - Informative audio tracks are included with film scholar Pamela Hutchinson on The Street of Forgotten Men, with author and film historians Thomas Gladysz and Kathy Rose O’Regan on Just Another Blonde, and with Gladysz and Robert Byrne on The American Venus and Now We’re in the Air.

• Looking at Lulu - Explore the fascinating behind the scenes life of Louise Brooks with an extended featurette hosted by historian Pamela Hutchinson 

• Image Galleries - Featuring production stills and promotional material

• Booklet Insert - With an essay by film historian Thomas Gladysz and restoration notes by Rob Byrne

• English closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as subtitle tracks in English, Spanish, French, and German

• Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

And if that isn't enough to tempt you... There is a gorgeous limited edition spot gloss slipcover only available at the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. No major retailers will be stocking this item. Pre-order your copy today!

Louise Brooks may well be the only actress in the history of film who's uncredited bit part in her film debut nevertheless got her a review, in the Los Angeles Times, no less. As another newspaper stated following the release of Just Another Blonde, “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.” Amen.

Focus on Louise Brooks presents Louise Brooks as she hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years. She is lively, coy, flirty, drop-dead gorgeous and a joy to behold. She is, indeed, something else. This new release is a disc silent film and Louise Brooks fans will want to own. Pre-order your copy today!

Focus on Louise Brooks represents the first entry in a new Flicker Fusion series that will explore newly restored films, some lost and/or fragmentary, ripe for rediscovery, and featuring some of early cinema’s biggest names. I'll end this post with a few screen grabs which may tempt you further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this disc succeeds, who knows what else might be released. 

Do your part, and Pre-order your copy today! 

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. 

Once lost Louise Brooks films to have Blu-ray release

At last it can be told.... Flicker Alley and San Francisco Film Preserve have announced the release of Focus on Louise Brooks, a single-disc Blu-ray compilation of the iconic star’s early performances, including her film debut in Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men. This exceptional 1925 melodrama has been fully restored and is being made available for the very first time, joined by extant materials from three additional Brooks features, The American Venus (1926), Just Another Blonde (1926), and Now We’re in the Air (1927). More information on this new release can be found HERE.

The Louise Brooks Society has long been intimately involved with this project, which was ten years in the making. This multi-region Blu-ray contains a treasure trove of early & rare Brooks performances with extant material from her earliest films brought together in one place, newly restored, and presented in a deluxe edition. Fore more about each title, see the LBS pages about each film.

• The Street of Forgotten Men /1925 / Directed by Herbert Brenon / 75 minutes / U.S. / Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• The American Venus (Extant Materials) / 1926 / Directed by Frank Tuttle / 8 minutes / Famous Players–Lasky (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Just Another Blonde (Fragment) / 1926 / Directed by Alfred Santell / 32 minutes / First National (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Now We’re in the Air (Fragment) / 1927 / Directed by Frank R. Strayer / 23 minutes / Paramount Pictures (LBS pages on the film)

Besides the above mentioned films and the rarely seen trailer of Just Another Blonde (which contains footage not seen in the surviving fragment), Focus on Louise Brooks also contains a generous selection of bonus materials. 

• Restoration Demo - A look at the painstaking process that went into preserving the films included in this set

• Audio Commentaries - Informative audio tracks are included with film scholar Pamela Hutchinson on The Street of Forgotten Men, with author and film historians Thomas Gladysz and Kathy Rose O’Regan on Just Another Blonde, and with Gladysz and Robert Byrne on The American Venus and Now We’re in the Air.

• Looking at Lulu - Explore the fascinating behind the scenes life of Louise Brooks with an extended featurette hosted by historian Pamela Hutchinson 

• Image Galleries - Featuring production stills and promotional material

• Booklet Insert - With an essay by film historian Thomas Gladysz and restoration notes by Rob Byrne

• English closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as subtitle tracks in English, Spanish, French, and German

• Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

And if that isn't enough to tempt you... There is a gorgeous limited edition spot gloss slipcover only available at the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. No major retailers will be stocking this item. Pre-order your copy today! The listed release date is January 13, 2026.

 

Louise Brooks may well be the only actress in the history of film who's uncredited bit part in her film debut nevertheless got her a review, in the Los Angeles Times, no less. As another newspaper stated following the release of Just Another Blonde, “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.” Amen.

Focus on Louise Brooks presents Louise Brooks as she hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years. She is lively, coy, flirty, drop-dead gorgeous and a joy to behold. She is, indeed, something else. This new release is a disc silent film and Louise Brooks fans will want to own. Pre-order your copy today!

Focus on Louise Brooks represents the first entry in a new Flicker Fusion series that will explore newly restored films, some lost and/or fragmentary, ripe for rediscovery, and featuring some of early cinema’s biggest names. I'll end this post with a few screen grabs which may tempt you further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this disc succeeds, who knows what else might be released. Do your part, and Pre-order your copy today! 

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.   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

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

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

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

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

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

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Louise Brooks and Sherlock Holmes, a certain overlap

Louise Brooks and Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and Louise Brooks. Those are two names not often, if ever, associated with one another. Louise Brooks was an American movie star whose heyday was the 1920s, the silent film era. Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character from the Victorian era, a master sleuth, and the creation of the celebrated English author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). They would seem to have nothing in common, and little overlap. Except that they did, on at least a couple of occasions that I have come across (so far). The game is on.

The first bit of overlap took place in Cape Town, South Africa in 1928, when the First National Film Just Another Blonde (1926) was shown at the local Grand Theatre. This "tip-top picture", which starred Dorothy Mackaill, Jack Mulhall, and Paramount loan-out Louise Brooks (not named) in a supporting role, was playing around the same time as the one and only Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was giving a couple of in-person lectures at the local City Hall on the subject of life after death. If I read this ad correctly, Doyle's second lecture, on November 26th, featured 40 slides. 

The other overlap betwixt Louise Brooks and Sherlock Holmes, which I just came across, took place a world away. The occasion was a screening of The Canary Murder Case (1929), the film version of S.S. van Dine's celebrated murder mystery. Louise Brooks starred in the film in the title role, as "The Canary." The film played in Madison, Wisconsin in March 1930. And the advertisement for the screening of the movie at the Majestic ran next to an ad for a stage appearance by William Gillette (1853 – 1937) at the local Garrick theater. Gillette achieved great fame for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage, and later in a 1916 film. The then elderly Gillette, who would pass away 7 years later, was then on his farewell tour, playing the role of Holmes in a stage play authorized and adapted by Gillette from a draft by Doyle.

 

To me, it is remarkable that Louise Brooks and Sherlock Holmes, two icons, should overlap in time, if only coincidentally.

Coca-Cola and Crackerjacks and Louise Brooks

William Collier Jr. and Louise Brooks enjoy a Coke on the set of Just Another Blonde (1926). Boxes of Crackerjacks can be seen just over her right shoulder.

Just Another Blonde status

Fragments of the 1926 Louise Brooks' film, Just Another Blonde, still exist. The film has long been considered lost. To find out more, visit this archive record on the UCLA website