Lulu in Motown, Louise Brooks in Detroit

Back on December 8, 2006, I had the honor of introducing Pandora's Box before a screening of the film at the Detroit Film Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. Located within the Detroit Institute of Arts,
this historic venue was the first museum theater in the United States to screen film as art, prior
to similar screenings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It was an honor as well as a pleasure to introduce the film, as I had grown up in metro Detroit and to this day, the D.I.A. remains one of my very favorite art museums. 

The following piece is adapted from my 2006 introductory remarks. They are, if I may suggest, remarks to keep in mind when Pandora's Box is shown at the historic Senate Theater (6424 Michigan Avenue in Detroit) on March 22. (See the prior LBS blog post for further details.)

Before I say something about Pandora’s Box, I thought I might speak a little bit about Louise Brooks and her relationship with the Motor City. Yes, the gods do sometimes walk among us.  

Before she became an actress, Louise Brooks was a dancer. For more than two years, Brooks was a member of—and toured with—Denishawn, the leading modern American dance company of the teens and twenties. Led by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, the company included a who’s who of those who would shape modern dance in America. During the 1922-23 and 1923-24 seasons, the future actress—then still a teenager—danced alongside such legendary figures as Martha Graham, Charles Weideman, and Doris Humphrey. 

The company came to Detroit twice—first in March of 1923, and then again in March of 1924. As a member of Denishawn, Louise Brooks performed at Orchestra Hall, the current home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. According to contemporary accounts, the company enjoyed large crowds and received favorable reviews. 

Dance would play an important part in Brooks’ life. In the opening scene in Pandora’s Box, the actress performs a short dance—something Brooks had recalled from an earlier Denishawn routine. Later in life she would remark, “I learned to act by watching Martha Graham dance, and I learned to dance by watching Charlie Chaplin act.” 

It was an actress, however, that Louise Brooks made her greatest impression on the Motor City—especially its film critics. In the 1920’s, Detroit was a three paper town. There was the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, as well as the now defunct Detroit Times. Also covering the local arts and entertainment scene—including motion pictures—was a weekly called Detroit Saturday Night. Each of these publications reviewed new films, and each usually went out of its way to say something good or interesting about Louise Brooks. 

For example, Charles J. Richardson of the Detroit Times, in reviewing The American Venus—a somewhat risqué 1926 comedy which first brought Louise Brooks to public notice—stated “Louise Brooks, the former Follies chorine, makes her film debut in the production and does well in a small role. This Miss Brooks just now is the patron saint of all chorus girls seeking admittance into the sacred ranks of screen players.” That’s not a bad write-up for a first screen credit. 

Harold Hefferman, writing in the Detroit News, had also noticed the young actress in her first big role. He wrote “Louise Brooks, a black-haired boyish-bobbed entry . . . cuts quite a figure.” Indeed, throughout the 1920’s, Harold Hefferman would lavish praise on the actress time and again. The Detroit News critic nearly gushed while reviewing her next film, A Social Celebrity. “Louise Brooks, possessing one of the most striking and expressive faces ever to come to the screen, plays the heroine in a saucily successful manner.” 

Meanwhile, Hefferman’s journalistic rival, Charles J. Richardson, continued to express similar sentiments in his reviews for the Detroit Times. In writing about the 1927 comedy, Rolled Stockings, Richardson stated bluntly “Louise Brooks, as usual, is delightful to gaze upon.” Back then, critics sometimes wore their hearts on their sleeves. 

Admiration for the actress was not limited to the city’s male critics. During the 1920’s, Ella H. McCormick of the Detroit Free Press repeatedly singled out the actress. “Louise Brooks is the nifty stepper” she would write in May, 1926. A month later, reviewing It’s the Old Army Game, McCormick observed “W. C. Fields scored a splendid triumph in this picture. A great part of the success of the offering, however, is due to Louise Brooks, who takes the lead feminine part.” At year’s end, in her review of the December 1926 release, Just Another Blonde, McCormick would state “Miss Brooks is one of the best brunette contradictions to the lighter hypothesis that can be found on the silver screen.” 

In the mid-1930’s, as her film career began fade, Louise Brooks returned to dance— and once again returned to Detroit. With a partner, Brooks performed as a ballroom dancer in night clubs, theaters, and other Midwest and East Coast hotspots. In August of 1934, Louise Brooks danced at the Blossom Heath Inn on Jefferson Avenue. Today, that venue—which is located between 9 and 10 mile road—hosts weddings and bridal fairs, but back then the Blossom Heath Inn was a well known road-house which hosted prominent touring acts. 

At the time of her month-long engagement in what would become St. Clair Shores, both the Free Press and News ran the following notice in the night-club column of their respective papers. “Edward Fritz, proprietor of the Blossom Heath Inn, announces the engagement of the season’s greatest floor show, headed by Louise Brooks, motion picture star, and Dario, creator of the Bolero from the motion picture Bolero. Several other new acts are included.” It was an unimpressive dénouement to a remarkable career. Within a few years, Louise Brooks would appear in her last film, leave Hollywood, and sink into decades of obscurity. 

But things changed. Louise Brooks and her great European films—Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl, and Prix de beauté—were rediscovered. Today, the actress is best known for the role as Lulu in G.W. Pabst’s 1929 masterpiece. In his rather thoughtful article in this week’s Metro Times, Michael Hastings noted: “Has there ever been a more perfect, more tragic, more mythic fusion of actor and character than Louise Brooks’ Lulu in Pandora’s Box? The girl with the “black helmet” hairdo may not have been German, and she certainly didn’t go on a date with Jack the Ripper, but just about everything else in Brooks’ life leading up to and following her signature 1929 role became, in some weird, extrasensory way, the blueprint for director G.W. Pabst’s masterpiece of sexual suggestion.” 

Despite Louise Brooks’ now legendary status, there are those who have questioned her art. In her classic book about German expressionist film entitled, The Haunted Screen, historian Lottie Eisner asked, “Was Louise Brooks a great artist—or only a dazzling creature whose beauty leads the spectator to endow her with complexities of which she herself was unaware?” That’s a good, even provocative question—as it lies at the heart of the debate still surrounding the actress. 

When a heavily censored Pandora’s Box made its American debut in December of 1929, the critic for the New York Times wrote “Miss Brooks is attractive—and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction—it is often difficult to decide.” The N.Y. Herald Tribune added, “Louise Brooks acts vivaciously but with a seeming blindness as to what it is all about.” Other reviews were just as damning. 

Critics then—and critics today—call her talent into question. Is Louise Brooks a great actress?—or only someone who fools the audience and gets by on her looks? 

Admittedly, Louise Brooks is something of a problem in film history. She is unique among movie icons in that no other actress has made such an impact with so few films. Part of the problem is that a quarter of her films are lost. And today, Brooks’ reputation rests almost unfairly on one role—that of Lulu, a prototypical femme fatale in this 77-year-old film by G.W. Pabst.  

When a revised edition of The Haunted Screen was published in 1957, Lottie Eisner answered the question she had posed just a few years before. Then, in writing about the two films Brooks made with Pabst, Eisner asked if Brooks was a great artist. Now, revising her text, Eisner wrote something just as provocative: “Her gifts of profound intuition may seem purely passive to an inexperienced audience, yet she succeeded in stimulating an otherwise unequal director’s talent to the extreme. Pabst’s remarkable evolution must thus be seen as an encounter with an actress who needed no directing, but could move across the screen causing the work of art to be born by her mere presence. Louise Brooks, always enigmatically impassive, overwhelmingly exists throughout these two films. We know now that Louise Brooks is a remarkable actress endowed with uncommon intelligence, and not merely a dazzlingly beautiful woman.”

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

Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box screens in Detroit on March 22

Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in Detroit, Michigan on March 22. This presentation by Silents at the Senate will feature a live musical accompaniment by Andrew Rogers on the organ. More information about the event, which takes place at the historic Senate Theater (6424 Michigan Avenue in Detroit), can be found HERE. [ Doors open at 7 pm for this 8 pm screening, with a 7:30 organ recital. ]

 

 

According to the Senate website, "Silents at the Senate begins its 2025 season with Pandora’s Box, a silent masterpiece from Austrian director G.W. Pabst, starring the American flapper icon Louise Brooks! Come see this impeccable example of pre-sound cinematic artistry, accompanied by organist Andrew Rogers on our Mighty Wurlitzer theater pipe organ!  

Produced during the artistically vibrant Weimar Republic period in Germany, Pandora’s Box adapts two popular stage plays into a single tale of depravity, temptation, wrath and ruin. It’s melodrama at its finest, made on the eve of the sound era when the visual language of silent cinema reached its absolute peak.  

And with the majesty of the world’s best instrument for silent film accompaniment enhancing the imagery and emotions, the awesome power of live sound and recorded vision—the original magic of the movies—cannot be denied. 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts."

The Detroit area has long had a special relationship with Louise Brooks. Not only were her films shown there in the 1920s and 1930s -- though likely not at the Senate -- but Brooks herself danced in Detroit in the mid 1920s and mid-1930s.

 

The 900 seat Senate Theater is an historic venue, and one of the finest surviving theaters in Detroit. It opened in 1926, during the final few years of the silent film era. More information about the Senate and its history can be found on its about page, on its Wikipedia page, and on its Cinema Treasures webpage. 

The history of the Senate is a story in itself, as is the story of how it came to have its Mighty Wurlitzer. Here is a short 1964 documentary about the installation of the Senate's Mighty Wurlitzer. 

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

Another Louise Brooks-related mystery

In 1927, Louise Brooks' mother went on tour. Myra Brooks joined the Chautauqua circuit, an adult education / social movement that brought culture to small towns and communities across the United States with speakers, musicians and entertainers of all kinds. As such, Myra Brooks spoke in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee on the topic "The Girl of Today." (I will detail her tour in a later post.) 

Not surprisingly, local newspapers often referred to Myra as the Mother of the film star / "screen favorite" / young actress Louise Brooks. Once, in a slip of purple prose, Myra was even referred to as the Mother of "the charming queen of filmland." However Myra's daughter was referred to, certainly the highlight of Myra Brooks' Summer long tour was likely Benton Harbor, Michigan. The local newspaper, the News Palladium, even profiled the visiting speaker.

This article was the most significant coverage Myra Brooks received for her Chautauqua activities. It is also typical of what was written about her. It repeats many of the same talking points found in other articles published around the Midwest.

However, what stands out is the articles reference to Myra Brooks being the author of a "widely read" book, Health, Beauty, and Psychology. The article also mentions that Myra Brooks is an associate editor of The Golden Rule, a publication based in Chicago, and that she writes a regular column and weekly article. The mystery here is that no copy of Health, Beauty, and Psychology has ever been found. And what's more, I have never been able to find any of Myra Brooks articles, let alone issues of The Golden Rule. Other articles about Myra Brooks from the Summer of 1927 also mention the Golden Rule magazine, and the fact that she was a writer, but no others mention the book. In one instance, an article mentions that Myra Brooks is "a contributor to Golden Rule and Psychology of Health Magazines." Unless it is a mistake, this line suggests there were two magazines!

In his biography of Louise Brooks, Barry Paris also mentions that no copy of Health, Beauty, and Psychology is known to exist. My guess is that if it exists, it wasn't so much a book (of which there would likely be at least a record somewhere), but some sort of self-published booklet, like Louise's own The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing. Neither titles are listed on World-Cat, nor the Library of Congress online listings.

I think I was able to find out a little something about The Golden Rule, but could not lay my hands on any issues in order to read any of Myra Brooks reported contributions. If this is the same magazine, then The Golden Rule to which Myra contributed was first printed in 1919 by George Williams in Chicago. It was overseen by Napoleon Hill, the famous self-help author whose books include Think and Grow Rich (1937), one of the biggest selling books of the 20th century.

If anyone can access issues of The Golden Rule (from 1927, or 1926) and locate any of Myra Brooks' writings, that would be GREAT! And if anyone can located a copy of Health, Beauty, and Psychology, that would be even better. I am curious to know if they reference Louise Brooks. 

[Making matters more difficult, there was a populist poet of the time named Myra Brooks or Myra Brooks Welch who authored uplifting verse like "The Touch of the Master's Hand." Try searching for Myra Brooks and you will likely encounter the other Myra Brooks. Which explains why our Myra Brooks often had her name listed as Myra M. Brooks while on tour.]

A few weeks after Myra Brooks' August 1927 lecture in Benton Harbor, the 1927 Louise Brooks' film, Evening Clothes, opened at the local Liberty Picture theater. And in what was a first and only occurrence, the article about the film led with a reference to the actress' Mother!

Louise Brooks and The Chaperone in the news

This post begins with a reminder that the Louise Brooks-inspired film, The Chaperone, debuts on television this Sunday at 9 p.m. The film is set to air on PBS as part of Masterpiece. Check your local listings. The Chaperone will air again on Thanksgiving afternoon, with many stations across the country listing a 2 p.m. start time. Check your local listings for the time and channel in your area of the United States or Canada. (I also noticed at least one or two other PBS stations have scheduled repeat broadcasts of The Chaperone for other times during the week. Again, check your local listings.)

Because it is scheduled for broadcast, The Chaperone and "Louise Brooks" has been popping up on my news feed again and again. One article that caught my attention was John Anderson's November 21st piece in the Wall Street Journal, "The Chaperone Review: Traveling Companions With Baggage." It begins by placing Brooks in a larger context:

The year 1922 was the Big One for Modernism. "Ulysses" was published. So was "The Waste Land." Brecht's "Drums in the Night" had its stage debut and Joan Miró finished "The Farm." Meanwhile getting on a train in Wichita, Kan., to join the modern dance company of Ruth St. Denis was actress-to-be Louise Brooks—"the most seductive, sexual image of Woman ever committed to celluloid," as the British critic Kenneth Tynan described her in 1979. Brooks was a wonder, a sex symbol of disturbing volatility, but what's also evident now in her silent movies—specifically "Diary of a Lost Girl" and "Pandora's Box"—is how she occupied the space between her medium and her audience, creating a unique kind of screen acting, a way of existing on film that still seems new today.

Anderson's thoughtful reading of the film shines a light on a few of the film's actors and "two astounding performances. One is by Blythe Danner, who is on screen for mere minutes. The other is by Ms. McGovern. I'm not an Elizabeth McGovern completist, but it may be the best thing she's ever done." Haley Lu Richardson, the young actress who plays Brooks, is described as "always wonderful."

Newsday also ran a very brief piece on The Chaperone, as did a number of PBS station websites across the country. One that caught my attention was WKAR in Lansing, Michigan. I used to watch this station during my college days at Michigan State University, and the rush of memories compelled me to write a piece about Louise Brooks into the comments section.

When I attended Michigan State ever so long ago, I watched WKAR.... and when my news feed brought your write-up of The Chaperone to my attention, I immediately recognized your call letters. I now live in California, and am the Director of the Louise Brooks Society, as well as the author of four books on Louise Brooks, the dancer and silent film star. I wish to recommend The Chaperone to everyone in your viewing area. The film is a spirited depiction of the early life of a 20th century icon, and Haley Lu Richardson, as a teenage Brooks, gives an Oscar worthy performance.

Your viewers may be interested to know a little something regarding the film's local connection. As The Chaperone shows, a teenage Brooks left home in the summer of 1922 to go to New York City to study dance at Denishawn, then the leading modern dance company in America. That's where The Chaperone story ends..., but Brooks' story was only just beginning. After little more than a month, the 15-year old dance prodigy was asked to join Denishawn's touring company, whose members included not only legendary founders Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn (each are characters in the film), but also dance greats Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weideman. As a member of Denishawn, Brooks toured the United States for two seasons, playing in hundreds of cities and towns, including a number in Michigan. During Brooks' second season with Denishawn, the company came to Lansing, where on March 19, 1924 they danced at the now demolished Gladmer Theatre (231 N. Washington Avenue). At the time, there was considerable buzz around the event, which was sponsored by the local Zonta club, an organization of business and professional women. In fact, the Lansing State Journal ran a series of seven articles prior to the performance, each of which helped build local interest by naming the dancers and describing the costumes and music locals could expect to see and hear. The long review which appeared the following day suggests the performance was rapturously received; the Denishawn Company was said by the Lansing State Journal to "thrill the audience," and the newspaper noted a crowd remained to applaud the Denishawns until Ruth St. Denis made a curtain speech.

As depicted in The Chaperone, Brooks was an unruly teen. She was dismissed from Denishawn in May 1924. Within a year, however, she found work in the movies. A July 22, 1926 article in the Lansing State Journal titled “Little Louise Brooks Is on Way to Success” pointed the way to her eventual stardom. Within months, she was featured in films shown at the Gladmer as well as the Strand (211 S. Washington Avenue) and Capitol (204 N. Washington Avenue) theaters in Lansing. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Even though I have seen it three times already, I am looking forward to watching The Chaperone again on Sunday night, and in between Thanksgiving day preparations and celebrations, perhaps once again. How long does the turkey take to cook, with homemade stuffing?

BTW: The Chaperone is being released on DVD on Tuesday, November 26th.Click HERE is buy a copy. My brief amazon.com review, "A richly detailed period piece," reads "I like this film, and not just because it centers on a young Louise Brooks -- brilliantly portrayed in an Oscar-nomination worthy performance by vivacious Haley Lu Richardson. I like it because it is a worthy and richly detailed period piece which viewers of today can relate to -- just like Downton Abbey."

This post concludes with a reminder that the classic Louise Brooks' film, Pandora's Box, will be screened on Saturday, November 23 in San Diego, California - with live musical accompaniment. The San Diego Symphony Orchestra will screen the 1929 film at Copley Symphony Hall to mark the 90th anniversary of the San Diego Fox theater, which opened in 1929. The San Diego Symphony Orchestra will not appear as part of this performance, but instead, the film is accompanied by a live soundtrack performance on the Fox Theater Organ by Russ Peck. More information about this event can be found HERE.

Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino & Louise Brooks

During a recent trip to Michigan I found myself in Traverse City, where I went past the historic State Theater, which is owned by documentary filmmaker Micheal Moore. The State was showing Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood. Out front, in the sidewalk, are the hand prints of a few celebrities who have visited the theater. I noticed the lovely Geraldine Chaplin (the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and the star of one of my all-time favorite films, Doctor Zhivago).

A week later, I was in Los Angeles, and thanks to dear friends had the opportunity to attend a 35 mm screening of Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood at the historic Beverly Cinema, which is owned by Quentin Tarantino. I enjoyed the film a good deal, and thought I spotted a Louise Brooks-related Easter egg.... shortly after the legendary late 1960s LA nightclub Pandora's Box is depicted in Tarantino's film, a character named Lulu is introduced. Coincidence? Perhaps.

Coincidentally for real, in 1931, the Beverly showed one of the most unusual double bills I've ever come across while researching the career of Louise Brooks. That double bill featured the 1931 Paramount farce It Pays to Advertise (featuring Louise Brooks) and the 1929 German mountain movie White Hell of Pitz Palu (directed by G.W. Pabst during the months between his making Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl). What the patrons of the Beverly thought of this strange double bill one could only guess.

It is worth noting that Quentin Tarantino gave Pabst's White Hell of Pitz Palu a big shout out in his earlier film, Inglorious Bastards, as seen in the image below. Why, I can't say. Perhaps it's because Tarantino, like G.W. Pabst, is an indie director. And perhaps Tarantino feels an affinity for other independents and film history. Q., if you're reading this, drop me a line.

Another Review Round-up: the Louise Brooks inspired film, 'The Chaperone'

As The Chaperone continues to open around the United States, reviews continue to trickle in. The Chaperone has also opened in Australia, and star Elizabeth McGovern was on-hand to introduces the film. An earlier LBS blog on the Australian opening can be found HERE.

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Today, the films opens in Ann Arbor, Michigan where it will show at the historic Michigan Theater. I wrote an article to mark the occasion. My piece, titled "Louise Brooks Returns to Ann Arbor," looks at the shared history of the actress and the well known Midwest college town. The piece appears in the Ann Arbor Observer and can be found HERE.

I have written another similar article, "The Chaperone marks Louise Brooks return to Berkeley," which has yet to appear. Like my previous piece, it too looks at the shared history of another well known college town, which is far more extensive than most realize. (Louise Brooks made a film in Berkeley!) I expect my article will appear in a Bay Area publication sometime soon. And, I will update this blog post when it does.

If you haven't already done so, please check out my full review of The Chaperone, which is titled "Never the Victim: Louise Brooks and The Chaperone." It was published by Film International. [It was pointed out that my piece contains an error, the fact that actress Julia Roberts is not from Kansas, but from Georgia.]

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For a hyperlinked list of some of the earlier reviews and articles, please check out this earlier LBS blog HERE. Otherwise, here are a few more of the interesting reviews and articles so far. I will start with a couple pieces from college towns.

The Chaperone Should’ve Left Its Bland Story In the Past
by Hope Y. Kudo / Harvard Crimson

The Chaperone is tepid, vaguely charming period piece from Downton Abbey creator
by Camryn Bell / Daily Californian

Movie based on Lawrence author’s best-selling novel The Chaperone will have sneak preview at Liberty Hall
by Kathy Hanks / Lawrence Journal World

Lawrence author’s tale of famous Kansan is now a movie, with Downton Abbey pedigree
by Jon Niccum / Kansas City Star
Actress captures allure of Louise Brooks: Haley Lu Richardson dominates The Chaperone as future cult figure
by Tim Miller / Cape Cod Times

The Chaperone review: Youth takes on experience in portrait of two ladies
by Paul Byrnes / The Age

Why Elizabeth McGovern Found Louise Brooks And Her Chaperone So Alluring
by Jeryl Brunner / Forbes

Increasingly, more and more pieces are expressing their frustration that The Chaperone is not a full fledged Louise Brooks bio-pic (which it was never intended to be), and that such a film has yet to be made. IMHO: Haley Lu Richardson deserves an #Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role as Louise Brooks in #TheChaperone.

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The film is in limited release - so you will need to check the thechaperonefilm.com website for locations where it is showing. So far, it is not listed as showing in Wichita, Kansas, which is more than a little bit strange. It is not listed as opening in the town where I live - Sacramento, California. Despite the tepid reviews, go see it if you can. Haley Lu Richardson is terrific. I like The Chaperone and think most fans of Louise Brooks will as well.

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December Trip (part one)

Last month, my wife and I took a trip to Detroit, Michigan. I spent time with my family (I grew up on the east side of the city). I also had the opportunity to introduce Pandora's Box when it was shown at the Detroit Film Theater, which is part of the Detroit Institute of the Arts. (The DIA is the fifth largest fine arts museum in the United States. It has a great collection of paintings, sculpture and other works. Check it out if you're ever in the Motor City.)

I had intended to introduce the film three times, as it was being shown as many times over the course of the second weekend in December. A traffic jam on I-75, however, prevented me from making it to the Friday night screening. (I got there 15 minutes late - but the show must go on, and the film started without my introduction.) Nevertheless, I did make it to the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon screenings. There was an article about the film in a couple of the local papers. More than 500 people were in attendance for each showing. Wow!

Here is a picture of me sitting in the DIA theater before the film was shown on Saturday night. As you can see, it is a splendid theater which dates from the 1920's. (The theater will soon be closed for renovation.) I was told by one of the curators of film that this venue was the first museum theater in the United States to show films as "art." Screenings took place here before similar historic screenings at NY Museum of Modern Art.

And here is a pictue of me introducing the film. My rambling six minute introduction spoke a little bit Louise Brooks, about the LBS, about various centenary happenings, about Brooks' connections to Detroit, and about the film we all were about to see, Pandora's Box. I hope people liked what I had to say.

While in the Detroit-area, I took the opportunity to do a bit of research. I visited the Mount Clemens Public Library hoping to dig up something about Louise Brooks' 1935 dance engagement at the Blossom Heath Inn. (I spoke about this event in my introduction.) This one-time roadhouse is located in what is now St. Clair Shores, a suburb on the east side of Detroit. In the past, I acquired a few newspaper notices and advertisements in the major Detroit newspapers. Now, I thought I might look for additional material. As best I can figure, the only suburban newspapers covering this part of metro Detroit in the 1930's where those based in neighboring Mount Clemens. I looked through the Mount Clemens Daily Leader (daily) and Mount Clemens Monitor (weekly), but found nothing. Happily though, the librarians in the local history room gave me a few suggestions, including a contact at the St. Clair Shores library. So, maybe something futher will turn up. The hunt goes on.