My Afternoon with Louise Brooks

Last week, I was pleased to receive my copy of My Afternoon with Louise Brooks, Tom Graves' limited edition book recounting his encounter with the silent film actress. The book was issued in a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered hardback books. I received #44.

The other day, the author posted a message that noting a few copies are still for sale: "There are a very few copies left of My Afternoon with Louise Brooks out of this 100-copy limited edition. Get one before they are all gone forever. Each copy is signed by the author and numbered. Cost is $30.00 plus $4.00 postage in the U.S.. Foreign inquiries are welcome. Payment can be made through Paypal at: pullers2004@yahoo.com."

"The book contains two segments by author Tom Graves, the award-winning biographer of bluesman Robert Johnson and several other acclaimed books.  He was the last journalist admitted into the reclusive Louise Brooks' apartment in 1982 for an audience and an interview.  Although wary at first, Louise warmed up to the young writer and Graves writes a penetrating and incisive look at Louise Brooks in her final years.  Graves had begun a biography of Miss Brooks but she pulled her authorization leaving Graves with only one chapter -- about her childhood up to the point she left Kansas for New York. These two segments comprise this small jewel of a book that comes to 80 pages.  The book, at once a collectible, is certain to go up greatly in value."

 

One month left to get My Afternoon With Louise Brooks

This worthwhile Kickstarter campaign only has one month left, thus... I encourage everyone to check out My Afternoon With Louise Brooks - a limited edition, signed and number hardback book by Tom Graves. This Kickstarter campaign has already run one month, so check it out NOW! More information about this very special project can be found HERE.

Pledging today guarantees you one of the 100 signed and numbered copies of My Afternoon With Louise Brooks, Tom Graves' critically-acclaimed long-form journalism article about his visit to the apartment of silent film recluse Louise Brooks.  As a bonus, this special edition book contains the childhood chapter of the aborted Louise Brooks biography that Tom Graves wrote prior to being de-authorized by Miss Brooks.  The book is approximately 80 pages in length. This will be entirely a Kickstarter funded special edition geared for the fans of Louise Brooks who wish to know precisely what it was like meeting the famed cult figure in her declining years.  When the Kickstarter goal is met production will immediately begin and funders will receive a copy of the hardcover collectible book shipped to their home.  The book is limited to 100 copies and will NOT be available after this press run.  So pledge now to secure your copy or copies. I HAVE, AND YOU SHOULD TOO!

Tom Graves is best known as a writer of gritty fiction and nonfiction including his biography of bluesman Robert Johnson, Crossroads. His most recent book is the critically-acclaimed White Boy: A Memoir, the story of how Graves overcame the racism of his family and city. He was also a writer and producer of the Emmy-winning film Best of Enemies about the acrimonious 1968 debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. He owns the publishing company Devault Graves Books.

Q & A with Tom Graves, author of My Afternoon with Louise Brooks

If you haven't already done so, I would like to encourage you to check out Tom Graves' Kickstarter campaign for a limited edition copy of his book, My Afternoon with Louise Brooks. It is an account of the day Graves' spent with Louise Brooks back in 1980, when he was a young journalist.

As many of us are, Tom Graves is a longtime fan of Brooks deeply enamored by the actress and her films. Recently, he answered a few questions from the Louise Brooks Society about the actress and how he came to meet her.

LBS: Take us back to the beginning. How did you first come across Louise Brooks and her films?

TG: I saw Kenneth Tynan on The Dick Cavett Show and he was talking about his new book Show People. Cavett was more interested in Tynan's New Yorker profile of Louise than anything else. I was fascinated with his discussion because I did know who Louise Brooks was and about the film Pandora's Box, which I had not seen.  I bought his book, read the profile, and a film society soon after brought to Memphis Pandora's Box.  I was enthralled by it.

LBS: You are one of the few journalists who can claim to have met Louise Brooks. What led you to search her out?

TG: I thought she was deserving of a full biography beyond Tynan's great profile in The New Yorker.  I was 28 years old and excited by the prospect of writing my first book.  It took a great deal of moxie on my part to dare go to Rochester, New York in hopes of meeting her.  I had contacted Betty Fussell who had written an excellent biography of Mabel Normand.  Her advice to me was to go to Rochester and camp out on Louise's doorstep to get to meet her.  She thought that was a paramount importance. A few years ago Betty Fussell was at the Nashville Book Festival and I was also presenting a book there and I got a chance to finally meet her and tell her that because of her advice back in 1982 that I had actually gotten to spend an afternoon with Louise.

LBS: What was your initial impression of Brooks?

TG: That she was a bit of a grouch and really wasn't used to company.  Right off the bat I could tell how unusually intelligent she was. She spoke just like she wrote and she was a wonderful writer.  Thankfully she warmed up to me and we had a long and incredible conversation about many, many things.

LBS: What was her apartment like?

TG: I wrote that it was as orderly as an army foot locker.  Everything was in its place.  The books all had bookmarks and/or paperclips marking what I assumed was references to her.

LBS: Louise was a great reader. Do you remember seeing any particular books laying about?

TG: I do. One in particular stood out; it was Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopedia and it was bookmarked right where I deduced a reference to Louise was. I also noticed a copy of Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon and it appeared to be a foreign edition.  It was released abroad before being released in the U.S.  Again it had the paperclip marking it.

LBS: Do you have a favorite Louise Brooks' film?

TG: Yes, it would of course be Pandora's Box.  I don't think Diary of a Lost Girl is quite as good.

LBS: Of her lost films, which would you most like to see?

TG: I always have assumed Windy Riley Goes Hollywood was lost.  I'd be interested in it because it was after Pandora's Box plus it was directed by disgraced comedian Fatty Arbuckle.

LBS: Your long-form essay, "My Afternoon With Louise Brooks," has been published elsewhere. What is new with this limited edition book?

TG: The text itself is available in complete form in my book Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers. This book contains the best of my long-form journalism from the 80s until the present and the Louise Brooks material is the lead piece.  I seldom write articles or reviews any longer but concentrate on books. I always thought it would be great if my Louise pieces could be a book unto themselves and thought how nice it would be to have an antiquarian-grade small gift book available to other Louise Brooks true fans.  Its limited edition will make it an instant collectible to anyone who buys one of the 100 copies.

My Afternoon With Louise Brooks - Kickstarter campaign for a limited edition book

I encourage everyone to check out My Afternoon With Louise Brooks - a Kickstarter campaign for a limited edition, signed and number hardback book by Tom Graves. This Kickstarter campaign runs two months, so check it out NOW! More information about this very special project can be found HERE.

Pledging now guarantees you one of the 100 signed and numbered copies of My Afternoon With Louise Brooks, Tom Graves' critically-acclaimed long-form journalism article about his visit to the apartment of silent film recluse Louise Brooks.  As a bonus, this special edition book contains the childhood chapter of the aborted Louise Brooks biography that Tom Graves wrote prior to being de-authorized by Miss Brooks.  The book is approximately 80 pages in length. This will be entirely a Kickstarter funded special edition geared for the fans of Louise Brooks who wish to know precisely what it was like meeting the famed cult figure in her declining years.  When the Kickstarter goal is met production will immediately begin and funders will receive a copy of the hardcover collectible book shipped to their home.  The book is limited to 100 copies and will NOT be available after this press run.  So pledge now to secure your copy(s).

Tom Graves is best known as a writer of gritty fiction and nonfiction including his biography of bluesman Robert Johnson, Crossroads. His most recent book is the critically-acclaimed White Boy: A Memoir, the story of how Graves overcame the racism of his family and city. He was also a writer and producer of the Emmy-winning film Best of Enemies about the acrimonious 1968 debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. He owns the publishing company Devault Graves Books.