Rolled Stockings, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927

Rolled Stockings, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927. The film is a drama set among students at the fictional Colfax College. It was one of a number of similarly-themed films aimed toward the youth market of the 1920s. Besides Louise Brooks, who was then 20 years old, its cast included a few of Paramount's "junior stars" -- then up-and-comers Richard Arlen, James Hall, Nancy Phillips, and El Brendel. Brooks plays the love interest of two brothers, one a fop, the other an athlete. 

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

To add verisimilitude, Rolled Stockings was largely filmed on and around the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It also includes footage of actual crew races between the University of California and the University of Washington.

A summer release, the film proved popular wherever it was shown. Harrison’s Reports, a film industry trade journal, described Rolled Stockings as "a light comedy drama of college life" that was "Pretty good entertainment for the hot weather." The Chicago Tribune named it one of the six best films of June, 1927. Not surprisingly, the film found a receptive audience in college towns across the country. The critic for the Ann Arbor Times News, for example, appreciatively stated "The three stars, Louise Brooks, James Hall and Richard Arlen are so thoroughly likable and the story so different from the usual line of college bunk, that Rolled Stockings proves to be a delightful bit of cinema entertainment."

Rolled Stockings was a cut above many of the other motion pictures about the younger generation. The Seattle Times praised the film, noting "Paramount’s ‘youth’ picture, which is now at the Coliseum Theatre, has everything -- a thrilling college crew race, some exciting automobile scenes, snappy comedy, a good love story and lots of pep." Regina Cannon of the New York American proclaimed, "This is another college story and it is realistic enough to be entertaining. . . . Louise Brooks is seen for the first time in a ‘straight’ role. This child is so smartly sophisticated that it has seldom been her lot to portray anything but baby vamps on the screen. She has an unusual personality which the camera catches and magnifies, dresses snappily and makes the most of her every movie moment.”

Critics were divided on Brooks, the star of the film. Some noted her "provoking presence" and "demure charm, with its tricky suggestion of mild sophistication." The Los Angeles Examiner wrote, "Louise Brooks is utterly adorable as Carol Fleming. She is exactly the type college boys swoon over. She displays a sincerity in her work that has been absent from her previous roles. Though this particular part offers little opportunity to show any great acting, she measures up splendidly in the few scenes that border on the emotional." Across town, the Los Angeles Daily Illustrated News stated "Louise Brooks, judging by this film, is destined to go a long way. She has some of Colleen Moore's qualities with a dash of Florence Vidor thrown in, and a lot of her own distinctive personality."

The New York Daily Mirror countered, stating "Louise Brooks looks remarkably like Clara Bow, though she lacks the famed pep of our national flapper." The Washington Times went even further, "The leading role is borne by Louise Brooks and the part could have been better cast. Miss Brooks has the bad habit of stalking through her screen parts like an automaton and her face is devoid of emotion under all circumstances." In a piece titled "Louise Brooks Shows Acting Ability in Rivoli Feature," Mark K. Bowman found middle ground in the Portland Oregonian, "In the past Miss Brooks has been accused of strutting instead of acting, but it is apparent in this latest picture that she is endeavoring to do less posing, which is a promising move."

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

-- The film was based on a topical story, "Sheiks and Sheibas," by Frederica Sagor. Along with raccoon coats, flagpole sitters, goldfish swallowers, hip flasks, and ankle watches, rolled stockings worn by women were one of the many fads of the Jazz Age.

-- Rolled Stockings was first called Sheiks and Sheibas, but the title was changed because it conflicted with a First National property. At different times, different trade journals reported that Monty Brice and then Frank Strayer would direct the film, with Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Sterling Holloway among the cast.

-- Sally Blane, who had an uncredited part in Rolled Stockings, was born Elizabeth Jane Young and was the sister of actress Loretta Young.

-- Grover Jones, a gag man, doubled as director while the Rolled Stockings  company was on location in Berkeley, California. Director Richard Rosson was summoned to Hollywood by the death of his mother and Jones took the microphone and directed shots of the California-Washington boat race.

-- Years later, in an interview, Brooks said director Richard Rosson didn't want to direct the film, and in fact, didn't even want to be a director. "He'd been Allan Dwan's assistant, and it was an assistant that he wanted to be. During [this picture] he sat sweating, with a trembling script. There wasn't enough Bromo-Seltzer to float him out of his chair."

More about the film can be found on the recently updated Louise Brooks Society website 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.   

Searching for the lost films of Louise Brooks

Last week's announcement that Flicker Alley and the San Francisco Film Preserve is set to release Focus on Louise Brooks - a single disc compilation of the surviving material from four Brooks films once considered lost, got me thinking... thinking about which other of Brooks "lost" films I would like to see. What is their status today? What are the chances prints of these films might be found? A fan can hope, can't he?

Screen Test (1925) 

Louise Brooks

In early 1925, Louise Brooks was a featured dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies. The Broadway revue was widely celebrated, and all manner of notables turned out to see shows, with some making a bee-line to the performer’s dressing rooms. Among those who visited Brooks was producer Walter Wanger, then a Paramount talent scout. In late April, Variety reported that Brooks, “one of the most popular members of Louie the 14th” (a Ziegfeld production) had “mysteriously disappeared from the cast of this musical comedy several days ago and her absence has been traced to the scouting agents of a moving picture company with studios on Long Island.”

According to various sources, Wanger had heard Edmund Goulding (the British-born screenwriter and director) rave about Brooks, and so Wanger and Townsend Martin (a Paramount screenwriter and another dressing room visitor) arranged to test Brooks for a role in Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men, which was already filming at the Astoria Studios on Long Island. Brooks’ screen test was overseen by famed director Allan Dwan. It went well, with the result being the absent Ziegfeld dancer was assigned a bit part as a moll, the girlfriend / companion to a criminal. Wouldn't it be marvelous to see that screen test?

The American Venus (1926)

This film is presumed mostly lost, though a few bits and pieces were found in the late 1990’s. The surviving material includes fragments, variously in black and white, tinted, and in Technicolor, from two theatrical trailers, as well as fragments from the film itself. Cumulatively, this surviving material — some of which repeats — runs about 8 minutes. The footage from the film includes interior scenes involving Brooks and Ford Sterling and another woman, an outdoor chase scene involving an automobile and a train, and a technicolor sequence of a fashion show. In 2018, the BFI announced they had found a three second piece of Technicolor stock from the film which depicts Louise Brooks. Most all of this material was restored in 2025, and will be seen in Focus on Louise Brooks.

The American Venus is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. (The American Venus features the actual Miss America from 1925, Fay Lanphier.) The film is the second in which Brooks appeared, though the first for which she received a 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. Though largely eye-candy and once described as a "flesh show", many fans and at least a few critics responded positively to The American Venus. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see this film in its entirety?

Louise Brooks in The American Venus

A Social Celebrity (1926)

A Social Celebrity is a romantic comedy about a small town barber who follows his heart and heads to the big city where he hopes to join high society. Brooks plays the barber’s love interest, a small town manicurist who also heads to the big city to become a dancer. The film is the third in which Brooks appeared, the second for which she received a screen credit, and the first in which she had a starring role.

This film is presumed lost. Some of it's last known public screenings took place is Asia, in Shanghai in September, 1930 and in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in March 1931. According to the Barry Paris biography, Brooks reported seeing the film at the Eastman House in 1957. Lotte Eisner also stated she saw the film, in Paris in 1958, at the Cinémathèque Française. The latter copy was destroyed in a disastrous vault fire in 1959, while the Eastman House copy has since deteriorated. [A mysterious individual named F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, whose claims could not be verified and were often thought suspect by film historians, once told me that he had seen a deteriorated nitrate print of A Social Celebrity (owned by a private European collector) in the 1990s. MacIntyre died in 2010, and so have his spurious claims that the film has survived.]

Louise Brooks and Adolphe Menjou in A Social Celebrity

Evening Clothes (1927)

Evening Clothes was the first film Louise Brooks made in Hollywood, and at Paramount’s suggestion, the first in which she did not wear her signature bob hairstyle. It's a romantic comedy about a gentleman farmer (played by Adolphe Menjou) who — spurned by his bride, goes to the big city to loose his rustic ways and win back his new wife. Brooks plays Fox Trot, a hot-to-trot Parisian.

This film is presumed lost. Evening Clothes continued to circulate for some four years following its American release. Along with Costa Rica and present day Vietnam, there were also documented screenings in the Australian outback in 1930, and another in New Guinea in September, 1931. 

Adolphe Menjou and Louise Brooks in Evening Clothes

Rolled Stockings (1927)

This film -- one of a number of similarly-themed films aimed toward the youth market of the 1920s -- is presumed lost, which is a shame, as Rolled Stockings (the second film Brooks made on the West Coast) is the only one of Brooks' American silents in which the actress was given top billing. 

As with Evening Clothes, it continued to be shown into the early sound era, with documented screenings taking place overseas in Suriname (August, 1930), Papua New Guinea (October, 1930) and in a tent in Darwin, Australia (October, 1931). Rolled Stockings, along with A Social Celebrity, are the two Brooks films I would most like to see. Who knows, perhaps a print of the film is sitting on a shelf in some far flung place?

James Hall, Louise Brooks, and Richard Arlen in Rolled Stockings

The City Gone Wild (1927)

This early gangster film directed by the noted director James Cruze is presumed lost. In it, Brooks once again plays a moll, this time the deliciously named Snuggles Joy, the “gunman’s honey.” The film was well regarded, and continued to be shown into the early sound era. Documented screenings took place in Fairbanks, Alaska (pre-statehood) and elsewhere around the United States well into 1930. As with Rolled Stockings, the last documented public screening of The City Gone Wild took place at the open air venue known as The Stadium in Darwin, Australia in September 1931. Also showing as part of a double bill was Under the Southern Cross, a New Zealand film with a “purely Maori cast.” 

According to Kevin Brownlow, the film was largely extant as recently as 1971. In his 1990 book, Behind the Mask of Innocence, Brownlow wrote, “David Shepard, then with the American Film Institute’s archive program, had a list of 35mm nitrate prints held in a vault Paramount had forgotten it had. He asked me which title I would select, out of all of them, to look at right away. I said The City Gone Wild. He called Paramount to bring it out of the vaults for our collection that afternoon. The projectionist went to pick it up. ‘O, there was some powder on that,’ said the vault keeper ‘We threw it away.’ The film had been unspooled into a tank of water (recommended procedure for decomposing nitrate). Shepard complained officially to Paramount, who promised it would not happen again. He tried to rescue it, even from its watery grave, but a salvage company had carted it off by the time he got there.” 

This account was confirmed in a conversation I had with David Shepard in June 2016. Shepard recalled that Paramount would, at the time, discard any film which showed any degree of decomposition.

Louise Brooks and Thomas Mieghan in The City Gone Wild

And here are two additional films worth looking for....

Beggars of Life (1928) - the sound version

This outstanding William Wellman directed film was released as both a silent and part sound film; in fact, Beggars of Life is considered Paramount’s first sound film!

The sound version included music, sound effects, a bit of dialogue, and a song reportedly sung by Wallace Beery (either “Hark the Bells” or “Don’t You Hear Them Bells?” or “I Wonder Where She Sits Tonight”). While the silent version is extant -- and has been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, what's now considered lost are the sound elements. Wouldn't it be remarkable to find / restore the sound version.

The Canary Murder Case (1929) - the silent version

This early murder mystery was also released as both a silent and sound film. The film was initially shot as a silent, and shortly thereafter reworked for sound. Malcolm St. Clair shot the silent version, while retakes for the sound version were directed by Frank Tuttle. Both versions were shown and reviewed at the time of the film's release, and some thought the silent version the better movie.

The sound version of the film is extant. A 35mm print is held at the International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. The print of the "silent version" is also held at the Eastman Museum, but reportedly, this print is only the sound version without sound. Lesser quality prints have been released on VHS and DVD over the years; the best sound version was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber as part of a Philo Vance set.

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.    

Rolled Stockings, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927

Rolled Stockings, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927. The film is a drama set among students at the fictional Colfax College. It was one of a number of similarly-themed films aimed toward the youth market of the 1920s. Besides Louise Brooks, who was then 20 years old, its cast included a few of Paramount's "junior stars" -- then up-and-comers Richard Arlen, James Hall, Nancy Phillips, and El Brendel. Brooks plays the love interest of two brothers, one a fop, the other an athlete. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

To add verisimilitude, Rolled Stockings was largely filmed on and around the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It also includes footage of actual crew races between the University of California and the University of Washington.

A summer release, the film proved popular wherever it was shown. Harrison’s Reports, a film industry trade journal, described Rolled Stockings as "a light comedy drama of college life" that was "Pretty good entertainment for the hot weather." The Chicago Tribune named it one of the six best films of June, 1927. Not surprisingly, the film found a receptive audience in college towns across the country. The critic for the Ann Arbor Times News, for example, appreciatively stated "The three stars, Louise Brooks, James Hall and Richard Arlen are so thoroughly likable and the story so different from the usual line of college bunk, that Rolled Stockings proves to be a delightful bit of cinema entertainment."

Rolled Stockings was a cut above many of the other motion pictures about the younger generation. The Seattle Times praised the film, noting "Paramount’s ‘youth’ picture, which is now at the Coliseum Theatre, has everything -- a thrilling college crew race, some exciting automobile scenes, snappy comedy, a good love story and lots of pep." Regina Cannon of the New York American proclaimed, "This is another college story and it is realistic enough to be entertaining. . . . Louise Brooks is seen for the first time in a ‘straight’ role. This child is so smartly sophisticated that it has seldom been her lot to portray anything but baby vamps on the screen. She has an unusual personality which the camera catches and magnifies, dresses snappily and makes the most of her every movie moment.”

Critics were divided on Brooks, the star of the film. Some noted her "provoking presence" and "demure charm, with its tricky suggestion of mild sophistication." The Los Angeles Examiner wrote, "Louise Brooks is utterly adorable as Carol Fleming. She is exactly the type college boys swoon over. She displays a sincerity in her work that has been absent from her previous roles. Though this particular part offers little opportunity to show any great acting, she measures up splendidly in the few scenes that border on the emotional." Across town, the Los Angeles Daily Illustrated News stated "Louise Brooks, judging by this film, is destined to go a long way. She has some of Colleen Moore's qualities with a dash of Florence Vidor thrown in, and a lot of her own distinctive personality."

The New York Daily Mirror countered, stating "Louise Brooks looks remarkably like Clara Bow, though she lacks the famed pep of our national flapper." The Washington Times went even further, "The leading role is borne by Louise Brooks and the part could have been better cast. Miss Brooks has the bad habit of stalking through her screen parts like an automaton and her face is devoid of emotion under all circumstances." In a piece titled "Louise Brooks Shows Acting Ability in Rivoli Feature," Mark K. Bowman found middle ground in the Portland Oregonian, "In the past Miss Brooks has been accused of strutting instead of acting, but it is apparent in this latest picture that she is endeavoring to do less posing, which is a promising move."

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was also presented under the title Reclutas por los Aires (Spanish-language press) and Agora Estamos no Ar (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, Now We’re in the Air was shown under the title Deux Braves Poltrons (Algeria); Dos tiburones en el aire (Argentina); Riff und Raff als Luftschiffer (Austria); Nous sommes dans les air (Belgium); Dois aguias no ar (Brazil); Reclutas por los Aires (Chile); Reclutas por los Aires (Costa Rica); Reclutas por los Aires (Cuba); Ted my jsme ve vzduchu and Rif a Raf, Piloti (Czechoslovakia) and Riff a Raff strelci (Slovakia); To muntre Spioner (Denmark); Reclutas i Retaguardias (Dominican Republic); Nüüd, meie oleme õhus and Riffi ja Raffi õiged nimed (Estonia); Sankareita Ilmassa and Sankarit ilmassa and Hjaltar i luften (Finland); Deux Braves Poltrons (France); Riff und Raff als Luftschiffer (Germany); O Riff kai o Raff aeroporoi (Greece); Megfogtam a kémet! and Riff és Raff (Hungary); Kátu Njósnararnir (Iceland); Nou Vliegen We (Dutch East Indies / Indonesia); Aviatori per forza and Aviatori … per forza and Ed eccoci aviatori (Italy); Reclutas por los aires (Mexico); Hoera! We Vliegen (The Netherlands); Luftens Spioner (Norway); Riff i Raff jako Lotnicy (Poland); Riff es Raffal a foszerepekben (Romania);  Recrutas Aviadores (Portugal); Reclutas por los Aires (Spain); Hjältar i luften (Sweden); and Deux Braves Poltrons (Switzerland).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

-- The film was based on a topical story, "Sheiks and Sheibas," by Frederica Sagor. Along with raccoon coats, flagpole sitters, goldfish swallowers, hip flasks, and ankle watches, rolled stockings worn by women were one of the many fads of the Jazz Age.

-- Rolled Stockings was first called Sheiks and Sheibas, but the title was changed because it conflicted with a First National property. At different times, different trade journals reported that Monty Brice and then Frank Strayer would direct the film, with Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Sterling Holloway among the cast.

-- Sally Blane, who had an uncredited part in Rolled Stockings, was born Elizabeth Jane Young and was the sister of actress Loretta Young.

-- Grover Jones, a gag man, doubled as director while the Rolled Stockings  company was on location in Berkeley, California. Director Richard Rosson was summoned to Hollywood by the death of his mother and Jones took the microphone and directed shots of the California-Washington boat race.

-- Years later, in an interview, Brooks said director Richard Rosson didn't want to direct the film, and in fact, didn't even want to be a director. "He'd been Allan Dwan's assistant, and it was an assistant that he wanted to be. During [this picture] he sat sweating, with a trembling script. There wasn't enough Bromo-Seltzer to float him out of his chair."

 

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.  

Rolled Stockings, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927

Rolled Stockings, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927. The film is a drama set among students at the fictional Colfax College. It was one of a number of similarly-themed films aimed toward the youth market of the 1920s. Besides Louise Brooks, who was then 20 years old, its cast included a few of Paramount's "junior stars" -- then up-and-comers Richard Arlen, James Hall, Nancy Phillips, and El Brendel. Brooks plays the love interest of two brothers, one a fop, the other an athlete. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

To add verisimilitude, Rolled Stockings was largely filmed on and around the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It also includes footage of actual crew races between the University of California and the University of Washington.

A summer release, the film proved popular wherever it was shown. Harrison’s Reports, a film industry trade journal, described Rolled Stockings as "a light comedy drama of college life" that was "Pretty good entertainment for the hot weather." The Chicago Tribune named it one of the six best films of June, 1927. Not surprisingly, the film found a receptive audience in college towns across the country. The critic for the Ann Arbor Times News, for example, appreciatively stated "The three stars, Louise Brooks, James Hall and Richard Arlen are so thoroughly likable and the story so different from the usual line of college bunk, that Rolled Stockings proves to be a delightful bit of cinema entertainment."

Rolled Stockings was a cut above many of the other motion pictures about the younger generation. The Seattle Times praised the film, noting "Paramount’s ‘youth’ picture, which is now at the Coliseum Theatre, has everything -- a thrilling college crew race, some exciting automobile scenes, snappy comedy, a good love story and lots of pep." Regina Cannon of the New York American proclaimed, "This is another college story and it is realistic enough to be entertaining. . . . Louise Brooks is seen for the first time in a ‘straight’ role. This child is so smartly sophisticated that it has seldom been her lot to portray anything but baby vamps on the screen. She has an unusual personality which the camera catches and magnifies, dresses snappily and makes the most of her every movie moment.”

Critics were divided on Brooks, the star of the film. Some noted her "provoking presence" and "demure charm, with its tricky suggestion of mild sophistication." The Los Angeles Examiner wrote, "Louise Brooks is utterly adorable as Carol Fleming. She is exactly the type college boys swoon over. She displays a sincerity in her work that has been absent from her previous roles. Though this particular part offers little opportunity to show any great acting, she measures up splendidly in the few scenes that border on the emotional." Across town, the Los Angeles Daily Illustrated News stated "Louise Brooks, judging by this film, is destined to go a long way. She has some of Colleen Moore's qualities with a dash of Florence Vidor thrown in, and a lot of her own distinctive personality."

The New York Daily Mirror countered, stating "Louise Brooks looks remarkably like Clara Bow, though she lacks the famed pep of our national flapper." The Washington Times went even further, "The leading role is borne by Louise Brooks and the part could have been better cast. Miss Brooks has the bad habit of stalking through her screen parts like an automaton and her face is devoid of emotion under all circumstances." In a piece titled "Louise Brooks Shows Acting Ability in Rivoli Feature," Mark K. Bowman found middle ground in the Portland Oregonian, "In the past Miss Brooks has been accused of strutting instead of acting, but it is apparent in this latest picture that she is endeavoring to do less posing, which is a promising move."

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was also presented under the title Reclutas por los Aires (Spanish-language press) and Agora Estamos no Ar (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, Now We’re in the Air was shown under the title Deux Braves Poltrons (Algeria); Dos tiburones en el aire (Argentina); Riff und Raff als Luftschiffer (Austria); Nous sommes dans les air (Belgium); Dois aguias no ar (Brazil); Reclutas por los Aires (Chile); Reclutas por los Aires (Costa Rica); Reclutas por los Aires (Cuba); Ted my jsme ve vzduchu and Rif a Raf, Piloti (Czechoslovakia) and Riff a Raff strelci (Slovakia); To muntre Spioner (Denmark); Reclutas i Retaguardias (Dominican Republic); Nüüd, meie oleme õhus and Riffi ja Raffi õiged nimed (Estonia); Sankareita Ilmassa and Sankarit ilmassa and Hjaltar i luften (Finland); Deux Braves Poltrons (France); Riff und Raff als Luftschiffer (Germany); O Riff kai o Raff aeroporoi (Greece); Megfogtam a kémet! and Riff és Raff (Hungary); Kátu Njósnararnir (Iceland); Nou Vliegen We (Dutch East Indies / Indonesia); Aviatori per forza and Aviatori … per forza and Ed eccoci aviatori (Italy); Reclutas por los aires (Mexico); Hoera! We Vliegen (The Netherlands); Luftens Spioner (Norway); Riff i Raff jako Lotnicy (Poland); Riff es Raffal a foszerepekben (Romania);  Recrutas Aviadores (Portugal); Reclutas por los Aires (Spain); Hjältar i luften (Sweden); and Deux Braves Poltrons (Switzerland).

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

-- The film was based on a topical story, "Sheiks and Sheibas," by Frederica Sagor. Along with raccoon coats, flagpole sitters, goldfish swallowers, hip flasks, and ankle watches, rolled stockings worn by women were one of the many fads of the Jazz Age.

-- Rolled Stockings was first called Sheiks and Sheibas, but the title was changed because it conflicted with a First National property. At different times, different trade journals reported that Monty Brice and then Frank Strayer would direct the film, with Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Sterling Holloway among the cast.

-- Sally Blane, who had an uncredited part in Rolled Stockings, was born Elizabeth Jane Young and was the sister of actress Loretta Young.

-- Grover Jones, a gag man, doubled as director while the Rolled Stockings  company was on location in Berkeley, California. Director Richard Rosson was summoned to Hollywood by the death of his mother and Jones took the microphone and directed shots of the California-Washington boat race.

-- Years later, in an interview, Brooks said director Richard Rosson didn't want to direct the film, and in fact, didn't even want to be a director. "He'd been Allan Dwan's assistant, and it was an assistant that he wanted to be. During [this picture] he sat sweating, with a trembling script. There wasn't enough Bromo-Seltzer to float him out of his chair."

Louise Brooks Society director Thomas Gladysz with Rolled Stockings script writer
Frederica Sagor Maas in 1999. Also pictured, Christy Pascoe, associate director of the LBS.

 

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.
 

Bits and pieces found on The Street of Forgotten Men

In my forthcoming book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond, I state "Bits and pieces of this book were first tried out on my Louise Brooks Society blog, where anyone interested in The Street of Forgotten Men can find additional material which didn’t make it into the book." This is one such piece.

In the chapter on the film's legacy, I mention Street of Forgotten Women, stating "Little about the 1927 exploitation film, Street of Forgotten Women, can be traced back to The Street of Forgotten Men – except for its indebtedness to the title of the earlier Herbert Brenon film. Street of Forgotten Women is a dreadful B-film about a rich girl who decides on a career on the stage, and fails. She is then reduced to dancing in her underwear in a saloon, before turning to prostitution." In an email exchange with film historian Kevin Brownlow about my forthcoming book, he reminded me of the existence of Street of Forgotten Women. It has a notorious reputation, and I was sure to make mention of it.

For those who may be curious, Street of Forgotten Women is available on DVD along with another early exploitation film, The Road to Ruin. And what's more, both are available as a budget release for a reasonable price of less than $10.00. Check it out HERE.

Here is a little bit more about both films - which bring Brooks' later German film, Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), to mind: 

STREET OF FORGOTTEN WOMEN (1927): Grace Fleming wants to break into show business, but her father, a wealthy slum lord, forbids it. Seduced by a sleazy agent, she gets a job at a low-class cabaret dancing in a skimpy costume. Grace does not realize that she has actually been drafted into a prostitution ring. Soon, the poor girl is selling herself on the same broken-down streets her father owns.

Not much is known about Street of Forgotten Women, other than that it was made to warn young girls about how easy it is to become a prostitute. Press materials of the era state that it is the dramatized true story of star Grace Fleming (though this may have simply been a screen name for an anonymous actress) and was "heartily endorsed by leading citizens, city officials, and the clergy as a motion picture that should be seen by all young women." The police shut down at least one theater for showing the film in Kansas, however.

ROAD TO RUIN (1928): Neglected by her stuffy parents, 16-year-old Sally Canfield starts experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and sex with older men. Her mother and father disown her after she is arrested in her underwear at a strip poker game. Discovering she is pregnant, Sally submits to a back alley abortion that has tragic consequences.

Road to Ruin was popular enough to warrant a sound remake in 1934, also starring Helen Foster. In his book Behind the Mask of Innocence, film historian Kevin Brownlow reports that Foster kept a bottle of bootleg whiskey by her side to keep herself inebriated during the strip poker scene.

Even though Street of Forgotten Women is otherwise unrelated to Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), there is overlap with Brooks' career. In the course of my research into the 1927 exploitation film, I found a couple of interesting advertisements which shows how at least one of Brooks' Paramount films existed alongside a lowly B independent film like Street of Forgotten Women.

As far as I can tell, the first showing of Street of Forgotten Women took place at the Ritz theater in Spokane, Washington on April 3, 1927. The film was billed as "The picture that will startle the nation." Notably, the ad notes that "men only" would be admitted Sunday through Wednesday, while "women only" would be admitted starting on Thursday. (That was the case in most every town where the film played.) Also playing in Spokane at the local American Theater was a popular touring stage show, Earl Carroll Vanities. (The Vanities were similar to the Ziegfeld Follies, though a bit more scandalous.) On the entertainment page of the Spokane Chronicle, advertisements for the two events sit side by side. Be sure and check out the Vanities ad, which notes the appearance of one of their star performers, "The Magnetic -- LOUISE BROOKS -- The Perfect Venus." Of course, that is not our Louise Brooks, just another forth-billed showgirl from the time who had the same name. 

Despite its risque subject matter, Street of Forgotten Women proved popular enough to return to Spokane in January, 1928. It played the Ritz once more, but this time it was billed as "The Sensation of Today." Even though the film's promoter's claimed it contained "A poignant lesson to parents and children," only men were admitted. 

Also showing in town, at Grombacher's Egyptian Theater, was the 1927 film, Rolled Stockings. Despite the fact that Louise Brooks was the film's star, the ad only credited "Paramount's Junior Stars". With such a small ad - despite the fact this showing marked its first showing in Spokane, there wasn't room to list Brooks, Richard Arlen, James Hall, Nancy Philips and others.

The 350 seat Egyptian Theater was later renamed the Bandbox theater, and eventually closed. Read more about this historic venue HERE.

One last newspaper advertisement for Street of Forgotten Women. This one is for another early screening of the film, in Billings, Montana in June 1927. What's funny about this particular ad is that this showing was, again, limited to "men only" - yet, the ad also proclaimed it was a film "every mother should see."

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 © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Louise Brooks - Getting it wrong again and again

There is all kinds of  misinformation about Louise Brooks and her films. Some of it goes way back, to the 1920s, and some of it is only a few days old. There are factual errors, like getting a date wrong or misidentifying a character in a film, and there is "fake news" - like the photoshopped nudes in which some idiot has placed Brooks' head on someone else's body. Despite it being kinda pathetic and rather obvious, those images still circulate on eBay and Facebook. . . . Just last week I noticed a picture postcard of Clara Bow on eBay which was identified as Louise Brooks, despite the postcard being labelled as Clara Bow! 

For as long as I have been reading about / researching / collecting material about Louise Brooks, I have come across instances of mistaken information about the actress. Perhaps the most famous example is her being credited with a role in The Public Enemy (1931). That belief lingered for decades, and at one time was repeated in the New York Times.

Recently, while looking at some newly digitized vintage newspapers, I came across an instance where the same newspaper got it wrong again and again and again - at least three times and over a period of a few years. I am referring to the Banner-Herald from Athens, Georgia. This first example dates from March 23, 1927, at the time Love Em and Leave Em was showing at the local Palace theater. The captioned picture on the left identified as being Evelyn Brent ain't; and who know who is the women in the advertisement for the film on the right. Perhaps the same beret-wearing actress?

This next example from the Banner-Herald dates from just a few month's later, specifically August 2, 1927. Rolled Stockings was showing at the Palace, and the local newspaper managed to find a flapper-looking type and identify her as Louise Brooks. Which it ain't.

I can't figure out why this happened. Didn't the Banner-Herald have a picture of Louise Brooks on hand which they could use? Or did all youthful, flapper-type actresses look alike to the layout department? Or was the image substituted deliberately? This last example dates from May 17, 1928, at the time A Girl in Every Port was showing at the Palace. And again, an incorrect image is used.

If anyone knows who the incorrectly attributed actresses are, I would appreciate hearing about it. They do seem familiar. . . . Please post a comment.

This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further use prohibited.

In Search of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings

I recently received a message from film historian and new friend Louie Despres asking about actor El Brendel, a onetime vaudeville comedian turned actor who had a supporting role in the 1927 Louise Brooks film, Rolled Stockings. That film is what was called a "youth picture" -- the story is set on a college campus -- and the film itself starred Paramount's "Junior Stars" (a group of young actors which included  Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen, James Hall, and Nancy Phillips). El Brendel, who plays a police officer, was some ten or 15 years older than his fellow actors.

Louie Despres is researching El Brendel's career, and over time he has managed to gather images of the actor in most all of the few dozen films in which he appeared. Despres wrote me asking if I had any images of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings. I was embarrassed to have to tell him no. 

I have many images from the film, most of them in digital form, but also a few vintage stills. The problem with Rolled Stockings (and so many other silent films) is that it is lost. And so, except for surviving stills and other imagery, we don't know what the film looked like. I am posting this blog asking for help in finding more images of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings. Do you have any? (I recall an eBay auction from a couple of years ago which featured dozens of stills from the film. I put in a couple of bids, but lost out.)

Louie Despres has only two images from Rolled Stocking which include El Brendel, and is in search of more. One image of the actor can be found on one of the lobby cards from the film, which is depicted above. (Notice that El Brendel's name is included on the lobby cards, which suggests Paramount considered the actor significant enough to name, despite it being on of his earliest films. BTW, the name that is blacked out on this lobby card but not all lobby cards is that of Sally Blane, Loretta Young's sister.) The other images Louie Despres has is this slightly cropped film still, shown below. I am very grateful that it was shared with me, as I had never seen it before.

Do you have any images of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings which you would be willing to share? El Brendel is a significant actor with a notable career, and Louie Despres is working on a book which will certainly break ground in documenting the actor's career. Any help would be appreciated.

Giving it away at a Louise Brooks screening

I suppose we have all heard about how, in the past, theatres would give away things for free in order to lure viewers. I remember my mother, who as a girl and young women went to the movies in the 1930s and 1940s, telling me about the films she went to see where the theatre gave away dinnerware and silverware. The give away was usually one piece at a time, so you had to go to the movies pretty regularly to build a set.

In the past, while searching for yet more material about Louise Brooks and her film, I have run across a few advertisements in which a theatre was giving away a dinner plate or piece of silverware in conjunction with the showing of a Brooks film. Last night I found something wholly new. I found a couple of advertisements for a theatre in Brooklyn which was giving away gold. This first example, shown below, promotes a February 4, 1927 showing of Love Em & Leave Em at which $5.00 in gold would be given away for free every evening.

Today, $5.00 may not seem like much; that amount couldn't get you into a movie theatre. But back in 1927, when ticket prices were either 5 or 10 cents, it was a good deal of money. In fact, $5.00 in 1927 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $73.68 in 2020, a difference of $68.68 over 93 years. Here is another example of a gold giveaway from September 1927.

It seems as though the Monroe theater discontinued its gold giveaway promotion sometime around 1928, as the Brooks' films I found advertised then, such as A Girl in Every Port and Beggars of Life, do not mention the practice.

It's interesting that Brooks is listed first, ahead of the male star, in both of these ads. Especially so in regards to Love Em and Leave Em, where Evelyn Brent - who is not mentioned, was considered the lead star in the picture. It is also interesting that the Monroe really had to sell itself, offering not only gold but also "first class pictures" and a "new orchestra." Both ads date to more than two years before the Depression, when times were still good.

According to Cinema Treasures website, the Monroe was a single screen, nearly 500 seat venue which started as a vaudeville house (in 1915?) and later, by 1926, was showing films. (Check the Cinema Treasures page for photos of the exterior of the building.) The Monroe closed decades later, and has since been demolished.

A Thanksgiving themed post from the Louise Brooks Society

Louise Brooks shows on Thanksgiving Monday

In Canada in 1927, the Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated on different days on a regional and even local basis. Nationally, the holiday was set to take place on July 3rd. But as the above advertisement from Nanaimo, British Columbia shows, a special showing of Rolled Stockings was announced for the local Bijou theatre on an alternate holiday – Monday, November 7th. (... Some thirty years after this Thanksgiving Day screening, the Governor General of Canada issued a proclamation stating the Thanksgiving holiday would henceforth be observed throughout the nation on the second Monday in October.)

In the United States, Thanksgiving takes place on the last Thursday in November. And south of the border on November 24, 1927, the popular Louise Brooks comedy Now We're in the Air was showing in Appleton, Wisconsin. The film, which the Appleton Post-Cresent described as a "nonsense opera", was going over "big," according to the local newspaper. The advertisement for Fischer's theatre proclaims "After that Thanksgiving Day Dinner Come on Down," noting Brooks is the "leading lady and how she leads." Notably, the accompanying short film is Love Em and Feed Em (starring Max Davidson & Oliver Hardy); its title is a take off on Brooks' 1926 film, Love Em and Leave Em.

Appleton moviegoers who couldn't get enough of Louise Brooks could return to Fischer's the following Saturday or Sunday, where another 1927 Brooks film, The City Gone Wild, was showing. How's that for a cinematic feast? Elsewhere around the United States in 1927, The City Gone Wild was showing on Thanksgiving Day in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Walnut theatre, while Now We're in the Air was showing in Allentown, Pennsylvania at the Strand. (If you live in either of those towns, get in your time machine and travel back to catch a screening of these now "lost" films.) Or, if you live in Bloomington, Illinois, you can take in The City Gone Wild at the Irvin theatre, as the turkey bordered advertisement below shows. (It remarkable that the local Bloomington newspaper had enough turkey dingbats to set a border.)

On Thursday, November 29th - Thanksgiving Day in 1928, the recently released Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life was showing in Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartford Courant newspaper ad below notes the "special holiday bill" at the Central theatre would be shown at 2:30, 6:30, and 8:30 pm, but incorrectly states the film stars Noah Berry. In actuality, the film starred Noah Beery's younger brother, future Oscar winner Wallace Beery!

In traditional clothing in Beggars of Life

Wherever you live in the United States or Canada, and however you celebrate the holiday, happy Thanksgiving from the Louise Brooks Society. And don't forget, the Louise Brooks inspired film, The Chaperone, will be shown on Thanksgiving afternoon on PBS. Check you local TV listing for the time and channel.

Things found : Around the World with Louise Brooks - Island edition

In researching Louise Brooks and her films and in compiling material for Around the World with Louise Brooks, I have been able to document the showing of the actress' film in numerous nations and territories. Including, as it turns out, on a number of islands. 

Brooks' films were shown not only in England, Ireland, and Australia, but also in Iceland, Cuba, Haiti, pre-statehood Hawaii (then an American territory), Indonesia, The Canary Islands, and elsewhere. They were even shown on at least one occasion on Madagascar, off the south east coast of Africa. Below is a newspaper advertisement from Poverty Bay, New Zealand for a special New Year's Eve showing of Rolled Stockings on that island nation.

Just recently, I came across a first, newspaper records showing at least a few of Brooks films, including, Love Em and Leave Em (1926) and Rolled Stockings (1927), were shown in Port Moresby on the island Papua, then called the Territory of Papua (then deemed an "External Territory of Australia"). Below is the write-up for Rolled Stockings which appeared in the Papuan Courier, the island's only newspaper, on October 3, 1930. As films were not reviewed on Papua back then, any reaction by locals to the film -- a rom-com about American youth -- is unknown.

As my exhibition records for Rolled Stockings show, a 1930 screening of the film is late, but not so late as to be considered among the last documented public showings. That would come a year later, when Rolled Stockings was shown in Darwin Australia. (See my earlier blog, "Louise Brooks in Australia - now and then," for details.)

James Hall and Louise Brooks wondering
where Rolled Stockings will be shown next.

Louise Brooks in Australia - now and then

A major film retrospective, "Enduring Modernity: The Transcontinental Career of Louise Brooks," is currently taking place in Australia at the Melbourne Cinémathèque. The retrospective, which runs through November 6, features seven of Louise Brooks silent films, including the majority of her iconic performances from the United States and Europe profiling her working under such noted directors as William Wellman, Howard Hawks, and G. W. Pabst. More information, including newly added links to articles, may be found HERE.

Coincidentally, for the last year, I have been working on a two volume book project, Around the World with Louise Brooks, in which the nation of Australia is something of a star! (The first volume looks at Louise Brooks, the actress. The second volume looks at Brooks' 24 films. As of now, I have about 850 pages completed, and hope to have the books done by the end of the year... fingers crossed.)

In a nod to Australia and its ongoing appreciation of the actress... what follows are a couple three highlights from my work in progress. 

Notably, one of the films to be screened at the Australian retrospective is the surviving fragment of Now We're in the Air. The Louise Brooks Society had a hand in the preservation of the film, and no doubt, the Melbourne Cinémathèque screening marks the first time the once popular comedy has been shown in Australia in nearly 90 years. 

The above newspaper advertisement appeared on the front page of April 14, 1932 edition of the Wooroora Producer, a newspaper based in Balaklava, Australia (95 km north of Adelaide) and circulating in nearby Port Wakefield, Bowmans, Long Plains, Avon, Erith, Whitwarta, Mount Templeton, Everard Central, Nantawrra, Hamley Bridge, Mallala Stockyard Creek, Barabba, Alma, Owen, Halbury, Hoyleton and other communities in South Australia. The advertisement documents what may well have been one of the last recorded public screening of Now We’re in the Air anywhere in the world, a 1927 film which today survives only in incomplete form. This ad is unusual in that it is specifically dated, informing locals a couple of days in advance of the small community’s once a week screening – in this instance two five year old silent films. The other film is IT, starring Clara Bow and Antonio Moreno. The venue, the Balaklava Institute, was likely the local town hall. It still stands.

A 1927 Brooks' film which is now considered lost is Rolled Stockings. It too had what is likely its last recorded public screening anywhere in the world in Australia. The otherwise unremarkable newspaper advertisement pictured below documents the occasion, which took place in October 1931. Four years after its American release – and well into the sound era, Brooks’ 1927 “youth picture” was paired with William Wyler’s action adventure film, The Thunder Riders (Universal, 1928). This silent double-bill was shown at a theater in Darwin, Australia known as The Stadium (aka Don Stadium or Don Pictures), an approximately 100-seat open-air sports and entertainment venue largely used during the dry months of the year. Below left is an exterior view, and below right is an interior view.

Image source: Northern Territory Library

Darwin, the former frontier outpost named after the British naturalist, is situated on the Timor Sea and is the capital of the Australia’s Northern Territory. Far from just about everywhere but the closest port to the Dutch East Indies, Darwin was an alternative entry or departure point for entertainment companies coming to or departing from the Australian mainland. Consequently, the Stadium theatre also hosted occasional vaudeville shows, including vaudeville and silent pictures, or vaudeville and boxing. I can't quite tell, but it appears there might be a boxing match going on in the interior view on the right.

And yet another lost 1927 Brooks' film which had what was likely it's last documented public screening in Australia is The City Gone Wild. It too was shown in Darwin in the Don Pictures Stadium theatre. The newspaper advertisement shown below dates from September 1931, four years after its initial American release. And again, well into the sound era! Back in the 1930s, Darwin, Australia was pretty far from everywhere and it was where "old" silent films went at the end of their exhibition life. Where they went from there is anybody's guess....

Louise Brooks: Greetings from Poland, part 3

A continuation of the two previous posts, the results of my look through a few online Polish archives in search of any and all Louise Brooks clippings or advertisements. Here is some of the material I found.

On the right is a photograph of Louise Brooks and her brother Ted, as pictured in Robotnik, the newspaper of the Polish Socialist Party. Go figure. Brooks is identified as an actress for Paramount. A handful of her early American silent films were shown in Warsaw and elsewhere around the country.

This 1930 piece promoting Gdy mlodosc szumi (or Gole Kolanka) at the Kino Apollo is for the lost 1927 film Rolled Stockings, with Richard Arlen. It notes that the film is about American college students. Maybe there is a copy still somewhere in Poland?

 

This 1929 advertisement, also for the Kino Apollo, promotes Piraci wielkiego miasta, the lost 1927 Brooks film known as The City Gone Wild, which stars Thomas Meighan. Maybe there is a copy still somewhere in Poland?