The tangled and convoluted history of the release of The American Venus

Of all of Louise Brooks American silents, The American Venus may well have the most tangled and convoluted of release histories. 

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. In the film, Brooks plays Miss Bayport, a beauty contestant and “mannequin” (then a term for a fashion model). The American Venus is the second film in which Brooks appeared, but the first for which she received screen credit. Brooks made something of a splash, and it was this film and her next, A Social Celebrity, which proved to be her “break-out” roles. Incidentally, both The American Venus and A Social Celebrity were named one of Photoplay magazine's "Six Best Films of the Month"-- and the rest, as they say, is history.

Apparently, The American Venus was originally set to open on Friday, November 27, 1925. However, due to delays in laboratory work on the film, it was postponed by nearly a month. (See the syndicated newspaper clipping shown here, which dates from December 17, 1925.) I wonder if the delay caused by laboratory work was due to the fact that part of the film was in Technicolor, which was then a new process?

According to Paramount corporate records, The American Venus was officially released on January 31, 1926. However, like many of Brooks' other films, it opened earlier — in this case a week earlier on January 24, 1926 at the Rivoli Theater in New York City. The following day, the film's copyright (LP22325) was registered by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.

With that said, it should be noted that the film had already been shown a handful of times .... The American Venus was previewed at the Bellevue Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey on December 11, 1925, as reported after the fact in the local newspaper, the Montclair Times. (Preview screening were held in order to assess audience reaction to a film, and as such, the title to be previewed was not announced in advance.) 

The film was also privately screened at the Atlantic City Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey as a benefit under the auspices of the Atlantic City Shrine Club on December 26, 1925. As the film had been, in part, set and shot in Atlantic City, there was local press coverage given to this special benefit event. (Those clipping are held in the Louise Brooks Society archive.) 

As well, there was another benefit screening of the film which took place at midnight on December 31, 1925 at the American Theater in Oakland, California — the hometown of star Fay Lanphier. Originally, the reigning Miss America was set to attend the Oakland benefit, but at the last minute she was named Rose Bowl Queen and was rushed off to Pasadena.

According to newspaper archives available online, a few other early screenings were announced. One was to be held at the Alvo Theatre in Medford, Oklahoma on December 28-29, 1925 (and then postponed to January 4-5, 1926); another was announced for the Gem Theatre in Pineville, Kentucky on December 31, 1925; and another was set for the Forsythe Theatre in East Chicago, Indiana on January 2, 1926. However, none of these ("seemingly random") small town screenings can be confirmed... as sometimes, films were announced, but never shown. The first confirmed engagement for The American Venus took place at the Colonial theater in Richmond, Virginia on January 4-6, 1926.

Otherwise, The American Venus "officially" premiered at the Stanley Theater in Atlantic City on January 11, 1926 — nearly two weeks ahead of its regular NYC opening.

More about The American Venus can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The American Venus (filmography page). And BTW: the surviving footage from the film can be found on the Flicker Alley Blu-ray, Focus on Louise Brooks. Order your copy today.

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

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

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

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

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

Louise Brooks and Ford Sterling in The American Venus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Focus on Louise Brooks Blu-ray release delayed

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

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

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

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

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

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

But wait, there's more.... 

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

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

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

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

• Image Galleries - Featuring production stills and promotional material

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

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

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

• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

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

Louise Brooks may well be the only actress in the history of film who's uncredited bit part in her film debut nevertheless got her a review, in the Los Angeles Times, no less. As another newspaper stated following the release of Just Another Blonde, “Louise Brooks, who is said to be Clara Bow’s only rival as cinema’s most ravishing flapper, is a convincing argument in favor of modernism.” Amen.

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

Louise Brooks and a lost technicolor tableau from The American Venus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The American Venus, with Louise Brooks, was first shown 100 years ago today

New Year's Eve is a significant date in the career of Louise Brooks, especially in regards to her largely lost 1926 film, The American Venus. (The few surviving minutes of footage are included on Focus on Louise Brooks, a Blu-ray disc scheduled for release by Flicker Alley on January 13, 2026.)

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, New Jersey. The 1925 contest was won by Fay Lanphier, the first Miss California to claim the crown. After winning Miss America, Lanphier was selected to appear in The American Venus, part of which were shot at the Atlantic City event. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, and the first for which she received screen credit.

(Left) Fay Lanphier adorns one if the film's original posters. (Right) As does Louise Brooks, though she is not named.

The film was officially released on January 25, 1926. However, as far as I have been able to determine, The American Venus was publicly shown for the very FIRST time almost a month earlier -- 100 years ago today -- on December 31, 1925 at the American theater in Oakland, California as the centerpiece of a special New Year’s Eve benefit screening. *

The secondary headline in the hard-to-read, December 27, 1925 article below notes "American Bills First Eastbay Showing of Picture for New Year's Eve." It is stated that one of the stars of the film, local celebrity Fay Lanphier, would make a special appearance at the benefit event. However, four days later, the local press announced that Lanphier would not be present, as she had been selected Rose Bowl Queen **, and would instead be taking part in the annual Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day. Nevertheless, the screening still took place. (Despite the fact that Oakland was Fay Lanphier's hometown, the headline writer misspelled her first name!)

The American Venus proved popular upon release, and continued to be shown around the United States for an unusually long two plus years. Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded positively to the numerous scantily clad bathing beauties, elaborate tableaux and fashion show, as well as the film’s pioneering use of Technicolor. The critic for the Boston Herald wrote, “The scenes made at Atlantic City and during the prologue are artistically done in Technicolor. Comedy relief in abundance is furnished by a wild automobile chase replete with giggles and thrills. The picture on the whole is entertaining.”

As far as I have been able to determine, one of the very LAST public screenings of The American Venus also took place on New Year's Eve when the Ramona theater in Phoenix, Arizona showed the film on December 31, 1927 at a midnight matinee. This pair of advertisements comes from the Arizona Republic newspaper and is dated Friday, December 30, 1927. Notably, The American Venus wasn't the only Brooks' film showing in town. On New Year's Eve, the Rialto was opening the recently released Now We're in the Air. 

Louise Brooks, seated and turning to speak, is second from the right

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

*  The film was privately screened at the Atlantic City Ambassador Hotel as a benefit under the auspices of the Atlantic City Shrine Club on December 26, 1925.

** To date, Fay Lanphier is the only person to hold both titles -- Miss America and Rose Bowl Queen -- at the same time. 

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.    

 

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.    

Once lost Louise Brooks films to have Blu-ray release

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Image Galleries - Featuring production stills and promotional material

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

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

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

• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

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

 

Louise Brooks may well be the only actress in the history of film who's uncredited bit part in her film debut nevertheless got her a review, in the Los Angeles Times, no less. As another newspaper stated following the release of Just Another Blonde, “Louise Brooks, who is said to be Clara Bow’s only rival as cinema’s most ravishing flapper, is a convincing argument in favor of modernism.” Amen.

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

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

The American Venus, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, but the first for which she received screen credit.

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

Ford Sterling and Louise Brooks

The American Venus proved popular upon release, and continued to be shown around the United States for an unusually long two years. Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded to the numerous scantily clad bathing beauties, an elaborate tableaux and fashion show, and the film’s pioneering use of Technicolor. The critic for the Boston Herald wrote, “The scenes made at Atlantic City and during the prologue are artistically done in Technicolor. Comedy relief in abundance is furnished by a wild automobile chase replete with giggles and thrills. The picture on the whole is entertaining.”

However, not all were pleased with this otherwise frothy comedy. Harrison’s Reports, an industry trade journal, echoed the comments found in other publications: “The only striking feature about it is the technicolor scenes; they are extremely beautiful. But some of them will, no doubt, prove offensive to church going people, particularly in the small communities, because of the fact that women’s legs, backs, sides and abdomens as low as below the navel, are shown aplenty. Women in tights have been shown in his pictures by Mack Sennett, but he has never been so ‘raw’; at least he had the girls wear brassieres, whereas Jesse Lasky has his girls wear nothing under the bathing suits, with the result that the women’s outlines of their breasts are clearly seen. In places there isn’t even the thin cloth of the bathing suit to cover the flesh.”

The Washington Herald added, “Many of the tinted scenes of the fashion review were very daring in their exposure of the Atlantic City bathing girls. Once scene especially drew forth gasps from the audience; whether from shock or admiration, we cannot say.”

The stars of the film, which was called a “shape show” by some publications, were Esther Ralston, a renown beauty, and Fay Lanphier, the reigning Miss America. Though she had only a small role, Brooks was featured on a lobby card and film poster, as well as in advertisements. She was also singled out by a handful of critics. The female critic for the New York Evening Journal noted Brooks’ “distinct screen personality”, while the male critic for the New York World stated Brooks was “better looking than any of the other brunettes now acting in films”.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada*, China, Dutch Guiana (Surinam), India **, Ireland, Jamaica, Korea, New Zealand, Panama, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was presented under the title La Venus Americana (Spanish-language press) and A Venus Americana (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, The American Venus was shown under the title Vénus moderne (Algeria); Die Amerikanische Venus (Austria); A Venus Americana and La Venus Americana (Brazil); La Venus Americana (Chile); La Venus Americana (Cuba); Americká Venuše (Czechoslovakia) and Die amerikanische Venus (Czechoslovakia, German language); Den amerikanske venus (Denmark); La Venus Americana (Dominican Republic); De Moderne Venus (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Vénus moderne (Egypt); The Modern Venus (England); Miehen ihanne (Finland); Vénus moderne and Vénus américaine (France); Die Schönste Frau der Staaten (Germany); Az amerikai Vénusz (Hungary); Il trionfo di Venere and Trionfo di Venere (Italy); 美女競艶 or Bijo dai Kei tsuya  (Japan); Venus Moderne–Die Modern Venus (Luxembourg); La Venus americana (Mexico); De Moderne Venus (Netherlands);  Amerykan’ska Wenus and Venus Pokutujaca (Poland); A Vénus American (Portugal); Miss Amerika (Slovenia); Американская Венера (Soviet Union); La Venus americana and La Venus Moderna (Spain); Mannens ideal and Mannens ideal–Venus på amerikanska (Sweden ***); and La Venus moderne (Switzerland).

* The film was banned in the province of Quebec due to “nudities.”

** Bengali censorship records from 1927 called for the elimination of close-ups of women in the film’s tableaux, noting “The figures are too naked for public exhibition.”

*** restricted to those over 15 years old

 SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

– The American Venus was among the earlier films to feature Technicolor. There are three scenes which utilize the process. One is of the boardwalk parade of beauty contestants at the Atlantic City beauty pageant, the second is of series of artistic tableaux, and the last is of a fashion revue.

– The film was privately screened at the Atlantic City Ambassador Hotel as a benefit under the auspices of the Atlantic City Shrine Club on December 26, 1925. A benefit screening of the film also took place at midnight on December 31, 1925 in Oakland, California — the hometown of star Fay Lanphier.

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

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

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

Louise Brooks and Josephine Dunn ?

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

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

A newly acquired treasure in the Louise Brooks Society archive, and a dream

Speaking of lost films.... Here is a newly acquired treasure now held in the Louise Brooks Society archive at the Louise Brooks Society website. It is movie herald (a give-away flier) for The American Venus from Argentina! 

This Paramount special was first released in the United States on January 31, 1926. The film is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, and the first for which she received screen credit. In fact, Brooks received fifth billing. The film starred Esther Ralston, and featured Fay Lanphier, the actual 1925 Miss America. In support was veteran character actor Ford Sterling. All of these actors, including Brooks, can be seen in the selection of interior images.

According to the reverse of the herald, the film was shown at the Grand Splendid Theatre on a Saturday that fell on the 25th of the month. Also indicated is that the film was shown "Tarde y Noche", which translates as "Afternoon and Evening" -- which suggests either two showings, or a continuous showing. Assuming this screening of the film took place in 1926, the date turns out to be either April 25, 1926 (which is a little early, as there was often a delay in the release of films in other countries) or July 25, 1926. It could also be December 25, 1926, Christmas Day. I would bet on July 25, 1926. But I could be wrong, and it could turn out to be 1927. I will need to triangulate the date by searching through Argentian newspapers.

The Grand Splendid Theatre is located in Buenos Aires. It is an historic venue which first opened in 1919 with seating for more than 1000 people. According to its Wikipedia entry, this ornate, eclecticist building features ceiling frescoes painted by the Italian artist Nazareno Orlandi and caryatids sculpted by Troiano Troiani. It hosted tango performances, and once was home to its own radio station, Radio Splendid. The Grand Splendid began showing films in the late to mid 1920s, and in 1929 showed the first sound films presented in Argentina.

Today, the Grand Splendid Theatre is a bookstore -- but not just any bookstore. In 2019, it was named the "world's most beautiful bookstore" by National Geographic magazine. As a bookstore, it has been the subject of many articles and is now considered a major tourist attraction. Reportedly, the store sells hundreds of thousands of books per year and more than one million people pass through its doors on an annual basis.

It is fitting that Grand Splendid Theatre became a bookstore. Louise Brooks loved books and was a great reader. And so did one of her admirers, the Argentinian writer Adolfo Bioy Casares, who was famously smitten with Louise Brooks -- so much so he was inspired by his memory of the actress to write his 1940 novella The Invention of Morel. I wonder if Bioy Casares and his close friend, the even more famous Argentinian writer Jorge Borges, went to see this film. I wouldn't be surprised.

I am dreaming.... I wonder if the bookstore carries this edition of Adolfo Bioy Casares book. I wonder if this very herald passed through the hands of Casares or Borges or someone sitting near one or the other writer.... And now, through time and space, it has found its way to me.

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.