Louise Brooks text: Need help translating from Hungarian

Louise Brooks' films were shown all around the world in the 1920s and 1930s, including in Hungary. In my search to document all things related to the actress and her legacy, I have come across all kinds of interesting material in languages which I don't read.

Can any good soul translate or summarize this clipping from a Hungarian newspaper? It seems to be a sort of "people in the news" feature like those we see today.

By the way, to the left of Louise Brooks is Bruno Walter (1876 – 1962), is the German-born pianist and composer widely considered to be one of the great conductors of the 20th century. Földes Bandi, pictured at the top of the piece, was a musical prodigy who played the piano. I couldn't find anything more about him for certain, though he may be the same young Jewish man who died at Auschwitz. I have not been able to identify the man to the right of Louise Brooks. Can anyone?

Louise Brooks related text ? Need help translating from the Arabic !

Louise Brooks' films were  shown all around the world in the 1920s and 1930s, including the Middle East. In my search to document all things related the the actress and her legacy, I came across the following material, which I suspect contains a bit related to either the Canary Murder Case (1929) or the Greene Murder Case (1929) or the Benson Murder Case (1930), each of which starred William Powell as Philo Vance. Brooks was the co-star of the Canary Murder Case, the first film in the series of films based on S.S. van Dine's bestselling murder mysteries.

Can anyone tell me what these pages are about?

The are excerpted from a contemporary book, The Writings of El Sayyed Hassan Gomaa v. 2 1930-1934, compiled and edited by Farida Marei, with an introduction by Prof. Dr. Madkour Thabet. This book is part of a series, "The Legacy of Film Critics in Egypt," published by the Ministry of Culture / Egyptian Film Centre.

Do the reference Canary Murder Case? Or Louise Brooks? Or suggest when these films were shown in Cairo, presumably?

Celebrating France and Louise Brooks

In celebration of France's victory in the World Cup, here are some recently uncovered French clippings regarding Louise Brooks.

First up is what may be the first mention of Louise Brooks in a French newspaper, who is described as a "deliecieuse danseuse des Follies qui a signe une long contrat avec Paramount." This clipping comes from Paris-Soir, and is dated December 23, 1925.

And here is an advertisement for The American Venus (as La Venus Moderne) from a year later from a regional newspaper, Gazette de Bayonne, de Biarritz et du Pays basque, dated December 21, 1926.

And lastly, here is an usual image of Brooks, from a clipping from 1928.

Vive la France. Long live Loulou.

Guest Post: "Louise Brooks Makes The Grade" part 2

Philip Vorwald has come up with another fascinating guest post here on the Louise Brooks Society blog: it's about Louise Brooks' childhood and where she went to grade school. This post is in two parts -- the first part ran yesterday.

Guest Post: "Louise Brooks Makes The Grade" part 1

Philip Vorwald has come up with another fascinating guest post here on the Louise Brooks Society blog: it's about Louise Brooks' childhood and where she went to grade school. This post is in two parts, so be sure and check back tomorrow.

Another post-1929 Pandora's Box screening is found!

When I wrote in my last post that I hoped the record of additional post-1929 screenings of Pandora's Box would be found one-day, I didn't suspect another would be found so soon.

The 1929 Louise Brooks film debuted in Germany at the beginning of the year, and eventually made its way to the United states by the end of the year.

As I noted in that previous post, "The Lost History of Pandora's Box in the United States," newspapers didn't list every film showing every day, and some theaters -- especially smaller theaters -- didn't advertise every day or even at all. Accordingly, exhibition records, which are often incomplete and inexact, sometimes need to be pieced together through various sources.

What I found was the record of another showing of Pandora's Box in New York City which, in all likelihood, could be the first post-1929 screening in NYC. I found the record of its happening in an unlikely publication, which all things considered, makes perfect sense. That publication was New Yorker Volkszeitung, a German language newspaper serving the city. This screening took place at the Acme Theater on Times Square on May 10, 11, and 12, 1930.

Here is the advertisement, and the "proof" of yet another post-1929 / pre-1958 screening of Pandora's Box.

p.s. I emailed the staff of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin house asking about the screening of films there in the 1930s, in particular their 1934 screening of Pandora's Box. They emailed back saying they would look into it!

Louise Brooks around the world in the United States

In the 1920s and 1930s, there were numerous non-English (ethnic) newspapers in the United States. Usually, these papers were based in cities or large metropolitan areas where large numbers of people from a particular country or region settled. For example, there were Polish-language papers based in Detroit and Chicago which served readers in the Midwest.

I am always researching Louise Brooks, and am always on the look-out for unusual articles and publications. So far, I have turned up articles about or mentions of the actress in German, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese-language newspapers based in the United States. The German and Russian papers were based in New York City, the Spanish publications in Los Angeles, and the Portuguese paper in Massachusetts. (Besides Polish-language publications, I have also looked through Swedish and Czech-language papers, but was not able to find any mention of Brooks nor advertisements for her films.)

Recently, I turned up my first Danish-American article! This June, 1928 piece about Hollywood was published in Bien, a weekly Danish language newspaper published California. The article is, I think, about news from Hollywood. Brooks's name shows up twice, and can be found at the end of the first paragraph and at the end of the article.

Louise Brooks found in La La Land

Speaking of La La Land, I was there last week researching two of Louise Brooks' films. I scored a lot of great material, nearly 200 pages worth of stuff, including many rare stills and publicity photos and lots of rare Paramount production records. The results of my research shall be revealed in the coming months..... Here is a snapshot of me outside the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Margaret Herrick Library. Over the years, I have visited the library nearly ten times, and am finally starting to feel I know my way around its way of doing things. While there, I also had the pleasure of running into author and film historian Mary Mallory while doing my research. Hello Mary!

Apparently, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills (where the Academy is located) is riddled with crime. Who da thunk? I spotted this WANTED poster tacked to a bulletin board.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, part five

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films, writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985 attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple sources including, first and foremost,  dates and events found in the Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her notebooks (which she kept from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records  and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985. There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here are a few highlights from the sixties through to the end of Brooks' life.

Jan. 12, 1960
Lunch with Lillian Gish at Gish's apartment in New York City. Later, Brooks attends a screening of Prix de beaute at the Y.M.H.A, where she gives a well received 10 minute talk. In the audience are John Springer, Jimmy Glennon, Jan Wahl and old friends Peggy Fears and Leonore Scheffer.

March 27, 1960
Listens to radio program from 7:00 to 8:00 pm which features Mitch Miller, Bosley Crowther, Archer Winston.

April 16, 1961
Watches television program on the music of the civil war hosted by noted conductor Frederick Fennell (of the Eastman Wind Ensemble).

Feb. 12, 1962
Brooks escaped injury after a small fire broke out in the living room of her Rochester apartment. Careless smoking was blamed for the incident, in which chair was wrecked and the fire department called.

May 2, 1962
Begins broadcasting "Portraits of the Stars" on "Woman's World" program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.

Nov. 6, 1962
Discusses Fatty Arbuckle on "Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?" at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.

Dec. 12, 1962
Meets Buster Keaton and his wife at the Sheraton Hotel in Rochester, New York.

April 15, 1963
Delivers a feminist-themed speech, "The Influence of Movie Stars on the Freedom of Women," before an evening meeting of the Catholic Women’s Club of Rochester, New York.

Nov. 17, 1963
Henri Langois visits Rochester, and is quoted at length about Brooks.

Dec. 12, 1965
Roddy McDowell is quoted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle regarding his visit with Brooks.

Dec. 27, 1965
Kevin Brownlow visits Brooks in Rochester.

July 12, 1966
Views The Wedding March at Eastman House.


Feb. 15, 1967
Reading Ethel Merman's Who Could Ask for Anything More? (1955).

July 4, 1968
Visits composer David Diamond at his Rochester home.

Jan. 30, 1971
WROC Channel 8 broadcasts Overland Stage Raiders in Rochester.

Feb. 23, 1972
Due to a "lame hip," declines invitation from David Rockefeller to serve on Salute to Chaplin Committee.

July 16, 1972
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features an Alfred Hitchcock interview.

Feb. 28, 1974
Watches her brother Theo on the NBC news program Behind the Lines; the episode also featured "energy Czar" William Simon.

Oct. 7, 1974
Roddy McDowell telephones asking what Brooks thinks of his role on the Planet of the Apes television series.

April 18, 1979
Writer Jim Watters and photographer Horst P. Horst visit Brooks in her Rochester apartment on assignment for LIFE magazine.

Feb. 1980
Brooks is featured in Life magazine article, "What Became of Mary Astor and other Lost Stars?" by James Watters.

Oct. 30, 1980
Returns to her apartment after a week in the hospital after suffering a fall.

Sept. 19, 1982
The local newspaper reports that Brooks was disturbed by a local jazz musician, practicing their drums outside near Brooks' apartment. The musician was escorted to Brooks apartment, and spoke with the bed-ridden former actress. The musician took her drum kit indoors, and the next day received a phone call from Brooks.

Feb. 15, 1983
Rochester radio personality William Klein brings comedian Joan Rivers to Brooks' apartment, where they talk and enjoy croissants from the Strathallan hotel.

March 21, 1983
Brooks reports having received a phone call from director Robert Towne, and that they talked for more than an hour.

Feb. 15, 1984
Visiting actresses Peggy Cass and Susan Strasberg (on tour with Agnes of God) visit Brooks at her Rochester apartment.

Feb. 25, 1985
Due to ill health, Brooks declines an invitation from the International Women's Film Festival to serve on their awards jury.

Aug. 8, 1985
Dies in Rochester, New York.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, part four

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films, writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985 attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple sources including, first and foremost,  dates and events found in the Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her notebooks (which she kept from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records  and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985. There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here are a few highlights from the forties and fifties.

Feb. 23, 1940
Brooks-O’Shea Studio of Ballroom Dancing opens in Hollywood.

April 20, 1940
Dances at the Arrowhead Spring Hotel in San Bernadino, California.

June 15, 1940
Los Angeles Times reports Brooks the victim of reputed swindler Benjamin F. Crandall; according to articles from the time, Brooks lost $2,000 in a Hollywood magazine stock promotion scheme.

Jan. 1941
Reads and takes notes on the French philosopher Henri Bergson.

Aug. 3, 1942
Hired as a sales girl at Garfields, a department store in Wichita. Brooks works the accessories counter.

June ?, 1943
Meets with writer Robert Benchley, who gives her a copy of Pascal's Pensees.

June 29, 1943
Attends original Broadway production of Oklahoma! at the St. James Theatre in New York, with William S. Paley, Ben Gimbel and two others.

Dec. 24, 1944
Brooks and Lothar Wolff spend Christmas Eve with Blythe Daly and Jim Backus.

Dec. 15, 1948
Lowell, MA journalist (and future Jack Kerouac in-law) Charles Sampas muses about Brooks in his column, "I can remember Way Back When and actress named Louise Brooks was the Number One favorite of the Square Beaux...."

Nov. 10, 1949
Brooks sees Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn perform "Creative Dances on Ethnic Themes" at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Oct. 18-19, 1952
Eastman House screens Beggars of Life, an "adult silent film not recommended for children."

Nov. 10, 1952
Visits rectory of St. John the Evangelist's Church (55 East 55th Street at First Avenue, New York City) seeking spiritual counsel.

Dec. 13, 1953
Receives confirmation in the Catholic Church at St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City. Bishop Flannelly presides. Before the ritual of being confirmed, those seeking confirmation choose to take a saint's name with whom they identify. After confirmation, the confirmed can pray to the saint for guidance and protection. Brooks chooses St. Thérèse, "the little flower."

April 4, 1954
Attends reception at the guest house of John D. Rockefeller III in honor of Lillian Gish; others in attendance include Gloria Swanson, Josef von Sternberg, Neil Hamilton, Carmel Myers, Anita Loos, Ilka Chase, June Collyer, Aileen Pringle,  and others.

Winter 1956
At the Eastman House, view Pandora's Box for the first time. Brooks arranges a score of works made up of recordings of music by Kurt Weill.

May 5, 1957
Watches Gloria Swanson interview (by Mike Wallace) on television.

May 31, 1957
Diary of a Lost Girl screened at the Eastman House for members of the Cinema 16 film club from New York City. Brooks is likely in attendance, as is the film's assistant director, Paul Falkenberg. Also present is film historian Arthur Knight, cineastes Amos Vogel, animator and film director Gene Deitch, and others.

Oct. 27, 1957
Watches coverage of Queen Elizabeth visit to the United States on television.

Nov. 5 - 7, 1958
"Homage to Louise Brooks" takes place at Cinematheque Francaise; Brooks makes a short speech in French, and meets with Prix de Beaute co-star Georges Charlia. Brooks attends a reception in her honor, and reportedly signs hundreds of autographs.

April 30, 1959
Watches The Milton Berle Show on television. This episode included Tallulah Bankhead.

June 15, 1959
Views Loulou (1918), starring Asta Nielsen, at Eastman House.

Oct. 29, 1959
Views Empty Saddles at Eastman House; records in notebooks that this screening marked the first time she ever heard her voice on the screen.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, part three

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films, writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985 attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple sources including, first and foremost,  dates and events found in the Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her notebooks (which she kept from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records  and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985. There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here are a few highlights for the 1930s.

Jan. 9, 1930
New York Daily Mirror reports crooner Harry Richman says that Brooks will reunite with Eddie Sutherland.

Jan. 26, 1930
Attends cocktail party at Clifton Webb's. Also present are Fred Astaire and his sister Adele, authors Edna Ferber and Carl van Vechten, singer Libby Holman, actresses Marilyn Miller and Ruth Donnelly, and others (Edward Wasserman, Blanche Knopf ?).

Feb. 25, 1930
Attends performance of The Last Mile, a play by John Wexley, at the Sam H. Harris Theatre in New York. Among those in the cast is Spencer Tracey.

April 2, 1930
Book columnist William Soskin reports what a few celebrities are said to be reading (Clara Bow, Hulu), and somewhat incredulously notes Brooks is reading Hermann Sudermann's The Mad Professor and Stefan Zweig's The Case of Sergeant Grischa.

Aug. 10, 1930
Syndicated columnist Radie Harris reports Brooks is living at Lois Moran's Malibu home, Halikalani. (Neighbors include John Boles and Ronald Colman.)

Aug. 23, 1930
Syndicated columnist Louella Parsons reports Brooks, "still wearing the distinctive Dutch bob," was seen dining at the Coconut Grove.

May 1, 1933
Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Art Arthur reports seeing Brooks at the Ha-Ha Club in New York, where she joined a table with Peggy Fears and Lupe Velez. Other current and former stars were also in attendance, including Mae Murray.

Aug. 17, 1934
Crooner Harry Richman joins Brooks and Dario on the bill at the Blossom Heath Inn near Detroit, Michigan.

Jan. 16-19, 1935
Brooks and Dario dance at the Embassy Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Also on the bill is Enric Madriguera's Orchestra, and French singer Lucienne Boyer.

Jan. 28, 1935
Brooks and Dario begin dance engagement at the Patio in Palm Beach, Florida. Also performing is singer Bruz Fletcher.

Oct. 17, 1935
Brooks meets with G.W. Pabst in New York City to discuss a proposed film of Faust.

Oct. 20, 1935
Arrives in Eureka, Kansas to visit her father, who is in the hospital after having been injured in an automobile accident.

August 4, 1936
Syndicated columnist Sidney Skolsky reports Brooks and Addison Randall "were sitting in the bamboo room at the Brown Derby munching peanuts."

Feb. 27, 1938
Los Angeles Times reports that Brooks and Travis Banton put in an appearance at Bruz Fletcher’s Club Bali, a popular nightclub in Los Angeles.

April 19, 1938
Syndicated columnist Erskine Johnson reports that Brooks and Travis Banton put in an appearance at Bruz Fletcher’s Club Bali.

Aug. 10, 1938
Production of Overland Stage Raiders begins in Southern California, with location shooting done at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California.

June 23, 1939
Syndicated columnist Louella Parsons writes that Brooks and Lew Brice dined together (possibly with John McClain and Paulette Goddard).

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, part two

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films, writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985 attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple sources including, first and foremost,  dates and events found in the Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her notebooks (which she kept from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records  and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985. There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here are a few highlights for the last half of the 1920s.

Sept. 16, 1925
Brooks and a tipsy Herman J. Mankiewicz attend No, No, Nanette at the Globe Theater on Broadway.

Sept. 17, 1925
Brooks’ ghost-written review (by-lined by Herman J. Mankiewicz) of the stage play No, No, Nanette appears in the New York Times.

Dec. 1, 1925
Wearing a celebrated "drafty" costume designed by John Harkrider, Brooks attends the Lafayette fête (a society fundraiser) held at the Hotel Astor in New York City. Also there in costume were Gloria Swanson as Marie Antoinette, and Adolphe Menjou as Price Eugene, with Leon Errol acting as master of ceremonies, and Irene Bordoni singing. Also attending were Ethel Barrymore, Noel Coward, Richard Barthelmess, Marilyn Miller, Walter Wanger, Otto Kahn, John Jay Chapman, and others.

May 26, 1926
Brooks appears on the cover of the Danish film magazine Ugebladet — probable 1st appearance on a European magazine cover.

Aug. 6, 1926
Attends opening of first sound film, Don Juan (1926), with Peggy Fears and A.C. Blumenthal at the Warner Theater in New York City.

Aug. 30, 1926
Attends Rudolph Valentino’s funeral in New York City.

Nov. 5, 1926
Makes a personal appearance at a benefit pre-release midnight showing at the Rialto Theater of We're in the Navy Now, directed by Eddie Sutherland, who is also on hand. (As is Betty Bronson, Ricardo Cortez, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher, William Powell, Evelyn Brent, and Philip Strange. Helen Morgan sings.) The event is a benefit showing in aid of the New York American Christmas and Relief Fund.

July 8, 1927
Attends the West Coast premiere of Way of All Flesh at Criterion Theater in Los Angeles, California.

Aug. 27, 1927
At the Paramount studio shooting scenes (interiors in the aviation headquarters and ante room) for Now We’re in the Air. Later in the day attends a Hollywood party in honor of Lina Basquette.

Oct. 10, 1927
New York Sun columnist Eileen Creelman notes Brooks was among those attending the Oct. 7th opening of Texas Guinan's new nightclub. (As did Peggy Fears, Herbert Brenon, Gladys Glad, Dagmar Godowsky, Lita Grey, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Lew Cody, Carmel Myers, and others.)

Jan. 27, 1928
Attends pajama party with Eddie Sutherland at Esther Ralston’s Hollywood home; also in attendance are Buddy Rogers, George Bancroft, Mary Brian, Richard Arlen, Chester Conklin, Frank Tuttle, Warner Baxter, and others.

Feb. 28, 1928
Departs Miami aboard a cruise ship bound for Havana, Cuba.

May 12, 1928
Brooks and Mary Brian are guests of honor at an afternoon benefit bridge given by the Los Angeles alumni of Pi Kappa Psi, a national education sorority, on the south patio of the Alexandria hotel.

Aug. 28, 1928
In the evening, Brooks, Richard Dix and other 16 others involved in the filming of Redskin arrive in Gallup, New Mexico, where they stay at the El Navajo hotel.

Oct. 11, 1928
The Emporia Weekly Gazette reports that Brooks will pass through Emporia, Kansas on the east bound no. 20.

Dec. 1928
Brooks meets William S. Paley, the new owner of CBS. They keep company for the next two months.

Jan. 23, 1929
Variety writes, "Louise Brooks of the 'movies' thinks Jimmy Durante should have that schnozzola patented. Louise is quite the talk of the ringside these nights."

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, part one

A massive project which I have been working on (in between other projects) is Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985, a page on the Louise Brooks Society website. It is a work in progress.

Louise Brooks was 78 years old at the time of her death. All together, her life ran over the course of 28,758 days. She accomplished a great deal in her lifetime, appearing in 24 films, writing a book, appearing on radio, and performing hundreds of times on stage as a dancer. She also taught dancing, and worked as a professional ballroom dancer. However, relatively speaking, little is known about what Brooks was doing on any given day.

From the mass of material I have gathered, Brooks' activities can be traced to approximately a thousand days throughout her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.

Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985 attempts a day-by-day account of Brooks' life. It contains entries both significant and mundane, and is based on multiple sources including, first and foremost,  dates and events found in the Barry Paris biography. I also contains entries recorded by Brooks in her notebooks (which she kept from the mid-1950s through her death); other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those published where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records  and passenger manifests.

I encourage anyone interested to check out what I have so far accomplished at Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1985. There is more to come. If you can suggest documented specific dates  related to Louise Brooks, please contact the LBS. In the meantime, here are a few highlights for the years prior to Brooks becoming a film star.

Nov. 14, 1906
Born Mary Louise Brooks in the town of Cherryvale, Kansas to Leonard and Myra Brooks. A small article announcing the birth appears on the front page of the local newspapers, the Cherryvale Republican and Cherryvale Daily News.

Sept. 2, 1910
Performs in "Tom Thumb Wedding" at the Cherryvale Christian church. Admission is 15 and 25 cents. The following day, a newspaper article states there was "good attendance," and that the "program pleased the audience, and netted the sum of $300 for the church."

Aug. 6, 1915
As one of Bertha Nusbaum's piano students, performs "Little Fairy Waltz Op. 105, No. 1" by Ludovic Streabbog at the home of a neighbor.

Jan. 18, 1918
Brooks, who is called "Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary" in the local newspaper, leads a "Dance of the Flowers" with 12 other Flower Maidens in the Mother Goose Pageant at the local High School, a benefit for the Red Cross fund.

Feb. 12, 1918
Joins the newly formed G. K. Club (Girls Knitting Club), composed of other local youngsters, who enjoy games, music, treats, and other other activities and meet at the home of a neighbor.

May 2, 1919
Dances "The Gloating Dance of Destruction" (as arranged by Mrs. Milburn Hobson) at "The Progress of Peace" pageant at the Beldorf theater in Independence. The event is advertised, and mention is made in the ad of Brooks performance. A "large audience" turns out. The event, under the auspices of the local Y.M.C.A., is a benefit to further the sale of Liberty bonds. (Vivian Jones, the future Vivian Vance, also takes part.)

Nov. 15, 1919
Hosts an outing for friends, who take in the Dorothy Gish comedy I'll Get Him Yet at the Best Theatre, followed by lunch at the Sunflower Pharmacy.

May 20, 1921
Brooks plays Catherine Rogers in a two-act play, Mr. Bob, staged in the auditorium of the Horace Mann intermediate school in Wichita. Some 600 students attend the event.

Oct. 5, 1921
Elected to the sophomore class student council.

May 18, 1922
Performs an "Egyptian Dance" at the Arcadia Theater at a convention event sponsored by the Kansas Bankers Association.

Oct. 3, 1922
Referenced in a front page review in the Lewistown Sentinel. Later in the day, appears with Denishawn at the Strand Theatre in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.

Oct. 11, 1922
Receives her first mention in the New York Times in a review of the Denishawn engagement at Selwyn Theatre. Later in the day, appears with Denishawn at the Opera House in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Nov. 7, 1922
First mention in a Canadian publication: Brooks is referenced in a review in the London Free Press.

Nov. 18, 1922
Appears with Denishawn at the Crawford Theatre in Wichita, Kansas. Brooks is presented with "many flower tributes." Following the performance, Brooks' parents host a dinner party at their home, with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Martha Graham, Charles Wiedeman, Pear Wheeler and other members of the Denishawn Company.

Jan. 15, 1923
Appears with Denishawn at Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, New York. (Unknown to Brooks, future surrealist photographer Lee Miller is in the audience.)

December 29, 1923
Appears with Denishawn in matinee and evening performances at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

March 3, 1924
Appears with Denishawn at the High School Auditorium in Hibbing, Minnesota. (Is that Bob Dylan's High School?)

April 18, 1924
Denishawn Dance Company starts a two day run of matinee and evening performances at the Grand Opera House in London, Ontario, Canada.

July 8, 1924
New York Telegram and Evening Mail raves about Brooks, which states she is the "fairest youngster that has dawned on Broadway in a long time. This is her first show, and word came from Atlantic City that she was a revelation of superlatively lovely girlhood...."

Oct. 20, 1924
Begins dance engagement at the Cafe de Paris in London. She is "cordially received" on her first night. The popular act, Layton & Johnstone, are also on the bill.

April 21, 1925
Brooks meets African-American actor Paul Robeson at a party at the apartment of writer / photographer Carl Van Vechten. Robeson thought her "very conceited and impossible."

May 16, 1925
Attends the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky with director Herbert Brenon.

Louise Brooks, at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and 16th Street

In the 1920s, movies were advertised in all manner of ways -- in newspapers and magazines, on posters and handbills, in window displays, and even by individuals walking down the street wearing a sandwich boards. And like today, they were also advertised on billboards.

In the past, I have seen only one image of the billboard promoting a Louise Brooks' film, namely The Canary Murder Case, as it appeared in a distant and grainy photograph in a Winnipeg, Manitoba newspaper.

Recently, I came across something very special -- a photograph of a billboard promoting A Social Celebrity in Kansas City, Missouri. To me, it is a remarkable image, as it is not in a downtown setting (as in the Canary Murder Case image I had seen), but rather, in a city neighborhood. What's more, I found the image on an African-American history website -- the Black Archives of mid-America, which leads me to guess but not know for sure that the neighborhoods depicted below were African American neighborhoods. [It's not surprising that Brooks films were advertised in Black neighborhoods. In fact, I have come across a handful of instances when Brooks films were shown in theaters that catered to African Americans, one in Harlem, and one in Baltimore.]

Here is the first image I found, followed by a close-up of the billboard itself.

The billboard depicted above promotes a showing of A Social Celebrity at the downtown Newman Theater in Kansas City, commencing the week of May 1. One might ask, "Why was this picture taken?" Most likely, I would guess, to prove to Paramount or the film's local distributor or exhibitor that the film was in fact advertised as per an agreement.

I also happened to come upon another photograph from the time (all of which were credited to the Merritt Outdoor Advertising Co.) which depicts another billboard promoting A Social Celebrity in Kansas City! It's the on the far right. This photo is set at Broadway and 35th Street.

Just as I began to wonder it there had been a city wide campaign to promote the film, I came across another image of a billboard promoting A Social Celebrity. This one located at 15th and Holmes Streets in Kansas City.

And here is another, where the billboard is on the left of the three billboard construct. This picture was shot 4025 Troost Avenue.

I found four more images of billboards promoting A Social Celebrity, including the picture below. Unfortunately, this photograph, which is typical of the others, shows the billboard either distant or obscured (here behind a tree at the corner of Independence Avenue and Maple Boulevard). Nevertheless, that makes eight photographs of eight billboards promoting the same showing of A Social Celebrity.

Incidentally, the Newman showed many of Brooks' films when they were first released. The Newman was a major first run theater in a major metropolitan area. In fact, it was the "largest motion picture theater to be built in the downtown district and the most costly theater of any sort" erected at the time in Kansas City. Seating capacity was 2,000. There was also a big organ installed.

Named after Frank L. Newman and opened in 1919, the Newman theater was later sold to and operated by Paramount Pictures starting in 1925, when Newman left to manage theaters in Los Angeles for the Famous Players-Lasky Film Corporation. After another change of name and a renovation in 1969, the theater was closed for good and demolished in 1972. Here is a vintage postcard view of the theater.

These historic billboard images got me wondering. If they exist for one film in one city, where are others like them from other major cities? The search continues....

I wasn't able to find much about Frank Cambria's Garden Festival, which was the opening act for A Social Celebrity at the Newman in Kansas City. Seemingly, he/it was a traveling act, turning up in 1926 in Buffalo, Detroit, St. Louis and elsewhere. When Cambria's Garden Festival was staged that same year in Brooklyn ahead of the Richard Dix's film, Let's Get Married, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described it as "a lovely presentation, staged in good taste and has as its theme song Schubert's Serenade."

Incidentally, I did find a few other images depicting billboards for other films starring the likes of Norma Shearer, Zasu Pitts, Helen Chadwick and others. Here is one of them, for the Priscilla Dean, Lon Chaney film Outside the Law at the Liberty theater. (Another image I came across, of a four billboard construct, depicts both Outside the Law and A Social Celebrity. That image is the fourth image from the top, though the billboard for Outside the Law is a hard to make out.)