Monday, April 3, 2006

Pop/rock music about silent film

Thanx to all of those who have so far voted in the "Pick you favorite contemporary song about Louise Brooks" poll. Which got me to wondering, does anyone know of other pop/rock music about silent film stars or movies? I recall that Nick Lowe has a rather morbid song about Marie Prevost. Can anyone think of any others?

Sunday, April 2, 2006

(Once again) Mick LaSalle on Louise Brooks

Once again (see previous LJ entry), San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle has written (rehashed his old arguements) about Louise Brooks. This letter from today's newspaper
Hi Mick: I was a bit disappointed by your review of the DVD release of Prix de Beauté. I will admit I bow to nobody regarding my love of Louise Brooks, but it seemed you spent an inordinate amount of type refuting the Brooks legend, rather than addressing the film itself. I guess my question is why you found it so necessary to smash the idol.
Tom Bertino, San Rafael 
Hi Tom: That's a fair observation. I guess I feel about Louise Brooks the way that guy in Sideways felt about Merlot. Though my unrelentingly sunny disposition is rarely disrupted by anything, when I hear ignorant critics go on and on about Brooks -- the only silent actress they know -- it does get on my nerves. Brooks' after-the-event stardom was carefully put over by Brooks and her friends. She was a minor, forgotten silent actress who came into prominence within scholarly circles thanks to the great archivist James Card, an old fan of hers, with whom she subsequently had an affair. She began writing for film journals and became friends with film scholars. Thus, the people who "rediscovered" Brooks were Brooks' own colleagues, who were happy to believe and propound the myth that their peer was an amazing forgotten talent, a genius unrecognized in her own time. This myth took hold in the 1950s and went mainstream in 1979, when Kenneth Tynan, who knew nothing about silent film, descended into utter critical lunacy and pronounced, in the New Yorker, that Brooks invented modern screen acting.
In a way, this doesn't matter. As Merlots go, Brooks is a pretty good one. Her reputation rests on her two films for German director G.W. Pabst, Pandora's Box, which is mediocre (and overrated) and Diary of a Lost Girl, which is superb, and she's fine in it. But there are other silent actresses who are more beautiful, more interesting, more innovative and more talented, whose bodies of work are more distinguished, and yet they remain, mute and still, languishing in film cans through critical neglect and archival uninterest. Still, I give Brooks credit for one thing. While other actresses slept with producers to get a career, Brooks realized the significance of sleeping with film scholars in order to fix that career in the public consciousness. Producers forget, but scholars tend to be endlessly grateful.

Saturday, April 1, 2006

Attention Bay Area shoppers

Attention book and film lovers: I've just returned from Acorn Books, a used bookstore located on Polk Street in San Francisco. As it turns out, the store is going out of business, and everything is 40% off. They have a very good film section, and I was able to find a few gems at reasonable prices. You may as well. . . . [ The two best books I found were a copy of Gloria Swanson's autobiography - SIGNED by Swanson. And an uncommon, oversized, illustrated photoplay edition of Evangeline published by the Milton Bradley company. I collect vintage photoplay editions, and thought this a nice find.]

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Poll: Pick your favorite contemporary song "about" Louise Brooks

By now, I hope some of you might have had the chance to listen to RadioLulu. This Louise Brooks themed radio station features music of the Twenties through today - and includes contemporary pop and rock songs about the silent film star. What's your favorite contemporary song "about" Louise Brooks?

Poll #701462 Favorite Contemporary Louise Brooks Song
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12
Pick your favorite contemporary song "about" Louise Brooks
View Answers
OMD - Pandora's Box (It's a Long, Long Way) (1991)
 6 (50.0%)
Timelock - Louise Brooks (1992)
 0 (0.0%)
Jen Anderson - Lulu the Song (1993)
 1 (8.3%)
John SaFranko - The Final Years of Louise Brooks (1993)
 0 (0.0%)
Ron Hawkins - Lulu (1995)
 0 (0.0%)
Soul Coughing - St. Louise Is Listening (1998)
 2 (16.7%)
Lady Godiva - Louise Brooks (1999)
 0 (0.0%)
Les Primitifs Du Future - Chanson pour Louise Brooks (1999)
 2 (16.7%)
Marillion - Interior Lulu (1999)
 0 (0.0%)
Sarah Azzara - Like Louise Brooks (2000)
 1 (8.3%)
Paul Hayes - Louise Brooks (2003)
 0 (0.0%)
Nouvelle Culture - Actress (Louise Brooks Theme) (2005)
 0 (0.0%)

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Guerrilla Girls


The cover story of the current issue of Go Triad - an arts & entertainment magazine from Greensboro, North Carolina - is devoted to the Guerrilla Girls, the longstanding feminist theater troupe. The Guerrilla Girls were formed in 1985, and have appeared around the United States and the world "working collectively and anonymously, producing posters, billboards, public actions, books and other projects to make feminism funny and fashionable." (For more about their activities, check outwww.guerrillagirls.com). The article notes "Members of the Guerrilla Girls keep their identities anonymous by assuming the names of prominent women in history. The group includes, among others, Julia Child, Coco Chanel, Anna May Wong, Louise Brooks and Aphra Behn, a playwright of the late 17th century known for her bawdy humor."

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Sarah Caldwell (1924 - 2006)

Sarah Caldwell, one of America's most adventurous conductors and opera directors, has died. (Her New York Times obit can be found here.)

Recently, I had the chance to see documentary filmmmaker Richard Leecock screen Lulu in Berlin. At that screening, Leecock paired his Louise Brooks documentary with an unreleased work-in-progress about Sarah Caldwell, and her efforts to stage an opera in Russia. During the question and answer session following the films, Leecock recounted how he had worked with Caldwell on a staging of Alban Berg's opera, Lulu, in Chicago. (This took place in 1968.) Leecock shot a short cinematic passage, as called for in Berg's notes for the opera, with Edie Sedgwick playing Lulu!

Monday, March 27, 2006

Donald Sosin

Today, I received an email from composer and accompaniest Donald Sosin. He wrote to tell me that he will be accompaning Prix de Beaute when it is screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in little more than a month. (See an earlier LJ entry for details.) Donald's music can be heard on a number of DVDs, including NosferatuThe Cabinet of Dr. CaligariThe Forgotten Films of Fatty Arbuckle, etc....  He has also accompanied earlier screenings of Pandora's Box (at the Brooklyn Academy of Music),Diary of a Lost Girl, and A Girl in Every Port. More about Donald and his work can be found at www.silent-film-music.com/  Check it out!
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