For the Record: A Brief History of the Louise Brooks Society
The Louise Brooks Society was established in 1995
as a gathering place for like-minded individuals from around the world.
The site’s followers hail from dozens of countries on six continents.
They include film buffs and movie industry professionals, celebrities,
teachers, students and other interested individuals from all walks of
life. To date, more than 3,500,000 people have visited this website!
Logs show individuals have visited from countries from across North and
South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and the
Pacific — showing Louise Brooks is truly an international star. It is
hoped that those who visit these pages and share an interest in the
actress will join in furthering in its efforts.
The Louise Brooks Society™ was founded
by Thomas Gladysz; the website is written, designed and maintained by
Gladysz with the assistance of Christy Pascoe. The Louise Brooks Society
operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks
Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of
Louise Brooks in connection with its activities. Content original to
this site is © 1995 – 2023 by Thomas Gladysz / Louise Brooks Society.
All rights reserved.
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(Left) With Louise Brooks fan and actor Paul McGann (the 8th Doctor Who) and
(Right) with film historian Kevin Brownlow
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MISSION STATEMENT
The Louise Brooks Society is devoted to the appreciation and
promotion of the life and films of Louise Brooks. The mission of the
society is to honor the actress by 1) stimulating interest in her life,
films and writings, as well as her place in 20th century culture; 2)
fostering and coordinating research; 3) serving as a repository for
relevant material; and 4) advocating for the preservation and
restoration of her films, writings and other related material.
The purpose of the LBS website is to promote interest in the actress
by serving as a focal point for related activities; by disseminating
accurate information including authoritative texts; and by offering
individuals a variety of materials to aid in their appreciation of the
actress. Above all, the LBS encourages the viewing of Brooks’ surviving
films, and the fellowship of her admirers. Future projects will include
the publication of new material about the actress (in the form of
articles, books, and e-books), as well as the ongoing development of
this website, its blog, and social media accounts. Future projects, such
as video, podcasts, in-person talks, screenings and related
events, are also under consideration.
SHORT HISTORY OF THE LBS
Since first becoming interested / fascinated / obsessed with Louise
Brooks, I have always appreciated meeting others who shared my
enthusiasm for this singular silent film star. Early on, I searched for
some kind of fan club — but found none. It then occurred to me that I
might form a group. The idea of starting the Louise Brooks Society
coincided with my growing interest in computing in the early 1990s.
That’s when I realized there would be no better way of forming a group or club
than over the internet. A fan club (in the traditional sense) is a way
to share information and “meet” other like-minded individuals. Thus,
enabled by the world wide web, the Louise Brooks Society was born.
The Louise Brooks Society website was launched in August, 1995. Since
then, the LBS has become one of the leading websites devoted to any
film star — silent or sound. In 1996, USA Today named the LBS a “Hot Site,” noting
“Silent-film buffs can get a taste of how a fan club from yesteryear
plays on the Web.The Louise Brooks Society site includes interviews,
trivia and photos. It also draws an international audience.” That was
the website’s first media mention.
The first feature story centering on
the LBS appeared on the Wired magazine website in 1998. Other articles mentioning the LBS appeared early on in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Atlanta Journal Constitution.
In 2000, Rochester, N.Y. film critic and friend to Louise Brooks, Jack
Garner, wrote an article in which he stated the Louise Brooks Society is
“A fine example of a fan page, a thoughtful, artful site devoted to the
life and times of a fabled silent movie legend.” Around the world, the
LBS was mentioned in various publications including Stuttgarter Zeitung, Le Temps, London Times, Melbourne Age, and South China Morning Post.
The LBS has also been praised by Leonard Maltin on his Movie Crazy website,
and by the late Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize winning film critic.
Before his passing, Ebert told me that he had used the site while
researching Louise Brooks and Pandora’s Box. The LBS has also
received email from distant relatives of Brooks, who mentioned they
enjoyed surfing the website and learned much about their famous
relation.
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In 1999, with Frederica Sagor Maas, silent era
screenwriter whose story became Rolled Stockings
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LBS HIGHLIGHTS
Here are highlights from the 25-plus year history of the Louise Brooks Society.
— LBS Website:
Launched in August, 1995, the LBS is a pioneering website that has
proven itself among the most comprehensive, popular and long-lasting
websites devoted to just about any film star — silent or sound, vintage
or contemporary. For its efforts, the LBS has received considerable media attention in newspapers and magazines from around the world. In 2015, the LBS was singled out in Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel,
a biography of the celebrated director. As an educational resource,
this 100+ page website has drawn not only film historian, but also film buffs, teachers,
students and academics.
— Internet Presence: The long running
was started in June, 2002. It currently has more than 3500 posts and
hundreds of subscribers, and has been visited more than 1,800,000 times
(as of 2023). The LBS also maintains an active social media presence on
Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and elsewhere. See the LBS Social Media page for further details.
— Advocacy:
In 1998, inspired by the popularity of the LBS website, Turner Classic
Movies (TCM) commissioned the Emmy nominated documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu.
The part played by the LBS in bringing the documentary to television
was acknowledged by TCM as well as the director of the documentary. [See
“Fan Site Sparks Biopic” (Wired) and “Lovely Lulu Lives Again / A decade after her death, silent-film star Louise Brooks is more popular than ever” (San Francisco Chronicle).]
Additionally, in 2000, following a grass-roots campaign, the LBS helped
bring both the Barry Paris biography of the actress and Louise Brooks’ own
book, Lulu in Hollywood, back into print through the University
of Minnesota Press. The LBS is acknowledged in each edition, and the
books have remained in print since.
— Scholarship:
The wealth of information found on the LBS is one of its primary
achievements. Much of it, including the annotated filmographies,
bibliographies, detailed chronology, are the result of thousands of
hours of research. Research conducted by the LBS has also lead to a
handful of groundbreaking discoveries regarding Brooks’ numerous
childhood performances; the cultural life of Brooks’ mother; G.W.
Pabst’s reasons for choosing Louise Brooks to play Lulu; the previously
undocumented exhibition history of Pandora’s Box in the United
States in the 1930s, etc…. Also uncovered during the course of research
were rare audio recording of Brooks’ radio appearances in the 1960s! In 2018, the Irish Times newspaper noted, “An online tribute
site, the Louise Brooks Society, contains an extraordinary day-by-day
chronology of her life.”
Additionally, the Louise Brooks Society has contributed to the restoration of two Louise Brooks’ films, Now We’re in the Air (1927), and The Street of Forgotten Men (1925). The LBS is acknowledged in contemporary prints of both films.
Notably, the LBS has been cited in a number of
books including Geheimnisvolle Tiefe G.W. Pabst (Austrian Film Archive, 1998), German Expressionist Films (Pocket Essentials, 2002), Photoplay Editions (McFarland, 2002), and Sirens & Sinners: A Visual History of Weimar Film 1918-1933 (Thames & Hudson, 2013), among others.
— Publications: In 2010, the LBS published the “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Bohme’s The Diary of a Lost Girl, which served as the basis for the 1929 film. Notably, it was the book’s
first English-language publication in more than 100 years. This unique
edition was highly praised, and was the subject of an article in Deutsche Welle. Other publications of the Louise Brooks Society include Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film (2017, with a foreword by William Wellman, Jr.), Now We’re in the Air: A Companion to the Once Lost Film (2017, with a foreword by Robert Byrne), and Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star
(2018). The hallmark of each of these illustrated books is the
considerable research that went into each volume, as well as the new and
little known information revealed in them.
Due out in 2023 is The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond. Also in the works and nearly completion is Around the World with Louise Brooks, a two volume work.
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The first four publications of the Louise Brooks Society
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Additionally, as the Director of the LBS, Thomas Gladysz has written
numerous online articles, contributed material to various scholarly and
general interest books, and provided liner notes and audio commentary to
two DVD/Blu-ray releases from KINO Lorber, Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Beggars of Life (1928).
— Exhibits: In 2005, 2010, and 2011 the LBS mounted Louise Brooks and silent film-related exhibits at the San Francisco Public Library. Each was accompanied by a well attended public program which featured a lecture, screening or presentation.
— Events:
Over the years, the LBS has co-sponsored a handful of events, including
talks with silent era screenwriter Frederica Sagor Mass, Louise Brooks biographer
Barry Paris, and film historian Peter Cowie (Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever).
These and other events took place at various bookstores, libraries and
theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area. The LBS has also co-sponsored or
participated in a handful of other events, including screenings. As the
Director of the LBS, Thomas Gladysz has introduced Brooks’ films at the
San Francisco Silent Film Festival, San Francisco Public Library, Niles
Essanay Silent Film Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Action
Cinema in Paris, France. His talks on the actress have taken place at
the Hollywood Forever cemetery, Folsom Public Library, and Village Voice
bookstore in Paris. Gladysz has also written program notes for
screenings of Brooks’ films shown elsewhere around the United States.
Images from some of the LBS events and exhibits can be found on the LBS Flickr account.
— Promotion: Through its website, long-running blog, and various social media accounts, the LBS has promoted related books, DVD’s, articles, exhibits
and events held all around the world. You can even find the LBS
credited on the first edition of Laura Moriarty’s novel, The Chaperone. The LBS
supplied the cover image, as it did for various other books published around
the world. The LBS also had more than a little something to do with the
depiction of Louise Brooks on the cover of Adolfo Bioy Casare' The Invention of Morel.
The enthusiasm and generosity of Brooks’ many fans have contributed
to the growth of this website. Individuals from around the globe have
shared rare material. Others have performed research, translated
articles, visited libraries and archives, or sent images and interesting
information. The LBS acknowledges their efforts, and appreciates the
emails and letters others have sent from across the United States and
the world. Judging by these fans, and knowingly repeating myself, Louise
Brooks is truly an international star! Thank you one and all for your
interest in Louise Brooks and the Louise Brooks Society.
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At the San Francisco Public Library
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THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.
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At the George Eastman House
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