Beggars of Life

Having finished the Dietrich biography, I decided to next read Beggars of Life, by Jim Tully. I haven't read it before. And am intent on eventually reading all of the books which served as the basis for a Louise Brooks' film. So far, I am about 85 pages into the book. It's ok, so far - somewhat dated, but also somewhat engaging. Kinda rough-hewn, and written in thickly-dabbed, colorful, impressionistic prose.

I own two copies of Beggars of Life. One is a 1928 photoplay edition, with a dustjacket depicting Brooks, Richard Arlen and Wallace Beery. The other is a first edition from 1924. This copy was once owned by actress Colleen Moore, and has her bookplate on the endpaper. It is also inscribed by Tully to Moore. The inscription reads, "To Colleen Moore with the admiration of an Irish rover to a whimsical girl who knew him when. Jim Tully Hollywood, Calif 1926."



After a long period of being out-of-print, Beggar's of Life is available once again in a new edition from AK Press. I would be interested to know if anyone else has read this book.

Louise Brooks screenings in Washington D.C.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. is presenting "Film Series: Restoration Spotlight Louise Brooks in Europe" featuring 

Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora / Lulu)
May 16 at 4:30 p.m.
New materials from the original version were discovered at the Gosfilmofond archive in Moscow and were combined with an earlier German restoration for the most complete print to date. The new musical score for two pianos is performed live under Gillian Anderson's direction (G. W. Pabst, 1928, 120 minutes).

Diary of a Lost Girl (Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen)
May 22 at 4:00 p.m.
This latest restoration, the most accurate reflection to date of the director's intentions, was compiled from source materials in Belgium, France, Germany, and Uruguay (G. W. Pabst, 1929, silent with piano accompaniment by Ray Brubacher, 98 minutes).

Miss Europe (Prix de beauté)
May 23 at 4:30 p.m.
in the transitional period between silents and talkies, Prix de beauté was conceived as a silent film. Until now, however, it has been viewable only with postsynchronized music, effects, and dialogue. Materials recently discovered in Milan have made possible the reconstruction of the original silent print, thus restoring the composition of the frames before a soundtrack was added (Augusto Genina, 1930, silent with piano accompaniment by Ray Brubacher, 108 minutes). 

For more info see http://www.nga.gov/programs/flmbrooks.htm

Marlene Dietrich and Louise Brooks

Some time ago, I came across an obscure drawing by the Polish writer Bruno Schulz (1892 - 1942) which I believe depicts Louise Brooks and Marlene Dietrich. If it is not them, then it bears a striking resemblance to the two cinematic femme fatales, Lulu and Lola.

Bruno Schulz is known for his short stories, and he is considered one of the great Polish writers of the 20th century. His brief literary career ended during World War II when he was gunned down by a German officer. John Updike, an admirer, has described the author as "one of the great transmogrifiers of the world into words." [Schulz's most famous work, The Street of Crocodiles (1934), was itself transmogrified into a 1986 film by the Brother's Quay. It is extraordinary - one of the most memorable and poetic films I have ever seen!] 

Schulz was also gifted artist. The drawing that I came across, which dates from 1930 but is now lost and only exists in reproduction, does seem to depict Brooks and Dietrich. In the title of the drawing, the two women are termed "temptresses." The standing Brooks figure is garbed in showgirl attire, a la Pandora's Box, while the Dietrich figure is seated with legs crossed, a la The Blue Angel. Perhaps I am wrong, but this image seems another link between the mythic characters of Lulu and Lola. 

Marlene Dietrich

Yesterday, I finished reading Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend by Steven Bach. Wow! What an amazing life and what a remarkable biography. I was especially impressed with the scholarship (both quantity and quality) that went into writing this book. This engrossing biography is especially good on Dietrich's early life and career - and the background on German life and culture in the first decades of the 20th century is excellent. Highly recommended.



I think - in down-deep, subtle ways, Marlene Dietrich and Louise Brooks were similar sorts of people. Or at least similarly motivated. Both were very beautiful, sexually driven, and drawn to powerful men. (And both men and women were drawn to them.) Both projected their selves into their characters and onto the screen. Both sought to shape their legacies. Both scrubbed floors in atonement. (Their is also a subtle link between their two most famous roles as well:  Lulu = Lola. Dietrich, as everyone knows, was offered the role that Brooks would play - the role of Lulu - in Pandora's Box. A year later, Dietrich would go on to play Lola in the similarly themed film, The Blue Angel. G.W. Pabst directed Brooks, and Josef von Sternberg directed Dietrich: each director was a kind of Svengali to the actress.)

Has anyone else read this biography of Dietrich (or other books on the actress)? Any comments on the similarities between Lulu and Lola, the Blue Angel? 

"Neve Campbell to play 1920s star Louise Brooks"

Neve Campbell to play 1920s star Louise Brooks

Canadian Press
April 27, 2004 8:33 PM ET

VANCOUVER — Canadian actress Neve Campbell, who recently finished three days of work on Reefer Madness, the musical version of the 1936 cult pot howler being shot here for Showtime, says she's not sure what's next.

"I don't really like anything I'm reading," says Campbell, whose younger brother Christian is in the Reefer cast along with Tony winner Alan Cumming and TV's Steven Weber (Wings, The D.A.). "I've optioned a script about Louise Brooks, a silent film actress in the '20s. I'm working on producing that."

Brooks, who like Campbell was a dancer and actress, made two dozen movies between 1924 and 1938. She was best known for her trademark Dutch bob hairstyle and as Lulu, the heroine in the erotically charged 1929 film Pandora's Box by German director G. W. Pabst.

After sinking into obscurity for decades, Brooks re-emerged as a respected writer in the 1950s.

Campbell says she's also producing A Private War, about Tourette Syndrome, an inherited neurological disorder that causes involuntary movements and verbal outbursts, which afflicts her brother Damien.

Campbell's When Will I Be Loved, done with writer-director James Toback, is due out in September.

Campbell is also awaiting the release of Churchill: The Hollywood Years, where she plays a young Princess Elizabeth in this broad satire starring Christian Slater as a Churchill substitute hired because Hollywood decides the original isn't photogenic enough to win the Second World War.

"It's absolutely silly English humour." says Campbell.

Reefer Madness, which wraps shooting in June, will air on Showtime next year.

Another UC Berkeley research trip

Another trip to the periodicals room at the library of the University of California, Berkeley. Scrolled through microfilm of various newspapers, mostly from Mexico and Poland. Found a few advertisements. Also looked through a newspaper from Jerusalem dating from the 1920's. Found advertisements for films playing there, but none were Louise Brooks' films. Seemingly, Jerusalem had only a very few movie theaters, and the films shown were usualy the blockbusters from the United States or Europe.

Last trip to San Jose

Last trip (for the time being) to the combined libraries of the city of San Jose and San Jose State University, where I went through some more microfilm and even some bound periodicals. Found a few miscellaneous items. Also looked through the Los Gatos Mail News.