Blog search

Came across a few different 'meta" weblog / blog search engines, including Bloogz and Technorati and BlogPulse . A search for "Louise Brooks" turned up a handful of results on each search engine, though some of the results turned out to be broken links.

I wonder how extensively blogs (LiveJournal, Blogger, Movable Type, etc...) are indexed? And how long lasting are the entries? Will someone be able to read this entry in ten or twenty years?

(Two other blog search engines worth checking out are are Blogdex and Popdex.)

More Jewish Daily Forward

While looking at microfilm of vintage newspapers and magazines, it's not unusual to run across nifty material about other film stars. (Though I try to stay focussed on Louise Brooks, I have somehow managed to acquire thousands of photocopies of interesting articles, interviews, clippings, magazine covers, etc...... relating to other actors and actresses. What I will do with all this stuff, I do not know.)

Here are a couple of interesting things I copied from December, 1929 issues of the Jewish Daily Forward. The one on the left pictures a captioned photo of Clara Bow on the front page (top fold) of the Forward ! The one on the right is a feature photo of Anna May Wong, with its caption in both Yiddish and English. The English text reads "CHINESE ACTRESS CANNOT KISS ENGLISHMAN IN FILM  -  Anna May Wong, the charming Chinese motion picture star, who must not kiss John Longden, English actor, co-starring with her in a British talkie, according to a ruling by the English film censor."

Jewish Daily Forward

My weekly trip to the San Francisco Public Library yielded some rather interesting and unusual results. I visit the library once a week to place inter-library loan requests, and to go through what ever material has arrived from earlier requests.

This week I went through microfilm of the Buffalo Evening News and New Orleans Item-Tribune dating from the 1920's. I found a few more reviews, articles and advertisements in those publications for films featuring Louise Brooks.

The rather interesting and unusual items I found were advertisements, an image of Brooks, and what might also be an article about Pandora's Box dating from 1929 - all of which came from the Jewish Daily Forward, the Yiddish language newspaper from New York City. That metropolis was alive with non-English language newspapers in the 1920's and 1930's. And the Jewish Daily Forward, like the New York Times, Daily News, etc.... ran material on movies showing in town. Pandora's Box had its American debut in New York City in December, 1929.

Now, I can add this bit of Yiddish perspective to similar material I have already excavated from other New York-based German and Russian language newspapers of the period. (I have also looked at Italian and Polish language newspapers from NYC, but without finding anything regarding Pandora's Box.)

Does anyone read Yiddish? I don't, so I may well have missed some articles. However, I made photocopies from the microfilm of what seemed like relevant material. Here is the advertisement for the film's showing at the 55th Street Playhouse.

"Secret Life of Humphrey Bogart"

Just came across a book entitled The Secret Life of Humphrey Bogart: The Early Years (1899 - 1931), by Darwin Porter. (The book was published in 2003 by Georgia Literary Association.) This book is an account of Bogart's early life, especially his years as a Broadway and Hollywood actor. Porter claims to base much of the book on the papers of Bogart's friend, actor Kenneth MacKenna (who had a part in The American Venus), as well as interviews with various Hollywood actors of the twenties and thirties.  Despite these claims, the book has no footnotes, no noted sources, and no bibliography - just acknowledgements.

I haven't read the entire book, but only skimmed it for material on Louise Brooks, of which there is more than a few pages. The author claims to have interviewed Louise Brooks, but does not say when. (The back of the book depicts a number of actresses, including Brooks, and next to an apparent quote by Brooks, it reads "as told to the author in Rochester, NY.")

Personally, I have a hard time believing this book. It just doesn't seem to ring true. For me, the best thing about this book was its selection of images, including this portrait of Brooks.

Ohio / Michigan research trip

Finalized my travels plans for mid-December. I will be travelling to Ohio and Michigan where I will be visiting family and doing some research.

While in Ohio, I plan to visit the Columbus Metropolitan Library and Ohio Historical Society. At these two Columbus-based institutions I hope to gather reviews, articles and advertisements for the numerous Denishawn performances throughout Ohio for the two years Brooks was a member of that dance company. I also plan to gather vintage newspaper reviews of Brooks' films from major Ohio cities, such as Cleveland, Cinncinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton and Akron. Until now, I have had a hard time borrowing material from libraries and archives in Ohio. This two day venture should fill in many gaps in my research. (Time permitting, I may also poke around the library at Ohio State University.)

From Ohio, I will travel north to the University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor. That institution has a handfull of otherwise scarce German and French periodicials in which I will search for reviews and articles concerning Brooks' European films. The University of Michigan Library also has a weekly publication called Detroit Saturday Night which was published throughout the twenties and thirties. I don't know much about this very hard-to-find serial, but I am hoping that it may include coverage of Brooks' two week stint as a ballroom dancer in Detroit in 1934.

I plan to spend half a day in Ann Arbor. From there I drive to Lansing, where I return to the Library of Michigan. There, I plan to finish my survey of major Michigan newspapers in search of vintage film reviews. Still on the to-do list are newspapers from Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Kalamazoo and Port Huron. I figure I may spend up to eight hours at the Library of Michigan.

From there, I return to the Detroit area. I will be visiting with family, but hope to make a quick visit to the Royal Oak Public Library where I will be looking at microfilm of the Royal Oak Tribune. I'll be scanning this surburban newspaper in the slim hope of catching an article or advertisement from the period of the mid- to late 1920's.

Rare early portrait on eBay

A previously little seen portrait of a young Louise Brooks, most likely taken in 1925 by M.I. Boris, has shown up on eBay. The auction page can be found here. Along with some hand-written notations refering to Pandora's Box (which perhaps dates the use of this image for publicity purposes to late 1928 or early 1929), stamped on the back of the image is "Louise Brooks appearing in Paramount Pictures" and "From    Dept. Foreign Publicity and Advertising    FAMOUS PLAYERS LASKY CORPORATION    485 Fifth Avenue New York City    O.R. Geyer Manager".

 

The Louise Brooks Society webpage devoted to this singular photographer can be found here.

Zine article

Yesterday, I won an copy of Debris, issue nine. This scarce British music 'zine from late 1985 (?) contains a one page article about Louise Brooks. Along with later issues of Stained Pages - a Canadian zine, and Telegraph - a music 'zine devoted to the band OMD - this is one of only a few articles I have collected about Brooks from which originally appeared in a 'zine.

Zines are ephemeral. Does anyone know of any other articles about Brooks which appeared in a 'zine? If so, please email the LBS.

Robert Olen Butler

A few nights ago, I had a chance to chat with Robert Olen Butler, the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. He has a new book called Had a Good Time, a lyrical collection of short stories inspired by turn-of-the-century postcards - especially the sentiments written on the back of the cards. I would highly recommended this new book to any fiction readers in the crowd.

As it turns out, Robert Olen Butler collects many things - old postcards, vintage fountain pens, old-time product cards, etc .... The author said he has a few British cigarette cards depicting Louise Brooks. "I love her. She is a wonderful actress," declared Butler.

"Oh, Canada"

Canada is one area of research I have been pursueing as it relates to Louise Brooks.

The Denishawn Dance company performed in a handful of Canadian cities during their 1922/1923 and 1923/1924 tours - the two seasons Brooks was a member of that dance group. Over the last year and a half, I have managed to acquire a few reviews of performances in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. I hope to acquire more, but the process of obtaining microfilm of newspapers from north of the border is slow and a little complicated. Few American libraries, seemingly, own Canadian newspapers on microfilm from that time period. (Any Canadian citizen who reads this and wants to help is encouraged to send me an email.)

I have also, slowly, been collecting reviews and articles about Brooks' films which appeared in Canadian papers in the 1920's and 1930's. So far, I have managed to gather a handful of reviews from each of the following periodicals: Calgary Herald, Manitoba Free Press, Toronto Star, Toronto Globe, Montreal Gazette, and Ottawa Citizen. And again, I have plans to acquire more in the coming year.

It's interesting to get the Canadian perspective! A brief write-up in the Toronto Star from 1931, for example, is one of the very few newspaper items I have ever found regarding Windy Riley Goes Hollywood, then and now one of the most obscure films in which Brooks appeared.

Perhaps the most intrigueing item I located was an article in the Toronto Star from 1927 which told the story of a young Canadian swimmer - a star athlete - who went to Hollywood to test for motion pictures.

He recounted his experiences - visiting the studios, having make-up applied, the glare of the bright lights, etc... and, his chance encounter with a friendly young actress named Louise Brooks. Two long paragraphs are then given over to their meeting, his observations of her character and appearance, and the "love scene" he had to play with her. From the description of Brooks' hair as being in ringlets, I assume their encounter took place at the time of Brooks was making Evening Clotheswith Adolphe Menjou.

That article, and others from Canada, are cited in the various bibliographies on the LBS website.