Emil Petaja "Photoplay Edition"

I have a few copies of  Photoplay Edition, by Emil Petaja, which I would like to sell. This collectors guide was the first book on the subject of photoplay editions, the movie tie-in books of the silent and early sound era. This heavily illustrated, 200 page bibliography contains a delightful introductory essay and a checklist of hundreds of titles. It is also illustrated with dozens of rare book covers and black-and-white stills. I am selling these softcover books for $10.00 each (which includes shipping). Personal checks or PayPal accepted. Contact me via email at thomasg at pandorasbox.com to arrange payment and shipping.

                                            

Emil Petaja (1915 - 2000) was a friend of mine, and I knew him during the last half dozen years of his life. Though an accomplished author in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, Emil is best known to movie lovers as the author of Photoplay Edition (SISU Publishers, 1975). Petaja based this book on his personal collection, which at the time of publication, numbered more than eight hundred books. He loved film, and was a life-long movie buff and collector of movie memorabilia. He had a large library of film-related books, owned hundreds of 16mm films and videotapes, and enjoyed recounting stories about classic films, actors and actresses. What always impressed me about Emil was his remarkable mind for recalling plots, the stars of films, and even the authors whose books were made into movies. Occasionally, we would take in a movie together. And I enjoyed many conversations with him about the movies. Emil was a gateway to the past.

Freckles and His Friends

Here is an amusing item I came across the other day while looking though old newspapers on microfilm. This comic strip dates from 1923, and features Buster Keaton as a character (in this day's strip). Other strips I noticed featured Mary Pickford and Constance Talmadge. Does anyone know anything more about "Freckles and His Friends," or the cartoonist, Blosser?

Research notes

There were five boxes of microfilm waiting for me at the library this morning. Such excitement . . . . I spent four hours looking through the Cincinnati Enquirer (found reviews and articles on four films) and Phildadelphia Inquirer (found a couple of brief articles and advertisements for Denishawn performances). One of the articles in the Philadelphia newspaper told how the Denishawn performance was cancelled because a train wreck had prevented the costumes for the dance company from arriving at the same time as the dancers themselves. (Apparently, the costumes and the dancers travelled on different trains.) "There was a dissapointed audience hanging about the doors," the article stated. Tickets had to be refunded. And the performance was rescheduled for a month later.

Also looked through the Muskogee Daily Phoenix (found lots of Denishawn material and an advertisement for American Venus in this Oklahoma newspaper), theCedar Rapids Republican (found Denishawn articles and advetisements, as well as a few film reviews in this Iowa newspaper), and Pittsfield Advertiser (this small town weekly newspaper from Maine did not yield any Denishawn material).

Some time in the next few years, I plan on writing a narrative history of Louise Brooks' two seasons spent with the Denishawn dance company. This account will be based on the hundreds of articles and reviews I have already collected (and will collect) covering the hundreds of performances Brooks and Denishawn gave across the United States. This account will follow their two tours of the United States and Canada.

Broadway: The American Musical

Tonight, I watched the first two hours of "Broadway: The American Musical" on PBS. It was great to hear recordings and see film clips from the late 1920's and early 1930's. (Or were all the film clips from the early 1930's? It was hard to tell. Were any of the Ziegfeld Follies stage shows of the 1920's ever filmed?) I have also taken a look at the companion book, Broadway: The American Musical, in hopes of finding at least a reference to Louise Brooks and her time with the George White Scandals and Ziegfeld Follies. But, alas, there were none. Except, perhaps, for the image on the back of the book which depicts the Follies of 1925. Is Brooks included in that shot?

New DVD release in France

Various news sources, including Le Monde, have recently mentioned the upcoming release in France of a 3-DVD box set featuring Loulou (aka Pandora's Box),Diary of a Lost Girl, and Prix de beauté. This set from Carlotta Films will also offer the documentary Looking for Lulu and considerable bonus material (commentary by film critics, etc....), along with musical accompaniment. This looks like a must have. Two sources for purchase include fnac.com and amazon.fr

                             

Online photo archives

New to the web is an archive of images from the New York Times. "The New York Times Photo Archives contains historic images carefully preserved over the past 100 years - one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of photographs in the world." Obviously, only a fraction of the images from this collection are online. Nevetheless, it's worth a look. The archives are searchable by keyword or browsable by category. No Louise Brooks images turned up, but I did come across interesting results searching under "Chaplin," "Fairbanks," "Valentino," etc.... This new site is set up as a store, but its still fun to browse.

Also online, courtesy of the Library of Congress, is an archive of images from the Chicago Daily News. "This collection comprises over 55,000 images of urban life captured on glass plate negatives between 1902 and 1933 by photographers employed by the Chicago Daily News, then one of Chicago's leading newspapers. The photographs illustrate the enormous variety of topics and events covered in the newspaper . . . . In addition to many Chicagoans, the images include politicians, actors, and other prominent people who stopped in Chicago during their travels . . . ." Again, no Louise Brooks images turned up, but other interesting (silent film) search results did! 

Now on DVD

Two Louise Brooks films are now available on DVD-R through Sunrise Silents. They are Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926) and The Canary Murder Case (1929). If you haven't seen Love 'Em and Leave 'Em - in which Brooks plays the 'bad' younger sister - you should! Brooks was only 20 years old when she made this delightful dramatic comedy. And she is terrific!