Sunday, October 31, 2004

Thomas Dixon biography


Finished reading American Racist, by Anthony Slide, a recently published biography of the novelist and film-maker Thomas Dixon. I was surprised at how interesting I found this book - a testament, no doubt, to Anthony Slide's talents as a film historian.
Thomas Dixon has a notorious reputation as the author of The Klansman, the book which served as the basis for D.W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation (1915). Dixon has been, rightly so, branded an arch-conservative obsessed with what he viewed as "the Negro problem." However, as American Racist shows, Dixon was also a complex and talented individual who, as well as writing a few of the more popular novels of the early twentieth century, was involved in the production of some eighteen films. (Dixon had a knack for leveraging the stories found in his books into stageplays and films.)
Thomas Dixon used the motion picture as a propaganda tool for his opinions on race, communism, socialism, and feminism. His most spectacular cinematic production, The Fall of a Nation (1916), argues for American preparedness and boasts a musical score by Victor Herbert, making it the first American feature film to have an original score by a major composer. (Like the majority of Dixon's films, The Fall of a Nation is now lost.)
Anthony Slide examines each of the author's films and discusses the novels from which they were adapted. Slide chronicles the Dixonr's transformation from a supporter of the original Ku Klux Klan in his early novels to an ardent critic of the modern Klan in his last film, Nation Aflame. Slide's book is the first work to discuss Dixon's work as a film-maker. Especially interesting was the book's final chapter, "Raymond Rohauer and the Dixon Legacy," which details the modern-day fight over the rights to The Birth of a Nation.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Harold Lloyd event


Though they were both associated with Paramount in the late 1920's, I am not aware that Louise Brooks and Harold Lloyd were acquainted. Nevertheless, silent film fans may want to attend this event.
Suzanne Lloyd
talk, slideshow & booksigning for "Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D!"
Friday, November 19 at 7 pm
Suzanne Lloyd, granddaughter of silent film great Harold Lloyd, will speak about Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D!, the sensational new book of 3D photographs by the late comedic actor. (Each book comes with a pair of 3D glasses.)

Devotees of Hollywood glamour, collectors of movie memorabilia, lovers of photography, and fans of comic icon Harold Lloyd are all in for a surprise with the release of this newly published book. Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D! is retro chic at its best. From the late forties to the early sixties, Lloyd snapped close to a hundred thousand photographs of  women, many of them in 3D. These gorgeous models and starlets all posed for the camera in various states of undress. Lloyd's granddaughter and manager of his estate, Suzanne Lloyd, has collected 200 of Harold's best photographs in this delightful collection.

Some of the notable starlets who are featured include Bettie Page, Dixie Evans - who became the proprietor of the Exotic World Burlesque Museum, and Tura Satana, the exotic beauty of such film classics as Russ Meyer's  Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! In addition to the nudes, Lloyd took some exquisite photos of Marilyn Monroe, which also appear in the book.

This new book is edited by Suzanne Lloyd, and features a foreword by Robert J. Wagner. Suzanne Lloyd will present a slide show and talk. A booksigning will follow. This event will take place at The Booksmith, which is located at 1644 Haight Street in San Francisco. For further information, please call 415-863-8688. If you can't attend an event and would like to purchase an autographed book, please telephone or email the Booksmith.

Friday, October 29, 2004

American Venus trailer on TCM


A coming attractions trailer for The American Venus (1926) will be shown on Turner Classic Movies during the evening of Sunday, November 21st. Consult your local listings or the TCM website for the exact time.
This trailer is included on the recently released DVD, More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931. TCM will be showing parts of this new release on the first three Sunday evenings in November. 

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Remarkable eBay item for sale


There is a remarkable item for sale on eBay - a poster (seemingly on board) for the 1928 film A Girl in Every Port. I have never seen anything like this before. It may be unique, in that it was created by a local artist for a specific theater. The seller offers no information except that it is "huge."

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Weekly trip to the library


Weekly trip to the library to go over newly arrived inter-library loan material. . . . Today, I looked at the Baltimore Post, and managed to turn up a Denishawn review, and a review of the Ziegfeld Follies production of  "Louie XIV." (Louise Brooks was in the company of each of these productions at the time of their Baltimore appearance.) Also found a review of The Street of Forgotten Men at the time it was screened in Baltimore in August, 1925. I was lucky to find what I did, as theBaltimore Post was one of the worst big city newspapers I have ever encountered. It was little more than a tabloid, and an uninteresting and un-fun one at that.
Also went through a couple months of the Chicago Daily News from 1934, where I managed to find an article and some advertisements for the dance team of Dario & Brooks and their appearance, along with torch song singer Helen Morgan, at the Chez Paree - "Chicago's Smartest Supper Club." There was no cover charge - and dinner was only $2.50. Can you imagine?
[ BTW: If you are not familiar with Morgan, do check her out - she is terrific: "Her small, pale appearance and her sweet, artless, and blues-tinged voice made her the ideal performer of the new sort of popular song that was being written in the 1920s and '30s: ironic, sometimes bitter, distinctly urban, and full of the disappointment, loneliness, and joyless hedonism that filled the smoky clubs."]
The day's biggest haul came from a newspaper from the smallest city - Cumberland, Maryland. I looked through about a month worth of the Cumberland Evening Times, where I found a bunch of articles, advertisements, feature photos and a review of the 1923 Denishawn performance in that town. Louise Brooks was mentioned in one of the advertisements, and was twice pictured in group photographs of the Denishawn company.
A footnote: there are interesting happenstances I run across while looking for Brooks material. For example, when Brooks and the Ziegfeld Follies appeared in Baltimore in February of 1925, also in town for a performance was the Denishawn Dance company. Brooks had been ejected from Denishawn less than a year before. Did she notice the Denishawn performance? . . . . And in Chicago, when she was performing with Dario at a supper club, the Chicago Daily News ran a big feature on movie stars (such as Clara Bow and Raymond Hatton) and their failed attempts at a comeback. Did Brooks notice this article? One can only wonder.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Image search


Yahoo announced recently that the search engine at Yahoo Images  ( http://images.search.yahoo.com ) now has over a billion images on record. That's a lot! Google Image Search ( http://www.google.com/imghp ), by comparison, counts itself as having over 880 million images.
Either search engine will turn up hundreds of images of Louise Brooks. Many of the results come from the Louise Brooks Society or the handful of other websites and webpages devoted to the actress. However, a thorough look through the search results will turn up some little seen and otherwise unusual images, including examples of "fan art" and other pictorial representations of the actress. Here is one that I find somewhat striking.

Monday, October 25, 2004

The Chanteuse and the Crooner


There is a new book out called Chanteuse in the City: The Realist Singer in French Film, by Kelley Conway. This study "provides a genealogy of realist performance through analysis of the music hall careers and film roles of Mistinguett, Josephine Baker, Frehel, and Damia. Above all, Conway offers a fresh interpretation of 1930's French cinema, emphasizing its love affair with popular song and its close connections to the music hall and the cafe-concert." Fittingly, there are a handful of references to Louise Brooks and Prix de Beaute (which is depicted three times) in this new book. I have read parts of this book, and found it interesting. You may too.
On a not unrelated "note" . . . .
Did anyone catch today's installment of Fresh Air, which featured rock guitarist Lenny Kaye? He spoke about his new book, You Call it Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, which chronicles the male singers of the 1920's and 1930's - such as Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo - who were known for their suave, sophisticated and romantic interpretations of song. Kaye's book looks quite worthwhile.
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