MovieMaidens.com is a somewhat curious website "dedicated to the most beautiful classic actresses during the first 50 years of Hollywood...remembering them when they were young and attractive." The site goes on to state, "These actresses burst onto the Hollywood scene as beautiful young women, and they should be remembered as the gorgeous girls that they were. . . . We are so sick of seeing history's most beautiful actresses portrayed as old women." The site has pages (largely composed of a picture gallery, biographical text and links) devoted to Vilma Banky, Clara Bow, Joan Blondell, Anita Page, Kay Francis, Mae West and others. The site also has a page dedicated to Louise Brooks, who was "young and sexy between the ages of 18-35."
A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts
about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the
Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
Sunday, December 5, 2004
New web page
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Saturday, December 4, 2004
New web address
One of the best Louise Brooks websites comes out of Italy. It is chock full of interesting material in both Italian and English. That site recently obtained a new web address, and is now located at http://xoomer.virgilio.it/louisebrooks/. Check it out!
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Friday, December 3, 2004
German silent films with a gay theme on sale at Kino
"Kino proudly presents a truly eye-opening collection of gay-themed German silent films, available for the first time on DVD. Richard Oswald's Different from the Others (1919), Carl Theodor Dreyer's Michael (1924), and William Dieterle's Sex in Chains (1928) are all landmarks in the cinematic depiction of homosexuality. And -- no surprise -- all three pictures were variously banned, censored, or purposely removed from the public eye. But now they're out of the closet and on DVD in restored versions." Also included in this special offering is G.W. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), which is available available on DVD and VHS.
These "Gay-themed Silents" are available at a hefty discount from Kino. For further info and to order, see http://www.kino.com/video/results.php?fe atured_id=33
These "Gay-themed Silents" are available at a hefty discount from Kino. For further info and to order, see http://www.kino.com/video/results.php?fe
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Portland Film Censors Busy
Yesterday at the library, I found this interesting wire-service article, which is subtitled "Fans Driven to Suburban Houses by Official Cutters." It is interesting in that it details censorship practices of the time, practices which were certainly applied to the films of Louise Brooks when they were shown in Portland, Oregon. The article dates from December, 1927.
Portland Film Censors BusySpicy bits on the legitimate stage are quite all right, but the same scene in the movies in Portland constitutes a grave error and calls for drastic scissor action. Portlanders must not look upon movie kisses which are too long. Similar restriction, however, is not placed on movie fans of villages of the "back country."Such is the status of censorship in Oregon.There is no state censorship law, so the villagers escape the penalty of seeing only that which censors rule is nice. Portland, the one large city in the state, has a censor board which leaves no doubt as to its willingness to function.But, strangely enough, the powers of the Portland Board of Motion Picture Censors appears to be limited to the silver screen. Ten nude girls may not appear in films exhibited here. But 10 nude girls could appear on the stage and never a word would the board say, although the police might say and do considerable. Not that 10 undressed bits of femininity have ever appeared on a local stage, but 40 one-quarter clad girls have, and any mathematician knows that they are equivalent to10 entirely disrobed flappers.Portland is only one of several large cities having a picture censor board, but perhaps no similar group has commanded the same degree of publicity.For example, there is the time the board ruled that a drawing of a nude girl on a theater program was improper and ordered the management to cover her rawness before circulating the programs.Vainly theater men protested that she was a reproduction of Spanish art, but they were told no bull fighters were in Portland. And so the entrancing curves of Spain's best was wasted behind the blankness of thick bond paper which was pasted over all but the figure's head.The censor board is composed of three members, one of whom represents the movies. The other two do not. They are appointed by the mayor and are assisted by a staff of 70, mostly women, viewers. These viewers are given monthly assignments and scan every picture before it is exhibited. Presumably they say: "Cut that kiss by eight feet," or "undressed chickens are limited to fowls."And that is the reason why, as frequently happens, a rabid fan will journey to Gresham or other nearby village when the film makes what apparently is a broad jump.But the cutting board and its viewers go on cutting and in most instances a cut stays out. The city council, however, is the board of appeal, and upholding the censors is infrequent. As a rule, however, the cutting goes on without interference, for it is easier for an exchange man to cut out footage than to wade through an official council hearing.
I did a quick Google search on the Portland Board of Motion Picture Censors and found this link, their annual report from 1921.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
This week at the SFPL
Three interlibrary loans arrived this week. And so I spent an enjoyable morning - some two hours of time and some seven dollars for photocopies - going through microfilm at the SFPL. . . . I looked through a few months worth of the Toronto Globe & Mail, where I found film reviews of The American Venus (1926) and A Social Celebrity (1926). I also looked through the Springfield Republican, a Masschusetts newspaper, where I gathered a slew of material on the Denishawn performance there in 1924. (One of the articles mentioned Louise Brooks.) I also got an advertisement and review of The City Gone Wild (1927). And then from the now defunctPittsburgh Press I found material on The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), Now We're in the Air (1927), The Canary Murder Case (1929), and It Pays to Advertise(1931). All together, it was a good haul.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
The Whole Equation
Chatted today with film critic David Thomson, whose fascinating new book, The Whole Equation, has just been published. This new book, a collection of essays on everyone from Chaplin and von Stroheim to Nicole Kidman and Harvey Weinstein, is subtitled "A History of Hollywood." Louise Brooks is referenced three times.
Thomson has written about or referenced Brooks many times in his various essays, reviews and books.* This rather intertesting passage comes from Thomson's new book. " . . . Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box is the first presence I think I could have fallen for. And Brooks's Lulu is still very dangerous, capable of sweeping pages of description aside with a glance. . . ." Well put.
* David Thomson's The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, which has just been published in a revised and expanded softcover edition, is a must read for any film buff! Go get yourself a copy. You won't be disappointed.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Monday, November 29, 2004
Louise Brooks and Lemony Snicket . . . . redux
On September 20th, I wrote . . .
"Came across these interesting references to Louise Brooks in the works of the popular writer known as "Lemony Snicket." . . . In the "A Night at the Theatre" section of Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, the author refers to the "Brooks-Gish Award for Best Actress." . . . And in The Carnivorous Carnival, which is part of the author's A Series of Unfortunate Events series and which contains other cinematic and literary references, there is a mention of Lulu. . . . What does it all mean? Is Lemony Snicket a fan of Louise Brooks?"
. . . Today, I had a chance to briefly chat with the mysterious Lemony Snicket, and yes, he is a fan of Louise Brooks!
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Victor McLaglen and Star Cast in "A Girl in Every Port"
Yesterday, I received in the mail a remarkable item I had won on eBay. It was a vintage photograph - measuring 29" wide by 10" tall - of a group of United States Coast Guard standing outside of a theater where A Girl in Every Port was showing in 1928. The marquee above the uniformed members of the Coast Guard reads:
Victor McLaglen and Star Cast in "A Girl in Every Port"
"Semper Paratus" with U.S. Coast Guard and Fox Ensemble of 125
Prologue - Richard Singer & Concert Orchestra - Charles Althoff
"Semper Paratus" with U.S. Coast Guard and Fox Ensemble of 125
Prologue - Richard Singer & Concert Orchestra - Charles Althoff
The film is being shown at a Fox theater. I am not sure in which (likely) East Coast city this photograph was taken. Might anyone hazard a guess? Follow the link above to see scans of this oversized image.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Dark Star
Finished reading Dark Star, by Leatrice Gilbert Fountain. I enjoyed this book a great deal, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the silent film era. This excellent, 1985 biography tells the story of the rise and fall of the silent film star John Gilbert. (This dashing actor was the star of such classics as The Merry Widow,The Big Parade and Flesh and the Devil. He also appeared in He Who Gets Slapped, La Boheme, and A Woman of Affairs. All together, his is a remarkable list of credits!) The author is the daughter of John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy, an actress who replaced Gloria Swanson as Cecil B. DeMille's leading lady in the 1920's.
It's stated that John Gilbert and Louise Brooks knew each other ("Louise, a fond friend of Jack's"), and the actress is referenced twice in the book. Once, it is in relation to an article that Beggars of Life author Jim Tully wrote about Gilbert. The second time it is in support of the author's contention that MGM was out to sabotage Gilbert's career based on the quality of his voice. (Brooks claimed a similar fate at the hands of Paramount.)
Leatrice Gilbert Fountain tells a sympathetic story in a convincing manner. Film historian Kevin Brownlow described the book as "A tragic and compelling story, essential to an understanding of this extraordinary actor."
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. 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 the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
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