Weekly research report (warning: dull)

Went to the library today to do research. No interlibrary loan material had arrived, so I ventured home to write this post about nothing. . . .

Earlier this week, I had received word that four of my ILL requests were rejected. I had been hoping to borrow copies of the Jacksonian (Jackson, Tennessee),Morgantown Post (Morgantown, West Virginia), Orlando Morning Sentinal (Orlando, Florida), and Ponca City News (Ponca, Oklahoma), but the institutions which have these newspapers on microfilm apparently won't loan the material. Oh well. I was hoping to gather articles or reviews on the Denishawn performances in those four cities. If anyone reads this and lives near one of those four cities and would be willing to do an afternoon's research tracking down those reviews, please email me at thomasg AT pandorasbox DOT com  Thanx as always!

Wicked Joys in Weimar Berlin

Interesting article in today's Guardian about life in Berlin during the Weimar period. The article can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1360663,00.html

This passage struck me as especially noteworthy."Among much else that marks Weimar Berlin out as a quintessentially modern metropolis was its cultural bustle and its critical media. During the 1920s the city's publishing industry burgeoned and, books apart, produced some 150 daily and weekly papers - right and leftwing, highbrow and popular." That could mean there is a lot more coverage of Louise Brooks and the making of Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl then I might have suspected. Oh, what wicked joys await me.

Overland Stage Raiders

Louise Brooks' last film, Overland Stage Raiders (1938), will be broadcast in the United States on the STARZ Westerns cable station on December 8th at 1:15 pm, and again on December 21st at 4:30 pm and December 28th at 4:00 am. It will also be shown on the MOVIEplex cable station on December 8th at 2:15 pm. Consult your local listing for further deatils.

Overland Stage Raiders (1938) is not a great film, but is worth seeing because Louise Brooks is featured in it. Though she then sported a brushed-back 1930's hairstyle (and not her trademark bob), she still looked quite lovely at age 31. The film is approximately 55 minutes long, and is considered part of the "Three Mesquiteers" series. Brooks co-stars along with John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune.

Interestingly, because it starred John Wayne (before he made it big in the movies), this otherwise b-grade picture has occassionally been shown theatrically in the United States in the decades since its release. These screenings tool place in the 1940's and 1950's. The film was also shown on television in the 1970's. I wonder how many viewers then recognized the once and future Lulu?

New web page

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."

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!

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?featured_id=33