A few more Denishawn articles and film reviews

Today's trip to my local library - my first in a few weeks - was productive. Three inter-library loans were waiting for me. I went through the New Haven Union(from New Haven, Connecticut), where I uncovered some articles on the Denishawn performance there in April, 1923. I also found a few later articles and some nifty advertisements relating to the local screenings of The American Venus and A Social Celebrtity.
As well, I went through the Evening Reporter (from Lebanon, Pennsylvania), and found some articles on the Denishawn performance there in November, 1923. As with a number of their performances during Louise Brooks two years with the company, this Denishawn performance was a benefit. Their recital at the Academy of Music benefitted the local V.F.W. - and was writen-up in the local paper.

I also went through the Independence Daily Reporter (from Independence, Kansas). Louise Brooks and her family lived in Independence for about three or four months in 1919, after having left Cherryvale and before relocating to Wichita. The Denishawn tour stop there in January, 1924 - and received a front page review! Louise Brooks participation in the company received a full paragraph of praise, and her connection to Independence was noted.

Today, I also received a splendid email from Mario Gladu, who lives in Quebec. A French speaker, Mario wrote (in graceful English) to say that he found a few articles about the Denishawn performance in Montreal, Canada in March, 1923. Responding to my call for help, Mario took it upon himself to check for material in a French language newspaper based in Montreal, La  Patrie. As it turns out, Brooks was mentioned in one article - program notes reproduced in advance of the performance. There was also a picture of the Denishawn dancers - but it is hard to tell if Louise is among them. Mario has promised to check the other French-language papers in Montreal and Quebec for similar material. Thank you Mario! A citation - the first one from a French-language Canadian newspaper - was added to the bibliography. [Interestingly, Mario wrote that the theatre where the Denishawn company performed in Montreal, the historic St Denis, still stands. It is there that the well known "Just for Laughs" festival and many other events are held every year.  Here is a picture as it looks today.]

Currently reading . . .

A few days I ago I watched, once more, Tim Burton's wonderful film Ed Wood. I enjoyed it quite a bit, not having seen it since it first came out . . . . And being in between books, Burton's film inspired me to pick up Arthur Lennig's 2003 biography, The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi. I have been meaning to read this book for a long time, for I had enjoyed Lennig's earlier film bio, Stroheim. I am only 25 pages into The Immortal Count, but am enjoying this book a great deal. It appears very well researched, very detailed, and gracefully written. Just the way I like 'em. I will report back one I have finished this 548 page "monster."

[ Some trivia: Prior to his role in Dracula, Lugosi appeared in a number of silent films in his native Hungary, as well as in Germany and the United States. He also had an affair with Clara Bow, and at one time possessed a painting of a nude Bow which he hung in his home in Los Angeles. Where is that painting now? A busy actor, Lugosi later worked with many of Louise Brooks' one-time co-stars and directors, including W.C. Fields, Richard Arlen, William Collier, Jr., Margaret Livingstone, Claire McDowell, William Gaxton, and El Brendel, as well as directors Eddie Sutherland and Michael Curtiz. Small world, wasn't it? ]

Recently, thanx to the good people at the University of Kentucky Press, I got a copy of The Bennetts: An Acting Family, by Brian Kellow. Another juicy read . . . . which I haven't yet delved into. Anyone who has read Barry Paris' biography of Louise Brooks is aware that the actress was friendly with Barbara Bennett. Kellow's new book details Louise and Barbara's friendship, as well as Brooks' observations on Barbara's more famous sisters, Constance and Joan. Brooks' name appears six times in the index, and pages 84 through 87 details the young women's budding friendship at Denishawn summer camp. Has anyone had a chance to read this new book?

100 Largest Urban Places in the 1920s and 1930s

Some historical data, based on U.S. Census Bureau information:

Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places:  1920
http://www.census.gov/population/documentation/twps0027/tab15.txt

Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places:  1930
http://www.census.gov/population/documentation/twps0027/tab16.txt

Happy new year

 Happy new year from the Louise Brooks Society.

Lulu and Spike (BTVS)

I'm a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so much so that I own the entire series on DVD and even attended a Buffy convention earlier this year. Thus, I was amused to come across a piece of "fan-fic" which contains a lengthy passage referencing Louise Brooks.

Written in the form of an academic study of William the Bloody (a.k.a. the character known as Spike), author Lydia Chambers (herself the name of the minor character) has fashioned a "thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Watcher's Diploma." If you are familar with the Buffy-verse, you shouldn't have any trouble following this story-line.

Chapter seven of this cleverly written work, devoted to the sexual idiosyncrasies of the romantic vampire, suggests that Spike (then going under the name of Wicked Wills) and Brooks met at least once over the years. Why didn't Spike - then a rather merciless vampire - turn the actress? You will have to read this faux thesis to find out.

On a not unrelated note, here is an image of a bob-haired Buffy (actress Sarah Michelle Geller) taken from the season four, Twin Peaks flavored episode, "Restless."

Anyone know of any other overlap between the worlds of Lulu and Buffy?

Research trip notes (part two - Ohio)

I have finally had time to sort through all of the material I brought back from my research trip, and am now ready to write a few notes about what I accomplished in Ohio. I have already entered annotated citations in the various LBS bibliographies for all of the reviews and significant articles I found in the Buckeye state.

I spent three days in Columbus, Ohio. One day - about seven plus hours - was spent at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, where I went through microfilm of the three major Columbus newspapers. I searched the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Citizen, and Ohio State Journal, and managed to find at least 15 or more articles / film reviews in each paper. I also found some Denishawn material, and a few nice movie advertisements. There was an index - incomplete, as it turned out - to the early years of the Ohio State Journal, and this lead me to about half-a-dozen film reviews. (See "Motion Pictures - Reviews.") Otherwise, I was searching blind, but managed to come up with a bunch of good stuff.

Regarding It's the Old Army Game, the Columbus Dispatch critic stated, "Louise Brooks, a dainty little brunette, with cute girlish ways, a way of flirting, a way of kissing and with a figure that formerly earned Ziegfeld or Carroll honors, looks like a good screen personality. If properly handled, she will be a real comer."

And not unlike other newspaper critics of the 1920's, the reviewer for the Columbus Citizen seems to have been rather fond of Brooks. In reviewing The Show-Off, John McNulty wrote, "Louise Brooks (the bold thing) is as luscious as can be." And in reviewing Rolled Stockings, he noted ". . . the provoking presence of Louise Brooks." About Now We're in the Air, he stated "Louise Brooks, a pretty thing, has little to do but walk around and show her legs, which are pretty and [the] only amusing things in the picture." A year later, while writing about Beggars of Life, the same critic commented, "Miss Brooks only needs remain as warm to look upon, and she can have any role she wants as far as we're concerned."

The next two days - eight hours each, from open to close - I spent at the Ohio Historical Society. For me, Ohio has been a somewhat problematic state from which to borrow materials, so I was really glad to be able to visit this midwest archival motherlode.

At the OHS, I was searching for articles, reviews and advertisements for the many Denishawn performances in the state. I looked through microfilm of newspapers for Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Akron, Youngstown, Canton, Sandusky, Steubenville, Ashland, Alliance and Springfield - and managed to find articles or reviews in each one. Some mentioned, or even pictured, a very youthful Louise Brooks. What a delight.

When microfilm was lacking, I requested massive bound volumes of the Cincinnati Times-Star, Canton News, Akron Times, and Cleveland News. (These crumbling bound volumes - containing a month or more of a newspaper - were about 8 to 10 inches thick and weighed 20 or 30 pounds.) Since photocopies could not be made from these oversized volumes, I took notes when I found material. I also looked at loose issues of the Hamilton Daily News (which were wrapped in butcher paper and tied with string), and found a rather interesting review of which I was able to obtain a photocopy.

Seemingly, the OHS doesn't have microfilm or bound volumes of newspapers from Aurora, Findlay, Uniontown or Newark. Each were Ohio towns in which Denishawn performed. I will have to search for those papers elsewhere.

Along with Denishawn material, I was eager to obtain film reviews and other articles. To that end, I looked at microfilm of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland Press (representing the sixth largest city in the United States in the 1920's), as well as the Cincinnati Post and Cincinnati Enquirer (representing the seventeenth largest city in the United States in the 1920's). I also made a comprehensive sweep through the three Toledo newspapers (the Toledo Blade, Toledo Times, and Toledo News Bee), the two Youngstown papers (the Youngstown Telegram and Youngstown Vindicator), the Akron Beacon Journal, and Dayton Journal. I also went through a few months of Canton Repository and Sandusky Star Journal. And then I ran out of time.

Here are two rather nifty caricatures of Louise Brooks which I came across while searching for film material. The one on the left was tied in with Now We're in the Air. The one on the right was part of a three panel comic strip featuring Brooks, Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen in Beggars of Life. The text on the right-hand caricature reads "Louise Brooks was the heroine and she caused most of the trouble."

                                  

Before I left the OHS - an impressive, modern facility with clean microfilm and working microfilm readers - I took a few minutes to look at the records of the Ohio Division of Censorship. I examined the handwritten records (a so-called Book of Rejections) of this state organization, looking at their list of censored films for the 1920's and 1930's. These records contained "Daily lists from the time period when film censorship was done by the Industrial Commission, and later, 'Certificates of Censorship- Rejected' from the Department of Education. The reports list state, film number, title, a brief description of eliminations, class, action, number of feet, fee, and filmmaker." I noticed Birth of a Nation, and films by Buster Keaton and Eric von Stroheim, but alas, not any featuring Louise Brooks. I was a bit surprised, as I know that some of Brooks' films were subject to censorship in both Kansas and New York state.

Despite the hundreds of dollars I spent on airfare, hotels and a rental car - I feel that my trip to Ohio and Michigan was well worth the expense. I obtained a massive amount of new material. I am a geek, and I love the challenge and experience of doing research.

This week at the SFPL

Two inter-library loans were waiting for me at the San Francisco Public Library. I looked through the Charleston Evening Post, where I found articles and advertisements for three of Louise Brooks films, as well as an article on the 1923 Denishawn performance in that South Carolina town. I also scanned a few months of the Buffalo Courier-Express, where I found three film reviews. This article also turned up in Courier-Express.

A couple of years ago, I went through back issues of Time magazine, which the SFPL has on microfilm. Back then, by scrolling through the years, I was able to uncover a few film reviews. Recently, however, Time put their archives online. These archives, which are searchable by keyword, date back to 1923. I took the opportunity to search for "Louise Brooks," "Denishawn," "George White Scandals," "Zeigfeld Follies," and various film titles. After noting the results (one has to pay to read the articles at the Time archive), I returned to the SFPL microfilm where I found a few more articles and reviews which were unknown to me. Among the more interesting items was a 1979 article regarding the Santa Fe Opera staging of Alban Berg's Lulu, which noted that "During rehearsals, the cast screened Louise Brooks' Lulu in the 1928 silent film of Wedekind's Pandora's Box."

Research trip notes (part one - Michigan)

My recent trip to the midwest (a combined visit home / mad dash from library to library) was the most complicated research trip I've ever taken. Over the course of six days, I visited five libraries in two states, while driving hundreds of miles and suffering freezing temperatures. (One day, the wind chill reached 15 degrees below zero!) All the while, I was terribly sick with an awful head cold. Nevertheless, except for getting lost on a couple of occassions while trying to make my way from city to city, things went off without a hitch. I hit all my marks - unearthing at least two hundred clippings - and returning home with a three-inch stack of photocopies! (I spent about $90.00 on copies.)

My first stop in Michigan was in a cold Ann Arbor, where temperatures were in the teens. I made my way to the University of Michigan's Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, and on the way, walked past Hill Auditorium - site of two Denishawn performances during the years Louise Brooks was a member of that pioneering dance company.

                                        

At the library, I spent about four hours in the microfilm collection. First, I looked through Detroit Saturday Night, a hard-to-get-ahold-of weekly entertainment paper published throughout the 1920's and 1930's. (This is the only city-based entertainment publication I know of - except for those published in New York. Does anyone know of others?) At the time, Detroit was the third largest metropolitan area in the United States, and Detroit Saturday Night covered the city's lively music, stage, and film happenings. I managed to find a bunch of brief articles about Brooks' films at the time of their Detroit showings.

Next, I dipped into the Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan. The Michigan Daily was a goldmine of articles, reviews and advertisements for the two Denishawn performances. I was stunned by the extensive coverage - including front page articles, long reviews, and large, quarter page advertisements. Denishawn was big news in Ann Arbor in the early 1920's, and Brooks herself was mentioned in a few pieces. I have looked at a few other student papers from the time, and never found too much. However, this unearthing of valuable material will lead me to look more closely at other such periodicals.

The University of Michigan library also has a couple of French publications. The Petit Parisian was a Paris newspaper which yielded vintage articles on Diary of a Lost Girl and Beggars of Life from the time of their first French screenings in 1929 and 1930, respectively.

                                     

I also looked at more than a years worth of Cinematographie Francaise, a French trade journal. This weekly film magazine also turned out to be a goldmine of articles, images, and advertisements regarding Pandora's Box and Beggars of Life. There was a stunning full page advertisement for Diary of a Lost Girl, as well as numerous articles on Prix de Beaute. Brooks was on the cover of this publication on May 11 and June 8 of 1929.

Because I had run out of time (and needed to drive to Lansing that night), I was not able to sift through three German newspapers the U-M library has on microfilm. One day, hopefully, I will be able to return and look through the Kolnische Volkszeitung, Weimarische Zeitung, and Leipzieger Volkszeitung for material on the two Pabst films.

This was my second Louise Brooks-research trip to Lansing. Last year, I visited the State Library of Michigan, where I gathered articles and reviews on all of the Denishawn performances in that state. I had, at the time, also scoured the leading Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint and Kalamazoo newspapers for vintage film reviews. This time, I concentrated on the Grand Rapids and Battle Creek papers, with a quick look through the Saginaw paper. I found a bunch of material in theGrand Rapids Press and the Battle Creek Enquirer and Evening News. However, I was not so lucky with the Saginaw Daily News, where I only managed to turn up some nifty advertisements. Here is a typical example.

                                     

I spent more than four hours at the State Library of Michigan, and now feel that I have largely completed by survey of major Michigan newspapers.

From Lansing, I made my way to the suburbs of Detroit, where a couple days later I took the opportunity to visit the Royal Oak Public Library. This suburban library holds the Daily Tribune - a typical small-town paper "serving Detroit's progressive suburbs." I didn't expect to find much, perhaps just some brief articles or advertisements. I found those, but was even more delighted to find an article on Brooks entitled, "Will Follies Grad Act with Funny Man." This March, 1926 article, if it can be believed, quotes Brooks as saying she didn't want to appear with W. C. Fields.

"Recently Paramount announced she was to have the feminine lead opposite W. C. Fields, also late of the Follies, in The Old Army Game. When interviewed, Louise flashed those eyes of her and said, 'They may think I'm going to do the part, but I won't. I'm not going to play around with a funny man.'" The articles goes on. "When, if ever, Pola Negri, Lya de Putti from Hungary, exploited as the 'rage of Europe' and the exotic Louise go to work on the same lot, there might ought to be no dearth of excitement around the Famous Players studio."

This unattributed article was not the only gem found. I also came across a syndicated March, 1928 feature photo of Brooks wearing clothes of 1900, 1912 and 1928. This is one item I have never seen before! Which goes to show, you'll never know what you'll find . . . .