The Milestone Collection: Silent Shakespeare

Tonight, I watched The Milestone Collection: Silent Shakespeare. This disc features seven short films based on plays by William Shakespeare. Included areKing John (Great Britian, 1899), The Tempest (Great Britian, 1908), A Midsummer Night's Dream (USA, 1909), King Lear (Italy, 1910), Twelth Night (USA, 1910), The Merchant of Venice (Italy, 1910), and Richard III (Great Britian, 1911).



This glimpse into a cinematic past was somewhat interesting. Half of these films featured hand-tinting, which was very well done. The costuming, luxurious throughout, was of particular note. However, most of the movies appeared to be little more than filmed stage plays. And the acting was often theatrical, exagerated. It was remarkable to see something like King John (though extremely brief), because of its age.  A Midsummer Night's Dream was also of note, as it featured Maurice Costello and his two daughters, Dolores and Helene.

Raymond Griffith

Bruce Calvert, a longtime contributor to the LBS message board and a dedicated fan of silent film, has written a fine article on the silent film comedian and actor Raymond Griffith. This illustrated profile appears in the February, 2005 issue of Classic Images magazine. (The text of the article can be found online at the Classic Images website.) Do check it out. . . . I liked the article, but was a bit surprised Bruce didn't mention Griffith's connection to Louise Brooks. Griffith co-authored the screenplay to God's Gift to Women. And he and Brooks, according to the Barry Paris biography, had an encounter in the 1930's (see pages 384 - 385).

A couple of new items

Lately, I have been adding scans of bookcovers (of titles not otherwise pictorially represented) to the amazon.com database. (Don't ask me why. I can't help myself.) And, while doing so, I came across a couple of newly-listed items which may be of interest to fans of Louise Brooks. Each is an article fromContemporary Authors, a series of reference books found in libraries. Each can these articles can be purchased and downloaded as an e-document.

Contemporary Authors : Biography - Brooks, (Mary) Louise (1906-1985) [HTML]
--- a 12 page biographical article the Gale Reference Team

Contemporary Authors : Biography - Paris, Barry (?-) [HTML]
--- an 8 page article by the Gale Reference Team

Art and Beauty

An issue of Art & Beauty Magazine - dating from November, 1925 - is currently for sale on eBay. (The sellers are asking a large opening bid.) This is one of the earliest magazine covers to feature Louise Brooks. And remarkably, it predates her movie career.


I have come across only two earlier magazines which featured Brooks. Her first ever appearance may well have been on the cover of the April 24, 1925 issue of the Police Gazette, which was pblished in New York City. Some four months later, on August 16, 1925, Brooks appeared on the cover of the Town Crier, the Sunday magazine of the Wichita Beacon. Does anyone know of any other pre-1926 magazine covers?

They are large and dark brown in color

"Louise Brooks' eyes are marvelous. They are large and dark brown in color. They fascinate me." So, supposedly, stated Ronald Colman in the November, 1929 issue of  Screen Secrets. This quote appears in an article entitled "Ronald Colman's Dream Girl," by Bob Moak, which appears in an issue of the magazine currently for sale on eBay.

The Immortal Count

This week I finished reading The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi, by Arthur Lennig. (Earlier, I had read Lennig's biography of Erich von Stroheim.). I liked The Immortal Count a great deal. Lennig's book is very well researched, full of detail, written in a readable prose, and sympathetic to its subject. Lennig's account of Lugosi's early life is especially interesting. And his account of Lugosi's last years are nearly tragic. Lennig's own encounters (as a boy, and later as a young man) with the actor are especially poignant. Lennig has written the definitive account of Lugosi's life, as well as "A moving, lively, witty, sad book that revives once more the long dead Count Dracula." It is in the words of one publication, "An example for future writers of show business biographies." I would recommend this book.

Music by Clifford Vaughan

Lately, I have been wondering if there are any films or recordings of Denishawn from the period Louise Brooks was a member of the dance company. I have also been exploring the music of  the dance company - the music played while Denishawn danced. . . . This week, I acquired a somewhat obscure CD entitledMusic by Clifford Vaughan. I have listened to it once, and like it a good deal. The disc features work by Vaughan (1893 - 1987), a now little known musician who had a long career as composer, pianist, organist and conductor. (Issued on the Cambria label in 1997, this disc may be out of print. After some searching, I was able to purchase a second-hand copy online.)

What brought my attention to this recording were eight short works on the disc entitled "Oriental Translations for Denishawn." As it turns out, in 1925, a year after Louise Brooks left Denishawn, Ruth St. Denis engaged Clifford Vaughan as musical director of the dance company. (Vaughan replaced Louis Horst, who reunited with Martha Graham.) The composer accompanied Denishawn on their triumphant, twenty-month tour of Asia, Canada, and the United States. And while on tour, he absorbed the musical traditions of Japan, China, India, Burma, Java, Ceylon and other cultures. As a result, Vaughan composed the "Oriental Translations for Denishawn." (Included among them is "White Jade," which would become one of Ruth St. Denis' most famous solos.)

The recordings of "Oriental Translations for Denishawn" included on Music by Clifford Vaughan date to 1941, and were performed by the Vaughan Ensemble conducted by the composer. They are the most direct musical link to Denishawn (in the form of audio recordings) I have been able to find.

Recent three disc Louise Brooks DVD set

This French language page has some text (synopsis, content details, reviews) and images concerning the recent three disc Louise Brooks DVD set released in France. The Mozilla Firefox browser translation module creates a readable text. Check it out.

An email from Canada

Last week, I received an email from Mario Bergeron, a novelist and historian who lives in Quebec. To date, Bergeron has had six novels published in Canada - each of them was written and published in French. Bergeron wrote to tell me that his 1999 novel, Perles et Chapelet, contains a mention of Louise Brooks! (Here are links to the chapters.indigo or amazon.ca pages on this book.)

Perles et Chapelet is Bergeron's second novel. In his email, the author described the book this way. "My novel Perles & Chapelet is about the every day lives of two young women of the 1920's, in my home town of  Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada). Jeanne is a French Canadian and a painter. Sweetie is from New York and works as a pianist in a movie theatre. The two girls loves the flapper life: rolled stockings, smoking in public, drinking, jazz music and the young female stars of the screen. They really admire Colleen Moore and decided to adopt her hair style (which is the same as Louise Brooks). As the years go by, Jeanne slowly falls in love with Sweetie. These feelings trouble her, and she begins to drink. Sweetie has noticed the feelings of Jeanne for her, though she prefers men. Sweetie returns to the USA, and Jeanne has troubles with alcohol and sadness.... In 1930, Jeanne gets a letter from Sweetie, who plays piano in a movie theatre in Paris, saying she regrets what she has done. She invites her to come to Paris, where artists live more freely than in North America, and perhaps there, she can accept her love."


                           

In Perles et Chapelet, Louise Brooks is mentioned in a scene where a young man is flirting with Jeanne, saying things he hopes may attract her to him. The young man talks about his favorite movie stars, and mentions Joan Crawford, Nancy Carroll and Louise Brooks by name. According to the author, the book sold nicely when it was first released, and was well-received by women readers.

Has anybody out there in LBS land read this book?

1) Miami Herald, 2) Cleveland Press, 3) Atlanta Constitution

Went through March, 1926 of the Miami Herald in search of a film review, but found nothing. (Ever so slowly, I have been making my way through this Florida newspaper. It's a slow process because the lending institution will only loan two reels at a time, and is somewhat slow to fill loans - not that I'm complaining, mind you . . . . ) Also went through a month of the Cleveland Press, where I excavated a few articles and advertisements for the Denishawn performance there in November, 1923. (Curiously, this is one Ohio newspaper that the Ohio Historical Society - which I visited - does not have on microfilm, and so, I must request it via inter-library loan from an Ohio university.)  I also had the opportunity, last night, to go through a couple years of the Atlanta Constitution, where I uncovered a few articles and advertisements regarding the Denishawn performance there in January, 1923. All together, this week's collecting may not have been a down pour, but rather a gentle spring rain.

Beautiful you are

This beautiful colorized portrait of Louise Brooks is for sale on eBay. What is more lovely, the subject or the painting?

RadioLulu

Every month, I receive statistics for RadioLulu - the Louise Brooks-themed radio station I set-up on Live365.com  Here are this month's stats for the station (located at www.live365.com/stations/298896 )

Total Listening Hours
Last Month: 146
This Month: 142

Total Station Launches (the number of times individuals clicked on the listen button)
Last Month: 485
This Month: 361

Station Presets (the number of individuals who chose to bookmark RadioLulu)
Last Month: 389
This Month: 403

Favorite Station Designations
Last Month: 15
This Month: 15

All Hail Gianluca !!!

Gianluca Chiovelli, a longtime correspondent, a devoted Louise Brooks researcher, and the author/editor of a superb Italian website devoted to the actress, has done a great thing! Gianluca sent me photocopies of what are among the scarcest Louise Brooks-related item I have ever come across.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, Gianluca managed to convince an European library to make photocopies of two books - novelizations of the Louise Brooks films, La Vie d'une Fille perdue (Trois Pages d'un Journal), and Prix de Beaute. The first book, based on the Pabst film The Diary of a Lost Girl, was written by Rene Wild and published in France in 1930. The second book, based on the French film of the same name, was written by Boisyvon and published in 1932. [ I haven't been able to find out anything about Rene Wild, except that he may have contributed the scenario to a 1932 French film, Le Triangle de feu. Boisyvon, I believe, went on to write a number of books on film in later decades.]

Up until now, I knew very little about these ephemeral items. But from what I can deduce, each of these titles were inexpensive, softcover books (hence their ephemeral nature), and each were part of a series of novelizations published by Editions Jules Tallandier. (The series featured mostly French titles, though it did include a few German and American releases.) Each book features Louise Brooks on their pictorial cover, and each contains numerous scene stills scattered throughout the book. (In this regard, they remind me of the the early American photoplay editions.) Each also contains an advertisement in the back of the book listing other titles in the series.

Gianluca and I have long sought after Prix de Beaute. He and I searched the catalogs and records of libraries and bookdealers worldwide. I listed it on the LBS Help Wanted page, and sent queries to knowledgeable individuals. Nothing happened. We both thought we might be chasing a phantom reference. Until one day, I received an anonymous email stating that a certain library held this rare book. Gianluca, an Italian devotee of Brooks, wrote to the library and asked for a loan or copy. The library declined. Some time passed, and he wrote again. This time, the library said yes.

Gianluca received the prize, and emailed me with the good news. However, when scanning the advertisement of earlier books in the series printed in the back, he realized that another novelization of a Louise Brooks' film also existed! Gianluca wrote to the library, and acquired a photocopy of La Vie d'une Fille perdue.  And now, generously, he has provided photocopies of these items to the LBS. Thank you Gianluca Chiovelli.

Photoplay Edition (a review)

Recently, I wrote and posted online this review of Photoplay Edition, by Emil Petaja. My review follows.

"A pioneering guidebook for lovers of old movies and books"
by thomas gladysz

Throughout his life, the acclaimed fantasy & science fiction author Emil Petaja (1915 - 2000) was an avid film buff and collector of movie memorabilia. As a writer, he was especially interested in the literature of film. Petaja had a large collection of books about the movies, as well as an even larger collection of so-called photoplay books - movie tie-in editions dating from the silent film and early sound era. (Then, like now, novels that served as the basis for a film were republished with a scene or film star on the cover. Many also had stills from the film interspersed within the book. Film buffs, collectors, and bibliophiles have long sought out these variant editions - especially if they involved a particular actor, like Rudolph Valentino or Louise Brooks.)

Published in 1975, Photoplay Edition was the first ever book on the subject. Petaja based the book on his personal collection of photoplays, which at the time of publication, numbered more than eight hundred! (Petaja owned many rare examples, including a few autographed by film stars.) Photoplay Edition is composed of a checklist of books, with each entry detailing the book's movie title (which sometimes differed from the title of the novel), as well as it's author, publisher, date of release, the motion picture company which produced the film, it's leading actors, and the number of illustrations included within the book. Illustrating Petaja's guide are dozens of dustjackets and scene stills, each of which graced the original editions. Petaja also offers a short prologue, as well as a longer history of photoplay books. Another delightful, anecdotal chapter tells the story of the author's involvement in collecting these books.

Photoplay Edition has been surpassed by later guides. Nevertheless, this pioneering bibliographical study is a valuable testament to a by-gone era. Anyone interested in old movies or old books will want to own a copy.

When it rains it pours . . . .

When it rains it pours . . . . Five inter-library loans were waiting for me at the library this week! I found articles, reviews and advertisements for Love Em and Leave Em (1926) and Just Another Blonde (1926) in the Bridgeport Post (from Bridgeport, Connecticut). I also found a whole bunch of Denishawn material in the Baltimore American (Baltimore, Maryland), as well as in the Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), Pine Bluff Commercial (Pine Bluff, Arkansas), and Kewanee Star Journal (Kewanee, Illinois). Citations for all of this material have been added to the LBS bibliographies.

Ayn Rand

According to an article about Ayn Rand in today's New York Times, today is the centennial of her birth. I don't own or haven't read any of her books, except for Russian Writings on Hollywood, which was published by the Ayn Rand Institute Press in 1999. 

Rand was born in czarist Russia in 1905, witnessed the revolutions of 1917 from her St. Petersburg apartment, and managed to make her way to the United States in 1926. Early on, she was something of a film buff, and at one time, Rand aspired to work in the film industry. (A couple of her novels would later be made into films.) The above mentioned book brings together early articles on the movies, along with other miscellaneous writings. Of note is the fact that Rand records having seen American Venus (1926) after her departure from the Soviet Union. According to her movie diary, Rand saw the film in Chicago on March 2 at the Terminal theatre. She had been in the United States less than one month. The American Venus was the eighth film she saw in America. She gave the film a 4-, or B- grade.

Some research notes

Weekly visit to the SFPL to look at my inter-library loans. I looked through three months of the San Antonio Express in hopes of finding some film reviews, but found nothing in Texas. Sometimes there just ain't nothin' there. . . . I am sure I will have better at the library luck next week.

Also, I spent a day in the microfilm room at the University of California, Berkeley. I have been there three or four dozen times over the last few years, and have come away with quite a lot of material. They have a huge collection of newspapers and magazines on microfilm, including a number of German, French and South American publications. I was prompted to return to this library because the microfilm room will be closed later this year for earthquake retrofitting. I figured I had better make a few trips before then.

On this visit, I continued my survey of La Prensa, one of the leading newspapers from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I managed to look through two years of La Prensa, where I found a review of Now We're in the Air (1927), or Tiburones en el aire as it was referred to in Spanish speaking South America. I also uncovered four portraits of Louise Brooks, a small mention of Just Another Blonde (1926) - which La Prensa referred to as The Charleston Kid, and a captioned scene still from The City Gone Wild (1927), or La ciudad del mal. All together, not a bad haul. Now, I just need look through a few months from 1929 and my survey of La Prensa should be complete. (It was at this library, while searching through La Prensa on an earlier visit, that I uncovered a review ofPandora's Box from the time it first screened in Buenos Aires in November of 1929. And I wondered if Brooks'  admirer Adolpho Bioy Casares, or his friend Jorge Luis Borges, saw the film during the week it played in the Argentine capital. . . .)

Though I took two years of Spanish in high school, I don't speak the language. I barely remember numbers, days of the week, and a few phrases. "Hablo usted un muy poco Espanol?" Nevertheless, I was able to navigate La Prensa by figuring out how the newspaper "worked." Most every Sunday, in the features section, the paper had a full page devoted to the cinema. I would skip ahead from Domingo to Domingo in search of the cinema page, and then scan it for pictures or mentions of  Louise Brooks or her co-stars. A large, comic portrait of Wallace Beery in avaitor goggles (just like the publicity pictures in American newspapers) tipped me off to a showing of Now We're in the Air. Two days later, the newspaper ran a review under "Notas Cinematograficas."

This survey method serves well enough, though I am sure I miss material. Looking through non-English newspapers (especially when I don't find that much stuff) can be very tedious. I fidget. And start to loose concentration. Thus, once I finished off La Prensa for 1928, I decided to change course and look through a small town California newspaper. The UC Berkeley microfilm collection, naturally, has lots of Northern California papers.

I chose the Selma Irrigator (what a wonderful name for a newspaper!), though I had never heard of this small agricultural community located in Fresno county. I zipped through three or four months, and only came up with an advertisement for a single day screening of A Social Celebrity(1926). Selma, seemingly, only had one movie theater in the mid-1920's - and no room for any kind of editorial comment about the movies in the local paper. And so, I switched to the Chico Daily Enterprise. (Chico is a college town located to the north of San Francisco.) I managed to get through one year - 1926 - of this small town paper. I came up with brief articles (supplied by the Publicity Bureau of the National Theaters Syndicate) regarding four of Brooks' films. As time was running out, I decided to stop there. I will finish my survey of this paper on my next visit.

Recent references in the Mexican press

A follow-up to yesterday clippings from the British press. Here are some recent references to the actress from the Mexican press.

From "Contrastes de temporada"” by Fernando Toledo - Palabra  1/13/2005
--- "A traves de la historia, hay mujeres que han dado al color negro otro significado al transferirle diversas cargas de sensualidad, sobriedad y estilo. A continuacion, algunas de estas bellezas. . . . Louise Brooks. Diva del cine mudo que hizo de sus amplios vestidos negros su imagen. Los acompañaba con largos collares, guantes y una melena tambien muy negra." [ This article goes on to discuss Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, and Sophia Loren. ] 

From "Sugieren autoanalisis 'Mitos transgenicos'" by Karol Garcia - Reforma  6/17/2004
--- "Del cine, tomo a David Silva en su personaje de Kid Terranova; a Natacha Rambova, esposa del prototipo de latin lover Rodolfo Valentino, famoso por su homosexualidad, y a Louise Brooks, actriz que se revelo ante Hollywood después de rodar La Caja de Pandora."

From "Cine en su Casa / Seres de otro mundo" by Roberto Villarreal - El Norte  5/28/2004
--- these are, seemingly, television listings for "Cable de la decadencia moral"

"La Caja de Pandora (Die Büchse der Pandora) 1929. Alemania. Dir.: G.W. Pabst. Con Louise Brooks y Fritz Kortner. Basada en varios relatos de Franz Wedekind, tenemos la historia de una frivola muchacha que tiene amantes, trabaja como bailarina, desprecia a quienes la aman y finalmente, cuando decide prostituirse a cambio de dinero, cae en brazos del famoso Jack el destripador... Pabst nos ofrece imágenes de una bella presencia llamada Louise Brooks, a quien dirigio en dos cintas silentes, ya clasicas (ver adelante). // Canal 41 (IPN)"

"Diario de Una Muchacha Perdida  (Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) 1929. Alemania. Dir.: G.W. Pabst. Con Louise Brooks y Andre Roanne. Una muchacha trabaja en la farmacia de su padre donde es acosada por un asistente quien la viola y deja embarazada. Para salvaguardar su honor, luego de dar a luz es enviada a un internado donde sufre otro tipo de desgracias que la llevaran a escapar para trabajar en un burdel... Segunda cinta del maestro Pabst con la norteamericana Brooks donde vuelve a interpretar a una joven victima de las ironias del destino... // Canal 41 (IPN)"

Recent references in the Mexican press

A follow-up to yesterday clippings from the British press. Here are some recent references to the actress from the Mexican press.

From "Contrastes de temporada"” by Fernando Toledo - Palabra  1/13/2005
--- "A traves de la historia, hay mujeres que han dado al color negro otro significado al transferirle diversas cargas de sensualidad, sobriedad y estilo. A continuacion, algunas de estas bellezas. . . . Louise Brooks. Diva del cine mudo que hizo de sus amplios vestidos negros su imagen. Los acompañaba con largos collares, guantes y una melena tambien muy negra." [ This article goes on to discuss Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, and Sophia Loren. ] 

From "Sugieren autoanalisis 'Mitos transgenicos'" by Karol Garcia - Reforma  6/17/2004
--- "Del cine, tomo a David Silva en su personaje de Kid Terranova; a Natacha Rambova, esposa del prototipo de latin lover Rodolfo Valentino, famoso por su homosexualidad, y a Louise Brooks, actriz que se revelo ante Hollywood después de rodar La Caja de Pandora."

From "Cine en su Casa / Seres de otro mundo" by Roberto Villarreal - El Norte  5/28/2004
--- these are, seemingly, television listings for "Cable de la decadencia moral"

"La Caja de Pandora (Die Büchse der Pandora) 1929. Alemania. Dir.: G.W. Pabst. Con Louise Brooks y Fritz Kortner. Basada en varios relatos de Franz Wedekind, tenemos la historia de una frivola muchacha que tiene amantes, trabaja como bailarina, desprecia a quienes la aman y finalmente, cuando decide prostituirse a cambio de dinero, cae en brazos del famoso Jack el destripador... Pabst nos ofrece imágenes de una bella presencia llamada Louise Brooks, a quien dirigio en dos cintas silentes, ya clasicas (ver adelante). // Canal 41 (IPN)"

"Diario de Una Muchacha Perdida  (Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) 1929. Alemania. Dir.: G.W. Pabst. Con Louise Brooks y Andre Roanne. Una muchacha trabaja en la farmacia de su padre donde es acosada por un asistente quien la viola y deja embarazada. Para salvaguardar su honor, luego de dar a luz es enviada a un internado donde sufre otro tipo de desgracias que la llevaran a escapar para trabajar en un burdel... Segunda cinta del maestro Pabst con la norteamericana Brooks donde vuelve a interpretar a una joven victima de las ironias del destino... // Canal 41 (IPN)"

Recent references in the British press

It’s been nearly 70 years since her last film, and nearly 20 years since her death - but Louise Brooks - silent film star and 20th century icon - continues to show up in the news. In addition to the January 23rd article in The Sunday Telegraph (mentioned in yesterday's blog), here are some other recent references to the actress from the British press.

From "Books of the Year; Our critics and favourite authors decide" - The Independent  12/26/2004
--- British writer Toby Litt said "The New York Review's reissues series has been impeccable. I'd never heard of Adolfo Bioy-Casares' The Invention of Morel(New York Review of Books pounds 7.99). Initially attracted to it by the beautiful cover photo of silent film actress Louise Brooks, I found it to be an equally beautiful novel of unrequited love and parallel worlds." [ Pandora's Box makes Toby Litt's list of the top ten films of all-time ]

From "Cultural Life: Rebecca Hall, Actress" interview by Charlotte Cripps - The Independent  12/17/2004
--- "Books I have just read Louise Brooks: A Biography by Barry Paris about the silent-film star of Pandora's Box (1929), who had a fascinating life. . . ."

From "Retail Therapy" by Lisa Piddington -  Birmingham Post   11/24/2004
--- "Want to shine and stand out from the crowd? Then Helena Rubinstein's Glitterati selection will help you do just that. Inspired by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Louise Brooks, from the colours to the shade names and packaging, everything sparkles in this range fit for a budding starlet."

From "My Secret Life: Anthony Bourdain, chef" - The Independent  11/13/2004
--- "If I wasn't me I'd like to be ... Bootsy Collins playing bass for Parliament / Funkadelic, Larry Graham playing bass for James Brown and anyone who shagged Ava Gardner, Carole Lombard or Louise Brooks." [ blogger's note: This is not the first time Bourdain, the famed chef and bestselling writer, has  mentioned the actress in the course of an interview. ]

From "Film: It's a gal thing..."  by David Thomson - The Independent  10/31/2004
--- "In the first decades of cinema history, the businessmen and even the artists were a little slow to see just how far the mechanics of film had made ordinary human beauty not just iconic but erotic. In other words, I don't think anyone understood immediately just how sexy the movies were. . . .  And then there was the bad girl, the femme fatale, the temptress. That is a tradition that includes Theda Bara - the enchantress women in Cecil B De Mille films - and even Louise Brooks - though Brooks was too candid and carnal for American tastes and only found full expression in Germany, in G W Pabst's Pandora's Box."

From "OH,GOOD GODDESS; Keira is world's sexiest film star" -  Daily Record   9/30/2004
--- More than 15,000 people voted for the sexiest film stars of all-time in this poll conducted by this Glasgow, Scotland newspaper. Keira Knightly placed first. Louise Brooks placed 85th, just ahead of Sarah Michelle Geller.

Louise Brooks film in the works

 January 23rd article in the English newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, states that a film centering on the relationship between critic and playwright Kenneth Tynan and silent film star Louise Brooks is in the works. According to the article, "Matthew [ Tynan ], a screenwriter and producer, is at last seeing through to production his mother's screenplay about his father's (seriously reciprocated) obsession with the silent-film actress Louise Brooks. Shirley MacLaine, one of Tynan's greatest Hollywood friends, will play the old diva; Jeremy Irons is slated as the hedonistic critic."

The article, by Michael Coveney, focusses on a new stage play about Tynan in which Corin Redgrave will play the famed critic. The article goes on to say, "Tynan will be then thrice-embodied, for Redgrave's performance follows that of Peter Eyre who four years ago played a more epicene Tynan in a play by Janet Munsil, Smoking with Lulu, that reworked the real-life encounter between Tynan and Brooks as a magnetic fantasy, poised between an older Louise and her younger, sexually mysterious self."

Tynan - a one man show based on the diaries of Kenneth Tynan - opens at the Royal Shakespeare Company Arts Theatre in London on February 21st. The production runs through March 26th. If anyone attends, please pick up an extra flier or program for the LBS.

Dance on tape

Over the course of the last week, I watched three Denishawn tapes I borrowed from the library. Normally, I am not very keen on modern dance, or ballet. That's why I was surprised at how much I liked these videos.

Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance (1988) and Denishawn Dances On (2002) were largely composed of short documentary passages (narration over photographs along with brief film clips) interspersed with contemporary recreations of Denishawn dance routines. Louise Brooks, I believe, could be spotted in group photographs in each film.

Apparently, there is very little vintage film of Denishawn - or at least none available to those who put together these two titles. Most interesting for me, then, among the contemporary recreations, were those dances performed by Denishawn while Brooks was a member of the company. I have a hard time visualizing dance (especially when it is described in a book), that's why it was good to see a couple of the Brooks-era dances recreated. I also really, really, really enjoyed a Ted Shawn dance, "Gnosienne," done to music by Erik Satie. Wow, that was amazing!

The third tape I watched, The Men Who Danced: The Story of Ted Shawn's Male Dancers, 1933 - 1940  (1986), though it had nothing to do with Denishawn, was also quite interesting and enjoyable. It featured interviews with some of Shawn's original dancers. And once again, I believe, Brooks could be seen in a group photograph in the film.

[ Note to the world: someone needs to put together an PBS-style "American Masters" program on Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. It would be revelatory.]