Greta Garbo Festival

There is a Greta Garbo festival taking place at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco. To celebrate what would have been the actress' 100th birthday, the theater is screening nine of her films starting February 24th. The festival concludes March 3rd. (The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about Garbo and the festival, "Seductive Garbo Still Enchanting" on February 20th.) Film critic and author David Thomson (author of the essential New Biographical Dictionary of Film) will be on hand to introduce the opening night's film. San Francisco Chronicle film critic and author Mick LaSalle (author of the excellent pre-code study Complicated Women) will introduce the March 1st screening. I will be attending each of these nights (as staff of The Booksmith), where I will be selling books by these authors in the lobby. We will also have copies of the Barry Paris bio of Garbo for sale. Come see a film, buy a book and get it signed, or say "hello." 

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.