Prix de beauté photoplay

It case you haven't seen it, there is an extraordinarily rare novelization of Prix de Beauté for sale on eBay. Curiously, this softcover, French photoplay edition was published two years after the movie was released. (Usually, such tie-ins are timed to coincide with the release of the film.) The story is by Boisyvon, who would go on to write a handful of books on film.

For the Lulu in your life

A gift suggestion for the Lulu in your life. "Launched in 1987, this FLORAL/ORIENTAL was inspired by the legendary child-woman actor Louise Brooks, whose heyday was the roaring Twenties. Like Brooks, it is tempting and provocative, yet innocent and sensual. It was created by Jean Guichard.

Lou Lou blends ylang ylang with orange flower, jasmine and iris with base notes of sandalwood, vanilla and bergamot. It is an intriguing fragrance, a soft-oriental-floral that caresses and envelops the skin with vanilla, incense, and sandalwood. Floral top notes evoke the tender unforgettable scent of the exotic tiare flower."

         

I have a bottle of this French perfume. It's not bad, but a somewhat strong and a bit floral for my tastes. Perhaps it would make a nice gift for one's mother. (Notice how the font on the front of this 1989 Dutch version of Lulu in Hollywood copies the font from the perfume box.)

Odds 'n ends from the web

Was cleaning out my bookmarks, and came across these odds 'n ends from the world wide web.

Louise Brooks film titles in Japanese: http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~hs0905/ru/LouiseBrooks.html

A French page on LB: http://club-culture.com/cinema/lbrooks.htm

A Belgian page on LB: http://users.skynet.be/sky14611/loulou/index.html

An Italian page on LB: (click here - its an ugly url!) 

Very brief article from Sweden: http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/telegram/0,1082,53114432_NOJ_p_20001004,00.html

• louisebrooks:←Beggars of Life
• louisebrooks:→An early movie ad

Carlos Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes, the acclaimed Mexican writer (author of The Old Gringo, etc...), has a new book out called This I Believe: An A to Z of a Life. In it, he writes about many things. On cinema, Fuentes offers a paean to beauty as reflected in the faces of film's leading actresses: "[W]hat would our... lives be without the beauty, illusion, and passion granted us by the faces of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, Louise Brooks and Audrey Hepburn, Gene Tierney and Ava Gardner?"

European Libraries Fight Google-ization

Here is an interesting article on an European project which will be an alternative to Google's online library. I am excited about this project, and Google's project, because they may uncover new material (depending on the cut-off date of the material scanned) on early film, expressionism, Frank Wedekind, Ruth St. Denis and other interesting topics. You never know what you will find . . . .

Went through three scattered months / At the library today / This week

Went through three scattered months of the World-Herald (from Omaha, Nebraska), and found some miscellaneous clippings (articles, pics of Brooks, and some advertisements) relating toThe Canary Murder Case (1929). Depicted below is one of the items I uncovered,  a typical newspaper display ad for the film. Notice that the film was paired with live entertainment (headlined by Jay Mills), which was also typical of the time in larger cities and towns.



At the library today, I also went through microfilm of the Greensboro Daily News (from Greensboro, North Carolina) and found a bunch of material on the 1923 Denishawn performance in that town. One advertisement for the engagement read "At Milwaukee hundreds turned away. Return date March 12th. At Kansas City, November 15th. Theatre full. Firemen closed the doors. At Atlanta, January 25. Audience of 4,000 biggest event of the year." (Though the Denishawn Dance Company performed in many smaller towns, they just as often performed before audiences numbering in hundreds and even thousands!) The most interesting item was an article, "Orchestra Lost and Audience was Frozen," which appeared the day after their engagement. Subtitled, "St. Denis Glow and Shawn's Fire Failed to Overcome The Handicap," the article related how the dance company's orchestra failed to show up for the first half of the program, and as a result, the audience never really warmed up to the performances. 

This week, I also came across a recently published book, Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Completing the Twentieth Century (Harvard University Press, 2004). The book has a striking image on ex-Denishawn Dancer Martha Graham on the cover, as well as a one-and-one-half page entry on Louise Brooks. The entry was written by Amelie Hastie, a scholar who has written on Brooks in the past.

1920's Berlin & Vienna

Here is a useful page of links on the 1920s, the Weimar Republic, and Berlin. Does anyone know of any others ?

Also, for those who read German, here is a website which has scans of Austrian newspapers. The site is a little hard to navigate and the papers a little hard to read, but the diligent might be able to dig out some G. W. Pabst (he was Austrian) or Louise Brooks material.

Local treasure troves

A number of city libraries around the country have begun to put parts of  their unique collections on-line. These digitized collections include photographs, sheet music, and other documents (usually) related to some aspect of local history. One such library is the San Francisco Public Library, which now has a large treasure trove of historical photographs on the web. While browsing the collection, I came across 43 images related to Roscoe Arbuckle and his infamous San Francisco trial! Some of these fascinating images picture the comedian, while others depict individuals related to the trial, as well as photographs of evidence. (Arbuckle would go on to direct Louise Brooks in Windy Riley Goes Hollywood.)



Along with the Arbuckle pics, I also came across images of dancer Sally Rand (who had appeared with Brooks in A Girl in Every Port), other personalities from the 1920's, and architectural images of local movie theaters - some of which no longer exist. The San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection is well worth exploring. Perhaps your local library website has a similar collection.