An early movie ad

I was digging around the website of the Lansing State Journal, the major daily in Lansing, Michigan. (I went to school at Michigan State University in nearby East Lansing. . . and still have a lingering interest in that part of the world.) And I noticed an historical feature on the website entitled "Looking Back 150 Years: A decade-by-decade look at the history of Lansing." The feature is broken down into decades, with a timeline and photo gallery for each decade. In the decade devoted to the Jazz Age - "1920s - A time for 'wonderful nonsense' " - I found this nifty image of an advertisement on the side of a street car (today's equivalent of ads on the sides of buses). Notice that the screen attraction is Norma Shearer in The Demi-Bride.

Censorship of films

One of my areas of interest regarding Louise Brooks (and silent film) is censorship. Anyone who has read the Barry Paris biography knows that her two German films were subject to censorship in Europe. As well, Pandora's Box was heavily censored when shown in the New York City in 1929. 

What few people know is that some of Brooks' American films were also censored. The American Venus (1926) was criticized in Chicago because of "nudity." The City Gone Wild (1927) andKing of Gamblers (1937) were cut because of violence. God's Gift to Women (1931) was reproached because of its suggestive nature. During the 1920's and 1930's, some cities and states had their own censorship boards - and each ruled over the exhibition of motion pictures.

Some time ago, I came across a massive bibliography devoted to freedom of the press. This online bibliography, by Ralph E. McCoy, was published in 1967 and covered censorship of ideas in all forms - including books, newspapers, radio, television and film. I have gone through it and extracted (for my own reference)  the many citations pertaining to film censorship in the United States during the teens, twenties and thirties. Here are a few articles and books that stand out:

Abbott, Clarence M. "How They 'Censor' the Films at the National Board of Censorship." Motion Picture Magazine,  September 1917.
Ames, Hector. "Censoring the Film Kiss." Motion Picture Magazine, December 1916.
Beman, Lemar T. Selected Articles on Censorship of the Theater and Motion Pictures. New York, Wilson, 1931. 

Chase, William S. The Case for the Federal Supervision of Motion Pictures. Washington, D.C., International Reform Federation, 1927.
Clements, Traverse. "Censoring the Talkies." New Republic, 5 June 1929.
De Mille, William C. "Bigoted and Bettered Pictures." Scribner's Magazine, September 1924.
Ernst, Morris L., and Pare Lorentz. Censored: The Private Life of the Movies. New York, Cape & Smith, 1930.
Howe, Frederic C. "What To Do With the Motion-Picture Show; Shall It Be Censored?" Outlook,  20 June 1914.
Inglis, William. "Morals and Moving Pictures." Harper's Weekly,  30 July 1910.
Lawson, W. P. "How the Censor Works." Harper's Weekly, 9 January 1915.
MacCulloch, Campbell. "How Free Is Speech?" Motion Picture Classic, September 1920.
 McGuire, W. D., Jr. "Censoring Motion Pictures." New Republic, 10 April 1915.
McKeown, E. J. "Censoring the Moving Picture." Common Cause, July 1913.
McMahon, Charles A. "Inviting Motion Picture Censorship." Child Welfare Magazine, September 1924.
Oberholtzer, Ellis P. "Censor and the 'Movie Menace.'" North American Review, November 1920.
Peet, Creighton. "Our Lady Censors." Outlook, 25 December 1929.
Poffenberger, A. T. "Motion Pictures and Crime." Scientific Monthly, April 1921.
Quirk, James R. "The Wowsers Tackle the Movies." American Mercury, July 1927.
Rorty, James. "It Ain't No Sin!" Nation, 1 August 1934.

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?"