Siouxsie Sioux

A July 22, 2005 article on the Guardian website about musical maverick Siouxsie Sioux states that the the one-time punk rocker claims Louise Brooks as her inspiration. Click here to see the profile of Siouxsie Sioux on the British newspaper website.

First record bought: ABC by the Jackson Five
Favourite film: Kill Bill
Record to grab in an emergency: Akhnaten by Philip Glass
Inspiration: Louise Brooks
Recent discovery: Telstar by the Tornados

New articles - "Louise Bobs Her Hair"

There is an article about Louise Brooks and Lulupalooza in the current issue of CityPaper from Washington D.C. (CityPaper is the free weekly.) The article can also be found online for the next four weeks.

And today's "Weekend Update" in the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran this bit. "Lulupalooza '05: A Celebration of the Cinematic Life of Louise Brooks" screens cult favorites from the'20s and'30s, beginning with remarks and special presentations at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad St., running through 10:30 p.m. Sunday. All events are at the Firehouse, except for the 1:30 p.m. Saturday showing of "Pandora's Box" at the Byrd Theatre, 2908 W. Cary St. $37.50 weekend; $17.50 per day; $5 per film, except "Pandora's Box," which is $12.50. www.lulupalooza.org or 355-2001." Don't forget !

"That '20s Girl: Lulupalooza celebrates the work of a screen goddess" appears in the current issue of Style Weekly, a free newspaper in Richmond, Virginia. The article can be found on-line as well.

Louise Brooks' art from 1974

I just came across this rather interesting art depicting Louise Brooks. It dates from 1974. The piece, entitled "Louise Brooks," is by Frank Martin (b. 1921). It is an intaglio print on paper and measures 371 x 273 mm. The work is owned by the Tate Gallery in England, and was presented to that museum by Christie's Contemporary Art through the Institute of Contemporary Prints in 1975. Does anyone know anything more about this artist? (Stylistically, the piece looks like its from the 1920's. For me, it recalls the Cubist aesthetic and the work of Leger.)

Diary of a Lost Girl shows in Columbus, Ohio

Diary of a Lost Girl will be screened tonight in Columbus, Ohio as part of an ongoing film series. According to theColumbusalive website. "The Summer Abroad series continues on Wednesday, July 20, with two extraordinary examples of early German cinema: G.W. Pabst’s silent classic Diary of a Lost Girl, in which the luminous Louise Brooks is a naïve girl who stumbles onto the path to ruin when she becomes pregnant, and Fritz Lang’s M, one of the first, best and most thoughtful serial killer movies ever made. Between M star Peter Lorre’s constant humming of Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” and the live accompaniment toDiary by Scrawl’s Sue Harshe, you’ll be leaving the theater with a song in your head."

Gavin Lambert (1924 - 2005)

"Gavin Lambert, an incisive observer of life in Hollywood through his screenplays, novels and film histories, died on Sunday at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 80." For those interested in early film, Gavin Lambert is best  known as the author of outstanding biographies of Norma Shearer and Nazimova. (The Nazimova biography earned the William K. Everson Film History Award from the National Board of Review.)  Lambert also authored "On Cukor," and appeared in the recent documentary. I recently read Lambert's biography of Shearer, and enjoyed it a great deal. And his book on Nazimova sits on my stack of books I must read. I remember speaking with Gavin Lambert on the phone a few years back regarding his books.

According to an Associated Press article, "In April, Lambert joined author Gore Vidal and others at a motion picture academy salute to Greta Garbo. That's believed to be one of his last public appearances." A short biography of author and Oscar-nominated screenwriter appeared in today'sNew York Times. Here is the link to a longer article in the Hollywood Reporter.

Australian crime fiction writer Kerry Greenwood

I received an email recently from Mark Armstrong-Roper, a longtime LBS correspondent from Melbourne, Australia. Mark wrote to tell me about an Australian crime fiction writer named Kerry Greenwood, whose work certainly shows some awareness of Louise Brooks. Mark wrote "I live not far from the Australian crime writer Kerry Greenwood. In fact she has the launches of her new books at my local cinema. I've been to several of these launches and at one a few years back she mentioned that she was a big fan of Louise Brooks and had modelled some of the aspects of her 1920's detective heroine, Phryne Fisher, on Louise. Over the years with various repackagings and reprintings of the series of now 15 books the artwork on the covers has come to resemble LB more and more, until with Kerry's current publisher, Allen & Unwin, the similarity is more than just a coincidence! Have a look: http://www.phrynefisher.com/."

I checked out the author's website and agree with Mark. The books look appealing. Has anyone read any of these works ? Descriptive text for the most recent title in the series, Death by Water, reads thus: "Phryne Fisher, with her Lulu bob, green eyes, Cupid's bow lips and Chanel travelling suits, is exactly the sort of elegant sleuth to take on a ring of jewellery thieves aboard the high seas - or at least, aboard the SS Hinemoa on a luxury cruise to New Zealand. With the Maharani - the Great Queen of Sapphires - as the bait, Phryne rises magnificently to the challenge." Here is my favorite cover, the first book in the series.