Library research jottings

Quick trip to the library today, where a couple of microfilm loans were waiting. I went through a few months of the Paterson News (from Paterson, New Jersey - the longtime home of William Carlos Williams), and found some interesting material, including a review, on The City Gone Wild. The Paterson News is promising, so I may look through other months sometime in the future. I also went through some microfilm of the Joplin Globe (from Joplin, Missouri - not sure who lived there). Denishawn performed in Joplin twice during Louise Brooks' tenure with the dance company. However, each of their perfromances were on Sundays - and the Joplin Globe did not publish on Mondays. Thus, I didn't find any reviews - which is the material I desire the most. Nevertheless, I did find a few advertisements and some generic articles and images (two of which pictured Brooks).

Tomorrow, I return to the microfilm collection at UC Berkeley. This will be my last visit to that campus for a couple of years. And Friday, I will drive to Sacramento to visit the State Library of California. That will be my last visit to that institution this year. I don't have any other "research trips" planned for the next six or nine months. (If things work out - I may have to go to Washington D.C. next June, and may end up visiting the Library of Congress. . . . Most of my research trips piggyback onto business and family trips.) Otherwise, inter-library loans will continue to trickle in every couple of weeks, and I won't be burdening all of you so frequently with these dry library reports.

Here is a picture of my filing cabinet stuffed with Louise Brooks material. The fruits of my labor. I have four drawers filled with files on every Brooks' film, as well as files on significant topics (Denishawn, Ziegfeld Follies, Eddie Sutherland, G.W. Pabst, Lulu in Hollywood, obituaries, etc...).

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

I watched another documentary. The Legend of Rudolph Valentino was made in 1982, and released on DVD in 2000. It is a pretty poor excuse for a documentary, and is mainly worth watching only for the little seen photographs and film clips it contains (early movies in which Valentino had a small part, Valentino's home movies, footage from Valentino's funeral, etc....) The details of the actor's life are only glossed over. And, there is so much footage from Blood and Sand and Son of the Shiek included that you feel as though you have watched each of those films!



p.s. The director of The Legend of Rudolph Valentino is Graeme Ferguson, who also directed the clumsy 1965 documentary, The Love Goddesses, which included Louise Brooks. Paul Killiam, another familiar name to Brooks' and silent film devotees, was co-producer.

Louise Brooks in Denmark

Here is a link to a nifty website called Louise Brooks in Denmark. It contains a few articles, a list of films, and audio file of an interview with the well known Danish film historian Ib Monty, and more. It is well worth checking out.

A couple of days late

Apparently, Pandora's Box was shown on Friday. I just noticed this Spanish-language newsgroup posting. I am not sure if this screening took place in Argentina, or Spain. Does anyone know?

Viernes 19, 22.30 hs.
Ciclo de Cine Alemán-Cine Mudo-Música en vivo
"Lulu o la Caja de Pandora" (1928/29) de Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Centro Cultural Estación Provincial
Calle 17 y 71 - La Plata
Entada: libre

La obra que lanzó a la fama a Louise Brooks y la obra maestra de su director, Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Una obra clave de la Historia del Cine. Louise Brooks, que se impuso a actrices de la talla de Marlene Dietrich, interpreta a Lulú, una mujer magnética y hechizante, auténtica femme fatale, que hace que todas las personas que la rodean caigan rendidos ante su encanto, y con ello, caigan en la perdición. Todo ello dotado de una ambigüedad que nos hace dudar si Lulú es una mujer que se aprovecha de su belleza, o si, por el contrario, no es consciente de ella y son los demás los que se aprovechan de ella. A la maravillosa interpretación de Louise Brooks se une el extraordinario oficio de su director, el reputado Georg Wilhelm Pabst, que impregna esta película de una sobriedad y de un realismo que dota a todo el film de una verosimilitud y de un ritmo inteligente que sigue vigente 75 años después.

My browser translation utility renders it, somewhat akwardly, thus:

Friday 19, 22,30 hs.
Cycle of Cinema Alema'n-Cine Mudo-Mu'sica live
"Lulu or the Box of Pandora" (1928/29) of Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Cultural Center Provincial Station
71 street 17 and - the Silver
Cost: free

The work that sent to the fame to Louise Brooks and the masterpiece of his director, Georg Wilhelm Pabst. A key work of the History of the Cinema. Louise Brooks, who prevailed actresses of the stature of Marlene Dietrich, interprets Lulu, a magnetic and bewitching woman, authentic femme fatale, that does that all the people who surround it fall tired before his enchantment, and with it, they fall in the perdición. All it equipped with an ambiguity that makes us doubt if Lulu is one woman who takes advantage of her beauty, or if, on the contrary, she is not conscious of her and those are the others that take advantage of her. To wonderful interpretation of Louise Brooks is united the extraordinary one office of its director, the reputed Georg Wilhelm Pabst, that impregnates this film of a sobriety and a realism that it equips to all film of a probability and an intelligent rate that follows effective 75 years later.

On this day in 1927

On this day in 1927, Louise Brooks was listed as the 65th biggest draw among featured players by Film Spectator magazine.

Olive Thomas

Sometimes I get around to things a little late . . . . Tonight I watched Olive Thomas: Everybody's Sweetheart the documentary contained on the DVD release The Olive Thomas Collection. (Tomorrow night I plan to watch The Flapper, the 1920 Olive Thomas film also contained on the disc. From what I have read online, The Flapper is one of Thomas' best films, and only one of two which still survive.) I liked the documntary well enough. It was informative, and was a good introduction to an actress I admittedly knew little about. I would be curious to read a biography of her, if there were one!



A book briefly mentioned and pictured in the documentary was Midnight Frolic: A Ziegfeld Girl's True Story by Marcelle Earle. I am intrigued. Is anyone familiar with it, or has anyone read it ?