The lost world

As any reader of this blog knows, I am often blabbering on about research and old newspapers. For me, pouring over old newspapers and magazines (whether microfilm or bound copies) is a lot of fun. At times it is thrilling. At times it is like time travel - as I survey the news from 1926 and find out what motion picture is playing in town or what a local film critic thought about Louise Brooks. I get a kick out of it. Newspapers were really something else back then! Slate magazine has an essay about the glory days of early 20th century papers entitled "The Lost World of Joseph Pulitzer: A century ago newspapers were bigger, bolder, and more beautiful. What Happened?"

Pepi Lederer

A charming portrait of Pepi Lederer by Ruth Harriet Louise is for sale on eBay. Lederer was Louise Brooks' friend and Marion Davies niece - and the subject of an essay in Brooks' Lulu in Hollywood.

I've been meaning to write

I've just started watching Old San Francisco (1927) on TCM. The film features the creepy Warner Oland (who would go on to fame as Charlie Chan), the lovely Dolores Costello (Drew Barrymore's grandmother and undoubtably the source of her good looks), and ever so briefly, the exceptional Anna May Wong (wearing bangs and a bob!). It was interesting to see, at the beginning of the film, actual location shots of San Francisco (where I live) . . . .

I've been meaning to write about my last couple of trips to the San Francisco Public Library. I looked at a bunch of inter-library loans requests and came home with a bunch of good material. I got Denishawn articles, reviews and advertisements from theManchester Union (from Manchester, New Hampshire), Indianapolis Star (from Indianapolis, Indiana), Clinton Herald (from Clinton, Iowa), andColorado Springs Gazette (from Colorado Springs, Colorado). I also got some articles, film reviews and rather nice advertisements out of The Standard (from Montreal, Canada), Pittsburgh Press (from Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania), and Duluth News Tribune (from Duluth, Minnesota). I also came across an appealing captioned photo titled "Gold Coast Pets" in the Chicago Herald and Examiner. The caption read, " Dario and Louise (Louise Brooks of the silent films) comprise the new dance combination proving popular in the current floor show at the Chez Paree."

Here is a neat advertisement I came across. Notice that next to the advertisement for a screening of the1927 Louise Brooks films The City Gone Wild is an ad for a personal appearance by Roscoe Arbuckle!



. . . And no, I have never been to the Poodle Dog Cafe, though I wish I had.

Louise Brooks exhibit

CORRECTED: The George Eastman House in Rochester, New York has announced that an exhibit devoted to Louise Brooks will take place next year. The exhibit, which will include photographs and artifacts that document the actress' career is being jointly curated with the International Museum of Photography in New York City. It opens there first in April and at Eastman House in August. More details will be provided as they become known.

F.B.I. files on Louise Brooks' friends and colleagues

I suppose it is well known by now that in the past the Federal Bureau of Investigation kept files on thousands of American citizens, including many celebrities. Among those they spied on / investigated / trailed were a few of Louise Brooks' friends and fellow actors. Recently, the F.B.I. released the files on "famous persons" and posted them on the bureau's website. There are files on everyone from Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and John Wayne to Mary Pickford and Marlene Dietrich. (Apparently, there are no files on Louise Brooks.) These files can make for interesting reading. Here are your tax dollars at work.

Zadie Smith on Greta Garbo

"She was an overweight, big-footed girl from Sweden who became an icon of female beauty. But why was she never happy?" Novelist Zadie Smith (Booker-Prize nominee and author of White Teeth and On Beauty) wrote about "the enigma of Greta Garbo" for the The Guardian (UK). Louise Brooks is quoted in this article.