Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Alfred Cheney Johnston portrait of Louise Brooks

A rather nice Alfred Cheney Johnston portrait of Louise Brooks has shown up on eBay. Check it out here.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque

From today's Newsday: "Blockbuster probably won't stock it, but the subject of Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinemathequeis the reason Blockbuster and its ilk exist at all. When the bearish Langlois founded the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris in 1936, cinema was considered by its founders and creators to be a disposable diversion. Langlois called it art and saved everything he could. Langlois is the reason why certain masters and masterpieces of early cinema can still be seen at all today. (He rescued the 1919 German Expressionist classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and liberated 1920s screen star Louise Brooks from oblivion). . . . "  Here is a link to the online version of this article. Has anyone seen this film?

Sunday, October 9, 2005

Louise Brooks Society needs your help


The Louise Brooks Society needs your help in finding articles and other hard-to-get printed material. Here's your chance to become a contributor to the LBS bibliographies.

The LBS hopes to fully document the life and career of Louise Brooks. One ongoing project is the collection of magazine and newspaper articles about the actress, especially vintage reviews of Brooks' films. Hundreds of articles have already been found. But more await discovery. The LBS is especially interested in obtaining photocopies of newspaper articles and films reviews from the following American cities. Photocopies should be legible and complete. Please note the name and date of publication, and title and author of the article (if not already included in the copy).

Springfield, MA
Worcester, MA
Lowell, MA
Cambridge, MA
Fall River, MA

Hartford, CT
New Haven, CT
Bridgeport, CT
Waterbury, CT

Utica, NY
Troy, NY
Schenectady, NY
Binghamton, NY

Atlantic City, NJ
Patterson, NJ
Trenton, NJ
Jersey City, NJ
Scranton, PA
Erie, PA
Allentown, PA
Harrisburg, PA

South Bend, IN
Evansville, IN
Gary, IN
Ft. Wayne, IN

Peoria, IL
Rockford, IL
Springfield, IL
Decatur, IL
Quincy, IL

Kansas City, KS
Lawrence, KS
Independence, KS
Miami, FL
Tampa, FL
Orlando, FL
Jacksonville, FL

Mobile, AL
Selma, AL
Tuscaloosa, AL
Birmingham, AL

Knoxville, TN
Chattanooga, TN
Memphis, TN

Savannah, GA
Little Rock, AR
Charlotte, NC
Norfolk, VA
Richmond, VA
Shreveport, LA
San Antonio, TX
Fort Worth, TX
El Paso, TX
Austin, TX
Corpus Christi, TX
Galveston, TX

Albuquerque, NM
Santa Fe, NM

Anchorage, AK
Juneau, AK
Fairbanks, AK

Denver, CO
Pueblo, CO
Phoenix, AZ
Boise, ID
Fargo, ND
Salt Lake City, UT

How to get started. Visit you local city or university library, and make your way to an information, periodicals, or newspaper & magazine desk. Next, ask if there is an index for your local paper covering the 1920's and 1930's. Hopefully, your newspaper is indexed. Some are - some are not. If you local paper is not indexed, the search for articles will take more time but is not impossible. Please read on . . . .

If your newspaper is indexed, searching it may be a bit tricky. First, try looking up "Brooks, Louise" and see what you find. You may be lucky enough to come across photos or articles about the actress. Film reviews, however, are not likely to be indexed under the Brooks' name. Thus, try searching under "Motion Pictures" or "Moving Pictures." Individual reviews may be listed under one of these headings. If nothing turns up, as a last resort, try searching the general index for a few film titles such asAmerican VenusBeggars of Life, or Canary Murder Case. [ A complete list of movies in which Brooks' appeared can be found in the filmography at the back of the Barry Paris biography, or on the LBS website. A checklist of films is always worth bringing along on any research trip. ]

If you were lucky enough to find listings in an index, you will next need to locate the articles themselves. Chances are past issues of a local newspaper are stored on microfilm. (Most libraries no longer keep bound issues of old papers.) Thus, you will need to locate the appropriate microfilm rolls which include the dates you may have come across. Machines called microfilm readers will enable you to quickly scroll through the microfilm in search of an article. And what's more, many microfilm readers have a photocopy function - so you can make a copy of whatever you might find.

Keep in mind that not all of Brooks' films played in every city or town - and if they did, not every one would have been reviewed. During the silent film era, movies usually ran one week - and so, critics wrote about a film within the first few days of its opening. Typically, films opened on Saturdays or Sundays - and reviews ran on Mondays or Tuesdays. (Films which opened mid-week for brief two or three day runs were rarely reviewed.) Also, keep in mind that while you are looking for reviews, you may come across related articles, advertisements, and pictures. Some of this material is worth copying as well.

If your newspaper is not indexed - and you are dedicated to finding film reviews - you may end up needing to scroll through months of microfilm. It is a time consuming process, but fun and worth the effort should you find vintage material. Once you've selected a film, find out when it was released. [ Release dates of  Brooks' films can be foundin the filmography at the back of the Barry Paris biography, or on the LBS website. ] Then, start looking through microfilm around that time. Generally speaking, Brooks' American films opened within two months of their official release date. (In the 1920's, films did not open on the same date across the country, as is common practice today.) It should also be noted that none of Brooks' European films were shown in the United States at the time of their European release - except Pandora's Box, which was screened in New York City ten months after it's Berlin debut.

Without citations or the help of an index, one short-cut is skipping from weekend to weekend. Newspapers of the time usually ran articles or advertisements on Saturday or Sunday - and one need only check the entertainment pages to see what was showing during a given week. It is also worth pointing out that many cities had two or three daily newspapers. And usually, but not always, competing papers would run reviews on the same day - usually on a page devoted to the arts, amusements, or the movies (then sometimes called "photoplays"). Scroll through a some weeks of any given newspaper, and you'll soon figure out how the paper "works."


The Louise Brooks Society would be happy to answer any questions about research. Please email the LBS with your query.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Two inter-library loans arrived

Two inter-library loans arrived this week. I went through a number of rolls of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (from St. Paul, Minnesota), from which I dug out some material on the two Denishawn performances there (one of them a four day run), as well as later reviews of The American Venus and Now We're in the Air. I plan to request and look through additional microfilm of this excellent newspaper. I also went through two months of the Hollywood Citizen News dating from 1940. I uncovered three articles about the Louise Brooks - Barrett O'Shea dance studio, including one announcing its opening. There followed in a month long series of daily newspaper advertisements for the studio, each containing a small images of Brooks and O'Shea as well as a daily dance lesson. Remarkable! I plan to obtain copies of more of these ads, as only part of my ILL was filled. (The other roll I requested was out on loan.)


Tuesday, October 4, 2005

A chat with Salman Rushdie

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to chat with novelist Salman Rushdie. He dropped by the store where I work to sign copies of his new book, Shalimar the Clown. In the course of our conversation, I asked him about the name of one of the characters in the new novel, Maximilian Ophuls. Rushie said it was based on the once famous director, Max Ophuls. At first, Rushdie recounted, he adopted the name because of its  blending of the German and the French. Later in the writing process, he said he intended to change the character's name - but, as Rushdie put it, "the character wouldn't let me."

Rushdie is obviously a film buff. In the course of our conversation, the author spoke of Ophuls' work, and mentioned the titles of a number of the director's films dating from the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. Rushdie has also written a long essay on The Wizard of Oz, which was published in a book on the film. And in The Ground Beneath Her Feet, his 1999 novel, Rushdie wrote, " . . . by the emerging gay icon lil dagover, who insists on lower-case initials, wears men's suits and a monocle and a Louise Brooks haircut, and plays like an expressionist dream."

Monday, October 3, 2005

Brooksie: The Jazz Age Musical

For those who haven't already checked it out, well worth visiting is the Swiss website for Brooksie: The Jazz Age Musical. You can even order CD's.

Sunday, October 2, 2005

SFPL book sale

This morning, I went to the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library annual book sale. Some 8000 boxes of books (nearly 200,000 titles) are put on tables in a big exhibition hall, where they are loosely arranged by subject. Today, the last day of the sale, everything is one dollar or less . . . . I picked up a bunch of swell books, including a vintage copy of Vagabond Dreams Come True by crooner Rudy Vallee - I like his singing; a first edition of Love, Laughter and Tears by Adela Rogers St. Johns - this memoir has lots of early Hollywood stuff including a rather nifty pic of Colleen Moore (be still by beating heart); a nice copy of Kid, a 1981 novel about Charlie Chaplin by John Baxter; the film script of Grand Illusion, with Erich von Stroheim on the cover - haven't seen that before; three books on Will Rogers; and three pictorial booklets from Hearst Castle; a biography of Fred Astaire; the autobiography of Edward G. Robinson; and a book on Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. In actuality, I spent $51.00 - which means I came home with 51 books. Where will I put them ? At least 45 of them were film related.

I also found a mass market paperback of The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of Vivian Vance. I can't believe I have never looked at this title before, as Vance (famous for her role in I Love Lucy) and Louise Brooks knew each other as kids in Kansas. Barry Paris covers their friendship in his biography, and the authors of this book devote three paragraphs to the "local girl whose warm smile and expressive eyes exuded that special something."

I also found a few titles for my friend Amanda, who I know enjoys film books. For Amanda, I found The Talmadge Girls by Anita Loos, a biography of Marion Davies by Fred Laurence Guiles (that's the book I am reading now), and The Paramount Pretties, by James Robert Parish (profiles of various stars associated with the studio). Each are uncommon, worthwhile titles. Each orphaned, I knew they needed a home.

Saturday, October 1, 2005

On this day in 1927

On this day in 1927: The critic of the Manchester Guardian writes "What a curious, one-sided, one-sexed, treacherous thing is this charm, or personal magnetism, that Elinor Glyn adulates as 'It' and all spectacular entertainments cry out for in their stars! How much men love it in women! How much women hate it in men! When Louise Brooks, or Estelle Brody, or Mady Christians spends an evening demonstrating it on the screen, we are all of us, sane and silly, young and old, men and women, delighted."
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