Some smart new pics of Chantal

Earlier, I had blogged about Chantal Kury, a gifted make-up artist and Louise Brooks' fan from Switzerland. Yesterday, I received a letter and some pictures of Chantal which I wanted to share. I like them, and think you will too.

      

For those who read German, here is a link to an illustrated article (pdf format) about Chantal and "Retro Styling."

Tagebuch einer Verlorenen

For sale through eBay, the program for Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, or The Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). So sad.

On this day in 1927

On this day in 1927, the Kansas City Star ran an article on Now We're in the Air and stated 'This film is said to have an increased love interest. It will at least have our interest since Louise Brooks is the heroine. We gather from the pictures we have seen of the production that Miss Brooks is some sort of circus performer, as she is shown succumbing to the temptation of abbreviated skirts. That is Miss Brooks's old weakness." Newspaper reporters certainly had a way with words back then.

Live365 stations that I like and listen to

Along with RadioLulu, here are some other Live365.com stations that I like and listen to:

Radio Dismuke - 1920s & 1930s Pop & JazzAbsinthe Radio - The Greatest Hits of the 1920s and 1930sSweet & Lovely - Sweet & Lovely, Hot & Sassy ! Songs from the 20's & 30's (Jazz Age 20s, Songbird 30s)Weimar Rundfunk - Jazz-Swing / European Hot Dance Bands, European Dance Orchestras

Denishawn articles and reviews

Another on-going project is the gathering of reviews of each of the performances given by Denishawn during the two seasons Louise Brooks was a member of the dance company. Many reviews have already been gathered, but some have proven difficult to track down. The LBS would like to obtain local newspaper coverage (articles, advertisements, or reviews) of the following engagements:
November 25, 1922 - Marlowe Theatre - Jackson, Tennessee
(need Jacksonian clippings)

January 10, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

January 11, 1923 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusetts
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

January 26, 1923 - Grand Theatre - Macon, Georgia
(need Macon News clippings)

January 27, 1923 - Lucerne Theatre - Orlando, Florida
(need Orlando Morning Sentinel clippings)

February 10, 1923 - Brenan Auditorium - Gainesville, Georgia
(need Gainesville Eagle; Gainesville News; and Gainesville Daily Times clippings)

February 13, 1923 - Academy of Music - Charleston, South Carolina
(need Charleston American clippings)

February 14, 1923 - Garden Theatre - Bennettsville, South Carolina
(need Pee Dee Advocate clippings)

March 9, 1923 - Marvin Theatre - Findlay, Ohio
(need Findlay Daily Courier clippings)

October 15-20, 1923 - Apollo Theatre - Atlantic City, New Jersey
(need Atlantic City Evening Union; Atlantic City Press; and Atlantic City Gazette-Review clippings)

October 23, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

November 6, 1923 - Academy Theatre - Hagerstown, Maryland
(need Daily Mail clippings)

December 10, 1923 - Moore’s Opera House - Clarksburg, West Virginia
(need Daily Telegram clippings)

December 11, 1923 - Camden Theatre - Parkersburg, West Virginia
(need Parkersburg News clippings)

December 15, 1923 - Auditorium - Hopkinsville, Kentucky
(need Daily Kentuckian; and Daily Kentucky New Era clippings)

January 11, 1924 - Grand Theatre - Galveston, Texas
(need Galveston Daily News clippings)

April 8, 1924 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusett
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

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.

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?

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 Venus, Beggars 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.

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.)