Saturday, December 10, 2005

LBS 10th anniversary postage stamp

The Louise Brooks Society 10th anniversary postage stamp - for sale through Cafepress.com - will only be available through the end of the year. (This year marks the tenth anniversary of the LBS - and to celebrate, the LBS created a stamp by gum!) Approved for domestic use by the United States Postal Service, stamps are sold in sheets of 20 and are available in seven denominations, including the postcard rate. This is the perfect collectible for those stamp collectors among Louise Brooks many fans . . . .

Friday, December 9, 2005

Theda Bara documentary

There is an article in today's Fresno Bee about a new documentary on Theda Bara. Hugh Munro Neely, who directed the documentary, also directed the recent stylish documentaries on Clara Bow and Louise Brooks. I am looking forward to seeing it.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Once again, I went to the library

Once again, I went to the library in search of yet more Louise Brooks material. Four inter-library loans were waiting for me. Most of my requests these days are aimed at Denishawn performances. To that end, I went through some microfilm of the now defunct Minneapolis Journal and the now defunct Albany Evening Journal. I also went through the Rockford Register-Gazette (from Rockford, Illinois). In each newspaper I found articles, advertisements and a couple of reviews. Louise Brooks was mentioned in one of the reviews. One other unusual article spoke about a visit by the Denishawn dancers to a Minneapolis hospital to visit sick children. The search goes on . . . . I have added citations to the Denishawn bibliographiesof the relevant material.



One of the advertisements I came across for Denishawn's 1923 Minneapolis performance is pictured above. Interestingly, adjoining it was an advertisement for a performance by the noted stage (and silent film) actor Fritz Leiber, who was once well known for his interpretations of Shakespeare. His son, Fritz Leiber Jr., who would become one of the great science fiction and fantasy authors of the post-War period, referenced Louise Brooks in his classic horror novel Our Lady of Darkness (1978).

Along with a bunch of Denishawn material, I also scored some articles, reviews and advertisements for The Street of Forgotten MenA Social Celebrity, and The Show Off. This material came from the Minneapolis JournalAlbany Evening News (the successor to the Albany Evening Journal) and Des Moines Register (from Des Moines, Iowa). I think I have gotten everything I can from the Des Moines Register.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

On this day in 1929

On this day in 1929: The New York Sun declared Pandora's Box ". . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse's box office records. It will therefore be held for another week." This week-long engagement marked the film's American debut.

Monday, December 5, 2005

J. Peterman winter coat

I remember seeing these "Louise Brooks" winter coats (so-named) in the J. Peterman catalogs a number of years ago. Now, one of them has turned up on eBay. I think they were a popular item, as the company carried them for a few years running. "Composed of softest wool and cashmere and accented with sumptuous shearling on a huge collar and decadent cuffs, secured with a single outer and inner button and lined in coppered bronze satin . . . ." Just in time for the cold winter months.

Sunday, December 4, 2005

Reading

Any film buff who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area will want to check out a new book, Theatres of San Francisco, by Jack Tillmany. Recently, I had a chance to meet the author during his book signing at the historic Castro Theater.


Jack Tillmany documents the city's many theatres through a remarkable selection of vintage images drawn from the author's personal archive.This new book paints a detailed picture of the golden age of going to the theatre in San Francisco. This volume reminds us that almost every neighborhood in the City boasted its own beloved theatre. Ironially, the one theatre closest to my San Francisco residence - the Searchlight, is not depicted. The Searchlight opened in 1916 at 1596 Church Street, and operated under nearly a dozen names during the next 50 years. Though the building still stands, no photographs of the building as a theater are known.

"Only a handful of the 100 or so neighborhood theatres that once graced these streets are left in San Francisco, but they live on in the photographs featured in this book. The heyday of such venues as the Clay, Noe, Metro, New Mission, Alexandria, Coronet, Fox, Uptown, Coliseum, Surf, El Rey, and Royal was a time when San Franciscans thronged to the movies and vaudeville shows, dressed to the hilt, to see and be seen in majestic art deco palaces." Also included is the Granada, where all of Louise Brooks' Paramount features were shown.

Saturday, December 3, 2005

Are you The American Venus of Eau Claire?

Yesterday's trip to the library was worthwhile. I looked at two newspapers on microfilm, the Eau Claire Leader (from Eau Claire, Wisconsin) and the Hannibal Evening Courier-Post (from Hannibal, Missouri). Both papers yielded Denishawn material (some articles, some distinct advertisements, and reviews), as each city was a destination on the Denishawn tour during the years Louise Brooks was with the company.

While looking through the Hannibal newspaper around the time of Denishawn performance, I came across this remarkable advertisement.



Along with the Denishawn dates, I had also requested a couple of months of microfilm of the Eau Claire Leader, on the off-chance I might run across some film reviews in that Wisconsin paper. And in fact, I did come across material on local screenings of The American Venus and A Social Celebrity. I found articles promoting each film, and some advertisements. Each were no doubt supplied by the studio, and were nothing I hadn't seen before. I one unsual item I did run across was this advertisement promoting a local beauty contest to be held in conjunction with the screening of The American Venus.



Such contests were held elsewhere (I have run across a few such instances), but this promotion has a local angle to it. Very nifty!

Friday, December 2, 2005

Watching and listening

The other day, I watched a somewhat interesting silent film called Sex in Chains (1928). William Dieterle directed and starred in this social drama, which had been banned by the German government because of its subject matter - sexual relations between male prisoners. (Needless-to-say, the sexuality is oblique.) The film centers on a young man who's incarcerated for causing an accidental death and who develops sexual relations with a fellow inmate. Also in the film was Carl Goetz, who, less than one year later, would play Schigolch in Pandora's Box.

[ Under the title, "Gay-Themed Films of the Silent Era," Kino released Sex in Chains as part of a set of four films that were controversial in their day.The set also included G.W. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, Carl Theodor Dreyer's Michael, and Richard Oswald's  Different from the Others. ]

I also recently listened to a BBC radio documentary about Charlie Chaplin, which was narrated by Robert Downey, Jr. "Smile: The Genius of Charlie Chaplin" aired earlier in the week and can be listened to again at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/documentaries/#chaplin Part two of this recommended program airs on Tuesday, December 6th. Check it out.

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Hairstyle Keeps Bobbing Along

An article in today's Hartford Courant, "Hairstyle Keeps Bobbing Along," mentions Louise Brooks. The article begins, "Aeon Flux, opening Friday, is set 400 years in the future. But the hairdo Charlize Theron sports as the title character is as old as the Roaring Twenties. Theron's dramatic black symmetrical hairstyle can be traced all the way back to Louise Brooks, the dark-haired star of silent films of the 1920s and '30s who was famous for her trend-setting bob hairstyle."  . . . And ends, "Brooks might be taken aback by today's entertainments, but she'd no doubt be thrilled to see her bangs bobbing about on stage and screen."
Powered By Blogger