Beggars of Life

For a long time now, Beggars of Life (1928) has seldom been seen on the big screen because no 35mm print was available, and some movie theaters could not or would not screen anything less than a 35mm print. Well, rumour has it that a 35mm print is in the works! It will be a "blow-up" of a rather nice 16mm print. Look for a probable 2007 debut.

International Film Festival Forlì

I was sent this link to the SEDICICORTO International Film Festival Forlì in Italy. I am not sure what the focus of the festival is. But I did notice that Louise Brooks is incorporated into their logo. Is anyone familar with this festival?

Waterloo and Mulcahey and Dixie

The Evening Courier and Reporter (from Waterloo, Iowa) was the only ILL waiting for me. I found a couple of Denishawn ads, as well as a review in which Louise Brooks is mentioned. The search goes on.

Since I had a little extra time, I thought to tackle a few miscellaneous tasks on my "things-to-do at the library list." And so, I took a look at the San Francisco newspaper index in hopes of finding something on financier James Mulcahey, who according to online records was born around 1905 here in San Francisco, California. My interest stems from the fact that in 1947 columnist Walter Winchell mentioned that Mulcahey and Brooks would be married. The marriage never took place. And Mulcahey seems to have disappeared. Nothing, really, is known about him. (The San Francisco newspaper index didn't list him.) Barry Paris hit a similar wall: "But nothing more was ever heard of it, and James Mulcahey cannot be found" (page 426). I am curious to see if I can find out anything about this elusive figure. Maybe I will try to track down a relation here in the Bay Area. . . . if there are any relations.

Also on my "things-to-do at the library list" was to check the local papers for the Dixie Dugan comic strip. (There has been some discussion lately about this strip on the LBS message board.) I have copies of the daily strip - which initially was called "Show Girl" - dating from November 2, 1929 through April, 4, 1930. I want to gather some additional examples. I found that the San Francisco News carried the strip - and so, I copied a few more days worth from April, 1930. Next time I return to the library and have some extra time and funds on my copy card, I will photocopy additional strips.

Here is a longer Sunday strip from 1932. (The daily strip was usually only three or four panels.) By this time, Dixie's hair had evolved away from the Brooks-influenced shingled bob depicted in the 1929 / 1930 strips. I like this particular strip because it suggests Dixie/Louise was something more than just a "dumb showgirl" = she read books!

Lee Miller and Louise Brooks

Lately, I've been paging through Lee Miller: A Life, a new biography by Carolyn Burke. I was drawn to the book because of my interest in Surrealism, especially Man Ray. For those who may not know, Lee Miller and Man Ray - both photographers - had a brief, but significant and tempestuous affair (around 1930). They also influenced each other's work.

In the introduction, Burke writes: "Mesmerized by her features, we look at Lee Miller but not into her. We think of her as a timeless icon. To this day, her life inspires features in the same glossy magazines for which she posed - articles explaining how to re-create her 'look.' This approach turns the real woman into a screen on which beholders project their fantasies. Looking at her this way perpetuates the legend of Lee Miller as 'an American free spirit wrapped in the body of a Greek Goddess'  . . . . In Lee Miller's time, her admirers were equally spellbound by her beauty, but they also saw her as an incarnation of the modern woman - in the United States of the twenties, as a quintessential flapper; in the Paris of the thirties, as a subversive garconne or a maddeningly free femme surrealiste - one who sparked creativity in others but played the role of muse only when it suited her, and sought, despite her lovers' objections, to keep her energy for herself."

I was struck by how applicable this text is to Louise Brooks - and the way we think about her today. While reading the introduction, I was surprised, as well, to soon come across Louise Brooks herself. Burke writes: "Breaking free of conventional roles for women, whether in traditional or avant-garde circles, Lee Miller stired up trouble for herself and for those who loved her. Like screenwriter Anita Loos and actress Louise Brooks (whose careers she followed), she helped reshape women's aspirations through her embrace of popular culture . . . ." Checking the index, I found this is one of nine references to the actress in the book! Who would have thunk it? Though near contemporaries, I don't think the two ever met - nor does the biographer suggest it - though Lee Miller, apparently, attended a Denishawn performance which included Brooks in Poughkeepsie, New York in January, 1923.

There are other fascinating similarities between the two women, who were born only a year apart. I won't go into them, except to add that I am really looking forward to reading this book sometime very soon. (Does the biographer know, I wonder, that Man Ray was also taken with Brooks? According to Brooks' biographer Barry Paris, "[Man Ray] now lived in Paris and was struck by Brooks's face when he saw it in the magazines during the Prix de Beaute filming. He never forgot her and in the late fifties sent her one of his abstract paintings, which hung thereafter on the wall of her bedroom.")



For those interested, the publisher provides this description of the book.

"A trenchant yet sympathetic portrait of Lee Miller, one of the iconic faces and careers of the twentieth century. . . . Carolyn Burke reveals Miller as a multifaceted woman: both model and photographer, muse and reporter, sexual adventurer and mother, and, in later years, gourmet cook - the last of the many dramatic transformations she underwent during her lifetime. A sleek blond bombshell, Miller was part of a glamorous circle in New York and Paris in the 1920s and 1930s as a leading Vogue model, close to Edward Steichen, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Cocteau, and Pablo Picasso. Then, during World War II, she became a war correspondent - one of the first women to do so - shooting harrowing images of a devastated Europe, entering Dachau with the Allied troops, posing in Hitler's bathtub. . . . Burke examines Miller's troubled personal life, from the unsettling photo sessions during which Miller, both as a child and as a young woman, posed nude for her father, to her crucial affair with artist-photographer Man Ray, to her unconventional marriages. And through Miller's body of work, Burke explores the photographer's journey from object to subject; her eye for form, pattern, and light; and the powerful emotion behind each of her images. . . . A lushly illustrated story of art and beauty, sex and power, Modernism and Surrealism, independence and collaboration, Lee Miller: A Life is an astute study of a fascinating, yet enigmatic, cultural figure."

Louise Brooks & John Striebel

Check out this sketch of Dixie Dugan by John Striebel. It's part of an eBay auction which includes some letters and notes between Louise Brooks (the inspiration behind the long running comic strip) and Striebel (the artist who drew the strip). Very nifty!

Paper of Record

Today, I renewed my subscription to Paper of Record, a searchable online database featuring lots of old newspapers. This particular database is especially rich in Canadian and Mexican papers, but it also has a few American papers. I found a couple of advertisements and a review of the March, 1924 Denishawn performance in Galt, Ontario in the Galt Evening Reporter. A nice find! (And now I won't have to do an inter-library loan request for this performance.) I also found some ads and a couple of articles in the Drumheller Mail (from Drumheller, Alberta). Nothing too special, but its always nice to have more Canadian clippings. I also searched El Informador, from Guadalajara, Mexico. I only came up with a bunch of plain advertisements - though in Spanish and featuring the Mexican titles. Except with Mendigos de vida, where she was listed as Louise Brooks, our favorite flapper was listed as Louisa Brooks.

Among the American papers, I found some film advertisements and brief mentions in the Lock Haven Express and the Williamsport Grit (both from Pennslyvania). The Grit was a weekly newspaper, with both a local and national edition. On July 1, 1928 the national edition of the Grit carried a small, captioned photo of Louise Brooks on the front page. The item was titled "Star Gets Divorce." Paper of Record also had a long run of the Afro American. This newspapers was the leading news provider for African-Americans in the Baltimore / Washington, DC Metropolitan area as well as being the longest running African-American, family-owned newspaper in the nation. My search under "Louise Brooks" turned up little, which is not surprising. However, I did find a brief write-up regarding Beggars of Life (1928). The paper noted the important role Edgar "Blue" Washington (and African-American actor) had in the film.

Citations have been added to the respective bibliographies.

A number of new citations

A number of new citations have been added to the various Louise Brooks Society bibliographies. . . . As this week's trip to the library turned-up a bit more material. I looked through the Fairbault Daily Times (from Fairbault, Minnesota), and found some articles and advertisements related to the Denishawn performance there in March, 1924. I also went through a few more months of the Hollywood Citizen News, and found a single captioned photo of Louise Brooks and Barrett O'Shea. . . . This week, I have also been scouring some online newspaper databases, and scored some interesting Denishawn clippings from the Davenport Democrat & Leader (from Davenport, Iowa). As well, I also found some small town clippings relating to screenings of Brooks' films in The Bee (from Danville, Virginia) and the Circleville Herald (from Circleville, Ohio) and Daily Courier (from Connellsville, Pennslyvania).

Prix de Beaute on DVD

Kino will be releasing Prix de Beaute (1930) on DVD on March 7, 2006. Run time is 88 minutes. (Black & White, Subtitled, NTSC, Region 1.)