An interesting usage

There is an article in today's New York Times about trends, notably fashion trends. And half-way through the article there is a discussion of the once and future  craze for extensions, for long hair. And in an almost poetic evocation of the long hair / short dialetic, the author of the article states. "The new look for fall grew out of new technology. A company called Great Lengths has marketed a gizmo that can make Rapunzel out of Louise Brooks in a matter of minutes." What an interesting usage of Brooks' name! She has now become a symbol for a woman who has short hair.

Neat magazine for sale on eBay

A copy of Liberator (dating from May, 1923) is for sale on eBay. Liberator was a "radical" political magazine - the successor to the better known publication The Masses. This issue features a striking Louise Brooks-like flapper figure in profile on the cover. The image is NOT Louise Brooks - only a feminine type. (Brooks career as an actress would not start for another two years.) Nevertheless, the use of the flapper figure is interesting. Perhaps identifies the flapper - the modern woman, with progressive politics and modernism? See my earlier entry on LJ.

Among the contributors to this issue was the poet Carl Rakosi. I knew him! Before his death a couple of years ago, I used to see him around San Francisco. He was in his 90's then. I saw him read his work on a couple of occassions. And he used to come to the bookstore where I worked once in a  while. ( I remember he came to the Paul Auster event I hosted.) Rakoski was considered one of the Objectivist poets, and I recall him as a gentle, witty man.

A convincing argument for modernism

On this day in 1927: The Cedar Rapids Republican noted ''Louise Brooks, who is said to be Clara Bow's only rival as cinema's most ravishing flapper, is a convincing argument in favor of modernism.''  We agree.

OMD video of "Pandora's Box "

Wow, I was just poking around YouTube when I discovered the OMD video of Pandora's Box (It's been a long long way). Check it out at youtube.com/watch?v=HNJ8VS_wh5A I love this song! I love this video. Louise looks lovely - whoever edited this clip way back when did a great job. BTW: its a hard to find video - so this is a rare opportunity . . . . Here is a link to another version of the same video, at youtube.com/watch?v=8P1-ujUmNts

Louise Brooks event on April 20

Here is the press release for an upcoming event . . . .

FROM HOLLYWOOD TO ROCHESTER: THE LIFE OF LOUISE BROOKS
Sponsored in collaboration with the Little Theater
Thursday, April 20th, 6:15 pm - 9:00 pm

The Little Theater, 240 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604
$15 for RHS members, $18 for non-members

This November 14th will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of film icon Louise Brooks. Conventional wisdom holds that Brooks — a cult figure in American and European pop culture, and one of the most recognizable symbols of the Jazz Age — ended her career in the late 1930s, only to spend the remainder of her life in seclusion. Here in Rochester, we know that this is only partly true, and certainly misleading. In 1956 at the urging of George Eastman House film curator James Card, Brooks set up home at 7 North Goodman Street and began a second, if less visible, career as a respected film scholar and critic. Never one to pass quietly, this one-time femme fatale left many a biting critique.

Join us at the Little Theater for a special showing of Brooks’s legendary film Pandora’s Box, along with a talk by Rochester Democrat and Chronicle film critic and Brooks acquaintance Jack Garner.

For reservations, call Karen McCally at (585)271-2705 or email at kmccally@rochesterhistory.org

Movie star pics

Doctor Macro's is a nifty web site with lots of high quality scans of movie stars - including Louise Brooks! There are also wallpapers and pics of Ziegfeld girls. Check it out.