Last Thursday's research

I spent about three hours at the library this past Thursday, where I went through four inter-library loans. I scoured the Binghamton Press (from Binghamton, New York), as well as the Indianapolis Times and Denver Times - and retrieved Denishawn material from each. I had also requested the Charleston Record (from Charleston, South Carolina) in search of Denishawn material, but the date requested came back as "lacking." Which means there is no microfilm available for that period. I as usually do, I had also requested some later reels of microfilm from the Charleston Record, and those turned up reviews of The Street of Forgotten Men (a late showing) and The American Venus. Good finds. The other three newspaper also had some articles and reviews on Louise Brooks' early films.

More of the same, but one can never get enough.

RadioLulu

I've recently finished a long-planned overhaul of RadioLulu, the online radio station of the Louise Brooks Society. For those who haven't already tuned-in, RadioLulu is a Louise Brooks-themed station broadcasting music of the 20's, 30's and today. This internet-only station, launched in 2002, can be found at www.live365.com/stations/298896 

Most significantly, I've lowered the playlist format from 56 kbps/22 kHz/st mp3 to 32 kbps/32 kHz/st mp3PRO. While this lessens the sound quality a bit, the switch now allows 56k modem users to listen to the station. Previously, only those with DSL or cable could tune in. Welcome modem users! The lower bit rate also means smaller mp3 file sizes, and a savings on disc space. Thus, I was able to add more songs. A lot more songs. (Broadcasters are limited to 100 megs of storage.) RadioLulu has now doubled in size. The current playlist now includes 120 tracks and more than 6 and 1/2 hours of programming! 

A number of songs featured on RadioLulu bear some relation to Louise Brooks, such as the rarely heard theme song to Beggars of Life (sung by the Troubadors), and Brooks' favorite Gershwin tune, "Somebody Loves Me." FYI: Brooks and Gershwin were acquainted. And Gershwin wrote "Somebody Loves Me" for the George White Scandals of 1924, in which Brooks appeared. Interestingly, the version heard on RadioLulu is by Tom Patricola - who also appeared in the 1924 Scandals.

RadioLulu features music from five of the actresses' films, as well as Maurice Chevalier's much loved 1929 recording "Louise." Right now, there are three versions of "Je N'ai Qu'un Amour C'est Toi," the theme song to Prix de Beaute. Two are vintage recordings, one by Hélène Caron and one by Marthe Coiffier. (I have yet to find an mp3 of Berthe Sylva's recording of this haunting melody. Can anyone send me one?) The other version of "Je N'ai Qu'un Amour C'est Toi" is by Les Primitifs Du Future, a contemporary French group featuring the comix artist Robert Crumb. Other tracks include recordings by Brooks' co-stars and friends, such as the actors Adolphe Menjou and Noah Berry, the torch singer Libby Holman, and the actress Tallulah Bankhead. Also featured on RadioLulu are later day tributes like OMD's "Pandora's Box (It's a long, long way)" and Soul Coughing's "St. Louise Is Listening" as well as Brooks-themed songs by contemporary performers Ron Hawkins (formerly with Lowest of the Low), Sarah Azzarra, Jen Anderson, Paul Hayes, John SaFranko, and Marillion.

The vast majority of music heard on RadioLulu dates from the 1920's and 1930's, and rare recordings of singing silent film stars are one of the station's many highlights. RadioLulu plays tracks by the likes of Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Joan Crawford, Ramon Novarro, Dolores Del Rio, Lupe Velez, and Bebe Daniels. Some of the other film and recording artists heard on RadioLulu include Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Lillian Harvey, Camilla Horn, Dorothy Lamour, Rudy Vallee, Jean Harlow and Grace Moore (Brooks appeared in a Grace Moore-Cary Grant film). There is even a rare, vintage recording of a German song about Greta Garbo. And a couple of tracks by the great 1930's Warsaw cabaret artist Hanka Ordonowna.

On RadioLulu, you'll also hear Jazz Age crooners, torch singers, dance bands, standards, showtunes, and some real hot jazz!  And what's more, you're unlikely to find a station that plays more tracks with "Lulu" in the title than the always eclectic and always entertaining RadioLulu! Hey, where else are you going to hear "Lulu" from the hard-to-find 1972 album Twiggy and Girlfriends? (Yes, that Twiggy! And there's even a pre-Tiny Tim version of "Tip Toe Thro' the Tulips" recorded in Germany in 1930.) Do give a listen. You're bound to hear some things you haven't heard before.

Kenneth Tynan article

There is a long, illustrated article about Kenneth Tynan in the April, 2006 issue of Vanity Fair. A section of the article dwells on Tynan's relationship with Louise Brooks, and there is a rather outrageous picture of Tynan dressed as Brooks.

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.