For the nuministic type

Thanx to LBS member Barbara (LJ blogger babylonzn) of Portugal who bought a year's subscription to LiveJournal for the LBS. It will be put to good use! And thanx to Constance of Fall River, Massachusetts who made a donation (via an Amazon Honor System Payment) to the LBS to support its ongoing efforts. Thank you Barbara and Constance.

Speaking of money, here is something for all of you coin and token collectors.

LB's clothing for sale on eBay

This garment is for sale on eBay. The auction description reads "Louise Brooks personal bed-jacket, worn in the documentary of her life Lulu in Berlin. While residing in Rochester, New York, Louise Brooks agreed to make a personal appearance at a local department store, being at the time the only Rochester-area "celebrity". As a gesture of gratitude, she was offered her choice of virtually anything in the store, and being by nature a thrifty and practical woman, she chose only a simple, mint green synthetic quilted bed-jacket, as this was the only thing that she truly "needed" at the moment. She wore this jacket most of the remaining years of her life in Rochester, and can be seen wearing it throughout the short documentary, Lulu in Berlin; as such, it is the only known surviving garment worn by Brooks in any of her films! The jacket is accompanied with a notarized letter of provenance from the collector who acquired it at the Brooks estate sale in Rochester in 1985. $1,200 - $1,500"


I believe that one of Brooks' dresses - perhaps one by Patou that she wore in a film - is held in a film museum in Paris, or Berlin. I saw that in a book once and can't recall the exact place. Anyways . . . .

Rare silent version of Prix de Beauté screening in NYC

The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City has announced that it will be screening the rare silent version of Prix de Beauté, which according to the festival, "is somewhat different from the sound version that is usually shown." The 2006 Festival will take place from April 25 - May 7, 2006.

The Tribeca Film Festival was founded in 2002. It screens a variety of films, including a section devoted to restored and rediscovered films. According to it's website, "Renewing the Festival's commitment to highlighting remarkable treasures from the history of cinema, this section, co-curated by Martin Scorsese and Peter Scarlet, includes newly restored or preserved copies from some of the world's leading film archives."

Prix de Beauté directed by Augusto Genina, written by René Clair and G.W. Pabst (France).  As her final starring role, the legendary Louise Brooks plays a typist who wins a beauty contest in this French-shot feature. We are screening the rare silent version, which is somewhat different from the sound version that is usually shown. Preceded by Giovani Pastrone's one-reeler, The Fall of Troy (1911). Both films with live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin and live translation of French and Italian intertitles.

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.