Thursday, April 6, 2006

Emptied Theaters

A few inter-library loans were waiting for me at the library today, and I found some good material. From the Daily Bulletin (from Bloomington, Illinois) I dug up some article and reviews of the two Denishawn performances there in 1923. I also found a few vintage film reviews in the Seattle Times (from Seattle, Washington), Morning Advocate (from Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and the Paterson Evening News (from Paterson, New Jersey). I wonder if William Carlos Williams - one time doctor, poet and resident of Paterson - saw any of Louise Brooks' films?

Here is an intersting article I came across today. It dates from May, 1926.


Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Louise Brooks screenings in Austin, Texas

The Austin Film Society is mounting a series entitled "3 Actresses Abroad," which includes films of Anna May Wong, Josephine Baker, and Louise Brooks. Two of Brooks' films will be shown:Diary of a Lost Girl will be shown on May 9th, and Pandora's Box will be shown on May 16th. For more info, check out the film society's website at www.austinfilm.org/screenings/actressesabroad.php

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

John Baxter

Tonight, at the Booksmith in San Francisco, I'll be hosting film critic and author John Baxter. John is the author of a saucy new book We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light. He is also a broadcaster (for the BBC), book collector (his previous book, A Pound of Paper, is a delightful read), novelist (he wrote a novel about Charlie Chaplin called The Kid), and film historian (he has penned works on directors King Vidor and John Ford, gangster films, Hollywood in the 1930's, etc...). And among his biographies are books on Luis Bunuel, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen and others. Please come by if you can. It should be interesting. Australian-born author John Baxter now lives in Paris.

Monday, April 3, 2006

Pop/rock music about silent film

Thanx to all of those who have so far voted in the "Pick you favorite contemporary song about Louise Brooks" poll. Which got me to wondering, does anyone know of other pop/rock music about silent film stars or movies? I recall that Nick Lowe has a rather morbid song about Marie Prevost. Can anyone think of any others?

Sunday, April 2, 2006

(Once again) Mick LaSalle on Louise Brooks

Once again (see previous LJ entry), San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle has written (rehashed his old arguements) about Louise Brooks. This letter from today's newspaper
Hi Mick: I was a bit disappointed by your review of the DVD release of Prix de Beauté. I will admit I bow to nobody regarding my love of Louise Brooks, but it seemed you spent an inordinate amount of type refuting the Brooks legend, rather than addressing the film itself. I guess my question is why you found it so necessary to smash the idol.
Tom Bertino, San Rafael 
Hi Tom: That's a fair observation. I guess I feel about Louise Brooks the way that guy in Sideways felt about Merlot. Though my unrelentingly sunny disposition is rarely disrupted by anything, when I hear ignorant critics go on and on about Brooks -- the only silent actress they know -- it does get on my nerves. Brooks' after-the-event stardom was carefully put over by Brooks and her friends. She was a minor, forgotten silent actress who came into prominence within scholarly circles thanks to the great archivist James Card, an old fan of hers, with whom she subsequently had an affair. She began writing for film journals and became friends with film scholars. Thus, the people who "rediscovered" Brooks were Brooks' own colleagues, who were happy to believe and propound the myth that their peer was an amazing forgotten talent, a genius unrecognized in her own time. This myth took hold in the 1950s and went mainstream in 1979, when Kenneth Tynan, who knew nothing about silent film, descended into utter critical lunacy and pronounced, in the New Yorker, that Brooks invented modern screen acting.
In a way, this doesn't matter. As Merlots go, Brooks is a pretty good one. Her reputation rests on her two films for German director G.W. Pabst, Pandora's Box, which is mediocre (and overrated) and Diary of a Lost Girl, which is superb, and she's fine in it. But there are other silent actresses who are more beautiful, more interesting, more innovative and more talented, whose bodies of work are more distinguished, and yet they remain, mute and still, languishing in film cans through critical neglect and archival uninterest. Still, I give Brooks credit for one thing. While other actresses slept with producers to get a career, Brooks realized the significance of sleeping with film scholars in order to fix that career in the public consciousness. Producers forget, but scholars tend to be endlessly grateful.

Saturday, April 1, 2006

Attention Bay Area shoppers

Attention book and film lovers: I've just returned from Acorn Books, a used bookstore located on Polk Street in San Francisco. As it turns out, the store is going out of business, and everything is 40% off. They have a very good film section, and I was able to find a few gems at reasonable prices. You may as well. . . . [ The two best books I found were a copy of Gloria Swanson's autobiography - SIGNED by Swanson. And an uncommon, oversized, illustrated photoplay edition of Evangeline published by the Milton Bradley company. I collect vintage photoplay editions, and thought this a nice find.]
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