An idea: Louise Brooks on the radio

I had an idea. . . .  it would be cool if radio stations around the United States and the world were to play one or more of the contemporary songs "about" Louise Brooks on or near the centenary of her birth, November 14th.

Anybody have any ideas about how to go about doing this? Anybody work as a disc jockey or radio programmer? Anyone know of any stations (both broadcast or internet) that might be interested? It would be especially nifty if a station in Wichita, Los Angeles, or NYC - for example - were to play a track or two and make mention of Brooks. I think its a good idea. I could provide playlists, or mp3s of some of the hard-to-get ahold of recordings, if that is of any help.

For example, a local rock station here in San Francisco, KFOG, has an acoustic Sunday morning show. That might be a good fit for the Ron Hawkins or Jen Anderson songs. Or perhaps there is a film music show that might be interested in contemporary soundtrack recordings. I have a bunch of those that aren't on RadioLulu.

I have also thought about trying to put together a podcast - perhaps later this Summer or early Fall. I haven't done anything like that before, but putting together RadioLulu gave me the idea to try and do something with all of the music I have gathered. And some of which I haven't been able to use - like classical and soundtrack recordings.

Comments, suggestions, and help appreciated.

RadioLulu updated

RadioLulu (www.live365.com/stations/298896) has been updated. I've added a half-dozen tracks, including recordings by Bebe Daniels, Jeannette MacDonald, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell ("If I Had a Talking Picture of You"), Cliff Edwards, and Dick Powell ("Lulu's Back in Town") . There are now more then 125 tracks and nearly 7 hours of programming. I hope everyone has a chance to tune-in.

Louise Brooks's Swan Song to Stardom

The Village Voice ran a short review of the new Prix de Beaute DVD in their April 7th issue. The article, "Louise Brooks's Swan Song to Stardom," is by Michael Atkinson.

The moviehead re-rediscovery of flapper chic continues with this rarely seen French cornerstone (released in 1930), starring a free-from-expressionism-at-last Louise Brooks, she of the iconic jet-black bob, androgynous figure, and laser sight line. She plays a typist at a Parisian newspaper who, despite the snitty protestations of her fiance (Georges Charlia), enters and wins a Miss Europe beauty pageant, which is when her biggest conflicts begin. Italian journeyman Augusto Genina's film is far from conventional in tone - the pre-fem awakening of Brooks's unpretentious everygirl starts with a chilly carnival moment when she realizes all of the men around her, including her boyfriend, are grotesque fools. The breathtakingly lurid finale, set in a screening room, has an almost necrophilic obsessiveness. (The film did turn out to be Brooks's swan song to stardom; she picked up supporting work in Hollywood and England for a few years, but then quit movies in disgust, at the age of 31.) But the movie's ramshackle form is what makes it truly fascinating: It's a vintage example of a fleeting breed, the unsynchronized early talkie (a lost silent version was also made), often avoiding the actor's moving mouths altogether and then suturing the narrative with a frenetic soundtrack of dubbing, ambient noise, and music. (Rene Clair, whose original story was adapted by Brooks pal G.W. Pabst, pulled off a similar but more visual coup with the nearly silent Under the Roofs of Paristhe same year.) A newspaper quote included on the DVD attests that Genina's patchwork approach, which represented "an ideal model for the talkie," was easily dubbed into seven languages - a paramount concern on the tongue-twisted European mainland circa 1930. Extras include promotional art, including ad art by famed costume designer Boris Bilinsky.

Lulu on TV in Toronto

I hear that the Toronto Globe & Mail TV guide lists Lulu (LouLou) as being on TFO-TV tonight at 9 pm.

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.

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

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.