Research report

Yesterday's trip to the library was productive. I got articles and advertisements for the two Denishawn Dance Company performances in Houston, Texas. Remarkably, the Houston Post gave each performance a glowing front page review. (Of the hundreds of performances, I have only come across a handful of front page reviews. Usually, the reviews are buried inside the newspaper - and usually on the arts or entertainment pages. And once on the sports page.) I also went through some rolls of the Atlanta Georgian, a Hearst newspaper. From it I scored some Denishawn material, as well as a few early film reviews. I plan to request additional rolls of this paper, as a have the local screening dates of Brooks' films in Atlanta from having gone through the Atlanta Constitution. I also went through a couple of rolls of microfilm of the Wilmington Morning News in hopes of finding some Delaware film reviews, but found nothing.

Besides the usual hunt through newspapers for Denishawn and film reviews, I also took a look at the Cherryvale Daily Republican - the newspaper from Louise Brooks' hometown (before her family relocated to Independence and then Wichita). I looked at microfilm from around the time of Brooks birth - November 14, 1906 - as well as mid-1908. From the 1906 issue, I found an article, "Assistant Counsellor Is a Girl," announcing the future actress' birth on the day she was born. It took a bit to find it, as this two sentence piece is very brief. I was fun to scour this Cherryvale, Kansas newspaper from 100 years ago. It was interesting to see local news stories as well as advertisements for the Cherryvale bookstore, for a music shop advertising pianos, for the local grocier, etc....

Here is a nifty advertisement I came across which advertises a Chautaqua meeting. Louise Brooks' mother (along with Brooks herself) attended many such events. This one promises "nine days of mental uplift and enjoyement." Among the speakers is the Hon. Warren G. Harding - future President of the United States.

Two songs

I recently came across this . . . . Servio Túlio and his pianist Glauco Baptista are a musical duo in Rio de Janeiro (Argentina) who perform old cabaret songs, including "Du Bist Meine Greta Garbo" / "Meine Schwester Liebt Den Buster" (Keaton). A short video clip of them performing can be viewed at www.radioelektrola.com/videostream/servioeglauco/gretagarbo_busterkeaton.wmx It's kinda nifty.

I have a 1930 recording of Du Bist Meine Greta Garbo" on RadioLulu, but am searching for a vintage recording of "Meine Schwester Liebt Den Buster" to add to the station playlist. The song was composed by Friedrich Hollaender (the composer who wrote all those great Marlene Dietrich recordings - including the popular recordings from The Blue Angel).  A singer named Victor DeKowa recorded "Meine Schwester Liebt Den Buster" in 1928.  Anyone have a copy? There is a recent recording by Jody Karin Applebaum (vocals) and Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano), but I would prefer to get a vintage recording if possible. I know it exists on the multi-disc, massively priced Friedrich Hollaender box set available in Europe.

Pandora's Box screens in NYC for two weeks

A brand new 35mm print of Pandora's Box will be shown for two weeks at FilmForum in New York City, starting June 16th. More info can be found atwww.filmforum.org/films/pandorasbox.html. "Still among the most erotic films ever made." David Thomson.

Oh, Canada

On this day in 1924: The Denishawn Dance Company, with Louise Brooks, began a twelve day tour of Canada. I wish I could have been there.

Tagebuch einer Verlorenen

This uncommon poster for the 1929 film The Diary of a Lost Girl is for sale on eBay. The reserve is $8,000 and the estimate is $15,000. 



The artwork for this lithograph was designed by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm. The piece measures 55.9 x 37.4 inches (142 x 95 cm).

Kate Moss = Louise Brooks

An article in today's Guardian (UK) newspaper about the artist Marc Quinn and his sculpture of model Kate Moss quotes the artist thus:

"She is a contemporary version of the Sphinx. A mystery. There must be something about her that has clicked with the collective unconscious to make her so ubiquitous, so spirit of the age," Quinn said. "When people look back at this time she'll be the archetypal image, just as Louise Brooks was in the 1920s. For me as an artist it's interesting to make something about the time I live in."

Helnwein shows the pubis

Did you know that Gottfried "Helnwein also has a strong sense of theatre. He has worked in opera, designing sets and costumes for Maximilian Schell and working with the equally notorious Austrian choreographer Johann Kresnik. His poster for the 1988 production of Lulu at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg caused outrage across Europe. A tiny Sigmund Freud in a long coat stares up at a gigantic woman, who lifts her skirt to expose her vagina. The opposite of porn, it provocatively illustrates Wedekind's view of a sexually ambiguous bourgeois society on the brink of destruction. This iconography overturns the 1929 screen image of Louise Brooks as Lulu in G W Pabst's Pandora's Box. Whereas that film presents us with a face, Helnwein shows the pubis. "  . . . according to an article by Julia Pascal in the current issue of New Statesman, a very serious British journal.

Prix de Beauté

From the April 18th Village Voice article on the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival - "Best in Show: The Top 40 Picks of the Tribeca Film Festival" by J. Hoberman.

Prix de Beauté

In her final starring role, Louise Brooks plays a Parisian typist who wins a beauty contest and dumps her boyfriend, with tragic consequences. Augusto Genina's direction is routine, but this is a cinematographer's movie, from the dazzling location shooting to the beautifully lit projection room climax. Cameraman Rudolph Mates does wonders with Brooks's radiant face—her performance is an irresistible mix of innocence and eroticism. The film began shooting as a silent, sound was added, and it was released in four languages. The rarely revived silent version will be shown, preceded by Giovanni Pastrone's The Fall of Troy, an important film in the history of set design—the magnificent decors often give a sense of bound- less space in contrast to the one-dimensional sets of earlier historical pictures. E.S.

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.