Friday, April 28, 2006

Big new Louise Brooks article



There is a big illustrated article about Louise Brooks in the current issue of Films of the Golden Age, a film magazine.  The article, by Jan Wahl,  is titled "Comet in the Sky." [ Click on this link to read an excerpt. The online version does not include the many fab illustrations contained in the print version. ]

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Naked Truth: For men only / Naked Truth: For women only

Here is a rather interesting advertisement I ran across yesterday at the library while looking for Louise Brooks film reviews. This December 1927 Indianapolis newspaper ad is for a double bill featuring Streets of Sorrow with Greta Garbo, and a lecture by someone named W.J. Sternberg. Streets of Sorrow is most likely Joyless Street, the 1925 G.W. Pabst film. And the lecture is perhaps about what we now call STDs. It's interesting that the Pabst film was considered so risque ("A Daring Expose of Dangers to Which Girls Are Subjected"), and that only men should view it, and that no one under 21 years of age would be admitted. What price virtue?



And here's another interesting add I found in the Indianapolis Star. This dates from August 1927.

 

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Astronomical finds

Today was a beautiful Spring day here in San Francisco. And I spent the morning indoors at the library. I went through a few reels of the Indianapolis Star, and discovered a few film reviews dating from 1927. I also went through some reels of the Williamsport Sun (from Williamsport, Pennsylvania). In that paper, I found an article and a couple of advertisements for the 1923 Denishawn performance in that town. The remarkable thing about the advertisements is that each named Louise Brooks and the other Denishawn dancers. There are few other Denishawn advertisements which I have come across which mention her. [ And regrettably, my request for the Oklahoma News was rejected. Apparently, there are no loaning institutions for this Oklahoma City newspaper. Any readers of this blog who live near Oklahoma City willing to spend an afternoon doing some research? ]

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Another Lulu book

I just came across this edition of Frank Wedekind's Lulu play, which now features Louise Brooks on the cover. (The earlier edition did not.)



Book Description: Lulu is a walking, talking object of sexual desire. Each of the first four acts of the play sees her married to a different man, each of whom dies at the end. In the fifth act, Lulu has become a prostitute in late-Victorian London where she encounters Jack the Ripper, who she deliberately leads on. This is Nicholas Wright's new version of Wedekind's early 20th century erotic drama. 

About the Author: As the International Dictionary of Theatre has it, German playwright Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) "owes his reputation to the fact he wrote plays about sex." His other famous play, Spring's Awakening (1891) was way ahead of its time in its depiction of repressed adolescent sexual urges.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

The NEW Louise Brooks book

Here's the cover of the new 256 page Louise Brooks pictorial by Peter Cowie. The publication date is now set for October 31, 2006. It think the cover looks great!

Friday, April 21, 2006

Be Yourself and a Movie Star

Here is a piece I ran across at the library the other day - another nifty Fay King illustration from 1926. (Download the pic to open and view a larger, readable image.)




Here's another charming piece I found at the library.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

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.

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