New Yorker illustration

FYI: There is a very nifty illustration of Louise Brooks (in a scene from Pandora's Box) in the June 19 isue of the New Yorker. See page 24.

Box Office coverage from indieWIRE

According to an article by Steven Rosen on indieWIRE, the Pandora's Box screening at the Film Forum in NYC is doing well.

The second-place film on this week's iWBOT did $9,950 at New York's Film Forum -- which frequently is a launch pad for movies that rank well on this chart. But that figure is especially good for Kino Releasing's "Pandora's Box," since it's a 77-year-old silent film. This re-release, a newly struck print from a negative at the George Eastman House, is part of the centennial celebration of the birth of "Pandora" star Louise Brooks, whose role as the Jazz Age free-spirit and prostitute Lulu in G.W. Pabst's film has come to be regarded as one of the most important in cinema. Her bobbed hairstyle has been equally influential.

"It was a chance to see Brooks at her most dazzling that turned out the crowd," said Gary Palmucci, Kino's general manager for theatrical sales. "It's really about her," he said. "She's just jumping off the screen with her effervescence and sexuality. She's so bubbly and so voracious at the same time."

Palmucci traces the revival of interest in Brooks to a New Yorker article by the late critic Kenneth Tynan from 1979, "The Girl With the Black Helmet." In 1983, Kino first re-released "Pandora" on a double bill with Brooks' "Diary of a Lost Girl" at Manhattan's old Regency Theatre. Now this new print of "Pandora" -- on its own -- will play at Cambridge's Brattle Theatre, Hartford's Cinestudio, San Francisco's Castro Theatre and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A DVD release also is slated for later this year.

I hope all those who not yet seen Pandora's Box on the big screen take the opportunity to view one of  these screenings.

Musical

On Saturday July 15th, a new 35mm print of Pandora's Box will be shown at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, as part of the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival. (See www.silentfilm.org for details). Also showing earlier that day is a French film, Au Bonheur Des Dames (1930). I haven't seen that film - but it looks very promising.

I will be introducing Pandora's Box. I have also been asked to program a short musical selection to be played in the theater prior to Pandora's Box and Au Bonheur Des Dames. I plan to put together a Louise Brooks-themed set and a French musical set (featuring Parisian music of the 20's and early 30's) - each lasting about 25 minutes. There will be some musical rarities to be heard, and some selections from RadioLulu. If you are there, it will be a treat for the ears. I promise.

Ooodles of pulchitrude and other clippings

Despite this being a national holiday (Groundhogs Day) for some, I spent the morning at the San Francisco Public Library. A couple of inter-library loans were waiting for me. I had requested microfilm of two newspapers from Springfield, Missouri in hopes of tracking down reviews of the Denishawn performance there in January, 1924. The Springfield Republican turned-out to be a goldmine of articles, images, advertisements, and a review. The paper ran six articles in advance of the performance, and each carried a picture eithor of Ruth St. Denis or of the Denishawn company. One depicted Louise Brooks. Very nifty! TheSpringfield Daily Leader, on the other hand, did not run a review. And only ran two short articles on the Denishawn company on the page devoted to "Automobile News." Very odd!

I also found some Denishawn material in the Times-Union, from Albany, New York. Denishawn performed there in April, 1924. And this would be one of Brooks' last performances with the company. The Times-Union ran a review, and article in advance, some ads, and a write-up in Marie Avery Myers local column, "Dramatic Driftwood." All together nothing outstanding, but good to have for the record.

Along with the Denishawn-period microfilm, I also requested reels from late 1925 and early 1926 in hopes of scoring some film reviews from Albany. Unfortunately, the Times-Union (a Hearst paper ?) was a third rate publication. I found advertisements, listings and very brief notices for three Brooks' films - though they are hardly worth citing in the bibliographies. The problem with the Times-Union was that it just was not a very good newspaper, editorially speaking. I've seen better papers from much smaller towns.

However, while scanning the September, 1925 Times-Union for material on a local screening of The Street of Forgotten Men, I did come across a number of articles on the Miss America beauty contest, which was then being held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (The contest was the background for Brooks' second film,The American Venus.) "Prettiest Girls Vie for Title" one article was headlined, as it detailed the field of beauties. Others spoke of the controversy surrounding the contest. "Miss Pittsburgh" and "Miss Erie" withdrew from the affair, charging that two of the entrants were professional beauties. One of those two entrants turned out to be "Miss Manhattan" - Dorothy Knapp, who was Brooks' friend in the Ziegfeld Follies. Others objected "to an attempt which they said was made by another judge, a motion picture producer, to compel them to sign contracts to appear in the movies if crowned Miss America." Hmmmm.

One article I found mentions a personal appearance by actors Ernest Torrence and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., each of whom had roles in The American Venus. The contest, of course, was won by San Francisco's own "Miss California," Fay Lanphier. She would star in The American Venus. Hmmmm. While looking through all this interesting material, I also came across this captioned photo. It is offered here for your viewing pleasure.

On this day in 1926

In his review of The American Venus, the critic of the New York World declared "I do believe that Louise Brooks, who appears as Miss Bayport, is better looking than any of the other brunettes now acting in films."

Eureka - Hélène Caron

I found it! And at long last, a minor Louise Brooks mystery has been solved . . . . In the early sound film Prix de Beauté, Louise Brooks is seen singing "Je n'ai qu'un amour, c'est toi," a charming chanson of love and jealousy. As she did not speak French, Brooks' dialogue is dubbed. And the song she is seen singing at the end of the film is actually sung by someone else. There has been some speculation as to whom that performer might be. The film itself does not credit anyone. And, in his detailed biography, Barry Paris does not state who sings. Some have suggested Edith Piaf. Now, I am 99% sure that Hélène Caron is the singer who performs "Je n'ai qu'un amour, c'est toi" in Prix de Beauté.

In December of last year, while searching the internet, I came upon a compact disc of French music from the Thirties. I ordered a copy from Europe, and it arrived today. The disc contains "Je n'ai qu'un amour, c'est toi" by Hélène Caron, and it is a match for the version found in Prix de Beauté. Additionally, the linear notes state the song is from the film (as well as indicates that this recording was released on the Parlaphone label). "Je n'ai qu'un amour, c'est toi" is a truely charming song. And, as this is one of three versions I have found recordings of, a perhaps popular song in France in 1930. I plan on adding this newly discovered recording to RadioLulu sometime soon.

I did a Google search on Hélène Caron, but turned up nothing. Does anyone know anything about her? Did she ever record anything else?

Pandora's Box (Unrated)

More and more articles about LB. This  brief review appears in today's edition of the Christian Science Monitor.

Pandora's Box (Unrated)

Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst. With Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner. (100 min.)

2006 is the centennial of actress Louise Brooks, and to honor it, her greatest film, "Pandora's Box," is being released in a new 35-mm print in New York's Film Forum before being taken around the country. Brooks was a silent-era starlet of minor stature before appearing, improbably but unforgettably, in two Pabst classics in 1929. In "Pandora" she plays Lulu, the blithe vixen with a boyish bob haircut who drives men to their doom. Brooks's erotic appeal combined clean-cut wholesomeness (she was raised in Kansas) with a devastating sensuality. Happy 100th! Grade: A
- P.R.

If anyone else spots any other articles, please let me know. There is most likely going to be a flurry of material coming out of New York City.

More Pandora's Box articles

Pandora's Box is showing at Film Forum in New York City, and articles are popping up everywhere in the local media. Here are two more of note: "Loving Lulu: A Silent, sexy Louise Brooks at her best" by Armond White (from New York Press) and "Pandora's Box" by Jurgen Fauth & Mark Dermansky (from About.com). I would love to hear from anyone who attends a screening!