Stolen Moments

Stolen Moments is a swell silent film / Rudolph Valentino themed podcast available on the internet. I've just finished listening to the newest installment, which features a chat with Kevin Brownlow. (I've listened to each of the podcasts, and each is good.) Stolen Moments is put together and hosted by Donna Hill (aka Rudyfan), who runs an excellent website devoted to Valentino. Check it out.

William K. Everson Archive

Well worth checking out is the William K. Everson Collection, a website which archives publicity material, photographs and most importantly the film notes (short essays) of the film historian, author, critic, teacher, archivist, and collector. [ Everson knew Louise Brooks, and wrote highly of her in his terrific 1978 book, American Silent Film. And some years ago before his death, I had the pleasure of seeing Everson's 16 mm print of Beggars of Life. ] Film buffs will enjoy exploring this site.

Louise Brooks in Literature

As any reader of this blog knows, I like organizing information. It a compulsion of mine. I guess that's why I like doing research. And sometimes, I make lists. It gives me something to do. It's a kind of therapy. It keeps me off the streets.... I recently made a list at amazon.com (part of their Listmania function)  called "Homage to Lulu: Louise Brooks in Literature." It's a survey  of homages, tributes, name checks, references, etc... to the one and only Louise Brooks. It includes the likes of Neil Gaiman, Paul Auster, Frank O'Hara, Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Clive Barker, Lemony Snicket, John Updike and others. Another list I recently created is "Louise Brooks in Song (and Other Musical Tributes."

Speaking of literary tributes, today the popular blog known as Bookslut wrote up one of the earliest literary tributes to Brooks, The Invention of Morel (1940), by Adolpho Bioy Casares. The blogger noted

The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares: An Argentinean writer much less known than his brilliant friend and collaborator, Jorge Luis Borges, “Bioy” was also less consistent in the quality of his work. But he did write at least one great book, a dreamy novella inspired by movies and the flapper actress Louise Brooks. Published in 1940, it’s also one of the earliest books which uses virtual reality as a central conceit, long before the digital age.

It begins like a Latin American version of a story by Wells or Stevenson (both favourites of Casares and of Borges, too). A mysterious island, rumours of a terrible disease, a refugee from justice, and all-too-real ghosts who keep on repeating the same actions… Tinged by post-modern ideas without losing its emotional heart, fantastic without ever seeming preposterous, this is a weird and exciting book. The Louise Brooks photo NYRB use on the cover is great, too -- the white-swathed actress with her famous bangs, surrounded by piles of books. Just like the book, it’s haunting, sexy and literary.

Elegy: London's derelict cinemas

Here's a gallery of derelict London cinemas, some of them empty hulks, some converted to discount stores, meat storage facilities, banana warehouses, or snooker and social clubs. I wonder if any of Louise Brooks' films played in any of these theaters?

Nov. 14, 1906 - Aug. 8, 1985

Mary Louise Brooks, Nov. 14, 1906 - Aug. 8, 1985. Find a Grave has a webpage where you can visit the actress' gravestite, leave a comment, or even leave virtual flowers.

Buster Keaton song

Would anyone happen to have a vintage recording of "Meine Schwester liebt den Buster Keaton," which was composed by Friedrich Hollaender around 1928. I just received the massive Hollaender box set from Bear Family Records (in Germany) - and I thought it was included on that set, but it is not!

I can't find any listings for any CD's which have the a vintage recording. I would like to obtain an mp3 of this song, if possible. Please email me if you can help, or point me in the right direction.