Pandora's Box in Milwaukee

This is how the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes tonight's free screening of Pandora's Box on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. So succinct!

German classic: Selfish behavior leads to tragic consequences in G.W. Pabst's 1929 silent film "Pandora's Box" starring Louise Brooks. 7 p.m. UWM Union Theatre, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. Free.

Wedekind's Spring Awakening

Following the successful adaption of Frank Wedekind's "Lulu" by the Silent Theater company of Chicago comes a new musical adaption of Wedekind's "Spring Awakening."  Though one of the first expressionist writers, Wedekind's sometimes akward, sometimes scandalous work has fallen between the cracks of literary history. Nevertheless, we are seeing something of a revival of interest in the United States. There is a big article about the new production, which opens December 10th, in today's New York Times.

“SPRING AWAKENING,” the new Broadway musical in previews at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, covers nearly all the hurly-burly that can rattle, confuse and capsize the teenage years: sexual confusion, abuse, death. A bit like “The History Boys” with a rock score and a lot more angst.

The candid portrayal of such subjects may disquiet some of today’s viewers, but the original 1891 German drama by Frank Wedekind on which the musical is based caused a scandal. The play wasn’t produced in Germany until 1906, 15 years after it was written, and then only in an abridged form. In New York City the commissioner of licenses tried to shut down its English-language American premiere in 1917. A court injunction permitted the production, which ran for a single matinee and closed.

Wedekind — probably best known for the Lulu plays, the source of Alban Berg’s famous opera — was not unaccustomed to such dust-ups. He lived in Munich, a center of the literary avant-garde, and often contributed poems and stories to the satirical magazine Simplizissimus. One that ridiculed Kaiser Wilhelm II (better known for his megalomania than his sense of humor) landed him in jail for several months in 1899 on charges of treason. He was continually at odds with the censors until his death in 1918.

Thanks to Rob Carver for pointing this out.

In the news, again

There is a long, illustrated interview with Peter Cowie about Louise Brooks on the PopMatters website. It can be found atwww.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/7690/louise-brooks-at-100-interview-with-peter-cowie/

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LBS member Gregor Arlt tipped me off to these recent illustrated articles on Louise Brooks in various German language publications. (Not only have there been major film retropsectives in Berlin and Vienna, but there is a new book on Louise Brooks published by the Austrian Film Archive, Louise Brooks. Rebellin, Ikone, Legende. Peter Cowie's book, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, has also been published in Germany.)

Film-Dienst,  Nov. 2006
"Das Leben ist ein Scherz: Erinnerungen an Louise Brooks" by Claudia Siefen
http://film-dienst.kim-info.de/artikel.php?nr=152313&dest=frei&pos=artikel

Neue Zürcher Zeitung,  Nov. 4, 2006
"Lächeln und Los der Lulu" by Jürgen Kasten
http://www.nzz.ch/2006/11/04/li/articleEMAVD.html

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,  Nov. 9, 2006
"Louise Brooks: Die Rebellin von Hollywood" by Verena Lueken
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub8A25A66CA9514B9892E0074EDE4E5AFA/Doc~E5902139EF4DD444FABADE08D52EB8663~ATpl~Ecommon~Sspezial.html

Süddeutsche Zeitung,  Nov. 13, 2006
"Die Chiffre des Lichtspiels" by Hans Schifferle
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/487/91396/

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I had a great time at Tuesday evening's Louise Brooks Birthday Bash at the Victoria Theater. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Louise. There was cake and something to drink. And, it was fun to meet the cast of "Lulu" and other members of the Louise Brooks Society, some of whom had come from as far away as Los Angeles! Here are a few snapshots taken that evening.

A bit blurry, but here's a pic of yours truly and Kyla Louise Webb, the talented young actress who plays Lulu.
If there is anyone who could play Louise Brooks in a film, it is this terrific Chicago-based actress!



LBS members Scott Bradley and Amy Wallace, with whom I had a very nice chat!
 (Amy, the daughter of novelist Irving Wallace, is the co-author of such bestsellers
as The Book of Lists and The People's Almanac, etc....)

That evening, I also met photographer Nili Yosha, who is producing a book of photographs of the Lulu cast and play. I am looking forward to it, I plan to get a copy of what promises to be a rather cool keepsake.

In the news

There was a "Pop Candy" column about Louise Brooks in yesterday's USA Today. The article, by Whitney Matheson, can be found at http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2006/11/happy_birthday_.html  The article mentions the Louise Brooks Society and this blog. How cool!

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Thanx to Amanda, who noticed that the current issue of TIME magazine has a long article on Louise Brooks by Richard Corliss. The article can be found on-line at http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1559304,00.html

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Paul Doherty sent me some snapshots of the Louise Brooks event in Rochester, New York on November 14th. Paul said I could share these with all of you. Thank you Paul.

Before the show



A bit of the exhibit at the George Eastman House



Jack Garner (sitting) and Peter Cowie (standing). Cowie authored Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever for which Garner wrote the forward. Cowie is wearing a Louise Brooks Society button which I had given him in Sunday in San Francisco.

Today in history - Nov. 14

According to the Associated Press syndicated feature - "Today in history - Nov. 14" - which has been printed in newspapers across the country

"In 1906, 100 years ago, actress and dancer Louise Brooks was born in Cherryvale, Kan."



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOUISE BROOKS !

Marian Marsh

Marian Marsh, petite film star of the 1930's, has died. I always liked her bangs. Here is an excerpt from the New York Timesarticle on her death.

Marian Marsh, 93, Petite Star of ‘Svengali,’ Dies

By MARGARLIT FOX

Marian Marsh, a Hollywood actress of the 1930s and early ’40s best known for starring opposite John Barrymore in the 1931 melodrama “Svengali,” died on Thursday at her home in Palm Desert, Calif. She was 93.

Ms. Marsh, who was known by her married name, Marian Marsh Henderson, died in her sleep, her daughter, Cathy Scott, said.

Mr. Barrymore handpicked Ms. Marsh, then a teenage bit player, for the role of Trilby, the virginal young singer who falls under Svengali’s control. The film was based on “Trilby,” the 1894 novel by George du Maurier.

A petite blond actress described by critics of the day as doll-like, Ms. Marsh was also known for her performance opposite Edward G. Robinson in “Five Star Final” (1931). She played Sonya to Peter Lorre's Raskolnikov in “Crime and Punishment” in 1935. Her last film role was in the 1942 comedy “House of Errors.”

Ms. Marsh was born Violet Ethelred Krauth on Oct. 17, 1913, in Trinidad, West Indies, where her parents ran a chocolate factory. The family moved to the Boston area when she was a child. After her older sister, Jean, became a bit player in Hollywood — she worked first as Jean Morgan and later as Jean Fenwick — the family relocated to California.

Following her sister into acting, Ms. Marsh began her career in the late 1920s as Marilyn Morgan. Under that name, she had a small role in “Hell’s Angels,” the 1930 war drama directed by Howard Hughes.

Pandora's Box in San Rafael

Last night I attended the screening of Pandora's Box at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California. (That's about 45 minutes north of San Francisco - across the Golden Gate Bridge.) Peter Cowie, author of the just released must-have new book,Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, gave some introductory remarks. He told how he came to meet Louise Brooks. And what her life was like in the 1970's while living in Rochester, New York. Cowie discussed Brooks' brief affair with Charlie Chaplin. And, Cowie made some interesting references to the existentialist author Jean-Paul Sarte and the Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer - both of which I hope to ask him about tonight, when I host him at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco. I will be meeting him for dinner before hand - so there will be time to talk!

Tonight on IFC

Tonight on the Independent Film Channel, Lulu on the Bridge (1998), the Louise Brooks / Pandora's Box - "inspired" film.

A seemingly magic stone leads an aging, injured musician into love with a young, aspiring actress.
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Willem Dafoe, Gina Gershon, Mandy Patinkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Victor Argo, Don Byron, Richard Edson, Kevin Corrigan.

Director(s): Paul Auster.
Producer(s): Sharon Harel, Jane Barclay, Ira Deutchman, Peter Newman, Greg Johnson, Amy Kaufman , Amy J. Kaufman.
Writer(s): Paul Auster