Saturday, April 7, 2007

Two announcements: Jack Garner & Kevin Brownlow

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has announced that long-time film critic Jack Garner will retire. The nationally syndicated journalist was a friend to all those interested in Louise Brooks. Not only had Garner known the actress in Rochester (where he had worked since the early 1970's), he had also interviewed her and her fellow silent film star, Lillian Gish. Garner had also introduced a recent centennial celebration screening of Pandora's Box, and contributed the forward to the recent book by Peter Cowie, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever. And, way back in 2000, Garner praised the Louise Brooks Society website in the pages of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. According to the article announcing his retirement, Garner will continue to contribute occassional articles and columns. Good luck Jack !

----------

I am very excited to learn that Kevin Brownlow - film historian extraordinaire and friend of Louise Brooks - will be coming to San Francisco at the end of the month. Brownlow will be given the Mel Novikoff Award from the San Francisco Film Society. Brownlow will also be participating in two programs as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. I am excitied because Kevin Brownlow - the author of The Parade's Gone By - is a legend among those who love silent film. (I had the pleasure of seeing Brownlow once before - at Cinecon in Los Angeles - and even got him to sign a few books for me then.)

Here is San Francisco Film Society press release:
Kevin Brownlow To Receive Mel Novikoff Award At 50th San Francisco International Film Festival
Archivist, Historian, Author, Documentarian and Director Honored for His Extensive and Peerless Body of Work
April 3, 2007
San Francisco, CA – Kevin Brownlow will receive the Mel Novikoff Award at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26–May 10). Named for the pioneering San Francisco art and repertory film exhibitor Mel Novikoff (1922–1987), the Award acknowledges an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema. The Novikoff Award will be presented at An Afternoon with Kevin Brownlow on Saturday, April 28 at 2:00 pm at the Castro Theatre, preceding an onstage interview with film scholar Russell Merritt. Afterwards Brownlow will introduce the screening of his selection, The Iron Mask (1929). The gallant Douglas Fairbanks must save the French crown from black-hearted schemers in Alan Dwan’s lavish version of The Three Musketeers, filled with chivalry, derring-do and impressive pre–special effects stuntwork. Mask was made at the end of the silent era and is considered the summation of the swashbuckling genre.
As it is impossible to do justice to Brownlow’s body of work in just one afternoon or even one day, Cecil B. De Mille – An American Epic (2004), directed by Brownlow and produced by his colleague Patrick Stanbury, will play at 9:15 pm on Saturday, April 28 at the Sundance Cinemas Kabuki. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh and featuring music by Elmer Bernstein, Cecil B. De Mille follows the career of one of Hollywood’s original pioneers. Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Charlton Heston and Angela Lansbury are some of the many well-known names that appear, while De Mille’s surviving kin also lend insight into his personal and family life. His (and by extension, Hollywood’s) greatest hits are covered in detail, including later historical and Biblical epics like Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Ten Commandments (1956). The documentary includes never-before-seen footage of the parting of the Red Sea, which Spielberg declares “the best special-effects sequence of all time.”
Finally Brownlow will present the lecture Kevin Brownlow: Introduction to Silents on the pre-talkie era and screen excerpts from silent gems including Bronco Billy’s Adventure (1911),Scaramouche (1924), The Chess Player (1926) and Fire Brigade (1926) at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley on Sunday, April 29, at 5:30 pm. PFA pianist Judith F. Rosenberg will provide accompaniment. This program is presented in association with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Born in Sussex, England in 1938, Kevin Brownlow is the godfather of modern film archiving practices. He is the preeminent film historian and documentarian of the silent era. He is also one of the most accomplished British directors of his era, having made the masterpieces It Happened Here (1966) and Winstanley (1975).
How It Happened Here, a warts-and-all account of the making of his first feature, is an important book on the difficulties and triumphs of making an indie film. Brownlow’s collection of interviews with silent-film stars, The Parade’s Gone By (1968), and his ensuing 12-part television documentary Hollywood (made with David Gill) have inspired numerous film archivists, critics and professors.
Brownlow’s magnificent restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 classic Napoleon wasn’t just the film preservation event of the decade when it was rereleased in a gloriously restored version in 1981, but a cultural phenomenon. For nearly 40 years, he assembled every scrap of celluloid he could find, searching flea markets and the world’s archives. He championed the film and Gance at every opportunity. And he is still restoring the film. Like the Flying Dutchman, the film is his curse—and the world’s blessing.
Most of all, there are the films he has salvaged and dusted off for Photoplay Productions, the company he founded to focus on important restorations like The EagleThe Phantom of the OperaThe Thief of Bagdad and The Gold Rush to name just a few. To see a film bearing the Brownlow touch is to go back to a magical time when the silent movies glowed on the silver screen and cinema was a physical experience.
Brownlow’s intense passion is something to emulate. His utter tenacity to present the best restorations and orchestral scores has always been about the value of the film itself. And his writings make the reader want to see every movie he mentions because he loves them so much. 
Previous recipients of the Mel Novikoff Award are Anita Monga (2005), Paolo Cherchi Usai (2004), Manny Farber (2003), David Francis (2002), Cahiers du Cinéma (2001), San Francisco Cinematheque (2001), Donald Krim (2000), David Shepard (2000), Enno Patalas (1999), Adrienne Mancia (1998), Judy Stone (1997), Film Arts Foundation (1997), David Robinson (1996), Institut Lumière (1995), Naum Kleiman (1994), Andrew Sarris (1993), Jonas Mekas (1992), Pauline Kael (1991), Donald Richie (1990), USSR Filmmakers Association (1989) and Dan Talbot (1988). The Mel Novikoff Award Committee members are Francis J. Rigney (chairman), Linda Blackaby (ex officio), Helena R. Foster, George Gund III, Maurice Kanbar, Philip Kaufman, Edith Kramer, Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer, Anita Monga, Janis Plotkin and Peter Scarlet.
Here is a link to the Iron Mask screening, which I believe Brownlow will be attending. And here is a link to the screening of the new Brownlow documentary on Cecil B. DeMille at the Kabuki. And here is a link to the Kevin Brownlow: Introduction to Silents program at the PFA.

Friday, April 6, 2007

Out

I just came across this piece on Peter Cowie's Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever. It appeared in the September 2006 issue of Out, a gay men's magazine.



In case you haven't already gotten a copy of Peter Cowie's book, now is the time to do so! It contains a thoughtful text on Brooks (who Cowie knew), as well as dozens and dozens of lovely and rare images of the actress.

If you can't afford a copy, perhaps you local library  has one on the shelves. If they don't, suggest they purchase a copy for their collection. Many local library websites have a  "make a suggestion" page where patrons can suggest  new books.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

William Wellman Jr

Today, I had a very pleasant telephone chat with William Wellman Jr. We spoke about many things, including an upcoming screening of Beggars of Life. (More on that at a later date.) 

Along with Beggars of Life - the excellent 1928 film starring Louise Brooks, Wellman Sr directed many other notable films, including WingsPublic EnemyCall of the WildBeau Geste, the original A Star Is Born, and The Ox-Bow Incident. He is certainly one of the great directors of his time. His son, with whom I spoke, has recently authored a book.



I haven't yet seen the book, but Wellman Jr told me the book does discuss Louise Brooks. I am looking forward to getting a copy, and all interested should check it out. More about the book and its subject and the author at www.williamwellmanjr.com

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Lulu in KC today

From today's Kansas City Star newspaper


Who knows what will come out of “Pandora’s Box” when the classic silent film is accompanied by a live score performed by the Gillham Park Orchtet at 2 p.m. today at the Kansas City Central Library, 1410 10th St.

My guess: A mesmerizing experience.

German director G.W. Pabst’s ahead-of-its-time psycho-sexual melodrama from 1928 stars bangs-wearing beauty Louise Brooks (a Kansas native), whose party-girl character Lulu expects a bang out of life — until her luck runs out.

“She looks modern,” wrote film guru Roger Ebert about Brooks as Lulu. “She doesn’t have the dated makeup of many silent stars. … She wants to party, she wants to make love, she wants to drink, she wants to tell men what she wants and she wants to get it.”

Orchtet leader Jeffery Ruckman wrote the all-acoustic score for “Pandora’s Box.” The group’s inventive soundscapes have also been featured on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

Consider this: Brooks’ career faded with the advent of talkies, but her legacy is right up there with Greta Garbo and Marlena Dietrich. Be seduced by it in this free screening.
I would love to hear from anyone who attends this screening, and know their impressions of the soundtrack.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Lulu in Malaysia

Louise Brooks was mentioned today in The Star, a Malayasian newspaper. The article about jewelry - and pearls in particular - name-checks the actress. The article, entiled "Ageless Bijoux," begins
O E Jewellery’s founding in 1906 coincided with the the Art Nouveau movement. Icons like Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin ruled the silent movie scene. In Germany, all artistic endeavours stopped during World War I from 1914 to 1918.
A weary world found solace in the Roaring Twenties. It was the Age of the Flapper. Music roared in as jazz took over. Machines became the new fascination. With their snazzy, short bob, women looked androgynous and shocked polite society. Pearls were worn by the yard and sleek elegant designs were the rage. Famous icons of the 1920s included silent stars like Louise Brooks and Marlene Dietrich. 
The 1930s saw a return to a more genteel ladylike appearance. Clothes were feminine and jewellery was beautifully ornate. Greta Garbo was one of the most popular icons of that era.
This is the first reference to Brooks which I have come across in a Malaysian publication.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Who is Lulu?

"Who is Lulu?" asks an article in today's Hartford Courant. The article by Frank Rizzo, "Yale Rep's Searing Study In Eroticism Isn't For The Timid," begins:
The poster in front of the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven stops the passerby dead in his tracks, but it isn't the one that features feminine flesh and fruit - the image that caused a stir last week when newspapers refused to run ads featuring that photo.

This image simply asks in large, in-your-face typography: "Who Is Lulu?"

Who indeed?

Not that most people, save a German theater major or a silent movie buff, would have any idea.

"Lulu" is the central character created by turn-of-the-last-century German playwright Frank Wedekind, who is having a banner year after a century of neglect. The hip, rock Broadway musical "Spring Awakening," another of his plays, has its own provocative subject of adolescent sexual angst.

But "Lulu" makes ""Spring Awakening" seem like child's play.

"Lulu" is the collective title of the merging of two of Wedekind's plays, "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's Box," written over 10 years. The works center on a charismatic female character, the object of all men's affections - not to mention lust, perversion, sadism and savagery.

His expressionistic plays - and "Lulu" is a prime example - expose bourgeois morality for all its absurdity and hypocrisy. "Lulu" focuses on the 18-year-old who destroys a series of males "through her uninhibited but essentially innocent enjoyment of sex," according to theater scholar Trevor R. Griffiths.

There have been many artists who sought to tame Wedekind's wild "Lulu." The play was banned (it was only produced once in Wedekind's lifetime, at a private showing in 1905), emerging in 1928, when it became a now-celebrated German silent film, "Pandora's Box," directed by G.W. Pabst. The film starred American actress Louise Brooks, who gave an extraordinarily fresh and vivid performance. (A new Criterion Collection DVD with extras is out.)

An Alban Berg opera version was produced in the '30s. Other rare stage productions include one presented by Lee Brauer at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., in 1980; another in 1999 with an adaptation by English playwright Peter Barnes; and another in London in 2001, starring Anna Friel.
I wish I could be there. If you live in the Hartford area, GO SEE THIS PLAY! And if you do, please post a report.

To learn more about "Lulu" and to see pictures from the Yale Rep production, go to www.yalerep.org. "Lulu" runs Friday through April 21 at the Yale Repertory Theater, York and Chapel streets, New Haven. Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. There is an 8 p.m. performance this Sunday. Matinees at 2 will be held on April 7, 11, 14 and 21. Tickets are $35 to $55. Tickets and information 203-432-1234 orwww.yalerep.org.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Magic & Romance of Art Dolls

A book I've never seen before, Magic & Romance of Art Dolls, is for sale on eBay. According to the item description,

Some of the real and fictional characters which were fashioned into dolls and illustrated in the book are Ziegfield Follies girl Marilyn Miller, Josephine Baker, Louise Brooks, Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolf Valentino, Shirley Temple, Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Madame Butterfly, Mimi, Carmen, Pierrot and Madame Pompadour.
Unfortunately, the seller doesn't picture the Louise Brooks doll, as far as I can figure. Here is the book, with Valentino on the cover.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Christina Aguilera does Louise Brooks

According to an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail, pop star Christina Aguilera impersonated Louise Brooks at a recent concert. The newspaper's reporter noted:
Visually, the show felt like a Broadway fantasia on themes from the thirties, with references to the steamy vigour of the Savoy Ballroom, to the white-clad elegance of the Cotton Club, and to the risqué pantomime of Clara Bow and Louise Brooks (both impersonated by Ms. Aguilera in videos made to look like silent films). A montage of tabloid front pages rolling off an old printing press projected Ms. Aguilera (the subject of every headline) into the period's media machinery, while she sang about how women need to defeat double standards.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Libby Holman's word game

This item appeared in a Walter Winchell column back in the early 1930's. Louise Brooks makes an appearance . . . . Brooks Atkinson was a famous critic of the time.

Powered By Blogger