Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes

For those in the San Francisco Bay Area: Tuesday night, I will be hosting film historian Matthew Kennedy for a talk and booksigning to mark the publication of Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes, the first major biography of the effervescent, scene-stealing actress (1906-1979) who conquered motion pictures, vaudeville, Broadway, summer stock, television, and radio. Frequent co-star to James Cagney, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart, friend to Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bette Davis, and wife of Dick Powell and Mike Todd, Blondell was a true Hollywood insider. By the time of her death, she had made nearly 100 films in a career that spanned over fifty years. Blondell, as many of you may know, also appeared along with Louise Brooks in God's Gift to Women (1931).

Kennedy’s book offers extensive research and insights gained from the cooperation of Blondell’s friends, family, and colleagues – this new book is a must read for anyone interested in early Hollywood. I hope some of you can make it to this special event, which will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street) in San Francisco. Start time is 7 pm

Matthew Kennedy teaches anthropology at the City College of San Francisco and film history at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is the author of Marie Dressler: A Biography and Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory: Hollywood's Genius Bad Boy.

Birthday anecdote

Because it was Louise Brooks' 101st birthday, I wore my Lulu pin to work. It was my little way of saying "Happy birthday!"

Tonight, at work, I hosted an event with the Adrian Tomine and Glen David Gold. (Gold wrote the novel Carter Beats the Devil, a national bestseller. He is also a big fan of comic books, and was on hand to interview Tomine, whose new graphic novel,Shortcomings, has just been released.) When Gold arrived, he took one look at my lapel and exclaimed "Louise Brooks." A bit later, we had a nice chat about Brooks . . . . He is, seemingly, a big fan of the actress and had read both the Barry Paris and Peter Cowie books. Gold also said he has always wanted to include Brooks as a character in a work of fiction, but hasn't had the opportunity yet. Tomine and Gold and I also spoke about the various cartoon and comic book incarnations of Brooks, like Dixie Dugan and Valentina.

Happy 101st !

Today would have been Louise Brooks 101st birthday. Happy birthday Louise !

Why not go out and rent a movie, like Pandora's Box, or buy yourself a present, like Peter Cowie's Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever!

Tuesday events

Pandora's Box at BAM: To accompany the Thalia Theater's production of Lulu in the Next Wave Festival in Brooklyn, BAM Rose Cinemas will screen G.W. Pabst's 1928 adaptation of the same story starring Louise Brooks tonight at 7:30 with live musical accompaniment from 3epkano. Click here to buy tickets.

Vanity Fair calendar

Louise Brooks adorns the latest Vanity Fair calendar. New subscribers receive the 2008 "Masters of Photography" calendar as a bonus item. Check it out here.



The funny thing is that Julie Roberts once owned the film rights to the Barry Paris biography. And here they are, once again.

"Anyone who goes through life without seeing Louise Brooks on film, I feel sorry for them"

There is an interview with Peter Kobel, author of the just released, beautifully illustrated book, "Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture," appears in the current issue of The Express, a weekly publication of the Washington Post. Kobel discusses the impetus of his writing the book, as well as various aspects of silent film. He also briefly discusses Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box.

» EXPRESS: It seems that there was a lot of very challenging filmmaking, what we now call adult themes, even though we make the mistake of thinking of our ancestors as childlike and simple.

» KOBEL: They dealt with all kinds of serious subjects and in most cases, in the case of Hollywood films, vice would be punished. In Europe — "Pandora's Box" is actually a good example. In the end of "Pandora's Box," Lulu is killed by Jack the Ripper, but that is not like the punishment of vice; it's just something that happened. It's not like some god or force is punishing her — it's just this tragic arc of her life. But the American version has to end with her working for the Salvation Army.

Anyone who hasn't gotten into silent film at all has this impression that it's Victorian, that it's melodrama, that it's 30-year-old women in pigtails trying to look like teenagers. There is that. But there's so much really brilliant, thought-provoking, daring stuff happening.

That's the biggest prejudice you have to get people past. Some people will never get past it. ... Anyone who goes through life without seeing Louise Brooks on film, I feel sorry for them.

There will be a series of film screenings in celebration of the book in Washington D.C. (see the link at the bottom of the interview for details). And as well, the book will be celebrated at the December 1st San Francisco Silent Film Festival screening at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. I am certainly looking forward to that.

Short article

rom today's San Francisco Chronicle

Louise Brooks book features rare photos

Peter Cowie is a major international film critic, a British national based in Switzerland who has written 30 books, including "Ingmar Bergman: A Critical Biography," the most intelligent and lucid book on Bergman in the English language. Cowie is the founder of the International Film Guide, and he is regarded as an authority on Swedish and foreign-language cinema, Francis Ford Coppola, Orson Welles and films of the 1960s. But, in his youth, he was also friends with film legend Louise Brooks (1906-1985), and that friendship has become the occasion for a superb book about the actress, "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever," a gorgeous, glamour-packed, coffee-table extravaganza just published by Rizzoli.

For most people who buy the book, the photos will be the draw -- there's a 256-page deluge of them, many full-page, some double-page and most of them rare. Yet the text is what makes this book invaluable as film history. Cowie augments the story of Brooks' life with his own recollections and with direct quotes from Brooks' correspondence. A full picture of the woman emerges.

Cowie will be in the Bay Area this weekend promoting the book and its subject. At 7 p.m. Saturday at the Rafael Film Center (cafilm.org), he will introduce a screening of G.W. Pabst's "Pandora's Box" (1929). The program will repeat at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Balboa Theater (www.balboamovies.com). For fans, this is a must-see. Even those immune to the Brooks mystique (myself included) should welcome the chance to hear Cowie's lucid and informed response to her life and work. -- Mick LaSalle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/06/DDGQDM607K1.DTL&feed=rss.entertainment

p.s. please note that the Sunday program at the Balboa starts at 7:30 pm - and that "Pandora's Box" will NOT be shown; there will be other rare Louise Brooks' film shown instead (not shown in San Francisco in 80 years)

Scarce Japanese Book for sale

A copy of a scarce Japanese book on Louise Brooks is for sale on eBay. The seller description reads "Louise Brooks, published by Chuokorou-Sha, Tokyo, 1984, 122 pages, large hardcover in dust jacket with photographic endpapers, 10.25" by 10.25". Text in Japanese. Scarce Japanese book on silent screen legend Brooks, profusely illustrated with over 100 film stills, portraits, and publicity images. Beautifully printed and very uncommon." I have seen this book, and as far as I can tell, it is really a book by and about the actress. The book contains Brooks' "Gish and Garbo" and "Pabst and Lulu" along with a filmography and bibliography and many illustrations.

Annie Leibovitz

Last week, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz dropped by the bookstore where I work to sign copies of her new book, A Photographers Life. (The store was hosting an event with Leibovitz the following day.) After she was done signing, I asked the good natured photographer if she would take my picture. Leibovitz agreed! I handed her my camera. The snapshot (an original Annie Leibovitz no less) is seen below. The incident even merited a mention in the local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle.

Why mention this happenstance on this blog? Because I am wearing one of my Louise Brooks t-shirts! That's why. I am standing next to my co-worker and wife, Christy Pascoe, as we rest on a big stack of autographed Annie Leibovitz books in the backroom of  The Booksmith. (Tonight, we are hosting gonzo artist Ralph Steadman - whose aunt, incidentally, was the silent film actress Vera Steadman.)