Another chance

Another website I have been looking through lately is a directory of newspaper archives from across the United States and the world. From this page, you can find digital newspaper archives from the British Isles, Canada, Greece, Germany, Austria, and various Nordic countries, Pacific islands, and the Middle East. And elsewhere! Here is a nice page from France from Le Figaro, which dates from 1929. Included are two images from Beggars of Life, including one which features Louise Brooks.

This multi-page directory also includes archives of small town American newspapers and even a few collegiate newspapers. One amusing item I found was the weekly questionnaire from The Student Weekly from Franklin and Marshall College (in Lancaster, PA.). Along with "who is your favorite professor" and "should there be classes on Saturday," one of the questions asked in the May 4, 1927 issue was "Who is your favorite movie actress?" Well, Louise Brooks got one vote. Here are the results, which I have transcribed from the article.

"Who is your favorite movie actress?" Who ever handed Miss Vernier 's name in as, the answer to this question takes the original asbestos lined gravy bowl. And yet, the above mentioned is not lonesome in his present .state oC mind since answers of "Prep school question, " "Never saw a movie," 'Not interested," and "Clara Bow—Sex Appeal," were much in evidence. Again exception must be made for the. unquenchable wit of the modern college student. Hold your ears, boys ; here are the finals as recorded in the files of the Weekly —Lillian Gish, 9; Lois Moran, 7; Clara Bow, 37 ; (It must be sex appeal) Norma Shearer, 12; Louise Brookes, 1; Vilma Banky, 4 , Corrinne Griffith , 9 ; Greta Garbo, 12 ; Renee Adoree, 2 ; Alice Terry, 2; Pauline Frederick, 1 ; Miss Ferkiter, 1; Bebe Daniels, 1; Constance Talmadge, 1; Norma Talmadge, 1; Carol Dempster, 2 ; Betty Bronson , 4 ; Laura La Plante, 3 ; Mary Pickford , 1; Esther Ealston , 6; Marian Davies, 1; Florence Vidor, 2 ; Gloria Swanson , 3; Betty Compson , 1 ; Lois Wilson , 1; and Coleen Moore, 3 Guess who has "It ?"

There is lots and lots of material link to from this site. I would encourage anyone who has the inclination to check it out.

Die Zeit archive

Die Zeit, a German newspaper, has launched an online archive dating back to 1946. The archive contains over 250,000 stories, and can be searched athttp://www.zeit.de/archiv/index. It looks like you can browse the contents by year, do a full text search, or do field searching, including title, author, and year.

I did a search for "Louise Brooks," and found a few artricles I hadn't known about. (Search results include the title and author of the article as well as a snippet. Click on the title and you’ll go to the article. It looks like just the text is available — I didn’t see digitized images.)

Bill Berkson

Happy new year one and all!

There is an interesting book review in today's San Francisco Bay Guardian which mentions Louise Brooks. The piece, "Initials B.B.," by Johnny Ray Houston, discusses a new book by the poet Bill Berkson - hence the initials in the title. The poet is the author of a new book titled Sudden Address.

Berkson, an art critic and poet sometimes associated with the "New York School" and friend and champion of the New York poet Frank O'Hara, is also known to followers of Louise Brooks as the author of "Bubbles," a poem collaged from the writings of the actress.

It's the Old Army Game screening

Word has come from Colleen Moore scholar Jeff Codori that the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum will screen the 1926 W.C. Fields - Louise Brooks film It's the Old Army Game on February 16th at 4 pm. I wasn't able to confirm this on the Niles website. But I am sure, they will update their website soon.

Jeff also wanted everyone to know that the museum - which is located in Niles, California (south of Oakland in the East Bay) - will also be screening the Colleen Moore film His Nibs on March 29th. If you live in the greater Bay Area, this museum and its active schedule of screenings is well worth checking out.

Happy Holidays

Happy holidays to one and all from the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com) and Clara Bow (below).

Research round-up

Of late, as my research winds-down, my trips to the library are taking place only once every other week. . . . This past week's trip produced some good material. Among the items I found was a 6 page sequence in the July 1926 Pittsburgh Gazette Times (Pennsylvania) in which Louise Brooks' picture appeared on every page! The occasion was the screening of It's the Old Army Game, which was showing in two local theaters. Nevertheless, the local film critic or layout man must have had something of a crush on the silent film star to have included her on six consecutive pages

I also went through some issues of the Jewish Daily Forward. This newspaper was one of a number of ethnic, non-English language papers in New York City. I have had a chance to examine many of them, and have found articles, reviews and some unusual and interesting advertisements - including this advertisement for Love Em and Leave Em.

My recent research efforts have been concentrated on finding remaining reviews of Brooks' Denishawn performances and what ever additional film reviews I can acquire. Among the papers I managed to get Denishawn material from - including reviews, articles, miscellaneous clippings and advertisements - were the Hamilton Herald (from Hamilton, Ontario), Buffalo Courier (New York), and theLouisville Times (Kentucky). The Louisville material proved to be quite interesting as there was something of a controversy surrounding the performance. Apparently, local officials found posters placed around town promoting the performance too risque.

I also found some more film reviews and articles in papers such as Hartford Times (Connecticut), Evening Bulletin (Providence, Rhode Island),  Albany Evening News and Ithaca Journal News (New York). I also scrolled through two other newspapers further afield - the New Orleans States (Louisiana) and Eugene Guard (Oregon).

I also looked though microfilm of the Cherryvale Republican, the actress's Kansas hometown newspaper. Cherryvale is a pretty small town, and the Cherryvale Republican a pretty small newspaper. Nevertheless, I was pleased to find a few small front page advertorials (a kind of hybrid advertisement with a bit of editorial content) which proudly boasted that the current film featured "Cherryvale's own Louise Brooks."

I expect to make fewer trips to the library next year. Along with Canada, I need only finish off some requests from three states - Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York. 

More on the new book

Here is a French review of the new Louise Brooks book. It was originally published on Bibliobs (http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com). Click on the image below for a six minute video clip - apparently a television review of the book.

Chère Louise Brooks

By Jérôme Garcin

Créé 19/12/2007 - 18:45

Portrait sensible de l’actrice éphémère et de la garçonne éternelle par le prince des cyniques. Il aime les bachelières à frange, le ping-pong, les fantômes de la Vienne impériale, «la teenager danoise» de Kierkegaard (Regine Olsen), les aphorismes désabusés de Cioran, les chansons bleues de Christophe, la psychanalyste Melanie Klein, «le flûtiste pessimiste de Francfort» (Schopenhauer), le Japon, les films du Coréen Kim Ki-duk, les poèmes de Yi Sang, la paresse, les suicidaires, et faire «yum-yum» dans les chambres des palaces lémaniques.

Né à Lausanne, pendant la guerre, d’un diplomate qui ressemblait à Erich von Stroheim et d’une Viennoise qui nourrissait une passion pour Alma Mahler, Roland Jaccard pratique, en expert, l’art de la désillusion, du cynisme, de l’autodénigrement et de l’oisiveté. Avec légèreté, il plaide pour la tentation nihiliste et le refuge de la solitude. Avec Clément Rosset, il tient qu’on doit éprouver la beauté du monde en ayant conscience de sa cruauté. A ce bon vivant, on doit notamment un «Manifeste pour une mort douce» et une «Topologie du pessimisme». A 65 ans, il est resté un jeune homme triste dont les livres, aussi brefs que mélancoliques, ont un charme fou.

Celui qu’il consacre à Louise Brooks, trente ans après sa biographie de

Sur ce livre, regardez également l'émission "Marque-page" en cliquant ici

[1] l’«anti-star», tient de l’autoportrait fragmenté. Car l’héroïne de «Loulou» et du «Journal d’une fille perdue», dont la photo trône au milieu de sa bibliothèque, incarne son idéal amoureux, l’idée qu’il se fait des beautés ravageuses. Jaccard en a toujours piqué pour les garçonnes, les adolescentes minces et arrogantes, les «flappers», comme les appelait Scott Fitzgerald, «jolies, effrontées, dotées d’une superbe assurance, court vêtues et dures à cuire», frappant le trottoir de leurs talons, flap, flap, avec une détermination qui n’a d’égale que leur vocation à l’autodestruction.

Louise Brooks, alias «Brooksie», était douée pour réussir, mais sa carrière, interrompue en 1938, fut un immense gâchis. Après avoir aimé les hommes à la gueule d’escroc, abusé de son image de «petite garce odieuse qui ne pensait qu’au sexe», et enfin été boudée par Hollywood, elle est morte en 1985. Jaccard était allé la voir à Rochester, elle l’avait supplié de lui apporter une arme, elle voulait en finir. Allongée sur son lit dans une robe de chambre, elle lui avait raconté son aventure avec Charlie Chaplin, autre amateur de lolitas, lequel l’avait initié à Schopenhauer, ainsi que ses rencontres avec le couple Fitzgerald. Elle prétendait relire, une fois l’an, «A la recherche du temps perdu». Le dernier film qu’elle avait vu était «Fedora», de Billy Wilder, «sur le vieillissement à Hollywood, où il est interdit de vieillir sous peine de mort».

Cette ode désirante à Louise Brooks, à toutes les Louise Brooks, écrite au fusain par Roland Jaccard après qu’un institut lausannois pour jeunes filles lui eut demandé de donner une conférence sur l’ombrageuse «flapper», est une merveille de tendresse, de provocation et d’insolent chagrin.
J. G.

«Portrait d’une flapper», par Roland Jaccard, PUF, 96 p., 15 euros.

A lire aussi, illustré par Romain Slocombe, «Retour à Vienne» (Melville-Léo Scheer, 15 euros), où Roland Jaccard se souvient de ses parents.

Source: «Le Nouvel Observateur» du 20 décembre 2007.