Cyd Charisse Dies at Age 86

Cyd Charisse, the leggy beauty whose balletic grace made her a memorable dance partner for Gene Kelly in classic MGM musicals like Singin’ in the Rain, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. [Here is a link to various news articles.] For fans of Louise Brooks and early film, it was her role in Singin’ in the Rain (a musical look at Hollywood during the transition from silent to sound films) that stands out. In that classic film, Charisse plays a dancer who affects the look of a flapper - intentionally with a "Louise Brooks" bob. In memorium, here is a clip from that 1952 film featuring Charisse.



If you haven't seen Singin’ in the Rain, go out and get it today. It is a wonderful film!

Matthew J. Bruccoli

The Louise Brooks Society notes the passing of literary scholar Matthew Bruccoli. He is considered the world's leading scholar on F. Scott Fitzgerald, and was expert on many of the writer's of the Jazz Age and the inter-war period. His 1981 biography of Fitzgerald, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, is recommended. I have read that book, as well as other Bruccoli authored or edited books like The Romantic Egoists, as well as various volumes of Fitzgerald's fiction, letters and notebooks. To me, Bruccoli was a hero.

Besides being a scholar, teacher, writer, and publisher, Bruccoli was also a collector. He and his wife accumulated books, manuscripts, letters and other materials by and about writers. His Fitzgerald collection, valued at more than 2 million dollars, was donated to the University of South Carolina. Bruccoli collected not out of greed or the compulsion to own something (like some collectors), but for the love of the subject. “It was collecting in order to contribute to future scholarship,” is the way one fellow academic put it.

I never met Bruccoli, but was able to pass along a few questions to him about Louise Brooks through my late friend, the book dealer Allen Milkerit. Whenever Bruccolli would come to the San Francisco  Bay Area (one of his children lived here), he would visit Allen's bookshop. On my behalf, Allen asked him if he knew anything more about Fitzgerald's and Brooks' encounter. (He did not.) Nevertheless, Allen was able to get a bunch of my Bruccolli books signed for me. Thank you Allen. I will always treasure those. [And thank you Matthew Bruccoli for all of your great work.]

I have included a link above to the New York Times obituary. Here is a link to the Washington Post obit. And here is a link to the obit in The State. And lastly, here is a link to a page detailing his academic accomplishments from the University of South Carolina, where he taught for many years.

What About Bob's

There is an article in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch about bobs - the history and "meaning" of the hairstyle. The article was written because a touring version of Thoroughly Modern Millie is showing in town. (I remember seeing a portrait of Louise Brooks on the set of the play's New York production some years back.) If anyone sees the St. Louis production, please let me know.

Anna May Wong

Did anyone see the documentary about Anna May Wong on TCM ? Did anyone notice a portrait of Louise Brooks on the wall behind Philip Leibfried as Leibfried spoke and the credits rolled? Was it Brooks, or Wong ?

Wong was incredibly beautiful. It too bad her acting talent was wasted in so many dismal films. I do like Piccadilly, and Shanghai Express, though.

A Lulu in Ottawa

The Ottawa Citizen reports that a new play, based on Frank Wedekind's Lulu plays, is now playing at the National Arts Centre in the Canadian capital. The play, titled "Ce qui meurt en dernier," was written by Normand Chaurette.  According to the Ottawa Citizen

Now Normand Chaurette has revived Wedekind's characters for Ce qui meurt en dernier (That which dies last), his first new play since 2001. Last year, Chaurette's friend and longtime collaborator Denis Marleau suggested that Chaurette write something for the actress Christiane Pasquier. The author was inspired by Pasquier's electrifying performance as Countess Martha von Geschwitz in a Lulu staging Marleau had directed a dozen years ago. The result is essentially a one-hour, virtuoso monologue for one of Canada's greatest stage actresses.

A passing reference to Louise Brooks is made in the article. I would be interested to know if any reader of this blog has seen the production. [More on the play can be found here and here.]

Chance favors the prepared mind

There is a saying, "Chance favors the prepared mind."

The other day I was organizing my past and future interlibrary loan requests. I am nearly through with my research, and would say that I have requested about 98% of the material I had hoped to examine. Among the items I was planning to look at was Shinko eiga, a Japanese film journal dating from the late 1920's. [I have looked at a few years worth of Movie Times, another Japanese movie magazine dating from the silent film era. It was a mostly Japanese language fan type publication, which included bits of English-language text and lots of pictures. The University of Chicago library has a long run of the publication. And the University of California, Davis has a shorter run. I have been to each library to examine copies.]

I figured I had better do a little research about Shinko eiga, to find out exactly when it started, what it covered, and most importantly, who might have copies which I might be able to borrow. And so, I googled the title. And came to a page on the University of Michigan's website devoted to the school's Center for Japanese Studies and it's prewar proletarian film movements collection. It is an amazing page, full of scans of Japanese film magazines dating from the late 1920's and early 1930's. I downloaded a few issues in order to check them out - to get a feel for what these publications were like.

I don't read the language, and can't tell what they are about. But I do understand pictures. And while skimming through the April 1930 issue of Shinko eiga I came across this page. I downloaded this particular issue because the web page synopsis stated the issue contained a "Special section on women, with several essays written by women. Opinions of filmmakers whose work was cut by the censors." That sounded intrigueing!

The picture of Louise Brooks - which I was so delighted to find (chance favors the prepared mind) - is from Pandora's Box. Perhaps this is some sort of review or article about the film, which was released in Europe just a years before ? Or perhaps it is about Brooks' role in the film? I just don't know. What also intrigued me was the fact that this publication was founded by the Proletarian Film League of Japan, a decidedly left leaning group. And the director of Pandora's Box, G.W. Pabst, was a known to have left leaning sympathies. [I once came across an article about Pabst in a similar German publication from the period.]

If anyone can tell me what this page is about, I would be very grateful. The image included above can be found on page 58 of the pdf of Shinko Eiga 2.4 (April 1930). Interested individuals or translators can check out the entire article. Whatever it turns out to be, it's a nice find.

[Individuals interested in world film history will want to check out the University of Michigan web page noted above. There is an issue of Eiga No Eiga (January 1928) which is devoted to Charlie Chaplin! Other issues and articles can be found devoted to Eisenstein and Pudovkin, etc....]

The glance

A reason for the bob

About every review of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull has mentioned the haircut worn by Cate Blanchett's character - a severe bob a la Louise Brooks. (Similarly, many reviews of Christina Ricci's role in the recent Speedracer also mentioned her Brooks-like bob.) Well, those references to Brooks and her famous haircut are just that, references. No big deal - they show up on my "Louise Brooks news alert."

Well, it turns out there is a reason after all for Blanchett's (aka CB) hairstyle. In a recent interview with Cinematical, director George Lucas (aka GL) revealed his regard for Louise Brooks.

Was that hairdo an homage to somebody specifically in the fifties?

CB: Well, Vidal Sassoon. ...

GL: I'm a big fan of Louise Brooks, a big fan of the bob, and I couldn't resist. I just had to get that in a movie.

CB: I didn't resist.

GL: Just something that had to happen.

I wish I had known. I once went to the Skywalker Ranch north of San Francisco. And I was impressed by the silent film movie memorabilia on display. None of it was Brooks related, but there was stuff belonging to Rudolph Valentino, the Keystone cops, etc..... George Lucas wasn't there at the time. But had I known of his interest in Brooks, I would have left him a LBS button. George, write to me . . . . I have an idea for a film.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

Microsoft announced Friday that it was ending a project to scan millions of books and scholarly articles and make them available on the Web. It's expected that it's book search site will be taken down sometime this week. So far, Microsoft said it had digitized 750,000 books and indexed 80 million journal articles. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may . . . .

Both Microsoft and Google have been scanning older books that have fallen into the public domain, as well as copyright-protected books under agreements with some publishers. I have used both sites in researching Louise Brooks, Frank Wedekind, silent film, and Jazz Age topics. And, I have found a bunch of stuff - including vintage reviews of Brooks' films in obscure trade journals like Educational Screen. I was also able to download a whole lot of early books on film. It's a pleasure to have Movies and Conduct, a book from 1933 about the effect of the movies on youth. (Louise Brooks is mentioned.)

Admittedly, I am an information junkie. Microsoft's discontinuation of this project is a sad thing.

Unusually unusual

Here is something you don't see everyday - as a matter of fact, it's a somewhat uncommon image. A copy is available on eBay.

Pandora's Box on cable

Pandora's Box, the 1929 German film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown on the Ovation cable channel tonight at 8 and 11 pm. Check your local listings. Follow this link for a bit more information from the Ovation website.

RadioLulu update

I regret to report that broadcasters still have not been able to reach agreement with SoundExchange over an acceptable performance royalty rate for internet radio stations like RadioLulu. Fortunately, supporters in Congress are getting frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations and are finally taking action.

This Thursday, May 15th, Senator Sam Brownback will be offering an amendment to include the Internet Radio Equality Act (IREA) provisions into legislation being considered by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. As you may remember, IREA was a bill introduced last year to cap royalties at 7.5% of Internet radio revenues.

A fair and reasonable royalty rate is needed now more than ever. Together with Live365, RadioLulu and 6,000 other small webcasters are streaming hundreds of diverse musical artists and genres that simply can't be heard on AM/FM dials. But unless the royalty rate is lowered to the same rate as other radio media, we will always be at a competitive disadvantage with higher costs and fewer listeners.

RadioLulu needs your help to support the IREA bill. So, please take a minute and go to www.savenetradio.org to fire off a quick email or phone call to your Senator. Unless we all raise our voices, the corporate greed of major labels will triumph over small webcasters that broadcast diverse musical genres and talent.

Help protect RadioLulu and internet radio for small webcasters!

Sincerely

Liza Minelli

Liza Minelli, star of Cabaret - a film of interest to all those interested in Louise Brooks and the Weimar period, is currently in Forth-Worth, Texas, where she will be making an appearance at Bass Hall. The local paper, the Forth-Worth Star Telegram, asked the performer a few questions which were transcribed to today's edition. Minnelli mentions Louise Brooks in these excerpts.

Liza Minnelli has show business running through her veins. Not only does she have legendary parents -- Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli -- but she's an icon herself. Her storied career spans the latter half of the 20th century, and along the way she picked up numerous awards, including an Emmy, three Tonys, an Oscar for the 1972 film Cabaret and a "Grammy Legend Award" in 1990.

Minnelli is making her Bass Hall debut tonight, part of a weeklong celebration of the hall's 10th anniversary. Minnelli, who has been touring in Europe, will do her trademark material and will perform work from one of her mentors,  composer / musician / singer / actress Kay Thompson, who was a vocal coach for Garland, Lena Horne and Frank Sinatra, among others.

We asked her a few questions about the show and her career.

Is there anything autobiographical in this show?

I have to talk about my life when I talk about Kay. This is my godmother. I learned to appreciate music early because of her, and I learned from her joy of life, her pizzazz. She's my idol.

With show-business parents, was it a given that you would enter that world, too?

They were involved in Hollywood, so that was boring to me. I wanted to be an ice skater. I wanted to go to the Olympics. But then I saw Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway in 1960, and I knew that's what I wanted to do.

Do people assume that you had an easy route into show business?

They do. But I started off-Broadway, moving scenery. I did years of summer stock. I was a "flower who bloomed between the floorboards of the stage." Charles Aznavour told me that. You make it not because of your parents' success, but in spite of it. That's why so many people who are the sons and daughters of whoever don't make it, because it's too tough. What about Frank Sinatra Jr.?

I recently saw the movie Cabaret again, and it's still amazing. How did you approach the role of Sally?

I thought everybody in Germany looked like Marlene Dietrich. I thought "I'm going to pluck out all my eyebrows and dye my hair blonde." I went to my father, like I usually did, and he showed me all those great stars from the '20s. I saw Louise Brooks and my hair was brunette.

In soft focus

From archiv nega

Another article about an accompaniest

The Bangor Daily News ran an article yesterday about film pianist Harry Weiss, who as it turns out, has accompanied such "darker classics" as Pandora's Box. Check out the article here.

Weiss now lives in Bangor, Maine where he will be playing tonight for a screening of The Battleship Potemkin at the Bangor Opera House.

Beggars tonight in NYC

This short write-up appeared in today's New York Times.  I wish I could be there for this special screening . . . . 

THE MONT ALTO MOTION PICTURE ORCHESTRA We are lucky enough in New York City to have a handful of highly talented pianists who are experts in the subtle, self-effacing art of providing accompaniment to silent films. But it’s a particular pleasure to hear silent-film music as it was actually performed in most of the first-run theaters of that era — which is to say, by an orchestra.

The five-member Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, based in Louisville, Colo., and led by Rodney Sauer, can be heard on several silent-film DVDs, but the group will offer its first live performance in Manhattan on Friday at Lincoln Center, accompanying two films of high interest in themselves: Harold Lloyd’s 1927 comedy “The Kid Brother” (6 p.m.) and William A. Wellman’s rarely screened 1928 social drama “Beggars of Life” (9 p.m.), with Louise Brooks (above, with Richard Arlen) as a young woman who kills her abusive stepfather and, to escape the police, disguises herself as a boy and joins a group of tramps.

Mr. Sauer specializes in compiling scores from the authentic photoplay music of the period, drawing on the work of neglected composers like Gaston Borch and J. S. Zamecnik; the results are often breathtakingly beautiful and always in the strict service of the film on the screen. (Friday at 6 and 9 p.m., Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, 212-975-5600, filmlinc.org; $20.) DAVE KEHR

A new book

There is a new book out about silent film - and what's more, in mentions Louise Brooks (and the Louise Brooks Society). Sounds like a good read to me.

Beggars of Life in NYC

Beggars of Life (1928) will be shown at the Film Society at Lincoln Center theater this Friday (that's April 25th). The print to be screened is the newly restored version from the George Eastman House - so don't miss it. More information can be found here.

Golden Silents: The Kid Brother and Beggars of Life
Friday, April 25, 2008 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm

The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra onstage accompanying screenings of two silent film greats: Harold Lloyd at 6pm in The Kid Brother and Louise Brooks at 9pm in Beggars of Life.

The Kid Brother
Ted Wilde, US, 1927; 83m
Harold Lloyd was the most successful comedian of the silent era, more popular than Buster Keaton and in more films than Charlie Chaplin. In his comic masterpiece The Kid Brother, Lloyd plays Harold Hickory, the youngest son in a family of burly mountain lawmen. When Mary Powers (Jobyna Ralston) arrives in town with a medicine show, it sets brother against brother in one of the finest––and funniest––of all the silent comedies. Guaranteed fun for the whole family. Fri Apr 25: 6 

Beggars of Life
William A. Wellman, US, 1928; 82m
Louise Brooks plays an abused orphan on the run from the police. She dresses as a man, befriends hobo Richard Arlen, hops a freight train and hides in a hobo camp run by Wallace Beery. But which man is helping her escape to Canada, and which is after the $1000 reward? Beggars of Life is a well-crafted thriller with a straightforward look at 1920s hobo life. Special thanks to The Film Foundation for their funding of the George Eastman House restoration of this film. Fri Apr 25: 9


The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra creates film scores in the same way it was done in the silent film era, selecting music for each scene from their large library of historic “photoplay music.” With five-piece orchestration typical of smaller movie houses of the day, Mont Alto has scored over 50 films since 1994, performing at historic theaters and film festivals around the country.

The year-round Golden Silents series is made possible through the generosity of the Ira M. Resnick Foundation. Golden Silents is programmed by Sayre Maxfield.

Louise Brooks blog theme

Looking for a Louise Brooks blog theme? Look no further than here. It's nice!            

Stuart Oderman

There is a wonderful article about Stuart Oderman in the April 20th issue of Newark Star-Ledger. The article, "Silents Are Golden Pianist carves a career out of the era before the talkies," can be accessed here. 

Who is Stuart Oderman? Not only is he one of the great silent film accompanists, as well as an author of books of interest to silent film buffs - but he is also the performer of my very, very, very favorite score / musical accompaniment to Pandora's Box. That score can be found on 2000 VHS release by Homevisions. That was the first Louise Brooks film I ever saw - and the first version of Pabst's Pandora's Box I ever saw. Not only did I fall in love with Louise Brooks, but I also came under the spell of the musical atmosphere created by Oderman. So much so, that I recorded the score on my tape recorder so I could listen to it whenever ever I wanted. I still have that tape.



Oderman's score led me to discover Debussy, Satie, Chopin, and others. And late 19th century and early 20th century piano music is a favorite. (Brooks was fond of Debussy, was she not?)

I once spoke to Oderman on the phone. He was a gracious man, and was patient with my questions. [He did meet Louise Brooks.] He is one of last living links to the films and stars of the silent film era. Read the article about him to find out more.

Louise Brooks in London exhibit

A portrait of Louise Brooks is included in the Edward Steichen exhibit currently on display at the National Portrait gallery in London, England.  For more about the exhibit, see http://www.npg.org.uk/vanityfair/index.htm

French radioprogram on Louise Brooks

Thank you Pascal, who pointed me to this webpage for a radiofrance program on Louise Brooks. The program, "Louise Brooks, l'insoumise d'Hollywood par Véra Feyder," can be accessed by the headphone link on the top right of the page. (The RealMedia program, which aired on April 13th, starts with a pop song.) The program is in French, of course, and seems to be some sort of dramatization. The cast includes

LOUISE BROOKS : Béatrice Agénin

UN REPORTER : Stéphane Valensi

MARION DAVIES : Véra Feyder

MARY BROOKS : Evelyne Guimmara

PABST : Georges Claise

JAMES CARD : Patrice Bornan

GENINA : Lucciano Travaglino

Présentation : Stéphanie Duncan

Prise de son et mixage : Olivier Dupré

Montage : Adrien Roch

Assistante : Virginie Mourthé

REALISATION : Jacques Taroni

Can any of the many French speaking fans of Louise Brooks give a sense of what this program is all about?

Midnight Palace

The Midnight Palace website has a long new article about Louise Brooks. Read it here.

Mike Doughty, Musician

Mike Doughty should be familiar to fans of Louise Brooks. The alt-rock singer-songwriter fronted the great alt-rock ("deep slacker jazz") group Soul Coughing in the 1990's. In 1998, they released El Oso, which contained "St. Louise is Listening," a musical homage to Louise Brooks. It's also well known that Doughty sports a tattoo of the actress on his arm. 

Doughty is now a solo musician, and as I understand it, on tour promoting his new album, Golden Delicious. There was an interview with the musician on the Gothamist website. In the interview, the musician is asked

On the album El Oso, there’s a song called "St. Louise is Listening." Who is St. Louise?

Louise Brooks, the silent film star. 'The Eskimo' mentioned in the second verse is a real character from her life, a Parisian faux-aristocrat.

If you have a chance, check him out on tour. Or check out his website at www.mikedoughty.com/  [I have never met the musician, though I did communicate with him via email a number of years ago while Soul Coughing was around. He seems like a fine fellow. And I like his music. The Louise Brooks Society was even one of his top friends on his Myspace page.]

Silent Film Fest 2008

Here's what's coming up this July at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. . . . I hope to be there.

LEGENDARY STARS AND DIRECTORS RETURN TO THE BIG SCREEN AT 13TH SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2008 - Harold Lloyd, Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, Colleen Moore, Teinosuke Kinugasa and Carl Theodor Dreyer are just a few of the legendary stars and directors who will return to the big screen, all accompanied by live music, at The 13th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival, July 11-13. “Many of the filmmakers and actors whose films were featuring this year were groundbreaking artists and stars of the first magnitude in the 1920s,” said Artistic Director Stephen Salmons.

The enduring vitality of their movies will be given added emphasis at this years festival with the debut of a new program: Directors Pick, at which a contemporary filmmaker will present a favorite silent film. To inaugurate the series, Guy Maddin director of The Saddest Music in the World, Brand Upon the Brain! and My Winnipeg will preside over a late-night screening of Tod Brownings horror-ode to unrequited love, THE UNKNOWN (1927), starring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford. It’s practically my favorite silent film, Guy Maddin said. I lead off my syllabus with that film every year, I love it so.

Also appearing at this year’s event to share his enthusiasm for the silent era will be famed movie historian and critic Leonard Maltin, who said of the festival, “(Its) a shining example of how to present great films, rarities, and informational conversations about film preservation for a large and appreciative audience.”

Other highlights of this year’s three-day, thirteen-program celebration of silent film include the Opening Night Presentation of Harold Lloyds comedy THE KID BROTHER (1927), to be shown in a beautiful tinted print from the UCLA Film & Television Archive. “It’s the perfect opener because it has everything: a great story, characters we genuinely care about, romance, action and, of course, non-stop laughs,” Salmons said. Lloyd considered it to be his best film, and its hailed as his masterpiece.

The number one box-office attraction of 1926 will make her debut appearance at the festival: Colleen Moore, star of HER WILD OAT (1927), a fast-paced, wise-cracking romantic comedy. Few of Colleen Moores films survive in any form, and HER WILD OAT was among the lost until two years ago, when a 35mm print was located in the Czech National Film Archive and given a major restoration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archive. “We’re excited to present this film because it’s both a wonderful showcase for Colleen Moore’s effervescent comedic skills, and it’s a first-rate example of what we all gain from film preservation,” said Salmons.

Several directors of major significance will be featured at the festival for the first time, including Japanese innovator Teinosuke Kinugasa, represented by the expressionist tour-de-force JUJIRO (CROSSWAYS, 1928), and Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer, whose profoundly powerful drama MIKA’ (1924) - a landmark in the history of gay cinema - will be presented.

“In the thirteen years that we’ve produced the festival, we’ve screened more than 100 films,” Salmons said. “But there are still many legendary names whose films we have yet to show.”

“Even those making return appearances at the festival, such as Harold Lloyd and Lon Chaney, are familiar to us today mostly through DVD,” Salmons added. But you really can’t know just how fresh, exciting and masterful these pictures are until you experience them on the big screen with live music and an attentive, revved-up crowd - the way they were originally seen.

The 13th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival opens on Friday, July 11 and runs through Sunday, July 13 at the Castro Theatre, located at 429 Castro Street in San Francisco. Complete program details and information on how to purchase tickets will be announced in late May at www.silentfilm.org. The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting silent film as an art form and as a cultural and historical record.

$4.1 Million of Hollywood Memorabilia Sold at Auction

Profiles in History offered over more than 1000 iconic Hollywood items at a two day Hollywood memorabilia auction, which took place March 27 & 28, 2008.  Here are some of the highlights

$345,000.00 King Kong six-sheet movie poster.
$126,500.00 Leaping Alien Warrior figure from Aliens.
$115,000.00 "Ming the Merciless" cape from Flash Gordon. (Univ., 1936)
$115,000.00 Hydraulic screen-used Velociraptor from The Lost World: Jurassic Park II.
$103,500.00 Michael Keaton's complete "Batman" costume from Batman Returns.
$97,750.00 Pteranodon display with a full set of Pteranodon babies from Jurassic Park III.
$74,750.00 Shanghai Express three-sheet poster (Paramount, 1932).
$74,750.00 Robin Sachs screen-used Sarris costume from Galaxy Quest.
$69,000.00 John Wayne costume from She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.
$57,500.00 Louise Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl [Tagebuch] German one-sheet poster.
$51,750.00 Julie Andrews signature coat from Mary Poppins.
$48,875.00 Danny DeVito "Penguin" display study from Batman Returns.
$46,000.00 Greta Garbo portrait by Edward Steichen from A Woman of Affairs.
$46,000.00 Bob Keeshan jacket and pants worn as "Captain Kangaroo".
$43,125.00 James Cauty Lord of the Rings original drawing "iconic masterpiece of the psychedelic era".
$43,125.00 Trio of costumes worn byBruce Willis,Milla Jovovich & Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element.
$43,125.00 Halle Berry hero "Storm" battlesuit from X-Men.
$43,125.00 James Marsden hero "Cyclops" battlesuit from X-Men.
$43,125.00 Screen-used purple Thermian from Galaxy Quest.
$40,250.00 No One Man three-sheet poster.
$37,375.00 Screen-used Baby Stegosaur from The Lost World: Jurassic Park II.
$37,375.00 Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster.
$34,500.00 Triceratops screen-used head from The Lost World: Jurassic Park II.
$34,500.00 Screen-used Velociraptor insert head from Jurassic Park III.
$34,500.00 The Wolf Man one-sheet poster.
$34,500.00 Alien Queen maquette from Aliens.
$34,500.00 Full-scale Velociraptor display study from Jurassic Park III.
$31,625.00 Maltese Falcon window card.
$31,625.00 Baby T-Rex display study from The Lost World: Jurassic Park II.
$31,625.00 Dilophosaurus display study from Jurassic Park.

A social celebrity in evening clothes

Louise Brooks: a social celebrity in evening clothes

Scottish Screen Archive puts clips online

For those who like this kind of thing, the Scottish Screen Archive has placed a catalog of its holdings online. And what's more, there are many film clips available for online viewing. The site is available at http://ssa.nls.uk/

Actually, the site is a catalog of Scottish films. You can browse the catalog by place, subject, biography, or decade (the clips go back to the 1890s, though most of the clips seem to be from the 1950s and 1960s). Or, you can search by other factors. You can also limit your search to those results which have clips, and/or those clips to which the Library has copyright or can clear copyright.

The catalog pages for each film are extensive. In addition to name, date, length, etc..., there’s also an extensive listing with time markers. Clips are embedded on the right side of the page. There are descriptions for those clips as well. Most of the catalog pages have multiple clips available. Underneath the embedded clips are copyright notifications and suggestions — based on topic — for other film catalog pages which might prove interesting. Though Louise Brooks is not to be found, the site is well worth checking out.

A new edition

Today, I received the German-language edition of Peter Cowie's Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever. I had ordered it over eBay from a German retailer who was selling them at a slightly reduced price.

This edition was published by Schirmer/Mosel in 2006. It is, of course, nearly identical to the English language edition published in the United States, except the text in the Schirmer/Mosel edition is in German. I just had to have a copy. (I have four or five different language editions of Lulu in Hollywood.) The main difference is the dustjacket, which has a slightly different design. (That design is NOT the one that shows up on www.amazon.de)

Jim Tully

Over the weekend, I received word that something of a Jim Tully revival can be expected this Fall. Tully, as readers of this blog may know, was the author of Beggars of Life, the novel which became the 1928 film of the same name starring Louise Brooks. Just last year, that film was transferred to 35mm and is now enjoying it's own revival in theaters across the country.

Tully was a colorful character as well as a popular writer in the 1920's and 1930's. Gritty and forceful, he also left his mark on some of the hard-boiled writers who followed in his wake. (Some might consider him the Charles Bukowski of his day?) This Fall's revival will see the long awaited release of the first ever biography of the writer by Kent State University press, as well as the reissue of a handful of Tully's seminal books including Beggars of Life, Circus Parade and others. I have been in touch with the biographers, and can't wait to read their book. I will post additional updates as warranted.

p.s. Louise Brooks and Jim Tully met during the filming of Beggars of Life, and from accounts of the time, Brooks did not care for Tully and his gruff manner.

Raymond Kennedy (1934-2008)

Raymond Kennedy, a writer known for his dark, absurdist novels, died last week in Brooklyn. He was 73. Kennedy was the author of the 1988 novel Lulu Incognito. More about the author and his work can be found in this article in the New York Times. The New York Sun also ran an article on the writer.

Louise Brooks on "Lost"

Silent film star Louise Brooks makes an "appearance" on tonight's episode of Lost, the ABC series about a group of castaways on a mysterious island. Continuing the tradition of using a well-placed book to provide clues to the mysteries of the hit show, tonight's episode features the character Sawyer reading the New York Review of Books edition of The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Cesares, which features Brooks on the cover.

Though I posted the cover of the book in my previous entry (on the passing of novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet ), here it is again.

Alain Robbe-Grillet, 85, French Author, Is Dead

Alain Robbe-Grillet, an author and filmmaker who was one of France’s most important avant-garde writers, died on Monday. He was 85 years old. As a novelist, Robbe-Grillet helped establish the New Novel, a genre that rejected conventional storytelling. As a screenwriter, he was best known for his work on Alain Resnais’s Last Year at Marienbad (1961), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

The film was considered "an enigmatic work whose characters, often bored and identified only by initials, live in an otherworldly chateau, not sure whether they are planning seductions or remembering them." Last Year at Marienbad was "released in the United States in early 1962 and became one of the most talked-about art films of the year."

What's the Louise Brooks connection? Last Year at Marienbad was inspired by Adolpho Bioy Casares 1940 novella, The Invention of Morel, one of whose central characters was in turn inspired by Louise Brooks. That connection is spelled out in Thomas Beltzer's rather interesting essay, "Last Year at Marienbad: An Intertextual Meditation."

(More about Alain Robbe-Grillet can be found here and possibly here.)

Lulu in Derbyshire

Pandora's Box, the 1929 film starring Louise Brooks, will be screened in Derbyshire in England on February 27, according to a brief mention in the February 15th Daily Telegraph. 

The Cinema Expose season continues on February 27 with a screening of the silent classic Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. There will be musical accompaniment by Derbyshire musician John Hodson.

For more information call 01332 340170.

Babes Whose Babeness Matters

What's most amusing, or perhaps interesting, about City Paper's recent article about the most beautiful actresses of all time is Louise Brooks' inclusion. It's not that I don't think she belongs - but the company that she keeps is a rather odd mix. There's Sally Field, Clara Bow, Alyson Hannigan, Maila Nurmi, Traci Lords, Summer Glau, etc.....) This is what the  alternative weekly had to say about Brooks (who ranked 17th):

17) Louise Brooks

An ethereally beautiful booze hound with a salty tongue and caustic wit that rivaled Dorothy Parker's, Louise Brooks disappeared from film after 1938--but not without leaving a permanent mark in the shape of her trademark spit-curled bob. The quintessential flapper, bristling with wry, intelligent sexuality. See Pandora's Box. (EF)

Check out the article and see for yourself.

Isn't it splendid?

Thank you to Meredith who pointed out that this picture of Louise Brooks ran in yesterday's Guardian newspaper. THe British newspaper ran this piece in anticipation, I believe, of a forthcoming Edward Steichen exhibit. Isn't it splendid?

Secrets of a Soul

Secrets of a Soul, a G.W. Pabst film made just three years before Pandora's Box, is coming to DVD in February. Kino will release the film around mid-month. Here is the product description:

A Psychoanalytic Thriller Restored by the Munich Film Museum and the F.W. Murnau Foundation. In the 1920s, film studios around the world sought to capitalize on the public s curiosity about the newborn science of psychoanalysis. In 1925, Hans Neumann (of Ufa s Kulturfilm office) contacted members of Sigmund Freud s inner circle with a plan to make a dramatic film that explores the mystifying process of the interpretation of dreams. With the help of noted psychologists Karl Abraham and Hanns Sachs, and under the direction of G.W. Pabst (Pandora s Box), SECRETS OF A SOUL was completed. Werner Krauss, who had played the deranged Dr. Caligari six years earlier, stars as a scientist who is tormented by an irrational fear of knives and the irresistible compulsion to murder his wife. Driven to the brink of madness by fantastic nightmares (designed by Ernö Metzner and photographed by Guido Seeber in a brilliant mix of expressionism and surrealism), he encounters a psychoanalyst who offers to treat the perplexing malady.

Lulu in Dublin

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, will be screened at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival on February 24th. This page contains additional information on the film and screening.

http://dubliniff.ticketsolve.com/performances/performances_for_show/10398

Pandora's Box
24th Feb 2008 at 14:30
133 mins / Savoy theatre

"It’s hard to say quite how much one of the great, late masterpieces of the silent era, G.W. Pabst’s extraordinary, erotic and tragic adaptation/conflation of two Wedekind plays, Pandora’s Box, owes to the electrifying, photogenic and iconic presence of the Kansas-born actress Louise Brooks. It’s an Expressionist-Realist walk with love and death, as the sensual and erotic charge of a Berlin prostitute and Kurfürstendamm revue artist sets herself and all who come in contact with her into a destructive social, emotional and physical spiral, ending with her swooning embrace of Thanatos in the person of a mythical, murderous Jack the Ripper. But it may not have seemed quite so modern, vital and powerful, had Pabst chosen, say, Dietrich, or any of the rumoured 2,000 others who the German director screen-tested for the role of the arch femme-fatale, Lulu. In the words of German critic Lotte Eisner, Wedekind’s Lulu was endowed with an ‘animal beauty, but lacking all moral sense, and doing evil unconsciously’. Brooks had the animal beauty alright – and a modicum of self-destructiveness, as her biographical writings testify – but it is her qualities of intelligence and sheer vitality as Lulu, not her putative ‘reflective passivity’, that ensures that her performance seems as exciting and fresh, as well as disturbingly enigmatic, transgressive and deeply moving, today as it did in 1928. That does not diminish, however, the importance of Pabst’s artistry: his psychological insights, atmospheric use of chiaroscuro lighting and thrilling mise-en-scène, not to mention his taboobreaking audacity in flaunting this ‘corn-fed Hollywood flapper’ and exposing the dark appetites and hypocrisies found in the dank, pansexually decadent salons of Weimar Berlin. All offer a perfect context in which Lulu can dazzle and entice, if not – to borrow the line Nic Ray coined in 1949’s Knock on Any Door’ – ‘to live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse’. - Wally Hammond, Time Out London"

"*3EPKANO are a Dublin based, seven piece band/ensemble who specialise in producing original and innovative soundtracks for films from the silent movie era. The band were formed in early 2004 by Matthew Nolan and Cameron Doyle. The line-up includes 2 electric guitars, bass guitar, keyboards/ organ, drums/percussion, cello and viola – the music is minimalist, guitar based, and almost entirely instrumental."

Something I found

While cruising around the world wide web, I came across a Greek CD released last year (I think) which has everything to do with Louise Brooks. From  what I have been able to find, the song cycle is based on Pandora's Box, the film by G.W. Pabst. Or perhaps, it is somesort of "sound track" or musical accompaniment to the film.  This page has some information on the composer, Sakis Papadimitriou, who has released a few discs inspired by silent films. While this page has additional information on the disc. I haven't yet heard The Song of Lulu, but hope to soon. Might anyone know anything more about this recording?

The Fat Man

I thought you all would like to know that The Fat Man graphic novel project has a brand new web site which features a 50 page preview of this forthcoming work. I mention it because this graphic novel - which features time travel, secret agents, Nazi's and more - even includes Louise Brooks as a character. I have already pre-ordered a copy. More information, sample pages, and more can be found at www.the-fat-man.co.uk

Withnail and I

Steve, a Facebook friend, alerted me to this youtube.com clip from Withnail and I, a 1987 British comedy starring Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann. Perhaps it is because McGann is a well-known Louise Brooks fan that her picture pops up in the kitchen scene in this short clip. Check it out. [The film is at the top of my Netflix cue.]

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.