Who Are the Remaining Silent Film Stars?

According to an article in last Wednesday's British Guardian, "Who Are the Remaining Silent Film Stars," one of Louise Brooks' fellow actors from Pandora's Box is still alive. "Barbara Kent played the innocent heroine opposite Greta Garbo's vamp in Clarence Brown's Flesh and the Devil (1926) and Daisy D'Ora appeared as Fritz Kortner's bride in G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box (1928)." Wow, I hadn't known. I wonder if anyone has spoken to her recently about her experiences working on that film ?

A long time ago - perhaps around the time I started the Louise Brooks Society back in 1995 - I had the chance to see Francis Lederer at a Cinecon film convention in Hollywood. Lederer played Alwa - Brooks'  love interest, or at least one of them, in Pandora's Box. He was rather elderly then, but spoke after a screening and took questions from the audience. I really didn't have a chance to meet him, but did get his autograph in the convention program! Somewhere, I have a snapshot Lederer and myself.

The Guardian article also notes: "Among the other juvenile survivors are June Havoc, Virginia Davis (who took the lead in Walt Disney's Alice in Cartoonland series), future cinematographer Jack Cardiff and Helen Alice Myres and Diana Serra Cary, who were respectively better known as Baby Marie and Baby Peggy." In the past, I also had the chance to meet two of the stars mentioned, Virginia Davis and Diana Serra Cary (aka Baby Peggy).

Lulu in Marrakech

Recently, the New York Times ran a couple of reviews of the new Diane Johnson novel, Lulu in Marrakech. I haven't read the book, but it's title caught my attention because of the name of its title character. (Johnson's novel is described as a social comedy about a clueless young American woman named Lulu.) What also caught my attention was the newspaper's suggestion that the novel's main character has some connection to Louise Brooks and the character she once played, also named Lulu.

The first review, by Michiko Kakutani, noted ". . . the tone of the first two-thirds of Lulu in Marrakech (a title that gratuitously recalls Louise Brooks ’s collection of autobiographical writings, Lulu in Hollywood) is more in the vein of the author’s recent comedies of manners, Le Divorce, Le Mariage and L’Affaire.

While the second review, by Erica Wagner, begins, "There are some names you can’t ignore. When you find them attached to a particular fictional character, you can’t assume that blind coincidence prompted the writer’s choice. Call your girl-heroine Jane and there may be echoes of Jane Eyre, but the association is not forced on you. And a Cathy does not need to meet a Heathcliff. But the name Lulu? Lulu is a different story. Lulu has a pedigree. Even if the defiant anti­heroine of Frank Wedekind’s books isn’t at the forefront of your mind as you say the name out loud (your lips will purse, as if you’re about to kiss) there’s an innocent-yet-louche ring to it."

It's interesting that both reviews, published a day apart, both point to the name of Lulu and its cultural resonance. Has anyone read Diane Johnson's new novel?

Now We're in the Air

Autumn is coming, its getting chilly

Pittsburgh trunk shows to preview Bill Blass Lulu collection

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ran an article yesterday announcing a trunk show sale featuring designs inspired by Louise Brooks.

Fans of Bill Blass New York separates, knitwear and dresses can slip into the brand's latest fall and holiday designs -- about 300 pieces -- during upcoming trunk shows on the South Side and in Mt. Lebanon.

The late silent-movie actress Louise Brooks inspired the new Bill Blass New York holiday collection, dubbed "Lulu," with her "festive" and "seductive" image.

The autumn wear -- inspired by artists Anselm Kiefer and Zaha Hadid -- wraps women in colors such as "shadow" (grey brown), "coal" (deep black), "carmine" (terra cotta red), "regal" (rich purple) and "petrol" (charcoal/navy).

Anthony Bourdain's fantasy dinner

Celebrity chef and author has a letch for Louise Brooks. He has name-checked the silent film star a few times in interviews and articles. Bourdain mentioned Brooks again to a reporter for the New York Post.

Asked to describe the fantasy party he'd like to attend, the "Kitchen Confidential" chef tells Page Six Magazine in this Sunday's Post: "Chef Marco Pierre White and Keith Richards would be throwing something on the barbie in a back yard in Red Hook. Louise Brooks, the silent film actress, would be there, along with Ava Gardner, Orson Welles, [British spy] Kim Philby and the CIA director of counterintelligence."