New article on Louise Brooks

An article about Louise Brooks ran in today's Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Jack Garner's excellent article,  "Louise Brooks, star of the silent era, made plenty of noise in Hollywood," looks at Brooks' life in Rochester, New York and notes that  next week the George Eastman House will be screening a couple of Brooks' most celebrated films, Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) and Prix de Beaute (1930).

The article begins: ""There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich, there is only Louise Brooks!" That's what famed French film curator Henry Langlois once put on a giant banner to welcome Brooks to a Paris tribute. And, indeed, there are people who credit Brooks with being among the first great naturalistic actors in film history, as well as one of the most utterly sensual, even by today's standards."

It's a good newspaper article. Check it out here.

Reading

Recently, I finished reading Richard Schickel's D.W. Griffith: An American Life. Its a large biography - and deservedly so. Griffith had an amazing life. As Peter Bogdanovich noted in the New York Times Book Review, "Mr. Schickel's excellent and important biography makes it clear that when the movers of our century are tallied, D.W. Griffith, flawed genius that he was, can never lose his eminent position."

I am not sure what led me to decide to read this book. I am not fond of Griffith's films. I am aware of his historical importance, but I have never been drawn to his movies. They seem old fashioned, somewhat Victorian. As far as silent films are concerned, I prefer works from the 1920's. Nevertheless, I was really impressed by Schickel's biography. He tells the story of Griffith's life - his struggles as an actor and writer, his triumphs as a filmmaker, and his decline as an artist. And all of this is set against the backdrop of the emergance of film as an art form - of which Griffith was a leading pioneer.

Schickel's D.W. Griffith: An American Life is a great read. It is full of detail, balanced, and sympathetic. I would recommend it. I even found myself saddened by the end of the book. One day, I also hope to read Arthur Lennig's massive biography of Griffith, which is still in the works and is yet unpublished.



Currently, I am reading Marion Meade's biography of the writer Dorothy Parker, which is titled Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? I am about a third of the way through, and am enjoying it a good deal. This is the third Marion Meade book I will have read. The other two are Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties and Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase (a biography).

Margaret Livingston

Found on eBay:  A vintage postcard of actress Margaret Livingston, the actress who dubbed Louise Brooks' voice in The Canary Murder Case (1929). This image has its exotic attractions. 

RadioLulu

 

RadioLulu is a Louise Brooks-inspired online radio station broadcasting music of the Twenties through today. Listen by visiting here. Its free and fun.

What does RadioLulu play? This unique station features rare recordings from six of the actresses' films - including the haunting themes from Prix de Beaute and Beggars of Life. There's Maurice Chevalier's much-loved 1929 recording of "Louise," as well as other vintage tracks associated with the actress. RadioLulu also plays Brooks-inspired songs by contemporary artists such as Soul Coughing, Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark (OMD), Marillion, Ron Hawkins, and Sarah Azzarra.

Brooks co-stars and contemporaries are included among the rare recordings of silent film stars heard on RadioLulu. Interspersed throughout the more than 7 hours of programming are tracks by the likes of Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, Adolphe Menjou, Ramon Novarro, Dolores Del Rio, Lupe Velez, Bebe Daniels and others!

You'll also hear torch singers, Jazz Age crooners, dance bands, show tunes, and some real hot jazz! And there are tracks featuring the great Polish chanteuse Hanka Ordonówna (who brings to mind Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich), the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht (singing "Mack the Knife" in 1929), and the cartoonist Robert Crumb (playing on "Chanson por Louise Brooks").

And, you're unlikely to find a station that plays more tracks with "Lulu" in the song's title than the always eclectic and always entertainingRadioLulu! Give it a listen by visiting RadioLulu today!

Vintage fashion photograph

Found on eBay: "A STUNNING original vintage portrait fashion photograph of Louise Brooks circa 1927."

Louise Brooks

Dancer, writer, and silent film star Louise Brooks was born on this day in 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. Happy Birthday, Louise !

Joel from Amherst, New York emailed to let me know that Brooks' birthday was an "entertainment alert" from the History channel.