Lulu von Frank Wedekind

Here is the cover of a recent German edition of Frank Wedekind's Lulu. It was published by Königshausen & Neumann in 2006. It's an edition I haven't seen before. I like the fact that Lulu is so bored.

Louise Brooks & the F. Scott Fitzgerald connection

Though it's known that Louise Brooks met F Scott Fitzgerald (and his wife Zelda) on a couple of occasions, the connection between the two Jazz Age figures is slight. In terms of actresses of the time, Fitzgerald was much more interested in Colleen Moore, and Lois Moran. He wrote about each of these silent film stars.

Nevertheless, Louise Brooks (or at least the image of Louise Brooks) is becoming increasingly linked to the life and works of the celebrated author. This fact came to my attention moments ago when I noticed the amazon Kindle edition of Fitzgerald's Flappers and Philosophers features Louise Brooks. That edition is depicted below.



I know of at least two other editions of Fitzgerald's works which features Brooks on the cover. They are both British softcover editions of the author's novels. And, of course, me being me, I collect such things. Its interesting to note that there are nearly enough books with Brooks on the cover (not about or by the actress) to fill a bookshelf. 

The It Girl

Speaking of flappers. The Atlanta Lyric Theatre is presenting "The It Girl" March 6th through the 22th at the Strand Theatre. The company's website describes their production this way:

This flapper musical is a light-hearted tribute to silent movies and Clara Bow that reinvents her 1927 film about a sassy department store salesclerk who wins an advertising contest held to find the girl with the elusive, thrilling quality known as "It." Among those she enchants with sexy charm is the heir to the retail empire that employs her.

Tickets range from $32 to $38 and season ticket packages are available through The Lyric box office at (404) 377-9948 or www.atlantalyrictheatre.com.

What caught the attention of Colleen Moore scholar Jeff Codori was the depiction of a flapper used in promoting the stage production. She is a Louise Brooks look-alike, complete with a bob haircut and strand of pearls.
 

"Show-Off" staged in Ann Arbor, MI

The Show-Off, the popular stage play by George Kelly which was the basis for the 1926 Louise Brooks film of the same name, is being staged at the University of Michigan - reports the Ann Arbor News. In recounting the remarkable history of this celebrated but now seldom staged work, the local newspaper noted

"The Show-Off" was the judges' choice for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the year it premiered on Broadway, but Columbia University, which awards the prize, scandalously rejected the recommendation and instead awarded the prize to Columbia faculty member Hatcher Hughes for his play, "Hell Bent for Heaven." (Seemingly, as a kind of "make-up call," Kelly received a Pulitzer in 1926 for his play, "Craig's Wife.")

The article didn't mention the 1926 Brooks' film or subsequent movies with Spencer Tracy (1934) or Red Skelton (1946). No matter, Ford Sterling will always be my favorite Aubrey Piper. More information on the production, which runs February 12th through the February 15th, can be found here.

No wonder they complained about nudity

The 1926 film, The American Venus, was the subject of complaints from various state and local censorship boards. The complaints, which often demanded cuts in the film, usually centered around "nudity." While I don't think there was actual nudity in the film (as the film is lost, we shall never know for certain), there does seem to have been a fair number of scantily clad bodies. And among them was Louise Brooks', as can be seen in this image currently for sale on eBay.

Lulu in London at BFI

Pandora's Box will be shown at the British Film Institute in London on March 11. Louise Brooks shines as the free-spirited, luminous Lulu. With specially commissioned live musical accompaniment from The Monroe Transfer. For more info, see http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/pandoras_box_2 

Wed 11 Mar 18:00 NFT1

A distinguished society man becomes enraged by jealously on his wedding day, with disastrous consequences.

Free-spirited and luminous, Lulu affects those around her like a flame attracting moths. When her affair with distinguished society man Dr Schön (Kortner) becomes public, he marries her. But already on his wedding day Schön is enraged by jealousy, with disastrous  consequences. Brooks plays Lulu with astonishing insouciance and impenetrable allure; the film reveals, in Lotte Eisner's words, 'the
miracle of Louise Brooks'.

Directed by: GW Pabst 
Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer 
Country: Germany 
Year: 1929 
Running time: c131min