Beggars of Life (1928)

Cliff Aliperti, who writes about classic film for examiner.com, just published a long piece on Beggars of Life (1928). Check it out at http://www.examiner.com/x-8826-NY-Classic-Movies-Examiner~y2009m6d22-Louise-Brooks-stars-in-William-Wellmans-Beggars-of-Life-1928

From Silents to Sound

A recent article for examiner.com briefly discusses Louise Brooks and some of the actors and actresses who worked both in silent and sound films. The article, a review of Roy Liebman's From Silents to Sound: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Performers Who Made the Transition to Talking Pictures (McFarland), can be found at www.examiner.com/x-7605-SF-Silent-Film-Examiner~y2009m6d16-From-silents-to-sound--book-details-tipping-point-in-Hollywood-history  Check it out!

Love Em and Leave Em to screen in Australia

Love Em and Leave Em, the delightful Louise Brooks film from 1926, will be shown on Sunday June 21at the Australian Cinémathèque, which is part of the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, one of the largest public art museums in Australia. For more information on the 11:00 am screening, visit http://qag.qld.gov.au/?a=71135

According to the email I received from Australian Cinémathèque, "The Cinémathèque is currently screening a film program titled ‘Hollywood on the Hudson’ accompanying the ‘American Impressionism and Realism, A Landmark Exhibition from The Met’, The Metropolitan Museum of the Arts, New York at the Queensland Art Gallery.

‘Hollywood on the Hudson’ film program features classic films from the 1920s and 1930s which encapsulate a rich, vibrant and culturally aware New York City at a time of great economic and social change. As part of this program we will be screening Love 'em and Leave 'em 1926 / Dir: Frank Tuttle starring Louise Brooks on 21 June. All films in the ‘Hollywood on the Hudson’ program are screened with free admission and no bookings are required. Silent films in the program, including Love 'em and Leave 'em 1926 are accompanied live by the Wurlitzer Organ."

Louise Brooks Beauty Shop

While scrolling through microfilm, I came across these old advertisements. One is for the Louise Beauty Shop in New York City. I wonder if Louise Brooks knew of it?

The other advertisement is is for a novel called Kinks, a "sensational novel about show business." I found a few copies available online for as little as $10.00. The one seller of a copy available in dustjacket reports that it featured ilustrations by Vargas.

A vintage Russian Lulu - at last

Following up on my May 9th posting, I put in a request for microfilm issues of the Moscow Daily News from 1932. My interlibrary loan request arrived, and today I spent the afternoon scrolling through three months of that English-language paper published in the fledgling Soviet Union. 

Fortunately, I found a number of advertisement for the showing of Lulu (aka Pandora's Box) at the Hermitage Garden Movie Theatre in June of 1932. Here is the sort of thing I uncovered. 




Unfortunately, I didn't find much else. The film ran for two weeks. I wasn't able to find any editorial comments about Lulu - beyond a listing under "Cinema Program." After it closed, Lulu was replaced by Aelita: Queen of Mars. A quick Google search of the venue - the Hermitage Garden Movie Theatre (at Karetni Ryad 3) - reveals that Anton Chekov mentioned a similarly named place in one of his earlier stories. As did the 20th century Russian writer Konstantin Paustovsky. (The venue may still be in use today, as an opera house?)

Interestingly, the advertisements - which ran every day during the film's two week run - mention neither Pandora's Box nor G.W. Pabst - only that it was a "German Art Film" "Featuring Louise Brooks." Each ad featured the same drawing of the actress, along with the notice that there was a "Continual showing from 12 noon. Last performance at 11:45. All tickets for last show at 1 ruble." 

Can anyone tell me anything more about this showing of Lulu ? Or the venue? Do any Russians read this blog?

Next, now that I have a date, I plan to put in some requests for Russian language newspapers from Moscow from the time. (This 1932 screening of Pandora's Box was not the first Louise Brooks film to be shown in the Soviet Union. The writer Ayn Rand reported having seen the 1926 film American Venus in the Soviet capital before she left the country.)

[Other interesting tidbits I came across in by scroll through the Moscow Daily News included an article on Richard Barthelmess, advertisements for a couple of Harold Lloyd films, one for Buster Keaton's The General, lots for various Soviet films unknown to me, and a report on a visit to Moscow by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who criticized a German film then playing in the Soviet city, Kuhle Vampe.)

Of related interest

Of related interest to my previous post is this article about silent film accompanist Dennis James athttp://www.examiner.com/x-7605-SF-Silent-Film-Examiner~y2009m5d25-Reviving-the-art-of-silent-film-one-note-at-a-time