Dear Stinkpot

Publisher BearManor Media has announced the forthcoming publication of Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks, by Jan Wahl. I can't wait! It should be out in a few weeks.

Harry Kollatz Jr.

Over the years, I've had the pleasure of meeting a handful of far-flung members of the Louise Brooks Society. And yesterday, I enjoyed meeting LBS member Harry Kollatz Jr. of Richmond, Virginia. Harry was visiting the San Francisco Bay Area - and is a journalist, author (Richmond in Ragtime) and the justly celebrated organizer of Lulupalooza in 2005.

Check out Harry's website at http://harrykollatz.com/

Jan Wahl updates

Last week I received a letter from author Jan Wahl. Among other things, he thanked me for my recent review of his recent book, and mentioned that very soon he will have another book out titled Dear Stinkpot Letters from Louise Brooks. Wow wow wow. And more on that later.

Jan also mentioned he is giving a talk in Toledo this month, in conjunction with an exhibit at the Walter E. Terhune Gallery at the Owens Community College Center for Fine and Performing Arts. I believe that's near Toledo, Ohio. More on those happenings here.

Louise Brooks il diavolo a Hollywood

La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, ran an article about or mostly about Louise Brooks in today's paper. The article, by Osvalda Guerrieri, is titled "Louise Brooks il diavolo a Hollywood."

"The Vanity"

Just finished reading "The Vanity," an unpublished story by a published writer which features a distant, almost ghostly Louise Brooks character. The story, which I enjoyed a good deal - it's a kind of gentle fantasy, reminded me of the work of Jack Finney. And what's more, the story contains a couple of incidental shout-outs to the Louise Brooks Society and myself. More on it when it gets published.

A youthful Louise Brooks

This unusual though not rare image of a youthful Louise Brooks is for sale on eBay. I have seen it before, though it has been seldom reproduced. According to the seller, it comes from the September 1925 issue of Arts and Decoration magazine. The portrait of Brooks, then a showgirl and likely no older than 18 years old at the time, is by John DeMirjian - the same photographer involved in the "draped nudes" scandal & lawsuit. The image was part of an article by the famous theater critic George Jean Nathan.

Another significant find!

On and off for more than a few years I have been searching for any sort of record regarding a couple of appearances Louise Brooks made in 1935. At the time, she was working as a ballroom dancer as part of a dance act known as Dario and Brooks.

In his biography, Barry Paris recounts a number of Brooks' dance performances. "Louise and Dario danced at the Place Pigalle for almost three months - until January 5, 1935 - a phenomenal run by dance-act standards. From there they went on tour, performing at the Embassy Club in Miami, the Patio in Palm Beach, and clubs in Indiana and Kentucky, returning to New York in between engagements at the Central Park Casino and the Capital Theatre . . . ."

Over the years, I have been able to find material (listings, advertisements, articles, etc...) about each of these performances. Sometimes, that material has been interesting and surprising. However, the only two performances I couldn't find material on were the appearances in Indiana and Kentucky. They were the two I had the least to go on.

Well, eureka. After more than a few years and a number of attempts, I finally found something on the Kentucky appearance. It took hours of looking through microfilm of Kentucky newspapers, scrolling and skimming and reading each day's paper for months on end. Here is what I found.

This plain advertisement may not seem like much, but it is the first record found on this particular 1935 engagement in Kentucky. I was thrilled to find it. And hopefully, I'll be able to uncover even more with additional searching. Now that I know when and where to look.