Come to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival!

CONSIDER THIS BLOG YOUR FIRST WARNING: The event to attend this summer for every fan of Louise Brooks is the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The event is scheduled to take place July 15th - 18th at the historic Castro Theater. For more info, visit the SFSFF website at www.silentfilm.org.

I really can't say much more, but Louise Brooks will shine at this special event - a gathering a like-minded silent film enthusiasts from around the world. Among those scheduled to be in attendance are Ira Resnick, author of Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (which features a bunch of posters and lobby cards from Brooks' films) as well as screenwriter Samuel Bernstein, author of the just published Lulu a novel. Those two guests - each of whom will be signing books - are just the tip of the iceberg, as they say. More, much more, will be revealed in the coming weeks.

By the way, if you have never been to the Castro Theater, it is well worth checking out. It is a grand old neighborhood movie place - one of the last standing in San Francisco. It was built in 1922, and Janet Gaynor used to work there as an usherette. I just saw a silent film there last night, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), with live musical accompaniment by Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields) and Daniel Handler (of Lemony Snicket fame).

And of course, films featuring Louise Brooks were shown there many times over the years. Actually, no theater in the city has shown more Louise Brooks' films over the years then the Castro. Here is a list of some of the films the Castro has shown which I have been able to document.

Love Em and Leave Em (Apr. 7-8, 1927)
Just Another Blonde (June 7-8, 1927)
Beggars of Life (Feb. 17, 1929)
Canary Murder Case (May 19-21, 1929)
It Pays to Advertise (June 8-9, 1931)
When You’re in Love  (June 3-5, 1937 with Criminal Lawyer)
Diary of a Lost Girl (Jan. 22, 1987 with Sadie Thompson as part of “Vamps” series)
A Girl in Every Port (Jan. 23, 1987 with Sadie Thompson as part of “Vamps” series)
Pandora’s Box (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series)
Prix de Beaute (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series)
Diary of a Lost Girl (Nov. 8, 1988 with Pandora’s Box)
Diary of a Lost Girl (May 11, 1992 with Pandora’s Box)
Pandora’s Box (May 5-8, 1995 as part of the San Francisco Film Festival)
Pandora’s Box (Dec. 16-17, 1995)
Pandora’s Box (Apr. 2, 1996 with Wings)
Just Another Blonde (July 14, 1996 screening of fragments, as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)
Pandora’s Box (May 18, 1998 as part of Femme Fatale Festival)
Diary of a Lost Girl (Jan. 14, 2002 as part of the Berlin & Beyond Festival)
Pandora’s Box (July 15, 2006 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)
The American Venus (July 14, 2007 screening of a trailer & fragments as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)
Beggars of Life (July 14, 2007 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)

Undoubtedly there were others, but the records - including the local neighborhood newspaper which carried advertisements for the Castro, have been lost. The picture up top is of yours truly introducing Pandora's Box at the 2006 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. And the picture below is of me outside the theater that same year. I hope to see some of you this year.

Diary of a Lost Girl to show in Brooklyn

The Diary of a Lost Girl, the great 1929 silent film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of it's BAMcinemaFEST. Two screenings are set for Sunday, June 20th at 4:30 and 8 pm in the BAM Rose Cinemas. I wish I could be there. Tickets go on sale on May 17th. This from the BAM website.

Irish rock collective 3epkano (who performed their score to Metropolis last year) closes out BAMcinemaFEST 2010 with another electrifying performance to G.W. Pabst’s controversial drama Diary of a Lost Girl.

Pabst’s second collaboration with his magnetic Pandora’s Box star features Louise Brooks as Thymiane, who goes from young innocent to high-class call-girl after being raped and sent to a rigid reformatory. In this haunting examination of moral depravity in the post-WWI-era Weimar Republic, Pabst creates a potent mixture of lurid expressionism and social realism, concocting a sordid environment overrun with lecherous men and lost, loose women. Sex and violence are intrinsically linked in his powerful and controversial drama that cemented Brooks’ status as a silent-era icon.

What's interesting to note is that before she became an actress - and while still a teenager, Brooks was a dancer and a member of the world famous Denishawn Dance Company. The future actress twice danced at the Brooklyn Academy of Music while touring with Denishawn. The first time was on October 22, 1923. The company returned again on April 5, 1924. Who would have thought then that Louise Brooks would "return" all these year's later?

I would love to hear from anyone who attends this event. 

Louise Brooks, exhibiiton practices: rong & wright

I spent most of Friday at the California State Library in Sacramento, continuing my survey of small town newspapers in Northern California. I found a bunch of stuff, and added to my list of more than 750 instances of when Louise Brooks films were shown in the region during the 1920's and 1930's. That may seem like a lot, and it is. But I am sure that other stars, like Clara Bow of Colleen Moore, were shown even more as each was not only more prolific but also more popular.

By compiling all this data, I have come to a couple of realizations. The first is that I am nuits to have done it. The second is that Paramount (the studio for which Brooks made most of her films), dominated the region in terms of exhibition - especially outside the major cities, like San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose and Sacramento, though Brooks' films did show a lot in those places as well. And thirdly, less than ten weeks went by during the period of 1926 and 1927 when one of Brooks' films wasn't showing somewhere around the San Francisco Bay Area. That's less then 10 seven day periods over the course of 104 weeks. How's that for ubiquity?

Well, anyways, I wanted to post a few things I found, as examples. Here are a couple of typical newspaper advertisements for the Liberty Theatre in Susanville, California. Susanville is in the north and eastern part of California, not so far from the Nevada border and Mt. Shasta.

What sticks out about the ad on the left is that fact that they got some important details mixed up. The 1927 film, Evening Clothes, which is noted as playing on October 24-25, was listed as starring Thomas Meighan. That's wrong. Of course, it stars the suave Adolph Menjou. Perhaps the person who typeset the ad was thinking of another 1927 Louise Brooks' film, The City Gone Wild, which does star the rough and tumble Meighan. It had just been released but wouldn't play Susanville till February. A week later, as the ad on the right shows, the theater got it right. On October 30th, the Liberty ran another 1927 film, Rolled Stockings, and noted correctly that it starred Louise Brooks.

Speaking of Rolled Stockings, I also came across something of an atypical factoid about it and the town of Placerville, California. It, too, is located in the north and eastern part of the state, not so far Sacramento and North Highlands, and east of Folsom near the Sierra Nevada foothills. The theater owners or patrons of the one theater in town must have really liked that film, because they showed it a lot - three times to be exact! Rolled Stockings was shown at the Elite Theatre on June 19 and July 17, 1927 - and then again on January 1, 1928. It's pretty unusual for a small town theater to show a film twice, let alone three times.

Why this small town showed Rolled Stockings three times I can't say. Perhaps they liked it. As the list below shows, the first Placerville screening was also one of the earliest in the State, beating out not only the region's biggest city, San Francisco, but also Berkeley and Oakland, where much of the film was shot. All of the instances of the regional screening of this now lost Brooks' film are listed below.

American in San Jose (June 15-17, 1927); Modesto Theater in Modesto (June 18, 1927); Elite in Placerville (June 19, 1927); Maywood Airdome in Corning (June 25, 1927); California in Santa Rosa (July 2, 1927); National in Chico (July 3, 1927); Hub in Mill Valley (July 5-6, 1927); New Stanford in Palo Alto (July 10, 1927 with Whispering Stage); Princess in Sausalito (July 10-11, 1927); Strand in Los Gatos (July 14-15, 1927); Elite in Placerville (July 17, 1927); Liberty in Marysville (July 23, 1927 with Hills of Peril); Liberty in St. Helena (July 24, 1927); California in Pittsburg (Aug. 2-3, 1927); Grand Lake in Oakland (Aug. 6-12, 1927); Casino in Antioch (Aug 7, 1927); Golden State in Monterey (Aug. 7, 1927); Mystic in Petaluma (Aug. 8, 1927); Granada in San Francisco (Aug. 13-19, 1927); Playhouse in Calistoga (Aug. 23-24, 1927); Boyes Hot Springs Theatre in Boyes Hot Springs (Aug. 26, 1927); California in Berkeley (Aug. 28-30, 1927); Peninsula in Burlingame (Sept. 4, 1927); Manzanita in Carmel (Sept. 4, 1927); Lodi Theatre in Lodi (Sept. 4, 1927); Capitol in Sacramento (Sept. 4-6, 1927); Merced Theatre in Merced (Sept. 5, 1927); New Santa Cruz Theatre in Santa Cruz (Sept. 5-6, 1927); Columbia & Loring in Crockett (Sept. 6, 1937); Sequoia in Redwood City (Sept. 9, 1927); Hippodrome in Napa (Sept. 11, 1927); New San Mateo Theatre in San Mateo (Sept. 11, 1927); Orpheus in San Rafael (Sept. 11, 1927); National in Woodland (Sept. 13-14, 1927); Lorin in Berkeley (Sept. 16, 1927); Starland in Sebastopol (Sept. 17, 1927); Chimes in Oakland (Sept. 18, 1927); Opal in Hollister (Oct. 12, 1927 with On Ze Boulevard); Hayward Theatre in Hayward (Oct. 14, 1927); Auburn Theater in Auburn (Oct. 28, 1927); Liberty in Susanville (Oct. 30, 1927); Redding Theater in Redding (Nov. 12, 1927); Mountain View Theatre in Mountain View (Nov. 16, 1927); Rivoli in Berkeley (Nov. 26, 1927); Tamalpias in San Anselmo (Nov. 30, 1927); Broadway in Oakland (Dec. 9-10, 1927); Strand in Lincoln (Dec. 13, 1927); New Fillmore in San Francisco (Dec. 19-21, 1927); New Mission in San Francisco (Dec. 19-21, 1927); California in Livermore (Dec. 23, 1927); Elite in Placerville (Jan. 1, 1928); New Roseville Theatre in Roseville (Jan. 6, 1928); Fern in Oakland (Feb. 8-9, 1928); Sequoia in Sacramento (Mar. 22, 1928); Smith’s in Yuba City (June 21-22, 1928).

I suppose there is something to be discerned about theater exhibition practices from all this data. I don't know. My interest is in local histories, as well as the intersection of individual histories (biography) and cultural histories. That's my interest. For more on the topic of exhibition practices, be sure and check out Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley's Hollywood in the Neighborhood: Historial Case Studies of Local Moviegoing (Univ of California Press, 2008). It includes a whole chapter by George Potamianos focussing on the Elite Theater, "Building Movie Audiences in Placerville, California 1908-1915."

It is also interesting to note that the film that preceded Rolled Stockings at the Elite theater in the small town of Placerville was the great German futuristic sci-fi epic Metropolis. Here is a picture of yours truly standing next to a very specific replica of the robot from that film. Ten points to anyone who knows where this picture was taken. And an additional five points to anyone who knows which star of Metropolis co-starred with Louise Brooks in a later film.

A real work of art

Louise Brooks' beauty and physical grace lured various artists & writers of the time into a kind-of rhapsodic appreciation of the actress. Brooks was, as well, written about in arts magazines. Here is a full page pictorial on the changing nature of the vamp as played by Brigitte Helm, Lya di Putti, Colleen Moore, Great Garbo, Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks (seen in a scene with Victor McLaglen). Elsewhere, I've seen references to Brooks as a "junior vamp."

This page comes from the March 15, 1929 issue of L'Art Viviant, a Parisian publication. Along with articles and artwork by Raoul Dufy, Braque, Matisse and others, this issue also includes an article on the "Anatomie de la Star: La Metamorphose de Vampire" about the evolution of film glamour away from the vamp typified by Theda Bara towards more modern-looking temptresses. This issue is currently for sale on eBay.

Run You Luscious Lesbian

Louise Brooks fan and now recording artist The GrrrL (aka April Louise McLucas), has just released a rough-and-ready, do-it-yourself CD called Run You Luscious Lesbian. It's a five track disc. This is home-made music. The opening cut, "Black Is The Color (Louise Brooks Hair)," caught my attention. 

To describe this disc as raw would almost be an understatement. It's that, but its also closer to the bone and a hell of a lot more sincere (that's not a bad word) then a lot of the music released today. This is outsider music. This is music which wears its heart on its sleeve.

When asked about her musical leanings, The GrrrL answered, "I'm heavily influenced by artists like PJ Harvey, Carla Bozulich, and Carla Kihlstedt. They all create unique music that resonates with me as an artist. While I consider myself an experimental rock musician, I would be the first to admit that I'm a non-musician because I don't really know the first thing about making music except that I like the sounds I produce. My motto is 'Anyone can make music if they have the passion for it.'"

When asked about the impetus behind "Black Is The Color," the singer / songwriter noted, "Pandora's Box was the first Louise Brooks film I watched. It was soon after I started working at Videoport, an indie video store in Portland, Maine. I was drawn to the cover photo of Louise on the VHS box and took it home one day. That was the beginning of my love of Louise and of silent films. I now run a Silent Film Enthusiasts group here in Maine and am hoping more people will join!"

If you live in Portland, Maine check out this group!

[Louise Brooks visited the city while a member of the Denishawn Dance Company. On Saturday, January 13, 1923 the still teenage Brooks performed, with Martha Graham, and the other members of Denishawn at the City Hall Auditorium in downtown Portland. The company returned later in the same year when on Thursday, October 25 they performed at the city's Exposition Building.]

Run You Luscious Lesbian is April's solo project. She is also a member of local Portland bands like The Monster Demands A Mate, and Ape Vs Panda. The Grrrl began in the winter of 2009, when she recorded her first song, a lesbian take on the traditional song "Salty Dog Blues." (Color photo above by Andy "Space Shark" Keene.)

More about The GrrrL, including a few sample tracks, can be found on the music site,  Reverbnation, or on her myspace page at www.myspace.com/thegrrrlmusic. Her CD - pictured below - comes with a lyric sheet and can be purchased in Portland at Strange Maine, 578 Congress St., or online and directly from the artist at The GrrrL's Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/thegrrrldesigns 

Interview with the Dodge Brothers about Beggars of Life

The Dodge Brothers are renowned for playing the hell out of classic Americana. Described as "wonderful stuff" by British Radio 2 presenter Bob Harris, the group play s an exuberant hybrid of country blues, rockabilly, jug band and skiffle.

Back on April 18th, The Dodge Brothers performed their original score for the 1928 Louise Brooks' film, Beggars of Life. That screening, as well as their musical accompaniment to it, was by all accounts very well attended and just as well received. It was part of the British Silent Film Festival taking place in the UK. [For more about the event and reaction to it, see the April 11th LBS blog and comments.)

Recently, Mike Hammond - the group's singer (and silent film expert) took time out to answer a few questions about their score, their music, Louise Brooks, and silent film. [Pictured is vintage sheet music for the 1928 film.]

1)    The Dodge Brothers accompanied the Louise Brooks' film, Beggars of Life, on April 18th. For those not familiar with the Dodge Brothers, what can you tell us about the group?

Well here is the short version. The Dodge Brothers are a four-piece band modeled on the skiffle and jug bands of the 20s and 30s. Each of us plays more than one instrument, Aly plays acoustic guitar and mandolin, Alex plays washboard, snare and wine bottle, I play guitar, banjo, piano and tap dance while Mark plays double bass, harmonicas, accordion and is soon to unveil his prowess on the bag pipes. We started from a love of the music that leads up to Elvis, which ranges widely from railroad songs, murder ballads to ragged street blues. We got going learning ten songs (‘Frankie and Johnny’ and ‘Stagger Lee’ among others) and over the years we have amassed about 150 songs. A couple of years ago we started to write our own songs that resulted in our album Louisa and the Devil. Mark started this by bringing in ‘Church House Blues’ and saying it was by an old jug band. We still do that; if it fools the rest of us into believing its authentic then we play it. (Did I say short version?)

2)    With that said, what can one expect  - musically speaking, from your score?

The score for the film will draw from those old songs from the period. I am a silent film scholar and I know that Paramount had the most film theatres in the rural areas so it was not uncommon for them to release different versions of films, one for the big cities and one for the rural towns. I have kept this in mind when thinking about the score. The lovely Troubadors version of ‘Beggars of Life’ was meant as a theme for the film and we will be incorporating a version of that but combining it with motifs which call up railroad songs that were popular during the period, particularly those by Jimmie Rogers. Lots of those songs are really about hobos riding the rails and they have a wonderful wistfulness about them, a mixture of loneliness and humor that both fits the film and the way we play.

3)    Beggars of Life is unlike any of Brooks' earlier American films. Had you seen it before? And what were your impressions?

You’re so right about it being an exceptional Brooks film. Most people associate her with the Jazz Age flapper-type but in this film she plays a girl on the run, dressed as a boy! None of us had seen the film before and it was our fifth member, the fabulous pianist and silent film composer Neil Brand, who drew it to our attention. Brooks really ‘pops’ out of the screen and holds her own with Wallace Beery, which is no mean feat. The tension that is generated by her masquerade as a boy amongst a lot of rough hobos is tight as a drum. There is a real sense of menace and danger from the beginning where ‘The Girl’ (Louise) takes matters into her own hands with a firearm. She reminds me of Louisa in our song ‘The Ballad of Frank Harris’. Maybe that’s what I really like about this film, she is self-sufficient and an equal partner with Arlen. And she can shoot a gun! 

4)    Are you a fan of Louise Brooks?

Oh yes and not only because of the fact that she is the most compelling of screen stars. She is intuitive as an actress and gives the sense that she is being rather than acting. I do think Pabst understood that best. However, I am as big a fan of her writing. She is incisive and brutal in her analysis of Hollywood and, perhaps most touching, of herself.

5)    When did you first come across the actress?

I can’t speak for the rest of the guys. I first saw her in an undergraduate film class in the 80s. It was Pandora’s Box. I remember thinking; of course these guys are giving away everything for her, who wouldn’t?

6)    Louise Brooks has been getting the musical treatment of late. Rufus Wainwright, who will be touring the UK in the coming months, just released a musical tribute to Louise Brooks titled All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu. And of course, it was preceded by earlier rock and pop musical tributes by the likes of Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark (OMD), Marillion, Australian Jen Anderson, Soul Coughing, and others - even the cartoonist Robert Crumb. Where might your score fit into this history?

Well all of these tributes are really great and it’s nice to be in their company. I haven’t heard Rufus Wainwright’s but I guess in this history we will probably be closer to R. Crumb’s. We are trying to bring a flavour of the kind of music that might have been played in the rural areas of the US to this film. Remember that the orchestras in most of those theatres at the time would have been as small as a quartet. They also played to their audience who would have known the railroad songs as well as the popular tunes of the day so they would mix them up. We’ll be doing something similar and hopefully support the wide-ranging emotions in this film, from lonesome and sad, to tender, to fast action and gunplay. Louise does it all here and, come to think of it, that’s a good description of The Dodge Brothers’ music too.

The Dodge Brothers are Mike Hammond (lead guitar, lead vocals), Mark Kermode (bass, harmonica, vocals), Aly Hirji (rhythm guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Alex Hammond (washboard, snare drum, percussion). More about the group can be found at http://www.dodgebrothers.co.uk as well as http://www.facebook.com/dodgebrothers and
http://www.myspace.com/dodgebrothers. And as well http://www.youtube.com/dodgebrothersuk

Don't you just love that purse?

This uncommon image of Louise Brooks, holding a rather nifty purse, is currently for sale on eBay. I like it. I like the purse, and I like the hat. And, that is a smart jacket she has on. Notice the cuffs.

Louise Brooks art #3

This is the third installment of an irregular series of posts highlighting "Louise Brooks art" - paintings, drawings, photographs, collages, cartoons, sculpture, etc . . . . all featuring the silent film star Louise Brooks, or at least in some way inspired by the actress.

Emily Clark is a college student in the Pacific Northwest whose current Facebook status update reads: "Emily Clark is really good at recruiting her professors to Team Louise! My history prof is now hooked on Brooksie." 

Obviously, Emily is an enthuisiastic fan of the actress, as well as a member of the Louise Brooks Society. That's her in the picture to the left, holding a copy of a book readers of this blog should be familair with. Of it, Emily has written, "I'm reading the biography by Barry Paris, which is the most beautifully written biography that I've ever read BY FAR." 

Besides all this, Emily is also someone who likes to draw and sketch, and so, on this installment of "Louise Brooks Art," I thought I would feature a few of her drawings of Louise Brooks. On Emily's webpages on the deviantArt website (her "penname" is ladyjazzkiller), Emily has a small gallery of Louise Brooks related art. Here is one of my favorites. Be sure and check out the rest of her work.