Beggars of Life returns to print

Speaking of Beggars of Life . . . the 1924 bestselling book by Jim Tully which served as the basis for the 1928 William Wellman film of the same name starring Louise Brooks, is due to be republished. The book will be republished in June by Kent State University Press, with a new cover and new introductions by Tully scholars Paul J. Bauer and Mark Dawidziak.

This from the publisher: "Jim Tully takes us across the seamy underbelly of pre-WWI America on freight trains, and inside hobo jungles and brothels while narrowly averting railroad bulls (cops) and wardens of order. 

Written with unflinching honesty and insight, Beggars of Life follows Tully from his first ride at age thirteen, choosing life on the road over a deadening job, through his teenage years of learning the ropes of the rails and living one meal to the next. 

Tully’s direct, confrontational approach helped shape the hard-boiled school of writing, and later immeasurably influenced the noir genre. Beggars of Life was the first in Tully’s five-volume memoir, dubbed the "Underworld Edition," recalling his transformation from road-kid to novelist, journalist, Hollywood columnist, chain maker, boxer, circus handyman, and tree surgeon.

Jim Tully (1891–1947) was a best-selling novelist and popular Hollywood journalist in the 1920s and ’30s. Known as "Cincinnati Red" during his years as a road-kid, he counted prizefighter and publicist of Charlie Chaplin among his many jobs. He is considered (with Dashiel Hammett) one of the inventors of the hard-boiled style of American writing."

The reprint of Beggars of Life is part of larger effort by Kent State University press to bring other Tully books back into print. So far, two other Tully novels have been reissued. They are Circus Parade, with a foreword by Harvey Pekar, and Shanty Irish, with a foreword by John Sayles. No word yet on who might be writing the foreword to Beggars of Life.

I do plan on getting a copy of this new edition, though I already own two other copies of the book! One of them is an old photoplay edition which once belonged, reportedly, to the son or grandson of Ambrose Bierce. The other is a first edition copy which once belonged to Colleen Moore. It has her decorative bookplate inside, and the book is inscribed by Tully to the actress with an appropriate Irish sentiment. It is one of my treasures.

Once it is released, the book should be available for purchase online and at better independent bookstores.

Secret hobo code

When the William Wellman film, Beggars of Life, was released in 1928, some of the publicity materials focused on hobo culture. The film was based on a book of the same name by Jim Tully, which tells of his days as a hobo among the wandering down-and-out of America. In the film, Brooks plays a young women who dresses as a young man and goes on the run. And for a time, she hangs out in what was then termed a "hobo jungle."

Articles about the film at the time contained mini-dictionaries of hobo terms and slang. This publicity photo, which is currently for sale on eBay, depicts the actress in character holding a coded message - the snipe (or descriptive text) on the back of the picture states the sign  notes the approaching town has a police force hostile towards vagrants.

New examiner.com column about Louise Brooks

Tori Amos and Tori Spelling have one, as does John Lennon and the Jonas Brothers. So does Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, and Miley Cyrus. That's why I've started a new examiner.com column focusing on Louise Brooks. It's a national column, which means I'll be covering all things Louise Brooks from a national perspective. That will include screenings, events, happenings, new books, new DVDs, new CDs and all kinds of other stuff. I will also throw in a few interviews from time to time - and who knows what else. Yesterday, I posted my first column.

At the national level, I will be joining other illustrious examiners such as Robin Leach (I kid thee not) and many others. Got a news tip? Send it along.

The new Louise Brooks Examiner column can be found at http://www.examiner.com/x-48577-Louise-Brooks-Examiner

Please check it out. You can even sign up for email alerts whener ever a new piece is posted.

Last Ziegfeld Follies Girl dies at 106

Doris Eaton Travis, one of the last living Ziegfeld Follies Girls and a contemporary of Louise Brooks, has died. She was 106 years old.

In her long career, Travis appeared in silent and talking pictures, performed for presidents and princesses, bantered with Babe Ruth, offended Henry Ford, outlived her six siblings (who were also performers), wrote a newspaper column, hosted a Detroit television show, and earned a degree in history at age 88.

Her film roles include small roles in Taking the Count  (1928) and Street Girl (1929). The former was written by Rube Goldberg. The latter starred Bettty Compson.

Travis continued to work late in life, with annual appearances on Broadway, a small role in a Jim Carrey movie, and a recently published memoir, The Days We Danced: The Story of My Theatrical Family From Florenz Ziegfeld to Arthur Murray and Beyond. That book was published in 2003.

In 2006, a visual biography about Travis was also published. It was called Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies. More about Doris Eaton Travis at Wikipedia, and here at her AP obituary. Here is a short video made a few years ago.

Pandora's Box screens in Pasadena, CA

Pandora's Box, the 1929 G.W. Pabst silent film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in Pasadena, California on Friday, May 28th.

The screening, with live music by jazz bassist Tom Peters, is set for 8 pm at Boston Court (70 North Mentor Avenue, one block north of Colorado Blvd and one block east of Lake Avenue, four blocks from the Metro Gold Line Lake Ave station). Apparently, Peters will be performing his own score to the film.

More info and ticket availability here.

I would love to hear from anyone who attends - I am especially interested to know their impressions of the score.

Louise Brooks letter for sale

History for sale, an online auction site, has a Louise Brooks letter for sale. The auction page, which has images of the two page, 1985 letter as well as descriptive text, can be found here. The letter is selling for a mere $3,999.00. Check it out.

On the beach

This little seen image of the Denishawn Dance Company, taken during the 1922-1923 season, features future dance great Martha Graham, standing center, and future silent film actress Louise Brooks, kneeling second on the right. Graham and Brooks' time with Denishawn overlapped for a single season, when they toured the country togetheralong with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn and the other members of Denishawn. Graham, born in 1894, was about 30 years old at the time. Brooks, born in 1906, was about 16. Those were the days.

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.