Canary Murder Case / Ira Resnick at George Eastman House

In what's sure to be a great "double bill," this Friday the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York will screen The Canary Murder Case (1929), which stars Louise Brooks. The screening will be preceded by a special presentation by Ira Resnick, author of Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood.

Originally shot as a silent film, The Canary Murder Case is notable for many reasons. It was the first film in which the popular detective Philo Vance appeared. The Canary Murder Case is also notable as the last American film in which Brooks had a starring role. Her refusal to re-shoot her scenes for sound effectively ended her career in the United States.

Friday’s screening will be preceded by a special presentation by Ira Resnick, a well known collector of movie posters and movie art,. His new book, Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood, bears a special relationship to Brooks. In the book, Resnick, writes about his "passion" for Brooks and tells the story behind his acquisition of some truly marvelous lobby cards, posters, one sheets, and stills featuring the actress For those keeping count, there are ten drop-dead gorgeous Brooks-related images in this new book. One of them is for The Canary Murder Case.

Fans will also want to listen to WXXI’s “Connection with Bob Smith” radio program, broadcast from 1 to 2 p.m. (Eastern time) on Thursday, June 10. The show will feature a one-hour live interview with Resnick and Eastman House assistant curator of motion pictures, Jim Healy. The interview will stream online at http://interactive.wxxi.org/listen

Ira Resnick’s presentation, and the screening of The Canary Murder Case, will take place at 8 pm on June 11th at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. More info at http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/films/ira-resnick-in-person-the-canary-murder-case/ and at http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2010/06/09/get-%E2%80%98starstruck%E2%80%99-friday-eve-at-the-dryden/

Louise Brooks on African postage stamp

I just came across this 2009 postage stamp, which features Louise Brooks. It was issued in Benin, a former French colony located between Nigeria and Togo, on the west coast of Africa. The world is a curious thing, and its getting curious and curiouser all the time.

Reviews of The Diary of a Lost Girl

In preparation for writing my introduction to Margarete Bohme's The Diary of a Lost Girl, I did a lot of research. However, there just isn't much in English about this German author and her now little known book. I was especially interested in finding reviews, or any kind of critical commentary. It was slim pickings to say the least.

Bohme's book was translated into English and published in Britain in 1907. There, it was praised by the writer and man of letters, Hall Caine. Though little known today, Caine was an immensely popular novelist and playwright during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. At one point, he was among the best-selling writers in England. For example, his 1897 novel, The Christian, was the first in Britain to sell over a million copies. Caine had also been secretary to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and friendly with Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, and George Bernard Shaw. Caine's good friend, Bram Stoker, dedicated Dracula to him under the nickname "Hommy-Beg."

English editions carried Caine's endorsement. “It is years since I read anything of the kind that moved me to so much sympathy and admiration.  More reality, more truth, more sincerity, I have rarely met with. . . . I know it to be true because I know the life it depicts. . . . It is difficult for me to believe that a grown man or woman with a straight mind and a clean heart can find anything that is not of good influence in this most moving, most convincing, most poignant story of a great-hearted girl who kept her soul alive amidst all the mire that surrounded her poor body.”

The Manchester Guardian review echoed Caine, “The moral justification of such a publication is to be found in the fact that it shrivels up sentimentality; the weak thing cannot stand and look at such stark degradation.”

In the United States, where the book was published in 1908, the book received little attention and few notices. It did manage, however, to find at least a few readers. The Anglo-American writer and aesthete Percival Pollard (a good friend of H.L. Mencken) praised it lavishly on more than one occasion. And the novelist Henry Miller included it on his list of the books which influenced him the most. Miller’s list of essential books was included in Raymond Queneau’s Pour une Bibliothèque Idéale (Gallimard, 1956).

I managed to find a few other critical bits & pieces here and there, but that's about it. My favorite English-language blurb comes from the Nelson Evening Mail, a New Zealand newspaper. They referred to The Diary of a Lost Girl as “The saddest of modern books.”

Piracy and The Diary of a Lost Girl

Today, the pirating of movies, music, and even books is a major concern. But back in the early years of the 20th century, when Margarete Böhme wrote the book which became the 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, piracy was also a problem.

Böhme's book was a huge bestseller in Germany - a phenomenon really. It sold more than 100,000 copies in less than two years. It was so popular that it was translated into 14 languages and was published across Europe - from England and France to Hungary and Russia. There was such demand for the book that there were even pirated editions in at least two countries, The Netherlands and Poland.

In The Netherlands, the book was retitled and published as Thymian, the name of the "lost girl" and the character played by Louise Brooks. This unauthorized translation was issued by Albert de Lange, an otherwise reputable publisher. From what I was able to find out, the translation was by the noted poet Hillegonda van Uildriks, alias Gonne Loman-van Uildriks (1863-1921). Now remembered as a translator, Uildriks was the first to translate Jane Austen into Dutch. (She also translated Robert Louis Stevenson and H.G. Wells, among others.)

Böhme's book was published in Dutch as Thymian, with the subtitle "From the life of a fallen woman." The cover pictured above is unusual in its visual representation of the book's heroine. (Image courtesy of Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren.)

Böhme's book was also published in Poland in both authorized and unauthorized editions. I was able to uncover an interesting advertisement for the authorized translation which references the pirated version.

The book was issued in Poland under the title Pamiętnik Kobiety Upadłej. This 1906 advertisement notes “Every mature man or women should read this book.” Also, it warns against the unauthorized edition, and notes that the book is available in all bookshops. The authorized Polish edition was translated by Felicya Nossig, who would later translate Selma Lagerlöf, Josef Conrad, and other writers of note. Nossig is noted in the advertisement. (For those keeping track, the unauthorized translation was titled Pamiętnik Uwiedzionej.)

If any readers of this blog have any early editions of Böhme's book in any language other than German, I would appreciate hearing from you. The information in this post comes from my introduction to the new "Louise Brooks edition" to The Diary of a Lost Girl. More info about the book can be found here.  Buy a copy or check out sample pages and more at Lulu.com

Free shpping on Diary of a Lost Girl

The aptly named Lulu.com has a special offer going on copies of The Diary of a Lost Girl, which I have just republished in a new, illustrated, "Louise Brooks edition." The book looks great.

Lulu.com is offering free shipping during the summer.

As fans of Louise Brooks are  aware, the 1929 silent film, Diary of a Lost Girl, was based on a best-selling book by Margarete Bohme first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, the book was a sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. This new edition of the original English language translation brings this important work back into print after more than 100 years.

According to one article I found, Bohme's book was considered so scandalous that even Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, would have banned it. That's according to an article in the New York Times, which I cite in my introduction. 

Interestingly, Stoker's good friend, the English writer Hall Caine (to whom Dracula is dedicated under the nickname "Hommy-Beg") had nothing but praise for the book. Caine wrote “It is years since I read anything of the kind that moved me to so much sympathy and admiration.  More reality, more truth, more sincerity, I have rarely met with. . . . I know it to be true because I know the life it depicts. . . . It is difficult for me to believe that a grown man or woman with a straight mind and a clean heart can find anything that is not of good influence in this most moving, most convincing, most poignant story of a great-hearted girl who kept her soul alive amidst all the mire that surrounded her poor body.”

More info about the book can be found here.  Buy a copy or check out sample pages and more at Lulu.com

The Diary of a Lost Girl

I have just edited, written the introduction, and republished the controversial 1905 novel which was the basis for the 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl.

Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning of the 20th century, was translated into 14 languages, and is considered one of the bestselling books of the time. By the end of the Twenties, The Diary of a Lost Girl had sold more than 1,200,000 copies.

Was it – as many believed – the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This contested book – a work of literary sophistication and unusual historical significance – inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two silent films.

This new edition of the original English language translation brings this important book back into print in the United States after more than 100 years. It includes an introduction detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes rare images and vintage illustrations.

More information at http://www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html /// Buy a copy or check out sample pages & more at Lulu.com

A look back

A look back, featuring Louise Brooks.

Louise Brooks in Welsh language literature

This past weekend I received an interesting email, the kind I love to get. It was about a reference to Louise Brooks in contemporary Welsh language literature. In Y Ddynes Ddirgel (The Mysterious Woman), author Mihangel Morgan compares a character to Louise Brooks. The passage in Welsh reads.

"Roeddwn i'n codi o'm sedd ac yn troi tua'r drws pan welais i hi yn llithro allan. Dim ond cipolwg, mater o eiliad neu ddau. Dim ond ochr ei phen a welswn – ond roeddwn i'n eithaf si r taw hyhi oedd hi. Roedd ei gwallt yn fyr ac yn ddu fel adain brân ac wedi'i dorri'n onglog ac yn gornelog fel gwallt Louise Brooks yn Pandora's Box. Ond ai hi oedd hi? Allwn i ddim bod yn hollol sicr, doeddwn i ddim wedi'i gweld hi ers blynyddoedd. Ac onid oedd hi wedi marw? Roedd hi wedi diflannu, ta beth. Na, allwn i ddim bod yn sicr."

Which reads in English as

"I was getting up from my seat and turning towards the door when I saw her slip out. It was only a glance, just a matter of a second or two. I could only see the side of her head – but I was quite sure that it was her. Her hair was short and as black as the wings of a crow and had been cut in an angular, edged shape like the hair of Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box. But was it her? I couldn’t be completely sure, I hadn’t seen her for years. And hadn’t she died? She had disappeared, at least. No, I couldn’t be sure."

Y Ddynes Ddirgel, a novel, was published in 2001.

Mihangel Morgan was born in Aberdare in south Wales in 1955. His first novel Dirgel Ddyn (Mysterious Man, 1993) won the National Eisteddfod Prose Medal and marked the beginning of a career as one of Wales' formeost contemporary authors. More about the book and the author can be found here.

Diolch yn fawr (thank you) to Dilwyn (Roberts-Young) for send this information to me. Dilwyn even mentioned he listens to RadioLulu while at work in Wales.