A favorite image

This vintage postcard depicts Louise Brooks in the G.W. Pabst film, Pandora's Box (1929). It is a favorite of mine. I thought you might like it too.

A bit more about Diary of a Lost Girl

Yesterday, I received finished copies of my new "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, by Margarete Böhme. I think it looks great. I am pleased. Should anyone care to purchase a copy, the book is for sale at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-diary-of-a-lost-girl-%28louise-brooks-edition%29/11263780 There, you can even check out some sample pages.

I also recently received my first blurb! It's from film biographer and silent film historian Lon Davis, the author of Silent Lives and King of the Movies: Francis X. Bushman. Davis said:

"Thomas Gladysz is the leading authority on all matters pertaining to the legendary Louise Brooks. We owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing the groundbreaking novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl - the basis of Miss Brooks's classic 1929 film - back from obscurity. It remains a fascinating work."

A movie herald: what it tells us

On eBay, there is an American Venus movie herald for sale. Just about any movie herald from the silent era is uncommon. Some are rare. What makes this particular herald a bit unusual are its hand written annotations. They have a story to tell.

The American Venus was released in early 1926. This herald is dated 1927, apparently by someone who saw the film. That suggests that the two theaters which showed the film in May of that year, one in Petersburg and one in Blissfield (located less than 9 miles apart in Monroe County in Michigan), showed it late in the exhibition life of the film. That was not usual for small towns, which usually but not always got major films later than the bigger cities and towns.

The film’s plot revolved around a beauty contest, and as I have found out, many theaters sponsored their own beauty contests or fashion shows in connection with the showing of the film. Such was the case with the Petersburg and Blissfield Theaters.

Beauty contests, and to a lesser degree this film, helped “define” the notion of beauty. The film’s star, Fay Lanphier, was named Miss America in 1925, and as press coverage at the time indicates, she was considered an ideal beauty. I have found many newspapers advertisements which detailed Lanphier’s physical attributes, including her measurements. She is shown, arms outstretched, in the interior of the herald. Esther Ralston, another renown beauty, is pictured on the cover of the herald.

On the back of the herald is a custom message from the sponsoring theaters which reads “The lady turning in measurements nearest to the AMERICAN VENUS will be given—ten tickets to this theatre. Measurements must be turned in on playing date—at box office.”

What’s interesting are the handwritten notations. They record someone’s measurements in comparison to Lanphier’s. On the back, that same someone recorded their weight throughout the 1930’s. That someone, who weighed 169 pounds in 1939, held onto this herald for more than 12 years. The American Venus made an impression. This battered herald, this scrap of paper, tells their story.

Postcards to Louise Brooks for sale

A collection of postcards sent to Louise Brooks (later in her life) from the likes of actor Roddy McDowell, composer David Diamond, film historians Kevin Brownlow, John Kobal, and Richard Lamparski, and others are currently for sale on eBay. The eBay page, with many illustrations, can be found here. The asking price is $1,000.

According to the seller, these postcards were purchased from Mary Kuziak, the great-niece of Marjorie Van Tassell, who was a good friend of Louise Brooks and lived in the same apartment building in Rochester, New York.

A number of the cards are pictured on eBay (but are difficult to read), and some have interesting comments. For example, in one Kevin Brownlow writes and mentions how her book, Lulu in Hollywood, then just recently published, is selling and being "talked about" in London. In another, Richard Lamparski tells that he just spoke with actress Rose Hobart, and mentions that the actors now living at the Motion Picture Home (Viola Dana, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey) now have their own phones.

All together, it is an interesting lot. Be sure and check it out. Someday, hopefully soon, someone will edit and publish a collection of Louise Brooks letters. Until then, here is a bit of the other side of the correspondence.

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.