Love Em and Leave Em tonight

Louise Brooks is the girl who vamps em and pets em.

Evelyn Brent is the girl who love’s em and leaves ‘em.

Lawrence Gray is the boy who can’t choose between ‘em.

Is it really the best policy to get, pet, love, leave and forget?

Find out tonight, when I'll be introducing a rare 16mm screening of Love Em and Leave Em in the Edison Theater at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, California. Showtime is 7:30 pm

Before the film, I'll be signing copies of my new "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl in the Niles Essanay gift shop. And, I be giving away a free mini LB pinback button to everyone who purchases a book. Hope to see some of you there. 

More info at examiner.com and Artsopolis or at SFGate and Facebook.

Jack Garner discusses working with Louise Brooks

Jack Garner discusses working with Louise Brooks in a new article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle at http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20101008/LIVING0107/10080301/1052/ENT (see end of article).

Louise Brooks on the cover of the Police Gazette

Louise Brooks appeared on the cover of the Police Gazette, a large format tabloid, on April 4, 1925. This is in all likely-hood her first magazine cover appearance. A copy of this publication is currently for sale on eBay.

The text beneath Brooks' image reads, "A charming young dancer in a big Broadway musical show." The show the caption refers to is "Louie the Fourteenth," which was then playing at the Cosmopolitan Theater in New York City. The caption also predicts a bright future for the dancer.

Louise Brooks private journals to be unveiled

It's been a quarter of a century years since Louise Brooks passed away. Before her death, she bequeathed her private journals to the George Eastman House with instructions they remain sealed for 25 years.

Today, Variety reports that her journals have been unsealed and "Eastman staffers have been poring over the journals before making them available to the public." Read more at http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118024992.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

I wonder if Brooks diaries and letters will also made public? We can only hope, as we all know the actress was a gifted writer and something of a braniac. Stay tuned.

Chin up

She is everywhere, and she is "fearless"

This collage image featuring the one and only Louise Brooks seems to be showing up everywhere. 

Last week, a friend who lives in Portland, Oregon sent me snapshot of it taken in a local store window. And yesterday, my wife brought me home a postcard with the image which she bought in a store in Petaluma, California. 

Earlier, I also noticed it on a handbag or some such item in a store window not far from where I live in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco.

The image, which is copyrighted 2010, is the work of a design collective known as Papayaart. And in fact, if you visit their stylish website at www.papayaart.com you will see that they use a variant of this image on their homepage. It's an effective image - and one easily applied to various products. According to their website, their designs and products are distributed all around the world.

I like the image. I also noticed a collaged image of Ruth St. Denis on their website.

Kevin Brownlow: "My Life in Archives"

Back in May, the eminent and now Academy Award winning British film historian Kevin Brownlow gave a talk at the London Television Centre. His talk, part of series called the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture, was titled "My Life in Archives."

As fans of Louise Brooks are likely aware, Brownlow has been a longtime champion of the actress. He befriended her in the late 1960’s, they corresponded for many years (reportedly some 200 letters), and she was included (a bit prominently) in three of Brownlow’s most significant works - the groundbreaking book The Parade’s Gone By (1968), the seminal 13 part filmed history of the American silent cinema, Hollywood (1979), and the also remarkable 3 part history of European silent film, Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (TV series, 1996).

The Parade’s Gone By is widely considered the single most import history of silent film. And thus, it’s a bit notable that the book contains a note of thanks by Brownlow which reads, “I owe an especial debt to Louise Brooks for acting as a prime mover in this book’s publication.”

2010 Jane Mercer Lecture part 1 from Gerry Lewis Productions on Vimeo.

During Brownlow’s talk, the British film historian speaks about the actress on two occasions. He claims at one point that his actions led to the destruction of the last remaining print of the James Cruze gangster film, The City Gone Wild (1927), which featured Brooks.

2010 Jane Mercer Lecture part 2 from Gerry Lewis Productions on Vimeo.

And, at a later point, he talks about the time he slept in Brooks’ bed. Watch the clips of this truly fascinating lecture to find out exactly what Brownlow meant by each claim.  

2010 Jane Mercer Lecture part 3 Q&A from Gerry Lewis Productions on Vimeo.

And, if you haven't already done so, go out and get yourself a copy of The Parade's Gone By, which is available either through amazon.com or through independent booksellers. I can't recommend either Hollywood or Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, as each is out-of-print and sells for hundreds of dollars. (Each also includes brief clips of Louise Brooks.)

A little more on Kevin Brownlow and his many activities as an author, documentary filmmaker, and archivist can be found on his production company website, Photoplay Productions. There is also a Wikipedia page for the film historian which contains links to other online biographies, articles and links. [ A bit more at examiner.com ]