A Girl in Every Port to screen at BFI in January

A Girl in Every Port, the 1928 Howard Hawks film starring Louise Brooks, Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong, will screen at the British Film Institute on January 2 and January 7. The film will be shown with live piano accompaniment, and is part of a Hawks retrospective taking place at the BFI. The film is being described as "Perhaps the most significant of Howard Hawks' silent films."

The BFI website notes, "History ranks this as the most significant of Hawks' silent films, because it seemingly persuaded GW Pabst to ask for Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box.

The Hawks film casts Brooks as a circus artiste, 'Mlle Godiva', who dives from a height into a small pool of water. She has Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong offering a towel, and she handles that with Lulu's aplomb, enjoying them both at the same time. So Brooks stands as the first Hawksian woman."

Further details can be found on the BFI website at http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/january_seasons/howard_hawks/a_girl_in_every_port

CyberMonday 15% off on The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition)

Here's the perfect gift for the Louise Brooks / silent film fan on your holiday shopping list. Purchase The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) at Lulu.com and receive 15% off with coupon code STOCKING305

Use coupon code STOCKING305 at checkout and receive 15% off The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition). This offer good only on Lulu.com. Maximum savings with this promotion is $10. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. 

This great CyberMonday offer ends on December 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST. (Link to purchase.) This offer good only on Lulu.com, the recommended site on which to purchase this new book.

"In today's parlance this would be called a movie tie-in edition, but that seems a rather glib way to describe yet another privately published work that reveals an enormous amount of research and passion." - Leonard Maltin

"Read today, it's a fascinating time-trip back to another age, and yet remains compelling." - Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"An important contribution to film history. . . . a volume of uncommon merit." - Richard Buller, author of A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran

"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, back from obscurity." - Lon Davis, author of Silent Lives 

15% off The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition)

New stage adaption of Lulu in Paris

The La Colline - théâtre national in Paris is putting on a new stage adaption of Frank Wedekind's Lulu plays. After this productions plays Paris, it will then tour around France next year. Here are the details via the La Colline website. (The production runs through December 23 - more images and video at the theater website.)

Photo © Élisabeth Carecchio 

overview

In a world where eroticism seems to have become a common law, no man can resist Lulu, even if death is the consequence of pleasure. Wedekind started writing this sensational drama in 1892, and went over it for twenty years, as if the period itself was giving birth to this mythical heroine. In Lulu’s story, the enchanting eros, promise of happiness, ends up turning to trash. The grotesque accents Wedekind valued so much echo till the very last tragic burst of the plot. It is this vim and the combative strength of this writing Stéphane Braunschweig will nourish his staging of the “monstrous tragedy” with.

english subtitled performances
Saturday 4 December at 7.30 p.m
& Tuesday 14 December at 7.30 p.m

cast and creative

director and stage designer Stéphane Braunschweig
artistic collaboration Anne-Françoise Benhamou
costumes Thibault Vancraenenbroeck
lighting Marion Hewlett
sound designer Xavier Jacquot
stage designer collaborator Alexandre De Dardel
director assistant Caroline Guiela
make-up and hair Karine Guillem
with Jean-Baptiste Anoumon, John Arnold, Elsa Bouchain, Thomas Condemine, Claude Duparfait, Philippe Faure, Philippe Girard, Christophe Maltot, Thierry Paret, Claire Rappin, Chloé Réjon, Grégoire Tachnakian, Anne-Laure Tondu

publication
The entire work of Wedekind is published by the edition Théâtrales/Maison Antoine Vitez. The theatrical version of Stephane Braunschweig relies on the first primitive version of the play (1894), translated from german by Jean-Louis Besson and Henri Christophe, to which were integrated a few elements of the 1913 version, translated by Ruth Orthmann, Eloi Recoing and Philippe Ivernel.

tour
Grenoble MC2 - 7 to 13 January 2011
Nantes Le Grand T - 19 to 22 January 2011
Toulouse TNT - 27 to 30 January 2011

Lulu / F.Wedekind / bande annonce
Uploaded by www-colline-fr. - Watch original web videos.

Love Em and Leave Em

An especially charming image: Louise Brooks and Lawrence Gray in the 1926 film, Love Em and Leave Em.

Rufus Wainwright comments on Louise Brooks

In an article on Straight.com, Rufus Wainwright commented on Louise Brooks and his recent CD, All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu. In an interview, Wainwright said this about the "Weimar-era icon":

“I was definitely thinking of Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box,” says the piano-playing singer, calling from a San Francisco stop on his current tour. “But Lulu has become many different people over the past few months. It’s the concept of the ravaging, destructive beauty who kills you with a smile—something I worship and at the same time am frightened to death of. When I started touring, though, I felt like I was Lulu. Or my mother or Shakespeare’s Dark Lady would become Lulu.”

Best 2010 releases for the Louise Brooks fan

Looking for the perfect gift for the Louise Brooks fan on your holiday shopping list ? Look no further.

There are a handful of new books, DVDs, and CDs to choose from which should interest just about every Louise Brooks / Lulu fan.

I've selected the best of the 2010 releases and put together an annotated list, with links to buy, at examiner.com.

Check it out at http://www.examiner.com/louise-brooks-in-national/best-new-releases-for-the-louise-brooks-fan

Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) now on SALE

15% off The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition)
Offer ends December 15, 2010

The perfect gift for the Louise Brooks / silent film fan on your holiday shopping list. Purchase The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) and receive 15% off with coupon code STOCKING305

The fine print: Use coupon code STOCKING305 at checkout and receive 15% off The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition). Maximum savings with this promotion is $10. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. This great offer ends on December 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST so try not to procrastinate! While very unlikely, the publisher does reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. Finally, Lulu incurs the cost of this discount, so it does not impact the author's proceeds of the book. (Link to purchase.)

Diary of a Lost Girl: So far, and into the future

So far, I have done four events for my new edition of The Diary of a Lost Girl. The first two - at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in July, and at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in October - were book signings. Each went well, and more than a few fans lined up at each event to get a copy of the book.

This past weekend, I did two more events. Each were presentations at which I gave a 25 minute talk accompanied by a Power Point presentation. The slide show included a number of little known images related to Louise Brooks and The Diary of a Lost Girl, including some not in the new edition. Each of these events went well.

Though there was a smallish crowd at the Saturday afternoon event at Orinda Books in  Orinda, they were devoted. We had a 100% sell through on books!  And, there was a lively question and answer period after my talk. That was enjoyable.

The event also gave me a chance to reconnect with my old pal Beth Ann Gallagher. We first met years ago over the internet when she set up the Louise Brooks group on the old Tribe.net social networking site. Then, she was living on the East Coast - but now she lives in the Bay Area and helps with events at Orinda Books, an independent bookstore in the East Bay. I was especially pleased that Beth introduced me at this my first event for the book!

Thanks to everyone at Orinda Books for making this a memorable happening! I appreciate it.

This fine independent bookstore is located near the Orinda Theater, a handsome art deco theater once likely frequented by the 1925 Miss America, Fay Lanphier (the star of the 1926 Louise Brooks film, The American Venus). Lanphier used to live in Orinda in the years following the second World War. Her husband owned and operated a bookstore there. And by the way, Orinda Books still has a few copies of my book for sale for those who couldn't make it to this special event.

The next day, on what would have been Louise Brooks' 104th birthday, I gave a presentation in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Public Library. At least 125 people showed up. And again, things went well. At least, everyone said they appreciated my introduction, and many were very enthused about having the chance to see the 1929 film, The Diary of a Lost Girl.

They was a buzz in the air. I think the event made a few new fans - and drew a few old ones as well. I did spot at least one person wearing a Louise Brooks t-shirt. The specially made Thymain and Lulu pinback buttons also proved popular. Here is a snapshot of me in action at the SFPL.

I especially want to thank SFPL staffer Maureen Russell, whose idea this event was – and, SFPL librarian Gretchen Good for not only making the event happen, but for helping this book of mine make its way out into the world. I hope at least a few of those who attended this event had a chance as well to see the small exhibit of related vintage material on display on the fourth floor. And thanx to the San Francisco Public Library Art, Music and Recreation Center for blogging about the book and event on a couple of occasions.

Next up is Books Inc in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. That event is set for tomorrow, November 18th at 7:30 pm. I plan on giving a slightly modified version of my prepared presentation. Books Inc has been promoting the event heavily, and listings for it have shown up on various local television, news, and radio web sites - not to mention social networking sites.

I am getting excited. A handful of people have already told me they would be attending this event, the last scheduled for this year in the Bay Area. I may do one last book signing next February . . . .

I will be doing one more author event - in Paris at the English-language Village Voice bookshop. My presentation there on January 13th of next year will be followed by a screening of the Diary of a Lost Girl film at the nearby Action Cinema - should all go according to plan. Village Voice is a distinguished Paris bookstore. My event follows one they have scheduled with David Sedaris.

For more on the book, check out this information page, which has some background as well as links to reviews, additional information, and a list of the stores and museums around the country which carry the book. I've also created a special Facebook page for the book.

"Thymian lives."