Thursday, May 31, 2012

Pandora's Box screens tonight at Price Charles Theater

Pandora's Box screens tonight at the Price Charles Theater in London, England with live piano accompaniment. The film, starring Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Franz Lederer, is listed at 132 minutes.  More info at this page.


 The theater listing reads: "G.W. Pabst's film that catapulted Louise Brooks to international acclaim and made her 'the' icon of the Jazz Age tells the tragic story of Lulu, the hedonistic dancer and prostitute. The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her."

Monday, May 28, 2012

Laura Moriarty's tour dates for The Chaperone

Here are Laura Moriarty's tour dates for The Chaperone. If you're in any of these cities, come by and show your support of Laura and your love of literature and Louise Brooks!  The Chaperone publishes June 5th.

ST. LOUIS, MO
Thursday, June 7
7 p.m.: Talk, Q&A & Signing
St. Louis Public Library – Schlafly Branch
225 N. Euclid
St. Louis, MO 63108
sponsored by Left Bank Books

CHICAGO, IL
Saturday, June 9 and Sunday, June 10
Printer’s Row Lit Fest
Talk location & time TBD
Monday, June 11
The Book Stall at Chestnut Court
811 Elm Street
Winnetka, IL 60093

OMAHA, NE
Tuesday, June 12
6 p.m.: Talk, Q&A & Signing
The Bookworm
8702 Pacific Street
Omaha, NE 68114

WICHITA, KS
Thursday, June 14
6 p.m.: Talk, Q&A & Signing
Watermark Books
4701 E. Douglas
Wichita, KS 67218

KANSAS CITY, KS
Tuesday, June 19
Unity Temple on the Plaza
707 W 47th St
Kansas City, MO 64112
Sponsored by Rainy Day Books

SAN DIEGO, CA
Friday, June 22
5:30 p.m.: Cocktail Reception, Talk, Q&A & Signing
Warwick’s
7812 Girard Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037

SAN FRANCISCO AREA, CA
Monday, June 25
7 p.m.: Talk, Q&A & Signing (intro by Thomas Gladysz of the Louise Brooks Society)
A Great Good Place for Books
6120 La Salle Avenue
Oakland, CA 94611

Tuesday, June 26
7 p.m.: Talk, Q&A & Signing
Copperfield’s
140 Kentucky Street
Petaluma, CA 94952

Wednesday, June 27
2 p.m.: Tea Reception, Talk, Q&A & Signing
Towne Center Books
555 Main Street
Pleasanton, CA 94566

7 p.m.: Talk, Q&A & Signing
Rakestraw Books
522 Hartz Avenue
Danville, CA 94526

IOWA CITY, IA
Friday, July 13 to Sunday, July 15
Iowa City Book Festival
University of Iowa
Talk location & time TBD

"The Chaperone is the enthralling story of two women . . . and how their unlikely relationship changed their lives. . . . In this layered and inventive story, Moriarty raises profound questions about family, sexuality, history, and whether it is luck or will—or a sturdy combination of the two—that makes for a wonderful life."—O, The Oprah Magazine

"In her new novel, The Chaperone, Laura Morirty treats this golden age with an evocative look at the early life of silent-film icon Louise Brooks, who in 1922 leaves Wichita, Kansas, for New York City in the company of 36-year-old chaperone, Cora Carlisle. . . . A mesmerizing take on women in this piviotal era."—Vogue

"Laura Moriarty weaves a compelling story."—The Christian Science Monitor

“It’s impossible not to be completely drawn in by The Chaperone. Laura Moriarty has delivered the richest and realest possible heroine in Cora Carlisle, a Wichita housewife who has her mind and heart blown wide open, and steps—with uncommon courage—into the fullness of her life. What a beautiful book. I loved every page.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

“What a charming, mesmerizing, transporting novel! The characters are so fully realized that I felt I was right there alongside them. A beautiful clarity marks both the style and structure of The Chaperone.”—Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife and Adam & Eve

The Chaperone is the best kind of historical fiction, transporting you to another time and place, but even more importantly delivering a poignant story about people so real, you'll miss and remember them long after you close the book.”—Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Louise Brooks "Rediscovered Silent Film Star"

A rather nice video tribute to Louise Brooks. From YouTube, and titled
"Louise Brooks 'Rediscovered Silent Film Star'."

Friday, May 25, 2012

Louise Brooks - Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema

Some excerpts featuring Louise Brooks from the documentary Why Be Good? Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema (2008). These clips features biographer Barry Paris and William Wellman Jr, the son of the director of Beggars of Life. This excellent documentary can be found on Amazon or rented from Netflix.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Cool pic of the day: When Pandora's Box opened Jean Cocteau in Santa Fe

Cool pic of the day

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was the first film to play
at the Jean Cocteau theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The above advertisement,
from 1984, indicates that the film was scheduled to run only one week. However,
it was still running at the end of May, when advertisements indicate it was showing
as part of a double bill with Diary of a Lost Girl, also starring Louise Brooks.
And yes, the films got good reviews.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Zooey Deschanel: "I love a Louise Brooks bob!"

US Weekly reported that popular New Girl actress Zooey Deschanel, known for sporting bangs, declared in a recent interview, "If I could cut my hair today I totally would. I love a Louise Brooks bob!" Deschanel's shout-out to the silent film star has been all over the web.

According to BellaSugar, where the story first ran, Deschanel is known for her love of "all things vintage." And now, according to US Weekly, "For her hair inspiration, Zooey Deschanel is looking to the past -- rather than the latest trends.

We here at the Louise Brooks Society would love to see Deschanel in a Louise Brooks bob. Who wouldn't? She would look smashing. The idea of Deschanel as a Louise Brooks type as come up before, even in the pages of the Los Angeles Times. But really, Deschanel seems more the Clara Bow type. Don't you think? And a bob on Deschanel might just turn this New Girl into today's "It Girl."

Monday, May 21, 2012

Five days of Louise Brooks in Montreal

Twice in the coming two weeks, the Cinéma du Parc in Montreal is screening a movie starring Louise Brooks as part of its 17 film salute to early film, "The Artists" (thru June 3).

The two films, both made in Germany and directed by G.W. Pabst at the end of the silent era, are Pandora’s Box (or Loulou, as it is titled in France) and Diary of a Lost Girl. Both date from 1929, and each will be shown variously with German, French or English subtitles. Pandora’s Box screens May 22-24, and Diary of a Lost Girl screens May 28-29. It is a great opportunity to see Brooks, a screen legend, at the height of her career and in her best work.

As the Cinéma du Parc states on its bilingual website, the idea for the series originated came about with the success of The Artist, when just about everybody was caught by surprise over the media frenzy around the film. An unlikely contender, The Artist was a French production shot in Los Angeles which became the first silent film since 1929 to win the Best Picture Oscar, and that after gaining numerous awards at Cannes, the BAFTA and the Césars.

Jean Dujardin, who won nearly every Best Actor award around the world for his portrayal of fading star George Valentin, prepared for his role by watching classic silent films and by studying silent era actors, notably Douglas Fairbanks. In fact, the film Valentin views (as his own) in his apartment is Fairbanks’ first swashbuckler, The Mark of Zorro (1920). He had also, reportedly, read Jeffrey Vance's superb 2008 book on the actor.

Described as virtuosic, unique, poetic, touching and unforgettable, The Artist generated considerable public interest in silent film in 2011. That interest has carried through to today.

Some of the other films set to be screened as part of “The Artists” include Fairbanks’ The Black Pirate (1926) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924), as well as Wings (1927), the first silent film (and until The Artist the last silent film) to win an Academy Award. F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh (1924), with the great Emil Jannings as the pathetic doorman, is also on the schedule, as is a newly restored print of Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (1925), and two swell Buster Keaton Films, Seven Chances (1925) and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928). Another early masterpiece, Sunrise (1927), will also be shown.

Also on the schedule is a third G.W. Pabst film, The Threepenny Opera (1931), which will be screened in both their German and French versions. As the Cinéma du Parc website explains, "The French version of The Threepenny Opera was filmed simultaneously to the German version, a practice that was common at the beginning sound in the movies, before dubbing became the norm. Pabst directed both films, alternating between the two different casts on the same sets, with the same shots and the same compositions. But the two films are still very distinct, with the styles and the sensibilities that are intrinsic to each language."
Powered By Blogger