Louise Brooks' Schopenhauer

Rosie Brooks shows off Louise Brooks' copy
of the essays of Schopenhauer

As many of you may know, Laura Moriarty is touring the country to promote her new book, The Chaperone (Riverhead). It's a captivating novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922, and the summer they spent together that would change them both. 

In an early scene in the book, Brooks and the chaperone are traveling by train to New York, and to help pass the time, both characters are carrying a book. The chaperone is reading The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. And Brooks, though only 15, is reading a volume of Schopenhauer's essays.

Just the other day, Moriarty stopped in Wichita, Kansas for an appearance at Watermark Books, a local independent bookstore in Brooks' former hometown. In the audience was Rosie Brooks, Louise's niece. (Rosie can be seen in the 1999 documentary, Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, directed by Hugh Munro Neely. If you haven't seen it, you should. It is really terrific.) 

Rosie Brooks brought along Louise Brooks' own well worn copy of Schopenhauer's essays. The book even contained Brooks' personal bookplate. Here are a couple of additional snapshots of the book itself.

By all accounts, Laura Moriarty's events have been well attended, and her book has been selling briskly just about everywhere. And what's more, some fans, and even some bookstore staff, have been adorning Louise Brooks wigs at events. Here is another snapshot taken at Watermark Books in Wichita. Pictured below are Beth from Watermark, Rosie Brooks and Laura Moriarty in the middle, and Sarah, also with Watermark.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) was an important figure for Brooks. And, apparently, someone she read pretty much all her life. The German philosopher is mentioned three times in the Barry Paris biography, including this noteworthy passage. "In a 1967 reminiscence called 'Meeting with Pabst,' Lotte Eisner recalled her visit to the Pandora set [in 1928]:

In a corner sat a very beautiful girl reading the Aphorisms of Schopenhauer in an English translation. It seemed absurd that such a beautiful girl should be reading Schopenhauer, and I thought quite angrily that this was some sly publicity stunt of Pabst's. Some 25 years later, I found out that Louise Brooks really did read Schopenhauer."

If you have the chance to see Laura Moriarty talk about her new novel, don't miss it. Her remaining events include

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

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

Sunday, June 24
11:30 a.m.: Brunch Reception, Talk, Q&A, & Signing
Mysterious Galaxy (link)
2810 Artesia Blvd.
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

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

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

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

Wednesday, June 27
7 p.m. Talk, Q&A and Signing
Rakestraw Books (link)
522 Hartz Avenue
Danville, CA 94526

IOWA CITY, IA
Saturday, July 14
2 p.m.: Talk, Q&A and Signing
Iowa City Book Festival (link)
University of Iowa

(A big thank you to Laura Moriarty for permission to post these pictures of her Wichita event.)

Louise Brooks film Prix de Beauté screens in Italy

The 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beauté, will be screened on June 23rd as part of the 26th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. The prestigious international festival is put on by the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero and Cineteca di Bologna. The program from the event can be viewed and even downloaded on this page.

Here is the small listing for the Prix showing, which will be accompanied by Timothy Brock and a (newly?) commissioned score.

I don't know for sure, but suspect, that the festival will screen the silent version of Augusto Genina's Prix de Beauté. It is considered superior to the more commonly seen sound version, which has added sound effects, dialogue and a couple of songs. Genina was an Italian director working in France when he came to make the film, which was based on a story idea by the German director G.W. Pabst (who made Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl) and the French director Rene Clair. Brooks' voice was dubbed in the sound version (she didn't speak French), and a professional singer sang the lovely theme song Brooks is shown singing.

Prix de Beauté has great charm, and its ending scene is considered one of the most remarkable passages in film history. A clip is embedded below. If you haven't seen Prix de Beauté, please note that this fragment contains spoilers.

Louise Brooks - Lulu on My Mind

Here is a splendid Louise Brooks tribute video which I just ran across on YouTube. I was a little late to notice, as more than 17,000 others had viewed it before me. All-in-all, nicely done, though one of the very last still images is not of the actress. Maybe Colleen Moore or someone else.

The music is "Diga Diga Do," recorded in 1928 by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, with vocal by Irving Mills. For those who like to listen to music via their computer, and for those who like vintage jazz and vocal music, be sure and check out the Louise Brooks Society online radio station, RadioLulu - streaming since 2002 :: http://www.live365.com/stations/298896

Cool pic of the day: Louise Brooks with feathered hair

Cool pic of the day

Louise Brooks with feathered hair (and sparkling crystals),
a publicity portrait from The Canary Murder Case (1929).

Hollywood Without Make-Up

Anyone who reads this blog knows I love books. Especially film books. And even more so, old film books. The other day, my wife visited the San Francisco Public Library and their small used book store tucked into a corner of the entrance. She found an interesting title called Hollywood Without Make-Up, by Pete Martin. The book, which still had its original dustjacket, was published by J. B. Lippincott Company in 1948. It is largely made up of a series of earlier essays and articles which date back to 1938.

Martin started with the Saturday Evening Post in 1925, and worked as an art editor and staff writer for that publication for a number of years; some of the pieces in this book first appeared in in the Post.

Hollywood Without Make-Up is look at the movie industry and some of the leading personalities of the time, like Hedy Lamarr, Gregory Peck, Greer Garson and Ava Gardner. And Francis X. Bushman. Yes, Francis X. Bushman! Other silent era film stars are referenced and mentioned. Stars like Rudolph Valentino, Mary Pickford, Wallace Reid, Harold Lloyd and a few others.

The book does not have an index. Interestingly, though, one of its owners took the trouble to inscribe an index on the book's endpapers. Here they are.

I love this kind of thing, reader's additions to books. In this case, the index shows its owner really cherished this book, read it closely, and took the time and trouble to compose an index. Oh, and the book also had a mini Dutton's bookmark (Laurel Canyon branch) tucked into it, which I think may date from the early 1960s. Bonus prize!

Adieu Village Voice bookshop

According to an article on the Huffington Post, Village Voice - the venerable English-language Paris bookshop, will close at the end of July. 

Back in January of 2011, I spoke at Village Voice about the "Louise Brooks edition" of Margarete Böhme's The Diary of a Lost Girl. It was a great event! The turn-out was large, at least 50 Parisians were there, including noted authors John Baxter and Roland Jaccard. Pictured below, on the left holding my "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl is the French translator of the Barry Paris biography (whose name escapes me), myself in the middle, and on the right holding his Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star is the French journalist and critic Roland Jaccard. 

At the event I also met Sebastian Pesle, the student filmmaker whose short film, Loving Louise Brooks, caused a bit of a stir on the internet. Sebastian and I are pictured below, standing in front of the screen of my slide show presentation.

Bookshops are wonderful places, filled with interesting books and interesting people. That is especially true of Village Voice. One of the employees there, Vincent Pierrot, was himself a big Louise Brooks fan. His favorite film starring the actress was A Girl in Every Port. He made sure that my book as well as Jaccard's and some of his own Louise Brooks' DVD and video cassettes were all on display in the shop window promoting my event, Here is a snap of Vincent and I.

And here, lastly, is a snapshot of my book on display in Paris! Village Voice may still have a few copies left, as I left them with some copies to sell. Should you visit the store before it closes, and I recommend you do if you live in Paris, then please do ask for the book. (The French Cinémathèque also has a copy in their research library, should Village Voice be sold out.)

Adieu Village Voice bookshop. You will be missed. You have done much for the world of arts and letters and culture and film.

Who was Louise Brooks, Anyway?

Today, the Arlington Public Library in Arlington, Virginia posted an entry on its library blog titled "Who was Louise Brooks, Anyway?" It shows a half dozen book covers related to the actress. The blog-post sources the recent Huffington Post article "Louise Brooks - Cover Girl and Secret Muse of the 20th Century."

And yesterday, Shelf Awareness, a prominent online newsletter in the publishing industry, ran a short piece on that same Huffington Post article. It was titled "Louise Brooks: Book Cover Girl."

Can you identify any of the books in the above photo?