Happy Halloween: Louise Brooks as Death

Happy Halloween: Louise Brooks as Death

Louise Brooks & Rina Ketty - "J'attendrai"

A great song: Rina Ketty sings "J'attendrai" to images of Louise Brooks.

For more French music like this, be sure and tune in to RadioLulu, the online radio station of the Louise Brooks Society, at http://www.live365.com/stations/298896

Libba Bray's The Diviners: a near Louise Brooks cover

Libba Bray's The Diviners, as
published in Italy.

Libba Bray's new young adult / teen novel, The Diviners, is set in 1920's New York City. It's story centers on Evie O'Neil, and features speakeasies, movie palaces, glamorous Ziegfield girls, rakish pickpockets, and a rash of occult-based murder. 

Kirkus Reviews said of The Diviners, "1920s New York thrums with giddy life in this gripping first in a new [series] from Printz winner Bray...The intricate plot and magnificently imagined details of character, dialogue and setting take hold and don't let go. Not to be missed."

The book contains a couple of references to Louise Brooks. One character, a Ziegfield girl named Theta Knight, is described as having "jet-black hair" cut into a "Louise Brooks shingle bob with bangs." Later, it is mentioned that Hollywood scouts were backstage and on the look-out for the "next Louise Brooks or Eddie Cantor."

The book has been published in a handful of countries, including Italy, where its cover (pictured above) features a Louise Brooks look-alike contemporary model sometimes mistaken for the actress. Thanks to Italian Brooks-scholar Gianluca Chiovelli for pointing this out! (He described the cover as "not Brooksian; Brooksiesque.") Here the book's American promotional video.

LBS featured on LAMB

On October 19th, the Louise Brooks Society blog was featured on LAMB, the Large Association of Movie Blogs, the premier movie blog directory - "a one-stop shop for readers and bloggers alike." 

Check it out at http://www.largeassmovieblogs.com/2012/10/lamb-1428-louise-brooks-society.html

Thank you LAMB!

Dressing up like Louise Brooks (for Halloween)

Thinking of dressing up or looking like Louise Brooks for Halloween? On eBay and other sites, you'll find Louise Brooks wigs - little black bobs, retro-looking dresses said to be like those Louise Brooks would have worn, and even a Louise Brooks mask.

On YouTube, you'll also find a handful of video's which instruct viewers on how to apply makeup to effect a Louise Brooks' look. I have watched some of them and think this is the best. Take a look.

 

More on Sid Kay's Fellows

Earlier this week, I received an extraordinary email. It was from Israel, and it came from Dr. Uriel Adiv, the grandson of Shabtai Petrushka (Sigmund Petruschka), the noted German musician and composer and a co-founder of the Sid Kay's Fellows. That jazz combo seen in the Louise Brooks' film, Pandora's Box (1929).

Dr. Uriel Adiv wrote in response to an earlier LBS blog, "Music in Pandora's Box: Sid Kay's Fellows." He sent images and information, and promised to send more. 

Here are a couple of the scans which he sent, the front and reverse of a vintage flyer promoting the group. Dr. Uriel Adiv wrote, "You can see my grandpa playing the trumpet on the upper right side as well as playing the accordion on the middle of the right side."

Not only does its collage design (by Umbo, a Bauhaus artist) reflect a modernist aesthetic, but its also contains valuable bits of information about the widespread popularity of this group (which I had not known) who performed for various stage, film, and dance productions. Also of note is the fact that the group was managed by impresario Hanns Wollsteiner, who helped promote Marlene Dietrich early on.

Cool pic of the day: Louise Brooks

Cool pic of the day: the one and only Louise Brooks, 

and don't forget to check out and vote in the new LBS blog poll 

(in the lower right hand column) regarding "Which LOST 

Louise Brooks film would you most like to see?"

New for sale page

There is a new "For sale" page. It can be accessed as a tab at the top of this Louise Brooks Society blog. For now, there are only a few related books listed for sale. Other items will be added in the near future. Check it out.

Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl

A few years back, British novelist Sophie Kinsella wrote a book called Twenties Girl. Published in the United States in 2009, it tells the story of a friendship between two young women. One is a twenty-something contemporary woman, the other the ghost of a 1920s flapper.

In an interview from the time, Kinsella, the popular author of Shopaholic novels, said "I've always loved the glamour and spirit of the 1920s, and the idea came to me of a flapper ghost. A feisty, fun, glamorous girl who adored to dance and drink cocktails and get her own way. I wanted her to be a determined character who would blast into the life of someone with no warning and cause havoc. I then decided she should haunt a thoroughly modern girl, with all the culture clashes and comedy that would bring."

"Having come up with this idea I loved it, so it then remained to plunge myself into 1920s research, which was no hardship at all, as I find the era fascinating. I researched vintage make-up, vintage dresses, read fiction from the period, investigated 1920s slang, and tried to channel as much I could of those feisty flappers who cut their hair short (shock!), smoked cigarettes in public (shock!), had sex (shock!) and generally rebelled in all the outrageous ways they could."

This book has only recently been called to my attention, that's why I am writing about it now. However, what's striking is the book's visual allusion to Louise Brooks, especially Eugene Richee's pearls portrait. The allusion to Brooks is even more noticeable on the cover of the Italian edition.

Would love to hear from anyone who has read this novel.