Presenting a new YouTube video "Louise Brooks - Don't Put A Tax On The Beautiful Girls."
A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts
about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the
Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
Friday, February 1, 2013
Louise Brooks - Don't Put A Tax On The Beautiful Girls
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The latest issue of Golwg
Louise Brooks and Louise Brooks Society are mentioned in the latest issue of Golwg, a Welsh-language magazine, in the story pictured over the soccer player's left shoulder.
"Agor Bocs Pandora" by Dilwyn Roberts-Young looks at the Welsh National Opera forthcoming presentation of Alban Berg’s opera, Lulu, and a related screening of Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. More on those events here.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
A constellation of stars
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Downton Abbey - the Louise Brooks connections
Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris |
If you are a fan of silent film and Downton Abbey, you may have noticed a scene where one of the downstairs help was spotted reading a vintage issue of Photoplay magazine with Mabel Normand on the cover. The connection the popular series has with the silent film era doesn't end there. The series, set in England in the early years of the 20th century, also has some rather interesting ties to Louise Brooks.
Back in November, a handful of English writers were asked by the Guardian newspaper which books had most impressed them during the course of the year. The piece was titled "Books of the Year 2012." The answer given by actor, novelist, screenwriter, director and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes caused a bit of a stir, as the book he mentioned was published in 1989. Fellowes' answer reads this way.
"I suspect the book that has haunted me the most this year was the life of that queen of the silent screen, Louise Brooks: A Biography (University of Minnesota £17), by Barry Paris. I have seldom read so lyrical a tale of self-destruction. When she was a girl, my mother used to be mistaken for Louise Brooks and so I have always felt a sort of investment in her, but I was unprepared for this heartbreaking tale of what-might-have-been."
Wow, what an eloquent appreciation of Barry Paris' acclaimed biography. I, for one, couldn't agree more. As I have said before, it is the best biography I have ever read, and it is the best biography I will ever read. It's that good! It is also a book anyone interested in silent film or a life story well told should read.
One wonders if Fellowes knows that Shirley MacLaine, one of the stars of Downton Abbey, is also a BIG fan of Louise Brooks. Over the years, MacLaine has said as much in interviews, all the while expressing her interest in playing Brooks on screen. Additionally, one of the other stars of Downton Abbey, Elizabeth McGovern, has developed a similar interest in Brooks. After serving as the reader for the audio version of Laura Moriarty's 2012 novel, The Chaperone, McGovern snapped up the movie rights to the bestselling book, which tells a story centered around Brooks' time as an aspiring Denishawn dancer.
If, one day, Fellows scripts a film version of The Chaperone with McGovern as the title character and MacLaine as Louise Brooks' mother (?), just remember you saw it here first. But then who would play the teenage Brooks?
Are you a fan of Louise Brooks and of Downton Abbey? Who do you think could play a teenage Brooks? Leave a comment in the comments field. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Are you a fan of Louise Brooks and of Downton Abbey? Who do you think could play a teenage Brooks? Leave a comment in the comments field. I would love to hear your thoughts.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Music by Herb Weidner
A nicely tinted and nicely toned video from YouTube. Music by Herb Weidner.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Friday, January 25, 2013
Louise Brooks in Fairbanks, Alaska - better late than never
I am continuously researching Louise Brooks and her films. And recently, I came across a couple of clipping (one of which is shown here) which merit mentioning. My findings are notable on a few accounts.
In January, 1930 two of Louise Brooks' silent films - The City Gone Wild and Now We're in the Air - were shown in Fairbanks, Alaska. The "Screen Life" column details the event. These screenings are not the first instances of Brooks' films showing in Alaska, then an American territory. (Alaska did not achieve statehood until 1949.) A Social Celebrity (1926), for example, was shown at the Empress theater in Fairbanks in April, 1927.
What is notable about these particular screenings is that each took place long after the films were released. Both films debuted in the Fall of 1927, and these two screenings took place more than two years later. That is a long time for a film to be in circulation during the silent film era. Notably, they are also the very last screenings I have come across for these two now lost films.
What is also notable is that theaters in Fairbanks were still screening silent films well after the sound era had started. For the record, a 1929 sound film featuring Brooks, The Canary Murder Case, was shown in Fairbanks in April, 1930, about 14 months after it first debuted. And another, It Pays to Advertise, also with Brooks, was shown in Fairbanks only nine months after its release in November, 1931.
For the record, I have also come across a handful of screenings of various Louise Brooks' films in Honolulu in the territory of Hawaii during the 1920s, decades before it gained statehood. Hawaii seems to have gotten films sooner than Alaska. But, better late than never.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Thursday, January 24, 2013
New song inspired by Louise Brooks
Last year, Ross Berkal released an ebook called Benevolent Siren: Remembering Louise Brooks. It tells the story of Berkal, who as a young man in the early 1980s, had the experience of meeting and befriending the
then older and reclusive Louise Brooks. The story of that friendship is
chronicled in his self-published ebook. (It is also
referenced in Barry Paris' 1989 biography of the actress.) Berkal also released Youthful Places,
a small collection of poetry which contains "MLB," a poem
about and dedicated to the actress.
Last week, I received the sheet music (piano/vocal
arrangements) for another 2012 Berkal release, For A Childhood Friend / No Dreams Are Wasted / MLB (CreateSpace), a 28 page anthology of three melodic, original alternative rock ballads
including a reflection on one's youth and relationships, a homage to the visionary Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz, and a recollection of
iconic silent film actress and author. Thank you Ross. Here is the YouTube video for MLB.
Ross Berkal was born and raised in Massachusetts. While a young man he
had the unique experience of meeting - and later developing a friendship
with - iconic silent film actress and author Louise Brooks. The story
of that friendship is chronicled in his book Benevolent Siren:
Remembering Louise Brooks. During the 1990's he relocated to New York
City where he established himself as the founder, songwriter, and
bassist of the alternative rock project Dahlia, which performed at many
of Manhattan's best known venues including landmark rock club CBGB's. He
presently resides in the metro-Boston area.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Cool pic of the day: Louise Brooks
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Louise Brooks included in early Ted Shawn book
Another of my recent eBay wins is Shawn Der Tanzer, by Katherine S. Drier. This pictorial book, which surveys the artistry of one of the founders of the Denishawn Dance Company, was published in Berlin, Germany in 1933 by Drei Masken Verlag. I really didn't know much of anything about this book, aside from having seen it listed in various bibliographies. Nevertheless, I thought I would take a chance on it and bid. Fortunately, I won the auction for a modest amount.
Though she is not mentioned by name, I was pleased to find four images in the book of the Denishawn company which include Louise Brooks. (There may be two others.) This publication does not mark the actress' first pictorial representation in a book, as that distinction belongs to Picture Show Annual 1928, a book about the movies published in London, England. It does mark her earliest pictorial representation as a dancer. (Brooks time as a member of the Denishawn Dance Company was seldom mentioned in books or scholarly publications until the 1980s.)
The book includes photographs by Ralph Hawkins, along with Rudolf, Robertson, Binder, Does, Hirano, Mortensen, Townsend, Hiller, Muray, Sunami, Snyder, White Studios, Selby Studios, Bigelow und Arthur Kales
Notably, the author, Katherine S. Drier, was an American artist and important art collector and co-founder of the Société Anonyme, as well as a friend and associate of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. The latter was a fan of Louise Brooks.
What's also notable and intersting about this particular copy of the book is that it was distributed in the United States. On its front endpapers, the book bears a trade label for the B. Westerman Co of New York City. I don't know if they were a book distributor or book shop or both. Nevertheless, one wonders if Louise Brooks herself or denizens of New York or fans of Denishawn or modern dance noticed the images of Brooks in this early book. (Though admittedly you have to know its her to pick her out. The images are not very well reproduced. Hence, my four or maybe six notation.)
Here is one of the pages from Shawn Der Tanzer which includes a picture of Denishawn from the time Louise Brooks was a member. The teen aged dancer and future actress can be seen on the second level of the structure on the left. She is sitting in the image on the top, and standing along side Ted Shawn in the image on the bottom.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
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