Vintage Hollywood comic books, including Dixie Dugan and Buck Jones, at Digital Comics Museum

The Digital Comics Museum is a wonderful online resource. The site says it is "the best site for downloading FREE public domain Golden Age Comics," and it may well be true. To start downloading, register an account and enjoy reading a great assortment of vintage comic books. The Digital Comics Museum does not charge per download, with the stated goal of the project to archive these comic books online and make them widely available.

There are comic books dating, mostly, from the late 1930s through the early 1960s. Among them are a couple associated with the career of Louise Brooks, as well as many others relating to Hollywood and the movies.

The Digital Comics Museum has a couple of issues of the Dixie Dugan comic book. As fans of Brooks will recall, the actress was the inspiration for this long-running comic strip / comic book character. The early incarnation of the strip, circa 1930, featured a look-alike character, scenes set in the entertainment world, and even a few panels lifted directly from film stills. Follow this link to see these later-day Dixie Dugan comics - http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?cid=244

The Digital Comics Museum also includes a half-dozen issues of a Buck Jones comic book. As fans of Brooks will also recall, Brooks was featured in Empty Saddles, a 1936 Western starring Jones. He started in the silent era, a remained major star throughout the 1930s. Sadly, Jones was one of the 492 victims of the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts, dying two days after the November 28th blaze. For years, legend held that Jones's fatal injuries were the result of his going back into the burning building to save victims, but it is now known that he was one of many trapped in the fire. Follow this link to see the Buck Jones comics, which date from the early 1950s, a number of years after Jones' death - http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?cid=632

And speaking of Western films featuring Louise Brooks, the Digital Comics Museum also has issues of John Wayne Adventure Comics. As fans of the actress will recall, Brooks was featured in an early John Wayne film, Overland Stage Raiders (1938). These comics date, I think, from the early 1950s.

The Digital Comics Museum has numerous other Hollywood-related comic books from the 1940s and 1950s, some of which harken back to the silent and early sound era.

They have runs of Johhny Mack Brown, Bill Boyd Western, Motion Picture Comics, Tom Mix Western, Hollywood Diary, Hollywood Secrets, Abbott and Costello Comics, Three Stooges, Famous Stars, and others. And of course there are many non movie or celebrity related comics.

But wait, there is more! The Digital Comics Museum also has very early issues of Little Nemo (circa 1906 - the year Brooks was born) and Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang (from the early 1920s). As fans of the actress will also recall, Brooks appeared in the cover of this humor journal in the late 1920s.

MUST READ - Flashback: Louise Brooks By Peter Cowie

Thomas Gladysz and Peter Cowie in 2006

Peter Cowie, film critic and film historian extraordinaire and the author of Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, has penned a wonderful essay for the Criterion website.

The piece is called "Flashback: Louise Brooks By Peter Cowie," and it's about the critic's friendship with the actress during the 1970's. It's a must read.

This is the second in a series of pieces devoted to film figures Cowie has gotten to know in the course of his long and illustrious career. Read his introduction to the series here.

In the comments field, Kevin Brownlow wrote: "As beautifully written and as vivid as a letter from Louise Brooks."

If you are a Louise Brooks fan and don't have a copy of Cowie's pictorial book, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, then get a copy today on amazon or ABE.com or your favorite used bookstore!

Cinefamily screens the Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, on August 7

DON'T FORGET: The Silent Treatment and the Cinefamily Theater will screen the classic 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, on August 7 in Los Angeles, California. More information here. Showtime is 7:30 - tickets are $12.00.

Inside the Cinefamily Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Notice the portrait
of Louise Brooks on the wall!

"There’s a reason the name Louise Brooks elicits sighs every time it’s mentioned at the Cinefamily: her ferocious charisma and otherworldly beauty cemented her status as an icon well before she retired from the silver screen, at the age of 32. From her comic role opposite W.C. Fields to multiple turns as troubled, willful heroines in the films of legendary German Expressionist auteur G.W. Pabst, Brooks shines as an actress capable of endless nuance and versatility — as she understood the impact both her inner and outer beauty could bring to the screen. Here, in her second and final collaboration with Pabst, Brooks gives a delicately restrained performance as the naive daughter of a prosperous pharmacist who stuns her clan by becoming pregnant. After being put through the repressive reform school ringer, she escapes to a brothel where she becomes liberated and lives for the moment with radiant physical abandon. Pabst’s escalating nightmares are heightened by Brooks’ sensitive portrayal of a truly lost girl whose hard-earned redemption is as beautiful a vision as the star herself. Dir. G.W. Pabst, 1929, 35mm, 116 min. - See more at: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/the-silent-treatment/#the-silent-treatment-louise-brooks-in-diary-of-a-lost-girl"

See the movie? Read the book. Check out the "Louise Brooks edition" of Margarete Bohme's controversial bestseller, The Diary of a Lost Girl - available through Indiebound and Amazon.

Cool pic of the day: Louise Brooks

Here is a rather remarkable picture of Louise Brooks, taken most likely in 1925 during her time on the stage in New York City. It is an usual look, wouldn't you say....

I'm in Love with a German Film Star

Here is a 1981 clip of The Passions performing their hit song "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" on the UK TV show Top of the Pops. A few years back, I exchanged emails with the Passion's lead singer. Though a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, she said this song wasn't written about the actress, who appeared in two German films. Nevertheless, we like it a lot. The song can also be heard on RadioLulu.

Report From the Czech Republic: Film a živá hudba: Deník ztracené vs Vložte kočku

Film a živá hudba: Deník ztracené vs Vložte kočku

KEŠA | ČLÁNKY / REPORTY | 29.07.2013

Třetí den začala na Letní filmové škole v cyklu němých filmů retrospektiva německého režiséra Georga Wilhelma Pabsta, rodáka z Roudnice nad Labem. Jeho filmy uvidíme v této sekci až do konce festivalu. Jako první byl uveden snímek Deník ztracené z roku 1929 s hudebním doprovodem kapely Vložte kočku.

Znám jen málo českých kapel, které mají na koncertech tak odlišný projev oproti studiovým nahrávkám. Dokonce jsou i takoví, co jejich desky neposlouchají, i když tvrdí, že je to jejich oblíbená kapela, naživo. Mám rád obě roviny – po dnešku ale i tu „filmovou“.

Vložte kočku se na 107minutový set připravili perfektně. Začali po krátkém „mlčení“ přísně, odklepnutím bubenických paliček, a pak už nenechali diváky téměř vydechnout. K jednotlivým scénám vložili svůj zvuk známý z koncertů. Místo zpěvu si vybrali dvě vedlejší postavy filmu, slizkého lékárníka, kterému klávesák vkládal do úst mumlání dementa, a zápornou postavu ženy, kterou houslista uváděl v jednotlivých scénách ostrými afektovanými výkřiky do mikrofonu svého nástroje. Tím skvěle uvedli charakter postav, které už dál nepotřebovaly ani filmové titulky.

I když byl ve Slováckém divadle abnormální hic, několikrát mi během koncertu vyvstala husí kůže, některé scény byly tak dokonalé! V momentě, kdy hlavní hrdinka pyká v nápravném křesťanské zařízení a je spolu s ostatními týrána plešounem a řádovou sestrou v krutém rytmu úderů na gong, kočky jsou tam, s transformovaným songem DD z desky Táta. Když zákazník v nevěstinci obskurně tančí s hlavní hrdinkou, kočky jsou tam, v disko rytmu. Scény, kdy zasáhne do děje hrabě, jsou free jazz, skutečný a od koček. Tango v nevěstinci? Je tango od koček. K ukládání rakve do jámy hraje varhanní pohřebácká. A ten abnormální hic, v koupačce na pláži u moře, hraje abnormální hic, prostě Ivan Mládek, od koček. Závěrečná scéna je doprovázena přednahraným a modulovaným čtením všech titulků k filmu od začátku až do konce. Včetně konce.

K celé projekci si kapela nechala puštěný i originální „zvuk“ filmu, vrnění promítačky. Ten využili hlavně v momentech menších pauz, kdy záběry zůstaly bez jejich hudby. Tyto momenty působily naprosto přirozeně, i když na plátně probíhala akce. Vložte kočku museli zkoušet k tomuto filmu neuvěřitelné kvantum hodin, protože kdo si dovolí takové kousky s ledovým klidem, ten ví, co dělá. A o tom na sále, soudě dle závěrečného aplausu, nikdo nepochyboval.

Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy-Blaché

A Kickstarter campaign has just launched to fund the making of a documentary about the film director Alice Guy-Blaché. Check it out, and consider donating at Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy-Blaché.

The Louise Brooks Society endorses and has donated to this worthwhile campaign to tell the story of a pioneering and influential female figure in the film industry.

Prisoner of Paradise: The story of Kurt Gerron

This weekend, I finally had the chance to see Prisoner of Paradise (2002). "The documentary tells the true story of Kurt Gerron, a successful German-Jewish actor and director, who after being sent to a concentration camp, was forced by his captors to direct the pro-Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews." In addition to exploring his life, it details the remarkable detective story in which Gerron's film, lost for decades after World War II, was tracked down and painstakingly put back together." I streamed it over Netflix, and noticed it can also be streamed over Amazon.

Kurt Gerron was one of the great German actors of the 1920s and 1930s. He appeared in many films and stage productions. Today, he is best remembered for a key supporting role in The Blue Angel (1930), with Marlene Dietrich. Gerron also had a part in the 1929 Louise Brooks film, The Diary of a Lost Girl, a few scenes from which are included in Prisoner of Paradise. 

 I recommend Prisoner of Paradise. It is a moving documentary well worth watching.

New book of poems based on Louise Brooks

Hazard Press in Wales has published LULU REFLECTS: A BIOPOEMOGRAPHY OF LOUISE BROOKS, a sequence of fourteen poems forming an imagined autobiography of the silent film star Louise Brooks. This hand-made book is 24 pages (105mm x 148.5mm) including card cover with patterned endpapers and Japanese binding. Edition of 100, with the number hand-stamped on the reverse.

More information and ability to order at http://www.hazardpress.co.uk/