Monday, November 11, 2013

Some Louise Brooks finds at the Ohio State University

I was in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend for a family wedding (congrats David and Brittni), and took the opportunity to visit the Ohio State University library. I was there to look through back issues of the school's student newspaper, The Lantern.

A few years back, I had surveyed the three Columbus newspapers of the 1920's and 1930's, and had acquired a good number of clipping regarding Brooks' two 1923 Denishawn performances at the city's Memorial Hall, as well as the later screenings of her various silent and sound films at Columbus movie theater's.

The three newspapers I surveyed were the Columbus Citizen, Columbus Dispatch, and the Ohio State Journal. I was curious as to whether or not The Lantern had covered any of these events, just had other student newspapers I have examined had done so.


I can report that I found an article about Denishawn and an advertisement, as well as small write ups about a couple of Louise Brooks' films. I also found a bunch of advertisements for the actress's films at the time they played in Columbus.

A big thank you to student librarian assistant at the Thompson Library who helped me access this material.

Here is some of what I came across.

 





Sunday, November 10, 2013

Tiger Lillies to release Lulu, homage to Pandora's Box and Louise Brooks

The Tiger Lillies are a British Grammy-nominated three piece band with a cult following who have toured the world with works of musical theater including Shockheaded Peter and The Gorey End; they have also released nearly 30 CDs, and, it turns out, been inspired by Louise Brooks.

Due out soon is Lulu, their homage to the actress and her role as Lulu in Pandora's Box. Here is a video clip, shot in Russia, this past September. The Tiger Lillies are seen performing a song (or two) from their forthcoming release.

According to an article in the St Petersburg Times (a Russian newspaper)
Speaking in a backroom of Helsinkibar during the band’s September visit, Jacques said the new album and show, “Lulu – A Murder Ballad,” is based on Frank Wedekind’s plays,“Earth Spirit” (1895) and “Pandora’s Box” (1904).
The plays follow Lulu, a social climber turned prostitute in Berlin, Paris and London at the turn of the century, and inspired Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 silent film “Die Büchse der Pandora” (Pandora’s Box) starring Louise Brooks as Lulu. The plays also served as inspiration for Austrian composer Alban Berg’s 1935 opera “Lulu,” which was left uncompleted at the time of the composer’s death and premiered as a complete opera nearly forty-four years after Berg’s death. A collaborative album by Lou Reed and Metallica, “Lulu,” was also inspired by the plays and was released to mixed reviews in 2011. “We’ll do quite a lot of ‘Lulu’ songs,” Jacques told The St. Petersburg Times.
Commissioned by Opera North, the national opera company for the north of England and written by Jacques, the 20-song show “Lulu – A Murder Ballad” will premiere in London in January.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Louise Brooks as a Sim

Here are a couple of images I recently came across of Louise Brooks as Sim. Whatcha think?






Friday, November 8, 2013

Louise Brooks, The American Venus, on exhibit in Astoria exhibit

Portrait of Louise Brooks, American Venus (1926).
Collection of Museum of the Moving Image. Gift of Frederika Tuttle Hastings
and Helen Tuttle Votichenko.
Credit: Museum of the Moving Image
This portrait of Louise Brooks, taken while she was making The American Venus (1926), is currently on display at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. The portrait is part of "Lights, Camera, Astoria!," an exhibit which traces the history of the Astoria Studios, where Brooks made a numbe rof her early Paramount films.

Studio site photograph, Astoria Studio, c. 1930 (Collection of Museum of the Moving Image. Gift of Dorothy Kandel)

EXHIBITION
Lights, Camera, Astoria!

October 26, 2013–February 9, 2014
In the Amphitheater Gallery


Organized by Barbara Miller, Curator of the Collection and Exhibitions, and Richard Koszarski, author of Hollywood on the Hudson

This exhibition traces the fascinating history of the Astoria Studio complex, which has been at the heart of filmmaking in New York City since 1920. The studio site was the East-Coast home of Paramount Pictures in the silent and early talking-picture eras, a center for independent filmmaking in the 1930s, and the U.S. Army Pictorial Center from World War II into the Cold War. After falling into disrepair in the early 1970s, the site has become a thriving cultural hub that includes Kaufman Astoria Studios and Museum of the Moving Image.

Using film stills, behind-the-scenes photographs, oral histories, film clips, and posters, the exhibition explores the rich legacy and renaissance of the studio complex. With material from silent-era films featuring Rudolph Valentino, early talking films starring the Marx Brothers, World War II training and propaganda films, such modern classics as The Age of Innocence, and television shows like Sesame Street, The Cosby Show, and Nurse Jackie, the exhibition reveals the significant role that the Astoria Studio continues to play in energizing its surrounding community and making moving-image history.

Lights, Camera, Astoria! is presented with generous support from Kaufman Astoria Studios. (A tiny portrait of Louise brooks can be seen in on the far wall.)

 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Jean Paul Gaultier coat features Louise Brooks

PerezHilton.com reported on November 1 that Rihanna has been modeling a coat by designer Jean Paul Gaultier which bears a likeness of Louise Brooks.


The website noted, "RiRi looks especially seksi in a Miu Miu dress with dotted ruffle hem and a scarf tied around her head, and channels a punk rocker in a slashed The Clash tee by Chapel NYC and zippered Acne jacket. She also pays homage to 1920s actress Louise Brooks with a Jean Paul Gaultier coat bearing her likeness. Kinda random, but whatevs!"

Follow this link to see Rihanna herself wearing the coat.

As readers of this blog know, this is not the first time Gaultier has tipped his hat to Brooks. The French haute couture fashion designer has long had a fascination with certain silent film stars, including Louise Brooks.  This embroidered coat, from the designer's Autumn/Winter 2013 Women's Collection, features roll-up sleeves with embroidered detailing, a peaked collar with elastic fastening, and a large embroidered Louise Brooks graphic on the back. It is described as appealing to the fashion conscious as well as those looking for a timeless classic.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Louise Brooks, A Girl in Every Port plays Madison, Wisconsin

Director Howard Hawks had this to say about his choice of Louise Brooks for A Girl in Every Port (1928): "I wanted a different type of girl. I hired Louise because she's very sure of herself, she's very analytical, she's very feminine, but she's damn good and sure she's going to do what she wants to do."

This Howard Hawks-directed buddy film, in which Brooks plays a gold digger, is considered one of the legendary director's best silent efforts. It screens at the Cinematheque at the University of Wisconsin in Madison on December 7th, with live musical accompaniment provided by David Drazin.


Monday, November 4, 2013

Louise Brooks article on Huffington Post

I've posted a new article about Louise Brooks to the Huffington Post. It covers all the latest goings on. Read the article HERE. The slide show embedded in the article contains a very rare photograph of Louise Brooks that is also incredibly sexy. You must see to believe.


The contemporary film critic David Thomson once described Louise Brooks as "One of the most mysterious and potent figures in the history of the cinema . . .."

Earlier, the French critic Ado Kyrou said "Louise Brooks is the only woman who had the ability to transfigure no matter what film into a masterpiece. . . . Louise is the perfect apparition, the dream woman, the being without whom the cinema would be a poor thing. She is much more than a myth, she is a magical presence, a real phantom, the magnetism of the cinema."

His words were echoed by the German critic Lotte Eisner, who described Brooks as "An actress who needed no directing, but could move across the screen causing the work of art to be born by her mere presence."

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Barry Paris to introduce Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life in Pittsburgh, PA


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette movie critic and Louise Brooks biographer Barry Paris will introduce a screening of the sensational William Wellman directed film Beggars of Life (1928) at The Hollywood Theater (1449 Potomac Avenue) in Pittsburgh, PA. This special event, part of the theater's Silents, Please! silent film series, takes place on November 10th.

Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Daryl Fleming & the Public Domain, who have performed with and scored silent films in the region and abroad.More information and ticket availability at http://www.showclix.com/event/BeggarsOfLife.


Friday, November 1, 2013

Louise Brooks Film Series in Prague, Czech Republic

The films of Louise Brooks will be the subject of a series at the Kino Ponrepo starting November 14, the actress' birthday!

For those not familiar, the Ponrepo is the cinema of the National Film Archive in Prague, Czech Republic. The November 14th event marks the first of five screenings of five different Brooks films shown over the course of a month.

The Louise Brooks series follows a similar month long tribute to Clara Bow at the Kino Ponrepo. The Louise Brooks series was organized by the George Eastman House. 

The five films to be shown are Pandora's Box / Pandořina skříňka (screened on November 14th), Diary of a Lost Girl / Deník ztracené (screened on November 21st), A Girl in Every Port / Všude jiné děvče (screened on November 26th), Beggars of Life / Žebráci života (screened on December 3rd), and The Canary Murder Case / Případ zavražděného kanárka (screened on December 10th).

From the Kino Ponrepo website, here is the descriptive notes in Czech. The website also has an English language interface.

Louise Brooksová
14.11.2013 | 10.12.2013
Po říjnové Claře Bow představujeme další hvězdu přelomu němé a zvukové éry

Louise Brooksová – ve své době jedna z řady efemérních krásek stříbrného plátna, dnes kinematografická ikona nejvyšší autority. Bytostí byla jedinečnou, spontánní, provokativní a zcela bez pudu (společenské) sebezáchovy. Důsledky opakovaného vzdoru vůči studiu Paramount ji učinily páriou Hollywoodu.

Natočila pouhých šestnáct němých a sedm zvukových filmů, většina z nich na jakoukoli výjimečnost aspirovat nemohla. A k tomu navíc podstatná část z těch předzvukových titulů zůstává mimo dosah objektivního zhodnocení, protože stále přetrvává v kategorii ztracených. Nicméně Brooksová inspirativně zasáhla do mnoha dalších uměleckých děl, a to nejen coby typ moderní ženy obdařené nadčasovou krásou. Popkultura od amerických komiksů přes filmy Godarda, Caraxe či Tarantina až po repertoár novovlnných kapel OMD a  Siouxsie and the Banches je plná odkazů na její filmové postavy, soukromý život či neotřelou vizáž.

Za tento významový přesah až k současnosti vděčí Brooksová, pro niž rok 1938 znamenal naprostý konec dohasínající filmové kariéry, zejména dvěma hrdinkám z filmů vedených režií George W. Pabsta a vlastně také pařížské retrospektivě z počátku 50. let minulého století. Jak s Lulu z Pandořiny skřínky, tak s Tymian z Deníku ztracené bytostně splynula v živoucí postavy symbolických rozměrů stvořené z autorské fikce, režisérské jasnozřivosti a především vlastní osobnostní autenticity. Tvůrčí vklad Brooksové byl ovšem ryze intuitivní, vědomé pouto s těmito postavami ji přinesla teprve až sebereflexe pozdního věku zanesená do autobiografické knihy Lulu v Hollywoodu.

Retrospektivu pořádáme ve spolupráci s George Eastman House – významnou americkou archivní institucí, která od 50. let soustavně pečuje o hereččin odkaz.

Filmy:
Deník ztracené, Pandořina skříňka , Případ zavražděného kanárka , Všude jiné děvče , Žebráci života
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