Universal Lulu: "Eloise Brooks"

As found on YouTube..... "Eloise Brooks" special effects video set to OMD's "Pandora's Box"

Happy birthday Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks was born on this day in 1906. Happy birthday Louise!

Here is a mini biography from Who's Who in Hollywood 1900 - 1976, by David Ragan. It's a bulky, 860 page encyclopedia style work with zillions of entries on just about everyone. As a reference work, its nice to have around - though it has been superseded by the internet and other contemporary reference works. The entry on Louise Brooks (written while she was still alive) is especially curious - it is respectful, but riddled with errors.

Jack Finney's novel, Marion's Wall

A few years ago, upon Kevin Brownlow's recommendation, I read Jack Finney's 1973 novel, Marion's Wall. Recently, I've just reread it. And still like it. The story starts a little slow, but picks up and finishes with a flourish. Anyone who likes silent film will like this novel.

Set in San Francisco in the early 1970's, the story involves a young married couple whose bodies are taken over by two long-dead silent film stars. The story moves forward as the couple comes to terms with the ghosts/personalities who have taken them over. Eventually, the couple makes their way to Hollywood, where they encounter a very different film industry and individuals from their long ago past. Throughout, various silent films and actors are referenced.

Brownlow mentioned the book to me while we were talking about literary homages and allusions to Louise Brooks. The actress does not make an appearance in this book, nor is she mentioned. Nevertheless, I would suggest that the books' main character - a blonde named Marion Marsh - brings Brooks' map cap spirit to mind.

Has anyone else read this novel?

[ Finney wrote a number of other nostalgic novels involving "time travel," such as Time and Again, as well as The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He lived just north of San Francisco, and a few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting his daughter. We talked about Marion's Wall.]

Hear Pola Negri sing!

If you love music of the 1920's and 1930's, you will want to check out RadioLulu or the Weimar Rundfunk Music website. You can even hear Pola Negri sing!

Today: Pandora's Box screens in London

Once again the Phoenix welcomes the nationally renowned silent film musical accompanist Stephen Horne to play alongside GW Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1929), which will be screened on 35mm film.

Pandora’s Box tells the story of Lulu, played by the brilliant Louise Brooks, whose eroticism leaves a trail of lust and rage which brings ruin to herself and her admirers. The film made Brooks a lasting icon of cinema, leading film critic Roger Ebert to eloquently say: ‘she regards us from the screen as if the screen were not there; she casts away the artifice of film and invites us to play with her.’

With projectionists becoming a scarcity and with multiplexes and digital cinema constantly growing, this kind of a cinematic event is a welcome rarity. To book tickets click on the date below:

Sunday 9th November at 1pm
The Phoenix Cinema
52 High Road, East Finchley, London N2 9PJ 

Louise Brooks screens in Toronto in 2015

Louise Brooks screens in Toronto in 2015 at the Toronto Silent Film Festival.