Louise Brooks, flappers, and evolution

It's not unsual, while looking through newspapers and magazines of the 1920's, to come upon articles about flappers (of which Louise Brooks was considered a prime example). Incredibly, flappers (young women with a decidely modern outlook) were seen as a "threat" to society. (As was "evolution" and the idea that humanity could be related to apes and monkeys.) Many of the articles I have come across about flappers are of the finger-wagging variety.

I couldn't help but notice "Flapper Monkey Too Untrained for Matrimony; Her Three Babies Died." This is certainly one of the most ridiculous pieces I have ever read.

Louise Brooks inspires character in new mystery novel

According to Canadian author Caroline Kaiser, Louise Brooks was a major source of inspiration for the beautiful ghost Constance in Kaiser's recently released mystery novel, Virginia's Ghost (Lavaliere Press). Here is a description of the book drawn from Amazon.

Antiques specialist Virginia Blythe of Gable & Co. Auctioneers is working late one night when she hears mournful wailing. Following the sound to its source, she gasps in astonishment: a breathtakingly beautiful flapper who looks like a refugee from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is lingering in the shadows of the company’s basement. Later the disconsolate young woman returns to offer Virginia her diary, written in 1928. It reveals she’s the ghost of wealthy Toronto socialite Constance Pendleton. What is Constance trying to tell her? Intrigued, Virginia curls up with the diary and begins dipping her toes into the elegant opulence of Constance’s Jazz Age world. But suddenly things go terribly awry at Gable & Co. Just as Virginia’s preparing for a blockbuster auction, some valuable porcelain mysteriously goes missing and her job is on the line. 

The worst, however, is yet to come. A shocking murder spins the eccentric world of the auction house into chaos. Struggling to make sense of it all, Virginia turns increasingly to the secrets of the diary. Virginia’s Ghost is a tale of ghastly crime, euphoric love, and devastating betrayal in which two women transcend time to affect each other’s lives in startling ways.

Louise Brooks Society supports Net Neutrality

An important message worth repeating: The Louise Brooks Society supports Net Neutrality. Without it, the LBS and other small websites and content providers would be lost among the wilds of cyberspace. Read more about net neutrality at http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality

Nameographs: Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford and Mae Murray

Nameographs from 1928: Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford and Mae Murray and others.

Flapper Clothes: 1928 Perspective

Mark Tansey painting features Louise Brooks?

Back on December 12, 2004, the New York Times ran a half-page spread on the highly regarded contemporary painter Mark Tansey and a recent work of his entitled "West Face." (Click here to read the article and see an image of the painting.) 

According to the article, " 'West Face' appears to be a suavely rendered picture of a band of hikers trudging up a snowy mountainside. But look closely, and you'll find a landscape treacherous with puzzles, paradoxes, hidden images and allusions." 

Among the hidden images, reportedly, are portraits of various philosophers, and, of Louise Brooks. I see the portraits (including the one that is supposedly Brooks), but I don't quite recognize the actress. What do you think?

Hey Mark Tansey, did you put Louise Brooks face in your painting?

Early Modern Dance: Denishawn Images

There is a real nice collection of Denishawn images on Flickr. These images are exotic, erotic and visually very interesting. How I wish someone would publish a pictorial book devoted to Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and the Denishawn Dance Company. By the way, Louise Brooks can be seen in at least two of the images gathered on Flickr.