Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society

Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society.


Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Silent era classical music

I recently picked up a copy of Aubert: Orchestral Works, a collection of five shorter works by Louis Aubert (1887 - 1968). I had not heard of this French composer, but I stumbled upon this CD and was drawn to the cover (which depicts Charlie Chaplin) as well as the interestingly titled second work on the disc, "Cinema, six tableaux symphoniques." According to the liner notes, this symphonic suite is taken from a ballet first staged in 1953, and each movement or episode in the work depicts a moment in the history of film. The movements are titled "Cinéma, six tableaux symphoniques Douglas Fairbanks et Mary Pickford," "Cinéma, six tableaux symphoniques Rudolph Valentino," "Cinéma, six tableaux symphoniques Chaplin et les Nymphes Hollywoodiennes," "Cinéma, six tableaux symphoniques Walt Disney," etc.... This music is charming and easy to listen to, and will appeal to those who may like Debussy or Ravel.



The liner notes refer to another French composer with whom I was not familiar, Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), and his "Seven Stars Symphony." According to the Wikipedia entry on Koechlin, the "Seven Stars Symphony" (1933) was "inspired by Hollywood" and "He was fascinated by the movies and wrote many 'imaginary' film scores and works dedicated to the Hollywood actress Lillian Harvey, on whom he had a crush. He also composed an "Epitaph for Jean Harlow." This webpage contains additional information on Koechlin. And this English-language Russian webpage has some really interesting material.

One doesn't often come across classical music inspired by the early cinema, especially that dating from the time. Is anyone familiar with this composer or their filmic compositions? I would like to track down some of Koechlin's work.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Louise Brooks Society is on Twitter @LB_Society

The Louise Brooks Society is on Twitter @LB_Society.


 As of today, the LBS is followed by more than 3000 individuals. Are you one of them? Why not join the conversation? Be sure and visit the official LBS Twitter profile, and check out the more than 3,800 LBS tweets! For those who like to follow the flow, the LBS twitter stream can also be found in the right hand column of this blog.


And that's not all. 


RadioLulu ♪♫♬♪

also has a Twitter account at @Radio_Lulu

           As of now, RadioLulu is followed by more than 3000 individuals, and has posted more than 175 tweets!This recently established account tweets about Louise Brooks and music as well as additions to
RadioLulu - the long running online radio station of the Louise Brooks Society
at live365.com/stations/298896 Check them both out! 

And for those who want to, check out the Twitter account of Thomas Gladysz, founding director of the Louise Brooks Society, at @thomas_gladysz 

Friday, December 26, 2014

A poem from Cuba about Louise Brooks

Since Cuba is in the news of late, I thought to rerun this post from the past: A webpage from Cuba once featured a handful of poems "about" eary film stars, including one "about" Louise Brooks! There were also poems "about" Theda Bara, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Mae Murray, Charlie Chaplin and others. The poems are by Carlos Esquivel, a contemporary Cuban writer. Here is the Brooks' piece (whose title translates as "A Love Letter to Louise Brooks").

                                                      UNA CARTA DE AMOR PARA LOUISE BROOKS

Nada me une a ti sino lo que está más lejos:
el padre que no pude decir abrácense hijos,
esta sequía que ya aburre
 y junta las hebras de dormir con las de estar muertos,
ese perro recién nacido por los golpes y la fragilidad
de los apostadores,
y el trueno que no nos deja un águila viva.
Nada une como secar la pólvora en que hemos estado a salvo
mientras guardan en los sepulcros las hachas húmedas por la sangre
de otras muchachas.
Condenado a ser un hombre triste,
como un mensajero que se acoda
en la tribu enemiga, viviendo fuera de los muertos que le pertenecen,
doloroso y elegido en esta religión de olvidarte,
en la tierra que huele a abalorios, a coz,
advenedizo ante el oráculo y el agua áspera de las consignas.
Pero no soy quien cae de rodillas
y echa fuera de la armadura su presagio de vejez.
Sólo soy quien declara su amor como el prisionero
apostado a soñar con lo imposible.
Ya la madre no pensará en nosotros,
y en las misas los tambores llamarán a la fornicación,
heridos por el ácido de las absoluciones
y por los peñascos de quienes vaticinan
una zona blanca para los esqueletos amados.
Bienvenidos, dirán los niños,
y rezaremos ardiendo los sepulcros,
vueltos a callar en la carne y en la madera,
derribados por el coraje y la orina con que el hijo nos condenaba.
La sangre debe unir todo lo que en mí se hunde.
Debajo de esta barba de príncipe, mi corazón intacto
a las arrugas y a los zarcillos,
derramándose por las moras y los herbolarios,
húmedo de las concubinas que  habrán cobrado mi locura.
El corazón cercado,  como el tonto pájaro de Atamelipa.
Nada me une a ti sino lo que ruedea devolviéndose.
Augurar también que nos pregunten,
que en el vientre y los muslos un hijo nos pertenezca.
Nada me une más a ti que lo que no existe,
una espalda que imagino como única mentira,
y una muchacha con su cuerno de caza terminando la historia.
Quién sabe con qué esperanza tendremos el alcohol,
y la garganta hará un incendio para hacernos olvidar,
para sentarnos ante el poema
e inventar un grito.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Happy holidays from the Louise Brooks Society

Happy holidays from the Louise Brooks Society.


Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Herb Weidner Cold Times

Darkness, Fog and Despair ... from the movie "Lulu" by G.W. Pabst with Louise Brooks. Music f. Oboe in d-minor .742a. Merry Christmas.

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