Louise Brooks pictured in advertisement on Rome metro

Gianluca Chiovelli sent this picture of a cinema advertisement on the Rome metro which pictures Louise Brooks. How cool. Thank you Gianluca.

New ebook features Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers

A recently published ebook features Louise Brooks both inside and out. Tom Graves' 297 page ebook from Devault-Graves Digital Editions (published April 29, 2015) is titled Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers. It contains a selection of the author's journalism relating not only to film but also music and literature. Notably, the book contains the author's previously published My Afternoon with Louise Brooks (based on the journalist's encounter with the actress), as well as a chapter from Fallen Angel, Graves' aborted biography of Brooks.

Here is the publisher description: "Award-winning author and journalist Tom Graves in "Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers" collects the best of his long-form journalism articles and profiles as well as his in-depth interviews with a variety of curious personalities. The lead piece is "My Afternoon with Louise Brooks" about Graves's encounter in 1982 with the reclusive silent film legend Louise Brooks. He was the last journalist ever to sit bedside with Miss Brooks, who allowed very few people into her life. Also included are Graves's 1979 sit down with the king of Southern grit lit, Harry Crews, his discovery of the first Elvis impersonator, his search with the help of Quentin Tarantino to find actress Linda Haynes, who had vanished from Hollywood. Included are also Graves's in-depth question and answer interviews with: Frank Zappa, Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, Lee Mavers of the cult band the La's, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders, and rock critic Dave Marsh. Some of Graves's best essays are also part of this anthology: his piece on the Sex Pistols in Memphis, an apology for biographer Albert Goldman, a revisit of Woodstock, interviews with CD remastering gurus, and more."

One Amazon.com reviewer said this: "When I read Tom Graves' work, I immediately see his passion, his deep interest in the people whom he interviews, an interest that precedes and leads up to insightful and personal articles about people who have had an extraordinary impact in our history and culture."

It's true. This book belongs on the shelf of every serious Louise Brooks collector. Check it out. I did. I just bought the a copy of Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers through amazon.com. For those wanting more, be sure and check out Tom Graves blog at http://tomgraves.blogspot.com/ 

Seeking info on "I'm a Real-Life Doll" with Louise Brooks lyric

Some years ago, I came across a posting on the web about a song called "I'm a Real-Life Doll". The lyrics supposedly come from an unsuccessful 1931 musical called Footlight Fancies, with supposed ghostwritten lyrics by Jerome Kern. One of more of these facts may be incorrect. I can't find any information on this song or even the musical. Are they real? If anyone has any information, please contact the Louise Brooks Society.

"I'm a Real-Life Doll"

Though I'm not a Lilian Gish
I can cook a tasty dish.
And even though I'm not Joan Crawford
I've got charms that she ain't offered.

I may not be Clara Bow
But there's a sewing trick I know
And Theda Bara
Can't prepare a
Creme brulee or caramel.

Though I can't say I've the looks
Of mysterious Louise Brooks
You won't be disappointed, not at all!
Alice White may be all right
And Blanche Sweet may be petite
But I'm a real-life doll!

Yes, it's time that I confessed
I am certainly no Mae West
But don't let my lack of glamor cast a pall.
Greta Garbo, she's a star-bo
Mary Pickford, quite a kick-ford
But Anna May Wong, she won't stay long,
And Mabel Normand -- get the doorman!
So stick with me and you'll get over
All of Alla Nazimova
I'm a real-life doll!

Louise Brooks is Loma Brooks

This rare Spanish cigarette card is for sale on eBay at a rather steep price. It measures approximately 2" x 2 3/4" and is card stock, and has Spanish text on the back. And what's more, the actress is identified as "Loma Brooks." I have seen other material from Spain where Brooks is called Luisa. Anyone have an idea as to why Loma?

Podcast with Rick Geary, author of Louise Brooks: Detective

Recently, Rick Geary was a guest on The Comics Alternative podcast. I am listening to it now - and would recommend any Louise Brooks or comic book fan give a listen. Geary is the author of the just published graphic novel, Louise Brooks: Detective (NBM), an 80-page fictional take on the actress' time in Kansas in the early 1940s.

Geary himself grew up in Kansas, and Geary's mother was Brooks' second cousin. Geary brings an insider perspective to telling this tale. He also brings a real appreciation for Brooks, of whom he says "she is one of the great images of the 20th century, one of the great faces."

Louise Brooks: Detective is "A fictional story centered on actress Louise Brooks, this graphic novel by Rick Geary is spun around her actual brief meteoric career as a smoldering film actress who popularized bangs. Geary fantasizes about her coming back to her home town of Wichita where she becomes intrigued by a murder involving a friend, a famous reclusive writer and a shady beau. Not before she gets herself in great danger will she emerge with the solution the police fail to grasp."

Rick Geary is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator. He is the author and illustrator of several books, including the other titles in the Treasury of XXth Century Murder series. He has worked for Marvel Entertainment Group, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Heavy Metal magazine, and has contributed to National Lampoon and the New York Times Book Review. The book industry trade journal Publishers Weekly calls Louise Brooks: Detective "A fun, twisty mystery for both film buffs and crime fiction lovers, and the final revelation is satisfying."

Louise Brooks is on Twitter, follow her now!

The Louise Brooks Society is on Twitter @LB_Society.

 As of today, the LBS is followed by more than 3500 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 4,100 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.

 

Who follows the LBS on Twitter? Fans, film historians, theaters, cine clubs and film institutes, art deco collectors, librarians, classic film buffs as well as Garbo, Keaton, Chaplin, Clara Bow and Douglas Fairbanks. Are you one of them? Don't miss a tweet!

And that's not all. 

RadioLulu ♪♫♬♪

also has a Twitter account at @Radio_Lulu. 

As of now, RadioLulu is followed by more than 425 individuals - including many silent film and vintage music enthuisiasts, and has posted more than 250 tweets! This more 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/radiolulu
Check em out! 

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

New Louise Brooks Society website in the works

To celebrate 20 years online as the leading source for all things Lulu, a new Louise Brooks Society website is in the works! Great progress is being made. But in the meantime, the domain www.pandorasbox.com is under construction. Please check back as a new and improved website is made ready. Contact info is pictured here.