Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in Newnham, UK on Friday, November 6th at 7 pm -- with live musical accompaniment by Wurlitza. This should be fun. Check it out if you live in the area.
A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts
about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the
Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
Friday, November 6, 2015
Diary of a Lost Girl screens in the UK
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Lulu Forever
Although she died countless times on stage and on film, Lulu still lives. Frank Wedekind's immortal character -- the great femme fatale of the 20th century -- first appeared in his once controversial, now celebrated "Lulu" plays, Erdgeist (Earth Spirit, 1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora's Box, 1904).
In the years that followed, Lulu was reborn in other art. Wedekind's plays were the basis for two great silent films in the 1920s, as well as Alban Berg's masterful opera of the 1930s. The plays and their stage performances, the films, and the opera all influenced one another. It is known, for example, that Berg saw G.W. Pabst's 1929 film Pandora's Box while composing his great modernist opera, as did his great champion and correspondent Theodor Adorno, who wrote that he was profoundly affected by Lulu.
There have been other later film adaptions, poems, paintings and drawings, comic books, and even erotica inspired by the character of Lulu, as well as a few rock and pop recordings like Rufus Wainwright's All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (2010) and the Lou Reed / Metallica collaboration Lulu (2011).
Her origins remain obscure. Did Wedekind base the character on Lou Andreas-Salomé and his own frustrated relationship with the vivacious intellectual (who preferred the company of Nietzsche, Freud, and Rilke)? Or did Wedekind base Lulu on his mother, a one-time showgirl in Gold Rush San Francisco? She married Wedekind's father, an older and respectable professional, not unlike Dr. Schön in the plays.
Or, was Wedekind -- a rogue in his youth -- smitten with Lulu, a popular circus performer in Paris in the 1890s? We do know that Wedekind was inspired by the circus as well as Félicien Champsaur's 1888 circus pantomime, Lulu. In the prologue to Earth Spirit, the characters are introduced by an Animal Tamer as if they are creatures in a traveling circus. Lulu herself is described as "the true animal, the wild, beautiful animal" and the "primal form of woman."
Over the years, actresses from Eva Gabor to Judy Davis have played Lulu on stage and in film, while many others have sung the role in opera. Here is a shortlist of six great, memorable Lulus. Each has shaped the way we see the character today.
Marlis Petersen as Lulu.
PHOTO: Kristian Schuller/Metropolitan Opera
Louise Brooks as Lulu in the 1929 film Pandora's Box.
PHOTO: Louise Brooks Society
Asta Nielsen in 1913, as Lulu in 1923, and turned from the camera in 1930.
PHOTO: Louise Brooks Society
Tilly Newes and Frank Wedekind in Pandora's Box. Tilly Wedekind as Lulu in Earth Spirit. PHOTO: Louise Brooks Society
Kyla Webb in Lulu: a black and white silent play, which toured the country in 2006
Melanie Griffith as Lulu in Something Wild (1986).
PHOTO: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc
reprinted from Huffington Post:
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
More great reviews for the KINO Lorber Diary of a Lost Girl starring Louise Brooks
More good reviews for the new KINO Lorber DVD & Blu-ray of Diary of a Lost Girl continue to trickle in. Yesterday, Stephen Schaefer wrote in the Boston Herald:
"Among the silent cinema’s style icons the sole rival to Greta Garbo is America’s Louise Brooks who never attained the stature of the glum Swede but whose remarkable memoir, the 1982 LULU IN HOLLYWOOD, single handedly revived her reputation and insured her position for posterity. A Kansas born dancer/actress Brooks is known for epitomizing the Roaring Twenties flapper with her distinctive bobbed haircut. She is revered for the two 1929 films she made in Europe for G. W. Pabst, PANDORA’s BOX about the femme fatale Lulu who destroys every man who comes into sphere until she is murdered by Jack the Ripper and DIARY OFA LOST GIRL (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, unrated). DIARY has Brooks a lost soul, seduced, disowned, imprisoned in a “home” for wayward women and ending up in a swank brothel. In this masterful restoration, from archival 35 mm elements, DIARY benefits from an incisive commentary by the director of the Louise Brooks Society Thomas Gladysz. There is also, strangely and surprisingly and happily enough, an 18-minute sound short Brooks made in 1931, WINDY RILEY GOES HOLLYWOOD. Brooks was 78 when she died in 1985, three short years after her book was published."
While the day before that, Amy Longsdorf, wrote in the (Cherry Hill, NJ) Courier-Post:
"Diary of a Lost Girl (1929, Kino, unrated, $30) After “Pandora’s Box,” director G.W. Pabst and actress Louise Brooks teamed up for one of the most stunning melodramas of the silent era. Beautifully restored to its original running time, the Berlin-shot film follows a naive pharmacist’s daughter as she is seduced and abandoned by her father’s assistant. Placed in a horrific home for wayward girls, she escapes only to wind up in a brothel. Way ahead of its time, “Diary” tackles provocative themes of sexuality and exploitation while providing Brooks with a role that helped defined her career."
"Among the silent cinema’s style icons the sole rival to Greta Garbo is America’s Louise Brooks who never attained the stature of the glum Swede but whose remarkable memoir, the 1982 LULU IN HOLLYWOOD, single handedly revived her reputation and insured her position for posterity. A Kansas born dancer/actress Brooks is known for epitomizing the Roaring Twenties flapper with her distinctive bobbed haircut. She is revered for the two 1929 films she made in Europe for G. W. Pabst, PANDORA’s BOX about the femme fatale Lulu who destroys every man who comes into sphere until she is murdered by Jack the Ripper and DIARY OFA LOST GIRL (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, unrated). DIARY has Brooks a lost soul, seduced, disowned, imprisoned in a “home” for wayward women and ending up in a swank brothel. In this masterful restoration, from archival 35 mm elements, DIARY benefits from an incisive commentary by the director of the Louise Brooks Society Thomas Gladysz. There is also, strangely and surprisingly and happily enough, an 18-minute sound short Brooks made in 1931, WINDY RILEY GOES HOLLYWOOD. Brooks was 78 when she died in 1985, three short years after her book was published."
While the day before that, Amy Longsdorf, wrote in the (Cherry Hill, NJ) Courier-Post:
"Diary of a Lost Girl (1929, Kino, unrated, $30) After “Pandora’s Box,” director G.W. Pabst and actress Louise Brooks teamed up for one of the most stunning melodramas of the silent era. Beautifully restored to its original running time, the Berlin-shot film follows a naive pharmacist’s daughter as she is seduced and abandoned by her father’s assistant. Placed in a horrific home for wayward girls, she escapes only to wind up in a brothel. Way ahead of its time, “Diary” tackles provocative themes of sexuality and exploitation while providing Brooks with a role that helped defined her career."
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Louise Brooks, William Kentridge and the Making of Lulu
There is an old saying. Chance favors the prepared mind. There is another saying about being in the right place at the right time.
I love books. And have long been involved in various aspects of publishing. For two-and-a-half years I worked at Arion Press in San Francisco as its Director of Marketing and Sales. Arion Press, if you're not familiar, is one of the last letterpress publishers in the world. Started more than 40 years ago, Arion makes extraordinary, limited edition, handmade books. Their Moby-Dick, with 100 wood engravings by Barry Moser, and their Ulysses, with 40 etchings by Robert Motherwell, are each legendary and sought after.
One day in 2013 at an Arion Press staff meeting, we were discussing upcoming projects. At the time, the press was looking for a new book to publish; the press was also wanting to work with artist William Kentridge -- a proposed Flaubert project with Kentridge had stalled out. At the time, Kentridge was deep into his production of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, which was based on two plays by the German playwright Frank Wedekind.
I have always been an idea guy, and it was at that meeting that I suggested to Arion publisher Andrew Hoyem that the press pair Kentridge with Wedekind's two Lulu plays, Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box. I made the suggestion not long after having read in the New York Times that Kentridge himself was inspired by Brooks -- actress who played Lulu in the 1929 silent film, Pandora's Box. It seemed like a good fit.
Speaking to the New York Times in 2013, Kentridge explained "that his Lulu was being inspired by German Expressionism, Weimar cinema (including, of course, Pandora’s Box, the G. W. Pabst version of the Lulu story starring Louise Brooks), Max Beckmann drypoints depicting brothels and the like...."
Not long after the staff meeting where I made my suggestion, Hoyem approached Kentridge with the idea of publishing the Lulu plays accompanied by artwork by Kentridge. After some back and forth, the project was a go.
Fast forward to 2015. Arion Press has just released its edition of Wedekind's The Lulu Plays, featuring 67 Kentridge drawings (printed by four-color offset lithography) bound into the book. The images are derived from brush and ink drawings for projections included in the artist's new production of Berg's opera, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on November 5. It looks to be a terrific production.
The role of Lulu is sung by the German coloratura soprano Marlis Peterson (a dirty blonde who wears her hair shoulder length); she is famed for the role, and in this production sports a dark bob a la Louise Brooks.
Those seeking a sneak peak of the visuals behind the opera should head over to the Marion Goodman Gallery in New York, where "William Kentridge: Drawings for Lulu" is on display through December 19th. The exhibit presents the original 67 drawings by Kentridge used in the opera and the book, as well as a suite of four related linocut prints. The Arion Press edition of The Lulu Plays is also on display at the gallery, as well as at the IFPDA Print Fair in New York from November 4 through November 8.
The Arion Press edition of The Lulu Plays is a fine achievement. It's both handsome and sexy. Four-hundred copies were printed, each signed by the artist and numbered. The book is quarto format, measuring 13-1/2" x 10", and is printed by letterpress on luxurious creamy paper utilizing period type in fittingly black and red inks. The book is hand bound, and comes in a slipcase. Louise Brooks and her role in Pandora's Box is mentioned in the introduction.
To learn more about the new edition of The Lulu Plays, check out this video from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on-stage conversation between Kentridge and Arion Press publisher Hoyem.
The Met's production of William Kentridge's staging of Alban Berg's opera will be streamed live into theater's across the country on Saturday, November 21st. More info HERE.
I love books. And have long been involved in various aspects of publishing. For two-and-a-half years I worked at Arion Press in San Francisco as its Director of Marketing and Sales. Arion Press, if you're not familiar, is one of the last letterpress publishers in the world. Started more than 40 years ago, Arion makes extraordinary, limited edition, handmade books. Their Moby-Dick, with 100 wood engravings by Barry Moser, and their Ulysses, with 40 etchings by Robert Motherwell, are each legendary and sought after.
One day in 2013 at an Arion Press staff meeting, we were discussing upcoming projects. At the time, the press was looking for a new book to publish; the press was also wanting to work with artist William Kentridge -- a proposed Flaubert project with Kentridge had stalled out. At the time, Kentridge was deep into his production of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, which was based on two plays by the German playwright Frank Wedekind.
I have always been an idea guy, and it was at that meeting that I suggested to Arion publisher Andrew Hoyem that the press pair Kentridge with Wedekind's two Lulu plays, Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box. I made the suggestion not long after having read in the New York Times that Kentridge himself was inspired by Brooks -- actress who played Lulu in the 1929 silent film, Pandora's Box. It seemed like a good fit.
Speaking to the New York Times in 2013, Kentridge explained "that his Lulu was being inspired by German Expressionism, Weimar cinema (including, of course, Pandora’s Box, the G. W. Pabst version of the Lulu story starring Louise Brooks), Max Beckmann drypoints depicting brothels and the like...."
Not long after the staff meeting where I made my suggestion, Hoyem approached Kentridge with the idea of publishing the Lulu plays accompanied by artwork by Kentridge. After some back and forth, the project was a go.
Fast forward to 2015. Arion Press has just released its edition of Wedekind's The Lulu Plays, featuring 67 Kentridge drawings (printed by four-color offset lithography) bound into the book. The images are derived from brush and ink drawings for projections included in the artist's new production of Berg's opera, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on November 5. It looks to be a terrific production.
The role of Lulu is sung by the German coloratura soprano Marlis Peterson (a dirty blonde who wears her hair shoulder length); she is famed for the role, and in this production sports a dark bob a la Louise Brooks.
Those seeking a sneak peak of the visuals behind the opera should head over to the Marion Goodman Gallery in New York, where "William Kentridge: Drawings for Lulu" is on display through December 19th. The exhibit presents the original 67 drawings by Kentridge used in the opera and the book, as well as a suite of four related linocut prints. The Arion Press edition of The Lulu Plays is also on display at the gallery, as well as at the IFPDA Print Fair in New York from November 4 through November 8.
The Arion Press edition of The Lulu Plays is a fine achievement. It's both handsome and sexy. Four-hundred copies were printed, each signed by the artist and numbered. The book is quarto format, measuring 13-1/2" x 10", and is printed by letterpress on luxurious creamy paper utilizing period type in fittingly black and red inks. The book is hand bound, and comes in a slipcase. Louise Brooks and her role in Pandora's Box is mentioned in the introduction.
To learn more about the new edition of The Lulu Plays, check out this video from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on-stage conversation between Kentridge and Arion Press publisher Hoyem.
The Met's production of William Kentridge's staging of Alban Berg's opera will be streamed live into theater's across the country on Saturday, November 21st. More info HERE.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Monday, November 2, 2015
New Book: Charlie Chaplin Archive - wow wow wow
The other day, I received my copy (#105) of The Charlie Chaplin Archives. My first response was "Wow." I knew this book was big, but I hadn't not realized how BIG! "Wow." The book is nearly 18 inches wide and 3 inches thick. It weighs more than 15 pounds, and comes in its own box with carry handle. "Wow." I'm impressed, and think this is the book of the year for film buffs!
According to the publisher, "With unrestricted access to the Chaplin archives, TASCHEN presents the ultimate book on the making of every one of his films. With 900 images, including stills, memos, storyboards and on-set photos, as well as interviews with Chaplin and his closest collaborators, it reveals the process behind the Chaplin genius, from the impromptu invention of early shots to the meticulous retakes and reworking of scenes and gags in his classic movies: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), and the provocative Hitler parody The Great Dictator (1940)."
Oh, and yes, Louise Brooks is mentioned in The Charlie Chaplin Archive. On page 279, editor Paul Duncan notes "The Gold Rush went on to gross over $4 million worldwide. Chaplin remained in New York for two months after the premiere. During this time he had an affair with Louise Brooks, a showgirl who would later have success as a movie actress."
The book includes:
"The most un-put-downable movie book of the season is also the most un-pick-uppable one… It’s an apt tribute to the filmmaker, whose artistry transcends the cinema and spans world-historical dimensions… a revelation of Chaplin’s creative process, even to the furious core of energy, passion, lust, and sheer will that fueled it…" — TheNewYorker.com
According to the publisher, "With unrestricted access to the Chaplin archives, TASCHEN presents the ultimate book on the making of every one of his films. With 900 images, including stills, memos, storyboards and on-set photos, as well as interviews with Chaplin and his closest collaborators, it reveals the process behind the Chaplin genius, from the impromptu invention of early shots to the meticulous retakes and reworking of scenes and gags in his classic movies: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), and the provocative Hitler parody The Great Dictator (1940)."
Oh, and yes, Louise Brooks is mentioned in The Charlie Chaplin Archive. On page 279, editor Paul Duncan notes "The Gold Rush went on to gross over $4 million worldwide. Chaplin remained in New York for two months after the premiere. During this time he had an affair with Louise Brooks, a showgirl who would later have success as a movie actress."
The book includes:
- The Chaplin life history in words and pictures
- 900 images including many previously unseen stills, on-set photos, memos, documents, storyboards, posters, and designs, plus scripts and images for unmade films
- An oral history, told from the point of view of Chaplin himself, drawing upon his extensive writings, many of which have never been reprinted before.
- Supplementary interviews with some of his closest collaborators.
- Material from over 150 books of press clippings in Chaplin's archives, which range from his early days in music halls to his death
- Chaplin's short films, from Making a Living (1914) to The Pilgrim (1923), as well as all of his feature-length movies, from The Kid (1921) to A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
- The first print run of 10,000 copies includes a precious 12 frame strip from City Lights (1931), cut from a 35 mm print in Chaplin’s archives.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Kurt Gerron and Diary of a Lost Girl
My audio commentary for the new Kino Lorber DVD / Blu-ray of Diary of a Lost Girl has been getting very positive reviews. It has been described as "insightful" by a well regarded film historian, as "thorough and informative" by an Emmy nominee, and as "well-researched and often-fascinating" by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who knew Louise Brooks.
The most recent review, a rather thoughtful piece on amazon.com, called it "excellent" - though they did have a few complaints: "The Kino Blu-ray comes with an excellent full-length audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, the director of the Louise Brooks Society, which is an online info archive devoted to Brooks. Unfortunately, there are many long stretches of silence during the commentary. Gladysz talks about the actors and crew, the film's artistry, the historical background, and the social climate at the time the movie was made. At one point, he recommends that we check out a documentary on the life of one of the minor actors in the movie, Kurt Gerron (who plays the portly, friendly figure of the brothel), but didn't mention the title of the documentary. That film is the 2002 Oscar-nominated feature documentary "Prisoner of Paradise", about Gerron's life and career that were cut short by the Nazis."
I stand corrected. And I am truly glad that attention has been called to this outstanding actor and personality. Here is that documentary, which includes a clip from Diary of a Lost Girl.
The most recent review, a rather thoughtful piece on amazon.com, called it "excellent" - though they did have a few complaints: "The Kino Blu-ray comes with an excellent full-length audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, the director of the Louise Brooks Society, which is an online info archive devoted to Brooks. Unfortunately, there are many long stretches of silence during the commentary. Gladysz talks about the actors and crew, the film's artistry, the historical background, and the social climate at the time the movie was made. At one point, he recommends that we check out a documentary on the life of one of the minor actors in the movie, Kurt Gerron (who plays the portly, friendly figure of the brothel), but didn't mention the title of the documentary. That film is the 2002 Oscar-nominated feature documentary "Prisoner of Paradise", about Gerron's life and career that were cut short by the Nazis."
I stand corrected. And I am truly glad that attention has been called to this outstanding actor and personality. Here is that documentary, which includes a clip from Diary of a Lost Girl.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
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