Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Louise Brooks and Frankenstein

It is well known that director James Whale considered Louise Brooks for the title role in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). That part, of course, went to Elsa Lanchester. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. Lanchester was sexy and terrifying.



Did you know there is another connection between Brooks and the Frankenstein films. The original 1931 Frankenstein was also directed by Whale, and, it had an uncredited scenario by John Russell, who also penned the scenario for Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men (1925). Russell certainly did a lot of interesting work.




Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Is Louise Brooks pictured in a 1927 Our Gang short?

For some time now, there has been word going round that a newspaper image of Louise Brooks can be seen in the 1927 Our Gang short, Ten Years Old. This 22 minute film centers on Joe and his tenth birthday and the cake he makes for himself. The usual Our Gang mirth and mayhem ensues.

A few short excerpts of Ten Years Old can be found online. I managed to track down the entire film through realclassicsdvd.com, and bought a copy to see for myself. I took a look, and spotted the image at the center of the long running speculation.

Early on, Joe makes himself a party hat from a old newspaper. And on that newspaper is the image in question. It is just a Louise Brooks look-alike, and not the actress, in my opinion. What do you think? Here is a screen capture.


Monday, December 14, 2015

More True Confessions: Pics from the Louise Brooks Society (part 2)

Here are yet more images from the 20 year history of the Louise Brooks Society. Launched in 1995, the LBS was one of the first websites devoted to silent film or a silent film star. Only a few pages at first, the LBS has grown, and so has its acclaim as a resource for fans of Louise Brooks as well as early cinema. Check it out at www.pandorasbox.com

My obsessive tracing of Brooks' resonance throughout the 20th century helped
land this image of the actress on the cover of this book. The Argentine
author was a huge fan of Brooks, as the LBS website showed.

And look where this book showed up - on the hit television show Lost.
I put on an event with the acclaimed poet
Mary Jo Bang when her LB inspired book
of poems Louise in Love was
published in 2001.

I produced this triptych of limited edition autographed broadsides celebrating Mary Jo Bang's book
and featuring Brooks' imagery.
I also produced a limited edition autographed broadside featuring biographer Barry Paris and a bit of text from his book on the actress. This was issued at the time the LBS helped bring Paris' book and Brooks' Lulu in Hollywood back into print.
My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting the then George
Eastman House in Rochester, NY to see the LB
centennial exhibit. What a great experience.
In 2006, I had the great honor of introducing a centenial screening of Pandora's Box at the Castro Theater in San Francisco before a sold out crowd of more than 1,400 people. I also introduced my friend, the seminal Kansas-born artist and filmmaker Bruce Conner, who had his own story to tell about Louise Brooks.
I got to know Bruce Conner after he visited a small exhibit about the actress
which I put on in a San Francisco cafe some years ago. Conner left this
note in the exhibit guest book. Later, when I visited him at his home
in San Francisco, he expanded on this anecdote.

When I introduced Diary of a Lost Girl in Paris in 2009, fans of the actress (alas not me) lined up around the block.






I've had the pleasure of meeting a few fellow fans, like the
charming English dressmaker Irma Romero.
I also had the pleasure of meeting actor Paul McGann,
who is also a big Louise Brooks' fan. McGann, who was the
Eighth Doctor Who, even told me he listened to RadioLulu.
c

Sunday, December 13, 2015

More True Confessions: Pics from the Louise Brooks Society (part 1)

Here are some more images from the 20 year history of the Louise Brooks Society. Launched in 1995, the LBS was one of the first websites devoted to silent film or a silent film star. Only a few pages at first, the LBS has grown, and so has its acclaim as a resource for fans of Louise Brooks as well as early cinema. Check it out at www.pandorasbox.com

With Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star author Roland Jaccard (left)
in Paris in 2009. LBS Director Thomas Gladysz is center. On the right
is Aline Weill, who translated the Barry Paris biography into French.

In 1999, with 99 year old screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas, who penned the
story behind the 1927 Louise Brooks' film Rolled Stockings. The event
the LBS co-presented with Maas for her book The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
was only the second she had done.


With author Barry Paris in 2000, at the LBS co-sponsored event
celebrating the new edition of the Barry Paris biography of the actress
(which the LBS helped bring back into print).

Introducing Pandora's Box at the Detroit Institute of the Arts in 2006,
the year which marked the Louise Brooks centennial.
 
With William Wellman Jr., whose Father directed the 1928
Louise Brooks' film Beggars of Life. Wellman Jr. told me his
Father adored Louise Brooks.


One view of the 2006 LBS sponsored Louise Brooks exhibit at the
San Francisco Public Library marking the actress centennial.
 
Another view of the 2006 LBS sponsored Louise Brooks exhibit at the
San Francisco Public Library.
A long time ago with the Pulitzer Prize winning film critic Roger Ebert,
who told me he used the Louise Brooks Society website to
research Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.
In 2006, with film critic Peter Cowie,
author of Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.
Thank you for reading this blog. Check back for tomorrow's post and more groovy pics from the 20 year history of the Louise Brooks Society.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

True Confession: I've Been Stalking Louise Brooks for 20 years

An early VHS copy of Pandora's Box
from a time when this was the only
way to see a Louise Brooks' film
It all started more than 20 years ago on a Friday night at Video Wave in San Francisco. Not having anything in particular to do, I walked over to the local video store to rent a movie. There weren't any new releases that especially interested me. I had already seen most of what was then current. So, I spent a few minutes browsing the classics section. I am a film buff, and had seen much of what was on the shelves. One title, however, caught my eye, Pandora's Box, a German silent film from 1929. I thought the actress on the cover was kind of hot.

I hadn't heard of the film -- nor its star. What peaked my interest was the text on the back of the VHS, "censored because of its explicit sexuality." With it being a Friday night, and with me having nothing in particular to do, an erotic film -- even though it was from more than sixty years old -- seemed ok to me.

I watched that film that night as if in a dream. Who was this Louise Brooks? And how had I never heard of her? The questions ricocheted through me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. How could such an actress -- such a woman even, be possible? I went to bed that night confused, in a daze. And I got up the next morning and watched Pandora's Box all over again. I had to. The rental tape was due later that day, and, I really, really, really wanted to watch it again. Anyways, I simply had to come to grips with what I had experienced the night before. Like her victims in Pandora's Box, I was in the thrall of Lulu.

Excited by the movie and this actress "I had discovered" -- that was how I felt, I asked everyone I could about Louise Brooks. "She is beautiful. She has short dark hair, like a helmet. She was in this silent film called Pandora's Box. She played Lulu. . . ." Friends, family, people I knew who were into film -- no one really seemed to know much about her until a co-worker recalled there had been a biography. A book. A place to start! 

A first edition copy of the Barry Paris
biography of Louise Brooks
Long before the internet put a world of knowledge at our fingertips, I went to the library in search of information. Looking through the card catalog, I turned up a 1989 title, Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris. I hadn't heard of the book, but it looked substantial, and there was an especially alluring portrait on the cover, and even more tantalizing images inside. I devoured every page of that biography. It is the perfect book -- the perfect match of subject and author. Its intelligence and especially its empathy, as well as its many citations and footnotes, fed my fascination with Louise Brooks. It became my Bible.

Aren't we all smitten with an actor or actress sometime in our life? Don't we all have a secret crush on some cute starlet or some handsome hunk? Don't we want to see every film starring our favorite? Haven't film buffs all saved a picture or magazine clipping for no particular reason known only to ourselves? I figured there must be others out there who appreciated Louise Brooks like I did. I was eager to talk with others about her. But who might they be? How could I find them? Was there a group?

I went back to the library and asked at the reference desk if there was a directory of fan clubs, and much to my surprise, there was. I scoured its many pages of small type. There were thousands of fan clubs: there were groups for Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne and for dozens of other contemporary stars and entertainers I couldn't believe anyone cared about. Disappointed, I didn't find any for Louise Brooks.
All this -- renting Pandora's Box, asking everyone I knew about Louise Brooks, finding the biography of the actress -- was back when the world wide web was just getting started. Up until then, the internet was largely text and made up of places like Prodigy, The Well, UseNet groups, BBS and AOL. I had been online for a few years, and explored each. I even once telnet into the Berkeley Public Library. But now -- around 1994 and 1995, the web was going graphical, and anyone who could figure out HTML could make their own website.

That's when I had an idea. Why not make a webpage about Louise Brooks? Or better yet, why not make a multi-page website, and post some of the material about the actress I had started to gather. I might even "meet" others who shared my interest. That's when I decided to form the Louise Brooks Society, what I called a "virtual fan club in cyberspace." Eventually, I secured the domain pandorasbox.com.

Thanks to my brother, who was a computer engineer and who helped me figure out Hypertext Markup Language, I posted my first web pages. This was in the summer and fall of 1995. The Louise Brooks Society had begun.
LBS director Thomas Gladysz and
Academy Award honoree Kevin Brownlow
I would meet others -- others just as passionate about the actress. Lots of others. They included distant relations of the actress, individuals who worked with her, a couple of rock stars, an Academy Award honoree, a Doctor Who, film historians, artists, poets, novelists, and others from all walks of life. There is a fellow from Rome who is about as devoted to Louise Brooks as me and has his own website. We have exchanged countless emails. There are also new friends -- some I have met, some not -- in Wichita, Kansas and Rochester, New York and elsewhere. Some emailed me. Others I found by exchanging links on film websites, especially those devoted to silent film. It seems individuals interested in the silent era were among the first to colonize the web. There weren't many of us, I guess, and we wanted to find community.
Soon enough, the Louise Brooks Society started to take off. I remember being excited when my hit counter read triple digits. Quickly, visitors were counted in the thousands and then tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands. In 1996, USA Today named the Louise Brooks Society a "Hot Site," noting "Silent-film buffs can get a taste of how a fan club from yesteryear plays on the Web. The Louise Brooks Society site includes interviews, trivia and photos. It also draws an international audience." A few years later, the New York Times described it as an "excellent homage to the art of the silent film as well as one of its most luminous stars."

In 1998, the popularity of my virtual fan club in cyberspace got noticed by Turner Classic Movies. The cable station devoted to classic films decided to commission a documentary about Louise Brooks. An article on the Wired website, "FanSite Sparks Biopic", quoted a TCM spokesman who said the level of interest in the Louise Brooks Society convinced the network to go ahead with the documentary and an evening of the actress' films. "The Web presence for Louise Brooks was overwhelming. It was definitely a driving force in convincing the network to produce this documentary."

At the San Francisco Public Library exhibit

I have always been the scholarly type, and always thought that I wanted the Louise Brooks Society to be more than just a fan club. I wanted to do something. I see the mission of the society as one of honoring the actress by stimulating interest in her life and films. To that end, I have compiled bibliographies on the actress and her films which if printed out would run hundreds of pages. I have also written a couple of hundred articles and a couple of thousand blogs about Louise Brooks. In 2010, I wrote the introduction and edited the of Diary of a Lost Girl, the once controversial novel that was the basis for the 1929 film. Co-published by the Louise Brooks Society, it was this significant book's first English publication in more than 100 years. Recently, I provided the audio commentary for the new Kino Lorber DVD & Blu-ray of Diary of a Lost Girl.



The Louise Brooks Society also has its own online radio station, RadioLulu, which streams Louise Brooks and silent-film related music of the 1920's, 1930's and today. Musical purists have complained, but I can't help but include some of the contemporary rock and pop songs about the actress by the likes of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Soul Coughing, Rufus Wainwright, NatalieMerchant, and others. 

Something that the website does is track and promote the many homage to the actress not only in music but in movies, fiction, comic books, the visual arts and popular culture. Did you know there was a street named after Louise Brooks in Paris, as well as a French perfume? The actress shows up in books by Neil Gaiman and Paul Auster and Salman Rushdie, has been mentioned on The Simpsons, and pops up in movies ranging from Hugo to Blue is the Warmest Color. The current staging of Alban Berg's opera, Lulu, at the Met in New York City owes a littlesomething to Louise Brooks.

With bestselling author and Louise Brooks fan Neil Gaiman (center)
Over the years, the Louise Brooks Society has mounted exhibits and sponsored author talks and screenings. One of the group's great accomplishments took place in the year 2000. At the time, both Louise Brooks' own book, Lulu in Hollywood, as well as the Barry Paris biography which I loved had fallen out of print. The LBS mounted a grass roots campaign to bring them back. And it worked. The University of Minnesota Press reissued both books, and acknowledged the LBS in each. At one point, the press told me those two books were among their bestselling titles.

I didn't do it all by myself. The members of the Louise Brooks Society -- which I number at about 1500 from 50 countries on six countries -- have contributed in all manner of ways. Individuals from around the world have sent pictures and clippings and rare pieces of memorabilia, provided translations of non-English materials, and helped in other ways. 

With English fan Meredith Lawrence (left)
Looking back, that chance encounter some 20 years ago with an old film started me off on a kind of journey into the heart of the Jazz Age. These days, I am interested in not only Louise Brooks but also silent film, Weimar Germany, Denishawn, Twenties Jazz, and more. Those interests all started with Louise Brooks. One thing would lead to another.

Louise Brooks was a pretty big star in the late 1920s. She was world famous for about five years. But then it all ended. She went to Europe to make films, including Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, the two for which she is best known today. When she returned, Hollywood didn't want her anymore. Sound came in, and her Jazz Age impertinence and sleek black bob seemed out of place in Depression-era America. She tried to make a comeback, but ended up quitting films, twice. Louise Brooks and her 24 films would be largely forgotten.

Eventually, she returned to New York City where her showbiz career had begun. She lived there anonymously, broke, drinking, living the life of a barfly, a once famous movie star working behind the counter at a department store; and, while she still had her looks, she may or may have not escorted gentlemen on dates. Can you image what they must have thought had they realized who they were with?

All the while, Louise Brooks had begun to write -- observations, memories, articles, essays. Once derided as a brainy showgirl, she emerged late in life as an articulate and acerbic writer and memoirist. F. Scott Fitzgerald, whom she once met, wrote something about there being no second acts in American lives. Brooks proves the exception. After decades of obscurity, she emerged late in life as an acclaimed author and thoughtful commentator on film.

Signing books at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Though she left her mark on her time, Brooks always thought of herself as a failure. In his biography, Barry Paris quotes a letter the actress wrote to her brother, "I have been taking stock of my 50 years since I left Wichita in 1922 at the age of 15 to become a dancer with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything—spelling, arithmetic, riding, swimming, tennis, golf, dancing, singing, acting, wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying.' I tried with all my heart." 

There is a mystery at the heart of Louise Brooks and her story that goes a long-way toward explaining why she thought herself a failure and why others find her so fascinating. 

I have wondered, and others have asked me, why I am so obsessed with Louise Brooks. I don't know. I think it is because I want others to know she wasn't a failure. Deep down, I suspect I somehow want to save her, to rescue her. But to save her from what I am not sure. Perhaps it is from being forgotten. She often played imperiled women, and that can bring out the rescue impulse in fans and admirers. If that is the case with me, all I can do is try. 

Barry Paris inscribed this copy of his biography: "For Thomas --
who resurrected me & LB the way Tynan did in The New Yorker!"

Friday, December 11, 2015

Diary of a Lost Girl (book and DVD) starring Louise Brooks

If you are still looking for just the right gift for the Louise Brooks or silent film fan on your holiday list, may I suggest Diary of the Lost Girl, either the "Louise Brooks edition" of the book that was the basis for the film, or the recently released Kino Lorber DVD or Blu-ray. (Send me your order for both items within the next five minutes and you will receive an autographed copy of each item plus free shipping -- please indicate which format disc you prefer. Offer valid only in the United States.)


Need some convincing? Here are some of the reviews for each item. Don't hesitate. Quantities are limited!

The Diary of a Lost Girl (book)


“Most certainly a book for all you Louise Brooks fans out there! And silent cinema fans as well.” – Bristol Silents (UK)

“In today’s parlance this would be called a ‘movie tie-in edition,’ but that seems a rather glib way to describe yet another privately published work that reveals an enormous amount of research — and passion.” – Leonard Maltin, Movie Crazy

“You’ve done a beautiful thing.” – Barry Paris, author of Louise Brooks

“Read today, it’s a fascinating time-trip back to another age, and yet remains compelling.” – Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

“It was such a pleasure to come upon your well documented and beautifully presented edition.” – Elizabeth Boa, University of Nottingham (UK)

“Long relegated to the shadows, Margarete Böhme’s 1905 novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl has at last made a triumphant return. In reissuing the rare 1907 English translation of Böhme’s German text, Thomas Gladysz makes an important contribution to film history, literature, and, in as much as Böhme told her tale with much detail and background contemporary to the day, sociology and history. This reissue is long overdue, and in all ways it is a volume of uncommon merit.” – Richard Buller, author of A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran

“An amazing forward that chronicles the history of Margarete Bohme’s book … a must for any silent film fan.” — silenthollywood.com

“Historian Thomas Gladysz has done the silent film community an interesting service: He has made available the original English translation of Margaret Bohme’s novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl. To fans of the beautiful actress Louise Brooks, this is a significant contribution indeed. What makes this new book so appealing is the way in which Mr. Gladysz has presented the vintage material. Featuring a scholarly introduction and numerous, wonderfully reproduced stills and rare advertisements, it is a pleasure to behold. It is also obviously a labor of love.” – Lon Davis, author of Silent Lives

Diary of a Lost Girl (DVD / Blu-ray)


"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." -- Stephen Schaefer,  Boston Herald

"This DVD is the best possible restored version, and is beautiful in its imagery, and in Brooks' performance. This new release also benefits from a well-researched and often-fascinating commentary track by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society." -- Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"The Kino blu ray is a beautiful high def transfer.... The insightful audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz offers a wealth of fascinating information about the movie and about Ms. Brooks." -- James L. Neibaur, examiner.com

"G.W. Pabst’s silent German classic is intact, restored and looking great.... Thomas Gladysz’s commentary is thorough and informative." --  Glenn Erickson, trailersfromhell.com

"... a beautiful and masterfully made social drama. ... New to this edition is commentary by Thomas Gladysz, film historian and director of the Louise Brooks Society." -- Sean Axmaker,  www.cinephiled.com

"Diary of a Lost Girl was another torrid, atmospheric collaboration between American actress Louise Brooks and German director G. W. Pabst. The Kino Classics Blu-ray presents the film in a meticulous digital restoration to savor. Recommended.... The disc includes a feature-length Audio Commentary from scholar Thomas Gladysz, director of the long-standing website The Louise Brooks Society. This was a good, informative track revealing lots of interesting tidbits about the production, the lives of the other actors seen on screen, and Brooks' own recollections on the making of the film." -- Matt Hinrichs, DVDtalk

"Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society, discusses the ambiguous nature of Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, the film's visual style and its impressionistic aura, the relationships between the main characters, interesting details from the lives and careers of some of the principal actors, etc." -- Dr. Svet Atanasov, blu-ray.com

"The results are often excellent, with increased image detail that surpasses our hopes for this edition.... The supplementary material includes a new audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society." -- Carl Bennett, silentera.com

"Diary of a Lost Girl' is a haunting work of filmmaking that I am very glad to see has made its way to Blu-ray in fine form.... Director of the Louise Brooks Society, Thomas Gladysz provides an interesting look at the film, discussing the style of the film, it's reception as well as some of the production details that are known about the film. A solid listen, especially if you're at all interested in learning more about Brooks herself." -- Matthew Hartman, High-Def Digest

"The movie is subtle and spellbinding—qualities not obvious in inferior prints. Like the earlier disc, it includes Brooks’ unremarkable comedy Windy Riley Goes Hollywood, a talkie short in lousy shape. A new extra is an informative commentary by historian Thomas Gladysz." -- Michael Barrett, popmatters

"If you think you’ve seen sordid, a characterization meant as a compliment, do not go through your movie life without seeing this second of two masterpieces that were filmed in almost boom-boom fashion by Germany’s G.W. Pabst — both starring misused-by-Hollywood Louise Brooks, whose legend is based near-exclusively on these collaborations. The most you can say against Diary of a Lost Girl is to concede its ranking just a sliver behind the previous year’s teaming on Pandora’s Box — that one about as good as the movies get." -- Mike Clark, HomeMedia Magazine




"Brooks is a remarkable screen presence, lighting up Diary's tale of an innocent girl taken advantage of by men and then punished for it.... It would be rare when any film ever was as good as the silent greats at their best, films like this one." -- Michael Giltz, HuffingtonPost

"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. Extras: commentaries and a Brooks short from 1931." -- Amy Longsdorf, Delaware County Daily Times
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