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
Welcome to Music Video Tribute Week on the Louise Brooks Society blog. Here is the second installment. French artist Olivia Louvel performs "Lulu a Hollywood" from album Lulu In Suspension. Thislive footage from a concert at Le Cube in 2009 with mastered audio. Deluxe Digipak CD available at Optical Sound http://www.optical-sound.com/
From Wikipedia: Olivia Louvel is a French-born, British composer, producer and performer, crafting electronic songs from laptop and voice. In 2011, she won the Qwartz Album Award at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards for Doll Divider. She works on the frontier of art and electronic music, often blurring the boundary between the two. Her innovative and quirky songwriting brought her to perform alongside artists such as Planningtorock at the Earsthetic Festival, The Irrepressibles at the Brighton Dome, and Recoil for concerts on the European 'Selected' tour.
Initially trained in classical singing, she began to work as a singer for the renowned flying trapeze circus 'Les Arts Sauts' performing at 12 metres in the air a Meredith Monk composition 'Madwoman’s vision'. She toured with them for 3 years. From 1996 to 1999, she attended the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Arts of Paris, and graduated in 1999.
Lulu In Suspension, inspired by silent-movie star Louise Brooks and her book 'Lulu in Hollywood', was released as a digipak CD on Optical Sound Records and Fine Arts run by French artist Pierre BelouÏn. In 2009, she presented an AV performance of 'Lulu In Suspension' at Le Cube, the digital art space in France.
Welcome to Music Video Tribute Week on the Louise Brooks Society blog. Here is the first installment, a 2009 video I recently came across on YouTube. It's "Louise Brooks Eyes" by Little-X-Little.
Don't know anything about this two person group. They have a YouTube channel with two other videos, including "Jackie's Town live at the Grape Room" which may have an image of Louise Brooks in the background. Hey Little-X-Little, are you fans of the actress?
Musicall, this duo reminds me a little of a solo act, The GrrrL (aka April Louise McLucas), who I wrote about back in 2010.
My recent research into Louise Brooks' early life has turned up some of the silent films the actress saw before she left Kansas. Here they are, and on the exact dates she saw them. Dates in italics are approximate within a few days.
Nov. 15, 1919
Hosts an outing for friends, who take in the Dorothy Gish comedy I’ll Get Him Yet at the Best Theatre, followed by lunch at the Sunflower Pharmacy (in Independence).
Token from the Sunflower Pharmacy in
Independence, Kansas.
Jan. 5, 1921
Sees Once to Every Woman, starring Dorothy Phillips and Rodolph
Valentino, at the Regent theater in Wichita. The film is heavily promoted in the
local papers, plays a full week, and reportedly brought tears to the
eyes of many patrons. Brooks critiques the film in her diary.
Jan 12, 1921
Sees Passion, starring Pola Negri, at the Regent theater, which
Brooks records in her diary as being “wonderful.” Advertisements in the
local papers claim this is its first showing outside of New York.
Jan 25, 1921
Sees The Love Light, starring Mark Pickford, at the Wichita theater.
Feb. 21, 1921
Sees While New York Sleeps, starring Marc McDermott, at the Regent theater.
Feb. 24, 1921
See Worlds Apart, starring Eugene O’Brien, during its three day run at the Wichita theater.
The Princess theater in Wichita, Kansas.
March 10, 1921
Attends a line party with friends at the Wichita theater, where the group sees the locally popular film, Lying Lips, starring Florence Vidor and House Peters.
April 19, 1921
Sees Way Down East, starring Lillian Gish, in the company of her mother at the New Crawford Theater.
Sept. 13, 1921
Sees The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph
Valentino, at the Princess theater. The film played a week, and its
presentation featured an augmented orchestra.
Nov. 27, 1921
Sees The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, at the Regent theater during its week-long run.
My research turned up a couple of rather interesting bits regarding Louise Brooks after she left Wichita, Kansas.
On July 18, 1922 the Wichita Daily Eagle reported that Brooks had been moved to the advanced class in dancing at the Denishawn school. Undoubtedly, she communicated as much in a letter home, which was then transmitted to the local newspaper.
And, on July 24, 1922 the Wichita Daily Eagle reported that Brooks had received an offer
from the famous Shubert company, which she turned down; it was reported that Brooks
intended to continue her studies with Denishawn before returning home to
finish high school. Which she never did.
At the end of the summer, Alice Mills returned to Wichita and opened an authorized (meaning franchised) Denishawn school. This advertisement dates from September, 1922.
Revealed here for the first time, pictures not seen in nearly 100 years, are two remarkable newspaper clippings. The first depicts Alice Mills, the Wichita, Kansas dance instructor who taught Louise Brooks and, as importantly, was the woman who chaperoned the 15 year old Brooks to New York City to study with Denishawn.
According to press reports from the time, Brooks was not the only local set to study with Denishawn; so did Mills. That may explain why Mills chaperoned Brooks, and not her mother, who was originally mentioned as the person who would accompany the aspiring 15 year old dancer. The stunning clipping shown below depicts Brooks shortly before she was to leave for NYC.
Tomorrow's post will contains some additional information on this turning point in Brooks' life, which is beautifully depicted in Laura Moriarty's novel, The Chaperone.
On May 20, 1921, fourteen year old Louise Brooks played a lead role in a two-act comedy, Mr. Bob, which was staged in the auditorium of the Horace Mann intermediate school in Wichita, Kansas. Brooks played the role of Catherine Rogers.
Some 600 students attended the event. Below is a picture of the cast, which includes a seated, smiling Louise Brooks. She certainly stands out, at least in my eye, in the way she holds herself -- confident, relaxed.
I wasn't able to find much on Mr. Bob, except that it was royalty free and performed in a number of schools in the first few decades of the 20th century. I did a quick search, and managed to purchase an inexpensive copy from the turn of the last century. Here is a synopsis which I found online.
And here is a picture postcard of the Horace Mann school from 1920. Check in tomorrow for another blog post with another remarkable and little known image of the one and only Louise Brooks.
Pictured here is what I believe to be the first newspaper advertisement
to name Louise Brooks. This ad from May, 1919 states that Brooks -- then
only 12 years old -- would appear in "The Progress of Peace," an
allegorical pantomime featuring 50 characters. The ad notes that Brooks will perform a solo dance.
The event, held under the
auspices of the local Y.W.C.A. under the direction of the women's committee of the Victory loan, was a benefit to further the sale of
Liberty bonds, or what were known as war bonds. Vivian Jones, a childhood friend and the future actress known as Vivian Vance (of I Love Lucy fame), also took part. Jones played one of the "peoples of the world." Music was supplied by local Paul O. Goepfert and His Orchestra. And Eva Rude (Brooks' aunt) helped with costumes.
While living in Independence, Brooks studied gymnastics and aesthetic dancing with Mrs. May Argue Buckpitt, who wrote, directed and organized the pantomime. Brooks' contribution to "The Progress of Peace" was “The Gloating Dance of Destruction,” arranged by Mrs. Milburn
Hobson, also from Independence. According to press accounts from the time, a “large audience” turned out at the local Beldorf theater (pictured below).
According to the local newspaper, "The play dealt with Progress, rallying the peoples of the world to righteousness and truth, blesses them and gives them happiness. She is greatly perturbed by the coming of Destruction and Death" (played by Brooks). "Then the Peoples of the world are driven back and Progress is overcome. There is a call to arms and the Nations are mobilized. Belgium enters the fray and is back by the Allies, one by one. Columbia is supported by the Seven Assisting Organizations and the red Cross. The coming of Peace is represented in pantomime by the Allies and the Dance of the Dawn of Peace."
At the conclusion of the event, all of the cast as well as five old
soldiers (Civil War? or from the Spanish American War?) and eight veterans of the
then recent world war came on the stage.
This war/peace-themed event took place just 5 months after the end of the First World War, the "War to End All Wars." Admission to the benefit was 10 and 20 cents, which included an admission tax. I assume the admission tax was left over from the war, when movie theaters were taxed to raise funds for the war. (That tax continued into the 1920s; I have come across advertisements noting a "war tax" on performances by the Denishawn Dance Company while Brooks was a member.)
It's worth noting the ways in which the war in Europe impacted Brooks' youth -- both directly (like the two benefits she participated in), and indirectly (like the tax on movie theater admissions). As a bright youngster, she must have been very aware of the war and the many ways it affected daily life. As a youngster in Cherryvale, for example, Brooks had friends who came down with German measles, which during the war were known as "Liberty measles."
More importantly, Brooks knew a few men who served in the armed forces, among them neighbors in Cherryvale, as well as her cousin Robert Rude, of the 137th U.S. inf., Co. H., who was stationed at Camp Doniphan and who once visited the Brooks' family home while on a furlough.
Tomorrow's blog will look at another little known early Brooks' performance, and will include a rare image of Brooks not seen in nearly 100 years.
Many fans of Louise Brooks, at least those who have read Barry Paris' outstanding biography, will be familiar with the image of Louise Brooks as the bride of Tom Thumb. It was the first ever role for the pint-sized performer, who was just 3 years old.
What else do we know about the image and the circumstances behind its making? Very little, it turns out, until now. Recent research has revealed that . . . .
This photograph of little Louise Brooks was taken ahead of a September 2, 1910 production of Tom Thumb Wedding at the Christian Church in Cherryvale, Kansas. Admission to this Friday evening event, a benefit, was 15 and 25 cents.
Despite bad weather around the state, many turned out. The following day, a newspaper article stated there was “good
attendance,” and that the “program pleased the audience, and netted the
sum of $30 for the church.” Doing the math, that means the audience could have numbered around 100.
Here is a picture of the venue for Brooks' first performance, the Christian Church in Cherryvale. This postcard image dates to right around the time that Brooks' appeared as the bride of Tom Thumb.
Over the eight years, Brooks would dance and perform in public on a number of occasions in Cherryvale. For example, Brooks took piano lessons from a woman named Bertha Nusbaum, and on August 6, 1915 as one of Nusbaum’s piano students, an eight year old Brooks performed the “Little Fairy Waltz Op. 105, No. 1” by Ludovic Streabbog at the home of a neighbor. Below is a video recreation of the event :)
Another early documented performance took place on March 7, 1917 when a ten year old Brooks performed “Anitra’s Dance” (from the Peer Gynt ballet by Edvard Grieg) at the Cherryvale Arts Festival. Cherryvale resident Reba Randolph accompanied on piano.
On January 18, 1918 a then eleven year old Brooks, who was referred to as “Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary” in the local
newspaper, lead a “Dance of the Flowers” with 12 other Flower Maidens
in a Mother Goose Pageant at the local High School. This event, held while the war in Europe was still raging, was a benefit for the
local Red Cross fund.
Below is a picture of the Cherryvale High School, where on May 9 and 10, 1918 Brooks performed as the Fairy Queen in “On Midsummer's Day,” a benefit to raise money to purchase Victrolas for the school.
Tomorrow's blog will highlight another of Brooks' early performances as well as the impact the First World War had on the future actress.
Lately, I've been researching Louise Brooks' early life in Kansas from the time she was born through 1922, when she left the state headed for New York City to join Denishawn.
In doing so, I've uncovered all manner of new material -- new images, new clippings, new facts, new information.
I'll be sharing some of that new material this week on the Louise Brooks Society blog, starting tomorrow with "a first." Don't miss it. You simply won't believe what I've found!
Actually, Louise Brooks might turn a little red with embarrassment at some of the images I've uncovered.
I'm talking about pictures of the future actress that haven't been seen in about 100 years.
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Today is the last day to listen to RadioLulu. I am looking for a new home for the hundreds of Louise Brooks and silent film related audio tracks I have collected over the years. Where they will end up I don't know. Over the last few days, I have been looking into finding a new home where I could affordably and legally stream the station. When and if I find a solution, I will let everyone know. Stay tuned.
I certainly appreciate all the positive feedback I have received after first posting an article on Huffington Post. I appreciate the comments the article has received, the emails I have received, and the "likes" the stattion has received in its last days.
In a little known 1968 interview, Louise Brooks declared, "I can't sit
and watch TV all the time; I'd go insane. But I read and read and read;
and I write; and I listen to the radio..." I don't know what model of radio Brooks had, but perhaps it was something like whjat is pictured below. I can imagine her listening to RadioLulu, remembering.
Like others, I’ve long had the fantasy of being a disc jockey. As a DJ, I would share favorite music with listeners, introducing songs and artists with the occasional anecdote or bit of trivia only I might know. “Have you heard this rare recording by …?” or “Did you know that this singer also performed on …?” As a DJ, I imagined the pleasure others might take in hearing a performer or recording they, like me, especially enjoyed.
In 2002, I was able to turn my fantasy into reality thanks to Live365.com, the streaming radio service provider. A pioneer in the field since 1999, Live365 enables individuals like me the chance to program music which plays over the internet. It was simple. I paid a small annual fee, around $120.00, to cover music licensing fees and other costs associated with streaming content over the web.
But now, it’s all over.
Recently, Live365 announced that as of January 31, 2016 it will cease operations. As I understand it, it’s shutting down is largely a result of actions by the Copyright Royalty Board, which raised rates for net broadcasters while special lower rates for smaller broadcasters (like me) were phased out. With the writing on the wall, Live365 laid off staff and investors pulled out.
As radio news sites have reported, the loss of Live365 is a tremendous blow to the diversity of internet radio—diversity made possible by thousands of niche broadcasters running their stations more as hobbies than businesses.
I was one of those hobbyists. And the station I created was called RadioLulu. It was named after Lulu, the character played by Louise Brooks in the 1929 silent film, Pandora’s Box. RadioLulu plays Louise Brooks inspired and silent film themed music of the Twenties, Thirties and today. I think it is unique.
The station features rare recordings by early film stars (who knew Rudolph Valentino or Charlie Chaplin cut records?), as well as theme songs from silent films (“silent films were never silent”), early show tunes, dance bands, Jazz Age jazz, European rarities, novelty numbers, and more. There are hotel orchestras, crooners, torch singers and even a bit of contemporary rock and pop, the latter mostly tributes to Brooks by the likes of Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark (OMD), Natalie Merchant, Rufus Wainwright, and even avant-jazz instrumentalist John Zorn.
Back in 1995, I launched the Louise Brooks Society, a website which serves as home to an on-line archive and international fan club devoted to this singular silent film star. She is my passion. I have been collecting material, including recordings, related to the actress ever since. With Brooks, one thing would lead to another....
RadioLulu
is a place where I was able to share my audio collection with others.
Here, fans could hear all manner of rare recordings by Brooks’ co-stars
(Adolphe Menjou, Frank Fay, Joan Blondell, etc…) as well as her
contemporaries (Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow,
Barbara Stanwyck and others). RadioLulu also features music from five of
Brooks’ films — including the haunting themes from Beggars of Life (1928) and Prix de Beauté (1930), as well as fan favorites like Maurice Chevalier’s “Louise.”
To give the music context, I added tracks from the times. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell can be heard singing the poignant 1929 hit, “If I Had a Talking Picture of You,” one of a number of movie-related numbers on RadioLulu.
There are also numbers like “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Take Your Girlie to the Movies,” and “At the Moving Picture Ball,” as well their downbeat flip-side, like Constance Bennett’s rendition of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and the Alice White & Blanche Sweet number “There’s A Tear for Every Smile in Hollywood” (from the soundtrack to Showgirl in Hollywood). Along with spoken word intros and miscellaneous snippets of dialogue, RadioLulu even featured regulations explaining proper radio station identification given by none other than by Cary Grant, co-star of the 1937 romantic musical, When You’re in Love (in which Brooks had an uncredited role). Grace Moore, Grant's co-star, is also featured.
It would be hard to list all the odd, interesting, and notable recordings on RadioLulu. Among the 432 tracks and nearly 23 hours of programming, I also included a few rare vintage songs about movie stars—Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Zasu Pitts, and Mickey Maus among them.
I am especially proud of having tracked down four different vintage recordings of the haunting theme from Brooks’ only French film, Prix de Beauté. She didn’t sing it—her role in this early talkie was dubbed; but who did has long been a matter of debate among fans. Some have even suggested Edith Piaf, but she isn’t it. My four different vintage recordings solve the mystery. Each can be heard on RadioLulu along with the 2006 cover version they inspired, “Chanson pour Louise Brooks,” by the French group Les Primitifs Du Futur, featuring the famed cartoonist Robert Crumb on mandolin.
My obsession with tracking down little known related recordings has even led to a discovery or two. One such discovery was figuring out who the jazz combo is seen playing at the wedding party in Pandora’s Box. It turns out they were Sid Kay's Fellows, a popular dance band in Berlin in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They accompanied Sidney Bechet during his concerts in the German capitol, and during their heyday, released a number of 78 rpm recordings. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the group–which included Jewish musicians—were forbidden to perform publicly. I managed to track down some of their early recordings, and today Sid Kay's Fellows can be heard once again on RadioLulu.
I also tracked down the musical group seen in Brooks’ other great G.W. Pabst directed film, Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). That small combo was lead by the Spanish-born musician Juan Llossas, who would soon find fame for his Tangos. Did you know the Tango was once all the rage in Weimar Germany? RadioLulu features a few such recordings. One RadioLulu track I especially like is Marek Weber’s “A media luz.”
RadioLulu also features an unusual recording by Jaroslav Jezek, the “George Gershwin of Czechoslovakia.” In 1929, the year that Brooks played Lulu in Pandora’s Box and was suddenly famous all over Europe, Jezek wrote and recorded “Zasu,” a memorable song whose sheet music depicts the actress! Coincidence? Not likely.
And speaking of Gershwin, my station also features a handful of songs penned by Gershwin, with whom Brooks had a flirtatious acquaintanceship. By the way, Brooks’ favorite Gershwin song, “Somebody Love Me,” can be heard on RadioLulu.
Though I know I will never reach a mass audience, I love programming RadioLulu. It’s the few listeners I reach that I aim to please. According to my monthly listener reports, at any one time dozens and sometimes even hundreds of individuals from around the world tune into RadioLulu. Over the years, a few thousand individuals have “liked” the station.
Occasionally, I do receive an email or a listener posted comment praising the station and saying how much they loved the Roaring Twenties or early jazz or old movies. On New Year’s Eve, a woman named Theresa emailed. She wrote, “Wish I had discovered you earlier. Best station I've ever heard for old, unique style music of the 20's and 30's. Love hearing people I have only heard of but never actually heard like Josephine Baker, Ruth Etting, and so many movie stars not known for singing. So fabulous! Will you be able to keep going with licensing changes? This music and your station is a treasure.”
That made me feel good. And so did film critic Leonard Maltin, who wrote a short piece about the Louise Brooks Society and pointed out my website even had its own radio station “that allows you to listen to music of the 1920s. Wow!”
Sometimes, recognition has come from unlikely places. There is a contemporary Spanish group named Rädio Lulú who play swing and retro pop music and may have even taken their name from my station.
And sometimes, recognition comes from unlikely sources. A few years ago, I had the chance to meet the English actor Paul McGann, who starred in With Nail and I and played the eighth Doctor Who. Like me, he too is a devotee of early film. When we met, McGann had a quizzical look on his face before saying, “You’re the guy that does RadioLulu. It’s incredible. I listen all the time.” The Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novelist Art Spiegelman has told me he tunes-in, as has the award-winning science fiction writer Richard Kadrey.
Last November, I received an email from a listener named Nick. He is employed at the Vito Russo Library at the Gay Center in New York City; he wrote to say that RadioLulu is played at the library every Saturday, and that "Everybody loves it." That was gratifying as well. And that is why since 2002 I have pursued this labor of love called RadioLulu.
There is a lot of great music on Live365,
as well as a lot of passion behind its many stations. I will miss all
the niche stations like mine and like those that play only Tiki music. I
will miss the chance to discover new music. I will miss the opportunity
to listen to favorites like Radio Dismuke (an amazing station featuring popular music of the 1920s & 1930s), Radiola! (another station featuring popular music of the 1920s & 1930s “guaranteed to wake up the mind and make it smile”), and Weimar Rundfunk
(European Dance Orchestras and Hot Dance Bands). Each are longtime
broadcasters. I am sure each will find a new home, if they haven’t
already.
There is a lot of great music on RadioLulu.
Along with such famous names as Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee, Benny
Goodman, Tallulah Bankhead, Django Rheinhart, and Fred Astaire, there
are as many less well known but just as deserving artists like the
Eskimo Pie Orchestra, Scrappy Lambert, Hanka Ordonówna, Annette Hanshaw,
Lee Wiley, Kiki of Montparnasse (Man Ray's muse), and Sidney Torch (the
great British cinema organist). There is even a 1929 recording of the
German dramatist Bertolt Brecht singing “Mack the Knife.”
In 1940, Brooks self-published a now extremely rare booklet titled Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing.
I have a copy, and in it, the actress turned dancer recommended a few
recordings with which to practice one's steps. I tracked down those
recordings, and that's why you'll hear Xavier Cugat’s “Siboney” and
Wayne King's "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."
Here are
some tracks you won’t want to miss: “You Oughta be In Pictures” by
Little Jack Little & His Orchestra, “Makin’ Whoopee” by B.A.
Rolfe & His Lucky Strike Orchestra, “Puttin on the Ritz” by
Harry Richman, “The Vamp” by the Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra,
“Flapperette” by Nate Shilkret, and “I’m a Jazz Vampire” by Marion
Harris. Oh, and don’t miss “Lulu” by Twiggy (the 1960’s supermodel). It
is one of a couple dozen songs with “Lulu” or “LouLou” in the title.
I am not sure what will happen with RadioLulu.
I am looking around for new streaming sites. I hope to continue sharing
my collection of Louise Brooks inspired and silent film themed music
with the world. How can I not?
a slightly different version of this article appeared on the Huffington Post
Don't miss Diary of a Lost Girl, the sensational Louise Brooks' film with live organ accompaniment by Ben Model.
Sunday, January 31st at 2:00pm Schimmel Center 3 Spruce St, New York, New York 10038 Ticket Prices Adults $12 | Students $8 Call the box office at (212) 346-1715
Louise Brooks in DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929) - with André Roanne, Josef
Rovenský, Fritz Rasp; directed by G.W. Pabst. released October 1929 by
Pabst-Film. German film, with English intertitles. 116 mins.
"After playing supporting roles in a string of light comedies at
Paramount, Louise Brooks went to Germany and made two iconic and darkly
dramatic films directed by G.W. Pabst. Her bobbed hair, charm and
smoldering screen presence in the midst of the dark stories of PANDORA'S
BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL have made Brooks an icon of '20s culture.
Her character in DIARY goes from one situation to another attempting to better her life, finding adversity, love, and tragedy."
Live accompaniment by Ben Model, seen here prepping for the event by checking out the Louise Brooks edition of Margarete Bohme's book, The Diary of a Lost Girl (the book that was the basis for the film).
Ben Model, curator of the silent films series, is one of the nation's
leading silent film accompanists, performing on both piano and theatre
organ. Over the past 30+ years he has created and performed several
hundred live scores for silent films on piano and theatre organ, for
films lasting anywhere from one minute to five hours. Ben is a resident
film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of
Congress' Packard Campus Theatre. His recorded scores can be heard on
numerous DVD/Blu-Ray releases, on TCM and on his YouTube channel. Ben
is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S.A. and
in Norway, and performs at universities, museums, and historic
theaters. Ben is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film
Series, now in its 17th season in NYC. Ben's composed ensemble scores
for films by Chaplin and Keaton are performed around the U.S. every year
by orchestras and by concert bands. Ben has co-curated a number of film
series for MoMA, and also programmed two recent DVD box sets of Ernie
Kovacs television shows.
The Film Forum in New York City has announced a forthcoming series, "It Girls: Flappers, Jazz Babies and Vamps." The two week series, running March 11-24, includes a Saturday, March 19th screening of Pandora's Box (1929), with Louise Brooks in the role of Lulu. Other actresses featured in the series include Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Anna May Wong, Marlene Dietrich and others. Don't miss it.
Tonight, the Buffalo Film Seminars in Buffalo, New York opens its annual film series with Pandora’s Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks. More information about the season long series can be found HERE (pdf).
This is not the first time the Buffalo Film Seminars have screened this classic German silent directed by G.W. Pabst. Many consider Pandora's Box not only Brooks' finest film, but one of the greatest silent films of the late silent era. More information about this film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to it.
The local Buffalo News ran a piece about the event.
The Buffalo Film Seminars take place Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. promptly at the Amherst Theatre, 3500 Main Street, in the University Plaza, directly across the street from UB's Main St Campus.
Each week Diane Christian and Bruce Jackson introduce the film, the film is screened, and then have an open discussion with students in a University at Buffalo film class and anyone else who cares to join us.
Tickets for the seminars are adults $9.50, students $7.50, seniors $7.00. Season tickets are available any time at a 15% reduction for the cost of the remaining films. There is ample free parking, with a disabled parking zone close to the theatre.
Handouts with production details, anecdotes and critical comments about each week's film on goldenrod paper are available in the theatre lobby 45 minutes before each session. The Goldenrod handouts are posted online one day before the screening. (All previous handouts are also online.)
The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the Dipson's Amherest Theatre and the University at Buffalo.
Over the years, I have found hundreds if not thousands of newspaper advertisements for Louise Brooks' films. Many of them are of little interest beyond the record of a Brooks' film having shown in a particular place on a particular date. But some stand out, especially if they note a premiere, an usual opening live act (like dancer George Raft, or pianist Art Tatum), or include unusual graphics.
Others stand out if they promote a Brooks' double bill - a somewhat rare occurance. Over the years, I have found a few vintage advertisements promoting Love Em and Leave Em with Just Another Blonde, or Now We're in the Air together with The City Gone Wild. In both instances, these paired films were likely shown together because they were released around the same time (not because Brooks was in both films).
Another double bill I once came across, dating from 1931, featured the Brooks' talkie It Pays to Advertise (1931) with G.W. Pabst's The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), starring Leni Reifenstahl. What did the movie patrons think of that odd pairing?
Here is one of the most distinguished advertisements I have ever found, a rather brilliant trippple bill.
From the Louise Brooks Society archive, a November 1930 newspaper advertisement for the Ursulines theater in Paris. The evening's program begins with G.W. Pabst's Joyless Street (1925), followed by Howard Hawk's A Girl in Every Port (1928) starring Louise Brooks, followed by G.W. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) starring Louise Brooks. Wow, what a line-up!
I wish I could have been there. . . . and, through the magic of the internet, I can, at least in my imagination. Here is an exterior and an interior view of what turns out to be a rather famous venue.
If I am not mistaken, this Ursulines theater survives, and thrives. In fact, it has an illustrious history as well as it's own Wikipedia page.
According to Wikipedia, Hawk's A Girl in Every Port premiered in Paris at the Ursulines. Also, "It is one of the oldest cinemas in Paris to have kept its facade and
founder's vision" as a "venue for art and experimental cinema. The cinema opened January 21, 1926. Films by André Breton, Man Ray, Fernand Léger, René Clair and Robert Desnos were shown. In 1928, it premiered the first film of Germaine Dulac, taken from a story by Antonin Artaud, The Seashell and the Clergyman. The film was heckled by the surrealists, leading to a fight that stopped the screening."
Between 1926 and 1957, a range of now-classic films premiered at the theater, such as René Clair's Le Voyage Imaginaire and Erich Von Stroheim’s Greed." According to the wonderful Cinema Treasures website, "This little theatre with a balcony has a very charming
facade looking like a romantic country house. At the beginning of talking movies, the premiere of Sternberg’s Blue Angel with Marlene
Dietrich took place here, and ran 14 months."
In the continuing series Universal Lulu: Το Κουτί της Πανδώρας - G.W. Pabst, starring Louise Brooks. I believe this is Greek, just like the myth of the Box of Pandora.
Imagine having to improvise a musical score for a full length silent
film lasting nearly two hours. Imagine having to do that for four films,
one of which you've never seen before. Now, imagine having to play for
those films one after another for a period of more than eight hours. And
imagine being allowed only the shortest of breaks in between each film.
Both
challenging and celebratory, Mortilla's extra-ordinary performance is a
noteworthy send-off to this remarkable LACMA exhibit, which closes the
following day. It is also a fitting send-off, as music (think Kurt
Weill, Otto Stenzel, etc...) was a key part of the cultural ferment of
the Weimar era.
The Weimar Republic marked a period of uneasy
transition. Tucked between the end of WWI and Nazi rise to power,
Germany experienced economic, political and social turmoil along with an
explosion of art and culture. As the country came to endure yet another
upheaval, many artists came to reject florid Expressionism (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) in favor of a sober, skeptical, always unsentimental and sometimes even brutal "realism."
Video walk through of "New Objectivity: Modern German Art from the Weimar Republic, 1919–1933." Be sure to notice the fleeting image of film star Gloria Swanson.
Dubbed Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity, Weimar artists turned a
cold eye toward society. Mirroring many of the themes and motifs found
in the exhibit, the films Mortilla will accompany depict the social
realities of the German Republic. These range from the misery of the
lower class--as portrayed in Gerhard Lamprecht's Slums of Berlin
(1925)--to new forms of consumer culture and a fascination with new
technologies and architecture, as brilliantly assembled and edited in
Walter Ruttmann's non-narrative Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927).
A renewed interest in the everyday is depicted in Robert Siodmak's tender People on Sunday (1930 - with contributions from Edgar Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, and Billy Wilder, among others), while G. W. Pabst's Pandora's Box
(1929) reflects a shift away from traditional societal roles; in the
latter film, directed by the one cinema artist most associated with New
Objectivity, Louise Brooks plays Lulu, a personification of the era's
New Woman.
Mortilla's accompaniment to these moving pictures
provides an audio landscape, or a kind-of soundtrack, to the still
images on display. According to Mortilla, "LACMA wanted to do something
special for the last weekend of the exhibition," and the musician
"enthusiastically embraced the challenge." It is a challenge, Mortilla
remarked, that he has been preparing for all his life as a musician.
"As
I always do when playing as a soloist, I will be completely
improvising. Improvisation in classical styles has been my primary focus
for over four decades, and I use it as a method of developing more
formal compositions. When I was a dance accompanist in New York City, I
would sometimes play from 8 am to 9 pm, so I am prepared for that kind
of a workout. The real challenge is to stay within a musical sensibility
that supports the exhibit and, of course, the films."
"I accompanied Pandora's Box several times, most recently in early December of last year at UC Santa Barbara. I've played People on Sunday a few times, and I've played Berlin: Symphony of a Great City once before "cold" (not having seen it beforehand) and have not seen it since. Slums of Berlin
is completely unknown to me. I hope to spend an entire day in the
exhibit and watch all the films prior to the performance. If not, I'll
play that film cold as well."
Mortilla added "Artistically, the
best preparation for this kind of event is knowing the plot, characters
and their motivations, the action, and director's intent in the films.
These won't be watered down performances. I'll play each film full out."
Mortilla
also noted that he's spoken with fellow accompanists and none are aware
of anyone having played as long in a silent marathon. For more on Mortilla and this special event, check out this LACMA blog.
At this time, the film schedule begins with Berlin: Symphony of a Great City from 10:30 - 11:38 am, followed by Slums of Berlin from 11:45 am - 1:40 pm, People on Sunday from 1:50 - 3 pm, Pandora's Box from 3:15 - 5:30 pm, and following the conceit of the film, closes with Berlin: Symphony of a Great City from 5:40 - 6:50 pm.
Here, for fun, are a few examples of "Screen Snapshots" by Hortense Schorr. Each tie in with a particular motion picture, and each date from the very early 1930s. They are something a little unusual which I came across. The films they tie into are Rain or Shine (1930), Sweethearts on Parade (1930), The Squealer (1930), and For the Love o' Lil (1930). Each are from Colombia.
Are you a fan of Louise Brooks? Are you a BIG fan of Louise Brooks? Take this quiz and find out. Give yourself a point in answer to "yes" for each part of each question. Record your number for each, and tally a total.
1) How many of the following films have you seen in a theater or at a festival?
The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) It’s the Old Army Game (1926) The Show-Off (1926) Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1926) A Girl in Every Port (1928) Beggars of Life (1928) Pandora’s Box (1929) Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) Prix de Beauté (1930) 2) How many of the following films have you seen on VHS / DVD / Blu-ray or even LaserDisc?
It’s the Old Army Game (1926) The Show-Off (1926) Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1926) A Girl in Every Port (1928) Beggars of Life (1928) The Canary Murder Case (1929) Pandora’s Box (1929) Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) Prix de Beauté (1930) Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931) God’s Gift to Women (1931) Empty Saddles (1936) Overland Stage Raiders (1938)
3) How many of the following documentary films have you seen?
Film Firsts: Louise Brooks (1960) – USA television short Memories of Berlin: Twilight of Weimar Culture (1976) Lulu in Berlin (1985) Arena: Louise Brooks (1986) - UK television Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu (1998) E! Mysteries & Scandals: Louise Brooks (1999) – television 4) How many of the following books have you read? (Give yourself one bonus point if you own different editions of any book.)
Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star, by Roland Jaccard Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, by Peter Cowie Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks, by Jan Wahl 5) How many of the following books or plays have you read?
The Show-Off, by George Kelly Beggars of Life, by Jim Tully The Canary Murder Case, by S.S. van Dine Pandora's Box, by Frank Wedekind Diary of a Lost Girl, by Margarete Bohme 6) How many of the following have you done?
Bought a piece of vintage memorabilia
Attended an exhibit or event
Bought a postcard, photograph, or poster
Dressed-up or cut your hair like Louise Brooks
Collected articles on the actress
Visited a Louise Brooks website (within the last 3 months) not including Facebook
If you scored 26+ points, consider yourself devoted.
If you scored 25 points, consider yourself a BIG fan.
If you scored 15+ points, consider yourself a fan.
If your scored 14 or few points, time to get serious.
Bonus question: name the photographer
of this magazine portrait of Louise Brooks.
7) A few more bonus questions. Give yourself a point if. . . .
You have read The Parades Gone By by Kevin Brownlow.
You have read some other book about the history of silent film.
You have watched Kevin Brownlow's Hollywood documentary series more than once.
You have read a book about either Clara Bow or Colleen Moore.
You have watched a Clara Bow or Colleen Moore film.
On Sunday, January 17th, acclaimed musical accompanist Michael Mortilla will perform improvised live scores for five silent films, including Pandora's Box (1929) starring Louise Brooks, in the galleries of New Objectivity: Modern German Art In The Weimar Republic, 1919–1933 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The special event will last for the duration of the museum’s opening
hours on Sunday, January 17.
Very recently, LACMA invited Mortilla to
play for nine hours as "an exhibit in and of itself, accompanying four silent
films, with one being repeated. It's thought that such a feat has never been documented for a world's record.
If
the Guinness folks don't approve the application, Mortilla will be taking
short breaks of 5-7 minutes each. If they do approve the application, he
will play through the breaks to set a new world's record for
improvisation and for accompanying 9 hours of silent films in a single
sitting. Lulu will be a small part of this historic event.
From the Jerome Robbins Dance Division,
The New York Public Library, a short 7:00 minute film showing life at the Denishawn house in Los Angeles in the early 1920's. Unfortunately, it does not include Louise Brooks, who was a member of Denishawn from the Fall of 1922 through the Spring of 1924. As there is little footage of Denishawn from this time, this provides a valuable glimpse of the kind of dance Brooks studied and performed, along with vintage glimpses of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.
NYPL description: "Brief scenes of Denishawn house, Los Angeles, Ruth St. Denis teaching
class, leading students in a dance, and in Oriental costume with a
peacock; Ted Shawn auditioning small girl wearing pointe shoes; informal
shots of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn; Denishawn students at play. The
compilation concludes with a 1913 Thomas Alva Edison Company special
effects film, The Dance of the Ages, in which Norma Gould, Ted Shawn and
dancers perform miniaturized on a banquet table top; Shawn's scenario
of brief dances evokes historical eras from the Stone Age to the early
twentieth century."
Recognize the kneeling bobbed young woman to the right of a seated Ruth St. Denis. This photo, taken in the summer of 1923 in Petersburgh, New Hampshire, depicts St. Denis and her students in Mariarden, at the Summer Theatre and School of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Currier of Boston.
Wowza! Second hand copies of Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks are selling for $2600.00 on Amazon. The books do not stand out in any way - they are not signed by Brooks, are not first editions or even in pristine condition. Undoubtedly, these have been priced by computer algorithms. Heck, if any of these sellers would want a second copy for half as much, let's say $1300.00, I would be happy to sell them one.
There is a swell new book out from Schiffer, Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970,
by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory. Fans of silent film, of early
Hollywood, and the studio era will all want to get a copy. At nearly 200
pages, this pictorial is chock-full of images you'll delight in looking
at again and again. That's not a cliche, it's just the plain and simple
truth.
The book description: "Marvelously illustrated with more than 200 rare images from the silent
era through the 1970s, this joyous treasure trove features film and
television’s most famous actors and actresses celebrating the holidays,
big and small, in lavishly produced photographs. Join the stars for
festive fun in celebrating a variety of holidays, from New Year’s to
Saint Patrick’s Day to Christmas and everything in between. Legends such
as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn
spread holiday cheer throughout the calendar year in iconic, ironic, and
illustrious style. These images, taken by legendary stills
photographers, hearken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when motion
picture studios devised elaborate publicity campaigns to promote their
stars and to keep their names and faces in front of the movie-going
public all year round."
Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970includes
Louise Brooks in a Christmas themed pic. The book also includes many of
Brooks' contemporaries and co-stars on various pages, including these Christmas themed pics. The LBS
recommends this new book.
About the Authors: Film historian and photo archivist Mary Mallory is the author of Hollywoodland and the eBook Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found. She writes on Los Angeles and film history for the blog The Daily
Mirror and serves on the board of Hollywood Heritage. Karie Bible is the
official tour guide at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and co-author of Location Filming in Los Angeles.
She has lectured at numerous venues, including the RMS Queen Mary and
the Homestead Museum, and has appeared on Turner Classic Movies.
Lulu In Suspension, inspired by silent-movie star Louise Brooks and her book 'Lulu in Hollywood', was released as a digipak CD on Optical Sound Records and Fine Arts run by French artist Pierre BelouÏn. In 2009, she presented an AV performance of 'Lulu In Suspension' at Le Cube, the digital art space in France.
