On this date in 1937, the Lincoln Theater in San Francisco presented a special double bill, When You're in Love together with Empty Saddles, starring Buck Jones and L. Brooks. I wish I could have been there!
This listing is one of a handful of Louise Brooks' "double bills" that I have come across over the years. I have also come across as many instances where one Brooks' films followed another at a local theater, or when different Brooks' films played in different theaters at the same time and in the same town (as in the Omaha, Nebraska advertisement pictured below). It's coincidental, but notable as Brooks made relatively few films. Her films were well circulated.
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
Monday, June 20, 2016
A double bill featuring Louise Brooks on this day in 1937
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
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Louise Brooks as "Lulu the Sinful"
I, for one, am pleased that there is thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba. I am especially looking forward to increasing cultural and scholarly exchange between the two countries. This opening up in relations should be a boon to silent film studies (who knows what "lost films" might be found there), as well as Louise Brooks studies. In the past, I have been able to look at microfilm of one English-language newspaper from Havana, and I found plenty. I can't wait to be able to search through some of the Spanish-language Cuban newspapers and magazines of the 1920's and 1930s. (Cross your fingers that they be digitized and put online.)
From my early search, I know that many of Brooks films showed in Cuba; we also know the actress herself visited the country on one or two occasions. Certainly there are articles and reviews and advertisements and other documents still to be found which would help paint a portrait of the actress' presence on the island.
All this is to say that there is still a good deal of materiel to discover about Louise Brooks and Cuba . . . . Like the fact that Pandora's Box played in Cuba under the strange title Lulu La Pecadora (Lulu the Sinful).
Please contact me if anyone has access or knowledge of any digitized Cuban newspapers or film magazines dating from the 1920s and 1930's.
From my early search, I know that many of Brooks films showed in Cuba; we also know the actress herself visited the country on one or two occasions. Certainly there are articles and reviews and advertisements and other documents still to be found which would help paint a portrait of the actress' presence on the island.
All this is to say that there is still a good deal of materiel to discover about Louise Brooks and Cuba . . . . Like the fact that Pandora's Box played in Cuba under the strange title Lulu La Pecadora (Lulu the Sinful).
Please contact me if anyone has access or knowledge of any digitized Cuban newspapers or film magazines dating from the 1920s and 1930's.
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, June 16, 2016
Bill Berkson, In Memorium (1939-2016) - poet and Louise Brooks devotee
Bill Berkson, acclaimed poet and and friend to the Louise Brooks Society, passed away early today (June 16th). Berkson was a writer, art critic and curator of considerable accomplishment. He was also a big fan of Louise Brooks.
I had the pleasure and the honor of having put on an event with Berkson some years ago, as well as visiting Bill at his book and art filled San Francisco apartment, where we talked about our favorite silent film star and the time that he and his good friend, the poet Frank O'Hara, attended a 1961 screening of Prix de Beaute in New York City. Afterwords, both Berkson and O'Hara wrote poems inspired by the actress.
O’Hara wrote “F.Y.I. (Prix de Beaute),” which references the actress. It was first published in a small literary journal. And, it was later collected in The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, to which Berkson wrote the footnote and explained its inspiration.
Berkson ending up writing “Bubbles,” which was based on the essays Brooks was publishing in film journals in the 1960s. “Bubbles” was likewise published in a small press magazine and later collected in book form in Lush Life (1984).
In 1997, Berkson allowed me to print the poem as a broadside. It was one of a small series of poems inspired by / or in homage to the actress which I’ve desktop published in small autographed editions. A scan of the broadside – which depicts an image of the actress floating beneath the text of the poem – is shown here.
Here is a link to a piece I wrote about Berkson for the San Francisco Chronicle website back in 2011.
I had the pleasure and the honor of having put on an event with Berkson some years ago, as well as visiting Bill at his book and art filled San Francisco apartment, where we talked about our favorite silent film star and the time that he and his good friend, the poet Frank O'Hara, attended a 1961 screening of Prix de Beaute in New York City. Afterwords, both Berkson and O'Hara wrote poems inspired by the actress.
O’Hara wrote “F.Y.I. (Prix de Beaute),” which references the actress. It was first published in a small literary journal. And, it was later collected in The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, to which Berkson wrote the footnote and explained its inspiration.
Berkson ending up writing “Bubbles,” which was based on the essays Brooks was publishing in film journals in the 1960s. “Bubbles” was likewise published in a small press magazine and later collected in book form in Lush Life (1984).
In 1997, Berkson allowed me to print the poem as a broadside. It was one of a small series of poems inspired by / or in homage to the actress which I’ve desktop published in small autographed editions. A scan of the broadside – which depicts an image of the actress floating beneath the text of the poem – is shown here.
Here is a link to a piece I wrote about Berkson for the San Francisco Chronicle website back in 2011.
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, June 15, 2016
Sigmund Freud, John Huston, and Louise Brooks (& not-Ghoulardi)
Here's an odd one. . . . While doing some Louise Brooks research I came up with one of the strangest finds I have ever come across, linking Sigmund Freud, director John Huston, and the 1929 Louise Brooks' film, Diary of a Lost Girl.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences contains many documents, among them a batch of correspondence related to the John Huston Film, Freud (1962), starring Montgomery Clift in the title role. The correspondence comes from the Freud estate, and from those involved in the film's production. Among them was one Ernie Anderson, who sent a letter on November 24, 1961 explaining that Freud had no direct involvement with two earlier G.W. Pabst films, Secrets of a Soul (1926) and Diary of a Lost Girl.
Anderson was a long-time assistant to Huston (and not, apparently, the cult figure "Ghoulardi," the father of contemporary director Paul Thomas Anderson). But what is odd is why Huston would have been curious about Diary of a Lost Girl, which then was pretty obscure in the United States, having been seldom screened and even less written about in film histories.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences contains many documents, among them a batch of correspondence related to the John Huston Film, Freud (1962), starring Montgomery Clift in the title role. The correspondence comes from the Freud estate, and from those involved in the film's production. Among them was one Ernie Anderson, who sent a letter on November 24, 1961 explaining that Freud had no direct involvement with two earlier G.W. Pabst films, Secrets of a Soul (1926) and Diary of a Lost Girl.
Anderson was a long-time assistant to Huston (and not, apparently, the cult figure "Ghoulardi," the father of contemporary director Paul Thomas Anderson). But what is odd is why Huston would have been curious about Diary of a Lost Girl, which then was pretty obscure in the United States, having been seldom screened and even less written about in film histories.
Montgomery Clift and John Huston |
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, June 13, 2016
Louise Brooks in Movies and Conduct
By 1932, Louise Brooks' career was on the decline. She would appear in no films that year, and fewer and fewer magazine or newspaper articles bothered to mention her. The few that did were more often than not of the "What ever happened to" type.
The year 1932 saw the publication of an important book, Movies and Conduct, by the sociologist Herbert Blumer. It was one of a small handful of books which looked at the influence of motion pictures upon society, especially the young. (The group that helped bring this tome into being was the National Committee for the Study of Social Values in Motion Pictures.) If you're interested, the book can be read or downloaded via the Internet Archive.
What caught my attention was the mention of Brooks. (It is among the earlier mentions of the actress in a book.) One appendix includes a teenage girl talking about the movies, and Brooks is mentioned as a particular favorite.
The year 1932 saw the publication of an important book, Movies and Conduct, by the sociologist Herbert Blumer. It was one of a small handful of books which looked at the influence of motion pictures upon society, especially the young. (The group that helped bring this tome into being was the National Committee for the Study of Social Values in Motion Pictures.) If you're interested, the book can be read or downloaded via the Internet Archive.
What caught my attention was the mention of Brooks. (It is among the earlier mentions of the actress in a book.) One appendix includes a teenage girl talking about the movies, and Brooks is mentioned as a particular favorite.
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, June 12, 2016
3rd Silent Film Festival in Thailand
Both the Hollywood Reporter (Thailand issue) and the Bangkok Post ran an article about the 3rd annual Silent Film Festival in Thailand. The Bangkok Post article is titled "Let's hear it for silence : 3rd Silent Film Festival in Thailand has a quality line-up." And indeed, it looks great, though there won't be any Louise Brooks' films this year. For those able to attend, here is what's showing. The Festival has a Facebook page with updates and news.
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
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Louise Brooks and the controversy over her garter
In late 1934, a small controversy broke out over a series of "risque" photographs which appeared in newspapers around the country. One of those images involved Louise Brooks adjusting her garter, which I think dates from 1931 around the time she was filming God's Gift to Women.
This article from Motion Picture Herald explains the controversy. It is followed by a page from the series as printed in the Des Moines Register which includes the Brooks image in question.
This article from Motion Picture Herald explains the controversy. It is followed by a page from the series as printed in the Des Moines Register which includes the Brooks image in question.
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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