Finding Louise Brooks in the non-English language press in the USA

Over the years, I have had the chance to look at a handful of non-English language newspapers published in the United States. I've looked at German, Yiddish, Spanish, and Russian-language papers and found all manner of clippings, from articles and captioned photos to movie advertisements. There was nothing too revelatory, except for the Norwegian-language newspaper from NYC which contained some key information relating to A Social Celebrity (more on that at a later time).

I have also looked at Portuguese newspapers published on both coasts. Sometimes, the theater advertisements would be in Portuguese, and sometimes in English. Here is some of what I found.

Rolled Stockings (above) played as Meias Enroladas at the Empire Theater in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1927. While God's Gift to Women (below) played as O Presente de Deus Para as Mulheres at the State theater in 1931. (I am not sure, but God's Gift to Women could be showing on a double bill with The Public Enemy -- a film Brooks was originally cast in.) Despite the fact that the films were advertised in Portuguese, I don't think they were subtitled in that language.

And here are a couple of clipping from Oakland, California for The Canary Murder Case (1929).

One of the more unusual articles I came across was this 1945 piece on actress Myrna Loy, who had a bit part in the 1928 Brooks' film, A Girl in Every Port (here Uma noiva em cada porto). By this time, Brooks was little remembered, and it is interesting to note that the film's lead star, Victor McLaglen, was not mentioned.

A double bill featuring Louise Brooks on this day in 1937

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.

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.

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.  

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.

Montgomery Clift and John Huston

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.

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.

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.

Louise Brooks in a constellation of stars

Louise Brooks in a constellation of stars . . . .