Thursday, July 5, 2018

Louise Brooks dancing in Palm Beach, Florida in 1926

In "The Other Face of W.C. Fields," one of the essays that make up Lulu in Hollywood, Louise Brooks wrote about the time she danced at Palm Beach Nights, a nightclub (named for its show) located in Palm Beach, Florida. Brooks was in the state filming It's the Old Army Game, and at nights, when everyone was done working, the cast and crew retreated to the nightclub for fun. (Brooks and others involved in the making of It's the Old Army Game were in Florida from about February 22 through March 23, 1926.)

Brooks writes: "Palm Beach Nights . . .  was housed in an old assembly hall transformed by the famous Viennese designer Joseph Urban into a nightclub with a full stage. Ziegfeld provided a choice selection of Follies girls, including Paulette Goddard, who later married Charlie Chaplin, and Susan Flemming, who later married Harpo Marx. And now, every night at the conclusion of Palm Beach Nights, our company (minus Bill Fields) contributed a floor show. Blanche Ring sang "Rings on My Fingers," Mickey Bennett sang ballads in a piercing tenor, I danced, Eddie [Sutherland] did pratfalls, and Billy Gaxton starred as a comedian. He and Rudy Cameron did an old vaudeville act of theirs, singing and dancing and telling bum jokes...."

[I might also mention that Blanche Ring, a popular stage entertainer who happened to be Eddie Sutherland's aunt, can be heard singing "Rings on My Fingers" on RadioLulu.]

One thing that stands out in the above passage is the mention of Rudy Cameron, who I assume to be Rudolph Cameron, an actor active between the years 1916 and 1948. But what was he doing there? I am not aware that he was involved in It's the Old Army Game, though from what I found, Cameron and Gaxton had formed some sort of song and dance team at one point, and knew each other professionally. I also found a handful of clippings which mentioned that Cameron in local society columns, which suggests he was living in the area.

Brooks' mention of Palm Beach Nights, and the fact she danced there, got me wondering about the nightclub itself. Admittedly, I didn't know anything about it, and wondered what I might find out....

.... What I found is that in early 1926, Florenz Ziegfeld opened the Club de Montmartre restaurant-theater, with financial backing from Paris Singer and Anthony Biddle, Jr. During its first year, Ziegfeld staged Palm Beach Nights at the club; it was the only Follies not to originate on Broadway. (Palm Beach Nights later reopened in New York as No Foolin’.) The show's hit song, "Florida, the Moon and You," became Palm Beach's theme song, and the club remained popular until the Depression.


The venue opened on January 14, 1926. It was designed by Joseph Urban, head designer of the Ziegfeld Follies, and was a local sensation. Everybody who was anybody in the area turned out for opening night, including Mrs. Edward T. Stotesbury, the grounds of whose El Mirasol estate were trashed by W.C. Fields and the the cast of It's the Old Army Game. Providing entertainment between shows was Art Hickman and his Orchestra, from San Francisco. (Art Hickman also can be heard on RadioLulu.) Performing, as part of the cast of  Palm Beach Nights, was the great Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards!


I searched as best as possible to find some sort of reference to Louise Brooks and the Montmartre theater, but didn't find much. The show and club were popular, and local society columns reported that Mrs. Stotesbury and Mrs. Florenz Ziegfeld (Billie Burke) were present on a few occasions, once to judge a contest. I did find this clipping, which references The Old Army Game.


Future posts here on the Louise Brooks Society blog will include some additional clippings from the time It's the Old Army Game was being made in Ocala, Florida.

James Curtis’ 2003 biography of W. C. Fields contains valuable background on the making of It’s the Old Army Game, as does Barry Paris’ 1989 biography of Brooks. See also James Neibaur’s 2017 book, The W.C. Fields Films. For more on Brooks’ recollections of the Fields and the making of It’s the Old Army Game, see “The Other Face of W.C. Fields” in Brooks’ 1982 memoir, Lulu in Hollywood.

Silent film historian John Bengston has written a series of posts on his Silent Locations website looking at various scenes from the film. Each are well worth checking out. They include "W.C. Fields in Palm Beach – It’s the Old Army Game" -- "It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks Bring Magazines to Life" -- "It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks in Ocala Florida – Part One". Be sure and check 'em out!

Monday, July 2, 2018

It's the Old Army Game screens in Niles, California July 21

It's the Old Army Game, the entertaining 1926 silent comedy starring W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks, will be shown July 21, 2018 in Niles, California at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. More information about this event may be found below as well as HERE.


Sunday, July 1, 2018

Looking into the 1926 Louise Brooks film It's the Old Army Game, with John Bengtson

Earlier this year, Kino Lorber released the 1926 W.C. Fields / Louise Brooks film It's the Old Army Game on DVD / Blu-ray. It is a lot of fun, not only for Fields delightful performance, but also for Brooks' youthful charm. Except for Brooks' uncredited and atypical bit part in The Street of Forgotten Men, this is the earliest surviving film staring the actress. I recommend every fan get a copy.

Directed by Brooks' future husband, Eddie Sutherland (they married a few months after filming completed),
It’s the Old Army Game is an "uproarious silent comedy in which the inimitable W.C. Fields finds it impossible to get some sleep. It was the fourth film in which Fields appeared, but the first over which he had some control, as it was adapted from his own stage play. Co-starring Louise Brooks (also in her fourth feature), and directed with verve by A. Edward Sutherland, It’s the Old Army Game is a non-stop comedy of errors. Fields plays Elmer Prettywillie, a druggist kept awake by clamorous garbage collectors, a nosy woman seeking a 2-cent stamp, bogus land deals, and phony fortunes."

The new Kino Lorber release has been mastered in 2K from 35mm film elements preserved by The Library of Congress, and features a new score by Ben Model and an audio commentary by film historian James L. Neibaur, author of  the 2017 release The W.C. Fields Films.

My longtime friend John Bengtson, who's been called an archeologist of early cinema, has been looking into the film, and has dug up a bunch of new information which will be of interest to fans of Brooks, Fields and silent film.

Bengtson's 2013 post, W.C. Fields in Palm Beach – It’s the Old Army Game, looks at the estate seen in the film, which was shot mostly on location in Florida. His newest post, It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks Bring Magazines to Life, from June 29th, looks at the one particular film in the comedy. I encourage everyone to check out these two posts, as well as John's three fabulous books on Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd.


It's the Old Army Game was officially released on May 25, 1926, though screenings of the film took place prior to that date in Florida. Here is one, for example, in West Palm Beach on May 18 & 19. For more on the film, be sure and check out the Louise Brooks Society filmography page on It's the Old Army Game.


The film also screened early in Miami, Florida -- this time at the Community theater on May 26 & 27, where the newspaper got the stars of the film all mixed up! Clara Bow was to have starred in the film, but was replaced by Brooks. (Bow did play in the 1927 Fields film, Runnin' Wild, which has also just been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.) Eugene Fields was a popular, sentimental poet of the time, not an actor.


The Miami News still couldn't get the stars right when the film moved to the Olympia theater, starting May 30th, despite the fact that the Paramount supplied advertisement which sat just inches away from the listing on the page correctly named Louise Brooks.



Nevertheless, there was a bit of local pride in the fact that It's the Old Army Game was a "Florida Made Picture". The newspapers took notice.



Thursday, June 28, 2018

Stanley Mouse portrait of Louise Brooks up for auction

A portrait of Louise Brooks by Stanley Mouse will be up for auction next month. The portrait is being sold by Heritage Auctions as part of their Movie Posters Signature Auction (Dallas #7181) being held July 28-29. More information HERE.

From the auction site: Louise Brooks by Stanley Mouse (2000). Signed Original Oil Portrait Painting (30" X 30").
Known for his psychedelic artwork of the 1960s and 1970s, Stanley Mouse has created a vast arsenal of images that moved beyond the popular artwork for such bands as the Grateful Dead and Journey over his forty years as an artist. He was a long time collaborator with The Family Dog and Bill Graham productions, as well as coming together with other artists of that movement such as Alton Kelley, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, and Wes Wilson to create the Berkeley Bonaparte Distribution Agency. This beautiful portrait of actress Louise Brooks in black and white acrylic paint captures the iconic image of the actress as the symbol of the flapper girl of the 1920s and her popular bobbed haircut. The canvas stretched painting is in fantastic shape with only the faintest of edge war from being handled. A great unconventional collectors item for fans of Stanley Mouse. Mint.


Estimate: $2,500 - $5,000.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Another post-1929 Pandora's Box screening is found!

When I wrote in my last post that I hoped the record of additional post-1929 screenings of Pandora's Box would be found one-day, I didn't suspect another would be found so soon.

The 1929 Louise Brooks film debuted in Germany at the beginning of the year, and eventually made its way to the United states by the end of the year.

As I noted in that previous post, "The Lost History of Pandora's Box in the United States," newspapers didn't list every film showing every day, and some theaters -- especially smaller theaters -- didn't advertise every day or even at all. Accordingly, exhibition records, which are often incomplete and inexact, sometimes need to be pieced together through various sources.

What I found was the record of another showing of Pandora's Box in New York City which, in all likelihood, could be the first post-1929 screening in NYC. I found the record of its happening in an unlikely publication, which all things considered, makes perfect sense. That publication was New Yorker Volkszeitung, a German language newspaper serving the city. This screening took place at the Acme Theater on Times Square on May 10, 11, and 12, 1930.

Here is the advertisement, and the "proof" of yet another post-1929 / pre-1958 screening of Pandora's Box.


p.s. I emailed the staff of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin house asking about the screening of films there in the 1930s, in particular their 1934 screening of Pandora's Box. They emailed back saying they would look into it!

Monday, June 25, 2018

The Lost History of Pandora's Box in the United States

It is widely believed that Pandora's Box was first shown in the United States at the 55th Street playhouse in December of 1929. It is also long been believed that the first post-1929 American screening of the Louise Brooks' film took place on June 9, 1958 at the Eastman House in Rochester, New York.

The long, almost 30 year gap in the film's American exhibition record is explained by a couple of widely held assumptions. One is that the film was poorly received when it debuted in New York City in late 1929, and, with sound films dominating American screens at the time, there was little if any demand for silent films from Germany. The second is that prior to 1960 the Eastman House had the only known American print of the film.*

Both assumptions are incorrect.

Just a few days ago I uncovered new information which adds a number of previously unknown details to the film's otherwise sparse exhibition history in America.

My first discovery was a clipping and a listing for what could be or was the first screening of Pandora's Box in the United States. A brief item in the Jersey Journal on November 1, 1929 states the film would open the following day, on Saturday, November 2 at the 55th Street Playhouse in New York City. That's nearly a month before it was believed to have opened. I also came across a November 3 listing (shown below) in the New York Daily News, suggesting the film, under the title Box of Pandora, was playing that day.

But then the records stopped, as if the film had stopped showing after just a day or two (if it did in fact show at all). The 55th Street Playhouse -- an art house which specialized in foreign films -- replaced Pandora's Box with Secrets of Nature, second series, an UFA Production.


In all likelihood, the reason Box of Pandora stopped showing just after it had reportedly opened was censorship. As is well known and documented elsewhere, this once controversial film was subject to censorship not only in Europe, but also in the United States. By the time the film (re)premiered on November 30th (or December 1 or 2 -- I have found newspaper clippings suggesting each date as the probable new opening date), nearly a third of it, by various accounts, was missing. The 55th Street Playhouse, the theater that debuted and widely advertised the film (including to NYC's non-English speaking population), projected a statement lamenting the film had been cut. The theater also apologized for the “added saccharine ending” in which Lulu joins the Salvation Army.





Nevertheless, Pandora's Box, or Box of Pandora as it was sometimes titled in advertisements and listing from the time, enjoyed an extended run. Despite its incomplete state and the generally poor reviews, the film did well, so much so the New York Sun reported Pandora’s Box “ . . . has smashed the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse’s box office records. It will therefore be held for another week.” In fact, the film played about two weeks (at a time most films only played one), with the last known screening taking place on December 13, 1929, according to a listing in the Brooklyn Standard Union. (As newspapers didn't list every film showing every day, and some theaters -- especially smaller theaters -- didn't advertise every day, these records may not be exact, and exhibition records sometimes need to be pieced together through various sources.)


After that, it has long been believed, Pandora’s Box fell into obscurity and was not shown again in the United States until James Card screened the film in 1958 at the Eastman House's Dryden Theater  in Rochester, New York.

Some ten or so years ago, and quite by chance, I stumbled across a few clippings related to a 1931 screening of Pandora's Box in Newark, New Jersey. I had been scrolling through microfilm looking for material on It Pays to Advertise or God's Gift to Women (both 1931 releases) when I came across a brief article and a couple of advertisements for a screening of the G.W. Pabst film at Newark's Little theater, starting May 16.



These two advertisements contain some interesting details. They note, for instance, that the film was shown with English titles and with synchronized, "thrilling sound effects"! While the nature of these sub-titles and sound effects is unknown - they suggest there was at least one print prepared sometime after 1929 for American exhibition. Just as interesting is the fact that the film was advertised for “Adults Only.” Like the 55th Street Playhouse in NYC, the Little theatre in Newark was a rep-house or art house which typically showed foreign films and travel films, but, it was not above showing what some considered sensational fair.

As mentioned earlier, a few days ago I found three more instances of the exhibition of Pandora's Box in the United States. One predates the 1931 Newark screening mentioned above, while the other two follow it.

On January 26, 1930, as Box of Pandora, the film opened at another Little Theater, this one in  Baltimore, Maryland. The film, a silent version which was promoted as an "Ultra-Sophisticated Drama," ran for one week, until February 1, 1930. In writing about the film, a critic for one of the Baltimore newspapers thought it worthwhile and well handled, though felt it suffered from cuts made by the Maryland Board of Motion Picture Censors. (Does anyone know if the records of the Maryland Board are extant or accessible?)


Four years after it debuted in New York City, Box of Pandora returned to the Big Apple, this time to the 5th Ave. Theater (Broadway at 28th St.) starting on December 5, 1933. Again billed as an "adults only" film and tagged with the words "Sin Lust Evil!" -- it ran (continuously between 9:30 am to 11:00 pm) for three days, through December 7. This time (see below), the film, seemingly, has fallen into near exploitation fair. And notably, neither Brooks' not Pabst's names are mentioned.


The third instance of a screening of Pandora's Box which I recently came across is one of the most fascinating! I didn't find an advertisement, only this passing reference in the Wisconsin State Journal, which was published in Madison.


Remarkably, this Sunday playhouse program took place on May 6, 1934 at Taliesin, the one-time home, studio, school, and country estate of Frank Lloyd Wright. Built by the famed architect and located in southwestern Wisconsin near Spring Green (about 50 miles from Madison), Taliesin served as Wright's home at the time, with its playhouse acting as a local rep-house which showed foreign and art films. (I found listings for other movies having shown there in 1934, but no mention as to whether or not Wright attended these screenings.) This version of the Pabst film, termed "an outstanding German production," was shown with English subtitles.

Evidently, from the newly uncovered records noted above, there was one or possibly two or more prints of Pandora's Box (one silent with English subtitles, another with synchronized sound effects?) in circulation in the United States in the early 1930s. If I were to guess, I would suggest that this print or these prints were likely circulated by a distributor which served the art-house or rep-house circuit. (One such distributor was Moviegraphs -- the exchange that handled distribution of Pandora’s Box in New York state in 1929; in 1932, it applied for a new exhibition license for the film.)

Admittedly, there was little interest in Pandora's Box in the United States in the 1930s. The four exhibition records I have uncovered so far may be the only instances of the film having been shown in the United States in the 1930s. Or there may be others, like a one-off screening at a University. Maybe other records will be found one day, and the remarkable, lost history of Pandora's Box in the United States will be further revealed.




*  (This assumption, that there was only one print of Pandora's Box in the United States prior to 1960, begs the question as to what happened to the copy of the film which Iris Barry deemed of little value and infamously rejected adding to the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1943.)
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