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
In 1930, a German magazine ran a piece on an autographed coat signed by various German film personalities, among them four associated with the 1929 classic Pandora's Box. Director G.W. Pabst signed the coat, as did actors Fritz Kortner and Franz Lederer and Louise Brooks. The Kansas-born actress who played Lulu -- one of the few non-German's to add their autograph -- signed the coat on the bottom right panel, and added "Hollywood" beneath her name.
Among the other well known names asked to autograph the coat are Lilian Harvey, Ivan Mosjoukin, Harry Liedtke, Henny Porten, and Werner Krauss. The latter starred in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well as the earlier version of The Diary of a Lost Girl (1918). I wonder, where is that coat now?
Here is something of a follow-up to yesterday's "Cutie Complex" post. This one features two clippings from Romanian magazines. The first is a 1930 "Modern Women" advertisement with a strikingly Louise Brooks / Lulu look-alike image, and the second is a 1928 article & diagram explaining what makes the "ideal woman" - in movie star terms.
The Chaperone is set to premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on September 23. More information about this special event -- including ticket availability -- can be found HERE.
Haley Lu Richardson, who plays Louise Brooks in The Chaperone, was recently quoted in Indiewire about the 103 minute film.
“I’d never played a real character, and she’s pretty iconic,” Richardson said. “And I don’t look anything like her! But what we did have in common is her moving from a small town to New York when she’s 15, 16 years old to pursue dancing. A chaperone, who’s Elizabeth McGovern, comes with her and it’s the story about how they affect one another. That resonated with me, because I moved to LA from Arizona when I was 16 to dance and act and my mom came with me and [we have] this bond and we learned from each other.”
About The Film
Against the backdrop of the tumultuous times of the early 1920’s, a
genteel Kansan named Norma decides to break out of her comfort zone and
visit the city of her birth. She offers her services as a chaperone to a
beautiful and talented 15-year-old dancer named Louise Brooks, and the
two head to New York City for the summer. One of them is eager to
fulfill her destiny of dance and movie stardom; the other is on a
mission to unearth the mysteries of her past.
Based on Laura Moriarty’s best-selling American novel, The Chaperone reunites the writer, director and star of Downtown Abbey.
Scripted by Julian Fellowes with an eye toward personal details, and
enhanced by Michael Engler’s direction, offering up moments effortlessly
shifting between introspection and wonder. Elizabeth McGovern brings
charm and a welcome spark to a fish out of water, while Haley Lu
Richardson radiates as the effervescent Louise Brooks.
Details are still emerging about this new play....
On Thursday, September 27, there will be a voice reading of Bring a gun... the long night of Louise Brooks, by Jim Piazza and Sondra Lee. This benefit event is being put on by the Episcopal Actors Guild (EAG) in New York, who describe the work as "A woman in her 70s tells her tale of the roaring 20s in this reading of
Sondra Lee's and Jim Piazza's new play about a night in Hollywood you
will never forget!"
This special event takes place in Guild Hall, located on the second floor of The Little Church at 1 East 29th Street (between Madison and Fifth). Interestingly, The Little Church, which is also known as The Little Church Around the Corner, is the site of a couple of scenes from Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men. Brooks wasn't in those particular scenes, but film stars Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, and Neil Hamilton(Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series of the 1960s) were. More information and ticket availability may be found HERE.
Three of Louise Brooks' best films will be shown in England in mid-September. The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks films, Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, will be shown in England on September 14 and 16. (More information about this special double bill may be found HERE.) Also showing on September 16th is Beggars of Life, with live musical accompaniment by The Dodge Brothers. (More information about this latter event may be found HERE.)
A masterpiece of the German silent era, Diary of a Lost Girl was the
second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and director
G.W. Pabst a mere months after their first collaboration in the
now-legendary Pandora’s Box (1929). Brooks plays Thymian Henning, a beautiful young woman raped by an
unscrupulous character employed at her father’s pharmacy (played with
gusto by Fritz Rasp, the degenerate villain of such Fritz Lang classics
as Metropolis, Spione, and Frau im Mond). After Thymian gives birth to
his child and rejects her family’s expectations of marriage, the baby is
torn from her care, and Thymian enters a purgatorial reform school that
seems less an institute of learning than a conduit for fulfilling the
headmistress’s sadistic sexual fantasies. The screening will have a specially recorded audio intro by author and critic Pamela Hutchinson with live music on piano by Jonny Best (Yorkshire Silent Film Festival).
G.W. Pabst’s 1929 silent masterpiece Pandora’s Box stars Louise
Brooks in the role that secured her place as one of the immortal
goddesses of the silver screen. This controversial, and in its day heavily censored, film is
regularly ranked in the Top 100 films of all time (including Cahiers du
Cinema and Sight & Sound). Brooks is unforgettable as Lulu (Louise
Brooks), a sexy, amoral dancer who creates a trail of devastation as she
blazes through Weimar-era Berlin, breaking hearts and destroying lives.
From Germany, she flies to France, and finally to London, where tragedy
strikes. This stunning photographed film is loosely based on the
controversial Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, and also features one of the
cinemas earliest lesbian characters. New 2K DCP of the 2009 restoration of Munich Film Museum’s definitive
cut, with score by Peer Raben. Showing as part of this year’s Heritage
Open Weekend which celebrates Heritage sites all over the UK.
But wait, there's more....
The Louise Brooks film Beggars Of Life (1928) will be shown on September 16 at the Bridport Electric Palace in Bridport with live musical accompaniment by The Dodge Brothers. Following the film, there will be a Q&A with Mark Kermode (The Observer chief Film Critic, BBC TV Presenter), Neil Brand (writer & presenter BBC 4 series ‘Sounds of Cinema : The Music That Made The Movies’) and Dr Mike Hammond (Associate Professor, Film Department, University of Southampton). More information about this event can be found HERE.
Following his Best Picture win at the inaugural Academy Awards, William A. Wellman made Beggars of Life, an adaptation of Jim Tully’s best-selling hobo memoir. This gripping drama casts Brooks as a girl on the lam after killing her lecherous step-father. Dressed in boy’s clothes, she navigates through a dangerous tramp underworld with the help of a handsome and devoted drifter (Richard Arlen) and encounters the dangerous, but warm-hearted hobo Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery). Loaded with stunning visuals and empathetic performances, this dark, realistic drama is Brooks’ best American film and a masterpiece of late-silent era feature films.
The Dodge Brothers have played to silent films at the finest venues in
the land, The Barbican, The National Film Theatre, BFI, The National
Media Museum and anywhere that the high art of playing live to silent
film is appreciated. In 2014 The Dodge Brothers were the first band to
accompany a silent film (Beggars of Life)at Glastonbury Festival.
Want to learn more about the film? Last Spring saw the release of my well reviewed new book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, and last Summer saw the release of a new DVD / Blu-ray of the film from Kino Lorber. (The DVD features a commentary by your's truly, Thomas Gladysz. If you haven't secured your
own copy of either the book or the DVD / Blu-ray, why not do so
today? Each is an essential addition to your Louise Brooks collection, and both are available on amazon.UK
On this day in 1925, Louise Brooks received her first review as actress.
Though not listed in the film’s credits, the Los Angeles Times took note of her brief appearance in The Street of Forgotten Men when its anonymous critic wrote, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the ‘blind’ man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.”
The paper was referring to Brooks, who’s less than 5 minutes of screen time in the Herbert Brenon-directed film was uncredited. It was Brooks’ first role. She played the part of a moll (the girlfriend of a gangster).
Prior to August 31, 1925—Brooks had only been mentioned in newspapers and magazines in connection with her appearances as a Denishawn dancer and as showgirl with the George White Scandals and Ziegfeld Follies. She also had a knack for showing up in various New York City gossip columns. The Los Angeles Times review was her first mention in connection with a film.
The article, titled “Marmont Metropolitan Star,” stands out not only as the first review to reference Brooks but as the only review for The Street of Forgotten Men to note her appearance in the film. One wonders who that anonymous critic might have been? And what they saw?
The Street of Forgotten Men is an underworld romance set among professional beggars in New York’s Bowery. It is a singular film, and received uniformly superb reviews when first released. Leading man Percy Marmont was singled out for his exceptional performance and director Brenon was praised for his realistic depiction of Bowery life.
The National Board of Review named it one of the 40 best pictures of 1925, and it was picked as one of the best films of the year by the Houston Chronicle, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Tacoma Times, and Topeka Daily Capital. In many reviews and advertisements, The Street of Forgotten Men was compared to The Miracle Man, a similarly themed 1919 Lon Chaney film about a gang of criminals.
The Street of Forgotten Men was long thought lost. However, six of seven reels were later found at the Library of Congress. Among the surviving footage (the second reel is missing) is the scene that includes Brooks. Part of that scene is excerpted in the outstanding documentary, Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu.
Eighty-five years ago today, Louise Brooks received her first film review. It was a tentative beginning to a comet-like career in film.
One month from today, I will be speaking about Louise Brooks and my new book, Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star, at the Folsom Public Library in Folsom, California. I will give a slide-show presentation featuring rare images of the silent film star. Any and all film buffs in the greater Sacramento area are invited to attend.
More information about this September 29th event may be found HERE (scroll to date).
More information about my new book may be found HERE.