Sunday, December 30, 2018

New Books: Two fascinating women, and more

There are two new books out which silent film buffs, Jazz Age enthusiasts, and those interested in social history and women's herstory will want to know about. Each tell the story of a little known woman from the early decades of the 20th century. Each are fascinating accounts, and each reveals that there still many undiscovered stories left to be told. Each book are recommended reading.

The Lives of Justine Johnstone: Follies Star, Research Scientist, Social Activist (McFarland)
by Kathleen Vestuto

From the publisher: As a Ziegfeld Follies girl and film actress, Justine Johnstone (1895-1982) was celebrated as "the most beautiful woman in the world." Her career took an unexpected turn when she abruptly retired from acting at 31. For the remainder of her life, she dedicated herself to medical research and social activism. As a cutting-edge pathologist, she contributed to the pre-penicillin treatment of syphilis at Columbia University, participated in the development of early cancer treatments at Caltech, and assisted Los Angeles physicians in oncology research. As a divorced woman in the 1940s, she adopted and raised two children on her own. She later helped find work for blacklisted Hollywood screenwriters and became a prominent participant in social and political causes.

The first full-length biography of Johnstone (who travelled in the same social circles as Louise Brooks in 1925 New York City) chronicles her extraordinary success in two male-dominated fields--show business and medical science--and follows her remarkable journey into a fascinating and fulfilling life.

"Here is a book that might otherwise escape you, but if you're lucky you'll find it and read it.... From her humble upbringing in New Jersey to her days as a Broadway and Hollywood fixture to her life as a research scientist and social activist, Johnstone emerges as a fascinating person. Vestuto sprinkles her life story with anecdotes that include some of the people in Justine's world which included, among many others, Fred Astaire, Harpo Marx, Marion Davies, Joan Blondell and W.C. Fields...." – Jeff Still, amazon review

About the Author
: Kathleen Vestuto is a former theatre professional working in the nonprofit social services sector. She lives in New York City.

Southern Belle To Hollywood Hell: Corliss Palmer and Her Scandalous Rise and Fall (BearManor Media)
by Jennifer Ann Redmond

From the publisher: Winning the Fame and Fortune Contest of 1920 made Corliss Palmer a star. It was the worst thing that ever happened to her. Come along as the author of Reels & Rivals: Sisters in Silent Film charts Corliss and publisher Eugene Brewster’s attempt to fashion a Jazz Age empire, only to end up ruling the gossip columns. Over 70 images, including never-before-seen photos from the Palmer family scrapbook, illustrate this incredible tale of obsession, glamour, and why you should always be careful what you wish for.

“Remarkably intimate and detailed… author Jennifer Ann Redmond offers a juicy account of the short but colorful and tumultuous life of a southern beauty queen-turned model and actress who ‘wasn’t the angel people think she was.” – Paula Uruburu, History Channel consultant and author, American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the “It” Girl, and the Crime of the Century

About the Author: Longtime Louise Brooks Society member Jennifer Ann Redmond found her calling at age 7, when her essay won a countywide contest. Since then, her passion for writing, especially poetry, has been rivaled only by her love of the 1920s and 1930s. Silent and pre-Code (1929-1934) films are a particular favorite, and she counts Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, and Jean Harlow among her muses. She currently resides on Long Island, NY.

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And for good measure, consider this worthwhile book as well. It contains a bit of material on Frederica Sagor, the silent era screenwriter who penned the story for the 1927 Louise Brooks film, Rolled Stockings.

When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry (McFarland)
by Rosanne Welch; Foreword by Cari Beachamp

From the publisher: This collection of 23 new essays focuses on the lives of female screenwriters of Golden Age Hollywood, whose work helped create those unforgettable stories and characters beloved by audiences--but whose names have been left out of most film histories. The contributors trace the careers of such writers as Anita Loos, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Lillian Hellman, Gene Gauntier, Eve Unsell and Ida May Park, and explore themes of their writing in classics like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Ben Hur, and It's a Wonderful Life.

About the Author: Rosanne Welch teaches the history of screenwriting and one-hour drama for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting. As a television writer/producer, her credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences and Touched by an Angel. Her other books include Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture (McFarland, 2017) and Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection (ABC-CLIO, 2017), named to the 2018 Outstanding References Sources List, by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association. Welch has also published chapters in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television (I.B.Tauris) and The American Civil War on Film and TV: Blue and Gray in Black and White and Color (Lexington Books, 2018) and essays in Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology and Outside In Makes it So, and Outside in Boldly Goes (both edited by Robert Smith). She lives in Los Angeles, and is the book reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Around the World with Louise Brooks - Chinese Movie Magazines

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am at work on a new book, Around the World with Louise Brooks, which I expect to have ready sometime early next year. The book, as it looks now, should run at least 500 pages. It will be a multilingual and multinational look at Brooks and her films and how they were perceived around the world in the1920s and 1930s.

With that in mind, I have been looking at all sorts of material related to my book's topic. And that's when a remarkable new book, Chinese Movie Magazines: From Charlie Chaplin to Chairman Mao, 1921-1951 (University of California Press), by Paul Fonoroff.


About the book (from the publisher): "Showcasing an exotic, eclectic, and rare array of covers from more than five hundred movie publications from a glamorous bygone age, Chinese Movie Magazines sheds fresh light on China’s film industry during a transformative period of its history. Expertly curated by collector and Chinese cinema specialist Paul Fonoroff, this volume provides insightful commentary relating the magazines to the times in which they were created, embracing everything from cinematic trends to politics and world events, along with gossip, fashion, and pop culture.

The cover designs reflected the diverse contents of the publications, ranging from sophisticated Art Deco drawings by acclaimed artists to glamorous photos of top Chinese and Hollywood celebrities, including Ruan Lingyu, Butterfly Wu, Ingrid Bergman, and Shirley Temple. Organized thematically within a chronological structure, this visually extraordinary volume includes many rare illustrations from the Paul Kendel Fonoroff Collection in Berkeley’s C.V. Starr East Asian Library, the largest collection of Eastern movie memorabilia outside China."

I have spent more than a few hours enjoyable browsing the many image laden pages of Chinese Movie Magazines: From Charlie Chaplin to Chairman Mao, 1921-1951. It is a visual feast, and is a book which should appeal to anyone interested in film history, graphic design, or early Asian cinema.

Alas, there aren't any images of Louise Brooks in the book, but other silent era stars can be found. Among those I spotted are Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, Richard Dix, Harold Lloyd, Lupe Velez, Anna May Wong, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, Norma Shearer, Jean Harlow, Maurice Chevalier, Tallulah Bankhead, Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell, and Charles Rogers & Nancy Carroll. Here are a few page scans from this highly recommended book.







Monday, December 24, 2018

Happy Holidays from the Louise Brooks Society

Happy Holidays from the Louise Brooks Society


Happy Holidays from the Louise Brooks Society

 

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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Pandora's Box screens in Hungerford, England on January 18, 2019

The celebrated 1929 Louise Brooks film, Pandora's Box, will be shown in Hungerford, England on January 18, 2019. The special event will take place at The Croft Hall, and will feature an introduction by journalist and early film expert Pamela Hutchinson (author of the 2018 BFI book on the film). Information on the event and ticket availability can be found HERE.


According to the venue: "The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naïve young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.

One of the great silent films, GW Pabst’s Pandora’s Box is renowned for its sensational storyline, sparkling Weimar-period setting and the legendary, lead performance from its iconic star Louise Brooks.

Following the rise and fall of Lulu (Brooks), a spirited but innocent showgirl whose sheer sexual magnetism wreaks havoc on the lives of men and women alike, the film was controversial in its day, then underappreciated for decades. Pandora’s Box now stands as an incredibly modern movie, and few stars of any era dazzle as bright as Louise Brooks.

Before the film Pamela Hutchinson a freelance journalist and film critic and former Guardian production editor will give a short presentation on the significance of this classic film and of Louise Brooks the amazing leading lady. Listen to a short piece on BBC Radio 4 "The Film Programme." CLICK HERE from 17:36 mins

1929 Cert PG 1 hour 49mins. Crime/Drama/Romance In German with subtitles."


Monday, December 17, 2018

Louise Brooks text: Need more help translating from Japanese

I am hard at work on a new book, Around the World with Louise Brooks, which I hope to have finished in a few months. It's about just what the title suggests.... it will be a large format, 500 to 600 page, multilingual and multinational look at the actress and her films and the way they were viewed in countries all around the globe. It will be chock-a-block in images, including many not seen in decades. It will also contain some remarkable new information.

Louise Brooks' films were shown all around the world in the 1920s and 1930s, including in Japan, where the actress was very popular. (See this earlier LBS blog, as well as a chapter in my recent book, Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star.) In my search to document all things related to the actress and her legacy, I have come across all kinds of interesting material in languages which I don't read. That material includes articles,  advertisements, and other miscellaneous clippings from non-English language publications.

I tried rendering meaning from these clippings using virtual Japanese characters, but couldn't find exact matches. Can any good soul translate or summarize these NUMBERED clippings from vintage Japanese magazine?

1) This clipping references G.W. Pabst.


2) A personality portrait


3) A personality portrait



4) A personality portrait



5) Something from Love Em and Leave Em




6) A personality portrait

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Louise Brooks text: Need help translating from Japanese

Louise Brooks' films were shown all around the world in the 1920s and 1930s, including in Japan, where the actress was popular. In my search to document all things related to the actress and her legacy, I have come across all kinds of interesting material in languages which I don't read. That material includes articles,  advertisements, and other miscellaneous clippings from non-English language publications.

I tried rendering meaning from this clipping using a virtual Japanese characters, but couldn't match the characters.

Can any good soul translate or summarize the two text groups (one to the right of Brooks, the other above Garbo) from this vintage Japanese magazine?


Sunday, December 2, 2018

Did you Know? Louise Brooks and Pola Illery



In 1931, Paramount remade the 1927 Louise Brooks' film Evening Clothes as a French talkie under the title of Un Homme en Habit. (That was also the French title of Evening Clothes when it was shown in France in the late 1920s). The French film, based on the same story material (Yves Mirande and André Picard's play) as the earlier American silent, starred Suzy Vernon (in the role played by Virginia Valli) and Fernand Gravey (in the role played by Adolphe Menjou). 

Pola Illéry on the cover of a Portuguese magazine.
The role played by Louise Brooks in Evening Clothes was played by Pola Illéry (1909–1993), a 4' 11" exotic silent film star in France and Romania in the 1920s who was best known for portraying sexually liberated women. For a time, she was considered the most glamorous film star in Romania. In 1939, with the rise of Nazism, the Jewish actress fled to the United States where she lived a quiet life. 

Born Paula Iliescu, she changed her name to "Pola" in tribute to the Polish-born actress Pola Negri. Her other key credits include Alberto Cavalcanti's Captain Fracasse (1929) and Le petit chaperon rouge (1930), and Parada Paramount (1930), the Romanian-language version of Paramount on Parade. For more on the actress, check out her Wikipedia and IMDb pages. There is even a Facebook page for her!


Above and below, Pola Illéry in the 1930 René Clair film Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris).

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