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
Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society ( www.pandorasbox.com )
featuring pictures of the actress in The American Venus (Be sure and check out the previous blog post for even more images from The American Venus.)
Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society ( www.pandorasbox.com )
Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society ( www.pandorasbox.com )
Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society ( www.pandorasbox.com )
(Be sure and check out the previous blog post for even more images from The American Venus.)
December 31st, or New Year's Eve, is a significant date in the career of Louise Brooks, especially in regards to her now lost 1926 film, The American Venus. (Be sure and check out the next blog post for even more images from The American Venus.)
(Left) Fay Lanphier adorns one if the film's original posters. (Right) As does Louise Brooks, though she is not named.
As most fans know, The American Venus is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The 1925 contest was won by Fay Lanphier, the first Miss California to claim the crown. After winning Miss America, Lanphier was selected to appear in The American Venus, part of which were shot at the Atlantic City event. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, and the first for which she received screen credit.
The film was officially released on January 25, 1926. However, as far as I have been able to determine, The American Venus was publicly shown for the FIRST time almost a month earlier, on December 31, 1925 at the American theater in Oakland, California (Fay Lanphier's hometown) as the centerpiece of a special New Year’s Eve benefit screening.
The secondary headline in the hard-to-read article above notes "American Bills First Eastbay Showing of Picture for New Year's Eve." It is suggested that one of the stars of the film, local celebrity Fay Lanphier, would make a special appearance at the benefit event. However, four days later, the local press announced that Lanphier would not be present, as she had been selected Rose Bowl Queen**, and would instead be taking part in the annual Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day. Nevertheless, the screening still took place.
The American Venus proved popular upon release, and continued to be shown around the United States for an unusually long two plus years. Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded positively to the numerous scantily clad bathing beauties, elaborate tableaux and fashion show, as well as the film’s pioneering use of Technicolor. The critic for the Boston Herald wrote, “The scenes made at Atlantic City and during the prologue are artistically done in Technicolor. Comedy relief in abundance is furnished by a wild automobile chase replete with giggles and thrills. The picture on the whole is entertaining.”
As far as I have been able to determine, one of the very LAST public screenings of The American Venus also took place on New Year's Eve when the Ramona theater in Phoenix, Arizona showed the film on December 31, 1927 at a midnight matinee. This pair of advertisements comes from the Arizona Republic newspaper and is dated Friday, December 30, 1927. Notably, The American Venus wasn't the only Brooks' film showing in town. On New Year's Eve, the Rialto was opening the recently released Now We're in the Air.
As mentioned earlier, The American Venus proved popular, enough so that it continued being shown into the early sound era. The last showings I have been able to find include one in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in March, 1928 and another in Billings, Montana in August, 1928. The "Today" advertisement below comes from Billings.
** To date, Fay Lanphier is the only person to hold both titles -- Miss America and Rose Bowl Queen -- at the same time. (Be sure and check out the next blog post for even more images from The American Venus.)
Happy Holidays from the Louise Brooks Society. Here follows a snapshot of the Louise Brooks bulb which hangs on my X-Mas tree. It is handmade, and crafted by a fan; I believe I purchased it on eBay a number of years ago -- perhaps as long ago as ten or fifteen years ago. Does anyone else have hand made Louise Brooks ornaments?
On Christmas Day in 1927, according to various press accounts, Louise Brooks was a guest at the home of Wallace Beery.
Irene Thirer wrote in the New York Daily News about celebrity plans for celebrating Christmas. Among the guests Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Beery are expected to share the holiday are Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Hatton and "Eddie Sutherland and his lovely wife, Louise Brooks." Other newspapers across the country report the same. Rosalind Shaffer's syndicated Chicago Tribune piece, "Lavish Entertainments Mark Christmas in Hollywood," notes "Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Beery have a venison feast off a dear that Wallace killed for their day's feature. Raymond Hatton, Mrs. Hatton, Louise Brooks and Eddie Sutherland, her husband, dine with the Beerys."
Happy Hanukkah from the Louise Brooks Society. This year, Hanukkah 2019 began in the evening of Sunday, December 22 and ends in the evening of Monday, December 30.
Pandora's Box, Louise Brooks greatest film, was made in Germany in late 1928. A close viewing of the film reveals a small number of religious symbols, both Christian and Jewish. The menorah, or candelabrum, seen in the images above and below is something of a mystery to me, as it has only eight branches, not the traditional nine or seven. Might the middle stem have held a candle? Is it a menorah, or something else. My cursory research left me with more questions than answers. Might any readers of this blog know more?
Additionally, might anyone know the name or the artist associated with this carved, wooden relief sculpture seen in Pandora's Box? It has a seemingly spiritual theme.
Anna Karina has passed away. Read the New York Times obit HERE. Many other obituaries and memorials have appeared in publications around the world.
Karina was a Danish-French film actress, director, writer, and singer who rose to prominence as French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard's muse in the 1960s, performing in several of his films, including The Little Soldier (1960), A Woman Is a Woman (1961), Vivre sa vie (1962), Band of Outsiders (1964), and Pierrot le Fou and Alphaville (both 1965). For her performance in A Woman Is a Woman, Karina won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.
In addition to her work in cinema, she has worked as a singer, and has written several novels in French. Karina is widely considered an icon of 1960s cinema. The New York Times has described her as "one of the screen's great beauties and an enduring symbol of the French New Wave."
In his 1989 biography of Louise Brooks, Barry Paris wrote of the new wave
obsession with our Lulu, adding "Jean-Luc Godard paid tribute
through his actress wife Anna Karina, whose impulsive character in Une Femme est une Femme (1961) and again in Vivre sa Vie the next year was modeled on Louise."
Anna Karina was indeed, is indeed, a luminous presence, and like Brooks, a magnetism of the screen.
Here is the classic scene where Anna Karina dances to Michel Legrand's big band number 'Swing! Swing! Swing!' in Godard's Vivre Sa Vie (1962).
And here is the music video for "Dance With Me" by the French pop group Nouvelle Vague, which includes video clips from G.W. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), starring Brooks, and Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part (1964), starring Karina.
In March, 2020 a new musical titled Lulu: The Louise Brooks Story will debut in Doncaster, England. (The musical had been set to debut in October of this year, but was seemingly postposned.) The musical is being presented by a group called 1928 Limited. No author is given. A bit more information as well as ticket availability may be found HERE. Additional, this production has a Facebook page.
Lulu: The Louise Brooks Story is described as "A new musical, set in the glamorous excess of the 1920s, telling the story of iconic movie star Louise Brooks. We
join Louise on location during the making of the 1928 movie Pandora’s
Box, a movie in which there are uncanny parallels between the life of
Lulu, the main character in the movie, and Louise, the actress. A
tempestuous star with a reputation as an unrepentant hedonist, Louise
harbours a secret which holds the key to her apparently self destructive
behaviour. A secret well hidden in a whirlwind of sexual adventures,
and a party lifestyle which defined the roaring 20s."
Lulu: The Louise Brooks Story plays at the Doncaster Little Theatre, 1 King Street - Off East Laith Gate, DN1 1JD Doncaster in Doncaster on March 5, 6, and 7. Tickets are £10. (For those unfamiliar with Doncaster, it is a large town in South Yorkshire, about 17 miles (30 km) north-east of Sheffield in the north of England.)
According to its website, the Doncaster Little Theatre is a small community-focused theatre supporting all of the arts. The 99-seat community theatre, which produces 12 of its own theatrical performances a year, is run largely through volunteers. The DLT is also open to other shows, companies and performers, including rock bands and comedians, as well as films, which is shows during the day.
UK author, film critic and friend to the Louise Brooks Society friend Pamela Hutchinson has announced that a second edition of her BFI Film Classics title, Pandora's Box, will be released next year. Though the book itself is the same, it will feature a new cover! The LBS is pleased to have a signed first edition in its collection, but plans on acquiring a new edition with the new cover. More information about the book can be found HERE.
In this compelling study, Pamela Hutchinson traces Pandora's
production history and the many contexts of its creation and afterlife,
revisiting and challenging many assumptions made about the film, its
lead character and its star. Analyzing the film act by act, she explores
the conflicted relationship between Brooks and the director G.W. Pabst,
the film's historical contexts in Weimar Berlin, and its changing
fortunes since its release.
Back in 2017, I wrote about the book's first release and spoke with the author. Here is an excerpt from that interview, which appeared on PopMatters:
TG: Was it challenge to write an entire book on a single film? I suppose some might wonder how much there is to say.
PH: There is far more to say about Pandora's Box
than I could fit into this book! I had to edit judiciously. The book
combines history and criticism, as well as talking about how the film
endures. I wanted to give as full a picture as possible of how the film
came to be made, from Frank Wedekind writing his plays to the careers of
G.W. Pabst and his crew and actors.
Also, I walk through Pandora's Box act
by act, drawing out more of the film's meaning. There were so many
questions about the film that intrigued me—and I wanted to answer them
all. Why does Dr Schön drop his cigarette? Why is there a menorah in
Lulu's apartment? What does the letter K stand for? Then I gave over
some space to talking about the film's legacy, and what the image of
Louise Brooks as Lulu stands for now.
TG: The book's description states that you "revisit and challenge
many assumptions made about the film, its lead character and its star."
How so?
PH: Louise Brooks is the voice of Pandora's Box—she
has written about the film and been interviewed about it more than
anyone else involved in the production. This delights me, and I have a
huge respect for her intellect, and her analysis of the film. But I
wanted to dig deeper. Much of what she has said about the film has been
taken as gospel, but there is often another side to the story.
I'm
especially thinking about the character of Countess Geschwitz, and
Alice Robert's performance. I wanted to reclaim the Countess as a
passionate, heroic character. And there's a lot of criticism from
elsewhere that I think confuses what Pabst is trying to do in his
adaptation and he and Brooks are doing in the portrayal of Lulu. It's
always good to look at an old film with fresh eyes, but still with an
understanding of the circumstances in which it was made.
TG: What did you discover in writing the book that surprised you, or might surprise readers?
PH: Well,
there's a credit on the film that always looked wrong to me, and I
wanted to investigate that. In the end I discovered quite a lot about
the man credited with editing the film—including the fact that he almost
definitely had nothing to do with cutting Pandora's Box. He
was a fascinating character, though, and while he didn't edit the film,
he did have an important role to play in its reception. In America, at
least.
TG: What does your book reveal that someone who has seen the film might not realize? PH: Lots,
I hope! For example, did you know that Pabst nearly made the film with
Lili Damita as Lulu in 1926? I tried to cram as much information and
informed critical thinking into the book as possible. I have covered the
production history, and looked at the contribution of each actor and
each key member of the crew, but I have trawled the imagery, too. It's
almost impossible to tear your eyes away from Brooks when watching Pandora's Box,
but if you do, Pabst is telling you the whole story in his design for
the film, from the lighting, to all those ominous objects in the
background.
On Saturday, December 7, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the 1929 Paramount film, Redskin.
This second blog explores the little known connection Louise Brooks had with
the film. More about the 2019 SFSFF "Day of Silents" may be found HERE.
Shot partly in early Technicolor, Redskin tells the story of a Navajo man named Wing
Foot who was taken as a child to a government boarding school, where he is forced to assimilate. The film explores the damage done by prejudice as
it explores issues of racial identity and cultural insensitivity in
telling Wing Foot’s story. This June 1928 newspaper article suggests the film's topicality, while noting Louise Brooks' role in the production.
The film, directed by Victor Schertzinger and described by critics as one of the most visually beautiful films of the late 1920’s, was produced and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Following her widely acclaimed role in the gritty Beggars of Life, Brooks was next assigned to The Canary Murder Case, a widely celebrated murder mystery. It was a plum role for which Brooks was well suited. However, before work began on The Canary Murder Case, Brooks was suddenly reassigned to Redskin, another important Paramount film also set to go into production. In her nationally syndicated column, Louella Parson wrote in August, 1928:
Brooks’ role went beyond merely being cast as a a Pueblo Indian named Corn Blossom. Paramount records show the actress was paid for three weeks' work on Redskin.
According to press reports from the time, Brooks reported to Gallup, New
Mexico at the end of August, 1928, where the cast and crew gathered
before heading out to camps near the location shoot.
In early September of 1928, Brooks was called back to Hollywood, where she replaced Ruth Taylor in The Canary Murder Case. No one knows why for sure. Some reports had it that Taylor fell ill, while others claim Brooks was temperamental and unsuited to a film like Redskin. But there is certainly "more to the story".... *
When Louise Brooks left the cast of Redskin, she was replaced by Gladys Belmont, an otherwise unknown actress whose first and only starring role would be in the Native American drama.
* That "more to the story" likely includes studio politics, Brooks'
resentment in having been denied a role in Gentleman Prefer Blondes,
which starred Ruth Taylor, Brooks' dissatisfaction over her contract with Paramount, and a power play by Paramount in replacing her in a prestige production opposite a major star with an unknown actress.
