Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in England in February

Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Cinema City in Norwich, England on February 24, 2020. More information and tickets made be found HERE.

According to the Cinema City website: "One of the great silent films, G.W. 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."

Speaking of Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box and England, UK author, film critic and Louise Brooks Society friend Pamela Hutchinson has announced that a second edition of her BFI (British Film Institute) Film Classics title, Pandora's Box, will be released this year. Though the book itself is the same, Hutchinson recommended read will feature a new cover! More information about the book can be found HERE.

Louise Brooks and Linda Ronstadt

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of people who share my interest / passion for Louise Brooks. Some are well known. I am thinking of individuals like the singer Rufus Wainwright, novelist Laura Moriarty (The Chaperone), Oscar honoree Kevin Brownlow, actor Paul McGann (Doctor Who), and the singer Linda Ronstadt, to name a few. Last night, I finally had the chance to see the recent documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice. Seeing that film led me to reminisce about the time I met the acclaimed singer.

Our meeting came about this way.... back when I lived in San Francisco, we had a common friend. She was someone I worked with. And as I was always blabbering on about old movies, this friend knew of my interest in silent film, and my regular attendance at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. One day, in 2014, Linda expressed interest in seeing Ramona (1928), a newly found film the Festival had just shown. The now retired singer couldn't make the event, but still hoped to see this early version of the classic California story which starred the Mexican-born actress Dolores del Rio.

Our common friend mentioned Linda's interest, and I offered to loan my review copy of Ramona. The disc was relayed to the singer, and inside I inserted one of my business cards so it might find its way back to me.

I hadn't known it then, but Linda was something of a devotee of Louise Brooks. As I was soon to learn, she had seen a few of Brooks' available films, and had also read the Barry Paris bio and Brooks' own Lulu in Hollywood, as well as the then recently released Brooks' inspired novel, The Chaperone. Seeing my Louise Brooks Society business card peaked Linda's interest, and she asked our common friend if we might like to meet.

I was thrilled. Linda invited me to her San Francisco home and we chatted about Brooks and her life and films for nearly an hour. We talked about Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, and which we liked the best and how they effected us. We talked about how we first came across the actress, and the remarkable telling of her life story in the Barry Paris biography. I told Linda about the Louise Brooks Society, and about some of my related projects and some of the people I have met, like Barry Paris and filmmaker Hugh Munro Neeley (Louise Brooks Looking for Lulu). She told me about a NYC friend of hers who was writing a play based on Brooks, and about how she wore her hair in a bob inspired by the silent film star (see the portrait above), and how on Halloween she would sometimes dress up like a flapper a la Brooks! As comes across in Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, the singer is someone keenly interested in the world and culture, be it in music, art, people, or film. Linda told me she had seen other silent movies, and had even once met Lillian Gish.

Eager to see other Brooks' films and learn more about the actress, Linda asked to borrow a few DVDs as well as Peter Cowie's then out-of-print and somewhat hard-to-find coffee table book, Louise Brooks Lulu Forever. I loaned her some silent film DVDs, as well as the Cowie book. Linda liked the latter so much she asked me to track down a copy for her, which I did.

In the years since, Linda and I visited a couple more times, and have exchanged emails on a few other occasions. It has been a great pleasure to know her, if only just a bit, and to share a mutual enthuisism. That's is what the "Society" in Louise Brooks Society is all about. If you haven't seen Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, I encourage everyone to do so. It is terrific, entertaining, rather interesting, and even inspiring. In the words of the Hollywood Reporter, it "will make you fall in love with [Linda] all over again" and "will delight the singer's old fans and likely make her many new ones as well.” I really enjoyed it. And I think you will too.

Happy New Year from the Louise Brooks Society

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.)

New Year's Eve in the film career of Louise Brooks

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 Christmas from the Louise Brooks Society

 

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

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.

R.I.P. Anna Karina (1940-2019)

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.

Lulu - The Louise Brooks Story now set to debut in 2020

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.