Around the World with Louise Brooks, a few LAST trimmings from the cutting room floor

A continuation of the series of previous posts.... Here are a couple more odds 'n ends which I can't make use of or don't have room for in Around the World with Louise Brooks. The first is a three page Spanish language article about Hollywood which unfortunately doesn't mention Louise Brooks. I don't remember where it is from, likely a South American publication circa 1930. That was sloppy of me.

And lastly, here is another undated, unsourced clipping from Austria which does depict Louise Brooks. This page is titled "Wie war es mit einer Volksabstimmung" or "How about a referendum".  Instead, I will title this somewhat bizarre piece "babes and battleships."

Around the World with Louise Brooks, even a FEW MORE trimmings from the cutting room floor

A continuation of the series of previous posts.... Here is another odds 'n ends which I can't make use of or don't have room for in Around the World with Louise Brooks. As with the earlier post in this series, here is an eight page French language article on Hollywood which mentions both Louise Brooks and her one-time husband, Eddie Sutherland. (Brooks and Sutherland are mentioned on the fourth page.) This article comes from a March 1929 issue of a scarce French film magazine, PhotoCine, and comes complete with pictures of various movie stars and their homes as well as some 'swonderful caricatures. Enjoy.

Louise Brooks - actress remembered as artist

Louise Brooks, in the years before her passing

Louise Brooks died on this day in 1985. Articles and obituaries were carried in newspapers across the United States and around the world. Brooks' passing was news, and a few pieces even appeared on the front page and above the fold, none more prominently than on the front page of the August 9 issue of the Democrat and Chronicle, the newspaper in Rochester, New York -- the  city were the former silent film star had long lived. Besides the front page piece, there were three other articles inside the paper. Additional pieces appeared in the newspaper in the days that followed.

Barry Paris penned a moving tribute that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on August 14th. It was titled "Natural actress remembered as artist." I titled this post after that title. Some of the other obits which appeared include this Los Angeles Times headline, "Rebellious Silent Film Beauty Dies."

The use of the word rebel was picked-up on in other headlines, like this one, "Louise Brooks, 78, rebel star who didn't shine in Hollywood," from the Chicago Tribune.

 

To criticize, to shun "enslavement," or to give up stardom is to make you a rebel, or anti-star, as these three headline suggest. Each of them, from the newspapers in Camden, New Jersey, Tucson, Arizona, and Louisville, Kentucky respectively - each drew from the same syndicated, wire service story (either the Los Angeles Times or Associated Press), but drew a different moral from Brooks' life story.

In 1985, many newspaper readers likely didn't know who Louise Brooks had been. Thus, some headlines had to contextualize her in both their headline and in the caption that might have accompanied any image, like this example from The Record, the newspaper in Hackensack, New Jersey.

  

And this example from the Los Angeles Times, which notes her cult standing because of Pandora's Box, her best know film: 

Explanation via contextualization is the aim of this Canadian headline from the Edmonton Journal in Edmonton, Alberta "'America's Venus," Louise Brooks Dies."

 

"Film queen" is not a term used much if at all anymore. But this headline employed it in 1985, perhaps to reflect a bygone era. This curious headline, "Silent film queen Louise Brooks dies," come from  the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, out of Fort Worth, Texas.

The use of the word "queen" was picked up by various papers, including the Sacramento Bee - the newspaper in Sacramento, California, where I now live. Here is the same headline repeated. But what grabbed my attention was the portrait of a youthful Brooks, smiling. It is an uncommon image of a most uncommon person.

Around the World with Louise Brooks, even MORE trimmings from the cutting room floor

A continuation of the previous two posts.... Here are a couple more odds 'n ends which I can't make use of or don't have room for in Around the World with Louise Brooks.The first piece is a five page Spanish language article on Hollywood. This article comes from a July 1930 article in a rare Chilean film magazine, Revista Cinematografica y Teatral, published by Empressa Zig-Zag. Truly. I believe the author is Sr. Carlos F. Borcosque. This piece seems like an original look at early Hollywood, with many stars mentioned and one pictured, namely Buster Keaton. This piece seems just like the kind of piece author and Hollywood historian Mary Mallory might like.

And secondly and lastly, here is an Austrian Hollywood photographic montage by Rudolph Myzet which does in fact depict Louise Brooks (she is hard to spot) - as well as a few a few of her Paramount co-stars and contemporaries, like W.C. Fields and Wallace Beery and Neil Hamilton and Evelyn Brent and Clara Bow. (I spent more than a few minutes zooming in and trying to recognize Brooks' face, but just couldn't find it until it was pointed out to me.) Charlie Chaplin watch out - a shooting star is about to bonk you in the head!

Around the World with Louise Brooks, MORE trimmings from the cutting room floor

A continuation of yesterday's post.... Here are a couple more odds 'n ends which I can't make use of or don't have room for in Around the World with Louise Brooks. Both come from the December 1930 issue of Vita Cinematografica, an Italian film magazine. This first piece, an article titled "Greta Garbo donna d'affari," seems to be an article about the mysterious allure of the Swedish actress. It starts by describing three other mysterious and alluring stars, the Russian actress Vera Baranovskaya,
Louise Brooks, and the German actress Brigitte Helm. Then briefly mentioned are Lya de Putti,
Bessie Love, and Anita Page. Perhaps an Italian reader could offer a better explanation, but I would guess that these other actresses are evoked in an article about Garbo in comparison to the renowned actress and elusive beautiful.

The paragraph on Brooks reads thus, in translation: "Louise Brooks, with bright black eyes, an impassive face and a supple body, has blossomed in a heavy atmosphere of contented passion, anguish, unsatisfied desires, feverish voluptuousness. She is, at times, cold and ardent, deadly and quivering: one would say the sign of vice." 

The above article was, I believe, authored by Paul Rejac and originally appeared in Cinemonde, an French magazine. I will have to try and track that down. Brooks appeared on the cover of Cinemonde four times, and those four covers appear in Around the World with Louise Brooks.

The next clipping, which also depicts Louise Brooks and a few other actresses, also appeared in the December 1930 issue of Vita Cinematografica. The piece is a holiday greeting.

Around the World with Louise Brooks, some trimmings from the cutting room floor

First off, a big THANK YOU to Leif Jensen for sending me images of three Louise Brooks' magazine covers from Denmark, one of which I had never seen before. I have added them to my forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks, and have added Leif's name to the book as well in the acknowledgements and on the pages where those images appear. I am so pleased to have received Leif's help, and am pleased also they he was so generous in sharing a few scans. It made my day.

Along with Leif's contributions, and a few new finds, I have been able to bring the total of vintage Louise Brooks' magazine covers shown in Around the World with Louise Brooks to 85. I think that is a wow!

Here are a few odds 'n ends which I can't make use of or don't have room for in Around the World with Louise Brooks. I thought I would share them with you. From a March 1928 issue of Cinegrafico, a publication from Argentina.

And here is a two page spread from a November 1927 issue of Swiatowid, an illustrated Polish magazine.

And lasting here is a page from a November 1926 issue of UFA Magazin displaying a still and a bit of verse about The American Venus, the film for which Louise Brooks received her first screen credit. Unfortunately, she is not pictured.