Little seen Louise Brooks film The Show Off to screen in Australia

The little seen 1926 Louise Brooks film, The Show Off, will be shown in a theatre in Australia on Saturday, December 5th. This rare pandemic era screening will take place at The Majestic Theatre in
Pomona, QLD. More information about this event can be found HERE. (I have seen The Show Off a number of times, and think it is one of Brooks' better comedies, though her role is that of a supporting player.)

The Majestic Theatre is located in the heart of the Noosa Hinterland in the small historic town of Pomona, in Queensland, Australia. The Majestic Theatre is a not for profit, small community run theatre and cinema that has been in operation for almost 100 years as both a community hall and a silent film theatre. They show silent films every Saturday at 12 noon, and claim to be the "World's Longest Running Silent Film Theatre." Check their calendar for other silent film offerings, including Clara Bow's It on November 28.

The Majestic Theatre description of its upcoming Louise Brooks screening reads:  "The Show Off is a 1926 American silent film comedy produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures, based on the play of the same name by George Kelly. Directed by Mal St Clare, the film stars Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson and Louise Brooks. This film is one of two films that co-starred popular Broadway actor Gregory Kelly (first husband of Ruth Gordon who died shortly after The Show-Off wrapped production. The film was produced in Philadelphia and New York City thus becoming a sort of time capsule record of buildings long gone and neighbourhoods changed. No need to book. Tickets at the door. 12 noon to 2pm. Doors & Bar open 11.30am. $15 for adults & free for kids. Snacks & refreshments available."

Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Gregory Kelly, and Louise Brooks in The Show Off

 

Though released in the United States in August, 1926, The Show Off only debuted in Australia in mid-January, 1927 when it opened in Brisbane (Queensland), Sydney (New South Wales), and Hobart (Tasmania). To learn more about the film, visit the Louise Brooks Society webpage on the film.

Pomona, the site of next month's screening, is about 124 kilometers from Brisbane, the capital and the most populated city in the Australian state of Queensland. When The Show Off first opened in Brisbane, it played briefly at the Valley Theatre as part of a double bill with Romola, starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Ronald Colman and William Powell. Ahead of its showing, the local Brisbane Truth newspaper described The Show Off as a "sparking comedy," while the Sunday Mail described it as a "interesting and humorous production."

A couple of months later, The Show Off played elsewhere in Queensland, including March and April runs in Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, and the Toowoomba region. It was described favorably, and said to be "well worth seeing." None of the Queensland articles or reviews singled out Brooks beyond mentioning her and Lois Wilson were in the cast; instead, most of the coverage was focused on comedian Ford Sterling, one of the original Keystone Cops. Below is the advertisement which ran when the film showed in Mackay.

Happy Birthday to Louise Brooks

 Happy Birthday to Louise Brooks, who was born on this day in 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. 

Film buffs are celebrating in Zurich, Switzerland, where a major retrospective is coming to an end. Read all about it in a big new article, "Lulu Forever: the 2020 Louise Brooks FilmPodium Retrospective (Zurich)," on FILM INTERNATIONAL. 

Spend Election Night with Louise Brooks and other film stars

In 1928, the United States presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 6. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover (a Republican) defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Al Smith of New York. There was a good deal of interest in the election, even among those who went to the movies on election night. So much so, movie goers - including those who took in the recently released Louise Brooks' film, Beggars of Life - were given election returns during the show! 

For example, in Elmira, New York, two William Wellman films were showing. The Strand was showing the sound version of Beggars of Life, while the Regent was showing the road show version (with sound effects) of Wings. Both theaters were also announcing the results of the day's election.

There are many other instances of election results being announced at movie theaters around the country. For instance, Beggars of Life was also showing at the Royal in Kansas City, Missouri - and again, national and local election returns were on the bill, as seen in this small advertisement.

Beggars of Life was also showing in Dayton, Ohio on election night in 1928. The local State theater, however, choose not to announce election returns, though they did offer an extra late night 11 pm showing - perhaps as an election night distraction? However, other local venues like Loews (showing Fazil with Charles Farrell and Greta Nissen) and the Rialto (showing the sensational sex film Girls of the Underworld) did announce results, as did the Dayton theater showing the stage play Wooden Kimono.

How did they do it? How did theaters receive the latest news during the pre-television, pre-internet era? The answer can be found at the top of this Los Angeles clipping.

New Louise Brooks novel released in Switzerland

French writer Daniel Bernard emailed me to let me know about his new novel, Un dernier Charleston, Louise (One last Charleston, Louise), which has just been published in France Switzerland by Editions Lemart. Here is the front and back cover.

And here is something the author sent me about the book:

"The novel begins in 1957 at Idlewild Airport in New-York. Two women meet as they have accompanied someone to the plane going to Europe. Suddenly, they begin to talk to one another. “I’m Louise, says a brunette, the Louise Brooks!” Angela, the other woman answers: “I’m Angela, please to meet you!”

Then begins this imaginary story about the well-known star, Louise Brooks, and diverse characters: Angela, who is a German immigrant, Helmut, a former assistant to Pabst, the director of Pandora’s Box, and perhaps a lover, and a few others.

Through chapters that are written a bit like film scripts, with a lot of dialogues, we go back to 1928, as Louise was in Berlin, for the shooting of her famous one and only masterpiece, Pandora’s Box, by Pabst, to 1937, as Angela meets Leni Riefenstahl in Minister Speer’s office, in the 50’s in Paris, when Henri Langlois calls Louise back to Europe discovering the fallen and forgotten star, and many other situations.

The plot mixes true events and fully delusive moments that attempt to depict Louise’s personality, if she ever would act that way, with a tender and gentle look. Illusion, images, life, sexuality and the German period of the late 20’s, that Louise had just seen in Berlin are the background, and New York.

The novel contains a great quantity of dialogue, concerning a star of the silent movies, which is stunning. You read it as if you were a witness, hidden somewhere in the scenes surrounding the actors of he novel. At times, hints on the story of cinema art, that has changed the world until now, tells you details and/or facts that a few are aware of. In the background, a drama, well described, in a parallel montage effect, which is a justification if not an explanation of the whole plot: there is no witness of this story written by a true connoisseur."

Louise Brooks - Lulu and Beyond online event with Pamela Hutchinson on October 28

On October 28, film historian Pamela Hutchinson will talk about the life and legacy of 1920s star Louise Brooks during an online event sponsored by the City of Westminster Libraries & Archives in the UK. More information about this free online event can be found HERE.

About Louise Brooks - Lulu and Beyond with Pamela Hutchinson

Louise Brooks was born in Kansas, and made her name as first, one of the most beautiful dancers on Broadway, and then as one of the most rebellious starlets in silent-era Hollywood – known for her insouciant face, hot temper and distinctive flapper haircut. Her lasting fame was secured by a trio of art films she made in Europe after turning her back on Los Angeles, starting with the German silent Pandora's Box, in which she plays Lulu, a dangerous Weimar femme fatale who brings the men and women who love her to their knees. After seeing all there was to see in the movie industry on both sides of the Atlantic, Brooks lived to tell the tale, and to be reclaimed as a true star of the early cinema. In her later life, her uniquely provocative voice shone in a series of articles that told the unpalatable truth about the movie business.

Pamela Hutchinson is a freelance writer, critic and film historian who contributes regularly to Sight & Sound, the Guardian, Criterion, Empire and the BBC, specialising in silent and classic cinema and women in film. She is a guest lecturer at the National Film and Television School, and a member of both Fipresci and the London Film Critics' Circle. She has written essays for several edited collections and is the author of the BFI Film Classic on Pandora's Box and the editor of 30-Second Cinema (Ivy Press). She also writes the silent cinema website Silent London.

The event will be broadcast via MS Teams which can be accessed via a web browser on an app from your appstore. Start time is 11:30 – 12:30 GMT / PDT on Wednesday, October 28. Registration is required. 

Once Lost Louise Brooks Film Now Online - Watch it NOW

In what is certainly the biggest news since it was found in 2016 (see Huffington Post article), the 23 minute surviving fragment of a once lost Louise Brooks' film, Now We're in the Air, is now online and available for viewing courtesy of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. 

The film located in Prague by Rob Byrne, president of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It was restored by the SFSFF and Národní filmový archiv (the Czech National Film Archive). The restored fragment premiered at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2017, and has been shown only a few times around the world since then. It's most recent screening takes place TODAY as part of a major Louise Brooks retrospective at FilmPodium in Zurich, Switzerland. Prior to that, it was shown at the Melbourne Cinémathèque in Melbourne, Australia in 2019.

Now We're in the Air can be seen on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival website  (which features additional information and a program essay) or on the SFSFF's Vimeo page. For this online premiere, the fragment features a musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The film is also embedded below.

Now We're in the Air from SF Silent Film Festival on Vimeo.

Now We're in the Air is a farce. And though not a masterpiece, it is still as significant film, not only because of Brooks’ widespread popularity, but because it helps fill a gap in the legendary actress’ body of work. Until now, each of the four films Brooks made in 1927—at the peak of her American career—have been considered lost.

Directed by Frank Strayer, Now We’re in the Air is a World War One comedy starring future Oscar winner Wallace Beery and the once popular character actor Raymond Hatton. The film, released by Paramount, also features Brooks in two supporting roles. The actress plays twins, one raised French, one raised German, who are the love interest of two goofy fliers. The surviving footage of Brooks only includes her in the role of the French twin, a carnival worker dressed in a short, dark tutu. 

My wife and I had a small hand in the preservation of the film, having uncovered the film's continuity as well as other related documents which helped piece the surviving fragments back together in the right order with correct tinting and correct English-language subtitles. Our efforts, along with those of Robert Byrne and others are detailed in my 2017 book, Now We're in the Air: A companion to the once "lost" film. This 130 page, illustrated book tells the story of the film’s making, its reception, and its discovery by film preservationist Robert Byrne. Also considered is the surprising impact this otherwise little known film has had on Brooks’ life and career. With two rare fictionalizations of the movie story, more than 75 little seen images, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by Byrne. It is, in my opinion, essential reading for any fan of Louise Brooks. And at a mere $15.00, a bargain as well.