Happy Birthday to Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks, silent film star and 20th century icon, was born on this day in 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. Today marks what would have been her 115th birthday. Here are a few pictures to celebrate.

BTW: Louise Brooks' sensational 1928 film, Beggars of Life will be shown today at Film Forum in New York City! See the previous post for more information https://louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com/2021/11/beggars-of-life-screens-in-nyc-on.html

Beggars of Life screens in NYC on Louise Brooks birthday!

On Sunday, November 14th (which also happens to be Louise Brooks' birthday), Film Forum in New York City will screen Beggars of Life with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner. And what's more, the film will be introduced by L.A.-based author / film critic / historian Leonard Maltin (via recorded Zoom). Notably, this is the fourth time in 10 years Film Forum has screened this now classic film. Film Forum is located at 209 West Houston St. west of 6th Ave. in NYC. More information about the event HERE. BTW: Attendees will be required to provide proof of vaccination for entry to the theater (also applies to children 12 and above).

The Film Forum program note reads: " (1928, William A. Wellman) On the run after killing a molesting stepfather, dressed-as-a-boy Louise Brooks is befriended by Richard Arlen and falls in with Wallace Beery’s band of hoboes. Long-thought-lost silent classic, with Brook’s best pre-German work and dazzling location work on speeding trains. DCP. Approx. 81 min."

 

One of the Film Forum's previous screening took place in 2012. At the time, I wrote a piece for Huffington Post titled, “Beggars of Life with Louise Brooks Screens in New York.” The late great film critic Roger Ebert read my article and tweeted about it, stating he wished that this classic film would be released on DVD by Kino. And a few years later it was!

If you can't attend this event and want to see the film, hurry and search out some of the few remaining Blu-ray copies of the 2017 Kino release. It is my understanding that the DVD is out-of-print. The few remaining copies of this outstanding disc can be found HERE. And what's more, the Kino Lorber release (pictured on the right) features two commentaries, one by the son of the film's director, William Wellman, and one by myself, Thomas Gladysz.

This DVD was named one of the best of the year by three noted critics — not bad for a silent film! Additionally, my commentary was singled out or mentioned by a handful of media outlets including the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Films in Review, Combustible Celluloid, Film International, and Home Media Magazine.

“Brooks scholar Thomas Gladysz provides a very informative commentary on this excellent restoration.” — PopMatters

“Gladysz, who’s the founding director of the Louise Brooks Society, also goes into great detail about the studio production of the film, and the stories of its stars.” — Texas Public Radio (NPR).

Want to learn more about what is widely considered Brooks best American film? Then let me recommend my 2017 book, Beggars of Life: a Companion to the 1928 Film (pictured left).

This 106-page first ever study of Beggars of Life looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. With 15,000 words of text, more than 50 little seen images, and a foreword by actor William Wellman, Jr., son of the legendary director.Autographed copies are available directly from me, or they are also available online at the following sites.

Buy from Amazon (USA) | Indiebound | Bookshop.org | Powells | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Larry Edmunds

 

Or, buy the English-language edition from Amazon in Australia | Brazil | Canada | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Netherlands | Poland | Singapore | Spain | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom

 

Or, buy the English-language edition from Open Trolley (Indonesia)  

 

Here is what others have said about my book:

"I can say (with head bowed modestly) that I know more about the career of director William A. Wellman than pretty much anybody anywhere -- always excepting my friend and co-author John Gallagher -- but there are things in Thomas Gladysz's new book on Wellman's Beggars of Life that I didn't know. More important, the writing is so good and the research so deep that even when I was reading about facts that were familiar to me, I was enjoying myself hugely." -- Frank Thompson, co-author of Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman

"Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film is a quick, satisfying read, illustrated with promotional material, posters and stills as well as press clippings. In these pages, Gladysz takes us through the making and the reception of the film and clears up a few mysteries too.... Beggars of Life is a fascinating movie, made by some of the silent film industry's most colourful characters. This highly readable book will deepen your enjoyment and understanding of a silent Hollywood classic." -- Pamela Hutchinson, Silent London

"I cannot help but give this an enthusiastic two thumbs up. It really is the perfect companion, before or after you have seen the film. The volume might be slim, but, it is packed with information and rare photographs. It has been impeccably researched and beautifully executed.... This is a thorough examination of the film from start to finish and written in a breezy style that is not only informative, it is a very entertaining read." -- Donna Hill, Strictly Vintage Hollywood

"Read your book. I love it. It is thorough and extremely interesting. The art work is compelling." -- William Wellman, Jr., author of Wild Bill Wellman

"Gladysz has written a brief but informative book .... offers a profound and true insight." -- Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"For this film, including details on what is known about the original recorded soundtrack, I highly recommend Thomas Gladysz's book Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film." -- Rodney Sauer, Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

"There is an affordable and highly recommended book that goes perfectly with the blu ray.  Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society, has written a companion book to the movie that features a wealth of information, insight, and photos.  It really puts this film into historical perspective and helps to further understand and more deeply appreciate its status as a  screen classic." -- James Neibur, film historian and author

Edinburgh artist Sarah E. Wilson creates Louise Brooks art

The other day, I was alerted to a small exhibit going on at an independent fashion boutique called Hoochie Coochie in Edinburgh, Scotland which featured -- among other things -- imagery of various movie icons such as Anna May Wong, Gloria Swanson, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Russell, and notably Louise Brooks. The pieces on display (at a space called Hoochie Coochie) are the work of a contemporary Edinburgh-based artist named Sarah E. Wilson. For those fortunate enough to live in the area and take in the show - which runs through November 28th, Hoochie Coochie is located in the Tollcross area of Edinburg at 48 Home Street, EH3 9NA. 

I had trouble finding out more about this show, which came to my attention through a press release and my google news key word alert. And so, instead, I went looking for information about the artist and found her website, which features a number of images of her work, including portraits of Brooks and other early film stars. Check it out at http://www.sarah-ewilson.co.uk/   Or, check out her page on Saatchi Art.

A statement on the artist's website reads, "My work and research centres round the subject of vintage glamorous film starlettes from an era when everything was just that little bit more fabulous. Scottish artist, painter, eco-friendly printmaker. Influenced by Picasso, Klimt, Schiele and members of the art deco movement."

Looking around her website, I found a handful of works depicting Brooks - see the "Paintings and Artworks" page. Among those I spotted were these two, which I found appealing. (I also like the green-tinted Swanson image on her homepage.)

 

There are other works which depict Brooks, so be sure and look around this artists's studio website. "A Fair Lady", which depicts Audrey Hepburn is also rather appealing, as is the Harlow piece. 

The "Sold" page contains that ravishing Swanson piece, as well as three other Brooks pieces - and nifty work depicting Evelyn Brent, Audrey Tatou, and others. The "Toyobo Prints" page contains an Alla Nazimova. 

I reached out to the artists to ask her about her interest in early films stars, in particular Louise Brooks, and how she came to find inspiration in their likenesses. But alas, I have not heard back.

In Search of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings

I recently received a message from film historian and new friend Louie Despres asking about actor El Brendel, a onetime vaudeville comedian turned actor who had a supporting role in the 1927 Louise Brooks film, Rolled Stockings. That film is what was called a "youth picture" -- the story is set on a college campus -- and the film itself starred Paramount's "Junior Stars" (a group of young actors which included  Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen, James Hall, and Nancy Phillips). El Brendel, who plays a police officer, was some ten or 15 years older than his fellow actors.

Louie Despres is researching El Brendel's career, and over time he has managed to gather images of the actor in most all of the few dozen films in which he appeared. Despres wrote me asking if I had any images of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings. I was embarrassed to have to tell him no. 

I have many images from the film, most of them in digital form, but also a few vintage stills. The problem with Rolled Stockings (and so many other silent films) is that it is lost. And so, except for surviving stills and other imagery, we don't know what the film looked like. I am posting this blog asking for help in finding more images of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings. Do you have any? (I recall an eBay auction from a couple of years ago which featured dozens of stills from the film. I put in a couple of bids, but lost out.)

Louie Despres has only two images from Rolled Stocking which include El Brendel, and is in search of more. One image of the actor can be found on one of the lobby cards from the film, which is depicted above. (Notice that El Brendel's name is included on the lobby cards, which suggests Paramount considered the actor significant enough to name, despite it being on of his earliest films. BTW, the name that is blacked out on this lobby card but not all lobby cards is that of Sally Blane, Loretta Young's sister.) The other images Louie Despres has is this slightly cropped film still, shown below. I am very grateful that it was shared with me, as I had never seen it before.

Do you have any images of El Brendel in Rolled Stockings which you would be willing to share? El Brendel is a significant actor with a notable career, and Louie Despres is working on a book which will certainly break ground in documenting the actor's career. Any help would be appreciated.

Through the Black Velvet Curtain: Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino

Back on August 23, 2019, I gave the keynote talk at the 92nd annual Valentino Memorial Service at the Hollywood Forever cemetery in Hollywood, California. The title of my talk was "Through the Black Velvet Curtain: Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino," with its subject being the two iconic silent film stars. My talk asks . . . might these two Jazz Age personalities have known each other? Might they have met? Over the years, various documents have come to light which go a long way toward answering those questions. While we will likely never know what Valentino thought of Brooks, we do know what Brooks thought of Valentino.

When I gave my talk in 2019, technical challenges (the acoustics of the crowded room once we figured out how to play back the audio that played perfectly in rehearsal) made it difficult for the attendees to  hear / appreciate the rare audio (from 1962) of Brooks speaking about Valentino. I felt bad.

In converting my original power point presentation to video, I have taken the opportunity to refine my spoken text just a bit, and add narration as well as a few more relevant images. I think fans of both actors will find this material and this newly refurbished presentation of interest. Please let me know what you think.

I have uploaded my presentation to the Louise Brooks Society YouTube channel (which I hope you will take time to explore, and subscribe to). "Through the Black Velvet Curtain: Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino" can be found in the "Louise Brooks - Documentaries and related material" playlist. This is only the second YouTube video I have made, so I apologize if its production values seem a little crude - but, I wanted to stay true to the nature of my original slide show presentation.

 

I have attended a couple of the Valentino Memorial Services in the past. It can be a moving experience, especially as Valentino is resting in the very building where this event takes place - and on the day on which the screen legend passed away. In fact, the Valentino Memorial Service is the oldest continuing annual event in Hollywood. Begun in 1927 on the first anniversary of the actors' death, it has continued uninterrupted into the 21st century. Over the years, thousands have gathered to remember one of the most beloved actors of his or any generation.

If you are interested in learning more about Valentino and the Valentino Memorial Service, I recommend Valentino Forever: The History of the Valentino Memorial Services by Tracy Terhune. It is a fascinating read. Another related book well worth checking out is The Valentino Mystique: The Death and Afterlife of the Silent Film Idol by Allan R. Ellenberger.

The Rise & Fall of Max Linder, and a couple of tenuous connections to Louise Brooks

A few months ago I received a copy of The Rise & Fall of Max Linder: The First Cinema Celebrity, a remarkable new biography by Lisa Stein Haven. The book, the first English language study of the life and art of the comedic great, is published by Bear Manor Media. I have been slowly making my way through it, not because it is slow going, but because I am relishing reading it. The Rise & Fall of Max Linder is an immersive biography. Reading it, absorbing its rich detail, learning about the life of someone I admittedly knew only little about made me feel like I was displaced back in time to the beginning of the 20th century. 

Before reading Haven's book, I was only a bit familiar with Linder. I knew that he was French. I had seen a few of his short films, and also knew that he was a comedic actor and had influenced Charlie Chaplin. That's about it - except for a tenuous connection to Louise Brooks, which I mention later. What is remarkable about Haven's book is that it pulls back the curtain on a time and place long ago and reveals a distant world from which this comedic genius sprang. That is revelatory.

Max Linder was born Gabriel Leuvielle in St. Loubes, France in 1883; he started in films with the Pathe Brothers in 1905, making him one of the first film comedians to achieve world-wide renown. In fact, according to Haven, there is evidence that Linder was the first screen celebrity to see his name in print. His comedy timing and gags -- Linder started writing his own scenarios early on -- have been copied and imitated by many of his followers, including Charlie Chaplin. (Upon receiving the news of Linder's death, Chaplin is reported to have closed his studio for a day out of respect.)

Notably as well, his high society characterizations as the dapper "Max" also influenced such actors as Adolphe Menjou and Raymond Griffith. (Louise Brooks played in two films opposite Menjou, A Social Celebrity and Evening Clothes, and appeared in another, God's Gift to Women, which was co-authored by Griffith.)

Just how big was Linder? The universality of silent films brought Linder fame and fortune throughout Europe, making him the highest paid entertainer of the day. By 1910, he had become the most popular film actor in the world, and is thought to be the very first movie star with a significant international following. In Russia, he was voted the most popular film actor, ahead of Asta Nielsen. He also had a Russian impersonator, Zozlov, and a devoted fan in Czar Nicholas II. Another professed fan was British playwright George Bernard Shaw. The first feature film ever made in Bulgaria was a remake of one of Linder's earlier movies. He was offered $12,000 to spend a month in Berlin making public appearances with his film screenings, but declined for health reasons. Later, in 1911 and 1912, he began touring Europe with his films, including Spain, where he entertained thousands of fans, as well as Austria and then Russia, where he was accompanied on piano by a young Dimitri Tiomkin. 

via Lisa Stein Haven

Spoiler alert: Of course, nothing lasts forever, and Linder's story is both a comedy and a tragedy. His meteoric rise to fame beginning in 1907/1908 hit a roadblock in 1914 with the onset of World War I, and was dealt a death blow by his attempts to revive his career in America and Austria (and in a changing world). His marriage to a young wife was ill-fated and ill-timed, leading Linder to take the life of his wife and himself on the night of October 31, 1925. Linder himself died on November 1, 1925 - 76 years ago today, leaving behind a 16-month-old daughter named Maud who would devote her life to restoring his film legacy. 

I mentioned a tenuous connection to Louise Brooks. Actually, there are two. The first is the famed singing Frenchman, Maurice Chevalier, who is best known to devotees of Brooks as the singer who popularized "Louise" (a song not about Brooks, though long associated with her). Along with director Abel Gance, Chevalier was once one in the company of actors employed by Linder.

In his native France, Linder was a superstar, hugely popular to the degree that a movie theater was opened in Paris which bore his name. Of course, it showed more than just Linder films. In fact, it was at the Max Linder Pathe (located at 24 boulevard Poissonnière in Paris) that Brooks' sole French film, Prix de beauté, debuted on May 9, 1930. To open at the 1,200 seat Max Linder Pathe was considered an honor, and Brooks' film rose to the challenge and proved popular. At the time, most films played a few days or a week before moving on. However, as this ad shows, Prix de beauté was a hit, and ran more than "2eme mois" or two months at the Max Linder Pathe.

The Max Linder theater is still open to this day, helping keep the memory of this comedic actor alive. I would encourage anyone interested in early film to check out The Rise & Fall of Max Linder: The First Cinema Celebrity. It is a good read.

 

Lisa Stein Haven is an Professor of English at Ohio University Zanesville, specializing in British and American modernist literature, the Beat poets and silent film comedy, especially the work of Charlie and Syd Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Max Linder. In 2010, she organized and hosted "Charlie in the Heartland: An International Charlie Chaplin Conference" at Zanesville, which was attended by participants from 11 countries outside of the United States.

In summer 2014, Haven was the keynote speaker at Charlot 100, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Chaplin's Little Tramp persona, held in Bologna, Italy and sponsored by Roy Export S.A.S and the Cineteca di Bologna. She is also a member of the executive board for the Buster Keaton Celebration, held every year in Iola, Kansas. 

Stein's earlier books, which I have read and written about in the past, include another first ever study, Syd Chaplin: A Biography (McFarland, 2010), a book about Chaplin, A Comedian Sees the World (University of Missouri, 2014), and Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp in America, 1947–77 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

via Cinema Treasures at http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/16578