Magic Lantern Slide Newsletter includes Louise Brooks Society

Back on October 17th, I posted a blog post about church and religious interest in The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), Louise Brooks' first film. That post can be found HERE.

In my post, I noted that in 1925 and 1926 a few church pastors around the country gave a sermon or talk on the theme of The Street of Forgotten Men which included a slide show - today's power point presentation, if you will. I am working on a book on The Street of Forgotten Men, and am desperate to find out more about these slides, which articles from the time specifically mention were based on the Paramount film. 

In my search for information, I sent a query to various church archives and historians (Congregationalist and Methodist), but learnt nothing more. The church historians were helpful, but knew nothing more about these specific slides. I also sent a query to the Magic Lantern Society of the United and Canada. They too knew nothing about these specific slides I was asking about, but confirmed -- as did the two church historians, that illustrated sermons were a not uncommon practice in the early decades of the 20th century. 

The Magic Lantern Society, however, included my query in their November newsletter, which is just out. Here is one page from their fascinating newsletter. 

Magic lantern slides are an integral part of the pre-history of film. I would encourage everyone to check out the Magic Lantern Society of the United and Canada and their website. As their website notes, "The Magic Lantern Society of the US and Canada is a group that collects, preserves and shares information on the many devices that were used to entertain and educate audiences before the beginning of cinema. Often called a “stereopticon show,” Magic lantern shows were the combination of projected images, live narration, and live music that preceded the movies. They were incredibly popular 100 years ago. By the 19th century, the magic lantern was used in theaters, churches, fraternal lodges, and at home by adults and children. In 1895 there were between 30,000 and 60,000 lantern showmen in the United States, giving between 75,000 and 150,000 performances a year. That means there would have been several shows a week."

Here is an example of the coming attraction slide for The Street of Forgotten Men. It was issued on glass, as thin, transparent plastics were not then in use. Because coming attraction slides were issued on glass, they were fragile and given to breaking. Not many survive.

The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Love 'Em And Leave 'Em to be shown at the George Eastman Museum on November 15th

The 1926 Louise Brooks film, Love 'Em And Leave 'Em, will be shown at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York on November 15th (the day after LB's birthday). If you haven't scene this film, here is your chance to see it on the big screen in a theater where Louise herself watched films. And what's more, the film will be accompanied by Philip C. Carli, who will provide a live musical accompaniment. More information HERE.

 

(Frank Tuttle, US 1926, 76 min., 16mm)

 

The George Eastman Museum says of this film, "This early comedy features Louise Brooks and Evelyn Brent as the dueling Walsh sisters: Brent’s Mame is bookish and considerate, while Brooks’s Janie is a heartbreaking flapper whose morals extend so low as to snag her sister’s betrothed. Their relationship comes under even further trial as Janie finds herself in a financial hole from which only Mame’s sibling devotion can rescue her. Far ahead of its time in sexual politics, Love ’Em and Leave ’Em also exhibits one of Brooks’ rare onscreen dance routines."

 

Love Em and Leave Em was popular in its day. The Chicago Tribune even named the film one of the six best movies of the month. Its critic, Mae Tinee, proclaimed, “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em is one of the snappiest little comedy dramas of the season. Full of human interest. Splendidly directed. Acted beautifully.” Dorothy Herzog, film critic for the New York Daily Mirror (and Evelyn Brent’s later romantic partner) penned similarly, “A featherweight comedy drama that should register with the public because of the fine work done by the principals and its amusing gags. . . . Louise Brooks gives the best performance of her flicker career as the selfish, snappily dressed, alive number — Janie. Miss Brooks sizzles through this celluloider, a flapper lurer with a Ziegfeld figure and come-on eyes.”

Critics across the country thought Brooks stole the show. The Los Angeles Record wrote, “Evelyn Brent is nominally starred in Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, but the work of Louise Brooks, suave enticing newcomer to the Lasky fold, stands out most. The flippant, self-centered little shop girl is given sly and knowing interpretation by Miss Brooks, who is, if memory serves aright, a graduate of that great American institute of learning, the Follies.” The Kansas City Times went further, “Louise Brooks does another of her flapper parts and is a good deal more realistic than the widely heralded Clara Bow. Miss Brooks uses the dumb bell rather than the spit-fire method. But she always gets what she wants.”

And once again, New York critics singled out the actress, lavishing praise on Brooks with the film almost an after-thought. The New York Herald Tribune critic opined, “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em . . . did manage to accomplish one thing. It has silenced, for the time being at least, the charge that Louise Brooks cannot act. Her portrayal of the predatory shop girl of the Abbott-Weaver tale was one of the bright spots of recent film histrionism.”

John S. Cohen Jr. of the New York Sun added, “The real surprise of the film is Louise Brooks. With practically all connoisseurs of beauty in the throes of adulation over her generally effectiveness, Miss Brooks has not heretofore impressed anyone as a roomful (as Lorelei says) of Duses. But in Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, unless I too have simply fallen under her spell, she gives an uncannily effective impersonation of a bad little notion counter vampire. Even her excellent acting, however, cannot approach in effectiveness the scenes where, in ‘Scandals’ attire, she does what we may call a mean Charleston.”

More about this entertaining film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website HERE. The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

 

A Halloween post - an almost scary Louise Brooks

As most everyone agrees, Louise Brooks was a beautiful women. She was lovely, and it is hard to imagine a depiction of the actress which might depict her so poorly as to make her almost unrecognizable, even a bit "scary." And yet, there exists just such a depiction. As best I can tell, this poster dates from 1930, and comes from France. It is a poster for Loulou, the French title of Pandora's Box. The artist is Marcel Gaillard. (I couldn't find much else about him.)

The scene shown on the poster above comes from Pandora's Box, at the moment when Alwa places his head in the lap of Lulu. If one has seen the film, then one knows this scene. Yet, the poster artist has so clumsily rendered Brooks' face as to make her unappealing, almost "ugly - I am not sure what other word to use. This is, in my opinion, one of the worst depictions of Brooks, at least, one of the worst I have ever seen.

Another clumsy depiction of Brooks also comes from France. This one is by F. Gaboit, and it adorned a 1980 poster for Loulou issued by Connaissance duCinema (as shown below). Based on the famous Eugene R. Richee photographic portrait of Brooks, this illustration also falls short, especially in the way the artist has elongated the fingers which hold the strand of pearls. There is also something about the way Gaboit has rendered Brooks' face that doesn't appeal to me. I can't say what exactly, but that is the way I feel. Maybe it is because Richee's portrait is so perfect, and that this drawn illustration is so imperfect. I have seen another adaption of this poster art, and it is similarly lacking.

Gaboit was not a bad artist, it is just that I think the Loulou poster falls short. On the other hand, Gaboit's poster for Le Journal d'une fille perdue (the French title for Diary of a Lost Girl) is appealing and I think successful in capturing the lovely allure of Brooks.

 

 

The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Newly published Louise Brooks-inspired supernatural thriller, Pandora's Box, by Scott R. Howe

"Stare into the dark long enough and you'll eventually see what's hiding there." Just in time for Halloween, just in time for something new to read.... Longtime fan of Louise Brooks, Scott R. Howe, has published a supernatural thriller inspired by Louise Brooks. The 210 page book, which is available on amazon, is titled Pandora's Box. 

I haven't yet had the chance to read a copy of this new book, but I am looking forward to it. And, I must say, it has a great cover design!

The book description reads, "Emily has accepted a new position in Rochester, New York, having recently terminated a two-year romance with the man she expected to marry. While settling into her modest one-bedroom apartment, she has an eerie encounter with a striking little girl who looks as if from another era. Terrified, but curious, Emily uncovers that her apartment was once occupied by a previously famous silent film actress, who died in Emily’s bedroom in 1985. Emily is quickly pulled into a nightmare and forced to confront the fact that something malevolent is lurking within the apartment, something that knows of a secret Emily has carried since childhood, for it’s the same secret that forever altered the tragic life of her apartment’s former tenant: one of Hollywood’s most sensual and iconic silent film stars, Louise Brooks."

A little bit more about the author and his new book can be found on his website at https://scottrhowe.com/

The Louise Brooks Society had the chance to ask the first time author a few questions about his new book. Here is what Scott had to say. 

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY: When and how did you first come across Louise Brooks?

SCOTT HOWE: My earliest recollection is that I had purchased a sort of coffee table book on early, silent-era film making in Hollywood. It was filled with images from the turn of the century, up through the 1920s. When I was flipping through the pages, I stopped at a photo of this woman I had never come across before. She was striking to me, initially, because her look didn't seem to match anyone else in the entire photobook; in my eyes, she was a complete anachronism. I was in my mid-twenties at the time (this was like 1985 or '86) and she just really stood out as being uniquely attractive, even by 1980s standards. That was enough to intrigue me and I was off on a quest to find out as much as I could about her. That was before the internet so I found myself driving to Berkeley to make use of their libraries, etc. It became a fun side-hobby to sort of try and sleuth out information about her throughout the years. 

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY: What is it about her that draws you?

SCOTT HOWE: I sort of answered this in the first question. At first, it was that she appeared out of place in her own time. She seemed completely modern to me. The first book I found was her own book, the compilation of some of her essays that had appeared previously in other journals, "Lulu In Hollywood." Her writing felt as if I was reading the thoughts of a young twenty-year-old girl. That made her even more attractive. It was almost like I was falling in love with this "young" woman, and I guess I ignored the fact that she had actually passed, perhaps only a year earlier. (I hope this is making sense). Later, I found the Kenneth Tynan article on her, "The Girl in the Black Helmet." It felt good to know that I wasn't the only one who found himself falling in love with her.

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY: You have written a paranormal historical thriller. What are some of your favorite books or authors in that field?

SCOTT HOWE: One of the earliest books on the paranormal that I read as a teen was The Amityville Horror. The idea that this series of events may have actually happened completely fascinated me. I remember asking my mom to take me to the library so I could look for news stories, on microfiche, from the time of the original Defeo family murders; since the book mentioned that George Lutz, who moved into the house shortly after the murders with his family, held a striking resemblance to Ronald Defeo Jr., the one who killed his entire family, I wanted to see, for myself, if they did have a similar appearance  — and they did. It was also around this time, in the mid-seventies, that my older brother brought back a souvenir book he'd bought for me, from his visit to Washington D.C.. It was called Ghosts: Washington's Most Famous Ghost Stories by John Alexander. Reading that book, as a kid, led to my love for history in general.

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY: Do other early film stars or early films interest you? Or the Jazz Age?

SCOTT HOWE: I grew up on the Our Gang/Little Rascals shorts and Laurel and Hardy. They were a Saturday morning staple here in Sacramento when I was growing up. I found myself strangely mesmerized by the music in those Hal Roach comedies. For years, I tried to find information on that music. Eventually, in the late eighties, while I was working as an artist at Tower Records, I was able to discover the music of Beau Hunks where they recreated all of that old music from the Hal Roach films. I knew of Chaplin too, but did not grow to truly appreciate his genius until I got into college and took some film history courses. It wasn't until later that I discovered Chaplin's connection with Louise. I was also excited to learn that Buster Keaton shot Steamboat Bill, Jr. here in Sacramento right along the river, near what is now West Sacramento.

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY: How was it that you had the idea to blend your two interests - gothic thrillers and a certain silent film star?

SCOTT HOWE: I'm not sure if you can relate, but I've felt for a long time that I had an itch that needed to be scratched when it came to Louise Brooks. In college, I began my interest in film making and in film history. After my daughter was grown, I took up film making again and had the ridiculous idea to try and make a short film about Louise. I failed miserably, of course. All the while, I kept hoping someone else would do something. Anything. I still hope that someone, someday, will finally produce a biopic about her. But I digress… Over the pandemic, I had to have quadruple bypass surgery. While recovering from that, I started thinking about coming up with an idea for a novel that might use Louise as a framework. Initially, it felt too daunting a task. After all, people way more qualified — people like you — have already written so much about her; what could I possibly add to that? But my mind kept coming back to something about Louise that had always affected me. It was the fact that she was sexually abused as a child. I found it both heart-wrenching and chilling that this had happened to her at all — and that it was as common, then, as it is today — seemed unthinkable. One could see how much it changed the trajectory of her life forever after that experience. Barry Paris wrote in his famous biography on her that Mr. Flowers was her "Rosebud." It finally hit me that one way I could talk about all of that was to couch it within a ghost story. Good ghost stories, after all, are just mysteries wrapped up in a nice, scary package. Writing scary short films was always in my wheelhouse, so why not try writing something longer-form and see if I could manage it. As it turned out, this was the spark I needed to finally scratch that Louise Brooks itch that I'd had ever since I first discovered her for myself. I think it's natural for creative people to get inspiration from their muses. Louise has been that for me. I've drawn her, painted her, tried to make a short film about her... and now, I've finally found a way to express some of my thoughts about something that truly hurt me when I first learned of Louise’s sexual abuse as a child.

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY: What might you want readers of your book to know?

SCOTT HOWE: I hope people will understand that I wrote this book with a deep admiration and affection for Louise Brooks. Those who have done their own research on Louise will no doubt recognize some familiar acknowledgements to her in the form of small factoids about her life that I sprinkled throughout this book. Finally, I hope that by delving deeper into the issue of sexual abuse, readers will gain a better understanding of the strength of will required to survive such trauma. I'm left to wonder how much more Louise would have achieved had she not had to carry such a burden with her over her lifetime.
 
I have to apologize for my lengthy responses. Once I get going, I can't stop. :)

The author and his inspiration

 

The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

The Unlikely Louise Brooks, number 2 in an occasional series

This post is the second in an occasional series focusing on unusual finds, unusual material, and unusual connections all related to Louise Brooks - even if only tangentially. I run across these sorts of things regularly... and this a way to share them with my few readers. My first post in this series can be found HERE.

"Remarkable Remarks" was published in Billboard magazine in September, 1925. It featured brief quotes from celebrated Broadway personalities of the time. Included among them in this selection is relative newcomer Louise Brooks, at the beginning of her career as a film actress! (Brooks had recently left the Ziegfeld Follies and was now entering films; she had already completed work on The Street of Forgotten Men - in an uncredited bit part, and was now starting work on The American Venus - her first role with a on-screen credit.)

Louise Brooks is quoted as saying, "True art instincts lead one up the right alley." To me, alley, with its lesser connotations, is a fascinating word choice. Had Brooks used the word boulevard, that would suggest "true art instincts," or pure, or beautiful, or righteous intentions would lead to unqualified success, since boulevards connote greatness of grandeur. But, Brooks said "alley," which suggests a somewhat lesser destination -- a pessimistic outlook, as in now matter how good or true you are, you will likely end up in a mere alley. Brooks' quote reminds me of something Oscar Wilde once said, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Louise Brooks is in interesting company.

Leo Carillo was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. He was best known for playing Pancho in the television series The Cisco Kid (1950–1956) and in several films.  Carrillo worked as a newspaper cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner, then turned to acting on Broadway. 

Berta Donn was a stage and film actress whose first credits date back to the 1910s.

George Arliss (born 1868) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he won for his performance as Victorian-era British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) – as well as the earliest-born actor to win the honour. He specialized in successful biopics, such as Disraeli, Voltaire (1933), and Cardinal Richelieu (1935), as well as light comedies, which included The Millionaire (1931) and A Successful Calamity (1932).

Arthur Hopkins was a well-known Broadway theater director and producer in the early twentieth century. Between 1912 and 1948, he produced and staged more than 80 plays – an average of more than two per year – occasionally writing and directing as well. His repertoire included plays by playwrights in American Expressionist theater, including Elmer Rice, Sophie Treadwell, and Eugene O'Neill.

This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further use prohibited.

 

Louise Brooks, circa 1925

Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino, a talk from 2019

Every year since 1927, fans of the Rudolph Valentino have gathered to honor the actor's memory in Hollywood. In fact, the Valentino Memorial Service, held each year on August 23rd (beginning at 12:10 p.m., the time of Valentino's death in 1926), is the longest running annual event in Hollywood, even pre-dating the Academy Awards. I have attended a few of these events in the past, as opportunity allowed. Each included a talk, songs, historical perspective, and custom videos. Each was a memorable occasion. 

Back in 2019, I was asked to give the keynote address at the 92 annual event. During my brief, ten minute presentation, I gave an illustrated talk and shared some rare material on the subject of Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino. 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.
 

Just recently, the original video tapes of every Valentino Memorial Service going back to 1996 have been professionally digitized and are now being presented exclusively on the WeNeverForget Youtube channel. I would encourage everyone to check out not only my 2019 appearance (which starts about 34 minutes into the event), but others as well. Each of the videos is fascinating material for anyone interested in silent film.

 This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further use prohibited.