Rare Louise Brooks film to screen in Toronto, Canada

The rarely screened silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de beauté, will be shown on Saturday, December 3 at the Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Canada. This special screening will feature a print, courtesy of the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna in Italy, of the restored original silent version. And what's more, the film will be introduced by series curator Alicia Fletcher and will feature live musical accompaniment by Marilyn Lerner. More information about this event can be found HERE.

According to the Toronto International Film Festival website, "Weimar-era icon and prototypical Hollywood iconoclast Louise Brooks stars in Prix de beauté as Lucienne, a typist who enters a newspaper beauty contest and wins a chance to compete for the Miss Europe title in Spain. A tale of morbid jealousy and revenge co-scripted by G.W. Pabst and René Clair (the latter was intended to direct before Italian expat Augusto Genina was brought in), Prix de beauté had the unfortunate distinction of being filmed as a late-era silent, only to be hastily re-edited and released as a sound film (with Brooks dubbed by a French actress). The end result was a film out of step with the times in its format, yet one which was distinctly modern in its fashion sense, with Jean Patou of the famed House of Patou outfitting Brooks for her final starring role. The sophisticated originator of women’s sportswear who eradicated the flapper style of the ’20s and ushered in the dropped hemlines and elegance of the ’30s, Patou was the perfect outfitter for the rebellious, singularly fashion-forward actor. And, as the inventor of ladies’ knitted swimwear, he was also the perfect match for the film’s bathing-beauty sequence."

 

The internationalism of Prix de beauté is suggested in this vintage poster, which names the film’s American star, French actors, and Italian director, and also shows the flags of the four nations whose languages the film would be dubbed – Italy, France, England, and Germany.

Despite its delayed, problematic release (having to be converted from a silent to a sound feature), Prix de beauté was a considerable hit at the time of its release. It played continuously for a couple of months -- at a time most films only played a week -- following its May 9, 1930 debut at the Max Linder-Pathe in Paris, France. And soon thereafter, the film was shown all over Europe, in Northern Africa, parts of Asia, and in South America and the Caribbean well into the mid-1930s. In fact, the film remained in circulation for some six years. It was often revived in France. And, it played in present day Algeria, Brazil, Iceland, Japan, Madagascar, Turkey and the former USSR. And speaking of former nation states, the film even played in the one-time city-state of Danzig. Prix de beauté had legs (pun intended).

For example, records show that the film played in Havana, Cuba in March 1932, and then debuted at the Haitiana theatre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti later that year, in December 1932. Ever green, Prix de beauté returned to the Haitiana theatre in October 1933, April 1935, and July 1936 - that's six years after is debut. Truth be told, the film played just about everywhere, except for the United States and Canada.

Haitian newspaper ad

More about Prix de beauté 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.

Louise Brooks painting found in Sacramento

Yesterday, my wife and I and my sister-in-law spent some time at the Crocker Holiday Artisan Market, an event held annually at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento, California. This three-day bazaar is a benefit meant to support participating artists, the Crocker Art Museum’s exhibitions and educational programs, the Creative Arts League of Sacramento, and other community programs. While browsing among the 100+ artists, vendors and creators, I came across a rather charming portrait of Louise Brooks.

This small painting is the work of Grass Valley artist Cheryl Wilson, who kindly allowed me to photograph her booth. I like her work, and really like her portrait of Louise Brooks, though I did not purchase it as I am budgeting for other Louise Brooks stuff. It was priced at $100.00, should anyone want to contact the artist.

I spent a little time perusing the artist's blog and found she has painting portraits of Louise Brooks in the past. HERE is a blog post to a 2021 blog post showing another portrait. And HERE is another blog post from 2019 which depicts another portrait of Louise Brooks. And, HERE and HERE are two more portraits of Louise B. If you like this work, I would encourage everyone to check out the artists blog (at https://cherylwilsonstudio.blogspot.com/), which features other portraits of other early film stars such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Leila Hyams and others.

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 3 in an occasional series

This post is the third 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 is one way to share them with my readers. Scroll through the preceding blog posts to read the first two entries in this series.

I suppose I could have titled this blog post, "The time that Louise Brooks partied with Louise Brooks." The Washington D.C. newspaper clipping shown below appeared in the Washington Times on Monday, April 7, 1930. It documents a day in the life of the silent film star, and the time she encountered another (lesser known) celebrity of the time with whom she shared a name.

Remarkably, our Louise Brooks (who was the guest of sometime paramour George Marshall), is described as an "erstwhile Movie star," suggesting her career was thought to be over. In fact, it was slowly grinding to a halt, though within a year, Brooks would be cast in three more films.

The other Louise Brooks (1912-1965) was born Evalyn Louise Brooks; as mentioned in the article, she was the daughter Mrs. Cromwell MacArthur, an American socialite whose four marriages included seven years as the first wife of General of the Army and future WWII legend Douglas MacArthur. (There is no indication that the General was in attendance.) Mrs. Cromwell MacArthur was at one time "considered one of Washington's most beautiful and attractive young women".

After her father's death, her mother married prominent investment banker Edward T. Stotesbury.If that name sounds familiar, it should, as his Palm Beach villa, El Mirasol, was the estate that was trashed by W.C. Fields and company (including Louise Brooks) in the 1926 film, It's the Old Army Game! Read more about that location shoot on John Bengtson's superb blog, Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more).

And here they all are, together. How unlikely!

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 French Street Named after Louise Brooks

Is there a resident of Paris or the surrounding area that might be able to take a picture of a local street sign? I would like to get a clear straight on photograph of Impasse Louise Brooks, which is located in Bois-d'Arcy, a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France. (Bois-d'Arcy is located about an hour, or some 37 kilometers outside Paris.)

Other streets in this subdivision are named after Greta Garbo, Erich von Stroheim, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Jean Vigo, Joan Crawford, Georges Méliès, Jacques Tati, Fritz Lang and others. Notably, Impasse Louise Brooks intersects with Allèe Marlene Dietrich, and Rue Voltaire.

From what I can tell, Impasse Louise Brooks is actually two dead end streets which meet-up (but don't actually connect, or pass through). And consequently, there are two street different signs at the entrance to each dead end. The images shown here are from Google street view. Unfortunately, part of one street sign is blurred. That is the kind of image I would like to get. 

If anyone can take a few nice photo of the Impasse Louise Brooks street sign, on its pole, and close-up, that would be swunderfull!

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.

Louise Brooks Society now on Mastadon

I launched the Louise Brooks Society website way back in the summer of 1995. I was a pioneer. The LBS was one of the first websites devoted to silent film and/or a silent film actor. Today, my website is certainly one of the longest lasting. 

Along the way, I branched out. There was a Louise Brooks Society MySpace page at one point, as well as a TribeNet page, and a streaming music channel (RadioLulu) on Live365. Things come and go. This blog dates back to 2002, when I first started writing about Louise Brooks on LiveJournal. In 2009, I transitioned the LBS blog to Blogger, where it has been ever since. (Some of the other Louise Brooks Society social media accounts can be found in the right hand column. Or, check out the LBS on LinkTree.)

The LBS has been on Twitter since 2009. (See https://twitter.com/LB_Society) To date, I have tweeted more than 6,150 times and gained some 5,200 followers. Not bad considering this is a niche interest.

With all the changes and uncertainty around Twitter these days (I think you know what I mean, as some are predicting its demise), I figure it is best to have a back-up, twitter-like account - an alternative app. I plan to stay with Twitter for the time being, but have recently set up an account on Mastadon. That account can be found at https://sfba.social/@LouiseBrooksSociety.

I would encourage anyone interested in exploring the brave new world of Mastadon to check it out. The Louise Brooks Society already has 10 followers, and a few of its three posts have been favored and boosted. Hooray! Come on and join the smart set.

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.

Happy birthday to Louise Brooks BOTD in 1906

Happy birthday to the dancer, silent film star and 20th century icon Louise Brooks, who was born on this day in 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. Not surprisingly, little (Mary) Louise Brooks started getting press from the day she was born. The first image shown below, a clipping dated November 14, 1906, comes from the Cherryvale Daily Republican. It is followed by another clipping, from the Cherryvale Daily News, which appeared that same day on the newspaper's front page.

 

 

And a few years later ....

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.