Thank you James Dilworth

A big thank you to James Dilworth, who took some time and dug a bunch of reviews and articles out of the Reno, Nevada newspapers. The articles James found all date from the the 1920's. Here is one rather delightful item.

Further notes

This week, I put in an ILL request for two reels of microfilm of the Hannibal Courier-Post and Hannibal Journal. The Denishawn Dance Company, with Louise Brooks, performed in Hannibal, Missouri on January 2, 1924. The lending institution, the State Historical Society of Missouri, just raised their rates for out-of-state requests from $7.00 to $10.00. So, until I can deliver a new check, my search for this material will be briefly delayed.

On a related note, my ILL request for the Beaumont Enterprise was rejected, as there are no lending institutions. Anyone live in Beaumont, Texas willing to look up a couple of articles? Denishawn performed in Beaumont on Friday, February 2, 1923 at the Kyle Theatre and on  Thursday, January 10, 1924 at the Kyle Theatre.

Notes from the library

Earlier this summer, I ran across a 1925 clipping regarding The Street of Forgotten Men while looking through Neil Hamilton's scrapbooks at the New York Public Library. (Actor Neil Hamilton - best known as Commissoner Gordon on the 1960's BatmanTV series - was featured in The Street of Forgotten Men, which also happened to be Louise Brooks' first film!) And just now, at the end of October, I got around to borrowing the microfilm of the Wilmington Morning News, the Delaware newspaper in which that clipping appeared. I tracked down a few additional articles and advertisements. REMARKABLY, that film was paired with a (unknown to me) documentary short about the then recent Atlantic City beauty pageant. Of course, as any Brooks' fan knows, that beauty pageant - one of the early Miss America contests - provided the background subject for the next Louise Brooks' film,The American Venus, which was released just a few months later.

This is exciting. Who knows what is on that short film - perhaps some brief footage about the making of the feature film? (I doubt that Brooks was present in Atlantic City. But who knows . . . .) I also ran across a brief article entitled, "Beauty Pageant Showing At Stanley Theatres." The article reads thus: "The thousands of Wilmingtonians who did not get the opportunity to be present in Atlantic City during the Beauty Pageant just completed there on Friday will see the principal scenes of the entire celebration in film at the Queen, Arcadia and Majestic Theaters beginning today. The scenes were especially 'shot' by the Stanley cameraman for the theaters of this organization." I'll pay anyone a dollar if they can provide me with a copy of that short film. I think it is titled Atlantic City Beauty Pageant.

Today, five inter-library loans were waiting for me. I also looked at some Denishawn material from the New Haven Journal-Courier (from New Haven, Connecticut) and the Wisconsin State Journal (from Madison, Wisconsin). Each yielded some long, detail-filled reviews and a few neat advertisements.

And, as well, I went through a number of months of two "other" American newspapers, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (from the Territory of Hawaii) and the Alaska Daily Empire (also then a territory, pre-statehood). My search through the Star-Bulletin was based on my having earlier found film reviews in the Honolulu Advertiser (microfilm of which I stumbled upon in Sacramento, California. The Star-Bulletin microfilm came on loan from the Library of Congress). I checked my Advertiser dates in the Star-Bulletin and came up with a  couple of new reviews.

However, the Alaska Daily Empire (from Juneau) yielded nothing. I skimmed nearly six months of this newspaper, which only ran only eight pages on a daily basis. I found advertisements and short, generic articles about films showing in town - but none featuring Louise Brooks. There were at least two or three movie theaters in Juneau in the late 1920's - and they showed motion pictures starring the likes of Buster Keaton and Erich von Stroheim. Apparently, Juneau didn't show many or any Paramount films. One day, I hope to find or acquire some Alaska citations for the LBS bibliographies. I have citations from almost every other state.

The LBS hopes to fully document

The LBS hopes to fully document the life and career of Louise Brooks. One ongoing project is the collection of magazine and newspaper articles about the actress, especially vintage reviews of Brooks' films. Hundreds of articles have already been found. But more await discovery. The LBS is especially interested in obtaining photocopies of newspaper articles and films reviews.

The LBS is interested in any and all clippings (film reviews, articles, advertisements, etc....) from Colorado, Utah, Montana (excluding those from the Helena Independent - those have already been excavated), Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska. As well, any clippings from Hawaii (excluding the Honolulu papers) and western Canada (excluding the Manitoba Free Press) would be useful. Clippings from Vancouver are of particular interest!

The LBS has many clippings from various Berlin newspapers, as well as from various German film magazines. The LBS would be interested in obtaining copies of vintage articles (especially about the two Pabst films) from any newspapers from Munich, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuggart, Dresden, etc. . . . Your consideration and help is appreciated!

More books on-line

The Open Content Alliance is scanning in hundreds of thousands of public-domain books. According to the Internet Archive, "At an Internet Archive event in San Francisco tonight 14 libraries and MSN joined the Open Content Alliance. MSN kicked off their association by committing to scan 150,000 books in 2006." That's good news for those engaged in Louise Brooks studies - who knows what Frank Wedekind, Ruth St. Denis, film related or Kansas history books may show-up. Or even other books of interest . . . .

My blog is worth

My blog is worth $564.54.

How much is your blog worth?

On this day in 1929

On this day in 1929, Das Tagebuch Einer Verlorenen (or The Diary of a Lost Girl), starring Louise Brooks, Fritz Rasp and Valeska Gert (an actress and avant garde dancer), premiered at the UFA Kurfurstendamn Theater in Berlin. The LBS would appreciate hearing from any readers who were there on opening night  . . . .

I got some good Denishawn material

Some inter-library loans arrived. I got some good Denishawn material from the curiously named Evening Day (from New London, Connecticut) as well as the Lewiston Sentinel (from Lewistown, Pennsylvania). What is notable about the Lewiston performance is that it was the first of the 1922-1923 season, and the first in which Louise Brooks was a member. Brooks, in fact, was referenced in the front page review which appeared the day following their appearance. I looked through some later months of each paper, and in each I found some material on The American Venus (1926). I also found some clipping on Beggars of Life (1928) in the Lewiston Sentinel dating from March, 1929. The William Wellman directed story of hoboes, tramping, and railroads would be one of the last silent films shown at the Rialto Theater in Lewiston. A week or so later, newly arrived sound equipment would be installed.

Some smart new pics of Chantal

Earlier, I had blogged about Chantal Kury, a gifted make-up artist and Louise Brooks' fan from Switzerland. Yesterday, I received a letter and some pictures of Chantal which I wanted to share. I like them, and think you will too.

      

For those who read German, here is a link to an illustrated article (pdf format) about Chantal and "Retro Styling."

Tagebuch einer Verlorenen

For sale through eBay, the program for Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, or The Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). So sad.

On this day in 1927

On this day in 1927, the Kansas City Star ran an article on Now We're in the Air and stated 'This film is said to have an increased love interest. It will at least have our interest since Louise Brooks is the heroine. We gather from the pictures we have seen of the production that Miss Brooks is some sort of circus performer, as she is shown succumbing to the temptation of abbreviated skirts. That is Miss Brooks's old weakness." Newspaper reporters certainly had a way with words back then.

Live365 stations that I like and listen to

Along with RadioLulu, here are some other Live365.com stations that I like and listen to:

Radio Dismuke - 1920s & 1930s Pop & JazzAbsinthe Radio - The Greatest Hits of the 1920s and 1930sSweet & Lovely - Sweet & Lovely, Hot & Sassy ! Songs from the 20's & 30's (Jazz Age 20s, Songbird 30s)Weimar Rundfunk - Jazz-Swing / European Hot Dance Bands, European Dance Orchestras

Denishawn articles and reviews

Another on-going project is the gathering of reviews of each of the performances given by Denishawn during the two seasons Louise Brooks was a member of the dance company. Many reviews have already been gathered, but some have proven difficult to track down. The LBS would like to obtain local newspaper coverage (articles, advertisements, or reviews) of the following engagements:
November 25, 1922 - Marlowe Theatre - Jackson, Tennessee
(need Jacksonian clippings)

January 10, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

January 11, 1923 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusetts
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

January 26, 1923 - Grand Theatre - Macon, Georgia
(need Macon News clippings)

January 27, 1923 - Lucerne Theatre - Orlando, Florida
(need Orlando Morning Sentinel clippings)

February 10, 1923 - Brenan Auditorium - Gainesville, Georgia
(need Gainesville Eagle; Gainesville News; and Gainesville Daily Times clippings)

February 13, 1923 - Academy of Music - Charleston, South Carolina
(need Charleston American clippings)

February 14, 1923 - Garden Theatre - Bennettsville, South Carolina
(need Pee Dee Advocate clippings)

March 9, 1923 - Marvin Theatre - Findlay, Ohio
(need Findlay Daily Courier clippings)

October 15-20, 1923 - Apollo Theatre - Atlantic City, New Jersey
(need Atlantic City Evening Union; Atlantic City Press; and Atlantic City Gazette-Review clippings)

October 23, 1923 - Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, Massachusetts
(need Lowell Sun; Lowell Evening Leader; and Courier-Citizen clippings)

November 6, 1923 - Academy Theatre - Hagerstown, Maryland
(need Daily Mail clippings)

December 10, 1923 - Moore’s Opera House - Clarksburg, West Virginia
(need Daily Telegram clippings)

December 11, 1923 - Camden Theatre - Parkersburg, West Virginia
(need Parkersburg News clippings)

December 15, 1923 - Auditorium - Hopkinsville, Kentucky
(need Daily Kentuckian; and Daily Kentucky New Era clippings)

January 11, 1924 - Grand Theatre - Galveston, Texas
(need Galveston Daily News clippings)

April 8, 1924 - Worcester Theatre - Worcester, Massachusett
(need Worcester Evening Post; Worcester Telegram; and Evening Gazette clippings)

Alfred Cheney Johnston portrait of Louise Brooks

A rather nice Alfred Cheney Johnston portrait of Louise Brooks has shown up on eBay. Check it out here.

Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque

From today's Newsday: "Blockbuster probably won't stock it, but the subject of Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinemathequeis the reason Blockbuster and its ilk exist at all. When the bearish Langlois founded the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris in 1936, cinema was considered by its founders and creators to be a disposable diversion. Langlois called it art and saved everything he could. Langlois is the reason why certain masters and masterpieces of early cinema can still be seen at all today. (He rescued the 1919 German Expressionist classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and liberated 1920s screen star Louise Brooks from oblivion). . . . "  Here is a link to the online version of this article. Has anyone seen this film?

Louise Brooks Society needs your help

The Louise Brooks Society needs your help in finding articles and other hard-to-get printed material. Here's your chance to become a contributor to the LBS bibliographies.

The LBS hopes to fully document the life and career of Louise Brooks. One ongoing project is the collection of magazine and newspaper articles about the actress, especially vintage reviews of Brooks' films. Hundreds of articles have already been found. But more await discovery. The LBS is especially interested in obtaining photocopies of newspaper articles and films reviews from the following American cities. Photocopies should be legible and complete. Please note the name and date of publication, and title and author of the article (if not already included in the copy).

Springfield, MA Worcester, MA Lowell, MA Cambridge, MA Fall River, MA Hartford, CT New Haven, CT Bridgeport, CT Waterbury, CT Utica, NY Troy, NY Schenectady, NY Binghamton, NY Atlantic City, NJ Patterson, NJ Trenton, NJ Jersey City, NJ

Scranton, PA Erie, PA Allentown, PA Harrisburg, PA South Bend, IN Evansville, IN Gary, IN Ft. Wayne, IN Peoria, IL Rockford, IL Springfield, IL Decatur, IL Quincy, IL Kansas City, KS Lawrence, KS Independence, KS

Miami, FL Tampa, FL Orlando, FL Jacksonville, FL Mobile, AL Selma, AL Tuscaloosa, AL Birmingham, AL Knoxville, TN Chattanooga, TN Memphis, TN Savannah, GA Little Rock, AR Charlotte, NC Norfolk, VA Richmond, VA Shreveport, LA

San Antonio, TX Fort Worth, TX El Paso, TX Austin, TX Corpus Christi, TX Galveston, TX Albuquerque, NM Santa Fe, NM Anchorage, AK Juneau, AK Fairbanks, AK Denver, CO Pueblo, CO Phoenix, AZ Boise, ID Fargo, ND Salt Lake City, UT

How to get started. Visit you local city or university library, and make your way to an information, periodicals, or newspaper & magazine desk. Next, ask if there is an index for your local paper covering the 1920's and 1930's. Hopefully, your newspaper is indexed. Some are - some are not. If you local paper is not indexed, the search for articles will take more time but is not impossible. Please read on . . . .

If your newspaper is indexed, searching it may be a bit tricky. First, try looking up "Brooks, Louise" and see what you find. You may be lucky enough to come across photos or articles about the actress. Film reviews, however, are not likely to be indexed under the Brooks' name. Thus, try searching under "Motion Pictures" or "Moving Pictures." Individual reviews may be listed under one of these headings. If nothing turns up, as a last resort, try searching the general index for a few film titles such asAmerican Venus, Beggars of Life, or Canary Murder Case. [ A complete list of movies in which Brooks' appeared can be found in the filmography at the back of the Barry Paris biography, or on the LBS website. A checklist of films is always worth bringing along on any research trip. ]

If you were lucky enough to find listings in an index, you will next need to locate the articles themselves. Chances are past issues of a local newspaper are stored on microfilm. (Most libraries no longer keep bound issues of old papers.) Thus, you will need to locate the appropriate microfilm rolls which include the dates you may have come across. Machines called microfilm readers will enable you to quickly scroll through the microfilm in search of an article. And what's more, many microfilm readers have a photocopy function - so you can make a copy of whatever you might find.

Keep in mind that not all of Brooks' films played in every city or town - and if they did, not every one would have been reviewed. During the silent film era, movies usually ran one week - and so, critics wrote about a film within the first few days of its opening. Typically, films opened on Saturdays or Sundays - and reviews ran on Mondays or Tuesdays. (Films which opened mid-week for brief two or three day runs were rarely reviewed.) Also, keep in mind that while you are looking for reviews, you may come across related articles, advertisements, and pictures. Some of this material is worth copying as well.

If your newspaper is not indexed - and you are dedicated to finding film reviews - you may end up needing to scroll through months of microfilm. It is a time consuming process, but fun and worth the effort should you find vintage material. Once you've selected a film, find out when it was released. [ Release dates of  Brooks' films can be foundin the filmography at the back of the Barry Paris biography, or on the LBS website. ] Then, start looking through microfilm around that time. Generally speaking, Brooks' American films opened within two months of their official release date. (In the 1920's, films did not open on the same date across the country, as is common practice today.) It should also be noted that none of Brooks' European films were shown in the United States at the time of their European release - except Pandora's Box, which was screened in New York City ten months after it's Berlin debut.

Without citations or the help of an index, one short-cut is skipping from weekend to weekend. Newspapers of the time usually ran articles or advertisements on Saturday or Sunday - and one need only check the entertainment pages to see what was showing during a given week. It is also worth pointing out that many cities had two or three daily newspapers. And usually, but not always, competing papers would run reviews on the same day - usually on a page devoted to the arts, amusements, or the movies (then sometimes called "photoplays"). Scroll through a some weeks of any given newspaper, and you'll soon figure out how the paper "works."


The Louise Brooks Society would be happy to answer any questions about research. Please email the LBS with your query.

Two inter-library loans arrived

Two inter-library loans arrived this week. I went through a number of rolls of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (from St. Paul, Minnesota), from which I dug out some material on the two Denishawn performances there (one of them a four day run), as well as later reviews of The American Venus and Now We're in the Air. I plan to request and look through additional microfilm of this excellent newspaper. I also went through two months of the Hollywood Citizen News dating from 1940. I uncovered three articles about the Louise Brooks - Barrett O'Shea dance studio, including one announcing its opening. There followed in a month long series of daily newspaper advertisements for the studio, each containing a small images of Brooks and O'Shea as well as a daily dance lesson. Remarkable! I plan to obtain copies of more of these ads, as only part of my ILL was filled. (The other roll I requested was out on loan.)

A chat with Salman Rushdie

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to chat with novelist Salman Rushdie. He dropped by the store where I work to sign copies of his new book, Shalimar the Clown. In the course of our conversation, I asked him about the name of one of the characters in the new novel, Maximilian Ophuls. Rushie said it was based on the once famous director, Max Ophuls. At first, Rushdie recounted, he adopted the name because of its  blending of the German and the French. Later in the writing process, he said he intended to change the character's name - but, as Rushdie put it, "the character wouldn't let me."

Rushdie is obviously a film buff. In the course of our conversation, the author spoke of Ophuls' work, and mentioned the titles of a number of the director's films dating from the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. Rushdie has also written a long essay on The Wizard of Oz, which was published in a book on the film. And in The Ground Beneath Her Feet, his 1999 novel, Rushdie wrote, " . . . by the emerging gay icon lil dagover, who insists on lower-case initials, wears men's suits and a monocle and a Louise Brooks haircut, and plays like an expressionist dream."

Brooksie: The Jazz Age Musical

For those who haven't already checked it out, well worth visiting is the Swiss website for Brooksie: The Jazz Age Musical. You can even order CD's.

SFPL book sale

This morning, I went to the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library annual book sale. Some 8000 boxes of books (nearly 200,000 titles) are put on tables in a big exhibition hall, where they are loosely arranged by subject. Today, the last day of the sale, everything is one dollar or less . . . . I picked up a bunch of swell books, including a vintage copy of Vagabond Dreams Come True by crooner Rudy Vallee - I like his singing; a first edition of Love, Laughter and Tears by Adela Rogers St. Johns - this memoir has lots of early Hollywood stuff including a rather nifty pic of Colleen Moore (be still by beating heart); a nice copy of Kid, a 1981 novel about Charlie Chaplin by John Baxter; the film script of Grand Illusion, with Erich von Stroheim on the cover - haven't seen that before; three books on Will Rogers; and three pictorial booklets from Hearst Castle; a biography of Fred Astaire; the autobiography of Edward G. Robinson; and a book on Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. In actuality, I spent $51.00 - which means I came home with 51 books. Where will I put them ? At least 45 of them were film related.

I also found a mass market paperback of The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of Vivian Vance. I can't believe I have never looked at this title before, as Vance (famous for her role in I Love Lucy) and Louise Brooks knew each other as kids in Kansas. Barry Paris covers their friendship in his biography, and the authors of this book devote three paragraphs to the "local girl whose warm smile and expressive eyes exuded that special something."

I also found a few titles for my friend Amanda, who I know enjoys film books. For Amanda, I found The Talmadge Girls by Anita Loos, a biography of Marion Davies by Fred Laurence Guiles (that's the book I am reading now), and The Paramount Pretties, by James Robert Parish (profiles of various stars associated with the studio). Each are uncommon, worthwhile titles. Each orphaned, I knew they needed a home.

On this day in 1927

On this day in 1927: The critic of the Manchester Guardian writes "What a curious, one-sided, one-sexed, treacherous thing is this charm, or personal magnetism, that Elinor Glyn adulates as 'It' and all spectacular entertainments cry out for in their stars! How much men love it in women! How much women hate it in men! When Louise Brooks, or Estelle Brody, or Mady Christians spends an evening demonstrating it on the screen, we are all of us, sane and silly, young and old, men and women, delighted."

I was glad to finally see the actual clippings!

Today's trip to the library resulted in a few new citations. I got some Denishawn material from the St. Joseph Press-News (from St. Joseph, Missouri), and film reviews from the Charlotte News (from Charlotte, North Carolina), Des Moines Register (Des Moines, Iowa) and Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio). The film material was mostly related to The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) and The American Venus (1926).
I also went through the long elusive "Vertical File microfilm reel 251" from the Kansas State Historical Society. (It has taken me three attempts over the course of nearly nine months to secure this item.) The reel consists of newspaper articles that have been collected regarding various Kansas citizens - including one-time Wichita resident Louise Brooks. Most of the material on the reel can be found onthis page. I was glad to finally see the actual clippings!

Today's new citations have been added to the various LBS bibliographies. . . . And today, I created a new bibliography devoted to the many articles I have collected regarding Louise Brooks' love affairs, marriages, and divorces. One new-to-me 1933 clipping from the Kansas City Star I found on"Vertical File microfilm reel 251". The new bibliography can be found here.

Mary Lee Settle (1918 - 2005)

The New York Times reported today that "Mary Lee Settle, a master of historical fiction who recreated time and place with visceral, almost fanatical accuracy, died Tuesday at a hospice in Charlottesville, Va. She was 87." Settle was a National Book Award winner and the author of the novels known as The Beulah Quintet. Because of her natural good looks, "she is also said to have been given a screen test, along with half of Hollywood, for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind." Along with numerous books, Settle was the author of Charly Bland, a 1987 novels which references Louise Brooks. " . . . a cloche hat. Nobody was looking at the camera except Dearie, without a hat, her sleek black hair cut like Louise Brooks's, staring startled at what must . . . ."

Letters to Jimmy Carter

In the documentary, Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, Brooks' longtime friend Bill Klein mentions that the actress wrote letters to the President of the United States. I guessed that the President Klein refers to was Jimmy Carter. Chronoligically speaking, that seemed to make sense. And so, I wrote to Carter's Presidential library to obtain verification of this fact, and hopefully, copies of the letters as well. However, the archivist who wrote back said no letters could be found. . . . 

A limited edition porcelain plate

A limited edition porcelain plate, featuring an image of Louise Brooks, for sale on eBay. Made by the Canne Film Festival in 1995 to celebrate 100 years of the cinema.

Beyond the Rocks

On Sunday November 13, 2005, The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will present the West Coast Premiere Revival Screening of Beyond the Rocks (1922), the only film that Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson made together. For nearly 80 years, only a one-minute fragment ofBeyond the Rocks was thought to exist. But in 2003, a complete print was discovered among 2,000 unmarked cans of film by the Nederlands Filmmuseum. In partnership with Haghefilm Conservation, they have employed state-of-the-art technology to create a dazzling new print of this long-sought-after classic.

Based on a novel by Elinor Glyn (author of IT ), Beyond the Rocks features Valentino at his most dashing as Lord Bracondale, a desirable bachelor who finds himself enchanted by Theodora (Swanson), a simple girl from the Dorset coast. There will be two screenings of this delightful romantic drama on Sunday November 13, 2005 at the Castro Theatre. Both programs will be presented with live musical accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer by Dennis James.

I will be there! And am really looking forward to seeing this long lost film. For more information, check out the San Francisco Silent Film Festivalwebsite.

Louise Brooks in Playboy magazine

There is an article about Louise Brooks in the current issue of Playboy. See page 21 of the October, 2005 issue. "Lulu in Cyberspace" - the title is lifted from the LBS website - discusses Brooks' life and work in films. An image which accompanies the article depicts Brooks, in the buff. (The picture, by Alfred Cheney Johnston, was taken in 1925 when Brooks was a dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies.) The article concludes, "Recently, fabled nude photos of her have turned up, and experts we consulted say they're legit. Digital prints of the pictures are going for about $10 on eBay."

Louise Brooks mentioned in Times of India

Louise Brooks appeal is universal. Today, she was mentioned in an article in the Times of India.

Blast from the Past
by Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

Fashion is heading towards a new direction – backwards, as the 1920s are revived.

A couple of years ago, Hollywood fashion was inspired by a film called Chicago, which brought back into vogue the exuberance of the jazz era when fashion was defined by the 'flapper girls.'

From the heavily-ironed bob cut hair, the calflength handkerchief-hemmed li'l black dresses, sassy cloche hats, wrapover coats with fur collars to the dramatic make-up -- pencil thin eyebrows and ox blood lips -- this was the decade of luxuriant fantasies. Now, Indian fashion is heading the same way.

"In India, we've seen an overdose of kitsch styles," states designer Ritu Kumar, who feels with fashion being cyclic, this is the season of extravagant excesses. "Rekha's look in Parineeta marked a return to an age when glamour was equivalent with style. Fashion is reflecting the 1920s Hollywood grandeur, dominated by exotic glamour. The crystallised, bling bling look is toned down with an emphasis on an old world charm," she adds.

With over-the-top styling making way for classical elegance, designer Aki Narula says Hindi films too will see a glimpse of 'understated glitz.' "The boho chic sensibility is fading and lots more stark vintage has come into prominence.

Worldwide, post 9/11, we'd seen a burst of colours and floral prints explode onto the fashion scene. But that upbeat optimism is giving way to no-fuss clothing with layering, draped fabrics like satin, jersey and tweed and signature accessories like geometric shaped clutch bags and pearl strands," explains Aki.

Stylist Anna Singh says, "We are seeing a comeback of sensuous silhouettes like the Empire line accentuated with fine detailing." Be it the slinky evening gowns adorned by Greta Garbo in the classic femme fatale tale Matahari or the thick bangs of 1920s' legend Louise Brooks -- Hollywood glamour is clearly on its way back into the heartland of Indi fashion. As they say, antiquity never fades.

Quick trip to the library

Quick trip to the library, where I looked through the Omaha World-Herald (from Omaha, Nebraska) and the Asbury Park Evening Press (from Bruce Springsteen's future home in New Jersey). I got a few Denishawn and film-related articles, reviews and adverstisements from each paper. Citations will be added to the LBS bibliographies.

One interesting item I came across was an advertisement for The Show-Off. Officially released on August 16, 1926, this Louise Brooks' film played in many cities the same week as Rudolph Valentino's death. And quickly, around the country, many movie houses booked Valentino films to play in local theaters. Among them was the Strand in Omaha. This ad dates from August 24th.

The lost world

As any reader of this blog knows, I am often blabbering on about research and old newspapers. For me, pouring over old newspapers and magazines (whether microfilm or bound copies) is a lot of fun. At times it is thrilling. At times it is like time travel - as I survey the news from 1926 and find out what motion picture is playing in town or what a local film critic thought about Louise Brooks. I get a kick out of it. Newspapers were really something else back then! Slate magazine has an essay about the glory days of early 20th century papers entitled "The Lost World of Joseph Pulitzer: A century ago newspapers were bigger, bolder, and more beautiful. What Happened?"

Pepi Lederer

A charming portrait of Pepi Lederer by Ruth Harriet Louise is for sale on eBay. Lederer was Louise Brooks' friend and Marion Davies niece - and the subject of an essay in Brooks' Lulu in Hollywood.

I've been meaning to write

I've just started watching Old San Francisco (1927) on TCM. The film features the creepy Warner Oland (who would go on to fame as Charlie Chan), the lovely Dolores Costello (Drew Barrymore's grandmother and undoubtably the source of her good looks), and ever so briefly, the exceptional Anna May Wong (wearing bangs and a bob!). It was interesting to see, at the beginning of the film, actual location shots of San Francisco (where I live) . . . .

I've been meaning to write about my last couple of trips to the San Francisco Public Library. I looked at a bunch of inter-library loans requests and came home with a bunch of good material. I got Denishawn articles, reviews and advertisements from theManchester Union (from Manchester, New Hampshire), Indianapolis Star (from Indianapolis, Indiana), Clinton Herald (from Clinton, Iowa), andColorado Springs Gazette (from Colorado Springs, Colorado). I also got some articles, film reviews and rather nice advertisements out of The Standard (from Montreal, Canada), Pittsburgh Press (from Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania), and Duluth News Tribune (from Duluth, Minnesota). I also came across an appealing captioned photo titled "Gold Coast Pets" in the Chicago Herald and Examiner. The caption read, " Dario and Louise (Louise Brooks of the silent films) comprise the new dance combination proving popular in the current floor show at the Chez Paree."

Here is a neat advertisement I came across. Notice that next to the advertisement for a screening of the1927 Louise Brooks films The City Gone Wild is an ad for a personal appearance by Roscoe Arbuckle!



. . . And no, I have never been to the Poodle Dog Cafe, though I wish I had.

Louise Brooks exhibit

CORRECTED: The George Eastman House in Rochester, New York has announced that an exhibit devoted to Louise Brooks will take place next year. The exhibit, which will include photographs and artifacts that document the actress' career is being jointly curated with the International Museum of Photography in New York City. It opens there first in April and at Eastman House in August. More details will be provided as they become known.

F.B.I. files on Louise Brooks' friends and colleagues

I suppose it is well known by now that in the past the Federal Bureau of Investigation kept files on thousands of American citizens, including many celebrities. Among those they spied on / investigated / trailed were a few of Louise Brooks' friends and fellow actors. Recently, the F.B.I. released the files on "famous persons" and posted them on the bureau's website. There are files on everyone from Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and John Wayne to Mary Pickford and Marlene Dietrich. (Apparently, there are no files on Louise Brooks.) These files can make for interesting reading. Here are your tax dollars at work.

Zadie Smith on Greta Garbo

"She was an overweight, big-footed girl from Sweden who became an icon of female beauty. But why was she never happy?" Novelist Zadie Smith (Booker-Prize nominee and author of White Teeth and On Beauty) wrote about "the enigma of Greta Garbo" for the The Guardian (UK). Louise Brooks is quoted in this article.

Google blog search

Today, Google launched a blog search engine. Now, you can search out and find what other bloggers have to say about Louise Brooks - and other topics of interest. There are other blog search engines out there, and I have blogged about them in the past. Google's may be the best yet. Google's blog search engine can be found at http://blogsearch.google.com/   Happy hunting!

Golden images

Lately, I've been reading Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars by Eve Golden. The book features short profiles of actors and actresses - some well known (Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, Rudolph Valentino) and some not so well known (Gladys Brockwell, May Irwin, Ormer Locklear). I read about film stars I really didn't know much about - like Jeanne Eagels, Marie Prevost, Nita Naldi, Esther Ralston, and Olive Thomas. Eve Golden has a graceful writing style. I liked the book. (Some time earlier, I had read Golden's excellent Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara, and enjoyed that as well.)

Arabic-language newspaper article

My friend Gianluca also sent me a link to a recent Arabic-language newspaper article which mentions Louise Brooks. It can be found at www.sharghnewspaper.com/840516/html/cinema.htm  Does anyone know enough Arabic to read this and relay a sense of what it discusses?

Japanese Anime

Today, my Italian friend Gianluca sent me an email about a Japanese Anime artist. According to this page on the Anime News Network, "Rumiko Takahashi's design for Nabiki Tendo is patterned after silent film actress Louise Brooks (1906-1985)." It is amazing how many comics, cartoons, graphic novels and anime Louise Brooks has inspired. Thank you Gianluca.

Garbo article by Mick LaSalle

There is an article about Greta Garbo by Mick LaSalle (author of Complicated Women and Dangerous Men - two fine books on pre-code Hollywood) in today's San Francisco Chronicle. And don't forget, Kevin Brownlow's new documentary on Garbo debuts tomorrow night on TCM. I can't wait!

LBS website

Due to a long planned overhaul of the website, large portions of the Louise Brooks Society are off-line. If all goes according to plan, pages and sections of the site will be brought back in the course of the next few weeks. The LBS homepage will remain on-line. Also still available is the message board, and a newly revised page of links, Lulu in Cyberspace. (Check it out.) The LBS gift shop at Cafepress.com, as well as Radio Lulu, and Louise Brooks Studies, are all still active. This blog - the LBS at LJ - will also continue during the site overhaul. I hope to get a lot of work done on the site over the Labor Day weekend. Check back throughout September for updates.

Some thoughts .... Hurricane Katrina

For the last few days, I have been watching television coverage of the disaster along the Gulf Coast. It is frightening. The loss of life and of material goods is so distressing. I work at a bookstore - and wonder about the bookstores in New Orleans. Did any survive? How about the libraries and archives, the old movie theaters, and historic buildings? Along with life itself, these are some of the material / cultural things I hold dear. So many of the cities hit by Hurricane Katrina and mentioned on the news are familar to me - New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Meridian, Mississippi are all cities visited by Louise Brooks when she was a member of the Denishawn Dance Company. By some strange coincidence, at the library today I looked at microfilm of the Baton Rouge State Times, where I found a bunch of Denishawn material from 1924. The lending institution was Louisiana State University. I wonder if these mere microfilm rolls have a dry home to go back to? My thoughts are with those in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (including members of the LBS and a few dear friends - namely Tim & Laura Dwyer, who live in New Orleans) who have suffered through this awful event. I hope you are safe.

On this day in 1930

On this day in 1930, The Hollywood Filmograph reports that Louise Brooks was among the celebrities present to see Duke Ellington perform (on August 21st) at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles. "Duke Ellington's famous dusky orchestra of the Ziegfield Follies discoursed dandy jazz music for an hour and made a great hit." Other celebrities present included Roscoe Arbuckle, Mack Sennett, Loretta Young, Mervyn LeRoy, Skeets Gallagher, Carl Laemmele, and Carl Laemmele Jr. The regular band at the Cocoanut Grove, led by Gus Arnheim, featured vocals by The Rhythm Boys.

Lulu in Honolulu

On Friday, I visited the California State Library. I had intended to look at some more California newspaper, but instead spent the afternoon browsing three and a half years of microfilm of the the Honolulu Advertiser. (Only recently did I discover that the California State Library has a few non-California newspapers.) I found advertisements and/or articles and reviews for every Louise Brooks' film from The American Venus (1926) through The City Gone Wild (1927). These are the first citations from Hawaii (which was then the Territory of Hawaii) I have found.

"American Venus" Discloses Her Beauty Secrets

Here is a nifty, 1922 article I came across today. I think it nifty because it refers to Dorothy Knapp (Louise Brooks' later friend in the 1925 Ziegfeld Follies) as The American Venus.

Diary of a Lost Girl screening

Diary of a Lost Girl will be shown at the Northbrook Public Library in Northbrook, Illinois on September 7th. Live piano accompaniment performed by Dave Drazin. For more info see northbrook.info/lib_programs_films.php  Here is info on other films in the series:

September 14 - Sex
The vampish "Spider Woman" breaks up homes and marriages but retribution soon strikes in a devious way.
Starring: Louise Glaum, Irving Cummings, Viola Barry (90 minutes)

September 21 - Show People
A delightfully funny early glimpse of Hollywood as a girl from the sticks tries to make it in movies.
Starring: Marion Davies, William Haines, Polly Moran (82 minutes )

September 28 - Sunrise
One of the first Oscar winners. A farmer plans to murder his wife, led on by another woman.
Starring: Janet Gaynor, George O'Brien, Margaret Livingston (110 minutes)

Today

I spent half-a-day at UC Berkeley, where I went through two-and-a-half years of Neie Freie Presse, a daily newspaper from Vienna, Austria. All I managed to find, however, was a single 1928 review and advertisement for Eine Pariser Ehe, which shown in the United States as Evening Clothes (1927). I was lucky to spot this, as the Austrian title differs from the German title, Ein Frack Ein Claque Ein Mandel. The review did not mention Louise Brooks.

Library research jottings

Quick trip to the library today, where a couple of microfilm loans were waiting. I went through a few months of the Paterson News (from Paterson, New Jersey - the longtime home of William Carlos Williams), and found some interesting material, including a review, on The City Gone Wild. The Paterson News is promising, so I may look through other months sometime in the future. I also went through some microfilm of the Joplin Globe (from Joplin, Missouri - not sure who lived there). Denishawn performed in Joplin twice during Louise Brooks' tenure with the dance company. However, each of their perfromances were on Sundays - and the Joplin Globe did not publish on Mondays. Thus, I didn't find any reviews - which is the material I desire the most. Nevertheless, I did find a few advertisements and some generic articles and images (two of which pictured Brooks).

Tomorrow, I return to the microfilm collection at UC Berkeley. This will be my last visit to that campus for a couple of years. And Friday, I will drive to Sacramento to visit the State Library of California. That will be my last visit to that institution this year. I don't have any other "research trips" planned for the next six or nine months. (If things work out - I may have to go to Washington D.C. next June, and may end up visiting the Library of Congress. . . . Most of my research trips piggyback onto business and family trips.) Otherwise, inter-library loans will continue to trickle in every couple of weeks, and I won't be burdening all of you so frequently with these dry library reports.

Here is a picture of my filing cabinet stuffed with Louise Brooks material. The fruits of my labor. I have four drawers filled with files on every Brooks' film, as well as files on significant topics (Denishawn, Ziegfeld Follies, Eddie Sutherland, G.W. Pabst, Lulu in Hollywood, obituaries, etc...).

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

I watched another documentary. The Legend of Rudolph Valentino was made in 1982, and released on DVD in 2000. It is a pretty poor excuse for a documentary, and is mainly worth watching only for the little seen photographs and film clips it contains (early movies in which Valentino had a small part, Valentino's home movies, footage from Valentino's funeral, etc....) The details of the actor's life are only glossed over. And, there is so much footage from Blood and Sand and Son of the Shiek included that you feel as though you have watched each of those films!



p.s. The director of The Legend of Rudolph Valentino is Graeme Ferguson, who also directed the clumsy 1965 documentary, The Love Goddesses, which included Louise Brooks. Paul Killiam, another familiar name to Brooks' and silent film devotees, was co-producer.

Louise Brooks in Denmark

Here is a link to a nifty website called Louise Brooks in Denmark. It contains a few articles, a list of films, and audio file of an interview with the well known Danish film historian Ib Monty, and more. It is well worth checking out.