Wedekind's Spring Awakening

Following the successful adaption of Frank Wedekind's "Lulu" by the Silent Theater company of Chicago comes a new musical adaption of Wedekind's "Spring Awakening."  Though one of the first expressionist writers, Wedekind's sometimes akward, sometimes scandalous work has fallen between the cracks of literary history. Nevertheless, we are seeing something of a revival of interest in the United States. There is a big article about the new production, which opens December 10th, in today's New York Times.

“SPRING AWAKENING,” the new Broadway musical in previews at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, covers nearly all the hurly-burly that can rattle, confuse and capsize the teenage years: sexual confusion, abuse, death. A bit like “The History Boys” with a rock score and a lot more angst.

The candid portrayal of such subjects may disquiet some of today’s viewers, but the original 1891 German drama by Frank Wedekind on which the musical is based caused a scandal. The play wasn’t produced in Germany until 1906, 15 years after it was written, and then only in an abridged form. In New York City the commissioner of licenses tried to shut down its English-language American premiere in 1917. A court injunction permitted the production, which ran for a single matinee and closed.

Wedekind — probably best known for the Lulu plays, the source of Alban Berg’s famous opera — was not unaccustomed to such dust-ups. He lived in Munich, a center of the literary avant-garde, and often contributed poems and stories to the satirical magazine Simplizissimus. One that ridiculed Kaiser Wilhelm II (better known for his megalomania than his sense of humor) landed him in jail for several months in 1899 on charges of treason. He was continually at odds with the censors until his death in 1918.

Thanks to Rob Carver for pointing this out.

In the news, again

There is a long, illustrated interview with Peter Cowie about Louise Brooks on the PopMatters website. It can be found atwww.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/7690/louise-brooks-at-100-interview-with-peter-cowie/

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LBS member Gregor Arlt tipped me off to these recent illustrated articles on Louise Brooks in various German language publications. (Not only have there been major film retropsectives in Berlin and Vienna, but there is a new book on Louise Brooks published by the Austrian Film Archive, Louise Brooks. Rebellin, Ikone, Legende. Peter Cowie's book, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, has also been published in Germany.)

Film-Dienst,  Nov. 2006
"Das Leben ist ein Scherz: Erinnerungen an Louise Brooks" by Claudia Siefen
http://film-dienst.kim-info.de/artikel.php?nr=152313&dest=frei&pos=artikel

Neue Zürcher Zeitung,  Nov. 4, 2006
"Lächeln und Los der Lulu" by Jürgen Kasten
http://www.nzz.ch/2006/11/04/li/articleEMAVD.html

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,  Nov. 9, 2006
"Louise Brooks: Die Rebellin von Hollywood" by Verena Lueken
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub8A25A66CA9514B9892E0074EDE4E5AFA/Doc~E5902139EF4DD444FABADE08D52EB8663~ATpl~Ecommon~Sspezial.html

Süddeutsche Zeitung,  Nov. 13, 2006
"Die Chiffre des Lichtspiels" by Hans Schifferle
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/487/91396/

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I had a great time at Tuesday evening's Louise Brooks Birthday Bash at the Victoria Theater. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Louise. There was cake and something to drink. And, it was fun to meet the cast of "Lulu" and other members of the Louise Brooks Society, some of whom had come from as far away as Los Angeles! Here are a few snapshots taken that evening.

A bit blurry, but here's a pic of yours truly and Kyla Louise Webb, the talented young actress who plays Lulu.
If there is anyone who could play Louise Brooks in a film, it is this terrific Chicago-based actress!



LBS members Scott Bradley and Amy Wallace, with whom I had a very nice chat!
 (Amy, the daughter of novelist Irving Wallace, is the co-author of such bestsellers
as The Book of Lists and The People's Almanac, etc....)

That evening, I also met photographer Nili Yosha, who is producing a book of photographs of the Lulu cast and play. I am looking forward to it, I plan to get a copy of what promises to be a rather cool keepsake.

In the news

There was a "Pop Candy" column about Louise Brooks in yesterday's USA Today. The article, by Whitney Matheson, can be found at http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2006/11/happy_birthday_.html  The article mentions the Louise Brooks Society and this blog. How cool!

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Thanx to Amanda, who noticed that the current issue of TIME magazine has a long article on Louise Brooks by Richard Corliss. The article can be found on-line at http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1559304,00.html

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Paul Doherty sent me some snapshots of the Louise Brooks event in Rochester, New York on November 14th. Paul said I could share these with all of you. Thank you Paul.

Before the show



A bit of the exhibit at the George Eastman House



Jack Garner (sitting) and Peter Cowie (standing). Cowie authored Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever for which Garner wrote the forward. Cowie is wearing a Louise Brooks Society button which I had given him in Sunday in San Francisco.

Today in history - Nov. 14

According to the Associated Press syndicated feature - "Today in history - Nov. 14" - which has been printed in newspapers across the country

"In 1906, 100 years ago, actress and dancer Louise Brooks was born in Cherryvale, Kan."



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOUISE BROOKS !

Marian Marsh

Marian Marsh, petite film star of the 1930's, has died. I always liked her bangs. Here is an excerpt from the New York Timesarticle on her death.

Marian Marsh, 93, Petite Star of ‘Svengali,’ Dies

By MARGARLIT FOX

Marian Marsh, a Hollywood actress of the 1930s and early ’40s best known for starring opposite John Barrymore in the 1931 melodrama “Svengali,” died on Thursday at her home in Palm Desert, Calif. She was 93.

Ms. Marsh, who was known by her married name, Marian Marsh Henderson, died in her sleep, her daughter, Cathy Scott, said.

Mr. Barrymore handpicked Ms. Marsh, then a teenage bit player, for the role of Trilby, the virginal young singer who falls under Svengali’s control. The film was based on “Trilby,” the 1894 novel by George du Maurier.

A petite blond actress described by critics of the day as doll-like, Ms. Marsh was also known for her performance opposite Edward G. Robinson in “Five Star Final” (1931). She played Sonya to Peter Lorre's Raskolnikov in “Crime and Punishment” in 1935. Her last film role was in the 1942 comedy “House of Errors.”

Ms. Marsh was born Violet Ethelred Krauth on Oct. 17, 1913, in Trinidad, West Indies, where her parents ran a chocolate factory. The family moved to the Boston area when she was a child. After her older sister, Jean, became a bit player in Hollywood — she worked first as Jean Morgan and later as Jean Fenwick — the family relocated to California.

Following her sister into acting, Ms. Marsh began her career in the late 1920s as Marilyn Morgan. Under that name, she had a small role in “Hell’s Angels,” the 1930 war drama directed by Howard Hughes.

Pandora's Box in San Rafael

Last night I attended the screening of Pandora's Box at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California. (That's about 45 minutes north of San Francisco - across the Golden Gate Bridge.) Peter Cowie, author of the just released must-have new book,Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, gave some introductory remarks. He told how he came to meet Louise Brooks. And what her life was like in the 1970's while living in Rochester, New York. Cowie discussed Brooks' brief affair with Charlie Chaplin. And, Cowie made some interesting references to the existentialist author Jean-Paul Sarte and the Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer - both of which I hope to ask him about tonight, when I host him at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco. I will be meeting him for dinner before hand - so there will be time to talk!

Tonight on IFC

Tonight on the Independent Film Channel, Lulu on the Bridge (1998), the Louise Brooks / Pandora's Box - "inspired" film.

A seemingly magic stone leads an aging, injured musician into love with a young, aspiring actress.
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Willem Dafoe, Gina Gershon, Mandy Patinkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Victor Argo, Don Byron, Richard Edson, Kevin Corrigan.

Director(s): Paul Auster.
Producer(s): Sharon Harel, Jane Barclay, Ira Deutchman, Peter Newman, Greg Johnson, Amy Kaufman , Amy J. Kaufman.
Writer(s): Paul Auster

This Sunday in Witchita

Don't forget, this Sunday in Witchita: Louise Brooks' Centennial Birthday Bash, a viewing of two films by the Kansas-born silent film star, 2-4:30 p.m., Wichita Public Library, 223 S. Main. Free. Information, 316-261-8500.  Longtime LBS member Amanda Howard has a display of some of her Louise Brooks' treasures on display. Check it out!

What a Lulu!

from today's San Francisco Chronicle website. The two area Louise Brooks screenings were the e-pick of the week!

'Pandora's Box' (Sat/11)
What a Lulu!
Kansas-born Mary Louise "Brooksie" Brooks went to New York to become a dancer, joined the Ziegfield Follies and then headed west, and Hollywood -- though she despised the movie-making culture -- was never the same. Shortening her name to Louise Brooks, she created a screen persona of a magnitude hard to imagine today: Her slinky on-screen and off-screen wardrobe was a model for the glamorous garments that have been ubiquitous in Tinseltown ever since, and her pageboy hairstyle became all the rage. And it is this movie that she was and has ever since been identified with -- G.W. Pabst's German silent film "Pandora's Box" (also known as "Lulu," after its title character's name), about a man-eating vamp. Indeed, the scandal that ensued in response to the provocative movie nearly killed her career; she made only 10 mostly forgettable films after that, seldom receiving top billing, and retired when she was only 32 years old. The Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center marks the centenary of her birth with a screening of her signature film, introduced by film historian Peter Cowie, author of "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever." Cowie will also appear Sun/12 at the Balboa Theater, to give a short talk and presentation preceding a surprise Louise Brooks feature. -- Mark Nichol, special to SFGate
 Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael; 7 pm; $6-$9.25; (415) 454-1222.

p.s. I am planning on making a give-away "limited edition" reproduction movie herald for the Balboa event, which will be distributed at the door. It will make a nice keepsake.

p.s.s. I am also working on a powerpoint presentation, which provided all goes according to plan, will be screened prior to the event. It will be accompanied by a special selection of Louise Brooks related music.

Louise Welsh

The other night, I attended an reading / booksigning for Louise Welsh, the author of the recently released contemporary noir, The Bullet Trick. Its a terriffic new novel set in contemporary Berlin, London and Glasgow. (The author is Scottish, and she read here in San Francisco at a pub called the Edinburgh Castle.) During her talk, she mentioned that the Berlin section of the book was a riff off of the Frank Wedekind plays, namely Lulu. Welsh also mentioned Louise Brooks, and her admiration of the actress. I spoke with her afterwords, and gave her a Louise Brooks button. Welsh is very cool - and her two earlier books, The Cutting Room and Tamberlaine is Dead - are well worth checking out.

Homage to Lulu: 100 Years of Louise Brooks

"Homage to Lulu: 100 Years of Louise Brooks"  
an exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library
November 4, 2006 through January 5, 2007

Main Branch, Fourth Floor, Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Music Center

"Homage to Lulu: 100 Years of Louise Brooks" celebrates the centenary of the silent film star Louise Brooks (1906 - 1985). Now considered an icon of the Jazz Age, Brooks' popularity today rivals that of her more celebrated contemporaries. On display are dozens of vintage objects - including books, magazines, sheet music, postcards,and related ephemera - which tell the story of her life and films.

Highlights include American and French photoplay editions (the movie tie-in editions of the 1920's), an editorial comic strip explaining the scandalous circumstances behind Brooks' affair with Charlie Chaplin, Brooks' inspired novels, a jumbo-size lobby card, and a full-page newspaper advertisement for "Show Girl" - the Brooks-inspired novel which became a hit stage play and the long-running comic strip "Dixie Dugan."

This exhibit - organized by Thomas Gladysz and the San Francisco-based Louise Brooks Society - coincides with many other events taking place around the San Francisco Bay Area and the world. More info at sfpl4.sfpl.org/news/exhibitions.htm

Here are some snapshots I took of "Homage to Lulu: 100 Years of Louise Brooks" - both as it was being installed and after it opened. Hopefully, this gives a sense of the scope of the exhibit, which is currently on display at the San Francisco Public Library. The hardest thing was figuring out what to include and what to leave out. There were some things that I was eager to share, like the full-page Sunday color comic of "Dixie Dugan," and the various compact discs, 45's and long playing records (LP's) I've collected over the years which feature an image of Louise Brooks.

I would be pleased to hear from anyone who sees this exhibit. Let me know what you think. There is also a stand with a comments book. The stand also has fliers for Louise Brooks-related events in the Bay Area.

Nov 2006 events

This month - November 2006 - is shaping up to be a truly remarkable month for Louise Brooks. The world celebrates the actress, who was born on November 14, 1906 in the small town of Cherryvale, Kansas. There are screenings and film festivals taking place across the United States and Europe. There are two new books being published. There are two DVD's being released. There are two exhibitions devoted to the actress. And there are other events and happenings taking place which celebrate the life and legend of Lulu.

Thru November 21, 2006: The Verlag Filmarchiv Austria is sponsoring a multi-film tribute - "Louise Brooks - Tribute zum 100. Geburtstag" - at the Metrokino in Vienna, Austria. /// More info at http://www.filmarchiv.at/ 

Thru November 26, 2006: The Silent Theater company has extended their stage production of "Lulu" (the Wedekind play done as a silent film a la Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box"). Performances run Thursdays through Sundays through the end of the month at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco. November will be the last month to see this play in the City by the Bay, where it has enjoyed a widely acclaimed three-month run. /// More info at http://www.victoriatheatre.org/

Thru January 5, 2007: "Homage to Lulu: 100 Years of Louise Brooks" - an exhibit sponsored by the Louise Brooks Society - is on display at the San Francisco Public Library. /// More info at http://sfpl4.sfpl.org/news/exhibitions.htm

November 5, 2006: The Three Rivers Film Festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania screens "Pandora's Box" (1929) at the Regent Square Theater. Pianist Philip Carli will provide live piano accompaniment, and Louise Brooks biographer Barry Paris will introduce the film.

November 5, 2006: Bristol Silents in Bristol, England will screen the silent version of "Prix de Beauté" (1930). Before hand, there will be an onstage conversation between  Paul McGann and Kevin Brownlow, who promises to show never before seen color home movie footage of Louise Brooks from the 1960s!  More info at http://www.bristolsilents.org.uk/

November 6, 2006: The seldom seen comedy, "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" (1926) will be shown at the Museum of the City of New York. This special event is sponsored by the Silent Clowns Film Series. More info at http://www.silentclowns.com/nowshowing.html 

November 6, 2006: The G.W. Pabst film, "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929), will be shown at Free Library of Philadelphia at 2 pm.  More info athttp://www.library.phila.gov/index.htm

November 7, 2006: Peter Cowie's new book, "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever" is due in bookstores. Events with the author are planned in select cities across the United States. More info at http://rizzoliusa.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780847828661

November 7, 2006: "A Girl in Every Port" (1928) will be shown at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Philip C. Carli will provide live piano accompaniment. /// More info at http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/wordpress/films/a-girl-in-every-port/

November 8, 9, 10, 2006: Reportedly, the Slovenska kinoteka - a film archive located in Ljubljana, Slovenia - will celebrate the Louise Brooks centenary with a series of screenings. Further details have not been confirmed. Any Slovenian fans out there planning to attend?

Nov. 11, 2006 through February 18, 2007: "Hollywood Lost: The Power of Louise Brooks" will be on exhibit at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. /// More info at http://www.eastmanhouse.org/exhibits/container_56/index.php

November 11, 2006: Peter Cowie will give introductory remarks prior to the screening of "Pandora's Box" (1929) at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California. Afterwords, Cowie will sign copies of  "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever." /// More info at http://cafilm.org/films/692.html

November 12, 2006: The Wichita Public Library will screen two Louise Brooks films as part of it's "Louise Brooks Centennial Birthday Bash" at the Central Library. Festivities start at 2:00 pm.  /// More info at http://events.publicbroadcasting.net/kmuw/events.eventsmain?action=showEvent&eventID=468251

November 12, 2006: Peter Cowie will give a short talk as part of "Celebrating Louise Brooks: An Evening of Rare Films" at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, California. This event starts at 7:30 pm. Special guests, door prizes, Louise Brooks give aways and more will round out the evening. Afterwards, Cowie will sign copies of "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever." This special event co-sponsored by The Booksmith and the Louise Brooks Society. /// More info at http://www.balboamovies.com/news/index.html#louise

November 13, 2006: Around this date, the Verlag Filmarchiv Austria will publish "Louise Brooks. Rebellin, Ikone, Legende" by Günter Krenn and Karin Moser.  /// More info at http://www.filmarchiv.at/show_content.php?sid=152

November 14, 2006: Louise Brooks was born 100 years ago on this date in Cherryvale, Kansas. To celebrate, a Louise Brooks birthday bash will take place at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco. The celebration starts around 7 pm. A special staging of "Lulu" starts around 10 pm. /// More info at http://www.victoriatheatre.org/

November 14, 2006: "The Art of Louise Brooks" will take place at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Author Peter Cowie will discuss the alluring mystery and fascinating career of the Louise Brooks. This presentation will conclude with a question-and-answer session with Cowie and syndicated film critic Jack Garner. After the event, Cowie will sign copies of his new book, "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever," which features a foreword by Garner. /// More info at http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/wordpress/films/peter-cowie-and-jack-garner-in-person-special-lecture%e2%80%94louise-brooks-lulu-forever/    After this on-stage presentation, "Pandora's Box" (1929) will be shown a with live piano accompaniment by Philip C. Carli. /// More info at   http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/wordpress/films/pandoras-box/

November 14, 2006: Portugal's Costa do Castelo Films plans to release "Pandora's Box" (1929) on DVD. This two-disc set will feature the original Portuguese intertitles, as well as bonus material.

November 14, 2006: "Pandora's Box" (1929) will be shown in Campbell Hall on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Michael Mortilla will provide live piano accompaniment. /// More info at http://www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/Details.aspx?PerfNum=523

November 14, 2006: Rumor has it that a "little cineclub" in Rome, Italy will show some movies featuring Louise Brooks. Any Italian fans out there planning to attend?

November 15, 2006: Peter Cowie will introduce "The Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) at the Film Society at Lincoln Center in New York City. The program starts at 6:30. A booksigning will also take place. /// More info at http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/luluforever.html
November 17, 2006: Peter Cowie will introduce "Pandora's Box" (the Munich Filmmuseum's new restoration) at The American Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. A reception and book signing will take place from 6:30 to 7:30, and the screening will begin at 7:30 pm. /// More info at http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

November 17 - December 16, 2006: The Filmmuseum in Munich, Germany will mount a major Louise Brooks film retrospective which will include 17 films, as well a rarely seen fragments from "The Street of Forgotten Men" (1925) and "The American Venus" (1926). /// More info athttp://www.stadtmuseum-online.de/aktuell/brooks.pdf

November 20, 2006: A new 35mm print of "Pandora's Box" (1929) will be shown in the student union at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. This free screening starts at 7 pm. /// More info at http://www.aux.uwm.edu/Union/events/theatre/calendar/Fall%2006/world_cinema_fall06.htm

November 21, 2006: "Pandora's Box" (1929) will be released on DVD in the United States by Criterion. This restored version of the film will be accompanied by considerable bonus material. /// More info at http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=358#

November 21, 2006: Coinciding with the ongoing exhibition (see above) at the San Francisco Public Library, Thomas Gladysz (Director of the Louise Brooks Society) will give introductory remarks prior to the screening of "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" (1926) at the SFPL. This event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 6 pm. /// More info at http://sfpl4.sfpl.org/news/exhibitions.htm

November 28, 2006: A new 35mm print of "Beggars of Life" (1928) will be shown at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Philip C. Carli will provide live piano accompaniment. /// More info at http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/wordpress/films/new-preservation-beggars-of-life/

November 28, 2006: The National Film Theater in London will screen "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) with live piano accompaniment. /// More info at http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/coursesevents/schools/further.html#_Toc139948659

The Blue Church

I live in a part of San Francisco called Noe Valley. It's a mostly working class neighborhood. Just down the block from me is a blue building which was once home to a movie theater. It is one of the oldest movie theaters in San Francisco, though it has for some time been home to a church.   According to an article about the building in the current issue of the Noe Valley Voice (the local neighborhood newspaper):

Demolition of the church would drop the final curtain on a building that started life as a one-screen temple to Hollywood. The theater opened in 1916 as the Searchlight, according to Cinema Treasures, a web site devoted to movie preservation. The theater, which showed German and Russian films in the 1930s and later on American movies, was also known as the Empress, the Lux, the De Lux, the Isis, the Princess, the Church, and the Rita. The Rita moniker eventually gave way to the Del Mar - until 1965 when the Holiness Temple in Christ purchased the building.

I thought it interesting that this small neighborhood theater showed "foreign films" in the 1930's. And I wondered if they ever might have shownPandora's Box ? According to Jack Tillmany's book, Theaters of San Francisco, there is no known photograph of the building as a movie theater. Thus, I offer this image which I took just minutes ago using my digital camera.

The LOUISE BROOKS event not to miss!

"Celebrating Louise Brooks: An Evening of Rare Films"
with PETER COWIE
a talk, film screening & book signing for "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever"
Sunday, November 12 at 7:30 pm
at the Balboa Theater (3630 Balboa Street) in San Francisco

On Sunday November 12th, world renown film critic and biographer Peter Cowie, author of the just published "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever," will give a talk as part of "Celebrating Louise Brooks: An Evening of Rare Films" at the Balboa Theater (3630 Balboa Street) in San Francisco. Rare Louise Brooks films, special guests, door prizes, Louise Brooks give-aways and more will round out the program, which starts at 7:30. A book signing will follow.

With her distinctive haircut and classically drawn features, Louise Brooks is, without question, one of the great icons of world cinema. Her role as Lulu in "Pandora's Box" has gained her film immortality. This month, the world celebrates her centennial with the publication of Peter Cowie's much-anticipated new book, "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever," an insightful and lavishly illustrated portrait of the actress and the legend.

Peter Cowie is a world famous film historian and the author of some thirty books including "The Cinema of Orson Welles," "John Ford and the American West," and "Revolution!: The Explosion Of World Cinema In The Sixties," as well as acclaimed biographies of Ingmar Bergman and Francis Ford Coppola. Cowie will be joining us from his home in Switzerland.

This special event, co-sponsored by The Booksmith ( www.booksmith.com) and the Louise Brooks Society ( www.pandorasbox.com), will take place at the historic Balboa Theater (3630 Balboa) in San Francisco. Tickets are $8.50 and can be purchased in advance onwww.BrownPaperTickets.com  

 BUY YOUR TICKETS SOON, AS THIS SPECIAL EVENT IS EXPECTED TO SELL OUT.

Interview article

There is a full page article about Louise Brooks (and her bob) in the current issue of Interview magazine.

Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever

Today, I received my copy of Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever by Peter Cowie. (Copies are not due in stores for about a week.) It is absolutely gorgeous! It is a book every Brooks fan will want to own . . . .  I had written my review for Publisher's Weeklybased on page proofs (an early version of the book which was sent to me by the publisher). This finished copy is so much more appealing. The images look really stunning. Wow!

G-Swing

A recently released French compact disc with Louise Brooks on the cover, Swing for Modern Clubbing, has been called to my attention. (Thank you Pascal.) Is anyone familiar with this CD or the music? More info here. (Brooks also appears on an interior illustration.)

Philippe Boussemart

A French artist by the name of Philippe Boussemart has painted a handful of works featuring Louise Brooks - and Charlie Chaplin. I am not sure what it all means - but you can check out his website at http://philippe.boussemart.com/peinture/creations/

This being detail

Another swell image of Louise Brooks - this being detail from a film still from Love Em and Leave Em (1926), which is for sale on eBay. The seller is located in Portugal, where the film was shown under the title Amá-las e deixá-las.

Modish coiffure

Here is a nifty advertisement I came across while looking through microfilm at the library this week. It dates from 1925.

Another Lulu review

"Thankfully, Chicago-based Silent Theatre Company understands the appeal of classic celluloid, which they ape to sublime ends in their piece "Lulu", an adaptation of German playwright Frank Wedekind’s 1894 Lulu cycle, comprising "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora’s Box", but bearing more of a resemblance to G.W. Pabst’s 1928 film revision starring über-vamp Louise Brooks. "      Another review of the stage play of Lulu can be found at www.sfstation.com/lulu-at-victoria-theater-a2239

Research jottings

Back at the library, I continue my search for even more Louise Brooks clippings. I went through the Columbus Ledger (from Columbus, Georgia), Ripon Weekly Press (from Ripon, Wisconsin),  and Arkansas City Daily Traveler (from Arkansas City, Kansas) - and in each found articles and advertisements relating to Brooks' two seasons with Denishawn. The company performed in each of thee towns. I also went through a few other newspapers looking for material relating to Brooks' films. I went through the Arkansas Gazette (from Little Rock, Arkansas), Deseret News (from Salt Lake City, Utah), and Hartford Times(from Hartford, Connecticut). And I found a few reviews and ads. The most interesting item was a Little Rock ad for the Capitol Theater promoting the screening of Love Em and Leave Em during the first half of the week, and Just Another Blonde during the second half. That's unusual, especially considering that the two films were made by different studios.

I also went through the North China Daily News, an English-language newspaper from Shanghai. I looked through the first four months of 1929, and found material - including one review - for three of Brooks' 1927 films! Wow - what a cosmpolitan city and what a worthwhile newspaper! There were numerous movie theaters in Shanghai at this time, and all of the major American films seemed to have been shown. And the theaters ran big advertisements in the newspaper. The review I found marks my first Chinese citation! Eventually, I plan to look through every month of theNorth China Daily News from the late 1920's and early 1930's that I can get my hands on.

Pandora's Box screening 10-23

The Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida will screen a "digitally restored" version of Pandora's Box (1929) on October 23rd. This screening will feature a new score for the film composed by Prof. Tony Steve of Jacksonville University, which will be performed live by the JU Percussion Ensemble. This one-time only show will take place at 7 pm.

A reminder

Don't miss this . . . . "Lulu" - a silent (wordless) stage play at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco
Frank Wedekind's scandalous turn of the century drama performed as a silent film a la Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box."

"Lulu" was the hit of the 2006 NYC Fringe Festival, and has received rave reviews in the New York Times, Chicago Tribuneand San Francisco Chronicle.  It's lot's of fun. And Kyla Louise as Lulu is the sexiest femme fatale since Brooks herself played the role.

“…dreamlike…luscious…a bona-fide knockout.” - CHICAGO TRIBUNE.

Performances run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 7pm.
(Remaining shows October 19-20-21-22, 26-27-28-29).
More info and tickets at www.victoriatheatre.org

More about the play, the actors and the theater company (including video clips) at www.silenttheatre.com or www.myspace.com/silenttheatre