An Aussie bob

A fashion plate

A bunch of images from the San Francisco Examiner photo archive have been put up for sale on eBay. One particular image ran alongside a fashion column by Babette, which was syndicated in Hearts' newspaper syndicate.

Spring Awakening, a new translation

Today, I received an advance copy of Jonathan Franzen's new translation of Frank Wedekind's play, Spring Awakening. Here is what the publisher has to say.

First performed in Germany in 1906, Frank Wedekind’s controversial play Spring Awakening closed after one night in New York in 1917 amid charges of obscenity and public outrage. For the better part of the twentieth century Wedekind’s intense body of work was largely unpublished and rarely performed. Yet the play’s subject matter—teenage desire, suicide, abortion, and homosexuality—is as explosive and important today as it was a century ago. Spring Awakening follows the lives of three teenagers, Melchior, Moritz, and Wendl, as they navigate their entry into sexual awareness. Unlike so many works that claim to tell the truth of adolescence, Spring Awakening offers no easy answers or redemption.

I haven't had a chance to yet read the work, though I did read Franzen's challenging introduction. In it, the acclaimed, National Book Award winning novelist (The Corrections, etc...) notes Wedekind's California origins, his troubled history, as well as the play's controversial New York City debut. Franzen also mentions Wedekind's Pandora's Box, the character of Lulu, and their relationship to Spring Awakening, as well as the fact that Alban Berg wrote an opera based on the Wedekind play. (Franzen did not mention Pabst's film or Louise Brooks.)

I term Franzen's introduction challenging because Franzen does not hold his punches when discussing earlier translations, or even the recent Broadway musical - which he terms "insipid." From what I gather, this new translation promises a fuller and more truly representative version of Wedekind's work. We shall see. It would be great to see him translate Pandora's Box.

“Spring Awakening is the best play ever written about teenagers, and Jonathan Franzen's fraught yet buoyant translation is the best I've ever read.  In a culture where lies about adolescence prevail, this funny and honest play is more relevant than ever. Spring Awakening is essential reading.”  — Christopher Shinn

A sort of silent film

The Belgian comic duo Circoripopolohas has created a web feature (not unlike a short silent film) whose design includes affecting your Internet browser. Click on their site and your browser will immediately shrink. At first, you'll see two pairs of hands squeezing out of a small crack in the otherwise black screen. The duo keep pushing outward until they've successfully expanded your browser. Later, when they explode a large balloon, your browser shakes. Pretty nifty me thinks. Check it out athttp://users.telenet.be/kixx/

Pandora's Box - new soundtrack

The BBC website is reporting that a new soundtrack for Pandora's Box has been commissioned. The score will debut at a special screening in Bristol on September 15. According to the BBC

New meets old at the Watershed in September, with the world premiere of a brand spanking new musical score for a silent classic.
The orchestral score, from composer Paul Lewis, has been specially commissioned by Watershed and Bristol Silents for the gala screening of silent classic Pandora's Box.
The event, taking place at the Colston Hall on Saturday, 15 September, will be hosted by actor Paul McGann, a big fan of the film's star, Louise Brooks, and is part of the media centre's 25th birthday celebrations. . . .
Two years in the planning, music for the gala event will be performed by members of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by composer Paul Lewis.

Lewis has produced more than 500 pages of handwritten A3 score sheets to accompany the two hours and 11 minutes of Pandora's Box.

"The score is operatic and the melodies full-blooded," he explained.
"In spite of this I am scoring it for a relatively small orchestra as I believe this gives greater intimacy and a closer connection with the individual characters."
Adapted from the controversial plays of Frank Wedeking, Pandora's Box, released in 1929, stars Louise Brooks as young temptress Lulu who wreaks havoc in the lives of a wealthy newspaper editor, his hapless son and a lovelorn countess.
Chris Daniels of Bristol Silents said: "It's incredible that a film of this standing in world cinema hasn't had an orchestral score composed of this quality or on this scale before.
"Even people who know the film well will be experiencing it for the very first time in this way."

I would love to hear from anybody who attends this screening. I wish I could be there!

From Rudolph Nureyev to Louise Brooks

here was an article in yesterday's New York Times about Rudolph Nureyev. ** The piece was prompted by the debut of a new documentary about the Russian dancer which airs on PBS later this week. Well anyways, the article began in a most thoughtful kind of way. For me, the situation the reporter depicts rang true. The article began:

A POINT comes in the afterlife of an artist when, for the time being, biography has pretty much done its work. The essential history is known; the ambience is broadly understood; the relationship between the life and the work has yielded its chief mysteries. Barring bombshells any future surprises are apt to be minor: not revelations, just minutiae.

Sometimes, that's the situation I find myself in regarding Louise Brooks. There may not be all that much left to find out. Critics of the Louise Brooks Society - and there are a few - have complained that my efforts are too much focussed on picking through the scraps. Well, that's all I have access to. Sometimes, I find something interesting. . . like the unlikeliness of G.W. Pabst having seen A Girl in Every Port before he decided to cast Brooks in Pandora's Box, or the fact that Pandora's Box was screened in Newark, New Jersey in 1931 with sound effects! These simple facts may not be revelations, only minutiae. But they do alter some long held believes in the story of the actress.

My hunt goes on.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been back to the San Francisco Public Library looking at inter-library loan material. More microfilmed newspapers had arrived. I got a bit of Denishawn material and a few film reviews from the Bangor Daily News (Maine), Reading Times(Pennsylvania), Louisville Post (Kentucky), Virginian-Pilot and Norfolk Landmark (Norfolk, Virginia), and Montreal Gazette (Canada). My request for the Milwaukee Herold (a German-language newspaper from Wisconsin) was rejected as "title not on shelf." Oh well, that sometimes happens. Likewise, nothing turned up in the Morning Register (Eugene, Oregon), though I did find a short article and a large advertisement forBeggars of Life in some January, 1930 issues of the North China Daily News (Shanghai). Bad luck sometimes runs with good.

One unusual source I also examined was the New York Commerical. This New York City financial paper was something like today's Wall Street Journal. (Like so many other publications I have looked at, the Commerical is no longer published. I believe it either folded or merged with another paper in the late 1920's.) Anyways, somewhere along the line I had come across a reference to a Denishawn article appearing in that publication. So, I figure I would request some key dates and see what I could find. As it turns out, I found that review and bit more. Happily, the Commercialran a small amount of "entertainment news" pretty much every day - mostly reviews of New York happenings.

Along with the Denishawn dates, I also requested microfilm for the period when the George White Scandals opened in NYC in 1924. And lo and behold, I came across a June 30th article referencing Brooks as a performer in the Scandals. Wow, she was hardly a principal - but there was her name in an article in a newspaper. That article ran before the show opened. I also came across a interesting review titled "George White Excels His Best Scandals" after the show's debut. Brooks was not mentioned in it.

My luck with the Commerical convinced me to request additional microfilm.Thus, on the docket are microfilm requests for the period covering the opening of "Louie the 14th," the 1925 Ziegfeld Follies, and even the NYC openings of Brooks' early silent films. You never know what you may find. . . . Speaking of things found, here is a nice advertisement I came across in the Evening Bulletin (Providence, Rhode Island).

Last week, I also spent a little time organizing my projected inter-library loan requests. I have pending requests for some additional issues of theEvening Bulletin, as well as the New Orleans States (Louisiana), Hagerstown Morning Herald (Maryland), Evening Telegram (Superior, Wisconsin), and a few other papers. From here on out, I plan on putting in probably no more than two ILL requests per week till I am through. It should take me less than a year to get through  all of those.

** Trivia buffs: which silent film star with whom Brooks was acquainted did Rudolph Nureyev play in a film?

Beggars of Life to play at Cinecon

According to a story in today's Los Angeles Times, the 1928 Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life will be shown at this year's Cinecon film festival. The article, by Susan King, reads in part, "Other films in the lineup include the complete version of 1927's "The Patent Leather Kid," starring Richard Barthelmess in an Oscar-nominated performance; a newly restored print of the 1922 Mary Pickford classic "Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall"; the 1928 William Wellman drama "Beggars of Life" with Richard Arlen and Louise Brooks; and Paramount's first talkie, 1928's "Interference," starring William Powell and Evelyn Brent."

The Cinecon website - located at http://www.cinecon.org/ - doesn't reference the film. Perhaps it was just added to the schedule. Cinecon takes place in Hollywood. I have been a few times. That's were I saw Franz Lederer speak. (Lederer was Brooks co-star in Pandora's Box.) Once, I bumped into Kenneth Anger in the memorabilia room, and saw Kevin Brownlow present a John Ford film. I have also seen a bunch of silent and early sound films screened there. Cinecon is well worth going if you have never been.

Fashion Decrees, from Mme Lisbeth

Here is a clipping I ran across while looking through old newspapers on microfilm. As can be seen, Louise Brooks is one of the models included in this syndicated fashion column.

Valentino Is Dead

It was 81 years ago that Rudolph Valentino died. His passing made headlines across the United States and the world. Here is but one example. Louise Brooks - then a young actress - was acquainted with the "Latin Lover." They had met at a party. At a funeral mass in New York City - held just a few days after Valentino's death, one newspaper reported that Brooks was seen crying. Film buffs and the world shared her grief.

Lulu in Albany

The New York State Writers Institute has announced its Fall 2007 Classic Film Series, which includes an October 19th screening of Pandora's Box, with live music by pianist Mike Schiffer. Further details to come.

Google maps fun

Over the weekend, I spent some time playing around with Google maps. Basically, I was trying to figure out how they worked and how I might use them. To teach myself, I created an annotated map called "My Louise Brooks Research." In map form, it is a list of the libraries, museums, archives and historical societies I visited in search of material on the actress. Red pins mark more than 35 institutions in nearly as many cities. I also added green pins to indicate institutions which have been significant lenders of inter-library loan material. Check it out, it is kinda cool.

The next map I have started working on is much more complicated. It details the "Denishawn Tour 1922-1923." It's still a work in progress. In the future, I hope to make a map for the "Denishawn Tour 1923-1924," as well as a "Louise Brooks Gazetteer" detailing important places in the actresses' life. Stay tuned.

Louise Brooks mentioned on BBC website

Clive James - a well known British author, critic and commentator - mentioned Louise Brooks in an article posted yesterday on the BBC website. Brooks was also pictured in the piece, along with Garbo and Marlon Brando. You can read the piece, or hear the author read it aloud on the radio.

Hear Radio 4's A Point of View

James' article - entitled "Just a Pretty Face" - is prefaced thus. "There are not as many movie icons out there as we think. What makes one? Well it's not talent - they can just look pretty and our imagination does the rest." James goes on to write, "Since Garbo, every female film star has wanted the same for herself. Louise Brooks achieved iconic status without making many films that a mass audience ever saw, and nowadays almost nobody has seen any film she made, yet she is instantly recognizable by her hairstyle, which in itself gets described as iconic."

Louise Brooks is more than a haircut. And more than just a pretty face. I agree with James when he says that Brooks has not achieved a mass audience. However, I would qualify his statement and add that more people today have seen a Brooks film than he suspects. Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl are shown pretty regularly these days - both in revivals and even on television. Also, I would add that Brooks has now achieved a level of mass recognition that her more celebrated contemporaries enjoyed. A few years ago, Movie Star News - a company that reprints movie star images - reported that Louise Brooks was the second most popular star in their expansive catalog. Brooks trailed only Marilyn Monroe.

I am not sure how I feel about James' piece overall.

Beggars of Life screens in Chicago tomorrow

If you live in the Chicago area and are a Louise Brooks fan, don't miss this chance to see the actress on the big screen in Beggars of Life (1928). The film is being shown tomorrow at 8 pm as part of the Silent Film Society Summer series at the Portage Theater. For more information, see the Society's web page. When and if this outstanding Brooks film will ever be released on DVD is unknown - so this is a great chance to see it.

Beach Blanket Babylon

Tonight I saw the latest incarnation of Beach Blanket Babylon, the long running San Francisco musical farce . . . . And I think I picked-up on a very slight allusion to Louise Brooks. In one scene, set in Paris, an actor playing King Louie of France comes on stage to the tune of "Louie-Louie." That song quickly changes to the familiar "Louise,"  as in "every little breeze seems to whisper Louise. . .".  And Snow White, I think it was, then addresses him as Loulou. The King responds with, "just call me Lou." And allusion, or just a play on words - who can say?

Uncommon edition

Today, I received a copy of a book I had ordered over the internet. I received Lulu en Hollywood, the Spanish edition of Lulu in Hollywood. This first edition copy was published in Barcelona by Ultramar Editores, S.A. in November, 1984. As far as I can tell, this Spanish-language edition is pretty similar to the English-language edition. There is the introduction by William Shawn, seven essays by Louise Brooks, and an afterward by Lotte Eisner - all in Spanish. The only exception I have noted is in the filmography.

For some curious reason, the translator or editor of this edition added a film to Brooks' credits. In Lulu en Hollywood, Brooks is credited with having appeared in Robert Florey's Hollywood Boulevard (1937). Of course, Brooks did not appear in this film. And it's not the first time she is listed as having appeared in it. But there it is in this book. Why someone added I don't know.

Uncommon poster

Here's something I haven't seen before. According to it's eBay description, "This laminated poster advertises the German Film Season at the Barbican Theatre, which ran from October 1st – 31st 1982. It features a picture of Louise Brooks in profile, plus a list of films, including Diary of a Lost Girl, Nosferatu and Metropolis. It was taken from a London tube wall by a friend at the time and I have had it ever since. I think it came from somewhere on the Victoria line as it has "Vic 6/33" on the reverse.  . . . The white mark on my photo is the light shining on it. Thankfully it was laminated by whoever produced it."

Lulu in Bristol

Pandora's Box will be shown in Bristol, England on September 15th at 7:30 pm. The Weston & Somerset Mercury ran a short article about the screening in today's paper.

Pandora's Box opens in Bristol

ONE of the greatest silent films in cinematic history is to be shown at Bristol's Watershed.

Adapted from the controversial plays of Frank Wedekind, Pandora's Box stars the legendary Louise Brooks as young temptress Lulu.

The seductive youngster wreaks havoc on the lives of wealthy newspaper editor Dr Shon, his handsome but hapless son Alwa, and the lonely and lovelorn Countess Geschwitz, cinema's first lesbian.

The film has been brought to life by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, who will be performing the music, composed by Paul Lewis.

Watershed and Bristol Silents have been working to produce the special event over the past two years and the evening will be hosted by Paul McGann.

Pandora's Box is being screened on September 15 at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced £20, are available from the Colston Hall box office on 0117 922 3686.

My library research continues II

Spent an hour or so at the library today, as a few inter-library loans had come in. (I receive email notifications when my requests arrive and are processed and are made available.) I looked through microfilm of the Salt Lake Tribune (Utah), Hartford Times(Connecticut), and Providence Evening Bulletin (Rhode Island). It was a messy bunch of loans, as some of the dates I requested hadn't come and in one instance, the wrong reel of film was sent. Nevertheless, I managed to find a few reviews and articles about films in which Louise Brooks had a role.

I also looked through a few reels of the Montreal Standard, a weekly, English-Language Canadian newspaper. I found some material on Beggars of Life (1928) and The Canary Murder Case (1929). I won't reproduce the article I found on the later film (as it wasn't that interesting), but here is a captioned photograph and an advertisement for the film. These are typical of the sort of clippings I uncover. I have hundreds - if not thousands of examples of this kind of material.

Finishing up, I noted which dates from which newspapers I would need to re-request. I then added a few citations to the LBS bibliographies. And then I submitted a few more inter-library loan requests. This round, I asked for the Morning Register (Eugene, Oregon), Bangor News (Maine),North China Daily News (Shanghai, China), and Milwaukee Herold (Wisconsin). The later is a German-language newspaper which I haven't look at before. The search continues.

Allan Milkerit, r.i.p.

With sadness, the Louise Brooks Society is sad to report the death of Allan Milkerit. He was a friend to the LBS and a noted book dealer in San Francisco. Allan passed away suddenly on June 24th. Over the years, I had purchased or traded many books with Allan. He was exceptionally knowledgeable about and loved both books and films. We had numerous enjoyable conversations about book collecting and favorite films over the years. Many of the finest photoplay editions which I now possess - as well as other books on the movies - came to me through Allan. I will miss you, my friend.

My library research continues

Though I haven't been blogged about it for some time, I have continued my Louise Brooks library research. I am still placing inter-library loan requests, though at a somewhat slower pace. As I've mentioned before, I am coming to the end of my long, long, long list of newspaper and magazine requests. How long is this list? My log of such requests runs some 45 pages. I figure I have placed as many as 800 requests for inter-library loans!

Louise Brooks' two years with Denishawn have been the focus of some of my research. Recently, I have gotten some articles, reviews and advertisements from the Jamestown Morning Post and Watertown Daily Times (New York), Williamsport Gazette and Bulletin and Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania), New Haven Times-Leader (Connecticut), Daily Home News (New Brunswick, New Jersey),Louisville Herald (Kentucky) and New Orleans States (Louisiana). I also found a whole bunch of interesting and original material in a college newspaper, the Kansas State Collegian (from the school located in Manhattan, Kansas). You never know where things will turn up. Speaking of which, a friend turned me onto the on-line archive of the Jewish Criterion, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania paper. And there, I was able to dig up a few clippings relating to Denishawn performances in that city.

The bulk of my requests of late have been for newspapers through which I have searched for film reviews and other material. And, I am happy to report, I found some rinteresting and unusual stuff. Among the papers I have looked through are the Knickerbocker Press (Albany, New York),Newark Star-Eagle (New Jersey), South Bend Tribune (Indiana), Chatanooga Daily Times and Nashville Banner (Tennessee), San Antonio Light(Texas), Salt Lake Telegram (Utah), Tacoma News Tribune (Washington), and Capitol Journal (Salem, Oregon).

As of now, I have about 50 to 100 requests left to process. The bulk of these are from New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Canada. It is slow work, as I am only able to place so many requests at a time. In theory, the readers of this blog will be spared these dull reports in the future.

Digging around on-line databases and archives on the internet have also turned up fresh material. I found articles and other clippings - including anecdotes and mentions in various syndicated film-related columns - in the Amarillo Globe (Texas), and the Hamilton Daily News and Hamilton Evening Journal (Ohio). I also got some remarkable reviews from the Benton Harbor News-Palladium (Michigan). In 1927, Louise Brooks' Mother spoke in Michigan before a women's group in Benton Harbor, a resort town located not far from her then residence of Chicago, Illinois. And after that appearance - this western Michigan newspaper consistently highlighted Brooks' role in any film of her's which played in town. As if she were a local girl, Louise Brooks name was prominent in headlines on the entertainment page.

Lulu at Pordenone

A schedule of films for the 2007 Giornate film festival in Pordenone, Italy has just been announced. If you don't know - this many day festival is the big annual event in the world for those who love silent movies. This is mecca for silent film buffs. Among the films being screened is Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks. The G.W. Pabst directed film be shown with a new score by Paul Lewis. The score was jointly commissioned by the Giornate and Bristol Watershed. I wish I could be there, but alas, Italy is far away.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

I had a great time at the recent San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Though I worked the book table throughout the festival (and was even interviewed by Turner Classic Movies in my role as a bookseller), I managed to see some films, made some new friends, and renewed some old acquaintanceships. I met TCM host Robert Osborne, and chatted with San Francisco Chroniclefilm critic Mick LaSalle, who surprised me by revealing a new-found appreciation for Louise Brooks and her role in Pandora's Box. Later, noticing my Louise Brooks Society t-shirt, the always affable Leonard Maltin asked me if I had made any converts at the Festival. I responded that I was always "proselytizing" . . . .and then I handed him a Lulu button. I also met author, promoter and all-around film noir expert Eddie Muller, who told me he is currently making a noirish film whose turning point revolves around a character uttering the words, "Louise Brooks." I can't wait to see it, as all of Muller's film noir projects are very stylish and very interesting.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a great festival and a lot of fun. I would encourage everyone to attend future festivals. Various reports, posts and blogs on this year's event can be found on the Google newsgroup, alt.movies.silent. Check it out and see what others thought of the goings-on and the films shown.

The highlight of the festival, for me, was the screening of the 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life. A new 35mm print from the George Eastman House made it's West Coast premiere at this annual July event. Pictured below top left is the Castro Theater marquee promoting the Saturday films. It's cool to see a Brooks film "up in lights" - so to speak.

The guy with the glasses top right is me. I am standing next to William Wellman Jr., the son of the great director whose films include Beggars of Life as well as such landmark works as Wings, The Public Enemy, the original A Star is Born, Beau Geste, The Ox-Bow Incident, etc.... Wellman Jr. and I got to chat quite a bit over the course of the weekend. He is an accomplished actor and producer, as well as an historian and champion of his father's incredible body of work. Wellman Jr. told me about his father, and what his father told him about working with Louise Brooks. . . .

     

Wellman Jr. was on hand to say a few words about his father's films and Beggars of Life. Before a crowd of more than 1200, Wellman praised Brooks and her role in the film. I think he was stating something many in the audience felt, including Leonard Maltin, who wrote about the Festivala few days later. (I think Maltin's comments - and those of Pat Loughney of the George Eastman House - will be of interest to all Brooks fans!)

Louise Brooks fans, who are legion, packed the Castro on Saturday night for the screening of Beggars of Life, Jim Tully’s tale of hoboes in which she and Richard Arlen make an absolutely gorgeous duo. It was introduced by William Wellman, Jr., the able keeper of his father’s flame. The 35mm print was enlarged from the only surviving copy of this important film, a 16mm original owned by the late William K. Everson. I first saw this when Bill screened that print many years ago, but I never dreamt that it was a unique copy. It made a surprisingly good transition to 35mm, although some of the beautiful lighting suffered somewhat because of wear and tear to the original. (I asked Pat Loughney if it would be possible—or feasible—to now digitize that 35mm blowup, improve the contrast and remove some of the scratches, then transfer it back to film. He anticipated my question and said it’s one of his priorities to do just that. Modern technology offers possibilities for film restoration that didn’t exist just ten years ago.)

Pictured bottom left is Wellman Jr., who is signing copies of his book, The Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture. I started reading this recently published book, and can report it is very good. Brooks' and her role in Beggars of Life are given a few pages in this telling of the famous director's early life. There are also a couple of images from the film found in the book.  The bottom right picture is a snapshot I took of Wellman Jr. reading Lulu in Hollywood. At the time, Wellman was reading Brooks' essay about his father, "On Location with Billy Wellman."

     

Also seen on the table in the bottom left images is a VHS copy of Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick, the acclaimed 1996 documentary about his father which Wellman Jr. executive co-produced and appears in. My wife (in the green jacket) and I just watched this outstanding 90 minute film last night. We both thought it was excellent - and a great piece of Hollywood history. I would recommend it. I liked it so much that I added four Wellman films to our Netflix cue. (For the record, neither Louise Brooks nor Beggars of Life are depicted in this film, though the actress is referenced by one of the commentators.)

Wellman Jr. had a few VHS copies Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick for sale. We bought one. I think interested individuals can find second-hand VHS copies on-line. The documentary has not yet been released on DVD. Also for sale at the Festival was a 10 page pamphlet produced by Rodney Sauer, Director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. I had a chance to meet Rodney, and talk a little bit about their efforts. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra performed live musical accompaniment for a few films during the Festival, including Beggars of Life. Not surprisingly, Rodney is a Brooks fan. Their arrangement and score came in for very warm applause. More about this talented musical group can be found at their website.

What did I see at the Festival? Along with the above mentioned items, I saw the pleasing Student Price in Old Heidelberg (satrring Ramon Navarro and Norma Shearer - and with Mick LaSalle's thoughtful introduction), a panel on film preservation, a few film shorts, and the dark, brooding British film, A Cottage on Dartmoor. I was especially impressed with this noir-ish silent film, as was everyone else I spoke with. I missedMiss Lulu Bett - which is something I have seen on video and liked. I also unfortunately missed The Godless Girl (a Cecil B. DeMille film starring Marie Prevost and Lina Basquette), as it was time to break down our book table and go home. Fortunately, the film will be released on DVD in the Fall as part of the third groundbreaking set in the Treasures from American Archives series.

The nature of art

There is a lot of "fan art" out there. Some of it is good, most of it is not. Much of it passes bye - on eBay or fan sites or message boards - without comment. Sometimes I think to myself, WTF ? But there it is. Some fan's sincere artistic rendering of their idol. But is it art ? Who can say ? I guess that's why they call it "fan art." (In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit I own a few pieces of Louise Brooks fan art.)

An artist named Esqui occasionally places some of his art for sale on eBay. The piece pictured below was just listed. I like it. I like it alot. There is something "perfect" about it. Perhaps the color scheme?

There is something appealing about it. If nobody bids on it, I might. What do you think?

Louise Brooks

This postcard reportedly dates from the 1920's. It is by an artist named Bornand. In all likelyhood, it does not depict Louise Brooks - though it is a close match. What do you think.

Beggars of Life to screen in Chicago

Beggars of Life (1928) will be shown in Chicago in August. Here is a link to an article mentioning the film and other silent films which are being shown over the course of the Summer.

Just Another Blonde status

Fragments of the 1926 Louise Brooks' film, Just Another Blonde, still exist. The film has long been considered lost. To find out more, visit this archive record on the UCLA website

Prix de beaute shows tonight

Prix de beaute (1930) shows at the Harvard Film Archive tonight at 7:00 pm. For more information about this superb Louise Brooks film and tonight's event, check out this webpage.

RadioLulu r.i.p. ?

The days left for RadioLulu may well be numbered. Should the new royality rates go into affect, and should that cost be passed along to me - the broadcaster, I think I will have to shut down the station. I am a poor fan - and don't think I would be able to afford an increase in annual fees.

I hope everyone who loves Louise Brooks and silent film and popular music of the 1920's and 1930s has had a chance to listen to the many fabulous rarities broadcast on the LBS on-line radio station.

SaveNetRadio wrote yesterday:

Time and options are running out for Internet Radio. Late this afternoon, the court DENIED the emergency stay sought on behalf of webcasters, millions of listeners and the artists and music they support.UNLESS CONGRESS ACTS BY JULY 15th, the new ruinous royalty rates will be going into effect on Sunday, threatening the future of all internet radio.
We are appealing to the millions of Internet radio listeners out there, the webcasters they support and the artists and labels we treasure to rise up and make your voices heard again before this vibrant medium is silenced. Even if you have already called, we need you to call again. The situation is grave, but that makes the message all the simpler and more serious.
PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES RIGHT AWAY and urge them to support the Internet Equality Act. Go to (Link) to find the phone numbers of your Senators and Representative.
If they've already co-sponsored, thank them and tell them to fight to bring the bill to the floor for an immediate vote. If the line is busy, please call back. Call until you know your voice has been heard. Your voices are what have gotten us this far - Congress has listened. Now, they are our only hope. We are outmatched by lobbying power and money but we are NOT outmatched by facts and passion and the power of our voices.

An embroidered portrait

Erkia, friend of the LBS, sent this image of an embroidered portrait of Louise Brooks which she recently completed. Isn't it awesome?

Berkeley Daily Planet article

I am looking forward to this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Here is what the Berkeley Daily Planet had to report on what has become the best silent film festival in the country.

Moving Pictures: Silent Film Festival a Portal To the Picturesque Past
By Justin DeFreitas (07-10-07)

In today’s fully wired world of digital video and handheld viewing devices, it may be difficult to fathom a time when the moving picture was itself a revolutionary technology. In the first few decades of the 20th century, as the new medium was developed and perfected, it brought with it a radical cultural shift, bringing images from all over the world to neighborhood theaters. The cinema essentially held a monopoly on mass entertainment, for this was before television brought the moving image into the home, and even before radio, which first brought the immediacy of live news and entertainment into the living room in the 1930s.

It was likewise before commercial aviation, a time when travel was more daunting, more arduous, and less accessible to the working class. Thus cinema provided a unique and engaging portal to the world for many who might not otherwise venture beyond regional borders.
The 12th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival, running this weekend at the Castro Theater, is a portal of its own, taking audiences back to a time when film was establishing itself as the dominant art form of the new century. The festival’s mission is to showcase the art of silent film as it was meant to be seen, with quality prints presented at proper projection speeds and accompanied by period-appropriate live music.

In those early years, cinema, despite the tiredness of the cliché, was a new and universal language. Photography in newspapers and magazines could provide a glimpse of other cultures and other lives, but moving pictures, captured in faraway lands and projected on a screen, brought vivid images of a life beyond: clouds of dust kicked up by wagon trains moving west; waves unfolding on distant shores; the gleam of moonlight on cobblestones in a European village; the very ways in which people moved and lived throughout the world. It was a time when cinema was simpler in means yet just as rich in content, relying almost exclusively on image and motion to convey plot and import.

It was the lack of dialogue in fact which lent the movies much of their universal appeal, establishing film as a visual language that would be undermined once the images began to talk. For along with the advent of synchronized sound came the cultural barrier of language, a gap bridged only by such awkward translation devices such as dubbing, the falsity of which created a visual-verbal dissonance, and subtitling, which detracted from cinema’s impact by drawing the eye away from the image. Silent film instead relied on intertitles, an imperfect device to be sure, but one which at least had the virtue of separating the printed words from the image, leaving the visuals untouched and undiluted. And translation was simply a matter of replacing the title cards as a film crossed international borders.

This year’s festival presents something of the international appeal and range of silent-era cinema by bringing together an eclectic selection of films. The festival kicks off Friday with a mainstream American studio production, The Student Prince of Old Heidelberg. This is Germany by way of MGM, with big Hollywood stars Norma Shearer and Ramon Novarro directed with continental flare by the great Ernst Lubitsch.
Continuing with the international theme, Saturday will feature an afternoon screening of Maciste, an Italian classic that the festival’s programmers—Executive Director Stacey Wisnia and Artistic Director Steve Salmons—came across at the Pordenone Silent Festival in Italy. This was the first in a series of Maciste films starring Barolomeo Pagan as a heroic strong man rescuing damsels in distress. Sunday’s screenings include “Retour De Flamme” (“Saved From the Flames”), a program of early rarities by French cinema pioneers, presented, with his own piano accompaniment, by Parisian film collector Serge Bromberg, and The Cottage on Dartmoor, a British “psycho-noir” by director Anthony Asquith.

Another aspect of the Silent Film Festival’s mission is to educate its audience about the preservation and restoration of our rapidly disappearing cinematic heritage. Thus for the second year the festival is hosting “Amazing Tales from the Archives,” a free Sunday morning presentation on the effort to preserve that history. The program is the brainchild of Wisnia, who, despite the skepticism of her colleagues, thought last year’s presentation might draw a decent crowd. All were surprised when the turnout nearly filled the Castro’s main floor. This year’s program will focus on “peripheral” films—trailers, newsreels and shorts—and on obsolete formats, such as 28-millimeter, a format originally sold for use in homes and schools. Many 28mm films shorts will be screened throughout the festival, including travelogues, educational films and short comedies, even one of Harold Lloyd’s rarely screened “Lonesome Luke” films.

Though Wisnia and Salmons’ tastes may skew toward the lesser-known films from the era, they make an effort to fill a range of genres, from comedy to drama, from blockbuster studio productions to quieter, more experimental work, from star-studded large-scale productions to forgotten gems by actors and directors nearly lost to film history. Other films on the menu include:

• Valley of the Giants, a drama set amid the towering redwoods of the Sierra Nevada, featuring nearly forgotten actor Milton Sills.

• Beggars of Life, a follow-up to last year’s screening of Pandora’s Box, featuring the legendary flapper-vixen Louise Brooks. This time Brooks takes a radically different role, spending most of the film attired in men’s clothes in a story of hobos riding the rails in Depression-era America.

• The Godless Girl, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, one of the greatest showmen to take up film. His films were spectacles, full of melodrama and hysteria, and, more often than not, a steady stream of vice, usually denounced toward the end of the film to accommodate censors.

• Miss Lulu Brett, by William DeMille, a successful Broadway playwright and accomplished film director whose work was often overshadowed by that of his younger, brasher, more ostentatious brother. Miss Lulu Brett is considered his best film, based a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Zona Gale. William takes a quieter, humbler approach than his more famous brother, telling a tale of a small-town girl stuck as a servant in her sister’s household while looking for a path toward a happier and more meaningful life.

• Camille, a distinctive and innovative Warner Bros. production starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino.

• And every festival includes at least one program focusing on the silent era’s comic masters. This year spotlights producer Hal Roach, screening four short comedies from Roach Studio stalwarts like Charley Chase and the Our Gang ragamuffins.

SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
Friday, July 13 through Sunday, July 15 at the Castro Theater, 429 Castro St., San Francisco. (925) 275-9005. www.silentfilm.org.

Photograph: Doris Kenyon and Milton Sills in Valley of the Giants (1927).

An invitation to the Commonwealth of Happiness

Check out this rare promotional card from the 1924 George White Scandals. Louise Brooks is not named - she really wasn't important or famous enough to be named - but there she is.

I am not sure what the purpose of the card might have been, except promotional. On the back of the card it reads "Commonwealth of Happiness - G.W.S. - PERMIT.” The owner of the card plans to sell it at auction. I betcha it goes for a bunch!

French colors

From an article about the La Rochelle film festival in Le Monde, the French newspaper. ( Click here for the article.) I guess Louise Brooks is something of a pop art star.

A Beautiful Fairy Tale

I have been meaning to write something more about A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran, by Richard Buller. I had taken it with me to New York City, where I read long passages while waiting at the airport, in-flight, and while waiting for various buildings to open. I was so glad to have it with me in NYC - a kind-of mythical place for anyone interested in Louise Brooks and a place important as well in the life story of Lois Moran. A Beautiful Fairy Tale is a great read. I really enjoyed it. Richard Buller did a fine job in both researching Moran's life and in writing about it.

Moran led a fascinating life. Did you know, that as a teenage girl, Moran lived in the same Paris hotel as James Joyce? She was photographed by Man Ray, and knew Kiki of Montparnasse. Also fascinating is her later friendship (and maybe more ?) with Jazz Age writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Moran was a major star in the mid-1920's, and she knew and worked with many of the other leading stars and directors of her day. I would recommend this biography to anyone interested in movies of the 1920's.

Be sure and check out the author's website at www.loismoran.com/

Domenic Priore

Tonight, I hosted an event with rock music historian Domenic Priore, author of the just released book Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock'n'Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood. His book is really fascinating and detailed look at the explosion of art, youth culture and music in Los Angeles in the mid-1960's. (One of the special guests at the event was Michael Stuart-Ware, the drummer for LOVE, one of the bands profiled in Priore's book.)

I mention this somewhat off-topic event only because Priore - as it turns out - is a big Louise Brooks fan. Before the event, while we were still setting up, I found him sitting by himself looking at Peter Cowie's book, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever. That led to a conversation about the actress and her continuing appeal . . . .

By the way, if you visit Domenic's MySpace page, you will notice a link to one of his MySpace friends - actually the name of a L.A. rock music club - called "Pandora's Box." This contemporary club takes its name from a legendary 1960's establishment - also called Pandora's Box - which was torn down in 1967. How cool is that ! That there was a club called Pandora's Box - not that it was torn down. (And while you are there, don't forget to listen to the Keith Allison's 1967 recording, "Louise," which can be found on the club's MySpace page.)

Some interesting books

One of the books I recently received via inter-library loan is The German Bestseller in the 20th Century: A Complete Bibliography and Analysis 1915-1940, by Donald Ray Richards. This 1968 book does NOT make for interesting reading, as it is mainly composed of charts and listings. I borrowed the book on a hunch. I wanted to find out if Margarete Bohme's novel, The Diary of a Lost One, was really a "bestseller" - as it is sometimes described. Bohme's book - now little known to American readers - was the basis for the 1929 Louise Brooks' film, The Diary of a Lost Girl.

Well, as it turns out, it was a big, big seller. The book was first published in 1905. And, if I understand Donald Ray Richards' analysis correctly, by 1931 Bohme's book had sold an astounding 563,000 copies. How does that compare to other titles? Bohme's sales placed it among the top 15 selling books for the period between 1915 and 1940. The bestseller for the period was Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, which sold more than 1,300,000 copies in about as many years. And seemingly, Erich Marie Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front sold more than 900,000 copies in one year's time. Remarque's anti-war novel, which was also made into a film, placed third.

It would be interesting to know if Pabst's 1929 film helped boost sales of Bohme's book? I also wonder if there was any sort of movie tie-in edition issued in Germany or Austria . . . .

Late last year and earlier into this year, I had searched the online used book market in hopes of acquiring just such an edition. But no luck. However, I did acquire a number of other interesting editions including an illustrated copy, a dramatization, and a rare parody of Bohme's book.

_________________

A couple of other interesting books I borrowed were two by Christa Winsloe, The Child Manuela and Girls in Uniform. If these titles sound somewhat familiar, they should. Each served as the basis for Madchen in Uniform, the extraordinary and provocative 1931 German film about a sensitive girl sent to an all-girls boarding school who develops a romantic attachment to one of her female teachers. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS FILM - GO OUT AND RENT IT IMMEDIATELY. IT IS REALLY EXCELLENT - AND SOMEWHAT THEMATICALLY REMINISCENT OF DIARY OF A LOST GIRL. The Wikipedia entry on the film has lots of interesting background information.



I wasn't sure about the exact relationship of the two books to the film. What I found out is that Girls in Uniform is a play in three acts. And, according to the title page, it was "Adapted from the German Play Gestern und Heaute Upon Which the Film Madchen in Uniform Is Based."Girls in Uniform was published in English translation in the United States in 1933. The Child Manuela, which is a novel, was also published  in English translation. According to a publisher's note found in that book, "The author of the play Children in Uniform and the film Maedchen in Uniform originally conceived the story as a novel and so wrote it. The novel, here published for the first time, tells in detail the story of the child Manuela and her family before she left to go to the school which was the setting of both the motion picture and the play."

I am looking forward to reading the play sometime soon.

Has anyone who might read this blog ever seen Madchen in Uniform?

"Pandora's Box" screens tonight in NYC

Pandora's Box , starring Louise Brooks, will be shown tonight in New York City.

The screening will take place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The film will be accompanied by Ben Model on the mighty Miditzer virtual theater organ.

Pandora’s Box
Series: 30 Years of Kino International [June 29 – July 12, 2007]
Director: G.W. Pabst,, Country: Germany, Release: 1929, Runtime: 100

G.W. Pabst’s immortal film version of the Wedekind play gave us one of the most enduring presences in cinema: Louise Brooks’ Lulu. She was a “new kind of femme fatale,” wrote J. Hoberman in The Village Voice, “generous, manipulative, heedless, blank, democratic in her affections, ambiguous in her sexuality.” As Brooks herself put it to Kenneth Tynan, “It was clever of Pabst to know even before he met me that I possessed the tramp essence of Lulu." She has inspired countless bob-haired imitators, but Brooks still reigns supreme. With Fritz Kortner and Franz Lederer.

For more information, see www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kino07/pandora_sbox.html

Another "Louise"

Here's another vintage version of "Louise," this one by Bob Haring and His Orchestra.

 

Starr, by Patrick Conrad

This book - which features Louise Brooks on the cover - showed up on eBay recently. I haven't been able to find out anything about it. Though I think it may be fiction - perhaps a crime novel or mystery. Does anyone know anything? Help!

Amy Crehore Paints Louise Brooks

John Brownlee's blog at Wired.com features a painting by artist Amy Crehore based on a photograph of Louise Brooks. (I have blogged about Crehore and her interest in Brooks in the past.) Check out the blog and images here. 

Brownlee likes Crehore's art a great deal, while describing Louise Brooks as "my own silver and silent heart's desire." [ Here is a link to Crehore's original blog about the painting.]

June 26th - RadioLulu - Day of Silence

RadioLulu and Live365, along with the SaveNetRadio coalition and Internet radio stations throughout the U.S., will be participating in a Day of Silence on Tuesday, June 26th. This is a call to action around a proposed ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board. See my earlier LJ post for details.

On June 26th, from 3 a.m. Pacific to midnight, all 10,000 Live365 stations - including RadioLulu - will go silent. Free listeners who tune into Live365.com stations will be redirected to a Day of Silence stream that offers an explanation, broadcaster testimonials and a call to action. VIP listeners will receive a Day of Silence PSA before being connected to the station's regular programming (if available).

"Pandora's Box" to screen in NYC

Pandora's Box (1929), starring the one and only Louise Brooks, will be shown in New York City on July 3rd. The screening will take place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The film will be accompanied by Ben Model on the mighty Miditzer virtual theater organ. For more information, see www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kino07/pandora_sbox.html

Pandora’s Box
Series: 30 Years of Kino International [June 29 – July 12, 2007]
Director: G.W. Pabst,, Country: Germany, Release: 1929, Runtime: 100

G.W. Pabst’s immortal film version of the Wedekind play gave us one of the most enduring presences in cinema: Louise Brooks’ Lulu. She was a “new kind of femme fatale,” wrote J. Hoberman in The Village Voice, “generous, manipulative, heedless, blank, democratic in her affections, ambiguous in her sexuality.” As Brooks herself put it to Kenneth Tynan, “It was clever of Pabst to know even before he met me that I possessed the tramp essence of Lulu." She has inspired countless bob-haired imitators, but Brooks still reigns supreme. With Fritz Kortner and Franz Lederer.

"Louise," by Irving Kaufmann

There have been many versions of "Louise." Here is another.

Louise Brooks first film appearance?

Was Louise Brooks'  first film appearance in a minor 1923 film called Cause for Divorce ?

I came across this intriguiging May, 1924 clipping while going through Denishawn scrapbooks during my recent visit to New York City. Frankly, I had almost missed it, as it was one of hundreds of similar small articles of no particular interest. (I am still slowly going through the nearly 600 photocopies I made on that trip - the most material I have ever uncovered during one of my research expeditions.)

The article refers to a minor 1923 film directed by Hugh Dierker (perhaps the only one he made - though he did write the screenplay for another). The film was released by Hugh Dierker Productions, and distributed by the Selznick Distributing Corporation. According to the article, the manager of a New Brunswick, New Jersey theater claimed that members of the Denishawn Dance Company appear in the film. The company had recently performed in New Brunswick, and seemingly there was still a bit of a buzz about the dancers around town. Enough so, at least, for the manager of a movie theater to make a claim that "Ted Shawn and most of the girls will positively appear in the picture." How he would know they were in the picture, I can't say.

I haven't been able to find out much of anything about Cause for Divorce except that it was released in 1923. Brooks was a member of Denishawn in 1922 and 1923. However, the Denishawn Dancers are not credited in the IMDb entry on the film. Until some further proof emerges - like stills, production history of Cause for Divorce, or even the film itself - the possibility of Brooks' first film appearance will have to remain a mystery.

[ Does any reader of this blog know anything about Cause for Divorce ? ]

Beggars of Life to screen in Chicago

The Silent Film Society of Chicago will screen Beggars of Life on August 17th as part of its summer film festival. For more info and a list of other silent films to be shown this summer, see http://silentfilmchicago.com/

A possible new book

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle ran an article yesterday about Jack Garner, the film critic who is retiring. Jack is a nationally syndicated journalist, and a longtime fixture on the Rochester arts scene. Jack is also a friend to all those interested in Louise Brooks. Not only had Garner known the actress in Rochester (where he has worked since the early 1970's), he had also interviewed Brooks and contributed the forward to the recent book by Peter Cowie, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.

Garner will continue to contribute articles to the newspaper. And interestingly, the article mentions that "Garner has several book ideas that have been percolating, including one for children and one about former silent movie star Louise Brooks, who spent the latter part of her life in Rochester."

A possible new book!

Found

Found today on a street light poll in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. This is not the first example of Louise Brooks' image used on a rock n roll handbill that I have come across.

Stolen Moments

The most recent issue of Stolen Moments - Donna Hill's always interesting silent film podcast - features an interview with Stephen Salmons, director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. In the interview, Salmons talks about Beggars of Life, the 1928 Louise Brooks film which will be screened at this year's festival. This podcast - as well as each of the earlier installments - are well worth a listen.

Colleen Moore website

Jeff Codori - silent film buff, researcher, and Colleen Moore fan - has launched a major new Colleen Moore website. The site can be found at http://www.colleenmoore.org/  Jeff has put a lot of work into the site, and it contains many pictures and lots of text. I would encourge everyone to check it out. And what's more, Jeff is working on a book on the actress. Perhaps you can help ?

A Spring Awakening - Pandora's Box connection

Everybody knows that Spring Awakening (the play which served as the source for the hit Broadway musical) and Pandora's Box (the play which served as source for the 1929 film starring Louise Brooks) were BOTH written by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind.

Well, the connection doesn't stop there. Recently, two member's of the Tony award winning Broadway play were interviewed prior to the screening of the Louise Brooks film. According to a May 29th article in the New York News,

Tonight the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville will be hosting a special Q&A with the Tony-nominated talent behind the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening."

Composer Duncan Sheik and book writer-lyricist Steven Sater will be interviewed by New York Times critic Janet Maslin in conjunction with a screening of the 1929 silent-film classic "Pandora's Box." 

I wasn't able attend this event at the Burns Film Center (which is located in the New York City area). Did any reader of this blog make it to this screening and onstage-talk?

p.s. The long-dead and somewhat neglected Frank Wedekind has certainly been getting more attention lately. This is due in large part to the success of Spring Awakening on Broadway. Interestingly, due out this fall is a new translation of Spring Awakening by acclaimed novelist Jonathan Franzen (author of The Corrections).

Rudolf Arnheim Dies

Rudolf Arnheim, a psychologist and scholar of art and ideas, has died. He was 102 years old. Arnheim was born in Berlin, and was known to film buffs for his classic study, Film as Art. According to Wikipedia, Arnheim's

preoccupation with film led to the publication in 1932 of his first book entitled Film als Kunst (Film as Art), in which he examined the various ways in which film images are (and should always aspire to be) different from literal encounters with reality. However, soon after this book was released, Adolph Hitler came to power, and because Arnheim was Jewish, the sale of his book was no longer allowed.

The book was published in English translation in 1957, and was widely used in American classrooms during the 1960's and 1970's. For those not familiar with the book, it should be noted that it contains three short passages concerning the 1929 Louise Brooks film, The Diary of a Lost Girl.