Jean Paul Gaultier coat features Louise Brooks

PerezHilton.com reported on November 1 that Rihanna has been modeling a coat by designer Jean Paul Gaultier which bears a likeness of Louise Brooks.


The website noted, "RiRi looks especially seksi in a Miu Miu dress with dotted ruffle hem and a scarf tied around her head, and channels a punk rocker in a slashed The Clash tee by Chapel NYC and zippered Acne jacket. She also pays homage to 1920s actress Louise Brooks with a Jean Paul Gaultier coat bearing her likeness. Kinda random, but whatevs!"

Follow this link to see Rihanna herself wearing the coat.

As readers of this blog know, this is not the first time Gaultier has tipped his hat to Brooks. The French haute couture fashion designer has long had a fascination with certain silent film stars, including Louise Brooks.  This embroidered coat, from the designer's Autumn/Winter 2013 Women's Collection, features roll-up sleeves with embroidered detailing, a peaked collar with elastic fastening, and a large embroidered Louise Brooks graphic on the back. It is described as appealing to the fashion conscious as well as those looking for a timeless classic.

Louise Brooks, A Girl in Every Port plays Madison, Wisconsin

Director Howard Hawks had this to say about his choice of Louise Brooks for A Girl in Every Port (1928): "I wanted a different type of girl. I hired Louise because she's very sure of herself, she's very analytical, she's very feminine, but she's damn good and sure she's going to do what she wants to do."

This Howard Hawks-directed buddy film, in which Brooks plays a gold digger, is considered one of the legendary director's best silent efforts. It screens at the Cinematheque at the University of Wisconsin in Madison on December 7th, with live musical accompaniment provided by David Drazin.

Louise Brooks article on Huffington Post

I've posted a new article about Louise Brooks to the Huffington Post. It covers all the latest goings on. Read the article HERE. The slide show embedded in the article contains a very rare photograph of Louise Brooks that is also incredibly sexy. You must see to believe.

The contemporary film critic David Thomson once described Louise Brooks as "One of the most mysterious and potent figures in the history of the cinema . . .."

Earlier, the French critic Ado Kyrou said "Louise Brooks is the only woman who had the ability to transfigure no matter what film into a masterpiece. . . . Louise is the perfect apparition, the dream woman, the being without whom the cinema would be a poor thing. She is much more than a myth, she is a magical presence, a real phantom, the magnetism of the cinema."

His words were echoed by the German critic Lotte Eisner, who described Brooks as "An actress who needed no directing, but could move across the screen causing the work of art to be born by her mere presence."

Barry Paris to introduce Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life in Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette movie critic and Louise Brooks biographer Barry Paris will introduce a screening of the sensational William Wellman directed film Beggars of Life (1928) at The Hollywood Theater (1449 Potomac Avenue) in Pittsburgh, PA. This special event, part of the theater's Silents, Please! silent film series, takes place on November 10th.

Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Daryl Fleming & the Public Domain, who have performed with and scored silent films in the region and abroad.More information and ticket availability at http://www.showclix.com/event/BeggarsOfLife.

Louise Brooks Film Series in Prague, Czech Republic

The films of Louise Brooks will be the subject of a series at the Kino Ponrepo starting November 14, the actress' birthday!

For those not familiar, the Ponrepo is the cinema of the National Film Archive in Prague, Czech Republic. The November 14th event marks the first of five screenings of five different Brooks films shown over the course of a month.

The Louise Brooks series follows a similar month long tribute to Clara Bow at the Kino Ponrepo. The Louise Brooks series was organized by the George Eastman House. 

The five films to be shown are Pandora's Box / Pandořina skříňka (screened on November 14th), Diary of a Lost Girl / Deník ztracené (screened on November 21st), A Girl in Every Port / Všude jiné děvče (screened on November 26th), Beggars of Life / Žebráci života (screened on December 3rd), and The Canary Murder Case / Případ zavražděného kanárka (screened on December 10th).

From the Kino Ponrepo website, here is the descriptive notes in Czech. The website also has an English language interface.

Louise Brooksová
14.11.2013 | 10.12.2013
Po říjnové Claře Bow představujeme další hvězdu přelomu němé a zvukové éry

Louise Brooksová – ve své době jedna z řady efemérních krásek stříbrného plátna, dnes kinematografická ikona nejvyšší autority. Bytostí byla jedinečnou, spontánní, provokativní a zcela bez pudu (společenské) sebezáchovy. Důsledky opakovaného vzdoru vůči studiu Paramount ji učinily páriou Hollywoodu.

Natočila pouhých šestnáct němých a sedm zvukových filmů, většina z nich na jakoukoli výjimečnost aspirovat nemohla. A k tomu navíc podstatná část z těch předzvukových titulů zůstává mimo dosah objektivního zhodnocení, protože stále přetrvává v kategorii ztracených. Nicméně Brooksová inspirativně zasáhla do mnoha dalších uměleckých děl, a to nejen coby typ moderní ženy obdařené nadčasovou krásou. Popkultura od amerických komiksů přes filmy Godarda, Caraxe či Tarantina až po repertoár novovlnných kapel OMD a  Siouxsie and the Banches je plná odkazů na její filmové postavy, soukromý život či neotřelou vizáž.

Za tento významový přesah až k současnosti vděčí Brooksová, pro niž rok 1938 znamenal naprostý konec dohasínající filmové kariéry, zejména dvěma hrdinkám z filmů vedených režií George W. Pabsta a vlastně také pařížské retrospektivě z počátku 50. let minulého století. Jak s Lulu z Pandořiny skřínky, tak s Tymian z Deníku ztracené bytostně splynula v živoucí postavy symbolických rozměrů stvořené z autorské fikce, režisérské jasnozřivosti a především vlastní osobnostní autenticity. Tvůrčí vklad Brooksové byl ovšem ryze intuitivní, vědomé pouto s těmito postavami ji přinesla teprve až sebereflexe pozdního věku zanesená do autobiografické knihy Lulu v Hollywoodu.

Retrospektivu pořádáme ve spolupráci s George Eastman House – významnou americkou archivní institucí, která od 50. let soustavně pečuje o hereččin odkaz.

Filmy:
Deník ztracené, Pandořina skříňka , Případ zavražděného kanárka , Všude jiné děvče , Žebráci života

Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society

Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society . . . .

Pandora's Box rock the house in Kentucky

Musician Ben Model, who accompanied Pandora's Box last night in Huntington, Kentucky tweeted following the event: "Wow, never had Pandora's Box rock a house like it did tonight. I may have finally found the key to playing for it, for me."

We wish we were there. Were you? If so, leave a comment in the comments field and tell us all about it!

Check out Ben Model's website at www.silentfilmmusic.com/

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks and Ben Model in Kentucky

Pandora's Box will be shown TONIGHT in Huntington, Kentucky at 7:30 pm with live musical accompaniment by the great Ben Model. Here below are the details from the host venue, the Cinema Arts Center. (Follow the link to purchase tickets or for more information.)

Louise Brooks stars in G.W. Pabst’s stunning film of Frank Wedekind’s classic about the fiery showgirl Lulu, whose explosive sexuality has a devastating effect on everyone. (Germany, 1929, 131 min., B&W, Director:  G. W. Pabst Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner,  Francis Lederer)

Live Organ Accompaniment by Ben Model
Members $9 • Public $14

One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst (The Threepenny Opera) had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box.

Based on the Lulu Plays by Frank Wedekind, whose Spring Awakening has just been adapted into a hit Broadway musical, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.

Ben Model is one of the USA’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silents at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the past 27 years. Ben co-curated MoMA’s “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” series and  Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle retrospective, and also curated Shout!Factory’s new “Ernie Kovacs Collection” DVD box set. A five-time recipient of the Meet The Composer grant, Ben is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S.A. and in Norway, and performs at universities, museums, and historic theaters. Ben is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film Series, now in its 14th season in NYC. Ben’s recorded scores can be heard on numerous DVD releases from Kino Video and others. Ben’s composed ensemble scores for films by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd are performed around the U.S. every year by orchestras and by

Homage to Lulu: Lou Reed has died

Rock musician, former Velvet Underground singer, and poet Lou Reed has died. Follow this link for an excellent, extended obit. In 2011, Reed had collaborated with Metallica on a concept album called Lulu. It is an obtuse homage to the Lulu archetype, and Louise Brooks - notice the bobbed hair worn by the Venus-like mannequin. All-in-all, fans had a hard time relating toits  dissonant lyrics and music. The album was praised by some, but mostly panned.

Lulu was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wedekind's plays Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box, which tell a story of a young abused dancer's life and relationships and are now collectively known as the "Lulu Plays." Since their publication in the early 1900's, the plays have been the inspiration for the Louise Brooks silent film (Pandora's Box, 1929), an opera, and countless other creative endeavors.

Originally the lyrics and musical landscape were sketched out by Lou for a theatrical production in Berlin, but after coming together with the Metallica for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York in 2009, each knew they wanted to make more music together. Lou was inspired enough by that performance to ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical Lulu piece to the next level.
In early May of 2011, they camped out recording at HQ studios in Northern California (not far from where Frank Wedekind was conceived), and complete ten songs. A deluxe packaging of the Lulu CD is pictured below.

 

Louise Brooks fan Mike Doughty (ex Soul Coughing) on tour

Mike Doughty and his band of musical samurai are touring the United States playing the best of Soul Coughing, including their tribute to Louise Brooks, "St. Louise Is Listening." Get tickets and more info: https://www.facebook.com/mikedoughty/events

The above is from Mike Doughty's album of reimagined Soul Coughing songs, "Circles Super Bon Bon...". Available Now at http://georiot.co/21yW

M. DOUGHTY ON TOUR
ALL SONGS FROM RUBY VROOM, EL OSO, IRRESISTIBLE BLISS

Oct 16 2013 -- Teaneck, NJ http://tktwb.tw/11RRuF2
Oct 17 2013 -- Philadelphia, PA http://bit.ly/1ckbJ51
Oct 18 2013 -- Burlington, VT http://bit.ly/14drmBl
Oct 19 2013 -- Boston, MA http://bit.ly/17CCAl3
Oct 20 2013 -- Portland, ME http://bit.ly/1bigUP4
Oct 22 2013 -- Cleveland, OH http://tktwb.tw/13MaiXE
Oct 23 2013 -- Detroit, MI http://bit.ly/13Uhe1k
Oct 24 2013 -- Chicago, IL http://bit.ly/19gYqkC
Oct 25 2013 -- Minneapolis, MN http://bit.ly/16FdXHo
Oct 26 2013 -- St. Louis, MO http://bit.ly/16Fe1Xx
Oct 27 2013 -- Milwaukee, WI http://bit.ly/17cLZkm
Oct 29 2013 -- Boulder, CO http://bit.ly/16Fe6u9
Oct 30 2013 -- Salt Lake City, UT http://bit.ly/13UhtJM
Nov 1 2013 -- Vancouver, BC http://tktwb.tw/19gYyAE
Nov 2 2013 -- Seattle, WA http://bit.ly/1cR2J5d
Nov 3 2013 -- Portland, OR http://bit.ly/1cR2M0W
Nov 5 2013 -- Santa Cruz, CA http://tktwb.tw/16A7GL2
Nov 6 2013 -- San Francisco, CA http://bit.ly/1cR2QOa
Nov 8 2013 -- Los Angeles, CA http://bit.ly/19gYGQT
Nov 9 2013 -- Santa Ana, CA http://bit.ly/16FekS6
Nov 10 2013 -- Phoenix, AZ http://bit.ly/13p2XK6
Nov 12 2013 -- Dallas, TX http://bit.ly/1exVa1n
Nov 13 2013 -- Austin, TX http://bit.ly/1bihpIT
Nov 14 2013 -- Houston, TX http://bit.ly/19gYQrr
Nov 15 2013 -- New Orleans, LA http://tktwb.tw/14t6yds
Nov 16 2013 -- Tampa, FL http://tktwb.tw/198nAyy
Nov 17 2013 -- Orlando, FL http://ticketf.ly/13p33RT
Nov 19 2013 -- Nashville, TN http://bit.ly/14Ct5Y1
Nov 20 2013 -- Atlanta, GA http://bit.ly/19gYXmO
Nov 21 2013 -- Carrboro, NC http://bit.ly/17cMlY7
Nov 22 2013 -- Washington DC http://ticketf.ly/14GIVdh
Nov 23 2013 -- New York, NY http://bit.ly/19SwrXU

Here is video of Mike and his musicians rehearsing "True Dreams of Wichita."

Get the album:
iTunes: http://georiot.co/21yW
Amazon: http://georiot.co/3uUN
Direct: http://merchdirect.com/mikedoughty
From a local record store: http://recordstoreday.com/Item/900508...

Video: Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (clip)

Pandora's Box will be shown in Huntington, Kentucky on Tuesday, October 29th at 7:30 pm with live musical accompaniment by Ben Model. Here are the details from the host venue, the Cinema Arts Center. (Follow the link to purchase tickets or for more information.)

Sammy Tramp's Traveling Flicker Factory

One time stage Lulu, now Chaplinesque hobo Sammy Tramp is traveling the world performing in venues large and small, and all the while making delightful short films. Here is her latest, "Hats a Plenty."

Sammy Tramp's Traveling Flicker Factory is a one-of-a-kind old fashioned, moving picture company that creates "instant" silent films featuring local vaudevillian and burlesque performers and original story lines. Sammy Tramp, one of the nation's premiere vaudevillians and the artistic director of The Beggar's Carnivale, travels from town to town, works with locales and performers within that location and puts together a delightful, comedic and clever silent film. Taking the silver screen to the the modern age and then taking it back in time again.

In this edition Sammy goes down under in Melbourne Australia. Sammy is also available for bookings. For more information please visit SammyTramp.tumblr.com

Jan Wahl - author extraordinaire and friend of Louise Brooks

I just got off the phone with Jan Wahl, the celebrated children's book author and longtime friend of Louise Brooks.

We talked about many things, including books, old theaters, the movies - both classic and contemporary, and of course Brooks herself. This is the first time Jan and I have spoken on the phone, though we have exchanged letters and books. (I also met Jan's niece some years back.)

Jan recounted a number of stories about the Brooks, some of which were included in his books and other writings, and some of which I had never heard before (and wouldn't dare repeat).

Jan has known and befriended many interesting and famous people over the years. He several months working with noted filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer during the filming of Ordet (The Word), and later turned that into a fascinating book from the University Press of Kentucky. He was also for a time the personal secretary to Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), the celebrated novelist and short story writer.

In the course of our 30 minute conversation, Wahl also recounted anecdotes of encounters with the likes of artist Jasper Johns, sculptor Alexander Calder, and photographer Edward Steichen.

His very first book, Pleasant Fieldmouse (1964), was illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Another early book, Cobweb Castle (1968), was illustrated by Edward Gorey, whom he knew.

I want to encourage everyone to seek out Jan Wahl's books. They are recommended, and he is a gifted writer and storyteller. These two books by Wahl, Dear Stinkpot: Letters From Louise Brooks, and Through a Lens Darkly, belong on the bookshelf of every Brooks fan. Go get a copy today!

Cool pics of the Day: Louise Brooks in profile

Here are a three smashing portraits of Louise Brooks, each in profile or semi-profile. Each was taken in the mid-to-late 1920s, and each shows off her delicious bob.

Smoking with Lulu in London anyone?

Had anyone had the chance to see the latest production of Smoking with Lulu in London? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please post in the comments field, or email the Louise Brooks Society. The LBS has written earlier about the play here.

The only notice regarding the play which I saw online was this brief bit from September 30 from TimeOut London, which described Janet Munsil's play thus:

"Theatre critic Kennth Tynan and legendary silent movie star Louise Brooks once met and this play is about that fateful moment."

There was also short write-up on a site called skiddle.com.

New novel features Louise Brooks Society

A just published novel features the Louise Brooks Society. The Vanity, by Robert Murillo, is a lovely, Jack Finney like story about one man's love of Lulu. And what's more, Louise Brooks appears on the cover. Here's more from the publisher.

". . . . It’s three o’clock in the morning in Beverly Hills and fiction writer Mike Lundy is standing at his front window, watching a vintage Duesenberg slowly pass by his house. Sitting in the backseat is popular silent film star Louise Brooks, hoping to recover compromising photos she has left at Mike’s house. Possible? Yes, if it were 1927. But Mike lives in the year 2011! And the photos? They’re in the possession of her cuckold husband, movie director Eddie Sutherland, who has plans to turn the pictures over to the Los Angeles Times—unaware that the exposé will not only lead to his and Louise’s banishment from the movie industry but to her suicide and his murder. Mike, able to see their futures, must decide if he should try to stop Eddie from publishing the revealing photos. But if he does, he realizes he would be altering the past, and in doing so, changing history."

About the author: Robert S Murillo taught English for more than ten years before a career as a financial advisor. Today, he spends most of his time writing fiction—mostly short stories; The Vanity is his first novel. He considers J.D. Salinger, Ray Bradbury, and Jack Finney to be the writers who have influenced him the most, though he remains in awe of such artists as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. When not writing, he enjoys the beaches of the Sea of Cortez. He lives near Berkeley with his lovely bride, Suzanne, and their two cats, Phoebe and Chaplin.

Donna Tartt reading Barry Paris bio of Louise Brooks

In the New York Times, Donna Tartt, the celebrated author of The Secret History and now The Goldfinch, says she is reading among other books the Barry Paris biography of Louise Brooks.
Fore more, check out this brief interview with the author, part of the newspaper's ongoing "By the Book" series. 

Author Donna Tartt and the cover of her new book, The Goldfinch.
(courtesy of Beowulf Sheehan; Little, Brown and Company)

Louise Brooks & Pandora's Box plays in Huntington, Kentucky

Pandora's Box will be shown in Huntington, Kentucky on Tuesday, October 29th at 7:30 pm with live musical accompaniment by Ben Model. Here are the details from the host venue, the Cinema Arts Center. (Follow the link to purchase tickets or for more information.)

Louise Brooks stars in G.W. Pabst’s stunning film of Frank Wedekind’s classic about the fiery showgirl Lulu, whose explosive sexuality has a devastating effect on everyone. (Germany, 1929, 131 min., B&W, Director:  G. W. Pabst Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner,  Francis Lederer)

Live Organ Accompaniment by Ben Model
Members $9 • Public $14

One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst (The Threepenny Opera) had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box.

Based on the Lulu Plays by Frank Wedekind, whose Spring Awakening has just been adapted into a hit Broadway musical, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.

Ben Model is one of the USA’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silents at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the past 27 years. Ben co-curated MoMA’s “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” series and  Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle retrospective, and also curated Shout!Factory’s new “Ernie Kovacs Collection” DVD box set. A five-time recipient of the Meet The Composer grant, Ben is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S.A. and in Norway, and performs at universities, museums, and historic theaters. Ben is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film Series, now in its 14th season in NYC. Ben’s recorded scores can be heard on numerous DVD releases from Kino Video and others. Ben’s composed ensemble scores for films by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd are performed around the U.S. every year by orchestras and by concert bands.

William Kentridge Lulu inspired by Louise Brooks Lulu

An article in today's New York Times confirmed what the Louise Brooks Society had suspected or at least secretly hoped for, that South African-born artist William Kentridge's upcoming production of Alban Berg's opera Lulu is inspired in part by Louise Brooks' performance as Lulu in G.W.  Pabst's 1929 film, Pandora's Box. (See this earlier LBS blog about Kentridge's involvement in the Metropolitan production, which is set to open in 2015.)

The New York Times stated:

“Lulu,” Berg’s final opera, is in part about art: It features an artist who falls in love with a femme fatale after painting her portrait. And in the second act it calls for a silent film — which might be tailor-made for Mr. Kentridge, who is as well known for his videos as he is for his drawings, sculptures and tapestries....

“Those were things that kind of easily drew me to it,” said Mr. Kentridge, who explained that his “Lulu” was being inspired by German Expressionism, Weimar cinema (including, of course, “Pandora’s Box,” the G. W. Pabst version of the Lulu story starring Louise Brooks), Max Beckmann drypoints depicting brothels and the like, and other art projects he is working on. “But boy, there’s a lot of other stuff as well.”

How much Brooks' role in Pandora's Box leaves its mark on Kentridge's opera remains to be seen. The New York Times went on to add, "A funny but nightmarish section of a silent film shot in Johannesburg featured a black-and-white montage of, among other things, a man smoking a comically large cigar as gunshot wounds appear on his chest; a Louise Brooks-like Lulu figure holding a pistol spewing a stream of smoke; a dancing policeman; a judge with the overdone eye makeup of the silent-film era; a very creepy doctor; and a syringe oozing smoke."

As Louise Brooks / Lulu devotees know, Berg's opera, Lulu, was based on the Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, which also served as basis for the G.W. Pabst film, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. In later years, Berg's widow has stated that the composer had seen the Pabst film; interestingly, he included a filmic element in his opera. How Kentridge stages his version of Berg's early 20th century opera should prove fascinating.

More on this exciting story will be posted as things develop!

UPDATE:

The Louise Brooks Society just came across a newspaper article from last month which reported that William Kentridge had visited the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The Eastman House and Rochester were, of course, the film archive and city were Louise Brooks spent the last decades of her life. The article, "William Kentridge, South Africa's best known artist, to visit Rochester," appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on September 17th. The plot thickens.

Louise Brooks Society is "famous" in Italy

The Louise Brooks Society is "famous" in Italy! Today, I received a complimentary copy of the Italian edition of Laura Moriarty's terrific Louise Brooks inspired novel, The Chaperone, on which the the LBS received an acknowledgement. See the October 12th blog for details about this new edition.

And today as well, the LBS got a photo credit on this Italian article about Moriarty's book, which has just been released in Italy. "Louise Brooks: sensuale e ingenua" is di Marina Jonna. Check it out.

London play about Louise Brooks - Smoking with Lulu

SMOKING WITH LULU by Janet Munsil

Directed by Peter Turner
15 – 20 October 2013
Evenings 20.00
Matinee (Sun only) 17.00
London Theatre, SE14
Box Office: 0208 694 1888
http://beyondtheatre.org/smoking-with-lulu/

Smoking with Lulu was first performed in Calgary, Canada in 1997 and subsequently at The west Yorkshire Playhouse in association with Soho Theatre Company. The action of the play takes place in a small apartment in Rochester, New York and is based on the real life meetings that took place in 1978 between Kenneth Tynan, the renowned and very decadent British theatre critic, and Louise Brooks, the iconic silent screen star of the late 1920’s.

At the time of the meetings Tynan was, in his mid-fifties, suffering from emphysema, and Brooks was in her mid-seventies. The purpose of the meetings was that Tynan was to write a profile of Brooks for The New Yorker magazine which when published in 1979 was called ‘The girl in the black helmet’ – a reference to Brook’s trademark black bob hairstyle. Yet Kenneth Tynan wasn’t just researching, he was sexually obsessed by Louise Brooks and had been for many years. It was an obsession grown out of his fascination of her film career and in particular her portrayal of Lulu in GW Pabst 1929 film ‘Pandora’s Box’. And for Louise Brooks, after having a lifetime experience of fuelling men’s, and women’s , erotic desire for her, expertly drew him into her web.

By 1978 Brooks was ill, old, penniless, and hard-bitten but she knew exactly which devices to employ to turn Tynan on. Cleverly using Tynan’s vision of her as the amoral Lulu in ‘Pandora’s Box’ Brooks was able to bend Tynan to her will. Or did he bend her to his. Yes he was addicted to sex but how far was the ageing Louise Brooks prepared to go to have Kenneth Tynan be besotted by her? Aroused by his obsession, did she need a love slave for one last final time?

CAST AND CREW

Louise – Maureen Bennett
Ken – Simon Chappell
Lulu – Nadia Musa

Director – Peter Turner
Lighting Design – Sky Bembury

ABOUT BEYOND THEATRE

Beyond Theatre was founded as The Chelsea Players in 1959, and the present company are proud of those roots which give it fifty years’ experience on the London Theatre Scene. More information at http://beyondtheatre.org/smoking-with-lulu/

Louise Brooks in Italy: "Le stelle brillano a New York" di Laura Moriarty

As readers of this blog know, Louise Brooks is something of a cult figure in Italy (as she is in France, and Germany too). The latest instance of the spotlight being shown on the actress is the newly released Italian-language edition of Laura Moriarty's bestselling, Louise Brooks-inspired novel, The Chaperone. For the Italian edition published by Piemme, the novel has been given a new title, Le stelle brillano a New York (or Stars Shine in New York).

As with the American edition, the Italian edition features a lovely images of the actress on the cover. Here is the publisher supplied description of book and the the author.

"È impossibile non essere stregati dalla bellissima ragazza che sta salendo sul treno per New York. Sarà anche per quello sguardo, così sfrontato in una quindicenne. O per il suo cortissimo caschetto di capelli neri, così moderno per il 1922 e quella piccola città del Kansas. È irrequieta, si vede. Ha fretta di partire, respirare l’energia della lontana metropoli pulsante di vita, entrare nella compagnia di danza più prestigiosa del momento. Ma neppure lei, per quanto ostinata e ambiziosa, s’immagina che di lì a pochi anni sarà una stella del cinema muto e il suo nome – Louise Brooks – avrà fatto il giro del mondo. Con grande disappunto, viaggia però accompagnata. A farle da chaperon è una rispettabile vicina di casa, Cora Carlisle. Trentasei anni, moglie e madre modello, ligia alle convenzioni, Cora non sa ancora cosa l’aspetti con la ribelle e anticonformista Louise. Ma sa che quel viaggio è un’occasione unica per allontanarsi dal suo matrimonio apparentemente perfetto e intraprendere una ricerca troppo a lungo rimandata. Perché la verità sul suo passato è a New York.Mentre cerca di domare lo spirito libero di Louise sotto le luci sfavillanti di Broadway, dove si respira l’euforia di quegli anni ruggenti, Cora inizierà tuttavia a mettere in discussione i limiti che ha sempre imposto alla propria esistenza. E addentrandosi nella sua ricerca segreta scoprirà un nuovo lato di sé, imparando ad accettare tutte le donne che è stata e quelle che può ancora essere. Finché anche lei, come Louise, muoverà i primi passi verso i suoi sogni, in quell’estate indimenticabile in cui entrambe prenderanno finalmente in mano il proprio destino."

"Laura Moriarty insegna scrittura creativa all’Università del Kansas. Grande bestseller negli Stati Uniti, Le stelle brillano a New York diventerà un film interpretato da Elizabeth McGovern, star della fortunatissima serie tv Downton Abbey. Per maggiori informazioni: www.lauramoriarty.net"

Titolo: Le stelle brillano a New York
Titolo originale: The chaperone
Autore: Laura Moriarty
Traduttore: Margherita Crepax (the translator is the niece of Guido Crepax, author of Valentina)
Editore: Piemme
Collana: Narrativa
Pagine: 462

Louise Brooks as Mary Pickford - a rare image

Here is a seldom seen image of Louise Brooks, made up like Mary Pickford. This image is from a series.

Video: Louise Brooks Tribute / Telepathe - 'So Fine'

Another Louise Brooks tribute video found on YouTube. Nicely done, except the image of the nude kneeling before a statue of Buddha is not Louise Brooks. The song is "So Fine" by Telepathe, an electronic pop duo from Brooklyn.

Beggars of Life twice today

Beggars of Life (1928), the sensational William Wellman directed film starring silent screen legend Louise Brooks, will be shown twice on October 6th.

The first screening takes place on the Bournemouth Pier in Bournemouth, England. The film will be accompanied by the renown Dodge Brothers musical group. Beggars of Life will also be shown in Italy as part of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival's "Canon Revisited" series. Günter Buchwald will provide live musical accompaniment for this latter screening.

Directed by multiple Oscar winner William Wellman, Beggars of Life (1928) tells the story of a girl who goes on the run after killing her abusive stepfather. She dresses as a boy, and together with another young vagabond, they hop freight trains, confront a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police and reach Canada. The film stars future Oscar winner Wallace Beery as rail-riding hobo Oklahoma Red, Louise Brooks as Nancy, the girl on the run, and Richard Arlen as her vagabond companion.

Many consider Beggars of Life Brooks' best American film. An American film magazine of the time, Picture Play, described it as "Sordid, grim and unpleasant," though added, "it is nevertheless interesting and is certainly a departure from the usual movie."

Both the Bournemouth and Pordenone screenings should prove to be examples of an invigorating combination of a great silent movie and dynamic live music - no matter how different that music may be.

The Dodge Brothers, an Americana-drenched quartet featuring the English film critic and BBC commentator Mark Kermode, will set the musical mood in Bournemouth . When The Dodge Brothers accompanied Beggars of Life at the British Film Institute, the Bradford International Film Festival, at Barbican, and elsewhere across England at prior outings, they each time wowed an appreciative audience.

The Dodge Brothers are "renowned for playing the hell out of classic Americana." Described as ‘wonderful stuff’ by UK Radio 2 presenter Bob Harris, they play an exuberant hybrid of country blue, rockabilly, jugband and skiffle. With the fifth Dodge Brother Neil Brand, expert silent pianist and composer, the musicians bring the jug band/ skiffle style to accompany Welman's classic film. The other Dodge Brothers are musicians Aly Hirji, Mike Hammond, and Alex Hammond.

Following their accompaniment of Beggars of Life, the Dodge Brothers will perform a show at the Pier Theatre. More information at http://artsbournemouth.org.uk/events/the-dodge-brothers/

The Pordenone screening promises to be just as special. As devotees know, the Pordenone festival, sponsored by the Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, is widely regarded as the leading silent film festival in the world. It draws film scholars, film buffs, archivists, musicians and viewers from all over the world.

Befitting its stature, the Festival issues a substantial bi-lingual catalog documenting each of the many films screened at the annual event. Follow this link to read or download the pdf of the festival program/catalog. It contains a few image of the actress, as well as an essay on Beggars of Life by the Academy Award winning film historian evin Brownlow. In writing about the film, Brownlow recalls his own friendship with Brooks and Wellman. The Pordenone catalog is in both Italian and English.

Günter Buchwald, the musician accompanying Beggars of Life, is one of the pioneers of the renaissance of silent film music and one of the most experienced practitioners in the world. He has accompanied silent films for over 25 years with a repertoire of more than 2000 titles. He is director of the Silent Movie Music Company and conducts the Freiburg Filmharmonic Orchestra, which he founded in 1992. His wide experience in music from Baroque to Jazz allows him a huge stylistic variety in musical improvisation. Since 1984 he has appeared regularly at film festivals from Berlin to Zurigo (among others).

More information about Pordenone and Le Giornate del Cinema Muto may be found at http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/giornate/questa_edizione/introduction.html The introduction states, "William Wellman’s Beggars of Life, with the magnificent Louise Brooks, will be shown as a dedicated serata, with ensemble musical accompaniment."

More news: Beggars of Life with Louise Brooks in England and Italy

Beggars of Life (1928), the sensational William Wellman directed film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown twice in October.

The first screening takes place on Sunday, October 6th on the Bournemouth Pier in Bournemouth, England. The film will be accompanied by the Dodge Brothers musical group. Here are the details for what promises to be a fantastic event.

The Dodge Brothers play live at the Pier Theatre on Sunday October 6, preceded by a live performance to the classic silent movie, Beggars of Life; combined ticket + Fish and chip dinner only £20. More information at http://artsbournemouth.org.uk/events/the-dodge-brothers/

The Dodge Brothers are "renowned for playing the hell out of classic Americana." Described as ‘wonderful stuff’ by UK Radio 2 presenter Bob Harris, they play an exuberant hybrid of country blue, rockabilly, jugband and skiffle. With the fifth Dodge Brother Neil Brand, expert silent pianist and composer, the musicians bring the jug band/ skiffle style to accompany William Welman's classic film, starring the enigmatic, cross-dressing Louise Brooks. The Dodge Brothers are Mike Hammond, Mark Kermode, Aly Hirji and Alex Hammond.

5pm Film  £8 // 8pm Gig £10
Combined ticket film+gig+fish & chips £20 (Fish and chips to be served in Key West next to the Pier Theatre). To book:  The Dodge Brothers Live on the Pier

As was mentioned in an earlier blog, Beggars of Life will also be shown in Italy as part of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. Beggars of Life will be shown as part of the Festival's "Canon Revisited" series on Sunday, October 6th at 8:30 pm. Günter Buchwald will provide live musical accompaniment.

Follow THIS LINK to read or download  the program/catalog for the festival. It contains three rather nice image of the actress, as well as an essay on the film by Kevin Brownlow. The Academy Award winning film historian's text, as well as the entire catalog, are in both Italian and English.

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks screens in Barcelona

Pandora's Box, the sensational 1929 G.W. Pabst directed film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown three times in Barcelona, Spain as part of the "Cinema of the Weimar" series being screened throughout the month of October at the FilmoTeca de Cataluyna. The film will be shown on October 4th, October 6th, and October 9th. More information in Catalonian may be found at THIS LINK.

Die Büchse der Pandora / La capsa de Pandora
 

Cicle: El cinema de Weimar: somnis i malsons

"Die Büchse der Pandora" porta el subtítol "Variacions sobre el tema de la Lulu", ja que adaptava aquesta famosa obra literària de Frank Wedekind. El film va permetre a l’actriu americana Louise Brooks crear un prototipus de dona amoral i moderna que acaba devorada per les pròpies apetències sexuals, amb una gran càrrega eròtica i sensual, i perfectament vigent avui dia. Acompanyament musical a càrrec del mestre Josep Maria Baldomà.

Apta per a tots els públics 

Dv, 04/10/2013 - 18:30 h.

Sala Laya

Dg, 06/10/2013 - 21:15 h.

Sala Chomón

Dc, 09/10/2013 - 20:00 h.

Sala Chomón

Direcció: Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Interpretació: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz, Alice Roberts, Krafft-Raschig

Producció: Alemanya

Any: 1928-1929

Idioma original: Muda, amb rètols en català

Versió: S/D

Durada: 141'

Format: 35 mm

 

Louise Brooks referenced in National Geographic

Louise Brooks scholar Tim Moore found this: "October’s National Geographic magazine – "Special 125th Anniversary Edition: The Power of Photography" – concludes with a color image of the couple who gave Louise Brooks the opportunity to leave Wichita for bigger and better things when she was 15. The caption implies she was a student of theirs in Los Angeles, but it was New York and New Hampshire." It's a beautiful image. 

Cool Pic of the Day: Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks, pictured here in the late 1920s

Beggars of Life to screen at 2013 Pordenone Silent Film Festival

Le Giornate del Cinema Muto has announced the line-up of films at this year's event, which will be held in Pordenone, Italy from October 5 through the 12th. Among the works to be screened is the 1928 William Wellman-directed film, Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks. It will be shown as part of the Festival's "Canon Revisited" series on Sunday, October 6th at 8:30 pm. Günter Buchwald will provide live musical accompaniment.

Time Lost Never Returns

Pictured here is an ink blotter from the late 1920s, featuring future writer Louise Brooks. I did a quick search on the Crown Optical Company from Toronto, Canada but did not find anything.

louise brooks - berlin berlin

The song "Berlin" by Gosta Berling was inspired by the life of Louise Brooks. Her story and iconic image have inspired many tributes - songs, books, plays and movies. The fascinating and frustrating saga of her life is captured in the biography Louise Brooks by Barry Paris - which the songwriter says they devoured while writing the words to this song. The images for this video were all scanned from the book Lulu Forever by Peter Cowie. This song is from the band's first EP, Everybody's Sweetheart (2007).

Louise Brooks Society marks Banned Books Week

This week is Banned Books Week, the book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Throughout the week, hundreds of libraries and bookstores and readers and writers around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting events.

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a rise in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Since 1982, more than 11,300 books have been challenged. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012. Many more go unreported. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here. 

The Louise Brooks Society marks Banned Books Week by displaying this page about a frequently challenged book closely associated with the career of Louise Brooks. (Not only was the book challenged, so was the German stage play based on the book, as were the two silent film adaptions.)

The Diary of a Lost Girl was first published in Germany in 1905 under the title Tagebuch einer Verlorenen. By the end of the Twenties, it had been translated into 14 languages, published around the world, and sold more than 1,200,000 copies. It is counted among the best-selling books of its time.

Today, however, it is little known.

Was it, as was claimed, the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? A veiled feminist critique of the treatment of women? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? Debate swirled around its authorship for years.

The bestselling book
that shocked a nation!

Described by one contemporary scholar as “Perhaps the most notorious and certainly the commercially most successful autobiographical narrative of the early twentieth century,” the book was nothing less than a literary phenomenon. The New York Times described it as "shocking." A newspaper in New Zealand called it "The saddest of modern books."

Widely discussed, it was written about by critic Walter Benjamin, by the followers of Freud, and by novelist Henry Miller (who claimed it a favorite). Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, thought it should be banned. Censored in some countries, the book was barred entry into others. Eventually, after more than 25 years of acclaim and criticism, as well as controversy over its true authorship, the book was driven out of print in the early days of Nazi Germany.

This contested book – a work of unusual historical significance and literary sophistication – inspired not only a cult following but also a sequel, a play, a parody, a genre's worth of imitators, and two silent movies. The best remembered of these is Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), the G.W. Pabst film starring screen legend Louise Brooks.

This new edition, featuring the original English language translation, brings a notable work back into print after more than a century. The "Louise Brooks Edition" includes some three dozen illustrations, numerous annotations, and an essay by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the acclaimed 1929 silent film. 

Learn more about The Diary of a Lost Girl at www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html

Praise for the original edition of THE DIARY OF A LOST GIRL:

The “poignant story of a great-hearted girl who kept her soul alive amidst all the mire that surrounded her poor body.” – Hall Caine

“The fact that one German critic asserted the impossibility of a woman herself immune from vice having written such a book, is proof that besides truth of matter there was compelling art in Margarete Böhme’s book.” – Percival Pollard 

“The moral justification of such a publication is to be found in the fact that it shrivels up sentimentality; the weak thing cannot stand and look at such stark degradation.” – Manchester Guardian

Sunday Event for Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone in Kansas

An article in the Pittsburg Morning Sun reports that author Laura Moriarty will talk about her recent novel, The Chaperone, at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Pittsburg (KS) Public Library. Preceding her talk, the library is hosting a Louise Brooks look-alike contest. No prior registration is required to enter.

The Chaperone focusses on the woman who accompanied a teenage Louise Brooks the summer she left Kansas for New York City, where Brooks hoped to join the Denishawn Dance Company. Two years later, Brooks performed in Pittsburg (a Kansas town) as a member of the dance company.

The article also noted: 

There’s a good chance that “The Chaperone” will be turned into movie. Actress Elizabeth McGovern, who narrated the audiobook and plays the Duchess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey,” would play Cora.

“Julian Fellowes, ‘Downton Abbey’s’ creator is writing the screenplay, and Simon Curtis, who did ‘My Week with Marilyn’, will be the director for Fox Searchlight,” Moriarty said.

Not every book optioned for a movie doesn’t actually make it onto the screen, and Moriarty is well aware of that. Still, she thinks “The Chaperone” has a good chance.

“It looks like it might make it,” she said. “A lot of incredibly talented people are interested.”

Read the Pittsburg Morning Sun article here. And if you haven't already read it, go out and get yourself a copy of The Chaperone.

A scene from A Girl in Every Port with Marie Casajuana

Here is a scene from the 1928 film, A Girl in Every Port, directed by Howard Hawks. This short scene features the lovely, Spanish-born beauty queen and actress Marie Casajuana. Shortly after making this film, she changed her name to Maria Alba.

Maria Alba (19 March 1910, in Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain – 26 October 1999, in San Diego, California), appeared in 25 feature films, starting with A Girl in Every Port in 1928 and ending with La morena de mi copla in 1946. Her most notable appearance was as "Saturday" in the 1932 Douglas Fairbanks film Mr. Robinson Crusoe. She also appeared in Hell's Heroes (1929), directed by William Wyler, and The Return of Chandu (1934), with Bela Lugosi.

Just recently, the New Yorker wrote-up A Girl in Every Port. Read the piece by Richard Brody.

Louise Brooks' film A Girl in Every Port screens today in NYC at Museum of the Moving Image

As part of its multi-film Howard Hawks retrospective, the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City will screen A Girl in Every Port. The 1928 film, by consensus the best of the director's silent efforts, is set to screen on Sunday, September 15, at 6:00 p.m. Renowned pianist Donald Sosin will accompany the film.

A Girl in Every Port is a buddy film which tells the story of two sailors (Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong) and their encounters with various women in various ports of call. Louise Brooks, under contract to Paramount, was loaned to Fox for the film. She plays the girl from Marseille, France. The other girls in other ports include Myrna Loy, Sally Rand, and Leila Hyams.

Brooks is cast as a vamp, a circus high-diver known as Marie (Mam’selle Godiva). After her act, McLaglen and Armstrong, each suitors, offer a towel - and more. 'Mlle Godiva' handles each with Lulu-like aplomb.

When A Girl in Every Port premiered in February of 1928 at the massive Roxy Theater in New York City, it played to a packed house. At the time, advertisements placed by Fox claimed the film set a “New House Record – and a World Record – with Daily Receipts on February 22nd of $29,463.” Considering admission was likely less than a dollar, that’s a lot of movie-goers in a single day – then or now.

Popular as well as critically applauded, the film received good reviews in New York’s many daily newspapers. The New York Times described it as "A rollicking comedy,” while the New York Telegram called it “a hit picture.” The Morning Telegraph pronounced it a “winner.”

Irene Thirer, writing in the Daily News, noted “Director Howard Hawks has injected several devilish touches in the piece, which surprisingly enough, got by the censors. His treatment of the snappy scenario is smooth and at all times interesting. Victor’s great, Armstrong’s certainly appreciable, and Louise Brooks is at her loveliest. The rest of the gals from other ports are good to look at, too.”

Reviewing the Roxy premiere, TIME magazine noted, “There are two rollicking sailors in this fractious and excellent comedy. . . . A Girl in Every Port is really What Price Glory? translated from arid and terrestrial irony to marine gaiety of the most salty and miscellaneous nature. Nobody could be more charming than Louise Brooks, that clinging and tender little barnacle from the docks of Marseilles. Director Howard Hawks and his entire cast, especially Robert Armstrong, deserve bouquets and kudos.”

Critics singled out Brooks, with some describing her as “pert.” Regina Cannon, writing in New York American, stated “Then comes THE woman. She is Louise Brooks, pert, fascinating young creature, who does high and fancy diving for a living. . . . Miss Brooks ‘takes’ our hero in somewhat the manner that Grant took Richmond. . . . Louise Brooks has a way of making a junior vamp and infantile scarlet lady seem most attractive.”

Nearly 90 years later, Brooks remains a magnet of meaning. Just recently, the New Yorker wrote-up the film all these years after its debut. Read the New Yorker piece by Richard Brody.

More info: A Girl in Every Port screens on Sunday, September 15, at 6:00 p.m as part of the Howard Hawks retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. Details on the Museum website.