Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Girl in Every Port to show in Chicago

The seldom screened 1928 Louise Brooks film, A Girl in Every Port, will be shown in Chicago, Illinois on Friday, July 22. This special screening, with live organ accompaniment by Jay Warren, is being put on by the Silent Film Society of Chicago. More info on the event can be found at my Louise Brooks column on examiner.com

When the film first showed in the Windy City in February, 1928 the local newspapers praised both the film and Brooks' role in it. Arthur Sheekman, writing in the Chicago Daily Journal, declared, "Your correspondent, partial to all the McLaglen performances, had a grand time watching A Girl in Every Port, in which so much loveliness is contributed by that dark young venus, Miss Brooks." While the curiously named Mae Tinee, writing in the Chicago Tribune said, "Various damsels rage through the action, but to Louise Brooks falls, as should, the plum feminine characterization. She pulls it off in her customary deft fashion - and the enchanting bob in which she first appeared before the movie camera."

I wish I lived in Chicago. I would be there in a heartbeat!

The Silent Film Society of Chicago's "Silent Summer" Film Festival runs Fridays from July 22 through August 26 at the Portage Theater (4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.) in Chicago. More on the festival and the Silent Film Society of Chicago can be found at www.silentfilmchicago.com/

Tickets can be purchased in advance from the Portage Theater box office during event box office hours, or by calling 773.736.4050. Tickets are also on sale at City Newsstand, (4018 N. Cicero Ave.). Tickets are $12 on the day of show (excepting $17 for the special August 12 screening of Sunrise). Advance prices and student / senior discounts are also available.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

YouTube tribute to Louise Brooks

Here is a rather swell YouTube tribute to the one and only Louise Brooks. The music is by Phil Harris. The song is called "Vamp."

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Two new ebooks about Louise Brooks

Two new e-books about Louise Brooks have been published for Kindle, the amazon e-reader. I've written short reviews of each on the amazon.com website. Here are my reviews, with links to each book. 
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My Afternoon With Louise Brooks
by Tom Graves
Publisher: Rhythm Oil Publications (June 10, 2011)

I can't get enough of Louise Brooks, the legendary silent film star. That's why I was excited when I came across this new e-pub by a professional writer with articles in major newspapers and magazines as well as a couple of earlier books to his credit. (Author Tom Graves is legit, and his 1982 meeting with the actress is mentioned in Barry Paris' definitive 1989 biography, Louise Brooks.) However, I found myself disappointed by this rather slight account of a now long ago encounter with the reclusive actress. More an anecdotal essay than a book (which can be read in under 10 minutes), "My Afternoon With Louise Brooks" largely fails to deliver. It is short on detail and perspective, and except for the striking cover image, there are no illustrations. The author mentions research and interviews he conducted with Brooks' family and friends - as well as the first chapters he wrote for a planned biography - but they are nowhere to be seen. I would like to read more.  [More info here.]

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Louise Brooks: Her men, affairs, scandals and persona
by Maximillien de Lafayette
Publisher: Times Square Press (May 23, 2011)

This "book" is terrible. It is poorly written, poorly laid out, padded with extraneous material (and lots and lots of white space) and otherwise riddled with innuendo, half-truths and errors. For example, I spotted one image of a Brooks look-alike who isn't Louise Brooks! There is no bibliography or list of sources to support the author's many outrageous claims regarding the actress, but there are numerous images seemingly gleamed from the internet. Where does the author get this stuff from? Or does he make it up? To call this rather slight cut-and-paste e-pub a "hack job" would be to give it too much credit. It's not worth the paper its not printed on.  [More info here.]

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Crazy Rhythm
by Daniel Vian
Publisher: Spectrum Beacon (May 31, 2010)

There is third book out, a work of fiction, which I have purchased but haven't had time to read. It is called Crazy Rhythm: A Novel of Hollywood, by Daniel Vian. Has anyone read it?  [More info here.]

One other recently released ebook - a work of erotic fiction,  Nymph: The Singularity by J.E. Lansing, features a character based on Louise Brooks. 'Nuf said. [More info here.]

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Louise Brooks to be featured in exhibit

At least one vintage book featuring Louise Brooks will be featured in "Reading the Stars," an exhibit of books, magazines and other vintage reading material published during silent film era which will be on display at the San Francisco Public Library. All of the material - published during the Teens, Twenties, and early Thirties - pertain to the movies.

"Reading the Stars" is part of a small constellation of exhibits and programs titled "Shhhhhhh! Silents in the Library." The exhibits run June 25 through August 28 in the Main branch of the SFPL, on the Fourth Floor and Sixth Floor History Center Exhibit Space. 

If you plan on coming to town to attend to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, don't miss this chance to take a look at these library exhibits. I curated "Reading the Stars," and it is the fourth exhibit in about 12 years which I have helped put on. Additional details to follow. More info at http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1006779101

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Requesting Louise Brooks

A few bits of encouraging news.... yesterday, I received a request from a commentator for Michigan Public Radio who asked for a review copy of my Louise Brooks edition of The Diary of a Lost Girl. I realize a review copy request is not the same as a review, but here's hoping. And today, I exchanged emails with a Spanish-born writer living in Mexico who is working on a novel about Louise Brooks. This novelist was asking about certain historical details pertaining to the actress. The body of literature around the actress continues to grow.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The GREAT comics historian Bill Blackbeard has died

The GREAT comics historian Bill Blackbeard has died. The New York Times has an article on his passing at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/arts/design/bill-blackbeard-comic-strip-champion-dies-at-84.html

"An author, editor, anthologist and ardent accumulator who died in March at 84, Mr. Blackbeard is widely credited with helping save the American newspaper comic strip from the scrap heap, amassing a collection considered the most comprehensive ever assembled." His collection included Dixie Dugan, Windy Riley and other strips associated with actress Louise Brooks. 

Art Spiegelman,the RadioLulu listener who created the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic narrative Maus, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times, “A filmmaker like Martin Scorsese couldn’t make what he makes if he had never heard of D. W. Griffith and Orson Welles." "Similarly, as my art form develops, it’s clear that the future of comics is in the past. And Blackbeard was the granddaddy that gave us all access to it.”

"It Girls" article discusses Louise Brooks

"It Girls," an article on Lapham's Quarterly by Academy Award winning documentary film maker Peter Foges, discusses Louise Brooks and Greta Garbo and the years they both lived in New York City. It is an interesting piece, and worth reading. I might even speculate myself and guess that someone, someday, might turn this bit into a short story.

[A small correction. Foges writes " Louise had worked at Saks for years selling gloves—and when she needed to, turning tricks." I beg to differ. Brooks only worked briefly at Sacks, and didn't turn tricks (as anyone can tell) in the sense she was a prostitute. She may have received cash or gifts for favors, though.] The article can be found at http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/roundtable/it-girls.php



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