Dorothy Knapp: American Venus Discloses Her Beauty Secrets

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

1924 article: Decent Girls Plea for Chance Against Flappers

Came across this clipping while looking through microfilm and thought everyone might enjoy it. The article dates from 1924.

Row, row, row your boat Louise Brooks

A publicity still for Rolled Stockings (1927), in which two colleges face off in a rowing competition. This image was likely taken in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the film was shot.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival Silent Autumn

Celebrate the Fall Season with 

Five Silent Film Programs with

Live Musical Accompaniment at 

SILENT AUTUMN

September 20 at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre

 

True art transcends time.
 

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival follows its successful 19th annual Festival (May, 2014) with Silent Autumn on September 20th at the historic Castro Theatre.  For information, please visit www.silentfilm.org. 

 

ANOTHER FINE MESS: SILENT LAUREL AND HARDY SHORTS

(USA, 1928-1929, Produced by Hal Roach, total running time is approximately 70 minutes)

11:00 AM

This program features the splendid anarchy of the finest comedy team to grace the silver screen. Both Stan Laurel (the thin Briton with the elastic face) and Oliver Hardy (the rotund baby-faced American) were successful comedians before they met, but together they were genius! Many people know the duo from their later feature career which included SONS OF THE DESERT (1933), BABES IN TOYLAND (1934), and OUR RELATIONS (1936), and these rare short silents are sure to be a revelation! Included in the program: TWO TARS (1928), BIG BUSINESS (1929) and a surprise or two! Musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

 

THE SON OF THE SHEIK

(USA, 1926, Directed by George Fitzmaurice, 81 minutes)

1:00 PM

Rudolph Valentino's last film picks up on the story of his extraordinarily successful THE SHEIK. THE SON OF THE SHEIKresumes about 25 years later, and Valentino again stars, this time as the son! Like his father, he's charismatic, athletic, and a ladies man. This wonderful swashbuckling romance is being presented in a new restoration by Ken Winokur and Jane Gillooly from excellent 35mm negative material. Musical accompaniment by Alloy with the World Premiere of their new score!

 

A NIGHT AT THE CINEMA IN 1914

(USA/UK, 1914, 85 minutes)

3:30 PM

Marking the centenary of the start of World War I, the British Film Institute has put together this glorious miscellany of comedies, adventure films, travelogues and newsreels recreates a typical night out at the cinema in 1914. Cinema a century ago was a new, exciting and highly democratic form of entertainment. Picture houses across the country offered a sociable, lively environment in which to relax and escape from the daily grind. With feature films still rare, the program was an entertaining, ever-changing roster of short items with live musical accompaniment. Among the highlights of this program of 14 short films are a quirky comic short about a face-pulling competition, a sensational episode of the American film serial The Perils of Pauline, an early aviation display, scenes of suffragettes protesting at Buckingham Palace and Allied troops celebrating Christmas at the Front. There is also an anti-German animation film and an early sighting of one of cinema’s greatest icons.

Musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin.

 

THE GENERAL

(USA, 1926, Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 75 minutes)

7:00 PM

Consistently listed as one of the finest films of all time, The General was one of Keaton’s favorites as well. In the film, Buster plays Johnnie Gray who falls into the Confederacy through love of his locomotive and his beautiful Annabelle Lee. Orson Welles said: “The greatest comedy ever, made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made.” Musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra.

 

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI

(Germany, 1920, Directed by Robert Wiene, 75 minutes) 

9:00 PM

The story of the hypnotist Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist Cesare is one of the earliest examples of a "psychological thriller" and one of the best known German films of all time. SFSFF’s presentation will be the US premiere of the restoration of this brilliant German Expressionist film—restored using the original camera negative resulting in a print quality worthy of its classic status. With Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Fehér, Lil Dagover. Musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin.

 

Tickets Information

Silent Autumn at the historic Castro Theatre will take place on September 20. For more information and to purchase tickets and passes, go to www.silentfilm.org.

New musical about Louise Brooks

There is a new musical loosely inspired by Louise Brooks called Hi Alba! The musical was created in June 2014 by the students and staff of the Lovewell Institute in partnership with the Short North Stage in Columbus, Ohio. [ Here is a link to its original production in June by high school students at the Garden Theater in Columbus: http://vimeo.com/101574804.]

Hi Alba! A New Musical tells a story of Louise Brooks’ rise to fame and the stagehand who saw her and never forgot her. The inspiration for the musical was a drawing found on the backstage wall of the Garden Theater in Columbus. The drawing, by a stagehand named Alba Cummings, is thought by some to be of Louise Brooks. Shown below is a photo of the drawing.

 

According to the Short North Stage website, Alba was a stage hand at the Garden Theatre in the 1920's, "and a man smitten." A World War I veteran and a lifelong bachelor, he returned home after the war and took a job at the theater, where in 1924 a young dancer caught his eye. On December 19, 1924, "Alba was so inspired by his muse that he drew an elegantly simple, but nonetheless beautiful sketch of her on a wall backstage." The drawing was discovered some 87 years later.

One of the most compelling songs from the musical, "Capture Me," imagines the the circumstances around the drawing of the picture. A rather charming clip can be seen below.

Though a sweet story, the facts don't align with Brooks' life. The Garden Theater opened in 1920, but  was not the venue in Columbus where Brooks and the Denishawn Dance Company performed while touring the country. That was Memorial Hall on March 8th and November 24th in 1923.  Nevertheless, there is a charming poetry to this musical story which suggests Louise Brooks continuing appeal in the 21st century.. 

Max Ferguson painting features Louise Brooks

Max Ferguson is a contemporary artist of considerable talent. His realistic style, described as hyper-detailed and grounded in Old Master techniques, is both objective and poignant. It has great appeal.

Ferguson's work has been written up in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ARTnews, Art & Antiques and elsewhere, and is held in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The British Museum in London, The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, and The Museum of the City of New York.

An exhibit of Ferguson's new work is touring three cities in the United States. And what's more, one of the artist's new, almost photo-realist paintings, depicts Louise Brooks. "Lulu in New York" (oil on panel, 2014) is shown below: it depicts pianist Ben Model at the Museum of Modern Art in New York during a screening of Pandora's Box. The painting measures 12 x 12 inches, and the artist told me he expects to paint a larger version. I like it. I like it a lot. Be sure and check out one of the shows listed below.

NEW YORK
September 2 - September 10
445 Park Avenue 15th floor

SAN FRANCISCO
September 18 - October 6
Opening Reception September 18
478 Jackson Street

BEVERLY HILLS
October 13 - November 3
Opening Reception October 14
9478 West Olympic

HERITAGE AUCTIONS

The Art of Time Travel Act I Louise in the Late Afternoon Pt. 1

The Art of Time Travel Act I Louise in the Late Afternoon Pt. 1. I think you will recognize the song.