Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Clara Bow

Finished reading Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild by David Stenn. A good biography, sympathetically told. I would love to see a picture book devoted to her. Clara Bow was so lovely, and such a gifted, natural actress. She is one of my favorite silent film stars.

Thursday, March 20, 2003

Trip to Sacramento

Depending on (the war and) how things go, I plan to travel to the California State Library in Sacramento next week. (I live in San Francisco, and Sacramento is about 100 miles away. It's a two hour drive.) This will be my fifth trip to the State Library, which is a major repository of California newspapers on microfilm. To date, I have been able to survey newspapers from most all of the major metropolitan areas in California. (See the various bibliographies for the citations and material that has been collected so far.) On this trip, I hope to dig through the Pasadena Star-News and La Opinion (a Spanish-language newspaper based in Los Angeles) for the period of the mid-to-late 1920's. I will be looking for film reviews and other articles. If there is enough time, I may also look at the papers for Long Beach and Santa Monica.

Sunday, March 16, 2003

Site redesign

A comprehensive redesign and site rebuild is underway. (This page is an example of the new look which most every page on the LBS will eventually assume.) The implementation of the rebuild will take some time, as the size of the Louise Brooks Society now stands at more than 200 pages. The intention of this redesign is to give the LBS a more up-to-date look. Also, some outside links - notably the old translation module at the bottom of every page, were no longer functioning. A comprehensive site rebuild will fix broken links, conform site code to current html standards, and give the overall site a cleaner, more contemporary feel.

Wednesday, March 5, 2003

Site update

Just updated is Kansas: For Further Reading, a page on the News of Lulu website.

Friday, February 28, 2003

Paypal

At the bottom of the LBS home page is a newly installed PayPal donation button. I am hoping individuals who enjoy this free site will make a small donation to help keep things going. (One person already has!) Monthly dial-up charges, server costs, the recently launched RadioLulu (I pay a royalty fee), and subscriptions (like those to database sites) are just some of the expenses that go into keeping the LBS on the web and groing. A donation (in any amount) will help defray the cost of photocopies, postage and research expenses. Contributions will also be used to ensure new material is added on an ongoing basis, and that the LBS continues as the largest and most comprehensive web site in the world devoted to any silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society is a money losing labor of love, and a not-for-profit web site devoted to the promotion and study of the life and films of Louise Brooks. Your interest and assistance is appreciated.

Monday, February 24, 2003

News of Lulu updates

Yesterday, a "News of Lulu" email was sent to members of the LBS. This email newsletter is hosted by Yahoo: Groups on a web site called News of Lulu. That adjunct site can be found at
groups.yahoo.com/group/newsoflulu/

News of Lulu contains a lots of interesting material, including colorized portraits, fan art, text files, a calendar of events, links and more. Recently updated is a nifty set of links called "Around the World with Louise Brooks." Also new, located under Files, is a set of folders to which LBS members may contribute original work including poems & song lyrics, essays & school papers, and short stories (including "fan fic") about Louise Brooks. If you have something to contribute along these lines,
please post your work to the appropriate folder. Pieces can be uploaded as Word documents, plain text files or html.

Sunday, February 23, 2003

On-line petition

Thank you to Amanda for alerting everyone to the on-line petition regarding silent films on DVD. The petition hopes to encourage Fox, Paramount, Warner Brothers, and other major studios to release their silent films on DVD. I agree. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself. (Wouldn't be great to have Love Em and Leave Em or Beggars of Life on DVD?) The petition can be found at www.petitiononline.com/silentDV

Thursday, February 20, 2003

Two additions to the LBS website

Two recent additions to the Louise Brooks Society web site include: issue number 1020 of the Illustrierter Film-Kurier devoted to A Girl in Every Port www.pandorasbox.com/louisebrooks/archive/girlportIllFilKur.html

and

issue number 1314 of the Illustrierter Film-Kurier devoted to The Canary Murder Case www.pandorasbox.com/louisebrooks/archive/canaryIllFilKur.html These additions came about through the purchase of material on eBay.

Monday, February 17, 2003

Websites worth visiting

One web sites used in the compilation of the LBS bibliographies can be found at www.ancestry.com  This genealogy site contains a database of scanned historic newspapers which are searchable by - in effect - keyword. Normally, individuals use this resource to locate family records, but I have found it to be a valuable resource for film research.

So far, searches on ancestry.com have turned up a handful of articles, captioned photographs, advertisements and film reviews in small town newspapers across the United States. The result are citations from the Zanesville Times-Signal from Ohio, the Appleton Post-Cresent from Wisconsin, the Helena Indepenedent from Montana, etc. . . . Among the fascinating and sometimes rather surprising items which came to light are a February, 1925 captioned photograph mentioning Brooks return to New York from London aboard the S. S. Homeric; an interesting December, 1925 article
"Follie's Girl Sues to Supress Her Very Artistic Photographs;" a mention in a 1940 syndicated gossip column that "Louise Brooks, ex-star, is teaching the rhumba and La Conga in Wichita, Kansas;" and a small town newspaper advertisement from the mid 1950's (long after Brooks was forgotten by just about everyone) evoking glamorous movie stars of the past who started as showgirls.

[ Other similar, searchable newspaper archives include www.newspaperarchive.com and www.paperofrecord.com. Each of these sites have produced interesting material, and each is worth a visit if you are interested in family history or genealogy. Please note: Each of the previously mentioned sites require subscription.]

Silent film buffs and history buffs alike will want to check out the web site for British Pathe (located at www.britishpathe.com ). British Pathe made short newsreel films beginning around the turn-of-the-century. Thousands of these short two and three minute films are now available on-line (in a low resolution format) and can be viewed for free! There is fascinating stuff here . . . . Though there is no Brooks material, one can view vintage film of Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Valentino. For example, there is footage of Valentino's funeral in New York City, which Brooks attended. (A sobbing Poli Negri can be glimpsed, as well as Douglas Fairbanks Sr. as pallbearer.) Try searching by key words like "Charleston," "flapper" or "cinema" for other interesting material.

Another free site worth checking is the silent film database at the American Film Institute (located at www.afi.com/catalog ). There, you will find details on each of Brooks' silent films. Information on Brooks' later sound films is available only to AFI members.
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