Today is Armistice Day

Today is Veteran's Day, a holiday originally known as "Armistice Day." That holiday was originally created to mark the end of World War I - the so-called "war to end all wars." During the silent film era - especially during the 1920's - many films were made based on that tragedy. Perhaps the best of them was The Big Parade (1925), which starred John Gilbert and Renee Adoree.

Recently, I've been reading Dark Star, a highly recommmended biography of Gilbert by his daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain. Yesterday, I came across this remarkable paragraph. "Lois Wilson was working in New York at the time of the premiere there. Jack [ John Gilbert ] travelled East for the opening in the company of her fiance, Richard Dix. They shared a compartment on the train, carrying with them the three steel boxes containing the film. Lois met them at the station and went with them to deliver the film to the Astor Theater, where The Big Parade was to open."

I am sure this was the exception, but isn't it remarkable that an actor was responsible not only for transporting a film across country, but for delivering it to the theater where it was to be shown. "Hi, this is John Gilbert. I have a delivery. . . ." How times have changed.

Another film set during World War I was Now We're in the Air (1927), which starred Wallace Beery, Raymond Hatton, and Louise Brooks (in the role of twins). Yesterday, while doing research at the library, I came across this rather nifty newspaper advertisement for the film.

                           

Even Digital Data Can Fade

There was a thought provoking article in today's New York Times by Katie Hafner, "Even Digital Memories Can Fade." The article begins . . . .

The nation's 115 million home computers are brimming over with personal treasures - millions of photographs, music of every genre, college papers, the great American novel and, of course, mountains of e-mail messages.

My computer is one of those 115 million, and I read Hafner's article in light of my research on Louise Brooks. Keep in mind that at least half of the "data" I have acquired on the actress (everything from rare portraits to bibliographical references, correspondence, webpages, and scans of newspaper and magazine articles) is in a digital format.

I do have a four drawer filing cabinet stuffed full of photocopies of vintage reviews, advertisements of Brooks' films, articles, films scripts, censorship files, and miscellaneous clippings from newspapers and magazines from around the world. I also have three or four boxes full of additional material - vintage magazines, programs, stills and other oversized items. Some of it is incredibly rare. I also have hundreds - if not a thousand - similar items in digital format - word docs, pdf files, html files, txt files, gifs and jpgs. I wonder how long all of this stuff will last. The article went on to state:

So dire and complex is the challenge of digital preservation in general that the Library of Congress has spent the last several years forming committees and issuing reports on the state of the nation's preparedness for digital preservation.

Hafner's article led me to the conclusion that I need to organize and back up everything I've collected and saved, not only in secondary digital files and formats - but to paper, when possible. I used to save things on a zip drive (a once popular storage medium) - until some of the zip discs wore out and I was unable to retrieve data. Now, everything resides on my Windows XP desktop computer.

Today's formats are likely to become obsolete and future software "probably will not recognize some aspects of that format," Mr. Thibodeau said. "It may still be a picture, but there might be things in it where, for instance, the colors are different."

The experts at the National Archives, like those at the Library of Congress, are working to develop uniformity among digital computer files to eliminate dependence on specific hardware or software.

How long will the material I've collected on Louise Brooks last? I don't know. How long will the Louise Brooks Society website - and all of its resulting information - last? I don't know. How long will this LiveJournal blog last? I don't know. Katie Hafner's article offers food for thought.

Notes on yesterday's trip to the library

Yesterday's trip to the library yielded some interesting results. I was able to dig up a few more reviews, articles and advertisements dating from Louise Brooks' time with the Denishawn dance company. This material - some of which mentioned Brooks - came from the Indianapolis Times and Sioux Falls Daily Press (from South Dakota). I also scavenged a few film reviews and advertisements (see earlier LiveJournal entry) from the New Orleans Item and the Manitoba Free Press (which comes from Winnipeg, Canada).

Three months of the Louisville Courier Journal also arrived. I was hoping to find something on Brooks' appearance as a night club dancer in Kentucky. In his biography of Brooks, Barry Paris mentions that she worked in that state in early 1935. I figured it must be in Louisville. I didn't find anything in the Courier Journal. So, I will next check the Lexington newspapers.

I also recieved a couple of months of the Miami Herald, where I was again looking for material on Brooks' appearances as a night club dancer. This time I hit the jackpot. There were numerous small articles, a few pictures, and lots of advertisements promoting "Louise Brooks and Dario." The featured performer at the Embassy Club where Brooks' was dancing was Marion Chase, a singer from New York City. I wasn't able to find out anything about her by searching Google. Is anyone familar with her?

One of the more interesting items was an advertisement for the Embassy Club which noted that boxer Max Baer, the world champion, would also be appearing on a particular evening. I wonder if Louise Brooks and Max Baer met?

                                                     

Effects of the recent election

On a personal note, I must admit to being pretty dissapointed by the election. The United States economy - under president Bush - looks like it's in shambles. (It feels like a recession to me!) 

This economic downturn has had some small impact on the efforts of the Louise Brooks Society. In the four years I have been actively researching the actress, for example, I have seen cut backs and closures at libraries across the United States. This is especially true in the last two or three years. Some institutions have reduced hours and staff, some have put off upgrading equipment (such as microfilm readers), some have closed off parts of their collections. And worn microfilm, which should be replaced, is still in use. I don't think it untrue to say that libraries, archives and cultural institutions across the United States have suffered under Bush.

Louise Brooks bibliographies

One of the most valuable assets of the Louise Brooks Society are the many annotated bibliographies which help document the life and career of the actress. Most importantly, these bibliographies help organize the vast amount of written material about the actress, including vintage reviews of her films. The bibliographies contain not only numerous citations, but also links to select articles. Additionally, many of the citations are annotated with a brief quote or passage which in themselves make for interesting reading. These web pages - all of which are a work in progress - can be accessed at www.pandorasbox.com/louisebrooks/bibliographies.html
So far, material has been gathered from the places most important to the story of Louise Brooks - Cherryvale and Wichita, Kansas, New York City, Los Angeles, Berlin, Germany and Rochester, New York.

Articles and film reviews are also being gathered from newspapers in nearly two dozen of the largest American cities of the 1920's - as well as select metropolitan areas in the then less populated South, Southwest and Far West. Taken together, these many articles offer a perspective on the actress in the words of her contemporaries. Additionally, many fascinating and previously unknown articles and bits of information have been uncovered. Work on the bibliographies has been going on for nearly four years, with another twelve months of effort already mapped out.

Arrived in the mail . . .

A bunch of nifty stuff arrived in the mail during the last few days. . . . Amanda sent photocopies of a dozen clipping - some vintage and some contemporary - and some I had never seen before. Thank you very much, Amanda!

I also recieved a copy of London Magazine (more a literary journal than a traditional magazine) which I had purchased over the internet from an English book dealer. This issue from 1966 contains a rather interesting article, "Daisy and Lulu," which compares and contrasts the heroines of Inside Daisy Clover and Pandora's Box. Very interesting, and an early example of contemporary writing about Brooks. There really isn't much from the 1960's that I have found. (One of the other fascinating pieces in this issue is an essay on Bob Dylan by Angela Carter - very smart stuff indeed. The juxtaposition of the two articles lead me to wonder . . . if "Daisy and Lulu," which Carter might well have read having an article of her own in the same issue, might have served as a kind of introduction to Louise Brooks for the novelist. Or perhaps, Carter had seen one of the screenings of Pandora's Box in London in the mid-1960's, which this article references. Whatever the case, Angela Carter - one of the seminal British fiction writers of the post-war era, went on to idolize Louise Brooks and write about the actress in various works. Perhaps this article or those screenings were the genesis of Carter's interest.)

Also arriving in the mail was the newly released three DVD set of  Brooks' movies from Carlotta Films. Nice packaging, and lots of extras are included on the discs. I have to reprogram my DVD player (the discs are region 2), and will relay my impressions on this important new French release sometime soon.

After a long wait and considerable expense, I also acquired the screenplays to two early Brooks' films, The American Venus and Love 'Em and Leave 'Em. They arrived in the mail today after a wait of nearly two months! The screenplay for The American Venus is especially interesting, as this is a lost film. So far, by hook and by crook, I have acquired the screenplays, scripts, or continuity for six other Brooks films - mostly later efforts. Among them are The Canary Muder Case, Windy Riley Goes Hollywood and God's Gift to Women. I wonder how many still exist.

Billboard magazine

Weekly trip to the San Francisco Public Library: There was no inter-library loan material waiting for me, so I took the opportunity to look through Billboard (the SFPL has a long run this trade journal on microfilm). I had previously gone through Billboard for reviews of Brooks' appearances with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as reviews of her films.

I spent time looking through the years 1934 and 1935 in hope of finding anything on Brooks' appearances as a night club dancer. I was hopeful because Billboardcovered nite clubs and the nite club scene in Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Miami - all cities in which Brooks danced. I spent about an hour and a half scrolling through months and months of microfilm. I didn't find anything, and was about to give up, until I came across a review of Brooks and Dario's April 12, 1935 performance at the Capitol Theater in New York. They were part of the stage show supporting the MGM film Vanessa, staring Helen Hayes and Robert Montgomery.

"Louise Brooks and Dario, doubling from the Central Park Casino, are a new combination around and impressed as a class team. The girl is a smart looking brunet, while her male partner is a smooth teammate. Do two numbers, a modern ballroom waltz and a lighter flirtation dance. Their work holds interest, altho it's not outstanding."

Original Pandora's Box 1-sheet up for auction

A beautiful German 1-sheet poster, for Pandora's Box, is up for auction through eBay. This lithograph, which dates from 1928 and measures 55.9 x 37.4 inches, features artwork by Josef Bottlik (1897 - 1984). The poster printer is R. Spiegel of Berlin.

The auction, which begins November 6th, can be viewed here. Bidding starts at $15,000 and is estimated to sell for between $22,000 and $30,000.

                                             

Brooks mention in David Thomson article

David Thomson is an especially good film critic. He is also the author of the magnificent New Biographical Dictionary of Film (a book that belongs in every home), as well as many other worthwhile books and articles. Today's Independent newspaper from the U.K. carried an interesting article by Thomson which referenced Louise Brooks.

"But as the feeling dawned so pretty girls were named and hired and put on our screens week after week. In that process, the female soul was radically divided: there were the virgins, the very good girls - as typified by Lillian Gish, and to a rather cheekier degree by Mary Pickford. These women were models for human behaviour, even if they were already a little antiquated. For instance, D W Griffith was still honouring Gish's saintly woman as the First World War and its aftermath introduced the "jazz baby", the flapper, the "wild kid" - the kind of woman best celebrated by the fabulous Clara Bow and the young Gloria Swanson. And then there was the bad girl, the femme fatale, the temptress. That is a tradition that includes Theda Bara - the enchantress women in Cecil B De Mille films - and even Louise Brooks - though Brooks was too candid and carnal for American tastes and only found full expression in Germany, in G W Pabst's Pandora's Box."

Thanx to Christy, a regular reader of British newspapers, for pointing this out.