Lately, I have been compiling a list of Bay Area screenings for each of Louise Brooks' films. (See yesterday's blog as an example of my efforts.)
And so far, I have put together a ten page document detailing all of the listings I have been able to uncover - listings from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, Marin County and places in-between. It's a fun project - though also frustrating. My lists are far from complete, as many screenings (especially those at smaller neighborhood theaters) were not advertised or listed, or the materials which do document them (like old newspapers) simply don't exist anymore or can't be gotten at.
Nevertheless, I forge ahead. Tomorrow, I will head to Sacramento and the State Library of California to look at various Bay Area newspapers held there on microfilm. That library even holds San Francisco newspapers not held by the San Francisco Public Library, like the San Francisco Illustrated News (a glorious old-fashioned tabloid) and the Richmond Record (the latter is a neighborhood newspaper, which hopefully will carry advertisements for the neighborhood theaters in that district).
It is a work in progress.
In early blogs, I posted some of my findings for The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) and King of Gamblers (1937). I have been able to add many more listings. Here, so far, is what I have been able to find for the now-lost film, Just Another Blonde (1926).
New Stanford in Palo Alto (Jan. 13-14, 1927); Sequoia Theatre in Redwood City (Jan 15, 1927); Novelty in Martinez (Feb. 3-4, 1927); Warfield in San Francisco (Feb. 12-18, 1927); Grand Lake in Oakland (Feb. 19-25, 1927); Hub Theatre in Mill Valley (Feb. 26, 1927); Princess Theatre in Sausalito (Feb. 27-28, 1927); California in Berkeley (Mar. 2-5, 1927); Richmond Theatre in Richmond (Mar. 16-17, 1927); Peninsula in Burlingame (Apr. 3, 1927); Orpheus in San Rafael (Apr. 14-15, 1927); Casino Theatre in Antioch (Mar. 19, 1927); Mission in San Jose (Apr. 20-23, 1927); Regent Theater in San Mateo (Apr. 29-30, 1927); Coliseum in San Francisco (May 10-11, 1927); Haight in San Francisco (May 22, 1927); Alhambra in San Francisco (May 28-29, 1927); Wigwam in San Francisco (May 31 – June 3, 1927 with The Lady in Ermine); Castro in San Francisco (June 7-8, 1927); Alexandra in San Francisco (June 8-9, 1927); Irving in San Francisco (June 12, 1927 with Great K & A Train Robbery); Riviera in San Francisco (June 13-14, 1927); Royal Theatre in South San Francisco (July 6, 1927); New Balboa in San Francisco (July 20-21, 1927); Roosevelt in San Francisco (July 22, 1927); California Theatre in Livermore (July 23, 1927); Golden State in Oakland (July 25, 1927); Lincoln in Oakland (July 25, 1927); Hayward Theatre in Hayward (Aug. 2, 1927 with Diplomacy); Rivoli in San Francisco (Aug. 28-29, 1927); Majestic in San Francisco (Oct. 8, 1927).
What's interesting is that this particular film was shown in outlying town like Palo Alto (home to Stanford University) and nearby Redwood City BEFORE it was screened in San Francisco. Usually in the 1920's, films played in the major cities before they made their way elsewhere.
A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts
about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the
Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Lulu by the Bay
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
If we only had a time machine
If we only had a time machine, we could travel back to San Francisco on June 12, 1927 and take in one of three Louise Brooks films showing at four different neighborhood movie theaters. Both the Castro and the Coliseum were showing the now lost 1927 film, Evening Clothes. And, the Irving was showing the lost 1926 film, Just Another Blonde - while across town the New Balboa was screening Love Em and Leave Em (1926).
Imagine that, three different Louise Brooks showing at four different theaters in one city on the same day. If we only had a time machine.
Imagine that, three different Louise Brooks showing at four different theaters in one city on the same day. If we only had a time machine.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Grand Inquisitor
I finally had the chance to see The Grand Inquisitor (2008), a recent short film by Eddie Muller (the author and film historian known as the "Czar of Noir"). I mention it because this exceptionally well done short work contains an homage to Louise Brooks. It is well worth checking out. This 22-minute movie can be viewed online at Strike.TV.
The Grand Inquisitor stars 1940's film star Marsha Hunt as Hazel Reedy, and debut actress Leah Dashe as Lulu. Hunt is superb, and Dashe is oh so charming in this noirish tale. More on the film can be found at www.grandinquisitormovie.com/ Check it out - I really liked it.
The Grand Inquisitor stars 1940's film star Marsha Hunt as Hazel Reedy, and debut actress Leah Dashe as Lulu. Hunt is superb, and Dashe is oh so charming in this noirish tale. More on the film can be found at www.grandinquisitormovie.com/ Check it out - I really liked it.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
A portrait of Louise Brooks
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Louise Brooks on the cover
My thanks go to Jason, who tipped me off to the appearance of Louise Brooks (or at least her distinct hair) on the cover of this just published novel by Kate Walbert. Not sure if the actress herself makes an appearance in the book, which was published by Scribner. Here is some publisher supplied copy.
About the book: National Book Award finalist Kate Walbert's A Short History of Women is a profoundly moving portrayal of the complicated legacies of mothers and daughters, chronicling five generations of women from the close of the nineteenth century through the early years of the twenty-first.
The novel opens in England in 1914 at the deathbed of Dorothy Townsend, a suffragette who starves herself for the cause. Her choice echoes in the stories of her descendants interwoven throughout: a brilliant daughter who tries to escape the burden of her mother's infamy by immigrating to America just after World War I to begin a career in science; a niece who chooses a conventional path -- marriage, children, suburban domesticity -- only to find herself disillusioned with her husband of fifty years and engaged in heartbreaking and futile antiwar protests; a great-granddaughter who wryly articulates the free-floating anxiety of the times while getting drunk on a children's playdate in post-9/11 Manhattan. In a kaleidoscope of voices and with a richness of imagery, emotion, and wit, Walbert portrays the ways in which successive generations of women have responded to what the Victorians called "The Woman Question."
As she did in her critically acclaimed The Gardens of Kyoto and Our Kind, Walbert induces "a state in which the past seems to hang effortlessly amid the present" (The New York Times). A Short History of Women is her most ambitious novel, a thought-provoking and vividly original narrative that crisscrosses a century to reflect the tides of time and the ways in which the lives of our great-grandmothers resonate in our own.
About the Author: Kate Walbert is the author of Where She Went, a New York Times Notable Book of 1998; The Gardens of Kyoto, winner of the Connecticut Book Award for fiction in 2002; and Our Kind, finalist for the National Book Award in 2004. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and numerous other publications.
Has anyone read this book?
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Friday, July 10, 2009
SFSFF starts today
I'm excited about this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It starts today. No Louise Brooks film, but plenty of cinematic action. Here is what I am especially looking forward to.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
A wow Louise Brooks discovery
My latest discovery . . . . It depicts Louise Brooks' image in a window display promoting the release of The Canary Murder Case. As you can see, the actress is prominent in this display. My guess is that this image was shot in early February, 1929.
It is one of five different images I have uncovered of different store windows taken in Los Angeles at various department stores and shops including the May Company and the Owl Drug store.
Apparently, there was a widespread push to promote the film. Some of the images feature hearts and candy (suggesting a pre-Valentine promotion - the film was officially released on February 16th), while others include photoplay book edition of the novel on which the film was based. Nevertheless, Louise Brooks - in the form of a lifesize cardboard display piece - is front and center in each of the displays.
Wow wow wow wow wow! I have never seen these before.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
The Art of Nell Brinkley
Throughout the teens, twenties, and early thirties, Nell Brinkley was about as big a name as there was in the world of cartooning and illustration. Brinkley’s independent-minded and always pretty heroines pirouetted, waltzed, shimmied, and vamped their way through various adventures – often with a dashing young man by their side.
I don't think she ever drew Louise Brooks, but she certainly drew a number of silent film stars. Early in her career Brinkley drew actresses like Mae Murray, Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, as well as entertainers like Irene Castle, Evelyn Nesbit, and the Dolly Sisters. Other of her characters (though not identified as such) bear a strong resemblance to silent stars Ronald Colman, Nils Asther, John Gilbert, and others.
Brinkley's work is the subject of a new book, The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons, 1913-1940 (Fantagraphics). My illustrated article on the book can be found at www.examiner.com/x-7605-SF-Silent-Movie-Examiner~y2009m7d8-Nell-Brinkley-art-highlighted-in-book-by-San-Francisco-herstorian
I don't think she ever drew Louise Brooks, but she certainly drew a number of silent film stars. Early in her career Brinkley drew actresses like Mae Murray, Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, as well as entertainers like Irene Castle, Evelyn Nesbit, and the Dolly Sisters. Other of her characters (though not identified as such) bear a strong resemblance to silent stars Ronald Colman, Nils Asther, John Gilbert, and others.
Brinkley's work is the subject of a new book, The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons, 1913-1940 (Fantagraphics). My illustrated article on the book can be found at www.examiner.com/x-7605-SF-Silent-Movie-Examiner~y2009m7d8-Nell-Brinkley-art-highlighted-in-book-by-San-Francisco-herstorian
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
Friday, July 3, 2009
Author line-up announced for Silent Film Festival
Though they're not showing any Louise Brooks films this year, there are still plenty of reasons to attend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Along with a line-up of must-see films, a number of historians, biographers, archivists, scholars and authors will be in attendance at the annual event.
I've just published an article highlighting the those who will be signing books and DVD's at this years silent film lovefest. My article can be found here. Please check it out!
I've just published an article highlighting the those who will be signing books and DVD's at this years silent film lovefest. My article can be found here. Please check it out!
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society™. Launched in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to the legendary silent film star. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), and have its permission to use the name and likeness of the actress. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. CONTACT: louisebrookssociety (at) gmail.com
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