Leonard Maltin comments on Diary of a Lost Girl

At the recently concluded San Francisco Silent Film Festival, I had a chance to speak with Leonard Maltin. He told me how much he appreciated The Diary of a Lost Girl, the 1929 Louise Brooks film which had been screened the day before.

Just recently, Maltin posted a long entry on his blog, "Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy,"  highlighting what were for him some the Festival's many highlights. About the Brooks film, Maltin commented, "It’s been many years since I saw G.W. Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) with Louise Brooks, but I don’t remember being affected by it the way I was this time around. I’m older, and perhaps that has something to do with my response, but I found it incredibly hypnotic, sad, and moving." These comments echoed what he had told me in person.

Read more - including comments on the various Festival films - at http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/archives/2010/07/27/silent_films_live_again

A fragile image

I just obtained a falling-to-pieces copy of Arts Monthly Pictorial. It dates from 1926, and contains this earlier and rather uncommon image of Louise Brooks by Edwin Bower Hesser. The magazine is on brittle paper. I wanted to share it with everyone before the paper falls apart. It is a fragile thing.

Huffington Post: Loving Louise Brooks

Loving Louise Brooks is a short film and the work of now graduated French Lycee / high school students - which, as a student film has all charms and shortcomings of student work. Nevertheless, I like it. Some further thoughts at the Huffington Post.

Louise Brooks stars at 2010 Silent Film Festival

Louise Brooks seemed to be just about everywhere at the just concluded 2010 San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Brooks’ image adorned the badges worn by staff, volunteers, the press, special guests, and festival pass holders. Her image was on the handbill for the event, and could be found in the display cases outside the Castro Theater in San Francisco, where the event was held.

Individuals could be seen sporting pin back buttons featuring a likeness of the actress. And if that weren’t enough, more than a few individuals could be spotted wearing Brooks’ t-shirts - either those issued by the Festival in 2006 when it showed Pandora’s Box, or the all-black “strand of pearls” shirts being sold by one of the vendors on the Castro mezzanine.

Brooks’ postcards were for sale on the mezzanine, along with a selection of books both by and about the actress. As was the limited edition silkscreen poster for Diary of a Lost Girl commissioned for this year’s event. It proved especially popular, and sold out. I managed to secure # 29, since that was the year the film was released.

Diary of a Lost Girl, the 1929 G.W. Pabst film which stars Brooks, was the Festival centerpiece. That's because it was the “Founder's Presentation” film. Before the film was shown to a nearly sold-out house of 1400 movie buffs, SFSFF founders Melissa Chittick and Stephen Salmons were honored for their efforts in having started the annual event which has, over the years, grown from a single co-presentation to a four day film lover's extravaganza and the largest silent film festival in North America. At this special presentation of Diary of a Lost Girl, the Colorado-based Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra performed their original score for the film. It was very well received. And I liked it a lot too.

After the screening, three authors signed copies of their books. Emmy nominated Hollywood screenwriter Samuel Bernstein (pictured left in a black shirt, with me) signed copies of his recently published Lulu: A Novel (Walford Press). The subject of this “non-fiction novel" is Brooks and the period in her life when she went to work with Pabst in Germany. It’s the latest in a shelf worth of works of fiction which have taken the silent film star as their muse.

Also signing was Ira Resnick. This longtime collector and founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery in New York City (the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies) was signing copies of his new book, Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (Abbeville). It features hundreds of images including a number of posters and lobby cards from various Brooks’ films. Resnick’s new book also includes a small "love letter" to the actress as his own collecting muse.

I also signed books. I've just published the "Louise Brooks edition" of the book which was the basis for the film Diary of a Lost Girl. This new illustrated edition of the 1905 German novel brings this important book back into print in the United States after more than 100 years. It includes a long introduction detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film of the same name.For those lucky attendees who lined up for a copy, I gave away a free pin back button (there were three styles to choose from) and also rubber stamped their copy using my Rick Geary drawn caricature of Louise Brooks. Fans seemed to like that.

Brooks’ part in Diary of a Lost Girl wasn’t her only appearance on the screen at the 2010 event. Her image was flashed on the screen during the in-between film slideshow. And, during the Sunday morning presentation, "Amazing Tales from the Archives," Mike Mashon of the Library of Congress presented a fascinating report on American silent film survival rates which referenced Brooks and her films.

During his presentation, Mashon focused on Paramount, and naturally - Brooks' name and films popped up at least 6 or 8 times. (Brooks was under contract to Paramount during large parts of her career.)

In particular, Mashon relayed the story of the 1928 Brooks’ film, Beggars of Life, and how it has come to survive till today. At one point, Mashon even showed a 1950 purchase order from James Card of the George Eastman House for a 16mm dupe of the film. All copies in circulation today, Mashon noted, come from this copy of the film made decades ago.

Mashon also showed another document which referenced a 1951 archive acquisition of another Brooks’ film, A Social Celebrity (1926). It has subsequently been lost.

As Brooks’ longtime friend Kevin Brownlow (pictured right with me - notice we are both wearing our Louise Brooks Festival badges, and I my Prix de Beaute t-shirt) pointed out during his remarks at the event, the motto of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival is “True Art Transcends Time.” Twenty-five years after her death, the same might be said for Louise Brooks.

[More images from the event in the slideshow which follows the article at examiner.com.]

Another new book about Louise Brooks?

In my previous blog, I wrote about a recently issued book called Ziegfeld Follies: Ziegfeld Girls, Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Lucia Pamela, Jeanne Eagels, Bessie Love, Paulette Goddard, Louise Brooks. It was published last month by Books LLC, has no given author, and can be found on amazon.com 

It seems as though that same "publisher" has issued another book with Louise Brooks' content. It's cleverly titled People From Montgomery County, Kansas: Louise Brooks, William Inge, Vivian Vance, Bill Kurtis, Gareth Porter, Johnny Rutherford. And like those other books, it has no given author. It's 118 pages.The publisher notes that there are chapter devoted to Louise Brooks, William Inge, Vivian Vance, Bill Kurtis, Gareth Porter, Johnny Rutherford, Mildred "Micky" Axton, Sheila C. Bair, William Wadsworth Hodkinson, Kenneth Mcfarland, Helen Foster, Claude Wendell Horton, Sr., Ron Kenoly, Harry Hines Woodring, Dave Baker, Eva Jessye, Sam Avey, James Grauerholz, Carrie Ingalls, Denver David Hargis, Scott Hastings, Maxwell Davis, Phil Ehart, Mary Howard de Liagre, Cynthia Sikes, Ron Warner, Omar Knedlik, and Wade Flemons.

Like those earlier books, this book seems to be drawn from online sources, such as Wikipedia. And like those earlier books, it is available on amazon.com The publisher web page for this book is http://booksllc.net/book.cfm?id=3490533 I don't recommend any of the books published by this company.

New book about Louise Brooks ?

Seemingly, there is a new book about Louise Brooks. Or at least it is about her in part. Or at least her name is in the title. And, it was printed recently.

The book is called Ziegfeld Follies: Ziegfeld Girls, Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Lucia Pamela, Jeanne Eagels, Bessie Love, Paulette Goddard, Louise Brooks. It was published last month, is 166 pages, and can be found on amazon.com No author is given. That's a bad sign.

I haven't seen a copy of the book as of yet - though I do plan on ordering one. (Somebody has got to.) The product description offered on amazon is kinda weird. It notes that there are chapters devoted to Ziegfeld Girls, Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Lucia Pamela, Jeanne Eagels, Bessie Love, Paulette Goddard, Louise Brooks, Marion Davies, Olive Thomas, Joan Blondell, Ann Pennington, Mae Murray, Florenz Ziegfeld, Nita Naldi, Susan Fleming, Iris Adrian, Anna Held, Bird Millman, Tamara Geva, Dorothy Mackaill, Billie Dove, Paulette Duval, Yvonne Hughes, Claire Dodd, Irene Hayes, Cecile Arnold, Jean Howard, Helen Gallagher. 

It then offers an excerpt, which seems to be lifted from Wikipedia. The informational url found in the product description takes you to the Wikipedia page for Louise Brooks. Hmmm.

If I were to hazard a guess, I would think this "data-mined" book is made up of little more than material gathered from various websites. Oh boy. But that is just a guess. One never knows until one has the thing in hand. The publisher is Books LLC. According to their website, they are based in Memphis, Tennessee. Their webpage for this book is http://booksllc.net/book.cfm?id=3459533

I do believe that this "publisher" is the same entity which also recently released a version of Margarete Bohme's The Diary of a Lost One on the world. I have a copy of that - and can state that it is a very poor thing indeed. The product description found on amazon.com and on their website begins "The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text...." Well, that's an understatement. Doesn't i"numerous typos or missing text" make you feel like you simply MUST have a copy?

For better or for worse, we are likely at the dawn of a new age of such books. 

When I prepared my own edition of Bohme's The Diary of a Lost Girl, I was very careful to make sure the text of my book was the best it could be. I spent nearly a month going over the manuscript again and and again fixing typos and making corrections. And, to give it added value, I also added a 35 page introduction and more than 3 dozen vintage illustrations. My edition of Bohme's book can be found at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-diary-of-a-lost-girl-(louise-brooks-edition)/11256621. Plus, what makes my edition so superior is that it looks a heck of a lot better than the above two books. And, it has Louise Brooks on the cover. What more could you ask for?

I am in the process of getting the book into various online "distribution channels" and even select brick-and-mortar bookstores. It should be available around the world on the various  amazon.com sites sometime soon, as well as Barnes & Noble, etc.... However, the best source for the book is direct from the printer at lulu.com

Article on director G.W. Pabst

Today, I published an article on the Huffington Post on director G.W. Pabst. His two films with Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, are legend. As mentioned earlier on this blog, on July 15th Bard College in New York state is hosting a G.W. Pabst festival. And screenings of his films are also taking place this month in San Francisco and Berlin. My new article poses the question "Are we in the middle of a Pabst's revival."

Please check out my article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-gladysz/gw-pabst-a-film-director_b_643588.html

Pictured below is Louise Brooks with G.W. Pabst and some of the actors who appeared in Pandora's Box. Pabst is standing next to the actress on her right. This photo was taken in late 1928.