Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Louise Brooks - Nitrate Dreams

This is the fourth in a series of odd, unusual, and entertaining Louise Brooks related videos from Vimeo. Here is "Nitrate Dreams," from Colette Saint Yves.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Images of Louise Brooks - Sonchai Körner

This is the third in a series of odd, unusual, and entertaining Louise Brooks related videos from Vimeo. Here is "Images of Louise Brooks - Sonchai Körner." According to the Vimeo page, "Sonchai Körner explores the demons of her past which serve as a source of inspiration for her work with Sven Mundt, telling of the self-doubt which comes from feeling that her talents are not recognized and the self-hate triggered by her inability to believe herself good enough."

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Kingfishers Catch Fire - Pandora

This is the second in a series of odd, unusual, and entertaining Louise Brooks related videos from Vimeo. Here is "Kingfishers Catch Fire - Pandora." According to its page, this video for "Pandora" by the London-based band Kingfishers Catch Fire is taken from their "Ballerina EP".
FREE DOWNLOAD here: bit.ly/MW2vjF



How did it come to pass? Your honesty ruined us.
You only told me of that boy 'cause you know I am easily hurt.
So how can I go on pretending you're just someone I know?

And you've surely realised
That with every boy you fuck, to me the more beautiful you are.
Boy, this sucks. I should've known from the start.

This was only meant to be casual, we agreed.
You say you went home with that boy because you're in love with me.
So how can I go on pretending you're just someone I know?

And you've surely realised
That with every boy you fuck, to me the more beautiful you are.
Boy, this sucks - our having not seen it from the start.
Take my hand, a second take from the top.
We made our plans before we realised what this was.

And you've surely realised
That with every boy you fuck, to me the more beautiful you are.
Boy, this sucks - our having not seen it from the start.
Take my hand, a second take from the top.
We made our plans before we realised what this was,
That we're in love, Pandora.



Video: Excerpts from Pandora's Box by G.W.Pabst (1929). More info at:

facebook.com/kingfishermusic
soundcloud.com/kingfishersmusic
twitter.com/kingfisherschat
youtube.com/KingfishersMusic

Saturday, May 7, 2016

King of Jazz Kickstarter Campaign - Check it out

There is a new Kickstarter campaign I would encourage everyone to check out. It's for a new book about the production, release and restoration of the 1930 musical film King of Jazz starring Paul Whiteman.


King of Jazz: Paul Whiteman’s Technicolor Revue tells the untold story of the making, release and restoration of Universal’s 1930 Technicolor musical extravaganza King of Jazz. This special limited edition hardcover book needs your help to get published!

King of Jazz was one of the most ambitious films ever to emerge from Hollywood. Just as movie musicals were being invented in 1929, Universal Pictures brought together Paul Whiteman, leader of the country’s top dance orchestra; John Murray Anderson, director of spectacular Broadway revues; a top ensemble of dancers and singers; early Technicolor; and a near unlimited budget.

The film’s highlights include a dazzling interpretation of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” which Whiteman had introduced to the public in 1924; Walter Lantz’s “A Fable in Jazz,” the first cartoon in Technicolor; and Anderson’s grand finale “The Melting Pot of Music,” a visualization of popular music’s many influences and styles.

The film is not only a unique document of Anderson’s theatrical vision and Whiteman’s band at its peak, but also of many of America’s leading performers of the late 1920s, including Bing Crosby in his first screen appearance, and the Russell Markert Dancers, who would soon become Radio City Music Hall’s famous Rockettes.



And that's not all. The film also includes the first screen appearance by the one and only Bing Crosby!

Authors James Layton and David Pierce have uncovered original artwork, studio production files, behind-the-scenes photographs, personal papers, unpublished interviews, and a host of other previously unseen documentation. The book will offer a richly illustrated narrative of the film’s origins, production and release, with broader context on its diverse musical and theatrical influences. The story will conclude with an in-depth look at the challenges Universal has faced in restoring the film in 2016, as told by the experts doing the work.

The 256-page book will be illustrated with over 200 color and black & white images, many of which will showcase the never-before-published Academy Award winning designs of Herman Rosse. Intricate behind-the-scenes stills will give insight into the scale of the film’s ambitions, while other full-color reproductions of original music arrangements, storyboards, posters, magazine ads, programs and frame enlargements will appear throughout.

The future of film history is in your hands. Find out more, watch the video below and visit the Kickstarter campaign page for this worthy project.

Friday, May 6, 2016

getTV Premieres Rare Louise Brooks film, When You’re in Love

If you’re not familiar with the 1937 film When You’re in Love, you are not alone. These days, it’s little known. It’s one of those “old movies” few people have heard of, and even fewer have seen. Nevertheless, it's a charming and entertaining film deserving of a wider audience.

If you like Cary Grant or have interest in the films of Frank Capra, enjoy opera or know of the once famed singer Grace Moore, or appreciate musicals or screwball comedies, then you’ll want to tune in for the network premiere of this newly-restored film. When You’re in Love airs Friday on getTV.


The draw for many will be a young Cary Grant, who shines in support of Moore in this not-quite screwball romantic musical. Grant’s best known early films, the ones that helped make him a star – like Topper and Bringing Up Baby, were still a year off. Nevertheless, the actor’s charm, witty delivery, and suave demeanor are all evident.

The film has other attractions; chief among them is its star, Grace Moore. She was a major name in her day, both as operatic singer and film actress. When You’re in Love is one of nine films in which Moore appeared, and it was seen as a worthy successor to her earlier triumph in One Night of Love (1934), for which Moore was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Cary Grant and Grace Moore star in the 1937 musical comedy When You’re in Love.


The film features a fast-moving plot which turns on high-spirits and high-notes. Grant plays Jimmy Hudson, a care-free American artist who can’t leave Mexico until he can pay his hotel bill. Caught in a similar conundrum is Louise Fuller (played by Moore), a career-driven Australian opera singer deported to Mexico after her American visa expires. Desperate to re-enter the States – which she can only do married to an American, the singer’s lawyer offers the impoverished artist $2,000 to marry – with the understanding the two divorce back in the States. Things get complicated when a real romance blossoms between the mismatched pair.

When You’re in Love was scripted and directed by Robert Riskin, Frank Capra’s Oscar-winning, longtime collaborator. This was the only film Riskin would direct, and it contains plenty of delightful Capra-esque (or rather Riskin-esque) touches. Among them is a stellar supporting cast of character actors, which includes Henry Stephenson, future Oscar nominee Aline MacMahon, and future Oscar winner Thomas Mitchell, among others.

Cary Grant and Grace Moore in a scene from When You’re in Love.

When You’re in Love was promoted as featuring music “From Schubert to Swing.” The film’s eclectic score boasts a number of breezy song-and-dance numbers, including a couple of gems written by legendary composer Jerome Kern and famed lyricist Dorothy Fields. Though an operatic soprano who regularly performed at the Met, Moore even takes on two of the popular hits of the day, “Siboney” and “Minnie the Moocher.” (Grant helps out on the latter, which was lightly censored and then cut from the film when first released. It has now been restored.)

When You’re in Love was a big money maker, and the film proved especially popular with audiences. It was held over in New York (where it premiered at the Roxy City Music Hall), as well as in Atlanta, Baltimore, Seattle, Detroit, Hartford, New Orleans, Trenton, Tacoma, and Springfield (Massachusetts and Illinois).

Robert Riskin and Louise Brooks on the
set of When You're in Love
Critics also liked it. The Hollywood Reporter got it right when it stated, “With a more substantial story than the last two Grace Moore vehicles, When You’re in Love is a signal triumph for the foremost diva of the screen, for Cary Grant who should soar to stardom as result of his performance in this, and for Robert Riskin, here notably handling his first directorial assignment.”

If this is not enough to picque your interest, note that When You’re in Love also contains one of the last screen appearances by film legend Louise Brooks. The trouble is, it is hard to spot her.

Brooks, then down and out and attempting yet another comeback, agreed to an uncredited bit part with the understanding she would be given the feminine lead in another Columbia film. (It never happened.)

To generate press, the studio put out the word that Brooks was willing to do anything to get back into pictures. “Louise Brooks is certainly starting her come-back from the lowest rung of the ladder,” wrote the Oakland Tribune. “She is one of a hundred dancers in the ballet chorus of Grace Moore’s When You’re in Love.”

Brooks' bit is brief. She appears as a masked torch bearer in the film’s finale, with Moore descending the stairs within a few feet of the fallen star.

When You’re in Love airs on getTV on Friday, May 6 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT, with a repeat later in the day. The film will be shown again on May 31 at 8pm ET. For a complete schedule of films and times, visit www.get.tv/schedule.

Finale from When You’re in Love. Louise Brooks is obscured, third from the left.

To learn more about Grace Moore and When You're in Love, visit the Louise Brooks Society page on the film. It's chock full of information and trivia. For example, in the film, Moore sings "Siboney" in an early scene. The classic Cuban song of longing must have appealed to Brooks, as Xavier Cugat’s version of “Siboney” was recommended by Brooks in her self-published booklet, The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing.

It is also interesting to note that the New York Times mentioned that the lyrics of Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” had been censored, writing “we did notice that the censors took out the reference to the King of Sweden who gave Minnie whatever she was needin’. Now it’s the King of Rythmania, who filled her full of vintage champagnia.” Daily Variety noted that preview audiences enjoyed Moore’s swing rendition of the now classic song, though it was not included in the film's general release print.


Below is a rare Cary Grant newspaper advertisement which mentions the film.


A variation on this piece appeared on the Huffington Post.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

When You're in Love, starring Cary Grant and Grace Moore

On Friday, May 6, getTV is proud to present the network premiere of the newly-restored 1937 Columbia Pictures musical WHEN YOU’RE IN LOVE! It stars beloved leading man Cary Grant and Golden Age songstress Grace Moore.

The film is helmed by Oscar-winning Frank Capra collaborator Robert Riskin in his directorial debut. It also boasts breezy song-and-dance numbers highlighted by standards written by legendary composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Dorothy Fields.



Read all about it on the Huffington Post. getTV provided this special trailer for tomorrow's broadcast.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Did she or didn't she? Louise Brooks last Denishawn performance?

I have been researching Louise Brooks' time as a Denishawn dancer for more than a decade. And over that time, I have managed to collect material on each of her hundreds of Denishawn appearances -- from the first on Monday, October 2, 1922 at the Temple Theatre in Lewistown, Pennsylvania to her last on Saturday, May 3 at the Palace Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey.

Brooks' two seasons with Denishawn is laid out in the form of a timeline on two pages on the Louise Brooks Society website, Denishawn Dance Company Tour 1922 - 1923 and Denishawn Dance Company Tour 1923 - 1924. This information is drawn, in part, from The Professional Appearances of Ruth St. Denis & Ted Shawn: A Chronology and an Index of Dances 1906 - 1932, by Christena L. Schlundt. This rare but exceptionally useful book was published by the New York Public Library in 1962.
Louise Brooks as a Denishawn dancer, circa 1924.

What I have done over the last decade is to "reverse engineer" Schlundt's timeline. I have done this through literally hundreds of inter-library loan requests, searching through on-line databases, as well as trips to libraries and archives in the Midwest and on the East coast. In doing so, I have collected a filing cabinet full of newspaper articles, images, advertisements and programs. All together, they paint a portrait of Brooks' two full seasons with Denishawn, then the leading modern dance troupe in America.

According to Schlundt, the last three Denishawn performances during which Brooks was a member of the company took place at the beginning of May. The season ended. And sometime shortly thereafter, Brooks was dismissed from the company for having an attitude. According to Schulndt and what I have been able to find, the last three performances were
Thursday, May 1, 1924 in the evening at the Rivoli Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey

Friday, May 2, 1924 in the evening at the Savoy Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey 

Saturday, May 3, 1924 in the evening at the Palace Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey 

Recently, however, I came across an advertisement for a performance which postdates what is thought to be Brooks' last appearance with Denishawn.

This advertisement appeared on May 4, 1924 in the Zanesville Times Signal.


I found this advertisement in the May 4, 1924 edition of the Zanesville Times Signal, a small town Ohio newspaper. Perhaps the ad represents an event scheduled at the last minute, one that wasn't represented on their documented tour itinerary. This supposition is supported by the fact that there are no anticipatory articles or advertisements in the Zanesville newspapers prior to this engagement.

Nor, curiously, are their any follow-up pieces, like a review. Denishawn was a very popular troupe, drawing large, sometimes sell-out crowds wherever they played. As such, they also received a pretty fair amount of press coverage, whether articles announcing their coming to town or reviews which followed their performances.

What is also curious is that two of the other advertisements on the newspaper page on which the above advertisement appears reference March events. Might the above ad been run by mistake? The Denishawn Dance Company had appeared earlier in Zanesville on Wednesday, March 26 at the Weller Theatre. A June article in the same newspaper mentions what a hit they had been earlier in the year (not saying exactly when), and notes that the company would return in October for yet another engagement. Apparently, the citizenry of Zanesville really liked the Denishawn Dancers.

I am flummoxed. Either I have found an undocumented Denishawn performance, or the Zanesville Times Signal layout department really screwed up. There aren't any on-line records I can think to check. Nor are there any reference works here at LBS headquarters which shed any light on this minor mystery.
The Weller theater in Zanesville, Ohio.
If you can provide any information on this mystery, whether to confirm or rule out an appearance by Denishawn in Zanesville, Ohio on May 4, 1924, please contact the Louise Brooks Society.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

I’m a part of this movie, but it doesn’t move me

This is the first in a series of odd, unusual, and entertaining Louise Brooks related videos from Vimeo. Here is "I’m a part of this movie, but it doesn’t move me" from Roxane Billamboz.

I'm a part of this movie, but it doesn't move me from Roxane Billamboz on Vimeo.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

The Actor's Church - The Little Church Around the Corner

Louise Brooks' first film was an uncredited bit in The Street of Forgotten Men, directed by Herbert Brenon. Production took place during May, 1925. Brooks played a moll to Bridgeport Whitey. She appears in only one scene, in a barroom where a fight breaks out, near the end of the movie.

The Street of Forgotten Men was shot at Paramount’s Astoria Studios on Long Island (located at 3412 36th Street in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens). Additional location shooting was done elsewhere on Long Island, as well as on the streets of Manhattan, including on Fifth Avenue and importantly at the landmark Little Church Around the Corner, where a key scene, a wedding between characters played by Neil Hamilton and Mary Brian, takes place.

The Little Church Around the Corner, properly known as the Church of the Transfiguration, is an Episcopal parish church located at 1 East 29th Street, between Madison and Fifth Avenues in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan.

From Wikipedia: "Actors were among the social outcasts whom Houghton befriended. In 1870, William T. Sabine, the rector of the nearby Church of the Atonement, which is no longer extant, refused to conduct funeral services for an actor named George Holland, suggesting, "I believe there is a little church around the corner where they do that sort of thing." Joseph Jefferson, a fellow actor who was trying to arrange Holland's burial, exclaimed, "If that be so, God bless the little church around the corner!" and the church began a longstanding association with the theater.

P. G. Wodehouse, when living in Greenwich Village as a young writer of novels and lyrics for musicals, married his wife Ethel at the Little Church in September 1914. Subsequently, Wodehouse would set most of his fictionalized weddings at the church; and the hit musical Sally that he wrote with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton ended with the company singing, in tribute to the Bohemian congregation: "Dear little, dear little Church 'Round the Corner / Where so many lives have begun, / Where folks without money see nothing that's funny / In two living cheaper than one."

In 1923, the Episcopal Actors' Guild held its first meeting at Transfiguration. Such theatrical greats as Basil Rathbone, Tallulah Bankhead, Peggy Wood, Joan Fontaine, Rex Harrison, Barnard Hughes, and Charlton Heston have served as officers or council members of the guild. The Little Church's association with the theatre continued in the 1970s, when it hosted the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Company, which gave starts to actors such as Armand Assante, Tom Hulce, and Rhea Perlman.

As well as being a guild officer, Sir Rex Harrison was memorialized at the church upon his death in 1990. Maggie Smith, Brendan Gill, and Harrison's sons, Carey and Noel, spoke at the service."

Powered By Blogger