Welcome to the LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY™, a pioneering fan site and online archive dedicated to the life & times of the silent film star Louise Brooks (1906 – 1985). A Jazz Age celebrity, the actress is best known for her bobbed hair as well as for her legendary role as Lulu in the 1929 silent movie, Pandora’s Box. Launched online in 1995, the Louise Brooks Society (or LBS) celebrates this multifaceted personality who was not only an acclaimed actress, but also a Denishawn dancer, Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, and later the bestselling author of Lulu in Hollywood. Once nearly forgotten, Brooks has emerged from obscurity to become a 20th century icon, and 21st century muse. At nearly 300 pages and growing, this site has it all.
The mission of the LBS is to honor the actress by stimulating interest in her life, films and legacy…. The filmography found here is the most detailed ever compiled on Brooks (surpassing both IMDb & AFI). The are also articles and ephemera, image galleries, a biography, chronology, slide-shows, videos, trivia, links, and more. This information rich website is just one of the many things we do — along with research, writing articles, curating exhibits, sponsoring events, and most importantly, helping with the preservation of Brooks’ films. The LBS keeps a long-running BLOG (since 2002), helped bring both Lulu in Hollywood and the definitive biography of Brooks by Barry Paris back into print, and, it has PUBLISHED five books with more in the works! The LBS is an educational site as well as a home to a virtual fan club of like-minded individuals. Explore the LBS and all that it has to offer. And please consider joining in and / or supporting its efforts!
More about the LBS, including its mission statement and history, can be found on its ABOUT page. The Louise Brooks Society operates with the written consent of the Estate of Louise Brooks (Louise Brooks Heirs, LC), who “approve and support” its use of the name and likeness of the actress. The Louise Brooks Society™ is proud to be a retrosite where both accuracy and authenticity matters. As such, the LBS is a clickbait, colorized, and A.I. free zone.
Thomas Gladysz
Director, Louise Brooks Society
=== BIOGRAPHY ===
♦ ♦ Explore the LIFE & TIMES tab to visit pages detailing the remarkable story of Louise Brooks. There’s a biography and chronology, articles, essays and excerpts, recommended reading, quotations, links, and lots more.
=== FILMS ===
♦ ♦ The LBS filmography is the most detailed ever compiled on just about any actor, surpassing the AFI and IMDb for credits, bit players, alternative titles, shooting locations, reviews and more. Exclusively on the LBS.
=== CHRONOLOGY ===
♦ ♦ Where was she? What was she doing? Who did she know? A detailed look at the actress’ daily life. Praised by the Irish Times as “extraordinary” and exclusive to the Louise Brooks Society website.
=== ARCHIVE ===
♦ ♦ The LBS archive contains a treasure trove of rare material including vintage books, magazines, postcards, advertisements and ephemera as well as photoplay editions, sheet music, 78 rpm discs & much, much more.
=== FEATURED PAGE ===
♦ ♦ “Writings of Louise Brooks” details the actress’ published, unpublished and uncollected work, including her little known self-published booklet on dance, her articles on film, notebooks, letters, and bestselling memoir, Lulu in Hollywood.
=== EXPLORE / WHAT’S NEW ===
♦ ♦ At more than 260 pages, the LBS is one of the largest and most comprehensive websites devoted to any film star. There is a lot to look at and much to explore. Visit the WHAT’S NEW page for the latest updates.
=== PUBLICATIONS ===
♦ ♦ The Louise Brooks Society has published five books to date, with three more in the works. Each is the result of considerable research, and each features new information and dozens of rare images. Find out more, and order your copy today!
=== ESSENTIAL READING ===
♦ ♦ From Portrait of an Anti-star to the Barry Paris biography to Peter Cowie’s pictorial to Jan Wahl’s Dear Stinkpot, the “Louise Brooks Bookshelf” is an opinionated guide to the best & worst books about the actress and her films.
=== RESOURCES ===
♦ ♦ From Louise Brooks bibliographies to lists of searchable movie magazines, silent film festivals, video distributors and related websites, the LBS resource page is a great place to start your journey of discovery.
=== COVER GIRL ===
♦ ♦ “Louise Brooks Cover Girl” is a thrilling new section which brings together dozens of vintage magazine covers from all around the world — from France and Germany to Brazil, Japan, Italy, Poland and beyond.
=== HOMAGE ===
♦ ♦ Movies, music, literature & comics have all paid homage to Brooks – a 20th century icon & 21st century muse. Pictured here is just one example, actress Haley Lu Richardson as Louise Brooks in The Chaperone.
THE THREE MOST RECENT POSTS ON THE LBS BLOG @ louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com
Since 2002, the LBS has been blogging about Louise Brooks, silent film, and the Jazz Age, as well as books, music, art, fashion,
dance and other topics related to the one-and-only Lulu. Subscribe to keep up on the latest announcements and new finds.
- New cover for Louise Brooks Lulu in Hollywood revealed
by Louise Brooks Society on November 6, 2025A new cover for Louise Brooks' acclaimed book of essays, Lulu in Hollywood, has just been revealed. This bold new design has now shown up on public library online catalogs (that's where I first noticed it), along with commercial sites such as amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million. What do you think?As with the previous "expanded edition" published in 2000, this new look edition is published by the University of Minnesota Press. And like the 2000 edition, this 2025 edition owes […]
- Adapting Sex on Screen: the Cinematic Biographies of Lulu, La Ronde and Venus in Furs
by Louise Brooks Society on November 5, 2025There is a new book out which should be of interest to fans of Louise Brooks and the Lulu archetype. The book, by Julian Preece, is titled Adapting Sex on Screen: the Cinematic Biographies of Lulu, La Ronde and Venus in Furs (Bloomsbury Academic). The book is out in the UK, but won't be released in the United States until January.The publisher just sent me a pdf copy. And though I have not had time to really dig into it, the chapters I've glanced at regarding Lulu and Louise Brooks and […]
- Louise Brooks twice referenced in new Thomas Pynchon novel, Shadow Ticket
by Louise Brooks Society on November 2, 2025Louise Brooks is referenced twice in the new Thomas Pynchon novel, Shadow Ticket (Penguin Press). This latest novel from the bestselling author of Gravity's Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49, Vineland, and Inherent Vice has been described by the Washington Post as “Bonkers and brilliant fun.” The Los Angeles Times called it “Late Pynchon at his finest. Dark as a vampire’s pocket, light-fingered as a jewel thief, Shadow Ticket capers across the page with breezy, baggy-pants assurance […]
Please note: CONTENT ON THIS SITE HAS BEEN REMOVED AGAINST THE WISHES OF THE LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY
following unwarranted claims of trademark infringement. Apologies to this site’s many followers, but that’s the way it is until a certain legal matter is concluded.