Many films, including Louise Brooks’ films, were based on previously published short stories, novels and other kinds of works. This page presents an annotated checklist of source material (and related books) for the films of Louise Brooks. Entries are arranged chronologically by film. Names are hyperlinked to the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia, which provides additional credits and career details. For each source, relevant biographical and bibliographical notes are offered. An * following the film title indicated that a copy of the screenplay is in the collection of the Louise Brooks Society. If you can provide further information on any of the entries noted on this page, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society.
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| The Show-Off | Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em | Beggars of Life | The Canary Murder Case |
The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) *
Screenplay by Paul Schofield, adapted from a story by George Kibbe Turner.
— George Kibbe Turner’s story, “The Street of the Forgotten Men,” (with the determining article, “the,” prior to the word forgotten) was published in the February, 1925 issue of Liberty magazine. Turner started out as a muckraking journalist prior to his turn to fiction, and notably, nine of his stories were made into 13 films. Some of Turner’s other books include The Biography of a Million Dollars (1919), White Shoulders (1921), and Hagar’s Hoard (1925).
The American Venus (1926) *
Screenplay by Frederick Stowers, from an original story by Townsend Martin. Titles by Robert Benchley.
— Townsend Martin was an accomplished author, screenwriter and longtime friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald (and an acquaintance of Louise Brooks. She famously slapped him across the face with a bunch of roses in Paris in 1929).
A Social Celebrity (1926)
Screenplay by Pierre Collings, from an original story, “I’ll See You Tonight,” by Monte J. Katterjohn.
— Monte Katterjohn was an American screenwriter who wrote the screenplays for 68 films between 1912 and 1931. Among his other credits are, The Weaker Sex (1917), The Sheik (1921), and Daughter of the Dragon (1931).
It’s the Old Army Game (1926)
Screenplay by Thomas J. Geraghty and J. Clarkson Miller from story-material by J. P. McEvoy. Titles by Ralph Spence.
— McEvoy contributed material to the Ziegfeld Folles of 1925, which featured both W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks, the stars of the 1926 film. Along with his earlier hit play, The Potters (1924), McEvoy also wrote a handful of popular novels, including the Louise Brooks “inspired” Dixie Dugan trilogy, Show Girl (1928), Hollywood Girl (1929), and Society (1931).
The Show-Off (1926)
Screenplay by Pierre Collings, adapted from the Broadway stage play of the same name by George Kelly.
— George Kelly, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, was the uncle of actress Grace Kelly. The Show Off, which was quite popular in its day and later remade as a 1946 film starring Red Skelton, has been printed numerous times over the years. A novelization of the play by William Almon Wolff was also published in 1924. Significant editions include:
Kelly, George. The Show-Off. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1924.
— subtitled “a transcript of life in three acts;” preface by Heywood Broun
Kelly, George. The Show-Off. New York: Samuel French, 1924.
— edition of the play for actors, printed as a thick booklet
Kelly, George. Three Plays. New York: Limelight Editions, 1999.
— The Show-Off is included in this collection, as is a biographical and critical essay by William J. Lynch and a foreword by Wendy Wasserstein
Just Another Blonde (1926)
Screenplay by Paul Shofield, adapted from the short story “Even Stephen” by Gerald Beaumont. Titles by George Marion.
— “Even Stephen” was first published in Redbook magazine in October, 1925. A fictionalized version of the screenplay by Virginia Brusnwick Smith appeared in the December 28, 1926 issue of Moving Picture Stories. Gerald Beaumont was a prolific writer of short fiction, whose collections include include Hearts and the Diamond (1921) and Riders up! (1922). He died in 1926 at the age of 46.
Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1927) *
Screenplay by Townsend Martin, adapted from the stage play Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, a Comedy in Three Acts by John V. A. Weaver and George Abbott.
— Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, a Comedy in American was published in the May, 1926 issue of Theatre magazine. Writer John Van Alstyne Weaver was an accomplished poet as well as a screen writer whose film credits include The Crowd (1928). The play was also published in book form:
Abbott, George and Weaver, John Van Alstyne. Love ’em and leave ’em a comedy in three acts,. New York: Samuel French, 1926.
— first edition of the play first produced at the Sam. H. Harris Theatre in New York City, Feb. 3, 1926
Evening Clothes (1927)
Screenplay by John McDermott, adapted from the play The Man in Evening Clothes (L’Homme en habit) by Andre Picard and Yves Mirande. Titles by George Marion.
— L’Homme en habit was a famous French play published in 1922; not only did it serve as the basis for this American silent, it was later remade by Paramount as a French sound film in 1931.
Picard André and Yves Mirande. Un Homme En Habit: pièce en trois actes. Paris: Librairie Théatrale, 1922.
Rolled Stockings (1927)
Screenplay by Percy Heath, adapted from an original story by Frederica Sagor. Titles by Julian Johnson.
— Frederica Sagor (Maas) was a prolific screenwriter during the 1920’s; she penned a number of films starring the likes of Norma Shearer and Clara Bow. Among her best known efforts is The Plastic Age (1925) and The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947); the latter was a Betty Grable film which became the title of Sagor Maas’ 1999 memoir. The screenwriter died in 2012 at the age of 111. A copy of the original story that served as the basis of Rolled Stockings is in the collection of the Louise Brooks Society.
Now We’re in the Air (1927)
Screenplay by Thomas J. Geraghty, adapted from an original story idea by Monte Brice and Keene Thompson. Titles by George Marion.
— Monte Brice was an American writer, producer, and director of films. His other credits include Brewster’s Millions (1926) and Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1928), which he also co-wrote with Keene Thompson.
The City Gone Wild (1927)
Screenplay by Jules Furthman, adapted from an original story idea by Jules and Charles Furthman. Titles by Herman Mankiewicz.
— An early friend of Brooks, Herman J. Mankiewicz was associated with the Algonquin Round Table and was a journalist, author and well known screen writer whose credits include Citizen Kane (1941).
A Girl in Every Port (1928)
Screenplay by Seton I. Miller, adapted from an original story idea by Howard Hawks and J. K. McGuinness. Titles by Malcolm Stuart Boylan.
— Seton I. Miller was a prolific and later producer. He received two Oscar nominations and won one for Best Screenplay for the 1941 fantasy romcom, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, along with Sidney Buchman.
Beggars of Life (1928)
Screenplay by Benjamin Glazer and Jim Tully, adapted from the book of the same name by Jim Tully. Titles by Julian Johnson.
— A one-time hobo who rode the rails, Jim Tully was a popular author of the 1920’s. He wrote for the leading magazines of the day, including various film publications. Beggars of Life was republished a number of times in hardback during the 1920’s. It was also adapted as a play by Maxwell Anderson (as “Outside Looking In”), and as a play was published in Gods of the Lightning (Longmans, Green and Co., 1928). Significant editions of Tully’s best known book include:
Tully, Jim. Beggars of Life. New York: A. C. Boni, 1924.
— first edition
Tully, Jim. Beggars of Life. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1928.
— photoplay edition with four stills from the film; for more on this particular edition, see the LBS Photoplay Editions page
Tully, Jim. Beggars of Life. Wm. Collins & Sons, 1928.
— photoplay edition; for more on this particular edition, see the LBS Photoplay Editions page
Tully, Jim. Beggars of Life. AK Press, 2003.
— worthwhile reprint with an introduction by Charles Willeford
The Canary Murder Case (1929)
Screenplay by Florence Ryerson and Albert Shelby Le Vino, adapted from the book of the same name by S. S. Van Dine. Titles by Herman Mankiewicz.
— S. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright, a well regarded art critic, one time editor of The Smart Set, and brother of the American modernist painter Stanton Macdonald-Wright. The Canary Murder Case, part of a series of detective novels featuring the character Philo Vance, has been republished numerous times in both hardback and paperback editions. It was also adapted as a play (“based on the famous mystery novel and motion picture”) by Walton Butterfield and Lee Morrison and published by Samuel French (1930). Significant editions of van Dines best known book include:
Van Dine, S. S. The Canary Murder Case. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927.
— the first edition
Van Dine, S. S. The Canary Murder Case. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1929.
— photoplay edition with four stills from the film; for more on this particular edition, see the LBS Photoplay Editions page
Van Dine, S. S. The Canary Murder Case. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930.
— edition published as part of the “Philo Vance Series” with frontis piece depicting Louise Brooks; for more on this particular edition, see the LBS Photoplay Editions page
Van Dine, S. S. The Canary Murder Case. Boston: Gregg Press, 1980.
— edition published as part of a series edited by Otto Penzler, with an introduction by Chris Steinbrunner; frontis piece depicts Louise Brooks
Van Dine, S. S. The Canary Murder Case. Poisoned Pen Press, 2023.
— published as part of the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, with a foreword by Leslie S. Klinger
Pandora’s Box (1929)
Screenplay by Ladislaus Vajda, adapted from the plays Erdgeist and Die Buchse der Pandora by Frank Wedekind.
— Wedekind’s Erdgeist and Die Buchse der Pandora (which together form the “Lulu” plays) have been published numerous times (and in various translations) since they were first published in Germany at the turn of the 20th century. Significant editions include:
Wedekind, Frank. Erdgeist, tragödie in vier aufzügen. München: A. Langen, 1903.
Wedekind, Frank. Die büchse der Pandora, tragödie in drei aufzügen. Berlin: B. Cassirer, 1904.
Wedekind, Frank. Pandora’s Box; a tragedy in three acts. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1918.
— translated by Samuel A. Eliot, Jr.
Wedekind, Frank. Five Tragedies of Sex. London: Vision, 1952.
— translated by Frances Fawcett and Stephen Spender
Wedekind, Frank. The Lulu Plays.Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications, 1967.
— translated and with an introduction by Carl Richard Mueller
Wedekind, Frank. Lulu: a Sex Tragedy. London: Heinemann Educational, 1971.
— adapted by Peter Barnes from Wedekind’s Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box; translated by Charlotte Beck, with an introduction by Martin Esslin
Wedekind, Frank. The Lulu Plays & other Sex Tragedies. London: Calder and Boyars, 1972.
— translated by Stephen Spender
Wedekind, Frank. The First Lulu. New York: Applause Theatre Books, 1993.
— an English version translated by Eric Bentley
Diary of a Lost Girl (1928)
Screenplay by Rudolf Leonhardt, adapted from the novel Tagebuch einer verlorenen (The Diary of a Lost One) by Margarete Böhme.
— Margarete Böhme is a now sadly neglected author whose best known and most popular work, was nothing less than a sensation in the early years of the 20th century; highly controversial, he book was one of the biggest selling titles in Germany prior to WWII; Tagebuch einer verlorenen was made into film in 1918 and 1929.
Böhme, Margarete. Tagebuch einer verlorenen. Berlin: F. Fontane & Co., 1905.
Böhme, Margarete. The Diary of a Lost One. New York: The Hudson Press. 1908.
— the foreword, and preface, to the American edition
Böhme, Margarete. Tagebuch einer verlorenen. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 1989.
— the cover of this German edition features Brooks in a scene from the film
Böhme, Margarete. The Diary of a Lost Girl. PandorasBox Press, 2010.
— a “Louise Brooks edition” with an original introduction detailing the relationship of the original book to the later film; for more on this edition, see this LBS page
Böhme, Margarete. Diario de una perdida. El Paseo Editorial, 2021.
— Brooks appears on the cover of this Spanish language edition translated by Fernando Gonzalez Vinas
Prix de Beaute (1930)
Screenplay by Augusto Genina, Rene Clair, Bernard Zimmer, and Alessandro de Stefani from an original story by G. W. Pabst and Rene Clair.
— A French-novel based on the film was later published in France in 1932 by Jules Tallandier. It was authored by [Lucien ?] Boisyvon, and contains images from the film; for more on this particular edition, see the LBS Photoplay Editions page.
Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931)
Screenplay by Ernest Pagano and Jack Townley, adapted from the cartoon-strip character of Ken Kling.
— Ken Kling was an American writer whose comic strip “Joe and Asbestos” centered on horse racing and proved popular, as some readers thought Kling was giving racing tips in his cartoon.
It Pays to Advertise (1931)
Screenplay by Roi Cooper Megrue and Walter Hackett. Adapted from their 1915 play of the same name, which was published in 1917.
— It Pays to Advertise was a once popular stage play and staple of the American stage.
Megrue, Roi Cooper and Walter Hackett. It Pays to Advertise. New York: Samuel French, 1917.
— the original play
Field, Samuel. It Pays to Advertise. Duffield & Co., 1915.
— later novelized version of the play
God’s Gift to Women (1931)
Screenplay by Joseph Jackson and Raymond Griffith, adapted from the stage play The Devil Was Sick by Jane Hinton.
— Raymond Griffith was a well known screen actor whose career began in 1914. He quit acting after his memorable appearance in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), whereupon he entered the production side of the movie business, including scriptwriting.
Empty Saddles (1936)
Screenplay by Frances Guihan, adapted from a story by Cherry Wilson.
— “Empty Saddles” first appeared in the December, 1928 issue of Western Story Magazine, and was serialized over five issues. Cherry Wilson’s other books include such Western fiction as Black Wing’s Rider (1934) and Stirrup Brother (1935).
Wilson, Cherry. Empty Saddles. New York: Chelsea House, 1929.
Wilson, Cherry. Empty Saddles. Bath: Gunsmoke, 2001.
King of Gamblers (1937)
Screenplay by Doris Anderson, adapted from an original story idea by Tiffany Thayer.
— The well known writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur were uncredited contributors to the script. Tiffany Thayer was a novelist and co-founder of the Fortean Society. Thayer books included Thirteen Women and the Clara Bow film Call Her Savage, both of which were filmed in 1932. Some of his pulp novels contained elements of science fiction or fantasy, including Dr. Arnoldi, about a world where no-one can die.
When You’re in Love (1937)
Screenplay by Robert Riskin, adapted from an original story idea by Ethel Hill and Cedric Worth.
— As a screenwriter, Robert Riskin collaborated with Frank Capra on many of the director’s best known films. When You’re in Love was the first and only film Riskin directed.
Overland Stage Raiders (1938)
Screenplay by Luci Ward, adapted from a story by Bernard McConville and Edmond Kelso, based on characters created by William Colt McDonald.
— William Colt McDonald was an American writer of western fiction born in Detroit, Michigan whose work appeared both in books and on film. His most famous characters are The Three Mesquiteers, who appeared in a series of films.
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| It Pays to Advertise | Empty Saddles | Mr. Bob | Louder, Please |
Louise Brooks also appeared in two stage play where were also published in book form. [They are included here for the sake of completeness.] In 1921, Brooks appeared in Mr. Bob while still a student in Kansas. And in 1931, in search of steady work following the demise of her film career, she appeared in Louder, please, but left the cast before this acclaimed play opened on Broadway.
Mr. Bob (1921)
Stageplay by Rachel Baker Gale (here credited as Rachel E. Baker).
— Rachel Baker Gale was an American playwright who wrote at least twelve parlor plays intended for actors on the amateur stage. She came from a family of writers, and this edition of Mr. Bob was published by her Uncle. Fourteen year old Louise Brooks played a lead role in this two-act comedy, which was staged in the auditorium of the Horace Mann intermediate school in Wichita, Kansas. Reportedly, some 600 people attended the performance. (See this LBS blog post for more.)
Gale, Rachel Baker. Mr. Bob: A Comedy in Two Acts. Boston: Walter H. Baker, 1924.
— the first edition
Louder, please (1931)
Stageplay by Norman Krasna.
— Brooks appeared only briefly in this stage comedy about Hollywood, but was replaced before it opened on Broadway in November, 1931. Krasna is best known as one of the authors of the screenplay for White Christmas; he also wrote scripts for the Marx Brothers, Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock. (See this LBS blog post for more on Brooks appearance in Louder, please.)
Krasna, Norman. Louder, please. Samuel French, circa 1932.
— the first edition