Louise Brooks Bookshelf: Essential Reading

  Along with Louise Brooks’ own 1982 volume of autobiographical essays, Lulu in Hollywood, the one other book just about any fan of the actress will want to check out is the 1989 biography by Barry Paris. It is titled, simply, Louise Brooks. Though published some years ago, it stands as the definitive biography and is an outstanding source of information on Brooks’ life and career. It is highly recommended. There are, of course, a small number of other books about the actress and her films, including those published by the Louise Brooks Society. This page presents the “Louise Brooks Bookshelf,” a selection of essential reading. Copies of each of these books are held, in some form, in the Louise Brooks Society archive. If published in the United States, available titles are linked to Amazon.com. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) International and out-of-print titles may also be available by searching through ABE.com.

BOOKS ABOUT LOUISE BROOKS

Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star  (read more about this book) edited by Roland Jaccard New York Zoetrope (1986) — Originally issued in hardback in France in 1977 as Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une anti-star, this was the first book about Louise Brooks. This 159-page work, subsequently translated into English in the United States (New York Zoetrope, 1986) and England (London: Columbus, 1988), features one letter and three essays (two not found elsewhere) by Louise Brooks, as well as a few pages of the Brooks-inspired Dixie Dugan and Valentina cartoons. Also included are 90 black-and-white images, four essays (by Roland Jaccard, Jean-Michel Palmier, and Lotte H. Eisner) and two poems about Brooks (by Tahar Ben Jelloun and Andre Laude). Unfortunately, some of the film stills are not very well reproduced – nevertheless, there are many scarce images. [ Notably, there are some slight differences between the French and American editions. ] (purchase on amazon)

Ruizu Burukkusu to “Ruru” edited by Shohei Ooka Chuokoron-Sha, Inc. (1984) — This 116-page, heavily illustrated, hardback Japanese-language book about and by the actress is a sort-of condensed, variant Lulu in Hollywood, though radically different in its design, selection of text, and selection of images; it contains two essays by Brooks, “Gish and Garbo” and “Pabst and Lulu,” along with a filmography and the images found in Lulu in Hollywood.

Homenagem a Louise Brooks published by Cinemateca Portuguesa Cinemateca Portuguesa (1986) — the 62-page Portuguese program contains “Louise Brooks: o cinema todo e para além dele,” by José Manuel Costa; “Uma arte invisível,” by Henri Langlois; “Fala uma testemunha,” by Lotte Eisner; “Porque nunca hei-de escrever as minhas memórias,” by Louise Brooks; “Pabst e Lulu,” by Louise Brooks; “Bogart, Marlene, Gish, Fields e Pabst” (excerpts from Brooks writings), by Louise Brooks; and a Filmografia.

Louise Brooks (read more about this book) by Barry Paris Knopf (1989) — Louise Brooks left Kansas for New York City at age fifteen and lived the kind of life of which legends are made. From her beginnings as a dancer to her years in Hollywood, Berlin and beyond, she was both hailed and reviled as a new type of woman: independent, intellectually daring, and sexually free. In this widely acclaimed, first and only comprehensive biography, Barry Paris traces Brooks’ trajectory from her Midwestern childhood through the Jazz Age to her fall into obscurity and subsequent “resurrection” as a brilliant writer and enduring film icon. Named “Film Book of the Year” by Leonard Maltin, this extraordinary 600+ page book is especially well written and well researched. It is a must read for any fan. Louise Brooks contains many pictures not reproduced elsewhere, as well as a comprehensive bibliography and filmography. In the United States, this title was republished in 2000 with a different cover by the University of Minnesota Press. This book has also been translated into French and Spanish and published or distributed to various countries. (purchase on amazon)

Louise Brooks, Lulu Forever    (read more about this book) by Peter Cowie Rizzoli (2006) — Louise Brooks has become one of the most enduring icons of early cinema. This lavish, 256-page, oversized hardback pictorial surveys that iconography and celebrates “Lulu” through rare film stills, private photos, letters, interviews, and text by a renowned film critic and one time correspondent of the actress. “Cowie’s new book is a fitting, even fascinating literary tribute …. It is a valuable addition to film history,” said Publisher’s Weekly. Now out of print, used copies can be costly. A German language version of this book was published by in 2006 by Schirmer/Mosel which has a different back cover. (purchase on amazon)

Louise Brooks and the “New Woman” in Weimar Cinema by Vanessa Rocco GEH | ICP Alliance (2007) — This 23 page, illustrated booklet accompanied an exhibit at the International Center of Photography and the George Eastman House. Along with numerous images, it contains an interesting essay by scholar Vanessa Rocco. (purchase on amazon)

Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks (read more about this book) by Jan Wahl ‎ BearManor Media (2010) — Louise Brooks and Jan Wahl (a noted children’s author) had a roller-coaster friendship lasting twenty-odd years. He met the legendary star when he was a student; it turned out each of them hoped to be a writer. Their very special friendship continued by letter and in person for more than two decades. The letters from Brooks reveal much of her inner personality – her insights and anecdotes make for fascinating, compelling reading. (purchase on amazon)

Louise Brooks: Her Men, Affairs, Scandals and Persona by Maximillien de Lafayette TimesSquare Press (2011) — I bought a copy so you wouldn’t have to…. In short, this crappy book is poorly written, poorly laid out, padded with extraneous material, and otherwise riddled with innuendo, half-truths, errors, and false information. There is no bibliography or list of sources to support the author’s ridiculous claims. Where does the author get this shit stuff? Or does he make it up? To call this rather slight cut-and-paste book a “hack job” would be to give it too much credit. This book claims it “could infuriate Louise Brook’s fans and admirers,” which is true, but not because it exposes scandalous facts, but because it is not worth the paper it is printed on, nor is the e-book version worth its weight in bits and bytes. (don’t purchase on amazon)

Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star by Thomas Gladysz PandorasBox Press (2018) — Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star brings together 15 years work by Thomas Gladysz, the Director of the Louise Brooks Society. Gathered here are a 296-page selection of articles, essays, and blogs about the silent film star. Also included are related interviews with actor Paul McGann (the Eighth Dr. Who), singer- songwriter Rufus Wainwright, and novelist Laura Moriarty, author of The Chaperone…. along with dozens of illustrations. (purchase on amazon)

My Afternoon with Louise Brooks by Tom Graves DeVault Graves Books (2019) — This privately printed, 100 copy limited edition book tells the story of the afternoon the author, then a young journalist, spent talking with Louise Brooks. (Graves, by all accounts, was the last journalist to sit bedside with the aging Brooks.) This slim, 78-page hardcover book is comprised of material from the author’s earlier, 2015 book, Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers, which collects the best of his long-form journalism. (purchase Louise Brooks, Frank Zappa, & Other Charmers & Dreamers on amazon)

Bobs and Jazz: The Unforgettable Life of Louise Brooks by Ariel Ives Kindle e-book (2023) — Again and again and again and again, the author states Louise Brooks was born on November 14, 1906, and she starred in Pandora’s Box. (Remarkably, that film, and Diary of a Lost Girl and Miss Europe are the only three of Brooks 24 films mentioned in this book.) This un-illustrated, un-footnoted 40-page eBook is repetitive, unoriginal, and contains factual errors. Besides chronological lapses, the author states that Brooks collaborated with George Balanchine and Isadora Duncan. She did NOT. Additionally, I wasn’t sure who the author is: Andreas Michaelides is named on the cover, though Ariel Ives is listed on amazon. Not recommended, not even for completeists. And not even for free. (don’t purchase on amazon)

Louise Brooks Photo Book anonymous City Lights Publishing (20??) — This compilation of 98 images, without any text what-so-ever, contains a bunch of generally low-resolution pictures of Louise Brooks lifted off the web. Due to its formatting, some images are stretched in an ungainly way. And, a couple display the watermark of someone named “Trapper” who likely put them online. Not recommended, not even for those who have to have everything. The Asian characters on the front suggest an Asian origin to this cut-and-paste job. I noticed this “book” on amazon, but it no longer seems to be available.

BOOKS ABOUT THE FILMS OF LOUISE BROOKS

Pandora’s Box (Lulu): a film by G.W. Pabst Lorrimer Publishing Ltd (1971) —  contains the shooting script of the film (translation by Christopher Holme), cast listing and credits, and dozens of stills, as well as a brief introduction by Brooks, an article by the actress entitled “Pabst and Lulu,” and an essay by film writer Lotte H. Eisner entitled “Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks.” Please note: the hardback edition (pictured here) and the paperback (not picture) have different cover designs. (purchase on amazon)

Louise Brooks l’européenne by Paola Cristalli and Valeria Dalle Donne Transeuropa (1999) — This 95-page softcover French publication, a catalog of sorts to a program of three Brooks’ films shown at the Cinematheque francaise and the Ceneteca del Comune di Bologna, includes essays and articles by Henri Langlois, Edmond T. Greville, Louise Brooks (“Working with Pabst”), Freddy Buache, Dominique Paini, and Gian Luca Farinelli & Nicola Mazzanti. The focus of the program and this book are the three films Brooks made in Europe. Text in French, English and Spanish; also contains a few small illustrations from Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl and Prix de Beauté.

The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) (read more about this book) by Margarete Bohme, edited with an introduction by Thomas Gladysz PandorasBox Press (2010) — The 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. By the end of the 1920s, it had been translated into 14 languages and sold more than 1,200,000 copies – ranking it among the bestselling books of its time. Was it – as many believed – the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This contested work – a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication – inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two silent films. The best remembered of these is the oft revived G.W. Pabst film starring Louise Brooks. This corrected and annotated edition of the original English language translation brings this important book back into print after more than 100 years. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz detailing the book’s remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special “Louise Brooks Edition” also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations. (purchase on amazon)

Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film by Thomas Gladysz PandorasBox Press (2017) —  This first ever study of Beggars of Life looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. Based on Jim Tully’s bestselling book of hobo life—and filmed by Wellman the year after he made Wings (the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar), Beggars of Life is a riveting drama about an orphan girl (screen legend Louise Brooks) who kills her abusive stepfather and flees the law. She meets a boy tramp (leading man Richard Arlen), and together they ride the rails through a dangerous hobo underground ruled over by Oklahoma Red (future Oscar winner Wallace Beery). Beggars of Life showcases Brooks in her best American silent—a film the Cleveland Plain Dealer once described as “a raw, sometimes bleeding slice of life.” With more than 50 little seen images, and a foreword by William Wellman, Jr. (purchase on amazon)

Now We’re in the Air: A Companion to the Once Lost Film by Thomas Gladysz PandorasBox Press (2017) — This companion to the 1927 Brooks’ film tells the story of the film’s making, its reception, and its discovery by film preservationist Robert Byrne. Also considered is the surprising impact this otherwise little known film has had on Brooks’ life and career. With two rare fictionalizations of the movie story, more than 75 little seen images, detailed credits, trivia, and a foreword by Byrne. (purchase on amazon)

Pandora’s Box by Pamela Hutchinson British Film Institute (2018) — Pandora’s Box captivates audiences with its libidinous, violent story, and its mysterious heroine whose motivations, as well as whose guilt or innocence, are difficult to determine. It is a sophisticated adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays, and indisputably Louise Brooks’ finest performance on film. In her compelling study, Pamela Hutchinson traces the production history of Pandora’s Box and the many contexts of its creation and afterlife, revisiting and challenging many assumptions made about the film, its lead character and its star. Analyzing the film act by act, she explores the conflicted relationship between Brooks and the director G.W. Pabst, the film’s historical contexts in Weimar Berlin, and its changing fortunes since its release. Please note: a second edition of this book was issued with a different cover. (purchase on amazon)

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond by Thomas Gladysz PandorasBox Press (2023) — The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond is a deep dive into the history of a single film – its literary source, its making, exhibition history, critical reception, and, most surprising of all, its little known legacy. Few film titles become a catchphrase, let alone a catchphrase which remained in use for half-a-century and resonated throughout American culture. The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) is one such film. The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond includes dozens of illustrations and images and features two forewords; one is by noted film preservationist Robert Byrne, whose restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men saved it from undeserving obscurity. The other, by acclaimed film historian Kevin Brownlow, is an appreciation of Herbert Brenon which reveals little known details about the movie drawn, in part, from his correspondence with Louise Brooks. (purchase on amazon)