The year 2006 marked the Louise Brooks centenary. The dancer and actress was born on November 14, 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas, and the anniversary of Brooks’ birth was celebrated by the release of a new DVD and two new books, a couple of exhibits, numerous screenings, and other events across the United States and Europe. The Louise Brooks Society served as a focal point for some of these events, organizing a few and spreading the word about others. Here is a list of what went on in 2006. (Unfortunately, links to most all of these events have expired.) To learn more about the Louise Brooks Society and its many and varied activities, please visit its ABOUT page.
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| Lulu actress Kyla Webb and Thomas Gladysz at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco. |
Thomas Gladysz and Christy Pascoe at the George Eastman House centenary exhibit. |
Thomas Gladysz introduces Pandora’s Box at the Detroit Institute of Arts. |
February 2, 2006: RadioLulu is relaunched. This Louise Brooks-themed, internet only radio station — broadcasting since 2002 — added more content, bringing station programing to approximately 125 tracks and nearly 7 hours of music.
February 11, 2006: “Silent Star: Louise Brooks in Photographs” is shown at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Buffalo, New York. (more info)
March 2, 2006: Richard Leacock’s documentary on Louise Brooks, Lulu in Berlin, is shown at the De Young Museum as part of a “Leacock / Pennebaker: Pioneers of Cinema Verite” series taking place in San Francisco.
March 7, 2006: Kino releases the sound version of Prix de Beauté on DVD. This marks the film’s first commercial release on disc in the United States. (more info)
April 20, 2006: The Rochester Historical Society screens Pandora’s Box in Rochester, New York. Local film critic Jack Garner gave introductory remarks. (more info)
April 30, 2006: The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City screens the silent version of Prix de Beauté.
May 9, 2006: Diary of a Lost Girl screens in Austin, Texas as part of the Austin Film Society‘s “3 Actresses Abroad: Anna May Wong, Josephine Baker, and Louise Brooks” series.
May 16, 2006: Pandora’s Box screens in Austin, Texas as part of the Austin Film Society‘s “3 Actresses Abroad: Anna May Wong, Josephine Baker, and Louise Brooks” series.
June 7 – 10, 2006: Nicole Beth Wallenbrock (of the City University of New York) speaks on “The Hollywood Flapper Dies an Expressionist Death (Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box)” at the Fourth International Women and the Silent Screen Conference held at the University of Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico.
June 16 – June 29, 2006: A new 35mm print of Pandora’s Box is shown at Film Forum in New York City.
June 19, 2006: Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu is shown on the cable television station Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
June 22, 2006: Pandora’s Box and Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu is shown at the Aldeburgh Festival in England.
July 7, 2006: Pandora’s Box is shown at the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
July 7 – July 9, 2006: A new 35mm print of Pandora’s Box is shown at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
July 12 – July 18, 2006: A new 35mm print of Pandora’s Box is shown at CineStudio in Hartford, Connecticut.
July 15, 2006: A new 35mm print of Pandora’s Box is shown at the Castro Theater, as part of the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Thomas Gladysz, director of the LBS, and artist/filmmaker and one time Wichita, Kansas resident Bruce Conner introduce the film. Prior to Pandora’s Box, the Festival screens rare two-strip Technicolor trailers from the lost film The American Venus.
July 22, 2006: Lulu in Berlin, a documentary about Brooks by Richard Leacock, is screened as part of the Plymouth Independent Film Festival in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Richard Leacock is on hand for the event.
July 24, 2006: Diary of a Lost Girl is shown at the Film Vault of the Kansas City Public Library in Kansas City, Missouri.
August 4, 2006: The Stanford Theater screens Diary of a Lost Girl in Palo Alto, California.
August 11 – 27, 2006: The Silent Theater company of Chicago stages their version of Lulu in New York City as part of the city-wide Fringe Festival. (more info)
August 30, 2006: As part of their Silent Film Series, the Colorado Chautauqua Association screens Diary of a Lost Girl in the Boulder, Colorado.
September 7-10 and 14-17, 2006: The Silent Theater company of Chicago stage their version of Lulu at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco. (more info)
September 8, 2006: The Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco show Pandora’s Box. Stephen Salmons gives introductory remarks, and a salon style discussion follows the film.
September 15, 2006: In Germany, Schirmer/Mosel publishes Peter Cowie’s pictorial on the actress, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.
Thru October 29, 2006: Due to popular demand, the Silent Theater company of Chicago extend their San Francisco stage production of Lulu at the Victoria Theater. (more info)
October 3 – 8, 2006: The SEDICICORTO International Film Festival Forlì takes place in Forlì, Italy. A special category in the festival includes films relating to Louise Brooks.
October 7 – 14, 2006: The Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Italy show G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box, with a newly commissioned orchestral score.
October 12-13-14, 2006: As part of its Centenary Tribute to Louise Brooks, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art screens Pandora’s Box.
October 13 and October 15, 2006: The Music Box Theatre in Chicago will screen Pandora’s Box as part of the Roger Ebert “Great Movies” series.
October 15, 2006: The Valley of the Sun Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society screens Beggars of Life as part of its “Silent Sunday” series at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.
October 16, 2006: A benefit for the cast of the Silent Theater production of Lulu takes place at the Balazo 18 Gallery in San Francisco. Photographs of the cast and stage production will be on display. (more info)
October 20, 2006: As part of its Centenary Tribute to Louise Brooks, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art screens A Girl in Every Port and Diary of a Lost Girl. Michael Mortilla provides live piano accompaniment. Claudine Kaufmann, former Director of Collections, Cinémathèque Française, is in attendance.
October 21, 2006: As part of its Centenary Tribute to Louise Brooks, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents the silent version of Prix de Beauté. This new print, restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and running 109 minutes, features French intertitles and a spoken translation. Michael Mortilla provides live piano accompaniment. Claudine Kaufmann, former Director of Collections, Cinémathèque Française, is in attendance.
October 23, 2006: The Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Floria screen a “digitally restored” version of Pandora’s Box. This screening features a new score for the film composed by Prof. Tony Steve of Jacksonville University, which is performed live by the Jacksonville University Percussion Ensemble.
Thru November 26, 2006: Due to popular demand, the Silent Theater company of Chicago extends their San Francisco stage production of Lulu at the Victoria Theater. (more info)
November 3 – 21, 2006: The Verlag Filmarchiv Austria sponsor a multi-film tribute – “Louise Brooks – Tribute zum 100. Geburtstag” – at the Metrokino in Vienna, Austria.
November 4, 2006 – January 5, 2007: In celebration of Louise Brooks’ 100th birthday, the Louise Brooks Society mounts “Homage to Lulu: 100 Years of Louise Brooks” – an exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library.
November 5, 2006: The Three Rivers Film Festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania screen Pandora’s Box at the Regent Square Theater. Pianist Philip Carli provides live piano accompaniment, and Louise Brooks biographer Barry Paris introduces the film.
November 5, 2006: Bristol Silents in Bristol, England screens the silent version of Prix de Beauté. Before hand, there is an onstage chat with Paul McGann and Kevin Brownlow, who promisesd to show never before seen colour home movie footage of Louise Brooks from the 1960s.
November 6, 2006: The seldom shown comedy, Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, is screened at the Museum of the City of New York. This special event is sponsored by the Silent Clowns Film Series.
November 6, 2006: Diary of a Lost Girl, is shown at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
November 7, 2006: Rizzoli publishes Peter Cowie’s pictorial on the actress, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever in the United States. Events with the author are planned in select cities across the country.
November 7, 2006: A Girl in Every Port (1928) is shown at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Philip C. Carli provides live piano accompaniment.
November 8, 9, 10, 2006: The Slovenska kinoteka – the film archive located in Ljubljana, Slovenia – celebrates the centenary of Louise Brooks with a series of screenings.
Nov. 11, 2006 through February 18, 2007: “Hollywood Lost: The Power of Louise Brooks” is on exhibit at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York
November 11, 2006: Peter Cowie gives introductory remarks prior to the screening of Pandora’s Box) at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California.
November 12, 2006: Peter Cowie, author of Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, gives a short talk as part of “Celebrating Louise Brooks: An Evening of Rare Films” at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, California. A special audio/visual presentation by the Louise Brooks Society takes place prior to start time. Special guests, door prizes, give-aways and a booksigning round out the evening. This special event was co-sponsored by the Louise Brooks Society.
November 12, 2006: The Wichita Public Library screens two Louise Brooks films as part of it’s “Louise Brooks Centennial Birthday Bash” at the Central Library.
November 13, 2006: Around this date, the Verlag Filmarchiv Austria publish Louise Brooks. Rebellin, Ikone, Legende by Günter Krenn and Karin Moser.
November 14, 2006: A Louise Brooks birthday bash takes place at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco. The festivities precede a special staging of Lulu.
November 14, 2006: The Little Cineclu” in Rome, Italy is scheduled to show movies featuring Louise Brooks.
November 14, 2006: Peter Cowie and Jack Garner present “The Art of Louise Brooks” at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Author Peter Cowie discuss the alluring mystery and fascinating career of Brooks. The presentation will conclude with a question-and-answer session with Cowie and syndicated film critic Jack Garner. Afterwords, Pandora’s Box (1929) is shown with a live piano accompaniment by Philip C. Carli.
November 14, 2006: Portugal’s Costa do Castelo Films releases Pandora’s Box on DVD. This two-disc set will feature the original Portugese intertitles, as well as bonus material.
November 14, 2006: Pandora’s Box is shown at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Michael Mortilla provides live piano accompaniment.
November 15, 2006: Peter Cowie, author of Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, introduces an unknown Brooks film at Film Society at Lincoln Center in New York City.
November 17, 2006: Peter Cowie, author of Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever, introduces The Diary of a Lost Girl at the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
November 17 – December 16, 2006: The Filmmuseum in Munich, Germany mounts a Louise Brooks film retrospective which includes 17 films, as well a rarely seen fragments from The Street of Forgotten Men and The American Venus.
November 20, 2006: A new 35mm print of Pandora’s Box is shown in the student union at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
November 21, 2006: Pandora’s Box is released on DVD in the United States by Criterion. This restored version of the film is accompanied by bonus material. ( more info )
November 21, 2006: It’s the Old Army Game is shown at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Philip C. Carli provides live piano accompaniment.
November 21, 2006: Coinciding with the ongoing exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library, Thomas Gladysz (Director of the Louise Brooks Society) gives introductory remarks prior to a screening Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em at the SFPL.
November 28, 2006: Beggars of Life (1928) is shown at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Philip C. Carli provide live piano accompaniment.
November 28, 2006: The NFT (National Film Theater) in London screens Diary of a Lost Girl with live piano accompaniment.
December 6, 2006: The Silent Theater company of Chicago stage their version of Lulu at the North Scott High School Theatre in Eldridge, Iowa. (more info)
December 8 – 10, 2006: The Detroit Institute of the Arts screen Pandora’s Box in the Detroit Film Theater. Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, introduces the film.
December 11 – 23, 2006: The Silent Theater company stages their version of Lulu at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts in Chicago, Illinois. (more info)
December 28, 2006: New 35 mm prints of both Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl are screened at the New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles, California.
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| Thomas Gladysz and Peter Cowie at a LBS event at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco. |
“Homage to Lulu” was a LBS event mounted at the San Francisco Public Library. |
Thomas Gladysz at the Peter Cowie event at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. |
These related events took place at the very beginning of 2007:
January 8, 2007: Pandora’s Box is shown at the Philadelphia City Institute Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
January 15, 2007: Diary of a Lost Girl is shown at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington. The film is preceded by a talk by Dennis James who accompanies the film on the organ.
January 19 – April 29, 2007: “Louise Brooks and the New Woman in Weimar Cinema” goes on view at the The International Center of Photography in New York City.