Louise Brooks: a Day by Day Chronology

  Louise Brooks was born on Wednesday, November 14, 1906 and died on Thursday, August 8, 1985, at the age of 78. All together, her life ran over the course of some 28,758 days. Like any life, it was marked by highs and lows, by success and disappointment.

Despite her fame, Brooks considered herself something of a failure, and once said so. Actually, she accomplished a good deal in her lifetime. Brooks performed hundreds of times on stage as a dancer, and she appeared in 24 films. For a short time, she worked as a professional ballroom dancer, and briefly taught dancing. Later in life, she wrote a number of articles, many of which were gathered in her bestselling book, Lulu in Hollywood. Over the course of little more than a decade, from the late 1920s to the early 1940s, Brooks went from world famous actress to little remembered movie star.

Despite having been a celebrity and living part of her life in public, little is known, relatively speaking, about what Brooks was doing on any given day. From the mass of material the Louise Brooks Society has gathered, Brooks’ activities can be traced more than a thousand times during her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.

The Louise Brooks Society has compiled a day-by-day chronology of Brooks’ life. This timeline serves as a record of Brooks’ life both in and out of the spotlight, including her comings-and-goings and activities as a dancer, actress and writer. Its entries are both significant and mundane, and are based on multiple sources including information found in the Barry Paris biography, as well as those recorded by Brooks in her journals and notebooks; other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those located where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records, passenger manifests, and the memoirs of friends and colleagues.

Please note: The length of this still growing chronology made it necessary to split it into two parts, as indicated below. A third part covers significant happenings since Brooks’ death. This chronology, the product of considerable research, is © Thomas Gladysz / Louise Brooks Society. It is a work in progress, with confirmed dates added on an ongoing basis. Have something to add? CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society.

 

Louise Brooks, a Day by Day Chronology 1906 – 1939

Louise Brooks, a Day by Day Chronology 1940 – 1985

Louise Brooks, a Day by Day Chronology 1985 – 2024

 

The Cherryvale Daily News ran this bit on its front page the day Louise Brooks was born.	Louise Brooks’ death made news, and headlines, all around the world.