Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever was published in 2006, the year of the Brooks centenary. It is not a biography, as some have said, but rather a pictorial. Peter Cowie’s 256-page coffee table book is a sumptuous, beautifully printed volume which celebrates the actress through rare film stills, private photos, letters, interviews, and an informative and entertaining text. Unfortunately, the book is out-of-print, and used copies command a premium. But still, it is a book every Louise Brooks fan should read, peruse, or own.
Back in the Spring of 2006, I was sent a copy of the manuscript and asked to pen a pre-publication review of the book for Publisher’s Weekly. My piece was published in July. I wrote, “Louise Brooks (1906—1985) is best known for playing Lulu in the silent 1929 German film Pandora’s Box. Critics called her “an astonishing actress endowed with an intelligence beyond compare” and “the most seductive, sexual image of woman ever committed to celluloid.” Peter Cowie’s new book, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever (Rizzoli, Oct. 31), emphasizes the dual nature of the actress’s brains and beauty appeal. In telling the story of her rise, fall and eventual rediscovery, Cowie quotes from the witty and often frank letters he received from the actress and writer. Equally alluring are the dozens of beautifully printed portraits and film stills that fill the book. To mark Brooks’s centenary, there are new DVDs, museum exhibits, a silent stage play and screenings taking place. Cowie’s new book is a fitting, even fascinating literary tribute to an actress whose popularity today rivals that of her more celebrated contemporaries. It is a valuable addition to film history. It is also what the actress’s many fans have long waited for.” What I wrote then, I believe, still stands true.
Other reviewers echoed these sentiments.The New York Observer wrote, “Lulu Forever exists for its art, and on that score it delivers magnificently: I’d never seen fully half of the images in the book. There are scene stills, candids, snapshots, everything documenting the deadly lure of Lulu.” The Village Voice called the book “lavishly illustrated… ,” adding, Peter Cowie’s “personal reflections on the ironies of her fate lend this volume an unexpected poignancy.” Metrosource called Cowie’s book “beautifully produced,” while Vogue stated, “Fans of the cinema will treasure Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.”
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Rizzoli, 2006 front cover
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Schirmer/Mosel, 2006
Germany |
Rizzoli, 200?
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Schirmer/Mosel, 200?
Germany
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Peter Cowie’s Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever was first published in the United States by Rizzoli, a publisher well regarded for their illustrated art and photography books. It was published that same year in Germany by Schirmer/Mosel, a leading European publisher, in translation by Ursula Wulfekamp and Rudolf Hermstein. Both editions featured an introduction by Jack Garner (1945-2020), a syndicated film critic and friend to Louise Brooks. Cowie, a noted British film historian based in Switzerland, corresponded with Louise Brooks for nearly two decades. Cowie first started writing about cinema in 1960, and is the author of numerous works. He has authored books on John Ford, Orson Welles, Joan Crawford and Akira Kurosawa, but may be best known for works on the Scandinavian cinema, especially the films of Ingmar Bergman.
The back of the book states: “This exquisitely produced album definitively captures the style, magic, and aura of silent film icon Louise Brooks. Noted film historian Peter Cowie, author of some thirty books on cinema, knew Brooks well and corresponded with her from 1965 to 1982. His affectionate and insightful portrait of Louise as actress, myth and legend demonstrates how ‘Lulu’ has outlasted nearly all her screen contemporaries to now become an influential contemporary cult figure, as well as an abiding and fascinating symbol of twentieth-century Hollywood.”
Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever was edited by Eva Prinz. But more importantly, let me add that the terms exquisite, sumptuous, and beautifully printed may not go far enough to describe this exceptional volume, which was designed by
Andrew Prinz.
To mark the
Louise Brooks centenary, Rizzoli sent Cowie on the road to participate in a few special events celebrating the actress and his book. One of those events took place in San Francisco on November 12, at a well-attended Louise Brooks Society sponsored event at the historic Balboa Theater. Cowie gave a talk ahead of a screening, which was followed by a book signing. It proved to be a memorable evening. I was thrilled to speak with Cowie, and to ask him about his knowing and corresponding with Brooks. I also gifted him with a LBS-made pin-back Lulu button, which he promptly put on and proudly wore. (The Lulu button can be seen not only in a snapshot from the Balboa event – seen below, but also in images of Cowie when he appeared at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York a couple of days later, on Louise Brooks birthday!) In his book, Cowie wrote in the acknowledgements, “Thomas Gladysz, whose website pandorasbox.com is so rich in information about Louise Brooks, could not have been more enthusiastic about my project, and I am extremely grateful to him.” Cowie also signed his book to me and my wife, “Thanks for all your wonderful efforts on my behalf.”
My wife and I traveled to Rochester later that year to take in the Louise Brooks centenary exhibit. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. And in 2015, I returned to Rochester to do some research. And that’s when I met
Jack Garner, a nationally syndicated film critic for the Gannett News Service who wrote the foreword to the Cowie book. He knew Brooks as well as anyone in the last years of her life. Jack, a great friend to the LBS, graciously signed my book as well.
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| Thomas Gladysz and Peter Cowie |
My double signed copy! |
Thomas Gladysz and Jack Garner |
In his introduction, Jack Garner wrote, “It’s fitting that in addition to Peter Cowie’s perceptive, concise,and beautifully written text, Lulu Forever celebrates Brooks through photographs. For, indeed, the Brooks mystique is as much for her stunning appearance and style as for any of her naturalistic portrayals. Surely far more people have been engaged by seeing the Brooks in these photographs than by watching her rare film appearances. As I write this, I glance up to see Louise looking back at me from the Edward Steichen portrait on my wall and I’m reminded of the time I spent with this startling woman.”
