Shortly after her arrival in Germany in 1928, Louise Brooks visited a palmist — perhaps the most famous palmist of the mid-20th century. Did she have an interest in palm reading? Or was her visit brought about for some other reason? This is the story of that little known, though peculiar happening….
Palmistry is an occult esoteric practice which claims the ability to analyze the physical features of the human hand, specifically the palm, in order to interpret personality characteristics and predict future happenings. In popular culture, this ancient practice is known as “palm reading”. During the Weimar era in Germany, there was a resurgence of interest in the occult and esoteric practices, including palm reading. Marianne Raschig was the preeminent palm reader in Germany (and perhaps Europe) between the two World Wars. She was quite famous, and collected a large archive of hand-prints, including those of numerous luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Max Schmeling, Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Enrico Caruso, Luigi Pirandello, Franz Werfel, Greta Garbo, Mauritz Stiller, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.
Brooks visited Raschig on October 22, 1928, not long after she arrived in Germany. As the actress is not known to have had an interest in palm reading or the occult — and was likely a skeptic, Brooks’ visit was in all probability a publicity stunt meant to draw attention to the film she was set to work on, Pandora’s Box. In fact, at one time or another (or perhaps at the same time), other individuals associated with the film also visited Raschig. Besides Brooks — who had both her left and right hands inked and photographed (see below), they include director G.W. Pabst and producer Seymour Nebenzahl, as well as actors Franz Lederer, Fritz Kortner, and Gustav Diesel. Later, Pandora’s Box assistant director Mark Sorkin and actor / photographer Hans Casparius also visited Raschig’s studio. (see photo link HERE)
Between 1928 – 1930, the German film periodical Film-Magazin published Raschig’s column “An ihren Händen sollst du sie erkennen” or “You’ll Recognize them by their Hands”. Raschig’s analysis of Brooks’ palm, along with those of Pabst and Kortner, appeared in the January 13, 1929 issue of Film-Magazin, just a couple of weeks prior to the Berlin premiere of Pandora’s Box. In it, Raschig notes Brooks’ palm resembles Pabst’s as well as that of Asta Nielsen, the tragedian considered one of the great European actresses of the time. Based on her reading, Raschig even suggests Brooks might be Nielsen’s successor. Though Raschig does not mention it, it is worth noting that Raschig likely knew – as did many of her followers, that Nielsen had also played Lulu, with her role coming in Leopold Jessner’s 1923 film of Wedekind’s famous play. Considering the controversy generated by Pabst’s selection of Brooks to play Lulu, Raschig’s assessment is significant, and perhaps in some way helped validate Pabst’s choice in the minds of some Germans.
In translation, the Raschig’s text reads something like this: “Much of Louise Brooks’ hand painting resembles the ones we see here, perhaps we will see a true successor to Nielsen later. She has the makings of a film tragedian. The Brooks hand is also very similar to Pabst’s hand painting, especially the similar shape of the head and heart lines. The Mount of Luna is designed very differently here than in all other natives (on the back of the hand). It goes upwards, long and narrow, without a bulge; imagination and fantasy are not overly developed, at least not at this stage. The real-practical predominates in this hand, the ideal-sentimental attitude comes second. A real American type! The peculiar bend of the head line, which can be considered an important sign for lightning-fast intuitive understanding, even for complicated tasks, resembles the same signs on the mount of beauty and a long artistic line with a delicately indicated calyx from which Lulu will shine as the first flower. On the Mount of Venus (on the ball of the thumb) there is still much undeveloped, but the structure is already clearly recognizable.”
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| Louise Brooks hand and analysis, from Film-Magazin, January 13, 1929 |
Hand und persönlichkeit (1931) by Marianne Raschig |
Raschig’s assessment of Brooks was repeated and expanded upon in Hand und persönlichkeit, her 1931 book of images & analysis of the palms of actors, artists, writers, composers, and scientists. Brooks left hand appears on page 124, where she is paired with Lilian Harvey. Hand und persönlichkeit, or Hand and Personality, is a two volume work (one volume contains pictures, the other text) which contains the hand prints of numerous, mostly German, celebrities — including Magnus Hirschfeld, Bertolt Brecht, George Grosz, Käthe Kollwitz, Alban Berg, Friedrich Hollaender, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, F.W. Murnau, Josef von Sternberg, Fritz Lang, Marlene Dietrich, Leni Riefenstahl, Emil Jannings, Lil Dagover, Conrad Veidt, and Fritz Rasp. (The latter co-starred with Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl.) A battered copy of this significant, though rare two volume work is included in the Louise Brooks Society archive. Today, copies sell for hundreds of dollars.
In Hand und persönlichkeit, which was published two years after the 1929 article in Film-Magazin, Raschig again notes similarities between the hands of Brooks and Nielsen (who is also included in the book), while adding the hands of Brooks and the German actress Erna Morena (likewise in the book) also bore comparison, especially in the shape of their head and heart lines. And again, though Raschig does not mention it, it is worth noting that Morena also once played Lulu on film, in 1917, as well as Thymian – the character played by Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl – in an earlier 1918 adaption of Bohme’s book.
Here is Raschig’s analysis of Brooks’ hand from Hand und persönlichkeit, which was published in Hamburg in 1931 by Gebrüder Enoch Verlag. Capitalizations are those of the author. [Please note: all of the individuals mentioned on this page are pictured in Raschig’s book.]
| Ein Vergleich mit Hand von Louise Brooks laßt uns hoffen, dass in ihr spater eine Nachfolgerin de Nielsen heranreifen wird. Auch mit der Hand von Erna Morena zeigt die Hand von Louise Brooks große Ubereinstimmung, besonders in der Form der Kopf- und Herzlinie. Ganz anders ist aber hier der Lunaberg am Handrucken gestaltet; lang und schmal, ohne Ausbuchtung geht er aufwarts. Die Phantasie, die Einbildungskraft ist zunachst night stark entwickelt. Jedenfalls uberwiegt in Louise Brooks Hand das Reile, Praktische und zeigt den echt amerikanischen Typus des Auggleichs fur Sentimentales, Ideals. | A comparison with the hand of Louise Brooks gives us hope that a successor to Nielsen will develop. The hand of Louise Brooks also shows great similarity with the hand of Erna Morena, especially in the shape of the head and heart lines. However, the Mount of Luna on the back of the hand is designed quite differently here; it is long and narrow, and it goes upwards without a bulge. The imagination, fantasy, is not very well developed at first. In any case, the practical predominates in Louise Brooks’ hand and shows the genuinely American type of eye for the sentimental and the ideal. |
| From Hand und persönlichkeit, original German text | From Hand und persönlichkeit, in English translation |
