This page presents an annotated, worldwide bibliography of reviews, articles and other published material related to the 1982 book, Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks. The book was originally published by Knopf in hardback in the United States. The following year, it was issued in softcover, also by Knopf. In 1989, Limelight Editions reprinted a softcover edition in the United States. Sometime after that, the book went out-of-print in the United States. In the year 2000, Lulu in Hollywood was issued in a revised and expanded edition by the University of Minnesota Press. It has remained in print since. Lulu in Hollywood has also been published in England, and in translation in a handful of countries around the world, including France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, and the Soviet Union. The LBS website hosts a gallery of international editions of Lulu in Hollywood.
This page is a work in progress. The intention of this selective bibliography is to be comprehensive and as useful as possible. Most citations represent a substantial review or article. Significant shorter, capsule reviews — usually only a paragraph or two in length — are so noted. Entries are arranged chronologically. Critical commentary regarding the book is given as annotations. An * indicates that a copy of this citation is held in the archives of the LBS. This annotated bibliography has been compiled by Thomas Gladysz. A bit more about Lulu in Hollywood can be found on its Wikipedia page. If you know of additional citations, can provide further information on entries noted on this page, or can provide copies of citations not marked with an asterisk*, please CONTACT the LBS.
LULU IN HOLLYWOOD
publication date: May 26,1982
anonymous. Publisher’s Weekly, March 19, 1982. *
— pre-publication review; ” . . . this is no ordinary collection of gossipy memoirs. It is a tour de force, as history and as a searching study of human nature.”
Reed, Rex. GQ, April, 1982. (United States)
— short magazine article with portrait
Taylor, Robert. “Natural Actress and Writer, Too.” Boston Globe, April 14, 1982. *
— ” . . . seven superb autobiographical essays.” – Boston, Massachusetts newspaper (reprinted in the Oakland Tribune, June 13, 1982)
Walcott, James. Esquire, May, 1982. (United States)
— “A tart, fleet, gossipy book, a whip-flicking display of wit and spite. . . . In Lulu in Hollywood, Brooks writes about her contemporaries with a darting precision and down-to-earth compassion that make the mythologizing of most movie commentators sound like so much hot wheeze. . . . Louise Brooks emerges not as a white goddess wreathed in incense, but as a sassy companion, wisecracking, knowledgeable, completely free of cant and coy sentiment.”
Carduner, Art. “Delicious tales of the film land that spurned her.” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 9, 1982. *
— “Brooks is a witty and refreshing raconteur.” – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania newspaper
Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. “Books of the Times.” New York Times, May 21, 1982. *
— review with portrait; New York City newspaper
Crain, Patricia. “Women’s Books.” Daily News, May 23, 1982. *
— brief review; New York City newspaper
Clemons, Walter. “A Hollywood Hermit.” Newsweek, May 24, 1982.
— near full page magazine review with illustrations
Champlin, Charles. “A slave in the cinema who became a superior free spirit on paper.” Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1982. *
— long review with scene still; Los Angeles, California newspaper
Lahr, John. “The Comedienne and the Femme Fatale.” New York Times Book Review, May 30, 1982. *
— full page review by the well known critic, along with a portrait of the actress; Lulu in Hollywood is reviewed along with Mabel, by Betty Fussell; New York City newspaper
Koenig, Rhoda. “Look After Lulu.” New York, May 31, 1982.
— joint reviews of Lulu in Hollywood and Mabel: Hollywood’s First I Don’t Care Girl
Meade, M. “Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks.” Ms. Magazine, June, 1982.
— magazine article
Quirk, Lawrence J. “Lulu in Hollywood: A Disgraceful Pot-Pouri of Blatant Falsehoods, Distortions and Odd Biographical Omissions: Self-Pitying, Self-Congratulatory – and Self-Serving .” Quirks Reviews, June, 1982. *
— long article critiquing the book by the nephew of film magazine editor James Quirk
Everson, William K. “Louise Brooks, Brainy Beauty Scorned Hollywood: A Hot Read.” Variety Weekly, June 9, 1982. *
— long review by the film historian
Rivers, Joan. “Lulu in Hollywood.” The Hollywood Reporter, June 11, 1982.
— full page review by the well known comedian and television personality
Bunke, Joan. “Lies, myths and other movie tales.” Des Moines Register, June 13, 1982. *
— “Intelligence and candor mark Brooks’ reminiscences.” – Des Moines, Iowa newspaper
Dirda, Michael. “Lulu in Hollywood.” Washington Post, June 13, 1982. *
— “Unexpectedly, Brooks’ writing proves just as scintillating (and titillating) as her screen beauty. . . . Instead, through her independence, strong will, and restless intelligence, she survives to this day. And she survives, even more, in her art: the supreme beauty of the silent screen.” – Washington D.C. newspaper
Dolbier, Maurice. “An Outsider’s inside look at Tinseltown.” Providence Journal, June 13, 1982. *
— ” . . . shows her to be an entrancing and candid a writer as she was an actress in her most memorable screen roles.” – Providence, Rhode Island newspaper
anonymous. “Lulu in Hollywood.” Variety Daily, June 15, 1982.
— long review
Kaufman, Stanley. “Book Note.” The New Republic, June 23, 1982.
— short magazine review
Feeney, F. X.. “Louise Brooks, Writer.” L.A. Weekly, June 25 – July 1, 1982.
— two-page review with illustration; Los Angeles, California alternative news weekly
French, Philip. “Lulu in Hollywood.” The Observer, June ??, 1982. (England)
— review in English newspaper
Weinberg, H. “The Weinberg Touch.” Films in Review, June / July 1982.
— short mention
Kleber, Mark. “One for the Book.” The Talent Spotlite, July, 1982.
— short review
Marcus, Greil. California, July, 1982.
— magazine article by the well known critic
Kolb, Mary. “‘Lulu’: silent screen star speaks.” UCLA Bruin, July 1, 1982.
— review in University of California, Los Angeles college newspaper
author unknown. Toronto Globe and Mail, July 2, 1982. (Canada)
— review in Toronto newspaper
Gilmour, Clyde. “The Film World’s Best Read Idiot.” Toronto Star, July 3, 1982. (Canada) *
— review in Toronto newspaper
anonymous. “Facing up to Hollywood.” Milwaukee Journal, July 4, 1982. *
— ” . . . in Lulu in Hollywood she looks back on the 1920’s and ’30’s with refreshing candor. And the book demonstrates another ability almost as unusual among former actors: She can write.” – Milwaukee, Wisconsin newspaper
Whitman, Alden. “A free spirit of the silent screen tells her story – candidly.” Chicago Sun-Times, July 4, 1982. *
— “Lulu in Hollywood is a splendid book, made lively by Brooks’ vibrant, terse prose . . . .” – Chicago, Illinois newspaper (reprinted in the Dallas Morning News, August 8, 1982)
Noble, Peter. “Peter Noble’s Bookshelf.” Screen International, July 10, 1982. (England) *
— review
Maslin, Janet. “Hollywood Leaves Its Imprint on Its Chroniclers.” New York Times, July 11, 1982. *
— considers books by Brooks and June Allyson; New York City newspaper
Grosvenor, Peter. “Recognition at Last.” Daily Express, July 15, 1982. (England) *
— review in London newspaper
Waugh, Auberon. London Daily Mail, July 15, 1982. (England)
— generally negative newspaper review by English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh
Ehrenstein, David. “Lulu’s Back in Town, With a Book That Sets Hollywood Straight.” Reader, July 16, 1982. *
— long review
anonymous. “Lulu in Hollywood.” The Economist, July 17, 1982. (United States)
— magazine review; page 93
author unknown. Montreal Gazette, July 17, 1982. (Canada)
— review in Montreal newspaper
French, Philip. “Looking After Lulu.” London Observer, July 18, 1982. (England) *
— review in London, England newspaper
Williams, Richard. “Oh! Oh! Oh! what a girl!” London Times, July 22, 1982. (England) *
— review in London, England newspaper
Comiskey, Ray. “Lulu’s Back in Town.” Irish Times, July 24, 1982. (Ireland) *
— review in article in Dublin, newspaper
Curtright, Bob. “Confessions of a Free Spirit.” Wichita Eagle, July 25, 1982. *
— “But what she has written, and now collected in this volume, will be enough to ensure her a literary as well as cinema niche.” – Wichita, Kansas newspaper
Taylor, John Russell. “Woman of Ideas: Lulu in Hollywood.” Sight and Sound, Summer 1982. (England)
— “Louise Brooks is a woman of ideas. Her writings—and this, for an actor, is really extraordinary—are about something more than just herself. She has ideas about Hollywood, she has ideas about life, and she does not necessarily confuse the two. . . . If Brooks has an Achilles heel, it is her own intelligence: she tends to attribute to others as much self-awareness and analytical power as she has herself.”
Quirk, Lawrence J. “Lulu in Hollywood: A Weird Case of Media Super-Hype, Whitewash and Cover-Up Galore.” Quirks Reviews, August, 1982. *
— short negative article by the son of the film magazine editor James Quirk
Brown, Dennis. “Lulu’s View.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 1982. *
— “If Kenneth Tynan’s 1979 essay re-established Louise Brooks’ reputation as an actress, these seven essays at once establish her vast talents as a writer.” – St. Louis, Missouri newspaper
Tully, Jaoqi. “Lulu a rare book about Hollywood.” Arizona Daily Star, August 1, 1982. *
— “Louise Brooks is something of a buried treasure . . . . Lulu in Hollywood is a rare book about Hollywood, for it tells the truth poetically.” – Tucson, Arizona newspaper
Campbell, Peter. London Review of Books, August 5 – 18, 1982. (England)
— ” . . . unfailingly perceptive about the arts of acting and film-making”
Simon, John. “A Legend in Her Time.” New Leader, August 9, 1982.
— magazine review
Thurston, Chuck. “Hollywood Legend Has Her Own Stories to Tell.” Detroit Free Press, August 11, 1982.
— review in Detroit, Michigan newspaper
Updike, John. “Female Pilgrims.” The New Yorker, August 16, 1982. *
— joint review of Lulu in Hollywood along with a review of M. F .K. Fisher’s As They Were by the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist; the review was later published in Updike’s Hugging the Shore (New York: Knopf, 1983).
Nordell, Roderick. “On film: ’20s actress and ’80s critic; Brooks recalls career.” Christian Science Monitor, August 25, 1982. *
— short newspaper review
Everson, William K. “Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks.” Films in Review, August / September 1982. *
— two page magazine review
Rich, Alan. “Lulu in Hollywood.” Smithsonian, September 1982. *
— ” . . . testimony to a beauty that flashed too briefly across the screen.”
De Lappe, Pele. “Perfidious film industry exposed.” People’s World, September 4, 1982. *
— review in leftist political newspaper
Giachetti, Romano. “I vizi di Lulu.” La Repubblica, September 14, 1982. (Italy) *
— review in Italian newspaper
Rothman, William. “Our Miss Brooks.” American Film, October, 1982. *
— long magazine review
Laschever, Sara. “Pandora’s Box.” New York Review of Books, October 21, 1982.
— three page magazine review, with caricature by David Levine
Arbasin, Alberto. “Lulu a Hollywood.” L’Espresso, October 24, 1982. (Italy) *
— review by a well regarded Italian author
Manns, T. “Louise Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood.” Filmrutan, no. 4, 1982. (Sweden)
— review in Stockholm film journal
Chute, David. “What a Lulu!” Film Comment, November / December, 1982. *
— “Because the book sustains a high level of insight and giddy entertainment value, Lulu in Hollywood is one of the most painlessly useful books in years. It is also an exhilarating display of the sort of diamond-hard prose whose beauty is inseparable from its precision.”
Reynaert, P. and Payez, G. “De Brooks a Bruckner.” publication title unknown. November 15, 1982. (Belgium)
— review in Brussels film journal
anonymous. “Christmas Books.” New York Times, December 5, 1982.
— brief inclusion in round-up of the best books of the year; “Terse, raffish, authoritative essays” – New York City newspaper
Boyum, Joy Gould. “Lulu in Hollywood.” Wall Street Journal, December 17, 1982.
— “Brooks is an excellent, if heartless writer, who never had a good word to say about anyone.”
Purcell, J.M. “Lulu in Hollywood.” Film Quarterly, no. 1, 1983.
— two page piece
Stern, Howard and Laschever, Sara. “Pandora’s Box.” New York Review of Books, January 20, 1983.
— letter by Howard Stern, with reply by Laschever (in response to a NYRB article of October 21, 1982)
National Council of Teachers of English. “Do You Like Film? Film Books?” The English Journal, February 1983. *
— passing notice – “Louise Brooks’ Lulu in Hollywood (Knopf, 1982, $15) is a series of essays by the most beautiful Hollywood starlet of the 1930s who made one great film, G. W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box.”
Thomson, David. “The Actress Taking the Part of Lulu.” Threepenny Review, Spring 1983. *
— long article by the noted critic in a literary journal
anonymous. “Current favorites for leisure reading.” Christian Science Monitor, June 24, 1983. *
— brief newspaper notice following the book’s publication in paperback; “A Kansas girl who went through the Hollywood artifice mill, saw its tinseled tragedies, lived its broken life, and gained a small niche in film history now looks back at the perverse and tawdry scenes. She is less censorious than she ought to be, but is determined to set the record straight about how Hollywood dominates its talent – on and off the screen.”
Beylie, Claude. “Louise Brooks par Louise Brooks.” Avant-Scene Cinema, October, 1983. (France)
— two page illustrated review in Parisian film journal
Decaux, Emmanuel. “Louise Brooks par Louise Brooks.” Cinematographie, October, 1983. (France)
— review in Parisian film journal
Wysocki, Gisela von. “Die Film-Frau.” Die Zeit, October 14, 1983. (Germany)
— review in German newspaper
Mees, L. “Lulu in Hollywood door Louise Brooks.” Film en Televisie, November, 1983. (Belgium)
— review in Brussels publication
Herrmann, Lucie. “Die Wahrheit zu schreiben.” publication title unknown. December, 1983. (West Germany)
— Frankfurt publication?
Comuzio, Ermanno. “Louise Brooks: Lulu a Hollywood.” CineForum, May, 1984. (Italy) *
— half-page review in Italian film journal published in Bergamo
anonymous. “Lunga vita a Lulu.” Via Dogana, June 1984. (Italy)
— review in feminist magazine
Farinelli, Gianluca. “Lulu a Hollywood.” Cineteca, September 1985. (Italy)
— review in Italian film journal; this issue also contains a brief illustrated appreciation of the actress and a review of Louise Brooks. Portrait d’une anti star
Witte, Karsten. “Louise Brooks über G.W. Pabst.” Film, September 1985. (Germany) *
— review in German film journal; also published in this issue is a one page article on Brooks, and two pages of film stills – Brooks also appears on the cover
Wagner, Werner. “Brooks, Louise: Lulu in Berlin und Hollywood.” medienwissenschaft: rezensionen, Jg. 2 (1985).
— short review in German film journal
Johnson, George. “New & Noteworthy.” New York Times, June 25, 1989. *
— capsule review of Limelight edition, New York City newspaper
Anderson, Jeffrey M. “Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks.” Combustible Celluloid, 2000. *
— online review of University of Minnesota reissue
Berman, Todd. “Essential Titles: Film.” Contentville, 2000. *
— online review of University of Minnesota reissue
Levin, Martin. Toronto Globe & Mail. September 16, 2000. (Canada)
— short piece regarding the University of Minnesota reissue
Rising, Gerry. “Lulu in Hollywood.” ArtVoice. August 30, 2001. (United States) *
— article regarding Louise Brooks and the University of Minnesota Press reissue in weekly news magazine published in Buffalo, New York
anonymous. “It’s a case of reading: our panel of authors on what titles they will be packing into their suitcases this summer.” The Bookseller. March 14, 2003. (England) *
— writer Louise Welsh states “I’m also desperate to read Louise Brooks’ Lulu in Hollywood (University of Minnesota Press), edited by Kenneth Tynan, and also his volume of profiles, Show People.”
Costa, Romano . “Louise Brooks, passività e presenza.” Alias, July 5, 2003. (Italy)
— review of the 2nd Italian ed. of Lulu in Hollywood
Rosi, Viviana .”Lulu a Hollywood.” L’Indice, nr. 11, 2003. (Italy)
— review of the 2nd Italian ed. of Lulu in Hollywood
Maslin, Janet. “Blunt Memories Of Celluloid Life.” New York Times, June 21, 2012. (United States) *
— write-up in New York City newspaper
Rosenbaum, Jonathan. “En movimiento: Louise Brooks’ Multifunctional Film Criticism, Writing as Make-Believe.” JonathanRosenbaum.net, December 30, 2022.
— blog article
Feinberg, Scott. “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time.” Hollywood Reporter, October 23, 2023.
— Lulu in Hollywood is ranked number 44 on the list