Like the celebrities of today, Louise Brooks’ name and image was used in a number of advertisements and promotional campaigns. Beginning in 1926 with the “Louise Brooks Evening Gown” and running through the LUX soap campaigns of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Brooks’ name, image and likeness was used to “sell” all manner of products and services — not only in the United States, but also elsewhere around the world. Here is the story behind Brooks’ involvement with Lux soap in the United States and Canada.
Lux Soap was introduced to America in 1925 by the Lever Brothers, an English firm. It was white soap packaged in pastel colors designed and marketed to be comparable to finer French soaps, but more affordable. Notably, in 1928, Lux Soap began a campaign to get endorsements from Hollywood stars by sending cases of Lux Soap to 425 actresses. It received 414 endorsements in return, leading the firm to claim 9 out of 10 stars in Hollywood use Lux Soap. Among the actresses contacted by Lux was Louise Brooks.
Brooks first appeared in a Lux ad as early as January, 1928 — while the last known ad to include Brooks appeared in May, 1930. Most of these ads pictured a small number of actresses — with Brooks among them, while a few pictured two actresses, one of whom was Brooks. (Brooks was sometimes paired with Dorothy Mackaill, Janet Gaynor, or Joan Crawford.) As well, a small number of ads pictured only Brooks, a rare distinction. Such ads appeared in the United States and Canada, as well as in England, Ireland, Jamaica, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. It is likely ads appeared in other countries, possibly even in Japan, but they have yet to be found.
This page highlights some of the advertisements which appeared in various American and Canadian newspapers and magazines. They appeared in hundreds of newspapers both large and small all across the United States — from Rochester, New York to Lansing, Michigan and Sacramento, California. The magazine ads appeared in national publications such as Photoplay, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Red Book, Good Housekeeping, and Ladies’ Home Journal. Many of these ads, it should also be noted, are similar to ads which appeared abroad in English-speaking countries. Please note: there is also a page on the Louise Brooks Society archive focused on Lux ads from elsewhere around the world.
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| United States, newspaper ad, January 1929 | United States, newspaper ad, September 1928 |
United States, newspaper ad, January 1929 |
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| United States, magazine ad, October 1929 |
United States, newspaper advertorial, May 1930 |
United States, newspaper ad, May 1930 |
The photo in the January 1929 newspaper ad on the left is captioned,”Louise Brooks, beautiful film star, wears this lovely silk lounging suit, typical of the pretty clothes shown in her pictures. ‘I learned by experience what my studios proved by scientific tests,’ she says — ‘that only Lux keeps that lovely, fresh new look in clothes.’ Like the movies, women everywhere — 8 out of 10 in representative homes in cities from coast to coast, investigations show, use Lux!” The September 1928 newspaper ad in the middle describes the actress as “Youthful Louise Brooks, of the sparkling eyes, Paramount’s lovely star.” The photo in the January 1929 newspaper ad on the right is captioned, “Louise Brooks whose sparkling charm inspired this unusually luxurious bathroom. Lux Toilet Soap keeps Miss Brooks’ skin gloriously smooth and lovely! Notice it the next time you see her in a close-up.” The signed statement reads, “Klieg lights make close-ups so revealing! One can’t possibly hide the texture of the skin. That is why so many screen stars cleanse their skin with Lux Toilet Soap. It gives the skin a lovely satin smoothness ‘studio skin’ must have.” (The photograph is credited to Otto Dyar.)
The caption beneath Brooks’ portrait in the October 1929 magazine ad reads, “Louise Brooks in the bathroom which is among the most distintive seen in Hollywood. She says about Lux Toilet Soap, ” It gives the skin a lovely satin smoothness ‘studio skin’ must have.” (The photograph is also credited to Otto Dyar.) The unusual May 1930 newspaper ad, or advertorial, mixes editorial content with advertising. The caption on the May 1930 newspaper ad notes, “Louise brooks, exquisite star, in the luxurious bathroom created for her in Hollywood. Both here and in her dressing room on location she uses Lux Toilet Soap.” (This photograph is also credited to Otto Dyar.)
While most newspaper ads ran a quarter page or smaller, the Lux soap ads which ran in magazines often filled an entire page, as with the October 1929 piece pictured above. Sometimes, however, the Lux ads were run as two-page spreads. (I’ll resist the temptation to call these de-luxe ads.) These two-page ads more often then not featured a group of actress — sometimes more than a dozen — which was likely meant to bolster Lux’s claim that 9 out of 10 (or sometimes 96% of) Hollywood beauties used Lux soap. The following ads date from May 1928, September 1928, March 1929 and October 1929, respectively. Each ran in either Photoplay or Motion Picture Classic, two of the leading film magazines aimed at fans / female readers.
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Louise Brooks and Canada go way back. In fact, Canada was the first nation Brooks worked in — and the last she was to visit. The actress enjoyed a degree of popularity north of the border, and thus it is no surprise she was included in the Lux campaign in Canada over a two year period. These ads are often similar and sometimes the same as American ads. The photo in the February 1929 magazine ad is captioned “Louise Brooks, who is famous in Hollywood for her exquisite skin, says . . . ‘The strong Klieg lights make the close-up so revealing! That is why so many of us use Lux Toilet Soap. It gives the skin a lovely satin smoothness.'” Similarly, the February 1929 newspaper ad is captioned “Louise Brooks, beautiful star, says . . . ‘Lux Toilet Soap gives the skin a lovely smoothness’.”
The photo in the January 1930 newspaper ad is captioned “Louise Brooks, fascinating star, says: ‘So many screen stars cleanse their skin with Lux Toilet Soap because it gives the skin the lovely satin smoothness ‘studio skin’ must have’.” The photo in the May 1930 magazine ad is captioned “Charming Louise Brooks in a smart white angora suit . . . This love star, like other stars and all the big studios, insist upon Lux to keep beautiful clothes ‘like new twice as long!'”
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| Canada, magazine ad, February 1929 | Canada, newspaper ad, February 1929 |
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| Canada, newspaper ad, January 1930 | Canada, magazine ad, May 1930 |