Louise Brooks “Cover Girl”

  Compared to some of her more famous contemporaries, Louise Brooks appeared on far fewer magazine covers than did other Paramount stars like Clara Bow or Pola Negri, or such famous actresses as Colleen Moore or Greta Garbo. In fact, in the first few years of her film career, Brooks appeared on relatively few covers in both the United States and Europe. All of that changed in late 1928, when Brooks was selected to play Lulu in G.W. Pabst’s production of Pandora’s Box.

An actor or actress might end up on the cover of a magazine for any number of reasons. The two most likely reasons have to do with their popularity at a moment in time, or the fact that they are featured in a new release. Also coming into play is a studio’s willingness and/or success in promoting its talent. And too, there is the matter of sex appeal: a pretty face or sexy pose on the cover is likely to draw the eye of an editor, and ultimately to sell more magazines.

Brooks first appeared on the cover of a magazine on December 13, 1924 when she appeared, scantily clothed, on the cover of Police Gazette, the long-running low-brow American tabloid. Notably, this cover — which utilized an earlier pin-up photo — was published while the yet-to-be actress was in England, dancing at the Café de Paris. It was followed by another Police Gazette cover in 1925, as well as appearances on the covers of not dissimilar magazines which featured racy pictures, celebrities, gossip and humor, such as Art & Beauty and Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang. All together, Brooks appeared on the covers of some 15 American publications during her brief career; she once even shared a cover of the Wichita, Kansas Town Crier with rival flapper Colleen Moore. Of those 15 American covers, only four were movie magazines; Brooks’ had to wait. Her first film cover came in October 1926, when she appeared on Motion Picture Classic.

Police Gazette, December 13, 1924 (USA) Brooks’ first ever cover	Maschietta, May 1926 (Italy) Brooks’ first European cover	Ugebladet, May 16, 1926 (Denmark) Brooks’ second European cover	Cinearte, July 1926 (Brazil) Brooks’ first South American cover

 

The actress’ first credited film role, and the first for which she received significant media attention, was in American Venus, which was released in the United States in February 1926. Remarkably, Brooks appeared on the cover of a non-American magazine just three months later in May 1926 when she graced the covers of both Ugebladet, a Danish magazine, and Maschietta, an Italian magazine. Those two cover appearances were followed just a couple of months later by her first South American cover in July 1926, when Brooks graced the cover of Cinearte, a Brazilian magazine. These three covers, and the few others that followed in 1926 and 1927 are noteworthy in that they occurred early-on in Brooks’ film career — before the actress became an established star and before she went to work in Germany.

In the biography of Brooks by Barry Paris, the author details the reaction in Europe when Pabst announced he had found an actress to play Lulu. “In the space of four weeks,” Paris writes, “Louise’s face appeared on the front of Die Filmwoche, Film-Illustrierte, Reich der Frau, Tempo, Elegante Welt, Neue Berliner, Film-Magazin, Neue Zeit, Das Publikum, and Funk-Woche in Berlin, Cinemonde in Paris, Das Buhne in Vienna, Das Illustrierte Blatt in Frankfurt, the Illustrierte magazines in Hamburg and Nuremberg, and countless other publications as far away as Zagreb.” That Brooks, a little known American, was chosen to play Lulu — a famous and intrinsically German character, made news across Europe.

Brooks’ many cover appearances (and to a degree her subsequent fame) can be traced to the efforts of Lothar Wolff, a teenager working in the publicity department of Parufamet, the German-American distribution company comprised of Paramount, Ufa, and MGM. In his 1972 article, “Reminiscences of an Itinerant Filmmaker,” Wolff recalled the time G. W. Pabst visited Parufamet. Pabst was then assembling the cast of Pandora’s Box,  and Wolff suggested Brooks, then Wolff’s favorite actress, for the role of Lulu. Pabst took note of the suggestion and some of the pictures Wolff had of the actress, and hired the young film enthusiast to handle publicity for his forthcoming film. It was a dream job. Wolff recalled, “As Louise Brooks was extremely beautiful and few American stars had ever worked in German films, it was not difficult to have people write about her and to place her photographs on the front pages of practically every magazine.”

Like a shooting star, Brooks made an impression on both the moving going public as well as those who wrote about the movies. And like a shooting star, her time in the heavens was short-lived. The vast majority of Brooks’ cover appearances took place over a mere three years, from 1928 to 1930, with a few others following in the early 1930s.

Brooks’ last cover appearance during her heyday was one she likely never knew about. In September 1937, Brooks appeared on the cover of Piccolo, an Italian magazine. The image was a publicity portrait of the actress taken to promote King of Gamblers, a film from which her role was cut. Why she would have appeared on the cover of a magazine promoting a film in which she did not appear is something of a mystery. One might guess, perhaps, it was an editorial decision — publicity had gotten out that Brooks was cast in the film, and this cover an editorial bouquet to a fading star. Or perhaps she wasn’t cut from European prints of the film?

Generally speaking, Brooks appeared on the cover of two kinds of European magazines. The largest number are film magazines. The second are general interest magazines such as Week-End, from Denmark, and the various “Illustrierte” magazines published in Germany. In a few instances, she also appeared on the covers of special interest magazines like Ich bin Dein — a story magazine from Germany, and La Settimana Enigmistica — a crossword puzzle magazine published in Italy.

The more than 120 vintage and contemporary magazine covers (as well as a few newspaper front pages) gathered by the Louise Brooks Society represent most but not all of the actress’ cover appearances. All-told, they come from nearly two dozen countries, including two which no longer exist (Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia); the vintage publications date from 1926 to 1937, while the contemporary publications date from 1958 to the present. Most originate in Europe, with a handful coming from the United States and Japan — where Brooks once enjoyed a devoted, almost cult-like following. There is even one from China. This collection of covers is not complete: previously unknown covers are still being found, including two Danish covers generously sent by a Danish fan. Though incomplete, this collection amply documents Brooks’ long-lived, transnational appeal, and it shows the actress was once more appreciated in Europe than she was in the United States.

If you know of or possess other covers and would like to share a scan of your vintage treasure, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society. Still missing, for example, are more than half of the covers mentioned in the anecdote from the Barry Paris biography quoted above.

Mein Film, issue number 165 – early 1929 (Austria) The only example of a back & front cover	Cine Sorriso Illustrato, September 8, 1929 (Italy) “The Three Graces,” an unusual cover	Piccola, September 28, 1937 (Italy) Brooks’ last cover until 1958

 

Below is a directory of the pages on the Louise Brooks Society website which bring together the actress’ various cover appearances. This archive is a work in progress. As more pages are built-out, more of the following categories will be linked.

MAGAZINE COVERS (mostly vintage)

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FOR FURTHER READING:

Fonoroff, Paul. Chinese Movie Magazines: From Charlie Chaplin to Chairman Mao 1921-1951. London: Thames & Hudson, 2018. (purchase on amazon)
— Brooks is not included in this pictorial survey, though the author supplied an image from his collection on which this book is based

Hoyt, Eric. Ink-Stained Hollywood: The Triumph of American Cinema’s Trade Press. University of California Press, 2022. (purchase on amazon)
— a fascinating academic look at a too little explored subject

McDonald, Tamar Jeffers and Lies Lanckman. Star Attractions: Twentieth-Century Movie Magazines and Global Fandom. University of Iowa Press, 2019. (purchase on amazon)
— “… treating them as primary sources, the contributors of this collection provide unique insights into contemporary assumptions about the relationship between fan and star, performer and viewer.”

Paris, Barry. Louise Brooks. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. (purchase on amazon)
— definitive biography of the actress, with illustrations and a bibliography referencing film magazines

Slide, Anthony. Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. (purchase on amazon)
— a groundbreaking survey of American movie magazines