The Louise Brooks Society needs your help! In its never ending quest to document “all things Brooksie,” the LBS needs your assistance in finding articles and reviews, translating texts, documenting ephemera, and acquiring and identifying images. Here’s your chance be a movie detective and uncover little known information about the actress’ remarkable life and career. And what’s more, it can be fun — especially when that research Leeds you to new and exciting places, like the city and town where you live. Some current needs are listed below, with others added on an ongoing basis. The Louise Brooks Society would love to hear from you, and it ACKNOWLEDGES the generous help many others have already given. Please visit our CONTACT page to send a message. (updated August 2024)
Thomas Gladysz
Director, Louise Brooks Society
SOME BASIC WAYS TO SUPPORT THE LBS
The Louise Brooks Society is a pioneering website and online archive devoted to a legendary silent film star. It costs money to maintain, and grow. The hope is that individuals who enjoy this site will make a small donation to help keep things going. Domain and internet hosting fees, subscriptions, software, and other costs associated with running the LBS are just some of the many expenses that go into keeping the LBS growing on the web. A donation, in any amount, will also help defray the cost of photocopies, postage, subscriptions, permissions, and the acquisition of vintage memorabilia and ephemera (most all of which I scan and share through this website and its blog). Contributions will be used to ensure new material is added on an ongoing basis, and that the LBS continues as the largest and most comprehensive site of its kind. The Louise Brooks Society is a money losing labor of love. Please consider making a contribution in any amount.
— Give the Louise Brooks Society a shout-out on your social media accounts. Every bit helps!
— Buy the Louise Brooks Society a “cup of coffee” (make a small, one-time donation) through Buy Me a Coffee !
— Purchase something for yourself through the Louise Brooks Society GIFTSHOP. As an amazon associate, I earn a small amount through qualifying purchases.
— Purchase something for the Louise Brooks Society from its Wish list on amazon.com. These items are desired/needed for research or as background material.
— Underwrite an expense, such as a subscription to newspapers.com, or the cost of hosting this website. Each run more than $100.00 per year. Please CONTACT the LBS for details.
— Or, become a patron of the Louise Brooks Society through Patreon. Patrons and subscribers have access to exclusive content, discounts, and more.
CAN YOU HELP FIND?
The LBS is aware of the existence of the following articles and items, but has been unable to obtain copies of them. Can you help? As this material may be difficult to acquire in the original, photocopies or scans are happily accepted. A national or university archive or library may be a good place to start. Or perhaps you know of a private collector who might be willing to share.
The LBS is seeking information on the glass slides used in illustrated sermons from the mid-1920s, in particular those associated with the 1925 film, The Street of Forgotten Men. (There is a long passage on these slides in the 2023 book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond.) In late 2022, the LBS blogged about its wish to learn more, and that query was reprinted in the November 2022 issue of the Magic Lantern Society of the United and Canada.
HERE ARE SOME ARTICLES WHICH THE LBS WOULD LIKE TO ACQUIRE:
anonymous “Louise Brooks.” De Film, June 22, 1930. (France)
— four page illustrated article; Brooks appears on the cover
Green, Grace. “And This Is Paris.” Screen Play Secrets, July, 1930. (United States)
— article
anonymous. “A carreira de Louise Brooks.” Cinéfilo, October 4, 1930. (Portugal)
— illustrated article
anonymous. “Louise Brooks.” Cinema Illustrazione, April 10, 1935. (Italy)
— brief article looking back at Brooks’ career
Genina, Augusto. “Memorie.” L’Europeo, November 17, December 4, December 11, 1955. (Italy)
— three part article edited by Oriana Fallaci; Brooks is discussed and pictured in part three, “Il muto disse”
Herrmann, Lucie. “Die Wahrheit zu schreiben.” publication title unknown. December, 1983. (West Germany)
— Frankfurt publication?
Bockris, Victor. “Negative Girl.” Elle, November, 1989.
— full page magazine review by the Andy Warhol – William S. Burroughs associate
Marcus, Greil. “Lulu Lost and Found.” California, November, 1989.
— two page magazine review with portrait; “Paris is superb, every detail opening onto another plane or almost subliminally doubling back to an incident charted a hundred pages earlier, the full weight of Brook’s exile coming home with increasing power, right to the end of her life. The second half of the book is riveting: complex, subtle, noisy, finally quiet. You don’t care that Paris can’t solve ‘the mystery.’ You care that a woman lived a life that made it.”
author unknown. San Diego Tribune. 1989?
— “What raises this biography above most is the page-turning way Paris exposes most facets of a highly complex individual . . . . A superb biography. Paris’s definitive work shows us why Brooks belongs, if not in the pantheon of film stardom, in the front rank of 20th-century personalities.” – San Diego, California newspaper
Lexton, Maria. “Bob Dazzler.” Time Out, January 10-17, 1990. (England)
— accompanying the review is a short article about one writer’s attempt to get a Brooks’ bob; Brooks also appears on the cover
Hermans, Willem Frederik. “Louise Brooks. Art deco demon.” Elsevier, January 27, 1990.
— book review by the acclaimed Dutch novelist
DO YOU HAVE OR CAN YOU ACQUIRE?
The Louise Brooks Society needs your help in locating the following items.
— A nice, clear, straight-on photograph of the “Impasse Louise Brooks” street sign in Bois d’Arcy, a village / suburb outside of Paris. See this link to a 2022 LBS blog about the French street named after Louise Brooks! It is located in a subdivision with streets named after other film stars. ===>
VINTAGE ARTICLES & REVIEWS
Brooks’ films were shown all around the world. The record of their exhibition awaits discovery in local newspapers and magazines. Your help is needed is locating newspaper or magazine articles about Louise Brooks, especially older (pre-1970) pieces. The LBS is especially interested in acquiring any and all articles, reviews or advertisements (and even mere listings) from any Asian, East European, or South American (except Brazil) publications. Some articles have already been found. But more await discovery. National or university libraries and archives are a great place to start. The LBS is especially in need of material from the following countries or regions:
— the former Czechoslovakia, and the former Yugoslavia – (the online Czech archives, for example, are only open to Czech citizens)
— Ukraine / the former USSR & any of the former Soviet republics (see this series of posts on the LBS blog about Ukraine and my Louise Brooks research)
— Greece / Egypt / Turkey or any major city in the Middle East (the LBS has a few clippings from 1920’s Cairo, and 1930’s Palestine; more likely exist)
— anywhere in Africa (except for French Algeria & South Africa, which have been found, see this LBS blog for some background)
