Showing posts with label Clara Bow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clara Bow. Show all posts

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Before Taylor Swift, there was the Cleaners of Venus song "Clara Bow"

As the world awaits the April release of Taylor Swift's new album containing a song titled "Clara Bow" ... I'm reminded of an earlier song with that same title. I speaking of the Cleaners of Venus 'swonderful "Clara Bow", from their 1986 album Living with Victoria Grey. This song, which I've always liked a lot,  used to stream on the now defunct RadioLulu, the Louise Brooks Society station which streamed Louise Brooks and silent film inspired music of the 1920s, 1930s and today. It can be streamed here and on Spotify. Give it a listen.


If you're not familiar, The Cleaners of Venus were / are a lo-fi alternative/indie pop/rock band from England. The band, lead by musician and poet Martin Newell, formed in 1980 and released their first album in 1981 and are still going strong. As a matter of fact, Newell is currently playing dates around England. (see the schedule below) Visit Newell's Cleaners of Venus website for details and more. 

Here are the lyrics to "Clara Bow".

[Verse 1]
I saw your face on the silent screen
And on the cover of a magazine
Clara Bow
You were the image of a plastic age
You spent your lifetime in a silent cage
Clara Bow

[Chorus 1]
Clara Bow
Is it true the camera struck you dumb?
Clara Bow
I would like to see your pictures but I can't

[Verse 2]
You were the lipstick butterfly
No need for words when you can flutter your eyes
Clara Bow
And you were living in an "It" world, "It" girl
But you were speaking for American working girls
Clara Bow
 
[Chorus 2]
Clara Bow
Did your money make it any better?
Clara Bow
I would like to hear you speaking but I can't

[Solo - Interlude]
Clara Bow
Clara Bow

[Chorus 3]
Clara Bow
Did your money make it any better?
Clara Bow
I would like to hear you speaking but I can't

(I can't)

[Outro]
Clara Bow
Clara Bow

 
BTW: there is a documentary about Newell on amazon prime. It is called The Jangling Man. The Cleaners of Venus also have a BandCamp page.  And here are some of the band's upcoming dates. I hope he plays "Clara Bow."

Following Taylor Swift's Grammy Awards announcement of her forthcoming album containing the "Clara Bow" song, news stories have begun appearing about the silent film actress -- explaining who she was to a new generation. A few of them have mentioned Bow's contemporary, Louise Brooks. Here is one of them, "Who is Clara Bow? And why did Taylor Swift name a song after her?", which appeared in Entertainment Weekly. And here is another from the New York Post, "Who is Clara Bow? Taylor Swift cites ‘It Girl’ actress with tortured past for new song title." 

The best of them, "The silver screen legend who inspired Taylor Swift’s latest song," appeared in the Australian Women's Weekly. It quotes Louise Brooks, "'[Clara] was an absolute sensation,' noted fellow star Louise Brooks, another icon of the era. 'She just swept the country. I thought she was wonderful – everybody did. She became absolutely a star overnight without nobody’s help'.

And here is another, "TAYLOR SWIFT CLARA BOW'S FAMILY THRILLED W/ TRIBUTE ... 'Her Name Lives On!'", which appeared on TMZ. I also noticed David Stenn's heartbreaking 1988 biography, Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild is selling briskly on amazon, and like a Taylor Swift song, is rising through the charts.

One look at that cover image suggests why the Cleaners of Venus and now Taylor Swift have sung about Clara Bow, one of the very biggest film stars of the 1920s. Did you know she once received 45,000 fan letters in a single month? If you need a little more convincing, check out this video clip from IT (1927), which is accompanied by an even earlier song about the It girl.


THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Films at the 2022 San Francisco Silent Film Festival

This year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival features a stellar line-up of films. Along with the debut of the restoration of Louise Brooks' first film, The Street of Forgotten Men (1925), there are a number of other new restorations, some old classics, and a selection of films from around. There are films from Japan, India and the Soviet Union, as well as promising examples of Brazilian experimentalism, French melodrama, Danish science-fiction, and German horror. 

The SFSFF is the largest festival devoted to silent film in the Americas. This year’s event includes 19 recent film restorations. Notably, nine of those restorations will make their North American premiere at the May event. More information about the San Francisco Silent Film Festival as well as this year's event can be found HERE.

Most notably, the festival will screen Arrest Warrant (1926), an Ukrainian film directed by Heorhii Tasin. This briskly paced gem tells the story of Nadia (played by Vira Vareckaja), who’s revolutionary husband flees the city in the midst of civil war, leaving her behind with a cache of secret documents. Expressionist effects, at times riveting and then distressing, highlight Nadia’s psychological torture at the hands of the authorities. It is a must-see film, poignant, and timely. 


Along with other fans of Louise Brooks, I have long been a fan of Clara Bow - the original "IT girl." This year's Festival includes the SFSFF restoration of The Primrose Path, one of 14 features Clara Bow made in 1925. Who doesn't want to see another Clara Bow film? She lights up the screen.

I have also been a long time fan of director / actor Erich von Stroheim, "the man you love to hate." I adore his classic silents The Merry Widow (1925) and The Wedding March (1928), both of which have been shown at the festival in the past. In fact, they are two of my favorite silent films. This year, Erich von Stroheim’s study of decadence, Foolish Wives (1922), opens the festival. It has been newly restored by the SFSFF and New York’s MoMA, and will be accompanied by Timothy Brock’s SFSFF  commissioned score. The following day, the festival will show the Austrian Film Museum’s restoration of von Stroheim’s Blind Husbands (1919), a film the celebrated director also stars in and wrote.

What follows is the SFSFF's complete line-up of films.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Louise Brooks, Clara Bow and Peggy Joyce are part of the Smart Set

Smart Set was one of the leading literary magazines during the Jazz Age. Founded in 1900 by Civil War veteran William d'Alton Mann, the magazine published a veritable who's who of American writers - everyone from Jazz Age stars F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker and Anita Loos (each of whom Louise Brooks met or knew) to Frank Wedekind (author of Pandora's Box) and Jim Tully (author of Beggars of Life). The celebrated magazine also published mystery writer S. S. van Dine (author of The Canary Murder Case), Ben Hecht (contributor to The City Gone Wild) and Dashiell Hammett (author of The Maltese Falcon, who Brooks once met). Read more about Smart Set on its Wikipedia page, which contains links to old back issues.

Though serious minded (the magazine was once edited by H.L. Mencken), it hoped to appeal to the sometimes frivolous youth of the Jazz Age, as seen in this 1928 advertisement featuring Velva Darling. Be sure and check out the Jezebel article, "Forever 23: The Rapid Rise and Sudden Disappearance of Velva Darling, Modern Girl Philosopher."

Well anyways, this is all prelude to mentioning that Smart Set also hoped to lure young female viewers by utilizing the likes of  actresses Louise Brooks, Clara Bow and Peggy Joyce.

Saturday, February 12, 2022

WINGS screens in Cleveland, Ohio at Cleveland Silent Film Festival

The inaugural Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium, which kicks off this weekend, will screen Wings, one of the great films of the silent era. Along with Wings, the Festival is also set to screen Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), starring Buster Keaton, The Wedding March (1929), starring Erich von Stroheim, and Sunrise (1927), starring Janet Gaynor. Click to access the Festival's Facebook Page which contains information on the various screenings and concerts as well as ticket information.

I was honored that the Cleveland Silent Film Festival published my essay on Wings in their festival program. I also penned a piece for the local Cleveland, Ohio patch entitled "WINGS to screen at Cleveland Silent Film Festival: First Oscar winner was the most popular film in the city in the 1920s".

On Friday, February 18, the newly launched Cleveland Silent Film Festival will screen Wings, a film which holds two unique distinctions; it was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. And secondly, Wings can rightly claim to have been the most popular film shown in Cleveland in the 1920s. 

If that isn't enough to pique your interest, this blockbuster film will be shown with a newly recorded reconstruction of the lavish musical score first heard at the film's 1927 premiere. That score was composed by J.S. Zamecnik, a Cleveland-born composer widely regarded as one of the leading film composers of his time.

 

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Louise Brooks, and the avant-garde design of Polish magazines

Louise Brooks was a truly an international star. And she still is. My forthcoming two volume work, Around the World with Louise Brooks, makes that very point by including more than 75 vintage non-American magazine covers which feature the actress - including these four from Poland. I think they look rather fabulous.


Polish graphic design has long been held in high regard, especially the avant-garde efforts coming out of inter-war Poland. In ways, Polish design rivaled the avant-garde, post-revolutionary efforts from the Soviet Union, which are better known and better documented (and were later squashed by the likes of dull socialist realism). If you want to learn more about Polish cinema, Polish design, and/or interwar Polish culture, be sure and check out culture.pl, a website chock-full of articles on those very topics. 

[Two pieces to start with are "Polish Cinema's Golden Age: The Glamour & Progress of Poland's Interwar Films" by Juliette Bretan, and "The Vintage Charm & Chic of 1920s Poland" by Anna Legierska. I would also recommend exploring Juliette Bretan's contributor page, which links to some of the other interesting articles she has penned on interwar culture in Poland.] On with the show....

While researching Polish film magazines, I came across a handful of examples of issues which also display a striking cover design. I wish to share them here, just because they are rather cool looking. 

The first shown likely comes from Pandora's Box, as it depicts Carl Goetz (as Schigolch?), dates from 1929, and bears a photo credit from the Polish distributor of the celebrated 1929 German film. As there is no specific reference to the film (which in Poland went under the titles Lulu and Puszka Pandory) in the magazine, and as I am not all that familiar with Goetz's career, I won't say for sure. He was in two other German film which were released just before this magazine was published. And too, I have not compared the still on the cover with the film itself, though it looks like it could be a still from the scene when Goetz is discovered on the balcony by Dr. Ludwig Schön. If anyone knows for sure, please send me a message. Now, on with the show....


The remaining covers I am showing because they are, simply put, eye catching, and also reflect the modernist design tendencies mentioned above. Or, because they stylishly feature American movie stars like Buster Keaton, Clara Bow, W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy, Anna May Wong, and others. Or, because they are just too darn cute. Each of the magazines pictured here date from 1929, 1930, or 1931.













Wednesday, August 18, 2021

More on the Cinecon schedule

Yesterday's post sketched this year's schedule for the Cinecon Classic Film Festival. The annual event, which takes place in Hollywood, has moved online due to the ongoing pandemic. All films will be streamed live via the internet on the Cinecon main page Friday September 3rd through Monday September 6th. The show will start at 3:00 PM PT / 6:00 PM ET on Friday and run about 4 1/2 hours.

I am looking forward to a handful of programs, including a Colleen Moore film, a Clara Bow / Baby Peggy film, a Thomas Meighan film (Brooks' co-star in The City Gone Wild), and the Francis X Bushman documentary (Bushman was my grandmother's favorite actor), among others. Here is a little more detail on this year's event, which is coming up in just a few weeks over Labor Day weekend. Don't miss this special online event. 

This following information comes from THIS PAGE:

ELLA CINDERS (1926, First National Pictures)
A special screening of ELLA CINDERS staring the great Colleen Moore. This showing will feature a brand new score by Scott Lasky of the Famous Players Orchestra. There will also have bonus footage from other Moore films featuring fragments from FLAMING YOUTH and clips from the set of PAINTED PEOPLE. and if that wasn't exciting enough this special program will be introduced by Colleen Moore's niece Melinda Morrison-Cox.

The film was based on the comic strip of the same name, created by William Conselman and Charles Plumb, which was running in newspapers across the country at the time the film was made. In the story poor hard working Ella wins a contest to travel to Hollywood and make a movie. Unfortuatly when she gets there she finds out the contest was a scam and she needs to find a job. Colleen is Ella and Lloyd Hughes plays her love interest. Others in the cast include Vera Lewis, Doris Baker, Emily Gerdes and Mike Donlin.


HELEN'S BABIES (1924, Sol Lesser Prod.)
Cinecon decided to encore this film at Cineconline for two reasons, one, it's a nice little film that deserves to be screened again, and two, we wanted to give our online audience a feel for our in person show. This was our opening night film for Cinecon 54 in 2018. We had selected this film to pay tribute to our long time Cinecon friend, "Baby Peggy" herself, Diana Serra Cary in honor of her 100th birthday. It was also the premier of a new restoration of the film by the Library of Congress. It featured newly discovered footage unseen since the film was originally released. In addition it was accompanied live by the Famous Players Orchestra with a new original score compiled and lead by maestro Scott Lasky.

In this silent comedy Edward Everett Horton is a young bachelor, Uncle Harry, who suddenly finds himself saddled with raising two precocious little girls: Jeanne Carpenter and our star, Baby Peggy, who at the time this film was released was the second most popular child star (after Jackie Coogan of Chaplin’s THE KID) in all of moviedom. The girls' antics drive him crazy at first, but then he begins to warm to them. 19-year-old Clara Bow is the local girl who enters into Uncle Harry’s life.


THIS IS FRANCIS X. BUSHMAN
from the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and Flicker Alley this documentary film by Lon and Debra Davis is a natural follow up to their extensive and well researched book on Bushman, King of the Movies: Francis X. Bushman (published 2014 by BearManor Media).

This documentary covers Bushman's life from his early film success in silent films as a romantic idol at Essanay and Metro studios through his later life. Though he made the transition to talkies his career never regained the prominence of those early days. He eventually spent some time working outside of the film industry, only to return later to play smaller parts both in films and on television until his death in 1966 at the age of 83.

THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN (1921, Paramount Pictures)
Another rarity courtesy of The Library of Congress Staring Thomas Meighan. The cast also includes Doris Kenyon, Diana Allen and Louis Hendricks. From the novel by Booth Tarkington with a scenario by Frank Tuttle and directed by R. William Neill.

The town of Canaan, Indiana is the backdrop for of this tale of political corruption. Meighan plays Joe Louden who is the hero of the misfortunate, but spurned by the “respectable” members of the town led by the corrupt Judge Pike (Hendricks). Joe leaves town to go to law school and comes back to town to defend the less fortunate against the judge and gain the respect of everyone.

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Need help translating table of contents of Japanese film book with a chapter possibly about Louise Brooks and Clara Bow

 

I need help translating the table of contents of a Japanese film book from the late 1920s. If I understand correctly, one of the 30 chapters from this book concerns Clara Bow and Louise Brooks!  Can anyone read these chapters titles and tell me if I at all correct. Normally, while looking through non-English books or magazines, I can usually depend on visual guide posts like images or the occasional English word or name. But, there were no such guideposts in this particular book. If I am right, and the right chapter can be identified, then I can have it translated.

Clara Bow and Louise Brooks were the subject of a near "cult-like" following in Japan in the late 1920s. Hence, my interest in this book. The table of contents comes from Shinema no ABC (ABC's of Cinema), a 1928 book by Tadashi Iijima. I managed to get a hold of a reprint of this significant early work of film criticism. For mnore information, HERE is an interesting link to a history of film criticism in Japan.


Thursday, June 25, 2020

Three of a kind - More on Louise Brooks and Colleen Moore and Clara Bow

A follow-up to my previous post on Louise Brooks and Colleen Moore and Clara Box . . . and a brief excerpt from volume 1 of my forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks. The previous post, which I recommend everyone check out if they haven't already, concerned the regular  comparison made of Louise Brooks with Colleen Moore and Clara Bow. Such comparisons were not limited to the United States. In fact, they were made in Brazil, Finland and other countries. Here are a couple-three examples.


Just as Louise Brooks was sometimes compared to and even mistaken for Colleen Moore because of  their similar look, the actress was also sometimes paired with Clara Bow due to their not dissimilar screen personas – that of the flapper or modern young woman. This Paramount magazine ad from Brazil notes each actress' role in three films, including Brooks' role in Glorifying the American Girl. Despite being long considered for a role in the Florenz Ziegfeld-produced film, Brooks never appeared in its 1929 release (nor did Bow, who was also considered).


The Central and Republica theaters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil knew they were onto something special when they promoted "two stars in one day" featuring the "seductive" Bow and the "charming" Brooks – each featured in newly released Paramount films. Not sure which film or actress to choose? This newspaper ad suggests moviegoers must "decide for yourself".

This Finnish magazine portrait describes the “renowned Paramount star Louise Brooks” as a “self-assured flapper type” and a mix of both Clara Bow and Colleen Moore.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Louise Brooks and Colleen Moore and Clara Bow too

In my last blog, I included a couple of 1934 clippings about Sue Read, a pretty, bob-haired young radio singer who was said to resemble Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks. It was an apt comparison, as the soprano and both actresses were pretty in a similar way, and both sported short, sharp bobs.

Colleen Moore
The Sue Read comparison was far from the first time that Brooks and Moore were spoken of together. Over the years, I have come across a number of instances of the two actresses being paired and compared. Usually, the association had to do with their similar hairstyle. And too, both played flappers on screen.

Another actress with whom Brooks was sometimes compared was Clara Bow. And again, over the years I have come across a number of instances of the two actresses being paired and compared in newspapers and magazines published not only in the United States, but also around the world. In fact, a few pages in my forthcoming two volume work, Around the World with Louise Brooks, addresses the Louise Brooks / Colleen Moore  & Clara Bow nexus.

I mention all this because just recently I came across a few clippings that take the Brooks and Bow comparison to a new length. In July 1927, the Selma Times in Selma, Alabama ran a couple of pieces on the local showing of It's the Old Army Game. And in both clippings, Brooks was described as Clara Bow's double!


"Clara Bow has taken the American public by storm with her personality and pep -- and now comes along the clever little Louise Brooks whom critics acclaim her nearest double." This copy was, no doubt, supplied by Paramount -- the studio for whom both actresses worked -- or some allied publicist. The above piece goes on to described Brooks as "Pert, pretty, peppy, snappy, talented, happy and 'bound to get there'."

Another piece which ran a couple of days later also described Brooks as Clara Bow's double, despite the fact that Brooks better resembled Colleen Moore rather than Bow, who was a vivacious redhead who sported a somewhat different hairstyle. In this second piece, Brooks is described as "piquant pert little Louise Brooks." It also mentions that Brooks, or is it Bow, "who takes in the local sheiks."


I think the "double" comment had more to do with a perceived similarity in personality, rather than physical appearance. It's too bad that the two actresses never appeared in a film together. The closest they ever came to doing so was in It's the Old Army Game -- Brooks replaced Bow -- and in the original casting of Glorifying the American Girl, in which both were set to star. The latter film was made later with an entirely different cast.

Had the two starred together in a film, they would have ignited the screen - talk about flammable nitrate! Both had "IT". They would have also offered a study in .....

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Silent and Forgotten - forthcoming film features Louise Brooks

A forthcoming docudrama, Silent and Forgotten, features Louise Brooks as its primary character and occasional narrator. The film, an independent release from Summer Hill Films, is set for release on November 12, 2019.

According to the film's producers, "In the years before talking pictures, movies relied on faces to tell a story. Silver screens around the world were illuminated by the incandescent beauty of actresses like Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford, and many others. They were the most famous women in the world...adored by millions, worshiped by legions. They had fame, fortune and power. Behind the scenes, it was a different story. Early Hollywood lured thousands of young actresses with the promise of fame and fortune. Hidden in the enticement was exploitation, abuse and ownership by the men in power. Most of these starlets died young of drugs, alcohol and suicide. They have been silent until now. Hear their stories in their own words. In Silent and Forgotten, a single actress re-enacts the stories of 13 of the most famous actresses of the silent era."

That single actress is Jacquie Donley, who stars in the 150 minute film. Donley plays Brooks, as well as Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Theda Bara, Colleen Moore, Marion Davies, Lottie Pickford, Olive Thomas, Marlene Dietrich, Pepi Lederer, Dorothy Arzner, and Virginia Rappe. Among the other individuals portrayed by other actors in this look at early film are Charlie Chaplin, Owen Moore, Jack Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, William Wellman, Richard Arlen, B. P. Schulberg, D.W. Griffith, Walter Wanger, Adolf Zukor, Will Hays, Elinor Glyn, and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.

A number of individuals associated with Brooks and her careers as a dancer and actress are also portrayed. They include James Card and Kenneth Tynan, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, G. W. Pabst, Fritz Kortner and Alice Robert, Hal McCoy, and Lord Beaverbrook.

Silent and Forgotten is in pre-sale now at a discount. According to Donley, "Our hope is that we were as accurate as possible while giving one perspective of what Louise must have experienced emotionally during her lifetime. This movie was a labor of love, and our hope is that one of these days, we can get a star on the walk of fame for Louise."


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Making Personas: Transnational Film Stardom in Modern Japan (starring Clara Bow and Louise Brooks)

There is a new book out which should appeal to anyone interested in Louise Brooks, Clara Bow and silent film. The book is Making Personas: Transnational Film Stardom in Modern Japan, by Hideaki Fujiki, a professor of Cinema and Japanese Studies at Nagoya University. The book was published by the Harvard University Asia Center, and is distributed by Harvard University Press.

Fujiki's book is a detailed and fascinating look at how film stars are "made." According to the publisher, "The film star is not simply an actor but a historical phenomenon that derives from the production of an actor's attractiveness, the circulation of his or her name and likeness, and the support of media consumers. This book analyzes the establishment and transformation of the transnational film star system and the formations of historically important film stars--Japanese and non-Japanese--and casts new light on Japanese modernity as it unfolded between the 1910s and 1930s."

One chapter, "Modern Girls and Clara Bow," stronly suggests that the It girl was the subject of an intense following in Japan. And not far behind was Louise Brooks. In Japan in the late 1920s, the two actresses were compared and contrasted. Both were considered "modern girls," another term for flappers, and each influenced the way young Japanese women dressed and acted. (Colleen Moore was also considered a modern, though less so than Bow and Brooks, in opposition to Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, who were considered "old fashioned.")

Bow and Brooks were each the subject of articles, which the author cites, in the Japanese press. Fujiki also notes that Akira Iwasaki, a prominent left-wing film critic, historian, and producer who helped introduce German experimental film in Japan, once penned a story called "Clara Louise."

In Making Personas, Fujiki "illustrates how film stardom and the star system emerged and evolved, touching on such facets as the production, representation, circulation, and reception of performers' images in films and other media." I've only begun looking through this book, but have found much of interest in it. The images of American movie stars on the cover of Japanese film magazines is fascinating. This book is recommended to anyone interested in the world wide phenomenon that was silent film.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A constellation of stars

A constellation of stars . . . .


. . . . featuring Pola Negri, Florence Vidor, Louise Brooks, Lois Moran, Esther Ralston, Clara Bow and Bebe Daniels.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Silent films were everywhere

Silent films were shown everywhere in the 1920s.... Witness this Chinese newspaper which carries an advertisement for Clara Bow's 1928 film, Red Hair, on the left hand page. On the right hand page are advertisements for other films showing at theaters named Embassy, Apollo, Orient, etc....


Red Hair does not survive, except in fragments. Here is a clip of those fragments - in color. She certainly had it!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Video: Louise Brooks and Clara Bow

Louise Brooks and Clara Bow, possibly the two greatest female screen icons of the 1920's. Their individual beauty helped define the flapper look as well as the Jazz Age. This YouTube video celebrates them both. Enjoy, and prepare to be mesmerized. The song which accompanies the video is "Rainbow Chaser" by 1960's UK band Nirvana. (No, not that Nirvana.... but it is an interesting coincidence that Courtney Love narrated the documentary, Clara Bow: Discovering It Girl.)

Friday, August 3, 2012

Hot August Nights at Niles Essanay with sexy Clara Bow and sultry Evelyn Brent

Things heats up in August at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, California. Known among early film devotees around the world, the venerable museum and theater is set to once again screen rarely shown early feature films (some not available on DVD), along with animated shorts, their regular "Comedy Short Subject Night" and Laurel & Hardy Talkie Matinee. What's causing the heat? How about sexy "It girl" Clara Bow and sultry Evelyn Brent. The latter appeared in two films in which Louise Brooks had a role: Love Em and Leave Em (1926) and King of Gamblers (1937). Here is the line-up for the month.

"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Judy Rosenberg at the piano
Saturday August 4 at 7:30 pm 

In Dancing Mothers (1926, Paramount), energetic "It girl" Clara Bow steals the show in this jazz age melodrama about societal expectations with a surprise ending. Penned by Edmund Goulding, and directed by Herbert Brenon, Dancing Mothers also features Alice Joyce, Conway Tearle, Donald Keith and Leila Hyams. A tinted version will be shown. The feature will be preceded by two shorts films, the animated Automobile Ride (1921, Bray) with Koko the Clown, and Dad’s Choice (1928, Paramount) with Edward Everett Horton.


"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Bruce Loeb at the piano
Saturday August 11 at 7:30 pm 

In Wild Beauty (1927, Universal), crooks attempt to effect the outcome of a horse race in order to take over a ranch - that's if Rex the Wonder Horse can be controlled. Rex, one of the most animal actors of his time, stars here as a wild horse smitten by a thoroughbred rescued from a World War I battlefield. Along with this bit of horse romance, there’s plenty of satisfying racehorse action in this major Universal Jewel production. June Marlowe, who played Miss Crabtree, the teacher in the "Our Gang" comedies, is featured. A tinted print of Wild Beauty will be shown. The feature will be preceded by two shorts films, Felix Wins Out (1923, Sullivan) with Felix the Cat, and Sword Points (1928, Lupino Lane Comedy) with Lupino Lane.

"Laurel and Hardy Talkie Matinee"
Sunday August 12 at 4:00 pm

This month's Laurel and Hardy Talkie Matinee features four comedic shorts, Them Thar Hills (1934) and Tit for Tat (1935), each with Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Mae Busch, and Forgotten Babies (1933) and For Pete’s Sake (1934), with Our Gang. 

"Comedy Short Subject Night" with Bruce Loeb at the piano
Saturday August 18 at 7:30 pm


Love to laugh? Then don't miss this  monthly program which features some of the most famous comedians of the silent era. On the bill are The Adventurer (1917, Lone Star) with Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance, Cops (1922, Buster Keaton) with Buster Keaton, Number Please (1920, Rolin) with Harold Lloyd, and Bacon Grabbers (1929, Hal Roach) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. 

"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Frederick Hodges at the piano
Saturday August 25 at 7:30 pm 

One of the surprise hits of the recently concluded San Francisco Silent Film Festival was Josef von Sternberg's The Docks of New York (1928). The director's atmospheric story of hapless souls straight out of a police line-up was downbeat, but moody and appealing. Add a dash of danger, and the same can be said for Underworld (1927, Paramount). Solid performances by George Bancroft, Clive Brook and sultry Evelyn Brent along with the sure directing hand of von Sternberg makes this gangster melodrama a classic. Preceding the feature are two shorts, the animated Cartoon Factory (1924, Out of the Inkwell) with Koko the Clown, and Limousine Love (1928, Roach) with Charley Chase.


For more info: The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is located at 37417 Niles Blvd. in Fremont, California. For further information, call (510) 494-1411 or visit the Museum's website at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Rolled Stockings screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas dies at age 111

Silent era screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas, who penned a handful of Jazz Age comedies and dramas including the 1927 Louise Brooks film, Rolled Stockings, died on January 5th at age 111.

Frederica Sagor's name appears in this 1927
newspaper advertisement for Rolled Stockings.
It was a rare honor for a writer and
suggest the esteem with which she
was once held.
The former La Mesa, California resident and "supercentarian" was one of the last surviving personalities from the silent film era, and perhaps the very last individual associated with one of Brooks’ silent films. Maas was also considered the second (or third according to some reports) oldest person in California.

As a woman, Maas was often assigned work on flapper comedies and light dramas. Her first big success, The Plastic Age (1925), was a smash hit for Clara Bow, the “It girl.” Maas' screenwriting and story efforts – sometimes credited, sometimes not – include other Bow films like Dance Madness (1926), Hula (1927), and Red Hair (1928), two films featuring her friend Norma Shearer, His Secretary (1925) and The Waning Sex (1926), the Garbo movie Flesh and the Devil (1926), and the now lost Brooks film Rolled Stockings (1927).

Rolled Stockings is a romantic drama set among carousing college students. It was one of a number of similarly-themed films aimed toward the youth market. To add a bit of verisimilitude, Rolled Stockings was filmed largely on and around the campus at the University of California, Berkeley. Local papers of the time reported on the arrival and activities of the film crew and cast.

The Richard Rosson-directed film was made for Paramount, and features the Paramount "junior stars." Besides Brooks, its cast includes then up-and-comers Richard Arlen, James Hall, Nancy Phillips, and El Brendel. Rolled Stockings, adapted from an original story idea by Frederica Sagor, proved popular in the summer of 1927 – and not only in the United States. It also played across Latin America and Europe.

In its review, the New York Morning Telegraph wrote, “Freddy Sagor has written quite a nice little story . . . . ,” while Robert E. Sherwood, writing in Life magazine, called Rolled Stockings “ . . . a surprisingly nice comedy . . . the characters are of importance, and they are nicely represented by the adroit Louise Brooks.”

Even the critic for the Ann Arbor Times News, a college town newspaper, appreciatively stated “The three stars, Louise Brooks, James Hall and Richard Arlen are so thoroughly likeable and the story so different from the usual line of college bunk, that Rolled Stockings proves to be a delightful bit of cinema entertainment.”


In 1999, at the urging of film historian Kevin Brownlow, Maas published her autobiography, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood (University Press of Kentucky). Maas was 99 at the time. In the book, which features an introduction by Brownlow, she recalled her life both in and out of Hollywood - as well as her remembrances of Rolled Stockings and impressions of Brooks.

A youthful and lovely Frederica Sagor
adorns the cover of  her 1999 memoir.
I first met Frederica Sagor Maas in May of 1999 at a lunch held in her honor at Musso & Frank's restaurant in Hollywood. At the time, I was attending the national booksellers convention in Los Angeles while scouting film books for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. At her publisher's booth I spotted an advance copy of her book, and queried about the author. Learning of her connections to silent Hollywood, I managed to get myself invited to the lunch being held the following day. That night, I stayed up late reading her engaging memoir. And that's when I discovered she had penned the story to one of Brooks' films. (Subsequently, I read the manuscript of that story, which is held at the Margaret Herrick Library in Burbank.)

My meeting with Frederica at the annual booksellers convention led to a later July event at the San Francisco bookstore where I was then working. At the time, Maas was nearly blind and frail, and at this - her first ever bookstore author event - she agreed instead to be interviewed about her remarkable life. I sat with her and asked questions about the many remarkable personalities she had known - Brooks, Clara Bow, Norma Shearer, Erich von Stroheim and others.

During that memorable evening, Maas told many stories, including one about Joan Crawford, who was then known as Lucille LeSueur and was just starting out in the movies.

As an experienced Hollywood insider, Maas was assigned by her studio to greet the young actress at the train station. She did so, but found the young actress rather uncouth. LeSueur, seeing Maas as a person of experience and sophistication, nevertheless asked the well-dressed scriptwriter to help build her wardrobe and shape a more glamorous image. Maas agreed, but found the experience challenging. She thought Crawford a “tramp.” The assembled crowd howled with laughter.

The next day, Maas appeared at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, where she addressed a crowd of more than 1000, drew a thunderous round of applause, and signed copies of her book – which quickly sold out.

Over the years, I kept in sporadic contact with Maas' guardians. I remember when she turned 100. And then 110. And then 111. I still have my double autographed copy of her memoir (signed by Kevin Brownlow as well!) - as well as a rare autographed photoplay edition of The Plastic Age which Frederica signed especially for me. Both are treasured books, and memory evoking keepsakes.

Frederica Sagor Maas with LBS Director Thomas Gladysz (standing)
Christy Pascoe at the Castro Theater in San Francisco in 1999.

Following her death, a number of obituaries and articles have appeared on-line including those in the Los Angeles Times and Hollywood Reporter and on Alt Film Guide and Patch.com and examiner.com

Friday, May 27, 2005

Clara Bow beats eggs with anticipation dreaming of a rarebit fiend

As I have written before, I often come across interesting articles while looking through microfilm for Louise Brooks material. I came across a couple of such items today, while looking through the Capital Times from Madison, Wisconsin. One of them was an Associated Press piece entitled "Lita May Drag 5 Stars Into Chaplin Case." The January, 1927 article noted that Lita Grey Chaplin, who was divorcing Charlie Chaplin, was threatening to reveal the names of "five prominent motion picture actresses" who "publically and privately" associated with the comedian. The actresses were not named - but I wondered if one of them would have been Brooks. (I once came across a 1925 article in which Chaplin denied having an affair with Brooks - which they in fact did, during the Summer of 1925 . . . . )

Another delicious piece I came across featured my other favorite flapper in the kitchen, "Clara Bow Is Happiest When Playing Host." As I adore Clara Bow (and have a strong interest in Winsor McCay), I was very amused by her recipe for Rarebit!

Thursday, January 6, 2005

Ain't 'IT' a Shame

long article about Clara Bow ran on today's PopMatters website. In her debut column, the site's classic film columnist argues for the It Girls's place in the pantheon of legendary leading ladies. Within this consideration of Clara Bow,  there is this paragraph. "You can still buy postcards of her acting contemporary, Louise Brooks, at a local 'lifestyle store', but most people, even movie buffs, wouldn't be able to recognize Bow, let alone name one of her films. (I'll help you out; she was the leading lady in Wings (1927), winner of the first Oscar for Best Picture.) Why is Brooks a still-immortalized cult figure and Bow not? Maybe there's something about Brooks' persona as cool, amoral, gender-ambiguous jazz baby with a keen intelligence shining behind her dark eyes that's got more staying power than Bow, the little Brooklyn spitfire full of terrier enthusiasm and effortless charm."

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Clara Bow

Finished reading Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild by David Stenn. A good biography, sympathetically told. I would love to see a picture book devoted to her. Clara Bow was so lovely, and such a gifted, natural actress. She is one of my favorite silent film stars.
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