Customer Reviews

Lulu in Hollywood

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I remember when this book came out, but, unfortunately, it took me over twenty years to read it. Though Louise Brooks is far from a household name, in film scholar circles, she is an icon. Her rememberances here of certain individuals and events from her years in the "Dream Factory" are brilliant. Aside from the fact that these are names that most are familiar with, Bogart, Hearst, Pabst...it is her writing style and unique observations that make these recollections interesting. Where as someone as, say, Adela Rogers St. John, a famous reporter and contemporary of Brooks, wrote accurately of that long ago time, her dusty rememberances would only interest the most devoted of film student or fan. But Brooks writings are so fresh and witty and humourous, often at her own expense. She is not only unimpressed with most of silly society, but, she was equally unimpressed with her status as film icon. In those pre Hepburn-Davis times, she was a true rebel, who was more than willing to saboutage her career rather than do anything she didn't want to do. There is no remorse detectable in her memories of her fall from status. Though it would be unfair to imply that most film stars would not be expected to be good writers, it was surprising, then and now, to find that Miss Brooks was such a highly intelligent and captivating writer. In my review of her most famous film, "Pandora's Box", which isn't so much a review of that film as it is a homage to our Miss Brooks, I recounted my having met her more than once, when I delivered her prescriptions to her in my hometown and her final, adopted city of Rochester, New York. I was very young at the time, and though I had been told that she had once been a famous actress, which fascinated me, I am sorry to have to honestly admit that my memory of her is only of a shadowy figure who I remember with intimidation. How I would have loved to have been a little older, to possibly converse with this great lady, though she may have found what undoubtedly would have been my reverence to her "legend" as film icon to be obnoxious at the least, silly at best. Well, never mind. She was and is wonderful. And, as this book attests, a scathingly intelligent lady. Celebrities of her league are no more, now we have tarts, thugs, and arrogant, illiterate self-important jerks showing off their bling-bling. How sad. If you want to hear the entertainingly clever views of this great lady who, though she went from brilliant star to near- pauper obscurity, yet never lost her class, intellect, nor pride, then read "Lulu In Hollywood." One wishes she had written much more, and, left behind more films where her inate brilliance reaches out from the screen eighty years later. But, if all we have is this book and "Pandora's Box", that's legacy enough.

This is a collection of essays (first published in 1972) by the great 1920s American actor Louise Brooks, a very forthright, modern woman who rejected the false glitter of Hollywood. She was effectively black-listed because of her honesty, made her last film in 1938 and cinema history is poorer for that. The book has two large sections of photographs, showing that Brooks had a timeless face that would fit into any era of the cinema.

Her finest role - when she was only 22 - was as the stunning Lulu in the German silent film Pandora's Box (1928), and the book includes her experiences with GW Pabst, the director.

Brooks writes with wit and candour about friends and acquaintances, including Humphrey Bogart and WC Fields, in a way that sheds new light upon them.

This is a must for all lovers of cinema, independence, and beauty.

Great to have this irreplaceable book back in print. Even better that it now includes the New Yorker article by Kenneth Tynan, "The Girl in the Black Helmet," that helped touch off the 80's Brooks revival, and an additional piece by Brooks entitled "Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs." Still, one can't help coming away from this book wishing there were more material, just as one wishes there were more Brooks films.

This book is a collection of Brooks's autobiographical essays together with an interview by Kenneth Tynan.

It shows a Louise Brooks as a fiercely independent character, as well as her failure as a social creature, because of her open critic of people's false faces.
But at what price? She survives as a kept woman by three lovers and ends in poverty, rejected and lonely.

She characterizes her work in Hollywood's film factory as slavery and throws a shrill light on Hollywood's morals (the casting couch) and cynicism: the end of the silent period served as an excuse to terminate all contracts.

The all important feature of her life was sex, not love: 'I have never been in love.' But, 'A person's sexual loves and hates and conflicts ... It is the only way the reader can make sense out of innumerable apparently senseless actions.'
She considers that 'the most fateful encounter in my life' was a sexual one with George Preston Marshall.
Nevertheless, she had some regrets: 'How often do we change the whole course of our lives in pursuit of a love that we will have forgotten within a few months.'

She never wrote her biography because 'I am unwilling to write the sexual truth that would make up my life worth reading.'

Barry PARIS did it for her, admirably. His book contains also a few corrections on Louise Brooks's statements in her book.

A moving text with admirable pictures.

I am unimpressed by Emily from Seattle's harsh words, which are both snotty and inaccurate. Tynan was the finest theatre critic of his time--and not bad on film, either. His profiles of stage and screen actors, recently collected in one volume, are masterpieces of the genre. In particular, his profile of Brooks was an indelible portrait of a brilliant and beautiful woman. Brooks herself, though not a great actress, was indeed a great star--exquisitely beautiful, highly charismatic, and powerfully erotic. To the best of my memory, Tynan describes her only in these terms, never as the creator of naturalistic film acting. (Incidentally, none of the women named by Emily--Crawford, Davies, Bow, and the insufferable Shearer--could properly be described as an actress. They were merely stars--and distinctly inferior to Brooks in talent, intelligence, and beauty.) Finally, as everyone here (including Emily) acknowledges, Brooks was a first-rate writer herself, and the essays in this book are required reading for anyone interested in silent film.

If she knew how captivating her writing was she may not have wasted so much time with a broken heart. A well written synopsis of some of her mis-adventures. Lending insight to how she viewed others and herself. With and without grace.

You don't have to be a fan of Louise Brooks to want this special item. This colection of essays that she wrote cover many different famous names from the past. Each offering great insight and a diferent look. So if you're a fan of the era then this will not hurt. If you are a fan of Brooksie then you get a better insight into her life. It also shows that she could write extremely well, as well as act.

Louise Brooks led one of the most fascinating, self-destructive lives of any actor of the silent film era. A born dancer, and giving professional appearances in Kansas at a very young age, she joined a famous ballet group and became a top dancer before she was kicked out for a "bad attitude". Then on to Broadway rising in the ranks to be a starlette of the great revues of that time, including Ziegfield. Talked into taking a screen test in New York, she immediately was cast and, once again, shot upward like a rocket. NY movie making was quite different than the Hollywood "machine" and once forced to CA, she again rebelled at the reins thrown around her. Off to Germany to make the two greatest silents ever: Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box with director GW Pabst. Bored with Germany, she fled back to the USA, only to find herself blacklisted. She made a few non descript movies after that and only one with sound. The studios, she claimed, let out a story that her voice wasn't "good" for talkies. What a lie! Her voice is angelic as is shown by her only speaking movie made with none other than a fledgling John Wayne, fresh out of USC.
After virtually vanishing for years, she was found in a terrible NYC apartment and convinced to move to Rochester, NY, home of the George Eastman House which was the inception of the largest film library in the world. Through devoted fans and despite her aggressive and often callous behavious, she began writing about her career and Hollywood, German film making and actors she knew. The result is a stunning tour-de-force and not to be missed by a "Lulu" fan. She led a wild, sexually charged life and was an alcoholic in her teens, yet she read philosophy, history, and classic literature. She was so intellectual that men were frightened of her. The rich wanted arm-candy. She was all of that, but because she had brains.
Be aware, however, that highly researched biographies of Louise prove that many of her assertions of "fact" and incorrect. Either she didn't remember well or purposely chose to bend the truth a little. Still, a beautifully, lovingly written set of words. The photos alone are worth the price of the book. With her hugely copied "helmet" hairstyle and those dark, penetrating eyes and perfectly symetrical face, her beauty was unrivaled. Personally I think, in her teens to early thirties, she was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

For more info on Louise Brooks visit the Louise Brooks Society at http://www.pandorasbox.co

What made Louise Brooks interesting beyond just the typical celebrity she was unusually intelligent. She was an extraordinary beautiful woman but if that were all - she would have been just another face in the Hollywood crowd albeit a striking one. Her life was not so much one of just ups and downs but most generally straight down starting at the top. Lucky to have so much success early in life but maybe unlucky for her vision as to witness the folly of those who gave it. Louise's insights and critical assessment of her life and those around her were a " blessing and curse" but then again she had no choice but to follow her own mind as it played out to the end. She was certainly not one to parlay her attributes as a cunning femme fatale as it were but she existed as a passing player through a masquerade of "bread and circuses" orchestrated by those with lesser sensibilities. No, Lulu could have never been satisfied with the status quo, the mundane of the hoi polloi, the trappings of the superficial she was an individual who saw life in its raw form and played no game and for those who did not understand Louise - missed - that her only glory was the truth and its price to pay. She was an intriguing and talented woman who deserved more but would not sell her soul to gain it. Her book tells of her life and times and the pathos within it.
I will recommend highly Barry Paris' biography of Louise Brooks as a necessary read for anyone interested in reading about the life and times of Louise Brooks. The book is excellent and engrossing. It gives a most informative detail of all aspects of Lulu's life. Actually Paris' book should be read first to gain a comprehensive overview of Brook's life before reading "Lulu in Hollywood." A better biography you could not read.