In 2002, the Louise Brooks Society jumped on the internet music bandwagon and launched its own “radio station” called RadioLulu. This unique station streamed Louise Brooks-inspired, silent film themed music of the 1920s, 1930s, and today. The station playlist ran more than 8 hours – with much its musical selection dating from the Roaring Twenties (aka the Jazz Age). The station streamed on Live365.com from 2002 to 2016, when Live365 ceased operations for a short time. (Read a Huffington Post article about the demise of the LBS sponsored station.) After that, RadioLulu moved over to TuneIN, where it ran a couple three more years before going “off the air” for good. What follows is a look back at the station’s playlist, which featured long stretches of related songs.
RadioLulu featured music from five of Brooks’ films — the haunting themes from Beggars of Life (1928) and Prix de Beauté (1930), as well as musical passages from The Canary Murder Case (1929), Empty Saddles (1936), and Overland Stage Raiders (1938). RadioLulu also featured the familiar “Sidewalks of New York” (which was played on the set of The Street of Forgotten Men, Louise Brooks’ first film), as well as John Philip Sousa’s seldom heard “Atlantic City Beauty Pageant” (which was written for the Miss America contest, as seen in The American Venus).
Vintage recordings by Brooks’ screen co-stars were also featured on RadioLulu. Among them were Adolphe Menjou, Esther Ralston, Dorothy Mackaill, James Hall, Lawrence Gray, Noah Beery, Frank Fay, Joan Blondell, and Buck Jones. There is even a song by Blanche Ring, who appeared in It’s the Old Army Game and was the aunt of Brooks’ first husband, Eddie Sutherland. A few of Brooks’ European co-stars were also represented, among them Siegfried Arno (Pandora’s Box), Kurt Gerron (Diary of a Lost Girl), and Andre Roanne (Prix de Beauté). Each is a rarity. As well, there are vintage tracks associated with Brooks’ brief time with the Ziegfeld Follies, including a handful of recordings by performers who shared the stage with the actress, such as Ethel Shutta, Leon Erroll, and the great W.C. Fields.
RadioLulu included a number of songs by Brooks’ friends and acquaintances, as well as individuals she worked with over the years. Actress Tallulah Bankhead, chanteuse Lucienne Boyer, torch singer Libby Holman, bandleader Emil Coleman, and nightclub owner Bruz Fletcher could all be heard on RadioLulu. Other tracks associated with the actress featured on RadioLulu include George Gershwin’s “Somebody Loves Me” (Brooks knew Gershwin, and this was her favorite Gershwin song), Xavier Cugat’s “Siboney” (recommended by Brooks in her rare booklet, Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing), and two numbers by Sid Kay’s Fellows (the jazz band seen playing in the wedding reception scene in Pandora’s Box).
All together, RadioLulu featured more than 850 tracks! Notably, many of them came from rare 78 rpm discs fans were unlikely to hear anywhere else. Of course, there’s Maurice Chevalier’s much-loved “Louise” as well as more than a dozen other tracks with Louise, Lulu, or LouLou in their title. Among them is a recording of “Louise, You Tease” as well as a number of different recordings of both “Don’t Bring Lulu” and “Lulu’s Back in Town”. RadioLulu’s playlist was an exploration of themes.
Many contemporary tributes to the actress could also be heard on RadioLulu. Those included songs by Natalie Merchant, Rufus Wainwright, Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark (OMD), John Zorn, and Soul Coughing. Famed cartoonist Robert Crumb is heard on “Chanson pour Louise Brooks”. And, there’s Ross Berkal’s tribute, “MLB (for Louise Brooks)”. Berkal, who is mentioned in the Barry Paris biography and is a longtime supporter of the Louise Brooks Society, was acquainted with the actress later in her life.
Beyond songs related to Louise Brooks, RadioLulu also featured hundreds of songs from the 1920s and 1930s (along with a smattering from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s). There was music from the movies, as well as rare recordings by early Hollywood stars and Jazz Age celebrities. There were tracks by popular crooners and torch singers, as well as little known numbers by regional dance bands and hotel orchestras. There were also Broadway show tunes, early European jazz, popular vocal numbers, theme songs, and even a few novelty numbers.
Recordings by early Hollywood figures such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Lupe Velez, Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford were streamed. So were recordings by stars Buddy Rogers, Claudette Colbert, Jean Harlow, Paulette Goddard, Barbara Stanwyck, and Dorothy Lamour. A few of the European actors and actresses heard on the station include Brigitte Helm, Camilla Horn, Anny Ondra, Conrad Veidt, Pola Negri, and Marlene Dietrich — notably, her early German-language recordings.
Among others, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were heard singing the classic “If I Had A Talking Picture Of You,” one of a number of movie-related songs. There was also “Take Your Girlie to the Movies,” “At the Moving Picture Ball,” and “Hooray for Hollywood,” as well as rare vintage recordings about Chaplin, Garbo, Keaton, Mickey Mouse and Zasu Pitts. Other related numbers included H. Robinson Cleaver’s “Grace Moore Medley,” Fred Bird & Luigi Bernauer’s “Hallo Hallo Hier Radio,” and Jack Hylton and His Orchestra’s “My brother makes the noises for the talkies.”
What else could be heard on RadioLulu? Highlights include Constance Bennett singing “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and Alice White & Blanche Sweet singing “There’s A Tear For Every Smile in Hollywood” (from the soundtrack to the Louise Brooks-inspired Showgirl in Hollywood). The Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra performed “The Vamp,” Nate Shilkret played “Flapperette,” and Marion Harris sang “I’m a Jazz Vampire.” Regulations explaining proper radio station identification are given by none other than Cary Grant, co-star of the 1937 Brooks’ film, When You’re in Love.
RadioLulu featured many of the leading recording artists of both the Jazz Age and Depression era—Rudy Vallee, Russ Colombo, Ben Selvin, Fred Waring, Ted Weems, Paul Whiteman, Annette Hanshaw, Helen Kane, Mildred Bailey, Lee Wiley, Ruth Etting, Kay Thompson, and Frankie Trumbauer. There were recordings by such famous names as Duke Ellington, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, and Benny Goodman, alongside rarely heard artists like the Eskimo Pie Orchestra and the Brox Sisters, as well as Scrappy Lambert, Fred Elizalde, and Dorothy Dickson! You never knew who or what would turn up on this eclectic, always entertaining station.
And that’s not all…. RadioLulu played Ragtime, swing, standards, and some real hot jazz, including such popular hits as the “Charleston,” “Black Bottom,” and “Varsity Rag.” There were vintage recordings of popular favorites like “Stardust” and “As Time Goes By,” along with great, but little known works like James P. Johnson’s “You’ve Got to be Modernistic.” By the way, the single longest track is George Jessel’s spoken word history “The Roaring Twenties 1920-1929.”
Among the unusual European numbers on RadioLulu were little heard gems from the 1930s Polish chanteuse Hanka Ordonówna — as well as the Gershwin of Czechoslovakia, Jaroslav Jezek; there’s a stirring number by the great British cinema organist Sidney Torch; and even a 1929 recording of the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht singing “Mack the Knife.” Along with lovely favorites by the likes of Josephine Baker, Django Rheinhart, and Mistinguett. Also heard were models Suzy Solidor and Kiki of Montparnasse. Both posed for the surrealist photographer Man Ray, an admirer of Louise Brooks.
There was nothing else quite like RadioLulu!
Here are ten vintage RadioLulu tracks you will want to track down: “Makin’ Whoopee” by B.A. Rolfe & His Lucky Strike Orchestra, “Runnin’ Wild” by Isabella Patricola, “The Sheik of Araby” by Fats Waller, “My Man” by Fanny Brice, and “Puttin on the Ritz” by Harry Richman, as well as “You Oughta be In Pictures” by Little Jack Little & His Orchestra, “College Rhythm” by Jimmy Grier,
“Singin’ In The Rain” by Cliff Edwards (aka Ukulele Ike), “Slumming On Park Avenue” by Alice Faye, and “Ramona” by Dolores Del Rio.
And here are ten contemporary RadioLulu tracks you won’t want to miss: “Lulu” by Twiggy (yes, the 1960’s supermodel), “Valentino” by Connie Francis, “Louise” by Eric Clapton, “Weight Lifting Lulu” by The Residents, “Interior Lulu” by Marillion, as well as “Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem” by Peter Murphy, “I’m In Love With A German Film Star” by The Passions, “Just Like Fred Astaire” by James, “Lulu Land” by Camper van Beethoven, and “Brandenburg Gate” by Lou Reed & Metallica (from their Lulu album).
Over the years, this unique, long running station has gained many fans and listeners. Famed film critic Leonard Maltin once rated it a “Wow.” Likewise, Louise Brooks devotee and celebrated Dr. Who actor Paul McGann called it “incredible.” The Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novelist Art Spiegelman (author of Maus) had tuned-in on occasion, and told us so. As has the award-winning science fiction writer Richard Kadrey. And would you believe that a retro Spanish pop/swing/rock group named Radio Lulu named themselves after the station?
Music had played a significant role in the life and films of Louise Brooks. That’s why RadioLulu was begun, as a means of sharing some of the many rare recordings collected by the Louise Brooks Society over the years. Someday, I hope to turn some of the old RadioLulu playlists into a series of thematic podcasts.
Thank you for your interest in Louise Brooks and the Louise Brooks Society, and RadioLulu too!
