Louise Brooks was born on Wednesday, November 14, 1906 and died on Thursday, August 8, 1985, at the age of 78. All together, her life ran over the course of some 28,758 days. Like any life, it was marked by highs and lows, by success and disappointment.
Despite having been a celebrity and living part of her life in public, little is known, relatively speaking, about what Brooks was doing on any given day. From the mass of material the Louise Brooks Society has gathered, Brooks’ activities can be traced more than a thousand times during her lifetime. Best documented is the 18 year period – running from 1922 through 1940, a period of 6939 days – when Brooks worked as a dancer and actress and many of her activities were a matter of public record.
The Louise Brooks Society has compiled a day-by-day chronology of Brooks’ life. This timeline serves as a record of Brooks’ life both in and out of the spotlight, including her comings-and-goings and activities as a dancer, actress and writer. Its entries are both significant and mundane, and are based on multiple sources including information found in the Barry Paris biography, as well as those recorded by Brooks in her journals and notebooks; other dates were gathered from various magazines and newspapers (especially those located where Brooks was resident), along with other disparate sources, such as census records, passenger manifests, and the memoirs of friends and colleagues.
Dates given are exact, while dates given in italics are approximate within a few days. The mention of Brooks in a syndicated column are dated according to the clipping found, though such columns could and did run in different newspapers on different dates sometimes as much as a week apart.
Aligned left are those happenings and events with which Brooks was directly involved, or which she would most likely have known.
Aligned right are happenings and events in which Brooks did not participate, but in some way significantly impacted her life, career, or reputation.
The length of this still growing chronology made it necessary to split it in two. This page represents PART 2 of the chronology, covering the years 1940 through 1985 — the years 1906 through 1939 may be found in PART 1. (The years following Brooks’ passing are covered in PART 3.) This chronology, the product of considerable research, is © Thomas Gladysz / Louise Brooks Society. It is a work in progress, with confirmed dates added on an ongoing basis. Have something to add? Please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society. (This page was last updated in December 2023)
January 17, 1940
The Hollywood Citizen-News reports that Brooks dined with Barry O’Shea at the Lighted Tree restaurant.
February 23, 1940
Brooks-O’Shea Studio of Ballroom Dancing opens in Hollywood at 9016 Sunset Blvd.
February 28, 1940
“Hints for Dancers,” a series of advertisements co-authored by Brooks, debuts in the Hollywood Citizen News.
March 3, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 10, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 17, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 24, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 29, 1940
Syndicated columnist Harrison Carroll notes, “Remember Louise Brooks? She and Barrett O’Shea have opened a dancing studio in Hollywood.”
March 31, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times
April 7, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
April 20, 1940
Dances at the Arrowhead Spring Hotel in San Bernadino, California.
June 15, 1940
Los Angeles Times reports Brooks is the victim of reputed swindler Benjamin F. Crandall; according to articles from the time, Brooks lost $2,000 in a Hollywood magazine stock promotion scheme. The same day, Santa Ana Register runs an Associated Press story on the arrests of Crandall and Frank A. Scott.
June 18, 1940
Los Angeles Times runs a follow-up story on the arrest of reputed swindler Benjamin F. Crandall, noting 10 specific counts of grand theft against various victims including Brooks and other “Hollywood folk.”
July 28, 1940
A syndicated Sunday magazine article about changing hairstyles and standards of beauty pictures Brooks and notes that in 1927 “Louise Brooks and Colleen Moore’s Dutch bob” was popular.
August 6, 1940
A syndicated article notes that Mickey Rooney’s screen mother, actress Fay Holden, has taken rhumba lessons at the Barrett O’Shea – Louise Brooks dance studio.
August 1940
Returns by train to Wichita, Kansas.
August 9-10, 1940
In one of the last recorded American theatrical screenings following its initial release, Overland Stage Raiders is shown at the Park theater in Mansfield, Ohio.
August 21, 1940
It Pays to Advertise screens at the Del Mar theater in Los Angeles, nearly a decade after its first release.
September 22, 1940
The Wichita Eagle carries a piece about Brooks’ new career as a local dancer.
September 23, 1940
Brooks and Hal McCoy dance at the Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kansas during a program sponsored by the College Hill Business association.
September 25, 1940
In a piece dated the previous day, “Louise Brooks in Wichita,” Variety notes that Brooks has returned to her home town, and will open a dance studio with “a local boy, Hal McCoy.”
early October 1940
Newspapers report that Brooks has opened a dance studio in Wichita, Kansas. One such mention read, “Film fans and theategoers will surely remember the beautiful Louise Brooks, who was so popular in pictures a few years ago. Before starting in pictures, Miss Brooks was as well known on Broadway where she was one of the more decorative members of George White’s Scandals. Well, Louise has said ‘goodbye’ to all that and is opening a dance studio in her home town, Wichita, Kans.”
October 21, 1940
Brooks and Hal McCoy dance at the Young Republican meeting at the state’s Central Republican headquarters. Hundreds turned out according to local press reports. The event celebrated National Young Voters for Wilkie Day, which was being observed throughout the nation. A broadcast speech by Wendell Wilkie was heard.
October 27, 1940
The Wichita Eagle reports that Brooks was enlisted by the Wichita Country Club to instruct locals on new dances including the Conga and Rumba, with the first such instruction taking place October 29.
November 21, 1940
Los Angeles Times columnist Jimmie Fidler reports “Louise Brooks, ex-star, is teaching the rumba and La Conga in Wichita, Kan.” Many newspapers pick up on the mention.
November 7, 1940
Brooks is among the local talent participating in a benefit musical for crippled children sponsored by Wesley Hospital.
November 14, 1940
Brooks speaks about and demonstrates new dances (the tango, rhumba, conga and other dances) at the Wichita Little Theater as part of its workshop program.
November 16, 1940
Brooks holds a party to celebrate her birthday at her dance studio in Wichita. The event is mentioned in a Wichita newspaper column.
November 24, 1940
A classified advertisement for Brooks’ self-published booklet The Fundamental of Good Ballroom Dancing, (available at local news dealer or by mail for 50 cents) begins running in the Wichita Eagle. The ad runs nearly every day for a month.
November 27, 1940
The Wichita (Evening) Eagle runs a piece announcing Brooks has published The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing with the help of her brother Ted.
December 17, 1940
A syndicated Hollywood gossip column reports, “Louise Brooks, once a star, is teaching rhumba in a place called Wichita, Kan.” The Wichita Eagle runs an article on Brooks self-published booklet, The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing.
January 1941
Reads and takes notes on the French philosopher Henri Bergson.
January 4, 1941
Despite the fact that Brooks left Hollywood, a “Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Hollywood Citizen-News. The ad is authored by Barret O’Shea.
January 12, 1941
An advertisement runs in the Wichita Eagle promoting private Tuesday morning classes in which Brooks offers “a rare opportunity to reap the benefits of her career among the most fascinating women of the theatre, screen, and society. Learn the way to grace and dominant sureness….”
January 16, 1941
The Wichita (Evening) Eagle reports that Brooks will make a “quick flying trip” to New York City to see if Dario, her former dance partner, will come to Wichita to help her fill engagements.
March 28, 1941
Brooks participates in a benefit for Greek war relief at the Miller theater in Wichita. Brooks originated a comedy jitterbug number performed by locals Jim Kefner and Jack Walker. Advertisements for the city-wide event credit the Louise Brooks Dancing School.
April 29, 1941
Brooks demonstrates ballroom and South American dances at Jubilesta, a fundraiser for both the P.T.A. and student council of the Wichita high school East. Brooks directed a student conga chain. Funds go toward the purchase of a movie screen for the school.
May 21, 1941
According to press reports, Brooks is involved in an automobile accident when the car she is traveling in overturns after encountering an oil slick on South Hillside, just outside Wichita city limits. The car was badly damaged, and Brooks was treated at St. Francis Hospital. “Hospital attendants said that she suffered a three -inch laceration on the scalp and numerous bruises. Miss Brooks said attending physicians shaved a portion of her head to stitch the wound. ‘I hate to lose my hair worse than to suffer the hurts,’ Miss Brooks said.”
June 1, 1941
Syndicated columnist Ed Sullivan writes “The 20’s were fast and furious … The ample-bosomed heroines lost out in the onrush of such exponents of flaming youth as Louise Brooks, Lila Lee, Mary Astor, Marion Nixon . . . Billy Dove and Corinne Griffith … Dorothy Mackaill and Betty Compson.”
June 26, 1941
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes: “Louise Brooks, the silent screen star, suffered severe burns recently. Had all her hair singed off.”
November 12, 1941
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen notes Brook is “stranded in Wichita, Kan. and s-o-s-ing friends for any kind of job.”
March 7, 1942
In one of the last recorded American theatrical screenings following its initial release, Empty Saddles is shown at the Joy theater in Chicago, Illinois.
August 3, 1942
Hired as a sales girl at Garfields, a department store in Wichita. Brooks works the accessories counter.
September 15, 1942
Employment at Garfields ends.
Fall 1942
Helps students at Wichita University stage a skit for their Spring Celebration.
December 1, 1942
Western actor Buck Jones (the star of Empty Saddles) dies after trying to rescue others trapped in a Boston nightclub fire. His 5,000,000 member fan club mourns.
December 8, 1942
Funeral for western actor Buck Jones attended by among others Raymond Hatton, Noah Beery, and Noah Beery Jr, who is married to Jones daughter. Only western songs, including “Empty Saddles,” are played.
January 8, 1943
Wealthy New York investment banker Albert Archer calls Brooks in Wichita, and she asks him to wire her the money to get to New York.
January 12, 1943
Departs Wichita by train, with a stop in Chicago.
January 15, 1943
Arrives by train in New York City, and stays at the Wyndham on West 58th Street.
January 20, 1943
Applies for instructor’s job at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, and teaches a few classes.
January 27, 1943
Meets with William S. Paley at CBS headquarters.
January 29, 1943
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes, “Do you know that Louise Brooks, the black-haired silent cinema star, is in town looking unbelievably young and pretty and in the mood to do a show?”
February 5, 1943
Works on the weekly CBS radio show Hobby Lobby, though is not listed among the guests on that date.
February 10, 1943
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker reports, “Louise Brooks, the movie actress, is looking for a stage play.”
April 1943
Reads and takes notes on George Meredith’s 1877 essay, “On the Idea of Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit”.
April 21, 1943
Variety reports Brooks is on the East Coast, “permanently, for radio.”
June ?, 1943
Meets with writer Robert Benchley, who gives her a copy of Pascal’s Pensees.
June 24, 1943
Gets together with Barbara Bennett and Jack Randall at the Westbury Hotel in New York.
June 29, 1943
Attends original Broadway production of Oklahoma! at the St. James Theatre in New York, with William S. Paley, Ben Gimbel and two others.
August 1943
Works on episodes of the weekly NBC radio show Ellery Queen (though does not appear on the show during the month).
September 16, 1943
Newspapers report that Brooks is in New York City doing “publicity work.”
date unknown 1943
Ethelda Bedford ghost-writes a never published, true-confession style article by Brooks titled “I’ll Never Grow Old – because of Dixie Dugan.”
date unknown 1943
Meets with Iris Barry of the Museum of Modern Art film department, regarding the museum acquiring a copy of Pandora’s Box.
date unknown 1944
Corresponds with the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFTRA). [In 2012, the SAG (the Screen Actors Guild) and AFTRA (the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) merged to form the SAG-AFTRA.].
January 23, 1944
Brooks is mentioned in an installment of Peggy Fears’ memoir, “I Traded in My Heart,” which is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
January 31, 1944
Brooks is mentioned in an installment of Peggy Fears’ memoir, “I Traded in My Heart,” which is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
February 6, 1944
Brooks is mentioned in an installment of Peggy Fears’ memoir, “I Traded in My Heart,” which is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
April 20, 1944
Myra Brooks dies in Wichita. “Louise Brooks of New York City” are among those listed as surviving her in the Wichita Eagle newspaper obituary.
August 28, 1944
The Wichita Eagle carries an article about Pfc. Martin Brooks, an army photographer who was among the first American soldiers to enter Rome. The paper states “He was one of the group of photographers who made the newsreel pictures of the Vatican and the Pope shown recently in Wichita theaters.”
December 6, 1944
Variety reports “Louise Brooks back in N.Y. from Kansas following her mother’s death. Ex-film star will resume her radio acting, which has occupied her time during the past couple of years.”
December 24, 1944
Brooks and Lothar Wolff spend Christmas Eve with Blythe Daly and Jim Backus.
dates unknown 1944 – 1945
Works at gathering and writing items for columnist Walter Winchell, a job she gets through the help of Ethel Barrymore’s son. (Listen here to an April 22, 1945 Winchell broadcast which mentions Brooks’ friends Peggy Fears and A.C. Blumenthal, as well as Show Girl / Dixie Dugan author J.P. McEvoy.)
February 9, 1945
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker reports, “Louise Brooks, former stage and screen beauty, is now working for a New York firm of publicity agents.”
February 13, 1945
Takes out a classified ad seeking 1-room furnished apartment in midtown Manhattan.
February 14, 1945
Variety reports “Louise Brooks film and radio actress, now working as a press agent.”
August 12, 1945
Syndicated columnist Jack O’Brian reports, “Louise Brooks, once a Paramount star now is doing publicity work in Manhattan.”
July 1946
Begins work as a sales girl at Saks Fifth Avenue.
August 20, 1946
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “Remember Hollywood When – Louise Brooks was a flapper siren with the Rivoli Theater in New York City.”
September 11, 1946
The Albuquerque Journal reports, “Young Ted Brooks, brother of Louise Brooks, Paramount star, is recovering at St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was taken from the train yesterday.”
Fall 1946
Befriends publicist John Springer.
May 5, 1947
Columnist Walter Winchell reports that Brooks will soon marry James Mulcahey (sic), a San Francisco financier.
October 2, 1947
Hedda Hopper notes in her syndicated column that Brooks $6,000 fur coat was stolen in Chicago, and “thru a mistake it was insured for only $50.00.”
February 6, 1948
Syndicated columnist Charles B. Driscoll reports that 20 years ago, “Louise Brooks was a featured young movie star.”
April 13, 1948
Resigns sales job at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she had been employed for two years.
May 1948
Reads and takes notes on John Ruskin’s writings, including his 1849 study The Seven Lamps of Architecture.
July 1948
Reads and takes notes on Samuel Butler’s notebooks.
Summer 1948
Receives telephone call from G. W. Pabst, who is in New York, asking if they could meet.
November 1948
Reads and takes notes on George Bernard Shaw.
November 18, 1948
Windy Riley Goes Hollywood is broadcast on television on WJZ (Channel 7) in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Dec. 15, 1948
Lowell, MA journalist (and future Jack Kerouac in-law) Charles Sampas muses about Brooks in his column, “I can remember Way Back When an actress named Louise Brooks was the Number One favorite of the Square Beaux….”
July, 1949
Reads and takes notes on Gandhi’s An Autobiography (1927).
Sept. ?, 1949
Completes painting titled “Egret and Australian Plover.”
September 18, 1949
Brooks is mentioned in John Rosenfield’s newspaper article looking back at the 1920s, “Colleen Moore, Clara Bow, Sue Carol (now Mrs. Alan Ladd), Madge Bellamy, Louise Brooks and Joan Crawford typified the frivolous, promiscuous mocking types with a hard body and long, exposed legs, bobbed hair and bold eyes.”
November 10, 1949
Brooks sees Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn perform “Creative Dances on Ethnic Themes” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
January 25, 1950
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker writes, “Louise Brooks, former screen star, has turned to short story writing.”
February 1950
Louise Brooks’ name, along with the names of celebrities Alice Faye, Dolores Costello, Dorothy Sebastian, and Betty Compson, appear in a widely used advertisement promoting classified ads: “Stage producers recruited many famed beauties via want ads.”
June ?, 1950
Completes painting titled “Profile in Red” (later destroyed).
June 1950
Reads and takes notes on the writings of George Bernard Shaw.
December ?, 1950
Completes painting titled “Snow Sky,” which she later gives to Steinberg.
January 10, 1951
Syndicated newspaper columnist Danton Walker writes, “Onetime movie star Louise Brooks has completed her first novel.”
February 1951
Louise Brooks’ name, along with the names of celebrities Alice Faye, Dolores Costello, Dorothy Sebastian, and Betty Compson, again appears in a widely used advertisement promoting classified ads: “Stage producers recruited many famed beauties via want ads.”
May 16, 1951
Syndicated columnist Erskine Johnson name-checks Brooks, noting that Paramount is returning to its early formula of bright musicals with young players.
August 25, 1951
The UK music periodical Melody Maker references Brooks, stating that Maude Cuney Hare’s book on Negro music says she learned Negro dance steps from Bill Pearce, the “Dancing Master of Broadway.”
Oct. ?, 1951
Completes painting titled “Door First Avenue,” which she later gives to Butch.
1952
A chapter on the actress titled “Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks” appears in Lotte H. Eisner’s L’Écran démoniaque (Paris: Terrain Vague), translated into English as The Haunted Screen in 1969.
February 6, 1952
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
February 11, 1952
Writes a letter to Marcella “Tot” Strickler.
May 28, 1952
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, “Remember a silent screen actress named Louise Brooks? She is writing an autobiographical novel which is said to be a sizzler. Several Hollywood personalities have begged her to include them out….”
October 14, 1952
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker reports Brooks is taking instruction in the Catholic faith.
October 18-19, 1952
Eastman House screens Beggars of Life, an “adult silent film not recommended for children.”
November 10, 1952
Visits rectory of St. John the Evangelist’s Church (55 East 55th Street at First Avenue, New York City) seeking spiritual counsel.
November 17, 1952
Begins twice weekly instruction in the Catholic Church.
November 26, 1952
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports Brooks will marry merchant marine Jimmy Dunn.
March 8, 1953
Overland Stage Raiders broadcast on television in Hazelton, Pennsylvania as part of “John Wayne Theater.”
March 10, 1953
Overland Stage Raiders broadcast on television in Los Angeles, California. Other broadcasts of the film run on other stations in the following years across the country.
April 12, 1953
Ceases instruction in the Catholic Church.
July 2, 1953
Visits with priest at Church of St. Paul’s the Apostle (405 W 59th St, New York City) seeking religious counsel.
July 12, 1953
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker writes: “Talking over old times with Jimmy Glennon, in his Third avenue groggery the other night, was Louise Brooks, silent screen star and before that, Broadway chorus girl.”
July 20, 1953
Walter Winchell reports that Brooks is “limping after an injury to her ribs – tripping over her cat Trilby.”
July 30, 1953
Takes instruction in Catholic faith at St. John the Evangelist’s Church in New York, located three blocks from her apartment.
August 28, 1953
Completes instruction in Catholic faith.
August 31, 1953
Writes a letter to former lover James Mulcahy (then living in Elmira, New York), discussing their families and Catholicism. (Brooks is living at 1075 First Avenue in NYC.)
September 15, 1953
Baptized into the Catholic Church at St. John the Evangelist’s Church. Makes first confession.
September 17, 1953
Makes first communion.
September 22, 1953
Columnist Walter Winchell reports that Brooks, who has converted to Catholicism, will soon marry James Dunn, a marine engineer, and that they will reside in Eire, Pennsylvania.
October 2, 1953
Brooks is mentioned in newspaper advertisements for Overland Stage Raiders, which screens at the Seminole theater in Tampa, Florida – one of a number of screenings of the recently revived film held
in Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and elsewhere.
November 1953
Film clips featuring Brooks are screened as part of a series, “The Fatal Woman,” at the
National Film Theater in London.
December 13, 1953
Receives confirmation in the Catholic Church at St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City. Bishop Flannelly presides. Before being confirmed, those seeking confirmation choose to take a saint’s name with whom they identify. After confirmation, the confirmed can pray to the saint for guidance and protection. Brooks chooses St. Thérèse, “the little flower.”
January 1954
“Les Mémoires de Louise Brooks” appears in the French publication, Cinema.
January 1954 through May 1954
Continues practicing Catholic faith; attends mass (including Easter mass on April 18th), and makes her confession on two occasions.
Febuary ?, 1954
Completes painting titled “Tot Strickler,” which she later gives to Mrs. W.S. Harmon.
April 4, 1954
Attends reception at the guest house of John D. Rockefeller III in honor of Lillian Gish; others in attendance include Gloria Swanson, Josef von Sternberg, Neil Hamilton, Carmel Myers, Anita Loos, Ilka Chase, June Collyer, Aileen Pringle, and others.
April 1954
Destroys manuscript of her autobiographical novel, Naked on My Goat.
May 1954 through December 1954
Continues practicing Catholic faith, taking “almost daily communion,” according to Brooks.
November ?, 1954
Completes painting titled “Tallchief,” which she later gives to Steinberg.
December 6, 1954
Write to William S. Paley asking for financial assistance.
January 1955 through April 3, 1955
Continues practicing Catholic faith, taking “almost daily communion.”
April 10, 1955
Attends Easter mass.
May 1955 through December 1955
Continues practicing Catholic faith, taking “almost daily communion.”
May 1955
Reads and takes notes on Letters of Marcel Proust.
June – September 1955
A large banner depicting Brooks is mounted outside the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, where “60 Ans de Cinema” is being held. During a press conference, Cinémathèque director Henri Langlois proclaims, “There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!”
June ?, 1955
Completes painting titled “Glennon,” which she later gives to New York bartender Jimmy Glennon.
July 5, 1955
Brooks’ apartment house neighbor, publicist John Springer, gives Brooks’ address to George Eastman House curator James Card. Card writes to Brooks, telling her she is once again famous in Paris. Card and Brooks begin regular correspondence.
August 11, 1955
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
August 24, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
September 14, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October 3, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October ?, 1955
Completes painting titled “Ste. Thérèse” (charcoal and oil).
October 23, 1955
Card and Brooks meet for the first time: Card travels to New York, and meets Brooks in her apartment, where he reports seeing three of her artworks on the wall.
October 24, 1955
Card returns to Rochester, after staying the night in Brooks’ apartment.
October 29, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October 30, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October 31, 1955
Makes confession at St. John the Evangelist’s Church.
November 3, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 3, 1955
Overland Stage Raiders – with “John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Louise Brooks” – is shown on
KOIN-TV in Salem, Oregon.
November 5, 1955
Mike Connolly’s syndicated column reports, “Louise Brooks, who succeeded Clara Bow in the flapper dept. at Paramount, is living quietly here and writing her life story.”
November ?, 1955
Completes painting titled “Bird in Snowstorm” (oil on cardboard).
November 1955 – February 1956
Biographer Barry Paris notes that over the course of four months Brooks writes 40 letters to Card.
November 22, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 23, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 24, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 26, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 27, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 29, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 1, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 17, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 18, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 19, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 21, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 22, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
January 2, 1956
Records lapse in Catholic faith.
January 7, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
January 8, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
January ?, 1956
Brooks accompanies Card on lecture trips to Wilmington, Delaware and Niagara Falls, New York.
January 29, 1956
Diary of a Lost Girl is screened at the National Film Theatre in London as part of a program of films selected by members of the International Federation of Film Archives. The Brooks’ film was selected by M. Andre Thirifays, director and administrator of the Cinematheque de Belgique.
February 5, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
February 6, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
February ?, 1956
Leaves New York City and moves to Rochester, New York.
April 30, 1956
Interviewed and profiled in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
May 6, 1956
An article, “Wichitan, silent film star, pens memoirs,” appears in the Wichita Beacon.
May 12-13, 1956
Eastman House screens Love Em and Leave Em at the Dryden Theater.
May 27, 1956
Empty Saddles broadcast on television on KTLA (Channel 5) in Los Angeles. The film would also be shown on other stations across the country in the late 1950s.
September 7, 1956
Brooks’ “Mr. Pabst” published in Image magazine, along with James Card’s “Out of Pandora’s Box: Louise Brooks on G.W. Pabst.”
October 22, 1956
Variety notes “Gish and Garbo – The Executive War on the Stars,” a “chapter out of Louise Brooks’ future book, Women in Film, will be published in the Christmas issue of the British highbrow publication, Sight and Sound.”
November 17, 1956
Overland Stage Raiders – with “John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Louise Brooks” airs on Channel 9
in Chicago, Illinois.
Winter 1956
At the Eastman House, views Pandora’s Box for the first time. Brooks arranges (a still extant) score made up of recordings of music by Kurt Weill.
1957
A chapter on the actress titled “Louise Brooks, La Plus Belle” appears in Ado Kyrou’s Amour-erotisme et cinema (Paris: Terrain Vague).
date unknown 1957
Views A Social Celebrity at Eastman House.
January 23, 1957
Sees Gloria Swanson on the television show, This Is Your Life. (Also on the show are Lois Wilson, Raymond Hatton, Monte Blue, Francis X. Bushman, Mack Sennett, Alan Dwan and others). Shortly thereafter, completes unpublished essay “Gloria Swanson.”
February ?, 1957
Completes unpublished essay “Joan Crawford.”
March ?, 1957
Views Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich, at Eastman House.
April ?, 1957
Views Way Down East at Eastman House.
April 14, 1957
Eastman House screens Love Em and Leave Em (extracts), Diary of a Lost Girl, and Prix de beaute.
May 5, 1957
Watches Gloria Swanson interview (by Mike Wallace) on television.
May ?, 1957
Views Dinner at Eight at Eastman House.
May 16-17, 1957
Pandora’s Box shows at the National Film Theater in London, England.
May 22, 1957
God’s Gift to Women broadcast on television on WTVN (Channel 6) in Marion, Ohio. The film would be shown on other stations scattered across Ohio and the country in 1958, 1959, and 1960.
May 31, 1957
Diary of a Lost Girl screened at the Eastman House for members of the Cinema 16 film club from New York City. Brooks is likely in attendance, as is the film’s assistant director, Paul Falkenberg. Also present is film historian Arthur Knight, cineaste Amos Vogel, animator and film director Gene Deitch, and others.
June 2, 1957
Beggars of Life screened at the Eastman House for members of the Cinema 16 film club from New York City.
June ?, 1957
Views The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927) at Eastman House.
June ?, 1957
Views The Twentieth Century (1934) at Eastman House.
June 24, 1957
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports the Eastman House is to receive a print of Prix de beaute from the Cinematheque de Belgique.
June 29, 1957
Watches Three for Bedroom C (1952), starring Gloria Swanson, on television.
June 30, 1957
Views Metropolis at Eastman House.
July 25, 1957
Brooks’ book proposal for Women in Film rejected by Macmillan.
August 4, 1957
Watches Meet the Press on television.
August 7, 1957
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “Remember Louise Brooks, the cutie-pie of the early movies? She’s living in Gotham now, and has just finished a book about her life in the turbulent twenties. Those who’ve previewed it say it’s hilarious.”
August 11, 1957
Views Pollyanna (1920), starring Mary Pickford, at Eastman House.
August 31, 1957
Participates in a group discussion with James Card, Gideon Bachmann, Elwood Glover, and Gerald Pratley in Canada
September 11, 1957
Views The Public Enemy (1931) at Eastman House.
September 17, 1957
TV personality Ed Sullivan writes to James Card, “Be sure and give Louise Brooks my very warmest best wishes. She was always a real thoroughbred.”
October 27, 1957
Watches coverage of Queen Elizabeth visit to the United States on television.
November 2, 1957
Views The Trespasser (1929), starring Gloria Swanson, at Eastman House.
November 1957
Travels with James Card to Copenhagen and visits the Danish Film Museum; is interviewed for pieces which appear in Danish publications Kosmorama and Dagens Nyheter; meets Ib Monty and Jan Wahl. From Copenhagen, Brooks and Card go to Paris, where she meets Henri Langlois, and they spend an evening at the Crazy Horse Saloon. From Paris, Brooks and Card go to Barcelona, where Brooks sees Gaudi’s architecture and she meets with author Robert Ruark. From Barcelona, Brooks and Card go to Madrid, where they visit the Prado.
November 25, 1957
Danton Walker of the New York Daily News reports in his Broadway column, “Louise Brooks, silent screen star, writes from Denmark that she is a guest of the Danish Film Museum, which is showing Beggars of Life, a 1928 movie in which she appeared with the late Wallace Beery.”
December 1957
Vibeke Brodersen’s article about Brooks, “Pandora i København,” appears in Kosmorama, a Danish film publication.
December 2, 1957
A local newspaper in Rochester reports that the English-born film and stage actor and prospective author John Harland is in town and would like to meet Brooks.
December 20, 1957
Writes a letter to Ove Brusendorff.
January 1958
Returns to Rochester, New York.
January 15, 1958
Watches Arthur Godfrey and His Friends on television.
Febuary 25, 1958
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning that she will be traveling to New York in two days.
Febuary 27 – March 1, 1958
Spends a few days in New York City with James Card, visits with Jimmy Glennon.
March ?, 1958
Completes painting titled “Thistles Spanish” (oil on cardboard), which she eventually sends to Henri Langlois.
March 9, 1958
Watches poet W. H. Auden on television.
March 10, 1958
Writes a short essay titled “This Thing Called Corn.”
March 20, 1958
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentions that she is working on a short story called “Pickup on Third Avenue,” and that she hopes to find an agent.
March 28, 1958
Makes confession at St. Thomas More in Rochester.
April 19, 1958
Makes first confession since October 31, 1955 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Rochester. Attends Sunday mass, takes communion.
May 1, 1958
Views The Merry Widow (1934) at Eastman House; works on Marion Davies essay.
May 7, 1958
Views One Romantic Night (1930) at Eastman House.
June 9-11, 1958
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box.
June 21, 1958
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl at 3:30 pm.
June 22, 1958
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl at 2:30 and 4:30 pm.
June 25 and 27, 1959
When You’re in Love broadcast on television in the San Francisco Bay Area
on KTVU (Channel 2).
June 27, 1958
Eastman House screens Prix de Beaute.
Summer 1958
James Card’s article, “The Intense Isolation of Louise Brooks,” is published in the English film journal Sight and Sound.
July 26, 1958
Views I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929), along with The Blue Bird (1940) and Jean Renoir’s Nana (1926) at Eastman House.
July 30, 1958
Views Ivan the Terrible (1944) at Eastman House.
August 20, 1958
Views Broken Blossoms (1919) at Eastman House.
September 24, 1958
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for having sent her Vita Sackville-West’s The Eagle and the Dove. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article titled “French to Honor Louise Brooks.” The article mentions Brooks’ work in progress, The Executive War on Stars – Gish and Garbo.
October 4, 1959
King of Gamblers broadcast on television on WITI (Channel 6) in Racine, Wisconsin. The film would be shown on a few other stations between 1960 and 1962.
October 7, 1958
Views Greed (1924) at Eastman House.
October 15, 1958
Views Queen Kelly (1932) at Eastman House.
October 18, 1958
Watches Lifeboat (1944) on television.
October 22, 1958
Variety runs an article about the forthcoming Brooks’ tribute in Paris, France.
October 27, 1958
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article titled “Louise Brooks Off to Paris.” Brooks flies to Paris to take part in “Homage to Louise Brooks” at the Cinematheque Francais.
October 28, 1958 through November 29, 1958
Brooks stays at the Royal Monceau in Paris. While there, she meets with Lotte Eisner on a number of occasions, as well as with Henri Langlois and Mary Meerson, Kenneth Anger, film journalist Thomas Quinn Curtis, director Preston Stuges, as well as photographer Man Ray.
November 3 – 5, 1958
“Homage to Louise Brooks” takes place at Cinematheque Francaise; Beggars of Life is shown on Nov. 3, LouLou & Journal d’une Fille Perdue on Nov. 4, and Love em and Leave em & Prix de Beaute on Nov. 5. During the event, Brooks makes a short speech in French, and meets with Prix de Beaute co-star Georges Charlia. She also attends a reception in her honor, and reportedly signs hundreds of autographs.
November 7, 1958
In his column in the New York Herald Tribune, film critic Thomas Quinn Curtis writes “Several of Miss Brooks’s performances remain clearly in mind after two decades, and I have never forgotten her as the road-kid waif in an excellent picturization of Jim Tully’s Beggars of Life and as the fatal temptress, Lulu, in Pabst’s film version of Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box. . . . Miss Brooks, visiting Paris for a homage to her screen work, announces that she is writing a book on the movies in Hollywood and elsewhere. Her study is to be entitled Women in the Films, and an extract from it, ‘Gish and Garbo,’ will be published in the British magazine Sight and Sound next month. Outspoken and fluently written, Miss Brooks’s book, a peek at the manuscript suggests, will be a bold and fascinating one.”
November 8, 1958
Lunch in Paris with director Jean Renoir, and views his Une Partie de campagne (1946).
November 19, 1958
Variety‘s Paris correspondent, Gene Moskowitz, writes “Louise Brooks in for special series of her old pix dedicated to her by French Film Museum.”
November 28, 1958
Views “mutilated print” of G.W. Pabst’s Threepenny Opera (1931) while in Paris.
Winter 1958
Brooks’ “Gish and Garbo: the executive war on stars” published in the Winter 1958-1959 issue of Sight and Sound. In the months that follow, both Lillian Gish and Dwight MacDonald write to Brooks praising her piece.
December 8, 1958
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article detailing Brooks Paris trip. The article quotes Brooks, and notes she looked chic in a black coat she bought in Paris. The article mentions Brooks suspects she must have signed 300 autographs, and was described in a British magazine as the “Brigitte Bardot of 1920s.” Brooks also reports she met Georges Charlia.
date unknown 1959
Corresponds with film historian George Pratt, and film critic Lotte Eisner; Brooks correspondence with Eisner continues through 1982.
February 6, 1959
Au Suivant de ces Messieurs (A Social Celebrity) is shown at the Cinematheque in Paris; this screening is likely its last public showing, as the film is destroyed a few months later. (See July 10, 1959 entry).
February 14, 1959
Researching Clara Bow. Types letter to Jan Wahl, and mentions possible trip to Toronto to attend a February 22nd screening of Pandora’s Box. (Brooks does not go.) Mentions that she had recently seen Ehe im Schatten (Marriage in the Shadows), an East German melodrama released in 1947. The film was shown at the Dryden theater and was introduced by James Card. Also mentions that when she was 18 years old she took a signed George Moore novel, Portrait of a Young Man, from the library of Algonquin Hotel owner Frank Case.
February 17, 1959
Views Underworld (1927) at Eastman House. The film is introduced by James Card.
February 18, 1959
Continues Feb. 14 letter to Jan Wahl. Mentions her continuing work researching Clara Bow, and formative Paris meetings with Jean Renoir and Man Ray in 1958.
February 20, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentions Underworld and Evelyn Brent and that she is listening to Segovia.
February 23, 1959
Writes a brief message to Jan Wahl.
March 10, 1959
Views Birth of a Nation (1915) at Eastman House.
March 13, 1959
Views Intolerance (1916) at Eastman House.
March 15, 1959
Watches A Free Soul (1931), starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable, on television.
March 20, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she has read his story, “The Valedictorian” (which she critiques), and that she recently received a letter from Lotte Eisner.
March 28, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, which she continues the following day, Easter morning. It mentions gossip which suggests James Card has secretly written Brooks’ articles.
April 18, 1959
Watches The Lady is Willing (1942), starring Marlene Dietrich, on television.
April 28, 1959
Cinema 16 in New York City screens Pandora’s Box at 7:30 pm at the High School of Fashion Industries Auditorium;
James Card authors the accompanying film notes.
April 29, 1959
Cinema 16 in New York City screens Pandora’s Box at 7:15 and 9:30 pm at the High School of Fashion Industries Auditorium; James Card authors the accompanying film notes.
April 30, 1959
Watches The Milton Berle Show on television. The episode includes Tallulah Bankhead.
May 2?, 1959
Watches Cain and Mabel (1936), starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable, on television.
May 2?, 1959
Views Westfront 1918 (1930) at Eastman House.
May 14, 1959
Dines with James Card and Enrique Scheiby, a Brazilian film archivist and presenter.
May 18, 1959
Watches One Way Passage (1932), starring William Powell and Kay Francis, on television.
May 19, 1959
Watches Rasputin and the Empress (1932), starring John Barrymore, on television.
May 27, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, which mentions his recent visit to Rochester ending May 12.
June 1, 1959
Watches Torrid Zone (1940), starring Jimmy Cagney, on television.
June 7, 1959
Watches Possessed (1947), starring Joan Crawford, on television.
June 9, 1959
Lillian Gish writes to Louise Brooks praising her article on the actress and encouraging her to continue writing. “First my gratitude – then my pride that a woman of our profession had so fine a writing talent – then amazement that you could delve so long and deep as to learn so much of the tactics of the company and people you write about. . . . I hope you will continue to write and you have a rare gift that ought to be used.”
June 10, 1959
Watches King Vidor’s H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), starring Hedy Lamarr, on television.
June 15, 1959
Views Loulou (1918), starring Asta Nielsen, at Eastman House.
June 18, 1959
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
June 21, 1959
Watches the Sunday afternoon movie, Lifeboat (1944), starring Tallulah Bankhead, on television.
June 22, 1959
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
June 26, 1959
Watches television coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to North America.
June 27, 1959
Types letter to Jan Wahl discussing finding one’s voice as a writer, and one’s fulfillment as a sexual being. Continues handwritten note on June 29, and typed notes on July 2 and July 8. In this last note she notes reading the autobiography of St. Teresa de Avila and the Frank Sheed translation of The Confessions of St. Augustin, later writing “The joy of reading again is immense!,” and that she had stopped reading in 1955. Brooks also mentions she had been listening to lieder from Toronto.
July 10, 1959
Last surviving copy of A Social Celebrity is destroyed in a vault fire at
the Cinémathèque Française.
July 18, 1959
Brooks meets with film historian William K. Everson at Rochester’s Treadway Inn, where they screen a copy of the Hal Roach Western, The Devil Horse (1926), with Yakima Canutt.
August 13, 1959
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “The Museum of Modern Art’s recent homage to Marlene Dietrich will be emulated by the 92nd St. YMHA when they inaugurate a similar tribute to Louise Brooks, a star of the silent screen. Miss Brooks, now in Rochester doing research for a book on famous women in cinema history, will come to Gotham for the festivities in October.”
September 12, 1959
Views Taming of the Shrew (1929) at Eastman House.
September 23, 1959
In his column in the Village Voice, Jonas Mekas mentions the forthcoming showing of a Louise Brooks film at the Film Center at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA.
October 20, 1959
Views His Double Life (1933), starring Lillian Gish, at Eastman House.
October 25, 1959
Henry Clune’s column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle profiles Brooks.
October 29, 1959
Views Empty Saddles at Eastman House; records in notebooks that this screening marked the first time she ever heard her voice on the screen.
November 4, 1959
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
November 13, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she had read and doesn’t understand Wahl’s “A Nun’s Afternoon Off,” which had been published in the Summer issue of The Transatlantic Review. (By way of explanation, she writes, “I grew up on the 19th century and gave up on Ulysses. You will need an Ezra Pound to state your case. (I have not read Orlando.)”) Brooks also mentions that the previous day she had received a letter from Lillian Gish asking Brooks to lunch. Brooks also dismisses Henry Clune’s October 25 column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
November 17, 1959
Henry Clune’s column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle discusses Brooks.
November 22, 1959
Overland Stage Raiders shows on television in Akron, Ohio. Newspaper listings credit the film’s stars as John Wayne and Louise Brooks.
November 26, 1959
An article in the New York Times notes that Brooks will be one of a number of early stars featured in “The Movie Star,” a series at the local YMHA running December 22 to January 12. The series will be introduced by James Card, and also feature Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, and Jean Harlow.
November 30, 1959
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 19. 1959
Overland Stage Raiders shows on television in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Newspaper listing credit the film’s stars as John Wayne and Louise Brooks.
December 21, 1959
An article in the New York Daily News, “Series of Movies At 92d St. YMHA,” states “The final program in the series will bring Louise Brooks out of retirement to introduce her last important film, Prix de Beaute (1930). This film has never been shown publicly in this country.
January 5, 1960
Danton Walker of the New York Daily News reports in his Broadway column, “Louise Brooks, one of the early-day film beauties, plans to be on hand for the showing for the first time in the U.S. of her film Prix de Beaute (Beauty Prize) made in Paris in 1929, during the oldtime film revival at the YMHA Film Center Jan. 12.”
January 12, 1960
Lunch with Lillian Gish at Gish’s apartment in New York City. Later, Brooks attends a screening of Prix de beaute at the Y.M.H.A, where she gives a well received 10 minute talk described by Jan Wahl as “a charming impromptu speech.” In the audience are Wahl, John Springer, Jimmy Glennon, and old friends Peggy Fears and Leonore Scheffer.
January 13, 1960
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article titled “Louise Brooks Honor Guest in NYC.”
January 16, 1960
Prix de Beaute is shown at the Cinematheque in Paris.
January 22, 1960
The New York Daily News reports “G.W. Pabst’s The Diary of a Lost One, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at Cinema 16 at 8 pm Tuesday and at 7:15 and 9:30 pm Wednesday at the Fashion Industries Auditorium, instead of the previously announced screening of Tod Browning’s Freaks, cancelled because of a sudden dispute over legal rights to this motion picture.”
January 26 – 27, 1960
The Diary of a Lost Girl is shown by Cinema 16 at Fashion Industries High School Auditorium on January 26, and twice on January 27. James Card introduces each screening. On January 16, the New York Times notes that the films star was also invited to appear.
February 5, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, noting that an editor at Macmillian, Charlotte Painter, showed interested in one of her earlier articles.
February 6, 1960
The New York Daily News reports “Louise Brooks is active at Eastman House, the leading film museum, at Rochester, N.Y., and writing her own memoirs of Hollywood.”
February 28, 1960
Writes a note to Jan Wahl, in which she mentions a publisher, Random House, is “nibbling” at her book on women in film, “10 dames and me.”
March 3, 1960
Watches Girl from Missouri (1934), starring Jean Harlow, on television.
March ?, 1960
Completes painting titled “Snow-striped Tree” (black and white – oil on cardboard), which Brooks eventually sends to Lotte Eisner in Paris.
March 27, 1960
Listens to radio program from 7:00 to 8:00 pm which features Mitch Miller, Bosley Crowther, Archer Winston.
March 28, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, noting that she read Wahl’s “Jackal, Wolf, and Fox,” which she praises a great deal. (The story is included in Wahl’s 1978 book, Youth’s Magic Horn.) She also mentions having heard of Norman Mailer’s book Advertisements for Myself, and that she would love to see Martha Graham’s Spring concert in NYC, but she owes too much on her recent dental work.
May 2, 1960
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
May 14, 1960
Eastman House screens Prix de Beaute.
June 23, 1960
Views Blonde of the Follies at Eastman House.
June 26, 1960
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features Yuriko, a dancer best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
July 16, 1960
Dreams about Eddie Sutherland, which she records in her diary.
July 17, 1960
George Marshall telephones to say Eddie Sutherland is in poor health.
August 31, 1960
Writes a letter to Lawrence Quirk.
September ?, 1960
Listens to radio program which features Mitch Miller.
September 9, 1960
Writes a letter to Lawrence Quirk.
September 17, 1960
Writes a letter to Lawrence Quirk.
September 18, 1960
Watches Playmates (1941), starring John Barrymore, on television.
September 22, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl saying she may receive a grant from the Bollingen Foundation, and quoting from a poem by W.B. Yeats.
September 28, 1960
Watches Fred Astaire on television.
October 8, 1960
Watches Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) on television.
October 15, 1960
Leonard Brooks dies in Cherryvale, at the age of 92.
October 19, 1960
James Card brings a Japanese edition of Lotte Eisner’s book.
October 26, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for an original photograph of Anna Pavlova, and mentioning a September 20th break with James Card.
December 1, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she had read Wahl’s story, “At the Crossing, and material he had written on Carl Dreyer’s film, Ordet. The p.s. mentions Ted Shawn wants Brooks to read his recently published autobiography, One Thousand and One Nights Stands.
December 7, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
December 19, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
December 21, 1960
Writes a short note saying she is sorry for having written her previous “mean” letter.
January 18, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
April 1961
National Film Theater in London screens Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl as part of their season of films by G.W. Pabst and F.W. Murnau.
April 1, 1961
Receives a letter from John de Lungo, a younger English fan, with who she strikes up a correspondence.
April 16, 1961
Watches television program on the music of the civil war hosted by noted conductor Frederick Fennell (of Rochester’s Eastman Wind Ensemble).
June 12, 1961
Writes a long, chatty letter to Jan Wahl mentioning Peggy Fears, Henri Langlois, Lotte Eisner, and a “script” she was working on about Chaplin. Brooks also mentions an essay she is working on about Mary Pickford, and that she had borrowed a copy of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita from the library.
June 16, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she sent him a manuscript.
June 17, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning her anger after reading Lolita.
June 18, 1961
Receives an evening call from old NYC friend Jimmy Glennon.
June 21, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
June 22, 1961
Sends a telegram to Jan Wahl.
June 23, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, discussing Isadora Duncan and artistic representations of Duncan, and that she detests Ruth St. Denis, of whom she writes, “She grabbed everything, lighting and drapery movement, musical ‘visualization’ from Loie Fuller and Izzy [Duncan] not forgetting the use of great music…. Nowhere do I say that I like Martha’s dancing better than ballet. I am a Pavlova kid myself. My last dances [in] 1941 were as delicate as Debussy.” In a mood, Brooks also slights film critics / theorists Siegfried Kracauer (whom she calls “Krapauer”), Rudolf Arnheim, and Vsevolod Pudovkin. She also states that everyone involved in the making of Pandora’s Box referred to it as The Box of Pandora. In a post script, referring to Vladimir Nabokov, Brooks writes, “Jerkoff is marvelous. And what a story-teller.”
June 26, 1961
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, mentions she has reread Lolita, revises her opinion of Nabokov, and was thinking about her essay, “Girl Child in Films.” Brooks also writes, “I wrote Lolita in 1951, Naked on My Goat…. even the foulest degenerates recoiled in horror when I talked about it.”
June 27, 1961
Writes two long letters to Jan Wahl. The first mentioning his story “A Nun’s Afternoon Off,” and discussing what it takes to be a great writer. Later, she says “Lotti kept after me and after me to write and I thought I stunk and could never learn and she said ‘Write it article by article and then you will have your book the way I did’.” In the second letter, Brooks says that Card had read her story “Who Is the Exotic Black Orchid” (an excerpt from Naked on my Goat), and said it “stunk.” Brooks also says that Herbert Brenon called her a lousy actress on the set of The Street of Forgotten Men in front of those gathered.
July 5, 1961
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, and mentions the book she is writing on women in film (titled Thirteen Hollywood Women), which is to include chapters on Constance Bennett, Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, Gloria Swanson, and Constance Talmadge. “But after a hundred pages on Gish I found out that I am not the biography type…. I did a bit of work reading about Colleen Moore because Clara Bow learned her acting from Moore pictures and Moore was an excellent actress. But she is the damnest bore…. I must tell you about the absolute fascination of her one brown and one blue eye. I would site and let her talk at me just to watch those blue eyes. I would sit and let her talk at me just to watch those eyes which gave me the feeling that I was talking to two different people with one voice. Dietrich I would love to write about but I met her only once when she first came over and was sweet and fluffy in baby blue. Same with Negri. Just once Mal St. Clair took me to her dressing room and we were much interested in each other.” In the second part of the letter, Brooks mentions she had received letters from Macmillian and Random House asking about her book. “Maybe Lillian Gish will give me some leads in research. I wrote her how important Broken Blossoms we be in the article.” Brooks also mentions she has just read Lytton Strachey’s Queen Victoria, and concludes by asking Wahl if he has any material on Marguerite Clark or Nazimova.
July 16, 1961
Folke Isaksson article about Brooks, “Filmen vakraste kvinna” (“The Cinema’s Most Beautiful Woman”), appears in the Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter.
July 17, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning that the French government could pay $4000 for her visit to France, and she was hoping to get $100 for a recent article in a French magazine. She also mentions she has been typing up her notes on Clara Bow, which came to 100 pages and which she hopes to place in a popular magazine.
July 18, 1961
Receives a 40 minute phone call from Bill Kendall, who was drinking in Glennon’s NYC bar.
July 19, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl in which Brooks says Kendall was in love with her 30 years earlier. Brooks also mentioned her knowing Dorothy Parker and her one-time flame, critic John McClain. Brooks says she sent McClain her manuscript of Word and Movement, and was hoping to find an agent for her piece on Clara Bow, “The Bow Who Tied Up the Twenties.”
July 24, 1961
Watches Here’s Hollywood (celebrity interview program which aired weekday afternoons at 4:30 on NBC) on television. The episode included Mae Murray.
July 31, 1961
Prix de beaute is screened at the New Yorker theater in New York City. Among those in attendance were the noted poets Frank O’Hara and Bill Berkson, each of whom would write poems based on Brooks and the film.
October 10, 1961
Richard Arlen makes a personal appearance in Rochester at Sibley’s department store, but does not meet Brooks.
October 26, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning that Henri Langlois had sent her the catalogue to the Melies Exposition at the Louvre. She also suggests Wahl write to the German film publicist Lothar Wolff, who was now living in NYC working for an agent. Brooks says Wolff knows her “intimately.”
November 27, 1961
Begins a correspondence (the first of more than 125 letters) with the Canadian film historian, author and broadcaster Gerald Pratley. Brooks writes in this first letter that she is working on a piece on Clara Bow titled “The Wounded Heart.”
December 18, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, which mentions that John McClain had sent Brooks’ Words and Movement to his agent, who is interested in representing Brooks.
December 26, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning she is reading Cardinal Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua, as well as the latest notices in the Saturday Review. Brook also mentions she needs to write an outline for Women in Films, and that Lillian Gish had sent her a Christmas note.
1961-1962
Ted Shawn and Louise Brooks correspond regarding the George Eastman House copy of Kinetic Molpai film.
1962
Brooks notes her living allowance as $250.00 per month.
January 4, 1962
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning that she is reading about Maude Adams for her articles “The Garbo Mystery” and “Girl Child in Films.”
January 19, 1962
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, writing that she is “enraptured” with The Life and Letters of Janet Erskine Stuart: Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, 1857-1914, by Maud Monahan. The book was given to her by a local nun, Mother Digges. Brooks also mentioned that she had previously attended a one day religious retreat, and expected to do so again in July. Brooks also writes that she (account No. 3791) receives 42 dollars a year for life from the Propagation of the Faith in New York City, as well as 10 Gregorian Masses at her death.
February 12, 1962
Brooks escaped injury after a small fire broke out in the living room of her Rochester apartment. Careless smoking was blamed for the incident, in which a chair was wrecked and the fire department called.
February 13, 1962
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a short article about Brooks titled “Fire Wrecks Chair.”
February 20, 1962
Because of the fire, Brooks moves from 16 Buckingham Street to 7 North Goodman Street in Rochester.
February 23, 1962
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
February 25, 1962
Goes to dinner at the Dickens restaurant with her confessor, Father Atwill (editor of the Catholic Courier-Journal), and a couple of his friends, amateur actors and directors.
February 26, 1962
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending her a copy of Screen Stories, which contains John Springer’s profile of Brooks. “John did a good job. And a sweet finish–if untrue.” Brooks showed the article to Mother Digges. Brooks also details the February 12th fire in her apartment, and its aftermath. Additionally, Brooks states that she has taped three segments of Women in Films for WHAM radio; she expects to tape about 12 programs, which will run in 6 minute segments.
February 28, 1962
James Card and George Pratt visit, and Card arranges for Brooks to see Clara Bow’s The Wild Party (1929).
March 1962
John Springer’s article, “Great movie stars: where are they now?,” appears in Screen Stories. It discusses Brooks, and is one of the earlier American articles to appear post WWII.
March 31, 1962
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, quoting Janet Stuart and noting that she is just finishing reading Thomas Merton’s The Seven Story Mountain.
April 1962
A one page article about Brooks appears in the Brazilian publication, Cinelandia.
April 10, 1962
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
April 15, 1962
Gerald Pratley visits Brooks in Rochester.
April 22, 1962
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
May 2, 1962
Begins broadcasting “Portraits of the Stars” (about Marion Davies) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
May 9, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (about Marion Davies) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
May 11, 1962
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she has read Willard Maas‘ piece in Filmwise, an avant-garde film journal with a very small print run. She also suggests she has seen Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954), and criticizes his Hollywood Babylon (which was then only released in France): “A bunch of old dead photographs. A lot of ridiculous mumbo junk. A bunch of old dead gossip….”
May xx, 1962
Views Intolerance at Eastman House.
May 16, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (“story about Joan Crawford”) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
May 23, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (further memories of Joan Crawford) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
date unknown 1962
Corresponds with film critic Pauline Kael.
June 5-9, 1962
“The seldom-revived silent comedy,” A Girl in Every Port, is shown twice daily (and three times on June 7) at the Museum of Modern Art as part of a series honoring Howard Hawks.
June 6, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (about Constance Talmadge and her sisters) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
June 12, 1962
Views Nana at Eastman House.
June 13, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
June 27, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (about Norma Shearer) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
June 29, 1962
Pandora’s Box is screened in Los Angeles as part of a series of five “psychological masterpieces” sponsored by the UCLA Committee on Fine Art Production. (Pauline Kael hoped to bring Brooks to Los Angeles for this screening, but plans fell through.)
July 11, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (“reminisces about Clara Bow”) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
July 25, 1962
“Retired actress Louise Brooks” is guest on “Woman’s World” program at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
August 2-5, 1962
Pandora’s Box is screened at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, California as part of the Peninsula Film Seminar, organized by Philip Chamberlin. James Card, of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York supplied the print of the film. Also in attendance was film critic Pauline Kael, film curator Tom Luddy, and San Francisco poet Jack Hirschman.
August 8, 1962
Speaks about Greta Garbo on “Woman’s World” program at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
August 27, 1962
Begins corresponding with French writer Denis Marion.
August 28, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, which states, “Yesterday when I wrote to you I was so busy — reading your article, feeding the cat, checking my notebook, making a cake, writing to Lotte [Eisner], clipping the ivy and reading a letter from William Inge.”
September 16, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
September 27, 1962
Brooks lunches with actor Richard Arlen, who is making a personal appearance in Rochester at Sibley’s department store.
September 28, 1962
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ran an article about Brooks meeting with Arlen.
October 8, 1962
Views Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game (1939) at Eastman House.
October 20, 1962
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
October 30, 1962
Starts weekly radio series “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” discussing Marily Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
November 6, 1962
Discusses Fatty Arbuckle on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
November 13, 1962
Discusses William Desmond Taylor on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
November 20, 1962
Discusses Theda Bara on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
The French writer Denis Marion, with whom Brooks is corresponding, writes to Brooks offering to translate her book Women in Film into French and to help find a publisher in France.
November 23-24, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
November 25, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion in which Brooks states her reluctant admiration for Mae Murray.
November 27, 1962
Discusses Jean Harlow and Marion Davies on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
December 4, 1962
Discusses Garbo, Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Errol Flynn on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
December 8, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, offering to help research Erich von Stroheim. Brooks also writes that she will acquire a copy of Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, which she plans to read again.
December 11, 1962
Discusses Marilyn Monroe and others on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
December 12, 1962
Meets Buster Keaton and his wife at the Sheraton Hotel in Rochester, New York. Brooks notes, “Buster said Mabel Normand, except in films, with Arbuckle, was not a really great comedienne. Marie Dressler was the greatest comic. Today Lucille Ball.”
December 18, 1962
Discusses Liz Taylor, Mary Pickford, Ingrid Bergman and others on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY. Also, writes a letter to Denis Marion.
December 21, 1962
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 25, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
dates unknown 1963
Begins corresponding with Fraser Macdonald of the Toronto Film Society; their correspondence continues for 20 years.
January 5, 1963
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Discusses the return of stills taken by James Card, and that she is reading Charles Dicken’s Pickwick Papers.
January 11, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
January 30, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
April 11, 1963
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article about Brooks titled “Club Bills Ex-Film Star,” about Brooks’ talk before the Catholic Women’s Club.
April 12, 1963
“Screen Star,” an article about Brooks, appears in the Courier Journal (a weekly newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Rochester, New York)
April 15, 1963
Delivers a feminist-themed speech, “The Influence of Movie Stars on the Freedom of Women,” before an evening meeting of the Catholic Women’s Club of Rochester, New York.
June 8, 1963
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 20, 1963
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 27, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
July 14, 1963
An article in the New York Times notes Brooks’ inclusion in The Love Goddesses.
August 1963
Brooks’ “ZaSu Pitts” is published in the August 1963 issue of Objectif.
August 11, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley. In it, she mentions that her husband at the time, Eddie Sutherland, obtained a print of A Woman of Paris from Charlie Chaplin and screened it for Brooks in 1927. She also writes that Pola Negri had “laid an egg” in regards to her American career, in that her acting was “old school.” And that she is “pressing on” with her book, is working on Chapter 4, and is taken by Director Malcolm St. Clair, whom she notes “was crazy and in love with me for years.”
August 26, 1963
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, who notes she often spent nights in Chez Florence in Montmartre while in Paris.
September 1, 1963
Quoted in the Democrat and Chronicle regarding her contemporary, Nancy Carroll, “She’s darn nice.” Carroll, in turn, speaks “warmly” of Brooks.
September 4, 1963
Meets with Nancy Carroll ?, who is in Rochester appearing in a stage play, Never Too Late, with William Bendix.
September 18, 1963
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, in which Brooks says “Perhaps I never would have had courage to write had you not told me to read novels.”
October 3, 1963
Writes a letter to Denis Marion asking which Balzac novels he suggests she read. “I reread Manon Lescaut. It is just as silly to me now as 35 years ago…. Another book I read again was [Flaubert’s] Madame Bovary.”
November 17, 1963
Henri Langois visits Rochester, and is quoted at length about Brooks.
January 8, 1964
In a Variety article about film buffs titled “Forever Faithful Film Fans,” American Federation of Film Societies President James L. Limbacher states “There are even ‘film nuts’ who have private showings of all the films of such personalities as Veda Ann Borg, Louise Brooks or a retrospective showings of all the Busby Berkeley musicals. Greater love hath no film society members.”
Febuary 1. 1964
Brooks’ “Filmography – Positive and Negative” is published in the February – March 1964 issue of Objectif, along with part one of “Louise Brooks par elle-même, ou quand s’ouvre la boite de Pandore.”
February 23, 1964
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
March 15, 1964
Corresponds with French writer Denis Marion, writing “Last month I read the letters of Oscar Wilde published in 1963.”
April 1, 1964
Part two of Brooks’ “Louise Brooks par elle-même, ou quand s’ouvre la boite de Pandore” published in the April – May 1964 issue of Objectif.
April 18, 1964
Writes a letter mentioning she has started re-writing Naked on My Goat. Regarding the title, Brooks writes “The quote is from the Young Witch’s speech—“Der Puder ist so wie Dey Rock fur alt’ und graue Weibehen. Drum sitz ich nackt auf mein Bock und zeig einderber leibchen.” Brooks also says, “The key to success of the venture is to keep the whole story in sight every word, to be aware of the architecture while inhabiting the room.”
April 19, 1964
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
May 9, 1964
Visiting Canadian priests Cousineau and Godin have lunch with Brooks in her Rochester apartment.
May 13, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Thanks Wahl for sending Thackery’s Vanity Fair (“I do not believe there has ever been a more nearly perfect book written”) as well as Wahl’s Pleasant Fieldmouse (“The text is most imaginative and for action–great. The drawings [by Maurice Sendak] are wonderful.”) Brooks parodies a chapter from Wahl’s book in describing the recent visit by two film-buff priests from Canada. Brooks also mentions that contributors to the Montreal magazine Objectif taped a long interview with Brooks for their magazine.
May 20, 1964
New York Daily News columnist Charles McHarry writes “Louise Brooks, the silent screen star, writes from Rochester that she’ll be seen again in The Love Goddesses, a documentary on movie sirens from Bara to Bardot.”
May 22, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Mentions that she is having trouble getting back to work on Naked on My Goat, because “Looking at old films, reading odd stuff, all fills me with sorrow,” and that she is currently reading Leslie Fielder’s Love and Death in the American Novel. “I hate it although I agree with everything he says.” She also states that she has read a limited edition copy of Lord Alfred Douglas’s My Friendship with Oscar Wilde, which she borrowed from the local library.
May 25, 1964
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
Spring 1964
Breaks with Catholic Church.
July 1964
National Film Theater in London screens Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl and
Prix de beaute as part of a series celebrating other national film archives.
July 14, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. References Irving Shulman’s biography of Jean Harlow, whose author Brooks heard on radio station WOR (710 AM out of NYC). Brooks also mentions that Doubleday editor Donald Friede has written to her stating he will send a copy of the Harlow book. Brooks also asks Wahl if he has read Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. “Hemingway now really did write as he says–building line up on line, with perfection.” She also notes that she had written a letter the previous week to George Marshall, and heard back from his assistant. And, that Herman Weinberg had sent her a translation from the Lusanne film congress of 1963 which praises her acting. “Thirty years ago I allowed the critics to break my heart, saying I did not ‘act’ — I did not ‘do anything,’ because I did not mug in the conventions of the period. If I am now ‘ageless,’ it is because I found such antics ludicrous without beauty, and played all my parts as ballets.”
July 16, 1964
Hand-writes a note to Jan Wahl which accompanies her homemade fudge.
July 22, 1964
Writes a postcard to Jan Wahl, “Read Harlow – terrible and true – smashes myth and idols (my book beaters) sounds death knell to slobbery crap passed off as Hollywood history – tit-mad and commode crazy Shulman.” [Irving Shulman authored Harlow: An Intimate Biography; though something of a bestseller, Shulman’s book was widely panned.]
July 28, 1964
Types a note to Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn which states, “If today, in Lulu, Diary of a Lost Girl, Prix de Beaute, films made in 1928-29, I am hailed as an actress whose art is timelessly beautiful while the great stars of that period are found grotesquely funny . . . it is because I composed my art out of the beauty and timelessness of movement and mime learned with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and the Denishawn Dancers.”
August 6, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, stating she has received his The Beast Book, which she terms “beautiful and lovely.” Brooks also reports she has received an invitation to Jacob’s Pillow, where the 50th Golden Wedding anniversary of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn would be celebrated. Brooks goes on to mention that she once attended one of Shawn’s classes in 1926, while she was making pictures for Paramount on Long Island, and thinks his recent book, Thousand and One Nights, is “awful.” Brooks also mentions she has now read Irving Shulman’s biography of Jean Harlow, and recalls that Paul Bern had sent her a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Verse for Christmas in 1927. Inspired by the Harlow book, Brooks also states that she has written a piece called “Harlow Recalls Another Voice from the Dead.” In a post script, Brooks says that BBC filmmaker Ken Russell wants to do a Monitor episode on her.
Aug. 6, 1964
UCLA screens Love Em and Leave Em as part of a “Vintage Vamps” film series. William Everson introduced the film, and Santa Monica musician Chauncey Haines provides
organ accompaniment.
August 28, 1964
Writes letters to Jan Wahl and Steve Wiman.
September 18, 1964
Receives a letter from Doubleday editor Donald Friede expressing strong interest in a book.
September 20, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning that she had submitted a 17 page, 4300 word piece, “Harlow Recalls John Gilbert’s Voice from the Dead,” to Penelope Houston at Sight and Sound. Its publication was deemed legally problematic by the magazine. Brooks also mentioned she had borrowed D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover from the Rochester Public Library, but found pages torn out. She also notes that she wants to read Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. Brooks also borrowed three books by Samuel Beckett, but couldn’t make sense of them, leaving her feeling “bitched, buggered and bewildered.”
September 21, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl discussing the Friede letter and her writing. Brooks also mentions that the dialogue in Beckett is “marvelous–Dylan Thomas must have thought so too.”
October 7, 1964
Writes two letters to Jan Wahl. The first mentions that she is reading Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones. The second suggests Wahl write a book on the theater work of Dwight Wiman. Brooks also mentions that Sight and Sound has rejected her Harlow-Gilbert piece, which she excerpts. (The excerpt notes the time Brooks met Harlow at the Cocoanut Grove, after being introduced by William Powell.)
October 18, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. It states that she left the Catholic Church in the Spring, and that she had considered herself an “intellectual” Catholic. Brooks mentions that she has read Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier, which she critiques, and that Henry Miller “left me cold.” Brooks goes on to say, “The first thing I learned writing for Winchell was to send him only first-hand gags,” and that she is thinking of writing an article for Esquire called “Come-On Girl for Wilson Mizner.” Brooks, who says she is “fearfully depressed,” ends her letter by stating, “I don’t belong anywhere, to anyone, to anything.”
October 19, 1964
Writes a note to friend Don Smith saying that she is sending him the fudge she had made for Jan Wahl, as he had moved to Toledo, Ohio.
November 27, 1964
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 1, 1964
Brooks’ “Als ich mit Pabst arbeitete” [“My Work with Mr. Pabst”] published in Der Regisseur: G. W. Pabst in Munich, Germany.
December 4, 1964
Writes to Jan Wahl.
December ??, 1964
Hollis Alpert visits Brooks, and tapes an interview for his Playboy article.
December 7, 1964
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 9, 1964
Writes a letter to friend Don Smith complaining about friend Jan Wahl, who she notes she met in Copenhagen in 1957. Brooks also states she sent $10 to Wahl, who was then a struggling writer. Brooks also tells Smith not to send her the Dictionary of Film, which she says Herman Weinberg had already sent her. She also notes that the book says she appeared in two films in which she did not actually appear, Steel Highway and Hollywood Boulevard. Brooks also writes, “Hollis Alpert of Saturday Review was here last Friday to tape me for a series of articles he and Arthur Knight are doing on Sex and Censorship for Playboy.” She also asks Smith “Can you find out to whom Jan Wahl sold his print of Prix de Beaute? And how Hollis can see it?”
December 17, 1964
An article about Brooks, “Louise Brooks pa duken igen,” appears in the Swedish newspaper Stockholms-Tidningen.
December 18, 1964
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “Louise Brooks, a cinema star of long ago (now living in Rochester N.Y.) is almost finished writing her autobiography, titled Naked on My Goat. It’s reported to be ‘really wild,’ and quite a few Hollywood old-timers are worrying because word is around that she’s naming names and pulling no punches.”
1965
Begins corresponding with film historian Peter Cowie; also corresponds with Anita Loos.
January 1965
Folke Isaksson’s article about Brooks, “Oh Louise,” appears in the Swedish publication Chaplin.
January 26, 1965
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for “beautiful Balanchine and cat” and that she would send fudge.
April 10, 1965
Henry Clune’s column in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle discusses Brooks’s appearance in The Love Goddesses.
April 16, 1965
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
May 1965
Article on Brooks appears in the May 1965 issue of Sight and Sound.
May 3, 1965
Writes a letter to Rochester journalist Henry Clune thanking him for sending an advance copy of his May 9 column.
May 9, 1965
Henry Clune profiles Brooks in his Democrat and Chronicle column.
May 28, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, who has sent Brooks his new book, Cabbage Moon. “To me it is your best book for children…. Like Max Beerbohm and Roland Firbank, your serious novels will have to be found by some great critics.”
June 30, 1965
Writes a letter to Rochester journalist Henry Clune mentioning the Playboy article, her break with the Catholic Church, and her having read Ezra Goodman’s The Fifty Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood.
Summer 1965
Brooks’ “Pabst and Lulu” published in the Summer 1965 issue of Sight and Sound. Roger Reynolds’s article, “National press revives interest in Louise Brooks,” appears in 8mm. Collector.
July 1965
“Checklist 27 – Louise Brooks” published in the BFI Monthly Film Bulletin.
July 1965
Receives first letter from Kevin Brownlow, praising her “Pabst and Lulu” piece in Sight and Sound. [Brooks and Brownlow would exchange approximately 250 letters in the years to follow.]
July 10, 1965
Henry Clune notes in his Democrat and Chronicle column that Brooks had contacted him asking that he purchase a copy of Playboy magazine, in which she is interviewed.
July 19, 1965
Writes a letter to Rochester journalist Henry Clune praising his July 10 column, and mentioning her own June Sight and Sound article.
July 21, 1965
Writes a note to friend Don Smith asking him to go by a New York City store to ask if they have sent her the two copies of Sight & Sound she had mail ordered.
July 1965
Views The Grand Duchess and the Waiter (1926), Lady Windemere’s Fan (1925), and Shoulder Arms (1918).
Summer 1965
Kevin Brownlow visits Brooks in Rochester.
August 1965
Arthur Knight & Alpert Hollis’ article, “The history of sex in the cinema. Part Four: the 20s – Europe’s decade of decadence and delirium,” which discusses Brooks, appears in Playboy. Douglas McVay’s article on Brooks appears in the August 1965 issue of Films and Filming.
August 1, 1965
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 3, 1965
William Everson lunches with Brooks.
August 6, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, who mentioned that Donald Friede had died a few months after she had sent him her rewritten “most horrible chapter” of Naked on My Goat.
August 10, 1965
Writes a letter to Michael Pabst, son of the director.
August 11, 1965
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
August 23, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, discussing the Holis Alpert article in Playboy. Brooks also says that she received stills from her Pabst films from Michael Pabst, the director’s son. And that she called Germany to speak with Pabst. Brooks says that the telephone is the last of her “expensive vices,” and that she also tried to called Lotte Eisner in Paris.
August 25, 1965
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
August 25, 1965
Types a letter to friend Don Smith stating she has just got a letter from Bill Everson, who has a friend who is anxious to see Love Em and Leave Em. She also wondered about possible plans to visit New York City, suggesting that Canadian film archivist Fraser MacDonald may accompany her on a flight to NYC. She also mentions her $250.00 monthly allowance from William Paley and that should she decide to travel she wouldn’t be able to afford a hotel room that costs more than $10.00 per night. Brooks goes on to state, “People are so wrong about liking silent pictures better than sound pictures. We can not know a person till we know their voices.” Brooks also mentions she called G. W. Pabst’s son, Michael.
August 26, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
September 1965
Despite the director’s wishes, a print of Beggars of Life cannot be obtained and the film is not shown at the William Wellman retrospective at the San Francisco Film Festival.
October 4, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
October November 9, 1965 (mistakenly dated)
Types a letter to friend Don Smith asking him for details regarding his intention to screen Prix de Beaute in New York City, adding “If I decide to come down, I will give the talk I gave when it was shown in 1960 at the YMHA.” She also asks for help paying her expenses, her “awful fear” of planes “although I will travel no other way,” and that a friend named Mike Hall will help get publicity. She also writes, “For the last 6 months I have been living in apprehension and depression over my 59th birthday next Sunday. My mother died suddenly at this point. It is silly for me to worry. But I do.” Brooks goes on to state that she calmed by reading the English essayist Samuel Johnson, except that the edition she is currently reading has tight margins and opening the book sufficiently causes her hands to ache. Brooks also adds a critique, “The modern editions, both of Johnson and Boswell’s Life and Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides have been so ‘improved’ by modern editors, so cut, rewritten, and clawed at, that they are a sinful mess.”
October 23, 1965
Writes a letter to Michael Pabst, son of the director.
October 25, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his children’s book, Hello Elephant. Brooks also says she just received 50 film stills from Michael Pabst, and that she was she was expecting film historians Gerald Pratley and Andrew Sarris to visit in November.
November 9, 1965
The great Northeastern blackout occurs, which cuts power in Rochester, New York. Brooks listens to coverage of the event on WABC radio in New York.
November 10, 1965
Writes to Herman Weinberg, noting among other things the great Northeastern blackout.
November 27, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
December 3, 1965
Roddy McDowell comes to Brooks’ apartment to take her photo for his book, Double Exposure.
December 4, 1965
Democrat and Chronicle reports that actor Robert Preston, a “great admirer of Miss Brooks,” may write an essay on the actress for Roddy McDowell’s book.
December 12, 1965
Roddy McDowell is quoted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle regarding his visit with Brooks.
December 27, 1965
Kevin Brownlow visits Brooks in Rochester.
December 29, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
December 30, 1965
Writes a note to friend Don Smith, “a million thanks for the Pabst book.” On this day, syndicated columnist Leonard Lyons writes, ” For Roddy McDowell’s book, Anita Loos will write the piece on Louise Brooks, who’ll write the piece on Buster Keaton.”
dates unknown 1966
Corresponds with screenwriter Fitzroy Davis, and film editor Marc Sorkin.
1966
Brooks’ brief essay “Buster Keaton” is published in Roddy McDowell’s book Double Exposure (New York: Delacorte Press); the book also features an short essay by Anita Loos on Brooks.
January 9, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
January 12, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 18, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 29, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 4, 1966
Talks with Roddy McDowell on the phone regarding the death of Buster Keaton.
February 5, 1966
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 7, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
February 21, 1966
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
sometime between March 20-31, 1966
Sees Lord Love a Duck starring Roddy McDowell at the Little Theater in Rochester.
March 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 27, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 18, 1966
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for December magazine.
1966
The French film journal Etudes Cinematographiques is published. Issue 48-50, about Erich von Stroheim, is edited by Denis Marion. Brooks contributes a three page preface, and one page of notes about the director are excerpted from her 1964 piece on Zasu Pitts in the Montreal journal Objectif. (Brooks name also appears on the cover alongside Rene Clair, Lillian Gish, Jean Renoir and others.)
May 1, 1966
Brooks’ “Letter to Andrew Sarris” published in no. 3 issue of English Cahiers du Cinema.
May 1966
Brooks’ “Marlene” published in the May issue of Positif.
May 11, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 14, 1966
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 29, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
Spring 1966
Brooks’ “Charlie Chaplin Remembered” published in the Spring issue of Film Culture.
June 12, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
June 13, 1966
Writes to Herman Weinberg, discussing actress Virginia Cherrill, whom she says she met on the street. Brooks’ letter also mentions Cary Grant and Randolph Scott.
July 12, 1966
Views The Wedding March at Eastman House.
July 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 24, 1966
Writes to Herman Weinberg, discusses Humphrey Bogart.
July 25, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 15, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 19, 1966
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for “Swanson and the houses in Esquire – fabulous.”
August 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 25, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September ?, 1966
Receives a letter from an editor inquiring about her memoirs.
September 10, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 16, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 27, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 30, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 15, 1966
Writes to Herman G. Weinberg, discusses Humphrey Bogart.
October 22, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 24, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 13, 1966
Receives 10 pm phone call from heiress and socialite Nancy “Trink” Deere Wiman Wakeman Gardiner, whom Brooks “knew well” during the years 1929-1931.
November 15, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 18, 1966
Phones the Theater Division of New York Public Library asking for production stills from the plays of Dwight Deere Wiman.
November 26, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 1966
Richard Whitehall’s article, “The flapper, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks and the flaming youth of the Twenties,” appears in Cinema.
December 5, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 16, 1966
Writes a note to friend Don Smith, “Thank you for the loveliest postcard I ever received. I shall paste it round a strip of cardboard to make a bookmark – and since the only time I do not have a book in my hand is when I am typing – you will not be forgotten.”
December 25, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
Winter 1966
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” published in the Winter 1966 – 1967 issue of Sight and Sound.
January 3, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 12, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 14, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 23, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 25, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 29, 1967
Eastman House screens Love and Leave Them (sic) at 2:30 pm.
February 1, 1967
French translation of Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” published in Positif.
February 10, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 11, 1967
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 13, 1967
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith stating “Don – did I dream it – ? or did you phone me Sat., a week ago, saying you were sending me two Sight & Sounds?”
February 15, 1967
Reading Ethel Merman’s Who Could Ask for Anything More? (1955).
February 16, 1967
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for copies of Sight & Sound magazine. She also notes she got a Buster Keaton postcard, and asked where one could get them.
February 20, 1967
Writes a letter to John Hampton asking, at Kevin Brownlow’s suggestion, if he has any stills from It’s the Old Army Game, explaining that she is working on an article on the film.
sometime between March 1-11, 1967
Goes to see Hello, Dolly! at the Auditorium in Rochester; meets star Carol Channing backstage. [The musical, which ran Feb. 28 through March 11, was one of the hottest tickets in Rochester in some time.]
March 6, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 10, 1967
Writes brief note to John Hampton regarding an exchange of film stills.
March 27, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion stating she gave up sex in 1958. “But right up to my retirement from sex in 1958, I always had some pretty lesbians on a string — flattering and fun. So if I am known as a lesbian it is my own doing, and I don’t mind, I like it.”
April 4, 1967
ABC affiliate WOKR Channel 13 broadcasts Overland Stage Raiders in Rochester.
April 27, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 10, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, which states she has “fallen in love with Stroheim — as a person now.”
May 19, 1967
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater detailing the many film stills she has sent him.
May 31, 1967
Types her filmography and send it to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater in Hollywood.
June 5, 1967
Speaks on the phone with Herman Weinberg regarding Erich von Stroheim.
June 17, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
June 13, 1967
Writes a note to John Hampton regarding film stills and details of her filmography.
June 18, 1967
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater discussing various movie stills, including one from A Girl in Every Port. “It was seeing me in this film which made Mr Pabst decide I must play Lulu.” Brooks also discusses Herman Weinberg, and says that Hampton would be hearing from Denis Marion, who might be able to assist with getting prints of Brooks’ European films.
June 21, 1967
Send a telegram to John Hampton.
June 22, 1967
Send a handwritten note to John Hampton mentioning that the telegram might not get through, and that she would be sending money to have her stilled copied.
June 23, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 27, 1967
Send a letter to John Hampton discussing their exchange of film stills.
July 11, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 22, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
July 29, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
August 4, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 18, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 22, 1967
Reading Stuart N. Lake’s biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshall (1931).
August 23, 1967
Types a note to friend Don Smith, “When I found out that Bill Everson was really on the level, that he was coming up on the weekend of 11 September to show films for me, I came to my senses. Nobody could do this for me for nothing, so I called off the whole deal at once.”
September 1, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
September 5, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 19, 1967
Writes a letter to Patricia Calvert.
September 28, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 1967
José Pierre’s article about Brooks, “Ursula et la boîte de Pandore,” appears in the French publication L’Archibras (a surrealist affiliated publication).
October 25, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 27, 1967
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his children’s book, Pocahontas in London, which she praises (“Your Pocahontas captures the same mysteriousness that sets a child’s imagination free”) and recalling some of the children’s books she had as a child, Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, Alice in Wonderland, A Child’s Garden of Verses, Oliver Twist, Little Women, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, and Mother Goose.
October 30, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 8, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 13, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, “Tomorrow I shall be 61, knowing no more about myself or why I do anything then I did at 6. Except this — all my life I have been a learner. That is why I write. As Dylan Thomas put it… “My poetry is the record of my struggles from darkness to some measure of light.”
December 17, 1967
Writes a letter to Don Smith reporting she had received a letter from Jan Wahl who wrote that he had befriended Asta Nielsen. Brooks also wrote of the forthcoming publication of her piece “On Location with Billy Wellman” in London Magazine. About it she writes, “At last I have found a mold to hold my peculiar blend of autobiography, film history and truth. “Location” tell how I lost my high standing and self-respect in Hollywood by going to bed with my double who the next day asked me before the whol company whether I had syphilis.”
dates unknown 1968
Corresponds with screenwriter Fitzroy Davis, film historian William Everson, and film critic Pauline Kael.
January 16, 1968
Writes “An Investigation into the Motives of John Besford, ‘Fan’.”
January 20, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 2, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 10, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 21, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 1, 1968
Brooks “On Location with Billy Wellman” published in French in the March issue of Positif.
March 15, 1968
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
March 25, 1968
Toronto Film Society published Brooks’ program notes for “The White Hell of Pitz Palu.”
March 28, 1968
Receives mail from Kevin Brownlow that includes his essay “The Man with the Movie Camera.”
April 2, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 13, 1968
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Brooks mentions that she is reading a “great book,” The Making of Charles Dickens by Christopher Hibbert.
April 29, 1968
Henry Clune’s column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle mentions Brooks.
May 1, 1968
Brooks “On Location with Billy Wellman” published in the May issue of London Magazine.
May 8, 1968
Writes a letter to James Price of Secker & Warburg, an English publisher.
May 23, 1968
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater mentioning that she has stills from her two G.W. Pabst films, about whom she writes “Also I have another objection to lending my stills for copies. They are used to make Mr Pabst a Nazi. Mr Pabst was a Socialist who detested Hitler and gave most of the Jews who now revile him their first jobs.”
May 30, 1968
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater thanking him for the return of her film stills. Brooks mentions that in 1965 she wrote to Michael Pabst (son of G.W. Pabst) asking the director for stills. Brooks also suggest that around 1927 she had a “sweet great dane–BUZZY.”
Spring 1968
Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By is published by Secker & Warburg; the book contains a dedication to Brooks.
July 4, 1968
Visits composer David Diamond at his Rochester home.
July 16, 1967
The Canary Murder Case shows on television on Channel 32 (WFLD – UHF) in Munster, Indiana.
September 7, 1968
Writes a letter to CBC broadcaster Clyde Gilmore of the Toronto Telegram.
September 14, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 16, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 4, 1968
The Cinematheque canadienne in Montreal begins its season with a screening of Pandora’s Box, inaugurating a 17-film G.W. Pabst Retrospective.
October 15, 1968
Syndicated columnist Norton Mockridge writes, “Silent screen star Louise Brooks got a letter the other day from a friend visiting London who wrote, in part: ‘Just walked down a street that reminded me of you — Old Broad St.”
October 16, 1968
The Cinematheque canadienne in Montreal shows Pandora’s Box for the second time, as part of its G.W. Pabst Retrospective.
October 19, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 24, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 25, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 30, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 1968
Charles Jameux’s article about Brooks, “Genie de Louise Brooks,” appears in the French publication Positif.
November 14, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 15, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 16, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 17, 1968
Brooks is quoted in the Democrat and Chronicle, “I can’t sit and watch TV all the time; I’d go insane. But I read and read and read; and I write; and I listen to the radio…”.
December 8, 1968
In his New York Times review of Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Arthur Mayer quotes Brooks, “The luscious Louise Brooks claims that she learned to act by ‘watching Martha Graham dance’ and ‘learned to move in film from watching Chaplin’.”
December 15, 1968
In his review of Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Richard L. Coe of the Washington Post writes, “Reading between the lines, one gleans Brownlow got vital encouragement from Louise Brooks, now living in happy retirement in Rochester.”
January 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 19, 1969
In his review of Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Bernard Drew of the Gannett News Service writes, “From seclusion and retirement in Rochester, N.Y. came the candid and astringent thoughts of Louise Brooks, and actress who was not really a star in the Twenties, known at the time primarily for her looks, but who has been acclaimed one by the new generation of cultists who have made a study of her films. According to the dedication, Miss Brooks was instrumental in the publication of Brownlow’s book.”
January 24, 1969
Writes a letter to James Rolick, a student journalist, which is published in the Blue Banner (the student newspaper of Onondaga Community College), on February 14, 1969.
January 31, 1969
Following a Marilyn Monroe film, Pandora’s Box is shown at the National Library in Ottawa, Canada. The Brooks’ film is part of a series devoted to Pabst sponsored by the National Film Theater.
February 7, 1969
Following a Marilyn Monroe film, Diary of a Lost Girl is shown at the National Library in Ottawa, Canada. The Brooks’ film is part of a series devoted to Pabst sponsored by the National Film Theater.
February 14, 1969
The Blue Banner (the student newspaper of Onondaga Community College) publishes Brooks’ letter to student journalist James Rolick, along with a long profile of the actress which included pictures sent to Rolick by Brooks.
February 22, 1969
S.J. Perelman’s story, “She Walk in Beauty — Single Files, Eyes Front, and No Hanky Panky,” which alludes to Brooks, appears in the New Yorker.
March 4, 1969
Visits her lawyer and makes her will. That same day, a librarian friend sends her a copy of the February 22 issue of the New Yorker. Afterwords, Brooks writes a letter to Perelman.
March 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 21, 1969
Watches Hollywood: The Selznick Years on television.
April 10, 1969
S.J. Perelman writes to Brooks.
April 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending her his new book, May Horses. Brooks also mentions that Kevin Brownlow had sent her a copy of a Sewell Stokes’ Isadora: An Intimate Portrait. “It is the best book I have ever read about an actress. Like she is.” Brooks says that she has stopped writing film articles, and now watches films, naming Ingmar Bergman’s Shame (1968). “Surely Bergman is the greatest director in the world today.”
April 28, 1969
Writes a letter to Patrice Hovald, which is published in L’Alsace on July 17, 1969.
April 29, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 9, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 15, 1969
In a review of the film version of Laughter in the Dark in the Village Voice, critic Andrew Sarris writes “At one time my impossible dream cast for Laughter in the Dark consisted on Emil Jannings as the collector, Conrad Veidt as the poltergeist, and Louise Brooks as the temptress.”
June 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 16, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 8, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 10, 1969
Correspondence with the French writer Denis Marion ends.
July 17, 1969
Brooks’ answers to a biographical questionnaire are published in L’Alsace.
August 9, 1969
George Marshall dies.
sometime between Aug. 10 – Sept. 5, 1969
Sees The Loves of Isadora at the Little Theater sometime during its near month long run. Brooks thinks highly of the film.
August 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 10, 1969
Writes a letter to the former Denishawn dancer Jane Sherman.
September 18, 1969
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
October 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 25, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
Date unknown / November-December, 1969
Garald Pratley interviews Brooks in her Rochester apartment.
November 26, 1969
Jess L. Hoaglin’s article, “Where are they today?,” appears in the Hollywood Reporter.
1970
A two page chapter on Brooks appears in Richard Lamparski’s Whatever Became of . . . ? (New York: Crown Publishers).
February 5, 1970
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 2, 1970
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 25, 1970
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 1970
Brooks is interviewed by the Czech filmmaker Jan Kadar?
November 1, 1970
Brooks is quoted in the Democrat and Chronicle regarding a film festival held in Rochester.
December 23, 1970
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
date unknown 1971
Corresponds with Allen Eyles.
1971
Two stills from Pandora’s Box and a page of text concerning Brooks and her two Pabst films are included in Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel The German Cinema (New York: Praeger Publishers). Also published in 1971 is Pandora’s Box (Lulu) (New York: Simon & Schuster), which contains the shooting script of the film (translation by Christopher Holme), cast listing and credits, as well as dozens of stills; brief introduction by Brooks, an article by the actress entitled “Pabst and Lulu,” and an essay by film writer Lotte H. Eisner entitled “Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks.”
1971
A short chapter on Brooks is included in Kalton Lahue’s book, Ladies in Distress (A. S. Barnes & Co.).
January 11, 1971
Writes a brief letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his new book, Wonderful Kite.
January 30, 1971
WROC Channel 8 broadcasts Overland Stage Raiders in Rochester.
March 1, 1971
Brooks “The Other Face of W. C. Fields” published in French translation as “l’autre visage de w.c. fields” in Positif.
March 12, 1971
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
May 7, 1971
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
Spring 1971
Brooks “The Other Face of W. C. Fields” published in the Spring issue of Sight and Sound.
Spring 1971
E.P. Dutton publishes Bob Harman’s Hollywood Panorama, which includes a caricature of Brooks.
July 7, 1971
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 12, 1971
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 3, 1971
Writes brief essay “The Garbo Mystery.”
August 18, 1971
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
August 31, 1971
Reading Henry James’ The Spoils of Poynton; writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 3, 1971
Older brother Martin dies in San Carlos, California.
October 8, 1971
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
November 30, 1971
At 8:10 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBM-AM) airs “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 4, 1971
At 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBO-FM in Ottawa, Canada) rebroadcasts “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 8, 1971
At 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBO-FM in Ottawa, Canada) rebroadcasts Gerald Pratley’s “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 9, 1971
At 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBO-FM in Ottawa, Canada) rebroadcasts Gerald Pratley’s “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 29, 1971
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
dates unknown 1972
Corresponds with Fritzi Streibel, wife of Dixie Dugan artist John H. Streibel.
Febuary 1, 1972
Brooks’ “Actors and the Pabst Spirit” published in Focus on Film.
Febuary 23, 1972
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article, “It Must Be Charlie,” which notes that due to a “lame hip,” Brooks declines invitation from David Rockefeller to serve on Salute to Chaplin Committee.
March 7, 1972
Syndicated columnist Leonard Lyons writes, “Former silent screen star Louise Brooks is writing an article entitled ‘The Comedy of the Garbo Mystery’.”
March 12, 1972
Bernard Drew of the Gannett News Service profiles Liza Minnelli, who writes, “I told her that I thought she’s looked like Kay Francis in Cabaret, and she said
‘My father found a picture which showed I looked exactly like Louise Brooks’.”
June 1, 1972
Writes a brief note to Gerald Pratley asking he bring 1 tin of loose English tea and 1 pound Canadian cheddar cheese.
June 29, 1972
Pandora’s Box is shown on BBC Two as part of the World Cinema series, with music for this presentation selected by Carey Blyton.
July 16, 1972
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features an Alfred Hitchcock interview.
August 18, 1972
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 1972
Read Brendan Gill’s profile of Tallulah Bankhead in the New Yorker.
November 1, 1972
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
November 5, 1972
Upstate magazine publishes a lengthy profile of Brooks.
November 10, 1972
Anita Loos visits Rochester’s Public Library for an event to promote her book with Helen Hayes. That same day, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a profile of Loos, who is quoted, “Miss Loos mentioned that she has a long-time friend in Rochester, Louise Brooks, film actress in the days that Miss Loos worked in Hollywood–the era she writes about in her forthcoming book.”
December 3, 1972
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a critical letter-to-the-editor about Brooks.
date unknown 1973
Corresponds with documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock.
January 28, 1973
Norman K. Dorn’s article about Brooks, “Tales of love and death,” appears in the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle.
March 18, 1973
Records recipe for “Brooks’ cookies” in her notebooks.
April 1, 1973
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features Leni Riefenstahl.
May 14, 1973
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 25, 1973
Receives a telephone call from Fred Lawrence Guiles, who asks about writing Brooks’ biography.
May 31, 1973
Richard Coe of the Washington Post profiles Anita Loos, who writes, “Rochester’s Louise Brooks, a silent screen siren now a deity of cinematologists, recalls meeting Anita Loos after making a movie test for Blonde’s Dorothy: ‘Anita told me: ‘Louise, if I ever write a part for a cigar store Indian, you’ll get it’.”
June 25, 1973
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
September 10, 1973
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
September 21, 1973
Pandora’s Box screens at the New York Cultural Center in NYC.
September 30, 1973
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features Ken Russell.
October 15, 1973
Kaj Wickbom’s article about Brooks, “Den bortglomda Louise Brooks” (“The Forgotten Louise Brooks”), appears in a Swedish newspaper.
December 31, 1973
Brooks’ first husband, Eddie Sutherland, dies at age 78 in Palm Springs, California.
dates unknown 1974
Corresponds with film historian George Pratt.
January 14, 1974
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 31, 1974
Writes a letter to filmmaker Ricky Leacock.
February 11, 1974
Writes a letter to Dr. Ludwig Gesek of the Austrian Society for Film Sciences.
Feb. 28, 1974
Watches her brother Theo on the NBC news program Behind the Lines; the episode also featured “energy Czar” William Simon.
March 19, 1974
Writes a letter to filmmaker Ricky Leacock.
March 27, 1974
Agrees to a filmed interview with documentarians Richard Leacock and Susan Woll, resulting in Lulu in Berlin.
March 9, 1974
Pandora’s Box shows at the Cornell Cinema (Uris) in Ithaca, New York.
March 19, 1974
Writes a letter to filmmaker Ricky Leacock.
April 16, 1974
An article in the Los Angeles Times about Henri Langlois quotes the film archivist as saying he is looking for the silent version of The Canary Murder Case.
June 27, 1974
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
July 1974
An illustrated filmography of Brooks appears in Film Dope; Brooks also appears on the cover.
July 26, 1974
Prix de beaute is shown at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco as part of Art Deco Film Festival. Kenneth Anger is in attendance.
August 10, 1974
Don Granger’s “Talk of the Town” column in the Wichita Eagle concerns Brooks.
October 1974
Jess L Hoaglin’s short article about Brooks appears in Hollywood Studio Magazine.
October 1, 1974
Brooks’ “Marion Davies’ Niece” is published in Film Culture.
October 7, 1974
Roddy McDowell telephones asking what Brooks thinks of his role on the Planet of the Apes television series.
October 9, 1974
An article about Brooks, “La magie de Louise,” appears in the Belgian publication Stars & Cinema.
October 14, 1974
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 29, 1974
Pandora’s Box screens at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
October 31, 1974
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 5, 1975
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article, “The city’s legacy to cinema: Technology and many stars,” noting “On the silver screen: Louise Brooks–the star of Pandora’s Box and Tagebucheiner Verlonen, films of the German director G.W. Pabst; she was the model for Dixie Dugan. She now calls Goodman Street her home.”
January 13, 1975
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg. On this day, the Toronto Film Society screens Love Em and Leave Em and publishes Brooks’ related program notes “Stardom and Evelyn Brent.” Brooks also appears on the cover of the Season 27 program.
January 25, 1975
Writes to film historian Peter Cowie.
Febuary 1975
Quits drinking.
February 14, 1975
Pandora’s Box screens at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
February 25, 1975
Bernard Drew publishes an article the White Plains Journal News titled, “Louise Brooks now legend.”
April 9, 1975
Eastman House screens A Girl in Every Port at 8:00 pm at the Dryden Theater.
May, 1975
G. Pratley’s article, “Louise Brooks,” appears in Film.
May 8, 1975
Jess L. Hoaglin’s article, “Wherever is ….?,” appears in the Hollywood Independent.
July 16, 1975
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
July 23, 1975
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 1, 1975
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 30, 1975
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 16, 1975
Writes a Christmas greeting to friend Don Smith, stating “I did 2 TV interviews – one for West Germany Public TV – one for Canadian Broadcasting – on Pabst and Lulu – maybe they will buy them for the States.”
1976
Brooks’ “Duke by Divine Right” is published in John Wayne (A.S. Barnes & Co.), by Allen Eyles.
January 7, 1976
Writes a letter to the Italian comix artist Guido Crepax.
February 11, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 12, 1976
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
May 3, 1976
Writes a letter to the Italian graphic novelist Guido Crepax.
July 27, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 10, 1976
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
August 30, 1976
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
September 2, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 25, 1976
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
November 27 & 28, 1976
Overland Stage Raiders shows on television in upstate New York.
December 15, 1976
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
December 17, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg. Also writes a letter to friend Don Smith complaining about her disabling arthritis and mentioning she had seen a doctor, who suggested hip replacement surgery, which she declined to have because she still suffered from arthritic knees. Also mentioned that Christopher Isherwood had telephoned her and noted that he was coming to the Eastman House to see Diary of a Lost Girl. Isherwood also told Brooks that he was sending her his new book, Christopher and His Kind. Brooks adds, “From Gore Vidal’s review I gather they are beating the drum for Gay Lib – which will set it back years.”
dates unknown 1977
Corresponds with film historian John Kobal, and German born publicist Lothar Wolff.
1977
In France, Editions Phebus publishes the first book on the actress, Louise Brooks Portrait d’une anti-star, edited by Roland Jaccard.
January 8, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 16, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 19, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
January 21, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
February 8, 1977
Brooks is visited by writer Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Barchardy, who makes three drawings of Brooks. Isherwood tells Bachardy “She’s much the most intelligent actress I’ve ever met.”
March 10, 1977
Writes a letter to Tom Dardis, who is writing a biography on Buster Keaton. “I think Buster was crazy like a character half Dickens – half Evelyn Waugh.” Brooks mentions she is re-reading his Some Time in the Sun, and notes she is looking forward to Dardis’ March 21 visit, saying “I hope you got more nourishing stuff out of me on Keaton and Schenk than I got out of Ish-Ish on Auden and Vidal.”
March 13, 1977
Receives a telephone call from Don Bachardy.
March 21, 1977
Keaton biographer Tom Dardis visits Brooks in Rochester, who records six hours of conversation.
March 24, 1977
Types 2-page letter to Tom Dardis, recounting the time Buster Keaton and Louis Wolheim were playing bridge and Buster shut the porch door on Brooks because it was making a draft.” Brooks also recalled Keaton’s visit to Rochester in 1962, and that she was “shocked and betrayed by a Keaton destroyed and then invented again by his cult and the lugubrious tales of journalists weeping over genius destroyed by heartless Hollywood.” Reflecting, seemingly, on Dardis’ visit, Brooks writes, “In 1956 when I made what seems to be my last effort to run away from the world, I did not know that I would have ‘no one to talk to’ after I stopped seeing James Card in 1962. I did not know that books and reflection unexposed to the light of other cleverer minds remained a mess in my little pointed head. Above all I never appreciated how lucky I was to have been able to get drunk with the cleverest minds in the world (even if I never heard Bob Benchley say anything funny.)”
March 25, 1977
Writes 7-page letter to Tom Dardis containing notes on Buster Keaton and Joe Schenck and commenting on various books and articles. Regarding Keaton, Brooks recounted, “One night at Arrowhead Springs (1939) I watched him dance the rumba (and damned good) for 2 hours with Sonia Henje who would not have wasted a wiggle of her ass on a man who didn’t spell money.” Among the books Brooks comments on are Hollywood Rajah: The Life And Times Of Louis B. Mayer by Bosley Crowther, From Under My Hat by Hedda Hopper, Anti-Trust in the Motion Picture Industry by Michael Conant, Movie Made America by Robert Sklar, Sunshine and Shadows by Mary Pickford, and Memo from David O Selznick.
March 30, 1977
Writes 3-page letter to Tom Dardis commenting on J. Edgar Hoover (“everybody knew that Hoover was a fag, but we couldn’t figure out how he satisfied his sexual tastes”) and James Card. Signs the letter “Joan Crawford”. Writes a second letter to Dardis, 2-pages in length discussing Joe Schenck. Among Brooks’ current reading are Gentleman Jimmy Walker, Mayor of the Jazz Age by George Walsh, Dancing in the Dark by Howard Dietz, John Edgar Hoover by Hank Messick, and the 1970 Film Daily Yearbook (“the most valuable film book I possess”).
April 2, 1977
Dika Newlin’s article, “Out of Pandora’s Box: How a Ziegfeld girl starred in a silent film of Lulu,” appears in Opera News as part of an all-Lulu issue.
April 4, 1977
Writes 6-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Irving Hoffman, John Gilbert, and others. Brooks names Garbo’s girlfriends as Fifi D’orsay, Lilyan Tashman, and Mercedes de Acosta. And states, “Gish went into detail with me about all the wrong decisions she has made which ended her MGM contract.”
April 6, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
April 9, 1977
Writes 4-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing the Talmadge family and William Collier Jr. “The Talmadge women were the most natural comfortable people I ever knew. Connie may have suffered briefly with English royality fever but she remained naturally delightful, Natalie was a very comfortable lump; Norma curled up in a chair was very comfortably bored (even with Gilbert R.) and Peg – old Buddha – was kept comfortable as she eyed the scene, by her attractive daughters. . . . Collier: when I met him in New York in 1926 he was still in love with Connie. We would go to parties with her and receive equal charming attention. In early 1928, after I left Eddie S. Connie gave him the okay to fall in love with me. Therefore he was brutally wounded and never forgave me when I obeyed Marshall’s orders to quit Paramount and go to Berlin to remake Lulu. (In spite of which he took care of my Lincoln town car and other domestic affairs while I was gone 2 years. Proving himself a more than decent man.”
April 20, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Lotte Eisner and Nathanael West. “Nathanael West scares me to death. I gave up on Lonelyhearts. Locust I read in patches.” Brooks also mentioned that she had received five telephoine calls from Rome relating to a short TV interview with RAI for a documentary on Guido Crepax.
April 23, 1977
Prix de beaute is shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in a series co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque.
April 27, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
May 3, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
May 12, 1977
Brooks is visited by Kevin Brownlow and Bessie Love at her Rochester apartment. Brownlow and David Gill film their interview.
May 13, 15 and 20, 1977
Pandora’s Box shows on television in upstate New York.
May 31, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis mentioning George Pratt, Kevin Brownlow and Bessie Love. Brooks also states that she never saw Just Another Blonde.
July 11, 1977
Writes “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs.”
July 29, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 1, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 15, 1977
Writes 3-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Garbo and the plot to destroy her career.
August 20, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 23, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
September 2, 1977
Writes a short essay, “Acting Out.”
September 19, 1977
Writes a letter to Ricky Leacock.
October 6, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 6, 1977
It’s the Old Army Game is shown at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, in a series sponsored by
the Film Society.
October 8, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 10, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 12, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 19, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Edmund Goulding and Gloria Swanson, and notes that Kevin Brownlow described her as an “insider-outsider because although I lived among the most powerful people in Hollywood, I did not care about movies and had no need to invent a star making character.” Brooks says Andrew Field’s book on Nabokov is “grand,” and that she would have liked to have snuck into the back of his classes to hear Nabby lecture.
October 24, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 26, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis regarding sex and work. Mentions she is reading The Loving Friends: A Portrait of Bloomsbury, by David Gadd.
October 28, 1977
Mails Roddy McDowell portraits of Buster Keaton to Tom Dardis.
November 1, 1977
Writes a letter to Tom Dardis concerning collaboration on her memoirs, mentioning she had turned down Gerald Pratley and Fred Guiles, and was wondering about UK author Stephen Finn.
November 9, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
November 10, 1977
Mails a copy of Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star to Tom Dardis.
November 11, 1977
Writes a note to Tom Dardis mentioning that Bill Cuseo is sending her books to read, including Dream Power, by Ann Faraday.
November 14, 1977
On her birthday, writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis regarding Charles Chaplin, and her molestation at the age of nine years old.
November 19, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
November 21, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 1977
Bernard Drew’s syndicated article on Looking for Mr. Goodbar mentions Brooks’ role as Lulu in Pandora’s Box.
December 1, 1977
Brooks’ “Pourquoi je n’ecrirai jamais mes memoires” (“Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs”) published in the December, 1977 / January, 1978 issue of Positif.
December 6, 1977
Writes a note to Tom Dardis.
December 14, 1977
Writes a note to Tom Dardis, asking him to return the Roddy McDowell portraits of Buster Keaton and Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star.
December 1977
Send a Christmas card to friend Don Smith noting “there is a gorgeous picture book out – Editions Phebus – Paris Louise Brooks, Portrait d’une Anti-Star with my contributions of texts and photos.”
December 23 – 25, 1977
Pandora’s Box is shown on some PBS stations around the country.
December 25, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 25 & 27, 1977
Pandora’s Box shows on television in upstate New York.
November 28, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
dates unknown 1978
Corresponds with film historian John Kobal, and writers Kathleen Tynan and Kenneth Tynan.
February 4, 1978
Writes a handwritten Valentine letter to Gerald Pratley, which reads “It has been my habit to wait thirty years before declaring my love to my rare and remarkable friends, but time is running out and you are my only truly Funny Valentine.”
February 14, 1978
Pandora’s Box screens at the Goethe House in NYC.
February 20, 1978
Roddy McDowell telephones Louise Brooks.
February 22, 1978
Writes a note to Tom Dardis regarding use of Roddy McDowall’s photos of Buster Keaton.
February 27, 1978
Rejects Stephen Finn’s book proposal for a biography.
March 1978
Brooks’ “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs” is published in England in Focus on Film.
March 3, 1978
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis commenting on film biographies and saying she had agreed to let Kenneth Tynan do a piece on her for The New Yorker. Brooks also says says John Springer wants her to do a “sex memoir” for the “shifty paperbacks.” And that she had received a letter from biographer Charles Higham complimenting her on her performance as Lulu in Pandora’s Box. Brooks also comments that she thought Higham’s book on Marlene Dietrich was “dull.”
March 15, 1978
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
March 20, 1978
Writes a note to Tom Dardis, and states she thinks Gerald Pratley’s The Cinema of John Huston “the finest book on film direction that will ever be written.”
April 18, 1978
Writes letters to Herman G. Weinberg and Kevin Brownlow.
May 29, 1978
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 10, 1978
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
June 19, 1978
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
July 11, 1978
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 9, 1978
Columnist Liz Smith writes in the New York Daily News that Janus Films screens Pandora’s Box for actress Marthe Keller and her boyfriend Al Pacino (“and they loved it”); it is also reported Keller hopes to visit Brooks in Rochester before appearing in a remake of the aforementioned silent film.
September 19, 1978
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow. Also writes a brief letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his new book, Youth’s Magic Horn, which is dedicated to Brooks. (According to Wahl, Brooks loathed a story in the collection, “At the Crossing.”) She also mentions that she walks with a cane, due to arthritis.
October 11, 1978
Sends Kenneth Tynan a xerox of her December, 1958 essay on G.W. Pabst.
December 1, 1978
Jane Sherman’s letter to the editor mentioning Brooks and her time with Denishawn appears in the Poughkeepsie Journal.
December 14, 1978
After having been interviewed earlier in the week, Brooks is profiled in the Democrat and Chronicle; the piece is titled, “In my dreams . . . I dance.”
December 15, 1978
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box.
1979
Marshall Deutelbaum’s “Image” on the Art and Evolution of the Film (New York: Dover Publications) is published; the book contains “Mr. Pabst” by Brooks, and “Out of Pandora’s Box: Louise Brooks on G. W. Pabst” by James Card.
dates unknown 1979
Corresponds with New Yorker editor William Shawn, film editor Marc Sorkin, and Rochester journalist Henry Clune.
January 15, 1979
Writes a short, apologetic note to Don Bachardy. Mentions she is reading Jonathan Fryer’s 1977 book, Isherwood: A Biography of Christopher Isherwood.
February 28, 1979
Variety runs an article “Louise Brooks Ill, Will Skip Pabst Pic Screening in Paris.”
March 15, 1979
Gary Conklin’s Memories of Berlin is shown at Filmex in Los Angeles, as part of their series
German Cinema: The Golden Age.
March 21, 1979
Writes a letter to Ricky Leacock.
March 22, 1979
Writes a letter to Ricky Leacock.
April 2, 1979
Watches Meet the Press on television, with guest William S. Paley.
April 18, 1979
Writer Jim Watters and photographer Horst P. Horst visit Brooks in her Rochester apartment on assignment for LIFE magazine.
April 19, 1979
Brooks is quoted in an article in the Democrat and Chronicle titled “LIFE takes a look at our Miss Brooks.”
April 24, 1979
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
April 30, 1979
Writes a short, apologetic note to Don Bachardy.
May 23, 1979
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 2, 1979
Pandora’s Box is broadcast on Rochester television on channel 21.
June 11, 1979
Kenneth Tynan’s profile of Brooks, “The Girl in the Black Helmet,” appears in the New Yorker.
June 13, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 13, 1979
Variety runs a piece about the Tynan article, “Louise Brooks Profile Recalls U.S. Snubs, European Honors.”
June 14, 1979
Brooks is profiled in the Democrat and Chronicle in an article titled “Art inspires memories on Goodman St.” A second article the same day on the recent death of John Wayne quotes the actress.
July 8-12, 1979
A syndicated version of Kenneth Tynan’s New Yorker profile runs in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.
July 20, 1979
Brooks notes her living allowance as $455.00 per month.
July 25, 1979
Writes a letter to former lover James Mulcahy, mentioning their mutual friend Jimmy Glennon.
August 3, 1979
Send a letter to John Hampton discussing their exchange of film stills as well as her career, writing (Had I not run out of money I should never have returned to Hollywood after 1928.) I was a female James Dean who never learned to drive a car and get myself killed decently.” Brooks also writes that she received fan mail after appearing in The Street of Forgotten Men, a film she says she has never seen.
August 5, 1979
Visits the George Eastman House to see an exhibit of photography by Edward Steichen, which includes of portrait of herself.
August 7, 1979
The New York Times runs a short piece on Brooks visit to the George Eastman House to see an exhibit of photography by Edward Steichen. The newspaper notes, “Among the pictures was one of Louise Brooks as a young woman. ‘Looks like a ghost, doesn’t it?’ said the 72 year-old Brooks. The former actress, in a wheelchair because of an arthritic hip, was dressed in black. ‘Mourning my youth,’ she explained.”
August 8, 1979
Writes a note to Tom Dardis mentioning she received his Keaton book and approves, and that she has started writing her memoirs because of William Shawn’s urging. “My title is Escaping Alive, Bill Shawn’s Escaping with My Life.”
August 10, 1979
Channel 21 in Rochester, New York broadcasts Pandora’s Box.
August 25, 1979
Kenneth Tynan writes to Brooks.
August 28, 1979
Pandora’s Box is shown at the Nuart theater in Los Angeles as part of a double-bill with Charlie Chaplin’s
A Woman of Paris.
September 1979
American Cinematographer runs a review of Louise Brooks: portrait d’une anti-star.
September 9, 1979
Brooks is referenced in the Democrat and Chronicle in connection with her contribution to Marshall Deutelbaum’s IMAGE on the Art and Evolution of the Film.
September 10, 1979
Writes a letter to dance historian Jane Sherman, saying she believes she was omitted from accounts of Denishawn Dance Company.
September 13, 1979
Minneapolis Tribune runs an article on Brooks and a screening of Pandora’s Box, “Louise Brooks film at Walker makes Garbo inconsequential.”
September 17, 1979
Memoirs of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture is shown on WNET in New York City.
September 20, 1979
Writes letters to Robert Lantz and Ricky Leacock.
September 22, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 23, 1979
Pandora’s Box shows at the Cornell Cinema (Uris) in Ithaca, New York.
September 24, 1979
Writes a letter to William Shawn, editor of the New Yorker.
October 17 & October 21, 1979
Love Em and Leave Em is shown at the Silent Movie theater in Los Angeles.
October 22, 1979
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 30, 1979
Pandora’s Box is shown at the Goethe House in New York City.
November 1979
Homero Alsina Thevenet’s six page illustrated article, “Lulu Por Lulu,” appears in the Mexican publication, Imagenes.
November 8, 1979
Writes a short note to Richard Lamparski.
November 11, 1979
A version of Kenneth Tynan’s New Yorker profile, “Dream Woman of the Cinema: The Girl Who Was Lulu,” appears in the Observer Magazine, an English publication; Brooks also appears on the cover.
December 2, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 1979
Writes a Chistmas card to friend Don Smith saying she seldom watchs TV except for Fred Astaire, and notes that public TV will be running her 1974 conversation with Richard Leacock. “And you must look out, on whatever network, for Thames Television, Hollywood – The Pioneers. On episode 9, I talk about Clara Bow.” (Brooks is refering to the Kevin Brownlow documentary.)
December 29, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
dates unknown 1980
Corresponds with writer Kenneth Tynan.
February 1980
Brooks is featured in a Life magazine article, “Nine to Remember,” by James Watters.
February 1, 1980
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an excerpt from Kenneth Tynan’s Show People titled, “Book Ends: A star in the limelight again.”
February 3, 1980
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article about the Life magazine article which featured Brooks.
February 6, 1980
The Poughkeepsie Journal runs an article on Brooks, “Captivating silent film slated at Bardavon,” ahead of the February 20th screening of Pandora’s Box at Bardavon 1869 Opera House.
February 11, 1980
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow and Herman G. Weinberg.
February 13, 1980
Variety publishes an article, “Piece together original Pabst film of 1929 with Louise Brooks’ Lulu.”
March 4, 1980
The Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX) pays tribute to the George Eastman House with a series of screenings of film treasures from the GEH, including Diary of a Lost Girl.
March 31, 1980
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 14, 1980
Erte is quoted about Brooks (“She was very, very charming.”), and Brooks about Erte in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
June, 1980
Lucien Logette’s article on the lack of information on Brooks’ career, “Retour à Louise,” appears in the French publication Jeune Cinema; Brooks also appears on the cover.
July 9, 1980
Eastman House screens It’s the Old Army Game.
July 26, 1980
Kenneth Tynan dies at age 53.
July 28, 1980
Brooks interviewed by Jack Garner regarding the death of Kenneth Tynan.
August 24, 1980
Norman K. Dorn’s article, “Legendary Louise Brooks Couldn’t Unbuckle the Bible Belt,” appears in
the San Francisco Chronicle.
September 15, 1980
Brooks is interviewed by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle regarding Greta Garbo.
October 28, 1980
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl as part of a series “Unusual and Famous Films from Eastman House.”
October 30, 1980
Returns to her apartment after a week in the hospital after suffering a fall.
October 31, 1980
Eastman House screens Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em.
November 2, 1980
Brooks is profiled in the Democrat and Chronicle in connection with a film series at the Eastman House.
November 19, 1980
Eastman House screens Beggars of Life.
November 26, 1980
Ada Fan’s article, “Louise Brooks,” appears in the Rochester, New York magazine City Life.
December, 1980
Lucie Herrmann’s article, “Louise Brooks,” appears in the German publication Frauen & Film; later republished in Filmcritica in July, 1984.
December 1, 1980
Barthélémy Amengual’s article, “De Wedekind a Pabst,” appears in the French publication L’Avant-scène Cinema.
December 5, 1980
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box.
December 12, 1980
Eastman House screens A Girl in Every Port.
December 16, 1980
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article about Brooks titled “Brooks memoir coming to life.”
January 4, 1981
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 8, 1981
J. V. Cottom’s article, “Les Immortels du Cinema, Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une radieuse rebelle,” appears in the French publication Cine Revue.
Mar. 15 & Mar. 29, 1981
Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California presents “The American Films of Louise Brooks,” showing It’s the Old Army Game, Love Em and Leave Em, A Girl in Every Port, Beggars of Life, and Overland Stage Raiders.
March 21, 1981
Pandora’s Box is shown on BBC Two. The music for this presentation, which includes part of Alban Berg’s orchestral suite from his opera Lulu, was selected by Carey Blyton.
April 4, 1981
Writes a note to Tom Dardis.
April 8, 1981
Liz Smith’s gossip column notes, “Knopf’s biggie, Bob Gottlieb, and agent Robbie Lantz have concluded a deal for publication of a book titled Lulu in Hollywood by the silent screen great Louise Brooks. It will include a selection of the retired Miss Brooks pieces on film and movie names. William Shawn of The New Yorker is editing the work and writing the introduction. This one will be for film buffs all over the world.”
April 15, 1981
The Carnegie Hall Cinema in New York City screens Pandora’s Box as half of a double bill with
Threepenny Opera.
May 5, 1981
New York Daily News gossip columnist Suzy writes, “Sultry brunette Louise Brooks, the hottest thing in silent films and a champion heart-breaker, will call her memoirs Lulu in Hollywood. She made the money deal with Knopf. A lot of famous men have kept up with Louise through the years. I’d love to know if the one I’m thinking of still does. Maybe I’ll ask him some time.”
May 6, 1981
Writes a short note to Richard Lamparski.
July, 1981
Kenneth Tynan’s Show People is published in paperback.
September 1981
Anita Loos’ article about Brooks, “Greatest Actress in Moving Pictures,” appears in Vogue.
September 9, 1981
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle publishes an article, “Louise Brooks is no fan of Loos article.”
September 28, 1981
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
November 14, 1981
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
November 22, 1981
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle publishes an article about Lulu in Hollywood mentioning that the cover art for the book was sent to Brooks from a fan in Hungary.
dates unknown 1982
Corresponds with film agent Robert Lantz; last correspondence with Peter Cowie. During the year, also receives a letter from Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper.
January 7, 1982
Writes a brief note to former lover James Mulcahy asking if he is well.
February 7, 1982
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle publishes an article on Henry Clune mentioning Brooks’ letters to the Rochester columnist.
February 12, 1982
Writes a note to former lover James Mulcahy.
February 26 – June 14, 1982
Images of Brooks are included in an George Pratt curated exhibit, “Faces and Fabrics / Feathers and Furs,” at the Eastman House.
March 16, 1982
Democrat and Chronicle film critic Jack Garner gives a talk about Lulu in Hollywood at the Rochester Public Library as part of their Books Sandwiched-In series.
March 19-20, 1982
The first half of a four-day Louise Brooks Retrospective takes place at the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Foundation in Queens, New York.
March 26-27, 1982
The second half of a four-day Louise Brooks Retrospective takes place at the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Foundation in Queens, New York.
March 28, 1982
Upstate magazine runs a long piece, “Portraits from Memory,” by Jack Garner on Lulu in Hollywood.
May 1, 1982
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” published in Vogue as “The movie face of the twenties: Louise Brooks writes about Humphrey and Bogart.”
May 1982
In the United States, Knopf publishes Lulu in Hollywood, a collection of autobiographical essays by Brooks. The book is widely reviewed.
May 8, 1982
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 21, 1982
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports Lulu in Hollywood has arrived in local bookstores.
June 1982
The first part of Lawrence J. Quirk’s two part critique of Lulu in Hollywood appears in Quirks Reviews.
June 11, 1982
Joan Rivers’ review of Lulu in Hollywood appears in The Hollywood Reporter.
June 14, 1982
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” excerpted in the New York Post as “The Transformation of Bogey.”
June 15, 1982
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” excerpted in the New York Post as “Bogey – ‘My Gun is Bigger than Yours’.”
June 16, 1982
Brooks’ “The Other Face of W. C. Fields” published in the New York Post as “The Lonely, Boozy Agony of Funnyman W.C. Fields.”
June 18, 1982
Brooks’ “Marion Davies’ Niece” published in the New York Post as “At San Simeon with Hearst & His Marion.”
July 15, 1982
Paul Vaughan reviews Lulu on Hollywood on “Kaleidoscope” on BBC Radio 4.
July 25, 1982
Don Granger’s article, “Silent Movie Star Bitterly Recalls Last Wichita Stay,” appears in the Wichita Eagle-Beacon.
August 1982
The second part of Lawrence J. Quirk’s two part critique of Lulu in Hollywood appears in Quirks Reviews.
August 1, 1982
Memories of Berlin and Cabaret screen together at the Thalia theater in New York City. The New York Daily News notes in a July 30 article that Liza Minelli’s appearance in Cabaret resembles Brooks, while Brooks herself can be seen in Memories of Berlin.
Fall 1982
Charles Cagle’s article, “Louise Brooks and the Road to Oz,” appears in The Little Balkans Review, a Southeast Kansas literary quarterly; Brooks also appears on the cover.
September 5, 1982
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article mentioning Brooks, “Seven Women to be honored for their contribution to film,” about an upcoming award ceremony at the George Eastman House.
September 18, 1982
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
September 19, 1982
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that Brooks was disturbed by a local jazz musician, practicing their drums outside near Brooks’ apartment. The musician was escorted to Brooks apartment, and spoke with the bed-ridden former actress. The musician took her drum kit indoors, and the next day received a phone call from Brooks.
October, 1982
William Rothman’s article, “Our Miss Brooks,” appears in American Film.
October 21, 1982
Sara Laschever’s review of Lulu in Hollywood, “Pandora’s Box,” appears in the New York Review of Books.
October 24, 1982
Empty Saddles is shown as part of Movie Mania Days at the New York Sheraton in New York City.
November 3, 1982
Brooks is profiled by Jack Garner in the Democrat and Chronicle, “A national honor for a neighbor,” ahead of the Festival of Film Artists honor, of which she commented “I’m very proud and pleased to be receiving the George Eastman Award.”
November 5, 1982
Reportedly spends the afternoon with Tom Graves, a journalist who hopes to write Brooks’ biography. Due to ill-health, Brooks does not attend the 1982 Festival of Film Artists honoring seven Hollywood actresses at the Eastman House. One of the actresses, Luise Rainer, is escorted by Jack Gardner to Brooks’ apartment.
November 6, 1982
Democrat and Chronicle runs front page coverage of the previous night’s Festival of Film Artists.
November 12, 1982
Writes a brief note to John Kobal.
December 5, 1982
Brooks is quoted in “Books that gave me pleasure” in the New York Times Book Review.
dates unknown 1983
Corresponds with film agent Robert Lantz, documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock, Fraser Macdonald of the Toronto Film Society, writer Kathleen Tynan, film historian Herman Weinberg, and the French writer Katherine Pancol.
January 3, 1983
David Chute’s article, “The real Louise Brooks unreels tonight in a film retrospective,” appears in the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner; a similar article by David Thomas appears in the Los Angeles Times.
January 10, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 15, 1983
Pandora’s Box shows at the Collective for Living Cinema in New York City.
January 16, 1983
Writes a letter to Professor Charles Cagle, reminiscing about her time growing up in Kansas.
February 1983
John Roberts’ article, “Louise Brooks” appears in Classic Images.
February 3, 1983 – March 27, 1983
An image of Brooks is included in “The Hollywood Portrait Photographers 1921-1941” in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Brooks is also quoted in the brochure, “When you think of it, what people remember of those stars is not from films but one essential photograph.”
February 6, 1983
Rochester radio personality William Klein brings comedian Joan Rivers to Brooks’ apartment, where they talk and enjoy croissants from the Strathallan hotel.
February 20, 1983
According to an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Roddy McDowell wrote to Brooks a few days earlier to tell her that Joan Rivers has been telling everyone in Hollywood how thrilled she was to meet Louise.
March 13, 1983
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle profiles film publicist John Springer, and includes a long sidebar, “Louise Brooks Rediscovered,” recounting Springer’s relationship with Brooks.
March 21, 1983
Brooks reports having received a phone call from director Robert Towne, and that they talked for more than an hour.
March 22, 1983
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box along with Earth Spirit (1923), as part of a series “German Cinema: Expressionism, Theatricality, Realism and Rebirth.”
March 23, 1983
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl, as part of a series “German Cinema: Expressionism, Theatricality, Realism and Rebirth.”
April 1983
American Film magazine carries a quarter-page advertisement for the Motion Picture Gallery which mentions the offer of 24×32 color poster depicting Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl at the cost of $50.
April 1983
The first part of Wayne Schutz’s three-part article, “Louise Brooks: A Magical Presence,” appears in
Classic Images.
April 4, 1983
Brooks is interviewed regarding Gloria Swanson by Jack Gardner.
April 5, 1983
Brooks is quoted regarding Gloria Swanson in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
April 23, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 1983
The second part of Wayne Schutz’s three-part article, “Louise Brooks: A Magical Presence,” appears in Classic Images.
May 28, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
Spring 1983
David Thompson’s “The Actress Taking the Part of Lulu” appears in Threepenny Review.
June 18, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 19, 1983
Brooks is quoted regarding Norma Shearer in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Summer 1983
Donald McNamara’s article, “A Conversation with Louise Brooks,” appears in the literary journal, Missouri Review.
June 26, 1983
Prix de Beaute starts a three week run at Film Forum in New York City. Also shown is Richard Leacock’s 23 documentary. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article on Brooks, “The revival rolls on.”
July-October, 1983
Thomas Elsaesser’s landmark article, “Lulu and the meter man,” appears in the English publication Screen.
July 18, 1983
Pandora’s Box shows at the Cornell Cinema (Uris) in Ithaca, New York.
July 29, 1983
The first part of Jan Wahl’s two part article, “Louise Brooks: Rising Star, Falling Star,” appears in Movie & Film Collector’s World.
August 5, 1983
The second part of Jan Wahl’s two part article, “Louise Brooks: Rising Star, Falling Star,” appears in Movie & Film Collector’s World.
September 16, 1983
Chris Chase’s article, “At the Movies: Pandora Star delighted that Lulu’s back,” appears in the New York Times. The New York Daily News runs an article by David Hinkley titled “The saga of Louise Brooks.”
September 18, 1983
Restored versions of Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl begin a two week run at the Regency Theater in New York, after which the Kino International prints will move onto art houses in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Cleveland, according to a report in Variety.
October, 1983
An issue of the Italian publication, Glamour 10, is devoted to Brooks; it includes articles, photographs and a portfolio of cartoon drawings by various artists.
October 1983
The third part of Wayne Schutz’s three-part article, “Louise Brooks: A Magical Presence,” appears in Classic Images.
October 3, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 13, 1983
Jay Carr’s article, “The Legend of Louise Brooks,” appears in the Boston Globe.
October 15, 1983
Pandora’s Box is shown at the Collective for Living Cinema in New York City.
October 17, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 29, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 1983
François Ramasse’s article, “Abécédaire pour Louise Brooks,” appears in the French publication Positif.
dates unknown 1984
Corresponds with New Yorker editor William Shawn, and Rochester journalist Sebby Wilson Jacobson.
January 21-23, 1984
The Hartford Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut screens Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.
Febuary 15, 1984
Visiting actresses Peggy Cass and Susan Strasberg (on tour with Agnes of God) visit Brooks at her Rochester apartment.
March 6, 1984
Brooks is quoted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in an article about William Powell, who died the previous day.
March 27, 1984
The New York Daily News runs an article highlighting Ira Resnick’s purchase of a poster of Diary of a Lost Girl for $50,000.
April 1, 1984
Current Biography published a long profile of Brooks in its April 1984 issue.
April 22, 1984
Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl show at Film Forum in New York City.
April 25 – May 1, 1984
Rochester Little Theater starts one week run of Pandora’s Box.
May 2, 1984
Rochester Little Theater was scheduled to start a one week run of Diary of a Lost Girl, but the film is pulled due to a technical problem.
June 1984
American Film magazine publishes Veronica Geng’s “Lulu in Washington,” a parody of Lulu in Hollywood.
June 22, 1984
Prix de Beaute, together with Richard Leacock’s A Conversation with Louise Brooks, opens an extended run through July 12 at Film Forum in New York.
July, 1984
An issue, “Almanacco Louise Brooks,” of the Italian publication, Filmcritica, is devoted to Brooks.
date unknown 1984
In Japan, Chuo Koronsha publishes Ruizu Burukkusu to “Ruru” (an adaption of Lulu in Hollywood).
November 10, 1984
Lulu in Berlin shows on television in New York City.
November 11, 1984
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle column notes, “British film historian Kevin Brownlow, the man responsible for restoring for restoring the silent film epic Napoleon, tells Namedropping that Louise Brooks, Rochester’s resident silent film star, remains a major cult figure in London. He says backdated film magazines with Brooks on the cover now sell for the highest prices — sometimes as much as $15 an issue. ‘That puts her on a level with Garbo,’ he says.”
January 18, 1985
Hand-writes a note to admirer Ross Berkal telling him not to visit her.
January 23, 1985
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle report that Diary of a Lost Girl and Lulu in Berlin show at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse.
February 7, 1985
Hand-writes a note to Ross Berkal thanking him for sending his poems.
February 17, 1985
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports the Manhattan store Bergdorf Goodman is promoting a line of sterling silver frames and pins and jewelry boxes, with an image of Brooks featured in the central frame.
February 25, 1985
Due to ill health, Brooks declines an invitation from the International Women’s Film Festival to serve on their awards jury. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports on her decline on March 3.
March 9, 1985
The Collective for Living Cinema in New York City screens A Girl in Every Port, Diary of a Lost Girl, and Lulu in Berlin.
August 8, 1985
Dies in Rochester, New York.
August 9, 1985
Brooks’ death is front page news in Rochester, New York and elsewhere around the world.
January 17, 1940
The Hollywood Citizen-News reports that Brooks dined with Barry O’Shea at the Lighted Tree restaurant.
February 23, 1940
Brooks-O’Shea Studio of Ballroom Dancing opens in Hollywood at 9016 Sunset Blvd.
February 28, 1940
“Hints for Dancers,” a series of advertisements co-authored by Brooks, debuts in the Hollywood Citizen News.
March 3, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 10, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 17, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 24, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
March 29, 1940
Syndicated columnist Harrison Carroll notes, “Remember Louise Brooks? She and Barrett O’Shea have opened a dancing studio in Hollywood.”
March 31, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times
April 7, 1940
“Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Los Angeles Times.
April 20, 1940
Dances at the Arrowhead Spring Hotel in San Bernadino, California.
June 15, 1940
Los Angeles Times reports Brooks is the victim of reputed swindler Benjamin F. Crandall; according to articles from the time, Brooks lost $2,000 in a Hollywood magazine stock promotion scheme. The same day, Santa Ana Register runs an Associated Press story on the arrests of Crandall and Frank A. Scott.
June 18, 1940
Los Angeles Times runs a follow-up story on the arrest of reputed swindler Benjamin F. Crandall, noting 10 specific counts of grand theft against various victims including Brooks and other “Hollywood folk.”
July 28, 1940
A syndicated Sunday magazine article about changing hairstyles and standards of beauty pictures Brooks and notes that in 1927 “Louise Brooks and Colleen Moore’s Dutch bob” was popular.
August 6, 1940
A syndicated article notes that Mickey Rooney’s screen mother, actress Fay Holden, has taken rhumba lessons at the Barrett O’Shea – Louise Brooks dance studio.
August 1940
Returns by train to Wichita, Kansas.
August 9-10, 1940
In one of the last recorded American theatrical screenings following its initial release, Overland Stage Raiders is shown at the Park theater in Mansfield, Ohio.
August 21, 1940
It Pays to Advertise screens at the Del Mar theater in Los Angeles, nearly a decade after its first release.
September 22, 1940
The Wichita Eagle carries a piece about Brooks’ new career as a local dancer.
September 23, 1940
Brooks and Hal McCoy dance at the Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kansas during a program sponsored by the College Hill Business association.
September 25, 1940
In a piece dated the previous day, “Louise Brooks in Wichita,” Variety notes that Brooks has returned to her home town, and will open a dance studio with “a local boy, Hal McCoy.”
early October 1940
Newspapers report that Brooks has opened a dance studio in Wichita, Kansas. One such mention read, “Film fans and theategoers will surely remember the beautiful Louise Brooks, who was so popular in pictures a few years ago. Before starting in pictures, Miss Brooks was as well known on Broadway where she was one of the more decorative members of George White’s Scandals. Well, Louise has said ‘goodbye’ to all that and is opening a dance studio in her home town, Wichita, Kans.”
October 21, 1940
Brooks and Hal McCoy dance at the Young Republican meeting at the state’s Central Republican headquarters. Hundreds turned out according to local press reports. The event celebrated National Young Voters for Wilkie Day, which was being observed throughout the nation. A broadcast speech by Wendell Wilkie was heard.
October 27, 1940
The Wichita Eagle reports that Brooks was enlisted by the Wichita Country Club to instruct locals on new dances including the Conga and Rumba, with the first such instruction taking place October 29.
November 21, 1940
Los Angeles Times columnist Jimmie Fidler reports “Louise Brooks, ex-star, is teaching the rumba and La Conga in Wichita, Kan.” Many newspapers pick up on the mention.
November 7, 1940
Brooks is among the local talent participating in a benefit musical for crippled children sponsored by Wesley Hospital.
November 14, 1940
Brooks speaks about and demonstrates new dances (the tango, rhumba, conga and other dances) at the Wichita Little Theater as part of its workshop program.
November 16, 1940
Brooks holds a party to celebrate her birthday at her dance studio in Wichita. The event is mentioned in a Wichita newspaper column.
November 24, 1940
A classified advertisement for Brooks’ self-published booklet The Fundamental of Good Ballroom Dancing, (available at local news dealer or by mail for 50 cents) begins running in the Wichita Eagle. The ad runs nearly every day for a month.
November 27, 1940
The Wichita (Evening) Eagle runs a piece announcing Brooks has published The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing with the help of her brother Ted.
December 17, 1940
A syndicated Hollywood gossip column reports, “Louise Brooks, once a star, is teaching rhumba in a place called Wichita, Kan.” The Wichita Eagle runs an article on Brooks self-published booklet, The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing.
January 1941
Reads and takes notes on the French philosopher Henri Bergson.
January 4, 1941
Despite the fact that Brooks left Hollywood, a “Hints for Dancers” advertisement for the Brooks-O’Shea Studio runs in the Hollywood Citizen-News. The ad is authored by Barret O’Shea.
January 12, 1941
An advertisement runs in the Wichita Eagle promoting private Tuesday morning classes in which Brooks offers “a rare opportunity to reap the benefits of her career among the most fascinating women of the theatre, screen, and society. Learn the way to grace and dominant sureness….”
January 16, 1941
The Wichita (Evening) Eagle reports that Brooks will make a “quick flying trip” to New York City to see if Dario, her former dance partner, will come to Wichita to help her fill engagements.
March 28, 1941
Brooks participates in a benefit for Greek war relief at the Miller theater in Wichita. Brooks originated a comedy jitterbug number performed by locals Jim Kefner and Jack Walker. Advertisements for the city-wide event credit the Louise Brooks Dancing School.
April 29, 1941
Brooks demonstrates ballroom and South American dances at Jubilesta, a fundraiser for both the P.T.A. and student council of the Wichita high school East. Brooks directed a student conga chain. Funds go toward the purchase of a movie screen for the school.
May 21, 1941
According to press reports, Brooks is involved in an automobile accident when the car she is traveling in overturns after encountering an oil slick on South Hillside, just outside Wichita city limits. The car was badly damaged, and Brooks was treated at St. Francis Hospital. “Hospital attendants said that she suffered a three -inch laceration on the scalp and numerous bruises. Miss Brooks said attending physicians shaved a portion of her head to stitch the wound. ‘I hate to lose my hair worse than to suffer the hurts,’ Miss Brooks said.”
June 1, 1941
Syndicated columnist Ed Sullivan writes “The 20’s were fast and furious … The ample-bosomed heroines lost out in the onrush of such exponents of flaming youth as Louise Brooks, Lila Lee, Mary Astor, Marion Nixon . . . Billy Dove and Corinne Griffith … Dorothy Mackaill and Betty Compson.”
June 26, 1941
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes: “Louise Brooks, the silent screen star, suffered severe burns recently. Had all her hair singed off.”
November 12, 1941
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen notes Brook is “stranded in Wichita, Kan. and s-o-s-ing friends for any kind of job.”
March 7, 1942
In one of the last recorded American theatrical screenings following its initial release, Empty Saddles is shown at the Joy theater in Chicago, Illinois.
August 3, 1942
Hired as a sales girl at Garfields, a department store in Wichita. Brooks works the accessories counter.
September 15, 1942
Employment at Garfields ends.
Fall 1942
Helps students at Wichita University stage a skit for their Spring Celebration.
December 1, 1942
Western actor Buck Jones (the star of Empty Saddles) dies after trying to rescue others trapped in a Boston nightclub fire. His 5,000,000 member fan club mourns.
December 8, 1942
Funeral for western actor Buck Jones attended by among others Raymond Hatton, Noah Beery, and Noah Beery Jr, who is married to Jones daughter. Only western songs, including “Empty Saddles,” are played.
January 8, 1943
Wealthy New York investment banker Albert Archer calls Brooks in Wichita, and she asks him to wire her the money to get to New York.
January 12, 1943
Departs Wichita by train, with a stop in Chicago.
January 15, 1943
Arrives by train in New York City, and stays at the Wyndham on West 58th Street.
January 20, 1943
Applies for instructor’s job at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, and teaches a few classes.
January 27, 1943
Meets with William S. Paley at CBS headquarters.
January 29, 1943
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes, “Do you know that Louise Brooks, the black-haired silent cinema star, is in town looking unbelievably young and pretty and in the mood to do a show?”
February 5, 1943
Works on the weekly CBS radio show Hobby Lobby, though is not listed among the guests on that date.
February 10, 1943
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker reports, “Louise Brooks, the movie actress, is looking for a stage play.”
April 1943
Reads and takes notes on George Meredith’s 1877 essay, “On the Idea of Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit”.
April 21, 1943
Variety reports Brooks is on the East Coast, “permanently, for radio.”
June ?, 1943
Meets with writer Robert Benchley, who gives her a copy of Pascal’s Pensees.
June 24, 1943
Gets together with Barbara Bennett and Jack Randall at the Westbury Hotel in New York.
June 29, 1943
Attends original Broadway production of Oklahoma! at the St. James Theatre in New York, with William S. Paley, Ben Gimbel and two others.
August 1943
Works on episodes of the weekly NBC radio show Ellery Queen (though does not appear on the show during the month).
September 16, 1943
Newspapers report that Brooks is in New York City doing “publicity work.”
date unknown 1943
Ethelda Bedford ghost-writes a never published, true-confession style article by Brooks titled “I’ll Never Grow Old – because of Dixie Dugan.”
date unknown 1943
Meets with Iris Barry of the Museum of Modern Art film department, regarding the museum acquiring a copy of Pandora’s Box.
date unknown 1944
Corresponds with the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFTRA). [In 2012, the SAG (the Screen Actors Guild) and AFTRA (the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) merged to form the SAG-AFTRA.].
January 23, 1944
Brooks is mentioned in an installment of Peggy Fears’ memoir, “I Traded in My Heart,” which is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
January 31, 1944
Brooks is mentioned in an installment of Peggy Fears’ memoir, “I Traded in My Heart,” which is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
February 6, 1944
Brooks is mentioned in an installment of Peggy Fears’ memoir, “I Traded in My Heart,” which is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
April 20, 1944
Myra Brooks dies in Wichita. “Louise Brooks of New York City” are among those listed as surviving her in the Wichita Eagle newspaper obituary.
August 28, 1944
The Wichita Eagle carries an article about Pfc. Martin Brooks, an army photographer who was among the first American soldiers to enter Rome. The paper states “He was one of the group of photographers who made the newsreel pictures of the Vatican and the Pope shown recently in Wichita theaters.”
December 6, 1944
Variety reports “Louise Brooks back in N.Y. from Kansas following her mother’s death. Ex-film star will resume her radio acting, which has occupied her time during the past couple of years.”
December 24, 1944
Brooks and Lothar Wolff spend Christmas Eve with Blythe Daly and Jim Backus.
dates unknown 1944 – 1945
Works at gathering and writing items for columnist Walter Winchell, a job she gets through the help of Ethel Barrymore’s son. (Listen here to an April 22, 1945 Winchell broadcast which mentions Brooks’ friends Peggy Fears and A.C. Blumenthal, as well as Show Girl / Dixie Dugan author J.P. McEvoy.)
February 9, 1945
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker reports, “Louise Brooks, former stage and screen beauty, is now working for a New York firm of publicity agents.”
February 13, 1945
Takes out a classified ad seeking 1-room furnished apartment in midtown Manhattan.
February 14, 1945
Variety reports “Louise Brooks film and radio actress, now working as a press agent.”
August 12, 1945
Syndicated columnist Jack O’Brian reports, “Louise Brooks, once a Paramount star now is doing publicity work in Manhattan.”
July 1946
Begins work as a sales girl at Saks Fifth Avenue.
August 20, 1946
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “Remember Hollywood When – Louise Brooks was a flapper siren with the Rivoli Theater in New York City.”
September 11, 1946
The Albuquerque Journal reports, “Young Ted Brooks, brother of Louise Brooks, Paramount star, is recovering at St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was taken from the train yesterday.”
Fall 1946
Befriends publicist John Springer.
May 5, 1947
Columnist Walter Winchell reports that Brooks will soon marry James Mulcahey (sic), a San Francisco financier.
October 2, 1947
Hedda Hopper notes in her syndicated column that Brooks $6,000 fur coat was stolen in Chicago, and “thru a mistake it was insured for only $50.00.”
February 6, 1948
Syndicated columnist Charles B. Driscoll reports that 20 years ago, “Louise Brooks was a featured young movie star.”
April 13, 1948
Resigns sales job at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she had been employed for two years.
May 1948
Reads and takes notes on John Ruskin’s writings, including his 1849 study The Seven Lamps of Architecture.
July 1948
Reads and takes notes on Samuel Butler’s notebooks.
Summer 1948
Receives telephone call from G. W. Pabst, who is in New York, asking if they could meet.
November 1948
Reads and takes notes on George Bernard Shaw.
November 18, 1948
Windy Riley Goes Hollywood is broadcast on television on WJZ (Channel 7) in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Dec. 15, 1948
Lowell, MA journalist (and future Jack Kerouac in-law) Charles Sampas muses about Brooks in his column, “I can remember Way Back When an actress named Louise Brooks was the Number One favorite of the Square Beaux….”
July, 1949
Reads and takes notes on Gandhi’s An Autobiography (1927).
Sept. ?, 1949
Completes painting titled “Egret and Australian Plover.”
September 18, 1949
Brooks is mentioned in John Rosenfield’s newspaper article looking back at the 1920s, “Colleen Moore, Clara Bow, Sue Carol (now Mrs. Alan Ladd), Madge Bellamy, Louise Brooks and Joan Crawford typified the frivolous, promiscuous mocking types with a hard body and long, exposed legs, bobbed hair and bold eyes.”
November 10, 1949
Brooks sees Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn perform “Creative Dances on Ethnic Themes” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
January 25, 1950
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker writes, “Louise Brooks, former screen star, has turned to short story writing.”
February 1950
Louise Brooks’ name, along with the names of celebrities Alice Faye, Dolores Costello, Dorothy Sebastian, and Betty Compson, appear in a widely used advertisement promoting classified ads: “Stage producers recruited many famed beauties via want ads.”
June ?, 1950
Completes painting titled “Profile in Red” (later destroyed).
June 1950
Reads and takes notes on the writings of George Bernard Shaw.
December ?, 1950
Completes painting titled “Snow Sky,” which she later gives to Steinberg.
January 10, 1951
Syndicated newspaper columnist Danton Walker writes, “Onetime movie star Louise Brooks has completed her first novel.”
February 1951
Louise Brooks’ name, along with the names of celebrities Alice Faye, Dolores Costello, Dorothy Sebastian, and Betty Compson, again appears in a widely used advertisement promoting classified ads: “Stage producers recruited many famed beauties via want ads.”
May 16, 1951
Syndicated columnist Erskine Johnson name-checks Brooks, noting that Paramount is returning to its early formula of bright musicals with young players.
August 25, 1951
The UK music periodical Melody Maker references Brooks, stating that Maude Cuney Hare’s book on Negro music says she learned Negro dance steps from Bill Pearce, the “Dancing Master of Broadway.”
Oct. ?, 1951
Completes painting titled “Door First Avenue,” which she later gives to Butch.
1952
A chapter on the actress titled “Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks” appears in Lotte H. Eisner’s L’Écran démoniaque (Paris: Terrain Vague), translated into English as The Haunted Screen in 1969.
February 6, 1952
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
February 11, 1952
Writes a letter to Marcella “Tot” Strickler.
May 28, 1952
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, “Remember a silent screen actress named Louise Brooks? She is writing an autobiographical novel which is said to be a sizzler. Several Hollywood personalities have begged her to include them out….”
October 14, 1952
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker reports Brooks is taking instruction in the Catholic faith.
October 18-19, 1952
Eastman House screens Beggars of Life, an “adult silent film not recommended for children.”
November 10, 1952
Visits rectory of St. John the Evangelist’s Church (55 East 55th Street at First Avenue, New York City) seeking spiritual counsel.
November 17, 1952
Begins twice weekly instruction in the Catholic Church.
November 26, 1952
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports Brooks will marry merchant marine Jimmy Dunn.
March 8, 1953
Overland Stage Raiders broadcast on television in Hazelton, Pennsylvania as part of “John Wayne Theater.”
March 10, 1953
Overland Stage Raiders broadcast on television in Los Angeles, California. Other broadcasts of the film run on other stations in the following years across the country.
April 12, 1953
Ceases instruction in the Catholic Church.
July 2, 1953
Visits with priest at Church of St. Paul’s the Apostle (405 W 59th St, New York City) seeking religious counsel.
July 12, 1953
Syndicated columnist Danton Walker writes: “Talking over old times with Jimmy Glennon, in his Third avenue groggery the other night, was Louise Brooks, silent screen star and before that, Broadway chorus girl.”
July 20, 1953
Walter Winchell reports that Brooks is “limping after an injury to her ribs – tripping over her cat Trilby.”
July 30, 1953
Takes instruction in Catholic faith at St. John the Evangelist’s Church in New York, located three blocks from her apartment.
August 28, 1953
Completes instruction in Catholic faith.
August 31, 1953
Writes a letter to former lover James Mulcahy (then living in Elmira, New York), discussing their families and Catholicism. (Brooks is living at 1075 First Avenue in NYC.)
September 15, 1953
Baptized into the Catholic Church at St. John the Evangelist’s Church. Makes first confession.
September 17, 1953
Makes first communion.
September 22, 1953
Columnist Walter Winchell reports that Brooks, who has converted to Catholicism, will soon marry James Dunn, a marine engineer, and that they will reside in Eire, Pennsylvania.
October 2, 1953
Brooks is mentioned in newspaper advertisements for Overland Stage Raiders, which screens at the Seminole theater in Tampa, Florida – one of a number of screenings of the recently revived film held
in Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and elsewhere.
November 1953
Film clips featuring Brooks are screened as part of a series, “The Fatal Woman,” at the
National Film Theater in London.
December 13, 1953
Receives confirmation in the Catholic Church at St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City. Bishop Flannelly presides. Before being confirmed, those seeking confirmation choose to take a saint’s name with whom they identify. After confirmation, the confirmed can pray to the saint for guidance and protection. Brooks chooses St. Thérèse, “the little flower.”
January 1954
“Les Mémoires de Louise Brooks” appears in the French publication, Cinema.
January 1954 through May 1954
Continues practicing Catholic faith; attends mass (including Easter mass on April 18th), and makes her confession on two occasions.
Febuary ?, 1954
Completes painting titled “Tot Strickler,” which she later gives to Mrs. W.S. Harmon.
April 4, 1954
Attends reception at the guest house of John D. Rockefeller III in honor of Lillian Gish; others in attendance include Gloria Swanson, Josef von Sternberg, Neil Hamilton, Carmel Myers, Anita Loos, Ilka Chase, June Collyer, Aileen Pringle, and others.
April 1954
Destroys manuscript of her autobiographical novel, Naked on My Goat.
May 1954 through December 1954
Continues practicing Catholic faith, taking “almost daily communion,” according to Brooks.
November ?, 1954
Completes painting titled “Tallchief,” which she later gives to Steinberg.
December 6, 1954
Write to William S. Paley asking for financial assistance.
January 1955 through April 3, 1955
Continues practicing Catholic faith, taking “almost daily communion.”
April 10, 1955
Attends Easter mass.
May 1955 through December 1955
Continues practicing Catholic faith, taking “almost daily communion.”
May 1955
Reads and takes notes on Letters of Marcel Proust.
June – September 1955
A large banner depicting Brooks is mounted outside the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, where “60 Ans de Cinema” is being held. During a press conference, Cinémathèque director Henri Langlois proclaims, “There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!”
June ?, 1955
Completes painting titled “Glennon,” which she later gives to New York bartender Jimmy Glennon.
July 5, 1955
Brooks’ apartment house neighbor, publicist John Springer, gives Brooks’ address to George Eastman House curator James Card. Card writes to Brooks, telling her she is once again famous in Paris. Card and Brooks begin regular correspondence.
August 11, 1955
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
August 24, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
September 14, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October 3, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October ?, 1955
Completes painting titled “Ste. Thérèse” (charcoal and oil).
October 23, 1955
Card and Brooks meet for the first time: Card travels to New York, and meets Brooks in her apartment, where he reports seeing three of her artworks on the wall.
October 24, 1955
Card returns to Rochester, after staying the night in Brooks’ apartment.
October 29, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October 30, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
October 31, 1955
Makes confession at St. John the Evangelist’s Church.
November 3, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 3, 1955
Overland Stage Raiders – with “John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Louise Brooks” – is shown on
KOIN-TV in Salem, Oregon.
November 5, 1955
Mike Connolly’s syndicated column reports, “Louise Brooks, who succeeded Clara Bow in the flapper dept. at Paramount, is living quietly here and writing her life story.”
November ?, 1955
Completes painting titled “Bird in Snowstorm” (oil on cardboard).
November 1955 – February 1956
Biographer Barry Paris notes that over the course of four months Brooks writes 40 letters to Card.
November 22, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 23, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 24, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 26, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 27, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
November 29, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 1, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 17, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 18, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 19, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 21, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 22, 1955
Writes a letter to James Card.
January 2, 1956
Records lapse in Catholic faith.
January 7, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
January 8, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
January ?, 1956
Brooks accompanies Card on lecture trips to Wilmington, Delaware and Niagara Falls, New York.
January 29, 1956
Diary of a Lost Girl is screened at the National Film Theatre in London as part of a program of films selected by members of the International Federation of Film Archives. The Brooks’ film was selected by M. Andre Thirifays, director and administrator of the Cinematheque de Belgique.
February 5, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
February 6, 1956
Writes a letter to James Card.
February ?, 1956
Leaves New York City and moves to Rochester, New York.
April 30, 1956
Interviewed and profiled in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
May 6, 1956
An article, “Wichitan, silent film star, pens memoirs,” appears in the Wichita Beacon.
May 12-13, 1956
Eastman House screens Love Em and Leave Em at the Dryden Theater.
May 27, 1956
Empty Saddles broadcast on television on KTLA (Channel 5) in Los Angeles. The film would also be shown on other stations across the country in the late 1950s.
September 7, 1956
Brooks’ “Mr. Pabst” published in Image magazine, along with James Card’s “Out of Pandora’s Box: Louise Brooks on G.W. Pabst.”
October 22, 1956
Variety notes “Gish and Garbo – The Executive War on the Stars,” a “chapter out of Louise Brooks’ future book, Women in Film, will be published in the Christmas issue of the British highbrow publication, Sight and Sound.”
November 17, 1956
Overland Stage Raiders – with “John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Louise Brooks” airs on Channel 9
in Chicago, Illinois.
Winter 1956
At the Eastman House, views Pandora’s Box for the first time. Brooks arranges (a still extant) score made up of recordings of music by Kurt Weill.
1957
A chapter on the actress titled “Louise Brooks, La Plus Belle” appears in Ado Kyrou’s Amour-erotisme et cinema (Paris: Terrain Vague).
date unknown 1957
Views A Social Celebrity at Eastman House.
January 23, 1957
Sees Gloria Swanson on the television show, This Is Your Life. (Also on the show are Lois Wilson, Raymond Hatton, Monte Blue, Francis X. Bushman, Mack Sennett, Alan Dwan and others). Shortly thereafter, completes unpublished essay “Gloria Swanson.”
February ?, 1957
Completes unpublished essay “Joan Crawford.”
March ?, 1957
Views Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich, at Eastman House.
April ?, 1957
Views Way Down East at Eastman House.
April 14, 1957
Eastman House screens Love Em and Leave Em (extracts), Diary of a Lost Girl, and Prix de beaute.
May 5, 1957
Watches Gloria Swanson interview (by Mike Wallace) on television.
May ?, 1957
Views Dinner at Eight at Eastman House.
May 16-17, 1957
Pandora’s Box shows at the National Film Theater in London, England.
May 22, 1957
God’s Gift to Women broadcast on television on WTVN (Channel 6) in Marion, Ohio. The film would be shown on other stations scattered across Ohio and the country in 1958, 1959, and 1960.
May 31, 1957
Diary of a Lost Girl screened at the Eastman House for members of the Cinema 16 film club from New York City. Brooks is likely in attendance, as is the film’s assistant director, Paul Falkenberg. Also present is film historian Arthur Knight, cineaste Amos Vogel, animator and film director Gene Deitch, and others.
June 2, 1957
Beggars of Life screened at the Eastman House for members of the Cinema 16 film club from New York City.
June ?, 1957
Views The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927) at Eastman House.
June ?, 1957
Views The Twentieth Century (1934) at Eastman House.
June 24, 1957
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports the Eastman House is to receive a print of Prix de beaute from the Cinematheque de Belgique.
June 29, 1957
Watches Three for Bedroom C (1952), starring Gloria Swanson, on television.
June 30, 1957
Views Metropolis at Eastman House.
July 25, 1957
Brooks’ book proposal for Women in Film rejected by Macmillan.
August 4, 1957
Watches Meet the Press on television.
August 7, 1957
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “Remember Louise Brooks, the cutie-pie of the early movies? She’s living in Gotham now, and has just finished a book about her life in the turbulent twenties. Those who’ve previewed it say it’s hilarious.”
August 11, 1957
Views Pollyanna (1920), starring Mary Pickford, at Eastman House.
August 31, 1957
Participates in a group discussion with James Card, Gideon Bachmann, Elwood Glover, and Gerald Pratley in Canada
September 11, 1957
Views The Public Enemy (1931) at Eastman House.
September 17, 1957
TV personality Ed Sullivan writes to James Card, “Be sure and give Louise Brooks my very warmest best wishes. She was always a real thoroughbred.”
October 27, 1957
Watches coverage of Queen Elizabeth visit to the United States on television.
November 2, 1957
Views The Trespasser (1929), starring Gloria Swanson, at Eastman House.
November 1957
Travels with James Card to Copenhagen and visits the Danish Film Museum; is interviewed for pieces which appear in Danish publications Kosmorama and Dagens Nyheter; meets Ib Monty and Jan Wahl. From Copenhagen, Brooks and Card go to Paris, where she meets Henri Langlois, and they spend an evening at the Crazy Horse Saloon. From Paris, Brooks and Card go to Barcelona, where Brooks sees Gaudi’s architecture and she meets with author Robert Ruark. From Barcelona, Brooks and Card go to Madrid, where they visit the Prado.
November 25, 1957
Danton Walker of the New York Daily News reports in his Broadway column, “Louise Brooks, silent screen star, writes from Denmark that she is a guest of the Danish Film Museum, which is showing Beggars of Life, a 1928 movie in which she appeared with the late Wallace Beery.”
December 1957
Vibeke Brodersen’s article about Brooks, “Pandora i København,” appears in Kosmorama, a Danish film publication.
December 2, 1957
A local newspaper in Rochester reports that the English-born film and stage actor and prospective author John Harland is in town and would like to meet Brooks.
December 20, 1957
Writes a letter to Ove Brusendorff.
January 1958
Returns to Rochester, New York.
January 15, 1958
Watches Arthur Godfrey and His Friends on television.
Febuary 25, 1958
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning that she will be traveling to New York in two days.
Febuary 27 – March 1, 1958
Spends a few days in New York City with James Card, visits with Jimmy Glennon.
March ?, 1958
Completes painting titled “Thistles Spanish” (oil on cardboard), which she eventually sends to Henri Langlois.
March 9, 1958
Watches poet W. H. Auden on television.
March 10, 1958
Writes a short essay titled “This Thing Called Corn.”
March 20, 1958
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentions that she is working on a short story called “Pickup on Third Avenue,” and that she hopes to find an agent.
March 28, 1958
Makes confession at St. Thomas More in Rochester.
April 19, 1958
Makes first confession since October 31, 1955 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Rochester. Attends Sunday mass, takes communion.
May 1, 1958
Views The Merry Widow (1934) at Eastman House; works on Marion Davies essay.
May 7, 1958
Views One Romantic Night (1930) at Eastman House.
June 9-11, 1958
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box.
June 21, 1958
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl at 3:30 pm.
June 22, 1958
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl at 2:30 and 4:30 pm.
June 25 and 27, 1959
When You’re in Love broadcast on television in the San Francisco Bay Area
on KTVU (Channel 2).
June 27, 1958
Eastman House screens Prix de Beaute.
Summer 1958
James Card’s article, “The Intense Isolation of Louise Brooks,” is published in the English film journal Sight and Sound.
July 26, 1958
Views I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929), along with The Blue Bird (1940) and Jean Renoir’s Nana (1926) at Eastman House.
July 30, 1958
Views Ivan the Terrible (1944) at Eastman House.
August 20, 1958
Views Broken Blossoms (1919) at Eastman House.
September 24, 1958
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for having sent her Vita Sackville-West’s The Eagle and the Dove. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article titled “French to Honor Louise Brooks.” The article mentions Brooks’ work in progress, The Executive War on Stars – Gish and Garbo.
October 4, 1959
King of Gamblers broadcast on television on WITI (Channel 6) in Racine, Wisconsin. The film would be shown on a few other stations between 1960 and 1962.
October 7, 1958
Views Greed (1924) at Eastman House.
October 15, 1958
Views Queen Kelly (1932) at Eastman House.
October 18, 1958
Watches Lifeboat (1944) on television.
October 22, 1958
Variety runs an article about the forthcoming Brooks’ tribute in Paris, France.
October 27, 1958
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article titled “Louise Brooks Off to Paris.” Brooks flies to Paris to take part in “Homage to Louise Brooks” at the Cinematheque Francais.
October 28, 1958 through November 29, 1958
Brooks stays at the Royal Monceau in Paris. While there, she meets with Lotte Eisner on a number of occasions, as well as with Henri Langlois and Mary Meerson, Kenneth Anger, film journalist Thomas Quinn Curtis, director Preston Stuges, as well as photographer Man Ray.
November 3 – 5, 1958
“Homage to Louise Brooks” takes place at Cinematheque Francaise; Beggars of Life is shown on Nov. 3, LouLou & Journal d’une Fille Perdue on Nov. 4, and Love em and Leave em & Prix de Beaute on Nov. 5. During the event, Brooks makes a short speech in French, and meets with Prix de Beaute co-star Georges Charlia. She also attends a reception in her honor, and reportedly signs hundreds of autographs.
November 7, 1958
In his column in the New York Herald Tribune, film critic Thomas Quinn Curtis writes “Several of Miss Brooks’s performances remain clearly in mind after two decades, and I have never forgotten her as the road-kid waif in an excellent picturization of Jim Tully’s Beggars of Life and as the fatal temptress, Lulu, in Pabst’s film version of Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box. . . . Miss Brooks, visiting Paris for a homage to her screen work, announces that she is writing a book on the movies in Hollywood and elsewhere. Her study is to be entitled Women in the Films, and an extract from it, ‘Gish and Garbo,’ will be published in the British magazine Sight and Sound next month. Outspoken and fluently written, Miss Brooks’s book, a peek at the manuscript suggests, will be a bold and fascinating one.”
November 8, 1958
Lunch in Paris with director Jean Renoir, and views his Une Partie de campagne (1946).
November 19, 1958
Variety‘s Paris correspondent, Gene Moskowitz, writes “Louise Brooks in for special series of her old pix dedicated to her by French Film Museum.”
November 28, 1958
Views “mutilated print” of G.W. Pabst’s Threepenny Opera (1931) while in Paris.
Winter 1958
Brooks’ “Gish and Garbo: the executive war on stars” published in the Winter 1958-1959 issue of Sight and Sound. In the months that follow, both Lillian Gish and Dwight MacDonald write to Brooks praising her piece.
December 8, 1958
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article detailing Brooks Paris trip. The article quotes Brooks, and notes she looked chic in a black coat she bought in Paris. The article mentions Brooks suspects she must have signed 300 autographs, and was described in a British magazine as the “Brigitte Bardot of 1920s.” Brooks also reports she met Georges Charlia.
date unknown 1959
Corresponds with film historian George Pratt, and film critic Lotte Eisner; Brooks correspondence with Eisner continues through 1982.
February 6, 1959
Au Suivant de ces Messieurs (A Social Celebrity) is shown at the Cinematheque in Paris; this screening is likely its last public showing, as the film is destroyed a few months later. (See July 10, 1959 entry).
February 14, 1959
Researching Clara Bow. Types letter to Jan Wahl, and mentions possible trip to Toronto to attend a February 22nd screening of Pandora’s Box. (Brooks does not go.) Mentions that she had recently seen Ehe im Schatten (Marriage in the Shadows), an East German melodrama released in 1947. The film was shown at the Dryden theater and was introduced by James Card. Also mentions that when she was 18 years old she took a signed George Moore novel, Portrait of a Young Man, from the library of Algonquin Hotel owner Frank Case.
February 17, 1959
Views Underworld (1927) at Eastman House. The film is introduced by James Card.
February 18, 1959
Continues Feb. 14 letter to Jan Wahl. Mentions her continuing work researching Clara Bow, and formative Paris meetings with Jean Renoir and Man Ray in 1958.
February 20, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentions Underworld and Evelyn Brent and that she is listening to Segovia.
February 23, 1959
Writes a brief message to Jan Wahl.
March 10, 1959
Views Birth of a Nation (1915) at Eastman House.
March 13, 1959
Views Intolerance (1916) at Eastman House.
March 15, 1959
Watches A Free Soul (1931), starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable, on television.
March 20, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she has read his story, “The Valedictorian” (which she critiques), and that she recently received a letter from Lotte Eisner.
March 28, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, which she continues the following day, Easter morning. It mentions gossip which suggests James Card has secretly written Brooks’ articles.
April 18, 1959
Watches The Lady is Willing (1942), starring Marlene Dietrich, on television.
April 28, 1959
Cinema 16 in New York City screens Pandora’s Box at 7:30 pm at the High School of Fashion Industries Auditorium;
James Card authors the accompanying film notes.
April 29, 1959
Cinema 16 in New York City screens Pandora’s Box at 7:15 and 9:30 pm at the High School of Fashion Industries Auditorium; James Card authors the accompanying film notes.
April 30, 1959
Watches The Milton Berle Show on television. The episode includes Tallulah Bankhead.
May 2?, 1959
Watches Cain and Mabel (1936), starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable, on television.
May 2?, 1959
Views Westfront 1918 (1930) at Eastman House.
May 14, 1959
Dines with James Card and Enrique Scheiby, a Brazilian film archivist and presenter.
May 18, 1959
Watches One Way Passage (1932), starring William Powell and Kay Francis, on television.
May 19, 1959
Watches Rasputin and the Empress (1932), starring John Barrymore, on television.
May 27, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, which mentions his recent visit to Rochester ending May 12.
June 1, 1959
Watches Torrid Zone (1940), starring Jimmy Cagney, on television.
June 7, 1959
Watches Possessed (1947), starring Joan Crawford, on television.
June 9, 1959
Lillian Gish writes to Louise Brooks praising her article on the actress and encouraging her to continue writing. “First my gratitude – then my pride that a woman of our profession had so fine a writing talent – then amazement that you could delve so long and deep as to learn so much of the tactics of the company and people you write about. . . . I hope you will continue to write and you have a rare gift that ought to be used.”
June 10, 1959
Watches King Vidor’s H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), starring Hedy Lamarr, on television.
June 15, 1959
Views Loulou (1918), starring Asta Nielsen, at Eastman House.
June 18, 1959
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
June 21, 1959
Watches the Sunday afternoon movie, Lifeboat (1944), starring Tallulah Bankhead, on television.
June 22, 1959
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
June 26, 1959
Watches television coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to North America.
June 27, 1959
Types letter to Jan Wahl discussing finding one’s voice as a writer, and one’s fulfillment as a sexual being. Continues handwritten note on June 29, and typed notes on July 2 and July 8. In this last note she notes reading the autobiography of St. Teresa de Avila and the Frank Sheed translation of The Confessions of St. Augustin, later writing “The joy of reading again is immense!,” and that she had stopped reading in 1955. Brooks also mentions she had been listening to lieder from Toronto.
July 10, 1959
Last surviving copy of A Social Celebrity is destroyed in a vault fire at
the Cinémathèque Française.
July 18, 1959
Brooks meets with film historian William K. Everson at Rochester’s Treadway Inn, where they screen a copy of the Hal Roach Western, The Devil Horse (1926), with Yakima Canutt.
August 13, 1959
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “The Museum of Modern Art’s recent homage to Marlene Dietrich will be emulated by the 92nd St. YMHA when they inaugurate a similar tribute to Louise Brooks, a star of the silent screen. Miss Brooks, now in Rochester doing research for a book on famous women in cinema history, will come to Gotham for the festivities in October.”
September 12, 1959
Views Taming of the Shrew (1929) at Eastman House.
September 23, 1959
In his column in the Village Voice, Jonas Mekas mentions the forthcoming showing of a Louise Brooks film at the Film Center at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA.
October 20, 1959
Views His Double Life (1933), starring Lillian Gish, at Eastman House.
October 25, 1959
Henry Clune’s column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle profiles Brooks.
October 29, 1959
Views Empty Saddles at Eastman House; records in notebooks that this screening marked the first time she ever heard her voice on the screen.
November 4, 1959
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
November 13, 1959
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she had read and doesn’t understand Wahl’s “A Nun’s Afternoon Off,” which had been published in the Summer issue of The Transatlantic Review. (By way of explanation, she writes, “I grew up on the 19th century and gave up on Ulysses. You will need an Ezra Pound to state your case. (I have not read Orlando.)”) Brooks also mentions that the previous day she had received a letter from Lillian Gish asking Brooks to lunch. Brooks also dismisses Henry Clune’s October 25 column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
November 17, 1959
Henry Clune’s column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle discusses Brooks.
November 22, 1959
Overland Stage Raiders shows on television in Akron, Ohio. Newspaper listings credit the film’s stars as John Wayne and Louise Brooks.
November 26, 1959
An article in the New York Times notes that Brooks will be one of a number of early stars featured in “The Movie Star,” a series at the local YMHA running December 22 to January 12. The series will be introduced by James Card, and also feature Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, and Jean Harlow.
November 30, 1959
Writes a letter to James Card.
December 19. 1959
Overland Stage Raiders shows on television in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Newspaper listing credit the film’s stars as John Wayne and Louise Brooks.
December 21, 1959
An article in the New York Daily News, “Series of Movies At 92d St. YMHA,” states “The final program in the series will bring Louise Brooks out of retirement to introduce her last important film, Prix de Beaute (1930). This film has never been shown publicly in this country.
January 5, 1960
Danton Walker of the New York Daily News reports in his Broadway column, “Louise Brooks, one of the early-day film beauties, plans to be on hand for the showing for the first time in the U.S. of her film Prix de Beaute (Beauty Prize) made in Paris in 1929, during the oldtime film revival at the YMHA Film Center Jan. 12.”
January 12, 1960
Lunch with Lillian Gish at Gish’s apartment in New York City. Later, Brooks attends a screening of Prix de beaute at the Y.M.H.A, where she gives a well received 10 minute talk described by Jan Wahl as “a charming impromptu speech.” In the audience are Wahl, John Springer, Jimmy Glennon, and old friends Peggy Fears and Leonore Scheffer.
January 13, 1960
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article titled “Louise Brooks Honor Guest in NYC.”
January 16, 1960
Prix de Beaute is shown at the Cinematheque in Paris.
January 22, 1960
The New York Daily News reports “G.W. Pabst’s The Diary of a Lost One, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at Cinema 16 at 8 pm Tuesday and at 7:15 and 9:30 pm Wednesday at the Fashion Industries Auditorium, instead of the previously announced screening of Tod Browning’s Freaks, cancelled because of a sudden dispute over legal rights to this motion picture.”
January 26 – 27, 1960
The Diary of a Lost Girl is shown by Cinema 16 at Fashion Industries High School Auditorium on January 26, and twice on January 27. James Card introduces each screening. On January 16, the New York Times notes that the films star was also invited to appear.
February 5, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, noting that an editor at Macmillian, Charlotte Painter, showed interested in one of her earlier articles.
February 6, 1960
The New York Daily News reports “Louise Brooks is active at Eastman House, the leading film museum, at Rochester, N.Y., and writing her own memoirs of Hollywood.”
February 28, 1960
Writes a note to Jan Wahl, in which she mentions a publisher, Random House, is “nibbling” at her book on women in film, “10 dames and me.”
March 3, 1960
Watches Girl from Missouri (1934), starring Jean Harlow, on television.
March ?, 1960
Completes painting titled “Snow-striped Tree” (black and white – oil on cardboard), which Brooks eventually sends to Lotte Eisner in Paris.
March 27, 1960
Listens to radio program from 7:00 to 8:00 pm which features Mitch Miller, Bosley Crowther, Archer Winston.
March 28, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, noting that she read Wahl’s “Jackal, Wolf, and Fox,” which she praises a great deal. (The story is included in Wahl’s 1978 book, Youth’s Magic Horn.) She also mentions having heard of Norman Mailer’s book Advertisements for Myself, and that she would love to see Martha Graham’s Spring concert in NYC, but she owes too much on her recent dental work.
May 2, 1960
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
May 14, 1960
Eastman House screens Prix de Beaute.
June 23, 1960
Views Blonde of the Follies at Eastman House.
June 26, 1960
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features Yuriko, a dancer best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
July 16, 1960
Dreams about Eddie Sutherland, which she records in her diary.
July 17, 1960
George Marshall telephones to say Eddie Sutherland is in poor health.
August 31, 1960
Writes a letter to Lawrence Quirk.
September ?, 1960
Listens to radio program which features Mitch Miller.
September 9, 1960
Writes a letter to Lawrence Quirk.
September 17, 1960
Writes a letter to Lawrence Quirk.
September 18, 1960
Watches Playmates (1941), starring John Barrymore, on television.
September 22, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl saying she may receive a grant from the Bollingen Foundation, and quoting from a poem by W.B. Yeats.
September 28, 1960
Watches Fred Astaire on television.
October 8, 1960
Watches Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) on television.
October 15, 1960
Leonard Brooks dies in Cherryvale, at the age of 92.
October 19, 1960
James Card brings a Japanese edition of Lotte Eisner’s book.
October 26, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for an original photograph of Anna Pavlova, and mentioning a September 20th break with James Card.
December 1, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she had read Wahl’s story, “At the Crossing, and material he had written on Carl Dreyer’s film, Ordet. The p.s. mentions Ted Shawn wants Brooks to read his recently published autobiography, One Thousand and One Nights Stands.
December 7, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
December 19, 1960
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
December 21, 1960
Writes a short note saying she is sorry for having written her previous “mean” letter.
January 18, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
April 1961
National Film Theater in London screens Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl as part of their season of films by G.W. Pabst and F.W. Murnau.
April 1, 1961
Receives a letter from John de Lungo, a younger English fan, with who she strikes up a correspondence.
April 16, 1961
Watches television program on the music of the civil war hosted by noted conductor Frederick Fennell (of Rochester’s Eastman Wind Ensemble).
June 12, 1961
Writes a long, chatty letter to Jan Wahl mentioning Peggy Fears, Henri Langlois, Lotte Eisner, and a “script” she was working on about Chaplin. Brooks also mentions an essay she is working on about Mary Pickford, and that she had borrowed a copy of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita from the library.
June 16, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she sent him a manuscript.
June 17, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning her anger after reading Lolita.
June 18, 1961
Receives an evening call from old NYC friend Jimmy Glennon.
June 21, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl.
June 22, 1961
Sends a telegram to Jan Wahl.
June 23, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, discussing Isadora Duncan and artistic representations of Duncan, and that she detests Ruth St. Denis, of whom she writes, “She grabbed everything, lighting and drapery movement, musical ‘visualization’ from Loie Fuller and Izzy [Duncan] not forgetting the use of great music…. Nowhere do I say that I like Martha’s dancing better than ballet. I am a Pavlova kid myself. My last dances [in] 1941 were as delicate as Debussy.” In a mood, Brooks also slights film critics / theorists Siegfried Kracauer (whom she calls “Krapauer”), Rudolf Arnheim, and Vsevolod Pudovkin. She also states that everyone involved in the making of Pandora’s Box referred to it as The Box of Pandora. In a post script, referring to Vladimir Nabokov, Brooks writes, “Jerkoff is marvelous. And what a story-teller.”
June 26, 1961
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, mentions she has reread Lolita, revises her opinion of Nabokov, and was thinking about her essay, “Girl Child in Films.” Brooks also writes, “I wrote Lolita in 1951, Naked on My Goat…. even the foulest degenerates recoiled in horror when I talked about it.”
June 27, 1961
Writes two long letters to Jan Wahl. The first mentioning his story “A Nun’s Afternoon Off,” and discussing what it takes to be a great writer. Later, she says “Lotti kept after me and after me to write and I thought I stunk and could never learn and she said ‘Write it article by article and then you will have your book the way I did’.” In the second letter, Brooks says that Card had read her story “Who Is the Exotic Black Orchid” (an excerpt from Naked on my Goat), and said it “stunk.” Brooks also says that Herbert Brenon called her a lousy actress on the set of The Street of Forgotten Men in front of those gathered.
July 5, 1961
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, and mentions the book she is writing on women in film (titled Thirteen Hollywood Women), which is to include chapters on Constance Bennett, Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, Gloria Swanson, and Constance Talmadge. “But after a hundred pages on Gish I found out that I am not the biography type…. I did a bit of work reading about Colleen Moore because Clara Bow learned her acting from Moore pictures and Moore was an excellent actress. But she is the damnest bore…. I must tell you about the absolute fascination of her one brown and one blue eye. I would site and let her talk at me just to watch those blue eyes. I would sit and let her talk at me just to watch those eyes which gave me the feeling that I was talking to two different people with one voice. Dietrich I would love to write about but I met her only once when she first came over and was sweet and fluffy in baby blue. Same with Negri. Just once Mal St. Clair took me to her dressing room and we were much interested in each other.” In the second part of the letter, Brooks mentions she had received letters from Macmillian and Random House asking about her book. “Maybe Lillian Gish will give me some leads in research. I wrote her how important Broken Blossoms we be in the article.” Brooks also mentions she has just read Lytton Strachey’s Queen Victoria, and concludes by asking Wahl if he has any material on Marguerite Clark or Nazimova.
July 16, 1961
Folke Isaksson article about Brooks, “Filmen vakraste kvinna” (“The Cinema’s Most Beautiful Woman”), appears in the Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter.
July 17, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning that the French government could pay $4000 for her visit to France, and she was hoping to get $100 for a recent article in a French magazine. She also mentions she has been typing up her notes on Clara Bow, which came to 100 pages and which she hopes to place in a popular magazine.
July 18, 1961
Receives a 40 minute phone call from Bill Kendall, who was drinking in Glennon’s NYC bar.
July 19, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl in which Brooks says Kendall was in love with her 30 years earlier. Brooks also mentioned her knowing Dorothy Parker and her one-time flame, critic John McClain. Brooks says she sent McClain her manuscript of Word and Movement, and was hoping to find an agent for her piece on Clara Bow, “The Bow Who Tied Up the Twenties.”
July 24, 1961
Watches Here’s Hollywood (celebrity interview program which aired weekday afternoons at 4:30 on NBC) on television. The episode included Mae Murray.
July 31, 1961
Prix de beaute is screened at the New Yorker theater in New York City. Among those in attendance were the noted poets Frank O’Hara and Bill Berkson, each of whom would write poems based on Brooks and the film.
October 10, 1961
Richard Arlen makes a personal appearance in Rochester at Sibley’s department store, but does not meet Brooks.
October 26, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning that Henri Langlois had sent her the catalogue to the Melies Exposition at the Louvre. She also suggests Wahl write to the German film publicist Lothar Wolff, who was now living in NYC working for an agent. Brooks says Wolff knows her “intimately.”
November 27, 1961
Begins a correspondence (the first of more than 125 letters) with the Canadian film historian, author and broadcaster Gerald Pratley. Brooks writes in this first letter that she is working on a piece on Clara Bow titled “The Wounded Heart.”
December 18, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, which mentions that John McClain had sent Brooks’ Words and Movement to his agent, who is interested in representing Brooks.
December 26, 1961
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning she is reading Cardinal Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua, as well as the latest notices in the Saturday Review. Brook also mentions she needs to write an outline for Women in Films, and that Lillian Gish had sent her a Christmas note.
1961-1962
Ted Shawn and Louise Brooks correspond regarding the George Eastman House copy of Kinetic Molpai film.
1962
Brooks notes her living allowance as $250.00 per month.
January 4, 1962
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning that she is reading about Maude Adams for her articles “The Garbo Mystery” and “Girl Child in Films.”
January 19, 1962
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, writing that she is “enraptured” with The Life and Letters of Janet Erskine Stuart: Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, 1857-1914, by Maud Monahan. The book was given to her by a local nun, Mother Digges. Brooks also mentioned that she had previously attended a one day religious retreat, and expected to do so again in July. Brooks also writes that she (account No. 3791) receives 42 dollars a year for life from the Propagation of the Faith in New York City, as well as 10 Gregorian Masses at her death.
February 12, 1962
Brooks escaped injury after a small fire broke out in the living room of her Rochester apartment. Careless smoking was blamed for the incident, in which a chair was wrecked and the fire department called.
February 13, 1962
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a short article about Brooks titled “Fire Wrecks Chair.”
February 20, 1962
Because of the fire, Brooks moves from 16 Buckingham Street to 7 North Goodman Street in Rochester.
February 23, 1962
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
February 25, 1962
Goes to dinner at the Dickens restaurant with her confessor, Father Atwill (editor of the Catholic Courier-Journal), and a couple of his friends, amateur actors and directors.
February 26, 1962
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending her a copy of Screen Stories, which contains John Springer’s profile of Brooks. “John did a good job. And a sweet finish–if untrue.” Brooks showed the article to Mother Digges. Brooks also details the February 12th fire in her apartment, and its aftermath. Additionally, Brooks states that she has taped three segments of Women in Films for WHAM radio; she expects to tape about 12 programs, which will run in 6 minute segments.
February 28, 1962
James Card and George Pratt visit, and Card arranges for Brooks to see Clara Bow’s The Wild Party (1929).
March 1962
John Springer’s article, “Great movie stars: where are they now?,” appears in Screen Stories. It discusses Brooks, and is one of the earlier American articles to appear post WWII.
March 31, 1962
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, quoting Janet Stuart and noting that she is just finishing reading Thomas Merton’s The Seven Story Mountain.
April 1962
A one page article about Brooks appears in the Brazilian publication, Cinelandia.
April 10, 1962
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
April 15, 1962
Gerald Pratley visits Brooks in Rochester.
April 22, 1962
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
May 2, 1962
Begins broadcasting “Portraits of the Stars” (about Marion Davies) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
May 9, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (about Marion Davies) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
May 11, 1962
Writes a long letter to Jan Wahl, mentioning she has read Willard Maas‘ piece in Filmwise, an avant-garde film journal with a very small print run. She also suggests she has seen Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954), and criticizes his Hollywood Babylon (which was then only released in France): “A bunch of old dead photographs. A lot of ridiculous mumbo junk. A bunch of old dead gossip….”
May xx, 1962
Views Intolerance at Eastman House.
May 16, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (“story about Joan Crawford”) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
May 23, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (further memories of Joan Crawford) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
date unknown 1962
Corresponds with film critic Pauline Kael.
June 5-9, 1962
“The seldom-revived silent comedy,” A Girl in Every Port, is shown twice daily (and three times on June 7) at the Museum of Modern Art as part of a series honoring Howard Hawks.
June 6, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (about Constance Talmadge and her sisters) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
June 12, 1962
Views Nana at Eastman House.
June 13, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
June 27, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (about Norma Shearer) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
June 29, 1962
Pandora’s Box is screened in Los Angeles as part of a series of five “psychological masterpieces” sponsored by the UCLA Committee on Fine Art Production. (Pauline Kael hoped to bring Brooks to Los Angeles for this screening, but plans fell through.)
July 11, 1962
Brooks heard on “Portraits of the Stars” (“reminisces about Clara Bow”) on “Woman’s World” program at 10:05 am on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
July 25, 1962
“Retired actress Louise Brooks” is guest on “Woman’s World” program at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
August 2-5, 1962
Pandora’s Box is screened at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, California as part of the Peninsula Film Seminar, organized by Philip Chamberlin. James Card, of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York supplied the print of the film. Also in attendance was film critic Pauline Kael, film curator Tom Luddy, and San Francisco poet Jack Hirschman.
August 8, 1962
Speaks about Greta Garbo on “Woman’s World” program at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
August 27, 1962
Begins corresponding with French writer Denis Marion.
August 28, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, which states, “Yesterday when I wrote to you I was so busy — reading your article, feeding the cat, checking my notebook, making a cake, writing to Lotte [Eisner], clipping the ivy and reading a letter from William Inge.”
September 16, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
September 27, 1962
Brooks lunches with actor Richard Arlen, who is making a personal appearance in Rochester at Sibley’s department store.
September 28, 1962
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ran an article about Brooks meeting with Arlen.
October 8, 1962
Views Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game (1939) at Eastman House.
October 20, 1962
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
October 30, 1962
Starts weekly radio series “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” discussing Marily Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
November 6, 1962
Discusses Fatty Arbuckle on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
November 13, 1962
Discusses William Desmond Taylor on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
November 20, 1962
Discusses Theda Bara on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
The French writer Denis Marion, with whom Brooks is corresponding, writes to Brooks offering to translate her book Women in Film into French and to help find a publisher in France.
November 23-24, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
November 25, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion in which Brooks states her reluctant admiration for Mae Murray.
November 27, 1962
Discusses Jean Harlow and Marion Davies on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
December 4, 1962
Discusses Garbo, Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Errol Flynn on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
December 8, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, offering to help research Erich von Stroheim. Brooks also writes that she will acquire a copy of Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, which she plans to read again.
December 11, 1962
Discusses Marilyn Monroe and others on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY.
December 12, 1962
Meets Buster Keaton and his wife at the Sheraton Hotel in Rochester, New York. Brooks notes, “Buster said Mabel Normand, except in films, with Arbuckle, was not a really great comedienne. Marie Dressler was the greatest comic. Today Lucille Ball.”
December 18, 1962
Discusses Liz Taylor, Mary Pickford, Ingrid Bergman and others on “Does Scandal Destroy the Stars?” at 1:15 pm on WHAM in Rochester, NY. Also, writes a letter to Denis Marion.
December 21, 1962
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 25, 1962
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
dates unknown 1963
Begins corresponding with Fraser Macdonald of the Toronto Film Society; their correspondence continues for 20 years.
January 5, 1963
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Discusses the return of stills taken by James Card, and that she is reading Charles Dicken’s Pickwick Papers.
January 11, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
January 30, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
April 11, 1963
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article about Brooks titled “Club Bills Ex-Film Star,” about Brooks’ talk before the Catholic Women’s Club.
April 12, 1963
“Screen Star,” an article about Brooks, appears in the Courier Journal (a weekly newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Rochester, New York)
April 15, 1963
Delivers a feminist-themed speech, “The Influence of Movie Stars on the Freedom of Women,” before an evening meeting of the Catholic Women’s Club of Rochester, New York.
June 8, 1963
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 20, 1963
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 27, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
July 14, 1963
An article in the New York Times notes Brooks’ inclusion in The Love Goddesses.
August 1963
Brooks’ “ZaSu Pitts” is published in the August 1963 issue of Objectif.
August 11, 1963
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley. In it, she mentions that her husband at the time, Eddie Sutherland, obtained a print of A Woman of Paris from Charlie Chaplin and screened it for Brooks in 1927. She also writes that Pola Negri had “laid an egg” in regards to her American career, in that her acting was “old school.” And that she is “pressing on” with her book, is working on Chapter 4, and is taken by Director Malcolm St. Clair, whom she notes “was crazy and in love with me for years.”
August 26, 1963
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, who notes she often spent nights in Chez Florence in Montmartre while in Paris.
September 1, 1963
Quoted in the Democrat and Chronicle regarding her contemporary, Nancy Carroll, “She’s darn nice.” Carroll, in turn, speaks “warmly” of Brooks.
September 4, 1963
Meets with Nancy Carroll ?, who is in Rochester appearing in a stage play, Never Too Late, with William Bendix.
September 18, 1963
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, in which Brooks says “Perhaps I never would have had courage to write had you not told me to read novels.”
October 3, 1963
Writes a letter to Denis Marion asking which Balzac novels he suggests she read. “I reread Manon Lescaut. It is just as silly to me now as 35 years ago…. Another book I read again was [Flaubert’s] Madame Bovary.”
November 17, 1963
Henri Langois visits Rochester, and is quoted at length about Brooks.
January 8, 1964
In a Variety article about film buffs titled “Forever Faithful Film Fans,” American Federation of Film Societies President James L. Limbacher states “There are even ‘film nuts’ who have private showings of all the films of such personalities as Veda Ann Borg, Louise Brooks or a retrospective showings of all the Busby Berkeley musicals. Greater love hath no film society members.”
Febuary 1. 1964
Brooks’ “Filmography – Positive and Negative” is published in the February – March 1964 issue of Objectif, along with part one of “Louise Brooks par elle-même, ou quand s’ouvre la boite de Pandore.”
February 23, 1964
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
March 15, 1964
Corresponds with French writer Denis Marion, writing “Last month I read the letters of Oscar Wilde published in 1963.”
April 1, 1964
Part two of Brooks’ “Louise Brooks par elle-même, ou quand s’ouvre la boite de Pandore” published in the April – May 1964 issue of Objectif.
April 18, 1964
Writes a letter mentioning she has started re-writing Naked on My Goat. Regarding the title, Brooks writes “The quote is from the Young Witch’s speech—“Der Puder ist so wie Dey Rock fur alt’ und graue Weibehen. Drum sitz ich nackt auf mein Bock und zeig einderber leibchen.” Brooks also says, “The key to success of the venture is to keep the whole story in sight every word, to be aware of the architecture while inhabiting the room.”
April 19, 1964
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
May 9, 1964
Visiting Canadian priests Cousineau and Godin have lunch with Brooks in her Rochester apartment.
May 13, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Thanks Wahl for sending Thackery’s Vanity Fair (“I do not believe there has ever been a more nearly perfect book written”) as well as Wahl’s Pleasant Fieldmouse (“The text is most imaginative and for action–great. The drawings [by Maurice Sendak] are wonderful.”) Brooks parodies a chapter from Wahl’s book in describing the recent visit by two film-buff priests from Canada. Brooks also mentions that contributors to the Montreal magazine Objectif taped a long interview with Brooks for their magazine.
May 20, 1964
New York Daily News columnist Charles McHarry writes “Louise Brooks, the silent screen star, writes from Rochester that she’ll be seen again in The Love Goddesses, a documentary on movie sirens from Bara to Bardot.”
May 22, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Mentions that she is having trouble getting back to work on Naked on My Goat, because “Looking at old films, reading odd stuff, all fills me with sorrow,” and that she is currently reading Leslie Fielder’s Love and Death in the American Novel. “I hate it although I agree with everything he says.” She also states that she has read a limited edition copy of Lord Alfred Douglas’s My Friendship with Oscar Wilde, which she borrowed from the local library.
May 25, 1964
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
Spring 1964
Breaks with Catholic Church.
July 1964
National Film Theater in London screens Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl and
Prix de beaute as part of a series celebrating other national film archives.
July 14, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. References Irving Shulman’s biography of Jean Harlow, whose author Brooks heard on radio station WOR (710 AM out of NYC). Brooks also mentions that Doubleday editor Donald Friede has written to her stating he will send a copy of the Harlow book. Brooks also asks Wahl if he has read Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. “Hemingway now really did write as he says–building line up on line, with perfection.” She also notes that she had written a letter the previous week to George Marshall, and heard back from his assistant. And, that Herman Weinberg had sent her a translation from the Lusanne film congress of 1963 which praises her acting. “Thirty years ago I allowed the critics to break my heart, saying I did not ‘act’ — I did not ‘do anything,’ because I did not mug in the conventions of the period. If I am now ‘ageless,’ it is because I found such antics ludicrous without beauty, and played all my parts as ballets.”
July 16, 1964
Hand-writes a note to Jan Wahl which accompanies her homemade fudge.
July 22, 1964
Writes a postcard to Jan Wahl, “Read Harlow – terrible and true – smashes myth and idols (my book beaters) sounds death knell to slobbery crap passed off as Hollywood history – tit-mad and commode crazy Shulman.” [Irving Shulman authored Harlow: An Intimate Biography; though something of a bestseller, Shulman’s book was widely panned.]
July 28, 1964
Types a note to Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn which states, “If today, in Lulu, Diary of a Lost Girl, Prix de Beaute, films made in 1928-29, I am hailed as an actress whose art is timelessly beautiful while the great stars of that period are found grotesquely funny . . . it is because I composed my art out of the beauty and timelessness of movement and mime learned with Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and the Denishawn Dancers.”
August 6, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, stating she has received his The Beast Book, which she terms “beautiful and lovely.” Brooks also reports she has received an invitation to Jacob’s Pillow, where the 50th Golden Wedding anniversary of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn would be celebrated. Brooks goes on to mention that she once attended one of Shawn’s classes in 1926, while she was making pictures for Paramount on Long Island, and thinks his recent book, Thousand and One Nights, is “awful.” Brooks also mentions she has now read Irving Shulman’s biography of Jean Harlow, and recalls that Paul Bern had sent her a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Verse for Christmas in 1927. Inspired by the Harlow book, Brooks also states that she has written a piece called “Harlow Recalls Another Voice from the Dead.” In a post script, Brooks says that BBC filmmaker Ken Russell wants to do a Monitor episode on her.
Aug. 6, 1964
UCLA screens Love Em and Leave Em as part of a “Vintage Vamps” film series. William Everson introduced the film, and Santa Monica musician Chauncey Haines provides
organ accompaniment.
August 28, 1964
Writes letters to Jan Wahl and Steve Wiman.
September 18, 1964
Receives a letter from Doubleday editor Donald Friede expressing strong interest in a book.
September 20, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl mentioning that she had submitted a 17 page, 4300 word piece, “Harlow Recalls John Gilbert’s Voice from the Dead,” to Penelope Houston at Sight and Sound. Its publication was deemed legally problematic by the magazine. Brooks also mentioned she had borrowed D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover from the Rochester Public Library, but found pages torn out. She also notes that she wants to read Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. Brooks also borrowed three books by Samuel Beckett, but couldn’t make sense of them, leaving her feeling “bitched, buggered and bewildered.”
September 21, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl discussing the Friede letter and her writing. Brooks also mentions that the dialogue in Beckett is “marvelous–Dylan Thomas must have thought so too.”
October 7, 1964
Writes two letters to Jan Wahl. The first mentions that she is reading Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones. The second suggests Wahl write a book on the theater work of Dwight Wiman. Brooks also mentions that Sight and Sound has rejected her Harlow-Gilbert piece, which she excerpts. (The excerpt notes the time Brooks met Harlow at the Cocoanut Grove, after being introduced by William Powell.)
October 18, 1964
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. It states that she left the Catholic Church in the Spring, and that she had considered herself an “intellectual” Catholic. Brooks mentions that she has read Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier, which she critiques, and that Henry Miller “left me cold.” Brooks goes on to say, “The first thing I learned writing for Winchell was to send him only first-hand gags,” and that she is thinking of writing an article for Esquire called “Come-On Girl for Wilson Mizner.” Brooks, who says she is “fearfully depressed,” ends her letter by stating, “I don’t belong anywhere, to anyone, to anything.”
October 19, 1964
Writes a note to friend Don Smith saying that she is sending him the fudge she had made for Jan Wahl, as he had moved to Toledo, Ohio.
November 27, 1964
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 1, 1964
Brooks’ “Als ich mit Pabst arbeitete” [“My Work with Mr. Pabst”] published in Der Regisseur: G. W. Pabst in Munich, Germany.
December 4, 1964
Writes to Jan Wahl.
December ??, 1964
Hollis Alpert visits Brooks, and tapes an interview for his Playboy article.
December 7, 1964
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 9, 1964
Writes a letter to friend Don Smith complaining about friend Jan Wahl, who she notes she met in Copenhagen in 1957. Brooks also states she sent $10 to Wahl, who was then a struggling writer. Brooks also tells Smith not to send her the Dictionary of Film, which she says Herman Weinberg had already sent her. She also notes that the book says she appeared in two films in which she did not actually appear, Steel Highway and Hollywood Boulevard. Brooks also writes, “Hollis Alpert of Saturday Review was here last Friday to tape me for a series of articles he and Arthur Knight are doing on Sex and Censorship for Playboy.” She also asks Smith “Can you find out to whom Jan Wahl sold his print of Prix de Beaute? And how Hollis can see it?”
December 17, 1964
An article about Brooks, “Louise Brooks pa duken igen,” appears in the Swedish newspaper Stockholms-Tidningen.
December 18, 1964
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes “Louise Brooks, a cinema star of long ago (now living in Rochester N.Y.) is almost finished writing her autobiography, titled Naked on My Goat. It’s reported to be ‘really wild,’ and quite a few Hollywood old-timers are worrying because word is around that she’s naming names and pulling no punches.”
1965
Begins corresponding with film historian Peter Cowie; also corresponds with Anita Loos.
January 1965
Folke Isaksson’s article about Brooks, “Oh Louise,” appears in the Swedish publication Chaplin.
January 26, 1965
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for “beautiful Balanchine and cat” and that she would send fudge.
April 10, 1965
Henry Clune’s column in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle discusses Brooks’s appearance in The Love Goddesses.
April 16, 1965
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
May 1965
Article on Brooks appears in the May 1965 issue of Sight and Sound.
May 3, 1965
Writes a letter to Rochester journalist Henry Clune thanking him for sending an advance copy of his May 9 column.
May 9, 1965
Henry Clune profiles Brooks in his Democrat and Chronicle column.
May 28, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, who has sent Brooks his new book, Cabbage Moon. “To me it is your best book for children…. Like Max Beerbohm and Roland Firbank, your serious novels will have to be found by some great critics.”
June 30, 1965
Writes a letter to Rochester journalist Henry Clune mentioning the Playboy article, her break with the Catholic Church, and her having read Ezra Goodman’s The Fifty Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood.
Summer 1965
Brooks’ “Pabst and Lulu” published in the Summer 1965 issue of Sight and Sound. Roger Reynolds’s article, “National press revives interest in Louise Brooks,” appears in 8mm. Collector.
July 1965
“Checklist 27 – Louise Brooks” published in the BFI Monthly Film Bulletin.
July 1965
Receives first letter from Kevin Brownlow, praising her “Pabst and Lulu” piece in Sight and Sound. [Brooks and Brownlow would exchange approximately 250 letters in the years to follow.]
July 10, 1965
Henry Clune notes in his Democrat and Chronicle column that Brooks had contacted him asking that he purchase a copy of Playboy magazine, in which she is interviewed.
July 19, 1965
Writes a letter to Rochester journalist Henry Clune praising his July 10 column, and mentioning her own June Sight and Sound article.
July 21, 1965
Writes a note to friend Don Smith asking him to go by a New York City store to ask if they have sent her the two copies of Sight & Sound she had mail ordered.
July 1965
Views The Grand Duchess and the Waiter (1926), Lady Windemere’s Fan (1925), and Shoulder Arms (1918).
Summer 1965
Kevin Brownlow visits Brooks in Rochester.
August 1965
Arthur Knight & Alpert Hollis’ article, “The history of sex in the cinema. Part Four: the 20s – Europe’s decade of decadence and delirium,” which discusses Brooks, appears in Playboy. Douglas McVay’s article on Brooks appears in the August 1965 issue of Films and Filming.
August 1, 1965
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 3, 1965
William Everson lunches with Brooks.
August 6, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, who mentioned that Donald Friede had died a few months after she had sent him her rewritten “most horrible chapter” of Naked on My Goat.
August 10, 1965
Writes a letter to Michael Pabst, son of the director.
August 11, 1965
Writes a letter to G.W. Pabst.
August 23, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, discussing the Holis Alpert article in Playboy. Brooks also says that she received stills from her Pabst films from Michael Pabst, the director’s son. And that she called Germany to speak with Pabst. Brooks says that the telephone is the last of her “expensive vices,” and that she also tried to called Lotte Eisner in Paris.
August 25, 1965
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
August 25, 1965
Types a letter to friend Don Smith stating she has just got a letter from Bill Everson, who has a friend who is anxious to see Love Em and Leave Em. She also wondered about possible plans to visit New York City, suggesting that Canadian film archivist Fraser MacDonald may accompany her on a flight to NYC. She also mentions her $250.00 monthly allowance from William Paley and that should she decide to travel she wouldn’t be able to afford a hotel room that costs more than $10.00 per night. Brooks goes on to state, “People are so wrong about liking silent pictures better than sound pictures. We can not know a person till we know their voices.” Brooks also mentions she called G. W. Pabst’s son, Michael.
August 26, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
September 1965
Despite the director’s wishes, a print of Beggars of Life cannot be obtained and the film is not shown at the William Wellman retrospective at the San Francisco Film Festival.
October 4, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
October November 9, 1965 (mistakenly dated)
Types a letter to friend Don Smith asking him for details regarding his intention to screen Prix de Beaute in New York City, adding “If I decide to come down, I will give the talk I gave when it was shown in 1960 at the YMHA.” She also asks for help paying her expenses, her “awful fear” of planes “although I will travel no other way,” and that a friend named Mike Hall will help get publicity. She also writes, “For the last 6 months I have been living in apprehension and depression over my 59th birthday next Sunday. My mother died suddenly at this point. It is silly for me to worry. But I do.” Brooks goes on to state that she calmed by reading the English essayist Samuel Johnson, except that the edition she is currently reading has tight margins and opening the book sufficiently causes her hands to ache. Brooks also adds a critique, “The modern editions, both of Johnson and Boswell’s Life and Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides have been so ‘improved’ by modern editors, so cut, rewritten, and clawed at, that they are a sinful mess.”
October 23, 1965
Writes a letter to Michael Pabst, son of the director.
October 25, 1965
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his children’s book, Hello Elephant. Brooks also says she just received 50 film stills from Michael Pabst, and that she was she was expecting film historians Gerald Pratley and Andrew Sarris to visit in November.
November 9, 1965
The great Northeastern blackout occurs, which cuts power in Rochester, New York. Brooks listens to coverage of the event on WABC radio in New York.
November 10, 1965
Writes to Herman Weinberg, noting among other things the great Northeastern blackout.
November 27, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
December 3, 1965
Roddy McDowell comes to Brooks’ apartment to take her photo for his book, Double Exposure.
December 4, 1965
Democrat and Chronicle reports that actor Robert Preston, a “great admirer of Miss Brooks,” may write an essay on the actress for Roddy McDowell’s book.
December 12, 1965
Roddy McDowell is quoted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle regarding his visit with Brooks.
December 27, 1965
Kevin Brownlow visits Brooks in Rochester.
December 29, 1965
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
December 30, 1965
Writes a note to friend Don Smith, “a million thanks for the Pabst book.” On this day, syndicated columnist Leonard Lyons writes, ” For Roddy McDowell’s book, Anita Loos will write the piece on Louise Brooks, who’ll write the piece on Buster Keaton.”
dates unknown 1966
Corresponds with screenwriter Fitzroy Davis, and film editor Marc Sorkin.
1966
Brooks’ brief essay “Buster Keaton” is published in Roddy McDowell’s book Double Exposure (New York: Delacorte Press); the book also features an short essay by Anita Loos on Brooks.
January 9, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
January 12, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 18, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 29, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 4, 1966
Talks with Roddy McDowell on the phone regarding the death of Buster Keaton.
February 5, 1966
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 7, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
February 21, 1966
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
sometime between March 20-31, 1966
Sees Lord Love a Duck starring Roddy McDowell at the Little Theater in Rochester.
March 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 27, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 18, 1966
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for December magazine.
1966
The French film journal Etudes Cinematographiques is published. Issue 48-50, about Erich von Stroheim, is edited by Denis Marion. Brooks contributes a three page preface, and one page of notes about the director are excerpted from her 1964 piece on Zasu Pitts in the Montreal journal Objectif. (Brooks name also appears on the cover alongside Rene Clair, Lillian Gish, Jean Renoir and others.)
May 1, 1966
Brooks’ “Letter to Andrew Sarris” published in no. 3 issue of English Cahiers du Cinema.
May 1966
Brooks’ “Marlene” published in the May issue of Positif.
May 11, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 14, 1966
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 29, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
Spring 1966
Brooks’ “Charlie Chaplin Remembered” published in the Spring issue of Film Culture.
June 12, 1966
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
June 13, 1966
Writes to Herman Weinberg, discussing actress Virginia Cherrill, whom she says she met on the street. Brooks’ letter also mentions Cary Grant and Randolph Scott.
July 12, 1966
Views The Wedding March at Eastman House.
July 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 24, 1966
Writes to Herman Weinberg, discusses Humphrey Bogart.
July 25, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 15, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 19, 1966
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for “Swanson and the houses in Esquire – fabulous.”
August 23, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 25, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September ?, 1966
Receives a letter from an editor inquiring about her memoirs.
September 10, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 16, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 27, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 30, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 15, 1966
Writes to Herman G. Weinberg, discusses Humphrey Bogart.
October 22, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 24, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 13, 1966
Receives 10 pm phone call from heiress and socialite Nancy “Trink” Deere Wiman Wakeman Gardiner, whom Brooks “knew well” during the years 1929-1931.
November 15, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 18, 1966
Phones the Theater Division of New York Public Library asking for production stills from the plays of Dwight Deere Wiman.
November 26, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 1966
Richard Whitehall’s article, “The flapper, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks and the flaming youth of the Twenties,” appears in Cinema.
December 5, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 16, 1966
Writes a note to friend Don Smith, “Thank you for the loveliest postcard I ever received. I shall paste it round a strip of cardboard to make a bookmark – and since the only time I do not have a book in my hand is when I am typing – you will not be forgotten.”
December 25, 1966
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
Winter 1966
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” published in the Winter 1966 – 1967 issue of Sight and Sound.
January 3, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 12, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 14, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 23, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 25, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 29, 1967
Eastman House screens Love and Leave Them (sic) at 2:30 pm.
February 1, 1967
French translation of Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” published in Positif.
February 10, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 11, 1967
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 13, 1967
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith stating “Don – did I dream it – ? or did you phone me Sat., a week ago, saying you were sending me two Sight & Sounds?”
February 15, 1967
Reading Ethel Merman’s Who Could Ask for Anything More? (1955).
February 16, 1967
Writes a postcard to friend Don Smith thanking him for copies of Sight & Sound magazine. She also notes she got a Buster Keaton postcard, and asked where one could get them.
February 20, 1967
Writes a letter to John Hampton asking, at Kevin Brownlow’s suggestion, if he has any stills from It’s the Old Army Game, explaining that she is working on an article on the film.
sometime between March 1-11, 1967
Goes to see Hello, Dolly! at the Auditorium in Rochester; meets star Carol Channing backstage. [The musical, which ran Feb. 28 through March 11, was one of the hottest tickets in Rochester in some time.]
March 6, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 10, 1967
Writes brief note to John Hampton regarding an exchange of film stills.
March 27, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion stating she gave up sex in 1958. “But right up to my retirement from sex in 1958, I always had some pretty lesbians on a string — flattering and fun. So if I am known as a lesbian it is my own doing, and I don’t mind, I like it.”
April 4, 1967
ABC affiliate WOKR Channel 13 broadcasts Overland Stage Raiders in Rochester.
April 27, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 10, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, which states she has “fallen in love with Stroheim — as a person now.”
May 19, 1967
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater detailing the many film stills she has sent him.
May 31, 1967
Types her filmography and send it to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater in Hollywood.
June 5, 1967
Speaks on the phone with Herman Weinberg regarding Erich von Stroheim.
June 17, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
June 13, 1967
Writes a note to John Hampton regarding film stills and details of her filmography.
June 18, 1967
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater discussing various movie stills, including one from A Girl in Every Port. “It was seeing me in this film which made Mr Pabst decide I must play Lulu.” Brooks also discusses Herman Weinberg, and says that Hampton would be hearing from Denis Marion, who might be able to assist with getting prints of Brooks’ European films.
June 21, 1967
Send a telegram to John Hampton.
June 22, 1967
Send a handwritten note to John Hampton mentioning that the telegram might not get through, and that she would be sending money to have her stilled copied.
June 23, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 27, 1967
Send a letter to John Hampton discussing their exchange of film stills.
July 11, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 22, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
July 29, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
August 4, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 18, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 22, 1967
Reading Stuart N. Lake’s biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshall (1931).
August 23, 1967
Types a note to friend Don Smith, “When I found out that Bill Everson was really on the level, that he was coming up on the weekend of 11 September to show films for me, I came to my senses. Nobody could do this for me for nothing, so I called off the whole deal at once.”
September 1, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion.
September 5, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 19, 1967
Writes a letter to Patricia Calvert.
September 28, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 1967
José Pierre’s article about Brooks, “Ursula et la boîte de Pandore,” appears in the French publication L’Archibras (a surrealist affiliated publication).
October 25, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 27, 1967
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his children’s book, Pocahontas in London, which she praises (“Your Pocahontas captures the same mysteriousness that sets a child’s imagination free”) and recalling some of the children’s books she had as a child, Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, Alice in Wonderland, A Child’s Garden of Verses, Oliver Twist, Little Women, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, and Mother Goose.
October 30, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 8, 1967
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 13, 1967
Writes a letter to Denis Marion, “Tomorrow I shall be 61, knowing no more about myself or why I do anything then I did at 6. Except this — all my life I have been a learner. That is why I write. As Dylan Thomas put it… “My poetry is the record of my struggles from darkness to some measure of light.”
December 17, 1967
Writes a letter to Don Smith reporting she had received a letter from Jan Wahl who wrote that he had befriended Asta Nielsen. Brooks also wrote of the forthcoming publication of her piece “On Location with Billy Wellman” in London Magazine. About it she writes, “At last I have found a mold to hold my peculiar blend of autobiography, film history and truth. “Location” tell how I lost my high standing and self-respect in Hollywood by going to bed with my double who the next day asked me before the whol company whether I had syphilis.”
dates unknown 1968
Corresponds with screenwriter Fitzroy Davis, film historian William Everson, and film critic Pauline Kael.
January 16, 1968
Writes “An Investigation into the Motives of John Besford, ‘Fan’.”
January 20, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 2, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 10, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
February 21, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 1, 1968
Brooks “On Location with Billy Wellman” published in French in the March issue of Positif.
March 15, 1968
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
March 25, 1968
Toronto Film Society published Brooks’ program notes for “The White Hell of Pitz Palu.”
March 28, 1968
Receives mail from Kevin Brownlow that includes his essay “The Man with the Movie Camera.”
April 2, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 13, 1968
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl. Brooks mentions that she is reading a “great book,” The Making of Charles Dickens by Christopher Hibbert.
April 29, 1968
Henry Clune’s column in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle mentions Brooks.
May 1, 1968
Brooks “On Location with Billy Wellman” published in the May issue of London Magazine.
May 8, 1968
Writes a letter to James Price of Secker & Warburg, an English publisher.
May 23, 1968
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater mentioning that she has stills from her two G.W. Pabst films, about whom she writes “Also I have another objection to lending my stills for copies. They are used to make Mr Pabst a Nazi. Mr Pabst was a Socialist who detested Hitler and gave most of the Jews who now revile him their first jobs.”
May 30, 1968
Writes a note to John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater thanking him for the return of her film stills. Brooks mentions that in 1965 she wrote to Michael Pabst (son of G.W. Pabst) asking the director for stills. Brooks also suggest that around 1927 she had a “sweet great dane–BUZZY.”
Spring 1968
Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By is published by Secker & Warburg; the book contains a dedication to Brooks.
July 4, 1968
Visits composer David Diamond at his Rochester home.
July 16, 1967
The Canary Murder Case shows on television on Channel 32 (WFLD – UHF) in Munster, Indiana.
September 7, 1968
Writes a letter to CBC broadcaster Clyde Gilmore of the Toronto Telegram.
September 14, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 16, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 4, 1968
The Cinematheque canadienne in Montreal begins its season with a screening of Pandora’s Box, inaugurating a 17-film G.W. Pabst Retrospective.
October 15, 1968
Syndicated columnist Norton Mockridge writes, “Silent screen star Louise Brooks got a letter the other day from a friend visiting London who wrote, in part: ‘Just walked down a street that reminded me of you — Old Broad St.”
October 16, 1968
The Cinematheque canadienne in Montreal shows Pandora’s Box for the second time, as part of its G.W. Pabst Retrospective.
October 19, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 24, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 25, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 30, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 1968
Charles Jameux’s article about Brooks, “Genie de Louise Brooks,” appears in the French publication Positif.
November 14, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 15, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 16, 1968
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
November 17, 1968
Brooks is quoted in the Democrat and Chronicle, “I can’t sit and watch TV all the time; I’d go insane. But I read and read and read; and I write; and I listen to the radio…”.
December 8, 1968
In his New York Times review of Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Arthur Mayer quotes Brooks, “The luscious Louise Brooks claims that she learned to act by ‘watching Martha Graham dance’ and ‘learned to move in film from watching Chaplin’.”
December 15, 1968
In his review of Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Richard L. Coe of the Washington Post writes, “Reading between the lines, one gleans Brownlow got vital encouragement from Louise Brooks, now living in happy retirement in Rochester.”
January 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 19, 1969
In his review of Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Bernard Drew of the Gannett News Service writes, “From seclusion and retirement in Rochester, N.Y. came the candid and astringent thoughts of Louise Brooks, and actress who was not really a star in the Twenties, known at the time primarily for her looks, but who has been acclaimed one by the new generation of cultists who have made a study of her films. According to the dedication, Miss Brooks was instrumental in the publication of Brownlow’s book.”
January 24, 1969
Writes a letter to James Rolick, a student journalist, which is published in the Blue Banner (the student newspaper of Onondaga Community College), on February 14, 1969.
January 31, 1969
Following a Marilyn Monroe film, Pandora’s Box is shown at the National Library in Ottawa, Canada. The Brooks’ film is part of a series devoted to Pabst sponsored by the National Film Theater.
February 7, 1969
Following a Marilyn Monroe film, Diary of a Lost Girl is shown at the National Library in Ottawa, Canada. The Brooks’ film is part of a series devoted to Pabst sponsored by the National Film Theater.
February 14, 1969
The Blue Banner (the student newspaper of Onondaga Community College) publishes Brooks’ letter to student journalist James Rolick, along with a long profile of the actress which included pictures sent to Rolick by Brooks.
February 22, 1969
S.J. Perelman’s story, “She Walk in Beauty — Single Files, Eyes Front, and No Hanky Panky,” which alludes to Brooks, appears in the New Yorker.
March 4, 1969
Visits her lawyer and makes her will. That same day, a librarian friend sends her a copy of the February 22 issue of the New Yorker. Afterwords, Brooks writes a letter to Perelman.
March 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 21, 1969
Watches Hollywood: The Selznick Years on television.
April 10, 1969
S.J. Perelman writes to Brooks.
April 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending her his new book, May Horses. Brooks also mentions that Kevin Brownlow had sent her a copy of a Sewell Stokes’ Isadora: An Intimate Portrait. “It is the best book I have ever read about an actress. Like she is.” Brooks says that she has stopped writing film articles, and now watches films, naming Ingmar Bergman’s Shame (1968). “Surely Bergman is the greatest director in the world today.”
April 28, 1969
Writes a letter to Patrice Hovald, which is published in L’Alsace on July 17, 1969.
April 29, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 9, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
May 15, 1969
In a review of the film version of Laughter in the Dark in the Village Voice, critic Andrew Sarris writes “At one time my impossible dream cast for Laughter in the Dark consisted on Emil Jannings as the collector, Conrad Veidt as the poltergeist, and Louise Brooks as the temptress.”
June 11, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 16, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 8, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 10, 1969
Correspondence with the French writer Denis Marion ends.
July 17, 1969
Brooks’ answers to a biographical questionnaire are published in L’Alsace.
August 9, 1969
George Marshall dies.
sometime between Aug. 10 – Sept. 5, 1969
Sees The Loves of Isadora at the Little Theater sometime during its near month long run. Brooks thinks highly of the film.
August 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 10, 1969
Writes a letter to the former Denishawn dancer Jane Sherman.
September 18, 1969
Writes a letter to George Pratt.
October 18, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 25, 1969
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
Date unknown / November-December, 1969
Garald Pratley interviews Brooks in her Rochester apartment.
November 26, 1969
Jess L. Hoaglin’s article, “Where are they today?,” appears in the Hollywood Reporter.
1970
A two page chapter on Brooks appears in Richard Lamparski’s Whatever Became of . . . ? (New York: Crown Publishers).
February 5, 1970
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
March 2, 1970
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 25, 1970
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 1970
Brooks is interviewed by the Czech filmmaker Jan Kadar?
November 1, 1970
Brooks is quoted in the Democrat and Chronicle regarding a film festival held in Rochester.
December 23, 1970
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
date unknown 1971
Corresponds with Allen Eyles.
1971
Two stills from Pandora’s Box and a page of text concerning Brooks and her two Pabst films are included in Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel The German Cinema (New York: Praeger Publishers). Also published in 1971 is Pandora’s Box (Lulu) (New York: Simon & Schuster), which contains the shooting script of the film (translation by Christopher Holme), cast listing and credits, as well as dozens of stills; brief introduction by Brooks, an article by the actress entitled “Pabst and Lulu,” and an essay by film writer Lotte H. Eisner entitled “Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks.”
1971
A short chapter on Brooks is included in Kalton Lahue’s book, Ladies in Distress (A. S. Barnes & Co.).
January 11, 1971
Writes a brief letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his new book, Wonderful Kite.
January 30, 1971
WROC Channel 8 broadcasts Overland Stage Raiders in Rochester.
March 1, 1971
Brooks “The Other Face of W. C. Fields” published in French translation as “l’autre visage de w.c. fields” in Positif.
March 12, 1971
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
May 7, 1971
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
Spring 1971
Brooks “The Other Face of W. C. Fields” published in the Spring issue of Sight and Sound.
Spring 1971
E.P. Dutton publishes Bob Harman’s Hollywood Panorama, which includes a caricature of Brooks.
July 7, 1971
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
July 12, 1971
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 3, 1971
Writes brief essay “The Garbo Mystery.”
August 18, 1971
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
August 31, 1971
Reading Henry James’ The Spoils of Poynton; writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 3, 1971
Older brother Martin dies in San Carlos, California.
October 8, 1971
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
November 30, 1971
At 8:10 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBM-AM) airs “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 4, 1971
At 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBO-FM in Ottawa, Canada) rebroadcasts “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 8, 1971
At 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBO-FM in Ottawa, Canada) rebroadcasts Gerald Pratley’s “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 9, 1971
At 9:00 pm, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBO-FM in Ottawa, Canada) rebroadcasts Gerald Pratley’s “A Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” a radio documentary about the actor featuring Louise Brooks and Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Grierson (founder of the NFB), and David Raskin (composer of the theme music for Modern Times).
December 29, 1971
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
dates unknown 1972
Corresponds with Fritzi Streibel, wife of Dixie Dugan artist John H. Streibel.
Febuary 1, 1972
Brooks’ “Actors and the Pabst Spirit” published in Focus on Film.
Febuary 23, 1972
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article, “It Must Be Charlie,” which notes that due to a “lame hip,” Brooks declines invitation from David Rockefeller to serve on Salute to Chaplin Committee.
March 7, 1972
Syndicated columnist Leonard Lyons writes, “Former silent screen star Louise Brooks is writing an article entitled ‘The Comedy of the Garbo Mystery’.”
March 12, 1972
Bernard Drew of the Gannett News Service profiles Liza Minnelli, who writes, “I told her that I thought she’s looked like Kay Francis in Cabaret, and she said
‘My father found a picture which showed I looked exactly like Louise Brooks’.”
June 1, 1972
Writes a brief note to Gerald Pratley asking he bring 1 tin of loose English tea and 1 pound Canadian cheddar cheese.
June 29, 1972
Pandora’s Box is shown on BBC Two as part of the World Cinema series, with music for this presentation selected by Carey Blyton.
July 16, 1972
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features an Alfred Hitchcock interview.
August 18, 1972
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 1972
Read Brendan Gill’s profile of Tallulah Bankhead in the New Yorker.
November 1, 1972
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
November 5, 1972
Upstate magazine publishes a lengthy profile of Brooks.
November 10, 1972
Anita Loos visits Rochester’s Public Library for an event to promote her book with Helen Hayes. That same day, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a profile of Loos, who is quoted, “Miss Loos mentioned that she has a long-time friend in Rochester, Louise Brooks, film actress in the days that Miss Loos worked in Hollywood–the era she writes about in her forthcoming book.”
December 3, 1972
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs a critical letter-to-the-editor about Brooks.
date unknown 1973
Corresponds with documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock.
January 28, 1973
Norman K. Dorn’s article about Brooks, “Tales of love and death,” appears in the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle.
March 18, 1973
Records recipe for “Brooks’ cookies” in her notebooks.
April 1, 1973
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features Leni Riefenstahl.
May 14, 1973
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 25, 1973
Receives a telephone call from Fred Lawrence Guiles, who asks about writing Brooks’ biography.
May 31, 1973
Richard Coe of the Washington Post profiles Anita Loos, who writes, “Rochester’s Louise Brooks, a silent screen siren now a deity of cinematologists, recalls meeting Anita Loos after making a movie test for Blonde’s Dorothy: ‘Anita told me: ‘Louise, if I ever write a part for a cigar store Indian, you’ll get it’.”
June 25, 1973
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
September 10, 1973
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
September 21, 1973
Pandora’s Box screens at the New York Cultural Center in NYC.
September 30, 1973
Watches Camera Three on television. This episode features Ken Russell.
October 15, 1973
Kaj Wickbom’s article about Brooks, “Den bortglomda Louise Brooks” (“The Forgotten Louise Brooks”), appears in a Swedish newspaper.
December 31, 1973
Brooks’ first husband, Eddie Sutherland, dies at age 78 in Palm Springs, California.
dates unknown 1974
Corresponds with film historian George Pratt.
January 14, 1974
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 31, 1974
Writes a letter to filmmaker Ricky Leacock.
February 11, 1974
Writes a letter to Dr. Ludwig Gesek of the Austrian Society for Film Sciences.
Feb. 28, 1974
Watches her brother Theo on the NBC news program Behind the Lines; the episode also featured “energy Czar” William Simon.
March 19, 1974
Writes a letter to filmmaker Ricky Leacock.
March 27, 1974
Agrees to a filmed interview with documentarians Richard Leacock and Susan Woll, resulting in Lulu in Berlin.
March 9, 1974
Pandora’s Box shows at the Cornell Cinema (Uris) in Ithaca, New York.
March 19, 1974
Writes a letter to filmmaker Ricky Leacock.
April 16, 1974
An article in the Los Angeles Times about Henri Langlois quotes the film archivist as saying he is looking for the silent version of The Canary Murder Case.
June 27, 1974
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
July 1974
An illustrated filmography of Brooks appears in Film Dope; Brooks also appears on the cover.
July 26, 1974
Prix de beaute is shown at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco as part of Art Deco Film Festival. Kenneth Anger is in attendance.
August 10, 1974
Don Granger’s “Talk of the Town” column in the Wichita Eagle concerns Brooks.
October 1974
Jess L Hoaglin’s short article about Brooks appears in Hollywood Studio Magazine.
October 1, 1974
Brooks’ “Marion Davies’ Niece” is published in Film Culture.
October 7, 1974
Roddy McDowell telephones asking what Brooks thinks of his role on the Planet of the Apes television series.
October 9, 1974
An article about Brooks, “La magie de Louise,” appears in the Belgian publication Stars & Cinema.
October 14, 1974
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 29, 1974
Pandora’s Box screens at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
October 31, 1974
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 5, 1975
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article, “The city’s legacy to cinema: Technology and many stars,” noting “On the silver screen: Louise Brooks–the star of Pandora’s Box and Tagebucheiner Verlonen, films of the German director G.W. Pabst; she was the model for Dixie Dugan. She now calls Goodman Street her home.”
January 13, 1975
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg. On this day, the Toronto Film Society screens Love Em and Leave Em and publishes Brooks’ related program notes “Stardom and Evelyn Brent.” Brooks also appears on the cover of the Season 27 program.
January 25, 1975
Writes to film historian Peter Cowie.
Febuary 1975
Quits drinking.
February 14, 1975
Pandora’s Box screens at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
February 25, 1975
Bernard Drew publishes an article the White Plains Journal News titled, “Louise Brooks now legend.”
April 9, 1975
Eastman House screens A Girl in Every Port at 8:00 pm at the Dryden Theater.
May, 1975
G. Pratley’s article, “Louise Brooks,” appears in Film.
May 8, 1975
Jess L. Hoaglin’s article, “Wherever is ….?,” appears in the Hollywood Independent.
July 16, 1975
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
July 23, 1975
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 1, 1975
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
October 30, 1975
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 16, 1975
Writes a Christmas greeting to friend Don Smith, stating “I did 2 TV interviews – one for West Germany Public TV – one for Canadian Broadcasting – on Pabst and Lulu – maybe they will buy them for the States.”
1976
Brooks’ “Duke by Divine Right” is published in John Wayne (A.S. Barnes & Co.), by Allen Eyles.
January 7, 1976
Writes a letter to the Italian comix artist Guido Crepax.
February 11, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
February 12, 1976
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
May 3, 1976
Writes a letter to the Italian graphic novelist Guido Crepax.
July 27, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 10, 1976
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
August 30, 1976
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
September 2, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 25, 1976
Writes a letter to Theodore Brooks.
November 27 & 28, 1976
Overland Stage Raiders shows on television in upstate New York.
December 15, 1976
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
December 17, 1976
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg. Also writes a letter to friend Don Smith complaining about her disabling arthritis and mentioning she had seen a doctor, who suggested hip replacement surgery, which she declined to have because she still suffered from arthritic knees. Also mentioned that Christopher Isherwood had telephoned her and noted that he was coming to the Eastman House to see Diary of a Lost Girl. Isherwood also told Brooks that he was sending her his new book, Christopher and His Kind. Brooks adds, “From Gore Vidal’s review I gather they are beating the drum for Gay Lib – which will set it back years.”
dates unknown 1977
Corresponds with film historian John Kobal, and German born publicist Lothar Wolff.
1977
In France, Editions Phebus publishes the first book on the actress, Louise Brooks Portrait d’une anti-star, edited by Roland Jaccard.
January 8, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 16, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 19, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
January 21, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
February 8, 1977
Brooks is visited by writer Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Barchardy, who makes three drawings of Brooks. Isherwood tells Bachardy “She’s much the most intelligent actress I’ve ever met.”
March 10, 1977
Writes a letter to Tom Dardis, who is writing a biography on Buster Keaton. “I think Buster was crazy like a character half Dickens – half Evelyn Waugh.” Brooks mentions she is re-reading his Some Time in the Sun, and notes she is looking forward to Dardis’ March 21 visit, saying “I hope you got more nourishing stuff out of me on Keaton and Schenk than I got out of Ish-Ish on Auden and Vidal.”
March 13, 1977
Receives a telephone call from Don Bachardy.
March 21, 1977
Keaton biographer Tom Dardis visits Brooks in Rochester, who records six hours of conversation.
March 24, 1977
Types 2-page letter to Tom Dardis, recounting the time Buster Keaton and Louis Wolheim were playing bridge and Buster shut the porch door on Brooks because it was making a draft.” Brooks also recalled Keaton’s visit to Rochester in 1962, and that she was “shocked and betrayed by a Keaton destroyed and then invented again by his cult and the lugubrious tales of journalists weeping over genius destroyed by heartless Hollywood.” Reflecting, seemingly, on Dardis’ visit, Brooks writes, “In 1956 when I made what seems to be my last effort to run away from the world, I did not know that I would have ‘no one to talk to’ after I stopped seeing James Card in 1962. I did not know that books and reflection unexposed to the light of other cleverer minds remained a mess in my little pointed head. Above all I never appreciated how lucky I was to have been able to get drunk with the cleverest minds in the world (even if I never heard Bob Benchley say anything funny.)”
March 25, 1977
Writes 7-page letter to Tom Dardis containing notes on Buster Keaton and Joe Schenck and commenting on various books and articles. Regarding Keaton, Brooks recounted, “One night at Arrowhead Springs (1939) I watched him dance the rumba (and damned good) for 2 hours with Sonia Henje who would not have wasted a wiggle of her ass on a man who didn’t spell money.” Among the books Brooks comments on are Hollywood Rajah: The Life And Times Of Louis B. Mayer by Bosley Crowther, From Under My Hat by Hedda Hopper, Anti-Trust in the Motion Picture Industry by Michael Conant, Movie Made America by Robert Sklar, Sunshine and Shadows by Mary Pickford, and Memo from David O Selznick.
March 30, 1977
Writes 3-page letter to Tom Dardis commenting on J. Edgar Hoover (“everybody knew that Hoover was a fag, but we couldn’t figure out how he satisfied his sexual tastes”) and James Card. Signs the letter “Joan Crawford”. Writes a second letter to Dardis, 2-pages in length discussing Joe Schenck. Among Brooks’ current reading are Gentleman Jimmy Walker, Mayor of the Jazz Age by George Walsh, Dancing in the Dark by Howard Dietz, John Edgar Hoover by Hank Messick, and the 1970 Film Daily Yearbook (“the most valuable film book I possess”).
April 2, 1977
Dika Newlin’s article, “Out of Pandora’s Box: How a Ziegfeld girl starred in a silent film of Lulu,” appears in Opera News as part of an all-Lulu issue.
April 4, 1977
Writes 6-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Irving Hoffman, John Gilbert, and others. Brooks names Garbo’s girlfriends as Fifi D’orsay, Lilyan Tashman, and Mercedes de Acosta. And states, “Gish went into detail with me about all the wrong decisions she has made which ended her MGM contract.”
April 6, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
April 9, 1977
Writes 4-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing the Talmadge family and William Collier Jr. “The Talmadge women were the most natural comfortable people I ever knew. Connie may have suffered briefly with English royality fever but she remained naturally delightful, Natalie was a very comfortable lump; Norma curled up in a chair was very comfortably bored (even with Gilbert R.) and Peg – old Buddha – was kept comfortable as she eyed the scene, by her attractive daughters. . . . Collier: when I met him in New York in 1926 he was still in love with Connie. We would go to parties with her and receive equal charming attention. In early 1928, after I left Eddie S. Connie gave him the okay to fall in love with me. Therefore he was brutally wounded and never forgave me when I obeyed Marshall’s orders to quit Paramount and go to Berlin to remake Lulu. (In spite of which he took care of my Lincoln town car and other domestic affairs while I was gone 2 years. Proving himself a more than decent man.”
April 20, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Lotte Eisner and Nathanael West. “Nathanael West scares me to death. I gave up on Lonelyhearts. Locust I read in patches.” Brooks also mentioned that she had received five telephoine calls from Rome relating to a short TV interview with RAI for a documentary on Guido Crepax.
April 23, 1977
Prix de beaute is shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in a series co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque.
April 27, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
May 3, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
May 12, 1977
Brooks is visited by Kevin Brownlow and Bessie Love at her Rochester apartment. Brownlow and David Gill film their interview.
May 13, 15 and 20, 1977
Pandora’s Box shows on television in upstate New York.
May 31, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis mentioning George Pratt, Kevin Brownlow and Bessie Love. Brooks also states that she never saw Just Another Blonde.
July 11, 1977
Writes “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs.”
July 29, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
August 1, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 15, 1977
Writes 3-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Garbo and the plot to destroy her career.
August 20, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 23, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
September 2, 1977
Writes a short essay, “Acting Out.”
September 19, 1977
Writes a letter to Ricky Leacock.
October 6, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 6, 1977
It’s the Old Army Game is shown at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, in a series sponsored by
the Film Society.
October 8, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 10, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 12, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
October 19, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis discussing Edmund Goulding and Gloria Swanson, and notes that Kevin Brownlow described her as an “insider-outsider because although I lived among the most powerful people in Hollywood, I did not care about movies and had no need to invent a star making character.” Brooks says Andrew Field’s book on Nabokov is “grand,” and that she would have liked to have snuck into the back of his classes to hear Nabby lecture.
October 24, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
October 26, 1977
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis regarding sex and work. Mentions she is reading The Loving Friends: A Portrait of Bloomsbury, by David Gadd.
October 28, 1977
Mails Roddy McDowell portraits of Buster Keaton to Tom Dardis.
November 1, 1977
Writes a letter to Tom Dardis concerning collaboration on her memoirs, mentioning she had turned down Gerald Pratley and Fred Guiles, and was wondering about UK author Stephen Finn.
November 9, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
November 10, 1977
Mails a copy of Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star to Tom Dardis.
November 11, 1977
Writes a note to Tom Dardis mentioning that Bill Cuseo is sending her books to read, including Dream Power, by Ann Faraday.
November 14, 1977
On her birthday, writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis regarding Charles Chaplin, and her molestation at the age of nine years old.
November 19, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
November 21, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 1977
Bernard Drew’s syndicated article on Looking for Mr. Goodbar mentions Brooks’ role as Lulu in Pandora’s Box.
December 1, 1977
Brooks’ “Pourquoi je n’ecrirai jamais mes memoires” (“Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs”) published in the December, 1977 / January, 1978 issue of Positif.
December 6, 1977
Writes a note to Tom Dardis.
December 14, 1977
Writes a note to Tom Dardis, asking him to return the Roddy McDowell portraits of Buster Keaton and Louise Brooks: Portrait of an Anti-Star.
December 1977
Send a Christmas card to friend Don Smith noting “there is a gorgeous picture book out – Editions Phebus – Paris Louise Brooks, Portrait d’une Anti-Star with my contributions of texts and photos.”
December 23 – 25, 1977
Pandora’s Box is shown on some PBS stations around the country.
December 25, 1977
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 25 & 27, 1977
Pandora’s Box shows on television in upstate New York.
November 28, 1977
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
dates unknown 1978
Corresponds with film historian John Kobal, and writers Kathleen Tynan and Kenneth Tynan.
February 4, 1978
Writes a handwritten Valentine letter to Gerald Pratley, which reads “It has been my habit to wait thirty years before declaring my love to my rare and remarkable friends, but time is running out and you are my only truly Funny Valentine.”
February 14, 1978
Pandora’s Box screens at the Goethe House in NYC.
February 20, 1978
Roddy McDowell telephones Louise Brooks.
February 22, 1978
Writes a note to Tom Dardis regarding use of Roddy McDowall’s photos of Buster Keaton.
February 27, 1978
Rejects Stephen Finn’s book proposal for a biography.
March 1978
Brooks’ “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs” is published in England in Focus on Film.
March 3, 1978
Writes 2-page letter to Tom Dardis commenting on film biographies and saying she had agreed to let Kenneth Tynan do a piece on her for The New Yorker. Brooks also says says John Springer wants her to do a “sex memoir” for the “shifty paperbacks.” And that she had received a letter from biographer Charles Higham complimenting her on her performance as Lulu in Pandora’s Box. Brooks also comments that she thought Higham’s book on Marlene Dietrich was “dull.”
March 15, 1978
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
March 20, 1978
Writes a note to Tom Dardis, and states she thinks Gerald Pratley’s The Cinema of John Huston “the finest book on film direction that will ever be written.”
April 18, 1978
Writes letters to Herman G. Weinberg and Kevin Brownlow.
May 29, 1978
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 10, 1978
Writes a letter to Herman Weinberg.
June 19, 1978
Writes a letter to Gerald Pratley.
July 11, 1978
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
August 9, 1978
Columnist Liz Smith writes in the New York Daily News that Janus Films screens Pandora’s Box for actress Marthe Keller and her boyfriend Al Pacino (“and they loved it”); it is also reported Keller hopes to visit Brooks in Rochester before appearing in a remake of the aforementioned silent film.
September 19, 1978
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow. Also writes a brief letter to Jan Wahl, thanking him for sending his new book, Youth’s Magic Horn, which is dedicated to Brooks. (According to Wahl, Brooks loathed a story in the collection, “At the Crossing.”) She also mentions that she walks with a cane, due to arthritis.
October 11, 1978
Sends Kenneth Tynan a xerox of her December, 1958 essay on G.W. Pabst.
December 1, 1978
Jane Sherman’s letter to the editor mentioning Brooks and her time with Denishawn appears in the Poughkeepsie Journal.
December 14, 1978
After having been interviewed earlier in the week, Brooks is profiled in the Democrat and Chronicle; the piece is titled, “In my dreams . . . I dance.”
December 15, 1978
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box.
1979
Marshall Deutelbaum’s “Image” on the Art and Evolution of the Film (New York: Dover Publications) is published; the book contains “Mr. Pabst” by Brooks, and “Out of Pandora’s Box: Louise Brooks on G. W. Pabst” by James Card.
dates unknown 1979
Corresponds with New Yorker editor William Shawn, film editor Marc Sorkin, and Rochester journalist Henry Clune.
January 15, 1979
Writes a short, apologetic note to Don Bachardy. Mentions she is reading Jonathan Fryer’s 1977 book, Isherwood: A Biography of Christopher Isherwood.
February 28, 1979
Variety runs an article “Louise Brooks Ill, Will Skip Pabst Pic Screening in Paris.”
March 15, 1979
Gary Conklin’s Memories of Berlin is shown at Filmex in Los Angeles, as part of their series
German Cinema: The Golden Age.
March 21, 1979
Writes a letter to Ricky Leacock.
March 22, 1979
Writes a letter to Ricky Leacock.
April 2, 1979
Watches Meet the Press on television, with guest William S. Paley.
April 18, 1979
Writer Jim Watters and photographer Horst P. Horst visit Brooks in her Rochester apartment on assignment for LIFE magazine.
April 19, 1979
Brooks is quoted in an article in the Democrat and Chronicle titled “LIFE takes a look at our Miss Brooks.”
April 24, 1979
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
April 30, 1979
Writes a short, apologetic note to Don Bachardy.
May 23, 1979
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 2, 1979
Pandora’s Box is broadcast on Rochester television on channel 21.
June 11, 1979
Kenneth Tynan’s profile of Brooks, “The Girl in the Black Helmet,” appears in the New Yorker.
June 13, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
June 13, 1979
Variety runs a piece about the Tynan article, “Louise Brooks Profile Recalls U.S. Snubs, European Honors.”
June 14, 1979
Brooks is profiled in the Democrat and Chronicle in an article titled “Art inspires memories on Goodman St.” A second article the same day on the recent death of John Wayne quotes the actress.
July 8-12, 1979
A syndicated version of Kenneth Tynan’s New Yorker profile runs in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.
July 20, 1979
Brooks notes her living allowance as $455.00 per month.
July 25, 1979
Writes a letter to former lover James Mulcahy, mentioning their mutual friend Jimmy Glennon.
August 3, 1979
Send a letter to John Hampton discussing their exchange of film stills as well as her career, writing (Had I not run out of money I should never have returned to Hollywood after 1928.) I was a female James Dean who never learned to drive a car and get myself killed decently.” Brooks also writes that she received fan mail after appearing in The Street of Forgotten Men, a film she says she has never seen.
August 5, 1979
Visits the George Eastman House to see an exhibit of photography by Edward Steichen, which includes of portrait of herself.
August 7, 1979
The New York Times runs a short piece on Brooks visit to the George Eastman House to see an exhibit of photography by Edward Steichen. The newspaper notes, “Among the pictures was one of Louise Brooks as a young woman. ‘Looks like a ghost, doesn’t it?’ said the 72 year-old Brooks. The former actress, in a wheelchair because of an arthritic hip, was dressed in black. ‘Mourning my youth,’ she explained.”
August 8, 1979
Writes a note to Tom Dardis mentioning she received his Keaton book and approves, and that she has started writing her memoirs because of William Shawn’s urging. “My title is Escaping Alive, Bill Shawn’s Escaping with My Life.”
August 10, 1979
Channel 21 in Rochester, New York broadcasts Pandora’s Box.
August 25, 1979
Kenneth Tynan writes to Brooks.
August 28, 1979
Pandora’s Box is shown at the Nuart theater in Los Angeles as part of a double-bill with Charlie Chaplin’s
A Woman of Paris.
September 1979
American Cinematographer runs a review of Louise Brooks: portrait d’une anti-star.
September 9, 1979
Brooks is referenced in the Democrat and Chronicle in connection with her contribution to Marshall Deutelbaum’s IMAGE on the Art and Evolution of the Film.
September 10, 1979
Writes a letter to dance historian Jane Sherman, saying she believes she was omitted from accounts of Denishawn Dance Company.
September 13, 1979
Minneapolis Tribune runs an article on Brooks and a screening of Pandora’s Box, “Louise Brooks film at Walker makes Garbo inconsequential.”
September 17, 1979
Memoirs of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture is shown on WNET in New York City.
September 20, 1979
Writes letters to Robert Lantz and Ricky Leacock.
September 22, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
September 23, 1979
Pandora’s Box shows at the Cornell Cinema (Uris) in Ithaca, New York.
September 24, 1979
Writes a letter to William Shawn, editor of the New Yorker.
October 17 & October 21, 1979
Love Em and Leave Em is shown at the Silent Movie theater in Los Angeles.
October 22, 1979
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 30, 1979
Pandora’s Box is shown at the Goethe House in New York City.
November 1979
Homero Alsina Thevenet’s six page illustrated article, “Lulu Por Lulu,” appears in the Mexican publication, Imagenes.
November 8, 1979
Writes a short note to Richard Lamparski.
November 11, 1979
A version of Kenneth Tynan’s New Yorker profile, “Dream Woman of the Cinema: The Girl Who Was Lulu,” appears in the Observer Magazine, an English publication; Brooks also appears on the cover.
December 2, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
December 1979
Writes a Chistmas card to friend Don Smith saying she seldom watchs TV except for Fred Astaire, and notes that public TV will be running her 1974 conversation with Richard Leacock. “And you must look out, on whatever network, for Thames Television, Hollywood – The Pioneers. On episode 9, I talk about Clara Bow.” (Brooks is refering to the Kevin Brownlow documentary.)
December 29, 1979
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
dates unknown 1980
Corresponds with writer Kenneth Tynan.
February 1980
Brooks is featured in a Life magazine article, “Nine to Remember,” by James Watters.
February 1, 1980
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an excerpt from Kenneth Tynan’s Show People titled, “Book Ends: A star in the limelight again.”
February 3, 1980
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article about the Life magazine article which featured Brooks.
February 6, 1980
The Poughkeepsie Journal runs an article on Brooks, “Captivating silent film slated at Bardavon,” ahead of the February 20th screening of Pandora’s Box at Bardavon 1869 Opera House.
February 11, 1980
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow and Herman G. Weinberg.
February 13, 1980
Variety publishes an article, “Piece together original Pabst film of 1929 with Louise Brooks’ Lulu.”
March 4, 1980
The Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX) pays tribute to the George Eastman House with a series of screenings of film treasures from the GEH, including Diary of a Lost Girl.
March 31, 1980
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
April 14, 1980
Erte is quoted about Brooks (“She was very, very charming.”), and Brooks about Erte in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
June, 1980
Lucien Logette’s article on the lack of information on Brooks’ career, “Retour à Louise,” appears in the French publication Jeune Cinema; Brooks also appears on the cover.
July 9, 1980
Eastman House screens It’s the Old Army Game.
July 26, 1980
Kenneth Tynan dies at age 53.
July 28, 1980
Brooks interviewed by Jack Garner regarding the death of Kenneth Tynan.
August 24, 1980
Norman K. Dorn’s article, “Legendary Louise Brooks Couldn’t Unbuckle the Bible Belt,” appears in
the San Francisco Chronicle.
September 15, 1980
Brooks is interviewed by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle regarding Greta Garbo.
October 28, 1980
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl as part of a series “Unusual and Famous Films from Eastman House.”
October 30, 1980
Returns to her apartment after a week in the hospital after suffering a fall.
October 31, 1980
Eastman House screens Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em.
November 2, 1980
Brooks is profiled in the Democrat and Chronicle in connection with a film series at the Eastman House.
November 19, 1980
Eastman House screens Beggars of Life.
November 26, 1980
Ada Fan’s article, “Louise Brooks,” appears in the Rochester, New York magazine City Life.
December, 1980
Lucie Herrmann’s article, “Louise Brooks,” appears in the German publication Frauen & Film; later republished in Filmcritica in July, 1984.
December 1, 1980
Barthélémy Amengual’s article, “De Wedekind a Pabst,” appears in the French publication L’Avant-scène Cinema.
December 5, 1980
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box.
December 12, 1980
Eastman House screens A Girl in Every Port.
December 16, 1980
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article about Brooks titled “Brooks memoir coming to life.”
January 4, 1981
Writes a letter to Kevin Brownlow.
January 8, 1981
J. V. Cottom’s article, “Les Immortels du Cinema, Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une radieuse rebelle,” appears in the French publication Cine Revue.
Mar. 15 & Mar. 29, 1981
Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California presents “The American Films of Louise Brooks,” showing It’s the Old Army Game, Love Em and Leave Em, A Girl in Every Port, Beggars of Life, and Overland Stage Raiders.
March 21, 1981
Pandora’s Box is shown on BBC Two. The music for this presentation, which includes part of Alban Berg’s orchestral suite from his opera Lulu, was selected by Carey Blyton.
April 4, 1981
Writes a note to Tom Dardis.
April 8, 1981
Liz Smith’s gossip column notes, “Knopf’s biggie, Bob Gottlieb, and agent Robbie Lantz have concluded a deal for publication of a book titled Lulu in Hollywood by the silent screen great Louise Brooks. It will include a selection of the retired Miss Brooks pieces on film and movie names. William Shawn of The New Yorker is editing the work and writing the introduction. This one will be for film buffs all over the world.”
April 15, 1981
The Carnegie Hall Cinema in New York City screens Pandora’s Box as half of a double bill with
Threepenny Opera.
May 5, 1981
New York Daily News gossip columnist Suzy writes, “Sultry brunette Louise Brooks, the hottest thing in silent films and a champion heart-breaker, will call her memoirs Lulu in Hollywood. She made the money deal with Knopf. A lot of famous men have kept up with Louise through the years. I’d love to know if the one I’m thinking of still does. Maybe I’ll ask him some time.”
May 6, 1981
Writes a short note to Richard Lamparski.
July, 1981
Kenneth Tynan’s Show People is published in paperback.
September 1981
Anita Loos’ article about Brooks, “Greatest Actress in Moving Pictures,” appears in Vogue.
September 9, 1981
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle publishes an article, “Louise Brooks is no fan of Loos article.”
September 28, 1981
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
November 14, 1981
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
November 22, 1981
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle publishes an article about Lulu in Hollywood mentioning that the cover art for the book was sent to Brooks from a fan in Hungary.
dates unknown 1982
Corresponds with film agent Robert Lantz; last correspondence with Peter Cowie. During the year, also receives a letter from Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper.
January 7, 1982
Writes a brief note to former lover James Mulcahy asking if he is well.
February 7, 1982
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle publishes an article on Henry Clune mentioning Brooks’ letters to the Rochester columnist.
February 12, 1982
Writes a note to former lover James Mulcahy.
February 26 – June 14, 1982
Images of Brooks are included in an George Pratt curated exhibit, “Faces and Fabrics / Feathers and Furs,” at the Eastman House.
March 16, 1982
Democrat and Chronicle film critic Jack Garner gives a talk about Lulu in Hollywood at the Rochester Public Library as part of their Books Sandwiched-In series.
March 19-20, 1982
The first half of a four-day Louise Brooks Retrospective takes place at the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Foundation in Queens, New York.
March 26-27, 1982
The second half of a four-day Louise Brooks Retrospective takes place at the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Foundation in Queens, New York.
March 28, 1982
Upstate magazine runs a long piece, “Portraits from Memory,” by Jack Garner on Lulu in Hollywood.
May 1, 1982
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” published in Vogue as “The movie face of the twenties: Louise Brooks writes about Humphrey and Bogart.”
May 1982
In the United States, Knopf publishes Lulu in Hollywood, a collection of autobiographical essays by Brooks. The book is widely reviewed.
May 8, 1982
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 21, 1982
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports Lulu in Hollywood has arrived in local bookstores.
June 1982
The first part of Lawrence J. Quirk’s two part critique of Lulu in Hollywood appears in Quirks Reviews.
June 11, 1982
Joan Rivers’ review of Lulu in Hollywood appears in The Hollywood Reporter.
June 14, 1982
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” excerpted in the New York Post as “The Transformation of Bogey.”
June 15, 1982
Brooks’ “Humphrey and Bogey” excerpted in the New York Post as “Bogey – ‘My Gun is Bigger than Yours’.”
June 16, 1982
Brooks’ “The Other Face of W. C. Fields” published in the New York Post as “The Lonely, Boozy Agony of Funnyman W.C. Fields.”
June 18, 1982
Brooks’ “Marion Davies’ Niece” published in the New York Post as “At San Simeon with Hearst & His Marion.”
July 15, 1982
Paul Vaughan reviews Lulu on Hollywood on “Kaleidoscope” on BBC Radio 4.
July 25, 1982
Don Granger’s article, “Silent Movie Star Bitterly Recalls Last Wichita Stay,” appears in the Wichita Eagle-Beacon.
August 1982
The second part of Lawrence J. Quirk’s two part critique of Lulu in Hollywood appears in Quirks Reviews.
August 1, 1982
Memories of Berlin and Cabaret screen together at the Thalia theater in New York City. The New York Daily News notes in a July 30 article that Liza Minelli’s appearance in Cabaret resembles Brooks, while Brooks herself can be seen in Memories of Berlin.
Fall 1982
Charles Cagle’s article, “Louise Brooks and the Road to Oz,” appears in The Little Balkans Review, a Southeast Kansas literary quarterly; Brooks also appears on the cover.
September 5, 1982
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article mentioning Brooks, “Seven Women to be honored for their contribution to film,” about an upcoming award ceremony at the George Eastman House.
September 18, 1982
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
September 19, 1982
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that Brooks was disturbed by a local jazz musician, practicing their drums outside near Brooks’ apartment. The musician was escorted to Brooks apartment, and spoke with the bed-ridden former actress. The musician took her drum kit indoors, and the next day received a phone call from Brooks.
October, 1982
William Rothman’s article, “Our Miss Brooks,” appears in American Film.
October 21, 1982
Sara Laschever’s review of Lulu in Hollywood, “Pandora’s Box,” appears in the New York Review of Books.
October 24, 1982
Empty Saddles is shown as part of Movie Mania Days at the New York Sheraton in New York City.
November 3, 1982
Brooks is profiled by Jack Garner in the Democrat and Chronicle, “A national honor for a neighbor,” ahead of the Festival of Film Artists honor, of which she commented “I’m very proud and pleased to be receiving the George Eastman Award.”
November 5, 1982
Reportedly spends the afternoon with Tom Graves, a journalist who hopes to write Brooks’ biography. Due to ill-health, Brooks does not attend the 1982 Festival of Film Artists honoring seven Hollywood actresses at the Eastman House. One of the actresses, Luise Rainer, is escorted by Jack Gardner to Brooks’ apartment.
November 6, 1982
Democrat and Chronicle runs front page coverage of the previous night’s Festival of Film Artists.
November 12, 1982
Writes a brief note to John Kobal.
December 5, 1982
Brooks is quoted in “Books that gave me pleasure” in the New York Times Book Review.
dates unknown 1983
Corresponds with film agent Robert Lantz, documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock, Fraser Macdonald of the Toronto Film Society, writer Kathleen Tynan, film historian Herman Weinberg, and the French writer Katherine Pancol.
January 3, 1983
David Chute’s article, “The real Louise Brooks unreels tonight in a film retrospective,” appears in the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner; a similar article by David Thomas appears in the Los Angeles Times.
January 10, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
January 15, 1983
Pandora’s Box shows at the Collective for Living Cinema in New York City.
January 16, 1983
Writes a letter to Professor Charles Cagle, reminiscing about her time growing up in Kansas.
February 1983
John Roberts’ article, “Louise Brooks” appears in Classic Images.
February 3, 1983 – March 27, 1983
An image of Brooks is included in “The Hollywood Portrait Photographers 1921-1941” in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Brooks is also quoted in the brochure, “When you think of it, what people remember of those stars is not from films but one essential photograph.”
February 6, 1983
Rochester radio personality William Klein brings comedian Joan Rivers to Brooks’ apartment, where they talk and enjoy croissants from the Strathallan hotel.
February 20, 1983
According to an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Roddy McDowell wrote to Brooks a few days earlier to tell her that Joan Rivers has been telling everyone in Hollywood how thrilled she was to meet Louise.
March 13, 1983
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle profiles film publicist John Springer, and includes a long sidebar, “Louise Brooks Rediscovered,” recounting Springer’s relationship with Brooks.
March 21, 1983
Brooks reports having received a phone call from director Robert Towne, and that they talked for more than an hour.
March 22, 1983
Eastman House screens Pandora’s Box along with Earth Spirit (1923), as part of a series “German Cinema: Expressionism, Theatricality, Realism and Rebirth.”
March 23, 1983
Eastman House screens Diary of a Lost Girl, as part of a series “German Cinema: Expressionism, Theatricality, Realism and Rebirth.”
April 1983
American Film magazine carries a quarter-page advertisement for the Motion Picture Gallery which mentions the offer of 24×32 color poster depicting Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl at the cost of $50.
April 1983
The first part of Wayne Schutz’s three-part article, “Louise Brooks: A Magical Presence,” appears in
Classic Images.
April 4, 1983
Brooks is interviewed regarding Gloria Swanson by Jack Gardner.
April 5, 1983
Brooks is quoted regarding Gloria Swanson in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
April 23, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
May 1983
The second part of Wayne Schutz’s three-part article, “Louise Brooks: A Magical Presence,” appears in Classic Images.
May 28, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
Spring 1983
David Thompson’s “The Actress Taking the Part of Lulu” appears in Threepenny Review.
June 18, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
June 19, 1983
Brooks is quoted regarding Norma Shearer in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Summer 1983
Donald McNamara’s article, “A Conversation with Louise Brooks,” appears in the literary journal, Missouri Review.
June 26, 1983
Prix de Beaute starts a three week run at Film Forum in New York City. Also shown is Richard Leacock’s 23 documentary. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle runs an article on Brooks, “The revival rolls on.”
July-October, 1983
Thomas Elsaesser’s landmark article, “Lulu and the meter man,” appears in the English publication Screen.
July 18, 1983
Pandora’s Box shows at the Cornell Cinema (Uris) in Ithaca, New York.
July 29, 1983
The first part of Jan Wahl’s two part article, “Louise Brooks: Rising Star, Falling Star,” appears in Movie & Film Collector’s World.
August 5, 1983
The second part of Jan Wahl’s two part article, “Louise Brooks: Rising Star, Falling Star,” appears in Movie & Film Collector’s World.
September 16, 1983
Chris Chase’s article, “At the Movies: Pandora Star delighted that Lulu’s back,” appears in the New York Times. The New York Daily News runs an article by David Hinkley titled “The saga of Louise Brooks.”
September 18, 1983
Restored versions of Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl begin a two week run at the Regency Theater in New York, after which the Kino International prints will move onto art houses in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Cleveland, according to a report in Variety.
October, 1983
An issue of the Italian publication, Glamour 10, is devoted to Brooks; it includes articles, photographs and a portfolio of cartoon drawings by various artists.
October 1983
The third part of Wayne Schutz’s three-part article, “Louise Brooks: A Magical Presence,” appears in Classic Images.
October 3, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 13, 1983
Jay Carr’s article, “The Legend of Louise Brooks,” appears in the Boston Globe.
October 15, 1983
Pandora’s Box is shown at the Collective for Living Cinema in New York City.
October 17, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
October 29, 1983
Writes a letter to Herman G. Weinberg.
December 1983
François Ramasse’s article, “Abécédaire pour Louise Brooks,” appears in the French publication Positif.
dates unknown 1984
Corresponds with New Yorker editor William Shawn, and Rochester journalist Sebby Wilson Jacobson.
January 21-23, 1984
The Hartford Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut screens Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.
Febuary 15, 1984
Visiting actresses Peggy Cass and Susan Strasberg (on tour with Agnes of God) visit Brooks at her Rochester apartment.
March 6, 1984
Brooks is quoted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in an article about William Powell, who died the previous day.
March 27, 1984
The New York Daily News runs an article highlighting Ira Resnick’s purchase of a poster of Diary of a Lost Girl for $50,000.
April 1, 1984
Current Biography published a long profile of Brooks in its April 1984 issue.
April 22, 1984
Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl show at Film Forum in New York City.
April 25 – May 1, 1984
Rochester Little Theater starts one week run of Pandora’s Box.
May 2, 1984
Rochester Little Theater was scheduled to start a one week run of Diary of a Lost Girl, but the film is pulled due to a technical problem.
June 1984
American Film magazine publishes Veronica Geng’s “Lulu in Washington,” a parody of Lulu in Hollywood.
June 22, 1984
Prix de Beaute, together with Richard Leacock’s A Conversation with Louise Brooks, opens an extended run through July 12 at Film Forum in New York.
July, 1984
An issue, “Almanacco Louise Brooks,” of the Italian publication, Filmcritica, is devoted to Brooks.
date unknown 1984
In Japan, Chuo Koronsha publishes Ruizu Burukkusu to “Ruru” (an adaption of Lulu in Hollywood).
November 10, 1984
Lulu in Berlin shows on television in New York City.
November 11, 1984
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle column notes, “British film historian Kevin Brownlow, the man responsible for restoring for restoring the silent film epic Napoleon, tells Namedropping that Louise Brooks, Rochester’s resident silent film star, remains a major cult figure in London. He says backdated film magazines with Brooks on the cover now sell for the highest prices — sometimes as much as $15 an issue. ‘That puts her on a level with Garbo,’ he says.”
January 18, 1985
Hand-writes a note to admirer Ross Berkal telling him not to visit her.
January 23, 1985
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle report that Diary of a Lost Girl and Lulu in Berlin show at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse.
February 7, 1985
Hand-writes a note to Ross Berkal thanking him for sending his poems.
February 17, 1985
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports the Manhattan store Bergdorf Goodman is promoting a line of sterling silver frames and pins and jewelry boxes, with an image of Brooks featured in the central frame.
February 25, 1985
Due to ill health, Brooks declines an invitation from the International Women’s Film Festival to serve on their awards jury. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports on her decline on March 3.
March 9, 1985
The Collective for Living Cinema in New York City screens A Girl in Every Port, Diary of a Lost Girl, and Lulu in Berlin.
August 8, 1985
Dies in Rochester, New York.
August 9, 1985
Brooks’ death is front page news in Rochester, New York and elsewhere around the world.