Louise Brooks was always a writer, and a reader. She kept a journal from the time she was a teenager. It is filled with observations on the films she saw, the books she read, and the people she encountered. When she was 18, Brooks accompanied an inebriated critic to a Broadway theater to see a play, and when he proved incapable of writing his review, Brooks did it for him — and, it was published in the New York Times! Later, she penned a series of advertorials while living in Hollywood in the late 1930s, and in 1940, she authored a small, self-published booklet titled The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing. Around this time, Brooks also started keeping notebooks which contained her thoughts on all manner of things — much of it is autobiographical. Beginning in the mid-1950s, Brooks started writing essays about film for various journals like Film Culture and Sight and Sound. Some, but not all, of these pieces were collected in her book of autobiographical essays, Lulu in Hollywood, which was published in 1982. It proved to be something of a bestseller ,and is still highly regarded today. In fact, in 2023, the Hollywood Reporter ranked it number 44 on the list of “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time.” And in 2024, the Los Angeles Times ranked it number 28 on its list of “The 50 best Hollywood books of all time.” That’s not bad for a silent film star who was once nearly forgotten.
For those interested, there is a page on the Louise Brooks Society website called Quotable Louise Brooks, which draws from her writings and interviews. Otherwise, there are other pages on the LBS which further detail Brooks’ writings and publications. They include
Attributed to Louise Brooks || The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing || Lulu in Hollywood || Lulu in Hollywood Gallery || Lulu in Hollywood Bibliography (of reviews) || Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks
This page presents an annotated bibliography of writings by Louise Brooks. Listed below are her published and unpublished articles, essays, statements and letters. Entries are given in chronological order, with articles understood to have been published in the United States, unless otherwise indicated. Entries listed in bold were collected in either of the two editions of Lulu in Hollywood. Brooks’ unpublished articles are noted near the end of the page, as are her two books. Some entries are linked to the cited material: some of these links reside on the Louise Brooks Society website, while others reside elsewhere on the web. An * indicates that a copy of this citation is held in the archives of the LBS.
This annotated bibliography has been compiled by Thomas Gladysz, and was last updated in April 2024.
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| The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing | Lulu in Hollywood (1982 edition) | Lulu in Hollywood (2000 edition) | Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks |
PUBLISHED ARTICLES, ESSAYS, LETTERS and COMMENTS
“Remarkable Remarks.” Billboard, September 12, 1925. *
— Brooks is quoted as saying, “True art instincts lead one up the right alley.”
“No, No Nanette Full of Vigorous Fun.” New York Times, September 17, 1925. *
— according to the Barry Paris biography (pages 92-93), Brooks ghost authored this stage review for Herman J. Mankiewicz
“Funny Screen Experiences.” Berkeley Daily Gazette, July 16, 1926. *
— a syndicated (United Press) article attributed to Brooks
“How I Broke Into the Movies“. Sacramento Bee, June 18, 1927. *
— this short, likely syndicated article is attributed to Brooks
“Ein Wenig Louise Brooks.” in Film Photos Wie Noch Nie, Giessen: Kindt & Bucher Verlag, 1929. (Germany) *
— an autobiographical sketch (“A Little Louise Brooks”) translated into German by Lothar Wolff; this collectible book was later reprinted (Cologne: Walther Konig, 1979).
“Consejos de belleza.” Flores y Naranjos, October 27, 1929. (Spain) *
— approximate half-page advice article attributed to the actress; under a different title, but without her by-line, this piece appeared in French as “Les conseils de Louise Brooks vedette de Prix de Beaute” in Ciné-Miroir on March 7, 1930; in Portuguese as “Os Conselhos de Louise Brooks” in Cinefilo on April 5, 1930; and in Italian as “L’oracolo della bellezza svelato da Louisa Brooks” in Excelsior on May 6-13, 1930.
The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing. Wichita, Kansas: privately published, 1940.
— thirty-six page instruction booklet; read it and more about it HERE
“Mr. Pabst.” Image, September 7, 1956. *
— publication of the George Eastman House, Rochester, N.Y.; published in French as “Monsieur Pabst” in Positif (February 1958); a brief excerpt from this essay is included in Voices of Film Experience: 1894 to the Present, edited by Jay Leyda (New York: Macmillan, 1977); later reprinted in its entirety in “Image” on the Art and Evolution of the Film, edited by Marshall Deutelbaum (New York: Dover Publications, 1979).
“Gish and Garbo: the executive war on stars.” Sight and Sound, Winter 1958-1959. (England) *
— illustrated, five-plus page article; also printed as an extract in “Women in Films” in Cinema (March, 1959); as “Garbo & Gish – Victims of a New System” in the New York Post (June 17, 1982); published in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982); in Japanese translation in Ruizu Burukkusu to “Ruru” (Toyko: Chuo Koronsha, 1984); and excerpted in Portuguese in Homenagem a Louise Brooks (Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986).
“The Influence of Movie Stars on the Freedom of Women.” April 12. 1963.
— feminist-themed speech delivered to the Catholic Women’s Clubs of Rochester.
“ZaSu Pitts.” Objectif, August 1963. (Canada) *
— short article published in French in a Montreal-based publication. (In the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University, this piece is titled “Zasu Pitts Diffused.”)
“Louise Brooks par elle-même, ou quand s’ouvre la boite de Pandore”. Objectif, February – March, 1964, and April – May 1964. (Canada) *
— illustrated article with text in French; excerpts from the first section of this two part article were also published as “Working with Pabst” in Louise Brooks l’europeenne (Paris: Cine Classics, 1999).
“Als ich mit Pabst arbeitete” [“My Work with Mr. Pabst”]. in Der Regisseur: G. W. Pabst, edited by Rudolph S. Joseph. Munich: Munchener Photo und Filmmuseum, 1964.
— German publication issued in December, 1964.
“Pabst and Lulu.” Sight and Sound, Summer 1965. (England) *
— reprinted in Pandora’s Box, Classic Film Scripts (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971), Women and the Cinema: A Critical Anthology (New York: Dutton, 1977), Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), Sight and Sound: a fiftieth anniversary selection (Faber & Faber, 1982) and Roger Ebert’s Book of Film (New York: Norton, 1997). French translation published in Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une anti-star (Paris: Editions Phébus, 1977) and Japanese translation in Ruizu Burukkusu to “Ruru” (Toyko: Chuo Koronsha, 1984); also published in German translation in Geboren unter jedem Himmel: Erinnerungen berühmter Schauspieler (Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1986), edited by Renate Seydel; in Portuguese translation in Homenagem a Louise Brooks (Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986); translated by Silva Tomanic and published as “Pabst i Lulu” in 15 dana: ilustrirani casopis za umjetnost i kulturu (Croatia?, 1990); five page illustrated article reprinted as “Pabst es Lulu” in Film Vilag no. 4, 1991 (Hungary).
“Checklist 27 – Louise Brooks.” Monthly Film Bulletin, July 1965. (England) *
— list of films with a brief note by Brooks regarding the films she did not appear in – “What happened was that William Wellman had offered me a part in Public Enemy that I turned down to go to New York. But the advance publicity had gone out with my name in the cast (the part Wellman then gave to Jean Harlow), so when people see an extra girl walk through a scene with a black bob and bangs, they say ‘There is Brooks.’ How I am listed as having been in Steel Highway or Hollywood Boulevard must be some like mix-up with Wellman and Florey. But I appeared in neither film.” – publication of the British Film Institute.
“Marlene.” Positif, May 1966. (France) *
— short piece about Marlene Dietrich; published in German in Marlene Dietrich: Dokumente, Essays, Filme (München : C. Hanser, 1977) by Werner Sudendorf, and as “Die Verwandlung in ein Glamourgirl” in Film und Fernsehen (December, 1980),* an East German publication; published in Italian in Vienna-Berlino-Hollywood. Il cinema della grande emigrazione, Biennale di Venezia (RAI, 1981), and in Filmcritica (July, 1984):* and excerpted in Portuguese in Homenagem a Louise Brooks (Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986).
“Letter to Andrew Sarris.” English Cahiers du Cinema, no. 3, 1966. *
— letter to the film historian.
“Charlie Chaplin Remembered.” Film Culture, Spring 1966. *
— two page article in response to a letter from Kevin Brownlow about Chaplin.
“Buster Keaton.” in Double Exposure, by Roddy McDowall. New York: Delacorte Press, 1966. *
— a short appreciative essay on the comedian; reprinted in Italian in Robert Benayoun’s Lo sguardo di Buster Keaton (Emme Edizioni, 1982), and in English in The Look of Buster Keaton (St. Martin’s Press, 1983).
“Humphrey and Bogey.” Sight and Sound, Winter 1966 – 1967. (England) *
— six page article with numerous illustrations; published in French translation in Positif (February 1967). English version published as “The movie face of the twenties: Louise Brooks writes about Humphrey and Bogart” in Vogue (May, 1982) and as “The Transformation of Bogey” in the New York Post (June 14, 1982) and “Bogey – ‘My Gun is Bigger than Yours’ ” (June 15, 1982). Published in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982); in Bedside Hollywood: Great scenes from movie memoirs (Nimbus Books, 1985); and excerpted in Portuguese in Homenagem a Louise Brooks (Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986).
“The White Hell of Pitz Palu.” Toronto Film Society, March 25, 1968. (Canada) *
— one page piece in film program, with supplementary context and notes.
“On Location with Billy Wellman.” London Magazine, May 1968. (England) *
— 14 page article with illustrations; published in French translation in Positif, March 1968 (France). English version also published in Film Culture (Spring, 1972) and the UK journal Focus on Film (Winter, 1972); brief excerpt included in Voices of Film Experience: 1894 to the Present, edited by Jay Leyda (New York: Macmillan, 1977); reprinted in its entirety in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
Biographical questionnaire. L’Alsace, July 17, 1969. (France)
— questionnaire sent to Patrice Hovald. (In the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University, this piece is titled “Louise Brooks to Patrice Horvald.”)
“The Other Face of W. C. Fields.” Sight and Sound, Spring 1971. (England) *
— five page article with illustrations, reprinted as “The Lonely, Boozy Agony of Funnyman W.C. Fields” in the New York Post (June 16, 1982) and in The Little Balkans Review, Fall, 1982 (United States); French translation by Jeannine Ciment as “l’autre visage de w.c. fields” in Positif, March 1971. English version reprinted in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982); in Three Films of W. C. Fields (London: Faber & Faber, 1990); and excerpted in Portuguese in Homenagem a Louise Brooks (Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986).
“Actors and the Pabst Spirit,” Focus on Film. February 1972. (England) *
— two page article with illustrations.
“Marion Davies’ Niece,” Film Culture. October 1974. *
— long article with illustrations; reprinted as “At San Simeon with Hearst & His Marion” in the New York Post (June 18, 1982); published in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
“Stardom and Evelyn Brent.” Toronto Film Society – Silent Series, January 13, 1975. (Canada) *
— one page piece in film program, with supplementary notes by Fraser MacDonald.
“Duke by Divine Right.” in John Wayne and the Movies, by Allen Eyles (South Brunswick, New Jersey: A. S. Barnes, 1976).
— Brooks’ essays serves as the introduction; also published in a French edition of the book John Wayne (Henri Veyrier, 1979).
“An Answer to an Admirer.” in Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une anti-star, edited by Roland Jaccard (Paris: Editions Phébus, 1977). *
— letter from Louise Brooks to cartoonist Guido Crepax, dated January 7, 1976.
“Une certaine idée de la liberté.” [“A certain idea of freedom”]. in Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une anti-star, edited by Roland Jaccard (Paris: Editions Phébus, 1977). *
— passages from this piece were later used in “Kansas to New York” in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
“Pourquoi je n’ecrirai jamais mes memoires.” Positif, December, 1977 / January, 1978. (France) *
— the piece is dated July 11, 1977 and was translated into French by Jeannine Ciment; also published in English as “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs,” in the UK journal Focus on Film, March 1978 and Film Culture (1979); published in Italian in Filmcritica (July, 1984) and in Portuguese in Homenagem a Louise Brooks (Lisbon: Cinemateca Portuguesa, 1986); later reprinted in the expanded edition of Lulu in Hollywood (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000).
“The Other Side of the Camera.” in Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une anti-star, edited by Roland Jaccard. (Paris: Editions Phébus, 1977). *
— essay
“Kansas to New York.” in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982). *
— passages from this autobiographical essay were drawn from the unpublished 1957 essays, “Gloria Swanson,” and “Une certaine idée de la liberté,” [“A certain idea of freedom”], in Louise Brooks: Portrait d’une anti-star, edited by Roland Jaccard (Paris: Editions Phébus, 1977); also published in German translation in Geboren unter jedem Himmel: Erinnerungen berühmter Schauspieler (Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1986), edited by Renate Seydel.
“Books that gave me pleasure.” New York Times Book Review, December 5, 1982. *
— authors discuss favorite books; Brooks is quoted: “I have been reading Proust all my life, and I’m still reading him.”
“Aus dem Briefwechsel zwischen Louise Brooks und Guido Crepax.” in Geheimnisvolle Tiefe G.W. Pabst. Vienna: Austrian Film Archive, 1998. *
— contains three letters to the Italian cartoonist, dated January 7, March 29 and May 5, 1976.
Mollica, Vincenzo. “Louise Brooks e il fumetto.” Filmcritica, July, 1984. (Italy) *
— exchange of letters in Montepulciano magazine between Brooks and Guido Crepax in Brooks supplement “Almanacco Louise Brooks”
“Filmography – Positive and Negative.” Positif, November, 1985. (France) *
— annotated filmography with text in French (In the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University, this piece is dated to 1963.)
BOOKS by LOUISE BROOKS
The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing. Wichita, Kansas: privately published, 1940.
— thirty-six page instruction booklet; read it and more about it HERE
Lulu in Hollywood. New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1982.
— contains “On Location with Billy Wellman,” “Marion Davies’ Niece,” “Humphrey and Bogey,” “The Other Face of W. C. Fields,” “Gish and Garbo,” “Pabst and Lulu,” and “Kansas to New York.” This edition also includes an introduction by William Shawn, and an afterword by Lotte H. Eisner (“A Witness Speaks”): read more about this book HERE.
Lulu in Hollywood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000.
— contains “On Location with Billy Wellman,” “Marion Davies’ Niece,” “Humphrey and Bogey,” “The Other Face of W. C. Fields,” “Gish and Garbo,” “Pabst and Lulu,” “Kansas to New York” and “Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs.” This edition includes an introduction by Kenneth Tynan (“The Girl in the Black Helmet”) and an afterword by Lotte H. Eisner (“A Witness Speaks”): read more about this book HERE.
UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS
The following four unpublished manuscripts are listed in the “Chronological Bibliography of Articles by Louise Brooks” in Barry Paris’ 1989 biography of the actress. They represent just a fraction of Brooks’ unpublished work. In 2010, the George Eastman Museum unsealed 29 notebooks which contained approximately 2000 pages of handwritten material. I have read a small portion of the notebooks, and can confirm they contain numerous small essays, passages, anecdotes, remembrances, lists and more. Most all of it is interesting material. For more on the notebooks, see THIS PAGE on the LBS website.
“Amateur Night in Greenwich Village,” unpublished manuscript, extant section of the autobiographical novel, Naked on My Goat, ca. 1955.
—- excerpts published in Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris (New York: Knopf, 1989).
“Who Is the Exotic Black Orchid?,” unpublished manuscript, extant section of the autobiographical novel, Naked on My Goat, ca. 1955.
—- excerpts published in Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris (New York: Knopf, 1989).
“Gloria Swanson,” unpublished manuscript, January 1957.
— this piece is listed among the writings of Louise Brooks held in the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University; passages from this unpublished work were later used in “Kansas to New York” in Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
“Joan Crawford,” unpublished manuscript, February 1957.
— unpublished essay intended for a never published book titled Women in Film.
“Family History,” unpublished manuscript, 1976.
— this piece is listed among the writings of Louise Brooks held in the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University.
“Autobiography,” unpublished manuscript, 1979.
— this piece is listed among the writings of Louise Brooks held in the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University.
LETTERS
Also unpublished are many hundreds of letters Brooks wrote to family, friends and film historians around the world. They include, most importantly and prolifically, film historians in the United States, England and elsewhere. Kevin Brownlow told me he received some 300 letters from Brooks. Other letters, which number in the dozens, were sent to Pauline Kael, Herman G. Weinberg, Peter Cowie, Tom Dardis, Lottie Eisner, William Everson, and Roland Jaccard — some of which have been quoted or referenced in various works. Barry Paris also noted in his biography that approximately 150 letters exist between Brooks and her brother Ted. Additionally, numerous letters from and to Louise Brooks are held in the Louise Brooks collection at Wichita State University.
Over the years, a handful of Brooks’ unpublished letters have come up for sale on eBay and other online auction sights. However, an unknown number of these letters are known forgeries by Lee Israel, as noted in her book, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Israel’s book was later made into a film.) So far, one collection of authentic letters has been published:
Wahl, Jan. Dear Stinkpot: Letters from Louise Brooks. BearManor Media, 2009
— this 231 page book contains dozens of letters dating from 1958 through 1978, some in holograph: read more about this book HERE