Back in the 1920s and 1930s, American and European newspapers and magazines occasionally published poetry — poetry which was meant to entertain. Some of this occasional verse was humorous, some of it satirical, and some of it topical. All of it is what might be termed light verse. In the course of research, a small number of such poems have been found which reference or are about Louise Brooks. This page puts a spotlight on some of those works. If you know of others, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society.
Concrete poetry is a form of poetry (dating back hundreds of years) in which words are arranged in the shape of an object; typically, the typographical effect is just as important in conveying meaning than any linguistic or verbal elements. This form is sometimes referred to as visual poetry. One of the earliest poems mentioning Louise Brooks is an example of a visual prose-poem, or what may be also called a shape-poem. “Cinematographicas” was published in a Spanish magazine, Selecta, and dates to 1928. Brooks is mentioned on the eighth line down on the left hand side of the cup. The line reads “Louise Brooks, with her dark petulant look.” Other Hollywood stars mentioned in this piece include Norma Shearer and Norma Talmadge, Greta Garbo, Billie Dove, Pola Negri, Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, Gloria Swanson and Dolores del Rio.
These jazz age graphics, and a satirical poem by Magnessie Bishop, were published in February 1929 in Cinòpolis, a Spanish magazine which blended humor with movie news and gossip. The illustrations suggest male moviegoers only see Louise Brooks’ attractive legs while female moviegoers only notice her fashionable clothes. On the left is the poem in its original Spanish, and on the right is the poem in English translation. If there are any Spanish speakers with a literary bent who could offer a better translation, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society.
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Hay algo en el mundo que, Hay algo que sin causar Hay also que maravilla Hay, aparte de las normas, Hay algo que nos escama, Hay algo que tu me obligas Queda algo en mi existencia Mas si lo fragil es calma Molesta mas una “star” |
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Louise Brooks
If there is something in the world that If there is something that does not cause There is something that marvels There are, apart from the rules, There is something that scares us, There is something that you make me There is something still in me But if what is fragile is calm A “star” is more annoying |
“Wiosna,” or “Spring,” was published in a Polish magazine, Kino Teatr, in March, 1929 — around the time Pandora’s Box was opening in Europe. It is little more than doggerel, in this instance a bit of slightly humorous, slightly satirical verse. It evokes a films from the time featuring “dangerous women” including Lulu (with Louise Brooks), Picadilly (starring Anna May Wong), and Szampan (Alfred Hitchcock’s Champagne, starring Betty Balfour). The passages on Lulu speaks of the author’s enslavement to the character.
The following newspaper poem was part of a series “Rondels des vedettes de l’ecran,” or “Rondels of the stars of the screen.” The poem was written in the form of a rondeau,a thirteen-line poem, divided into three stanzas of 5, 3, and 5 lines, with only two rhymes throughout and with the opening words of the first line used as a refrain at the end of the second and third stanzas. Other poems in the series include those about / dedicated to other European and American actors including Maurice Chevalier, Anny Ondra, Anna May Wong, Gloria Swanson, Anita Page, Kathryn Carver (Mrs. Adolphe Menjou), and others. This “Rondels des vedettes de l’ecran” was published in Comoedia, a Parisian newspaper, in May 1930.
The poem’s author, Alexandre Dréville (18??-1942), was a French mining engineer and sometime poet who penned a handful of newspaper verse as well as the lyrics to a number of published songs. He was the father of Jean Dréville (1906-1997), a French director called by IMdB the “great neglected independent film-maker” He made made 45 films between 1928 and 1969. Among them are Autour de L’Argent (1928) and The Chess Player (1938). As an actor, he had a small role in Napoleon (1927), and can be seen in two episodes of the Kevin Brownlow documentary Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (1995). [Thanks to Kevin Brownlow for information on the Drévilles.]
On the left is the poem in its original French, and on the right is the poem in English translation. If there are any French speakers with a literary bent who could offer a better translation, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society.
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LOUISE BROOKS Votre main blanche au grand vent seme Vous paraissez, et l’on vous aime Vos yeux sont un creul probleme, Alexandre Dréville
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LOUISE BROOKS
Your white hand in the bitter wind You seem, and we love you Your eyes are a cruel problem, Alexandre Dréville |