Louise Brooks: A Biography by Barry Paris
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Book Reviews of Louise Brooks: A Biography
Book Review: Our Miss Brooks
Summary: 5 Stars
Between 1936, when Louise Brooks completed her final film (a John Wayne cowboy flick, OVERLAND STAGE RAIDERS) and 1956, when she began writing the movie memoirs that would comprise her single published book, LULU IN HOLLYWOOD (1978), she gave dance lessons and generally staved off poverty while dealing with the perception that she had failed to become the star that her two German silent films (PANDORA's BOX, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL) seemed to promise that she would be. (The biography effectively dramatizes many of the reasons that a woman would choose not to be a star, as Brooks perhaps did.) What makes Barry Paris's biography of Brooks so compelling is that the reader (like the author) is not completely certain that Brooks and her twenty-four films (seventeen of which survive) and her single book are deserving of a five-hundred and fifty page biography. They are and she is because of Paris's indefatigable scholarship, the thousands of letters Brooks so eloquently composed and he recovered, and the psychological complexity of this great beauty who included among her list of failures her inability to figure out how to successfully merchandise her ravishing looks. There are few things Paris says in LOUISE BROOKS that don't have their exact contradiction somewhere else in the text: in so many ways, she was extraordinarily self-sufficient, but she depended on wealthy males for financial support; some viewers find her performances in PANDORA and DIARY great acting, but she objects that "I was simply playing myself, which is the hardest thing in the world to do"; she insisted throughout her life that her unwavering commitment to "Goethian truth" was responsible for her unpopularity with acquaintances and readers, but Paris provides an appendix of errors and half-truths that pervade LULU IN HOLLYWOOD.
Paris's biography makes no brief for Brooks as anything more than a highly complicated, extremely intelligent woman more gifted than most in dancing and writing (and, in her twenties, more possessed of beauty than most humans ever are) but one no more capable of answering existential questions than are the rest of us. Her descent into deepening self-exile and old age is harrowingly depicted in the biography, but equally memorable is Paris's documentation of the fact that there were many in Rochester, N.Y., and elsewhere who cared about and cared for her no matter how badly she, in her late, irascible years, treated them. Perhaps the central mystery of her life and of the book is that of aging: how she went from being the ever-so-lovely Lulu of silent films to the Rochester shut-in keeping herself alive by writing. Barry Paris has written a biography worthy of that human enigma which we will, if we're lucky, also face in our own ways. LOUISE BROOKS is a profound study of a profoundly fascinating human being.
Book Review: Everything you ever wanted to know about Louise Brooks...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an extremely thorough, even-handed and well-written bio. The author's approach is intelligent and his research and references are extensive.
One learns that Brooks began as an upper middle class wildchild from the plains who determined early to be a great dancer. She had talent and determination. But Fate along with timing made it possible for her to escape Kansas for New York City at the tender age of 15 (!) to train with a premiere dance company. She seems never to have gotten past being that wildchild and was, at 17, dismissed from the troupe for unacceptable behavior. Soon she was a dancer on Broadway, including a stint with the Ziegfeld Follies. Next stop, the movies!
Being admittedly "selfish and stubborn" as well as volatile, Brooks tore through New York, Paris, London, Hollywood, Berlin and back, living it up and burning bridges all around. By age 25 she was finished in terms of ever becoming a movie star or great dancer. She eventually disappeared into a gin bottle, was reduced to dance instruction, retail sales and finally "love for sale."
This is all fascinating enough, but her late-in-life resurrection as a rediscovered silent era "icon" (based mostly on films made in Europe in the late 20's) and as a newly minted writer is the surprising twist toward the end of an otherwise bleak life story.
Her work in Pabst's "Pandora's Box" ought to provide Brooks all the immortality any actress could desire. She is spectacular as Lulu and deserves every accolade. She was a beauty, but there were other beauties of her era who achieved greater stardom - Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow. Her "black helmet" hairstyle was well suited to her looks, but it's more likely that Colleen Moore actually popularized the look, having been a superstar of the 20's (which Brooks wasn't)and the iconic "flapper." As for her skill as a writer (with reference to "Lulu in Hollywood"), I find Brooks interesting, insightful and even poetic, but there is an underlying note of bitterness that undermines any claim of objectivity. And, considering her decades of gin guzzling, I question her ability to be very accurate 40-50 years after the fact. For me, the mystique and power of Louise Brooks comes down to her performance in "Pandora's Box," her primary and glorious claim to fame.
Read "Louise Brooks" by Barry Paris and form your own conclusions. Don't miss "Pandora's Box." The Criterion Collection DVD boxed set includes Kenneth Tynan's 1979 profile, the TCM production, "Looking for Lulu," a 1970's interview with Brooks and other extras.
Book Review: A true original
Summary: 5 Stars
Louise Brooks was never as famous in her day as other female actors like Colleen Moore and Clara Bow, and in fact most people were more familiar with her face than with her films, but she just had that special something that enabled her to stand the test of time, not only as a cult figure (as when she had a revival in the Fifties and again in the Eighties) but also as a very talented actor in her own right, cult figure or not. And today a lot of female actors who were very famous in her era, like Colleen Moore and the Talmadge sisters, are all but forgotten, while Louise lives on. Mr. Paris, in telling the story of Louise's life, explains just what about her has made her live on long after many other performers of her era have been forgotten by time and the average person off the street. I also particularly liked the chapter "Sound and Fury," with a lot of in-depth information on the coming of sound, and just how many people really were affected by the transition from silent to noise, not just the actors. Title-card writers and musicians were some of the other people in the business affected by it; their jobs were more or less made obsolete altogether.
This was not a woman who was interested in making friends and influencing people, and was quite capable of venomously turning on friends and even relatives to whom she'd formerly felt very close and affectionate. You didn't want to get on her bad side. She also had always wanted to be known as a professional dancer, not an actor, and when she had been dragged into motion pictures, she made what many people would consider some foolish decisions, decisions that sometimes cost her important roles that might have advanced her career. Indeed, some of the decisions she made, seemingly based on wanting to get even with the powers that be, put some serious nails in the coffin of her career, though she also made some incredibly risky decisions that in the long run landed her her cult status and lasting appeal (making the three movies abroad for G.W. Pabst, movies which initially bombed and were devastatingly reviewed). Because she refused to play nice and brown-nose the powers that be, she never amounted to much in the talking pictures she made in the Thirties, but her life after she quit motion pictures was just as fascinating. And isn't it preferable to be remembered best for the top-quality pictures you made as opposed to being remembered as and made fun of for having continued to act in increasingly bad movies after you've already become a has-been who won't get the message and retire gracefully?
Book Review: The Best Star Biography Written
Summary: 5 Stars
This is arguably the best biography of a film star. Barry Paris has investigated the tempestuous life of Louise Brooks so thoroughly that any other volume on her life would pale by comparison. The book is well written and goes into great detail about Louise Brooks' life and why she seemed to make her suicidal career choices. Mr. Paris also provides his readers with a good background to the world of Louise Brooks. We learn about modern dance when discussing Brooks' invitation to join Denishawn dancers, about George White and the Scandals and Ziegfeld and his Follies when Brooks danced for them and about the silent film world and the struggles of the industry to cope with the advent of sound.
Mr. Paris delves deeply into Louise Brooks' relationship with her family and lovers, and devotes a wonderful chapter on G. W. Pabst and the making of Pandora's Box. While reading the book, I was drawn to see her films and enjoyed them much more with the insight provided by Mr. Paris. The working relationship between the actors involved in Pandora's Box was particularly illuminating and I had a greater appreciation of Louise Brooks' performance.
The most tantalizing aspect of Louise Brooks is her career suicide. One wonders how she could have so casually ended her career in films when she was an up-and-coming star. She was equally difficult with her dancing partners when she briefly returned to professional dancing, and even her the vain attempts to work as a store clerk. Louise Brooks had an astonishing intellect, so much so that many of the men in her life felt threatened by her but despite her intelligence she was never able to find a satisfying life for herself. Eventually, she found a kind of niche in her writing. Mr. Paris examines all of her contradictions thoughtfully but does not present a definitive conclusion. I liked the way the biography stuck to presenting the life of Louise Brooks without any attempt to moralize or judge; the facts and background are left for the reader to contemplate. I found the book very thought provoking.
The book is nicely illustrated, including a short gallery of Louise Brooks' best portraits. This is a fascinating biography of a natural actress who had a loathing for the profession; a woman who could be a good friend and equally suddenly turn against them. This is a book that should not be missed even if someone does not have an interest in silent films.
Book Review: I Adored This Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Louise Brooks was a remarkable woman in many ways and this excellent biography depicts her entire story in a way that lets us truly get to know this fascinating and original individual. Louise was far more than just a pretty face. She had talent oozing from literally every pore of her body. I have caught the bug and am now a devoted Brooks fan for life, and finding this book by fellow Pittsburgher Barry Paris has enriched my knowledge of Louise for which I will be forever grateful. Thank you Barry, this is wonderful research you've done for us here, and all fans of Louise Brooks owe you a standing ovation!There aren't many biographies on Louise that I could find outside of this book and Louise's own autobiography of sorts, titled "Lulu in Hollywood", but there isn't room for many more as this thorough study covers everything one would wish to know about Louise Brooks and her fascinating life onscreen and off.
Tired of the typical spoiled starlet of yesteryear? Think all old-time actors were all the same? Boy are you wrong, and this book will prove it to you! This is one woman who breaks down all conventions and shatters all illusions. Louise Brooks was a true original in every sense of the word!
Have a look and you too will fall in love with Louise Brooks.