Louise Brooks Part II: Jerry Vermilye

G.W. Pabst: the man who would change the course of Louise's life and make her into an international cult icon.

What happened next was ompletely in character for Louise: informed by George Marshall (who had film industry connections) that Paramount boss B.P. Schulberg would offer to keep her on at her old $750 per week, or leave his studio, she astonished him by taking the latter option. As talkies continued to envelop the industry, it was standard procedure for the movie moguls to take this stand with silent stars whose voices may not record well. Alone among the Paramount players to display such independence in the face of her contract's renewal, Louise was both admired and ridiculed for her behavior. But she was merely heeding the advice of Marshall, who had informed her: "I know that some guy called Pabst in Berlin wants you for a very famous picture, and he'll give you $1000 a week. So you let Schulberg talk, and when he's finished you say, 'Thank you, Mr. Schulberg, but I'll quit and go to Germany.'" And so she did, although, as she later admitted, "Neither of us had ever heard of Pabst before, or of the Frank Wedekind play Pandora's Box, on which the film was to be based." And she added, "George's concern of the moment, though, was not my career but his need for a relaxing trip to Europe."

On October 6, 1928, the couple sailed on the S.S. Majestic, bound for Cherbourg, Paris, and Berlin. What she didn't know until later waqs that, aboard ship, Flo Ziegfeld had cabled her an offer to star on Broadway as Dixie Dugan in Show Girl-and Marshall had sent back her forged "refusal". The role went to Ruby Keeler, and Ziegfeld never forgave Louise.