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| Louise Brooks was born on November 14, 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. Even in her early childhood, she displayed a devilishness and fierce independence. She danced in small town recitals and held the attention of more than a few boys. As Louise's potential as a dancer grew, so did her desire to leave Cherryvale. The opportunity came to her in 1922.She began her "showbiz" career when she went to New York to with the Denishawn Dance Company at the ripe age of fifteen. She rose quickly to the status of "principle dancer" and then moved on to star in "The George White Scandals" and eventually the racy Ziegfeld Follies 1925. |
| It was a typical scenario for a beautiful Ziegfeld girl to be snatched up by the Paramount scouts who went to see the shows, and that's exactly what happened to Louise when producer Walter Wanger convinced her to get into "pictures". Louise made her film debut in the "Street of Forgotten Men" at the age of eighteen. Louise's part may have been brief, but her impact on the screen did not go unnoticed. The "girl in the black helmet" commanded attention and soon became one of Paramount's "junior stars". A successive train of movies such as "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" and "Rolled Stockings" employed Louise as the fun-loving and trouble-making "flapper" girl from 1925-1929. Louise aptly embodied the all-american ideal of youthful beauty though her flapper roles, magazine covers, and advertisements for soap, among other things. Her appearance in Howard Hawkes' "A Girl In Every Port", however, would prove to be her best career move yet...(read on!) |
| In 1929, the release of
"The Jazz Singer" marked an infamous moment in cinematic history-the very first movie to have sound! Soon studio execs were buzzing about this new innovation in technology. A lot of stars, however, weren't particularly happy about this breakthrough; thus far they had not had to worry about vocal training. Many actors' voices, when first heard on the big screen, were subjected to extreme ridicule from crowds. Studio heads often took advantage of this vulnerability in actors and either made newer demands of them or docked their pay. Louise Brooks, paradoxically enough, seemed to resist studio pressure both as a statement of her independence and in devotion to the wishes of her then "male companion", George Marshall. She repeatedly refused to return to the studio to record sound takes for "The Canary Murder Case." Soon Paramount head Schulberg told her she could "work for $750 a week or leave." So she did. Hollywood was shocked-but they had no idea that Louise was already on a ship headed for Berlin, Germany, to meet the famous German director G.W. Pabst. After spotting Louise in "A Girl In Every Port", he knew he had found his "LuLu". |
Copyright: McKenna W. Rowe, 1997-2006