Many other rare snippets were found in that same discovery.
I knew her – kinda. I stood around in the same group where she stood around. OK, to be fair, I guess I didn’t know her at all. I grew up in Rochester, home of the Eastman House and its collection of vintage films. The curator of the film collection was the preservationist Dr. James Card, who was a huge Louise Brooks fan, and persuaded Louise to give up her life of seclusion in New York to come to Rochester to study and write about her life, and/or the films of her era. On a nice summer evening after a screening at the Dryden Theater, Dr. Card would often hold court outdoors to discuss the film, or other film-related topics, with anyone who was interested. It was a smaller group than you might think – always fewer than two dozen, sometimes only a handful. I was there from time to time, when I was 16 or so, thanks to a friend who was an aspiring filmmaker and film scholar. I really had nothing to say in these gatherings, so I just took it all in. Miss Brooks joined the discussions only rarely. She was actually a film scholar, but she did not say much more than I, and rarely did anybody dare to address her. She had that kind of mystique, and maintained that kind of wall around her. Nobody called her or referred to her as anything but Miss Brooks, including Dr. Card, who was reputed to be her lover. (Their relationship was extremely complicated.)
I barely remember her. I recall that she was so tiny as to be nearly invisible. When she was in her prime, she had been listed at 5’2″, and the full-body pictures of her show a healthy physique with strong thighs and calves (see the nude below), but she must have been several inches shorter when I saw her, and could not have weighed more than 90 pounds. Her signature hair style was replaced with a pony tail drawn back severely from her thin face. If I saw pictures today of what she looked like then, I would probably say that she was an attractive older woman, but to my callow, juvenile self she was just a shriveled old lady. If I remember correctly, she spent most of her time thinking and writing about the films of G.W. Pabst. I certainly didn’t impress her since I didn’t really know who she was, and I thought Pabst was the Blue Ribbon Beer guy.
A minor correction to that video. In the 1950s, she was not a prostitute or a call girl as we normally picture them, although “courtesan” is probably fair. She was the mistress of three rich men simultaneously, and has referred to herself as a “kept woman.” Your nomenclature may vary.
As you may know, she did pose for nude photographs in her prime.
In 1925 a photographer named Jean de Mirjian got his name in the papers when Miss Brooks sued to stop his distribution of some naughty photos he had taken of her in 1923. She also posed for Alfred Cheney Johnston (above).
That nude shot is actually by Alfred Cheney Johnston who also took nudes of several would-be famous actresses, mostly Ziegfeld girls, such as Norma Shearer, Barbara Stanwyck, and even a teen Julie Newmar. Newmar wrote the foreward to the book Jazz Age Beauties a collection of his work.
If you are sure, you should correct Wikipedia.
They have Johnston pictures identified as well, but they claim this one is Mirijian
Johnston’s work has appeared here many times before. Some of them are still working links.
Beautiful and interesting woman. I have been an admirer for a while. A few years ago my wife gave me a book that included many of her nudes, and those of certain other notable women from the flapper era who were willing to pose, all beautifully reproduced, together with accounts of the origin of the photos. Much appreciated. (I love how unabashedly hairy the women were back then. Very much to my taste.)
Cool, what was the book title?
Actually, I believe that it was the same book Anghruiz referred to above. But I can’t verify. Our books are not as well organized as they should be, and I have not been able to find it after looking for the past 30 minutes. Very frustrating because I really liked that book and it was such a nice gift.
A search for Alfred Cheney Johnston on Amazon turns up two or three books that have photographs of women he took. Johnston lived until 1971, which really extends the range of women he could potentially have photographed.
PS – I don’t really think he did photograph women much later on, it’s just a field for imagination.
Oh, I love this woman. I’ve seen 2 films that she’s done. Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. Both films are essential.
I find it fascinating you met her. An icon of the Roarding Twenties and silent film. She lived an extraordinary life. There are photos of her around from when she was older, as well as her appearance in the 1980 tv miniseries “Hollywood”, which is hard to find. The fact you saw her is amazing.
She was in Rochester forever. I think she lived another two decades after the two summers when I ran into her. I moved out of Rochester, but from what I read, she got to the point where she drank heavily, but always by herself, in her apartment. I remember reading that very few people attended her funeral.
I finally found the Jazz Age Beauties book (Robert Hudovernick, 2006) in our collection. The book tells the story of photographs taken by Alfred Cheney Johnston that were found on his estate after his death in boxes marked “private”. It includes the particular gorgeous nude shot of Louise Brook, as posted by Scoop above, among the many photos excellently reproduced in the book. It is possible that the book could be in error in crediting the shot to Johnston rather than to John De Mirjian, but the book appears to be pretty comprehensively researched, so I would be surprised. Hudovernick does mention nudes taken by Mirjian, and the lawsuit brought by Brooks in which she successfully sued to prevent their publication until after her death, but the book does not appear to include examples of Mirjian’s work.
I can’t stress enough how wonderful this book is. Johnston’s photography is just stunning, the women are even more stunning, and the account of the background to the photographs is fascinating. I would strongly recommend the book to anyone having an interest in the subject matter. Note that not all of the photos in the book are nudes. Some are peek-a-boo style or artistic form studies, with the models being nude or semi-nude but with strategically placed props or clothing, or camera angles, hiding any full nude reveals. And some of the photos have the models not nude at all, but in risqué outfits or even normally clothed. But there are many nude shots too, and nude or non-nude, the photos are great. In addition to the introduction by Julie Newmar, the book includes examples of the (discreet) nudes that Johnston took of Newmar in 1949-51 and a fully-clothed picture that he took of Newmar’s mother in 1919.