—Louise Brooks
“Interior With a Woman Reading on a Sunny Day”
1915
oil on canvas: 45 x 40 cm.
Children’s Library
Clamart, France, 1965
Maplewood Apartments, 172 Vaughan Rd. Toronto, Dec. 2020
From his Art Deco Toronto series
—Clara Bow
Isabella Rossellini with Bird, 1988
—Esther Ralston
New York, 1964
I came back and read more about 3 actresses here because I was not very familiar with any of them.
Louise Brooks seemed to be an extreme hedonist at heart. She claimed she was never “in love”. Some say she was bisexual (she did acknowledge more than 1 lesbian encounter), but apparently she did not like labels such as “lesbian” or “bisexual”. To her, everything was just sexuality. She lived for whatever pleased her at that moment.
I had previously read a little bit about Clara Bow – The IT Girl. A tragic childhood and an overwhelming need for attention. She was not a typical star in that she was not noted as being a great “professional actress”. More than one person noted that she gave great performances before the camera not because she practiced and perfected her craft, but because her emotions were always high and ready to come forth at any moment. If you wanted her to cry on command, she could give you buckets of tears. She was not Hollywood’s perfect star either. Apparently she bucked the studio execs and publicists at every corner, but her public appeal (box office revenues) kept her in leading roles.
Uncharacteristically, she only married once, had 2 kids and remained married for 31 years. She and her husband, Rex Bell, owned a ranch in Nevada. It apparently wasn’t the perfect marriage though. I’ve read that her psychiatric issues culminated with her living alone is a cottage in California for many years prior to her death.
Last on my reading list was Ester Ralston. I still don’t know a lot about her. A very long career, 1915-1962, according to her profile. As previously mentioned, she was reportedly “greylisted” for not sleeping with a studio exec, but apparently that was after her “leading lady” days were behind her. Three marriages and a ton of acting credits, but I’ll admit I’ve only recognize 2 titles — Huckleberry Finn (1920) and Peter Pan (1924) – neither of which I’ve seen. She was called The American Venus at one point. She died in 1994 and her funeral was on the day of the Northridge earthquake.
Beautiful women, but very interesting contrasts!
Nicely done, Joe. Regarding Esther Ralson and MGM. Her only Metro picture was Sadie McKee, a Joan Crawford vehicle, and Ralston appears in about twenty minutes of somewhere in the middle. An A picture, and her only one immediately before or after. As for Mayer blacklisting Ralston, or anyone else, who outside of his studio would listen to him? Not Jack Warner or Darryl Zanuck. I put her down to a dumb broad whose various husbands ruined her, socially and financially.
Re Louise Brooks. Any even casual reading relative to her life makes it clear that Louise was someone Not to Know.
Agreed. Her sharp tongue, hedonistic sexuality, and amoral lifestyle made her someone to avoid if at all possible. By her late 30’s, she was a hardened alcoholic and worked as a “paid escort” (call girl) to make ends meet. She was often suicidal and reportedly William Paley, the founder of CBS and a former lover, sent her a monthly stipend which kept her afloat in her waning years.
The photo and description of Kirkjubøargarður, though interesting, makes me so thankful not to be living there. 🙂
Both picture and description call to mind strongly Jane Smiley’s Greenlanders.
Nice selection as usual Robert! And some good quotes. I had to started at the “children’s library” before I realized that it was a staircase. Some good quotes, too. I read somewhere in his early days Walt Disney was close to bankruptcy.
I had never seen “Pandora’s Box” until I caught about the last third one night trawling through TCM. I was instantly hooked and went to buy the movie the next day. Brooks was quite the talent, though that quote about making love makes it sound as if she were an unhappy – or perhaps too clear-seeing – person. As a side note, did you know that the comic artist Rick Geary wrote a short graphic novel called “Louise Brooks: Detective?” The plot has her returning to her home town of Wichita in 1940 to take stock of her life, when she gets caught up in a friend’s murder. It’s available on Amazon and worth your time, I think.
That picture of Esther Ralston is lovely. I believe I read somewhere that she didn’t have the career she might have because she turned down Louis Mayer’s advances and he threatened to blackball her from every studio in Hollywood.
And as far as that van. . .as I said to someone last night, the more I am pushed to get the Shot – even to the limit of being forbidden to shop or threatened with jail – raises my hackles and convinces me more than ever that there is something deeply wrong about the whole affair.
A lovely weekend to you and yours, Robert.
Whether true or not, by the time Esther Ralston got to MGM she was done as a major star, or even a minor one playing top supporting parts in second features. There are many reasons, but Mr. Mayer is not one of them for her precipitous decline.
Nice series, as usual. A number of actresses I don’t know, although I do know about Clara Bow. Wasn’t Richard Arlen the leading man whose voice did not work with talkies ? His bio does not mention it. It does mention that he did TV in the 50s but I don’t remember seeing him.
On donating hair, I examined one young black male who was joining the army. He had long dreadlocks and I mentioned that his head would be sheared his first day in basic. He said he was donating his hair before shipping off to basic.
Gorgeous Bugatti. A friend of mine invested his pension plan in Bugatties. I think he had five of them. The pension plan did pretty well.
Richard Arlen continued working in large and supporting parts well into the sixties. His voice was excellent.
Nice content this week, Robert.
Blessings for Lt. Bar and her hair donations. She has a lovely smile,
I am also fascinated by the Vivian Maier photo. It reminds me of a street photo from 9-11. Every one is focused in one direction except for 1 person. It makes me wonder what is going through that person’s mind at that very instance.