Louise Brooks Ultimate Pin Up Girl of the 20s and Silent Film Star

Louise Brooks was the ultimate pin up girl of the 20s. She had the bob, the style, and the personality. She was also a dancer, a showgirl, a model, and an actress for the silent screen, starring in twenty five films in total. Her most famous films were Pandora’s Box, filmed in 1929, Diary of a Lost Girl filmed the same year, and Miss Europe filmed in 1930. Miss Louise Brooks was born on November 14^th, 1906 in Cherryvale,Kansas. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a pianist. At age nine, she was sexually abused by her neighbor, and she claimed afterwards that this set the tone for her sexual preferences in later years.

Louise Brooks: Dance Company, Singer
In 1922, Louise Brooks joined a dance company, her appointment coming to an unpleasant end, according to Internet lore, when she was fired because, “you want life handed to you on a silver salver.”* However, through friends, she found employment almost as once as a chorus girl. Subsequently, she appeared in Follies on Broadway and this resulted Hollywood signing her up for a five year contract in 1925. She filmed The Gold Rush, and at the premiere met Charlie Chaplin with whom she subsequently had an affair.

She rose to stardom rapidly due to a ‘naturalistic’ acting style and a face that fascinated. She soared in comedy, playing the ultimate flapper girl. She ranked W. C.Fields amongst her famous co-stars, and was a frequent guest at the San Simeon estate of William Randolph Hearst.

Louise Brooks: Independent Spirit did not like Hollywood
Miss Brooks did not lack an independent mind. When she was promised a pay rise and did not receive it, she left Hollywood for the European film circuit and there made some of her greatest films. She had come to the attention of the European film making community as a result of her role as a vamp in the 1928 film A Girl in Every Port. The move was an easy one for her as she was not fond of the Hollywood set.

This did not mean that Hollywood had finished their love affair with her. Indeed, she had become world famous, and there was a strong demand for her as a star. When Hollywood invited her back when audio movies were invented, she declined, thereby, forever remaining a silent screen icon. Her refusal also resulted in Hollywood blacklisting her saying that she didn’t have a voice suitable for sound movies.

Louise Brooks Played Sexy Parts in Film
Her movie roles in Germany involved a part as a lesbian, and in real life, Miss Brooks admitted to having lesbian affairs, including one night with Greta Garbo. However, in later years she said that she did not believe that there was such a thing as a lesbian, and that it was learned behavior, and a desire for experimentation.

Love and sex was far more important to Louise Brooks than filming. So it was that whenHollywoodoffered her a movie in 1931, she declined in order to be with her love, George Marshall in New York. Her refusal marked the end of any return to the silver screen for her.

Louise Brooks - It Girl of the 20s
During her subsequent years, Miss Brooks opened a dance studio (not successful), worked as a radio actress, a gossip columnist, and even as a sales girl at Saks Fifth Avenue. As none of this seemed to work for her, she chose the life of a courtesan for a while, having a few rich men as clients. Perhaps, her biggest downfall was her addiction to alcohol, for the habit had formed early, and she could never live without it.

Louise Brooks married twice and had many lovers. It appears that George Marshall was the biggest love of her live, but she declined to marry him, and he stopped asking after he discovered her many affairs. One of her affairs was with William S Paley, the founder of CBS. He was to give her a small financial income for the rest of her life and it was this that kept her from taking her life in more difficult times.

She starred in the documentary, Memories of Berlin in 1976, had her book, Lulu in Hollywoodpublished in 1982, and did an interview with Richard Leacock in 1984 called Lulu in Berlin. It was released after her death in 1985.

Louise Brooks will be remembered for her hairstyle, her beautiful face, her film roles on the silent screen, the controversy whispered about in her possible lesbian relationships, and her sexually liberated viewpoint.