h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Louise Brooks - A2611900
Author: Blackberry Cat, FMA, Off to Galway City for the Arts Festivel soon. - U516189

I believe and hope that this is ready now.

And I think you would be right!

Really good - can anything further be added about her self-destructive streak, other than the failed marriages? Also is there any weblinks you can add to this?

Otherwise this is really well written - I particularly liked the way you described her hair. Sometimes it can be difficult to visualise.

Good, good, good!

Woodpigeon

Ta very much
There was some other stuff about love affairs and alcoholism but I wouldn't like to put anything about that in without proof positive. Mostly it was gossip. I'll see if I can hunt down anything definite. I put in links for the 2 best fansites I could find and they had links to lots of others but I'll maybe see if I could find something with cartoon art of her. All this will have to wait until I'm next off work and can use a computer with proper internet access however. Down to the library on Monday or Tuesday

Numerous minor changes.
Added some more web links and put them in a seperate section.
Not happy with current ending of Life and Works, will be changing it.
Was considering adding a quotes section, both things she said and things said about her. Any opinions?
Not found anything I'd be happy to add about her self-destructive streak yet. I'll keep looking.

Nice entry - it's both interesting and well written. Some comments:

- It's an h2g2 convention not to begin an entry with a header. Moving the 'Her life and work' header down one paragraph would easily solve this problem. See: <./>SubEditors-Style</.>, 'Titles...' section, for more.
- "14th November 1906" - extremely pedantic, but dates should include a comma: "14th November, 1906".
- "Later that year she appeared in her first film." - What was the name of the film? How successful was it?
- "G.W. Pabst" -> "GW Pabst"
- "50's-70's" -> "50s - 70s"
- Perhaps put the external links section at the end. I don't think it really matters though.

Sorry to pick up on all these minor mistakes, but they're the kind of things that sub-editors often miss so it's better to fix them now. Apart from that this is a very good entry

Very nice looking entry Blackberry Cat Rocket Man's right about the opening header, but not entirely right about the decades - they should be written out as 1950s - 70s, since were now into the next century.

There are some things which need some further explanation to help the reader understand why they are worthy of mention in the entry:

What were the George White Scandals?

What's a Ziegfield Glorified Girl, and why was that a good thing?

Who was Vargas? Was it noteworthy that he painted her picture? Was he someone who wasn't known for painting portraits of showgirls?

If she made films from 1925 until 1938, does that mean she was involved in both silents and talkies?

Italien - Italian


Scout

Oh, and does she have an Internet Movie Database entry that you could link to?

Will look at all these later when its quiet here at work. Mortified at spelling Italian wrong
Thanks for the input

Rocket Man
No trouble being picked up on "minor mistakes"
Better out than in

I've added the name of her 1st film and would guess its was reasonably successful as she went on to make more but I have no details. Shes mainly remembered for the Pabst films now. I will keep looking.

Gosho

Your questions are a little more difficult and I will have to do some checking to make sure I've got all the details right. I do know that Ziegfield kept the Vargas portrait of Louise Brooks hanging in his office and he can't have done that for every dancer! She defnitely made both silent movies and talkies and I'm pretty sure shes on the Movie Database you mentioned so I will add a link to that. Will get to work on it next time I'm off work.

Added a bit about her love affair with Charlie Chaplin which I only discovered about yesterday afternoon!

Made a few more changes dealing with most of the points raised.

Still not found out who Vargas was but since I vaguely recognise the name and know very little about painting he was probably really important.

In a sense talkies were her downfall, not because she wasn't capable of making them, since critics seem to agree she was. The money dispute that caused her to go to Europe was over an attempt by the studios to use talkies to force actors to sign new contracts for lower salaries. When she returned from Europe she'd been blacklisted and the only parts she could get were minor roles in B-Movies. I'm going to have to rewrite the bit about her self-destructive streak since the more I read about it the more it seems the main cause of her exile in Hollywood was her refusal to toe the studio line.

That she had a lot of love affairs does not qualify as a destructive streak to my mind, and that she had problems with alcohol and pills after leaving Hollywood for good seems to me a natural result of the comedown from being a celebrity with everything to being a very ordinary person again. That she overcame those problems and found a new vocation as a writer speaks to strength of character if anything.

Stopped putting off doing some more work on this.
I have moved the web links section to the end of the article and added a link to her entry in the IMDB, added a footnote about Alberto Vargas, added a little more detail on why she left Hollywood for Europe, added a quote to the end of the article, and added another example of an actress who modelled her look on Brooks.

Made a few more minor amendments to the filmography and list of articles written by her. Any opinions on how this is looking?

Added a bit more about her early films. If nobody comments I'm going to assume this is perfect and move on to other projects

Hello Blackberry Cat

I learn so much here! Never heard of Louise before. Thank you for filling in that gap in my knowledge

I'd like to know more about this: >Her intelligence, independence, and self-destructive streak all contributed to her effective exile from Hollywood< You've said in one of these posts that references to alcoholism and affairs aren't substantiated. I think you'd be okay to add that to the entry, so long as you make it clear it may be all rumour. And I don't quite get a sense of her intelligence or independence until it's mentioned in that sentence.

What I'm trying to say (badly!) is that it would be good to have more about the person as well as about her career and work Unless, of course, you retitle it "The Works (or Career) of Louise Brooks"

Just one other thing Is there a photo of the haircut that you could link to? A photo of Louise herself would be perfect of course


Fb

Aha! I just found the photo in the Loiuse Brooks Society webpage

It'ld be really good to have those links in the body of the text, rather than in a list at the bottom Just a suggestion

Thanks Frenchbean
I've been thinking about how to rework that self-destructive phrase for a while and will have another go at it
I could include a link to some of the pictures, perhaps in the 1st paragraph where I talk about the hairstyle but I was hoping 1 of those nice Community Artists might do a pic if/when its eventually picked

Hi Blackberry Cat

I think the self-destructive phrase is fine really. It's the fact that it pops up out of nowhere. Something about her life, as well as her work, would give it a context.

You'll only get the blob if it's Ed's choice, remember, so perhaps not a good idea to rely on a community artist for the picture - especially when you've got links there that will do the job? It was my immediate thought when I read the first sentence - 'well, what does the hair look like?'

Fb

Points taken
I'll expand on the phrase and add a link for some pics of Louise Brooks
Thanks for the input

ok I think thats all dealt with now
added something about her personality, especially self-destructive streak
added link to pictuere gallery in intro
added couple of articles about her to weblinks
some other minor changes too