| "Brooksie" |
| Louise Brooks is easily one of the most recognizable actresses of the silent screen - due not only to her wonderful acting (that was terribly underrated for many decades) but also her unique look and distinguished style. After she turned away from Hollywood and years of poverty and alcoholism, she reinvented herself as an author who many have come to respect for her vivid recollections of life in Hollywood and the movies of her day. She interviewed and was friend to many an actor and actress including Dorothy. Louise and Dorothy met while both were in George White's 1924 Scandals musical review in New York City. Louise wrote candidly and gave honestly blunt interviews to what life was really like in the 20's as a NYC showgirl. And also about the circles in which many fellow showgirls, including Dorothy, moved in. |
The following are quotes from Louise: |
| "In his repressed way Clarence Brown was a great director he never reveals himself in his films. And it is only passion that makes a work of art. I am speaking of sexual passion. Brown who detested lesbians and adored Garbo; who hated whores and adored Dorothy Sebastian; who abominated drunkards and adored his wife Alice Joyce." |
| "When I was in Scandals naturally all the girls looked forward to becoming movie stars, and in The Ritz Hotel, most of the very famous, very rich men about town in New York kept apartments year-round where they would give parties. One of these belonged to Otto Kahn, though of course they would lend them to each other. "I was invited to a party night with some of the girls from Scandals, and among them were Walter Wanger and Joe Schenck and Lord Beaverbrook (William Maxwell Aitken - British newspaper baron and cabinet minister). So we - all the girls - went up to this little grey suite in the Ritz and we were introduced and we had drinks and we talked, and I saw that Lord Beaverbrook was very, very interested in the girl I liked most in the Scandals. She was a darling girl from the South, a darling girl - and they were talking and very cosy, and I watched very discretely and they did disappear into the little grey bedroom in the little grey suite in the Ritz, and then they came out a little while later and a few days later she told me that she had a contract at MGM and she did go to MGM and she did do very well, and I say hooray for Lord Beaverbrook!" |
| "A well dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world." |
| Lord Beaverbrook |
| Clarence Brown |