Louise Brooks defined the flapper style, and it is evident she inspired Siouxsie Sioux’s Peepshow-era look as well as many gothic girls’ sleek, jet black bobbed do’s.

Born November 14, 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas, Louise left home for New York at age fifteen with her dance troupe, the Denishawn Dancers. Among her contemporaries was the renowned dancer, Martha Graham. While in New York, she caught the eye of Florenz Ziegfeld and joined Ziegfeld’s Follies in 1925.

She became an actress almost accidentally; during her stint as a showgirl, she was snatched up by Paramount scout, Walter Wanger. Her debut was in the film Street of Forgotten Men at the age of eighteen. A string of flapper-girl roles followed in films such as Rolled Stockings and A Girl in Every Port.

In the late 1920’s, history was made in the film industry. The first “talkie”, The Jazz Singer, was released. The first words uttered allowed in cinema were, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” These prophetic words spelled trouble for some stars, who had to attend to voice coaches. Many actors and actresses’ voices were the subject of much criticism by audiences; Clara Bow’s career was destroyed due to her heavy Brooklyn accent.

Studio executives took advantage of this vulnerability, making new demands of the actors/actresses or docking their pay. Louise did not give in to this pressure. She left Hollywood cold for Berlin in 1929 to star in her most infamous role in Die Buchse der Pandora, or Pandora’s Box.

Pandora’s Box was quite a controversial release for its time. The film tells the story of a alluring woman whose sexuality destroys every man she seduces until falls victim to Jack the Ripper. German audiences were quite angry that an American was cast as Lulu; it is said that Garbo and Dietrich were originally considered for the role. Pandora’s Box, directed by G.W. Pabst, was panned in Germany and received very little recognition in the United States in the 1920’s, but is considered a major milestone in silent film. Its moral ambiguity (and suggested lesbianism between Lulu and The Countess) caused the film to fall victim to censorship for many years.

Louise Brooks made two other films in Europe before returning to America: Diary of a Lost Girl and Prix de Beaute. Her return to Hollywood was a downtrodden one; she acted in several lesser-known films like It Pays To Advertise and Empty Saddles. Her final film was in 1938, Overland Stage Raiders, with John Wayne.

She began a dance studio in Beverly Hills; when it failed, she moved back to Kansas in 1940 to open a dance studio there. She didn’t stay there long; in 1943, she moved back to Manhattan, working all sorts of odd jobs to make ends meet, including gathering gossip items for a column and a sales clerk at Saks.

She began writing, however, her autobiography, Naked on my Goat, was destroyed upon its completion in 1954. Louise penned various other articles over two decades and was respected as a historian and memoirist.

In the mid-1950’s, she moved to Rochester, NY. Around this time, the Cinematheque Francaise held a Louise Brooks retrospective, and after a period of obscurity, Louise Brooks gained popularity as an cult icon. She travelled to Paris during this period, but after 1960, she did not leave Rochester. She lived a fairly reclusive life from the 1960’s til her death in August 1985. She suffered from alcoholism, arthritis and emphysema, and sadly, died from a heart attack alone at the age of seventy-eight.

Louise had married twice, and even had a torrid two month affair with Charlie Chaplin, but never had children. Her first marriage was to film director Eddie Sutherland; her second marriage to sportsman Deering Davis. Perhaps this bird was just never meant to be caged. Frustrated by the male-dominated film industry, she only wished for her freedom, and I can only imagine what she may think of her cult status today as she continues to inspire modern day creative souls.