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Louise Brooks was born Mary Louise Brooks in 1906, and she was always unconventional. She was the daughter of a Kansas lawyer, but she left at the age of 16 to go to New York and join Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn with their Denishawn dancers. Two years later she had a falling out with Shawn and was fired. She then worked in the George White's Scandals, the Ziegfeld Follies (where she was a semi-nude dancer, and was noticed, and signed to a Hollywood contract by Paramount Pictures, where she had several minor movies as a sexy flapper girl in comedies). She finally got her big break in a starring role in Beggars Of Life, and predictably she left Hollywood to go to Europe. But she had had the title role in The Canary Murder Case in 1929, which had been filmed as a silent, and Paramount asked her to return to dub the movie, and she refused, which effectively blacklisted her in Hollywood. She made two incredible movies with legendary German director G.W. Pabst, Pandora's Box, and Diary Of A Lost Girl and I highly recommend both. She made Prix de Beaute in France, and in the early 1930s she returned to Hollywood (minus her trademark flapper hairdo) where she could only get minor roles, and she returned to Kansas, and later New York. She lived an alcoholic life in obscurity (supported by former admirers including William S. Paley, founder of CBS). In the 1950s and 1960s she was "rediscovered" by film critics, and she wrote many articles and books about her life, which I also highly recommend. She is likely best remembered for her distinctive hair style! She passed away in 1985 at the age of 78.

Important Added Info: Note that this letter has been personally autographed (signed) by Louise Brooks! The letter was written to Jan Wahl, a film critic, and in the letter, she tells about how "if she were 30 in Hollywood, no, New York", she would have Jan Wahl live with her and they would do nothing but talk of books and how to open a bottle of hot champagne. She also talks about William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, and Lili Damita. She closes saying that if Jan Wahl would could have lived with her, he would have been "carefree and gay", until he became famous and rich, which he shall, and she also made several pen corrections throughout the letter, and signed it "Love, Louise", and under it, she wrote "check for $10 enclosed" (see our images for exactly what she wrote). Mr. Wahl at this time had not yet become an author, but Miss Brooks greatly encouraged him to do so, and he ultimately wrote over 100 children's books and received many awards, including the Coretta Scott King Prize. 25 years after Miss Brooks died, Jan Wahl wrote a book in which he published many of the letters he received from Miss Brooks, including this one! Included with this letter is the envelope it was mailed in (the envelope is addressed to Jan Wahl and has a return address for Miss Brooks that were both typed by Louise Brooks herself). Our consignor purchased this letter directly from Mr. Wahl, and while he does not have a certificate of authenticity, we are is 100% certain the letter is authentic. Note that this letter was sent by Miss Brooks on August 24, 1964. We have previously auctioned three letters that Miss Brooks wrote to Jan Wahl, BUT TWO OF THOSE WERE NOT SIGNED BY MISS BROOKS, AND THE THIRD ONE SHE WROTE "BROOKSIE". THIS ONE IS SIGNED "LOUISE"! The previous three sold for $386, $397, and $425!

As is true of all the signed items we are currently auctioning, we give every buyer 30 days in which to review what they purchased and they can return any item as long as it is within 30 days of the end of the auction. On non-signed items, we give a "lifetime guarantee" on everything we auction, but on signed items, we give the above modified guarantee of 30 days after the auction closes.

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