The Mogul
Hollywood is a notoriously cruel town. A star one minute and a bum the next. One might think the truly powerful in the business—the moniest of the money men (and the starlets they temporarily adore) would be immune. The author proves this is most assuredly not so in a brutally honest and insightful observation about William Randolph Hearst, film mogul and one of the most powerful men in America at the time when she describes on-set accommodations of Heart’s paramour, Marion Davies:
“At M-G-M, Marion’s `dressing room’ (actually a six room hacienda) had been a symbol of rank” only to quickly become as the result of the expense of transporting and constructing it, “a six-room joke.”
The Director
By far, the most famous movie that Louise Brooks ever starred in was Pandora’s Box. It was directed by a man who was already a living legend in his homeland of Germany: G.W. Pabst. Brooks constructs a particularly insightful metaphor to reveal the origin of this talent which blossomed into legend:
“Never a sentimental trick did this whip hand permit the actors assembled to play his beasts. The revolver he shot straight into the heart of the audience.”
The Detestables
Interestingly, Brooks does not go into any specific detail for why she refers to herself metaphorically as a member of “the detestables.” The entire book, however, provides context and explains why it thus appears that she took great pride in being a member. The term appears once and then disappears:
“Among the Hollywood detestables, even I was no match for Constance [Bennett], who could sit across from me at dinner…and never acknowledge my existence with so much as an icy nod.”
The Starlet
One should not take the observation by Brooks of the status of Marion Davies’ dressing room as an indication of personal animosity. In fact, Brooks was quite close to Davies and, perhaps as a result, may have overestimated her talent and potential. Nevertheless, she casts a cold, analytical form of metaphor on the trajectory of her friend’s career:
“M-G-M bestowed its most valuable properties upon Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. It was the stigma of failure rather than the hope of success which was driving her to sign the Warner Brothers contract.”
The Author
More than a few people picking up this book do so because of the striking physical image Louise Brooks affords, only wondering as afterthought, who is Louise Brooks? She gives a fairly good answer; not straightforward, to be sure, but who would want that?
“In Hollywood, I was a pretty flibbertigibber whose charm for the executive department decreased with every increase in her fan mail.”
