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"Brooks was the stereotypical "bad girl" (she was a Ziegfeld girl in 1925) and was the first to dance the Charleston in London. She had numerous relationships (including one with Charlie Chaplin) and married twice. She accumulated and lost fortunes," writes author Robert Hudovernik in his book "Jazz Age Beauties".
"Louise Brooks is remembered still for her independent spirit, remarkable beauty, and trademark hair style (the Dutch bob)." Pandorasbox.com.
One of the men who contributed greatly to making Louise Brooks famous was Ziegfeld Follies photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. Just go up on Ebay and you will find Alfred Cheney Johnston photographs of Louise Brooks selling for great sums of money. In fact the internet is responsible for renewing Louise Brooks' fame decades after her death.
Johnston, according to Hudovernik, is America's lost photographer. Unlike Louise Brooks, who he photographed so beautifully during several photo sessions, "Cheney," as his friends called him, was forgotten by history. Strange, in light of the fact that during the Jazz Age he was as famous as his infamous model. They even shared a treacherous sense of humor. One of Johnaston's most animated portraits of Louise Brooks captured her (and his) comedic personality to the hilt. He posed her in a feathery bird costume with her hands in the air, the look of being cornered on her face, as if she had just been caught in a crime, and the "copper's" had yelled out to her "Hands Up Louise Brooks!": The amusing photograph graces the front cover of the December 13,1924 issue of the Police Gazette.
Producer Richard Streeter met Louise Brooks late in her life and they became friends.
Richard Streeter: "I had the pleasure of being a friend to Louise Brooks the last five years before she died. She was quite a character. She was stubborn, ornery, and cranky and had nothing good to say about anyone, except for her old friend W. C. Fields. In fact, she was writing a book about Fields and had almost completed it. When I visited her one afternoon she said she had thrown it down the trash chute. 'Nobody is interested in that old fart and even less about who I am and what I would write about him.' She had nothing good to say about Ziegfeld."
"She (Louise Brooks) presented me with several original photographs taken by Alfred Cheney Johnston, which she signed. One is signed 'to my teddy bear.'"
As Louise Brooks aged and her beauty began to fade she lived a life of obscurity and financial impoverishment. To make her way in the world she began writing. From the 1950's to the 70's she wrote essays for film magazines. But people who are enthralled with Louise Brooks today don't think of her as a wise, sage woman. No, she is forever locked into their mind's eye as the outrageous flapper vampire captured in the stunning and captivating Alfred Cheney Johnston portraits of her.
Her unending allure from the grave continues to fuel websites and blogs on the internet, with fans analyzing her brief film career or quoting her daring words. MySpace members
Place her name on their favorites list. Women of all ages continue to stroll into beauty parlors of 2007 and ask for the Louise Brook's bob.
If only while still alive Louise Brooks had some clue to the legacy she would be leaving behind after her death. If she had she might have thought twice about tossing that book about W.C. Fields and herself down the trash chute. So, thanks in no small part to those Alfred Cheney Johnston images of Louise Brooks along with the movies she starred in, she has turned into something akin to Marilyn Monroe, a twentieth century icon. Contemporary collectors are intrigued and fascinated by Louise Brooks. They are continually mesmerized by her stunning beauty once captured on the glass negatives of Alfred Cheney Johnston. The photographs keep telling each new generation of Louise Brooks admirers, over and over again: "She's just so timeless"
