Since Marc and I both love the 1920s era and the film stars associated with that time, we thought we would contact some of them and see what they are up to now. Our first guest is Louise Brooks. She made the bobbed haircut famous and starred in Pandora’s Box.

Marc: She is here – Louise Brooks. You said that you wanted to interview her right?

Diane: Of course. She is one of my fave actresses. We both love the 1920s stars.

Marc: Yes we do.

(Louise is wearing a black beaded flapper gown with long satin black gloves. She has dark pink stockings – her usual bobbed hairdo – and black satin shoes and a headband.)

Marc: So Louise, thank you for joining us here. Have you ever done an “afterlife” interview before?

Louise: No I haven’t Marc. This is new for me, so I’m looking forward to it. How does one go about it?

Marc: We ask you questions and you answer them. No telling fibs or anything!

Louise: I wouldn’t dream of it.

Marc: Okay Louise, can we ask you what you have been doing since you left earth?

Louise: Well I have several projects that I’m working on. You know I gave up my screen career or rather it gave me up – a little of both I guess. Since I crossed back over, I’ve found myself interested in film again. The film community…..well Hollywood now is a joke. I thought it was a corrupt, egotistical, horrible place run by men whom you wouldn’t want to associate with. Now it’s all big corporations. I am now working to assist the underdog – the people who have real artistic talents – a genuine love for cinema and the passion to make movies with merit. I guess it’s all based on personal opinion – the quality of the Arts – but I want to help this cause.

Marc: That is a worthy cause I would say. You know I love film and did want to direct, but I didn’t get that off the ground?

Louise: No I didn’t.

Marc: Who were some of your favorite co-stars?

Louise: Well I loved working with John Wayne – he was such a sweet man. I went to work in Germany because I couldn’t stand the vultures in Hollywood.

Marc: What aspects of movie work are you doing now? How are you helping?

Louise: Well..I’m on a committee here that is on the look out for film makers, artists, actors, directors who meet our criteria – and offer them help from here. You know, make sure they get to a certain meeting on time or see that their financing gets to them. We don’t interfere or change the course of anything that is necessarily already set up – we don’t trifle with life courses – we just offer our help when we can. There are many groups over here doing the same thing. We really work with independent film makers – other groups might have different criteria.

Marc: I always admired the silent film era – the clothes – the seductive quality of the stars. What was it like being one of them? You didn’t last very long though?

Louise: No I didn’t. I couldn’t stand the bureaucracy. I had more freedom when I went to Europe, but that ruined my Hollywood career. They wouldn’t take me back after that. I guess I had a love/hate relationship with the studios. It was mostly hate on both sides.

Marc: Do you have any regrets from that life?

Louise: Well yes and no. I never really regretted leaving Hollywood, but I was a spent force by my 20s. My career was already over. I probably didn’t realize it at the time…that I burnt too many bridges. I didn’t have any means of support. I tried dancing….teaching dancing for awhile but that didn’t really go anywhere. I should have been more creative about another career I guess.

Marc: You ended up in New York?

Louise: Yes I did. It was a pretty miserable time. I was an alcoholic and it would sometimes be hard to find me in a good mood. I had some romantic affairs that didn’t turn out. They never seemed to work out for me and I was alone. I didn’t really mind that so much. I had a wonderful, inquisitive imagination and I loved to read. It was just hard to make ends meet.

Marc: You were a recluse?

Louise: Yeah pretty much yes.

Diane: What was it like filming in Europe?

Louise: Berlin in the late 20s was a wild place! You wouldn’t believe what people got up to there. You think people on earth now are eccentric. They are nothing compared to the exquisite creatures I ran into there in the nightclubs.

Marc: You were raised in the middle part of America right?

Louise: Yes Wichita, Kansas – the middle of nowhere.

Marc: Why did you choose to come down there?

Louise: Why not? I knew I wasn’t going to have an easy life. I’d already planned that so why not start it off in a dust bowl.

Marc: But you achieved so much in that life. You are still a well known film star. So many actresses and people admire you and mimic your look.

Louise: Oh I know. I was an original – too original for the US. I felt more at home in Europe.

Marc: Why didn’t you go back?

Louise: To do what? My movie career had petered out. I didn’t have any steady income. You didn’t get royalties from films like you do now.

Marc: I would have loved to have directed you in a silent movie.

Louise: Did you have any experience?

Marc: No but I was artistic. And I was good at bluffing by way through anything.

Louise: Yeah I met a few people like that in Hollywood, but you seem like a very nice man (she said that smiling).

Marc: I am. Where do you spend your time now?

Louise: Well not much or any time on earth. I still have an interest in film, but I don’t stay there. Everyone I knew from that life is onto bigger and better.

Marc: Was the transition over easy for you?

Louise: Oh yes. I was ready to leave. I wish that I had gone sooner. It was a life of constantly picking myself up by the boot straps and I had had enough. My mind wasn’t that sound at the end. Once I crossed, that all cleared of course.

Diane: Are you on earth now in another incarnation?

Louise: Oh no….not again. I’m happy where I am. If I reincarnate again, I don’t think it will be on earth. I never felt like I belonged there.

Marc: Okay Louise…well thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.

Louise: You’re welcome. It’s very interesting – what is going on now – spirits being interviewed. I guess it’s a way of those on earth getting in touch with the spirit side of themselves that isn’t too frightening for some. Even from my time in Hollywood, it seemed like people have always been interested in celebrity lifestyles.

Marc: Yeah but a lot of afterlife interviews that are happening now aren’t only actors and musicians. They are doing historical figures and even planets.

Louise: Well I wish them all the best of luck with it.

© Bolan-Beaty Boogie

November 7, 2016