About Barry Paris
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LOUISE BROOKS STUDIES About Barry Paris |
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In reviewing the book, the London Daily Express stated "Barry Paris has written the model of a movie biography." Similarily, the Irish Times added, "In a short review it is impossible to give even a taste of the splendour of Mr. Paris's work. It is one of the best biographies I have even read, erudite, literate and always in search of its subject. Never one for the cheap gibe or small-minded anecdote, he is still at all times able to see and render all sides of Ms. Brook's multi-faceted personality." This is just some of the remarkable praise this book first received upon publication in the United States. It has subsequently been published Germany, France, England, Spain and elsewhere. More on this book can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website, including a page about the biography, and a bibliography of reviews.
Along with his acclaimed biography, Paris has penned a handful of articles on the actress. Each are worth searching out. "Lulu in Rochester." American Film, September, 1986. "Lulu and the Laundry Baron." Washington Post, October 15, 1989. "Our Wild Miss Brooks." American Film, November, 1989. "Lulu in Silence." Opera News, April, 2002. Barry Paris also scripted the Emmy-nominated documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu (1998), and can be seen commenting on the actress on Mysteries and Scandals: Louise Brooks, a television program which aired on E! Entertainment a few years ago. Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu has been released on both video and DVD.
Barry Paris has authored other books including Tony Curtis: The Autobiography (William Morrow, 1993), which occupied the number one spot on the British best-seller list; Garbo (Knopf, 1995), widely considered the definitive biography of the Swedish-born actress; Audrey Hepburn (Putnam, 1996), which was published in eight countries; and Song of Haiti (Public Affairs, 2000), the remarkable story of Dr. Larry and Gwen Mellon and their Hospital at Deschapelles, Haiti. Paris contributed "15 Minutes, But Who's Counting? Andy Warhol and His Icons" to The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion (Bulfinch Press, 1997), a study of the famed Pop artist; and he edited and wrote the preface to Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov (Knopf, 1999), a collection of talks by the legendary drama teacher. At the present time, the author is working on Pierce in Oblivion, a biography of Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.
As well as being the author of the above mentioned books, Barry Paris is also a widely published journalist. His profiles of the novelist Marcia Davenport and the silent-film star Lina Basquette appeared in The New Yorker.(Paris can also be seen in the Mystery and Scandals episode devoted to the actress). Other publications to which he has contributed include the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, American Film, Art and Antiques and Opera News. Paris is currently a movie critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh, Pennslyvannia. [ To read some of his recent reviews, please CLICK HERE. This link displays search results from the Post-Gazette which includes film reviews, articles and other journalism from the last few years. ] Over the course of three decades, Barry Paris has won wide acclaim for his cultural and investigative reporting. In the past, he has served as a music critic and investigative reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and a feature editor for The Miami Herald. He is a graduate of Columbia University and of the Institute for the Study of the U.S.S.R. in Munich, Germany (where he wrote Russian Cinema and the Soviet Film Industry - one of the first surveys of the subject). Paris is fluent in a number of languages, and has translated plays of the Russian dramatist Anton Chekov. He is married to the acclaimed singer Myrna Paris. Since 1981, Barry Paris has co-hosted the Sunday Arts Magazine on radio station WQED-FM (89.3). The program, which airs weekly and covers the Pittsburgh / Western Pennslyvannia classical music and cultural scene, can be heard every Sunday at 4:00 pm, Eastern Standard time. (WQED programming can also be heard on WQEJ (89.7 FM), a repeater station based in Johnstown, Pennslyvania.) Individuals outside the Pittsburgh and Johnstown areas can listen to the Sunday Arts Magazine over the internet. There are a number of Barry Paris related links on the world wide web. Here are some of the more interesting pages (including a few online articles): Louise Brooks related Louise Brooks, by Barry Paris Barry Paris on "West Coast Live"
Paris in San Francisco Notes Film-related "The Harmonists tells an unusual, uplifting story from pre-war Germany" Garbo, by Barry Paris "Letter bombs? Museum will open Garbo's correspondence to alleged socialite lover" "Letters opened, but mystery around Garbo lives on" "Garbo and Mercedes: Read between the lines"
Other related Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov Barry Paris Lecture on Marcia Davenport "On The Arts: The English language is the best of all worlds" Barry Paris on C-SPAN's "American Presidents" Barry Paris Links |
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Fans of silent film - and especially fans of Louise Brooks - owe a great deal of thanks to Barry Paris. This accomplished film historian, performing arts critic, translator, writer and journalist is the author of the groundbreaking biography Louise Brooks (Knopf, 1989). A thoroughly researched and stylishly penned work, it will certainly stand as the definitive book on the actress. It is also one of the finest film biographies ever written. Widely acclaimed upon publication, it was named "Film Book of the Year" by Leonard Maltin.
