1939 — Last Tango on Sunset Boulevard
Louise Brooks with Barrett O'Shea
Publicity Photograph for Brooks-O'Shea Dance Studio
1939 · Hollywood, California
The distinctive costume Louise wears in this promotional photo for the Brooks-O'Shea dance studio may have been designed by Warner Brothers costumer Howard Shoup. Brooks and "Shoupie," as she nicknamed him, had become fast friends on the set of GOD'S GIFT TO WOMEN eight years prior. With the small amount of money she earned from the studio, Louise commissioned a new wardrobe from the designer. Unfortunately, the Brooks-O'Shea studio proved to be only slightly more financially successful than its subsequent Kansas counterpart. In a short period of time, Louise would sell the studio to O'Shea for $2,500, then promptly board a train for Wichita, Kansas. There, Louise would find that if she'd hated Hollywood, Wichita was an even less endearing town to its once celebrated prodigal daughter.
1940 — Purgatory Waltz
Louise Brooks
Photographed by Charles Bartlett
Promotional Photograph for Brooks Dance Studio
1940 · Wichita, Kansas
Photographed for the second of Brooks' short-lived dance studios, Louise once again donned her trademark bangs, this time looking more like an aristocratic Bettie Page than the androgynous imp of the 20s. The photo also appeared on the cover of her first serious literary effort: a pamphlet of thirty-six pages entitled "The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing." The booklet was published exclusively in Wichita as a means of advertisement for the Brooks studio. Unfortunately, like the studio, "The Fundamentals of Good Ballroom Dancing" was not what one would deem a wild success. About 500 of the 750 pamphlets found a permanent home in the landfill, and the dance studio would last less than a year.