Musical Monday with OMD

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or just OMD) is a British band whose focus has mostly been on synthesizers-driven pop  music. They achieved great popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, disbanding in 1996 and reforming ten years later in 2006. They continue to crisscross the globe on tours to this day, wowing audiences everywhere they play.

In 1991, OMD recorded one of their greatest songs, "Pandora's Box". The title was drawn from a 1929 silent movie, and the song was a touching tribute to that film's star, Louise Brooks. These facts, plus the spectacular video made to support the song on its release--with all of its genuine footage of Brooks interwoven with new material of OMD front man Andy McCluskey engaging in Louise Brooks-oriented scrap-booking--makes it a perfect selection for our Musical Monday series here at Shades of Gray. We hope you enjoy this beautiful song and masterfully crafted video.


Pandora's Box (1991)
Starring: Andy McCluskey and Louise Brooks
Director: Andrew Doucette
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The Louise Brooks Quarterly: A White Christmas

Louise Brooks would like to remind you that there's only four days until Christmas. Also, she wants to underscore the unifying theme of this blog.

Louise Brooks Quarterly

Louise Brooks returns from beyond the veil as Halloween draws near...

The Louise Brooks Quarterly:Flapper Flower Power

Summer's in full bloom!

The Louise Brooks Quarterly

Silent movie star Louise Brooks had such a unique and special look that she started fashion trends in her day, inspired the creation of a major comic book character after she had passed, and continues to inspire fashion designers and artists to this day. And now she joins our rotating line-up of quarterly lovelies. Click here to see all posts featuring Brooks that have been featuring previously on Shades of Gray.

Picture Perfect Wednesday:Louise Brooks, Classic Bird

Louise Brooks was a fashion trend-setter in the 1920s, with her bobbed hairstype being widely imitated after she began appearing in film. Often, when someone says "flapper style," they are picturing Louise Brooks.


Brooks only appeared in a couple dozen features. Some sources say her career suffered because she refused to bend to the will of the studio system. Other sources say that her career was damaged by working in European for a couple of years during the late 1920s. Others claim that the fact she posed for a number of nude photos as a young dancer--a choice that Brooks later said had been a tremendous mistake. Finally, her death of career is attributed to her involvement with the Philo Vance Picture "The Canary Murder Case."

Starring William Powell as Philo Vance and Brooks as a blackmailing nightclub singer who ends up murdered, it was originally shot as a slient movie in 1928, but Paramount executives decided to rework the film as a talkie and called the actors back to loop their lines. When Brooks refused to cooperate, it gave her a bad reputation and she never worked for a major Hollywood studio again.

"The Canary Murder Case" was a hit, even if Brooks didn't receieve a career boost from it. However, some great publicity stills for the film exist, featuring the lovely Louise Brooks as the nefarious and ill-fated Canary.

Picture Perfect Wednesday:The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

The United States Bill of Rights states that "... the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." And here is Louise Brooks practicing her Constitutionally protected right.


Louise Brooks was an American actress who started out as a chorus dancer but became one of the silent movie eras most popular stars. However, Brooks strong personality also put her at odds with the aspects of American culture in general and the Hollywood elite in particular--she was disatisfied with the restrictive role that women had in American society and insisted on having things her way or not at all.

Although Brooks only appeared in 25 movies, she set a number of fashion trends (foremost of these being her bobbed hairstyle) and became the inspiration for Guido Crepax's comic book heroine "Valentina." She retired from film in 1938, weary of fighting the studio system. She later worked as a dance instructor and writer, publishing numerous books and essays about Hollywood and the film .

Louise Brooks passed away in 1984 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 78.