The "Flapper" Fatale - Louise Brooks (1906-1985)

'A well dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world.' (LB)

Mary Louise Brooks was the Kansas girl who danced, posed and pouted her way to silver screen stardom in the 1920s (most notably in Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Pandora's Box (1929) where she played the role of Lulu - the sexy, independent woman who falls victim to Jack the Ripper).  Brooks also starred in another of Pabst's taboo-breaking films, Dairy of a Lost Girl (1929)

'Love is a publicity stunt, and making love - after the first curious raptures - is only another petulant way to pass the time waiting for the studio to call.' (LB)

Brooksie (as she was also known) lived an independent, strong-minded life and retired from films at the age of 32.

'I have a gift for enraging people, but if I ever bore you, it'll be with a knife.' (LB)

Brooks was the inspiration for Guido Crepax's cartoon character, Valentina.

The cartoonist and the flapper became friends.

Despite filing for bankruptcy in 1932, this former lover of CBS founder William Paley, was the recipient of a secret pension fund set up by him. 
Her stylish look and confident sexual persona have often been envied and copied.