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.

The face of illicit ecstasy? Hedy Lamarr.

Hedy Lamarr (1913-2000)

Born in Vienna, Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, made a literal and metaphorical splash with her role in Ecstasy, a 1933 Gustav Machat´y film which featured close-ups of the nineteen-year-old's face in the throes of orgasm (according to Hedy simulated with the aid of the director jabbing a safety pin in her behind!).

The film was equally notorious for showing its youthful star swimming naked - this  time most assuredly not simulated.

Full frontal nudity at a time when, in the USA, the Hays Code was coming into force was bound to cause a stir. 

Perhaps the other amazing thing is that the "scandal" did not prevent her becoming a Hollywood star.

That's a mystery for which we can all be grateful.

Bright and beautiful

Our admiration for 'the most beautiful woman in Europe', must not overlook her intelligence. Hedy Lamarr was a mathematician and inventor who contributed to what would later become mobile phone and laptop technology (such as Bluetooth and WiFi).