Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 171
January 31, 2021
Luise Rainer
German-American-British film actress Luise Rainer (1910-2014) was the first to win multiple Academy Awards and the first to win back-to-back for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937). At the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birthday, she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient, a superlative that had not been exceeded as of 2020.
British postcard by Art Photo, no. 151. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.
British Real Photograph postcard, no. 145. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1048b. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
An unusual talent for a young actress
Luise Rainer was born in 1910 in Düsseldorf, in then the German Empire (now Germany). Her parents were Heinrich and Emilie (née Königsberger) Rainer. Her father was a businessman who settled in Europe after spending most of his childhood in Texas.
Rainer's rebellious nature made her appear to be a "tomboy" and happy to be alone. She started her acting career in Berlin at age 16, under the pretext of visiting her mother, she traveled to Düsseldorf for a prearranged audition at the Dumont Theater.
In the 1920s the theatre director Louise Dumont separated from her husband. Dumont was attached to a number of young actresses including Fita Benkhoff , Hanni Hoessrich, and Rainer. It has been presumed that Dumont was bisexual.
Rainer later began studying acting with the leading stage director at the time, Max Reinhardt. By the time she was 18, several critics felt that she had an unusual talent for a young actress. She became a distinguished Berlin stage actress with Reinhardt's theatre ensemble.
She also appeared in several German-language films. After years of acting on stage and in films in Austria and Germany, she was discovered by MGM talent scout Phil Berg, who signed her to a three-year contract in Hollywood in 1935. He thought she would appeal to the same audience as Swedish MGM star Greta Garbo . Mayer assigned actress Constance Collier to train her in speech and dramatic modulation, and Rainer's English improved rapidly.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7766/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Boston-Film. Hans Albers and Luise Rainer in Heut' kommt's drauf an/Today it depends (Kurt Gerron, 1933). This film, now considered lost, was the second film with Luise Rainer.
Small, British collectors card in the Film Stars series by Player's Cigarettes (John Player & Sons), Third Series, no. 39. Illustration: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Belgian card by Kwatta in the Ciné Stars series. Photo: M.G.M. Fernand Gravey and Luise Rainer in The Great Waltz (Julien Duvivier, 1938).
Hollywood's next sensation
Luise Rainer's first American film role was in the romantic comedy Escapade (Robert Z. Leonard, 1935) with William Powell. It is a remake of the popular Austrian Operetta film Maskerade/Masquerade (Willy Forst, 1934).
The film generated immense publicity for Rainer, who was hailed as "Hollywood's next sensation". The following year she was given a supporting part as the real-life character Anna Held in the musical biography The Great Ziegfeld (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936), featuring William Powell.
Despite her limited role, her emotion-filled performance so impressed audiences that she was awarded the Oscar for Best Actress. She was later dubbed the "Viennese Teardrop" for her dramatic telephone scene, attempting to congratulate Ziegfeld on his new marriage, in the film.
On the evening of the Academy Award ceremonies, Rainer remained at home, not expecting to win. When Mayer learned she had won, he sent MGM publicity head Howard Strickling racing to her home to get her. She was also awarded the New York Film Critics' Award for the performance.
For her next role, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced, despite the studio's disagreement, that she would also be able to play the part of a poor, plain Chinese farm wife opposite Paul Muni in The Good Earth (Sidney Franklin, 1937), based on Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl Buck's novel about hardship in China.
The humble, subservient, and mostly silent character role was such a dramatic contrast to her previous vivacious character that she again won the Oscar for Best Actress. Rainer and Jodie Foster are the only actresses ever to win two Oscars by the age of thirty.
French postcard by EPC, no. 225. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1182. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris, no. 414. Photo: M.G.M. Luise Rainer in her Oscar-winning role as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936).
The most extreme case of an Oscar victim in Hollywood mythology
However, Luise Rainer later stated nothing worse could have happened to her than winning two consecutive Oscars, as audience expectations from then on would be too high to fulfill. A few months before the film was completed, Irving Thalberg died suddenly at the age of 37. Rainer commented years later: "His death was a terrible shock to us. He was young and ever so able. Had it not been that he died, I think I may have stayed much longer in films."
After four more, insignificant roles, MGM and Rainer became disappointed, and she was dubbed "Box Office Poison" by the Independent Theatre Owners of America. Adding to her rapid decline, some feel, was the poor career advice she received from her then-husband, playwright Clifford Odets. She ended her brief three-year Hollywood career and returned to Europe where she helped get aid to children who were victims of the Spanish Civil War.
Nevertheless, she was not released from her MGM contract and, by 1940, she was still bound to make one more film for the studio. Some film historians consider her the "most extreme case of an Oscar victim in Hollywood mythology". Rainer studied medicine and returned to the stage. In 1939, she made her first appearance at the Palace Theatre, Manchester in Jacques Deval's play 'Behold the Bride', and later played the same part in her London debut at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
Returning to America, she played the leading part in George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan' in 1940 at the Belasco Theatre in Washington, D.C. under the direction of German emigrant director Erwin Piscator. In 1943, she made an appearance in the film Hostages (Frank Tuttle, 1943).
Rainer abandoned film making in 1944 after marrying publisher Robert Knittel. She made sporadic television and stage appearances, appearing in an episode of the World War II television series Combat! in 1965. She took a dual role in a 1984 episode of The Love Boat.
In 1997, she appeared in the film The Gambler (Károly Makk, 1997), starring Michael Gambon. It marked her film comeback at the age of 86.
Luise Rainer passed away in 2014, in Belgravia, London, England. She was 104. Rainer married Clifford Odets in 1937 and they divorced in 1940. Her second husband was publisher Robert Knittel. They were married from 1945 till his death in 1989 and lived in the UK and Switzerland for most of their marriage. The couple had one daughter, Francesca Knittel.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C. Milano, 1938. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Belgian postcard by Kwatta / Nels Bromurite, no. 1182. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1048. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
British postcard by Art Photo, no. 151. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.
British Real Photograph postcard, no. 145. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1048b. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
An unusual talent for a young actress
Luise Rainer was born in 1910 in Düsseldorf, in then the German Empire (now Germany). Her parents were Heinrich and Emilie (née Königsberger) Rainer. Her father was a businessman who settled in Europe after spending most of his childhood in Texas.
Rainer's rebellious nature made her appear to be a "tomboy" and happy to be alone. She started her acting career in Berlin at age 16, under the pretext of visiting her mother, she traveled to Düsseldorf for a prearranged audition at the Dumont Theater.
In the 1920s the theatre director Louise Dumont separated from her husband. Dumont was attached to a number of young actresses including Fita Benkhoff , Hanni Hoessrich, and Rainer. It has been presumed that Dumont was bisexual.
Rainer later began studying acting with the leading stage director at the time, Max Reinhardt. By the time she was 18, several critics felt that she had an unusual talent for a young actress. She became a distinguished Berlin stage actress with Reinhardt's theatre ensemble.
She also appeared in several German-language films. After years of acting on stage and in films in Austria and Germany, she was discovered by MGM talent scout Phil Berg, who signed her to a three-year contract in Hollywood in 1935. He thought she would appeal to the same audience as Swedish MGM star Greta Garbo . Mayer assigned actress Constance Collier to train her in speech and dramatic modulation, and Rainer's English improved rapidly.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7766/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Boston-Film. Hans Albers and Luise Rainer in Heut' kommt's drauf an/Today it depends (Kurt Gerron, 1933). This film, now considered lost, was the second film with Luise Rainer.
Small, British collectors card in the Film Stars series by Player's Cigarettes (John Player & Sons), Third Series, no. 39. Illustration: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Belgian card by Kwatta in the Ciné Stars series. Photo: M.G.M. Fernand Gravey and Luise Rainer in The Great Waltz (Julien Duvivier, 1938).
Hollywood's next sensation
Luise Rainer's first American film role was in the romantic comedy Escapade (Robert Z. Leonard, 1935) with William Powell. It is a remake of the popular Austrian Operetta film Maskerade/Masquerade (Willy Forst, 1934).
The film generated immense publicity for Rainer, who was hailed as "Hollywood's next sensation". The following year she was given a supporting part as the real-life character Anna Held in the musical biography The Great Ziegfeld (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936), featuring William Powell.
Despite her limited role, her emotion-filled performance so impressed audiences that she was awarded the Oscar for Best Actress. She was later dubbed the "Viennese Teardrop" for her dramatic telephone scene, attempting to congratulate Ziegfeld on his new marriage, in the film.
On the evening of the Academy Award ceremonies, Rainer remained at home, not expecting to win. When Mayer learned she had won, he sent MGM publicity head Howard Strickling racing to her home to get her. She was also awarded the New York Film Critics' Award for the performance.
For her next role, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced, despite the studio's disagreement, that she would also be able to play the part of a poor, plain Chinese farm wife opposite Paul Muni in The Good Earth (Sidney Franklin, 1937), based on Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl Buck's novel about hardship in China.
The humble, subservient, and mostly silent character role was such a dramatic contrast to her previous vivacious character that she again won the Oscar for Best Actress. Rainer and Jodie Foster are the only actresses ever to win two Oscars by the age of thirty.
French postcard by EPC, no. 225. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1182. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris, no. 414. Photo: M.G.M. Luise Rainer in her Oscar-winning role as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936).
The most extreme case of an Oscar victim in Hollywood mythology
However, Luise Rainer later stated nothing worse could have happened to her than winning two consecutive Oscars, as audience expectations from then on would be too high to fulfill. A few months before the film was completed, Irving Thalberg died suddenly at the age of 37. Rainer commented years later: "His death was a terrible shock to us. He was young and ever so able. Had it not been that he died, I think I may have stayed much longer in films."
After four more, insignificant roles, MGM and Rainer became disappointed, and she was dubbed "Box Office Poison" by the Independent Theatre Owners of America. Adding to her rapid decline, some feel, was the poor career advice she received from her then-husband, playwright Clifford Odets. She ended her brief three-year Hollywood career and returned to Europe where she helped get aid to children who were victims of the Spanish Civil War.
Nevertheless, she was not released from her MGM contract and, by 1940, she was still bound to make one more film for the studio. Some film historians consider her the "most extreme case of an Oscar victim in Hollywood mythology". Rainer studied medicine and returned to the stage. In 1939, she made her first appearance at the Palace Theatre, Manchester in Jacques Deval's play 'Behold the Bride', and later played the same part in her London debut at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
Returning to America, she played the leading part in George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan' in 1940 at the Belasco Theatre in Washington, D.C. under the direction of German emigrant director Erwin Piscator. In 1943, she made an appearance in the film Hostages (Frank Tuttle, 1943).
Rainer abandoned film making in 1944 after marrying publisher Robert Knittel. She made sporadic television and stage appearances, appearing in an episode of the World War II television series Combat! in 1965. She took a dual role in a 1984 episode of The Love Boat.
In 1997, she appeared in the film The Gambler (Károly Makk, 1997), starring Michael Gambon. It marked her film comeback at the age of 86.
Luise Rainer passed away in 2014, in Belgravia, London, England. She was 104. Rainer married Clifford Odets in 1937 and they divorced in 1940. Her second husband was publisher Robert Knittel. They were married from 1945 till his death in 1989 and lived in the UK and Switzerland for most of their marriage. The couple had one daughter, Francesca Knittel.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C. Milano, 1938. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Belgian postcard by Kwatta / Nels Bromurite, no. 1182. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1048. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
January 30, 2021
Mary Fuller
Next week, we start a new series at EFSP: Before Hollywood. Each Sunday, we will post about the early American cinema, its stars, and studios. One of the first major stars of American cinema was Mary Fuller (1988-1973). The American actress started her film career at Vitagraph and had her breakthrough at Edison. At Universal, Fuller became a major early film star who rivaled Mary Pickford in popularity. In 1917, she left the film industry and ended her life in a mental hospital.
American postcard by Kline Poster Co. Inc., Phila. Image: Universal.
American postcard. Photo: Edison.
The forerunner of all serials
Mary Claire Fuller was born in 1888 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. Her parents were Nora Swing and attorney Miles Fuller.
Mary spent her childhood on a farm. As a child, she was interested in music, writing, and art. Her father died in 1902, and by 1906, she was working in the theatre under the name Claire Fuller.
She worked briefly with the Lyceum Stock Company in Toledo, Ohio. Fuller's entrance into the cinema was quite accidental. In 1908, her theatrical troupe was on its way to tour the South when, during a short stopover in New York City, the company broke up. Stranded, Mary made her way to the Vitagraph film studio in Brooklyn, NY, looking for a job.
With her experience and attractiveness, she was put to work in action and comedy one-reelers. She also made a one-reel adaptation of Elektra (1910) and appeared in Jean the Match-Maker (Laurence Trimble, 1910) starring Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, and the Vitagraph Girl Florence Turner.
In 1910, Fuller joined the Edison Film Company in the Bronx, where she appeared in the first film version of Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910), based on the Mary Shelley novel. The unbilled cast included Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée. The production was deliberately designed to de-emphasize the horrific aspects of the story and focus on the story's mystical and psychological elements.
In 1912, Fuller was the star of the first serial, What Happened to Mary (Charles Brabin, 1912). The forerunner of all serials, What Happened to Mary was a series of twelve monthly one-reel episodes, each a complete entity in itself, revolving its immediate dramatic and melodramatic problems within the framework of a single episode and designed more for story and suspense situations than action. The scripts were written by Horace G. Plympton.
What Happened to Mary was performed as a stage play and published as a single-volume print novel. Therefore, it is an early example of a multiple-media marketing campaign. Fuller also appeared in the sequel, the action serial Who Will Marry Mary? (1913). Fuller also authored a number of screenplays, eight of which were made into films between 1913 and 1915.
British postcard. Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd., 1915.
British postcard. The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd.
A nervous breakdown due to a broken heart
By 1914 Mary Fuller was noticed by Universal Pictures, and she headed west. Fuller became a major early film star who rivaled Mary Pickford in popularity.
She appeared in a wide variety of roles and starred in such melodramas as the serial Dolly of the Dailies (1914), and Under Southern Skies (Lucius Henderson, 1915), her first feature-length production.
However, two years later Mary Fuller just packed up and walked away from Hollywood. She made the films The Long Trail (Howell Hansel, 1917) with Lou Tellegen , and Public Be Damned (Stanner E.V. Taylor, 1917), and then disappeared.
A magazine writer found her in 1924, living in Washington, DC, with her mother. She said that she had tired of the hard work involved in making pictures, that she had invested her money and was living comfortably. She mentioned that she was thinking of going back to making films, but soon after the interview was published, she disappeared again.
Nothing was ever heard from her until 1973, when it was discovered that she had died, of natural causes, in a Washington, DC, mental hospital. IMDb and Wikipedia write that Fuller suffered a nervous breakdown due to a broken heart after a failed affair with a married opera singer. The death of her mother in 1946 brought a second nervous breakdown. After being cared for by her sister, Fuller was admitted in 1947 to Washington's St. Elizabeths Hospital, where she remained for 26 years.
The hospital was unable to locate any relatives, and she was buried in an unmarked grave in Congressional Cemetery. In the 2010s, a memorial bench was installed on the site of her grave, bearing a "Hollywood Star of Fame" and the inscription "A Personality of Eloquent Silence."
American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., New York. Photo: Edison.
British postcard in the Novelty Series, no. D6-5. Photo: Trans-Atlantic Films.
Sources: Find A Grave, Wikipedia, and .
American postcard by Kline Poster Co. Inc., Phila. Image: Universal.
American postcard. Photo: Edison.
The forerunner of all serials
Mary Claire Fuller was born in 1888 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. Her parents were Nora Swing and attorney Miles Fuller.
Mary spent her childhood on a farm. As a child, she was interested in music, writing, and art. Her father died in 1902, and by 1906, she was working in the theatre under the name Claire Fuller.
She worked briefly with the Lyceum Stock Company in Toledo, Ohio. Fuller's entrance into the cinema was quite accidental. In 1908, her theatrical troupe was on its way to tour the South when, during a short stopover in New York City, the company broke up. Stranded, Mary made her way to the Vitagraph film studio in Brooklyn, NY, looking for a job.
With her experience and attractiveness, she was put to work in action and comedy one-reelers. She also made a one-reel adaptation of Elektra (1910) and appeared in Jean the Match-Maker (Laurence Trimble, 1910) starring Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, and the Vitagraph Girl Florence Turner.
In 1910, Fuller joined the Edison Film Company in the Bronx, where she appeared in the first film version of Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910), based on the Mary Shelley novel. The unbilled cast included Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée. The production was deliberately designed to de-emphasize the horrific aspects of the story and focus on the story's mystical and psychological elements.
In 1912, Fuller was the star of the first serial, What Happened to Mary (Charles Brabin, 1912). The forerunner of all serials, What Happened to Mary was a series of twelve monthly one-reel episodes, each a complete entity in itself, revolving its immediate dramatic and melodramatic problems within the framework of a single episode and designed more for story and suspense situations than action. The scripts were written by Horace G. Plympton.
What Happened to Mary was performed as a stage play and published as a single-volume print novel. Therefore, it is an early example of a multiple-media marketing campaign. Fuller also appeared in the sequel, the action serial Who Will Marry Mary? (1913). Fuller also authored a number of screenplays, eight of which were made into films between 1913 and 1915.
British postcard. Photo: The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd., 1915.
British postcard. The Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd.
A nervous breakdown due to a broken heart
By 1914 Mary Fuller was noticed by Universal Pictures, and she headed west. Fuller became a major early film star who rivaled Mary Pickford in popularity.
She appeared in a wide variety of roles and starred in such melodramas as the serial Dolly of the Dailies (1914), and Under Southern Skies (Lucius Henderson, 1915), her first feature-length production.
However, two years later Mary Fuller just packed up and walked away from Hollywood. She made the films The Long Trail (Howell Hansel, 1917) with Lou Tellegen , and Public Be Damned (Stanner E.V. Taylor, 1917), and then disappeared.
A magazine writer found her in 1924, living in Washington, DC, with her mother. She said that she had tired of the hard work involved in making pictures, that she had invested her money and was living comfortably. She mentioned that she was thinking of going back to making films, but soon after the interview was published, she disappeared again.
Nothing was ever heard from her until 1973, when it was discovered that she had died, of natural causes, in a Washington, DC, mental hospital. IMDb and Wikipedia write that Fuller suffered a nervous breakdown due to a broken heart after a failed affair with a married opera singer. The death of her mother in 1946 brought a second nervous breakdown. After being cared for by her sister, Fuller was admitted in 1947 to Washington's St. Elizabeths Hospital, where she remained for 26 years.
The hospital was unable to locate any relatives, and she was buried in an unmarked grave in Congressional Cemetery. In the 2010s, a memorial bench was installed on the site of her grave, bearing a "Hollywood Star of Fame" and the inscription "A Personality of Eloquent Silence."
American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., New York. Photo: Edison.
British postcard in the Novelty Series, no. D6-5. Photo: Trans-Atlantic Films.
Sources: Find A Grave, Wikipedia, and .
January 29, 2021
Les Films Osso
Adolphe Osso (1894–1961) was a French film producer. After having worked in the United States, at Paramount and Pathé Exchange, Osso co-founded the French subsidiary of Paramount, of which he was the Chairman and CEO until 1930. In 1930 he founded his own production and distribution company, Les Films Osso. With Louis Aubert, Bernard Natan or Jacques Haïk, he was one of the French producers who, in the interwar period, modernised the French cinema industry. They were inspired by the Hollywood model and concentrated on the three poles of the film industry: production, distribution and operation. Les Films Osso was bought in 1948 by Charles Delac. Osso then founded Les Films Vendôme2.
French postcard by P.T, no. 2. Photo: Les Films Osso. Jean Weber in the French historical dramaL'aiglon/Napoleon II (Victor Tourjansky, 1931). It is an adaptation of the play L'Aiglon (The Eaglet) by Edmond Rostand, which portrays the life of Napoleon II.
French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 14. Photo: Les Films Osso. Albert Préjean sang the Slow-Fox 'Si l'on ne s'était pas connu' in Un soir de rafle (Carmine Gallone, 1931). Text by Léo Lelièvre fils, and music by Ph. Parès and G. van Parys. Copyright: Ed. Salabert, Paris, 1931. See also YouTube.
French postcard by Editions P-C, Paris, no. 19. Photo: Adolphe Osso / Gloria Film. Le Choer sang the military march 'Adieu, vieille Europe' in Le Sergent X/Sergeant X (Vladimir Strizhevsky, 1932), starring Ivan Mozzhukhin . Text by Simon Delyon and music by René Mercier and Henri Forterre. Copyright: Editions Salabert, Paris, 1932.
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 929. Photo: Les Films Osso. Albert Préjean and Annabella in Un soir de rafle/Dragnet Night (Carmine Gallone, 1931).
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 987. Photo: Les Films Osso. Lucien Muratore was the star of the drama Le chanteur inconnu/The Unknown Singer (Viktor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard by EDUG, no. 1042. Photo: Les Film Osso. Anny Ondra starred in the French film Faut-il les marier? (Pierre Billon, Carl Lamac, 1932). This film is the French version of Die grausame Freundin/The Cruel Girl Friend (Karel Lamac a.k.a. Carl Lamac, 1932) shot in German with a different cast, except for Ondra.
French postcard by Europe, no. 36. Photo: Les Films Osso. Annabella in Un soir de rafle/Dragnet Night (Carmine Gallone, 1931).
French postcard by A.N. (A. Noyer), Paris, no. 707. Photo: Les Films Osso. Jane Marnac in Paris-Béguin (Augusto Genina, 1931).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 709. Photo: Les Films Osso. Louis-Jacques Boucot aka Boucot.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 722. Photo: R. Tomarif [?], Nice / Les Films Osso. Roland Toutain was the star of Le mystère de la chambre jaune/The mystery of the yellow room (Marcel L'Herbier, 1930). It is based on the 1907 novel of the same title by Gaston Leroux. L'Herbier made a sequel, The Perfume of the Lady in Black, the following year.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 797. Photo: Les Films Osso. Simone Simon .
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 805. Photo: Les Films Osso. Roland Toutain in Rouletabille aviateur (Steve Szekely, 1932).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 809. Photo: Les Films Osso. Léon Belières.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1155. Photo: Les Films Osso. Ginette Leclerc .
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1160. Photo: Films Osso. Jean Gabin was the star of Le quai des brumes/The Port of Shadows (Marcel Carné, 1938), distributed by Les Films Osso.
French collectors card by Massilia. Photo: Les Films Osso. Michèle Morgan .
French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Paris, no. 596. Photo: Films Osso. Edwige Feuillère starred in L'idiot/The Idiot (Georges Lampin, 1946).
French postcard by Viny, no. 16. Photo: Les Films Osso. Michèle Morgan starred in Le quai des brumes/The Port of Shadows (Marcel Carné, 1938), and also in La loi du nord/The law of the north (Jacques Feyder, 1939). The film was held up for release by the German occupation authority because it portrayed an official of the law neglecting his duty and falling in love with a fugitive woman. The new title was La Piste du NordThe trail of the north.
French postcard by Viny, no. 59. Photo: Les Films Osso. Danielle Darrieux played the lead in the drama Adieu chérie/Goodbye Darling (Raymond Bernard, 1946).
French postcard by Viny, no. 63. Photo: Osso-Film. Roger Duchesne .
Sources: Wikipedia (English and French), and .
French postcard by P.T, no. 2. Photo: Les Films Osso. Jean Weber in the French historical dramaL'aiglon/Napoleon II (Victor Tourjansky, 1931). It is an adaptation of the play L'Aiglon (The Eaglet) by Edmond Rostand, which portrays the life of Napoleon II.
French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 14. Photo: Les Films Osso. Albert Préjean sang the Slow-Fox 'Si l'on ne s'était pas connu' in Un soir de rafle (Carmine Gallone, 1931). Text by Léo Lelièvre fils, and music by Ph. Parès and G. van Parys. Copyright: Ed. Salabert, Paris, 1931. See also YouTube.
French postcard by Editions P-C, Paris, no. 19. Photo: Adolphe Osso / Gloria Film. Le Choer sang the military march 'Adieu, vieille Europe' in Le Sergent X/Sergeant X (Vladimir Strizhevsky, 1932), starring Ivan Mozzhukhin . Text by Simon Delyon and music by René Mercier and Henri Forterre. Copyright: Editions Salabert, Paris, 1932.
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 929. Photo: Les Films Osso. Albert Préjean and Annabella in Un soir de rafle/Dragnet Night (Carmine Gallone, 1931).
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 987. Photo: Les Films Osso. Lucien Muratore was the star of the drama Le chanteur inconnu/The Unknown Singer (Viktor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard by EDUG, no. 1042. Photo: Les Film Osso. Anny Ondra starred in the French film Faut-il les marier? (Pierre Billon, Carl Lamac, 1932). This film is the French version of Die grausame Freundin/The Cruel Girl Friend (Karel Lamac a.k.a. Carl Lamac, 1932) shot in German with a different cast, except for Ondra.
French postcard by Europe, no. 36. Photo: Les Films Osso. Annabella in Un soir de rafle/Dragnet Night (Carmine Gallone, 1931).
French postcard by A.N. (A. Noyer), Paris, no. 707. Photo: Les Films Osso. Jane Marnac in Paris-Béguin (Augusto Genina, 1931).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 709. Photo: Les Films Osso. Louis-Jacques Boucot aka Boucot.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 722. Photo: R. Tomarif [?], Nice / Les Films Osso. Roland Toutain was the star of Le mystère de la chambre jaune/The mystery of the yellow room (Marcel L'Herbier, 1930). It is based on the 1907 novel of the same title by Gaston Leroux. L'Herbier made a sequel, The Perfume of the Lady in Black, the following year.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 797. Photo: Les Films Osso. Simone Simon .
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 805. Photo: Les Films Osso. Roland Toutain in Rouletabille aviateur (Steve Szekely, 1932).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 809. Photo: Les Films Osso. Léon Belières.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1155. Photo: Les Films Osso. Ginette Leclerc .
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1160. Photo: Films Osso. Jean Gabin was the star of Le quai des brumes/The Port of Shadows (Marcel Carné, 1938), distributed by Les Films Osso.
French collectors card by Massilia. Photo: Les Films Osso. Michèle Morgan .
French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Paris, no. 596. Photo: Films Osso. Edwige Feuillère starred in L'idiot/The Idiot (Georges Lampin, 1946).
French postcard by Viny, no. 16. Photo: Les Films Osso. Michèle Morgan starred in Le quai des brumes/The Port of Shadows (Marcel Carné, 1938), and also in La loi du nord/The law of the north (Jacques Feyder, 1939). The film was held up for release by the German occupation authority because it portrayed an official of the law neglecting his duty and falling in love with a fugitive woman. The new title was La Piste du NordThe trail of the north.
French postcard by Viny, no. 59. Photo: Les Films Osso. Danielle Darrieux played the lead in the drama Adieu chérie/Goodbye Darling (Raymond Bernard, 1946).
French postcard by Viny, no. 63. Photo: Osso-Film. Roger Duchesne .
Sources: Wikipedia (English and French), and .
January 28, 2021
La Collectionneuse: Photo by Ströminger
This La Collectionneuse postcard gallery puts the spotlight on the work of the Czech photographer Willy Ströminger (1902-1985). He opened his studio in 1926 and photographed his country’s greatest film stars until the end of the Second World War. This pre-1945 period was a golden age for the Czech film industry. The local star system was flourishing and it was glorified through Ströminger portraits. These stars deserve more recognition. Marlene Pilaete added 3 cards to her original Encinémathèque post: Lida Baarova, Antonie Nedosinska and Natasa Tanska. She thought it was interesting to have a Baarova card from a Czech photographer as most of the portraits we know of her are usually from German studios. And this Ströminger photo is especialy glamourous. And regarding the Nedosinska and Tanska cards, these portraits show how Ströminger could have photographed Marie Dressler and Margaret O’Brien if he had worked Hollywood.
Czech postcard, no. 94. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague) / Filmova Zavody. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Bronislava Livia (1901-?) made her film debut in 1921, after having won a beauty contest. During the 1920s, she was one of the main female stars of the Czech film industry. This actress, who was born in Japan, had rather mysterious origins. According to several sources, she might have been Romanian. At the advent of the sound film, it seems that her accent was deemed unsuitable for Czech audiences and it was in Poland that she was featured in her last film in 1932.
Czech postcard, no. 102. Photo: Ströminger, Vinohrady (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jarmila Berankova (1919-2002) made her film debut by playing a teenage peasant girl named Pepicka in Reka (1933), which was a big hit. The young star was featured in other movies until the beginning of the 1940s. She then gave birth to two children in 1942 and 1945. Afterwards, she only worked occasionally.
Czech postcard by Bri Deglové, Praha, no. 106. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Suzanne Marwille (1895-1962) made her screen debut in 1918 and was one of the greatest stars of the silent Czech movie industry. She notably was featured in several movies directed by Martin Fric, who became her husband in 1928. She only made three talkies, all in leading roles.
Czech postcard, no. 120. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Ella Sarkova (1906 or 1907?-1991) was a popular operetta diva from the beginning of the 1930s until 1957. She made her film debut in 1931 and was featured in several films until 1938. After the War, she occasionally appeared again on the screen in secondary roles.
Czech postcard, no. 128. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Ljuba Hermanova (1913-1996) was a major Czech female singer. On stage, she was featured in operettas, revues, one-woman shows, musicals, and cabaret acts. She also performed in several theatre plays. She appeared quite regularly on the screen in the 1930s and, later, she only occasionally worked for the Czech film industry. She made her film debut in Penize nebo zivot (1932), in which she sang the famous song 'Zivot je jen nahoda'. Her long and brilliant career was only interrupted by the War and the Occupation. As she had a father who was of Jewish origin, she was forbidden to perform during that period.
Czech postcard, no. 149. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jozka Koldovska (1905-1962) was an operetta star who worked steadily until the beginning of the 1950s. A skilled actress, she also appeared in theatre plays. Her film career was rather short and peaked from 1933 to 1935. She was especially praised for her portrayal of a modest seamstress in Svitani (1933). Totally different was her role as an amoral cabaret star transmitting a venereal disease to a naive bank clerk in Osudna chvile/Hra nahody (1935).
Czech postcard, no. 163. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
A popular stage actress during the 1930s, Natasa Gollová (1912-1988) was a brilliant film star from 1939 on. Under the name of Ada Goll, she was also featured in the German film Komm zu mir züruck in 1944. At the Liberation, she was accused of collaboration, as she has had an affair with the German Wilhelm Söhnel, a prominent figure from the Czech film industry during the War. Furthermore, the fact that she had worked in a German film did not play in her favour. She was then banned from working for two years. Although she never regained her former glory, she pursued her acting career from 1947 on.
Czech postcard, no. 170. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Signed in 1934.
Truda Grosslichtova (1912-1995) was one of the 1930s most popular Czech film stars and won praise for her portrayals in films such as Posledni bohém (1931), Pravo na hrich (1932), Anita v raje (1934), Hrdina jedné noci (1935), Divoch (1936) or Advokatka Vera (1937). As Tania Doll, she also starred for French audiences in Le roi bis (1932) and Professeur Cupidon (1933). During the Second World War, Truda Grosslichtova, whose father was Jewish, had to give up her acting career. In 1946, she married a Dutchman and settled in the Netherlands.
Czech postcard, no. 190. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Marketa Krausova (1895-1942) was a renowned operetta and theatre performer. She was also a film star in 1934 and 1935. She made her film debut in Zena, ktera vi ce chce (1934), adapted from Oscar Straus’ 'Eine Frau, die weiss, was sie will'. As she was Jewish, she had to give up her career at the end of the 1930s. In May 1942, ill-fated Marketa Krausova was sent to the Theresienstadt transit and concentration camp and was then deported to the Majdanek extermination camp. That’s where the life of this gifted actress abruptly ended.
Czech postcard, no. 194. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Antonie Nedosinska (1885-1950) was already a noted stage star when made her screen debut in 1916. From 1925 to 1941, she never stopped filming and appeared in a great number of movies. Although she was sometimes used in dramatic roles, she was more often seen in comedies and she notably was a frequent partner to Theodor Pistek.
Czech postcard, no. 203. Photo: Ströminger, Vinohrady (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Mana Zeniskova (1909-1982) was a Czech silent film star during the second half of the 1920s. In 1930, she married actor Theodor Pistek and, after four sound films, she chose to retire to raise a family. She came back on the screen only once in Cikanska laska (1938), which was co-directed by her husband. One of her children, Theodor Pistek Jr, won the Best Costume Oscar in 1985 for Milos Forman’s Amadeus.
Czech postcard, no. 209. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Svetla Svozilova (1906-1970) was a brilliant theatre star who appeared on the stage until the end of her life. She made her screen debut in 1931 and had her first important role in Kantor Ideal (1932). Until the beginning of the 1940s, she was a popular film actress.
Czech postcard, no. 214. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jirina Stepnickova (1912-1985) was an important Czech film star from 1934 to 1944. During that period, she was also a renowned stage actress. After the War, she appeared in three more films in 1947, 1949, and 1951 before she entered the worst period of her life. At the beginning of the 1950s, she tried to escape communist Czechoslovakia and was arrested. She was accused of treason and condemned to fifteen years of imprisonment. She was released after ten years and at the beginning of the 1960s, she resumed her acting career.
Czech postcard, no. 222. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Alen(k)a Pospisilova (1928) made her screen debut as the heroine’s illegitimate and hidden daughter in Bezdetna (1935), which made her a child-star. She was then featured in Blahové devce (1938), Ted’ zas my (1939), and Tulak Macoun (1939). Afterwards, she played some young girl’s roles in 1948 and 1949 before disappearing from the public’s sight.
Czech postcard, no. 245. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Helena Busova (1911 or 1914?-1986) became a film star thanks to her role in Hej-rup! (1934) and was especially popular during the rest of the 1930s. At the end of the 1940s, she managed to leave Czechoslovakia and settled in England, alongside her husband, war hero Karel Kasal. In 1957, the couple emigrated to Canada.
Czech postcard, no. 248. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Mary Grossova or Marie Grossová (1902-1972) was a stage star from the beginning of the 1920s until the 1960s and was especially popular in operettas. She appeared in a few silent films but it was at the advent of the sound film that her screen career really took off. In the 1930s, she was featured in about thirty films.
Czech postcard, no. 274. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Vera Ferbasova (1913-1976) was a famous film star in the second part of the 1930s and was especially good in comedies. She retired in 1942, as she was not too keen to work in an occupied country. Unfortunately, she never could regain her status after the end of the War. The type of films in which she had usually starred, was considered of belonging to a bygone era. Furthermore, she soon had trouble with the Communist authorities. She only could resume her film career in 1958, in secondary roles.
Czech postcard, no. 280. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
A noted violinist, Mila Reymonova (1907-?) made her film debut in 1931 and was at the height of her screen career in the second half of the 1930s. Her type of beauty prevented her to be used in naive ingenue roles and she was often asked to play spies, mistresses, or actresses. As she was of Jewish origin, she wisely decided to leave Czechoslovakia at the end of the 1930s. She later pursued her violinist career on stage, on radio, and on television in the U.K. and in the U.S.A.
Czech postcard, no. 304. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jirina Sejbalova (1905-1981) was a great stage actress who worked from the end of the 1920s until the beginning of the 1970s. She made her screen debut in the leading role of the silent film Hanka a Jindra (1929) and soon became a popular 1930s film star. In the 1960s, she was a teacher at the Prague Stage Arts Academy.
Czech postcard, no. 334. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Marie Glazrova (1911-2000) was a famous theatre star and worked on the stage until 1983. Her signature play was Vilem Mrstik’s 'Marysa', which she played in 1943, 1945, and 1956. From the end of the 1930s until the mid-1940s, she was also a popular film actress. Rather unjustly, it seems that the movie directors from the communist era were much less interested to use her talents.
Czech postcard, no. 300. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Czech actress Zita Kabatova (1913-2012) was a famous film star from 1936 to 1944. Under the name of Marina von Buchlow, she also appeared in two German films in 1944. After the Liberation of Czechoslovakia, the new authorities reproached her to have worked for the German film studios and she was banned from pursuing her career. It took her several years to act again. She appeared on stage in the 1950s and only made her screen comeback in 1969.
Czech postcard, no. 376. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Hana Vitova (1914-1987) was one of the major Czech film stars in the 1930s and in the first part of the 1940s. One of her most famous films was the melodrama Nocni motyl (1941). Under the name of Hanna Witt, she was featured in the German films Der zweite Schuss (1943) and Freunde (1945) and this caused her to be accused of collaboration at the Liberation. She never regained her former star status. Her comeback in 1947 didn’t relaunch her career and she only rarely appeared on the screen afterwards.
Czech postcard, no. 387. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Adina Mandlova (1910-1991) was one of the major stars of the Czech film industry from 1933 to 1944. Under the name of Lil Adina, she also was Heinz Rühmann’s partner in the German film Ich vertraue Die meine Frau an. After the Liberation of her country, she was arrested and accused of collaboration. Her work in the German studios was held against her. Furthermore, there were rumors, seemingly unfounded, that she has had an affair with the sinister Karl Hermann Frank, who was convicted of war crimes and was hanged in 1946. She was eventually released but her career and her reputation were ruined. She married a British pilot in 1947 and emigrated to England. It was there that she appeared in her last film The Fool and the Princess, in which she played a so-called Russian princess.
Czech postcard, no. 437. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Nancy Rubensova (1915-1994) made her screen debut by playing a spoiled and temperamental girl in Svetlo jeho oci (1936). Although most of the critics were not impressed by her talents, cinema audiences took a liking to this young and glamorous blonde star. She stayed popular until the end of the 1930s and her film career ended in 1942.
Czech postcard, no. 444. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Zorka Janu (1921-1946) was Lida Baarova’s little sister. She always preferred to work on stage but she nevertheless was featured in several films such as Ohnivé léto (1939), Cekanky (1940), Z ceskych mlynu (1941), or Kluci a rece (1944). In 1945, after the Liberation of Czechoslovakia, her world collapsed. Her sister, who had an affair with Josef Goebbels in the 1930s, was arrested and her mother died from a heart attack in October after a police interrogation. Although she never had never been guilty of any act of collaboration with the Nazis, Zorka Janu was officially banned from working. Deeply hurt by this unfair decision, she committed suicide in March 1946.
Czech postcard, no. 448. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Lida Baarova (1914-2000) made her screen debut in Kariéra Pavla Camrdy (1931). She quickly became a popular star and, until the beginning of the 1930s, appeared in many Czech films, including Ruzové kombiné (1932), Madla z cihelny (1933), Grandhotel Nevada (1935), Svadlenka (1936), Panenstvi (1937), Ohnivé léto (1939), Zivot je krasny (1940) or Turbina (1941). From 1935 until 1938, she also starred in several German films. But she also had an affair with Josef Goebbels and, when there was talk of divorce between the Minister of Propaganda and his wife, Hitler came into action. He forbade Goebbels to see Lida Baarova again and she had to stop working in Germany. Faced with uncertain work prospects in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, she decided to go to Italy in 1942, where she was featured in films such as Ti conosco, mascherina! (1943) or La fornarina (1944). When the Mussolinian regime collapsed, she returned to her native country. In 1945, she was arrested and imprisoned for collaboration but, due to lack of evidence, she was eventually released in December 1946. She left Czechoslovakia in 1948 and, in the 1950s, she again appeared on the screen in Spain and in Italy, most notably in Fellini’s I Vitelloni (1953).
Czech postcard, no. 450. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Stella Majova (1923-2009) made her film debut in 1939 and quickly became a promising young star. Until 1943, she was featured in several Czech films. Afterwards, she worked mainly on stage. Nevertheless, she never completely gave up her screen career. She played for example the Princess Zpevanka in the popular fairy tale Byl jednou jeden kral (1954).
Czech postcard, no. 471. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Natasa Tanska (1929-2014) made her screen debut in Babicka (1940), which made her a child star. The producers liked her so much that she received the same salary as the established actress Terezie Brzkova, who had the title role. She was then featured in Preludium (1941) but her family soon moved to Trencin and she had to stop working. From 1947 to 1952, she again appeared in a handful of films but serious health problems finally forced her to give up her film career.
Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete. Check out Marlene's other La Collectionneuse posts.
Czech postcard, no. 94. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague) / Filmova Zavody. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Bronislava Livia (1901-?) made her film debut in 1921, after having won a beauty contest. During the 1920s, she was one of the main female stars of the Czech film industry. This actress, who was born in Japan, had rather mysterious origins. According to several sources, she might have been Romanian. At the advent of the sound film, it seems that her accent was deemed unsuitable for Czech audiences and it was in Poland that she was featured in her last film in 1932.
Czech postcard, no. 102. Photo: Ströminger, Vinohrady (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jarmila Berankova (1919-2002) made her film debut by playing a teenage peasant girl named Pepicka in Reka (1933), which was a big hit. The young star was featured in other movies until the beginning of the 1940s. She then gave birth to two children in 1942 and 1945. Afterwards, she only worked occasionally.
Czech postcard by Bri Deglové, Praha, no. 106. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Suzanne Marwille (1895-1962) made her screen debut in 1918 and was one of the greatest stars of the silent Czech movie industry. She notably was featured in several movies directed by Martin Fric, who became her husband in 1928. She only made three talkies, all in leading roles.
Czech postcard, no. 120. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Ella Sarkova (1906 or 1907?-1991) was a popular operetta diva from the beginning of the 1930s until 1957. She made her film debut in 1931 and was featured in several films until 1938. After the War, she occasionally appeared again on the screen in secondary roles.
Czech postcard, no. 128. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Ljuba Hermanova (1913-1996) was a major Czech female singer. On stage, she was featured in operettas, revues, one-woman shows, musicals, and cabaret acts. She also performed in several theatre plays. She appeared quite regularly on the screen in the 1930s and, later, she only occasionally worked for the Czech film industry. She made her film debut in Penize nebo zivot (1932), in which she sang the famous song 'Zivot je jen nahoda'. Her long and brilliant career was only interrupted by the War and the Occupation. As she had a father who was of Jewish origin, she was forbidden to perform during that period.
Czech postcard, no. 149. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jozka Koldovska (1905-1962) was an operetta star who worked steadily until the beginning of the 1950s. A skilled actress, she also appeared in theatre plays. Her film career was rather short and peaked from 1933 to 1935. She was especially praised for her portrayal of a modest seamstress in Svitani (1933). Totally different was her role as an amoral cabaret star transmitting a venereal disease to a naive bank clerk in Osudna chvile/Hra nahody (1935).
Czech postcard, no. 163. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
A popular stage actress during the 1930s, Natasa Gollová (1912-1988) was a brilliant film star from 1939 on. Under the name of Ada Goll, she was also featured in the German film Komm zu mir züruck in 1944. At the Liberation, she was accused of collaboration, as she has had an affair with the German Wilhelm Söhnel, a prominent figure from the Czech film industry during the War. Furthermore, the fact that she had worked in a German film did not play in her favour. She was then banned from working for two years. Although she never regained her former glory, she pursued her acting career from 1947 on.
Czech postcard, no. 170. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Signed in 1934.
Truda Grosslichtova (1912-1995) was one of the 1930s most popular Czech film stars and won praise for her portrayals in films such as Posledni bohém (1931), Pravo na hrich (1932), Anita v raje (1934), Hrdina jedné noci (1935), Divoch (1936) or Advokatka Vera (1937). As Tania Doll, she also starred for French audiences in Le roi bis (1932) and Professeur Cupidon (1933). During the Second World War, Truda Grosslichtova, whose father was Jewish, had to give up her acting career. In 1946, she married a Dutchman and settled in the Netherlands.
Czech postcard, no. 190. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Marketa Krausova (1895-1942) was a renowned operetta and theatre performer. She was also a film star in 1934 and 1935. She made her film debut in Zena, ktera vi ce chce (1934), adapted from Oscar Straus’ 'Eine Frau, die weiss, was sie will'. As she was Jewish, she had to give up her career at the end of the 1930s. In May 1942, ill-fated Marketa Krausova was sent to the Theresienstadt transit and concentration camp and was then deported to the Majdanek extermination camp. That’s where the life of this gifted actress abruptly ended.
Czech postcard, no. 194. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Antonie Nedosinska (1885-1950) was already a noted stage star when made her screen debut in 1916. From 1925 to 1941, she never stopped filming and appeared in a great number of movies. Although she was sometimes used in dramatic roles, she was more often seen in comedies and she notably was a frequent partner to Theodor Pistek.
Czech postcard, no. 203. Photo: Ströminger, Vinohrady (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Mana Zeniskova (1909-1982) was a Czech silent film star during the second half of the 1920s. In 1930, she married actor Theodor Pistek and, after four sound films, she chose to retire to raise a family. She came back on the screen only once in Cikanska laska (1938), which was co-directed by her husband. One of her children, Theodor Pistek Jr, won the Best Costume Oscar in 1985 for Milos Forman’s Amadeus.
Czech postcard, no. 209. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Svetla Svozilova (1906-1970) was a brilliant theatre star who appeared on the stage until the end of her life. She made her screen debut in 1931 and had her first important role in Kantor Ideal (1932). Until the beginning of the 1940s, she was a popular film actress.
Czech postcard, no. 214. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jirina Stepnickova (1912-1985) was an important Czech film star from 1934 to 1944. During that period, she was also a renowned stage actress. After the War, she appeared in three more films in 1947, 1949, and 1951 before she entered the worst period of her life. At the beginning of the 1950s, she tried to escape communist Czechoslovakia and was arrested. She was accused of treason and condemned to fifteen years of imprisonment. She was released after ten years and at the beginning of the 1960s, she resumed her acting career.
Czech postcard, no. 222. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Alen(k)a Pospisilova (1928) made her screen debut as the heroine’s illegitimate and hidden daughter in Bezdetna (1935), which made her a child-star. She was then featured in Blahové devce (1938), Ted’ zas my (1939), and Tulak Macoun (1939). Afterwards, she played some young girl’s roles in 1948 and 1949 before disappearing from the public’s sight.
Czech postcard, no. 245. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Helena Busova (1911 or 1914?-1986) became a film star thanks to her role in Hej-rup! (1934) and was especially popular during the rest of the 1930s. At the end of the 1940s, she managed to leave Czechoslovakia and settled in England, alongside her husband, war hero Karel Kasal. In 1957, the couple emigrated to Canada.
Czech postcard, no. 248. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Mary Grossova or Marie Grossová (1902-1972) was a stage star from the beginning of the 1920s until the 1960s and was especially popular in operettas. She appeared in a few silent films but it was at the advent of the sound film that her screen career really took off. In the 1930s, she was featured in about thirty films.
Czech postcard, no. 274. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Vera Ferbasova (1913-1976) was a famous film star in the second part of the 1930s and was especially good in comedies. She retired in 1942, as she was not too keen to work in an occupied country. Unfortunately, she never could regain her status after the end of the War. The type of films in which she had usually starred, was considered of belonging to a bygone era. Furthermore, she soon had trouble with the Communist authorities. She only could resume her film career in 1958, in secondary roles.
Czech postcard, no. 280. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
A noted violinist, Mila Reymonova (1907-?) made her film debut in 1931 and was at the height of her screen career in the second half of the 1930s. Her type of beauty prevented her to be used in naive ingenue roles and she was often asked to play spies, mistresses, or actresses. As she was of Jewish origin, she wisely decided to leave Czechoslovakia at the end of the 1930s. She later pursued her violinist career on stage, on radio, and on television in the U.K. and in the U.S.A.
Czech postcard, no. 304. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jirina Sejbalova (1905-1981) was a great stage actress who worked from the end of the 1920s until the beginning of the 1970s. She made her screen debut in the leading role of the silent film Hanka a Jindra (1929) and soon became a popular 1930s film star. In the 1960s, she was a teacher at the Prague Stage Arts Academy.
Czech postcard, no. 334. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Marie Glazrova (1911-2000) was a famous theatre star and worked on the stage until 1983. Her signature play was Vilem Mrstik’s 'Marysa', which she played in 1943, 1945, and 1956. From the end of the 1930s until the mid-1940s, she was also a popular film actress. Rather unjustly, it seems that the movie directors from the communist era were much less interested to use her talents.
Czech postcard, no. 300. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Czech actress Zita Kabatova (1913-2012) was a famous film star from 1936 to 1944. Under the name of Marina von Buchlow, she also appeared in two German films in 1944. After the Liberation of Czechoslovakia, the new authorities reproached her to have worked for the German film studios and she was banned from pursuing her career. It took her several years to act again. She appeared on stage in the 1950s and only made her screen comeback in 1969.
Czech postcard, no. 376. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Hana Vitova (1914-1987) was one of the major Czech film stars in the 1930s and in the first part of the 1940s. One of her most famous films was the melodrama Nocni motyl (1941). Under the name of Hanna Witt, she was featured in the German films Der zweite Schuss (1943) and Freunde (1945) and this caused her to be accused of collaboration at the Liberation. She never regained her former star status. Her comeback in 1947 didn’t relaunch her career and she only rarely appeared on the screen afterwards.
Czech postcard, no. 387. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Adina Mandlova (1910-1991) was one of the major stars of the Czech film industry from 1933 to 1944. Under the name of Lil Adina, she also was Heinz Rühmann’s partner in the German film Ich vertraue Die meine Frau an. After the Liberation of her country, she was arrested and accused of collaboration. Her work in the German studios was held against her. Furthermore, there were rumors, seemingly unfounded, that she has had an affair with the sinister Karl Hermann Frank, who was convicted of war crimes and was hanged in 1946. She was eventually released but her career and her reputation were ruined. She married a British pilot in 1947 and emigrated to England. It was there that she appeared in her last film The Fool and the Princess, in which she played a so-called Russian princess.
Czech postcard, no. 437. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Nancy Rubensova (1915-1994) made her screen debut by playing a spoiled and temperamental girl in Svetlo jeho oci (1936). Although most of the critics were not impressed by her talents, cinema audiences took a liking to this young and glamorous blonde star. She stayed popular until the end of the 1930s and her film career ended in 1942.
Czech postcard, no. 444. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Zorka Janu (1921-1946) was Lida Baarova’s little sister. She always preferred to work on stage but she nevertheless was featured in several films such as Ohnivé léto (1939), Cekanky (1940), Z ceskych mlynu (1941), or Kluci a rece (1944). In 1945, after the Liberation of Czechoslovakia, her world collapsed. Her sister, who had an affair with Josef Goebbels in the 1930s, was arrested and her mother died from a heart attack in October after a police interrogation. Although she never had never been guilty of any act of collaboration with the Nazis, Zorka Janu was officially banned from working. Deeply hurt by this unfair decision, she committed suicide in March 1946.
Czech postcard, no. 448. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Lida Baarova (1914-2000) made her screen debut in Kariéra Pavla Camrdy (1931). She quickly became a popular star and, until the beginning of the 1930s, appeared in many Czech films, including Ruzové kombiné (1932), Madla z cihelny (1933), Grandhotel Nevada (1935), Svadlenka (1936), Panenstvi (1937), Ohnivé léto (1939), Zivot je krasny (1940) or Turbina (1941). From 1935 until 1938, she also starred in several German films. But she also had an affair with Josef Goebbels and, when there was talk of divorce between the Minister of Propaganda and his wife, Hitler came into action. He forbade Goebbels to see Lida Baarova again and she had to stop working in Germany. Faced with uncertain work prospects in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, she decided to go to Italy in 1942, where she was featured in films such as Ti conosco, mascherina! (1943) or La fornarina (1944). When the Mussolinian regime collapsed, she returned to her native country. In 1945, she was arrested and imprisoned for collaboration but, due to lack of evidence, she was eventually released in December 1946. She left Czechoslovakia in 1948 and, in the 1950s, she again appeared on the screen in Spain and in Italy, most notably in Fellini’s I Vitelloni (1953).
Czech postcard, no. 450. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Stella Majova (1923-2009) made her film debut in 1939 and quickly became a promising young star. Until 1943, she was featured in several Czech films. Afterwards, she worked mainly on stage. Nevertheless, she never completely gave up her screen career. She played for example the Princess Zpevanka in the popular fairy tale Byl jednou jeden kral (1954).
Czech postcard, no. 471. Photo: Ströminger, Praha (Prague). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Natasa Tanska (1929-2014) made her screen debut in Babicka (1940), which made her a child star. The producers liked her so much that she received the same salary as the established actress Terezie Brzkova, who had the title role. She was then featured in Preludium (1941) but her family soon moved to Trencin and she had to stop working. From 1947 to 1952, she again appeared in a handful of films but serious health problems finally forced her to give up her film career.
Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete. Check out Marlene's other La Collectionneuse posts.
January 27, 2021
X-Men (2000)
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2001) was the first of Marvel's superhero blockbusters. Bryan Singer's film still offers many surprises and is a wonder of storytelling and creativity. Also amazing is the great ensemble of actors and actresses. This post focuses on these film stars who played the X-Men in the original film and were portrayed in a remarkable postcard series by the British publisher Memory Card. The design of the cards is like that of many magazines at the time, and they contain a lot of interesting information.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 665. Photo: Hugh Jackman as Logan "Wolverine" in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 666. Photo: Hugh Jackman as Logan "Wolverine" in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Hugh Jackman (1968) is a ruggedly handsome Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer. Jackman is best known as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. His other films include The Prestige (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), and the film version of Les Misérables (2012), which earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe. On Broadway, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in 'The Boy from Oz'.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 667. Photo: Ray Park as Toad in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Ray Park (1974) is a Scottish actor, author, and martial artist. Park was the man behind the ominous, almost demonic red and black makeup of the nefarious Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also appeared as Toad in X-Men (2001), Snake-Eyes in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), and Edgar in the TV series Heroes (2009-2010).
A world where a small proportion of people are mutants
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) was written by David Hayter from a story by Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto. The film is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name.
The film depicts a world where a small proportion of people are mutants, whose possession of superhuman powers makes them distrusted by normal humans. It focuses on mutants Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) as they are brought into a conflict between two groups that have radically different approaches to bringing about the acceptance of mutant-kind: Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart)'s X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto (Ian McKellen).
The development of X-Men began in 1984 with Orion Pictures. The film rights were bought by 20th Century Fox in 1994, and various scripts and film treatments were commissioned. Bryan Singer signed to direct in 1996. X-Men marked the Hollywood debut for Hugh Jackman, a last-second choice for Wolverine, cast three weeks into filming. Filming took place from 22 September 1999 to 3 March 2000, primarily in Toronto.
X-Men premiered on 12 July 2000 and was released in the United States two days later. It was a box office success, grossing over $296.3 million worldwide, and received positive reviews from critics, citing its performances, story, and thematic depth. The film's success led to a series of sequels, prequels, reboots, and spin-offs, with the overall success of the series spawning a reemergence of superhero films.
American postcard by Memory Card, no. 668. Photo: Patrick Stewart as Professor X in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
The career of English actor Patrick Stewart (1940) has included roles on stage, television, and film in a career spanning almost six decades. The unknown Shakespearean actor suddenly became famous as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the American TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and its successor films. Another well-known role was Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series of superhero movies.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 669. Photo: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Rebecca Romijn (1972) or Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is an actress and former supermodel. She is best-known as 'Mystique' in the X-Men franchise.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 670. Photo: Tyler Mane as Sabretooth in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Tyler Mane (1966) is a Canadian actor and a former professional wrestler. He is known for the films X-Men (2000), Troy (2004), and Halloween II (2009).
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 671. Photo: James Marsden as Cyclops in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
American actor James Marsden (1973) gained prominence with his portrayal of Scott Summers / Cyclops in the X-Men film series (2000–2014). He also starred in such box office hits as Superman Returns (2006), Hairspray (2007), and 27 Dresses (2008).
One of the most recognisable and successful franchises of Marvel Comics
The X-Men were created by artist/co-writer Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee. The characters first appeared in the comic book The X-Men #1 (September 1963) and soon formed one of the most recognisable and successful franchises of Marvel Comics, appearing in numerous books, television shows, films, and video games.
Most of the X-Men are mutants, a subspecies of humans who are born with superhuman abilities activated by the "X-Gene". The X-Men fight for peace and equality between normal humans and mutants in a world where anti-mutant bigotry is fierce and widespread. They are led by Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, a powerful mutant telepath who can control and read minds.
Their archenemy is Magneto, a powerful mutant with the ability to manipulate and control magnetic fields who leads the Brotherhood of Mutants. Both have opposing views and philosophies regarding the relationship between mutants and humans. While the former works towards peace and understanding between mutants and humans, the latter views humans as a threat and he believes in taking an aggressive approach against them, though he has found himself working alongside the X-Men from time to time.
Professor X is the founder of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at a location commonly called the X-Mansion, which recruits mutants from around the world to teach them how to use their powers and coexist with humanity. Located in Salem Center in Westchester County, New York, the X-Mansion is the home and training site of the X-Men. The founding five members of the X-Men who appear in The X-Men #1 (September 1963) are Angel-Archangel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Jean Grey (as Marvel Girl); Professor X and Magneto also made their first appearances in The X-Men #1.
Later on, new members were introduced such as Havok, Polaris, Mimic and Changeling joined though only the former two managed to become a regular recurring staple of the team lineup. Eventually, the X-Men roster expanded to include a wide variety of members from numerous origins, including Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Psylocke, Forge, Longshot, and Bishop. Since then, dozens of mutants from various countries and diverse backgrounds, and even a number of non-mutants, have held membership as X-Men.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 672. Photo: Ian McKellen as Magneto in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
The career of English actor Ian McKellen (1939) spans genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and Science Fiction. He became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III (1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. For his work, McKellen received six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, four BAFTAs, and many other awards. He has been openly gay since 1988 and continues to be a champion for the LGBT movement.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 673. Photo: Famke Janssen as Jean Grey in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Famke Janssen ( 1964) is a Dutch actress, director, screenwriter, and former fashion model. She played Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye (1995), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the X-Men film series (2000–2014), Ava Moore on Nip/Tuck, and Lenore Mills in the Taken film trilogy (2008–2014). In 2008, she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity by the United Nations. She made her directorial debut with Bringing Up Bobby in 2011.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 674. Photo: Halle Berry as Storm in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Halle Berry (1966) is an acclaimed actress and former beauty queen. She became the first African American actress to win the Oscar for best actress following her performance in Monster's Ball (2001). She has also starred in Swordfish (2001), Die Another Day (2002), and the X-Men film franchise.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 675. Photo: Anna Paquin as Rogue in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
New Zealand-Canadian actress Anna Paquin (1982) played the role of Flora McGrath in Jane Campion's The Piano (1993), despite having had little acting experience. For her performance, she garnered critical acclaim and received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11. As a successful child actress, she appeared in Fly Away Home (1996), The Member of the Wedding (1997), A Walk on the Moon (1999), and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000). As an adult, she played mutant superheroine Rogue in the X-Men franchise (2000–2014) and played Sookie Stackhouse in the vampire television series True Blood (2008–2014). For her performance in the series, Paquin won the Golden Globe in 2009. More recently. she appeared in Martin Scorsese's epic The Irishman (2019).
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 665. Photo: Hugh Jackman as Logan "Wolverine" in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 666. Photo: Hugh Jackman as Logan "Wolverine" in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Hugh Jackman (1968) is a ruggedly handsome Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer. Jackman is best known as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. His other films include The Prestige (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), and the film version of Les Misérables (2012), which earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe. On Broadway, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in 'The Boy from Oz'.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 667. Photo: Ray Park as Toad in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Ray Park (1974) is a Scottish actor, author, and martial artist. Park was the man behind the ominous, almost demonic red and black makeup of the nefarious Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also appeared as Toad in X-Men (2001), Snake-Eyes in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), and Edgar in the TV series Heroes (2009-2010).
A world where a small proportion of people are mutants
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) was written by David Hayter from a story by Bryan Singer and Tom DeSanto. The film is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name.
The film depicts a world where a small proportion of people are mutants, whose possession of superhuman powers makes them distrusted by normal humans. It focuses on mutants Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) as they are brought into a conflict between two groups that have radically different approaches to bringing about the acceptance of mutant-kind: Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart)'s X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto (Ian McKellen).
The development of X-Men began in 1984 with Orion Pictures. The film rights were bought by 20th Century Fox in 1994, and various scripts and film treatments were commissioned. Bryan Singer signed to direct in 1996. X-Men marked the Hollywood debut for Hugh Jackman, a last-second choice for Wolverine, cast three weeks into filming. Filming took place from 22 September 1999 to 3 March 2000, primarily in Toronto.
X-Men premiered on 12 July 2000 and was released in the United States two days later. It was a box office success, grossing over $296.3 million worldwide, and received positive reviews from critics, citing its performances, story, and thematic depth. The film's success led to a series of sequels, prequels, reboots, and spin-offs, with the overall success of the series spawning a reemergence of superhero films.
American postcard by Memory Card, no. 668. Photo: Patrick Stewart as Professor X in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
The career of English actor Patrick Stewart (1940) has included roles on stage, television, and film in a career spanning almost six decades. The unknown Shakespearean actor suddenly became famous as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the American TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and its successor films. Another well-known role was Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series of superhero movies.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 669. Photo: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Mystique in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Rebecca Romijn (1972) or Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is an actress and former supermodel. She is best-known as 'Mystique' in the X-Men franchise.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 670. Photo: Tyler Mane as Sabretooth in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Tyler Mane (1966) is a Canadian actor and a former professional wrestler. He is known for the films X-Men (2000), Troy (2004), and Halloween II (2009).
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 671. Photo: James Marsden as Cyclops in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
American actor James Marsden (1973) gained prominence with his portrayal of Scott Summers / Cyclops in the X-Men film series (2000–2014). He also starred in such box office hits as Superman Returns (2006), Hairspray (2007), and 27 Dresses (2008).
One of the most recognisable and successful franchises of Marvel Comics
The X-Men were created by artist/co-writer Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee. The characters first appeared in the comic book The X-Men #1 (September 1963) and soon formed one of the most recognisable and successful franchises of Marvel Comics, appearing in numerous books, television shows, films, and video games.
Most of the X-Men are mutants, a subspecies of humans who are born with superhuman abilities activated by the "X-Gene". The X-Men fight for peace and equality between normal humans and mutants in a world where anti-mutant bigotry is fierce and widespread. They are led by Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, a powerful mutant telepath who can control and read minds.
Their archenemy is Magneto, a powerful mutant with the ability to manipulate and control magnetic fields who leads the Brotherhood of Mutants. Both have opposing views and philosophies regarding the relationship between mutants and humans. While the former works towards peace and understanding between mutants and humans, the latter views humans as a threat and he believes in taking an aggressive approach against them, though he has found himself working alongside the X-Men from time to time.
Professor X is the founder of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at a location commonly called the X-Mansion, which recruits mutants from around the world to teach them how to use their powers and coexist with humanity. Located in Salem Center in Westchester County, New York, the X-Mansion is the home and training site of the X-Men. The founding five members of the X-Men who appear in The X-Men #1 (September 1963) are Angel-Archangel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Jean Grey (as Marvel Girl); Professor X and Magneto also made their first appearances in The X-Men #1.
Later on, new members were introduced such as Havok, Polaris, Mimic and Changeling joined though only the former two managed to become a regular recurring staple of the team lineup. Eventually, the X-Men roster expanded to include a wide variety of members from numerous origins, including Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Psylocke, Forge, Longshot, and Bishop. Since then, dozens of mutants from various countries and diverse backgrounds, and even a number of non-mutants, have held membership as X-Men.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 672. Photo: Ian McKellen as Magneto in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
The career of English actor Ian McKellen (1939) spans genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and Science Fiction. He became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III (1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. For his work, McKellen received six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, four BAFTAs, and many other awards. He has been openly gay since 1988 and continues to be a champion for the LGBT movement.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 673. Photo: Famke Janssen as Jean Grey in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Famke Janssen ( 1964) is a Dutch actress, director, screenwriter, and former fashion model. She played Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye (1995), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the X-Men film series (2000–2014), Ava Moore on Nip/Tuck, and Lenore Mills in the Taken film trilogy (2008–2014). In 2008, she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity by the United Nations. She made her directorial debut with Bringing Up Bobby in 2011.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 674. Photo: Halle Berry as Storm in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Halle Berry (1966) is an acclaimed actress and former beauty queen. She became the first African American actress to win the Oscar for best actress following her performance in Monster's Ball (2001). She has also starred in Swordfish (2001), Die Another Day (2002), and the X-Men film franchise.
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 675. Photo: Anna Paquin as Rogue in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
New Zealand-Canadian actress Anna Paquin (1982) played the role of Flora McGrath in Jane Campion's The Piano (1993), despite having had little acting experience. For her performance, she garnered critical acclaim and received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 11. As a successful child actress, she appeared in Fly Away Home (1996), The Member of the Wedding (1997), A Walk on the Moon (1999), and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000). As an adult, she played mutant superheroine Rogue in the X-Men franchise (2000–2014) and played Sookie Stackhouse in the vampire television series True Blood (2008–2014). For her performance in the series, Paquin won the Golden Globe in 2009. More recently. she appeared in Martin Scorsese's epic The Irishman (2019).
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
January 26, 2021
Kathlyn Williams
In February, we will start a new series at EFSP: Before Hollywood. Each Sunday, we will post about the early American cinema, its stars, and studios. Such an early American film actress was Kathlyn Williams (1879-1960), known for her blonde beauty and daring antics. She performed on stage as well as in early silent film, in particular at the company Selig Polyscope in the early 1910s. There she was known as 'The Selig Girl'.
American postcard. Photo: Selig Polyscope Co.
American postcard by Kline Poster Co. Philadelphia. Image: V.L.S.E. V.L.S.E. was a distribution unit of the early film companies Vitagraph Lubin, Selig, and Essanay, led by distributor George Kleine. The company was founded in, but also already dissolved in 1916 when Vitagraph got a controlling interest in the other three companies.
Assorted jungle adventures and Westerns opposite Tom Mix
Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams, in 1879 in Butte, Montana. Williams began her career on stage in her hometown, where she was sponsored by local copper magnate William A. Clark to study acting in New York City.
In 1908 Williams began her film career at the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and she made her first film under the direction of Francis Boggs: On Thanksgiving Day (Francis Boggs, 1908) with Hobart Bosworth.
However, according to Mark Garrett Cooper at Women Film Pioneers Project , Williams began "with Biograph in New York. 'I was playing in stock,' she recounted to Photoplay in 1917. 'One week when I was not working someone called me up from the Biograph studio and asked if I would work two days for them. I was dreadfully insulted at first, but I went out of curiosity expecting to be offered about fifty cents a day.' To her amazement, D. W. Griffith paid her ten dollars for each day’s work. Williams told Photoplay that she performed in three Biograph titles, but in combination, Paul Spehr and the American Film Institute catalog credit her with a total of five, with release dates beginning in 1909. "
By 1910, she was transferred to Selig's Los Angeles film studio. She became a popular star at Selig, where she was at first publicised as "The Selig Girl". She appeared in assorted jungle adventures for the studio as well as a number of Westerns opposite cowboy star Tom Mix .
She made history, however, with the very first serial adventure, The Adventures of Kathlyn (Francis J. Grandon, 1913). The film contained a number of wild animals, and it saved the faltering studio from bankruptcy. This serial was but one in a number of melodramas and jungle adventures teaming the actress with the Selig Polyscope Company's famous stable of wild animals. It was the nucleus for what would later become the Los Angeles Zoo.
Williams proceeded to remain a popular item after being handed the lead in the Selig epic The Spoilers (Colin Campbell, 1914), based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel. Williams played her signature role of Cherry Marlotte, opposite William Farnum and Tom Santschi.
British postcard in the Selig Player Series, no. 10. Caption: Your favourite Film Artistes.
British postcard in the Selig Player Series. Caption: Your favourite Film Artistes.
Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and matronly
Once the Selig Studio folded, Kathlyn Williams signed with Paramount Pictures following her marriage to Paramount executive Charles F. Eyton in 1916. Eyton was a former actor, who later became the studio's General Manager.
At Paramount, she appeared as the star of several early dramas for both Cecil B. DeMille and his brother William C. de Mille. These films included The Whispering Chorus (1918), We Can't Have Everything (1918), The Tree of Knowledge (1920), and Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920).
Her numerous co-stars included veteran matinée idols like Thomas Meighan , Theodore Roberts , and Tyrone Power Sr.), bit also young established stars as Wallace Reid , and Western heroes like Roy Stewart.
Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and matronly by the early 1920s and she moved swiftly into stately dramatic efforts, backing up such celebrity femmes of the day as May McAvoy , Betty Compson , Anita Page, Greta Garbo and even Joan Crawford before the advent of sound.
She retired from films in 1935 after only a handful of talkies and, though comebacks were bantered about from time to time in the gossip mill, nothing came of it. A tragic car accident in 1949 resulted in the loss of a leg, ending any chances whatsoever of revitalising her career. She was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.
Kathlyn Williams married and divorced three times. Her only child was Victor Hugo Kainer, from her first marriage to import/export businessman Otto Kainer. He was born in 1905 but died as a young teenager after developing influenza and succumbing to septic poisoning in 1922. After a brief marriage to actor Frank R. Allen, she married Charles Eyton. That marriage ended in 1931. Due to the loss of her leg, Kathlyn became a wheelchair-bound invalid in the last decade of her life. She succumbed to a massive heart attack in her Hollywood apartment in 1960, at age 81.
The Desmet Collection at EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam holds Kathlyn Williams' adventure films Captain Kate (1911), The Rose of Old St. Augustine (1911), and Lost in the Jungle, all by Otis Turner. EYE also holds fragments of The Adventures of Kathlyn. The Desmet films can be found online now at EYE's Desmet Playlist on YouTube .
Spanish collectors card.
British postcard in the Novelty Series, no. D6-7. Photo: Selig.
Sources: (IMDb), Mark Garrett Cooper (Women Film Pioneers Project), Wikipedia, and .
American postcard. Photo: Selig Polyscope Co.
American postcard by Kline Poster Co. Philadelphia. Image: V.L.S.E. V.L.S.E. was a distribution unit of the early film companies Vitagraph Lubin, Selig, and Essanay, led by distributor George Kleine. The company was founded in, but also already dissolved in 1916 when Vitagraph got a controlling interest in the other three companies.
Assorted jungle adventures and Westerns opposite Tom Mix
Kathlyn Williams was born Kathleen Mabel Williams, in 1879 in Butte, Montana. Williams began her career on stage in her hometown, where she was sponsored by local copper magnate William A. Clark to study acting in New York City.
In 1908 Williams began her film career at the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and she made her first film under the direction of Francis Boggs: On Thanksgiving Day (Francis Boggs, 1908) with Hobart Bosworth.
However, according to Mark Garrett Cooper at Women Film Pioneers Project , Williams began "with Biograph in New York. 'I was playing in stock,' she recounted to Photoplay in 1917. 'One week when I was not working someone called me up from the Biograph studio and asked if I would work two days for them. I was dreadfully insulted at first, but I went out of curiosity expecting to be offered about fifty cents a day.' To her amazement, D. W. Griffith paid her ten dollars for each day’s work. Williams told Photoplay that she performed in three Biograph titles, but in combination, Paul Spehr and the American Film Institute catalog credit her with a total of five, with release dates beginning in 1909. "
By 1910, she was transferred to Selig's Los Angeles film studio. She became a popular star at Selig, where she was at first publicised as "The Selig Girl". She appeared in assorted jungle adventures for the studio as well as a number of Westerns opposite cowboy star Tom Mix .
She made history, however, with the very first serial adventure, The Adventures of Kathlyn (Francis J. Grandon, 1913). The film contained a number of wild animals, and it saved the faltering studio from bankruptcy. This serial was but one in a number of melodramas and jungle adventures teaming the actress with the Selig Polyscope Company's famous stable of wild animals. It was the nucleus for what would later become the Los Angeles Zoo.
Williams proceeded to remain a popular item after being handed the lead in the Selig epic The Spoilers (Colin Campbell, 1914), based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel. Williams played her signature role of Cherry Marlotte, opposite William Farnum and Tom Santschi.
British postcard in the Selig Player Series, no. 10. Caption: Your favourite Film Artistes.
British postcard in the Selig Player Series. Caption: Your favourite Film Artistes.
Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and matronly
Once the Selig Studio folded, Kathlyn Williams signed with Paramount Pictures following her marriage to Paramount executive Charles F. Eyton in 1916. Eyton was a former actor, who later became the studio's General Manager.
At Paramount, she appeared as the star of several early dramas for both Cecil B. DeMille and his brother William C. de Mille. These films included The Whispering Chorus (1918), We Can't Have Everything (1918), The Tree of Knowledge (1920), and Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920).
Her numerous co-stars included veteran matinée idols like Thomas Meighan , Theodore Roberts , and Tyrone Power Sr.), bit also young established stars as Wallace Reid , and Western heroes like Roy Stewart.
Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and matronly by the early 1920s and she moved swiftly into stately dramatic efforts, backing up such celebrity femmes of the day as May McAvoy , Betty Compson , Anita Page, Greta Garbo and even Joan Crawford before the advent of sound.
She retired from films in 1935 after only a handful of talkies and, though comebacks were bantered about from time to time in the gossip mill, nothing came of it. A tragic car accident in 1949 resulted in the loss of a leg, ending any chances whatsoever of revitalising her career. She was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.
Kathlyn Williams married and divorced three times. Her only child was Victor Hugo Kainer, from her first marriage to import/export businessman Otto Kainer. He was born in 1905 but died as a young teenager after developing influenza and succumbing to septic poisoning in 1922. After a brief marriage to actor Frank R. Allen, she married Charles Eyton. That marriage ended in 1931. Due to the loss of her leg, Kathlyn became a wheelchair-bound invalid in the last decade of her life. She succumbed to a massive heart attack in her Hollywood apartment in 1960, at age 81.
The Desmet Collection at EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam holds Kathlyn Williams' adventure films Captain Kate (1911), The Rose of Old St. Augustine (1911), and Lost in the Jungle, all by Otis Turner. EYE also holds fragments of The Adventures of Kathlyn. The Desmet films can be found online now at EYE's Desmet Playlist on YouTube .
Spanish collectors card.
British postcard in the Novelty Series, no. D6-7. Photo: Selig.
Sources: (IMDb), Mark Garrett Cooper (Women Film Pioneers Project), Wikipedia, and .
January 25, 2021
Franco Fabrizi
Italian actor Franco Fabrizi (1926-1995) played in about 150 films, usually as the superficial opportunistic sidekick. He made his film debut under Michelangelo Antonioni and became known as a cynical but charming womanizer in Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni (1953). In later life, he appeared in Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice (1971) and Fellini’s Ginger and Fred (1986).
Italian postcard by Turismofoto, no. 80.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 444. Photo: Titanus.Franco Fabrizi in Il Bidone/The Swindlers (Federico Fellini, 1955).
The template for all young-men-stuck-in-adolescence movies
Franco Fabrizi was born in Cortemaggiore, Italy in 1926 (according to Wikipedia , IMDb says 1916). He was the son of a barber and of a cinema cashier.
In 1947, Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in Fotoromanzi (the Italian fotonovelas). He also starred in several revues and stage plays.
His film debut was a supporting role as a fashion show presenter in Michelangelo Antonioni's first feature film, the drama Cronaca di un amore/Story of a Love Affair (1950). Despite some neorealist background, the film was not fully compliant with the contemporary Italian neorealist style both in its story and image, featuring upper-class characters portrayed by stars like Massimo Girotti and Lucia Bosè . The film won two Nastro d’Argento (Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon) awards in 1951.
Fabrizi's film debut was followed by several bit parts and a bigger role in Carica Eroica/Heroic Charge (Francesco De Roberti, 1952).
The following year, Fabrizi played Fausto in Federico Fellini's I vitelloni/The Spivs (1953), a part that made him known. In this comedy-drama, he co-starred with Alberto Sordi and Franco Interlenghi in a story of five small-town youths at crucial turning points in their lives. Fausto is the leader of the pack, who marries his sweetheart, but finds himself constantly distracted by other women.
Fellini’s film, a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, has autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy. The film received both the 1953 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing.
Elbert Ventura at AllMovie : “essentially the template for all young-men-stuck-in-adolescence movies, I Vitelloni has inspired filmmakers as disparate as Martin Scorsese and Giuseppe Tornatore. Generous and ultimately heart-breaking, I Vitelloni may well be the most big-hearted of the Italian master's movies.”
From then on, Fabrizi was inextricably linked to the character of a full-time lady-killer, a young not-so-young philanderer who refuses to grow up. But outside the cinema, the gossip links also linked him to a long line of actresses and society doyennes.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1057. Photo: Diana. Franco Fabrizi in Racconti Romani/Roman Tales (Gianni Franciolini, 1955).
Spanish postcard by P.V.P., no. 3031. Franco Fabrizi in Il Bidone/The Swindlers (Federico Fellini, 1955).
Reprising the character of the opportunistic philanderer
Franco Fabrizi reprised the character of the opportunistic philanderer in films like the comedy Schiava del peccato (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1954), and the drama La romana/Woman of Rome (Luigi Zampa, 1954) featuring Gina Lollobrigida .
He reunited with Fellini for Il bidone/The Swindlers (Federico Fellini, 1955) with Broderick Crawford , Richard Basehart , and Giulietta Masina . That same year, he also worked again with Antonioni at the drama Le Amiche/The Girlfriends (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1955), also starring Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gabriele Ferzetti .
Adapted from Cesare Pavese's 1949 novel 'Tra donne sole', the film is about a young woman who returns to her native Turin to set up a new fashion salon and becomes involved with a troubled woman and her three wealthy women friends. Le Amiche received the Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Award in 1955, and the Nastro d’Argento awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress ( Valentina Cortese ) in 1956.
In the following years, he appeared in the comedy Calabuch/The Rocket From Calabuch (Luis García Berlanga, 1956), starring Edmund Gwenn in his last film role, the French-Italian drama Sait-on jamais.../No Sun in Venice (Roger Vadim, 1957) with Françoise Arnoul , the crime film Un maledetto imbroglio/The Facts of Murder (Pietro Germi, 1959) with Claudia Cardinale , and he had a small part in Le notti di Cabiria/Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957) starring Giulietta Masina .
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 214. Sylva Koscina and Franco Fabrizi in Le Sorprese dell'amore/Surprise of Love (Luigi Comencini, 1959). The film is called in Romania Surprizele dragostel.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 12. Sylva Koscina and Franco Fabrizi in Le Sorprese dell'amore/Surprise of Love (Luigi Comencini, 1959). The film is called in Romania Surprizele dragostel.
The initiator of the Poliziottesco genre
During the 1960s, Franco Fabrizi was mainly relegated to character roles in Italian, French and Spanish minor productions, like the Peplum Orazi e Curiazi/Duel of Champions (Ferdinando Baldi, Terence Young, 1961), starring Alan Ladd , or the Totó comedy Il comandante/The Commandant (Paolo Heusch, 1963).
However, in between, he still appeared in some major works of the Italian cinema, including the Italian-Cypriot drama Il relitto/The Wastrel (Michael Cacoyannis,1961), which was entered into the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, the Commedia all'italiana A Difficult Life/Una vita difficile (Dino Risi, 1961) with Alberto Sordi , and the sex comedy Signore & Signori/The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (Pietro Germi 1966).
At the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, Signore & Signori shared the Palme d’or, the Grand Prix with Un homme et une femme/A Man and a Woman (Claude Lelouch, 1966). Other interesting films were the comedy-drama Una questione d'onore/A Question of Honour (Luigi Zampa, 1965), Roma bene/Good Rome (Carlo Lizzani, 1971), and the classic Morte a Venezia/Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, 1971) starring Dirk Bogarde and based on the novella 'Der Tod in Venedig' by the German author Thomas Mann.
A huge popular success in Italy was the crime film La polizia ringrazia/Execution Squad (Steno, 1972). The film is considered as the initiator of the Poliziottesco genre, the Italian police crime film. He played a supporting part in the French-Italian surreal farce Touche pas à la femme blanche/Don't Touch The White Woman! (Marco Ferreri, 1974) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve .
Then he was the show host in Fellini’s Ginger e Fred/Ginger and Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina as the Italian impersonators of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who reunite after thirty years of retirement for a vulgar and bizarre television extravaganza.
It was followed by a part in the comedy Il piccolo diavolo/The Little Devil (Roberto Benigni, 1988) with Walther Matthau as a cynical, dry-humoured priest who is followed by a little demon (Roberto Benigni), whom he exorcised. His final film was the comedy Ricky e Barabba/Ricky and Barrabas (Christian De Sica, 1992).
In 1993 he had a serious car accident from which he recovered; immediately after, however, it manifested the illness that led him to death. Franco Fabrizi died of bowel cancer in 1995 in his home village Cortemaggiore. He was 69.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1744. Photo: Cineriz.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 1343, 1960.
Sources: Elbert Ventura (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English and Italian), and .
Italian postcard by Turismofoto, no. 80.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 444. Photo: Titanus.Franco Fabrizi in Il Bidone/The Swindlers (Federico Fellini, 1955).
The template for all young-men-stuck-in-adolescence movies
Franco Fabrizi was born in Cortemaggiore, Italy in 1926 (according to Wikipedia , IMDb says 1916). He was the son of a barber and of a cinema cashier.
In 1947, Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in Fotoromanzi (the Italian fotonovelas). He also starred in several revues and stage plays.
His film debut was a supporting role as a fashion show presenter in Michelangelo Antonioni's first feature film, the drama Cronaca di un amore/Story of a Love Affair (1950). Despite some neorealist background, the film was not fully compliant with the contemporary Italian neorealist style both in its story and image, featuring upper-class characters portrayed by stars like Massimo Girotti and Lucia Bosè . The film won two Nastro d’Argento (Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon) awards in 1951.
Fabrizi's film debut was followed by several bit parts and a bigger role in Carica Eroica/Heroic Charge (Francesco De Roberti, 1952).
The following year, Fabrizi played Fausto in Federico Fellini's I vitelloni/The Spivs (1953), a part that made him known. In this comedy-drama, he co-starred with Alberto Sordi and Franco Interlenghi in a story of five small-town youths at crucial turning points in their lives. Fausto is the leader of the pack, who marries his sweetheart, but finds himself constantly distracted by other women.
Fellini’s film, a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, has autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy. The film received both the 1953 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing.
Elbert Ventura at AllMovie : “essentially the template for all young-men-stuck-in-adolescence movies, I Vitelloni has inspired filmmakers as disparate as Martin Scorsese and Giuseppe Tornatore. Generous and ultimately heart-breaking, I Vitelloni may well be the most big-hearted of the Italian master's movies.”
From then on, Fabrizi was inextricably linked to the character of a full-time lady-killer, a young not-so-young philanderer who refuses to grow up. But outside the cinema, the gossip links also linked him to a long line of actresses and society doyennes.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1057. Photo: Diana. Franco Fabrizi in Racconti Romani/Roman Tales (Gianni Franciolini, 1955).
Spanish postcard by P.V.P., no. 3031. Franco Fabrizi in Il Bidone/The Swindlers (Federico Fellini, 1955).
Reprising the character of the opportunistic philanderer
Franco Fabrizi reprised the character of the opportunistic philanderer in films like the comedy Schiava del peccato (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1954), and the drama La romana/Woman of Rome (Luigi Zampa, 1954) featuring Gina Lollobrigida .
He reunited with Fellini for Il bidone/The Swindlers (Federico Fellini, 1955) with Broderick Crawford , Richard Basehart , and Giulietta Masina . That same year, he also worked again with Antonioni at the drama Le Amiche/The Girlfriends (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1955), also starring Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gabriele Ferzetti .
Adapted from Cesare Pavese's 1949 novel 'Tra donne sole', the film is about a young woman who returns to her native Turin to set up a new fashion salon and becomes involved with a troubled woman and her three wealthy women friends. Le Amiche received the Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Award in 1955, and the Nastro d’Argento awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress ( Valentina Cortese ) in 1956.
In the following years, he appeared in the comedy Calabuch/The Rocket From Calabuch (Luis García Berlanga, 1956), starring Edmund Gwenn in his last film role, the French-Italian drama Sait-on jamais.../No Sun in Venice (Roger Vadim, 1957) with Françoise Arnoul , the crime film Un maledetto imbroglio/The Facts of Murder (Pietro Germi, 1959) with Claudia Cardinale , and he had a small part in Le notti di Cabiria/Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957) starring Giulietta Masina .
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 214. Sylva Koscina and Franco Fabrizi in Le Sorprese dell'amore/Surprise of Love (Luigi Comencini, 1959). The film is called in Romania Surprizele dragostel.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 12. Sylva Koscina and Franco Fabrizi in Le Sorprese dell'amore/Surprise of Love (Luigi Comencini, 1959). The film is called in Romania Surprizele dragostel.
The initiator of the Poliziottesco genre
During the 1960s, Franco Fabrizi was mainly relegated to character roles in Italian, French and Spanish minor productions, like the Peplum Orazi e Curiazi/Duel of Champions (Ferdinando Baldi, Terence Young, 1961), starring Alan Ladd , or the Totó comedy Il comandante/The Commandant (Paolo Heusch, 1963).
However, in between, he still appeared in some major works of the Italian cinema, including the Italian-Cypriot drama Il relitto/The Wastrel (Michael Cacoyannis,1961), which was entered into the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, the Commedia all'italiana A Difficult Life/Una vita difficile (Dino Risi, 1961) with Alberto Sordi , and the sex comedy Signore & Signori/The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (Pietro Germi 1966).
At the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, Signore & Signori shared the Palme d’or, the Grand Prix with Un homme et une femme/A Man and a Woman (Claude Lelouch, 1966). Other interesting films were the comedy-drama Una questione d'onore/A Question of Honour (Luigi Zampa, 1965), Roma bene/Good Rome (Carlo Lizzani, 1971), and the classic Morte a Venezia/Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, 1971) starring Dirk Bogarde and based on the novella 'Der Tod in Venedig' by the German author Thomas Mann.
A huge popular success in Italy was the crime film La polizia ringrazia/Execution Squad (Steno, 1972). The film is considered as the initiator of the Poliziottesco genre, the Italian police crime film. He played a supporting part in the French-Italian surreal farce Touche pas à la femme blanche/Don't Touch The White Woman! (Marco Ferreri, 1974) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve .
Then he was the show host in Fellini’s Ginger e Fred/Ginger and Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina as the Italian impersonators of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who reunite after thirty years of retirement for a vulgar and bizarre television extravaganza.
It was followed by a part in the comedy Il piccolo diavolo/The Little Devil (Roberto Benigni, 1988) with Walther Matthau as a cynical, dry-humoured priest who is followed by a little demon (Roberto Benigni), whom he exorcised. His final film was the comedy Ricky e Barabba/Ricky and Barrabas (Christian De Sica, 1992).
In 1993 he had a serious car accident from which he recovered; immediately after, however, it manifested the illness that led him to death. Franco Fabrizi died of bowel cancer in 1995 in his home village Cortemaggiore. He was 69.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1744. Photo: Cineriz.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 1343, 1960.
Sources: Elbert Ventura (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English and Italian), and .
January 24, 2021
Donna Reed
Donna Reed (1921-1986) was an American film, television actress, and producer. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her role as Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946). She received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lorene Burke in the war drama From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953). Reed is also known as Donna Stone, a middle-class American mother, and housewife in the sitcom The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966).
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1213. Photo: Edizioni Economiche Romana.
Belgian postcard.
Belgian postcard, no. 3112. Photo: Metro Goldyn Mayer.
Belgian postcard, no. 3128. Photo: Donna Reed in Green Dolphin Street (Victor Saville, 1947).
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Donna Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, in 1921. She was the daughter of Hazel Jane and William Richard Mullenger. The eldest of five children, she was raised as a Methodist.
In 1936, while she was a sophomore at Denison (Iowa) High School, her chemistry teacher Edward Tompkins gave her the book 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Upon reading it she won the lead in the school play, was voted Campus Queen, and was in the top 10 of the 1938 graduating class.
After graduating from Denison High School, she decided to move to California to attend Los Angeles City College on the advice of her aunt. While attending college, she performed in various stage productions, although she had no plans to become an actress.
After receiving several offers to screen test for studios, Reed eventually signed with MGM. Reed made her film debut in The Get-Away (Edward Buzzell, 1941). She had a support role in Shadow of the Thin Man (W. S. Van Dyke, 1941) and in Wallace Beery 's The Bugle Sounds (S. Sylvan Simon, 1942).
Like many starlets at MGM, she played opposite Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, in her case the hugely popular The Courtship of Andy Hardy (George B. Seitz, 1942). Reed starred in the drama Calling Dr. Gillespie (Harold S. Bucquet, 1942), featuring Lionel Barrymore, and Apache Trail (Richard Thorpe, 1942).
Then she did a thriller with Edward Arnold, Eyes in the Night (Fred Zinnemann, 1942). Reed had a support role in The Human Comedy (Clarence Brown, 1943) with Mickey Rooney , a big film for MGM. She was one of many MGM stars to make cameos in Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943). Produced at the height of the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.
Her "girl-next-door" good looks and warm onstage personality made her a popular pin-up for many GIs during World War II. She personally answered letters from many GIs serving overseas. She was in the Oscar Wilde adaptation The Picture of Dorian Gray (Albert Lewin, 1945) and played a nurse in John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945), opposite John Wayne .
MGM was very enthusiastic about Reed's prospects at this time. Reed was top-billed in a romantic comedy Faithful in My Fashion (Sidney Salkow, 1946) with Tom Drake which lost money. MGM lent her to RKO Pictures for the role of Mary Bailey in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. The film has since been named as one of the 100 best American films ever made by the American Film Institute and is regularly aired on television during the Christmas season.
Back at MGM, she appeared in Green Dolphin Street (Victor Saville, 1947) with Lana Turner and Van Heflin. It was a big hit. Reed was borrowed by Paramount to make two films with Alan Ladd , Beyond Glory (John Farrowm 1948), where she replaced Joan Caulfield at the last moment, and the Film Noir Chicago Deadline (Lewis Allen, 1949). In 1949 she expressed a desire for better roles.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 467. Photo: Paramount.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 488. Photo: M.G.M. Donna Reed, Richard Hart, and Lana Turner in Green Dolphin Street (Victor Saville, 1947).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 669. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
From Here to Eternity
In 1950, Donna Reed signed a contract with Columbia Studios. She appeared in two Film Noirs which teamed her with John Derek, Saturday's Hero (David Miller, 1951), and Scandal Sheet (Phil Karlson, 1952). Reed was the love interest of Randolph Scott in the Western Hangman's Knot (Roy Huggins, 1952), then was borrowed by Warner Bros for the comedy Trouble Along the Way (Michael Curtiz, 1953) with John Wayne . She was loaned out to play John Payne's love interest in Raiders of the Seven Seas (Edward Small, 1953).
Reed played the role of Alma "Lorene" Burke, the girlfriend of Montgomery Clift 's character, in the World War II drama From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953). The role earned Reed an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for 1953.
However, the qualities of her parts did not seem to improve: she was the love interest in The Caddy (Norman Taurog, 1953) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at Paramount; the Western Gun Fury (Raoul Walsh, 1953) with Rock Hudson ; and the Western Three Hours to Kill (Alfred L. Werker, 1954) with Dana Andrews .
Reed returned to MGM to act in the romantic drama The Last Time I Saw Paris (Richard Brooks, 1954) with Elizabeth Taylor . Reed began guest-starring on television shows such as The Ford Television Theatre, Tales of Hans Andersen, General Electric Theater, and Suspicion.
She continued to appear in features, usually as the love interest, in The Benny Goodman Story (1956) with Steve Allen, playing Goodman's wife; Ransom! (Alex Segal, 1956) as Glenn Ford 's wife; the Western Backlash (John Sturges, 1956), with Richard Widmark. In Kenya, she filmed Beyond Mombasa (George Marshall, 1957), with Cornel Wilde. She was injured while making the film. In England, she shot The Whole Truth (John Guillermin, 1958), with Stewart Granger .
From 1958 to 1966, Reed starred in The Donna Reed Show, a television series produced by her then-husband, Tony Owen. The show featured her as Donna Stone, the wife of pediatrician Alex Stone (Carl Betz) and mother of Jeff (Paul Petersen) and Mary Stone (Shelley Fabares). Reed was attracted to the idea of being in a comedy, something with which she did not have much experience. She also liked playing a wife. The show ran for eight seasons. Reed won a Golden Globe Award and earned four Emmy Award nominations for her work on the series.
Later in her career, Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow in the 1984–1985 season of the television melodrama Dallas. When she was abruptly fired upon Bel Geddes' decision to return to the show, she sued the production company for breach of contract.
From 1943 to 1945, Donna Reed was married to make-up artist William Tuttle. After they divorced, in 1945 she married producer Tony Owen. They raised four children together: Penny Jane, Anthony, Timothy, and Mary Anne (the two older children were adopted). After 26 years of marriage, Reed and Owen divorced in 1971. Three years later, Reed married Grover W. Asmus, a retired United States Army colonel. They remained married until her death in 1986.
Donna Reed died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, California, in 1986, 13 days shy of her 65th birthday. Her remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1631. Photo: Columbia. Donna Reed and Rock Hudson in Gun Fury (Raoul Walsh, 1953).
Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Anvers/Antwerpen (Antwerp), no. A 29. Photo: Paramount.
American arcade postcard.
Vintage collectors card. Photo: Paramount.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1213. Photo: Edizioni Economiche Romana.
Belgian postcard.
Belgian postcard, no. 3112. Photo: Metro Goldyn Mayer.
Belgian postcard, no. 3128. Photo: Donna Reed in Green Dolphin Street (Victor Saville, 1947).
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Donna Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, in 1921. She was the daughter of Hazel Jane and William Richard Mullenger. The eldest of five children, she was raised as a Methodist.
In 1936, while she was a sophomore at Denison (Iowa) High School, her chemistry teacher Edward Tompkins gave her the book 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Upon reading it she won the lead in the school play, was voted Campus Queen, and was in the top 10 of the 1938 graduating class.
After graduating from Denison High School, she decided to move to California to attend Los Angeles City College on the advice of her aunt. While attending college, she performed in various stage productions, although she had no plans to become an actress.
After receiving several offers to screen test for studios, Reed eventually signed with MGM. Reed made her film debut in The Get-Away (Edward Buzzell, 1941). She had a support role in Shadow of the Thin Man (W. S. Van Dyke, 1941) and in Wallace Beery 's The Bugle Sounds (S. Sylvan Simon, 1942).
Like many starlets at MGM, she played opposite Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, in her case the hugely popular The Courtship of Andy Hardy (George B. Seitz, 1942). Reed starred in the drama Calling Dr. Gillespie (Harold S. Bucquet, 1942), featuring Lionel Barrymore, and Apache Trail (Richard Thorpe, 1942).
Then she did a thriller with Edward Arnold, Eyes in the Night (Fred Zinnemann, 1942). Reed had a support role in The Human Comedy (Clarence Brown, 1943) with Mickey Rooney , a big film for MGM. She was one of many MGM stars to make cameos in Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943). Produced at the height of the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.
Her "girl-next-door" good looks and warm onstage personality made her a popular pin-up for many GIs during World War II. She personally answered letters from many GIs serving overseas. She was in the Oscar Wilde adaptation The Picture of Dorian Gray (Albert Lewin, 1945) and played a nurse in John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945), opposite John Wayne .
MGM was very enthusiastic about Reed's prospects at this time. Reed was top-billed in a romantic comedy Faithful in My Fashion (Sidney Salkow, 1946) with Tom Drake which lost money. MGM lent her to RKO Pictures for the role of Mary Bailey in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. The film has since been named as one of the 100 best American films ever made by the American Film Institute and is regularly aired on television during the Christmas season.
Back at MGM, she appeared in Green Dolphin Street (Victor Saville, 1947) with Lana Turner and Van Heflin. It was a big hit. Reed was borrowed by Paramount to make two films with Alan Ladd , Beyond Glory (John Farrowm 1948), where she replaced Joan Caulfield at the last moment, and the Film Noir Chicago Deadline (Lewis Allen, 1949). In 1949 she expressed a desire for better roles.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 467. Photo: Paramount.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 488. Photo: M.G.M. Donna Reed, Richard Hart, and Lana Turner in Green Dolphin Street (Victor Saville, 1947).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 669. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
From Here to Eternity
In 1950, Donna Reed signed a contract with Columbia Studios. She appeared in two Film Noirs which teamed her with John Derek, Saturday's Hero (David Miller, 1951), and Scandal Sheet (Phil Karlson, 1952). Reed was the love interest of Randolph Scott in the Western Hangman's Knot (Roy Huggins, 1952), then was borrowed by Warner Bros for the comedy Trouble Along the Way (Michael Curtiz, 1953) with John Wayne . She was loaned out to play John Payne's love interest in Raiders of the Seven Seas (Edward Small, 1953).
Reed played the role of Alma "Lorene" Burke, the girlfriend of Montgomery Clift 's character, in the World War II drama From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953). The role earned Reed an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for 1953.
However, the qualities of her parts did not seem to improve: she was the love interest in The Caddy (Norman Taurog, 1953) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at Paramount; the Western Gun Fury (Raoul Walsh, 1953) with Rock Hudson ; and the Western Three Hours to Kill (Alfred L. Werker, 1954) with Dana Andrews .
Reed returned to MGM to act in the romantic drama The Last Time I Saw Paris (Richard Brooks, 1954) with Elizabeth Taylor . Reed began guest-starring on television shows such as The Ford Television Theatre, Tales of Hans Andersen, General Electric Theater, and Suspicion.
She continued to appear in features, usually as the love interest, in The Benny Goodman Story (1956) with Steve Allen, playing Goodman's wife; Ransom! (Alex Segal, 1956) as Glenn Ford 's wife; the Western Backlash (John Sturges, 1956), with Richard Widmark. In Kenya, she filmed Beyond Mombasa (George Marshall, 1957), with Cornel Wilde. She was injured while making the film. In England, she shot The Whole Truth (John Guillermin, 1958), with Stewart Granger .
From 1958 to 1966, Reed starred in The Donna Reed Show, a television series produced by her then-husband, Tony Owen. The show featured her as Donna Stone, the wife of pediatrician Alex Stone (Carl Betz) and mother of Jeff (Paul Petersen) and Mary Stone (Shelley Fabares). Reed was attracted to the idea of being in a comedy, something with which she did not have much experience. She also liked playing a wife. The show ran for eight seasons. Reed won a Golden Globe Award and earned four Emmy Award nominations for her work on the series.
Later in her career, Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow in the 1984–1985 season of the television melodrama Dallas. When she was abruptly fired upon Bel Geddes' decision to return to the show, she sued the production company for breach of contract.
From 1943 to 1945, Donna Reed was married to make-up artist William Tuttle. After they divorced, in 1945 she married producer Tony Owen. They raised four children together: Penny Jane, Anthony, Timothy, and Mary Anne (the two older children were adopted). After 26 years of marriage, Reed and Owen divorced in 1971. Three years later, Reed married Grover W. Asmus, a retired United States Army colonel. They remained married until her death in 1986.
Donna Reed died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, California, in 1986, 13 days shy of her 65th birthday. Her remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1631. Photo: Columbia. Donna Reed and Rock Hudson in Gun Fury (Raoul Walsh, 1953).
Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Anvers/Antwerpen (Antwerp), no. A 29. Photo: Paramount.
American arcade postcard.
Vintage collectors card. Photo: Paramount.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
January 23, 2021
Frank Keenan
Frank Keenan (1858–1929) was an American stage and film actor and stage director and manager during the silent-film era. He was among the first stage actors to star in American cinema, was a film actor from 1909 to 1926 in some 70 films, and also directed 4 films himself. Keenan peaked around 1918-1919 as the star in several films released by Pathé Exchange, e.g. the crime drama The Bells (1918) and the Western The Midnight Stage (1919).
French postcard by Editions Cinémazine, Paris, no. 104.
British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd., no. 20. Photo: Pathé Pictures.
A furniture actor
Frank Keenan was born in 1858 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. Born to Irish Catholic parents, Keenan acquired his education both in Dubuque and at Boston College.
In New York, he became a star, a celebrated Shakespearean actor who later specialised in 'King Lear'. He was a noted Broadway matinee idol, and his name appearing at the top of showbills.
He acted in such hits as 'The Capitol', 'A Poor Relation', and 'The Girl of the Golden West'. He played the title role in 'Macbeth' opposite Nance O'Neil.
At one point, he briefly operated his own theatre, the Berkeley Lyceum in New York, which brought him recognition as both actor and director.
According to IMDb , he was considered a "furniture actor". While on stage he was so often drunk that he had to lean on or hold onto furniture to keep from falling down.
American postcard. Frank Keenan in 'The Pawn'.
One of the first prominent stage artists who moved to Hollywood
Known through the country for his stage work, Frank Keenan was a leader in the Actors' Equity Association. He was also one of the first prominent stage artists who moved to Hollywood. One of his first films was the short silent drama Judge Not That Ye Be Not Judged (Van Dyke Brooke, 1909).
Keenan made his screen breakthrough under the direction of Reginald Barker in the silent historical war drama film The Coward (1915), produced by Thomas H. Ince. Set during the American Civil War, Keenan stars as a Virginia colonel, with Charles Ray as his weak-willed son. The son is forced, at gunpoint, by his father to enlist in the Confederate States Army. He is terrified by the war and deserts during a battle. The film focuses on the son's struggle to overcome his cowardice.
Keenan peaked around 1918-1919 as the star in several films released by Pathé Exchange, e.g. the crime drama The Bells (Ernest C. Warde, 1918) with Lois Wilson, and the Western The Midnight Stage (Ernest C. Warde, 1919). Until 1926 he appeared in nearly 50 films.
His last stage appearance, at 68, was as a Southern colonel in 'Black Velvet'. Katherine Agnes Long often acted with him. She was Keenan's first wife of forty-four years. In 1924, she was watching him perform on stage when she suffered a stroke and died a few minutes later.
Later that year, he married a young music teacher, Margaret White (1924-1927). After their divorce, he wed actress Leah May (1928-1929 - his death). In 1929, Frank Keenan died in his Hollywood mansion and is buried next to his first wife at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
With Katherine Agnes Long, he had two daughters, Frances and Hilda, who both were actresses, and he was the grandfather of film actor Keenan Wynn.
British postcard. Photo: Campbell / Pathé.
British postcard. Photo: Pathé Frères Cinema Ltd.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
French postcard by Editions Cinémazine, Paris, no. 104.
British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd., no. 20. Photo: Pathé Pictures.
A furniture actor
Frank Keenan was born in 1858 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. Born to Irish Catholic parents, Keenan acquired his education both in Dubuque and at Boston College.
In New York, he became a star, a celebrated Shakespearean actor who later specialised in 'King Lear'. He was a noted Broadway matinee idol, and his name appearing at the top of showbills.
He acted in such hits as 'The Capitol', 'A Poor Relation', and 'The Girl of the Golden West'. He played the title role in 'Macbeth' opposite Nance O'Neil.
At one point, he briefly operated his own theatre, the Berkeley Lyceum in New York, which brought him recognition as both actor and director.
According to IMDb , he was considered a "furniture actor". While on stage he was so often drunk that he had to lean on or hold onto furniture to keep from falling down.
American postcard. Frank Keenan in 'The Pawn'.
One of the first prominent stage artists who moved to Hollywood
Known through the country for his stage work, Frank Keenan was a leader in the Actors' Equity Association. He was also one of the first prominent stage artists who moved to Hollywood. One of his first films was the short silent drama Judge Not That Ye Be Not Judged (Van Dyke Brooke, 1909).
Keenan made his screen breakthrough under the direction of Reginald Barker in the silent historical war drama film The Coward (1915), produced by Thomas H. Ince. Set during the American Civil War, Keenan stars as a Virginia colonel, with Charles Ray as his weak-willed son. The son is forced, at gunpoint, by his father to enlist in the Confederate States Army. He is terrified by the war and deserts during a battle. The film focuses on the son's struggle to overcome his cowardice.
Keenan peaked around 1918-1919 as the star in several films released by Pathé Exchange, e.g. the crime drama The Bells (Ernest C. Warde, 1918) with Lois Wilson, and the Western The Midnight Stage (Ernest C. Warde, 1919). Until 1926 he appeared in nearly 50 films.
His last stage appearance, at 68, was as a Southern colonel in 'Black Velvet'. Katherine Agnes Long often acted with him. She was Keenan's first wife of forty-four years. In 1924, she was watching him perform on stage when she suffered a stroke and died a few minutes later.
Later that year, he married a young music teacher, Margaret White (1924-1927). After their divorce, he wed actress Leah May (1928-1929 - his death). In 1929, Frank Keenan died in his Hollywood mansion and is buried next to his first wife at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
With Katherine Agnes Long, he had two daughters, Frances and Hilda, who both were actresses, and he was the grandfather of film actor Keenan Wynn.
British postcard. Photo: Campbell / Pathé.
British postcard. Photo: Pathé Frères Cinema Ltd.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
January 22, 2021
The early Henny Porten films
Through the years, EFSP has done many posts on Henny Porten (1890-1960) and her many films. Porten made her first film appearance in Meißner Porzellan/The Porcelain of Meissner (1906), a very short sound film, directed by her father, Franz Porten, for film pioneer Oskar Messter and his company Messter Film. In 1907, the young Porten became a professional actress. Her striking appearance and simple style of acting exerted a magnetic effect on the public. Henny became the first diva of the German cinema with her role as a blind girl in the melodrama Das Liebesglucke der Blinden/The Love of a Blind Girl (1910), written by her sister, Rosa Porten. People started to ask for her name, and thus 'the Messter girl' became one of the first film stars who was known by name. During 'the Great war', the Berlin postcard company Rotophot started its Film-Sterne series with sepia cards, showing stills of Porten films, produced in 1916 and 1917. Ivo Blom collected this 500-series.
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/1. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Die Räuberbraut/The robber bride (Robert Wiene 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/2. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Theodor Loos in Gelöste Ketten/Dissolved chains (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/3. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Emil Jannings in Die Ehe der Luise Rohrbach/The marriage of Luise Rohrbach (Rudolf Biebrach 1917), based on a novel by Emmi Elert.
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/4. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Feenhände/Fairy hands (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/5. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Christa Hartungen (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/6. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in the German silent drama Der Ruf der Liebe/The call of love (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/7. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in the German silent drama Der Ruf der Liebe/The call of love (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/8. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Bruno Decarli in Das wandernde Licht/ The wandering light (Robert Wiene, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/9. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Die Prinzessin von Neutralien/The Princess of Neutralien (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 500/10. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Die Prinzessin von Neutralien/The Princess of Neutralien (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/11. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Der Liebesbrief der Königin/The Queen's Love Letter (Robert Wiene, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/12. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Der Liebesbrief der Königin/The Queen's Love Letter (Robert Wiene, 1916).
For many, many more postcards of Porten, check out our Henny Porten album at Flickr.
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/1. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Die Räuberbraut/The robber bride (Robert Wiene 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/2. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Theodor Loos in Gelöste Ketten/Dissolved chains (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/3. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Emil Jannings in Die Ehe der Luise Rohrbach/The marriage of Luise Rohrbach (Rudolf Biebrach 1917), based on a novel by Emmi Elert.
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/4. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Feenhände/Fairy hands (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/5. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Christa Hartungen (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/6. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in the German silent drama Der Ruf der Liebe/The call of love (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/7. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in the German silent drama Der Ruf der Liebe/The call of love (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/8. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten and Bruno Decarli in Das wandernde Licht/ The wandering light (Robert Wiene, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/9. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Die Prinzessin von Neutralien/The Princess of Neutralien (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 500/10. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Die Prinzessin von Neutralien/The Princess of Neutralien (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/11. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Der Liebesbrief der Königin/The Queen's Love Letter (Robert Wiene, 1916).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 500/12. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Henny Porten in Der Liebesbrief der Königin/The Queen's Love Letter (Robert Wiene, 1916).
For many, many more postcards of Porten, check out our Henny Porten album at Flickr.
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