Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 172
January 21, 2021
Nathalie Delon (1941-2021)
Yesterday, 21 January 2021, French actress Nathalie Delon (1941) has passed away. She was a former wife of Alain Delon and the mother of Anthony Delon. Her film debut in the classic thriller Le Samouraï (1967) proved also to be the peak of her career.
Spanish postcard by Bergas Industrias Graficas, no. 1081, 1974. Photo: Photo Vedettes ENR, Charlesbourg (Canada).
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.
One of the most beautiful women in the world
Nathalie Delon was born Francine Canovas in Oujda, French Morocco in 1941. She was the daughter of a French officer. Her young mother moved with her to France, first to Nice and later to Paris.
In 1959 Francine married Guy Barthelemy in French Marocco with whom she had a daughter, Nathalie. She soon returned to France and they divorced in 1963.
Francine started her career as a model and at the time, she was reputedly one of the most beautiful women in the world. In 1962 she had met Alain Delon and in 1964 they married. Their son Anthony Delon , born a month later, would also become a well-known film star.
Nathalie’s own cinema career started when French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville asked her to play in his French-Italian crime film Le Samouraï/The Samurai (1967) in which her husband Alain Delon featured as professional hitman Jef Costello.
James Travers at French Films : “Perhaps the most highly regarded and best-known of all French gangster movies is Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï, a stylish noir thriller which gave actor Alain Delon his most iconic screen role and helped to establish the policier as one of the most important genres in French cinema for over a decade.”
Melville's insistence on casting Nathalie as Jef's prostitute mistress resulted in serious ructions between the director and his lead actor - at the time, the couple were in the process of separating and would divorce before the film was released. The film became a box office hit in France, where it attracted over two million spectators and was also a comparable success abroad.
Lucia Bozzola at AllMovie : “Originally released in the U.S. in an edited, dubbed version [as The Godson] meant to capitalize on the popularity of The Godfather (1972), Le samouraï was restored to its original form in the 1990s, although its visual flourishes, procedural flair, and Delon's existential sangfroid had long since infiltrated the international neo-noir lexicon. It directly inspired John Woo's The Killer (1989) and Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (2000), among others.“
Two years later Nathalie Delon also had a small part in Melville’s L'armée des ombres/Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969), a film adaptation of a novel by Joseph Kessel. It follows a small group of Resistance fighters as they move between safe houses, work with the Allied militaries, kill informers, and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate.
While portraying its characters as heroic, the film presents a bleak, unromantic view of the Resistance. At the time of its initial release in France, Army of Shadows was not well received or widely seen. In the mid-1990s, Cahiers du cinéma published a reappraisal of the film and Melville's work in general, leading to its restoration and re-release in 2006.
In between the two famous Melville classics, Delon also appeared in other interesting films including the dramas La leçon particulière/Tender Moment (Michel Boisrond, 1968) with Renaud Verley, and Le sorelle/The sisters (Roberto Malenotti, 1969) starring Susan Strasberg.
At the time, Nathalie Delon was caught up in a scandal. With husband Alain Delon , she was questioned by the police over the murder of their former Yugoslav bodyguard, Stevan Markovic, with whom she also had had a brief affair. Markovic’s corpse was found in a wood, wrapped in a mattress. Investigators found a letter from Markovic linking the Delons and a Corsican fighter named François Marcantoni. The Markovic affair began to absorb France’s political elite when connections were made with former president Georges Pompidou. In the end, only Marcantoni was convicted. Nathalie and Alain Delon divorced in 1968, but she kept his name. The affair did not hurt their careers.
Small Romanian collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) with Alain Delon .
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.
I've Seen That Face Before
Nathalie Delon made her English language debut opposite Anthony Hopkins in the espionage thriller When Eight Bells Toll (Etienne Perier, 1971), set in Scotland and scripted by Alistair MacLean based on his own novel. Producer Elliott Kastner hoped that the film would be the first of a series of spy adventure films featuring MacLean's Philip Calvert character by capturing James Bond series fans after the anticipated demise of that series ( Sean Connery was said to quit the Bond series).
When Eight Bells Tolls attracted limited viewers, although it was the 11th most popular film at the British box office in 1971 and Connery returned as Bond in the successful Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971). So the projected Phillip Calvert series was cancelled.
Delon then was one of Bluebeard’s wives in the thriller Bluebeard (Edward Dmytryk, 1972) featuring Richard Burton as a wealthy Austrian Baron and World War I pilot, who murders his wives. During the shooting, she dated Richard Burton, then the husband of Elizabeth Taylor . She also had dated Eddie Fisher, Taylor’s former husband.
Delon had a supporting part in the British film The Romantic Englishwoman (Joseph Losey, 1975), starring Michael Caine , Glenda Jackson, and Helmut Berger . Also noteworthy is her lead in Peter Whitehead’s final film Fire in the Water (1977) with David Hockney and John Lennon . But her other European films of the 1970s are mediocre.
On TV she did a guest star appearance in an episode of the series Madame le juge/Madame, the judge (Édouard Molinaro, 1978) featuring Simone Signoret .
In 1982, she co-directed and starred in the drama Ils appellent ça un accident/They Call It an Accident (Nathalie Delon, Yves Deschamps, 1982), but it was not a success. The following year, she appeared in the short film Pair-impair (Carole Marquand, 1983). She directed one more film, the French-American romantic comedy Sweet Lies (1988), starring Treat Williams, Joanna Pacula, and Julianne Phillips. Again it was not a success. She then retired.
About her later personal life is known that she had a relationship with actor Marc Porel and both suffered a drug addiction. She conquered the habit and went to the US.
There she lived with Chris Blackwell, founder of the Island label and manager of Bob Marley. Delon wrote the French text for Grace Jones ' megahit I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango) (1981), which features on the soundtrack of Frantic (Roman Polanski, 1988).
In 2006, she published the book Pleure pas, c'est pas grave (Do not cry, it does not matter), and twenty years after directing Sweet Lies, she returned to the cinema in the drama Nuit de chien/This Night (Werner Schroeter, 2008) about a group of people try to flee from a dictatorship government.
Nathalie Delon died on 21 January 2021 in Paris, from pancreatic cancer. She was 79.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no 112.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 431.
Sources: James Travers (French Films), Lucia Bozzola (AllMovie), Luc Le Vaillant (Liberation – French), Celine Colassin (D’autres étoiles filantes - French), Connexxion France, Prisma.de (German), Wikipedia (English) and .
Spanish postcard by Bergas Industrias Graficas, no. 1081, 1974. Photo: Photo Vedettes ENR, Charlesbourg (Canada).
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.
One of the most beautiful women in the world
Nathalie Delon was born Francine Canovas in Oujda, French Morocco in 1941. She was the daughter of a French officer. Her young mother moved with her to France, first to Nice and later to Paris.
In 1959 Francine married Guy Barthelemy in French Marocco with whom she had a daughter, Nathalie. She soon returned to France and they divorced in 1963.
Francine started her career as a model and at the time, she was reputedly one of the most beautiful women in the world. In 1962 she had met Alain Delon and in 1964 they married. Their son Anthony Delon , born a month later, would also become a well-known film star.
Nathalie’s own cinema career started when French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville asked her to play in his French-Italian crime film Le Samouraï/The Samurai (1967) in which her husband Alain Delon featured as professional hitman Jef Costello.
James Travers at French Films : “Perhaps the most highly regarded and best-known of all French gangster movies is Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï, a stylish noir thriller which gave actor Alain Delon his most iconic screen role and helped to establish the policier as one of the most important genres in French cinema for over a decade.”
Melville's insistence on casting Nathalie as Jef's prostitute mistress resulted in serious ructions between the director and his lead actor - at the time, the couple were in the process of separating and would divorce before the film was released. The film became a box office hit in France, where it attracted over two million spectators and was also a comparable success abroad.
Lucia Bozzola at AllMovie : “Originally released in the U.S. in an edited, dubbed version [as The Godson] meant to capitalize on the popularity of The Godfather (1972), Le samouraï was restored to its original form in the 1990s, although its visual flourishes, procedural flair, and Delon's existential sangfroid had long since infiltrated the international neo-noir lexicon. It directly inspired John Woo's The Killer (1989) and Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (2000), among others.“
Two years later Nathalie Delon also had a small part in Melville’s L'armée des ombres/Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969), a film adaptation of a novel by Joseph Kessel. It follows a small group of Resistance fighters as they move between safe houses, work with the Allied militaries, kill informers, and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate.
While portraying its characters as heroic, the film presents a bleak, unromantic view of the Resistance. At the time of its initial release in France, Army of Shadows was not well received or widely seen. In the mid-1990s, Cahiers du cinéma published a reappraisal of the film and Melville's work in general, leading to its restoration and re-release in 2006.
In between the two famous Melville classics, Delon also appeared in other interesting films including the dramas La leçon particulière/Tender Moment (Michel Boisrond, 1968) with Renaud Verley, and Le sorelle/The sisters (Roberto Malenotti, 1969) starring Susan Strasberg.
At the time, Nathalie Delon was caught up in a scandal. With husband Alain Delon , she was questioned by the police over the murder of their former Yugoslav bodyguard, Stevan Markovic, with whom she also had had a brief affair. Markovic’s corpse was found in a wood, wrapped in a mattress. Investigators found a letter from Markovic linking the Delons and a Corsican fighter named François Marcantoni. The Markovic affair began to absorb France’s political elite when connections were made with former president Georges Pompidou. In the end, only Marcantoni was convicted. Nathalie and Alain Delon divorced in 1968, but she kept his name. The affair did not hurt their careers.
Small Romanian collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) with Alain Delon .
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.
I've Seen That Face Before
Nathalie Delon made her English language debut opposite Anthony Hopkins in the espionage thriller When Eight Bells Toll (Etienne Perier, 1971), set in Scotland and scripted by Alistair MacLean based on his own novel. Producer Elliott Kastner hoped that the film would be the first of a series of spy adventure films featuring MacLean's Philip Calvert character by capturing James Bond series fans after the anticipated demise of that series ( Sean Connery was said to quit the Bond series).
When Eight Bells Tolls attracted limited viewers, although it was the 11th most popular film at the British box office in 1971 and Connery returned as Bond in the successful Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971). So the projected Phillip Calvert series was cancelled.
Delon then was one of Bluebeard’s wives in the thriller Bluebeard (Edward Dmytryk, 1972) featuring Richard Burton as a wealthy Austrian Baron and World War I pilot, who murders his wives. During the shooting, she dated Richard Burton, then the husband of Elizabeth Taylor . She also had dated Eddie Fisher, Taylor’s former husband.
Delon had a supporting part in the British film The Romantic Englishwoman (Joseph Losey, 1975), starring Michael Caine , Glenda Jackson, and Helmut Berger . Also noteworthy is her lead in Peter Whitehead’s final film Fire in the Water (1977) with David Hockney and John Lennon . But her other European films of the 1970s are mediocre.
On TV she did a guest star appearance in an episode of the series Madame le juge/Madame, the judge (Édouard Molinaro, 1978) featuring Simone Signoret .
In 1982, she co-directed and starred in the drama Ils appellent ça un accident/They Call It an Accident (Nathalie Delon, Yves Deschamps, 1982), but it was not a success. The following year, she appeared in the short film Pair-impair (Carole Marquand, 1983). She directed one more film, the French-American romantic comedy Sweet Lies (1988), starring Treat Williams, Joanna Pacula, and Julianne Phillips. Again it was not a success. She then retired.
About her later personal life is known that she had a relationship with actor Marc Porel and both suffered a drug addiction. She conquered the habit and went to the US.
There she lived with Chris Blackwell, founder of the Island label and manager of Bob Marley. Delon wrote the French text for Grace Jones ' megahit I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango) (1981), which features on the soundtrack of Frantic (Roman Polanski, 1988).
In 2006, she published the book Pleure pas, c'est pas grave (Do not cry, it does not matter), and twenty years after directing Sweet Lies, she returned to the cinema in the drama Nuit de chien/This Night (Werner Schroeter, 2008) about a group of people try to flee from a dictatorship government.
Nathalie Delon died on 21 January 2021 in Paris, from pancreatic cancer. She was 79.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no 112.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 431.
Sources: James Travers (French Films), Lucia Bozzola (AllMovie), Luc Le Vaillant (Liberation – French), Celine Colassin (D’autres étoiles filantes - French), Connexxion France, Prisma.de (German), Wikipedia (English) and .
January 20, 2021
Comedian Harmonists (1997)
The German-Austrian musical drama Comedian Harmonists/The Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997) chronicles the rise and fall of Germany's most famous a capella group, the Comedian Harmonists, in the Weimar Republic.
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Ulrich Noethen as Harry Frommermann in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Ben Becker as Robert Biberti in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
They eventually must decide whether to remain in the U.S. or return to German
Comedian Harmonists/The Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997) is about the popular a capella group the Comedian Harmonists of the 1920s and 1930s. The group consisted of Harry Frommermann (tenor buffo), Asparuh "Ari" Leschnikoff (first tenor), Erich Collin (second tenor), Roman Cycowski (baritone), Robert Biberti (bass), and Erwin Bootz (pianist).
In 1927, unemployed German-Jewish actor Harry Frommermann is inspired by a record of the black American jazz group The Revelers to create a German group of the same format. Entranced by the beauty of their close harmony, the 21-year-old Berlin born tenor determines to start a German group that would sing in the same style.
He holds auditions and signs on four additional singers and a pianist. Naming themselves the 'Comedian Harmonists', they meet international fame and popularity. They appeared in 21 films, including the operetta Die Drei von der TankstelleThree from the Filling Station (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931) with Willy Fritsch and Heinz Rühmann . Their hallmark was their ability to blend their voices together so that the individual singers could appear and disappear back into the vocal texture. Their repertoire was wide, ranging from the folk and classical songs arranged by Frommermann to appealing and witty popular songs of the day by writers such as Peter Igelhoff, Werner Richard Heymann and Paul Abraham.
However, they eventually run into trouble when the Nazis come to power.The authorities forbade them to sing songs by Jewish composers and pressure them to perform National Socialist material. In 1934, they were banned by the upcoming Nazis to perform in public, because three of their members were Jewish.Traveling to New York, they eventually must decide whether to remain in the U.S. or return to Germany.
Roger Ebert in his 1999 review in the Chicago Sun-Times : "Given the suffering created by the Nazis, the fate of the Harmonists ranks low on the scale. But as one of the countless little stories that add up to the plague of Nazism, they deserve an entry in the chronicle of despair. And it is revealing how, like many of their countrymen both Jewish and Gentile, they were blind until the last moment to the actual intentions of the Nazis. There is a moment in the film when the Harmonists are performing in New York and consider staying in America. But they do not. The handwriting was on the wall, but it was not yet sufficiently clear."
After they break up, the three Jewish Harmonists regroup outside Germany and performed under the names "Comedian Harmonists" and "Comedy Harmonists" with a new pianist, bass, and high tenor. The other three start a new group at home named 'Das Meistersextett' (as the authorities forbade an English-language name). Neither group was able to achieve the original success. What made them special faded away, and their music somehow seems like a reproach to the rising tide of war. With very few exceptions, all the vocal performances heard during the film were digitally re-mastered original recordings of the historic group. The actors lip synched in the musical performances. Although all members survived the war, they never re-formed after the war.
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Heinrich Schafmeister as Erich A. Collin in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
It makes one wonder what other unknown masterpieces exist
Comedian Harmonists/The Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997) succeeded in Europe, grossing over $16 million in Germany.
At the 1998 German Film Awards, Comedian Harmonists won the awards for Best Feature Film, Best Editing (for Peter R. Adam), Best Actor (for Ulrich Noethen), Best Supporting Actress (for Meret Becker), and Best Production Design (for Rolf Zehetbauer). Joseph Vilsmaier was nominated for Best Direction, losing to Wim Wenders for The End of Violence.
At the 1998 Bavarian Film Awards, Joseph Vilsmaier won the awards for Best Director. Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Heinrich Schafmeister, Max Tidof, and Kai Wiesinger won a Special Prize.
Vilsmaier was also nominated for Best Cinematographer for Comedian Harmonists at the 1998 European Film Awards. Buzz McClain at AllMovie : "It's films such as this that make one wonder what other unknown masterpieces exist. Absolutely brilliant in every regard, The Harmonists is a stunning achievement. The film vividly renders its period setting, its casting is dead perfect, the performances are startlingly controlled, and the fact-based story touches and thrills without manipulation.
Then there's the music: When was the last time an a cappella novelty song sung in German stuck in a viewer's head for three days? Ulrich Noethen is amazing as the poverty-stricken dreamer who puts together a vocal ensemble with a gimmick - not only do the five singers perform without instrumentation (save for a bit of piano), but they take solos by mimicking wind instruments. It's a charming effect that summarizes the magic of the film overall."
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Kai Wiesinger as Erwin Bootz in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Max Tidof as Ari Leschnikow in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
Sources: Buzz McClain (AllMovie), Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Ulrich Noethen as Harry Frommermann in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Ben Becker as Robert Biberti in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
They eventually must decide whether to remain in the U.S. or return to German
Comedian Harmonists/The Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997) is about the popular a capella group the Comedian Harmonists of the 1920s and 1930s. The group consisted of Harry Frommermann (tenor buffo), Asparuh "Ari" Leschnikoff (first tenor), Erich Collin (second tenor), Roman Cycowski (baritone), Robert Biberti (bass), and Erwin Bootz (pianist).
In 1927, unemployed German-Jewish actor Harry Frommermann is inspired by a record of the black American jazz group The Revelers to create a German group of the same format. Entranced by the beauty of their close harmony, the 21-year-old Berlin born tenor determines to start a German group that would sing in the same style.
He holds auditions and signs on four additional singers and a pianist. Naming themselves the 'Comedian Harmonists', they meet international fame and popularity. They appeared in 21 films, including the operetta Die Drei von der TankstelleThree from the Filling Station (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931) with Willy Fritsch and Heinz Rühmann . Their hallmark was their ability to blend their voices together so that the individual singers could appear and disappear back into the vocal texture. Their repertoire was wide, ranging from the folk and classical songs arranged by Frommermann to appealing and witty popular songs of the day by writers such as Peter Igelhoff, Werner Richard Heymann and Paul Abraham.
However, they eventually run into trouble when the Nazis come to power.The authorities forbade them to sing songs by Jewish composers and pressure them to perform National Socialist material. In 1934, they were banned by the upcoming Nazis to perform in public, because three of their members were Jewish.Traveling to New York, they eventually must decide whether to remain in the U.S. or return to Germany.
Roger Ebert in his 1999 review in the Chicago Sun-Times : "Given the suffering created by the Nazis, the fate of the Harmonists ranks low on the scale. But as one of the countless little stories that add up to the plague of Nazism, they deserve an entry in the chronicle of despair. And it is revealing how, like many of their countrymen both Jewish and Gentile, they were blind until the last moment to the actual intentions of the Nazis. There is a moment in the film when the Harmonists are performing in New York and consider staying in America. But they do not. The handwriting was on the wall, but it was not yet sufficiently clear."
After they break up, the three Jewish Harmonists regroup outside Germany and performed under the names "Comedian Harmonists" and "Comedy Harmonists" with a new pianist, bass, and high tenor. The other three start a new group at home named 'Das Meistersextett' (as the authorities forbade an English-language name). Neither group was able to achieve the original success. What made them special faded away, and their music somehow seems like a reproach to the rising tide of war. With very few exceptions, all the vocal performances heard during the film were digitally re-mastered original recordings of the historic group. The actors lip synched in the musical performances. Although all members survived the war, they never re-formed after the war.
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Heinrich Schafmeister as Erich A. Collin in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
It makes one wonder what other unknown masterpieces exist
Comedian Harmonists/The Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997) succeeded in Europe, grossing over $16 million in Germany.
At the 1998 German Film Awards, Comedian Harmonists won the awards for Best Feature Film, Best Editing (for Peter R. Adam), Best Actor (for Ulrich Noethen), Best Supporting Actress (for Meret Becker), and Best Production Design (for Rolf Zehetbauer). Joseph Vilsmaier was nominated for Best Direction, losing to Wim Wenders for The End of Violence.
At the 1998 Bavarian Film Awards, Joseph Vilsmaier won the awards for Best Director. Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Heinrich Schafmeister, Max Tidof, and Kai Wiesinger won a Special Prize.
Vilsmaier was also nominated for Best Cinematographer for Comedian Harmonists at the 1998 European Film Awards. Buzz McClain at AllMovie : "It's films such as this that make one wonder what other unknown masterpieces exist. Absolutely brilliant in every regard, The Harmonists is a stunning achievement. The film vividly renders its period setting, its casting is dead perfect, the performances are startlingly controlled, and the fact-based story touches and thrills without manipulation.
Then there's the music: When was the last time an a cappella novelty song sung in German stuck in a viewer's head for three days? Ulrich Noethen is amazing as the poverty-stricken dreamer who puts together a vocal ensemble with a gimmick - not only do the five singers perform without instrumentation (save for a bit of piano), but they take solos by mimicking wind instruments. It's a charming effect that summarizes the magic of the film overall."
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Kai Wiesinger as Erwin Bootz in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
German postcard by Senator Film. Photo: Jim Rakete. Max Tidof as Ari Leschnikow in Comedian Harmonists (Joseph Vilsmaier, 1997).
Sources: Buzz McClain (AllMovie), Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
January 19, 2021
Mona Maris
Sultry, sleepy-eyed Argentine brunette Mona Maris (1903-1991) appeared in both European and Hollywood silent films. After the arrival of sound, she starred in a string of Spanish-language versions of American films.
Belgian postcard by S. A. Cacao et Chocolat Kivou, Vilvorde / N. V. Cacao en Chocolade Kivou, Vilvoorde. Photo: Artistes Associés (United Artists).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3557/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Jacobi, Berlin.
Italian postcard by Cinema-Illustrazione. Photo: Fox Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 6132/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Fox.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, Berlin, no. 5847. Photo: Fox.
Maris because it reminded her of the sea
Mona Maris was born Rosa Emma Mona Maria Marta Capdevielle (according to IMDb ) or Mona Maria Emita Capdeville (according to Wikipedia ) in Buenos Aires, Argentine, in 1903, of Spanish-French parentage.
Although she was born 'Maria,' her family nicknamed her "Mona", Spanish for "graceful" or "pretty," and she later chose the last name of Maris because it reminded her of the sea.
Orphaned when she was four years old, Maris lived with her grandmother in France and was educated in a convent there, as well as in England and Germany. Her well-to-do background ensured a quality education with an emphasis on foreign languages.
By the age of 19, she spoke three languages but English was not among them. This mattered little early on, as her career began in silent films in 1925, first in England and France, then with Universum AG in Germany.
Her British debut film was The Apache (Adelqui Migliar, 1925) opposite Adelqui Migliar himself. In Germany, she starred in several silent films including the comedy Der Fürst von Pappenheim/The Prince of Pappenheim (Richard Eichberg, 1927), co-starring Curt Bois and Dina Gralla , and the drama Die Leibeigenen/The Serfs (Richard Eichberg, 1928), opposite Heinrich George .
Moving to the U.S. in 1929, she was signed by Fox to co-star opposite Warner Baxter in two above-average Westerns: Romance of the Rio Grande (Alfred Santell, 1929) with Mary Duncan and Antonio Moreno , and The Arizona Kid (Alfred Santell, 1930) in which she was rather overshadowed by a young Carole Lombard.
I.S. Mowis at IMDb : "In fairness, neither film gave her much to do, except be ornamental. In Arizona Kid, she was also unwisely permitted to sing, which was not her forte. Combined with her rather strained command of English, it was somewhat inevitable that she would find herself relegated to acting in a string of Spanish-language versions of American films."
Spanish collectors card in the Estrella de Fox Film series, no. 9.
Spanish collectors card, no. 13. Photo: Fox Film. Mona Maris, María Calvo, and Roberto E. Guzmán in Del mismo barro (David Howard, 1930). It was the alternate-language version of Common Clay (Victor Fleming, 1930).
Spanish collectors card, no. 29. Photo: Fox Film. Mona Maris, José Mojica and René Cardona in Cuando el amor ríe/When Love Laughs (David Howard, Manuel París, William J. Scully, 1930). The Spanish release title was Ladron de amor.
Spanish collectors card by Estrellas del cine, no. 34. Photo: Fox Film.
Typecast as south-of-the-border senoritas
Mona Maris is remembered today less for her sojourn in Hollywood, than for her on-screen chemistry with legendary singer Carlos Gardel in the musical drama Cuesta abajo/The Downfall (Louis J. Gasnier, 1934). Filmed in Argentina, it co-starred Mona as a femme fatale and proved to be her defining screen role.
Having just completed the shooting of Kiss and Make-Up/Salon de dames (Harlan Thompson, 1934), she auditioned for the part via telephone from the Paramount lot for French-born director Louis J. Gasnier. She won out over fellow candidates Raquel Torres and Rosita Montenegro. Cuesta abajo/The Downfall was well-received upon its release in the U.S., becoming the most successful Spanish-language film up to that time.
Following Gardel's untimely death in 1935, Mona absented herself from the screen for six years. She returned to Hollywood again in the early 1940s, free-lancing for most of the majors, in films like The Falcon in Mexico (William Berke, 1944) and Tampico (Lothar Mendes, 1944), starring Edward G. Robinson .
I.S. Mowis at IMDb : "Even though her English was now fluent, she remained mostly typecast as south-of-the-border senoritas." After an uncredited bit in the Bob Hope comedy Monsieur Beaucaire (1946), her career wound down with a third-billed part in a third-rate Swashbuckler for Republic, The Avengers (John H. Auer, 1950).
Shortly after that, she called it a day and in 1960 retired to Lima, Peru, with her second husband, Dutch millionaire Herman Rick. She was married twice. Her first marriage took place while she was working in Europe and dissolved before she traveled to the United States. She began an affair with director Clarence Brown in 1931, and he reportedly proposed to her. Despite multiple sources listing them as being married, they were not, and the affair ended shortly after the proposal. Maris and Rick divorced in 1969. Maris had no children.
In 1984, Mona Maris returned to the screen for her final film, the Argentine drama Camila (María Luisa Bemberg, 1984), based on the story of the 19th-century Argentine socialite Camila O'Gorman. The story had previously been adapted in 1910 by Mario Gallo, in the now considered lost film Camila O'Gorman. Camila (1984) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, marking the second time an Argentine film was nominated for this award.
Mona Maris passed away in 1991 in her native Buenos Aires, Argentina, of lung trouble. She was 87. Maris is buried at La Chacarita Cemetery.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3004/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Eichberg-Film, Berlin. Ufa. In 1927-1928 Maris played in several films of Eichberg Film, including Der Fürst von Pappenheim (Richard Eichberg, 1927) distributed by Ufa, and starring Maris.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3887/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 5639/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Fox. Warner Baxter and Mona Maris in Romance of the Rio Grande (Alfred Santell, 1929).
Italian postcard by Cinema-Illustrazione, Milano, no. 16, Serie 1. Photo: Fox Film. Mona Maris and Humphrey Bogart in A Devil with Women (Irving Cummings, 1930).
French postcard by EC, no. 828. Collection: Didier Hanson.
Sources: (IMDb), Wikipedia, and .
Belgian postcard by S. A. Cacao et Chocolat Kivou, Vilvorde / N. V. Cacao en Chocolade Kivou, Vilvoorde. Photo: Artistes Associés (United Artists).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3557/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Jacobi, Berlin.
Italian postcard by Cinema-Illustrazione. Photo: Fox Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 6132/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Fox.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, Berlin, no. 5847. Photo: Fox.
Maris because it reminded her of the sea
Mona Maris was born Rosa Emma Mona Maria Marta Capdevielle (according to IMDb ) or Mona Maria Emita Capdeville (according to Wikipedia ) in Buenos Aires, Argentine, in 1903, of Spanish-French parentage.
Although she was born 'Maria,' her family nicknamed her "Mona", Spanish for "graceful" or "pretty," and she later chose the last name of Maris because it reminded her of the sea.
Orphaned when she was four years old, Maris lived with her grandmother in France and was educated in a convent there, as well as in England and Germany. Her well-to-do background ensured a quality education with an emphasis on foreign languages.
By the age of 19, she spoke three languages but English was not among them. This mattered little early on, as her career began in silent films in 1925, first in England and France, then with Universum AG in Germany.
Her British debut film was The Apache (Adelqui Migliar, 1925) opposite Adelqui Migliar himself. In Germany, she starred in several silent films including the comedy Der Fürst von Pappenheim/The Prince of Pappenheim (Richard Eichberg, 1927), co-starring Curt Bois and Dina Gralla , and the drama Die Leibeigenen/The Serfs (Richard Eichberg, 1928), opposite Heinrich George .
Moving to the U.S. in 1929, she was signed by Fox to co-star opposite Warner Baxter in two above-average Westerns: Romance of the Rio Grande (Alfred Santell, 1929) with Mary Duncan and Antonio Moreno , and The Arizona Kid (Alfred Santell, 1930) in which she was rather overshadowed by a young Carole Lombard.
I.S. Mowis at IMDb : "In fairness, neither film gave her much to do, except be ornamental. In Arizona Kid, she was also unwisely permitted to sing, which was not her forte. Combined with her rather strained command of English, it was somewhat inevitable that she would find herself relegated to acting in a string of Spanish-language versions of American films."
Spanish collectors card in the Estrella de Fox Film series, no. 9.
Spanish collectors card, no. 13. Photo: Fox Film. Mona Maris, María Calvo, and Roberto E. Guzmán in Del mismo barro (David Howard, 1930). It was the alternate-language version of Common Clay (Victor Fleming, 1930).
Spanish collectors card, no. 29. Photo: Fox Film. Mona Maris, José Mojica and René Cardona in Cuando el amor ríe/When Love Laughs (David Howard, Manuel París, William J. Scully, 1930). The Spanish release title was Ladron de amor.
Spanish collectors card by Estrellas del cine, no. 34. Photo: Fox Film.
Typecast as south-of-the-border senoritas
Mona Maris is remembered today less for her sojourn in Hollywood, than for her on-screen chemistry with legendary singer Carlos Gardel in the musical drama Cuesta abajo/The Downfall (Louis J. Gasnier, 1934). Filmed in Argentina, it co-starred Mona as a femme fatale and proved to be her defining screen role.
Having just completed the shooting of Kiss and Make-Up/Salon de dames (Harlan Thompson, 1934), she auditioned for the part via telephone from the Paramount lot for French-born director Louis J. Gasnier. She won out over fellow candidates Raquel Torres and Rosita Montenegro. Cuesta abajo/The Downfall was well-received upon its release in the U.S., becoming the most successful Spanish-language film up to that time.
Following Gardel's untimely death in 1935, Mona absented herself from the screen for six years. She returned to Hollywood again in the early 1940s, free-lancing for most of the majors, in films like The Falcon in Mexico (William Berke, 1944) and Tampico (Lothar Mendes, 1944), starring Edward G. Robinson .
I.S. Mowis at IMDb : "Even though her English was now fluent, she remained mostly typecast as south-of-the-border senoritas." After an uncredited bit in the Bob Hope comedy Monsieur Beaucaire (1946), her career wound down with a third-billed part in a third-rate Swashbuckler for Republic, The Avengers (John H. Auer, 1950).
Shortly after that, she called it a day and in 1960 retired to Lima, Peru, with her second husband, Dutch millionaire Herman Rick. She was married twice. Her first marriage took place while she was working in Europe and dissolved before she traveled to the United States. She began an affair with director Clarence Brown in 1931, and he reportedly proposed to her. Despite multiple sources listing them as being married, they were not, and the affair ended shortly after the proposal. Maris and Rick divorced in 1969. Maris had no children.
In 1984, Mona Maris returned to the screen for her final film, the Argentine drama Camila (María Luisa Bemberg, 1984), based on the story of the 19th-century Argentine socialite Camila O'Gorman. The story had previously been adapted in 1910 by Mario Gallo, in the now considered lost film Camila O'Gorman. Camila (1984) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, marking the second time an Argentine film was nominated for this award.
Mona Maris passed away in 1991 in her native Buenos Aires, Argentina, of lung trouble. She was 87. Maris is buried at La Chacarita Cemetery.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3004/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Eichberg-Film, Berlin. Ufa. In 1927-1928 Maris played in several films of Eichberg Film, including Der Fürst von Pappenheim (Richard Eichberg, 1927) distributed by Ufa, and starring Maris.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3887/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 5639/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Fox. Warner Baxter and Mona Maris in Romance of the Rio Grande (Alfred Santell, 1929).
Italian postcard by Cinema-Illustrazione, Milano, no. 16, Serie 1. Photo: Fox Film. Mona Maris and Humphrey Bogart in A Devil with Women (Irving Cummings, 1930).
French postcard by EC, no. 828. Collection: Didier Hanson.
Sources: (IMDb), Wikipedia, and .
January 18, 2021
Erminio Macario
Erminio Macario (1902-1980), best known as Macario, was an Italian film actor and comedian. His comical style was a mixture between Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. He appeared in 42 films between 1933 and 1975.
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Torino, no. 124. Photo: Macari.
Italian postcard by N. Moneta, Milano, no. 124. Photo: Capitani Film / E.N.I.C. Erminio Macario and Carlo Moreno in Il Chiromante/The Fortune Teller (Oreste Biancoli, 1941). The song which Moreno performs is written by Simoinini-Bixio: "O Lolita del mio cuor, voglio un bacio il primo ancor, il secondo vien da sè, non c'è due senza tre". (O Lolita of my heart, I want a kiss the first still, the second comes by itself, there is no two without three).
One of the most popular comedians of the revue theatre
Born in Turin in 1902, Erminio Macario made his debut at a young age in the amateur dramatics company Don Bosco Oratory in Valdocco. Then he was part of some small amateur companies of his hometown until 1924 when he was cast in the company of dancing and pantomime of Giovanni Molasso.
Soon after, he entered the company of Wanda Osiris, the undisputed queen of the revue of that time in Italy. Between the two wars, he became in a short time one of the most popular comedians of the revue theatre.
Macario made his film debut with Aria di paese/Country Air (Eugenio de Liguoro, 1933). He played an unemployed drifter who takes a series of jobs, each one of which he quickly loses. He then goes to the countryside for a while where he falls in love with a woman (Laura Adani).
His breakthrough came six years later with two comedy films directed by Mario Mattoli and co-written by a young Federico Fellini, Imputato alzatevi!/Defendant, Stand Up! (Mario Mattoli, 1939) and Lo vedi come sei... lo vedi come sei?/Do you see how you are ... do you see how you are? (Mario Mattoli, 1939).
Italian postcard by Ed. Graf. Moneta, Milano, reprint by Ed. Lo Vecchio, Genoa. Image: Dist. ENIC, Roma / Capitani Film. Poster for the comedy Il vagabondo (Carlo Borghesio, Oreste Biancoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Ed. N. Moneta, Milano. Image: S.A. Produzioni Capitani Film. Distr. E.N.I.C. [Erminio] Macario in the Italian film comedy Il pirata sono io (Mario Mattoli, 1940).
The first Western parody in Italian cinema
Erminio Macario starred in the comedy ll fanciullo del West/The Boy of the West (Giorgio Ferroni, 1943), named after Puccini's opera 'La fanciulla del West' (The Girl of the West). It is considered the first Western parody in Italian cinema.
Then followed a series of successful comedies directed by Carlo Borghesio, including Come persi la guerra/How I Lost the War (Carlo Borghesio, 1947) with Vera Carmi, and Come scopersi l'America/How I Discovered America (Carlo Borghesio, 1949) with Carlo Ninchi and Delia Scala.
Since the early fifties Macario appeared in short characterisations in anthology films and was the sidekick of Totò in such films as La cambiale/The bill (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1959), and Totòsexy/Sexy Toto (Mario Amendola, 1963).
Starting from the mid-sixties he finally focused on television and theatre. One of his last films was the comedy Due sul pianerottolo/Two on the landing (Mario Amendola, 1976) with Rita Pavone.
At the age of 77, Macario passed away in 1980 in Turin.
Italian postcard, reprint, by Ed. Lo Vecchio, Genoa. Caricature possibly by (Pino) Zac. Signed and dated 1951. In 1950 Zac started his career. The signature could also be read as 'Zav', referring to Cesare Zavattini, who apart from being a screenwriter also drew caricatures.
Italian postcard by Gevaert.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 316. Photo: Locchi.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and Italian), and .
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Torino, no. 124. Photo: Macari.
Italian postcard by N. Moneta, Milano, no. 124. Photo: Capitani Film / E.N.I.C. Erminio Macario and Carlo Moreno in Il Chiromante/The Fortune Teller (Oreste Biancoli, 1941). The song which Moreno performs is written by Simoinini-Bixio: "O Lolita del mio cuor, voglio un bacio il primo ancor, il secondo vien da sè, non c'è due senza tre". (O Lolita of my heart, I want a kiss the first still, the second comes by itself, there is no two without three).
One of the most popular comedians of the revue theatre
Born in Turin in 1902, Erminio Macario made his debut at a young age in the amateur dramatics company Don Bosco Oratory in Valdocco. Then he was part of some small amateur companies of his hometown until 1924 when he was cast in the company of dancing and pantomime of Giovanni Molasso.
Soon after, he entered the company of Wanda Osiris, the undisputed queen of the revue of that time in Italy. Between the two wars, he became in a short time one of the most popular comedians of the revue theatre.
Macario made his film debut with Aria di paese/Country Air (Eugenio de Liguoro, 1933). He played an unemployed drifter who takes a series of jobs, each one of which he quickly loses. He then goes to the countryside for a while where he falls in love with a woman (Laura Adani).
His breakthrough came six years later with two comedy films directed by Mario Mattoli and co-written by a young Federico Fellini, Imputato alzatevi!/Defendant, Stand Up! (Mario Mattoli, 1939) and Lo vedi come sei... lo vedi come sei?/Do you see how you are ... do you see how you are? (Mario Mattoli, 1939).
Italian postcard by Ed. Graf. Moneta, Milano, reprint by Ed. Lo Vecchio, Genoa. Image: Dist. ENIC, Roma / Capitani Film. Poster for the comedy Il vagabondo (Carlo Borghesio, Oreste Biancoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Ed. N. Moneta, Milano. Image: S.A. Produzioni Capitani Film. Distr. E.N.I.C. [Erminio] Macario in the Italian film comedy Il pirata sono io (Mario Mattoli, 1940).
The first Western parody in Italian cinema
Erminio Macario starred in the comedy ll fanciullo del West/The Boy of the West (Giorgio Ferroni, 1943), named after Puccini's opera 'La fanciulla del West' (The Girl of the West). It is considered the first Western parody in Italian cinema.
Then followed a series of successful comedies directed by Carlo Borghesio, including Come persi la guerra/How I Lost the War (Carlo Borghesio, 1947) with Vera Carmi, and Come scopersi l'America/How I Discovered America (Carlo Borghesio, 1949) with Carlo Ninchi and Delia Scala.
Since the early fifties Macario appeared in short characterisations in anthology films and was the sidekick of Totò in such films as La cambiale/The bill (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1959), and Totòsexy/Sexy Toto (Mario Amendola, 1963).
Starting from the mid-sixties he finally focused on television and theatre. One of his last films was the comedy Due sul pianerottolo/Two on the landing (Mario Amendola, 1976) with Rita Pavone.
At the age of 77, Macario passed away in 1980 in Turin.
Italian postcard, reprint, by Ed. Lo Vecchio, Genoa. Caricature possibly by (Pino) Zac. Signed and dated 1951. In 1950 Zac started his career. The signature could also be read as 'Zav', referring to Cesare Zavattini, who apart from being a screenwriter also drew caricatures.
Italian postcard by Gevaert.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 316. Photo: Locchi.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and Italian), and .
January 17, 2021
John Payne
American film actor John Payne (1912-1989) is mainly remembered for Film Noirs and 20th Century Fox musicals films. He also starred in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and the Western TV series The Restless Gun (1957-1959).
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2638. Photo: Paramount Films. John Payne in The Eagle and the Hawk/Spread Eagle (Lewis R. Foster, 1950).
Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes
John Howard Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia. His parents were Ida Hope (née Schaeffer), a singer, and George Washington Payne, a developer in Roanoke. They lived at Fort Lewis, an antebellum mansion that became a state historic property but was destroyed by fire in the late 1940s.
Payne attended prep school at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and then went to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City in the fall of 1930. He studied drama at Columbia and voice at the Juilliard School. To support himself, he took on a variety of odd jobs, including wrestling as 'Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes' and boxing as 'Tiger Jack Payne'.
In 1942, while visiting his family in Roanoke, Virginia, he agreed to take a small role in a community theatre production of 'The Man Who Came to Dinner', at the Academy of Music on Salem Avenue. In 1934, a talent scout for the Shubert theaters spotted Payne and gave him a job as a stock player. He appeared in road company productions of 'Rose Marie' and 'The Student Prince'. Payne toured with several Shubert Brothers shows, and frequently sang on New York City-based radio programs.
On Broadway, he appeared in the revue 'At Home Abroad' (1935–1936) alongside Eleanor Powell and Beatrice Lillie. He understudied for Reginald Gardiner and took over one night. He was seen by Fred Kohlmar of Sam Goldwyn's company and was offered a film contract. In 1936, he left New York for Hollywood. He tested for a role in Goldwyn's Come and Get It but lost out to Frank Shields.
His first role in Goldwyn's Dodsworth (William Wyler, 1936) presented him as an affable, handsome character actor. He had the male lead opposite Mae Clarke in Hats Off (Boris Petroff, 1936), an independent B-film. Payne was third billed in Fair Warning (Norman Foster, 1937), a B-film at Fox. He was the lead in a low-budget film Love on Toast (Ewald André Dupont, 1937). Payne was down the cast list for Paramount's College Swing (Raoul Walsh, 1938), starring George Burns and Gracie Allen.
He then signed a contract with Warner Bros, where he had a notable break replacing Dick Powell , who turned down the role, in Garden of the Moon (Busby Berkeley, 1938). Warners used Payne as a sort of "back up Dick Powell ". He was in Kid Nightingale (George Amy, 1939) and Wings of the Navy (Lloyd Bacon, 1939). Payne supported Ann Sheridan in Indianapolis Speedway (Lloyd Bacon, 1939) and starred in a short The Royal Rodeo (George Amy, 1939) and in the B-films King of the Lumberjacks (William Clemens, 1940) and Tear Gas Squad (Terry O. Morse, 1940). During this time he returned to Broadway to appear in 'Abe Lincoln in Illinois' (1938–1939). Payne was unhappy with his Warner Bros roles and asked for a release.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 543. Photo: Universal International.
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no PC 320. Photo: 20th Century Fox. John Payne and Brenda Joyce in Maryland (Henry King, 1940).
Romancing Alice Faye, Betty Grable, and Sonja Henie
John Payne went over to 20th Century Fox where he appeared in Star Dust (Walter Lang, 1940) with Linda Darnell. During filming, Darryl F. Zanuck offered him a long-term contract. He supported Walter Brennan in Maryland (Henry King, 1940) and John Barrymore in The Great Profile (Walter Lang, 1940). Payne was the male lead in the enormously popular Tin Pan Alley (Walter Lang, 1940) with Alice Faye and Betty Grable . He romanced Faye again in The Great American Broadcast (Archie Mayo, 1940) and Week-End in Havana (Walter Lang, 1941) and Sonja Henie in Sun Valley Serenade (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941).
Fox gave him the chance to do drama in Remember the Day (Henry King, 1941), romancing Claudette Colbert . He was meant to be in Song of the Islands (Walter Lang, 1942) with Grable but when George Raft couldn't get released from Warners Bros to play a marine in To the Shores of Tripoli (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1942), Payne stepped in. The film, co-starring Maureen O'Hara and Randolph Scott, was hugely popular.
So too was Footlight Serenade (Gregory Ratoff, 1942) with Betty Grable and Victor Mature , Springtime in the Rockies (Irving Cummings, 1942) with Grable, Iceland (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1943) with Sonja Henie , and especially Hello, Frisco, Hello (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1943) with Alice Faye. During World War II, Payne served as a flight instructor in the United States Army Air Corps. He got his honourable discharge in September 1944.
He returned to work at Fox, who put him in The Dolly Sisters (Irving Cummings, 1945) with Grable and June Haver , playing Harry Fox. It was one of Payne's most successful films. Less popular was Wake Up and Dream (Lloyd Bacon, 1946) with Haver. Payne was teamed with Maureen O'Hara in Sentimental Journey (Walter Lang, 1946), a big hit. He was third-billed in The Razor's Edge (Edmund Goulding, 1946) underneath Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney , Fox's most prestigious film of 1946.
Payne's most familiar role may be his final film for Fox, that of attorney Fred Gailey in the classic holiday favourite Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 1947) with Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara , and Edmund Gwenn. It was another box office success. He was meant to make another with O'Hara, Sitting Pretty (Walter Lang, 1948). However, in October 1947 he got his release from the studio, despite the contract having another four years to run, which would have brought him $670,000. Payne claimed he was dissatisfied with the roles being offered him. Payne later said he had asked for his release every week for eight months before he got it. Film historian Jeanine Basinger later wrote that "Fox thought of him [Payne] as a secondary Tyrone Power . They didn't know how to use him."
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2696. Photo: Paramount Films. John Payne in The Eagle and the Hawk/Spread Eagle (Lewis R. Foster, 1950).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 691. Photo: Republic Pictures. John Payne in Santa Fe Passage (William Witney, 1955).
Tough-guy roles in Film Noirs and Westerns
After leaving Fox, John Payne attempted to change his image and began playing tough-guy roles in Film Noirs. He did two Film Noirs at Universal, Larceny (George Sherman, 1948), where he played the lead role, and The Saxon Charm (Claude Binyon, 1948) with Robert Montgomery and Susan Hayward . He had the lead in The Crooked Way (Robert Florey, 1949) for United Artists.
Payne received an offer to star in a Western for Pine-Thomas Productions, a unit that operated out of Paramount Studios. El Paso (Lewis R. Foster, 1949) was a box office success and Payne went on to make other films for the company including Captain China (Lewis R. Foster, 1950), an adventure film; Tripoli (Will Price, 1950) set during the Barbary War; and The Eagle and the Hawk (Lewis R. Foster, 1950), a Western.
He signed a contract to make three more films for Pine Thomas. He did Passage West (Lewis R. Foster, 1951), another Western; and Crosswinds (Lewis R. Foster, 1951), an adventure film; Caribbean (Edward Ludwig, 1952), a pirate film; The Blazing Forest (Edward Ludwig, 1952), an adventure story; The Vanquished (Edward Ludwig, 1952), a Western. Payne shrewdly insisted that the films he appeared in to be filmed in colour and that the rights to the films revert to him after several years, making him wealthy when he rented them to television.
In 1952 he said he got four times the fan mail he did at Fox. "I make fewer pictures now but I make the kind I want to make." For Edward Small, he starred in Kansas City Confidential (Phil Karlson, 1952) with Coleen Gray, a Film Noir; Payne owned 25% of the film. He later worked with Small on the pirate film Raiders of the Seven Seas (Sidney Salkow, 1953), and the Film Noir 99 River Street (Phil Karlson, 1953).
Payne did a series of Westerns: Silver Lode (Allan Dwan, 1954), for Benedict Bogeaus; Rails Into Laramie (Jesse Hibbs, 1955), for Universal; Santa Fe Passage (William Witney, 1955) and The Road to Denver (Joseph Kane, 1955) at Republic, and Tennessee's Partner (Allan Dwan, 1955) for Bogeaus. He returned to Pine Thomas for a Film Noir, Hell's Island (Phil Karlson, 1956), then did Slightly Scarlet (Allan Dwan, 1956) for Bogeaus. He made Hold Back the Night (Allan Dwan, 1956) for Allied Artists and The Boss (Byron Haskin, 1956) for United Artists, co-producing the latter.
British Real Photograph postcard. Photo: Republic. Caption: Greetings from... John Payne, star of Republic Pictures.
French postcard by Editions P.I., offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 47a. Photo: Paramount, 1953.
An educated, commonsense gunfighter
John Payne then did Rebel in Town (Alfred L. Werker, 1956) and Hidden Fear (André De Toth, 1957) for United Artists. He made one more Pine Thomas, Bailout at 43,000 (Francis D. Lyon, 1957). In 1957 he optioned the rights for 'For the Life of Me, the memoir of a newspaper editor', but it was not made. Payne also starred as Vint Bonner, an educated, commonsense gunfighter, in The Restless Gun which aired on NBC from 1957 to 1959, prior to Dale Robertson's Western series Tales of Wells Fargo. Dan Blocker, James Coburn, and Don Grady made their first substantive acting forays with Payne on The Restless Gun.
In March 1961, John Payne suffered extensive, life-threatening injuries when struck by a car in New York City. His recovery took two years. In his later roles, facial scars from the accident can be detected in close-ups; he chose not to have them removed.
Payne directed one of his last films, They Ran for Their Lives (John Payne, 1968), and again teamed up with Alice Faye in a 1974 revival of the musical 'Good News'. He also starred in the Gunsmoke episode of Gentry's Law (Vincent McEveety, 1970). His final role was on TV in the Columbo episode Forgotten Lady (Harvey Hart, 1975), co-starring with Peter Falk and Janet Leigh.
Later in life Payne, like former Daniel Boone-Davy Crockett series star Fess Parker, became wealthy through real estate investments in southern California. Payne was married to actress Anne Shirley from 1937 to 1942; they had a daughter, Julie Anne Payne. After their divorce, Payne married actress Gloria DeHaven in 1944; the union produced two children, Kathleen Hope Payne (1945) and Thomas John Payne, before ending in divorce in 1950. During the filming of Kansas City Confidential (1952) he had a romance with recently divorced co-star Coleen Gray that continued well past filming. Payne then married Alexandra Beryl 'Sandy' Crowell Curtis in 1953 and remained with her until his death.
John Payne was the father-in-law of writer-director Robert Towne, who was married to his oldest daughter Julie until their divorce in 1982. John Payne died in Malibu, California, of congestive heart failure in 1989, aged 77. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in motion pictures and television.
Trailer for Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Source: Movieclips Classic Trailers (YouTube).
Trailer for Hidden Fear (1957). Source: Mr. SPINKS!! (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia and .
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2638. Photo: Paramount Films. John Payne in The Eagle and the Hawk/Spread Eagle (Lewis R. Foster, 1950).
Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes
John Howard Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia. His parents were Ida Hope (née Schaeffer), a singer, and George Washington Payne, a developer in Roanoke. They lived at Fort Lewis, an antebellum mansion that became a state historic property but was destroyed by fire in the late 1940s.
Payne attended prep school at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and then went to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City in the fall of 1930. He studied drama at Columbia and voice at the Juilliard School. To support himself, he took on a variety of odd jobs, including wrestling as 'Alexei Petroff, the Savage of the Steppes' and boxing as 'Tiger Jack Payne'.
In 1942, while visiting his family in Roanoke, Virginia, he agreed to take a small role in a community theatre production of 'The Man Who Came to Dinner', at the Academy of Music on Salem Avenue. In 1934, a talent scout for the Shubert theaters spotted Payne and gave him a job as a stock player. He appeared in road company productions of 'Rose Marie' and 'The Student Prince'. Payne toured with several Shubert Brothers shows, and frequently sang on New York City-based radio programs.
On Broadway, he appeared in the revue 'At Home Abroad' (1935–1936) alongside Eleanor Powell and Beatrice Lillie. He understudied for Reginald Gardiner and took over one night. He was seen by Fred Kohlmar of Sam Goldwyn's company and was offered a film contract. In 1936, he left New York for Hollywood. He tested for a role in Goldwyn's Come and Get It but lost out to Frank Shields.
His first role in Goldwyn's Dodsworth (William Wyler, 1936) presented him as an affable, handsome character actor. He had the male lead opposite Mae Clarke in Hats Off (Boris Petroff, 1936), an independent B-film. Payne was third billed in Fair Warning (Norman Foster, 1937), a B-film at Fox. He was the lead in a low-budget film Love on Toast (Ewald André Dupont, 1937). Payne was down the cast list for Paramount's College Swing (Raoul Walsh, 1938), starring George Burns and Gracie Allen.
He then signed a contract with Warner Bros, where he had a notable break replacing Dick Powell , who turned down the role, in Garden of the Moon (Busby Berkeley, 1938). Warners used Payne as a sort of "back up Dick Powell ". He was in Kid Nightingale (George Amy, 1939) and Wings of the Navy (Lloyd Bacon, 1939). Payne supported Ann Sheridan in Indianapolis Speedway (Lloyd Bacon, 1939) and starred in a short The Royal Rodeo (George Amy, 1939) and in the B-films King of the Lumberjacks (William Clemens, 1940) and Tear Gas Squad (Terry O. Morse, 1940). During this time he returned to Broadway to appear in 'Abe Lincoln in Illinois' (1938–1939). Payne was unhappy with his Warner Bros roles and asked for a release.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 543. Photo: Universal International.
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no PC 320. Photo: 20th Century Fox. John Payne and Brenda Joyce in Maryland (Henry King, 1940).
Romancing Alice Faye, Betty Grable, and Sonja Henie
John Payne went over to 20th Century Fox where he appeared in Star Dust (Walter Lang, 1940) with Linda Darnell. During filming, Darryl F. Zanuck offered him a long-term contract. He supported Walter Brennan in Maryland (Henry King, 1940) and John Barrymore in The Great Profile (Walter Lang, 1940). Payne was the male lead in the enormously popular Tin Pan Alley (Walter Lang, 1940) with Alice Faye and Betty Grable . He romanced Faye again in The Great American Broadcast (Archie Mayo, 1940) and Week-End in Havana (Walter Lang, 1941) and Sonja Henie in Sun Valley Serenade (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941).
Fox gave him the chance to do drama in Remember the Day (Henry King, 1941), romancing Claudette Colbert . He was meant to be in Song of the Islands (Walter Lang, 1942) with Grable but when George Raft couldn't get released from Warners Bros to play a marine in To the Shores of Tripoli (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1942), Payne stepped in. The film, co-starring Maureen O'Hara and Randolph Scott, was hugely popular.
So too was Footlight Serenade (Gregory Ratoff, 1942) with Betty Grable and Victor Mature , Springtime in the Rockies (Irving Cummings, 1942) with Grable, Iceland (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1943) with Sonja Henie , and especially Hello, Frisco, Hello (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1943) with Alice Faye. During World War II, Payne served as a flight instructor in the United States Army Air Corps. He got his honourable discharge in September 1944.
He returned to work at Fox, who put him in The Dolly Sisters (Irving Cummings, 1945) with Grable and June Haver , playing Harry Fox. It was one of Payne's most successful films. Less popular was Wake Up and Dream (Lloyd Bacon, 1946) with Haver. Payne was teamed with Maureen O'Hara in Sentimental Journey (Walter Lang, 1946), a big hit. He was third-billed in The Razor's Edge (Edmund Goulding, 1946) underneath Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney , Fox's most prestigious film of 1946.
Payne's most familiar role may be his final film for Fox, that of attorney Fred Gailey in the classic holiday favourite Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 1947) with Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara , and Edmund Gwenn. It was another box office success. He was meant to make another with O'Hara, Sitting Pretty (Walter Lang, 1948). However, in October 1947 he got his release from the studio, despite the contract having another four years to run, which would have brought him $670,000. Payne claimed he was dissatisfied with the roles being offered him. Payne later said he had asked for his release every week for eight months before he got it. Film historian Jeanine Basinger later wrote that "Fox thought of him [Payne] as a secondary Tyrone Power . They didn't know how to use him."
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2696. Photo: Paramount Films. John Payne in The Eagle and the Hawk/Spread Eagle (Lewis R. Foster, 1950).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 691. Photo: Republic Pictures. John Payne in Santa Fe Passage (William Witney, 1955).
Tough-guy roles in Film Noirs and Westerns
After leaving Fox, John Payne attempted to change his image and began playing tough-guy roles in Film Noirs. He did two Film Noirs at Universal, Larceny (George Sherman, 1948), where he played the lead role, and The Saxon Charm (Claude Binyon, 1948) with Robert Montgomery and Susan Hayward . He had the lead in The Crooked Way (Robert Florey, 1949) for United Artists.
Payne received an offer to star in a Western for Pine-Thomas Productions, a unit that operated out of Paramount Studios. El Paso (Lewis R. Foster, 1949) was a box office success and Payne went on to make other films for the company including Captain China (Lewis R. Foster, 1950), an adventure film; Tripoli (Will Price, 1950) set during the Barbary War; and The Eagle and the Hawk (Lewis R. Foster, 1950), a Western.
He signed a contract to make three more films for Pine Thomas. He did Passage West (Lewis R. Foster, 1951), another Western; and Crosswinds (Lewis R. Foster, 1951), an adventure film; Caribbean (Edward Ludwig, 1952), a pirate film; The Blazing Forest (Edward Ludwig, 1952), an adventure story; The Vanquished (Edward Ludwig, 1952), a Western. Payne shrewdly insisted that the films he appeared in to be filmed in colour and that the rights to the films revert to him after several years, making him wealthy when he rented them to television.
In 1952 he said he got four times the fan mail he did at Fox. "I make fewer pictures now but I make the kind I want to make." For Edward Small, he starred in Kansas City Confidential (Phil Karlson, 1952) with Coleen Gray, a Film Noir; Payne owned 25% of the film. He later worked with Small on the pirate film Raiders of the Seven Seas (Sidney Salkow, 1953), and the Film Noir 99 River Street (Phil Karlson, 1953).
Payne did a series of Westerns: Silver Lode (Allan Dwan, 1954), for Benedict Bogeaus; Rails Into Laramie (Jesse Hibbs, 1955), for Universal; Santa Fe Passage (William Witney, 1955) and The Road to Denver (Joseph Kane, 1955) at Republic, and Tennessee's Partner (Allan Dwan, 1955) for Bogeaus. He returned to Pine Thomas for a Film Noir, Hell's Island (Phil Karlson, 1956), then did Slightly Scarlet (Allan Dwan, 1956) for Bogeaus. He made Hold Back the Night (Allan Dwan, 1956) for Allied Artists and The Boss (Byron Haskin, 1956) for United Artists, co-producing the latter.
British Real Photograph postcard. Photo: Republic. Caption: Greetings from... John Payne, star of Republic Pictures.
French postcard by Editions P.I., offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 47a. Photo: Paramount, 1953.
An educated, commonsense gunfighter
John Payne then did Rebel in Town (Alfred L. Werker, 1956) and Hidden Fear (André De Toth, 1957) for United Artists. He made one more Pine Thomas, Bailout at 43,000 (Francis D. Lyon, 1957). In 1957 he optioned the rights for 'For the Life of Me, the memoir of a newspaper editor', but it was not made. Payne also starred as Vint Bonner, an educated, commonsense gunfighter, in The Restless Gun which aired on NBC from 1957 to 1959, prior to Dale Robertson's Western series Tales of Wells Fargo. Dan Blocker, James Coburn, and Don Grady made their first substantive acting forays with Payne on The Restless Gun.
In March 1961, John Payne suffered extensive, life-threatening injuries when struck by a car in New York City. His recovery took two years. In his later roles, facial scars from the accident can be detected in close-ups; he chose not to have them removed.
Payne directed one of his last films, They Ran for Their Lives (John Payne, 1968), and again teamed up with Alice Faye in a 1974 revival of the musical 'Good News'. He also starred in the Gunsmoke episode of Gentry's Law (Vincent McEveety, 1970). His final role was on TV in the Columbo episode Forgotten Lady (Harvey Hart, 1975), co-starring with Peter Falk and Janet Leigh.
Later in life Payne, like former Daniel Boone-Davy Crockett series star Fess Parker, became wealthy through real estate investments in southern California. Payne was married to actress Anne Shirley from 1937 to 1942; they had a daughter, Julie Anne Payne. After their divorce, Payne married actress Gloria DeHaven in 1944; the union produced two children, Kathleen Hope Payne (1945) and Thomas John Payne, before ending in divorce in 1950. During the filming of Kansas City Confidential (1952) he had a romance with recently divorced co-star Coleen Gray that continued well past filming. Payne then married Alexandra Beryl 'Sandy' Crowell Curtis in 1953 and remained with her until his death.
John Payne was the father-in-law of writer-director Robert Towne, who was married to his oldest daughter Julie until their divorce in 1982. John Payne died in Malibu, California, of congestive heart failure in 1989, aged 77. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in motion pictures and television.
Trailer for Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Source: Movieclips Classic Trailers (YouTube).
Trailer for Hidden Fear (1957). Source: Mr. SPINKS!! (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia and .
January 16, 2021
Boudewijn de Groot
Dutch singer, songwriter, and actor Boudewijn de Groot (1944) is known as a troubadour with a Dylan-esque impact. In the 1960s and 1970s, he shot to fame in the Netherlands and Belgium with hits like 'Welterusten Meneer De President' (Goodnight Mr. President), 'Het Land Van Maas En Waal' (The Land Of Meuse And Waal), and 'Jimmy' (1973). In the 1980s he started a new career as a composer of film music and as an actor. In the late 1990s, he made a very successful comeback.
Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6631.
Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Amsterdam, no. AX 6935.
Labeled as a protest singer
Boudewijn de Groot was born in 1944 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia).
In 1960, he met his future lyricist Lennaert Nijgh at the Coornhert Lyceum in Haarlem. At that time, De Groot was already singing in the style of Jacques Brel . Nijgh started to write his lyrics.
After their high school-period, they both went to the Dutch Film Academy. De Groot wanted to become a cameraman. There, Nijgh made the short film Feestje Bouwen/Building a party, for which De Groot wrote two songs. During a presentation, television journalist Ed Lautenslager became impressed with De Groot's talent and helped him to get a contract with record label Philips.
He also wins the preliminary of the Dutch talent show 'Nieuwe Oogst' (New Harvest). De Groot's first single, 'Strand' (Beach), appeared in 1964 and led to some media attention. His recurring appearances in the television show Kabaret Kroniek/Cabaret Chronicle made De Groot a minor national celebrity.
The singles 'Elegie Prenatale' (Elegy Prenatal) and 'De Morgen' (The Morning) are boycotted by most radio and TV stations because of the socially critical lyrics. His breakthrough came in 1966 with Lennaert Nijgh's adaptation of Charles Aznavour 's song 'Une enfant de seize ans' (A Child of sixteen years), retitled 'Meisje van 16'.
He soon became a full-time singer and his first album was released by record label Decca. Much of Nijgh's lyrics included social criticism, so after the release of his first album in 1966 De Groot was labeled as a protest singer. This image was confirmed by his hit song 'Welterusten Meneer de President' (Goodnight, Mister President) on the Vietnam War.
During carnival 1967, 'Het Land van Maas en Waal' was released and shot to number 1. De Groot recorded songs like 'Verdronken vlinder' (Drown butterfly), 'Testament', and 'Beneden alle peil' (Below any level), which would later become successful but never entered the charts.
De Groot and Nijgh became influenced by the Flower Power movement during that time and created the album 'Picknick'. The songs sounded a lot like a mix of George Harrison 's work on The Beatles albums and their own work. The album was well-received, and the single 'Picknick' was a hit. The duet 'Meester Prikkebeen' (together with Elly Nieman entered the Top 10. 'Als de rook om je hoofd is verdwenen' (When The Smoke Around Your Head Has Gone) was a minor hit in 1968.
Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6877. Photo: Decca.
Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6939.
A definite comeback
In 1971, Boudewijn de Groot's record label released a compilation album Vijf Jaar Hits (Five Years of Hits). It sold over 100,000 copies and De Groot frequently appeared on the radio. Much of his old work was re-appreciated, and 'Als de rook om je hoofd is verdwenen' (When The Smoke Around Your Head Has Gone) became a hit again.
De Groot began working with Nijgh again, and they released the album 'Hoe sterk is de eenzame fietser' (How strong is the lonely cyclist) in 1973. The song 'Jimmy' became his greatest hit in 5 years, constituting a definite comeback. Boudewijn received two Dutch music awards, an Edison and a Gouden Harp.
In 1975, Boudewijn wrote the album 'Waar ik woon en wie ik ben' (Where I live and who I am) with his old classmate René Daalder. The single 'Ik ben Ik' (I Am Me) became a modest hit. De Groot moved to California a few months later for inspiration and did not return until 1977. He made no new records in this period but toured in Belgium and the Netherlands. One of the songs he wrote in California, 'Annabel', became a hit for singer Hans de Booy.
In 1980, his new album' Van een afstand' was released. It contained the single and the title song for the documentary film Een tip van de sluier/A tip of the veil (Frans Bromet, 1980). The single and film were not successes, but the album won an Edison. De Groot quit the music business in 1984 after the release of his 8th album, 'Maalstroom' (Maelstrom).
After his retirement in music, Boudewijn De Groot wanted to translate, compose film music and perform when asked. He composed the music for the TV series De familie Wijntak/The Wijntak family (1986) and for the films Lost in Amsterdam (Pim de la Parra, 1989), Let the Music Dance (Pim de la Parra, 1990) - in which he also acted, and a 1987 Dutch adaption of the hit musical 'Nunsense'.
In 1991, he acted in the musical 'Tsjechov', where he played the lead role of Anton Chekhov, and in 1995 in 'Het dagboek van Anne Frank' (The Diary of Anne Frank) where he played the role of Otto Frank. Under the pseudonym Frank de Groot, he has translated seven Stephen King novels and in 2011 Scott Turow's 'Presumed Innocent' into Dutch.
De Groot appeared in the films How to Survive a Broken Heart (Paul Ruven, 1991), Affair play (Roeland Kerbosch, 1995) with Derek de Lint, and The Cold Light of Day (Rudolf van den Berg, 1996) starring Richard E. Grant. In 1996, De Groot released the album 'Een Nieuwe Herfst' (A new autumn). De Groot started going on tours again and he reappeared in TV-shows sometimes again.
He started writing non-commercial albums along with Nijgh and released 'Een eiland in de verte' (A distant island) in 2003. Nijgh died in 2002. In 2007 De Groot issued his album 'Lage Landen' (Lowlands), which was recorded in Nashville. 'Lage Landen' reached the top of the charts in the Netherlands. After twelve years of touring in the Netherlands and Belgium, Boudewijn de Groot decided to take a sabbatical.
During 2009/2010 De Groot tours with his theatre show 'Wilde Jaren' (Wild Years). In 2015 De Groot issued 'Achter glas' (Behind glass). During the tour, he played songs from his post-comeback-era as well as rare older tracks. In 2016 De Groot formed the supergroup Vreemde Kostgangers (Strange Boarders) with Henny Vrienten (singer and bass-player of Doe Maar) and George Kooymans (singer and guitarist of Golden Earring); they successfully released two albums in 2017 and did sold-out tours consisting of collective songs and solo-material.
In 2018, De Groot released 'Even weg' (Be right back); he recorded this album with tribute-band The Dutch Eagles. In 2020, De Groot appeared on the talk show De Wereld Draait Door/The world moves on to announce that he'll retire from performing after one last tour with Vreemde Kostgangers. Boudewijn de Groot is married to Anja Bak. He has three children; singer Marcel, actress Caya, and singer-actor Jim de Groot.
Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Bussum, no. 7311.
Boudewijn de Groot performs 'Land Van Maas En Waal'. Source: The TeeVee Channel (YouTube).
Source: Wikipedia and Muziekencyclopedie.nl.
Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6631.
Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Amsterdam, no. AX 6935.
Labeled as a protest singer
Boudewijn de Groot was born in 1944 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia).
In 1960, he met his future lyricist Lennaert Nijgh at the Coornhert Lyceum in Haarlem. At that time, De Groot was already singing in the style of Jacques Brel . Nijgh started to write his lyrics.
After their high school-period, they both went to the Dutch Film Academy. De Groot wanted to become a cameraman. There, Nijgh made the short film Feestje Bouwen/Building a party, for which De Groot wrote two songs. During a presentation, television journalist Ed Lautenslager became impressed with De Groot's talent and helped him to get a contract with record label Philips.
He also wins the preliminary of the Dutch talent show 'Nieuwe Oogst' (New Harvest). De Groot's first single, 'Strand' (Beach), appeared in 1964 and led to some media attention. His recurring appearances in the television show Kabaret Kroniek/Cabaret Chronicle made De Groot a minor national celebrity.
The singles 'Elegie Prenatale' (Elegy Prenatal) and 'De Morgen' (The Morning) are boycotted by most radio and TV stations because of the socially critical lyrics. His breakthrough came in 1966 with Lennaert Nijgh's adaptation of Charles Aznavour 's song 'Une enfant de seize ans' (A Child of sixteen years), retitled 'Meisje van 16'.
He soon became a full-time singer and his first album was released by record label Decca. Much of Nijgh's lyrics included social criticism, so after the release of his first album in 1966 De Groot was labeled as a protest singer. This image was confirmed by his hit song 'Welterusten Meneer de President' (Goodnight, Mister President) on the Vietnam War.
During carnival 1967, 'Het Land van Maas en Waal' was released and shot to number 1. De Groot recorded songs like 'Verdronken vlinder' (Drown butterfly), 'Testament', and 'Beneden alle peil' (Below any level), which would later become successful but never entered the charts.
De Groot and Nijgh became influenced by the Flower Power movement during that time and created the album 'Picknick'. The songs sounded a lot like a mix of George Harrison 's work on The Beatles albums and their own work. The album was well-received, and the single 'Picknick' was a hit. The duet 'Meester Prikkebeen' (together with Elly Nieman entered the Top 10. 'Als de rook om je hoofd is verdwenen' (When The Smoke Around Your Head Has Gone) was a minor hit in 1968.
Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6877. Photo: Decca.
Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6939.
A definite comeback
In 1971, Boudewijn de Groot's record label released a compilation album Vijf Jaar Hits (Five Years of Hits). It sold over 100,000 copies and De Groot frequently appeared on the radio. Much of his old work was re-appreciated, and 'Als de rook om je hoofd is verdwenen' (When The Smoke Around Your Head Has Gone) became a hit again.
De Groot began working with Nijgh again, and they released the album 'Hoe sterk is de eenzame fietser' (How strong is the lonely cyclist) in 1973. The song 'Jimmy' became his greatest hit in 5 years, constituting a definite comeback. Boudewijn received two Dutch music awards, an Edison and a Gouden Harp.
In 1975, Boudewijn wrote the album 'Waar ik woon en wie ik ben' (Where I live and who I am) with his old classmate René Daalder. The single 'Ik ben Ik' (I Am Me) became a modest hit. De Groot moved to California a few months later for inspiration and did not return until 1977. He made no new records in this period but toured in Belgium and the Netherlands. One of the songs he wrote in California, 'Annabel', became a hit for singer Hans de Booy.
In 1980, his new album' Van een afstand' was released. It contained the single and the title song for the documentary film Een tip van de sluier/A tip of the veil (Frans Bromet, 1980). The single and film were not successes, but the album won an Edison. De Groot quit the music business in 1984 after the release of his 8th album, 'Maalstroom' (Maelstrom).
After his retirement in music, Boudewijn De Groot wanted to translate, compose film music and perform when asked. He composed the music for the TV series De familie Wijntak/The Wijntak family (1986) and for the films Lost in Amsterdam (Pim de la Parra, 1989), Let the Music Dance (Pim de la Parra, 1990) - in which he also acted, and a 1987 Dutch adaption of the hit musical 'Nunsense'.
In 1991, he acted in the musical 'Tsjechov', where he played the lead role of Anton Chekhov, and in 1995 in 'Het dagboek van Anne Frank' (The Diary of Anne Frank) where he played the role of Otto Frank. Under the pseudonym Frank de Groot, he has translated seven Stephen King novels and in 2011 Scott Turow's 'Presumed Innocent' into Dutch.
De Groot appeared in the films How to Survive a Broken Heart (Paul Ruven, 1991), Affair play (Roeland Kerbosch, 1995) with Derek de Lint, and The Cold Light of Day (Rudolf van den Berg, 1996) starring Richard E. Grant. In 1996, De Groot released the album 'Een Nieuwe Herfst' (A new autumn). De Groot started going on tours again and he reappeared in TV-shows sometimes again.
He started writing non-commercial albums along with Nijgh and released 'Een eiland in de verte' (A distant island) in 2003. Nijgh died in 2002. In 2007 De Groot issued his album 'Lage Landen' (Lowlands), which was recorded in Nashville. 'Lage Landen' reached the top of the charts in the Netherlands. After twelve years of touring in the Netherlands and Belgium, Boudewijn de Groot decided to take a sabbatical.
During 2009/2010 De Groot tours with his theatre show 'Wilde Jaren' (Wild Years). In 2015 De Groot issued 'Achter glas' (Behind glass). During the tour, he played songs from his post-comeback-era as well as rare older tracks. In 2016 De Groot formed the supergroup Vreemde Kostgangers (Strange Boarders) with Henny Vrienten (singer and bass-player of Doe Maar) and George Kooymans (singer and guitarist of Golden Earring); they successfully released two albums in 2017 and did sold-out tours consisting of collective songs and solo-material.
In 2018, De Groot released 'Even weg' (Be right back); he recorded this album with tribute-band The Dutch Eagles. In 2020, De Groot appeared on the talk show De Wereld Draait Door/The world moves on to announce that he'll retire from performing after one last tour with Vreemde Kostgangers. Boudewijn de Groot is married to Anja Bak. He has three children; singer Marcel, actress Caya, and singer-actor Jim de Groot.
Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Bussum, no. 7311.
Boudewijn de Groot performs 'Land Van Maas En Waal'. Source: The TeeVee Channel (YouTube).
Source: Wikipedia and Muziekencyclopedie.nl.
January 15, 2021
Pathé-Natan
The French film company Pathé- Natan was the country’s leading studio during the first half of the 1930s. It was founded by Franco-Romanian film entrepreneur Bernard Natan (1886-1942). In 1929, he acquired the giant French film studio Pathé, but when Pathé collapsed in 1935, Natan was convicted of fraud. However, Natan laid the foundation for the modern film industry in France and helped revolutionise film technology around the world.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 248. Photo: Production Natan. Pierre Batcheff in Education de prince (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927).
Pierre Batcheff (1901-1932) was a French film actor who became famous for his part in the surrealist film Un chien andalou/An Andalusian Dog (Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, 1929).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 250. Photo: Production Natan. Armand Bernard and Jules Moy in Rue de la paix (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927).
Armand Bernard (1893-1968) was a French actor, composer, and bandleader. With his heavy diction and his air of dignity, he brought a comical note to many French comedies.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 252. Photo: Production Natan.
Léon Mathot was a French actor and director, born in 1886 in Roubaix and died in 1968 in Paris. Mathot became well-known for his role of Edmond Dantès in the French serial Le Comte de Monte Christo (1918), directed by Henri Pouctal. He is also known for his role in Coeur fidèle (1923) by Jean Epstein.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 257. Photo: Production Natan.
Suzy Pierson (1902-1994) was a French film actress, known for such films as Six et demi onze (Jean Epstein, 1927), Rue de la paix (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927), and the early sound film Quand nous étions deux (Léonce Perret, 1930). Over the 1930s Pierson's got smaller, and in the 1940s she only played in two films before calling it a day. All in all, she played in 20 silent and 14 sound films.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 686. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actress Gina Manès (1893-1989) starred in some 90 films between 1916 and 1966. She is best known for the silent classics Coeur fidèle (1923) and Thérèse Raquin (1928).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 690. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French singer and actor Roger Tréville (1902-2005) was a popular star of the early 1930s. Between 1908 and 1980 he appeared in more than fifty films and TV series in France but also in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the USA.
From projectionist and chemist to cinematographer and producer
Bernard Natan was born Natan Tannenzaft (possibly Tanenzapf) to Jewish parents in Iaşi, Romania in 1886.
In the early 1900s, he moved to France. He worked in mainstream cinema from his youngest days, working his way up from projectionist and chemist to cinematographer and producer.
In 1909 he married and subsequently had two children. In 1911, Natan and colleagues were convicted of making erotic films, he was jailed for a short time and fined 1,000 francs. Despite being a Romanian, he volunteered to fight for France in World War I. Due to his exceptional record fighting in World War I, his earlier conviction was removed from his record.
In 1921 he became a French citizen, and at some point, he changed his name to Bernard Natan. His younger brother Emile Natan also moved to France and became a film producer. Natan was a publicity stringer for Paramount Pictures during the early 1920s. Natan became the owner of Rapid Film, which had exclusive rights to film the 1924 Paris Olympics, and ran studios where silent-era luminaries such as Marcel l’Herbier made groundbreaking films.
In 1924 Natan became a member of the executive committee of the Cinematographic Employers' Federation. By 1926, his film laboratory was highly regarded, he had established a marketing firm, and he built two sound stages.
Natan was also a film producer, helping finance and produce films at other studios. By 1929, Natan's Rapid Film had become a major film producer and distributor.
In late February 1929, Bernard Natan acquired the production and exhibition businesses of Pathé, then the largest French film company. He agreed to merge his own studio, Rapid Film (then worth 25 million francs), with Pathé in exchange for 50 million francs in shares. The remaining shares were purchased with funding from a consortium of banks, bonds (to be paid with income from Pathé), and a 10 percent ownership in Pathé by the banks. After the merger, Natan renamed the company Pathé-Natan (sometimes also credited as Pathé-Cinéma).
French postcard by Rasiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris for Victor-Hugo Théâtre Pathé-Natan. Photo: Raimu in Charlemagne (Pierre Colombier, 1933).
Beloved, down-to-earth character actor Raimu (1883-1946) was one of the major stars of French cinema in the 1930s. He started his career as a comedian at the Folies Bergère and other major Paris venues, and in 1929 he had his breakthrough as a serious actor with his part as César in the Marseille trilogy Marius-Fanny-César by Marcel Pagnol.
French postcard by Rasiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris for Victor-Hugo Théâtre Pathé-Natan. Photo: Marie Glory in Charlemagne (Pierre Colombier, 1933). Publicity for the release of the film at the Pathé Natan cinema in Lyon as of 22 December 1933.
French actress Marie Glory (1905-2009) was a beautiful ingénue of the French cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. In later years, she mainly played minor roles in Italian films.
French postcard in the Les grandes vedettes series by Radiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris, offered by L'Industrie Boutonnière, St. Maur-des-Fossés. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
Elegant French stage and film actress Marcelle Chantal (1901–1960) appeared in leading roles in such films as Maurice Tourneur's In the Name of the Law (1932) and La Tragédie impériale/Rasputin (Marcel L'Herbier, 1938) featuring Harry Baur.
French postcard. Photo Pathé-Natan. André Luguet and Gaby Morlay in Il était une fois/Once Upon a Time (Léonce Perret, 1933). Gaby Morlay, Georges Mauloy, André Dubosc, Jean Max and Jean Bara reprised the roles they had created at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs in Paris from 12-2-1932.
André Luguet (1892-1979) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in over 120 films between 1910 and 1970, both in France and Hollywood.
Gaby Morlay (1893-1964) was a French actress with a long-standing career, playing in over 100 films. She compensated for her small size (1.53 m.) with passion and enthusiasm.
French postcard. Publicity by the Cinema Victor-Hugo (Pathé-Natan), showing 13-26 October [1933] the film Tout pour rien/All for nothing (René Pujol, 1933), starring Frédéric Duvallès and Jacqueline Francell .
The plot deals with an honest but naive young man (Duvallès), who is manipulated by a gang of crooks (led by Pierre Alcover) who use him as a cover for their misdeeds. They hire him as the manager of a big dime store called "Tout pour rien" (all for nothing) with a fantastic wage until the police start to chase him. His honesty will be rewarded though and he will find the way to the heart of his beloved (Francell), despite the opposition of her proud mother (Françoise Rosay).
The address on the back of the card given for the cinema, Avenue Victor Hugo, corner rue la Pompe, is a bit odd, as the former cinema was on the other side of the street, at 65, rue St. Didier. The Modernist style cinema, commissioned by Pathé-Natan, opened in 1931. The exterior was designed by the architects Jean Charavel et Marcel Melendès, the auditorium by Eugène Bruyneel, the leading architect at Pathé-Cinéma. It was a typical second-run cinema, which showed films after they had been shown at the first-night cinemas on the Grands Boulevards or the Champs-Elysées. In 1970 it was completely remodeled and in 1986 it closed down. The building is still there. See salles-cinema.com/anciens-cinemas/pathe-victor-hugo.
Antisemitic attacks and veiled homophobic allusions
In 1929, Pathé was already in substantial financial trouble when Natan took control. Studio founder Charles Pathé had been selling assets for several years to boost investor value and keep the studio's cash flow healthy. The company's founder had even sold Pathé's name and "rooster" trademark to other companies in return for a mere 2 percent of revenues generated by them. Natan had the bad luck to take charge of the studio just as the Great Depression convulsed the French economy.
Natan attempted to steady Pathé's finances and implement modern film industry practices at the studio. Natan acquired another film studio, Société des Cinéromans, from Arthur Bernède and Gaston Leroux, which enabled Pathé to expand into projector and electronics manufacturing. He also bought the Fornier chain of motion picture theaters and rapidly expanded the chain's nationwide presence. The French press, however, attacked Natan mercilessly for his stewardship of Pathé. Many of these attacks were antisemitic and contained veiled homophobic allusions to Natan's supposed sexuality.
His mainstream films attracted attention, often for their political content. He produced some of the masterpieces of French 1930s cinema, including Les Croix de bois/Wooden Crosses (Raymond Bernard, 1932). Pamela Hutchinson in The Guardian : "a powerful war film made all the stronger by the fact that it was created by and starred so many veterans of the 1914-18 conflict, including Natan himself." His film, Le dernier milliardaire/The Last Billionaire (René Clair, 1934), starring Max Dearly , ridiculed German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and caused rioting by French Nazi sympathizers.
Pathé-Natan did well under Natan's guidance. Between 1930 and 1935, despite the world economic crisis, the company made 100 million francs in profits and produced and released more than 60 feature films (just as many films as major American studios produced at the time). He resumed production of the newsreel Pathé News, which had not been produced since 1927.
Natan also invested heavily in research and development to expand Pathé's film business. In 1929, he pushed Pathé into the sound film. In September, the studio produced its first sound feature film and its first sound newsreel a month later. Natan also launched two new cinema-related magazines, Pathé-Revue and Actualités Féminines, to help market Pathé's films and build consumer demand for cinema. Under Natan, Pathé also funded the research of Henri Chrétien, who developed the anamorphic lens, a technology which later led to the creation of CinemaScope and other widescreen film formats common today.
Natan expanded Pathé's business interests into communications industries other than film. In November 1929, Natan established France's first television company, Télévision-Baird-Natan. A year later, he purchased a radio station in Paris and formed a holding company (Radio-Natan-Vitus) to run what would become a burgeoning radio empire.
In 1935, Pathé went bankrupt. In order to finance the company's continued expansion, Pathé's board of directors (which still included Charles Pathé) voted in 1930 to issue shares worth 105 million francs. But with the depression deepening, only 50 percent of the shares were purchased. One of the investor banks collapsed due to financial difficulties unrelated to Pathé's problems, and Pathé was forced to follow through with the purchase of several cinema chains it no longer could afford to buy. Although the company continued to make a profit for a time, it soon began to lose more money than it could bring in.
The collapse of Pathé led French authorities to indict Bernard Natan on charges of fraud. Natan was accused of financing the purchase of the company without any collateral, of bilking investors by establishing fictitious shell corporations, and of negligent financial mismanagement. Natan was even accused of hiding his Romanian and Jewish heritage by changing his name. Natan was indicted and imprisoned in 1939.
This meant he was in prison when France fell to the Nazis, while most other major Jewish filmmakers were able to flee the country or go into hiding. A second indictment was brought in 1941, and he was convicted shortly thereafter. His French citizenship was taken away, which required special legal maneuvers by the state since he had been naturalised as a result of his WWI military service and there were no existing legal means to render him stateless.
After Natan's release from prison, the French government handed him over to the occupying German authorities. Natan was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on 25 September 1942, where it is believed he died in 1943. His wife received a letter from him in early 1943, this was their last contact.
Pamela Hutchinson in The Guardian : "Natan’s crime appears to have been to be successful, and Jewish, in an era of antisemitism and fear."
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 862. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actor René Lefèvre (1898-1991) became a star as the working-class hero of the classics Le Million (1931) and Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936). He was a ‘quadruple threat’ man: next to as an actor he was also active as a writer, producer, and director.
French postcard by Erres, no. 6. Photo: Pathé-Nathan.
French actress Rosine Deréan (1910-2001) was a popular star of the French cinema of the 1930s. Her best-known films are the melodrama Les deux orphelines (1933) and the romantic drama Lac aux dames (1934). She was married to Claude Dauphin and was a member of the French Resistance during the Second World War.
French postcard by PC, Paris, no. 11. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Jacqueline Francell (1908-1962) was a popular star of the French operetta. She also appeared in operas at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and in 1930, she created the role of Princess Blanche-Aline in Les Aventures du roi Pausole by Arthur Honegger. She also starred in a dozen films between 1931 and 1944.
French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 47. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actress Renée Saint-Cyr (1907-2004) starred as the classy lady and keeper of good taste in the French cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. She continued to perform in film in the following decades as well.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 927. Photo Pathé-Natan.
Harry Baur (1880-1943) was a famous French film and stage actor. Directed by directors as wide-ranging as Julien Duvivier, Raymond Bernard, Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Pierre Chenal, Robert Siodmak and Maurice Tourneur, he switched just as easily from père Lepic of Poil de carotte, to commissaire Maigret, Jean Valjean from Les Misérables, judge Porphyre from Crime et chatiment, Hérode, Tarass Boulba, Beethoven, captain Mollenard, czar Paul I, Rasputin, and Volpone.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 937. Photo: Pathé-Natan. Charles Dullin as the evil Thénardier in the film Les Misérables (Raymond Bernard, 1934), starring Harry Baur as Jean Valjean, and adapted from the often filmed novel by Victor Hugo.
Charles Dullin (1885-1949) was a French actor, theatre manager, and director.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 970. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
Max Dearly (1874-1943) was a French actor, famous for his parts in 1930s French sound film but also for his previous career in Parisian vaudeville.
French postcard by EC (Editions Chantal), no. 53. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French music hall star Florelle (1898-1974) was one of the queens of Paris. The petite blonde appeared in 54 films between 1912 and 1956, and also toured around the world. Her most beautiful role was that of Fantine in the classic version of Les Miserables (1934).
French postcard by EC, no. 67. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actress Alice Field (1903-1969) started out in the silent film era. Her career got on steam in the 1930s when she starred in several French-language versions of German film classics.
French postcard by EDUG, no. 1087. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actor Pierre Blanchar (1892-1963) was one of France's most popular show business personalities. He made many memorable stage appearances and appeared in 54 films. He often played characters who were complex and tortured. During the war, he also worked as a film director.
Sources: Pamela Hutchinson (The Guardian), Wikipedia, and .
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 248. Photo: Production Natan. Pierre Batcheff in Education de prince (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927).
Pierre Batcheff (1901-1932) was a French film actor who became famous for his part in the surrealist film Un chien andalou/An Andalusian Dog (Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali, 1929).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 250. Photo: Production Natan. Armand Bernard and Jules Moy in Rue de la paix (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927).
Armand Bernard (1893-1968) was a French actor, composer, and bandleader. With his heavy diction and his air of dignity, he brought a comical note to many French comedies.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 252. Photo: Production Natan.
Léon Mathot was a French actor and director, born in 1886 in Roubaix and died in 1968 in Paris. Mathot became well-known for his role of Edmond Dantès in the French serial Le Comte de Monte Christo (1918), directed by Henri Pouctal. He is also known for his role in Coeur fidèle (1923) by Jean Epstein.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 257. Photo: Production Natan.
Suzy Pierson (1902-1994) was a French film actress, known for such films as Six et demi onze (Jean Epstein, 1927), Rue de la paix (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927), and the early sound film Quand nous étions deux (Léonce Perret, 1930). Over the 1930s Pierson's got smaller, and in the 1940s she only played in two films before calling it a day. All in all, she played in 20 silent and 14 sound films.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 686. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actress Gina Manès (1893-1989) starred in some 90 films between 1916 and 1966. She is best known for the silent classics Coeur fidèle (1923) and Thérèse Raquin (1928).
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 690. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French singer and actor Roger Tréville (1902-2005) was a popular star of the early 1930s. Between 1908 and 1980 he appeared in more than fifty films and TV series in France but also in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the USA.
From projectionist and chemist to cinematographer and producer
Bernard Natan was born Natan Tannenzaft (possibly Tanenzapf) to Jewish parents in Iaşi, Romania in 1886.
In the early 1900s, he moved to France. He worked in mainstream cinema from his youngest days, working his way up from projectionist and chemist to cinematographer and producer.
In 1909 he married and subsequently had two children. In 1911, Natan and colleagues were convicted of making erotic films, he was jailed for a short time and fined 1,000 francs. Despite being a Romanian, he volunteered to fight for France in World War I. Due to his exceptional record fighting in World War I, his earlier conviction was removed from his record.
In 1921 he became a French citizen, and at some point, he changed his name to Bernard Natan. His younger brother Emile Natan also moved to France and became a film producer. Natan was a publicity stringer for Paramount Pictures during the early 1920s. Natan became the owner of Rapid Film, which had exclusive rights to film the 1924 Paris Olympics, and ran studios where silent-era luminaries such as Marcel l’Herbier made groundbreaking films.
In 1924 Natan became a member of the executive committee of the Cinematographic Employers' Federation. By 1926, his film laboratory was highly regarded, he had established a marketing firm, and he built two sound stages.
Natan was also a film producer, helping finance and produce films at other studios. By 1929, Natan's Rapid Film had become a major film producer and distributor.
In late February 1929, Bernard Natan acquired the production and exhibition businesses of Pathé, then the largest French film company. He agreed to merge his own studio, Rapid Film (then worth 25 million francs), with Pathé in exchange for 50 million francs in shares. The remaining shares were purchased with funding from a consortium of banks, bonds (to be paid with income from Pathé), and a 10 percent ownership in Pathé by the banks. After the merger, Natan renamed the company Pathé-Natan (sometimes also credited as Pathé-Cinéma).
French postcard by Rasiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris for Victor-Hugo Théâtre Pathé-Natan. Photo: Raimu in Charlemagne (Pierre Colombier, 1933).
Beloved, down-to-earth character actor Raimu (1883-1946) was one of the major stars of French cinema in the 1930s. He started his career as a comedian at the Folies Bergère and other major Paris venues, and in 1929 he had his breakthrough as a serious actor with his part as César in the Marseille trilogy Marius-Fanny-César by Marcel Pagnol.
French postcard by Rasiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris for Victor-Hugo Théâtre Pathé-Natan. Photo: Marie Glory in Charlemagne (Pierre Colombier, 1933). Publicity for the release of the film at the Pathé Natan cinema in Lyon as of 22 December 1933.
French actress Marie Glory (1905-2009) was a beautiful ingénue of the French cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. In later years, she mainly played minor roles in Italian films.
French postcard in the Les grandes vedettes series by Radiogravure A. Breger Frères, Paris, offered by L'Industrie Boutonnière, St. Maur-des-Fossés. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
Elegant French stage and film actress Marcelle Chantal (1901–1960) appeared in leading roles in such films as Maurice Tourneur's In the Name of the Law (1932) and La Tragédie impériale/Rasputin (Marcel L'Herbier, 1938) featuring Harry Baur.
French postcard. Photo Pathé-Natan. André Luguet and Gaby Morlay in Il était une fois/Once Upon a Time (Léonce Perret, 1933). Gaby Morlay, Georges Mauloy, André Dubosc, Jean Max and Jean Bara reprised the roles they had created at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs in Paris from 12-2-1932.
André Luguet (1892-1979) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in over 120 films between 1910 and 1970, both in France and Hollywood.
Gaby Morlay (1893-1964) was a French actress with a long-standing career, playing in over 100 films. She compensated for her small size (1.53 m.) with passion and enthusiasm.
French postcard. Publicity by the Cinema Victor-Hugo (Pathé-Natan), showing 13-26 October [1933] the film Tout pour rien/All for nothing (René Pujol, 1933), starring Frédéric Duvallès and Jacqueline Francell .
The plot deals with an honest but naive young man (Duvallès), who is manipulated by a gang of crooks (led by Pierre Alcover) who use him as a cover for their misdeeds. They hire him as the manager of a big dime store called "Tout pour rien" (all for nothing) with a fantastic wage until the police start to chase him. His honesty will be rewarded though and he will find the way to the heart of his beloved (Francell), despite the opposition of her proud mother (Françoise Rosay).
The address on the back of the card given for the cinema, Avenue Victor Hugo, corner rue la Pompe, is a bit odd, as the former cinema was on the other side of the street, at 65, rue St. Didier. The Modernist style cinema, commissioned by Pathé-Natan, opened in 1931. The exterior was designed by the architects Jean Charavel et Marcel Melendès, the auditorium by Eugène Bruyneel, the leading architect at Pathé-Cinéma. It was a typical second-run cinema, which showed films after they had been shown at the first-night cinemas on the Grands Boulevards or the Champs-Elysées. In 1970 it was completely remodeled and in 1986 it closed down. The building is still there. See salles-cinema.com/anciens-cinemas/pathe-victor-hugo.
Antisemitic attacks and veiled homophobic allusions
In 1929, Pathé was already in substantial financial trouble when Natan took control. Studio founder Charles Pathé had been selling assets for several years to boost investor value and keep the studio's cash flow healthy. The company's founder had even sold Pathé's name and "rooster" trademark to other companies in return for a mere 2 percent of revenues generated by them. Natan had the bad luck to take charge of the studio just as the Great Depression convulsed the French economy.
Natan attempted to steady Pathé's finances and implement modern film industry practices at the studio. Natan acquired another film studio, Société des Cinéromans, from Arthur Bernède and Gaston Leroux, which enabled Pathé to expand into projector and electronics manufacturing. He also bought the Fornier chain of motion picture theaters and rapidly expanded the chain's nationwide presence. The French press, however, attacked Natan mercilessly for his stewardship of Pathé. Many of these attacks were antisemitic and contained veiled homophobic allusions to Natan's supposed sexuality.
His mainstream films attracted attention, often for their political content. He produced some of the masterpieces of French 1930s cinema, including Les Croix de bois/Wooden Crosses (Raymond Bernard, 1932). Pamela Hutchinson in The Guardian : "a powerful war film made all the stronger by the fact that it was created by and starred so many veterans of the 1914-18 conflict, including Natan himself." His film, Le dernier milliardaire/The Last Billionaire (René Clair, 1934), starring Max Dearly , ridiculed German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and caused rioting by French Nazi sympathizers.
Pathé-Natan did well under Natan's guidance. Between 1930 and 1935, despite the world economic crisis, the company made 100 million francs in profits and produced and released more than 60 feature films (just as many films as major American studios produced at the time). He resumed production of the newsreel Pathé News, which had not been produced since 1927.
Natan also invested heavily in research and development to expand Pathé's film business. In 1929, he pushed Pathé into the sound film. In September, the studio produced its first sound feature film and its first sound newsreel a month later. Natan also launched two new cinema-related magazines, Pathé-Revue and Actualités Féminines, to help market Pathé's films and build consumer demand for cinema. Under Natan, Pathé also funded the research of Henri Chrétien, who developed the anamorphic lens, a technology which later led to the creation of CinemaScope and other widescreen film formats common today.
Natan expanded Pathé's business interests into communications industries other than film. In November 1929, Natan established France's first television company, Télévision-Baird-Natan. A year later, he purchased a radio station in Paris and formed a holding company (Radio-Natan-Vitus) to run what would become a burgeoning radio empire.
In 1935, Pathé went bankrupt. In order to finance the company's continued expansion, Pathé's board of directors (which still included Charles Pathé) voted in 1930 to issue shares worth 105 million francs. But with the depression deepening, only 50 percent of the shares were purchased. One of the investor banks collapsed due to financial difficulties unrelated to Pathé's problems, and Pathé was forced to follow through with the purchase of several cinema chains it no longer could afford to buy. Although the company continued to make a profit for a time, it soon began to lose more money than it could bring in.
The collapse of Pathé led French authorities to indict Bernard Natan on charges of fraud. Natan was accused of financing the purchase of the company without any collateral, of bilking investors by establishing fictitious shell corporations, and of negligent financial mismanagement. Natan was even accused of hiding his Romanian and Jewish heritage by changing his name. Natan was indicted and imprisoned in 1939.
This meant he was in prison when France fell to the Nazis, while most other major Jewish filmmakers were able to flee the country or go into hiding. A second indictment was brought in 1941, and he was convicted shortly thereafter. His French citizenship was taken away, which required special legal maneuvers by the state since he had been naturalised as a result of his WWI military service and there were no existing legal means to render him stateless.
After Natan's release from prison, the French government handed him over to the occupying German authorities. Natan was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on 25 September 1942, where it is believed he died in 1943. His wife received a letter from him in early 1943, this was their last contact.
Pamela Hutchinson in The Guardian : "Natan’s crime appears to have been to be successful, and Jewish, in an era of antisemitism and fear."
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 862. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actor René Lefèvre (1898-1991) became a star as the working-class hero of the classics Le Million (1931) and Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936). He was a ‘quadruple threat’ man: next to as an actor he was also active as a writer, producer, and director.
French postcard by Erres, no. 6. Photo: Pathé-Nathan.
French actress Rosine Deréan (1910-2001) was a popular star of the French cinema of the 1930s. Her best-known films are the melodrama Les deux orphelines (1933) and the romantic drama Lac aux dames (1934). She was married to Claude Dauphin and was a member of the French Resistance during the Second World War.
French postcard by PC, Paris, no. 11. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Jacqueline Francell (1908-1962) was a popular star of the French operetta. She also appeared in operas at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and in 1930, she created the role of Princess Blanche-Aline in Les Aventures du roi Pausole by Arthur Honegger. She also starred in a dozen films between 1931 and 1944.
French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 47. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actress Renée Saint-Cyr (1907-2004) starred as the classy lady and keeper of good taste in the French cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. She continued to perform in film in the following decades as well.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 927. Photo Pathé-Natan.
Harry Baur (1880-1943) was a famous French film and stage actor. Directed by directors as wide-ranging as Julien Duvivier, Raymond Bernard, Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Pierre Chenal, Robert Siodmak and Maurice Tourneur, he switched just as easily from père Lepic of Poil de carotte, to commissaire Maigret, Jean Valjean from Les Misérables, judge Porphyre from Crime et chatiment, Hérode, Tarass Boulba, Beethoven, captain Mollenard, czar Paul I, Rasputin, and Volpone.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 937. Photo: Pathé-Natan. Charles Dullin as the evil Thénardier in the film Les Misérables (Raymond Bernard, 1934), starring Harry Baur as Jean Valjean, and adapted from the often filmed novel by Victor Hugo.
Charles Dullin (1885-1949) was a French actor, theatre manager, and director.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 970. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
Max Dearly (1874-1943) was a French actor, famous for his parts in 1930s French sound film but also for his previous career in Parisian vaudeville.
French postcard by EC (Editions Chantal), no. 53. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French music hall star Florelle (1898-1974) was one of the queens of Paris. The petite blonde appeared in 54 films between 1912 and 1956, and also toured around the world. Her most beautiful role was that of Fantine in the classic version of Les Miserables (1934).
French postcard by EC, no. 67. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actress Alice Field (1903-1969) started out in the silent film era. Her career got on steam in the 1930s when she starred in several French-language versions of German film classics.
French postcard by EDUG, no. 1087. Photo: Pathé-Natan.
French actor Pierre Blanchar (1892-1963) was one of France's most popular show business personalities. He made many memorable stage appearances and appeared in 54 films. He often played characters who were complex and tortured. During the war, he also worked as a film director.
Sources: Pamela Hutchinson (The Guardian), Wikipedia, and .
January 14, 2021
Maria von Tasnady
Maria von Tasnady (1911-2001) was a Hungarian singer, stage, and film actress. She started her career as the Hungarian entrant at the 1931 Miss Europe pageant and then appeared in 25 German, Hungarian, and Italian films.
German postcard for "Das Programm von Heute", Zeitschrift für und Theater G.m.b.H., by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Binder, Berlin.
Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Ufa.
Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Hämmerer / Ufa. Maria von Tasnady and Willy Fritsch in Menschen ohne Vaterland/People without a fatherland (Herbert Maisch, 1937).
Moving to Weimar Germany
Maria von Tasnady was born in 1911 as Mária Tasnádi Fekete or Magdalena Fekete (sources differ) and used a variety of other professional names including Maria De Tasnady, and Mária Tasnádi during her career.
Von Tasnady was born to ethnically Hungarian parents in Transylvania, then still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following its transfer to Romania after the First World War, she emigrated to Hungary.
She was the Hungarian entrant at the 1931 Miss Europe pageant, losing out to the French winner Jeanne Julia. She studied literary history and German at the University of Budapest and wanted to become a journalist.
Moving to Weimar Germany, she made her film debut in 1932 in Durchlaucht amusiert sich (Conrad Wiene, 1932) with Georg Alexander and Lien Deijers , and Wenn Die Liebe Mode macht/When Love Sets the Fashion (Franz Wenzler, 1932), starring Renate Müller and again, Georg Alexander .
Maria von Tasnady had the lead in several German films including Schlussakkord/Final Accord (Detlef Sierck, 1936). It was the first melodrama directed by Detlef Sierck, who later had a career in Hollywood as Douglas Sirk and specialised in melodramas. It was made under contract for Universum Film AG (UFA), stars Lil Dagover , and Willy Birgel . It shows stylistic features later developed by Sierck/Sirk and makes symbolic and thematic use of music.
She also appeared in the drama Die Frau ohne Vergangenheit/Woman Without a Past (Nunzio Malasomma, 1939) starring Sybille Schmitz and Albrecht Schoenhals .
French postcard for the Miss Europe 1931 pageant. A.N., Paris. Photo St. Mano. Hungary's representative was Maria Tasnady-Fekete.
German collectors card in the Bunte Filmbilder series by Greiling-Zigaretten / Ross Verlag, Series II, no. 288. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Maria von Tasnady in Menschen ohne Vaterland/Men Without a Fatherland (Herbert Maisch, 1937).
German collectors card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Ufa.
Radio Free Europe
Maria von Tasnady appeared in her native Hungary in the historical film Sarajevo (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1940) starring Von Tasnady, Ferenc Kiss, and József Timár. The film is set against the backdrop of events leading up to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914.
She returned to Germany for crime film Alarm (Herbert B. Fredersdorf, 1941), also starring Karl Martell and Paul Klinger . The production was made by the independent Aco-Film rather than one of Germany's major film companies. It was shot at the Althoff Studios and various locations around Berlin including Tempelhof Airport and the Karstadt Department Store.
In Italy, she then appeared e.g. in the patriotic war film Bengasi (Augusto Genina, 1942) with Fosco Giachetti . The film was a propaganda work, designed to support the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini.
Bengasi is set in 1941 during the Second World War when the city of Benghazi in Italian-ruled Libya was occupied by British forces. It portrays Allied atrocities, such as the murder of a peasant by a group of drunken Australian soldiers. Bengasi was presented at the Venice Film Festival and won the Mussolini Cup as the best Italian film while Fosco Giachetti won the best actor award. It proved popular with audiences and was re-released in 1955 with some new scenes added.
She reunited with Giachetti for the Italian drama Inferno giallo/Yellow Hell (Géza von Radványi, 1942) also starring Pál Jávor . A Doctor working in the tropics falls in love with another man's wife but is killed in a native uprising before he can confess his feelings to her.
Following the Second World War, she was employed by Radio Free Europe. She still did three films, playing e.g. Enrico Caruso's mother in Enrico Caruso - Leggenda di una voce/The Young Caruso (Giacomo Gentilomo 1951) with Ermanno Randi in the title role and also with Gina Lollobrigida . The film follows the life of the legendary tenor from childhood poverty in Naples to the beginning of his rise to fame.
She stopped film acting in the late 1950s. One of her last films was the drama André und Ursula/Andre and Ursula (Werner Jacobs, 1955) starring Ivan Desny , Elisabeth Müller, and Ina Peters. It was based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Polly Maria Höfler. The film updates the book's storyline from the First to the Second World War.
Maria von Tasnady passed away in 2001. All in all, she appeared in twenty-five films during her career. Von Tasnady was married to the film producer Bruno Duday.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3340/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Inkey Felvétele.
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3791/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Vaselli.
Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Ufa / Hämmerer.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and .
German postcard for "Das Programm von Heute", Zeitschrift für und Theater G.m.b.H., by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Binder, Berlin.
Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Ufa.
Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Hämmerer / Ufa. Maria von Tasnady and Willy Fritsch in Menschen ohne Vaterland/People without a fatherland (Herbert Maisch, 1937).
Moving to Weimar Germany
Maria von Tasnady was born in 1911 as Mária Tasnádi Fekete or Magdalena Fekete (sources differ) and used a variety of other professional names including Maria De Tasnady, and Mária Tasnádi during her career.
Von Tasnady was born to ethnically Hungarian parents in Transylvania, then still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following its transfer to Romania after the First World War, she emigrated to Hungary.
She was the Hungarian entrant at the 1931 Miss Europe pageant, losing out to the French winner Jeanne Julia. She studied literary history and German at the University of Budapest and wanted to become a journalist.
Moving to Weimar Germany, she made her film debut in 1932 in Durchlaucht amusiert sich (Conrad Wiene, 1932) with Georg Alexander and Lien Deijers , and Wenn Die Liebe Mode macht/When Love Sets the Fashion (Franz Wenzler, 1932), starring Renate Müller and again, Georg Alexander .
Maria von Tasnady had the lead in several German films including Schlussakkord/Final Accord (Detlef Sierck, 1936). It was the first melodrama directed by Detlef Sierck, who later had a career in Hollywood as Douglas Sirk and specialised in melodramas. It was made under contract for Universum Film AG (UFA), stars Lil Dagover , and Willy Birgel . It shows stylistic features later developed by Sierck/Sirk and makes symbolic and thematic use of music.
She also appeared in the drama Die Frau ohne Vergangenheit/Woman Without a Past (Nunzio Malasomma, 1939) starring Sybille Schmitz and Albrecht Schoenhals .
French postcard for the Miss Europe 1931 pageant. A.N., Paris. Photo St. Mano. Hungary's representative was Maria Tasnady-Fekete.
German collectors card in the Bunte Filmbilder series by Greiling-Zigaretten / Ross Verlag, Series II, no. 288. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Maria von Tasnady in Menschen ohne Vaterland/Men Without a Fatherland (Herbert Maisch, 1937).
German collectors card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Ufa.
Radio Free Europe
Maria von Tasnady appeared in her native Hungary in the historical film Sarajevo (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1940) starring Von Tasnady, Ferenc Kiss, and József Timár. The film is set against the backdrop of events leading up to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914.
She returned to Germany for crime film Alarm (Herbert B. Fredersdorf, 1941), also starring Karl Martell and Paul Klinger . The production was made by the independent Aco-Film rather than one of Germany's major film companies. It was shot at the Althoff Studios and various locations around Berlin including Tempelhof Airport and the Karstadt Department Store.
In Italy, she then appeared e.g. in the patriotic war film Bengasi (Augusto Genina, 1942) with Fosco Giachetti . The film was a propaganda work, designed to support the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini.
Bengasi is set in 1941 during the Second World War when the city of Benghazi in Italian-ruled Libya was occupied by British forces. It portrays Allied atrocities, such as the murder of a peasant by a group of drunken Australian soldiers. Bengasi was presented at the Venice Film Festival and won the Mussolini Cup as the best Italian film while Fosco Giachetti won the best actor award. It proved popular with audiences and was re-released in 1955 with some new scenes added.
She reunited with Giachetti for the Italian drama Inferno giallo/Yellow Hell (Géza von Radványi, 1942) also starring Pál Jávor . A Doctor working in the tropics falls in love with another man's wife but is killed in a native uprising before he can confess his feelings to her.
Following the Second World War, she was employed by Radio Free Europe. She still did three films, playing e.g. Enrico Caruso's mother in Enrico Caruso - Leggenda di una voce/The Young Caruso (Giacomo Gentilomo 1951) with Ermanno Randi in the title role and also with Gina Lollobrigida . The film follows the life of the legendary tenor from childhood poverty in Naples to the beginning of his rise to fame.
She stopped film acting in the late 1950s. One of her last films was the drama André und Ursula/Andre and Ursula (Werner Jacobs, 1955) starring Ivan Desny , Elisabeth Müller, and Ina Peters. It was based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Polly Maria Höfler. The film updates the book's storyline from the First to the Second World War.
Maria von Tasnady passed away in 2001. All in all, she appeared in twenty-five films during her career. Von Tasnady was married to the film producer Bruno Duday.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3340/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Inkey Felvétele.
German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3791/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Vaselli.
Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Ufa / Hämmerer.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and .
January 13, 2021
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
One of our favourite films of the 1990sis the hip and highly stylised British gangster comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998). The story revolves around four friends who become indebted to the local crime lord after a card game goes horribly wrong. The debuting Ritchie brings us an original and hilarious look into the London criminal underground. The film is unforgettable for its inventive, pyrotechnic camera work, great actors, and its flawless, puzzle-perfect screenplay.
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 04. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Nick Moran as Eddy in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 05. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Dexter Fletcher in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 07. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Jason Flemyng as Tom in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
A film full of testosterone
The quartet of twenty-something East End friends in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels are the cool and handsome Eddie (Nick Moran), Bacon (Jason Statham), Tom (Jason Flemyng), and Soap (Dexter Fletcher).
It was Statham's film debut and the former diver would go on to star in such action films as The Transporter (Corey Yuen, 2002) and its three sequels.
Sting appears briefly in several scenes as JD, Eddie's bar-owning father. P.H. Moriarty is wonderful as the hard-as-nails villain and crime boss 'Hatchet' Harry Lonsdale.
And former Wales international footballer Vinnie Jones seems to naturally fit his part as debt-collector Big Chris, both tough guy, and family man.
It's a film full of testosterone. In fact, one of the very few females in the film doesn't even speak, though she handles a machine gun fairly well. The acting from all involved is great.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was nominated for a British Academy Film Award in 1998 for the outstanding British Film of the Year. Based on a $1.35 million budget, the film had a box office gross of over $28 million, making it a commercial success.
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 08. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Nick Moran in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 09. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Jason Statham, Nick Moran, Dexter Fletcher, and Jason Flemyng in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 10. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. P.H. Moriarty in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 12. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Nick Moran in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
His energetic, ultra-contemporary camera work
With Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Guy Ritchie took his first step in establishing his own brand. His energetic, ultra-contemporary camera work incorporates such devices as slow motion, fast motion, and freeze-frame coupled with narration.
It actually expands upon Martin Scorsese's visual style and camera movements in Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973) and Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990).
Critics also compared Ritchie's film with the works of Quentin Tarantino and Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996) but Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is inventive and a true original. Ritchie's film is an involved, complex, and layered work and is essential viewing.
The soundtrack is first-rate, from the hits of James Brown to 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' by The Stooges. The groovy, pulsating music and lyrics are often succinctly synchronised with the action and dialogue in the film, creating a theatrical rhythm.
While the picture's main focus is on four lads who invest money in a high-stakes, rigged card game and lose, the broader story concerns approximately eight different groups of criminals whose paths cross during various illegal pursuits: money, guns, drugs, even revenge. And although Guy Ritchie's film debut is quite violent, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is also humorous throughout.
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 13. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Vinnie Jones in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 14. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Jason Statham, Nick Moran, and Dexter Fletcher in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 15. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Publicity still from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 16. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Publicity still from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
In a time when movies follow formulas like zombies, it's alive
Laura Abraham at AllMovie : "A rabid, farcical look at gangsters in East End London, it contains mayhem at the center of every scene and gains additional intensity from the slow-motion technique Ritchie employs in many of his death sequences.
Ritchie's manipulation of these sequences forces his audience to experience the full pain of the events by seeing every detail frame by frame, something particularly apparent in the director's handling of the boxing-ring poker game that catalyses the story.
A series of different angles and techniques convey the pressure each character at the table is feeling, and the use of slow-motion makes it impossible for the audience to ignore the pain and anguish that Eddy (expertly played by Nick Moran) must feel when he realizes he is losing a lot of money."
and the late Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times: "Lock, Stock'' is fun, in a slapdash way; it has an exuberance, and in a time when movies follow formulas like zombies, it's alive."
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 17. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Stephen Marcus and Vas Blackwood in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 18. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Victor McGuire and Jake Abraham in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 19. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Publicity still from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 20. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Lenny McLean as Barry the Baptist in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
Sources: Laura Abraham (AllMovie), Roger Ebert (the Chicago Sun-Times), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 04. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Nick Moran as Eddy in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 05. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Dexter Fletcher in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 07. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Jason Flemyng as Tom in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
A film full of testosterone
The quartet of twenty-something East End friends in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels are the cool and handsome Eddie (Nick Moran), Bacon (Jason Statham), Tom (Jason Flemyng), and Soap (Dexter Fletcher).
It was Statham's film debut and the former diver would go on to star in such action films as The Transporter (Corey Yuen, 2002) and its three sequels.
Sting appears briefly in several scenes as JD, Eddie's bar-owning father. P.H. Moriarty is wonderful as the hard-as-nails villain and crime boss 'Hatchet' Harry Lonsdale.
And former Wales international footballer Vinnie Jones seems to naturally fit his part as debt-collector Big Chris, both tough guy, and family man.
It's a film full of testosterone. In fact, one of the very few females in the film doesn't even speak, though she handles a machine gun fairly well. The acting from all involved is great.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was nominated for a British Academy Film Award in 1998 for the outstanding British Film of the Year. Based on a $1.35 million budget, the film had a box office gross of over $28 million, making it a commercial success.
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 08. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Nick Moran in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 09. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Jason Statham, Nick Moran, Dexter Fletcher, and Jason Flemyng in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 10. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. P.H. Moriarty in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 12. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Nick Moran in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
His energetic, ultra-contemporary camera work
With Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Guy Ritchie took his first step in establishing his own brand. His energetic, ultra-contemporary camera work incorporates such devices as slow motion, fast motion, and freeze-frame coupled with narration.
It actually expands upon Martin Scorsese's visual style and camera movements in Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973) and Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990).
Critics also compared Ritchie's film with the works of Quentin Tarantino and Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996) but Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is inventive and a true original. Ritchie's film is an involved, complex, and layered work and is essential viewing.
The soundtrack is first-rate, from the hits of James Brown to 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' by The Stooges. The groovy, pulsating music and lyrics are often succinctly synchronised with the action and dialogue in the film, creating a theatrical rhythm.
While the picture's main focus is on four lads who invest money in a high-stakes, rigged card game and lose, the broader story concerns approximately eight different groups of criminals whose paths cross during various illegal pursuits: money, guns, drugs, even revenge. And although Guy Ritchie's film debut is quite violent, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is also humorous throughout.
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 13. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Vinnie Jones in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 14. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Jason Statham, Nick Moran, and Dexter Fletcher in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 15. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Publicity still from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 16. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Publicity still from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
In a time when movies follow formulas like zombies, it's alive
Laura Abraham at AllMovie : "A rabid, farcical look at gangsters in East End London, it contains mayhem at the center of every scene and gains additional intensity from the slow-motion technique Ritchie employs in many of his death sequences.
Ritchie's manipulation of these sequences forces his audience to experience the full pain of the events by seeing every detail frame by frame, something particularly apparent in the director's handling of the boxing-ring poker game that catalyses the story.
A series of different angles and techniques convey the pressure each character at the table is feeling, and the use of slow-motion makes it impossible for the audience to ignore the pain and anguish that Eddy (expertly played by Nick Moran) must feel when he realizes he is losing a lot of money."
and the late Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times: "Lock, Stock'' is fun, in a slapdash way; it has an exuberance, and in a time when movies follow formulas like zombies, it's alive."
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 17. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Stephen Marcus and Vas Blackwood in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 18. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Victor McGuire and Jake Abraham in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 19. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Publicity still from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
British postcard by Star-Images, London, no. Lock 20. Photo: SKA Films, 1998. Lenny McLean as Barry the Baptist in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998).
Sources: Laura Abraham (AllMovie), Roger Ebert (the Chicago Sun-Times), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
January 12, 2021
Simone Valère
Discretely beautiful and charming Simone Valère (1923-2010) was primarily a famous French stage actress, but she also appeared in more than forty films from 1941 to 1993. She often worked together with her husband, Jean Desailly.
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 115. Photo: Teddy Piaz.
French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 81. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
Marriage after 48 years
Simone Valère was born Simone Jeannine Gondolf in 1923 in Paris, France. Her parents divorced and she spent a large part of her youth with an aunt in Arnouville.
At the age of 17, she made her first film appearance in Premier rendez-vous/Her First Affair (Henri Decoin, 1941) starring Daniëlle Darrieux .
In 1942, Simone made her stage debut at the théâtre Hébertot in Paris in the play 'Mademoiselle Bourrat'. The play was situated in a village called 'Valère' and she took this as her stage name.
Simone Valère met Jean Desailly on the set of the film Le Voyageur de la Toussaint/The traveler of the Toussaint (Louis Daquin, 1943), while he was working for the Comédie-Française and married to Nicole Desailly (pseudonym of Ginette Nicolas).
Valère and Desailly started to live together in 1950 on tour in Brazil. 48 years later, they married in Paris.
French postcard by Editions d'Art BelFrance (EAP), Paris, no. 900. Photo: Sirius-Gaumont. Simone Valère in Le cavalier noir/The black rider (Gilles Grangier, 1945).
Italian postcard by Alterocca, Terni, no. 26710. Photo: Simone Valère and Jean Desailly in Jocelyn (Jacques de Casembroot, 1952), based on "the immortal poem by A. de Lamartine". Sent by mail in 1953.
One of the most famous couples in French theatre
Simone Valère and Jean Desailly participated in the theatrical revival of the post-war period as part of the Renaud-Barrault company. There she performed in plays by Shakespeare, Kafka, Marivaux, Giraudoux, Molière, Ionesco, and she starred in the operetta 'Vie Parisien' by Offenbach.
Later she and Desailly founded the company Valère-Desailly. With Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault , they were one of the most famous couples in French theatre. Simone Valère and Jean Desailly performed 450 times their favorite play, 'L'Amour fou ou la first surprise', by André Roussin.
Valère also worked for the cinema in such films as La revanche de Roger la Honte/The Revenge of Roger (André Cayatte, 1946), and Violetas imperiales/Imperial violets (Richard Pottier, 1952) with Luis Mariano and Carmen Sevilla .
She played the princess in the allegorical tragicomedy La Beauté du diable/Beauty of the Devil (René Clair, 1950), based on Goethe's 'Faust' adaptation. Set in the early 19th century, it is about an ageing alchemist, Henri Faust ( Gérard Philipe ), who is given the chance to be eternally young by the devil Mephistopheles ( Michel Simon ).
Other highlights were Le Franciscain de Bourges/Franciscan of Bourges (Claude Autant-Lara, 1968), starring Hardy Krüger , Un flic/A Cop (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1972), and L'Assassinat de Trotsky/The Assassination of Trotsky (Joseph Losey, 1972) starring Richard Burton and Alain Delon .
Her last film was Équipe de nuit/Night crew (Claude d'Anna, 1990). She made her last screen appearance in the Mini series La cavalière/The horsewoman (Philippe Monnier, 1993). She was married to Jean Desailly till his death in 2008.
Simone Valère died in 2010 in Roinville-sous-Dourdan, Essonne, France. She was 87.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 106.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 168. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and French), and .
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 115. Photo: Teddy Piaz.
French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 81. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
Marriage after 48 years
Simone Valère was born Simone Jeannine Gondolf in 1923 in Paris, France. Her parents divorced and she spent a large part of her youth with an aunt in Arnouville.
At the age of 17, she made her first film appearance in Premier rendez-vous/Her First Affair (Henri Decoin, 1941) starring Daniëlle Darrieux .
In 1942, Simone made her stage debut at the théâtre Hébertot in Paris in the play 'Mademoiselle Bourrat'. The play was situated in a village called 'Valère' and she took this as her stage name.
Simone Valère met Jean Desailly on the set of the film Le Voyageur de la Toussaint/The traveler of the Toussaint (Louis Daquin, 1943), while he was working for the Comédie-Française and married to Nicole Desailly (pseudonym of Ginette Nicolas).
Valère and Desailly started to live together in 1950 on tour in Brazil. 48 years later, they married in Paris.
French postcard by Editions d'Art BelFrance (EAP), Paris, no. 900. Photo: Sirius-Gaumont. Simone Valère in Le cavalier noir/The black rider (Gilles Grangier, 1945).
Italian postcard by Alterocca, Terni, no. 26710. Photo: Simone Valère and Jean Desailly in Jocelyn (Jacques de Casembroot, 1952), based on "the immortal poem by A. de Lamartine". Sent by mail in 1953.
One of the most famous couples in French theatre
Simone Valère and Jean Desailly participated in the theatrical revival of the post-war period as part of the Renaud-Barrault company. There she performed in plays by Shakespeare, Kafka, Marivaux, Giraudoux, Molière, Ionesco, and she starred in the operetta 'Vie Parisien' by Offenbach.
Later she and Desailly founded the company Valère-Desailly. With Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault , they were one of the most famous couples in French theatre. Simone Valère and Jean Desailly performed 450 times their favorite play, 'L'Amour fou ou la first surprise', by André Roussin.
Valère also worked for the cinema in such films as La revanche de Roger la Honte/The Revenge of Roger (André Cayatte, 1946), and Violetas imperiales/Imperial violets (Richard Pottier, 1952) with Luis Mariano and Carmen Sevilla .
She played the princess in the allegorical tragicomedy La Beauté du diable/Beauty of the Devil (René Clair, 1950), based on Goethe's 'Faust' adaptation. Set in the early 19th century, it is about an ageing alchemist, Henri Faust ( Gérard Philipe ), who is given the chance to be eternally young by the devil Mephistopheles ( Michel Simon ).
Other highlights were Le Franciscain de Bourges/Franciscan of Bourges (Claude Autant-Lara, 1968), starring Hardy Krüger , Un flic/A Cop (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1972), and L'Assassinat de Trotsky/The Assassination of Trotsky (Joseph Losey, 1972) starring Richard Burton and Alain Delon .
Her last film was Équipe de nuit/Night crew (Claude d'Anna, 1990). She made her last screen appearance in the Mini series La cavalière/The horsewoman (Philippe Monnier, 1993). She was married to Jean Desailly till his death in 2008.
Simone Valère died in 2010 in Roinville-sous-Dourdan, Essonne, France. She was 87.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 106.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 168. Photo: Studio Harcourt.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and French), and .
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