Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 206
February 15, 2020
Alice White
During the late 1920s, sexy and bubbly Alice White (1904-1983) was one of Hollywood's most popular stars who received more than 30,000 fan letters a month. She was Warner Bros' blonde answer to Clara Bow, and among her film hits were Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928) and Show Girl (1928). Tabloid reports about a violent love triangle seriously damaged her reputation and her career.
Dutch postcard, no. 388.
Dutch postcard, no. 389. Alice White in Showgirl in Hollywood (Mervyn LeRoy, 1930).
A bubbly, vivacious blonde
Alice White was born Alva Violet White in 1904 in Paterson, New Jersey, to French and Italian parents. Her mother was Catherine 'Kate' Alexander, a chorus girl, and her father was Audley White, a paper salesman. Audley abandoned the family when she was a baby and Catherine died in 1915. Alice was raised by her Italian grandparents in New Haven, Connecticut. Her grandfather owned a fruit business.
When Alice was a teenager they moved to California where she attended Hollywood high school. After leaving school, White started to work as a secretary, but lost several jobs for being too "sexy". She also worked as a switchboard operator at the Hollywood Writers' Club, and as a script girl for director Josef von Sternberg. After clashing with von Sternberg, White left to work for Charlie Chaplin , who decided before long to place her in front of the camera.
Elizabeth Ann at IMDb : "Her short blonde hair and big lips would become her trademark. Audiences fell in love with Alice but critics were rarely impressed with her acting. It was also rumored that her singing voice was being dubbed."
Her bubbly and vivacious persona led to comparisons with Clara Bow, and she dyed her hair blonde to stop these comparisons. In his book 'Silent Films, 1877-1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies', Robert K. Klepper wrote: "Some critics have said that Ms. White was a second-string Clara Bow. In actuality, Ms. White had her own type of charm, and was a delightful actress in her own, unique way. Whereas Clara Bow played the quintessential, flaming redheaded flapper, Alice White was more of a bubbly, vivacious blonde."
After playing a succession of flappers and gold diggers, she attracted the attention of director and producer Mervyn LeRoy, who saw potential in her. Her screen debut was in The Sea Tiger (John Francis Dillon, 1927) with Milton Sills . She appeared as brunette Dorothy Shaw opposite Ruth Taylor's Lorelei Lee in the silent comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Mal St. Clair, 1928), co-written by Anita Loos based on her novel.
Her other early films included Show Girl (Alfred Santell, 1928), which had Vitaphone musical accompaniment but no dialogue, and its musical sequel Show Girl in Hollywood (Mervyn LeRoy, 1930), both released by Warner Brothers and both based on novels by J.P. McEvoy. In these two films, White appeared as Dixie Dugan. In October 1929, McEvoy started the comic strip Dixie Dugan with the character Dixie having a 'helmet' hairstyle and appearance similar to actress Louise Brooks .
White was featured in The Girl from Woolworth's (William Beaudine, 1929), having the role of a singing clerk in the music department of a Woolworth's store. Karen Plunkett-Powell wrote in her book 'Remembering Woolworth's: A Nostalgic History of the World's Most Famous Five-and-Dime': "First National Pictures produced this 60-minute musical as a showcase for up-and-coming actress Alice White." White was one of Hollywood's most popular actresses and according to IMDb , received more than 30,000 fan letters a month.
British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Paramount. Alice White and Henry Wadsworth in Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933).
Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933) is a kind of Grand Hotel, a multi-story drama, but now on the high seas. The film, based on a 1932 novel by Gina Kaus, is an entertaining and multifaceted look into the various classes of cruise liner society with a very talented cast. Like Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932), this pre-code drama includes birth and death, lots of sexual innuendo and a combination of comedy that drives the plot and drama that is often poignant.
British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Paramount. Alice White in Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933).
At the bottom of the cast lists
Alice White left films in 1931 to improve her acting abilities. The studio claimed that she was unhappy with her salary and had become difficult to work with. White toured the vaudeville circuit. In 1933, she returned on screen in Employees' Entrance (Roy Del Ruth, 1933) with Warren William and Loretta Young. White's supporting role garnered good reviews and sent her onto the comeback trail, but her career was hurt by a scandal. In 1933 Alice and her fiance, American screenwriter Sidney 'Sy' Bartlett were accused of arranging the beating of British actor John Warburton. Alice and Warburton had a love affair that ended when he beat her so badly she required cosmetic surgery.
Warburton told the press that Alice and Sy hired thugs to disfigure him. A grand jury in Los Angeles decided not to charge Bartlett or White; however, the bad publicity hurt Alice's career. Although White married Sidney Bartlett in 1933, her reputation was tarnished and she appeared only in supporting roles after this.
She appeared the next year in the comedy-crime film Jimmy the Gent (Michael Curtiz, 1934), starring James Cagney and Bette Davis. In one scene White was famously slapped by Cagney. Jimmy the Gent did well at the box office, and the critical response was positive as well. In 1936 she suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised for two months. In 1937, she filed for divorce from Bartlett claiming he "stayed away from home" and was awarded $65 per week in alimony.
By 1938, her name was at the bottom of the cast lists. White married film writer John Roberts in 1940. They divorced in 1949 in Los Angeles. In court she said he "threw things and wasn't very nice". The following year, she sued him over unpaid alimony. White made her final film appearance in the Film Noir Flamingo Road (Michael Curtiz, 1949) starring Joan Crawford and Zachary Scott. Eventually, White resumed working as a secretary.
For many years she lived with musician William Hinshaw. She never had any children. In 1957 she fell off a ladder and landed on a pair of scissors. This freak accident left her blinded for several months. When she recovered she was offered a small role on The Ann Sothern Show. From then on,White stayed out of the spotlight but she continued to answer the fan mail she received.
In 1983, Alice White died of complications from a stroke in Los Angles at age 78. She was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. White has a star at 1511 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 468. Photo: First National.
Small, British collectors card in the Film Stars series by Player's Cigarettes, no. 48. Photo: Warner - First National. Text at the back side of the card: "Alice White was born in Patterson, New Jersey, on July 25th, 1907, of French and Italian parents. Her mother, a former chorus girl, died when Alice was only three years of age. After her education at Roanoke College, in Virginia, Alice White took a secretarial course at the Hollywood High School, and later obtained a job as a a script clerk in a studio. She obtained an engagement, making her film debut in The Sea Tiger. She won stardom, then for a time was not seen on the screen. She returned in Employees' Entrance, and her latest successes include Jimmy the Gent, A Very Honourable Guy and Gift of Gab."
Sources: (IMDb), Wikipedia and .
Dutch postcard, no. 388.
Dutch postcard, no. 389. Alice White in Showgirl in Hollywood (Mervyn LeRoy, 1930).
A bubbly, vivacious blonde
Alice White was born Alva Violet White in 1904 in Paterson, New Jersey, to French and Italian parents. Her mother was Catherine 'Kate' Alexander, a chorus girl, and her father was Audley White, a paper salesman. Audley abandoned the family when she was a baby and Catherine died in 1915. Alice was raised by her Italian grandparents in New Haven, Connecticut. Her grandfather owned a fruit business.
When Alice was a teenager they moved to California where she attended Hollywood high school. After leaving school, White started to work as a secretary, but lost several jobs for being too "sexy". She also worked as a switchboard operator at the Hollywood Writers' Club, and as a script girl for director Josef von Sternberg. After clashing with von Sternberg, White left to work for Charlie Chaplin , who decided before long to place her in front of the camera.
Elizabeth Ann at IMDb : "Her short blonde hair and big lips would become her trademark. Audiences fell in love with Alice but critics were rarely impressed with her acting. It was also rumored that her singing voice was being dubbed."
Her bubbly and vivacious persona led to comparisons with Clara Bow, and she dyed her hair blonde to stop these comparisons. In his book 'Silent Films, 1877-1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies', Robert K. Klepper wrote: "Some critics have said that Ms. White was a second-string Clara Bow. In actuality, Ms. White had her own type of charm, and was a delightful actress in her own, unique way. Whereas Clara Bow played the quintessential, flaming redheaded flapper, Alice White was more of a bubbly, vivacious blonde."
After playing a succession of flappers and gold diggers, she attracted the attention of director and producer Mervyn LeRoy, who saw potential in her. Her screen debut was in The Sea Tiger (John Francis Dillon, 1927) with Milton Sills . She appeared as brunette Dorothy Shaw opposite Ruth Taylor's Lorelei Lee in the silent comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Mal St. Clair, 1928), co-written by Anita Loos based on her novel.
Her other early films included Show Girl (Alfred Santell, 1928), which had Vitaphone musical accompaniment but no dialogue, and its musical sequel Show Girl in Hollywood (Mervyn LeRoy, 1930), both released by Warner Brothers and both based on novels by J.P. McEvoy. In these two films, White appeared as Dixie Dugan. In October 1929, McEvoy started the comic strip Dixie Dugan with the character Dixie having a 'helmet' hairstyle and appearance similar to actress Louise Brooks .
White was featured in The Girl from Woolworth's (William Beaudine, 1929), having the role of a singing clerk in the music department of a Woolworth's store. Karen Plunkett-Powell wrote in her book 'Remembering Woolworth's: A Nostalgic History of the World's Most Famous Five-and-Dime': "First National Pictures produced this 60-minute musical as a showcase for up-and-coming actress Alice White." White was one of Hollywood's most popular actresses and according to IMDb , received more than 30,000 fan letters a month.
British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Paramount. Alice White and Henry Wadsworth in Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933).
Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933) is a kind of Grand Hotel, a multi-story drama, but now on the high seas. The film, based on a 1932 novel by Gina Kaus, is an entertaining and multifaceted look into the various classes of cruise liner society with a very talented cast. Like Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932), this pre-code drama includes birth and death, lots of sexual innuendo and a combination of comedy that drives the plot and drama that is often poignant.
British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Paramount. Alice White in Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933).
At the bottom of the cast lists
Alice White left films in 1931 to improve her acting abilities. The studio claimed that she was unhappy with her salary and had become difficult to work with. White toured the vaudeville circuit. In 1933, she returned on screen in Employees' Entrance (Roy Del Ruth, 1933) with Warren William and Loretta Young. White's supporting role garnered good reviews and sent her onto the comeback trail, but her career was hurt by a scandal. In 1933 Alice and her fiance, American screenwriter Sidney 'Sy' Bartlett were accused of arranging the beating of British actor John Warburton. Alice and Warburton had a love affair that ended when he beat her so badly she required cosmetic surgery.
Warburton told the press that Alice and Sy hired thugs to disfigure him. A grand jury in Los Angeles decided not to charge Bartlett or White; however, the bad publicity hurt Alice's career. Although White married Sidney Bartlett in 1933, her reputation was tarnished and she appeared only in supporting roles after this.
She appeared the next year in the comedy-crime film Jimmy the Gent (Michael Curtiz, 1934), starring James Cagney and Bette Davis. In one scene White was famously slapped by Cagney. Jimmy the Gent did well at the box office, and the critical response was positive as well. In 1936 she suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised for two months. In 1937, she filed for divorce from Bartlett claiming he "stayed away from home" and was awarded $65 per week in alimony.
By 1938, her name was at the bottom of the cast lists. White married film writer John Roberts in 1940. They divorced in 1949 in Los Angeles. In court she said he "threw things and wasn't very nice". The following year, she sued him over unpaid alimony. White made her final film appearance in the Film Noir Flamingo Road (Michael Curtiz, 1949) starring Joan Crawford and Zachary Scott. Eventually, White resumed working as a secretary.
For many years she lived with musician William Hinshaw. She never had any children. In 1957 she fell off a ladder and landed on a pair of scissors. This freak accident left her blinded for several months. When she recovered she was offered a small role on The Ann Sothern Show. From then on,White stayed out of the spotlight but she continued to answer the fan mail she received.
In 1983, Alice White died of complications from a stroke in Los Angles at age 78. She was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. White has a star at 1511 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 468. Photo: First National.
Small, British collectors card in the Film Stars series by Player's Cigarettes, no. 48. Photo: Warner - First National. Text at the back side of the card: "Alice White was born in Patterson, New Jersey, on July 25th, 1907, of French and Italian parents. Her mother, a former chorus girl, died when Alice was only three years of age. After her education at Roanoke College, in Virginia, Alice White took a secretarial course at the Hollywood High School, and later obtained a job as a a script clerk in a studio. She obtained an engagement, making her film debut in The Sea Tiger. She won stardom, then for a time was not seen on the screen. She returned in Employees' Entrance, and her latest successes include Jimmy the Gent, A Very Honourable Guy and Gift of Gab."
Sources: (IMDb), Wikipedia and .
February 14, 2020
Croissant, Paris
The French editor Croissant in Paris published series of coloured postcards for pre-1910 Pathé Frères films. From circa 1905 on, Croissant also published these postcards series for the other major French pioneering studio, Gaumont. These include series for three early sound films, 'Photoscènes', directed by Alice Guy(-Blaché): Faust (1905), Carmen (1906) and Mignon (1906), all three were film adaptations of famous operas.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Au pays noir/Tragedy in a Coal Mine (Ferdinand Zecca or Lucien Nonguet, 1905). Caption: Dans les galeries [In the mine galleries]. This refers to the 5th scene of the film.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3573. Photo: Film Pathé. This is the final scene from La poule aux oeufs d'or (Gaston Velle 1905), adapted from the fable of Jean de la Fontaine. Cinematography and special effects by Segundo de Chomón.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb (1905). Caption: From the top of a tree he saw a small glow.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb (1905). Caption: He put all his family at ease. Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb was an adaptation of Charles Perrault's famous story of 1697. The film by Pathé was worldwide released, in Spanish speaking countries as Pulgarito, in the US as Hop o'my thumb. The director and actors are unknown. The Spanish film scholar Juan-Gabriel Tharrats claimed the Spanish trick film maker Segundo de Chomón (1871-1929), who worked for Pathé in those years, made Le petit poucet. French Wikipedia claims the director was Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn. The Fondation Jerôme Seydoux , keeper of the Pathé heritage, lists no director at all.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3664. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le chemineau/The Tramp (Albert Capellani, 1905), based on the first part of Victor Hugo's novel 'Les misérables'. Unclear is who the actors are, but sets were by Hugues Laurent. The film appeared in the "Scènes dramatiques et réalistes (8ème Série)" by Pathé.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3664. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le chemineau/The Tramp (Albert Capellani, 1905), based on the first part of Victor Hugo's novel 'Les misérables'. Arrested at a jeweller, to whom he tries to sell his loot, the gendarmes bring the tramp back to the pastor. Despite all, the pastor wants to exonerate the miserable man's soul and tells a lie to the gendarmes: 'I gave the objects myself to him'. The thief repents.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3666. Photo: Film Pathé. Probably publicity still for Peau d'ane/Donkey Skin (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: L'infante coiffée d'une peau d'âne (The princess wears a donkey skin). The film was based on a story by Charles Perrault (1697). The actors are unknown.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3666. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Peau d'ane/Donkey Skin (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: Le Gateau de Peau d'ane (The Cake of Donkey Skin).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3672. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Un drame à Venise/Venetian Tragedy (Lucien Nonguet, 1906). Sent by mail in 1917. Caption: Au nom de l'honneur. (In the name of Honour). In this early Pathé Frères production, one of the rich palaces of Venice is the setting for a drama of smouldering love and hate. In the Middle Ages, an important lord is not loved by his wife. Despite the sumptuous wealth her husband surrounds her with, the noble dame can only think about a young and handsome Romeo. The lover is surprised by the husband, who kills him and Romeo ends in a canal. The noble lady escapes her death when her husband is stopped by her miraculous beauty... The film is partly in colour.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3678. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Les victimes de l'alcoolisme/Alcohol and Its Victims (Ferdinand Zecca, 1902). Caption: La paresse engendre la misère. (Laziness breeds misery.). Les victimes de l'alcoolisme/Alcohol and Its Victims (1902) is a four minutes short, directed and written by Ferdinand Zecca. It was based on Emile Zola's novel L'Assommoir', and the first Zola adaptation ever. Les victimes de l'alcoolisme/Alcohol and Its Victims tells a moral story on what happens to a man if he starts to drink and gamble. Bob Lipton at IMDb : "this is a very advanced film for 1902, being offered in five scenes, on elaborately painted sets. It was probably not intended solely for movie programs, but for anti-booze lectures, Chautauquas, and conferences."
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Faust (Alice Guy, ca. 1905). The earliest proof of a showing of the film dates from 1905, so the film dates from that year or just before. The captions refer to lines from the opera libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré for the opera 'Faust' (1859) by Charles Gounod. This card refers to no. 4, the Duet between Faust and Mephistopheles in the First Act.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Faust (Alice Guy, ca. 1905). This card refers to the Quartet between Faust, Marguerite, Mephistopheles, and Marthe, no. 16 of the Third Act.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3871. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for Mignon (Alice Guy, 1906). Caption: Est-ce bien Mignon que voilà? (How cute is that?)
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3871. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for Mignon (Alice Guy, 1906). Caption: Adieu Mignon, courage! Ne pleure pas! (Adieu Mignon, courage! Do not Cry!) Alice Guy directed nine (or seven - the sources differ) scenes from the opera 'Mignon' for a synchronised sound film, in the Gaumont Chronophone Studio, Paris, in 1906. 'Mignon' (1966) is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel 'Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre'.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3890. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Carmen (Alice Guy, 1906). The film consisted of 12 so-called phonoscènes, an early sound-on-disc system. The film is presumed lost. Unknown is who the singers are. Carmen flirts with the toreador before his fight with the bull: "Toréador, en garde, et songe en combattant. Qu'un oeil noir te regarde et que l'amour t'attend." (Toreador, on guard, and dream of fighting. Let a black eye look at you and let love await you.)
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3890. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Carmen (Alice Guy, 1906). The gypsy girl Carmen challenges Don José: "L'amour est enfant de Bohème, Il n'a jamais connu de loi; Si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime, Si je t'aime, Prends garde à toi." (Love is Bohemian's child, He never knew any law; If you don't love me, I love you, If I love you, be careful!) Mark the half visible logo Elge behind the most right woman; it it stands for L.G., the initials of Gaumont owner and founder Léon Gaumont.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 1530/8. Photo P. Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt in La dame aux camélias (André Calmettes, Louis Mercanton, 1912). The film was produced by Le Film d'Art and distributed by Pathé Freres. Caption: Sleep in peace, Marguerite! Much will be pardoned to you, because you have loved so much!
Sources: Fondation Jerome Seydoux (French), Roberta and Simone Blaché (The Memoirs of Alice Guy Blaché), Alison McMahan (Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema), Alison McMahan (Women Film Pioneers Project), Bob Lipton (IMDb), Kinomata: la donna nel cinema, Wikipedia (English and French) and .
French postcard by Croissant, Paris. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Au pays noir/Tragedy in a Coal Mine (Ferdinand Zecca or Lucien Nonguet, 1905). Caption: Dans les galeries [In the mine galleries]. This refers to the 5th scene of the film.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3573. Photo: Film Pathé. This is the final scene from La poule aux oeufs d'or (Gaston Velle 1905), adapted from the fable of Jean de la Fontaine. Cinematography and special effects by Segundo de Chomón.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb (1905). Caption: From the top of a tree he saw a small glow.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb (1905). Caption: He put all his family at ease. Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb was an adaptation of Charles Perrault's famous story of 1697. The film by Pathé was worldwide released, in Spanish speaking countries as Pulgarito, in the US as Hop o'my thumb. The director and actors are unknown. The Spanish film scholar Juan-Gabriel Tharrats claimed the Spanish trick film maker Segundo de Chomón (1871-1929), who worked for Pathé in those years, made Le petit poucet. French Wikipedia claims the director was Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn. The Fondation Jerôme Seydoux , keeper of the Pathé heritage, lists no director at all.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3664. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le chemineau/The Tramp (Albert Capellani, 1905), based on the first part of Victor Hugo's novel 'Les misérables'. Unclear is who the actors are, but sets were by Hugues Laurent. The film appeared in the "Scènes dramatiques et réalistes (8ème Série)" by Pathé.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3664. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Le chemineau/The Tramp (Albert Capellani, 1905), based on the first part of Victor Hugo's novel 'Les misérables'. Arrested at a jeweller, to whom he tries to sell his loot, the gendarmes bring the tramp back to the pastor. Despite all, the pastor wants to exonerate the miserable man's soul and tells a lie to the gendarmes: 'I gave the objects myself to him'. The thief repents.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3666. Photo: Film Pathé. Probably publicity still for Peau d'ane/Donkey Skin (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: L'infante coiffée d'une peau d'âne (The princess wears a donkey skin). The film was based on a story by Charles Perrault (1697). The actors are unknown.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3666. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Peau d'ane/Donkey Skin (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: Le Gateau de Peau d'ane (The Cake of Donkey Skin).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3672. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Un drame à Venise/Venetian Tragedy (Lucien Nonguet, 1906). Sent by mail in 1917. Caption: Au nom de l'honneur. (In the name of Honour). In this early Pathé Frères production, one of the rich palaces of Venice is the setting for a drama of smouldering love and hate. In the Middle Ages, an important lord is not loved by his wife. Despite the sumptuous wealth her husband surrounds her with, the noble dame can only think about a young and handsome Romeo. The lover is surprised by the husband, who kills him and Romeo ends in a canal. The noble lady escapes her death when her husband is stopped by her miraculous beauty... The film is partly in colour.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3678. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Les victimes de l'alcoolisme/Alcohol and Its Victims (Ferdinand Zecca, 1902). Caption: La paresse engendre la misère. (Laziness breeds misery.). Les victimes de l'alcoolisme/Alcohol and Its Victims (1902) is a four minutes short, directed and written by Ferdinand Zecca. It was based on Emile Zola's novel L'Assommoir', and the first Zola adaptation ever. Les victimes de l'alcoolisme/Alcohol and Its Victims tells a moral story on what happens to a man if he starts to drink and gamble. Bob Lipton at IMDb : "this is a very advanced film for 1902, being offered in five scenes, on elaborately painted sets. It was probably not intended solely for movie programs, but for anti-booze lectures, Chautauquas, and conferences."
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Faust (Alice Guy, ca. 1905). The earliest proof of a showing of the film dates from 1905, so the film dates from that year or just before. The captions refer to lines from the opera libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré for the opera 'Faust' (1859) by Charles Gounod. This card refers to no. 4, the Duet between Faust and Mephistopheles in the First Act.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3680. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Faust (Alice Guy, ca. 1905). This card refers to the Quartet between Faust, Marguerite, Mephistopheles, and Marthe, no. 16 of the Third Act.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3871. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for Mignon (Alice Guy, 1906). Caption: Est-ce bien Mignon que voilà? (How cute is that?)
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3871. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for Mignon (Alice Guy, 1906). Caption: Adieu Mignon, courage! Ne pleure pas! (Adieu Mignon, courage! Do not Cry!) Alice Guy directed nine (or seven - the sources differ) scenes from the opera 'Mignon' for a synchronised sound film, in the Gaumont Chronophone Studio, Paris, in 1906. 'Mignon' (1966) is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel 'Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre'.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3890. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Carmen (Alice Guy, 1906). The film consisted of 12 so-called phonoscènes, an early sound-on-disc system. The film is presumed lost. Unknown is who the singers are. Carmen flirts with the toreador before his fight with the bull: "Toréador, en garde, et songe en combattant. Qu'un oeil noir te regarde et que l'amour t'attend." (Toreador, on guard, and dream of fighting. Let a black eye look at you and let love await you.)
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3890. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for the phonoscène Carmen (Alice Guy, 1906). The gypsy girl Carmen challenges Don José: "L'amour est enfant de Bohème, Il n'a jamais connu de loi; Si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime, Si je t'aime, Prends garde à toi." (Love is Bohemian's child, He never knew any law; If you don't love me, I love you, If I love you, be careful!) Mark the half visible logo Elge behind the most right woman; it it stands for L.G., the initials of Gaumont owner and founder Léon Gaumont.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 1530/8. Photo P. Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt in La dame aux camélias (André Calmettes, Louis Mercanton, 1912). The film was produced by Le Film d'Art and distributed by Pathé Freres. Caption: Sleep in peace, Marguerite! Much will be pardoned to you, because you have loved so much!
Sources: Fondation Jerome Seydoux (French), Roberta and Simone Blaché (The Memoirs of Alice Guy Blaché), Alison McMahan (Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema), Alison McMahan (Women Film Pioneers Project), Bob Lipton (IMDb), Kinomata: la donna nel cinema, Wikipedia (English and French) and .
February 13, 2020
Valentine's Day: Melodie des Herzens (1929)
It's Valentine's Day and we have a film special for everyone who loves romances... The German early sound film Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929) which stars the lovely Dita Parlo and ‘Sunny Boy’ Willy Fritsch, Ufa's most often kissed star. The film started the wave of the über-romantic operetta films of the 1930s.
German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 4. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Dita Parlo and Willy Fritsch in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
Page of Dutch calendar, ca. 1930. We bought the pages at the VerzamelaarsJaarbeurs, The International Collectors Fair in Utrecht. The calendar had been part of the film memorabilia collection of the seller's father. Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
Photo of a Dutch calendar, ca. 1930. Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
Earning enough money for a horse
In Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929), Julia Balog ( Dita Parlo ), a young girl from the country, loses her job as a maid in pre-WWI Budapest, when she stays out too long with her beau, the soldier János Garas ( Willy Fritsch ), who is saving money to buy a horse to open a transport company.
After being unemployed and with rent long overdue, the landlady offers her a better job in a nightclub. Meanwhile, the János's family has decided that their son should marry the daughter of a rich farmer (Anni Mewes). When he finds out about Julia's profession, he accepts his parents' match after struggling with himself.
At the day of his engagement, Julia comes to his hometown with enough money to buy a horse, which leads to a conflict between Julia, the fiancee, her family, János himself and his parents.
Melodie des Herzens was shot in Hungary. The film was scripted by Hans Székely, cinematographed by Günther Rittau and Hans Schneeberger, and art direction was by Erich Kettelhüt. Initially the film was intended to be silent, but halfway through production its producer Erich Pommer was ordered by his superiors to convert it into a sound film.
Pommer took over the production management, assisted by Max Pfeiffer, The interior shots were shot in 1928 at the Ufa studios in Neubabelsberg, today's Babelsberg studio in Potsdam, the exterior shots were taken in the country in Hungary and in Budapest. Pfeiffer also managed the recordings in Hungary. Fritz Thiery was responsible for the sound.
Melodie des Herzens was the first sound film produced by the German major studio Universum Film AG (Ufa) and the second German sound film. Willy Fritsch speaks the first words in the film: "Ich spare nämlich auf ein Pferd." (Because I'm saving on a horse.) The texts on Werner Richard Heymann's melodies come from, among others, Hans Székely, Fritz Grünbaum, Fritz Rotter, Arthur Rebner and Fritz Löhner-Beda.
The film was simultaneously shot in three more versions: in English (Melody of the Heart), French (Mélodie du cœur) and in Hungarian (Vasárnap délután). Such multiple-language versions, which had been pioneered by British International Pictures, were popular in Europe until dubbing became more widespread.
Filming of Melodie des Herzens began in June 1929 and ended in September of the same year. Melodie des Herzens had its German premiere on 16 December 1929. Not least because of its different language versions, the film became a success and a classic in Europe. Melodie des Herzens has been credited with establishing the popularity of the operetta film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/1. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/3. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch in Melodie des Herzens (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/4. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
And for my own Valentine, a big
German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 4. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Dita Parlo and Willy Fritsch in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
Page of Dutch calendar, ca. 1930. We bought the pages at the VerzamelaarsJaarbeurs, The International Collectors Fair in Utrecht. The calendar had been part of the film memorabilia collection of the seller's father. Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
Photo of a Dutch calendar, ca. 1930. Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
Earning enough money for a horse
In Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929), Julia Balog ( Dita Parlo ), a young girl from the country, loses her job as a maid in pre-WWI Budapest, when she stays out too long with her beau, the soldier János Garas ( Willy Fritsch ), who is saving money to buy a horse to open a transport company.
After being unemployed and with rent long overdue, the landlady offers her a better job in a nightclub. Meanwhile, the János's family has decided that their son should marry the daughter of a rich farmer (Anni Mewes). When he finds out about Julia's profession, he accepts his parents' match after struggling with himself.
At the day of his engagement, Julia comes to his hometown with enough money to buy a horse, which leads to a conflict between Julia, the fiancee, her family, János himself and his parents.
Melodie des Herzens was shot in Hungary. The film was scripted by Hans Székely, cinematographed by Günther Rittau and Hans Schneeberger, and art direction was by Erich Kettelhüt. Initially the film was intended to be silent, but halfway through production its producer Erich Pommer was ordered by his superiors to convert it into a sound film.
Pommer took over the production management, assisted by Max Pfeiffer, The interior shots were shot in 1928 at the Ufa studios in Neubabelsberg, today's Babelsberg studio in Potsdam, the exterior shots were taken in the country in Hungary and in Budapest. Pfeiffer also managed the recordings in Hungary. Fritz Thiery was responsible for the sound.
Melodie des Herzens was the first sound film produced by the German major studio Universum Film AG (Ufa) and the second German sound film. Willy Fritsch speaks the first words in the film: "Ich spare nämlich auf ein Pferd." (Because I'm saving on a horse.) The texts on Werner Richard Heymann's melodies come from, among others, Hans Székely, Fritz Grünbaum, Fritz Rotter, Arthur Rebner and Fritz Löhner-Beda.
The film was simultaneously shot in three more versions: in English (Melody of the Heart), French (Mélodie du cœur) and in Hungarian (Vasárnap délután). Such multiple-language versions, which had been pioneered by British International Pictures, were popular in Europe until dubbing became more widespread.
Filming of Melodie des Herzens began in June 1929 and ended in September of the same year. Melodie des Herzens had its German premiere on 16 December 1929. Not least because of its different language versions, the film became a success and a classic in Europe. Melodie des Herzens has been credited with establishing the popularity of the operetta film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/1. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/3. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch in Melodie des Herzens (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/4. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Dita Parlo in Melodie des Herzens (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).
And for my own Valentine, a big
February 12, 2020
Adriana Benetti
Adriana Benetti (1919–2016) was an Italian actress, who peaked in the 1940s and 1950s. She made her film debut under Vittorio De Sica in Teresa Venerdi (1941). Benetti specialised in simple or naive characters.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1942. Photo: Bragaglia. Adriana Benetti in Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941).
Italian postcard by B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze) Editori, no. 43710. Photo: Bragaglia.
Mastery in melodramatics
Adriana Benetti was born in Quacchio, a town east of Ferrara, Italy, in 1919.
She graduated from the Istituto Magistrale at Ferrara, after which she moved to Rome where she was admitted to the film academy Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
While attending her courses she was discovered by Vittorio De Sica , who directed her debut in 1941 with the role of protagonist in Teresa Venerdí/Doctor Beware (Vittorio De Sica, 1941). Benetti showed her mastery in the scene in which she tries to separate her favourite man, dr. Pietro Vignali (De Sica himself) from his spendthrift vaudeville girlfriend Loletta Prima ( Anna Magnani ), by giving it all the melodrama needed to chase the girlfriend.
Benetti's film career since then catapulted and peaked in the 1940s and early 1950s. She was directed by Alessandro Blasetti in his famous Quattro passi fra le nuvole/A Walk in the Clouds (1942), where she was first paired with Gino Cervi , and by Luigi Zampa in C'è sempre un ma!/There's always a but! (1942).
In 1942, she starred next to Andrea Checchi and Aldo Fabrizi in the comedy Avanti c'è posto/Before the Postman (Mario Bonnard, 1942), Fabrizi's first starring film. Alongside Massimo Serato and Vittorio Sanipoli, she played in Quartieri alti/In High Places (Mario Soldati, 1943-1944). The latter was started in May 1943 but interrupted after a few weeks because of the war, only to resume in June 1944 after the liberation of Rome.
Italian postcard by A. Terzoli, Roma / Stabilimenti Angeli, Terni, no. 263. Photo: Bragaglia. Adriana Benetti in Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941).
Bikini scandal
After the war, Adriana Benetti took part in two musical films, becoming first the partner of Gino Bechi in Torna ... a Sorrento/Come Back to Sorrento (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1945), and then of opera singer Tito Gobbi in O sole mio/O my sun (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1945).
Later she acted with Fosco Giachetti in Il sole di Montecassino/Fear No Evil (G.M. Scotese, 1946), with Eduardo and Titina De Filippo in Uno tra la folla/One Between the Crowd (Ennio Cerlesi, 1946). She was also directed by Goffredo Alessandrini in Furia/Fury (1947), a film in which she once again starred alongside Cervi and in which Rossano Brazzi was present as well.
After that, she returned to the set with Fabrizi in Tombolo, paradiso nero/Tombolo (Giorgio Ferroni, 1947). In 1950 she was partner of Totò in 47 morto che parla/47 dead speaking (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1950). In France, she also acted in Les petites du quai aux fleurs/Rondini in volo (Marc Allégret, 1944), in which she was accompanied by Bernard Blier and Gérard Philipe , while French director André Cayatte co-directed her in the Italian film Manù il contrabbandiere/Manù the smuggler (Lucio De Caro, 1947).
Marcel L'Herbier and Paolo Moffa directed her in Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/The Last Days of Pompeii (1950), with Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal . Benetti played Nidia. Unfortunately, in the original novel on which the film is based, Nidia is one of the central characters, but in this film she is killed off early in the film by the evil priest Arbax (Marcel Herrand). Benetti also acted in some Spanish and Argentinian films, such as I desperados della verde jungla (Hugo del Carril, 1952).
Benetti specialised in roles characterised by simplicity or naivety. She was called the "fidanzatina d'Italia" (Italy's little fiancee), a term that was coined to distinguish her from Assia Noris who was called the "fiancee". In the fifties, though, she gradually lost popularity, with the fading of the characteristics that distinguished her so much, playing e.g. the teacher in Le diciottenni/Eighteen Year Olds (Mario Mattoli, 1955), a remake of Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
She closed her film career with the role of the mature girlfriend in A vent'anni è sempre festa/At twenty it's always a party (Vittorio Duse, 1957). Precisely because of that aura of the eternal naive one, that so distinguished her and that had made her famous, she scandalised Italy in 1947 by posing in bikini for the illustrated weekly Tempo.
Adriana Benetti died in Rome in 2016, at the high age of 96 years.
The subtitled version of Teresa Venerdi (1941)> Source: Jules Dassin (YouTube).
Trailer for Quattro passi fra le nuvole (1942). Source: rileysfilm (YouTube).
Trailer for Quartieri alti (1943-1944). Source: Film&Clips (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English), and .
Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1942. Photo: Bragaglia. Adriana Benetti in Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941).
Italian postcard by B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze) Editori, no. 43710. Photo: Bragaglia.
Mastery in melodramatics
Adriana Benetti was born in Quacchio, a town east of Ferrara, Italy, in 1919.
She graduated from the Istituto Magistrale at Ferrara, after which she moved to Rome where she was admitted to the film academy Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
While attending her courses she was discovered by Vittorio De Sica , who directed her debut in 1941 with the role of protagonist in Teresa Venerdí/Doctor Beware (Vittorio De Sica, 1941). Benetti showed her mastery in the scene in which she tries to separate her favourite man, dr. Pietro Vignali (De Sica himself) from his spendthrift vaudeville girlfriend Loletta Prima ( Anna Magnani ), by giving it all the melodrama needed to chase the girlfriend.
Benetti's film career since then catapulted and peaked in the 1940s and early 1950s. She was directed by Alessandro Blasetti in his famous Quattro passi fra le nuvole/A Walk in the Clouds (1942), where she was first paired with Gino Cervi , and by Luigi Zampa in C'è sempre un ma!/There's always a but! (1942).
In 1942, she starred next to Andrea Checchi and Aldo Fabrizi in the comedy Avanti c'è posto/Before the Postman (Mario Bonnard, 1942), Fabrizi's first starring film. Alongside Massimo Serato and Vittorio Sanipoli, she played in Quartieri alti/In High Places (Mario Soldati, 1943-1944). The latter was started in May 1943 but interrupted after a few weeks because of the war, only to resume in June 1944 after the liberation of Rome.
Italian postcard by A. Terzoli, Roma / Stabilimenti Angeli, Terni, no. 263. Photo: Bragaglia. Adriana Benetti in Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941).
Bikini scandal
After the war, Adriana Benetti took part in two musical films, becoming first the partner of Gino Bechi in Torna ... a Sorrento/Come Back to Sorrento (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1945), and then of opera singer Tito Gobbi in O sole mio/O my sun (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1945).
Later she acted with Fosco Giachetti in Il sole di Montecassino/Fear No Evil (G.M. Scotese, 1946), with Eduardo and Titina De Filippo in Uno tra la folla/One Between the Crowd (Ennio Cerlesi, 1946). She was also directed by Goffredo Alessandrini in Furia/Fury (1947), a film in which she once again starred alongside Cervi and in which Rossano Brazzi was present as well.
After that, she returned to the set with Fabrizi in Tombolo, paradiso nero/Tombolo (Giorgio Ferroni, 1947). In 1950 she was partner of Totò in 47 morto che parla/47 dead speaking (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1950). In France, she also acted in Les petites du quai aux fleurs/Rondini in volo (Marc Allégret, 1944), in which she was accompanied by Bernard Blier and Gérard Philipe , while French director André Cayatte co-directed her in the Italian film Manù il contrabbandiere/Manù the smuggler (Lucio De Caro, 1947).
Marcel L'Herbier and Paolo Moffa directed her in Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/The Last Days of Pompeii (1950), with Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal . Benetti played Nidia. Unfortunately, in the original novel on which the film is based, Nidia is one of the central characters, but in this film she is killed off early in the film by the evil priest Arbax (Marcel Herrand). Benetti also acted in some Spanish and Argentinian films, such as I desperados della verde jungla (Hugo del Carril, 1952).
Benetti specialised in roles characterised by simplicity or naivety. She was called the "fidanzatina d'Italia" (Italy's little fiancee), a term that was coined to distinguish her from Assia Noris who was called the "fiancee". In the fifties, though, she gradually lost popularity, with the fading of the characteristics that distinguished her so much, playing e.g. the teacher in Le diciottenni/Eighteen Year Olds (Mario Mattoli, 1955), a remake of Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
She closed her film career with the role of the mature girlfriend in A vent'anni è sempre festa/At twenty it's always a party (Vittorio Duse, 1957). Precisely because of that aura of the eternal naive one, that so distinguished her and that had made her famous, she scandalised Italy in 1947 by posing in bikini for the illustrated weekly Tempo.
Adriana Benetti died in Rome in 2016, at the high age of 96 years.
The subtitled version of Teresa Venerdi (1941)> Source: Jules Dassin (YouTube).
Trailer for Quattro passi fra le nuvole (1942). Source: rileysfilm (YouTube).
Trailer for Quartieri alti (1943-1944). Source: Film&Clips (YouTube).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English), and .
February 11, 2020
Jane Russell
American film actress Jane Russell (1921-2011) was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She became an icon with her first film role in Howard Hughes' The Outlaw (1943). Her biggest hit was the musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) in which she played Dorothy Shaw opposite Marilyn Monroe's Lorelei Lee.
Vintage postcard. Photo: George Hurrell. Publicity still for The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943).
Belgian collectors Card, no. A 50. Photo: Paramount. Jane Russell in The Paleface (Norman Z. McLeod, 1948).
Yugoslavian postcard by Sedmo Silo / IOM, Beograd. Photo: Jane Russell and Brad Dexter in The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952).
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 378. Photo: Paramount Films. Jane Russell in Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952).
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/16.
Sex appeal is good - but not in bad taste
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was born in 1921, in Bemidji, Minnesota. She was the only daughter of the five children of Geraldine (née Jacobi) and Roy William Russell. She had four younger brothers: Tom Russell, Kenny Russell, James H. Russell and Wally Russell. Her father had been a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and her mother an actress with a road troupe. When Jane was two, her family moved to Southern California where her father worked as an office manager.
Russell's mother arranged for her to take piano lessons. In addition to music, she was interested in drama and participated in stage productions at Van Nuys High School. Her early ambition was to be a designer of some kind, until the death of her father in his mid-40s, when she decided to work as a receptionist after graduation. She also modeled for photographers, and, at the urging of her mother, studied drama and acting with Max Reinhardt's Theatrical Workshop and with acting coach Maria Ouspenskaya.
In 1940, Jane Russell was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul, Howard Hughes. She made her film debut in the Western The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943), a story about Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) that went to great lengths to showcase Russell's voluptuous figure. The film was completed in 1941, but it was not released until 1943 in a limited release. Hughes' battles with the censors resulted in the film spending three years on the shelf before finally gaining wide release in a cut version in 1946.
During that time, Russell was kept busy doing publicity and she became known nationally. The film and the controversy turned her into an icon. She was a popular pin-up photo with servicemen during World War II. Wikipedia cites Russell: "Sex appeal is good - but not in bad taste. Then it's ugly. I don't think a star has any business posing in a vulgar way. I've seen plenty of pin-up pictures that have sex appeal, interest, and allure, but they're not vulgar. They have a little art to them. Marilyn's calendar was artistic."
Russell did not appear in another film until 1946, when she played Joan Kenwood in Young Widow (Edwin L. Marin, 1946) opposite Louis Hayward, released through United Artists. The film went over budget by $600,000 and was a box office failure. In 1947 Russell delved into music before returning to films. She sang with the Kay Kyser Orchestra on radio, and recorded two singles with his band. Then, she played Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface (Norman Z. McLeod, 1948). The film was a sizeable box office hit, earning $4 million. She later also played Mike 'the Torch' Delroy opposite Hope in another Western comedy, Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952). It was also a hit.
In between, Howard Hughes cast Russell opposite Robert Mitchum and Vincent Price in the Film Noir His Kind of Woman (1951). The film was originally directed by John Farrow in 1950, but would be re-shot by Richard Fleischer the following year. Russell did two more Film Noirs: The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952) with Price and Victor Mature , and Macao (Josef von Sternberg, 1952) with Robert Mitchum . His Kind of Woman and Macao were minor hits but both involved so much re-shooting through the interference of Hughes that they lost money.
West-German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/14. Photo: Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953).
Italian programme card for Il Cinema Ritrovata 2011. Photo: publicity still for Gentlemen prefer blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953) with Marilyn Monroe , Charles Coburn and Jane Russell.
American postcard by Classico, San Francisco, no.105-010. Photo: Twentieth Century-Fox. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953).
American postcard in the Demac Collection. Photo: Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953).
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/25.
Sex symbols used to an interesting, paradoxical effect
Most famously, Jane Russell played Dorothy Shaw in the hit musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953) opposite Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee. The film was a huge success, Russell's biggest hit since The Outlaw, making over $5 million.
Brendon Hanley at AllMovie : "On the surface, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a brassy, garish, colorful musical comedy featuring two rather lightweight actresses, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Ultimately, however, director Howard Hawks uses the nature of the material and the glossy stars to an interesting, paradoxical effect. The film lacks strong masculine characters and any sort of traditional morality; it's dominated by the superficial. The two main characters are sex symbols who, in true Hawksian fashion, have their sex-appeal turned on its head."
Back at RKO she was in Howard Hughes's production The French Line (Lloyd Bacon, 1954), a musical which also starred Gilbert Roland. The films penultimate moment showed Russell in a form-fitting one-piece bathing suit with strategic cutouts, performing a then-provocative musical number titled 'Lookin' for Trouble'. Wikipedia : "In her autobiography, Russell said that the revealing outfit was an alternative to Hughes' original suggestion of a bikini, a very racy choice for a movie costume in 1954. Russell said that she initially wore the bikini in front of her "horrified" movie crew while "feeling very naked."" The film earned $3 million.
Hughes also produced Underwater! (John Sturges, 1955), an adventure film with Russell and Richard Egan at RKO. It made $2 million but because of its large cost was a financial flop. Her contract with Hughes eventually ended in February 1954. Russell co-starred with Clark Gable in The Tall Men (Raoul Walsh, 1955) at Fox, one of the most popular films of the year, with earnings of $6 million. Her own production company Russ-Field produced Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (Richard Sale, 1955), a sequel to Blondes in which Russell starred alongside Jeanne Crain, for release through United Artists. It was not as successful as the original.
Russell made Hot Blood (Nicholas Ray, 1956) with Cornel Wilde at Columbia and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (Raoul Walsh, 1956) at Fox, in the latter playing a role meant for Marilyn Monroe . None of these films were particularly successful. Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s.
Jane Russell starred in more than 20 films throughout her career. Her final film was Darker than Amber (Robert Clouse, 1970), a film adaptation of John D. MacDonald's suspense novel, starring Rod Taylor as Travis McGee. Russell often played cynical, 'tough broads,' and in 1971, she starred in the Broadway musical Company.
In 1985, she published the autobiography 'Jane Russell: My Path and My Detours', in which she noted that she had an affair with John Payne in 1942. The affair ended when Jane realised that she was still in love with her high school sweetheart, football player Robert Waterfield, whom she married in April 1943.
Russell married three times, and adopted three children. Her first marriage with Bob Waterfield ended in a divorce in 1968. Two months after her divorce, Russell married actor Roger Barrett; the marriage ended when he died of a heart attack only two months later in November, 1968. She married real-estate broker John Calvin Peoples in 1974, living with him until his death from heart failure in 1999. Her three adopted children are Tracy Waterfield, Thomas Waterfield and Buck Waterfield.
Russell was unable to have children, after a botched abortion in her teenage years left her infertile. Later, she opposed the use of abortion in any circumstance including rape or incest. She championed the passage of the Federal Orphan Adoption Amendment of 1953, which allowed children of American servicemen born overseas to be placed for adoption in the United States. In 1955, she founded World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), the first international adoption program. Through her organisation, Russell has placed 51,000 children with adoptive families.
She retired to Santa Maria, California, after the death of her third husband in 1999 to be close to her youngest son. In 2006, at age 84, she put together a musical show entitled 'The Swinging Forties' that played twice a month at the Radisson Hotel. The show featured herself and about a dozen local Santa Maria residents, including a choir director, lay preacher and retired police officer. She formed the show out of boredom and because there was nothing much going on in town for the older folks to do.
Jane Russell died at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness in 2011. Although rumours circulated that she was buried at Santa Barbara Cemetery, Russell was in fact cremated at Santa Barbara Cemetery and her ashes were scattered at sea.
Spanish card, no. 256.
Spanish postcard, no. 280.
Spanish postcard.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no W 247. Photo: United Artists.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 473. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 23 H. Photo: H.P.S.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 3359. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952).
Dutch postcard by Foto archief: Film en Toneel, no. AX 269. Photo: RKO Radio Films.
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 108. Photo: RKO Radio.
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 465. Photo: RKO Radio Film. Publicity still for The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952).
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 957. Photo: RKO Film.
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 479. Photo: Paramount Pictures Inc., 1953.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1028. Photo: Dear Film. Publicity still for Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (Richard Sale, 1955).
Vintage postcard, no. 359. Photo: Columbia Pictures. Jane Russell in Hot Blood (Nicholas Ray, 1956).
French postcard by Huit, Paris, no. A 8. Photo: 20th Century Fox / ISV. Jane Russell in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (Raoul Walsh, 1956).
Dutch or Belgian postcard, no. AX 293. Photo: United Artists.
French postcard.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/15.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/24.
Sources: Brendon Hanley (AllMovie), (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia and .
Vintage postcard. Photo: George Hurrell. Publicity still for The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943).
Belgian collectors Card, no. A 50. Photo: Paramount. Jane Russell in The Paleface (Norman Z. McLeod, 1948).
Yugoslavian postcard by Sedmo Silo / IOM, Beograd. Photo: Jane Russell and Brad Dexter in The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952).
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 378. Photo: Paramount Films. Jane Russell in Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952).
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/16.
Sex appeal is good - but not in bad taste
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was born in 1921, in Bemidji, Minnesota. She was the only daughter of the five children of Geraldine (née Jacobi) and Roy William Russell. She had four younger brothers: Tom Russell, Kenny Russell, James H. Russell and Wally Russell. Her father had been a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and her mother an actress with a road troupe. When Jane was two, her family moved to Southern California where her father worked as an office manager.
Russell's mother arranged for her to take piano lessons. In addition to music, she was interested in drama and participated in stage productions at Van Nuys High School. Her early ambition was to be a designer of some kind, until the death of her father in his mid-40s, when she decided to work as a receptionist after graduation. She also modeled for photographers, and, at the urging of her mother, studied drama and acting with Max Reinhardt's Theatrical Workshop and with acting coach Maria Ouspenskaya.
In 1940, Jane Russell was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul, Howard Hughes. She made her film debut in the Western The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943), a story about Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) that went to great lengths to showcase Russell's voluptuous figure. The film was completed in 1941, but it was not released until 1943 in a limited release. Hughes' battles with the censors resulted in the film spending three years on the shelf before finally gaining wide release in a cut version in 1946.
During that time, Russell was kept busy doing publicity and she became known nationally. The film and the controversy turned her into an icon. She was a popular pin-up photo with servicemen during World War II. Wikipedia cites Russell: "Sex appeal is good - but not in bad taste. Then it's ugly. I don't think a star has any business posing in a vulgar way. I've seen plenty of pin-up pictures that have sex appeal, interest, and allure, but they're not vulgar. They have a little art to them. Marilyn's calendar was artistic."
Russell did not appear in another film until 1946, when she played Joan Kenwood in Young Widow (Edwin L. Marin, 1946) opposite Louis Hayward, released through United Artists. The film went over budget by $600,000 and was a box office failure. In 1947 Russell delved into music before returning to films. She sang with the Kay Kyser Orchestra on radio, and recorded two singles with his band. Then, she played Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface (Norman Z. McLeod, 1948). The film was a sizeable box office hit, earning $4 million. She later also played Mike 'the Torch' Delroy opposite Hope in another Western comedy, Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952). It was also a hit.
In between, Howard Hughes cast Russell opposite Robert Mitchum and Vincent Price in the Film Noir His Kind of Woman (1951). The film was originally directed by John Farrow in 1950, but would be re-shot by Richard Fleischer the following year. Russell did two more Film Noirs: The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952) with Price and Victor Mature , and Macao (Josef von Sternberg, 1952) with Robert Mitchum . His Kind of Woman and Macao were minor hits but both involved so much re-shooting through the interference of Hughes that they lost money.
West-German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/14. Photo: Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953).
Italian programme card for Il Cinema Ritrovata 2011. Photo: publicity still for Gentlemen prefer blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953) with Marilyn Monroe , Charles Coburn and Jane Russell.
American postcard by Classico, San Francisco, no.105-010. Photo: Twentieth Century-Fox. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953).
American postcard in the Demac Collection. Photo: Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953).
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/25.
Sex symbols used to an interesting, paradoxical effect
Most famously, Jane Russell played Dorothy Shaw in the hit musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953) opposite Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee. The film was a huge success, Russell's biggest hit since The Outlaw, making over $5 million.
Brendon Hanley at AllMovie : "On the surface, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a brassy, garish, colorful musical comedy featuring two rather lightweight actresses, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Ultimately, however, director Howard Hawks uses the nature of the material and the glossy stars to an interesting, paradoxical effect. The film lacks strong masculine characters and any sort of traditional morality; it's dominated by the superficial. The two main characters are sex symbols who, in true Hawksian fashion, have their sex-appeal turned on its head."
Back at RKO she was in Howard Hughes's production The French Line (Lloyd Bacon, 1954), a musical which also starred Gilbert Roland. The films penultimate moment showed Russell in a form-fitting one-piece bathing suit with strategic cutouts, performing a then-provocative musical number titled 'Lookin' for Trouble'. Wikipedia : "In her autobiography, Russell said that the revealing outfit was an alternative to Hughes' original suggestion of a bikini, a very racy choice for a movie costume in 1954. Russell said that she initially wore the bikini in front of her "horrified" movie crew while "feeling very naked."" The film earned $3 million.
Hughes also produced Underwater! (John Sturges, 1955), an adventure film with Russell and Richard Egan at RKO. It made $2 million but because of its large cost was a financial flop. Her contract with Hughes eventually ended in February 1954. Russell co-starred with Clark Gable in The Tall Men (Raoul Walsh, 1955) at Fox, one of the most popular films of the year, with earnings of $6 million. Her own production company Russ-Field produced Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (Richard Sale, 1955), a sequel to Blondes in which Russell starred alongside Jeanne Crain, for release through United Artists. It was not as successful as the original.
Russell made Hot Blood (Nicholas Ray, 1956) with Cornel Wilde at Columbia and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (Raoul Walsh, 1956) at Fox, in the latter playing a role meant for Marilyn Monroe . None of these films were particularly successful. Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s.
Jane Russell starred in more than 20 films throughout her career. Her final film was Darker than Amber (Robert Clouse, 1970), a film adaptation of John D. MacDonald's suspense novel, starring Rod Taylor as Travis McGee. Russell often played cynical, 'tough broads,' and in 1971, she starred in the Broadway musical Company.
In 1985, she published the autobiography 'Jane Russell: My Path and My Detours', in which she noted that she had an affair with John Payne in 1942. The affair ended when Jane realised that she was still in love with her high school sweetheart, football player Robert Waterfield, whom she married in April 1943.
Russell married three times, and adopted three children. Her first marriage with Bob Waterfield ended in a divorce in 1968. Two months after her divorce, Russell married actor Roger Barrett; the marriage ended when he died of a heart attack only two months later in November, 1968. She married real-estate broker John Calvin Peoples in 1974, living with him until his death from heart failure in 1999. Her three adopted children are Tracy Waterfield, Thomas Waterfield and Buck Waterfield.
Russell was unable to have children, after a botched abortion in her teenage years left her infertile. Later, she opposed the use of abortion in any circumstance including rape or incest. She championed the passage of the Federal Orphan Adoption Amendment of 1953, which allowed children of American servicemen born overseas to be placed for adoption in the United States. In 1955, she founded World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), the first international adoption program. Through her organisation, Russell has placed 51,000 children with adoptive families.
She retired to Santa Maria, California, after the death of her third husband in 1999 to be close to her youngest son. In 2006, at age 84, she put together a musical show entitled 'The Swinging Forties' that played twice a month at the Radisson Hotel. The show featured herself and about a dozen local Santa Maria residents, including a choir director, lay preacher and retired police officer. She formed the show out of boredom and because there was nothing much going on in town for the older folks to do.
Jane Russell died at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness in 2011. Although rumours circulated that she was buried at Santa Barbara Cemetery, Russell was in fact cremated at Santa Barbara Cemetery and her ashes were scattered at sea.
Spanish card, no. 256.
Spanish postcard, no. 280.
Spanish postcard.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no W 247. Photo: United Artists.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 473. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 23 H. Photo: H.P.S.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 3359. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952).
Dutch postcard by Foto archief: Film en Toneel, no. AX 269. Photo: RKO Radio Films.
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 108. Photo: RKO Radio.
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 465. Photo: RKO Radio Film. Publicity still for The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952).
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 957. Photo: RKO Film.
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 479. Photo: Paramount Pictures Inc., 1953.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1028. Photo: Dear Film. Publicity still for Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (Richard Sale, 1955).
Vintage postcard, no. 359. Photo: Columbia Pictures. Jane Russell in Hot Blood (Nicholas Ray, 1956).
French postcard by Huit, Paris, no. A 8. Photo: 20th Century Fox / ISV. Jane Russell in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (Raoul Walsh, 1956).
Dutch or Belgian postcard, no. AX 293. Photo: United Artists.
French postcard.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/15.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/24.
Sources: Brendon Hanley (AllMovie), (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia and .
February 10, 2020
Carnavalesca (1918)
Our last three film specials, about the American production The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917) with Marguerite Clark, the French Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) and Lorena (Georges Tréville, 1918), both starring Suzanne Grandais, were all based on series of Spanish postcards published by the Spanish company Chocolate Amatller Marca Luna. Today's post is also filled with Amattler postcards, but focuses on an Italian film with film diva Lyda Borelli, Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 1. Photo: Lyda Borelli, Livio Pavanelli and Augusto Poggioli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918). Here left of the marshall we see Livio Pavanelli and Augusto Poggioli, on the back in the flowery dress, Lyda Borelli , and right of her the unknown actor who plays Pietro.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 2. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Teresa (Borelli) and others watch the men doing a boat race. Carlo wins by cheating.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 3. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 4. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 5. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 7. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918).
Four Carnivals
The stars of Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918) are Lyda Borelli and Livio Pavanelli . Our sources are unclear about the other actors, and they also mixed up names. By viewing the film, we recognised Augusto Poggioli as Prince Luciano and Thea as Ms Thea, but we were not able to trace the actor who plays Pietro. It is for sure not Alberto Capozzi as some sources pretend.
Carnevalesca was based on a script by Lucio d'Ambra. Photography was by Giovanni Grimaldi. It's told around four carnivals, that take place at the castle of Malazia. The first white carnival shows the young children of the sovereign and their little cousins, who enjoy themselves with merry games.
By the help of a detective, the Court Marshall of the old King Luigi of Malazia discovers that the king's son, Luciano (Augusto Poggioli), heir to the throne, has an affair with young Ms Thea (the actress Thea ); she is pregnant. After threats by the Marshall, Luciano sacrifices the throne in order not to dishonour and abandon his mistress and flees with her.
Who will be heir to the throne then? The blue carnival starts. At night, during a big ball, the king makes the first will in favour of his nephew Carlo ( Livio Pavanelli ), of whom we already know he is vile and evil, winning a boat race by cheating. The king rethinks and instead selects Luciano's sister, Maria Teresa ( Lyda Borelli ), with her fiance, Prince Pietro (actor unknown).
Spies spread the two versions of the will. At last, the king decides to postpone his decision, so a third option arises. Everybody is confused during the ball, because of this. Beforehand, Pietro has demonstrated his prestigious dagger, with which he once had to kill a scoundrel. An unknown person steals the dagger and kills the king with it.
The red carnival starts. According to the second will, Maria Teresa becomes queen, to Carlo's utmost jealousy. Luciano returns to the kingdom to avenge his father's death. Carlo more and more puts the suspicion on Pietro, right during the wedding day of Maria Teresa and Pietro. Vengeful, Maria Teresa fills Pietro with champagne, to confess his murder, but he only tells her he once killed a man with it. That's enough for her, so she stabs him to death.
Luciano, entering with Carlo, tells her she has made an atrocious mistake. She understands she has been misled by Carlo. Moreover, she presses him to confess the murder of her father. In shock, she leaves the castle and flees. It is the black carnival.
Scriptwriter/director Lucio d'Ambra remembered how Cines producer Baron Fassini, just like he had drilled sailors when in the navy, now drilled his crew, but treated his star Borelli with the highest regard. D'Ambra was commanded to write the script for Carnevalesca in ten days. He himself hoped to elevate the film by a score by Pietro Mascagni but nothing came of it, so the ordinary cinema music and Viennese waltz accompanied it.
After the film came out, Giacomo Puccini enthusiastically came to him announcing they had to collaborate on it, but, again, nothing came of it. At the time the journal Vita cinematografica considered the antinaturalistic, Symbolist film, not only because of its decadent visuals but also for its erudite, Dannunzian intertitles, as too excessive and artificial, fearing that soon the American realism, backed by their endless funding, would wipe away the Italians. The journal also blamed D'Ambra by starting the real drama too late, during the red carnival.
In 1993 the film was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna. Clips from the film were used in the compilation film Diva dolorosa (1999) by Peter Delpeut.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 8. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 9 (17a). Photo: Livio Pavanelli and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Teresa (Borelli) discovers that Carlo (Pavanelli) has misled her in thinking her husband killed her father. Carlo killed him instead.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 11. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Teresa (Borelli) suspects her husband has killed her father, as his dagger has been used.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 12. Photo: Livio Pavanelli (at left) and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Carlo (Pavanelli) fills the ears of Maria Teresa (Borelli) with false accusations.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 13. Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918). Photo: Livio Pavanelli and possibly Olga Benetti in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Their characters have just heard they will probably not inherit the throne.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 14. Photo: Livio Pavanelli (at left) and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 15. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 16. Photo: Livio Pavanelli and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Carlo abhors when he discovers his poisonous lies have Maria Teresa made killing her husband, Prince Pietro.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 17. Photo: Lyda Borelli and Livio Pavanelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Teresa (Borelli) realises she has killed her husband unjustly, as Carlo was the culprit and he put the blame on the husband.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 18. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Maria Teresa discovers she has killed the man she loved while was innocent. Just as with the dead Scarpia in Puccini's opera 'Tosca' and the preceding play by Sardou with Sarah Bernhardt performing, candles are placed next to the dead person.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 19. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Sources: Sempre in penombra (Italian), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 1. Photo: Lyda Borelli, Livio Pavanelli and Augusto Poggioli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918). Here left of the marshall we see Livio Pavanelli and Augusto Poggioli, on the back in the flowery dress, Lyda Borelli , and right of her the unknown actor who plays Pietro.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 2. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Teresa (Borelli) and others watch the men doing a boat race. Carlo wins by cheating.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 3. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 4. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 5. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 7. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918).
Four Carnivals
The stars of Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918) are Lyda Borelli and Livio Pavanelli . Our sources are unclear about the other actors, and they also mixed up names. By viewing the film, we recognised Augusto Poggioli as Prince Luciano and Thea as Ms Thea, but we were not able to trace the actor who plays Pietro. It is for sure not Alberto Capozzi as some sources pretend.
Carnevalesca was based on a script by Lucio d'Ambra. Photography was by Giovanni Grimaldi. It's told around four carnivals, that take place at the castle of Malazia. The first white carnival shows the young children of the sovereign and their little cousins, who enjoy themselves with merry games.
By the help of a detective, the Court Marshall of the old King Luigi of Malazia discovers that the king's son, Luciano (Augusto Poggioli), heir to the throne, has an affair with young Ms Thea (the actress Thea ); she is pregnant. After threats by the Marshall, Luciano sacrifices the throne in order not to dishonour and abandon his mistress and flees with her.
Who will be heir to the throne then? The blue carnival starts. At night, during a big ball, the king makes the first will in favour of his nephew Carlo ( Livio Pavanelli ), of whom we already know he is vile and evil, winning a boat race by cheating. The king rethinks and instead selects Luciano's sister, Maria Teresa ( Lyda Borelli ), with her fiance, Prince Pietro (actor unknown).
Spies spread the two versions of the will. At last, the king decides to postpone his decision, so a third option arises. Everybody is confused during the ball, because of this. Beforehand, Pietro has demonstrated his prestigious dagger, with which he once had to kill a scoundrel. An unknown person steals the dagger and kills the king with it.
The red carnival starts. According to the second will, Maria Teresa becomes queen, to Carlo's utmost jealousy. Luciano returns to the kingdom to avenge his father's death. Carlo more and more puts the suspicion on Pietro, right during the wedding day of Maria Teresa and Pietro. Vengeful, Maria Teresa fills Pietro with champagne, to confess his murder, but he only tells her he once killed a man with it. That's enough for her, so she stabs him to death.
Luciano, entering with Carlo, tells her she has made an atrocious mistake. She understands she has been misled by Carlo. Moreover, she presses him to confess the murder of her father. In shock, she leaves the castle and flees. It is the black carnival.
Scriptwriter/director Lucio d'Ambra remembered how Cines producer Baron Fassini, just like he had drilled sailors when in the navy, now drilled his crew, but treated his star Borelli with the highest regard. D'Ambra was commanded to write the script for Carnevalesca in ten days. He himself hoped to elevate the film by a score by Pietro Mascagni but nothing came of it, so the ordinary cinema music and Viennese waltz accompanied it.
After the film came out, Giacomo Puccini enthusiastically came to him announcing they had to collaborate on it, but, again, nothing came of it. At the time the journal Vita cinematografica considered the antinaturalistic, Symbolist film, not only because of its decadent visuals but also for its erudite, Dannunzian intertitles, as too excessive and artificial, fearing that soon the American realism, backed by their endless funding, would wipe away the Italians. The journal also blamed D'Ambra by starting the real drama too late, during the red carnival.
In 1993 the film was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna. Clips from the film were used in the compilation film Diva dolorosa (1999) by Peter Delpeut.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 8. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 9 (17a). Photo: Livio Pavanelli and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Teresa (Borelli) discovers that Carlo (Pavanelli) has misled her in thinking her husband killed her father. Carlo killed him instead.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 11. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Teresa (Borelli) suspects her husband has killed her father, as his dagger has been used.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 12. Photo: Livio Pavanelli (at left) and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Here Carlo (Pavanelli) fills the ears of Maria Teresa (Borelli) with false accusations.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 13. Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918). Photo: Livio Pavanelli and possibly Olga Benetti in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Their characters have just heard they will probably not inherit the throne.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 14. Photo: Livio Pavanelli (at left) and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 15. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 16. Photo: Livio Pavanelli and Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Carlo abhors when he discovers his poisonous lies have Maria Teresa made killing her husband, Prince Pietro.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 17. Photo: Lyda Borelli and Livio Pavanelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Teresa (Borelli) realises she has killed her husband unjustly, as Carlo was the culprit and he put the blame on the husband.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 18. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918). Maria Teresa discovers she has killed the man she loved while was innocent. Just as with the dead Scarpia in Puccini's opera 'Tosca' and the preceding play by Sardou with Sarah Bernhardt performing, candles are placed next to the dead person.
Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 19. Photo: Lyda Borelli in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi, 1918).
Sources: Sempre in penombra (Italian), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.
February 9, 2020
Ingeborg Körner
Ingeborg Körner (1929) is a Namibian-born German actress, best known for her parts in such West-German films as Die Rose von Stambul/The Rose of Stamboul (1953), Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (1953) and Das ideale Brautpaar/The Perfect Couple (1954). from 1955 on she only appeared on German TV and stage.
West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no FK 741. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Berliner Bühne und Film / Allianz Film.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 245, 1956. Photo: Real Film. Ingeborg Körner and Heinz Rühmann in Keine Angst vor grossen Tieren (1953).
One of the last of the Rubble films
Ingeborg Körner was born in 1929 in Keetmanshoop, in the former German colony South West Africa (now Namibia). She was the daughter of captain Oskar Körner.
After attending a ballet school and acting classes with Fritz Wagner at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and at Herma Clement in Berlin, she joined the Thalia Theater in Hamburg in 1949.
She made her film debut in the comedy Gefährliche Gäste/Dangerous Guests (Géza von Cziffra, 1949), starring Wolf Albach-Retty and Vera Molnar. She played another supporting part as student in the comedy Absender unbekannt/Unknown Sender (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1950) starring screen legend Henny Porten.
Des Lebens Überfluss/Abundance of life (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1950) was one of the last of the Rubble films made in the immediate post-war years. It updates a story by Ludwig Tieck to modern-day Hamburg, addressing the shortage of housing in the heavily bombed city.
Körner could also been seen in popular films like Das Haus in Montevideo/The House in Montevideo (Curt Goetz, Valerie van Martens, 1951), Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952), and Die Rose von Stambul/The Rose of Stamboul (Karl Anton, 1953), starring Inge Egger.
West-German postcard by F.J. Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no 660. Photo: Fono / Allianz Film / Lilo. Ingeborg Körner in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).
East-German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach I.V., no. G 708, 1956. Photo: Von Mindszenty. Ingeborg Körner in Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).
German postcard by K & B / Filmwelt Berlin Archiv für Film-Geschichte, no. 57. Photo: Deutsche London Film / T. von Mindszenty. Heinz Rühmann and Ingeborg Körner in Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).
Then her film career was suddenly over
Ingeborg Körner was the leading lady opposite Heinz Rühmann in the circus comedy Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953). She also starred in the comedies Das ideale Brautpaar/The ideal bridal couple (Robert A. Stemmle, 1954) and Mein Leopold/My Leopold (Géza von Bolváry, 1955) as Paul Hörbiger 's daughter, but then her film career was suddenly over.
In 1955, Ingeborg Körner married theatre director Hans Wölffer, and from then on she only appeared on stage and in irregular television productions. In 1951 she had moved from the Thalia Theater in Hamburg to the Komödie in Berlin. She also played guest roles at the Munich Kammerspiele.
Her stage roles included Atlanta in 'Das Haus in Montevideo' (The House in Montevideo) by Curt Goetz and the Queen in the operetta 'Der Kurier der Königin' (The Courier of the Queen) by Nico Dostal.
She also appeared in 'A Weird Lady' by John Patrick at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, in 'It remains in the family' by Louis Verneuil at the Münchner Kammerspiele as well as as Dorrit in 'My best friend' by John van Druten at the Komödie in Berlin.
On television she could be seen in the TV film Die Zeit und die Conways/Time and the Conways (John Olden, 1960) opposite Maria Emo . Her final screen appearance was in the comic TV film Mensch, Teufel noch mal/Hell, hell (1983) with Günter Pfitzmann.
Ingeborg Körner made one of her last public appearances on 23 July 2004 on the occasion of Inge Meysel 's funeral.
East-German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach I.V., no. G 707, 1956. Photo: Von Mindszenty. Ingeborg Körner in Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).
German autograph card, signed in April 1954. Photo: Arthur Grimm.
German collectors card by Helmstedter Margarinewerk GMBH, Helmstedt. Photo: Berolina / Constantin / Wesel. Ingeborg Körner in Mein Leopold (Géza von Bolváry, 1955). Gift by Didier Hanson.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and .
West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no FK 741. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Berliner Bühne und Film / Allianz Film.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 245, 1956. Photo: Real Film. Ingeborg Körner and Heinz Rühmann in Keine Angst vor grossen Tieren (1953).
One of the last of the Rubble films
Ingeborg Körner was born in 1929 in Keetmanshoop, in the former German colony South West Africa (now Namibia). She was the daughter of captain Oskar Körner.
After attending a ballet school and acting classes with Fritz Wagner at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and at Herma Clement in Berlin, she joined the Thalia Theater in Hamburg in 1949.
She made her film debut in the comedy Gefährliche Gäste/Dangerous Guests (Géza von Cziffra, 1949), starring Wolf Albach-Retty and Vera Molnar. She played another supporting part as student in the comedy Absender unbekannt/Unknown Sender (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1950) starring screen legend Henny Porten.
Des Lebens Überfluss/Abundance of life (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1950) was one of the last of the Rubble films made in the immediate post-war years. It updates a story by Ludwig Tieck to modern-day Hamburg, addressing the shortage of housing in the heavily bombed city.
Körner could also been seen in popular films like Das Haus in Montevideo/The House in Montevideo (Curt Goetz, Valerie van Martens, 1951), Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952), and Die Rose von Stambul/The Rose of Stamboul (Karl Anton, 1953), starring Inge Egger.
West-German postcard by F.J. Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no 660. Photo: Fono / Allianz Film / Lilo. Ingeborg Körner in Toxi (Robert A. Stemmle, 1952).
East-German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach I.V., no. G 708, 1956. Photo: Von Mindszenty. Ingeborg Körner in Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).
German postcard by K & B / Filmwelt Berlin Archiv für Film-Geschichte, no. 57. Photo: Deutsche London Film / T. von Mindszenty. Heinz Rühmann and Ingeborg Körner in Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).
Then her film career was suddenly over
Ingeborg Körner was the leading lady opposite Heinz Rühmann in the circus comedy Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953). She also starred in the comedies Das ideale Brautpaar/The ideal bridal couple (Robert A. Stemmle, 1954) and Mein Leopold/My Leopold (Géza von Bolváry, 1955) as Paul Hörbiger 's daughter, but then her film career was suddenly over.
In 1955, Ingeborg Körner married theatre director Hans Wölffer, and from then on she only appeared on stage and in irregular television productions. In 1951 she had moved from the Thalia Theater in Hamburg to the Komödie in Berlin. She also played guest roles at the Munich Kammerspiele.
Her stage roles included Atlanta in 'Das Haus in Montevideo' (The House in Montevideo) by Curt Goetz and the Queen in the operetta 'Der Kurier der Königin' (The Courier of the Queen) by Nico Dostal.
She also appeared in 'A Weird Lady' by John Patrick at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, in 'It remains in the family' by Louis Verneuil at the Münchner Kammerspiele as well as as Dorrit in 'My best friend' by John van Druten at the Komödie in Berlin.
On television she could be seen in the TV film Die Zeit und die Conways/Time and the Conways (John Olden, 1960) opposite Maria Emo . Her final screen appearance was in the comic TV film Mensch, Teufel noch mal/Hell, hell (1983) with Günter Pfitzmann.
Ingeborg Körner made one of her last public appearances on 23 July 2004 on the occasion of Inge Meysel 's funeral.
East-German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach I.V., no. G 707, 1956. Photo: Von Mindszenty. Ingeborg Körner in Keine Angst vor großen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).
German autograph card, signed in April 1954. Photo: Arthur Grimm.
German collectors card by Helmstedter Margarinewerk GMBH, Helmstedt. Photo: Berolina / Constantin / Wesel. Ingeborg Körner in Mein Leopold (Géza von Bolváry, 1955). Gift by Didier Hanson.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and .
February 8, 2020
Geneviève Kervine
French stage actress Geneviève Kervine (1931-1989) appeared in some 30 films during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she was good-looking and chosen as the most promising actress of France in 1955, her films generally proved to be not very memorable.
French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 582. Photo: Studio Harcourt, Paris.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 757. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Most Promising
Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Years later, she made her stage debut at the Opera of Hanoi in Vietnam, where her father was stationed at the time.
At the end of the 1940s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin , and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens.
After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theatre and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (Jean Boyer, 1952) with Philippe Lemaire .
It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (Jean Boyer, 1954), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (Maurice Labro, 1954) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière.
Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/The Villa Sans-Souci (Maurice Labro, 1955). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1954), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau.
She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call (René Jolivet, 1955). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress.
Kervine appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/Five million cash (André Berthomieu, 1957) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (René Jolivet, 1958) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 375. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 451. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 849, presented by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'.
Comedy of Errors
During the 1960s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (Victor Merenda, 1960), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the part of Kervine.
In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (Willy Rozier, 1961), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney.
In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) starring O.W. Fischer . The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/It's not me, the other (Jean Boyer, 1962), was also her last.
Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France.
Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (René Lucot, 1977), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (Pierre Sabbagh, 1980) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets .
Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 659. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 370. Photo: Raymond Heil.
Sources: Yvan Foucart (Les gens du Cinéma - French), Wikipedia (French), and .
French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 582. Photo: Studio Harcourt, Paris.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 757. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Most Promising
Geneviève Kervine was born as Genevieve Marie Antoinette Kervingant in Dakar, Senegal in 1931. Her father was a physician-Colonel in the army, who assigned in Senegal. Years later, she made her stage debut at the Opera of Hanoi in Vietnam, where her father was stationed at the time.
At the end of the 1940s, she returned to France. She studied drama with Charles Dullin , and in the meanwhile she played small roles in operettas, which were very popular at the time, including Phi-Phi at the Bouffes-Parisiens.
After her stage training, she had her first engagements in theatre and cabaret. In 1952, she made her film debut in the crime film Cent francs par seconde/Hundred Francs Every Second (Jean Boyer, 1952) with Philippe Lemaire .
It was followed by supporting parts in films like the comedy Belle mentalité/Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953) starring Jean Richard, Une vie de garcon/A Boy’s Life (Jean Boyer, 1954), and Ma petite folie/My little madness (Maurice Labro, 1954) starring actor-singer Jean Bretonnière.
Bretonnière and Kervine fell in love, and would stay and work together for the rest of their lives. The following year they starred together in La villa Sans-Souci/The Villa Sans-Souci (Maurice Labro, 1955). Meanwhile Kervine appeared with Noël-Noël and Suzy Delair in Le fil à la patte/Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1954), based on the popular farce by Georges Feydeau.
She played opposite Jean-Paul Aumont in Dix-huit heures d'escale/Eighteen Hours of Call (René Jolivet, 1955). In 1955, she won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti, a French award for the most promising young actress.
Kervine appeared in dozens of films in this period, but none of them seems to be very remarkable. In 1957 she appeared in the comedy Cinq millions comptant/Five million cash (André Berthomieu, 1957) starring Jane Sourza. A year later she appeared opposite the great Michel Simon in a not so great drama Un certain Monsieur Jo/A Certain Mr. Jo (René Jolivet, 1958) – the IMDb voters gave it less than five stars.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 375. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 451. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 849, presented by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'.
Comedy of Errors
During the 1960s, Geneviève Kervine made less and less films. However, she often had leading parts, such as in La nuit des suspectes/Night of the Suspicious (Victor Merenda, 1960), which was later remade by François Ozon as 8 Femmes/8 Women (2002) with Virginie Ledoyen in the part of Kervine.
In the thriller Callaghan remet ça/Callaghan did it again (Willy Rozier, 1961), she had the female lead opposite Tony Wright as private eye Slim Callaghan, hero of a series of popular crime novels by Peter Cheyney.
In Germany she played in the Eurospy film Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein/Operation Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961) starring O.W. Fischer . The success of this comic thriller lead to a sequel, Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein/It’s Always Caviar (Géza von Radványi, 1961). Her next film, the comedy of errors C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre/It's not me, the other (Jean Boyer, 1962), was also her last.
Kervine and Jean Bretonnière often appeared together in stage plays. They married in 1967. With the company of Herbert-Karsenty, the pair did numerous tours through the provinces of France.
Incidentally Kervine could be seen on French TV. In 1977 she appeared in the mini-series Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau/History of the grandeur and decadence of Cesar Birotteau (René Lucot, 1977), based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. Her final TV appearance was in the TV play Peau de vache/Cow-Hide (Pierre Sabbagh, 1980) with Jean Bretonnière and Sophie Desmarets .
Geneviève Kervine died in 1989 in Paris, following a ruptured aneurysm. She was survived by Jean Bretonnière who died in 2001. Their son, Marc Bretonnière is also an actor.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 659. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 370. Photo: Raymond Heil.
Sources: Yvan Foucart (Les gens du Cinéma - French), Wikipedia (French), and .
February 7, 2020
Hanging on the Telephone
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice. The telephone enabled people to talk directly with each other across large distances, and soon became indispensable to businesses, government and households. The first telephones were directly connected to each other from one customer's office or residence to another. These impractical systems were quickly replaced by manually operated centrally located switchboards. Hand-held mobile phones were introduced for personal service starting in 1973. In later decades their analog cellular system evolved into digital networks. Film star postcards give an amusing illustration of the evolution of the telephone and how we used it through the decades.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3844/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Fox.
American film actor Tom Mix (1880 –1940) was the star of many early Westerns between 1909 and 1935. Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood's first Western megastar and helped to define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, no. 5000. Photo: Dansk Film Co. Olaf Fönss in the Danish film Laegen/Pesten (1917), written and directed by Fritz Rasmussen. The film was released in Denmark in 1918.
In the early 1910s, Olaf Fönss (1882-1949) became one of Denmark's leading actors. He had success with his sensational drama Atlantis (1913), inspired by the 1912 Titanic disaster and played play in countless Danish silent films, often as evil genius. In 1915 Fönss moved to Berlin, where he was put in the widely popular serial Homunculus (1916), about a devilish creature who leads humans to the wrong path.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1563/1, 1927-1928. Photo: ?.
German actor Johannes Riemann (1888-1959) appeared from World War I till the end of World War II in some 90 films, often as the gentleman who elegantly breaks a woman’s heart. From 1934 on he also wrote screen plays and directed films. In 1939 he was named Actor of the State in Nazi-Germany and in 1944 he even performed for the staff of concentration camp Auschwitz.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5154. Photo: Aafa / Lux Film Verleih.
Livio Pavanelli (1881-1958) was an Italian actor of the Italian and in particular German silent cinema. He also worked in Italian sound cinema as actor and as production manager. He directed four Italian films, both in the silent and the sound era.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4171/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox. Charles Farrell using a candlestick phone.
Good-looking American actor Charles Farrell (1900-1990) was a Hollywood matinée idol of the Jazz Age and Depression era. He seems now forgotten, but between 1927 and 1934, he was very popular thanks to his teaming with Janet Gaynor in 12 screen romances, including 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Lucky Star (1929). He retired from films in the early 1940s, but TV audiences of the 1950s would see him as Gale Storm's widower dad in the popular television series My Little Margie (1952-1955).
Dutch postcard by Remaco-Film, no. 229. Hermann Thimig and Felix Bressart in Die Privatsekretärin/The Private Secretary (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931).
German stage and screen actor Felix Bressart (1892–1949) had to flee Germany after the Nazis seized to power. He continued his film career in Austria and later in the US, where he became a popular character actor for MGM. Austrian director and stage and film actor Hermann Thimig (1890-1982) made 99 films during six decades.
Dutch postcard by Filma, no. 430. Dolly Haas uses an early public payphone in So ein Mädel vergisst man nicht (Fritz Kortner, 1932).
Stage and screen actress Dolly Haas (1910-1994) was popular in the 1930s as a vivacious, red-haired gamine, often wearing trousers, in German and British films.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7249/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932).
Swedish Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was one of the greatest and most glamorous film stars ever produced by the Hollywood studio system. She was part of the Golden Age of the silent cinema of the 1920’s and was one of the few actors who made a glorious transition to the talkies. She started her career in the European cinema and would always stay more popular in Europe than in the USA.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 165/3, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Renate Müller and Ida Wüst in Wie sag' ich's meinem Mann?/How Shall I Tell My Husband? (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932).
Popular actress Renate Müller (1906-1937) was the toast of late 1920s Berlin. She had a comet-like career in the early German sound cinema, that was abruptly ended by her mysterious early death. German actress Ida Wüst (1884-1956) was a popular Ufa star in the 1920s and 1930s. She appeared in almost 150 films.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Nationaal Film. Henriëtte Davids and Jopie Koopman in Op stap/On the Move (Ernst Winar, 1935).
Dutch variety artist and comedian Henriëtte 'Heintje' Davids (1888-1975) was the sister of talented cabaret star Louis Davids. She appeared in De Jantjes/The Tars (1934) and several other Dutch films of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Jopie Koopman (1910-1979) was one of the stars of the Dutch cinema of the 1930s. The pretty cabaret artist sang and played in several revues and early sound films.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 3827. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Jean Harlow in Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937).
American film actress Jean Harlow (1911-1937) was one of the sex symbols of the 1930s.
British Raphael Tuck & Sons' Real Photograph postcard, no. 18. Photo: Gaumont-British.
Gordon Harker (1885-1967) was a popular English film actor who specialised in Cockney roles. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he seemed to appear in every crime film produced in England. Between 1921 and 1959, he appeared in a total of 68 films, including four directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Dutch postcard.
American stage, film, television actress and singer Gloria Grahame (1923-1981) was often cast in Film Noirs as a tarnished beauty with an irresistible sexual allure. She received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress nomination for Crossfire (1947), and would later win the award for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). Her best known films are Sudden Fear (1952), Human Desire (1953), The Big Heat (1953), and Oklahoma! (1955), but her film career began to wane soon afterwards.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2061. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.
Blonde and curvey Diana Dors (1931-1984) was called ‘The English Marilyn Monroe’, to her disgust. In her own words: “I was the first home-grown sex symbol, rather like Britain's naughty seaside postcards."
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 201.
Sorry! Earlier, I mixed up gorgeous Italian singer and actress Rosalina Neri (1927 or 1934?) with another gorgeous Italian actress, Rosalba Neri. The actress on the postcards was called 'the Italian Marilyn Monroe' in the 1950s. (Thanks, Marlene!)
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3021. Photo: Michaelis / Carlton Film / NF. Ivan Desny in Rosen für Bettina/Ballerina (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1956).
French-German actor Ivan Desny (1922-2002) was a cosmopolitan film star with a truly European film career that spanned four decades. In the years after the war he appeared in British, French, Italian and German films before he became one of the protagonists of the Neue Deutsche Welle - the German New Wave of the 1970s.
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen no. 789. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Elke Sommer uses three classic rotary-dial telephones at once and has two others nearby.
In the late 1950s, blonde Elke Sommer (1940) was a European sex symbol before conquering Hollywood in the early 1960s. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheek bones and sky-high bouffant hair-dos, Sommer made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. The gorgeous German film star was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties, and posed twice for Playboy.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf, no. 1898. Photo: Rapid / Gloria / Guzman. Karin Baal in Zwischen Schanghai und St. Pauli/Voyage to Danger (Roberto Bianchi Montero, Wolfgang Schleif, 1962).
German film actress Karin Baal (1940) has appeared in over 90 films since 1956. She started as a teenage rebel in the cult film Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956) and became one of the brightest stars of the Wirtschaftswunder cinema.
French postcard by Universal Collections, 2004. Photo: Canal+ Image UK Ltd. Patrick Macnee in The Avengers (1961-1969).
The Avengers (1961-1969) is a delicious, quirky Spy-Fi television series set in cold war Britain. In one hour episodes, The Avengers focused on the adventures of eccentric, suave British agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and his investigative partners working for the 'Ministry'. The series originally opened with a jazz-influenced theme by John Dankworth, but Laurie Johnson composed 'The Avengers Theme', used in the opening and closing title sequences of the later seasons.
Dutch postcard. Photo: Carice van Houten holding a mobile telephone in De gelukkige huisvrouw/The Happy Housewife (Antoinette Beumer, 2010).
Dutch actress Carice van Houten (1976) is perhaps best known for her lead roles in Paul Verhoeven's award-winning Zwartboek/Black Book (2006), Bryan Singer's Valkyrie (2008) opposite Tom Cruise and as Melisandre on the massively popular TV series Game of Thrones (2012-2019).
Sources: Wikipedia and . And also check out: BFI's Dial T for telephone.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3844/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Fox.
American film actor Tom Mix (1880 –1940) was the star of many early Westerns between 1909 and 1935. Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood's first Western megastar and helped to define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, no. 5000. Photo: Dansk Film Co. Olaf Fönss in the Danish film Laegen/Pesten (1917), written and directed by Fritz Rasmussen. The film was released in Denmark in 1918.
In the early 1910s, Olaf Fönss (1882-1949) became one of Denmark's leading actors. He had success with his sensational drama Atlantis (1913), inspired by the 1912 Titanic disaster and played play in countless Danish silent films, often as evil genius. In 1915 Fönss moved to Berlin, where he was put in the widely popular serial Homunculus (1916), about a devilish creature who leads humans to the wrong path.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1563/1, 1927-1928. Photo: ?.
German actor Johannes Riemann (1888-1959) appeared from World War I till the end of World War II in some 90 films, often as the gentleman who elegantly breaks a woman’s heart. From 1934 on he also wrote screen plays and directed films. In 1939 he was named Actor of the State in Nazi-Germany and in 1944 he even performed for the staff of concentration camp Auschwitz.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5154. Photo: Aafa / Lux Film Verleih.
Livio Pavanelli (1881-1958) was an Italian actor of the Italian and in particular German silent cinema. He also worked in Italian sound cinema as actor and as production manager. He directed four Italian films, both in the silent and the sound era.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4171/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox. Charles Farrell using a candlestick phone.
Good-looking American actor Charles Farrell (1900-1990) was a Hollywood matinée idol of the Jazz Age and Depression era. He seems now forgotten, but between 1927 and 1934, he was very popular thanks to his teaming with Janet Gaynor in 12 screen romances, including 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Lucky Star (1929). He retired from films in the early 1940s, but TV audiences of the 1950s would see him as Gale Storm's widower dad in the popular television series My Little Margie (1952-1955).
Dutch postcard by Remaco-Film, no. 229. Hermann Thimig and Felix Bressart in Die Privatsekretärin/The Private Secretary (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931).
German stage and screen actor Felix Bressart (1892–1949) had to flee Germany after the Nazis seized to power. He continued his film career in Austria and later in the US, where he became a popular character actor for MGM. Austrian director and stage and film actor Hermann Thimig (1890-1982) made 99 films during six decades.
Dutch postcard by Filma, no. 430. Dolly Haas uses an early public payphone in So ein Mädel vergisst man nicht (Fritz Kortner, 1932).
Stage and screen actress Dolly Haas (1910-1994) was popular in the 1930s as a vivacious, red-haired gamine, often wearing trousers, in German and British films.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7249/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932).
Swedish Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was one of the greatest and most glamorous film stars ever produced by the Hollywood studio system. She was part of the Golden Age of the silent cinema of the 1920’s and was one of the few actors who made a glorious transition to the talkies. She started her career in the European cinema and would always stay more popular in Europe than in the USA.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 165/3, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Renate Müller and Ida Wüst in Wie sag' ich's meinem Mann?/How Shall I Tell My Husband? (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932).
Popular actress Renate Müller (1906-1937) was the toast of late 1920s Berlin. She had a comet-like career in the early German sound cinema, that was abruptly ended by her mysterious early death. German actress Ida Wüst (1884-1956) was a popular Ufa star in the 1920s and 1930s. She appeared in almost 150 films.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Nationaal Film. Henriëtte Davids and Jopie Koopman in Op stap/On the Move (Ernst Winar, 1935).
Dutch variety artist and comedian Henriëtte 'Heintje' Davids (1888-1975) was the sister of talented cabaret star Louis Davids. She appeared in De Jantjes/The Tars (1934) and several other Dutch films of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Jopie Koopman (1910-1979) was one of the stars of the Dutch cinema of the 1930s. The pretty cabaret artist sang and played in several revues and early sound films.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 3827. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Jean Harlow in Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937).
American film actress Jean Harlow (1911-1937) was one of the sex symbols of the 1930s.
British Raphael Tuck & Sons' Real Photograph postcard, no. 18. Photo: Gaumont-British.
Gordon Harker (1885-1967) was a popular English film actor who specialised in Cockney roles. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he seemed to appear in every crime film produced in England. Between 1921 and 1959, he appeared in a total of 68 films, including four directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Dutch postcard.
American stage, film, television actress and singer Gloria Grahame (1923-1981) was often cast in Film Noirs as a tarnished beauty with an irresistible sexual allure. She received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress nomination for Crossfire (1947), and would later win the award for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). Her best known films are Sudden Fear (1952), Human Desire (1953), The Big Heat (1953), and Oklahoma! (1955), but her film career began to wane soon afterwards.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2061. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.
Blonde and curvey Diana Dors (1931-1984) was called ‘The English Marilyn Monroe’, to her disgust. In her own words: “I was the first home-grown sex symbol, rather like Britain's naughty seaside postcards."
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 201.
Sorry! Earlier, I mixed up gorgeous Italian singer and actress Rosalina Neri (1927 or 1934?) with another gorgeous Italian actress, Rosalba Neri. The actress on the postcards was called 'the Italian Marilyn Monroe' in the 1950s. (Thanks, Marlene!)
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3021. Photo: Michaelis / Carlton Film / NF. Ivan Desny in Rosen für Bettina/Ballerina (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1956).
French-German actor Ivan Desny (1922-2002) was a cosmopolitan film star with a truly European film career that spanned four decades. In the years after the war he appeared in British, French, Italian and German films before he became one of the protagonists of the Neue Deutsche Welle - the German New Wave of the 1970s.
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen no. 789. Photo: Lothar Winkler. Elke Sommer uses three classic rotary-dial telephones at once and has two others nearby.
In the late 1950s, blonde Elke Sommer (1940) was a European sex symbol before conquering Hollywood in the early 1960s. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheek bones and sky-high bouffant hair-dos, Sommer made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. The gorgeous German film star was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties, and posed twice for Playboy.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf, no. 1898. Photo: Rapid / Gloria / Guzman. Karin Baal in Zwischen Schanghai und St. Pauli/Voyage to Danger (Roberto Bianchi Montero, Wolfgang Schleif, 1962).
German film actress Karin Baal (1940) has appeared in over 90 films since 1956. She started as a teenage rebel in the cult film Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956) and became one of the brightest stars of the Wirtschaftswunder cinema.
French postcard by Universal Collections, 2004. Photo: Canal+ Image UK Ltd. Patrick Macnee in The Avengers (1961-1969).
The Avengers (1961-1969) is a delicious, quirky Spy-Fi television series set in cold war Britain. In one hour episodes, The Avengers focused on the adventures of eccentric, suave British agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and his investigative partners working for the 'Ministry'. The series originally opened with a jazz-influenced theme by John Dankworth, but Laurie Johnson composed 'The Avengers Theme', used in the opening and closing title sequences of the later seasons.
Dutch postcard. Photo: Carice van Houten holding a mobile telephone in De gelukkige huisvrouw/The Happy Housewife (Antoinette Beumer, 2010).
Dutch actress Carice van Houten (1976) is perhaps best known for her lead roles in Paul Verhoeven's award-winning Zwartboek/Black Book (2006), Bryan Singer's Valkyrie (2008) opposite Tom Cruise and as Melisandre on the massively popular TV series Game of Thrones (2012-2019).
Sources: Wikipedia and . And also check out: BFI's Dial T for telephone.
February 6, 2020
Kirk Douglas (1916-2019)
Cleft-chinned and steely-eyed American superstar Kirk Douglas (1916) passed away on 5 February 2020 in Los Angeles, at the age of 103. The legendary actor, producer and director made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, Westerns and war films. Our favourites are the two classics he made with Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). During his long career, he appeared in more than 90 films. Mr. Douglas, rest in peace, EFSP salutes you.
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7143. Photo: Universal International, 1960. Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960).
German postcard by ISV, no. A 42. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for The Racers (Henry Hathaway, 1955).
French postcard in the Collection Cinema Couleur by Editions La Malibran, Paris/Nancy, 1989. Photo: John Bryson. Publicity still for Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956).
Israelian postcard by Editions de Luxe. Photo: publicity still for The Last Sunset (Robert Aldrich, 1961).
Italian postcard by in the Artisti di Sempre series by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 297.
The ragman's son
Kirk Douglas was born as 'the ragman's son' (the name of his 1988 autobiography) known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, in Amsterdam, New York, in 1916. His parents, Bryna (Sanglel) and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, Mahilyow Voblast (now in Belarus). Kirk had six sisters.
Growing up in a poor ghetto, 'Izzy' Demsky sold snacks to mill workers and delivered newspapers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. He was a fine student and wrestled competitively during his time at St. Lawrence University. He worked at more than forty different jobs before getting an acting job. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts gave him a special scholarship, but he only appeared in a handful of minor Broadway productions before joining the US Navy in 1941. He then legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas.
After the war, Douglas returned to New York City and found work in radio, theatre and commercials. His stage break occurred in Kiss and Tell, which led to other roles. On the insistence of ex-classmate Lauren Bacall producer Hal B. Wallis screen-tested Douglas and cast him opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946). He played a young, insecure man, stung with jealousy, whose life was dominated by a ruthless older woman, and he hid his feelings with alcohol. It would be the last time that Douglas portrayed a weakling in a film role.
His performance received rave reviews and further work quickly followed, including an appearance in the Film Noir I walk alone(Byron Haskin, 1948). It was the first time he worked alongside Burt Lancaster . They appeared in seven films together, including the dynamic western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges, 1957), the John Frankenheimer political thriller Seven Days in May (1964) and their final pairing in the gangster comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 393. Photo: Paramount Pictures Corporation.
Spanish postcard by Soberanas, no. 280. Photo: publicity still for Champion (Mark Robson, 1949) with Ruth Roman.
Dutch card. Photo: Warner Bros. Doris Day and Kirk Douglas in Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950).
Spanish postcard by JDP, Valencia, no. 1375. Photo: Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker in Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951).
Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Antwerp, no A 43. Photo: Warner Bros.
Vincent van Gogh
Douglas scored his first Oscar nomination playing the tough, unscrupulous boxing hero Midge Kelly in the gripping The Champion (Mark Robson, 1949). His acting style, relying on expressing great concentration, realism, and powerful emotions, made him a star. Among his early films were the musical drama Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950) opposite Lauren Bacall, Billy Wilder's Film Noir on the press Ace in the Hole (1951) which won a best foreign film award at the Venice Film Festival, and the Film Noir Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951), nominated for four Academy Awards.
The quality of his work continued to garner the attention of critics. He was again nominated for an Oscar for his role as a film producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952) opposite Lana Turner . Douglas plays a hard-nosed film producer who manipulates and uses his actors, writers, and directors. The film won five Academy Awards out of six nominations.
Douglas showed a lighter, comic touch in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954). In this adaptation of Jules Verne's 19th-century novel, he played a happy-go-lucky sailor who was the opposite in every way to the brooding Captain Nemo ( James Mason ). The film was one of Walt Disney's most successful live-action films, won two minor Oscars and was a major box-office hit.
He got another Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956), based on Irving Stone's best-seller and filmed in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's massive creative power and his tortured soul. His moving and memorable Van Gogh is considered one of his finest roles. Douglas won a Golden Globe award.
Douglas demonstrated his independent streak and broke his contracts with Hal Wallis and Warner Brothers to gain total control over his projects. In Italy, he made the successful Ulisse/Ulyssus (Mario Camerini, 1954) an adaptation of Homer's second epic, that describes Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war. Douglas formed his own film company, Bryna Productions, named after his mother. The company was behind two pivotal film roles in his career. The first was as French army officer Colonel Dax in then relatively unknown director Stanley Kubrick's brilliant anti-war epic Paths of Glory (1957). During World War I, Dax tries to save three soldiers from the firing squad. While Paths of Glory did not do well at the box office, it has since become one of the great anti-war films.
Douglas reunited with Kubrick for yet another epic, the magnificent Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960). The film also marked a key turning point in the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy communist witch hunt in the 1950s. At Douglas' insistence Trumbo was given on-screen credit for his contributions. This began the dissolution of the infamous blacklisting policies begun almost a decade previously that had destroyed so many careers and lives. However, Trumbo's family later claimed that Douglas overstated his role.
Dutch postcard, no. 1160. Photo: Universal International. Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960).
Romanian collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) with Peter Ustinov.
Dutch collectors card in the series 'Filmsterren: een Portret' by Edito Service, 1994. Photo: Collection Christophe L. Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 40. Kirk Douglas and Ulla Jacobsson in The Heroes of Telemark (Anthony Mann, 1965).
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1268. Photo: Paramount Films.
It Runs in the Family
Douglas remained busy throughout the 1960s, starring in many films. He produced and starred as a rebellious modern-day cowboy in Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller, 1962), considered a cult classic. He acted in the mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (John Huston, 1963), alongside John Wayne in the World War II story In Harm's Way (Otto Preminger, 1965), and in the tongue-in-cheek Western The War Wagon (Burt Kennedy, 1967).
On stage, he starred in 1963 in the Broadway production of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. He bought the film rights, but no Hollywood studio could be convinced to bring the story to the screen. Kirk's son Michael Douglas finally filmed the tale, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, 1975), starring Jack Nicholson . The film won all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, and Screenplay).
Although Douglas wasn't as busy as previous years, he made nearly 40 films and appeared on various television shows between 1970 and 2008. In 1970, he starred in the Western There Was a Crooked Man... (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970) alongside Henry Fonda. In 1973, he directed his first film, Scalawag. In 1978, he costarred with John Cassavetes and Amy Irving in the excellent horror film The Fury, directed by Brian De Palma. In 1980, he starred in The Final Countdown (Don Taylor, 1980), playing the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which travels through time to the day before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was produced by his son Peter Douglas.
His other films included the Western comedy The Villain (Hal Needham, 1979) with Arnold Schwarzenegger , the Sci-fi thriller Saturn 3 (Stanley Donen, 1980) and the Australian Western The Man from Snowy River (George Miller, 1982), which received a fair degree of critical acclaim and was the most popular Australian film of all time until Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman, 1986). In 1986, he also reunited with his longtime costar Burt Lancaster in the crime comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986), with Eli Wallach. Less known are his roles in such European films as Un uomo da rispettare/The Master Touch (Michele Lupo, 1972) with Giuliano Gemma , and Veraz (Xavier Castano, 1991).
Douglas has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. France honoured him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was presented with a honorary Academy Award by Steven Spielberg in 1996. Despite a helicopter crash and a stroke suffered in the 1990s, Douglas focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life since. He underwent years of voice therapy and made the film Diamonds (John Mallory Asher, 1999), in which he played an old prizefighter who was recovering from a stroke. It costarred his longtime friend from his early years, Lauren Bacall.
Kirk Douglas was the last surviving superstar from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He lived with Belgium-born producer Anne Buydens, his wife of over 60 years. They had two children, television and film producer Peter Douglas (1955) and actor and stand-up comedian Eric Douglas. In 2004, Eric died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 46. With his first wife, Bermudian actress Diana Dill, Kirk Douglas also has two children, Michael Douglas (1944) and Joel Douglas (1947). In 2003, Michael and Joel produced It Runs in the Family (Fred Schepisi, 2003), in which Kirk starred with Michael, Michael's son Cameron Douglas, and Diana Dill, playing his wife. His most recent film appearance was in a strong non-speaking role in Meurtres à l'Empire State Building (William Karel, 2008), a French tribute and doc-crime-drama celebrating American Film Noir and the icons of the Hollywood golden age.
American postcard by Colourpicture, Boston, Mass., no. P51738. Caption: Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. In the wet cement of the world famous forecourt, Mr. Kirk Douglas becomes a movie immortal as a crowd including Donald O'Connor and George Jessel looks on.
Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor.
Belgian postcard, no. 5348.
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 55.
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 253. Photo: Centfox.
East-German postcard by Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 15/80. Photo: Günter Linke, 1979.
Trailer Ulysses (1954). Source: junkiefix (YouTube).
Trailer Spartacus (1960). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Sources: (IMDb), (IMDb), Ella Alexander (The Independent), Wikipedia and .
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7143. Photo: Universal International, 1960. Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960).
German postcard by ISV, no. A 42. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for The Racers (Henry Hathaway, 1955).
French postcard in the Collection Cinema Couleur by Editions La Malibran, Paris/Nancy, 1989. Photo: John Bryson. Publicity still for Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956).
Israelian postcard by Editions de Luxe. Photo: publicity still for The Last Sunset (Robert Aldrich, 1961).
Italian postcard by in the Artisti di Sempre series by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 297.
The ragman's son
Kirk Douglas was born as 'the ragman's son' (the name of his 1988 autobiography) known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, in Amsterdam, New York, in 1916. His parents, Bryna (Sanglel) and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, Mahilyow Voblast (now in Belarus). Kirk had six sisters.
Growing up in a poor ghetto, 'Izzy' Demsky sold snacks to mill workers and delivered newspapers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family. He was a fine student and wrestled competitively during his time at St. Lawrence University. He worked at more than forty different jobs before getting an acting job. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts gave him a special scholarship, but he only appeared in a handful of minor Broadway productions before joining the US Navy in 1941. He then legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas.
After the war, Douglas returned to New York City and found work in radio, theatre and commercials. His stage break occurred in Kiss and Tell, which led to other roles. On the insistence of ex-classmate Lauren Bacall producer Hal B. Wallis screen-tested Douglas and cast him opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946). He played a young, insecure man, stung with jealousy, whose life was dominated by a ruthless older woman, and he hid his feelings with alcohol. It would be the last time that Douglas portrayed a weakling in a film role.
His performance received rave reviews and further work quickly followed, including an appearance in the Film Noir I walk alone(Byron Haskin, 1948). It was the first time he worked alongside Burt Lancaster . They appeared in seven films together, including the dynamic western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges, 1957), the John Frankenheimer political thriller Seven Days in May (1964) and their final pairing in the gangster comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 393. Photo: Paramount Pictures Corporation.
Spanish postcard by Soberanas, no. 280. Photo: publicity still for Champion (Mark Robson, 1949) with Ruth Roman.
Dutch card. Photo: Warner Bros. Doris Day and Kirk Douglas in Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950).
Spanish postcard by JDP, Valencia, no. 1375. Photo: Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker in Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951).
Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Antwerp, no A 43. Photo: Warner Bros.
Vincent van Gogh
Douglas scored his first Oscar nomination playing the tough, unscrupulous boxing hero Midge Kelly in the gripping The Champion (Mark Robson, 1949). His acting style, relying on expressing great concentration, realism, and powerful emotions, made him a star. Among his early films were the musical drama Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz, 1950) opposite Lauren Bacall, Billy Wilder's Film Noir on the press Ace in the Hole (1951) which won a best foreign film award at the Venice Film Festival, and the Film Noir Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951), nominated for four Academy Awards.
The quality of his work continued to garner the attention of critics. He was again nominated for an Oscar for his role as a film producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952) opposite Lana Turner . Douglas plays a hard-nosed film producer who manipulates and uses his actors, writers, and directors. The film won five Academy Awards out of six nominations.
Douglas showed a lighter, comic touch in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954). In this adaptation of Jules Verne's 19th-century novel, he played a happy-go-lucky sailor who was the opposite in every way to the brooding Captain Nemo ( James Mason ). The film was one of Walt Disney's most successful live-action films, won two minor Oscars and was a major box-office hit.
He got another Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (Vincente Minnelli, 1956), based on Irving Stone's best-seller and filmed in France. Douglas was noted not only for the veracity of van Gogh's appearance but for how he conveyed the painter's massive creative power and his tortured soul. His moving and memorable Van Gogh is considered one of his finest roles. Douglas won a Golden Globe award.
Douglas demonstrated his independent streak and broke his contracts with Hal Wallis and Warner Brothers to gain total control over his projects. In Italy, he made the successful Ulisse/Ulyssus (Mario Camerini, 1954) an adaptation of Homer's second epic, that describes Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war. Douglas formed his own film company, Bryna Productions, named after his mother. The company was behind two pivotal film roles in his career. The first was as French army officer Colonel Dax in then relatively unknown director Stanley Kubrick's brilliant anti-war epic Paths of Glory (1957). During World War I, Dax tries to save three soldiers from the firing squad. While Paths of Glory did not do well at the box office, it has since become one of the great anti-war films.
Douglas reunited with Kubrick for yet another epic, the magnificent Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960). The film also marked a key turning point in the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy communist witch hunt in the 1950s. At Douglas' insistence Trumbo was given on-screen credit for his contributions. This began the dissolution of the infamous blacklisting policies begun almost a decade previously that had destroyed so many careers and lives. However, Trumbo's family later claimed that Douglas overstated his role.
Dutch postcard, no. 1160. Photo: Universal International. Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960).
Romanian collectors card. Photo: publicity still for Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) with Peter Ustinov.
Dutch collectors card in the series 'Filmsterren: een Portret' by Edito Service, 1994. Photo: Collection Christophe L. Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 40. Kirk Douglas and Ulla Jacobsson in The Heroes of Telemark (Anthony Mann, 1965).
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1268. Photo: Paramount Films.
It Runs in the Family
Douglas remained busy throughout the 1960s, starring in many films. He produced and starred as a rebellious modern-day cowboy in Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller, 1962), considered a cult classic. He acted in the mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (John Huston, 1963), alongside John Wayne in the World War II story In Harm's Way (Otto Preminger, 1965), and in the tongue-in-cheek Western The War Wagon (Burt Kennedy, 1967).
On stage, he starred in 1963 in the Broadway production of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. He bought the film rights, but no Hollywood studio could be convinced to bring the story to the screen. Kirk's son Michael Douglas finally filmed the tale, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, 1975), starring Jack Nicholson . The film won all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, and Screenplay).
Although Douglas wasn't as busy as previous years, he made nearly 40 films and appeared on various television shows between 1970 and 2008. In 1970, he starred in the Western There Was a Crooked Man... (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970) alongside Henry Fonda. In 1973, he directed his first film, Scalawag. In 1978, he costarred with John Cassavetes and Amy Irving in the excellent horror film The Fury, directed by Brian De Palma. In 1980, he starred in The Final Countdown (Don Taylor, 1980), playing the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which travels through time to the day before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was produced by his son Peter Douglas.
His other films included the Western comedy The Villain (Hal Needham, 1979) with Arnold Schwarzenegger , the Sci-fi thriller Saturn 3 (Stanley Donen, 1980) and the Australian Western The Man from Snowy River (George Miller, 1982), which received a fair degree of critical acclaim and was the most popular Australian film of all time until Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman, 1986). In 1986, he also reunited with his longtime costar Burt Lancaster in the crime comedy Tough Guys (Jeff Kanew, 1986), with Eli Wallach. Less known are his roles in such European films as Un uomo da rispettare/The Master Touch (Michele Lupo, 1972) with Giuliano Gemma , and Veraz (Xavier Castano, 1991).
Douglas has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. France honoured him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was presented with a honorary Academy Award by Steven Spielberg in 1996. Despite a helicopter crash and a stroke suffered in the 1990s, Douglas focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life since. He underwent years of voice therapy and made the film Diamonds (John Mallory Asher, 1999), in which he played an old prizefighter who was recovering from a stroke. It costarred his longtime friend from his early years, Lauren Bacall.
Kirk Douglas was the last surviving superstar from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He lived with Belgium-born producer Anne Buydens, his wife of over 60 years. They had two children, television and film producer Peter Douglas (1955) and actor and stand-up comedian Eric Douglas. In 2004, Eric died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 46. With his first wife, Bermudian actress Diana Dill, Kirk Douglas also has two children, Michael Douglas (1944) and Joel Douglas (1947). In 2003, Michael and Joel produced It Runs in the Family (Fred Schepisi, 2003), in which Kirk starred with Michael, Michael's son Cameron Douglas, and Diana Dill, playing his wife. His most recent film appearance was in a strong non-speaking role in Meurtres à l'Empire State Building (William Karel, 2008), a French tribute and doc-crime-drama celebrating American Film Noir and the icons of the Hollywood golden age.
American postcard by Colourpicture, Boston, Mass., no. P51738. Caption: Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. In the wet cement of the world famous forecourt, Mr. Kirk Douglas becomes a movie immortal as a crowd including Donald O'Connor and George Jessel looks on.
Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor.
Belgian postcard, no. 5348.
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 55.
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 253. Photo: Centfox.
East-German postcard by Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 15/80. Photo: Günter Linke, 1979.
Trailer Ulysses (1954). Source: junkiefix (YouTube).
Trailer Spartacus (1960). Source: Movieclips Trailer Vault (YouTube).
Sources: (IMDb), (IMDb), Ella Alexander (The Independent), Wikipedia and .
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