Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 384
April 26, 2015
Annibale Betrone
Italian actor and stage director Annibale Betrone (1883-1950) was an important figure of the Italian theatre of the first half of the 20th century.
Italian postcard, no. 301.
Italian postcard, no. 17. Photo: Badodi, Milano.
A strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament
Annibale Betrone was born in Turin in 1883. Unlike many of his stage colleagues he was no ‘figlio d’arte’, his father was a tailor, who was passionate about the stage. Annibale found a way to study acting with Domenico Bassi.
His debut came at the age of 17, in 1900, with the title of ‘second actor’ in the company of the brothers Marchetti. He was then hired by the company of Ermete Novelli , with whom he remained from 1901 to 1908. He passed the whole trajectory going from extra, to lover, to young first actor, and finally first actor.
He then moved over to Virgilio Talli’s company for a long period (1909-1921), where he established a famous triad with Maria Melato and Alberto Giovannini.
Between the two wars, he formed famous companies with some of the most reputed actresses, such as Maria Melato, Giannina Chiantoni, Tatiana Pavlova, Emma Gramatica, Paola Borboni , Kiki Palmer, Margaret Bagni, Olga Solbelli, and many more.
Betrone was an actor of a strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament, and moved around within a vast repertory. He achieved great fame. Among his greatest successes are Il beffardo by Nino Berrini and Glauco by Ercole Luigi Morselli. He also played in Anfissa by Leonid Andreev and in La sonata di Kreutzer (The Kreutzer Sonata) by François Nozières, after Leo Tolstoy.
He was Bruneri-Canella in L’uomo no. 15 by E. Wool, and also recited in plays by Rosso di San Secondo (Il delirio dell’oste Bassà) and Diego Fabbri. In 1945, in the just liberated Rome, he performed in The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck, directed by Vito Pandolfi.
In the late 1930s he had his own company, together with Anna Magnani . He directed her and Salvo Randone in several plays at the Roman Teatro Eliseo.
In 1940 he worked with Letitia Maria Celli and Angelo Calabrese, but after the outbreak of the war and the immediate post-war period, he reduced his presence on stage and focused on film acting.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209.Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 228. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia . Caption: The buffoon resurrected to the great terror of Floridoro.
Breakthrough in the sound film
Annibale Betrone was very active in cinema, though his silent parts were scarce. He began in 1916 with the silent films Tigrana (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916) and Alcova tragica (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916), both with Betrone, Mary Light and Sergio Tofano.
After this followed two films with Italia Almirante Manzini : L’innamorato (Gennaro Righelli, 1920) and L’arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).
In the early 1930s. Betrone had a new breakthrough in the Italian sound film, when he got a critical and public success playing king Vittorio Emanuele II in the feature film Villafranca (Gioacchino Forzano, 1934). A year earlier, he had also acted in Forzano's fascist propaganda film Camicia nero (Gioacchino Forzano, 1933).
Later he was admired as the human uncle in Piccolo mondo antico/Old-Fashioned World (Mario Soldati, 1941) - where he rivaled with the icy Ada Dondini - and the sensitive father of Doris Duranti in Nessuno torna indietro (Alessandro Blasetti, 1943).
During the war years, Betrone acted in some 26 films, ranging from propaganda films like Giarabub (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1942) to comedies like Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941) with Vittorio De Sica himself and Adriana Benetti, and (melo)dramas like the two-part film Noi vivi/Addio Kira! (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1943) with Alida Valli , Rossano Brazzi and Fosco Giachetti .
In 1912, Betrone had married Elvira Sanipoli - who later took the name of Elvira Betrone - and who often played with him on stage and on the screen, such as in the films Teresa Venerdi, Noi vivi and Nessuno torna indietro.
Betrone was also the father of the young assistant-director, scriptwriter and editor Gino (Cino) Betrone, who e.g. edited the film Tosca (1941) by Carl Koch and Jean Renoir. As lieutenant of the Alpine soldiers he fell on the Greek-Albanian front in 1941.
Dedicated to his memory was the film Quelli della montagna (Aldo Vergano, 1943) with Amedeo Nazzari and Mariella Lotti. Cino had delivered the idea for this film, and Annibale played a small part in it.
After the war Betrone was active for the radio. Among his last film roles were minor parts in two epics: Fabiola (Alessandro Blasetti, 1949) and Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (Marcel L’Herbier, Paolo Moffa, 1950), starring Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal .
Annibal Betrone died in Rome in 1950. His wife Elvira Betrone died in Milan in 1961.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante 1924), with Italia Almirante Manzini and Annibale Betrone.
Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 80. Photo Pesce / Scalera Film. Could be a publicity still for the period piece La Gorgona (Guido Brignone, 1942) in which Betrone played count Ranieri.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian) and .
Italian postcard, no. 301.
Italian postcard, no. 17. Photo: Badodi, Milano.
A strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament
Annibale Betrone was born in Turin in 1883. Unlike many of his stage colleagues he was no ‘figlio d’arte’, his father was a tailor, who was passionate about the stage. Annibale found a way to study acting with Domenico Bassi.
His debut came at the age of 17, in 1900, with the title of ‘second actor’ in the company of the brothers Marchetti. He was then hired by the company of Ermete Novelli , with whom he remained from 1901 to 1908. He passed the whole trajectory going from extra, to lover, to young first actor, and finally first actor.
He then moved over to Virgilio Talli’s company for a long period (1909-1921), where he established a famous triad with Maria Melato and Alberto Giovannini.
Between the two wars, he formed famous companies with some of the most reputed actresses, such as Maria Melato, Giannina Chiantoni, Tatiana Pavlova, Emma Gramatica, Paola Borboni , Kiki Palmer, Margaret Bagni, Olga Solbelli, and many more.
Betrone was an actor of a strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament, and moved around within a vast repertory. He achieved great fame. Among his greatest successes are Il beffardo by Nino Berrini and Glauco by Ercole Luigi Morselli. He also played in Anfissa by Leonid Andreev and in La sonata di Kreutzer (The Kreutzer Sonata) by François Nozières, after Leo Tolstoy.
He was Bruneri-Canella in L’uomo no. 15 by E. Wool, and also recited in plays by Rosso di San Secondo (Il delirio dell’oste Bassà) and Diego Fabbri. In 1945, in the just liberated Rome, he performed in The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck, directed by Vito Pandolfi.
In the late 1930s he had his own company, together with Anna Magnani . He directed her and Salvo Randone in several plays at the Roman Teatro Eliseo.
In 1940 he worked with Letitia Maria Celli and Angelo Calabrese, but after the outbreak of the war and the immediate post-war period, he reduced his presence on stage and focused on film acting.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209.Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 228. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia . Caption: The buffoon resurrected to the great terror of Floridoro.
Breakthrough in the sound film
Annibale Betrone was very active in cinema, though his silent parts were scarce. He began in 1916 with the silent films Tigrana (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916) and Alcova tragica (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916), both with Betrone, Mary Light and Sergio Tofano.
After this followed two films with Italia Almirante Manzini : L’innamorato (Gennaro Righelli, 1920) and L’arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).
In the early 1930s. Betrone had a new breakthrough in the Italian sound film, when he got a critical and public success playing king Vittorio Emanuele II in the feature film Villafranca (Gioacchino Forzano, 1934). A year earlier, he had also acted in Forzano's fascist propaganda film Camicia nero (Gioacchino Forzano, 1933).
Later he was admired as the human uncle in Piccolo mondo antico/Old-Fashioned World (Mario Soldati, 1941) - where he rivaled with the icy Ada Dondini - and the sensitive father of Doris Duranti in Nessuno torna indietro (Alessandro Blasetti, 1943).
During the war years, Betrone acted in some 26 films, ranging from propaganda films like Giarabub (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1942) to comedies like Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941) with Vittorio De Sica himself and Adriana Benetti, and (melo)dramas like the two-part film Noi vivi/Addio Kira! (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1943) with Alida Valli , Rossano Brazzi and Fosco Giachetti .
In 1912, Betrone had married Elvira Sanipoli - who later took the name of Elvira Betrone - and who often played with him on stage and on the screen, such as in the films Teresa Venerdi, Noi vivi and Nessuno torna indietro.
Betrone was also the father of the young assistant-director, scriptwriter and editor Gino (Cino) Betrone, who e.g. edited the film Tosca (1941) by Carl Koch and Jean Renoir. As lieutenant of the Alpine soldiers he fell on the Greek-Albanian front in 1941.
Dedicated to his memory was the film Quelli della montagna (Aldo Vergano, 1943) with Amedeo Nazzari and Mariella Lotti. Cino had delivered the idea for this film, and Annibale played a small part in it.
After the war Betrone was active for the radio. Among his last film roles were minor parts in two epics: Fabiola (Alessandro Blasetti, 1949) and Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (Marcel L’Herbier, Paolo Moffa, 1950), starring Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal .
Annibal Betrone died in Rome in 1950. His wife Elvira Betrone died in Milan in 1961.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante 1924), with Italia Almirante Manzini and Annibale Betrone.
Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 80. Photo Pesce / Scalera Film. Could be a publicity still for the period piece La Gorgona (Guido Brignone, 1942) in which Betrone played count Ranieri.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian) and .
April 25, 2015
Sari Maritza
Beautiful, exotic and captivating Sari Maritza (1910-1987) was a British actress in European films of the early 1930s. She also played femme fatales in a few Hollywood films, but retired in 1934.
British postcard. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
A Tango with Chaplin
Sari Maritza was born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, in 1910. Maritza was the daughter of a British Army Major, Walter Nathan and his Austrian wife.
She received her school education in England, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and was, therefore, linguistically well-equipped to appear in films in European films.
While in Vienna, Maritza caught the attention of the British talent coach and theatrical manager, Vivyan Gaye. Gaye persuaded her to change her name to the much more exotic Sari Maritza - taken from the titles of two then famous European operettas composed by Emmerich Kalman – Sari (also known as The Gypsy Violinist) and Countess Maritza.
She entered films in 1930 and starred in the musical Greek Street (Sinclair Hill, 1930), made by Gaumont British, and the comedy Bed and Breakfast (Walter Forde, 1930), starring Jane Baxter.
She gained some notoriety for dancing a tango with Charles Chaplin at the British premiere for his film City Lights in 1931. Everybody assumed she would be his leading lady both on and off the screen. It was not so, but she had attracted attention.
She was cast in several low budget, but relatively popular British films, such as the drama The Water Gipsies (Maurice Elvey, 1932) with Ann Todd .
In Germany, Maritza made the German-British comedy Monte Carlo Madness (Hanns Schwarz, 1932) with Hans Albers . It was made by Ufa simultaneously in English and in German, as Bomben auf Monte Carlo (Hanns Schwarz, 1931) with Anna Sten instead of Maritza.
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 592. Photo: Dorothy Wilding.
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 592A. Photo: Paramount.
Not the new Dietrich
In 1932 Sari Maritza travelled to Hollywood. Paramount Pictures spent months perfecting her acting style before starring her in her first picture.
I.S. Mowis at IMDb : “The connection between Ufa and Paramount was significant in launching Sari Maritza's brief Hollywood career. Paramount, always experimenting with continental actresses in the hope of finding another Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich , invented a fictitious, exotic background for her, though she was first, and foremost, English.“
The studio publicized her as its ‘new’ Marlene Dietrich. She made her American debut with the lead in Forgotten Commandments (Louis J. Gasnier, William Schorr, 1932), a framework story which serves as context for a retelling of the Exodus story and a recycling of footage from the silent version of The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923).
She next starred for Paramount in Evenings for Sale (Stuart Walker, 1932) with Herbert Marshall , and the comedy International House (A. Edward Sutherland, 1933) with W. C. Fields and Bela Lugosi .
For RKO, she made The Right to Romance (Alfred Santell, 1933) with Ann Harding, Robert Young, and Nils Asther . Her American films were poorly received.
In the US, she was portrayed as an exotic European vamp with emphasis placed on her mother's Austrian heritage, but Maritza had lived most of her life in Britain, and disapproved of the studio's attempts to create a more mysterious façade for her. The low budget World War I drama Crimson Romance (David Howard, 1934) with Erich von Stroheim would be her last film.
In 1934, she married MGM producer Sam Katz, and retired. In later years, she admitted that she had been eager to end her career as she did not consider herself to be a capable actress.
The couple divorced ten years later. Maritza worked for a lens manufacturer during World War II. Her second husband was George Clother, an Air Force navigator.
Sari Maritza died in 1987 aged 77 at her home in the US Virgin Islands.
British postcard in the Film Stars and Their Pets series by Valentine's, no. 5843 J. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Sources: Hans J. Wollstein (Meanwhile... Back at the Ranch), (IMDb), Emma (Let’s Misbehave), Wikipedia and .
British postcard. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
A Tango with Chaplin
Sari Maritza was born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, in 1910. Maritza was the daughter of a British Army Major, Walter Nathan and his Austrian wife.
She received her school education in England, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and was, therefore, linguistically well-equipped to appear in films in European films.
While in Vienna, Maritza caught the attention of the British talent coach and theatrical manager, Vivyan Gaye. Gaye persuaded her to change her name to the much more exotic Sari Maritza - taken from the titles of two then famous European operettas composed by Emmerich Kalman – Sari (also known as The Gypsy Violinist) and Countess Maritza.
She entered films in 1930 and starred in the musical Greek Street (Sinclair Hill, 1930), made by Gaumont British, and the comedy Bed and Breakfast (Walter Forde, 1930), starring Jane Baxter.
She gained some notoriety for dancing a tango with Charles Chaplin at the British premiere for his film City Lights in 1931. Everybody assumed she would be his leading lady both on and off the screen. It was not so, but she had attracted attention.
She was cast in several low budget, but relatively popular British films, such as the drama The Water Gipsies (Maurice Elvey, 1932) with Ann Todd .
In Germany, Maritza made the German-British comedy Monte Carlo Madness (Hanns Schwarz, 1932) with Hans Albers . It was made by Ufa simultaneously in English and in German, as Bomben auf Monte Carlo (Hanns Schwarz, 1931) with Anna Sten instead of Maritza.
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 592. Photo: Dorothy Wilding.
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 592A. Photo: Paramount.
Not the new Dietrich
In 1932 Sari Maritza travelled to Hollywood. Paramount Pictures spent months perfecting her acting style before starring her in her first picture.
I.S. Mowis at IMDb : “The connection between Ufa and Paramount was significant in launching Sari Maritza's brief Hollywood career. Paramount, always experimenting with continental actresses in the hope of finding another Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich , invented a fictitious, exotic background for her, though she was first, and foremost, English.“
The studio publicized her as its ‘new’ Marlene Dietrich. She made her American debut with the lead in Forgotten Commandments (Louis J. Gasnier, William Schorr, 1932), a framework story which serves as context for a retelling of the Exodus story and a recycling of footage from the silent version of The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923).
She next starred for Paramount in Evenings for Sale (Stuart Walker, 1932) with Herbert Marshall , and the comedy International House (A. Edward Sutherland, 1933) with W. C. Fields and Bela Lugosi .
For RKO, she made The Right to Romance (Alfred Santell, 1933) with Ann Harding, Robert Young, and Nils Asther . Her American films were poorly received.
In the US, she was portrayed as an exotic European vamp with emphasis placed on her mother's Austrian heritage, but Maritza had lived most of her life in Britain, and disapproved of the studio's attempts to create a more mysterious façade for her. The low budget World War I drama Crimson Romance (David Howard, 1934) with Erich von Stroheim would be her last film.
In 1934, she married MGM producer Sam Katz, and retired. In later years, she admitted that she had been eager to end her career as she did not consider herself to be a capable actress.
The couple divorced ten years later. Maritza worked for a lens manufacturer during World War II. Her second husband was George Clother, an Air Force navigator.
Sari Maritza died in 1987 aged 77 at her home in the US Virgin Islands.
British postcard in the Film Stars and Their Pets series by Valentine's, no. 5843 J. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Sources: Hans J. Wollstein (Meanwhile... Back at the Ranch), (IMDb), Emma (Let’s Misbehave), Wikipedia and .
April 24, 2015
Quo vadis? (1924-1925)
The German-Italian coproduction Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925) was the third silent film based on the historical novel of the same name, written by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz. Emil Jannings, famous star of the German silent cinema, was cast as the evil emperor Nero.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 638/6, 1919-1924. Photo: Bruckmann. Publicity still of André Habay as Petronius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925). Collection: Didier Hanson.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/9, 1919-1924. Photo: Bruckmann. Publicity still of Gino Viotti as Chilo Chilonides in the epic Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby 1924-1925), a production of UCI (Unione Cinematografia Italiana). Collection: Didier Hanson.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo Vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Here, Marcus Vinicius ( Alphons Fryland ) tries to seduce the chaste Lygia ( Lilian Hall-Davis ) during an orgy at Nero's palace.
German postcard by Ross-Verlag, Berlin, no. 699/6,1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Brückmann. Publicity still for Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) with Rina De Liguoro as Eunicu/Eunice.
Where Are You Going?
Quo vadis is Latin for 'Where are you going?' and alludes to the apocryphal acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says "I am going back to be crucified again", which makes Peter go back to Rome and accept martyrdom.
Quo vadis? tells the love story between a young and beautiful Christian woman, Lygia, and a military tribune and Roman patrician, Marcus Vinicius. The story takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero around AD 64.
Immediately after author Henryk Sienkiewicz got the Nobel Prize for Quo vadis?, Pathé Frères produced the first screen version, Quo vadis? (Lucien Nonguet, Ferdinand Zecca, 1901).
Ten years later Italian director Enrico Guazzoni made a colossal epic starring Amleto Novelli and Gustavo Serena which focused primarily on huge spectacle. The results of his Quo vadis? (1913) at the box office quickly proved it a smashing success.
Throughout the world, Quo vadis? became popular not only among readers but also among fans of the new phenomenon, cinema.
The third film version, Quo Vadis? (1924-1925) was directed by the Italian Gabriellino D' Annunzio and the German Georg Jacoby. The producer was grand old man Arturo Ambrosio of the Unione Cinematografica Italiana, an Ufa-like or Universal-like merger of many Italian pre-war companies.
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 651. Photo: Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Rina De Liguoro as Eunicu/Eunice in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 662. Photo: Elga Brink as Domitilla in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 663. Photo: Elena Sangro as the Empress Poppea in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
A Stellar Cast
The historical epic was shot in Rome with a stellar cast of international silent stars. One of the brightest stars of the British silent cinema, Lilian Hall-Davis , and Austrian actor Alphons Fryland played the two young lovers Licia (Lygia in the novel) and Marcus Vinicius.
The German actress Elga Brink appeared as Domitilla.
Italian actor André Habay portrayed Marcus'uncle Petronius, a member of Nero's court who uses his wit to flatter and mock him at the same time.
Italian diva Rina De Liguoro played Petronius' slave Eunice who later on becomes his mistress and dies with him.
And then there was the famous star of the German silent cinema, Emil Jannings , who was cast as the emperor Nero.
Italian Postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 665. Photo: Bruto Castellani as Ursus in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. Romeo Biagi, Bologna, no. 666. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Alphons Fryland as Vinicius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 667. Photo: André Habay as Petronius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Streaks of Sadism and Nudity
Quo Vadis? had its Roman premiere in March 1925. The producer had tried to equal the earlier version of 1913, adding enormous sets, designed by sculptor and architect Armando Brasini, and streaks of sadism & nudity.
Anyhow, the 1925 version didn't have the worldwide success of Enrico Guazzoni's earlier film. For various reasons: people were a bit bored with epic films and the censor had ordered cuts. The producer almost went bankrupt over copyright claims he all had to pay.
It didn't help that the lion tamer Alfred Schneider was convicted because one of his circus lions had bitten and killed an extra.
Still a fascinating film, especially for the performances of Emil Jannings as the evil emperor Nero, Elena Sangro as the empress Poppea and Bruto Castellani as the strong man Ursus. Castellani had performed the role before in the 1913 version of Quo Vadis?
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 668. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiano. Publicity still of Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo Vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 669. Photo: Gino Viotti as the leacherous and treacherous Greek Chilo Chilonides in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 670. Photo: Raimondo Van Riel as Nero's evil general Tigellinus in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Magnificently Restored
In his review at AllMovie , Hal Erickson calls Quo vadis? 'a splendidly lavish production': " Emil Jannings , to whom subtlety was a stranger, tackles the role of Nero with lusty abandon, making this already larger-than-life historical personality even more so. The subsequent Hollywood popularity of Jannings prompted a reissue of Quo Vadis? in 1929, reportedly with a newly recorded musical score."
A few years ago, Quo Vadis? was restored by the Dutch Filmmuseum (now Eye Institute), based on various existing copies. This restored version had its 're-premiere' at the Bologna film festival Cinema Ritrovato in 2002.
The note on IMDb about the low quality of the film is exaggerated, as well as the note that film historians consider the 1913 version as lost. That version was magnificently restored in 1997 by, again, the Dutch Filmmuseum and shown on several festivals including Bologna.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still of the scene of the kidnapping of Lygia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
German postcard. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co. A.G. Postcard showing the huge threedimensional set of the palace of Nero in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925). The film sets were designed by R. Ferro and G. Spellani.
For years, only a small statue of Henryk Sienkiewicz could be found in the same corner in Villa Borghese (Piazzale Ferdousi) in Rome. Now there is this giant, created by Polish sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Marcin Kukuczka (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 638/6, 1919-1924. Photo: Bruckmann. Publicity still of André Habay as Petronius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925). Collection: Didier Hanson.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/9, 1919-1924. Photo: Bruckmann. Publicity still of Gino Viotti as Chilo Chilonides in the epic Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby 1924-1925), a production of UCI (Unione Cinematografia Italiana). Collection: Didier Hanson.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo Vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Here, Marcus Vinicius ( Alphons Fryland ) tries to seduce the chaste Lygia ( Lilian Hall-Davis ) during an orgy at Nero's palace.
German postcard by Ross-Verlag, Berlin, no. 699/6,1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Brückmann. Publicity still for Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) with Rina De Liguoro as Eunicu/Eunice.
Where Are You Going?
Quo vadis is Latin for 'Where are you going?' and alludes to the apocryphal acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says "I am going back to be crucified again", which makes Peter go back to Rome and accept martyrdom.
Quo vadis? tells the love story between a young and beautiful Christian woman, Lygia, and a military tribune and Roman patrician, Marcus Vinicius. The story takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero around AD 64.
Immediately after author Henryk Sienkiewicz got the Nobel Prize for Quo vadis?, Pathé Frères produced the first screen version, Quo vadis? (Lucien Nonguet, Ferdinand Zecca, 1901).
Ten years later Italian director Enrico Guazzoni made a colossal epic starring Amleto Novelli and Gustavo Serena which focused primarily on huge spectacle. The results of his Quo vadis? (1913) at the box office quickly proved it a smashing success.
Throughout the world, Quo vadis? became popular not only among readers but also among fans of the new phenomenon, cinema.
The third film version, Quo Vadis? (1924-1925) was directed by the Italian Gabriellino D' Annunzio and the German Georg Jacoby. The producer was grand old man Arturo Ambrosio of the Unione Cinematografica Italiana, an Ufa-like or Universal-like merger of many Italian pre-war companies.
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 651. Photo: Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Rina De Liguoro as Eunicu/Eunice in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 662. Photo: Elga Brink as Domitilla in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 663. Photo: Elena Sangro as the Empress Poppea in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
A Stellar Cast
The historical epic was shot in Rome with a stellar cast of international silent stars. One of the brightest stars of the British silent cinema, Lilian Hall-Davis , and Austrian actor Alphons Fryland played the two young lovers Licia (Lygia in the novel) and Marcus Vinicius.
The German actress Elga Brink appeared as Domitilla.
Italian actor André Habay portrayed Marcus'uncle Petronius, a member of Nero's court who uses his wit to flatter and mock him at the same time.
Italian diva Rina De Liguoro played Petronius' slave Eunice who later on becomes his mistress and dies with him.
And then there was the famous star of the German silent cinema, Emil Jannings , who was cast as the emperor Nero.
Italian Postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 665. Photo: Bruto Castellani as Ursus in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. Romeo Biagi, Bologna, no. 666. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Alphons Fryland as Vinicius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 667. Photo: André Habay as Petronius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Streaks of Sadism and Nudity
Quo Vadis? had its Roman premiere in March 1925. The producer had tried to equal the earlier version of 1913, adding enormous sets, designed by sculptor and architect Armando Brasini, and streaks of sadism & nudity.
Anyhow, the 1925 version didn't have the worldwide success of Enrico Guazzoni's earlier film. For various reasons: people were a bit bored with epic films and the censor had ordered cuts. The producer almost went bankrupt over copyright claims he all had to pay.
It didn't help that the lion tamer Alfred Schneider was convicted because one of his circus lions had bitten and killed an extra.
Still a fascinating film, especially for the performances of Emil Jannings as the evil emperor Nero, Elena Sangro as the empress Poppea and Bruto Castellani as the strong man Ursus. Castellani had performed the role before in the 1913 version of Quo Vadis?
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 668. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiano. Publicity still of Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo Vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 669. Photo: Gino Viotti as the leacherous and treacherous Greek Chilo Chilonides in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 670. Photo: Raimondo Van Riel as Nero's evil general Tigellinus in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
Magnificently Restored
In his review at AllMovie , Hal Erickson calls Quo vadis? 'a splendidly lavish production': " Emil Jannings , to whom subtlety was a stranger, tackles the role of Nero with lusty abandon, making this already larger-than-life historical personality even more so. The subsequent Hollywood popularity of Jannings prompted a reissue of Quo Vadis? in 1929, reportedly with a newly recorded musical score."
A few years ago, Quo Vadis? was restored by the Dutch Filmmuseum (now Eye Institute), based on various existing copies. This restored version had its 're-premiere' at the Bologna film festival Cinema Ritrovato in 2002.
The note on IMDb about the low quality of the film is exaggerated, as well as the note that film historians consider the 1913 version as lost. That version was magnificently restored in 1997 by, again, the Dutch Filmmuseum and shown on several festivals including Bologna.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still of the scene of the kidnapping of Lygia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).
German postcard. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co. A.G. Postcard showing the huge threedimensional set of the palace of Nero in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925). The film sets were designed by R. Ferro and G. Spellani.
For years, only a small statue of Henryk Sienkiewicz could be found in the same corner in Villa Borghese (Piazzale Ferdousi) in Rome. Now there is this giant, created by Polish sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Marcin Kukuczka (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.
April 23, 2015
Alexander Moissi
Albanian-Austrian Alexander Moissi (1879-1935) was one of the great European stage actors of the early 20th century. The attractive and charismatic women's idol also appeared in several silent and early sound films.
German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 2680.
German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 8709. Photo: Becker & Maass.
Buried Alive
Alexander Moissi was born as Aleksander Moisiu in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (now Italy) in 1879. He was the fifth and last child of Konstantin Moisiu, a rich Albanian merchant in oil and wheat, and the half Albanian, half Italian Amalia di Rada, the daughter of a Florentine writer and doctor.
After an international childhood in Trieste, Durrës and Graz, 20-year-old Alexander finally settled with his mother and two sisters in Vienna. There he was spotted by Paul Schlenther, the director of the famous Burgtheater, and by the legendary actor Josef Kainz, who gave him acting lessons.
In 1901 Moissi moved to Prague where he worked for the Neue Deutsche Theater, and in 1904 to Berlin, where he became a protégé of the influential director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsche Theater. Here he had his breakthrough as Oswald in the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts. He would continue to play the part for more than two decades.
Under Reinhardt he played parts in many William Shakespeare plays including the jester in King Lear, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1907) and Hamlet (1909). In 1911, Moissi followed the Reinhardt Ensemble to Russia and was acclaimed in St. Petersburg by critic and dramatist Anatoliy Lunacharsky for his interpretation of Oedipus.
Travelling all over Europe and the Americas, he became a globally known star. His repertoire of leading roles encompassed the whole spectrum of European drama, from Greek tragedy to twentieth century modernism. He was the first in Europe to interpret characters from Strindberg, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pirandello, and Hofmannsthal.
His interpretations of Hamlet, Oedipus, Faust, Dubedat in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, and many others, were celebrated at the time, as were his voice and emotional range. His most famous role was Fedya in Tolstoy's Buried Alive (or The Living Corpse). He performed this role 1500 times between 1913 and 1935 and more than one-and-a-half-million people saw him playing the part.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4850. Photo: publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet with Lia Eibenschütz .
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 8198. Photo: Dr. Hans Boehm. Publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet with Lia Eibenschütz .
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4293. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Don Manuel.
Prisoner in France
Though primarily a stage actor, Alexander Moissi appeared in 17 films productions between 1913 and 1935.
In 1913 he appeared in Germany in four silent films for the Deutsche Bioscop GmbH: the experimental pantomime Das schwarze Los/The black lot (Emil Albes, John Gottowt, 1913), Meier Helmbrechts Flucht und Ende/Meier Helmbrecht’s Flight and End (Leo Greiner, 1913), Die Augen des Ole Brandis/The Eyes of Ole Brandis (Stellan Rye, 1913), and he had a supporting role in the classic fantasy film Der Student von Prag/The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, Paul Wegener, 1913) starring Paul Wegener .
Two years later he starred in the films Kulissenzauber/Background magic (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, Leo Peukert, 1915) and Sein einziger Sohn/His Only Son (Adolf Gartner, 1915).
It was World War I and in 1915 Moissi was mobilized by the Austrian army. As an airman he was taken prisoner in France, but he got free five months later through a prisoner exchange. Till 1917 he worked as a stage actor in Switzerland.
In 1918 he starred as Stanislaus in Pique Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918), a film adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s short story The Queen of Spades. That same year he appeared opposite Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
The following years he played in such silent films as Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Käthe Dorsch , Zwischen Tod und Leben/Between Life and Death (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Bernhard Goetzke , Figaros Hochzeit/Figaro’s Wedding (Max Mack, 1920) based on the play by Beaumarchais, and Die Nacht der Königin Isabeau/The Night of Queen Isabeau (Robert Wiene, 1920) starring Fern Andra .
German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3233. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Publicity still for König Lear/King Lear.
German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 4165. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Franz Moor.
German postcard by Verl. v. Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3285. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still of Alexander Moissi as Franz Moor in the stage play Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller.
Albanian citizen
Alexander Moissi’s last silent film was Kean (Rudolf Biebrach, 1921) based on the play by Alexandre Dumas père. Edmund Kean, born in 1787, was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. Remarkable is that Moissi’s first sound film, the Hollywood production Die Königsloge/The Royal Box (Bryan Foy, 1929) also told the story of Edmund Kean. The German language production by Warner Brothers was not a success.
In the 1920s Moissi had more success in Russia, France, Austria and Italy than in Germany. After the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Moissi reportedly became an Albanian citizen in 1934 (some sources say that he got an Italian passport). After a successful stage tour through Italy in 1934, Mossi starred in the Italian film production Lorenzino de' Medici/The Magnificent Rogue (Guido Brignone, 1935) with Maria Denis . It would be his final film.
A year later, Alexander Moissi died of pneumonia in Vienna, (some sources say Lugano, Switzerland), and lies buried at the Morcote cemetery overlooking Lake Lugano.
He was married twice. With his first wife, the Viennese actress Maria Moissi he had a daughter, Bettina, who also would become an actress. In 1919 he married actress Johanna Terwin. He is the over-grandfather of German actor Gedeon Burkhard.
In his honor, the High College of Drama in Tirana, and the Professional Theatre of Durrës, Albania, are named ‘Aleksander Moisiu.’ The 60th anniversary of his death was remembered in Albania in 1995 with an Artistic Year dedicated to him; it was sponsored by the Aleksander Moisiu Foundation in Durrës.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7552. Photo: Fritz Richard. Alexander Moissi as Fedja in Leo Tolstoy's play Der lebende Leichnam (The Living Corpse).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4725/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Defina.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8519. Photo: Becker & Maass.
Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line) (German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia, and .
German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 2680.
German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 8709. Photo: Becker & Maass.
Buried Alive
Alexander Moissi was born as Aleksander Moisiu in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (now Italy) in 1879. He was the fifth and last child of Konstantin Moisiu, a rich Albanian merchant in oil and wheat, and the half Albanian, half Italian Amalia di Rada, the daughter of a Florentine writer and doctor.
After an international childhood in Trieste, Durrës and Graz, 20-year-old Alexander finally settled with his mother and two sisters in Vienna. There he was spotted by Paul Schlenther, the director of the famous Burgtheater, and by the legendary actor Josef Kainz, who gave him acting lessons.
In 1901 Moissi moved to Prague where he worked for the Neue Deutsche Theater, and in 1904 to Berlin, where he became a protégé of the influential director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsche Theater. Here he had his breakthrough as Oswald in the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts. He would continue to play the part for more than two decades.
Under Reinhardt he played parts in many William Shakespeare plays including the jester in King Lear, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1907) and Hamlet (1909). In 1911, Moissi followed the Reinhardt Ensemble to Russia and was acclaimed in St. Petersburg by critic and dramatist Anatoliy Lunacharsky for his interpretation of Oedipus.
Travelling all over Europe and the Americas, he became a globally known star. His repertoire of leading roles encompassed the whole spectrum of European drama, from Greek tragedy to twentieth century modernism. He was the first in Europe to interpret characters from Strindberg, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pirandello, and Hofmannsthal.
His interpretations of Hamlet, Oedipus, Faust, Dubedat in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, and many others, were celebrated at the time, as were his voice and emotional range. His most famous role was Fedya in Tolstoy's Buried Alive (or The Living Corpse). He performed this role 1500 times between 1913 and 1935 and more than one-and-a-half-million people saw him playing the part.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4850. Photo: publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet with Lia Eibenschütz .
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 8198. Photo: Dr. Hans Boehm. Publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet with Lia Eibenschütz .
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4293. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Don Manuel.
Prisoner in France
Though primarily a stage actor, Alexander Moissi appeared in 17 films productions between 1913 and 1935.
In 1913 he appeared in Germany in four silent films for the Deutsche Bioscop GmbH: the experimental pantomime Das schwarze Los/The black lot (Emil Albes, John Gottowt, 1913), Meier Helmbrechts Flucht und Ende/Meier Helmbrecht’s Flight and End (Leo Greiner, 1913), Die Augen des Ole Brandis/The Eyes of Ole Brandis (Stellan Rye, 1913), and he had a supporting role in the classic fantasy film Der Student von Prag/The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, Paul Wegener, 1913) starring Paul Wegener .
Two years later he starred in the films Kulissenzauber/Background magic (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, Leo Peukert, 1915) and Sein einziger Sohn/His Only Son (Adolf Gartner, 1915).
It was World War I and in 1915 Moissi was mobilized by the Austrian army. As an airman he was taken prisoner in France, but he got free five months later through a prisoner exchange. Till 1917 he worked as a stage actor in Switzerland.
In 1918 he starred as Stanislaus in Pique Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918), a film adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s short story The Queen of Spades. That same year he appeared opposite Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
The following years he played in such silent films as Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Käthe Dorsch , Zwischen Tod und Leben/Between Life and Death (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Bernhard Goetzke , Figaros Hochzeit/Figaro’s Wedding (Max Mack, 1920) based on the play by Beaumarchais, and Die Nacht der Königin Isabeau/The Night of Queen Isabeau (Robert Wiene, 1920) starring Fern Andra .
German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3233. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Publicity still for König Lear/King Lear.
German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 4165. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Franz Moor.
German postcard by Verl. v. Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3285. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still of Alexander Moissi as Franz Moor in the stage play Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller.
Albanian citizen
Alexander Moissi’s last silent film was Kean (Rudolf Biebrach, 1921) based on the play by Alexandre Dumas père. Edmund Kean, born in 1787, was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. Remarkable is that Moissi’s first sound film, the Hollywood production Die Königsloge/The Royal Box (Bryan Foy, 1929) also told the story of Edmund Kean. The German language production by Warner Brothers was not a success.
In the 1920s Moissi had more success in Russia, France, Austria and Italy than in Germany. After the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Moissi reportedly became an Albanian citizen in 1934 (some sources say that he got an Italian passport). After a successful stage tour through Italy in 1934, Mossi starred in the Italian film production Lorenzino de' Medici/The Magnificent Rogue (Guido Brignone, 1935) with Maria Denis . It would be his final film.
A year later, Alexander Moissi died of pneumonia in Vienna, (some sources say Lugano, Switzerland), and lies buried at the Morcote cemetery overlooking Lake Lugano.
He was married twice. With his first wife, the Viennese actress Maria Moissi he had a daughter, Bettina, who also would become an actress. In 1919 he married actress Johanna Terwin. He is the over-grandfather of German actor Gedeon Burkhard.
In his honor, the High College of Drama in Tirana, and the Professional Theatre of Durrës, Albania, are named ‘Aleksander Moisiu.’ The 60th anniversary of his death was remembered in Albania in 1995 with an Artistic Year dedicated to him; it was sponsored by the Aleksander Moisiu Foundation in Durrës.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7552. Photo: Fritz Richard. Alexander Moissi as Fedja in Leo Tolstoy's play Der lebende Leichnam (The Living Corpse).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4725/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Defina.
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8519. Photo: Becker & Maass.
Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line) (German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia, and .
April 22, 2015
Nadine Tallier
Sexy French actress Nadine Tallier (1932) played various film roles from the late 1940s till the early 1960s. In 1962, she married banker Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild and then retired. Later she became a writer.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3441. Photo: Sam Lévin / Unifrance Film.
Nude scene
Nadine de Rothschild was born as Nadine Lhopitalier in Saint-Quentin, France, in 1932. She left school at age 14 and worked as a salesgirl and in an auto factory.
Lhopitalier became the model of the painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue, a socialite who opened the door to the worlds of theatre and film.
In 1949, she began her acting career under the pseudonym of Nadine Tallier and played various roles till 1964. First, she played many small sometime uncredited parts. She doubled Martine Carol in a nude scene in Caroline Chérie (Richard Pottier, 1951).
In 1952, she played a supporting role in Manina, la fille sans voiles/Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (Willy Rozier, 1952) starring Brigitte Bardot at the age of 17. Manina was controversial for the scanty bikinis worn by the young Bardot in the film. It was one of the first occasions when a bikini appeared in film, at a time when the bikini was still widely considered immodest.
Tallier’s first bigger role was in the Western comedy Fernand cow-boy (Guy Lefranc, 1956), featuring Fernand Raynaud. She is also known for her work in the Louis de Funès comedy Comme un cheveu sur la soupe/Crazy in the Noodle (Maurice Régamey, 1957), and the Spanish-French crime drama Los cobardes/The street of Fear (Juan Carlos Thorry, 1959) with Vicente Parra. In Great Britain, she appeared in the comedy Girls at Sea (Gilbert Gunn, 1958).
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 468. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 725. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Rothschild
In 1962, Nadine Tallier married Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild of the French branch of the Rothschild family. At the time, Edmund was chairman and principal owner of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, a private banking group headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Although she was raised Roman Catholic, she converted to Judaism stating: "It would not have been possible to have the name Rothschild and be a Catholic... Nor would it be right for the son of a Rothschild to be half-Jewish and half-Catholic."
The couple had one son born in 1963, Benjamin de Rothschild, shortly after their marriage. She became a Baroness, with an Austrian title.
In 2004, she opened in Genève the académie Nadine de Rotschild International Way of Life. She wrote a book about manners (Le Bonheur de Séduire l'Art de Réussir) and her autobiography (La baronne rentre à cinq heures). In addition, she provided some reviews in the press on the same subject.
Her husband died in 1997.
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 925. Photo: Studio Vauclair.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3441. Photo: Sam Lévin / Unifrance Film.
Nude scene
Nadine de Rothschild was born as Nadine Lhopitalier in Saint-Quentin, France, in 1932. She left school at age 14 and worked as a salesgirl and in an auto factory.
Lhopitalier became the model of the painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue, a socialite who opened the door to the worlds of theatre and film.
In 1949, she began her acting career under the pseudonym of Nadine Tallier and played various roles till 1964. First, she played many small sometime uncredited parts. She doubled Martine Carol in a nude scene in Caroline Chérie (Richard Pottier, 1951).
In 1952, she played a supporting role in Manina, la fille sans voiles/Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (Willy Rozier, 1952) starring Brigitte Bardot at the age of 17. Manina was controversial for the scanty bikinis worn by the young Bardot in the film. It was one of the first occasions when a bikini appeared in film, at a time when the bikini was still widely considered immodest.
Tallier’s first bigger role was in the Western comedy Fernand cow-boy (Guy Lefranc, 1956), featuring Fernand Raynaud. She is also known for her work in the Louis de Funès comedy Comme un cheveu sur la soupe/Crazy in the Noodle (Maurice Régamey, 1957), and the Spanish-French crime drama Los cobardes/The street of Fear (Juan Carlos Thorry, 1959) with Vicente Parra. In Great Britain, she appeared in the comedy Girls at Sea (Gilbert Gunn, 1958).
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 468. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 725. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Rothschild
In 1962, Nadine Tallier married Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild of the French branch of the Rothschild family. At the time, Edmund was chairman and principal owner of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, a private banking group headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Although she was raised Roman Catholic, she converted to Judaism stating: "It would not have been possible to have the name Rothschild and be a Catholic... Nor would it be right for the son of a Rothschild to be half-Jewish and half-Catholic."
The couple had one son born in 1963, Benjamin de Rothschild, shortly after their marriage. She became a Baroness, with an Austrian title.
In 2004, she opened in Genève the académie Nadine de Rotschild International Way of Life. She wrote a book about manners (Le Bonheur de Séduire l'Art de Réussir) and her autobiography (La baronne rentre à cinq heures). In addition, she provided some reviews in the press on the same subject.
Her husband died in 1997.
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 925. Photo: Studio Vauclair.
Sources: Wikipedia and .
April 21, 2015
Krüger
On some vintage postcards from my collection has been shot. Small bullet holes are the evidence. These are all postcards of beautiful women: starlets, actresses, singers, pin-ups. They were published in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a German company called Krüger.
Brigitte Bardot at the beach of Saint-Tropez, 1957. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/142. Photo: Ufa.
Claudia Cardinale . German postcard by Krüger / Ufa. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1967. Photo: Fried Agency.
Elsa Martinelli . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/255.
Mara Lane . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/58.
Rosanna Schiaffino . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/59.
Shooting Galleries
These postcards were all used in shooting galleries at fairs in the Netherlands. If you hit the postcard, you could take it home. That's why many Dutch men, who were boys during the 1950s and 1960s, still have their postcards of Brigitte Bardot or Jayne Mansfield with a little hole in it.
The publisher who produced these colourful postcards was a company in Hamburg, Arthur F. Krüger, Papierwarenfabrik (paper factory). Krüger must have produced thousands of postcards.
The subjects were mostly topographical, views from cities and villages, both in Germany and abroad.
Krüger also published dozens of postcards of film stars and pin-ups. For the pictures, they often worked with such glamour photographers as the American Bernard of Hollywood , the German Georg Michalke and the Frenchmen Gerard Decaux and Sam Lévin . The results are dazzling.
Vivi Bach . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/274. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.
Marisa Mell . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/349. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.
Sophia Loren . German postcard printed by Krüger, no. 902/304. Photo: Georg Michalke. Michalke made this picture for Loren's 42nd Italian film, La donna del fiume/The Woman of the River (Mario Soldati, 1955).
Dany Saval . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/139. Photo: Sam Lévin / Camera Press / Ufa.
Claudia Mori . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/342. Photo: Gérard Decaux.
Caracas
About the company Krüger, little is known. Later owners were the brothers Ebert. In 1978 or later, Gottfried Ebert moved the company from Hamburg to Caracas in Venezuela.
For a time, there was still a storage in Hamburg. J.S.A. (publisher J. Sleding in Amsterdam) was then Krüger's main Dutch customer. In Caracas, Krüger cooperated with the big publisher Intana.
The archive of Krüger (mainly German and international cityscapes) went to Sleding in Amsterdam. In 2000, the archive was bought by Han Ruyters, owner of the postcard shop Groeten uit... in the city of Utrecht.
At the shop, I bought some of the Krüger film star postcards which came from a sales book of a Krüger sales agent. Examples are the Elga Andersen and Aliki Vouyouklaki postcards here below. They still contain the white strip with name and number on the photo side, once used by the sales agent.
Elga Andersen . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/91. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Aliki Vouyouklaki . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/231.
Pascale Petit . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/65.
Gitte Haenning . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/379. Photo: Lothar Winkler.
Jayne Mansfield . German postcard by Krüger, nr. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.
This was the sixth post in a series on film star postcard publishers. Next week: Les vedettes de Cinema by A.N. For earlier posts, see the links at right under the caption 'The Publishers'.
Source: Frans ten Bookum and Henk Voskuilen (VDP-Bulletin).
Brigitte Bardot at the beach of Saint-Tropez, 1957. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/142. Photo: Ufa.
Claudia Cardinale . German postcard by Krüger / Ufa. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1967. Photo: Fried Agency.
Elsa Martinelli . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/255.
Mara Lane . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/58.
Rosanna Schiaffino . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/59.
Shooting Galleries
These postcards were all used in shooting galleries at fairs in the Netherlands. If you hit the postcard, you could take it home. That's why many Dutch men, who were boys during the 1950s and 1960s, still have their postcards of Brigitte Bardot or Jayne Mansfield with a little hole in it.
The publisher who produced these colourful postcards was a company in Hamburg, Arthur F. Krüger, Papierwarenfabrik (paper factory). Krüger must have produced thousands of postcards.
The subjects were mostly topographical, views from cities and villages, both in Germany and abroad.
Krüger also published dozens of postcards of film stars and pin-ups. For the pictures, they often worked with such glamour photographers as the American Bernard of Hollywood , the German Georg Michalke and the Frenchmen Gerard Decaux and Sam Lévin . The results are dazzling.
Vivi Bach . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/274. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.
Marisa Mell . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/349. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.
Sophia Loren . German postcard printed by Krüger, no. 902/304. Photo: Georg Michalke. Michalke made this picture for Loren's 42nd Italian film, La donna del fiume/The Woman of the River (Mario Soldati, 1955).
Dany Saval . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/139. Photo: Sam Lévin / Camera Press / Ufa.
Claudia Mori . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/342. Photo: Gérard Decaux.
Caracas
About the company Krüger, little is known. Later owners were the brothers Ebert. In 1978 or later, Gottfried Ebert moved the company from Hamburg to Caracas in Venezuela.
For a time, there was still a storage in Hamburg. J.S.A. (publisher J. Sleding in Amsterdam) was then Krüger's main Dutch customer. In Caracas, Krüger cooperated with the big publisher Intana.
The archive of Krüger (mainly German and international cityscapes) went to Sleding in Amsterdam. In 2000, the archive was bought by Han Ruyters, owner of the postcard shop Groeten uit... in the city of Utrecht.
At the shop, I bought some of the Krüger film star postcards which came from a sales book of a Krüger sales agent. Examples are the Elga Andersen and Aliki Vouyouklaki postcards here below. They still contain the white strip with name and number on the photo side, once used by the sales agent.
Elga Andersen . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/91. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Aliki Vouyouklaki . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/231.
Pascale Petit . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/65.
Gitte Haenning . German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/379. Photo: Lothar Winkler.
Jayne Mansfield . German postcard by Krüger, nr. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.
This was the sixth post in a series on film star postcard publishers. Next week: Les vedettes de Cinema by A.N. For earlier posts, see the links at right under the caption 'The Publishers'.
Source: Frans ten Bookum and Henk Voskuilen (VDP-Bulletin).
April 20, 2015
Albrecht Schoenhals
German stage and film actor Albrecht Schoenhals (1888-1978) was predestined by his charming and elegant appearance for high society characters and urbane lovers. In 1942 he refused to play Jud Süss and during the rest of the war years he had to work under difficult circumstances.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3160/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2501, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1295/2, 1937-1938. Photo: Cine-Allianz.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: Schorcht-Filmverleih.
Charming and Elegant
Albrecht Schoenhals was born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1888. He was the son of an English mother and a German father. He received a musical education and was also trained as a singer.
In 1914 he volunteered for the military and just before the end of the First World War he sustained a slight wound. After the war he took acting lessons from actor Eduard von Winterstein and in 1920 he made his debut at the Stadttheater Freiburg.
In 1934 he made his successful film debut with a double role in the romance Fürst Woronzeff/Prince Woronzeff (Arthur Robison, 1934) opposite Brigitte Helm . More roles for the charming and elegant actor soon followed.
Schoenhals played opposite the major divas of the German cinema in films like April, April (Detlef Sierck/Douglas Sirk, 1935) opposite Carola Höhn , Einer zuviel an Bord/One Too Many on Board (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1935) with Lída Baarová , Die Kreutzersonate/The Kreutzer Sonata (Veit Harlan, 1937) with Lil Dagover , Tango Notturno (Fritz Kirchhoff, 1937) opposite silent film legend Pola Negri , Die Frau ohne Vergangenheit/The woman without a past (Nunzio Malasomma, 1939) with Sybille Schmitz , and Angelika (Jürgen von Alten, 1940) with Olga Tschechowa .
His appearance predestined him for high society characters and urbane lovers, but in the crime film Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935) he played a rapist who is finally shot by one of his victims, played by Pola Negri .
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9353/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9868/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Walther Jaeger.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3206/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2116/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Lindner / FDF.
The Damned
In 1940 Albrecht Schoenhals refused to accept the title role in the hate film Jud Süss/Jew Süss (Veit Harlan, 1940). The role was finally interpreted by Ferdinand Marian .
Since then Schoenhals only got film offers under difficult circumstances. He was forced to appear in the propaganda film Kopf hoch, Johannes!/Chin up, John! (Viktor de Kowa, 1941) with Dorothea Wieck . He appeared on stage and went on tour with his wife, actress Anneliese Born.
After the war he could go on from his earlier success and appeared in films like Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe/Don't Play with Love (Hans Deppe, 1949) with Lil Dagover , Illusion in Moll/Illusion in a Minor Key (Rudolf Jugert, 1952) with Hildegard Knef , Bildnis einer Unbekannten/Portrait of an Unknown Woman (Helmut Käutner, 1954) with Ruth Leuwerik , and Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse/Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse (Paul May, 1963).
In 1969, he made his last film appearance in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece Die Verdammten/La caduta degli dei/The Damned (Luchino Visconti, 1969). He played Joachim von Essenbeck, the pater familias of a powerful and wealthy family whose downfall both parallels the rise and foreshadows the fall of the Third Reich.
In 1978, Albrecht Schoenhals died at the age of 90. With Anneliese Born, he had a son, Kay (1933). In 1965 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold and in 1967 the Bundesverdienstkreuz for his work in the German cinema.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3584/1, 1941-1944. Photo: MPSS / FDF.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: FDF / Lindner / Ross.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: FDF / Lindner / Ross.
Trailer of The Damned (1969). Source: Troz2000 (YouTube).
Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line), Wikipedia, and .
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3160/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2501, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1295/2, 1937-1938. Photo: Cine-Allianz.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: Schorcht-Filmverleih.
Charming and Elegant
Albrecht Schoenhals was born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1888. He was the son of an English mother and a German father. He received a musical education and was also trained as a singer.
In 1914 he volunteered for the military and just before the end of the First World War he sustained a slight wound. After the war he took acting lessons from actor Eduard von Winterstein and in 1920 he made his debut at the Stadttheater Freiburg.
In 1934 he made his successful film debut with a double role in the romance Fürst Woronzeff/Prince Woronzeff (Arthur Robison, 1934) opposite Brigitte Helm . More roles for the charming and elegant actor soon followed.
Schoenhals played opposite the major divas of the German cinema in films like April, April (Detlef Sierck/Douglas Sirk, 1935) opposite Carola Höhn , Einer zuviel an Bord/One Too Many on Board (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1935) with Lída Baarová , Die Kreutzersonate/The Kreutzer Sonata (Veit Harlan, 1937) with Lil Dagover , Tango Notturno (Fritz Kirchhoff, 1937) opposite silent film legend Pola Negri , Die Frau ohne Vergangenheit/The woman without a past (Nunzio Malasomma, 1939) with Sybille Schmitz , and Angelika (Jürgen von Alten, 1940) with Olga Tschechowa .
His appearance predestined him for high society characters and urbane lovers, but in the crime film Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935) he played a rapist who is finally shot by one of his victims, played by Pola Negri .
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9353/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9868/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Walther Jaeger.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3206/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2116/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Lindner / FDF.
The Damned
In 1940 Albrecht Schoenhals refused to accept the title role in the hate film Jud Süss/Jew Süss (Veit Harlan, 1940). The role was finally interpreted by Ferdinand Marian .
Since then Schoenhals only got film offers under difficult circumstances. He was forced to appear in the propaganda film Kopf hoch, Johannes!/Chin up, John! (Viktor de Kowa, 1941) with Dorothea Wieck . He appeared on stage and went on tour with his wife, actress Anneliese Born.
After the war he could go on from his earlier success and appeared in films like Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe/Don't Play with Love (Hans Deppe, 1949) with Lil Dagover , Illusion in Moll/Illusion in a Minor Key (Rudolf Jugert, 1952) with Hildegard Knef , Bildnis einer Unbekannten/Portrait of an Unknown Woman (Helmut Käutner, 1954) with Ruth Leuwerik , and Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse/Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse (Paul May, 1963).
In 1969, he made his last film appearance in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece Die Verdammten/La caduta degli dei/The Damned (Luchino Visconti, 1969). He played Joachim von Essenbeck, the pater familias of a powerful and wealthy family whose downfall both parallels the rise and foreshadows the fall of the Third Reich.
In 1978, Albrecht Schoenhals died at the age of 90. With Anneliese Born, he had a son, Kay (1933). In 1965 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold and in 1967 the Bundesverdienstkreuz for his work in the German cinema.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3584/1, 1941-1944. Photo: MPSS / FDF.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: FDF / Lindner / Ross.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: FDF / Lindner / Ross.
Trailer of The Damned (1969). Source: Troz2000 (YouTube).
Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line), Wikipedia, and .
April 19, 2015
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Tall, elastic-faced French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel (1932-2007) rode the crest of the Nouvelle Vague, the French New Wave in the early 1960s. The charming and energetic Cassel was being compared to Danny Kaye and Jacques Tati, but he also showed depth in roles for such famous directors as Claude Chabrol, Jean-Pierre Melville, Luis Buñuel and Robert Altman.
French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), no. 150. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), no. 146. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/393. Photo: Gérard Decaux.
Discovered by Gene Kelly
Jean-Pierre Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, in 1932. He was the son of doctor Georges Crochon and his wife Louise-Marguerite Fabrègue, an opera singer. He trained as a classical actor at the celebrated Cours Simon.
As an admirer of Fred Astaire, he took dance lessons in tap, modern and classical. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced in a St. Germain nightclub. Kelly cast him in his Paris-filmed seriocomedy The Happy Road (1957). Some years before he already had made his film debut with an uncredited bit role in the musical comedy Saluti e baci/The Road to Happiness (Maurice Labro, Giorgio Simonelli, 1953) starring Philippe Lemaire .
Cassel's break came in 1958, when he replaced Jean-Paul Belmondo on stage in the comedy Oscar. Nouvelle Vague director Philippe de Broca saw the show, and gave him the lead in Les Jeux de l'amour/Playing at Love (Philippe de Broca, 1960). This effervescent sex comedy was dominated by a running, jumping and gesticulating Cassel as a feckless young painter who will not give in to his live-in girlfriend's desire for marriage and a child.
The 1.83 m long Cassel continued with frenzied vivacity and eccentricity in Le Farceur/The Joker (Philippe de Broca, 1960), in which he is a dedicated philanderer searching for the perfect woman whom he thinks he has found in a beautiful and bored wife ( Anouk Aimée ).
The sweet-and-sour boudoir comedy L'Amant de cinq jours/Five Day Lover (Philippe de Broca, 1961), has Cassel as a bachelor, Jean Seberg, a wife, and François Périer , her husband. He also played the title roles in two screen adaptations of French classics, Voltaire's Candide (Norbert Carbonnaux, 1960), updated to the second world war, and Beaumarchais' Le mariage de Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro (Marcel Bluwal, 1961).
In Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin/ Arsene Lupin vs. Arsene Lupin (Edouard Molinaro, 1962) he starred opposite Catherine Deneuve 's sister Françoise Dorléac . He had also fallen deeply in love with her. According to Cassel, it was ‘a terrible, destructive passion’. (Dorléac was killed in a motor accident in 1967.)
Small Romanian card by Cooperativa Fotografia, no. 2. Photo: publicity still for Les fêtes galantes/The Lace Wars (René Clair, 1965).
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 1109 A. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. FK 123 A. Photo: Ufa.
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 1082. Photo: Studio Vallois.
Charming, Energetic and Rather Lightweight
The image of a charming, energetic and rather lightweight performer pursued Jean-Pierre Cassel throughout his career even into his 70s, although he did manage to play against type several times. During the 1960s and 1970s he worked with several famous directors. The 67-year-old Jean Renoir chose him to lead a young cast in his penultimate film, the second world war comedy-drama Le Caporal Épinglé/The Vanishing Corporal (Jean Renoir, 1962). Cassel played the educated, off-beat corporal in a German PoW camp, dedicated to escaping, though all his many attempts, save one, end in failure.
A year later Cassel was the dashing musketeer opposite José Ferrer as the long-nosed poet in Cyrano et d'Artagnan (1963, Abel Gance), and he was the romantic soldier Jolie-Coeur in René Clair's final film, a period farce, Les Fêtes Galantes/The Lace Wars (René Clair, 1965).
He was able to suppress his natural charm as a seedy detective in Claude Chabrol's La Rupture/The Breach (1970), trying to ruin the reputation of a woman ( Stéphane Audran ) in a divorce case; and revealed a new gravitas through his role as 'Jean François Jardie' in the famous French Resistance drama L' Armée des ombres/The Army in the Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969), and as Stéphane Audran 's husband in Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie/The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972). Later he worked with Joseph Losey at La Truite/The Trout (Joseph Losey, 1982) with Isabelle Huppert .
He also appeared in various all-star English-language productions such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (Ken Annakin, 1965), Paris brûle-t-il?/Is Paris Burning? (René Clément, 1966), Oh! What a Lovely War (Richard Attenborough, 1969) as a French military officer singing 'Belgium put the Kibosh on the Kaiser', The Three Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973) and its sequel The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1974) as a bumbling King Louis XIII, and the Agatha Christie mystery Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet, 1974) starring Albert Finney .
French postcard by Editions PSG, presented by Corvisart, Epinal, no. 66.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1062. Promotional postcard for Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 591.
One-Man Show Tributes
Jean-Pierre Cassel had a parallel career in the theatre, first in Jean Vilar's company in the 1960s for whom he played in Molière and Musset, and in 1976, he realised a long ambition to play in a Broadway musical. It was as the director in A Chorus Line at Drury Lane in London.
In later years Jean-Pierre Cassel appeared as Dr. Paul Gachet in Vincent & Theo (Robert Altman, 1990) starring Tim Roth as Vincent van Gogh, and Cassel also appeared in Altman's Prêt-à-Porter/Ready to Wear (Robert Altman, 1994). He reunited with Isabelle Huppert in the thriller La cérémonie/A Judgement in Stone (Claude Chabrol, 1995).
In the theatre, he did one-man show tributes to Fred Astaire and Gilbert Bécaud . In 2004, after he was hospitalised for cancer, Cassel resumed his career with renewed energy, writing his autobiography, making recordings and films.
In 2006, he climbed back on stage at the age of 74 for a retrospective of Serge Gainsbourg , a good friend since the 1950s. The homage Jean-Pierre Cassel chante et danse Gainsbourg Suite featured various songs of the famous French composer, including three unpublished songs from the 1960s.
In 2007, Cassel also appeared in dual roles (as Père Lucien and the Lourdes souvenir vendor) in Le Scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007). In april 2007, Jean-Pierre Cassel died of cancer in Paris, aged 74. He was married to Sabine Litique (1966-1980) with whom he had three children, and to Anne Célérier (1981–till his death) with whom he had a daughter. He was the father of actor Vincent Cassel, Olivia Cassel (deceased), Mathias Cassel (also known as Rockin' Squat, leader of the French rap crew Assassin) and Cécile Cassel.
With his charismatic son Vincent, he appeared together in three films: Métisse/Café au lait (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1993), the short Valse nocturne/Night Waltz (Christopher Barry, 1995) and the thriller Les rivières pourpres/The Crimson Rivers (Mathieu Kassovitz, 2000). His last film was the third live action adaptation of Albert Goscinny & René Uderzo's classic Astérix comics, Astérix aux jeux olympiques/Asterix at the Olympic Games (Frédéric Forestier, Thomas Langmann, 2008) with Gérard Depardieu as Obelix. Cassel played the wise old druid Panoramix.
Jean-Pierre Cassel dances and Serge Gainsbourg sings Chez les Yéyés (1964). Source: Alexey Shakhov (YouTube).
Trailer of L' Armée des ombres/The Army in the Shadows (1969). Source: ennemme (YouTube).
French trailer of La Rupture/The Breach (1970). Source: igotmobilephone (YouTube).
Sources: Ronald Bergan (Guardian), (IMDb), Wikipedia, and .
French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), no. 150. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), no. 146. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/393. Photo: Gérard Decaux.
Discovered by Gene Kelly
Jean-Pierre Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, in 1932. He was the son of doctor Georges Crochon and his wife Louise-Marguerite Fabrègue, an opera singer. He trained as a classical actor at the celebrated Cours Simon.
As an admirer of Fred Astaire, he took dance lessons in tap, modern and classical. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced in a St. Germain nightclub. Kelly cast him in his Paris-filmed seriocomedy The Happy Road (1957). Some years before he already had made his film debut with an uncredited bit role in the musical comedy Saluti e baci/The Road to Happiness (Maurice Labro, Giorgio Simonelli, 1953) starring Philippe Lemaire .
Cassel's break came in 1958, when he replaced Jean-Paul Belmondo on stage in the comedy Oscar. Nouvelle Vague director Philippe de Broca saw the show, and gave him the lead in Les Jeux de l'amour/Playing at Love (Philippe de Broca, 1960). This effervescent sex comedy was dominated by a running, jumping and gesticulating Cassel as a feckless young painter who will not give in to his live-in girlfriend's desire for marriage and a child.
The 1.83 m long Cassel continued with frenzied vivacity and eccentricity in Le Farceur/The Joker (Philippe de Broca, 1960), in which he is a dedicated philanderer searching for the perfect woman whom he thinks he has found in a beautiful and bored wife ( Anouk Aimée ).
The sweet-and-sour boudoir comedy L'Amant de cinq jours/Five Day Lover (Philippe de Broca, 1961), has Cassel as a bachelor, Jean Seberg, a wife, and François Périer , her husband. He also played the title roles in two screen adaptations of French classics, Voltaire's Candide (Norbert Carbonnaux, 1960), updated to the second world war, and Beaumarchais' Le mariage de Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro (Marcel Bluwal, 1961).
In Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin/ Arsene Lupin vs. Arsene Lupin (Edouard Molinaro, 1962) he starred opposite Catherine Deneuve 's sister Françoise Dorléac . He had also fallen deeply in love with her. According to Cassel, it was ‘a terrible, destructive passion’. (Dorléac was killed in a motor accident in 1967.)
Small Romanian card by Cooperativa Fotografia, no. 2. Photo: publicity still for Les fêtes galantes/The Lace Wars (René Clair, 1965).
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 1109 A. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. FK 123 A. Photo: Ufa.
French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 1082. Photo: Studio Vallois.
Charming, Energetic and Rather Lightweight
The image of a charming, energetic and rather lightweight performer pursued Jean-Pierre Cassel throughout his career even into his 70s, although he did manage to play against type several times. During the 1960s and 1970s he worked with several famous directors. The 67-year-old Jean Renoir chose him to lead a young cast in his penultimate film, the second world war comedy-drama Le Caporal Épinglé/The Vanishing Corporal (Jean Renoir, 1962). Cassel played the educated, off-beat corporal in a German PoW camp, dedicated to escaping, though all his many attempts, save one, end in failure.
A year later Cassel was the dashing musketeer opposite José Ferrer as the long-nosed poet in Cyrano et d'Artagnan (1963, Abel Gance), and he was the romantic soldier Jolie-Coeur in René Clair's final film, a period farce, Les Fêtes Galantes/The Lace Wars (René Clair, 1965).
He was able to suppress his natural charm as a seedy detective in Claude Chabrol's La Rupture/The Breach (1970), trying to ruin the reputation of a woman ( Stéphane Audran ) in a divorce case; and revealed a new gravitas through his role as 'Jean François Jardie' in the famous French Resistance drama L' Armée des ombres/The Army in the Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969), and as Stéphane Audran 's husband in Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie/The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972). Later he worked with Joseph Losey at La Truite/The Trout (Joseph Losey, 1982) with Isabelle Huppert .
He also appeared in various all-star English-language productions such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (Ken Annakin, 1965), Paris brûle-t-il?/Is Paris Burning? (René Clément, 1966), Oh! What a Lovely War (Richard Attenborough, 1969) as a French military officer singing 'Belgium put the Kibosh on the Kaiser', The Three Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973) and its sequel The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1974) as a bumbling King Louis XIII, and the Agatha Christie mystery Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet, 1974) starring Albert Finney .
French postcard by Editions PSG, presented by Corvisart, Epinal, no. 66.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1062. Promotional postcard for Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 591.
One-Man Show Tributes
Jean-Pierre Cassel had a parallel career in the theatre, first in Jean Vilar's company in the 1960s for whom he played in Molière and Musset, and in 1976, he realised a long ambition to play in a Broadway musical. It was as the director in A Chorus Line at Drury Lane in London.
In later years Jean-Pierre Cassel appeared as Dr. Paul Gachet in Vincent & Theo (Robert Altman, 1990) starring Tim Roth as Vincent van Gogh, and Cassel also appeared in Altman's Prêt-à-Porter/Ready to Wear (Robert Altman, 1994). He reunited with Isabelle Huppert in the thriller La cérémonie/A Judgement in Stone (Claude Chabrol, 1995).
In the theatre, he did one-man show tributes to Fred Astaire and Gilbert Bécaud . In 2004, after he was hospitalised for cancer, Cassel resumed his career with renewed energy, writing his autobiography, making recordings and films.
In 2006, he climbed back on stage at the age of 74 for a retrospective of Serge Gainsbourg , a good friend since the 1950s. The homage Jean-Pierre Cassel chante et danse Gainsbourg Suite featured various songs of the famous French composer, including three unpublished songs from the 1960s.
In 2007, Cassel also appeared in dual roles (as Père Lucien and the Lourdes souvenir vendor) in Le Scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007). In april 2007, Jean-Pierre Cassel died of cancer in Paris, aged 74. He was married to Sabine Litique (1966-1980) with whom he had three children, and to Anne Célérier (1981–till his death) with whom he had a daughter. He was the father of actor Vincent Cassel, Olivia Cassel (deceased), Mathias Cassel (also known as Rockin' Squat, leader of the French rap crew Assassin) and Cécile Cassel.
With his charismatic son Vincent, he appeared together in three films: Métisse/Café au lait (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1993), the short Valse nocturne/Night Waltz (Christopher Barry, 1995) and the thriller Les rivières pourpres/The Crimson Rivers (Mathieu Kassovitz, 2000). His last film was the third live action adaptation of Albert Goscinny & René Uderzo's classic Astérix comics, Astérix aux jeux olympiques/Asterix at the Olympic Games (Frédéric Forestier, Thomas Langmann, 2008) with Gérard Depardieu as Obelix. Cassel played the wise old druid Panoramix.
Jean-Pierre Cassel dances and Serge Gainsbourg sings Chez les Yéyés (1964). Source: Alexey Shakhov (YouTube).
Trailer of L' Armée des ombres/The Army in the Shadows (1969). Source: ennemme (YouTube).
French trailer of La Rupture/The Breach (1970). Source: igotmobilephone (YouTube).
Sources: Ronald Bergan (Guardian), (IMDb), Wikipedia, and .
April 18, 2015
Greetings from Utrecht, Part 3
Last weekend we visited the International Collectors Fair in Utrecht. It was fun! In three posts we share our new acquisitions. Today, the third and final part.
German postcard by Ufa. Photo: Vogelmann / NDF / Herzog-film. Publicity still for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957).
During the 1950s and 1960s, American singer and actress Olive Moorefield (1932) worked in Austria and West Germany. She starred on stage in musicals and operas, acted in several films, including Monpti (1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz, and Onkel Toms Hütte/Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1964), and she appeared in television shows.
Dutch photo card by DRC, no. 17. Photo: MPEA.
British Indian actor Sabu (1924-1963) had 'a smile as broad as the Ganges and charm enough to lure the stripes off a tiger'. He became an instant star with the release of the British film Elephant Boy in 1937. His succession of tropical Technicolor treats delighted audiences before and during WW II.
Belgian postcard by P.E., no. 468.
American singer and actress Helen Morgan (1900-1941) worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie LaVerne in the original Broadway production of Hammerstein and Kern's musical Show Boat in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the musical, and appeared in two film adaptations, a part-talkie made in 1929 (prologue only) and a full-sound version made in 1936, becoming firmly associated with the role. She suffered from bouts of alcoholism, and despite her notable success in the title role of another Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical, Sweet Adeline (1929), her stage career was relatively short. Helen Morgan died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. She was portrayed by Polly Bergen in the Playhouse 90 drama The Helen Morgan Story and by Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic based on the television drama.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5124. Photo: Decca Records / Editions Altona, Amsterdam.
Teddy Scholten (1926-2010) was the winner of the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands.
French postcard by EDUG, no. 1010. Photo: Paramount.
French actress and singer Meg Lemonnier (1905-1988) was most active in the French cinema of the 1930s.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2248. Photo: Dial / Unitalia Film, Roma.
Silvana Pampanini (1925) is an Italian actress who knew enormous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1950s, before Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida reached stardom, Pampanini was one of the most well-known symbols of Italian beauty.
Dutch postcard, no. 662.
French actress and chanson singer Juliette Gréco (1927) was the muse of the existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Later she became the protégée of film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her in his films.
Promotion card by Ufa. Photo: publicity still for Der Letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Georg Jacoby, 1934).
Grand German-Dutch actress Adele Sandrock (1863-1937) had a successful theatrical career all over Europe. In Vienna she had a stormy affair with the famous playwright Arthur Schnitzler, and enjoyed triumphs as the diva of the modern playwrights. In the 1910s she became one of the first German film stars. After the introduction of sound she emerged as a witty comedienne. She excelled as the intimidating elderly dragon, who could also be surprisingly funny and tactful.
Dutch postcard by Hemo. Photo: Eagle Lion.
British entertainer Georgette 'Googie' Withers (1917-2011) had a long career in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress during the war and post-war years. During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Her best known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). Among her successes of the 1940s, and a departure from her previous roles, was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama in which she played a Dutch resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. In 1948 British exhibitors voted her the 8th most popular British star in the country. She is also remembered for her role as the devious Helen Nosseross in the classic film noir Night and the City (1950). Googie Withers was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.
Dutch postcard by Foto Archief Film en Toneel, no. 3335. Photo: RKO Radio Films.
American film, stage and television actor Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He first gained worldwide fame in the Orson Welles films Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay. He went on to become one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1940s, appearing in films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Duel in the Sun (1946) and The Third Man (1949). One of his final films was Michael Cimino's epic Heaven's Gate (1980).
Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1609. Photo: Paramount.
Alluring French leading lady Corinne Calvet (1925-2001) made a big splash in Hollywood in the early 1950s with her sultry looks and her highly publicized legal battles.
Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 1250. Photo: Warner Bros.
American film, musical theatre, and television actress Janis Paige (1922) moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and was hired as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen for members of the military during World War II. A Warner Bros. agent saw her potential and signed her to a contract. She began co-starring in low budget musicals, often paired with Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She co-starred in Romance on the High Seas (1948), the film in which Doris Day made her movie debut. Paige later co-starred in adventures and dramas, in which she felt out of place. Following her role in Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave Hollywood. Paige appeared on Broadway and was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play, Remains to Be Seen, co-starring Jackie Cooper. Stardom came in 1954 with her role as Babe in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. After six years away, Paige returned to Hollywood in Silk Stockings (1957), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, the Doris Day comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and as a love-starved married neighbour in Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope. A rare dramatic role was as Marion, an institutionalized prostitute, in The Caretakers (1963).
The End.
German postcard by Ufa. Photo: Vogelmann / NDF / Herzog-film. Publicity still for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957).
During the 1950s and 1960s, American singer and actress Olive Moorefield (1932) worked in Austria and West Germany. She starred on stage in musicals and operas, acted in several films, including Monpti (1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz, and Onkel Toms Hütte/Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1964), and she appeared in television shows.
Dutch photo card by DRC, no. 17. Photo: MPEA.
British Indian actor Sabu (1924-1963) had 'a smile as broad as the Ganges and charm enough to lure the stripes off a tiger'. He became an instant star with the release of the British film Elephant Boy in 1937. His succession of tropical Technicolor treats delighted audiences before and during WW II.
Belgian postcard by P.E., no. 468.
American singer and actress Helen Morgan (1900-1941) worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie LaVerne in the original Broadway production of Hammerstein and Kern's musical Show Boat in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the musical, and appeared in two film adaptations, a part-talkie made in 1929 (prologue only) and a full-sound version made in 1936, becoming firmly associated with the role. She suffered from bouts of alcoholism, and despite her notable success in the title role of another Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical, Sweet Adeline (1929), her stage career was relatively short. Helen Morgan died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. She was portrayed by Polly Bergen in the Playhouse 90 drama The Helen Morgan Story and by Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic based on the television drama.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5124. Photo: Decca Records / Editions Altona, Amsterdam.
Teddy Scholten (1926-2010) was the winner of the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands.
French postcard by EDUG, no. 1010. Photo: Paramount.
French actress and singer Meg Lemonnier (1905-1988) was most active in the French cinema of the 1930s.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2248. Photo: Dial / Unitalia Film, Roma.
Silvana Pampanini (1925) is an Italian actress who knew enormous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1950s, before Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida reached stardom, Pampanini was one of the most well-known symbols of Italian beauty.
Dutch postcard, no. 662.
French actress and chanson singer Juliette Gréco (1927) was the muse of the existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Later she became the protégée of film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her in his films.
Promotion card by Ufa. Photo: publicity still for Der Letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Georg Jacoby, 1934).
Grand German-Dutch actress Adele Sandrock (1863-1937) had a successful theatrical career all over Europe. In Vienna she had a stormy affair with the famous playwright Arthur Schnitzler, and enjoyed triumphs as the diva of the modern playwrights. In the 1910s she became one of the first German film stars. After the introduction of sound she emerged as a witty comedienne. She excelled as the intimidating elderly dragon, who could also be surprisingly funny and tactful.
Dutch postcard by Hemo. Photo: Eagle Lion.
British entertainer Georgette 'Googie' Withers (1917-2011) had a long career in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress during the war and post-war years. During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Her best known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). Among her successes of the 1940s, and a departure from her previous roles, was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama in which she played a Dutch resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. In 1948 British exhibitors voted her the 8th most popular British star in the country. She is also remembered for her role as the devious Helen Nosseross in the classic film noir Night and the City (1950). Googie Withers was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.
Dutch postcard by Foto Archief Film en Toneel, no. 3335. Photo: RKO Radio Films.
American film, stage and television actor Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He first gained worldwide fame in the Orson Welles films Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay. He went on to become one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1940s, appearing in films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Duel in the Sun (1946) and The Third Man (1949). One of his final films was Michael Cimino's epic Heaven's Gate (1980).
Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1609. Photo: Paramount.
Alluring French leading lady Corinne Calvet (1925-2001) made a big splash in Hollywood in the early 1950s with her sultry looks and her highly publicized legal battles.
Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 1250. Photo: Warner Bros.
American film, musical theatre, and television actress Janis Paige (1922) moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and was hired as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen for members of the military during World War II. A Warner Bros. agent saw her potential and signed her to a contract. She began co-starring in low budget musicals, often paired with Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She co-starred in Romance on the High Seas (1948), the film in which Doris Day made her movie debut. Paige later co-starred in adventures and dramas, in which she felt out of place. Following her role in Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave Hollywood. Paige appeared on Broadway and was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play, Remains to Be Seen, co-starring Jackie Cooper. Stardom came in 1954 with her role as Babe in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. After six years away, Paige returned to Hollywood in Silk Stockings (1957), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, the Doris Day comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and as a love-starved married neighbour in Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope. A rare dramatic role was as Marion, an institutionalized prostitute, in The Caretakers (1963).
The End.
April 17, 2015
Špalíček (1947)
Puppet animation is a traditional Czech art form, of which Jiří Trnka (1912-1969) was the undisputed master. In 1947, Trnka made his first feature, the puppet film Špalíček/The Czech Year. It was a defining moment for Trnka as he won several international awards across Europe in the next three years.
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-1. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-3. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-4. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-5. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-7. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-10. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-14. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-16. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-20. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-22. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-30. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-36. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Full of Life
In the fall of 1946 Jiří Trnka first considered puppet animation films, and began to experiment with the help of Břetislav Pojar. The result was his first feature film Špalíček/The Czech Year (1947), based on a book illustrated by Mikoláš Aleš.
Špalíček tells six separate folk tales of Czech life: Shrovetide, Jaro (Spring), The legend of St. Procopius (Legenda or svatem Prokopu), The Fair, The Feast and Bethlehem.
Professor-x at IMDb : "Like most of Trnka's work, the puppet designs are simple, but full of life. Spalicek doesn't have the same refinement of Trnka's later work, but is wonderful as his first big foray into puppet animation.
A great deal of story information is sung and spoken rather than acted. Still, there are great bits of animation, visuals, and music to keep things somewhat interesting."
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-298-9. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-299-2. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. 10-299-6. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
The Walt Disney of Eastern Europe
After graduating from the Prague School of Arts and Crafts, Jiří Trnka created a puppet theatre in 1936. This group was dissolved when World War II began, and he instead designed stage sets and illustrated books for children throughout the war.
In the immediate wake of World War II, Trnka founded Bratři v triku (Brothers in Tricks) with fellow animators Eduard Hofman and Jiří Brdečka. This studio, dedicated to the production of traditional, hand-drawn animation, lives on today.
Most of his films were intended for adults and many were adaptations of literary works. These included feature length covering working-class traditions and national heroes, such as Bajaja/Prince Bayaya (1950), and Staré povesti ceské/Old Czech Legends (1953). For Dobry vojak Svejk/The Good Soldier Svejk (1955), he adapted the classic anti-war satire Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek.
In addition to his extensive career as a puppet-maker, motion-picture animator and film director, Jiří Trnka is best known for his work as an illustrator, especially of children's books.
Especially famous are his illustrations for the tales of the Brothers Grimm, as well as collections of folktales from Czech authors such as Jirí Horák and Jan Pálenícek. Trnka also illustrated the tales of H.C. Andersen and Charles Perrault, the fables of Jean de La Fontaine, The Thousand and One Nights, several works of William Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Throughout his life, he illustrated 130 works of literature. In 1968, he received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustrators, recognizing his career contribution to children's literature.
Most of his films were intended for adults and many were adaptations of literary works. Because of his influence in animation, he was called 'the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe', despite the great differences between their works.
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-01. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-0-3. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-03. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by ODEON, no. 10-427/VIII-K-0-5. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-08. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by ODEON, no. 10-427/VIII-O-12. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-10. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-11. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-12. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-13. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-14. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-15. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-16. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-18. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-22. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by ODEON, no. 10-550-X-0-6. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-1. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-3. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-4. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-5. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-7. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-10. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-14. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-16. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-20. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-22. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-30. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D-107-36. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Full of Life
In the fall of 1946 Jiří Trnka first considered puppet animation films, and began to experiment with the help of Břetislav Pojar. The result was his first feature film Špalíček/The Czech Year (1947), based on a book illustrated by Mikoláš Aleš.
Špalíček tells six separate folk tales of Czech life: Shrovetide, Jaro (Spring), The legend of St. Procopius (Legenda or svatem Prokopu), The Fair, The Feast and Bethlehem.
Professor-x at IMDb : "Like most of Trnka's work, the puppet designs are simple, but full of life. Spalicek doesn't have the same refinement of Trnka's later work, but is wonderful as his first big foray into puppet animation.
A great deal of story information is sung and spoken rather than acted. Still, there are great bits of animation, visuals, and music to keep things somewhat interesting."
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-298-9. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-299-2. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
Czech postcard by Orbis, no. 10-299-6. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947). Retro: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).
The Walt Disney of Eastern Europe
After graduating from the Prague School of Arts and Crafts, Jiří Trnka created a puppet theatre in 1936. This group was dissolved when World War II began, and he instead designed stage sets and illustrated books for children throughout the war.
In the immediate wake of World War II, Trnka founded Bratři v triku (Brothers in Tricks) with fellow animators Eduard Hofman and Jiří Brdečka. This studio, dedicated to the production of traditional, hand-drawn animation, lives on today.
Most of his films were intended for adults and many were adaptations of literary works. These included feature length covering working-class traditions and national heroes, such as Bajaja/Prince Bayaya (1950), and Staré povesti ceské/Old Czech Legends (1953). For Dobry vojak Svejk/The Good Soldier Svejk (1955), he adapted the classic anti-war satire Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek.
In addition to his extensive career as a puppet-maker, motion-picture animator and film director, Jiří Trnka is best known for his work as an illustrator, especially of children's books.
Especially famous are his illustrations for the tales of the Brothers Grimm, as well as collections of folktales from Czech authors such as Jirí Horák and Jan Pálenícek. Trnka also illustrated the tales of H.C. Andersen and Charles Perrault, the fables of Jean de La Fontaine, The Thousand and One Nights, several works of William Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Throughout his life, he illustrated 130 works of literature. In 1968, he received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustrators, recognizing his career contribution to children's literature.
Most of his films were intended for adults and many were adaptations of literary works. Because of his influence in animation, he was called 'the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe', despite the great differences between their works.
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-01. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-0-3. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-03. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by ODEON, no. 10-427/VIII-K-0-5. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-08. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by ODEON, no. 10-427/VIII-O-12. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-10. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-11. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-12. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-13. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-14. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-15. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-16. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-18. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by KLU, no. 10-427-K-22. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Czech postcard by ODEON, no. 10-550-X-0-6. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka, 1947).
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Paul van Yperen's Blog
- Paul van Yperen's profile
- 13 followers
Paul van Yperen isn't a Goodreads Author
(yet),
but they
do have a blog,
so here are some recent posts imported from
their feed.
