Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 435

Kees Brusse (1925–2013)

On 9 December Dutch actor and film director Kees Brusse (1925–2013) has passed away. Brusse appeared in over 50 films and TV films since 1936. He starred in the film Dokter Pulder zaait papavers/Doctor Pulder Sows Poppies (Bert Haanstra, 1975), which was entered into the 26th Berlin International Film Festival, and several other major Dutch films. He was 88.


Dutch postcard van Rotterdamse Comedie, no. 153. Photo: Kees Molkenboer, Rotterdam. Publicity still for the 1952 stage play Fientje Beulemans/The Marriage of Mademoiselle Beulemans by Jean François Fonson and Lucien Wicheler with Elly van Stekelenburg.

A Subdued, Natural Way of Acting
Kees Brusse was born as Cornelius Brusse in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1925. He was a son of well-known author and journalist Marie Joseph Brusse and opera singer Antje Ebes. Kees had six brothers and half brothers, filmmaker Ytzen Brusse, journalist Jan Brusse, journalist / filmmaker Peter Brusse, sculptor Mark Brusse, the prematurely deceased Marie Joseph Jr. and architect Henk Brusse.

At the age of eleven, he made his film debut as Merijntje’s brother Arjaan in the Dutch drama Merijntje Gijzen's Jeugd/Merijntje Gijzen's Youth (Kurt Gerron, 1936), based on the popular novel written by A.M. De Jong.

Brusse attended high school, but for the theatre school, he was rejected. As an actor and as a director he was self-taught. At the age of 16, he made his stage debut as Pietje Puck in Boefje/Rascal (1941) at the Gemeentelijk Theaterbedrijf Amsterdam (Municipal Theatre Company Amsterdam).

A year later, he played in De mooiste ogen van de wereld (The most beautiful eyes in the world) (1942). In 1943 he played at the Central Theatre led by Cees Laseur. With Laseur and Wim Ibo he also did cabaret.

After the liberation of the Netherlands, Brusse worked in Cabaret Wim Sonneveld , from 1945 on. With the international cabaret company of Rudolf Nelson, he made a tour in Switzerland. In the period 1948-1949, Brusse travelled with his theatre group C6 through Indonesia.

He developed a characteristic acting style. No exaggerated gestures or carried voice, but a subdued, natural way of acting.

In 1948 he had married his first wife, Pamela Ingenegeren (Pam Henning). Four more marriages would follow: in 1954 he married the actress Mieke Verstraete, in 1975 Marlou Peters, and in 1986 Sonja Boerrigter, and finally the Australian Joan St. Clair.


Ellen van Hemert . Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3192. Photo: N.V. Standaardfilms. Publicity still for Jenny (1958).

The Third Best Visited Film of the Dutch Cinema Ever
In 1950, Kees Brusse’s film career really took off with the lead in De dijk is dicht/The dyke is closed (Anton Koolhaas, 1950), the first major Dutch film production after WW II. Frank Veenstra (a.k.a. Boba_Fett1138) at IMDb calls it a ‘A surprising good humble little film’: “Beside the directing, also the acting really surprised in this movie. While some of the actors are obvious non-actors and probably just locals, the main parts are being played by some fine actors who give away a great performance.”

Brusse appeared in two acclaimed documentaries by his brother Ytzen, Hij, zij, en een wereldhaven/He, she, and a world port (Ytzen Brusse, 1952) and Het meest getapt/The most tapped(Ytzen Brusse, 1953).

From 1952 to 1954 Kees Brusse gave artistic leadership to the stage company Rotterdamse Comédie, where he worked with dramaturge Anna Blaman and his future wife Mieke Verstraete.

In 1955 he had a huge success with his role in Ciske de Rat/Ciske the Rat (1955), directed by German film maker Wolfgang Staudte and based on the popular novels by Piet Bakker. With 2,433,000 viewers it is the third best visited film of the Dutch cinema ever. The film was also shown at the Venice Film Festival, where it won a Silver Lion of San Marco.

Staudte also made a German version Ciske: Ein Kind Braucht Liebe/Ciske: A Child Needs Love (1955). The cast was different although Kees Brusse returned as Ciske’s teacher Bruis.

Two years later he starred in the comedy Kleren maken de man/Clothes make the man (Georg Jacoby, 1957) with Annet Nieuwenhuizen and Andrea Domburg , and then in the first Dutch colour feature, the romantic drama Jenny (Willy van Hemert, 1958), featuring Ellen van Hemert . Jenny was an updated adaptation of the oft-filmed romantic drama Eight Girls in a Boat.


Rob de Vries . East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2010, 1964. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: publicity still for De Overval/The Silent Raid (Paul Rotha, 1962).

People of Tomorrow
During the 1950s, Kees Brusse enjoyed huge successes on the Dutch radio with radio plays and improvisation shows. The most successful was the biweekly series De Familie Doorsnee/The family Rate, written by Annie M.G. Schmidt and aired from 1952 till 1958.

Brusse also became known through the new medium television. He appeared in the popular situation comedy Pension Hommeles/Guesthouse Much a-do (Erik de Vries, 1957-1959), again written by Annie M.G. Schmidt.

He played inspector Maigret in the Dutch-Belgian crime series Maigret (1964-1965), based on the novels by Georges Simenon. Other popular TV series were Tussen wal en schip/Between two stools (Eimert Kruidhof, 1977), and Mensen zoals jij en ik/Everyday people like you and me (Rob Herzet, 1981-1985).

He was also a panellist in the game show Wie van de drie/Who of the three. Till the early 1960s, Brusse combined his TV work in the daytime with stage acting in the evening. He worked for such theatre companies as Toneelgroep Theater, the Haagse Comedie, the Amsterdams Toneel and the Nederlandse Comedie.

Already during the 1950s, Brusse showed interest in the young generation who were living in a turbulent time. He directed short films like De paraplu/The Umbrella (1956) and Het gerucht/The Rumour (1960), which advocated for sex education for young people.

Brusse garnered respect as a director with his documentary Mensen van morgen/People of tomorrow (1964) in which he interviewed young people. Later he made several more documentaries.

In the early 1960s he appeared in a few films of the ailing Dutch film industry. Both De zaak M.P./The Manneken Pis Case (Bert Haanstra, 1960) and his own feature Kermis in de Regen/Fair in the Rain (Kees Brusse, 1962) were disappointments, commercially and artistically. A success was the war thriller De overval/The silent Raid (Paul Rotha, 1963) with Rob de Vries and Yoka Beretty .


Sylvia Kristel . Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Blue Movie

After eight years of TV work, Kees Brusse returned to the cinema in the soft sex film Blue Movie (Wim Verstappen, 1971), an international box-office hit and notable as the first film produced in Holland with full frontal nudity for both sexes.

Brusse also appeared in Verstappen’s dark satire VD (Wim Verstappen, 1973) opposite Andrea Domburg , and Dakota (Wim Verstappen, 1974) with Monique van de Ven and Willeke van Ammelrooy.

More interesting are Dokter Pulder zaait papavers/Doctor Pulder Sows Poppies (Bert Haanstra, 1975) with Dora van der Groen and Rooie Sien/Red Sien (Frans Weisz, 1975) starring Willeke Alberti . Other films were Mysteries/Evil Mysteries (Paul de Lussanet, 1977) starring Rutger Hauer and Sylvia Kristel, and Een pak slag/Mr. Slotter's Jubilee (Bert Haanstra, Rimko Haanstra, 1979).

In 1982, he received a prestigious Dutch TV award, the Gouden Televizierring (Golden Televizier Ring), for his TV series Mensen zoals jij en ik/Everyday people like you and me. In 1987, he was appointed to Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau (Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau).

He continued to appear in TV films and series, including De wandelaar/The walker (Eimert Kruidhof, 1989), the popular hospital series Medisch Centrum West/MCW (1991), and the thriller Tasten in het duister/The Right to Know (Stephan Brenninkmeijer, 1996). His final screen appearance was in the TV series De erfenis/The heritage (Johan Nijenhuis a.o., 2004) with Manouk van der Meulen.

Brusse was socially active. In addition to his work, he was an ambassador for the organization Greenwisheen, a platform for people who commit their expertise, creativity and talents to initiatives in the field of nature, environment and sustainability. He created the Kees Brusse Foundation for the empowerment of older persons.

In 1988, he moved with his fourth wife, Sonja Boerrigte, to successively Bonaire, France and Australia. After her death in 2000 Brusse returned temporarily to the Netherlands.

Until January 2013, he lived in anonymity in Perth, Australia. In March 2011, he visited the Netherlands to present his biography Herinneringen: Ovatie aan het leven (Memories: ovation to life).

In early 2013 Kees Brusse returned to the Netherlands for good. He stayed at the Rosa Spier House in Laren, where he died on 9 December 2013.


Scene from De overval/The silent Raid (1963). Source: Duckeeeeeeeee (YouTube).


Scenes from Dokter Pulder zaait papavers/Doctor Pulder Sows Poppies (1975). Source: Carminum (YouTube).

Sources: Hans Nauta (Trouw) (Dutch), Annemieke Hendriks (De pioniers) (Dutch), AllMovie, Wikipedia (English and Dutch), and .

Happy birthday, Jean-Louis Trintignant!

Today is the birthday of Jean-Louis Trintignant (1930), one of the most talented and recognisable French actors of the post-war era. He showed a special talent for troubled characters like murderers or jealous husbands, and won several awards for it. Trintignant starred in more than 100 films and enjoyed international acclaim with films like Et Dieu... créa la femme/And God Created Woman (1956), Un homme et une femme/A Man And A Woman (1966), Z (1969), Il Conformista/The Conformist (1970) and of course with Michael Haneke’s Amour/Love (2012). This year, Amour won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and Jean-Louis Trintignant himself was awarded with the César 2013 for Best Actor. Happy 83, mr. Trintignant!


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 17/71, 1971. Retail price: 0,20 M.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 73/78, 1978. Retail price: 0,20 M. Photo: Progress.

Rumors of an Affair with BB
Jean-Louis Trintignant was born in Piolenc in the southeast of France in 1930. He was born into a wealthy family. His parents were Claire (née Tourtin) and Raoul Trintignant, an industrialist.

His uncle was race car driver, Louis Trintignant, who was killed in 1933 while practicing on the Péronne racetrack in Picardie. Another uncle, Maurice Trintignant, was a Formula One driver who twice won the Monaco Grand Prix as well as the Le Mans.

Jean-Louis studied law in Aix-en-Provence, but at the age of 19, he found a sudden passion for acting, having seen Charles Dullin's stage production of Molière's L'Avare.  The following year, he moved to Paris to study drama at L'IDHEC (Institut des hautes études cinématographiques, now La Fémis). He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and toured in the early 1950s in several theatre productions.

His first film appearance was in La Loi des rues/Law of the Streets (Ralph Habib, 1956) and he was given his first bigger part in Si tous les gars du monde/If All the Guys in the World... (Christian Jaque, 1956), an hymn to brotherhood, solidarity and responsibility.

At the time Trintignant was not regarded as very talented, but everything changed when Roger Vadim discovered him. He gave him the leading man role opposite Brigitte Bardot in Et Dieu... créa la femme/And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956).

Et Dieu... créa la femme gained him instant stardom. When the press stalked him because of a brief affair with Bardot, he fled into the army. His acting was interrupted for several years by mandatory military service. He served in the Algerian War and was profoundly affected by what he experienced during the conflict. After three years of military life, he returned to Paris.

Trintignant had made up his mind to give up acting, but an offer to star as Hamlet in Paris changed his mind. Critical acclaim lead to another  important film role for Vadim in an updated version of Les liaisons dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons (Roger Vadim, 1959) starring Jeanne Moreau . However, it took some time for another big success in the cinema.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 608. Photo: Sam Lévin.


Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 293.

Art-house Classic
Raised in and around automobile racing, Jean-Louis Trintignant was the natural choice of film director Claude Lelouch for the starring role of race car driver in his film Un homme et une femme/A Man and A Woman (Claude Lelouch, 1966). And indeed he was perfectly cast as the widowed driver who learns to love again.

Trintignant was – and still is - good friends with actress Anouk Aimée . He recommended her to Lelouch for the female lead in the film. Un homme et une femme won the Palme d’Or and became a huge global success. At the time Un homme et une femme was the most successful French film ever screened in the foreign market, and the film made Trintignant an international star.

In Italy, where he was always dubbed into Italian, he collaborated with renowned Italian directors. In Dino Risi's cult comedy Il sorpasso/The Easy Life (1962), he played a shy law student taken for a for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries by capricious, exuberant Vittorio Gassman in the summer of 1962.

Other major Italian directors he worked with were Valerio Zurlini in Estate violent/Violent Summer (1959) with Eleonora Rossi-Drago , and Il deserto dei tartari/The Desert of the Tartars (1974), Bernardo Bertolucci in Il conformista/The Conformist (1970), and Ettore Scola in La terrazzo/The Terrace (1980) and Passione d'amore/Passion For Love (1981).

In 1968, he won the Silver Bear Best Actor award at the Berlin International Film Festival for L'homme qui ment/The Man Who Lies (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1968).

Other interesting French films of the 1960s were the sexually charged Les Biches/Bad Girls (Claude Chabrol, 1968) with Stéphane Audran , the political thriller Z (Costa-Gravas, 1969) as an idealistic young lawyer opposite Yves Montand , and the Oscar nominated morality tale Ma nuit chez Maud/My Night at Maud’s (Eric Rohmer, 1969) with Francoise Fabian.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 577. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Edition P.I., Paris, no. 1129. Photo: J.L. Castelli.

Manslaughter
Jean-Louis Trintignant became particularly associated with the (political) thriller, an increasingly popular genre in France and the kind of film that seemed to fit the actor's cool but sensitive persona perfectly. Teaming up again with Lelouch, Trintignant portrayed a nihilistic but debonair professional thief in Le Voyou/The Crook (Claude Lelouch, 1970), then crossed over to the other side of the law to play a detective in Sans mobile apparent/Without Apparent Motive (Claude Lelouch, 1971).

Next, he was a French fugitive in Canada who gets involved in a kidnap plot in La course du lièvre à travers les champs/…and Hope to Die (René Clément, 1972), and a French assassin in Los Angeles in Un homme est mort/A Man is Dead (Jacques Deray, 1972).

He appeared in sixteen films in just three years between 1975 and 1977, including in Flic Story/Cop Story (Jacques Deray, 1975) as a cold blooded murderer opposite Alain Delon . In 1978, he won acclaim as a bank employee standing up against corruption in the César-winning L’Argent des autres/Dirty Money (Christian de Chalonge, 1978) with Catherine Deneuve .

After several undistinguished features, he made his first English language feature film, Under Fire (Roger Spottiswoode, 1983) starring Nick Nolte. Following this, he starred in François Truffaut's final film, Vivement dimanche!/Confidentially Yours (1983) opposite Fanny Ardant .

In 1994, he appeared in Krzysztof Kieślowski's last film, Trois couleurs: Rouge/Three Colors: Red opposite Irène Jacob. He played a disillusioned retired judge who spies on his neighbours while grappling with his own inner moral dilemmas. He lent his voice to the widely acclaimed La cité des enfants perdus/City of Lost Children (Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1995). This was followed by his role as the older version of Mathieu Kassovitz’s character in the acclaimed Un Héros très discreet/A Self-Made Hero (Jacques Audiard, 1996).

Trintignant has won several awards, including a Silver Bear at the Berlinale for Best Actor for L'Homme qui ment (1968), the Cannes Award for Best Actor for Z (1969) and a special David di Donatello in Italy in 1972. He was nominated for the César five times: in 1987, 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2013.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 43 072. Photo: publicity still for Le bon plaisir (Francis Girod, 1984) with Catherine Deneuve .


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes. Photo: Laurence Sudre.

Amour
Jean-Louis Trintignant has been married twice. His first wife was actress Stéphane Audran . The marriage was short-lived and the actress left him to marry director Claude Chabrol. His second wife, Nadine Trintignant-Marquand, was also an actress as well as a screenwriter and director. They had three children: Vincent Trintignant, Pauline (who died of crib death in 1969) and Marie Trintignant. The couple later divorced and Trintignant subsequently married the famous racing driver Marianne Hoepfner in 1984.

At the age of 17, his daughter Marie performed in La terrazza alongside her father and later became a successful actress in her own right. In 2003, she was killed by her boyfriend, Bertrand Cantat, the lead rock singer and guitarist of the group Noir Désir, in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania. She was 41.

Apparently the jealous Cantat became outraged when Trintignant received a telephone call from her husband, director/actor Samuel Benchetrit. She suffered a cerebral edema as a result of her skull fractures and died four days after the incident. In 2004, Cantat was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter, which was initially appealed by Marie's family, who wished for a heavier sentence. They later cancelled their appeal and the judgment was final.

Since 1996, Jean-Louis Trintignant essentially focused on his stage work. After a 14 year gap, he returned to the cinema in grand style. In Amour/Love (Michael Haneke, 2012), he played the male lead opposite Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert.

Trintignant had already worked with director Michael Haneke, when he provided the voice of the Narrator (The School Teacher as an Old Man) in the French edition of Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (Michael Haneke, 2009).

Haneke had sent Trintignant the script, which had been written specifically for him. Trintignant said that he chooses which films he works in on the basis of the director, and said of Haneke that "he has the most complete mastery of the cinematic discipline, from technical aspects like sound and photography to the way he handles actors". For this role he was awarded with the César 2013 and the European Film Award for Best Actor.

James Travers at French Film Guide : "A quiet and unassuming man by nature, Trintignant remains modest about his achievements and has not actively sought stardom. Few French actors are as universally well-regarded as he is and he is unquestionably one of the most charming and talented actors of his generation."


American trailer for Et Dieu... créa la femme/And God Created Woman (1956). Source: TheCultBox (YouTube).


Beautiful love scene from Estate violent/Violent Summer (1959) with Eleonora Rossi-Drago . Source: Tarlait (YouTube). Italian with French subtitles.


Trailer for Trois couleurs: Rouge/Three Colors: Red (1994). Source: Danios12345 (YouTube).


Trailer for Amour/Love (2012). Source: Otávio Aph (YouTube).

Sources: James Travers (French Film Guide),  (IMDb), New Wave Film.com, Wikipedia and .

Django Reinhardt

Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) was one of the first prominent European jazz musicians. His fret hand was severely burned and disfigured and caused his unique style of playing. He performed with such greats as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. He also had his own band, the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which he had cofounded with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Django has been portrayed in several films, even as a cartoon character, and his music graces the soundtracks of many films, especially those of Woody Allen.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 63. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

I Awake
Jean Baptiste Reinhardt was born into a troupe of gypsies in Liberchies, Belgium, in 1910. He was the son of a travelling entertainer and the brother of guitarist Joseph Reinhardt. From the age of 8, he lived with his mother in Romani (Gypsy) settlements close to Paris.

Reinhardt's nickname ‘Django’ is Romani for ‘I awake.’ He started playing the violin and eventually moved on to a banjo-guitar that a neighbour had given him.

From the age of 12, he played professionally at Bal-musette halls in Paris. His first known recordings (in 1928) were of him playing the banjo with accordionist Jean Vaissade for the Ideal Company.

That year, the 18 year old Reinhardt was injured in a fire that ravaged the caravan he shared with Florine ‘Bella’ Mayer, his first wife. The caravan was filled with celluloid flowers his wife had made to sell at the market on the following day. At one o'clock in the morning Django returned from a performance at the club La Java. Upon hearing a mouse among the flowers, he bent down with a candle to look. The wick from the candle fell into the highly flammable celluloid flowers and the caravan was transformed into a raging inferno.

Somehow he and his wife made it across the blazing room to safety outside, but his right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burned. A doctor intended to amputate his leg, but Reinhardt refused to have the surgery and was bedridden for eighteen months.

His brother Joseph bought Django a new guitar. With rehabilitation and practice he relearned his craft in a completely new way. He created a whole new fingering system built around the two fingers on his left hand that had full mobility.

His fourth and fifth digits of the left hand were permanently curled towards the palm due to the tendons shrinking from the heat of the fire. He could use them on the first two strings of the guitar for chords and octaves but complete extension of these fingers was impossible.

In 1931 the painter Emile Savitry let him hear the records of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and Django decided to look out for French jazz musicians.


Louise Carletti . French postcard by Editions E.C., Paris, no. 92. Photo: Discina.

Hot Club de France
In 1934, Django Reinhardt and Parisian violinist Stéphane Grappelli formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Reinhardt's brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar, and Louis Vola on bass. The small  Ultraphone  company recorded their first sides Dinah, Tiger Rag, Oh Lady be Good, and I Saw Stars. These first records caused a sensation.

The group went on to record hundreds of sides and had a following on both sides of the ocean. The quintet was one of the few well-known jazz ensembles composed only of string instruments. At the time, the great majority of recordings featured a wide variety of horns, often in multiples, piano, etc.

In the years before World War II the group gained considerable renown, and Reinhardt became an international celebrity. He appeared throughout Europe and recorded with many important American jazz musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, and did a jam-session and radio performance with Louis Armstrong.

Reinhardt could neither read nor write music, and was barely literate, but Stéphane took the band's downtime to teach him. When World War II broke out, the original quintet was on tour in the United Kingdom. Reinhardt returned to Paris at once, leaving his estranged wife Florine behind. In 1929, she had given birth to their son named Henri ‘Lousson’ Reinhardt. Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war.

Reinhardt reformed the quintet, with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet replacing Grappelli's violin. In 1943, Django married Sophie Ziegler in Salbris, with whom he had a son, Babik Reinhardt, who became a respected guitarist in his own right.

Reinhardt survived the war unscathed, unlike the many Romanis who perished in the Porajmos, the Nazi regime's systematic murder of several hundred thousand European Romanis. He apparently enjoyed the protection of the Luftwaffe officer Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, nicknamed ‘Doktor Jazz’, who deeply admired his music.


Philippe Lemaire. French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 140. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Unrivalled Beauty and Pathos
After the war, Django Reinhardt rejoined Stéphane Grappelli in the UK, and then, in the fall of 1946, he went on tour in the United States as a special guest soloist with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, playing two nights at Carnegie Hall.

He also became interested in composition and, with Andre Hodeir, arranged the music for the film Le Village de la Colère/The Village of Wrath (Raoul André, 1947) with Louise Carletti .

After returning to France, Reinhardt spent the remainder of his days re-immersed in Romani life, having found it difficult to adjust to the modern world. He would sometimes show up for concerts without a guitar or amp, or wander off to the park or beach, and on a few occasions he refused even to get out of bed.

Reinhardt was known by his band, fans, and managers to be extremely unpredictable. He would often skip sold-out concerts to simply "walk to the beach" or "smell the dew". However, he did continue to compose and is still regarded as one of the most advanced jazz guitarists to ever play the instrument.

Although his experience in the US left him influenced greatly by American jazz, making him a different player from the man Grappelli had known, on this recording Reinhardt switched back to his old roots, once again playing the acoustic Selmer-Maccaferri.

In 1951, he retired to Samois-sur-Seine, near Fontainebleau, where he lived until his death. He continued to play in Paris jazz clubs and finally came to terms with the electric guitar. His final recordings made in the last few months of his life show him moving in a new musical direction and are perhaps the most profound he or any other jazz guitarist ever made.

He had assimilated the vocabulary of bebop and fused it with his own melodic genius. His last recording of Nuages from these sessions is his greatest and from the same session in Manoir de mes Reves’ he distills in a couple of minutes an unrivaled beauty and pathos.

In 1953, he was also seen in the cinemas in the film Saluti e baci/The Road to Happiness (Maurice Labro, Giorgio Simonelli, 1953) with Philippe Lemaire .

That year Django Reinhardt suddenly collapsed outside his house from a brain hemorrhage. It took a full day for a doctor to arrive and Reinhardt was declared dead on arrival at the hospital in Fontainebleau. He was only 43.

After his death, the documentary Django Reinhardt (Paul Paviot, 1957) was made which includes an introduction by Jean Cocteau and features music performed by Grappelli, Rostaing, and Joseph Reinhardt.

Since then Django has been portrayed in several films. His legacy dominates Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 1999). This spoof biopic focuses on fictional American guitarist Emmet Ray's (Sean Penn) obsession with Reinhardt.

Django returned as a cartoon in the opening sequence of the animation film Les Triplettes de Belleville/The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, 2003). The third and fourth fingers of the cartoon Reinhardt are considerably smaller than the fingers used to play the guitar.

Reinhardt's music has been used in the soundtrack of many films, including Lacombe Lucien (Louis Malle, 1974), Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1993), The Matrix (Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, 1999) and The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2004).


Django Reinhardt's film debut was the comedy Clair de Lune/Moonlight (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1932) with Claude Dauphin . The music is Django's but he can also be seen playing the guitar. Source: Jerome Diamant (YouTube).


The Dutch Polygoon Journal filmed a performance of the Quintette du Hot Club de France in Den Haag (The Hague) in 1937. Source: Jan Klompstra (YouTube).


Film clip from the film Le Route de Bonheur (1945). Django plays Nuits de Saint Germain de Près on his guitar in a train. Source: Teddy Dupont (YouTube).

Sources: Joseph Dinkins (Red Hot Jazz), Kevin Whitehead (Jazz), Find A Grave, Wikipedia, and .

Hannelore Schroth

German actress Hannelore Schroth (1922-1987) made her film debut at the age of nine and a long and successful career in both theatre and cinema followed. She starred in Unter den Brücken (1945), one of the most beautiful love-stories of the German cinema – without any trace of propaganda.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 155, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3455/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Star-Foto-Atelier / Tobis.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 104, 1941-1944. Photo: Star-Foto-Atelier / Tobis.

Wonderfully Natural
Hanne Lore Emilie Käte Grete Schroth was born in Berlin in 1922 as the daughter of actor Heinrich Schroth and actress Käthe Haack . Her half-brother Carl-Heinz Schroth would also become a well-known actor.

Hannelore already made her film debut at the age of nine in the short comedy Dann schon lieber Lebertran/I'd Rather Have Cod Liver Oil (Max Ophüls, 1931) opposite her mother, Käthe Haack .
At sixteen, she attended a drama school in Lausanne.

To her early successes belong the love story Spiel im Sommerwind/Play in the Summer Breezes (Roger von Norman, 1938) with Rolf Möbius, and Kitty und die Weltkonferenz/Kitty and the World Conference (Helmut Käutner, 1939).

During the wartime, she continued her career with leading parts in Friedrich Schiller (Herbert Maisch, 1940) about the 18th-century German playwright and blank-verse poet, the romantic comedy Sophienlund ( Heinz Rühmann , 1944) and Unter den Brücken/Under the Bridge (Helmut Käutner, 1945), a classic love triangle with Carl Raddatz and Gustav Knuth.

IMDb reviewer Christian Wasser calls the latter "one of the most beautiful love-stories of the German cinema. The acting of Hannelore Schroth is wonderfully natural even today".

Unter den Brücken was one of the last films to be made in Nazi Germany - it passed the censorship in March 1945, but didn't make it to the cinemas as the street battles were about to commence in Berlin in a few weeks. In 1950, the film was finally shown in the cinemas.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3776/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Foto Haenchen / Bavaria Filmkunst.


German Postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3359/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Haenchen / Tobis.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3606/2, 1941-1944. Photo: Haenchen / Bavaria Filmkunst.

Emiiiil
After the war Hannelore Schroth gained a foothold at the theater and also continued her film career with such hits as Taxi-Kitty (Kurt Hoffmann, 1950) and Kommen Sie am Ersten/Come at the First (Erich Engel, 1951).

Later well-known films are the classic comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956), the romantic drama Wie einst Lili Marleen/Like Once Lili Marleen (Paul Verhoeven, 1956) with the wartime song hit Lili Marlene woven into its plotline, and the comedy Der Mann, der nicht nein sagen konnte/The Man Who Could Not say No (Kurt Früh, 1958) with Heinz Rühmann .

She also became a popular voice actor and dubbed such Hollywood stars as Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor.

From the 1950s on, regular engagements for TV followed. She became well-known for a younger audience when she impersonated the role of Mrs. Petrell in the successful Swedish film- and TV-series Emil (Olle Hellbom, 1971-1976). The three feature films and the TV series were based on the novels by Astrid Lindgren about the 5 year-old prankster Emil, who lives with his family on a farm in the district of Lönneberga in Sweden, at the start of the 20th century.

To Hannelore Schroth's last films belong the comedy Bomber & Paganini (Nicos Perakis, 1976) starring Mario Adorf , and Zwischengleis/Yesterday's Tomorrow (Wolfgang Staudte, 1978) with Pola Kinski.

In 1980, Schroth was awarded the Filmband in Gold for her achievements in the German cinema.

Hannelore Schroth died in 1987 in München (Munich). She had been married with the actor Carl Raddatz , her co-star of Unter den Brücken, and from 1945 till 1950 with the Austrian deep sea diver Hans Hass. Her son from that marriage, Hans Hass Jr., was an actor and singer. From her third marriage with a lawyer and film producer also comes a son, Christopher Köster.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3845/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2857/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Haenchen / Tobis.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 231, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Bavaria.


With Carl Raddatz. German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. 3954/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.


German postcard. Photo: Baumann / Terra.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3492. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Arca-NF-Film.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German), and .

Gianni Morandi

Italian pop singer and entertainer Gianni Morandi (1944) reportedly sold more than 30 million recordings and appeared in 18 films. In 1970, he represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest with Occhi di ragazza. His career went into a decline in the late 1970s but underwent a revival in the 1980s. He won the San Remo Festival in 1987, placed second in 1995 and third in 2000. Having enjoyed four decades of unmatched success, Gianni Morandi is among Italy's greatest performers of all time.


Italian postcard by Edizione Diese, Monticielli.


Italian postcard. Photo: RCA

The Italian Paul Anka
Gian Luigi Morandi was born in the village of Monghidoro on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines in 1944. His father, Renato Morandi, was active within the Italian Communist Party and Gianni used to help him sell the party newspapers.

To make ends meet Gianni worked at an early age as a shoe-shiner, a cobbler and as a soda and candy vendor in the village's only cinema.

He made his performance debut at age 12, singing in the public square on New Year's Day of 1956. His vocal abilities led him to a number of small gigs, some of which were during the Communist Party’s activities. His parents moved him from traditional schooling to a school in Bologna, where he studied song and performance with master vocalist Alda Scaglioni.

Morandi made his official debut in 1958 in Alfonsine, Ravenna. His film debut followed in the comedy Totò ciak/Totò Clapper Loader (Daniele D'Anza, 1960) starring the popular comedian Totò.

Morandi formed a band, and was soon referred to as 'the Italian Paul Anka'. In 1962, Morandi won a small talent competition where he met and impressed boxing and entertainment promoter Paul Lionetti, who arranged an audience with executives of RCA Victor. He was signed by RCA Italia and his premier 45 record was Andavo a Cento All'ora (I Went to 100 per Hour).


Yugoslavian collectors card.


Yugoslavian postcard.

Italy’s Darling
Gianni Morandi achieved national stardom with his third 45, Fatti mandare dalla mamma (Let Your Mother Send You).

Some of his songs took momentum through soundtracks of such films as I maniaci/The Maniacs (Lucio Fulci, 1964) starring Walter Chiari, and 008: Operation pace/008: Operation Peace (Tullio Piacentini, 1965).

Morandi also starred in several musicarelli, typical Italian musicals with a flimsy plot, shot and edited in no time after a song had become a hit. During the production of the first of these films, In ginocchio da te/On My Knees For You (Ettore Maria Fizzarotti, 1964), Morandi met Laura Efrikian.

Efrikian was the daughter of a famous conductor of Armenian origin and was already an established actress. They married secretly in 1966 and when Laura became pregnant Morandi’s military service was temporarily postponed.

Later, on leave from military service, Gianni worked on the film Per amore… per magia/For Love…For Magic (Duccio Tessari, 1967), an ambitious cross between a musical and the story of Aladdin. The film was a flop at the box office.

Throughout the 1960s Gianni remained Italy’s darling. His songs Non son degno di te (I Am Not Worthy of You) and Scende la pioggia (The Rain Comes Down) were certified as having each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.

He won a number of Italian popular song festivals, including the Canzonissima festival in 1965 with Non son degno di te, in 1968 with Scende la pioggia and in 1969 with Ma chi se ne importa (But Who Cares?).


Spanish postcard by Postal Oscar Color S.A., Hospitalet (Barcelona), no. 302. Photo: RCA Victor.


Italian postcard by Silvercart, Milano, no. 532/2.

Eurovision Song Contest
In 1970, Gianni Morandi represented Italy in Amsterdam at the Eurovision Song Contest with Occhi di Ragazza (Eyes of a Girl). He finished eighth out of eleven.

During the late 1970s, he experienced a period of slight decline, but he regained popularity during the 1980s. He won the San Remo Festival in 1987 with Si può dare di più (One Can Give More) together with Enrico Ruggeri and Umberto Tozzi.

With Barbara Cola he became 2nd in 1995 with In amore (In Love) and he became 3rd in 2000 with Innamorato (Being In Love), written by Eros Ramazotti.

At a performance for War Child in 1999 he sang Maria, Marí together with Luciano Pavarotti. It is estimated that Morandi has sold 30 million recordings.

He has written a number of autobiographical books and appeared in 18 films. His later feature films included Il provincial/The Provincial (Luciano Salce, 1971), La cosa buffa/The Funny Thing (Aldo Lado, 1972), the comedy F.F.S.S. cioè che mi hai portato a fare sopra a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più bene?/The National railways, Or Why Did You Bring Me All the Way to Posillipo if You Don’t Love Me Anymore? (Renzo Arbore, 1983) and Panni sporchi/Dirty Linen (Mario Monicelli, 1999) with Mariangela Melato and Ornella Muti .

Morandi also was the host in popular Italian television shows and was an actor in several TV series, a.o. as Claude Jade's husband Davide in Voglia di volare/Wanting to Fly (Pier Giuseppe Murgia, 1984).

Gianni Morandi has three children: Marco Morandi and Marianna Morandi from his first wife, Laura Efrikian (they divorced in 1979), and Pietro from his second wife, Anna Dan, whom he married in 2005.


Gianni sings Ritornero In ginocchio da te in the film In ginocchio da te (1964). Source: divergoulart (YouTube).


Gianni Morandi sings Dammi la mano per ricominciàr (Give Me Your Hands to Start Again) in Per amore… per magia/For Love…For Magic (1967). Source: Natalie Cernega (YouTube).


Gianni Morandi sings Questa vita cambierà in Per amore… per magia/For Love…For Magic (1967). Source: Natalie Cernega (YouTube).


Gianni Morandi sings Stringimi le mani in 2007. Source: Castellina (YouTube).

Sources: Evan C. Gutierrez (AllMusic), Wikipedia (Italian) and .

L'empereur des pauvres (1921)

The French silent film serial L'empereur des pauvres/The Emperor of the poor (René Leprince, 1921) was produced by Pathé Frères Consortium. It was an adaptation of the epic novel by Felicien Champsaur.


Gina Relly in L'empereur des pauvres (1921). French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma.

Vagabond
In L'empereur des pauvres, director René Leprince tells the epic story of a rich young man, Marc Anavan ( Léon Mathot ).

Marc leads a profligate life but when he understands his fortune is about to evaporate he decides to change his life.

He becomes a vagabond and wants to do good around him.

The task is not easy but his faith in his mission and the love of the pure Silvette ( Gina Relly ) help Marc to overcome all the hardships on his way.


Gina Relly in L'empereur des pauvres (1921). French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma.


Gina Relly and Léon Mathot in L'empereur des pauvres (1921). French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma.

Epic Novel
L'empereur des pauvres was written by French novelist and journalist Félicien Champsaur in 1920.

Director René LePrince created a silent film epic in six episodes: 1. Le Pauvre (The Poor); 2. Les Millions (The Millions); 3. Les Flambeaux (The Torches); 4. Les Crassiers (The Slag); 5. L'orage (The Storm) and 6. Floreal.

On demand of exhibitors, these six episodes were re-edited into twelve parts of 900 metres each, which were shown over six weeks in France. In The Netherlands the 12 parts were shown in three or two weeks. 

Besides Léon Mathot and Gina Relly in the lead roles, the cast of L'empereur des pauvres includes several well-known actors of the French silent cinema.

Henry Krauss played Jean Sarrias, the uncle of Silvette, Gilbert Dalleu was Cyprien Cadal, the mayor of Saint Saturnin du Var, Andrée Pascal appeared as Clémence Sarrias and Lily Damita was Riquette, credited as Lily Deslys.

In supporting parts well known faces as Charles Lamy, André Luguet, Charles de Rochefort and Maurice Schutz were cast.

The elaborate camera work was done by Julien Ringel and Paul Gaillard. Director René Leprince was a well-known film maker of the silent era, who had worked several times with comedian Max Linder and went on to make Fanfan La Tulipe (1925) with Aimé Simon-Girard . In 1929, Leprince died at the age of 53, at the end of the silent era.


French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for L'empereur des pauvres/The Emperor of the poor (René Leprince, 1921). Standing in the middle, actor Léon Mathot .


French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for L'empereur des pauvres/The Emperor of the poor (René Leprince, 1921). In the middle, Gina Relly as Sylvette, and right, Henry Krauss, as her uncle Jean Sarrias, revolting against society. Left could be Andrée Pascal as Clémence Sarrias.


French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for L'empereur des pauvres/The Emperor of the poor (René Leprince, 1921). The vagabond could be Léon Mathot .


French postcard by M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma. Publicity still for L'empereur des pauvres/The Emperor of the poor (René Leprince, 1921). Standing front, Léon Mathot .

Sources: Guy Bellinger (IMDb), Ciné Ressources, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Lyda Borelli

Today, it's Postcard Friendship Friday on the net. A weekly event in which postcard blogs present themselves. Start at Beth's blog with the great title The Best Hearts Are Crunchy , and enjoy some rare vintage postcards that are preserved on the net by bloggers like me.

For this Postcard Friendship Friday, I have chosen postcards of the first Italian film diva: Lyda Borelli (1887-1959). La Borelli was already an acclaimed stage actress before she became a star of the Italian silent cinema. The fascinating diva caused a craze among female fans, which was called 'Borellismo'.


Italian postcard by Neg. Trevisani, Bologna, no. 459.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 9439.


Italian postcard by N. Riccardi, Milano, Serie 7458 - F. Lyda Borelli written as Lidia Borelli. Ca. 1910.


Italian postcard, Ufficio Censura Torino, 9-10-1915, no. 6184. Photo: Lyda Borelli in the Italian silent film Marcia nuziale (Carmine Gallone, 1915), one of the few lost films of her career.

D'Annunzio
Lyda Borelli was the daughter of the stage actor Napoleone Borelli, and the sister of actress Alda Borelli.

Lyda made her stage debut in 1902 with the Pasta-Reiter company. She switched to the company of Virgina Talli, and at the age of 18 she already played leads, as in Gabriele d'Annunzio's La figlia di Jorio (1904).

In 1909 she started her own company with Ruggero Ruggeri , performing both in light comedies and in such serious dramas as Salome by Oscar Wilde, which would be her major stage play.

In 1909 Ruggeri and Borelli did a tour through Latin-America visiting a.o. Argentine, Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico. In 1914 she would return to Latin America for another tour.


Italian postcard. Photo: Varischi & Artico, Milano.


Spanish chocolate card by Imperial. Photo: publicity still of Lyda Borelli in Il dramma di una note/The Drama of a Night (Mario Caserini, 1918).


Italian postcard by Uff. Rev. St. Terni, no. 3276. Photo: Film Cines. Lyda Borelli in the silent film Madame Tallien (Mario Caserini, Enrico Guazzoni, 1916) based on the play by Victorien Sardou. The caption goes: "Desfieux, Tallien's Head of Police, runs to Therese's house, discovers the hideout of Jean Guery and has all arrested".


Italian postcard. Photo: Lyda Borelli and Amleto Novelli in the silent film Malombra (Carmine Gallone, 1917).


Spanish postcard. Photo: dressed as Salome, Alba d'Oltrevita (Lyda Borelli) repents the suicide of Sergio because of her in Rapsodia satanica (Nino Oxilia, 1915-1917).


Italian postcard by A.G.F. Photo: Cine.

Worldwide Success
In 1913 the film Ma l'amor mio non muore/Love Everlasting (Mario Caserini, 1913) was designed to launch Lydia Borelli in the cinema.

The film tells the story of a singer who falls tragically in love with a prince, played by Mario Bonnard. Lyda was like a decadent version of the Pre-Raphaelite beauty - thin, with wavy blond hair and strange but picturesque poses.

The worldwide success of the film resulted in thirteen more films. She portrayed characters who were doomed and otherworldly, often bordering on the supernatural.

A compelling film is her Rapsodia Satanica (Nino Oxilia, 1915) that tells the tale of an old woman who makes a pact with the Devil for eternal youth.

To her best films belong also Fior di male/Flower of Evil (1915), and Malombra (1917), both directed by Carmine Gallone.


Italian postcard, no. 477. Photo: Attilio Badodi. Signed: Lyda Borelli. Attilio Badodi (1880-1967), born in Reggio Emilia, became a famous Milanese portrait photographer of the Belle Epoque. In 1922 he participated in the First International Exhibition on Photography in Turin and he was a reporter for Illustrazione Italiana, but he is best remembered for his portraits.


Italian postcard, no. 319. Photo: Attilio Badodi, Milano (Milan).


Italian postcard, no. 256. Photo: Attilio Badodi, Milano (Milan).


Italian postcard, no. 418. Photo: Attilio Badodi, Milano (Milan).

Ecstatic and Aristocratic Performance
Lyda Borelli was the first diva of the Italian cinema and one of the first European film stars, together with Asta Nielsen .

Her ecstatic and aristocratic performance, mixing grand gesture with delicate small details, her elegant attire and her long blond hair caused a craze. In the 1910's girls dyed their hair, went on diets and strove to imitate her twisted postures. This phenomenon was described in Italy as Borellismo.

In 1918 Lyda Borelli's stage and film career ended suddenly, when she married the Venetian count and businessman Vittorio Cini.

Their son Giorgio Cini Jr. would die in a plane crash while going to meet his fiancee, the actress Merle Oberon .

More recently Lyda Borelli was one of the divas featured in the compilation film Diva Dolorosa (Peter Delpeut, 1999). An extended sequence from Fior de Male appears in Peter Delpeut's earlier film Lyrisch Nitraat/Lyrical Nitrate (Peter Delpeut, 1991).


Italian postcard by R. Rota & Co., Milano. Photo: cav. G. Artico, Milano.


Italian postcard, no. 623. Photo Sciutto. Could have been for the stage play La figlia di Jorio by Gabriele D'Annunzio.


Italian postcard. Photo: Varischi & Artico, Milano.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 323. Photo: Fontana.


Italian postcard, no. 118. Photo Bettini, Roma


Italian postcard, no. 894, Uff. Rev. Stampa, 25-5-1917. Lyda Borelli painted by Tito Corbella .


Italian postcard. Lyda Borelli, caricature by C. Calderara. Looking at the outfit and the headgear, the drawing seems to refer to Borelli's first film Ma l'amor mio non muore/ Love Everlasting (1913).


Statue of Lyda Borelli in the Casa di Riposo 'Lyda Borelli', Bologna, Italy. Photo: Jan.


Casa di Riposo 'Lyda Borelli', Bologna, Italy. Photo: Jan.

Sources: Biblioteca e Raccolta Teatrale del Burcardo, Greta De Groat (Unsung Divas), and .

Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas)

It's 5 December, Saint Nicholas' eve! Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas is a Dutch character comparable to Santa Claus in English-speaking countries. Sinterklaas is his usual name. He is celebrated annually on 5 December or, in Belgium, on the morning of 6 December. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas (280-342), patron saint of Amsterdam, children and sailors. He is the basis of the mythical holiday figure of Santa Claus in the United States.

Sinterklaas appeared - and appears - in many Dutch films. The comic horror film Sint (2010) presented him as a ghost who murders large numbers of people when his annual celebration night coincides with a full moon.


French postcard by Fauvette, no. 1283. Reprint by Advertising Post, Amsterdam, no. 58.

Mischievous Helpers With Black Faces
Sinterklaas or in English Saint Nicholas is a traditional Winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Suriname and Netherlands Antilles. He is also celebrated in the traditionally Germanic parts of France (Nord-Pas de Calais, Alsace, Lorraine), as well as in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and in the town of Trieste and in Eastern Friuli in Italy. Additionally, many Roman Catholics of Alsatian and Lotharingian descent in Cincinnati, Ohio, celebrate 'Saint Nicholas Day' on the morning of 6 December.

In the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas' Eve (5 December) is the chief occasion for gift-giving during the Christmas season. The evening is called sinterklaasavond or pakjesavond (presents evening). In the Netherlands, most children receive their presents on this evening. For Belgian and some Dutch children it is customary to put their shoe in front of the fireplace on the evening of 5 December, then go to bed, and find the presents around the shoes on the morning of the 6th.

Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey. In the 11th century, the saint's bones were taken and moved to southern Italy, an area then ruled by Spain, and relics and his fame spread throughout Europe. The Western Christian Church made his name day a Church holiday. In the north of France, he became the patron saint of school children, then mostly in church schools.

The folk feast arose during the Middle Ages. Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful Moorish dresses, dating back two centuries. These helpers are called Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes). During the Middle-ages Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas eve the devil was shackled and made his slave. Although the character of Black Pete later came to acquire racial connotations, his origins were in the devil figure.

In medieval times, the feast was both an occasion to help the poor, by putting money in their shoes (which evolved into putting presents in children's shoes) and a wild feast, similar to Carnival, that often led to costumes, a 'topsy-turvy' overturning of daily roles, and mass public drunkenness.

In the nineteenth century, the saint became more secularized. Author Jan Schenkman then introduced the images of Sinterklaas' delivering presents by the chimney, riding over the roofs of houses on a gray horse, and arriving from Spain by steamboat, then an exciting modern invention. His ideas were incorporated by many across the Netherlands in their personal and communal celebrations. In late 20th and 21st century celebrations, numerous people dress as Zwarte Pieten in various cities across the Netherlands. There's a debate going on about the racist undertones of Zwarte Piet.

(And if you're interested in our opinion: we like a good party - but a party for all, so we think Zwarte Piet deserves a complete make-over so he will be really ready for the modern kids of the 21th Century.)


Austrian postcard by Verlag G. Rüger & Co., Wien, 1901, no. 612. Sent by mail in 1902. Reprint by Sint Nicolaas Museum (1998). This card was a gift from Jan.

Poster of Sint (2010). Design by BLT & Associates with Michael v Randeraat/Locust Entertainment. Source: jpekker.nl.


Sinterklaas made a surprise visit at the Canal Parade during the Gay Pride of 2008.

A Murdering Ghost
Sinterklaas appeared with his Zwarte Pieten in many Dutch films. His first film appearance was probably in Makkers staakt uw wil geraas/That Joyous Eve (Fons Rademakers, 1960) starring Ellen Vogel and   Yoka Beretty . This is a tragi-comedy about the preparations for the Saint Nicholas celebration in three torn apart families in Amsterdam.

One family has always celebrated the evening, but now their rebellious 17-year-old son wants his own life. In the second family, a husband is more concerned about his secret love life than about his wife and son. The third family has already split, as both have made the decision to live apart. Still there are doubts about their relationship. The film was awarded a Silver Bear at 1961 Berlin Film Festival and is now seen as a classic in the Netherlands.

After this prestigious debut Sinterklaas had a long hiatus in his film career, although he could be seen yearly on the children news on TV. He returned on the screen in the children films Sinterklaas en het gevaar in de vallei/Saint Nicholas and the Danger in the Valley (Martijn van Nellestijn, 2003) with Nico Eickhoff as Sinterklaas, and Sinterklaas en het geheim van de Robijn/Saint Nicholas and the Secret of the Ruby (Martijn van Nellestijn, 2004), in which Sinterklaas was played by Robert-Jan Wik.

A surprise hit was Het paard van Sinterklaas/Winky's Horse (Mischa Kamp, 2005). This excellent children’s film received a Golden Film for 100,000 visitors. The story is about a six year old girl, Winky (Ebbie Tam), who is passionate about a horse (Saartje) who dies of an illness. Then subsequently it is shown how the little girl believes in Sinterklaas (Jan Decleir) and Zwarte Piet and learns that they give presents to all the children. So she decides to ask for a horse of her own.

Two years later followed the sequel Waar is het Paard van Sinterklaas?/Where Is Winky's Horse? (Mischa Kamp, 2007). This film also received the Golden Film after it had sold 100,000 cinema tickets.

Of course many other Sinterklaas films were produced. The romantic comedy Alles is liefde/Love is All (Joram Lürsen, 2007) starring Carice van Houten and Daan Schuurmans starts with the arrival of Sinterklaas and ends on Saint Nicholas' eve. It was another smash hit.

Sinterklaas en het Uur van de Waarheid/Saint Nicholas and the Hour of Truth (2007, Martijn van Nellestijn) had some well-known Dutch actors as Nelly Frijda and Frederik de Groot in the cast. It was followed by such sequels as Sinterklaas en het Pakjes Mysterie/Saint Nicholas and the Presents Mystery (Martijn van Nellestijn, 2010) with popular Dutch singers as Frans Bauer and Gerard Joling in the cast.

Completely different is Sint/Saint (Dick Maas, 2010) which portrays Sinterklaas (Huub Stapel) as a ghost who murders large numbers of people when his annual celebration night coincides with a full moon. While children are not permitted to see the film, parental concern arose over the film's poster, seen in the streets and in cinema lobbies. It shows Sinterklaas with a mutilated face and a malevolent look.

Some people, including film director Johan Nijenhuis, were concerned that this could be confusing and frightening for little children that still believe in Sinterklaas. A legal complaint was filed in October 2010, requesting the removal of all posters. In the subsequent court case, director Dick Maas argued that if parents could make their children believe that Sinterklaas existed they could also inform their children that the man on the poster was not the real Sinterklaas. The court ruled in favour of Maas, noting that the mutilated face was not visible enough on the poster, and rejected the complaint.

A year later, Johan Nijenhuis directed a Sinterklaas film himself: Bennie Stout/Bennie Brat (2011), featuring Koen Dobbelaer. It centres on the legend that Saint Nicolas takes the naughty children on his ship to Spain. Bennie Stout wants to be a naughty kid on purpose so he can visit his dad (Koert-Jan de Bruijn) in Spain.

This year there was two new children films featuring the holy man, Sinterklaas en de Pepernoten Chaos (Martijn van Nellestijn, 2013) with Wim Rijken as Sinterklaas, and De Club van Sinterklaas & De Pietenschool (Melcher Hillmann, 2013) with Wilbert Gieske as Sinterklaas. The latter was the sequel to De Club van Sinterklaas & Het Geheim van de Speelgoeddokter (Pieter Walther de Boer, 2012).

The film career of Sint Nicholas will be continued...


Trailer of Waar is het paard van Sinterklaas/Where is Winky's Horse (2007). Source: nff (YouTube).


Trailer of Alles is liefde/Love is All (2007). Source: HowlingWilderness11 (YouTube).


Trailer of Sint/Saint (2010). Source: Hollywoodstreams (YouTube).


English trailer for Bennie Stout/Bennie Brat (2011). Source: Danielle Raaphorst (YouTube).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Chris Howland (1928-2013)

In the night of 30 November, British entertainer Chris Howland (1928-2013) died. He played the comic sidekick in Winnetou I, and other Karl May films. After the war, Howland became Germany’s first deejay, but he was also a popular Schlager singer, TV host, and actor in some 30 films. Howland was 85.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 516. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Electrola / A. Grimm / Zeyss / Union.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 134. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Allianz Film.


German promotion card by Columbia / Electrola, no. DrW 3281 a. Photo: Neumann, Mannheim.

Novelties and Trends
John Christopher Howland was born in London in 1928, and he grew up in Southern England. He was trained to work as a beekeeper.

His father was an editor at the BBC. After WW II Chris worked for the radio station of the BFN (British Forces Network, now BFBS). In this function he went to Hamburg in 1946, and became the main presenter and head of the music department of the BFN.

In 1952 he started as a diskjockey for the German radio station NWDR, where he presented the show Rhythmus der Welt, about novelties and trends in the international music scene. With his British accent and his creaky voice he soon became a darling of the radio audiences. He gave himself the nickname Mr. Heinrich Pumpernickel.

Meanwhile he also had a successful recording career. His first hit single was Japanisches Abschiedslied (1953), the German version of Japanese Farewell by Kay Cee Jones. His biggest hits would be Fraulein/Miss (1958), Das hab ich in Paris gelernt/That’s What I Learned in Paris (1959), and Hämmerchen-Polka/Little Hammer Polka (1961), which stayed for 24 weeks in the German Top 5.

Howland also appeared in entertainment films like Ball der Nationen/Ball of the Nations (Karl Ritter, 1954) starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Der Major und die Stiere/The Major and the Bulls (Eduard von Borsody, 1955), the Heimatfilm Verlobung am Wolfgangsee/Engagement at Wolfgangsee (Helmut Weiss, 1956) with Ingrid Andree , Witwer mit fünf Töchtern/Widower with 5 Daughters (Erich Engels, 1957), and Tausend Sterne leuchten/A Thousand Stars Aglitter (Harald Philipp, 1959) with ski champion Toni Sailer .

In 1959 he returned to Great Britain to present the talkshow People and Places. In 1961 he went again to Germany, where he became the host of the enormously successful TV shows Musik aus Studio B and Vorsicht Kamera, a Candid Camera show.

His films in the early 1960s included the Edgar Wallace Krimi Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Koffer/The Secret of the Black Suitcase (Werner Klingler, 1962) with Senta Berger , Der schwarze Panther von Ratana/The Black Panther of Ratana (Jürgen Roland, 1963) with Marianne Koch , Die weiße Spinne/The White Spider (Harald Reinl, 1963) with Joachim Fuchsberger , and another Edgar Wallace adaptation, Der Henker von London/The Mad Executioners (Edwin Zbonek, 1963) with Hansjörg Felmy .


Vintage postcard. Photo: Electrola.


German postcard, no. E 21. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I (Harald Reinl, 1963) with Chris Howland. Translation caption: "What do you do as a reporter, when you get no Indian in front of your camera? You put on some make up and make a self portrait, here, unfortunately, it failed."


German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 43. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Publicity still for Der Schut/The Shoot (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "'Well, Archibald, was nun?' fragt Sir Lindsay seinen Butler, als sie der Schut unversehends in einer Felsenhöhle, die sich unter seinem Palast befindet, gefangensetzt." ('Archibald now what?', Sir Lindsay (Dieter Borsche) asks his butler (Chris Howland), when The Shoot enexpectedly captures them in a cave, which is located beneath his palace."

Lord Tuff-Tuff
Another hightlight in the career of Chris Howland was his appearance in five film adaptations of the Karl May novels. His part as Lord Tuff-Tuff in Winnetou I/Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963) was just a comic intermezzo, but for his performance as the butler Archie in his second Karl May film, Der Schut/The Shoot (Robert Siodmak, 1964), he received the second highest salary (after Lex Barker ) of the cast.

He played this role again in Durchs wilde Kurdistan/Wild Kurdistan (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965) and in the sequel Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen/Attack of the Kurds (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965). That same year he appeared for a last time in a Karl May film, Das Vermächtnis des Inka/Legacy of the Incas (Georg Marischka, 1965), as the Indian Don Parmesan.

In 1970 Howard left Germany again, now to run his hotel Villa Columbus on Mallorca, where he also helped to found the first German language radio station.

In 1975 he returned again to Germany to present radio and TV shows. His autobiography Happy Days? was released in 1997.

In 2002 Chris Howland was awarded the Scharlih, the oldest Karl May prize, to honour his appearances in the Winnetou films. He married four times and has three children.

The last years, he lived with his wife Monica Howland-Vervloet in Rösrath near Köln (Cologne) and appeared incidentally on TV to be a guest in talk shows or to perform one of his evergreens.

Twice a month he presented his radio show Spielereien mit Schallplatten (Dalliances With Records) on WDR 4.

In 2007 Chris Howland returned for a last time on the screen in the Edgar Wallace parody Neues vom Wixxer/News from the Wixxer (Cyrill Boss, Philipp Stennert, 2007). Typically he played the butler.


German promotion card by Ingrid Orgel, Frankfurt/M.


German postcard by Westdeutschen Rundfunk (WDR), Köln. Photo: Harald Kratzer / WDR.

Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line.de)(German), t-online.de (German), Wikipedia (German), Chris Howland.de, and .

Jean Kent (1921-2013)

On 30 November, British film star Jean Kent (1921-2013) passed away. The strawberry-blonde actress played good time girls, mean sluts and femmes fatales in the enormously popular Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s and early 1950s.


British postcard. Photo: Gainsborough.


German postcard by Paul Hebert, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, no. A 004. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 331. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.

Turning Point
Jean Kent was born as Joan Mildred Summerfield in London in 1921. She was the only child of Norman Field and Nina Norre, who both performed in music-halls. Jean was a dancer from the age of 11.

She made her debut film appearance with an uncredited bit role in The Rocks of Valpre ( Henry Edwards , 1935), followed by a supporting part in the comedy Who's Your Father (Lupino Lane, 1935), in which she was credited as Joan Kent.

When times got tough in the depression she joined the chorus at the Windmill Theatre at the age of fifteen (some sources say thirteen). The Windmill was a popular quasi-burlesque establishment with an infamous reputation, where she appeared billed as Jean Carr.

Although she made some film appearances in the 1930s, it took her success in the stage revue Apple Sauce to get her noticed.

Her first real film break came in the comedy It's That Man Again (Walter Forde, 1943).

Another turning point came when she signed to Gainsborough Pictures and played a dramatic part in Fanny by Gaslight (Anthony Asquith, 1944) starring Phyllis Calvert and James Mason .

She became one of the four popular young actresses who starred in all the famous Gainsborough melodramas. The were called The Gainsborough Girls. The others were Margaret Lockwood , Phyllis Calvert and Patricia Roc .


Dutch postcard by HEMO. Photo: Eagle Lion.


British postcard by A Real Photograph, no. F.S. 52.


Dutch postcard, no. AX 162. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Org.

Sexy Femme Fatale
Jean Kent matured from a pretty bit of decoration into a sexy vamp.

David Absalom at British Pictures : "She now seems to be in more of the Gainsborough melodramas than any other actor, but at the time she was less appreciated.

Although she got fifth billing in Fanny, she moved down to eighth for both Madonna of the Seven Moons (Arthur Crabtree, 1945) and The Wicked Lady (Leslie Arliss, 1945). Gradually the studio got the message that audiences liked her and improved her billing."

Her first co-starring role came opposite Stewart Granger in the romantic adventure Caravan (Arthur Crabtree, 1946), and further prominent roles followed in the crime drama The Man Within (Bernard Knowles, 1947) opposite Michael Redgrave , another crime drama Good Time Girl (David MacDonald, 1948) with Dennis Price , and the musical Trottie True (Brian Desmond Hurst, 1949), an opportunity to return to her music-hall roots.

Roger P. Mellor at IMDb : "Apart from the lavishness and brightness of the film, the female performances are a delight, especially that of Jean Kent as 'Trottie True'. Miss Kent gives a truthful performance of a rising star who falls in love with a Balloonist, becomes a successful stage performer, and marries a Lord. The story all sounds rather far-fetched, but Jean Kent's performance makes it work."


Dutch postcard by Hemo. Photo: Eagle Lion.


German postcard by Filmpostkartenverlag Hbg, Bergedorf. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation.


Italian postcard by Bromophoto, no. 263.

Premature End
Jean Kent began the 1950s with prominent appearances in two Anthony Asquith-films; the mystery The Woman in Question (1950) with a young Dirk Bogarde and the drama The Browning Version (1951), in which she played the wife of a master at an English public school ( Michael Redgrave ).

Though the last film was a success, and she was excellent in it, she later blamed her decision to play a woman ten years older than herself for the premature end to her film career.

But she turned to theatre and television and kept busy. Notable performances were as Queen Elizabeth in the Francis Drake series (1961-1962), and an appearance in Steptoe and Son (1970) as love interest for both Albert and Harold Steptoe.

Other television shows included Up Pompeii! (1970), Crossroads (1981) and Lovejoy (1990).

In the cinema, Kent starred alongside Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier in The Prince & The Showgirl ( Laurence Olivier , 1957).

Her last film role was in the World War I action-adventure Shout at the Devil (Peter R. Hunt, 1976) starring Lee Marvin and Roger Moore .

Jean Kent was married to the Austrian actor Josef Ramart from 1946 until his death in 1989. They had met on the set of Caravan and they married four months later in 1946, with Stewart Granger as best man.

Later she lived in Westhorpe, Suffolk. In 2011, the then 90-year-old actress told BBC News that she was still available for work: "Oh yes, I'd work like a shot, as long as I didn't have to walk. A nice sitting-down part would be fine."

Jean Kent died in Bury St Edmunds. She was 92.


Scenes of Stewart Granger and Jean Kent in Caravan (1946), beautifully set to the music of the Assassins Tango by John Powell and Tango in D by Isaac Albeniz. Video edited by Gilda Tabarez. Source: Parysia 77 (YouTube).


Jean Kent sings When I Take My Morning Promenade in Trottie True (1949). Source: Jim Beattie (YouTube).

Source: Tom Vallance (The Independent), David Absalom (British Pictures), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), BBC, BritMovie, Wikipedia and .