Paul van Yperen's Blog, page 81

Lizabeth Scott

American film star Lizabeth Scott (1922-2015) starred as the bad girl - or the good girl gone bad - in hard-boiled Film Noirs like The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck, Dead Reckoning (1947) with Humphrey Bogart, and I Walk Alone (1948) opposite Burt Lancaster. With her blonde hair, smouldering eyes and her deep smoky voice, she was a sultry femme fatale in a world of crime, tough talk and dark secrets. Of her 22 feature films, she was the leading lady in all but one. In addition to stage and radio, she appeared on television from the late 1940s to the early 1970s.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 286. Photo: Paramount.


Italian postcard in the Divi del Cinema Series by Vetta Traldi, Milano, no. 12. Sent by mail in 1955.


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Edits. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2144. Photo: Paramount Films.

Beautiful, blonde, aloof and alluring
Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo in 1922, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where her parents, John Matzo and Mary (nee Pennock), had a grocery store. Despite her parents’ opposition to an acting career, she went to the Alviene Master School of the Theatre and Academy of Cultural Arts in New York in her late teens. Here she adopted the stage name of Elizabeth Scott.

She landed a small role in a touring company of the hit stage comedy 'Hellzapoppin'. Back in New York, unable to get an acting job, she landed work as a fashion model with Harper’s Bazaar at $25 an hour. In 1942, she got a small part in the original Broadway production of Thornton Wilder's 'The Skin of Our Teeth'. Scott also understudied Tallulah Bankhead , who played the lead role. The tempestuous Bankhead, who did not get along with Scott, stubbornly never missed a performance. In Boston, Scott finally got to play the lead role, taking over from Miriam Hopkins .

She decided to remove the 'E' from Elizabeth Scott to be more distinctive. It would be either this performance or a four-picture spread in an issue of Harper’s Bazaar (the sources differ about this) that led to a long-term Hollywood contract with Hal Wallis, who had his own producing organisation through Paramount Studios. Scott": It was off-season on Broadway and since I wasn’t able to find a job there, I thought it might be a good experience to come to Hollywood and find out what it was all about.”

Wallis introduced his 22-year-old discovery as “beautiful, blonde, aloof and alluring”. Scott's film debut was the comedy-drama You Came Along (John Farrow, 1945) opposite Robert Cummings. In her second film, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946), she played a young woman wrongly jailed, opposite Barbara Stanwyck , Kirk Douglas and Van Heflin . She made more of an impression in Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, 1947) as a gangster’s wife, almost luring Humphrey Bogart into her corruptive trap. Her mysterious character was shot in oblique angles and low-key lighting. Stylishly dressed by Edith Head, she played the good girl gone bad becoming good again in the melodrama Desert Fury (Lewis Allen, 1947).

Billed as “the blonde with the brown voice”, Scott played a nightclub singer in I Walk Alone (Byron Haskin, 1948), also starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster . She was more decadent than ever in Too Late for Tears (Byron Haskin, 1949), having killed two husbands because she wanted “to move out of the ranks of the middle-class poor”. Scott was her own woman in the world of hard-boiled film crime. Ronald Bergan at The Observer : "Scott was strong and sultry, her heavy dark eyebrows contrasting with her blonde hair. Like [Lauren] Bacall , she had a low and husky voice, but she was far harder; in fact, she was able to suggest hidden depths of depravity – the ideal femme fatale of the 1940s."


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 228, offered by NV Victoria, Brussels, no. 639. Photo: Hal Wallis / Paramount, 1950.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 64. Photo: Columbia CEIAD.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès, no. 356. Photo: Hal Wallis / Paramount Pictures, 1950.

Confidential
In her films, Lizabeth Scott made some memorable quotes. In Pitfall (André De Toth, 1948), she described herself to Dick Powell as "a girl whose first engagement ring was bought by a man stupid enough to embezzle and stupid enough to get caught." In The Racket (John Cromwell, 1951), she asked Robert Mitchum : "Who said I was an honest citizen, and where would it get me if I was?"

In another Film Noir, Dark City (William Dieterle, 1950), she is a nightclub singer again who drifts on the edges of a shadowy criminal world, though her love for a gambler ( Charlton Heston in his Hollywood debut) is uplifting. Heston and Scott were reunited for Bad for Each Other (Irving Rapper, 1953). She played several similar roles of a woman willing to change her louche ways but doomed to find a worthwhile man to love her only when she had already passed the point of redemption.

After several years of making one Film Noir after another — sometimes at a pace of two or three in a year — Scott was ready for a change. She got it in the comedy Scared Stiff (George Marshall, 1953), starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis . In September 1954, a front-page story in the magazine Confidential claimed that Scott was a lesbian and was linked to “the little black books kept by Hollywood prostitutes”. It was also said that on a trip to Paris, she had taken up with Frédérique 'Frédé' Baulé, manager of Carroll's, an upper-class, cabaret-type nightclub in Paris. One of the owners was Marlene Dietrich .

Two months before the issue's printed publication, her lawyer had instituted a $2.5m suit against Confidential, accusing the magazine of “holding the plaintiff up to contempt and ridicule and implying in the eyes of every reader indecent, unnatural and illegal conduct in her private and public life”. Scott lost her suit on a technicality, however, and, given the witch-hunting atmosphere of the times, the case certainly harmed her. Compounding her plight was her rebellious nature, having never paid conventional homage to the film establishment and to gossip columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper.

In 1955, Scott went to Great Britain to film The Weapon (Val Guest, 1957). As with other European films of the 1950s- 1970s period aimed at a US audience, Scott starred with another American actor, Steve Cochran , who played US Army CID officer Mark Andrews. Scott also played a publicity woman in the Elvis Presley vehicle Loving You (Hal Kanter, 1957). In 1957, she also released an album of torch songs and romantic ballads titled 'Lizabeth'. She had a few TV roles in the 1960s. Her last credited movie appearance was as a man-eating cougar in Pulp (Mike Hodges, 1972), a sendup of the Film Noir starring Michael Caine . One of her ex-husbands in the film is played by Mickey Rooney .

Scott lived quietly in Hollywood, sometimes accepting invitations to attend film festivals and other events. In a 1996 interview with documentary filmmaker Carole Langer, Scott said she had liked the grittiness of Film Noir and didn't lament the fact that she wasn't cast in studio blockbusters: "The films that I had seen growing up were always, boy meets girl, the boy ends up marrying girl, they go off into the sunset," Scott said. After the war, films got more in touch with "the psychological, emotional things that people feel and people do. It was a new realm, and it was very exciting because suddenly you were coming closer and closer to reality." Lizabeth Scott died in 2015 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 92. The cause was congestive heart failure, said her long-time friend Mary Goodstein. Scott's survivors include her brother Gus Matzo and sister Justine Birdsall.


Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. 3823, 1958. The photo of Elvis Presley and Lizabeth Scott was a publicity still for Loving You (Hal Kanter, 1957).


Vintage postcard, no. 3396. Photo: Paramount.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 876, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Sources David Colker (Los Angeles Times), Ronald Bergan (The Observer), Mike Barnes (Hollywood Reporter), Variety, Wikipedia and .

Louis Hayward

British-American actor Louis Hayward (1909-1985) was a protégé of Noël Coward and began his career in London in such plays as 'Dracula' and in British films. After appearing on Broadway, he had a long career in Hollywood. Hayward was the first screen incarnation of Simon Templar in Leslie Charteris' The Saint in New York (1938) and had a dual role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) under the direction of James Whale.


British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P. 306. Photo: Edward Small Prod. Louis Hayward and Joan Bennett in The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale, 1939).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1119. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


West German postcard by Starfoto Hasemann, no. 504. Photo: Paramount.

The first screen incarnation of Simon Templar
Louis Charles Hayward was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1909, a few weeks after his mining engineer father was killed in an accident. Hayward was taken first to England and then to France, where he attended a number of schools under his real name, Seafield Grant. He received early training in legitimate theatre, appeared for a time with a touring company playing the provinces in England and then took over a small nightclub in London.

He became a protégé of playwright Noël Coward with whom he was also romantically involved. He began appearing in London in plays such as 'Dracula' and 'Another Language' and was also in the Sir Gerald du Maurier stage play, 'The Church Mouse'. He started being cast in some British films, such as the drama Self Made Lady (George King, 1932) with Heather Angel and the crime film The Man Outside (George A. Cooper, 1933) starring Henry Kendall. He had the lead role in the quota quickie Chelsea Life (Sidney Morgan, 1933) and supporting parts in Sorrell and Son (Jack Raymond, 1933) and the comedy I'll Stick to You (Leslie S. Hiscott, 1933) with Jay Laurier. On stage, he appeared in a Coward musical 'Conversation Piece' (1934) with the French star Yvonne Printemps and in the cinema, he had the lead in the romantic comedy The Love Test (1935), directed by Michael Powell.

Hayward went to Broadway in 1935 with a production of Coward's 'Point Valaine' working with Alfred Lunt and his wife Lynn Fontanne. The play, described as one of Coward's worst and poorly received critically and popularly, only ran for six weeks and was considered a failure. However, Hayward won the 1934 New York Critics Award. It was Hayward's only Broadway venture, but it brought him a Hollywood contract. He signed a four-picture deal with MGM. Hayward first played a supporting role in The Flame Within (Edmund Goulding, 1935), starring Ann Harding and followed that film with the melodrama A Feather in Her Hat (Alfred Santell, 1935), billed after Pauline Lord and Basil Rathbone . His first Hollywood efforts were moderately successful, moderately well-received and almost instantly forgotten.

Hayward's career started to gain momentum when he was cast in the extended romantic prologue of the expensive blockbuster Anthony Adverse (Mervyn LeRoy, 1936). William McPeak at IMDb : "As dashing officer Denis Moore, he was Anthony's father, rescuing his soon-to-be mother Maria from an arranged marriage to Marquis Don Luis, brilliantly played by Claude Rains . Shot with gauze focus in part to increase the dreamlike romantic interlude of the lovers, the prologue played to a bitter end with Hayward dispatched in a sword duel with the outraged Don Luis, and Maria, now pregnant, forced to return to her husband. However, Hayward had had his defining moment." Hayward's profile also was raised by his marriage to Ida Lupino . He was the male lead in the comedy The Luckiest Girl in the World (Edward Buzzell, 1936) with Jane Wyatt. Then he went to support Paul Muni and Miriam Hopkins in a love triangle in The Woman I Love (Anatole Litvak, 1937) and played the male lead of Midnight Intruder (Arthur Lubin, 1938) and Condemned Women (Lew Landers, 1938). Hayward was then cast as the first screen incarnation of Simon Templar in Leslie Charteris' The Saint in New York (Ben Holmes, 1938). The film was a hit and would eventually lead to a long-running series. However, the next five films in the series starred George Sanders as Templar. Hayward would eventually reprise the role in the British crime thriller The Saint's Return (Seymour Friedman, 1953). Hayward supported Danielle Darrieux and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Rage of Paris (Henry Koster, 1938).

In 1938 Hayward starred in the drama The Duke of West Point (Alfred E. Green, 1938) for producer Edward Small, who signed him to make three films over the next five years. This meant that Hayward was unable to reprise his part as the Saint. However, Small started building Hayward into a star, casting him opposite Joan Bennett in a dual role as the good and evil royal twins Louis XIV and Philippe in the third volume in the Alexandre Dumas musketeer trilogy, The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale, 1939). The Swashbuckler was a notable success. Hayward's good looks were complemented by an airy manner of speaking, which worked as both hero and rogue or occasional suave villain. Small put Hayward into My Son, My Son! (Charles Vidor, 1940) with Madeleine Carroll and Brian Aherne . In the comedy-drama Dance, Girl, Dance (Dorothy Arzner, 1940), he appeared with Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball . The film was a critical and commercial failure but later garnered a reputation as a feminist film. Small then put him in The Son of Monte Cristo (Rowland V. Lee, 1940), another Swashbuckler with Bennett and a sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo (Rowland V. Lee, 1934) starring Robert Donat. However, his swashbuckling efforts did not pan out as well as they did for Errol Flynn . Hayward then co-starred with his wife Ida Lupino in the Film Noir Ladies in Retirement (Charles Vidor, 1941). A bad break was his 1941 casting in a pivotal role in Orson Welles ' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), but his part was edited out of the final print.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1119a. Photo: Eagle Lion.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 872. Photo: Eagle Lion.


Belgian postcard.


Austrian postcard by Austriapost, Wien, no. 151. Photo: Columbia. Louis Hayward in Captain Pirate (Ralph Murphy, 1952).

One of the first percentage-of-profit deals
Louis Hayward had become a naturalised U.S. citizen the day before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. In July 1942, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. During World War II, he commanded a photographic unit that filmed the invasion of the Japanese-held island of Tarawa for the documentary With the Marines at Tarawa (Louis Hayward, 1944). The battle was one of the bloodiest in Marine history - three days of fighting cost the Marines nearly 3,000 casualties. Over 4,500 Japanese were killed. The carnage Captain Hayward saw would lead to depression and a complete physical collapse. His documentary won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject and Hayward was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for courage under fire. Overcoming the psychological stress of his war experiences, Hayward returned to the Hollywood spotlight.

He played Philip Lombard in the Agatha Christie thriller And Then There Were None (René Clair, 1945), which was a hit. For Hunt Stromberg, Hayward co-starred with Jane Russell in Young Widow (Edwin L. Marin, 1946) and supported Hedy Lamarr in the melodrama The Strange Woman (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1946). He returned to the Swashbuckler genre for Edward Small with Monte Cristo's Revenge (Henry Levin, 1947). Hayward made a Film Noir, Repeat Performance (Alfred L. Werker, 1947), then did another Swashbuckler, the Robin Hood-like Robert Louis Stevenson adventure The Black Arrow Strikes (Gordon Douglas, 1948).

Hayward played in Ruthless (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1948) with Zachary Scott, and then he did the anti-communist, Cold War Film Noir Walk a Crooked Mile (Gordon Douglas, 1948) for Small. Hayward went to Italy to make The Masked Pirate (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1949) for United Artists. He developed one of the first percentage-of-profit deals, ensuring him a steady income in perpetuity for both the theatrical and TV releases of his post-1949 films. Fritz Lang cast him in the lead of House by the River (1950) and he did the adventure films Fortunes of Captain Blood (Gordon Douglas, 1950) and The Lady and the Bandit (Ralph Murphy, 1951) with Patricia Medina . He also starred in the horror film The Son of Dr. Jekyll (Seymour Friedman, 1951), Lady in the Iron Mask (Ralph Murphy, 1951) again opposite Patricia Medina , and Captain Blood, Fugitive (Ralph Murphy, 1952), a sequel to Fortunes of Captain Blood.

Hayward began appearing on TV in Crossed and Double Crossed for The Ford Television Theatre (1952). He starred in and helped produce Storm Over Africa (Lesley Selander, 1953), and then he reprised his role as Simon Templar in The Saint's Return (Seymour Friedman, 1954), shot in Britain. In 1954, Hayward produced and starred in the 39-week television series The Lone Wolf (1954) after buying exclusive rights to several of Louis Joseph Vance's original 'Lone Wolf' stories. He did episodes of Matinee Theatre, Climax!, The O Henry Playhouse, The Highwayman, and Decision. In films, he was in The Search for Bridey Murphy (Noel Langley, 1956) with Teresa Wright. The film was inspired by the story of American Virginia Tighe, who believed herself to formerly have been Bridey Murphy, a nineteenth-century Irishwoman, in a case believed to be that of cryptomnesia. Hayward guest starred on series such as Riverboat and was in a TV production of The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paul Bogart, 1961) with George C. Scott. Hayward's work onstage included Noël Coward's 'Conversation Piece' and the national tour of 'Camelot' in which he appeared as King Arthur.

Hayward produced the British series The Pursuers (1961) and the American soap opera Harold Robbins' The Survivors (1969). Hayward's other television work includes the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Kraft Television Theatre, Rawhide, and Burke's Law. Hayward's last films included the Westerns Chuka (Gordon Douglas, 1967) and The Christmas Kid (Sidney W. Pink, 1967). He also had roles in the film comedy The Phynx (Lee H. Katzin, 1970), and the mystery horror film Terror in the Wax Museum (Georg Fenady, 1973) with Ray Milland . His last appearance was in an episode of The Magician, titled The Illusion of the Lethal Playthings (1974). For his contributions to the motion picture and television industries, Hayward was honoured in 1960 with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 and 1680 Vine Street, respectively. Hayward married Ida Lupino in 1938 in a quiet civil ceremony held in the Santa Barbara courthouse. After he returned from the war, he was drastically different, which caused a strain on the marriage. They were divorced in 1945. He then met socialite Peggy Morrow, and after dating for a while, they married in 1946. They divorced four years later in 1950. Hayward had one son, Dana, with his third wife, June Hanson. Louis Hayward died in 1985 at the age of 75 in Palm Springs, California from lung cancer. Hayward publicly stated that his more than five-decade-long habit of smoking three packs of cigarettes daily was the likely cause of his cancer.


West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 150. Photo: Columbia.


Dutch postcard, no. 3329. Photo: Europa-Columbia.


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Berlin, no. 489. Photo: Columbia. Louis Hayward in The Lady and the Bandit (Ralp Murphy, 1951).


British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P. 306. Photo: Edward Small Prod. Louis Hayward and Joan Bennett in The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale, 1939).

Sources: (IMDb), Ted Thackrey Jr. (Los Angeles Times), AllMovie, Wikipedia and .

Metropolis (1927)

Today's film special is on the German expressionist film Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). A few years ago, my son and I saw a screening in the Castro Theatre in San Francisco of a newly restored version of this Science-Fiction epic, based on Lang’s original cut of the film. We were both mesmerised by the sheer force and beauty of this silent classic. Everyone should see this film! At the time of the premiere in 1927, Ross Verlag made a series of sepia postcards for Metropolis.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/1. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with Brigitte Helm as the good Maria. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/2. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Gustav Fröhlich and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/3. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Gustav Fröhlich in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71-4. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Collection: Amsterdam EYE Filmmuseum.

The first Science Fiction feature
The screenplay for Metropolis was written by Fritz Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It would become the first feature-length film of the science fiction genre. Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia. Wealthy industrialists rule the vast city of Metropolis from high-rise tower complexes, while a lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to operate the machines that provide its power.

The Master of Metropolis is the ruthless Joh Fredersen ( Alfred Abel ), whose son Freder ( Gustav Fröhlich ) idles away his time in a pleasure garden with the other children of the rich.

Freder is interrupted by the arrival of a young woman named Maria ( Brigitte Helm ), who has brought a group of workers' children to see the privileged lifestyle led by the rich. Maria and the children are quickly ushered away, but Freder is fascinated by Maria and descends to the workers' city in an attempt to find her.

Metropolis follows the attempts of Freder and Maria to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of their city. One of the highlights of the film is the spectacular explosion of a huge machine in the machine rooms, which causes several injuries and deaths.

Another highlight is the creation scene of the Maschinenmensch (Machine-Human), a false Maria, which must ruin Maria's reputation among the workers. The false Maria (also Brigitte Helm ) unleashes chaos throughout Metropolis, driving men to murder out of lust for her and stirring dissent amongst the workers.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/5. Photo: Ufa Parufamet. Brigitte Helm , Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Alfred Abel in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 71/6. Photo: Parufamet / Ufa. Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1926). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/10. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with Gustav Fröhlich and Margarete Lanner. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/12. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with Brigitte Helm as the false Maria. Collection: Didier Hanson.

The most expensive film
Metropolis was filmed in 1925, at a cost of approximately five million Reichsmarks. Thus, it was the most expensive film ever released up to that point. The two leading actors in the film were unknowns: nineteen-year-old Brigitte Helm had no previous film experience.

Gustav Fröhlich had only played secondary roles before landing his breakthrough role as Freder Fredersen. The part came about by chance. Fröhlich was only scheduled to play one of the workmen but four weeks after the beginning he was discovered on the set by Thea von Harbou. Fritz Lang immediately cast him in the lead because of his striking good looks.

Two new stars were born, but the film itself was met with a mixed response upon its initial release. Many critics praised its technical achievements and social metaphors while others derided its 'simplistic and naïve' presentation.

Because of its long running time and the inclusion of footage which censors found questionable, Metropolis was cut substantially after its German premiere: large portions of the film were lost over the subsequent decades.

Numerous attempts have been made to restore the film since the 1970s-80s. In 2001, the film was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, the first film thus distinguished. In 2008, a damaged print of Lang’s original cut of the film was found in a museum in Argentina. After a long restoration process, the film was 95% restored and shown in a limited theatrical re-release in 2010.


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55468. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinemathèque française, Paris. Caption: Fritz Lang during the shooting of Metropolis, 1926.


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55459. Photo: Horst von Harbou, 1926 / Collection de la Cinemathèque française, Paris. Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55458. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinemathèque française, Paris. Caption: Fritz Lang during the shooting of Metropolis, 1926.


German press photo by the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek for the exhibition 'Kino * Movie * Cinema' (1995) in Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. Design: Erich Kettelhut. Set design for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55461. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque française, Paris. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55463. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque française, Paris. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / CVB Publishers, no. 56536. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque Suisse. Gustav Fröhlich as Freder in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Freder, the privileged son of the master of Metropolis, appears to be crucified on a clock as he tries to stop it.


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 56538. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque française, Paris. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Lina Cavalieri

Around 1900, Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944) was considered the most beautiful woman on earth and one of the queens of the Belle Époque. In the 1910s, she became a popular film star in Italian, French and American films.


French postcard by Kunzli Frères Editeurs, Paris, series 30/29. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: St. Petersbourg.


French postcard by S.I.P, no. 1181. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: St. Petersbourg. Lina Cavalieri in the opera 'Thaïs' by Jules Massenet.


French postcard by S.I.D., no. 1188. Photo: Reutlinger. Sent by mail in 1907. Lina Cavallieri in the opera 'Thaïs' by Jules Massenet. The work was first performed in Italy at the Teatro Lirico Internazionale in Milan on 17 October 1903 with Lina Cavalieri in the title role and Francesco Maria Bonini as Athanaël.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1188. Sent by mail in 1906. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Lina Cavalieri in the opera 'Thaïs' by Jules Massenet.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1188. Sent by mail in 1905. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard, no. 1188. Sent by mail in 1906. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Lina Cavallieri in the opera 'Thaïs' by Jules Massenet.

Hour-glass figure
Lina Cavalieri was born Natalina Cavalieri into poverty in a slum in Viterbo, Italy, in 1875. She first sold flowers on the streets of Rome, then packed copies of one of the local newspapers. At the age of thirteen she made her first appearances in a café chantant in Rome's Piazza Navona, where, after her performances, she took around a hat for donations.

She lost her parents at the age of fifteen and became a ward of the state, sent to live in a Roman Catholic orphanage. Unhappy under the strict raising of the nuns, she ran from the orphanage with a theatre group. Blessed with a good singing voice and stunning good looks, she made a career as a vaudeville singer.

At the Folies Bergère in Paris, she came to rank with Cécile Sorel and Caroline Otero as one of the queens of the Belle Époque, and the management quickly renewed her contact. In 1897 she triumphed at London's Empire Theatre, and later also in St. Petersburg. In 1900, she made her opera debut in Lisbon, Portugal, as Nedda in 'Pagliacci'. That same year she married her first husband, the Russian Prince Alexandre Bariatinsky. In 1904, she sang at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

A year later, Cavalieri starred opposite Enrico Caruso in 'Fedora' at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris. From there, she and Caruso took the opera to New York City, debuting it at the Metropolitan Opera on 5 December 1906. According to IMDb , Cavalieri became so carried away with Caruso that she once kissed him passionately on stage. Cavalieri remained with the Metropolitan Opera for the next two seasons, performing again with Caruso in 1907, in Puccini's 'Manon Lescaut'.

She became one of the most photographed stars of her time, and was frequently referred to as the 'world's most beautiful woman'. Cavalieri was famous for her hourglass figure, visible in photographs and portraits by Cesare Tallone, Giovanni Boldini and Reutlinger . During the 1909–1910 season she sang with Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company. Her first marriage long over, she had a whirlwind romance and marriage with Robert Winthrop Chanler, a member of New York's prominent Astor family. However, this marriage lasted only a very short time


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 180/1. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P., 50th series, no. 4. Sent by mail in 1908. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 188/9. Sent by mail in 1906. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P., 50th series [?]. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Signed 30 January 1906.


French postcard by SID, no. 910/5. Sent by mail in 1905. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P., series 30, no. 2. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

Presumed lost
Back in Europe, Lina Cavalieri married French tenor Lucien Muratore in 1913. She withdrew from the stage and started a career in the cinema. In Great Britain, she appeared in Manon Lescaut (Herbert Hall Winslow, 1914) opposite her husband. It was the first feature-length (four reels) adaptation of Abbe Prevosts tragic novel 'Manon Lescaut'.From 1915 on, she appeared in Italy in the films La sposa della morte/The Bride of Death (1915) and La rosa di Granada/The Rose of Granada (1916), both directed by Emilio Ghione.

She returned to the United States, where she appeared in the melodrama The Eternal Tempress (Emile Chautard, 1917), Love's Conquest (Edward José, 1918), A Woman of Impulse (Edward José, 1918), and The Two Brides (Edward José, 1919) for Famous Players-Lasky. In these films, Cavalieri was already in her forties. Hans J. Wollstein commented at AllMovie : "Unlike (opera diva Geraldine) Farrar , Cavalieri proved rather too theatrical for what really was an intimate medium."

Most of her films are presumed lost now, but her recorded voice remains. La Cavalieri's discography is slim though. In 1910, for Columbia, she recorded famous arias, as well as the song, 'Maria, Marì!' In 1917, for Pathé, the soprano recorded 'Le rêve passé' (The Dream Passed), with Lucien Muratore.

Married for the fourth time to Paolo d’Arvanni, Cavalieri returned to live with her husband in Italy. During the Second World War, she worked as a volunteer nurse. In 1944, she was killed in an Allied bombing raid which destroyed her home near Florence.

Lina Cavalieri was immortalised in an Italian biopic dedicated to her life: La donna più bella del mondo/The Most Beautiful Woman in the World (1955) starring Gina Lollobrigida . In 2004, a book was published, 'Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera’s Greatest Beauty, 1874–1944', written by Paul Fryer and Olga Usova.


French-Russian postcard by B.N.K., no. 7205. Sent by mail in Russia in 1905.


Italian postcard and photo by Alterocca, Terni, no. 1750. Virgilio Alterocca (1853-1910) founded the first company for illustrated and photographic cards in Italy. He already founded a typographic company in 1877 working for newspapers and producing posters, but around 1896, thanks to modernising techniques in phototypography from Germany and Switzerland, he made a booming business with photographic cards.


German postcard, Series 81, editor unknown. Almost identical to our b&w Alterocca card with the same photo, but this is a hand-coloured version. Based on a photo by Reutlinger.


French postcard by RPH, Paris, no. 5001. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by RA, no. 5066. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P, series 52, no. 12. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Sent by mail in 1902.


French postcard by F.C. & Cie, no. 21. Photo: A. Bert. Signed 22-3-1912.


French postcard by S.I.P. Photo: Reutlinger. Sent by mail in 1905.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1461 Photo: Reutlinger. Sent by mail in 1908.


Italian postcard. Lina Cavalieri painted by Tito Corbella, in a kind of Paul Poiret fashion. Corbella painted the portrait after a photo. Uff. Rev. Stampa No. 894, Milano, 25-5-1917.


Hear Lina sing 'Maria, Marì!' (1910). Source: peppopb (YouTube).

Sources: Michael E. Henstock (Opera Quarterly), Hans J. Wollstein (AllMovie), Wikipedia, Terniweb.it and .

Roberto Villa

Italian actor Roberto Villa (1915–2002) was the charming and relaxed star of numerous Italian comedies and adventure films of the 1930s and 1940s. After the war Villa dubbed many international films.


Italian postcard. Roberto Villa in Il fornaretto di Venezia/The Baker Boy of Venice (Duilio Coletti, 1939).


Italian postcard, no. 98. Photo: Vaselli. Roberto Villa as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'amore/The Elixir of Love (Amleto Palermi, 1941), freely based on the opera by Gaetano Donizetti.


Italian postcard, no. 85. Photo: Bertazzini. Roberto Villa as Vincenzo Bellini in La Sonnambula/The Sleepwalker (Piero Ballerini, 1941).


Italian postcard by ASER. no. 132. Photo: Greue (?). Roberto Villa in Cenerentola e il signor Bonaventura/Princess Cinderella (Sergio Tofano, 1942).


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 4295. Photo: Bragaglia.

Propaganda films
Roberto Villa was born Giulio Sabetta in Casablanca, French Protectorate of Morocco (now Morocco) in 1915. He studied medicine and followed the courses of the Centro Sperimentale (Centre of Cinematography) by Mario Camerini.

Camerini gave him the role of the illegitimate son of Camillo Pilotto in the Propaganda film Il Grande Appello/The Last Roll-Call (Mario Camerini, 1936) about the war with the Abyssinians. In 1938 followed another Propaganda film, Luciano Serra pilota/Luciano Serra, pilot (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1938), featuring Amedeo Nazzari .

Villa became a star with the successful Il fornaretto di Venezia/The Baker Boy of Venice (Duilio Coletti, 1939) with Clara Calamai . The handsome and friendly actor can be compared with such Hollywood stars as Robert Young and Robert Montgomery.

A popular film was Marco Visconti (Mario Bonnard, 1940), an elaborate costume drama based on a historical novel by Thomas Grossi. Hal Erickson at AllMovie : “ Carlo Ninchi stars as Marco Visconti, head of the Milanese militia during the Middle Ages. When not fighting for the liberty of his countrymen, Visconti is engaged in a rivalry over the love of beautiful aristocrat Rice del Balzo ( Mariella Lotti ).

Since he'd once been in love with the girl's mother, Visconti feels that he has a proprietary right to the heroine, but his younger, handsome cousin Ottorino (Roberto Villa) has other ideas. Surprisingly laid back for a historical epic, the film bursts into life during the action sequences, which include a lively jousting tournament.”


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 204. Photo: Vaselli / Lux Film.


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini), no. 20890. Photo: Venturini.


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini), no. 43600. Photo: Bragaglia.


Italian postcard by Armando Tezoli, Roma, no. 210. Photo: Villoresi.


Italian postcard.

White telephones
Roberto Vila played one of his best roles in Vittorio De Sica ’s sentimental Maddalena, Zero in Condotta/Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (1940) starring De Sica himself and Carla Del Poggio .

Maddalena is a typical Telefoni bianchi (White telephones film), that is to say, upper-class melodramas and comedies that were popular in Italy before and during WWII when Mussolini wanted cinema to distract and uphold the consensus.

The Telefoni bianchi gently mocked upper-class convention while celebrating the triumph of the commonplace. They were named after the luxurious white telephones which the film characters used rather than the standard black phones.

Villa reunited with veteran filmmaker Mario Bonnard for La gerla di papà Martin/Disillusion (Mario Bonnard, 1940) as the archetypal prodigal son who is ostensibly attending law school but is actually squandering his father's ( Ruggero Ruggeri ) money on gambling and women. When his father discovers this, he does his best to earn back the money he has frittered away.

In several Telefoni bianchi he played the attractive partner of such stars as Alida Valli . In the drama Violette nei capelli/Violets in her hair (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1942) he was the love interest of Lilia Silvi . This successful pairing was repeated in the comedy La vispa Teresa/Lively Teresa (Mario Mattoli, 1943).


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 4200. Photo by E.N.I.C. Roberto Villa as Ottorino Visconti in Marco Visconti (Mario Bonnard, 1941).


Italian postcard, no. 85. Photo: Bertazzini. Roberto Villa as Vincenzo Bellini in La Sonnambula/The Sleepwalker (Piero Ballerini, 1941).


Italian postcard by ASER, Roma, no. 118. Roberto Villa in Cenerentola e il signor Bonaventura/Princess Cinderella (Sergio Tofano, 1941).


Italian postcard. Roberto Villa as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'amore/The Elixir of Love (Amleto Palermi, 1941).


Italian postcard, no. 62/2. Photo: Lilia Silvi and Roberto Villa in Violette nei capelli/Violets in the hair (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1942).


Italian postcard by Ed. ASER, no. 219. Photo: Vaselli / Lux Film. Roberto Villa and Anna Vivaldi in Giorno di nozze/Wedding Day (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1942).

Shells
After the Second World War, Roberto Villa devoted himself to the stage. During the 1950s, he formed the successful stage company Tamberlani-Barbara-Villa. He appeared only incidentally in films.

Villa played supporting parts in the French-Italian production Danse de Mort/Dance of Death (Marcel Cravenne, 1948) starring Erich von Stroheim and María Denis , and the British film My Daughter Joy/Operation X (Gregory Ratoff, 1950) with Edward G. Robinson and Peggy Cummins .

Villa also worked as a voice actor. He did the Italian comment for the defilé ‘Beautiful Girls’ in the post-synchronised version of Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1952). He was also the Italian voice of Paul Meurisse in L'armée des ombres (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969), of Toshiro Mifune in The Battle of Midway (Jack Smight, 1976), and of John Gielgud in Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, 1981).

In the 1960s he also participated in TV series like Avventure in IV B/Adventure in IV B (Lelio Golletti, 1964) and Le avventure di Laura Storm/The Adventures of Laura Storm (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1966). In the early 1980s, he retired and lived in the town of Sutri, near Rome.

In 1995, Sergio Micheli published the biography 'Roberto Villa, an Actor and a Star.' Villa himself wrote an autobiography 'I was born in Casablanca....' (2000), in cooperation with Sergio Micheli. Roberto Villa died in Fontevivola, Italy in 2002. He was married to actress and director Adriana Parrella from 1952 till his death. Villa was a great lover and collector of shells. Following his death his widow donated his collection to the Museo Malacologico (Museum of Malacology) in Piceno.


German postcard by Ross / Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Degeto / Tobis / Aquila.


German postcard by Das Programma von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Difu.


Italian postcard, possibly by Terzoli, no. 83.


Vintage postcard by Leonar, no. 1112.


Italian postcard by Mimosa.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Antonio Genna (Il mondo dei doppiatori - Italian), Wikipedia (Italian) and .

Carmen Sevilla (1930-2023)

Beautiful Spanish actress and singer Carmen Sevilla (1930-2023) performed on stage, in nightclubs, and in some 60 European films. During the 1950s and 1960s, she starred in several musicals and comedies, but Sevilla also performed the occasional dramatic role. In the 1990s she became a popular television presenter. On 27 June 2023, Carmen Sevilla died in Madrid from complications of Alzheimer's. She was 92.


Spanish postcard, no. 93. Photo: Sam Levin.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 203. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 224. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 207.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 220. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 683.

Spanish Rhapsody
Carmen Sevilla was born Maria den Carmen Garcia Galisteo in Sevilla, Spain, in 1930. She was the daughter of author José Garcia Padillo. Her brother was the cinematographer José García Galisteo.

At the age of 12, she started her career as a ballerina in the theatrical spectacle, 'Spanish Rhapsody', along with Paquita Rico and Ana Esmeralda, both of whom shared her later success on stage and in films. She also appeared in dance groups with Enrique Castro and Paco Reyes.

Five years later she made her screen debut in La Revoltosa (José Díaz Morales, 1949). She then changed her second name to that of her birthplace. Her next film, the musical comedy Jalisco Canta en Sevilla/Jalisco Sings In Seville (Fernando de Fuentes, 1949), became a huge success.

In the early 1950s, Sevilla became very popular opposite singer-actor Luis Mariano in a series of operetta films. The first was El sueño de Andalucía/Andalousie (Luis Lucia, 1951), filmed in two versions, one in French, the other in Spanish.

Other popular films were Violetas imperiales/Imperial Violets (Richard Pottier, 1952), the French film Don Juan (John Berry, 1956) starring Fernandel, and La venganza/Vengeance (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1958) with Raf Vallone . This Academy Award-nominated drama centred on the problems of the Andalucian farmer.


Spanish postcard by Ediciones JRB, no. 147/11.


With Luis Mariano . Dutch postcard. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Andalousie/Andalucia (Robert Vernay, 1951).


West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 519. Photo: Panorama Film. Carmen Sevilla in Violetas imperiales/Imperial Violets (Richard Pottier, 1952).


With Enrique Guitart. Spanish card, no. 1255.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 575, offered by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane. Photo: Paramount Pictures Inc.


Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 6271, 1958. Photo: C.E.A. Films. Carmen Sevilla in Spanish Affair (Luis Marquina, Don Siegel, 1957).

Mary Magdalene
Carmen Sevilla regularly worked with American directors who were working in Spain. She played Mary Magdalene in Nicholas Ray's epic King of Kings (1961), and Octavia in Antony and Cleopatra (1972), directed by Charlton Heston .

During the 1960s and 1970s, she worked in dozens of mediocre comedies but notable were her leads in the interesting horror films El techo de cristal/Glass Ceiling (Eloy de la Iglesia, 1971) and Nadie oyó gritar/No One Heard the Scream (Eloy de la Iglesia, 1973).

In 1978 she retired from show business, but she made a come-back as a television host in the 1990s. She also starred in the Spanish TV comedy series Ada Madrina (Domingo Solano, 1999). It was her last screen appearance.

Sevilla received a Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos (Cinema Writers Circle) lifetime award in 2004. She was married twice: from 1958 to 1968 to composer and orchestra conductor Augusto Alguero, by whom she had a son, Augusto Jr., and from 1985 till his death in 2000 to Vicente Patuel.

On 26 June 2023, it was made public that Carmen Sevilla was hospitalised in serious condition at the Puerta de Hierro hospital in Madrid, where she died the following day from complications of Alzheimer's. She was 92.


Spanish postcard by Soberanas (SOBE), Barna, no. 266. Photo: Carmen Sevilla and Raf Vallone in La venganza/Vengeance (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1958).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1311. Photo: Carmen Sevilla and Raf Vallone in La venganza/Vengeance (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1958).


Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, no. 287.


Spanish postcard, no. 510. Photo of the wedding of Carmen Sevilla on 23 February 1961 in the Basilica del nuestro Senora del Pilar de Zaragoza.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1312.


Spanish card by A.L.G., Madrid, for Philips.


Carmen Sevilla in a Philips commercial of the 1960s. Source: diaz villanueva (YouTube).


Carmen Sevilla interpretes Carmen de España in La guerrillera de Villa/The Villa guerrilla (Miguel Morayta, 1969). Source: soryeye779 (YouTube).

Sources: (IMDb), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Andalucia.com, Wikipedia, and .

The third Félix Potin series

Earlier this year, Ivo Blom acquired a large series of mini-cards produced for Félix Potin chocolate bars. There were three series, which EFSP presents in three posts. The first series, issued around 1900, contained 500 photographic portraits of stage actors, painters, and other famous people of the late 19th century. The first series was highly successful and in 1908, a second series of 500 mini-cards followed with photographic portraits of actors and other famous people of the early 20th century. Now it's time for the third series, issued in 1922. Most celebrity portraits in this series were by Henri Manuel, occasionally by others such as Jean Reutlinger. While this third series contained many war heroes and military, we selected for EFSP twelve people from the stage and screen world.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Reutlinger.

Gabrielle Robinne (1886-1980) was a French stage and film actress, who had the peak of her film career in the 1910s.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Jeanne Provost (1897-1980) was a member of the Comédie-Française between 1907 and 1912, and would act in some 25 silent and sound films.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922.

Jane Fernande Mayer known as Jane Marnac (1892-1976) was a Belgian stage and screen actress.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Reutlinger.

Actress Huguette Duflos (1887-1982) was a leading lady of the French silent cinema of the 1920s.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Gabriel Signoret aka Signoret (1878-1937) was a French actor and director who played in some 85 films, mostly silent ones.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922.

French actor Séverin-Mars had a very short career in film, but played in two masterpieces by Abel Gance: the First World War drama J'accuse! (1919), and the epic and touching drama La Roue (1921-1923).


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Marcel Lévesque (1877-1962) was a French actor and scriptwriter who excelled in French silent and sound comedies but also played memorable parts in the crime serials by Feuillade and in Renoir’s Le crime de M. Lange.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922.

Louis-Jacques Boucot aka Boucot (1882-1949) was a French stage and screen actor, famous for his comic characters of Pénard and Babylas.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Belge.

Georges Biscot (1886-1945) was a popular French music hall and revue singer and actor, who also knew a career in French silent and sound film.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Louis Bouchêne, known as Louis Baron, fils or just Baron fils (1870-1939), was an actor and singer, who performed in many operettas and comédie-musicales, and also in some 50 films between 1910 et 1938. He was the son of Louis Baron often associated with the works of Jacques Offenbach.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922.

Léon Bernard (1877-1935) was a French stage and screen actor and also a theatre director.


French minicard by Chocolat Félix Potin, Third Series, 1922.

Henri-Léon-Gustave-Charles Bernstein (1876-1953) was a French playwright associated with boulevard theatre. Many of his plays were turned into films too, such as 'Samson' (in 1914. 1923, 1936), 'Le Voleur' (1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1933), and in particular 'Mélo' (filmed in 1932, 1934, 1937, 1953. and 1986, the latter directed by Alain Resnais). In particular, Marcel L'Herbier, Maurice Tourneur and Paul Czinner did several adaptations, while others were done in the US, Italy, Germany, Hungary, and elsewhere.

For more cards, check out our Félix Potin album on Flickr.

Ann Sothern

American actress Ann Sothern (1909-2001) had a career on stage, radio, film, and television, that spanned nearly six decades. In 1939, MGM cast her as Maisie Ravier, a brash yet lovable Brooklyn showgirl, which lead to a successful film series. In 1953, Sothern moved into television as the star of her own sitcom Private Secretary. In 1987, Sothern appeared in her final film The Whales of August and earned her only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.


Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, no. C. 283. Photo: MGM. Ann Sothern in Shadow on the Wall (Pat Jackson, 1950).


Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois-d'Haine, no. C. 122 (in the series C. 99-196). Photo: MGM.

Singer with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
Ann Sothern was born Harriette Arlene Lake in 1909 in Valley City, North Dakota. She was the oldest of three daughters born to Walter J. Lake and Annette Yde. Her two younger sisters were Marion and Bonnie. Annette Yde was a concert singer, while Sothern's father worked in importing and exporting.

Harriette and her sisters were raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her parents separated when she was four years old (they would later divorce in 1927). At the age of five, she began taking piano lessons. She later studied at the McPhail School of Music, where her mother also taught piano.

She also began accompanying her mother on her concert tours when her school schedule permitted. By age 11, she had become an accomplished pianist and was singing solos in her church choir.

At age 14, she began voice lessons and also continued to study piano and music composition. As a teen at Minneapolis Central High School, she appeared in numerous stage productions and also directed several shows. While visiting her mother in California, she won a role in the Warner Bros. revue The Show of Shows.

She did a screen test for MGM and signed a six-month contract. Her film career started as an extra in Broadway Nights (Joseph Boyle, 1927). She worked as an extra for the next six years. It barely paid the bills. As a singer, she performed with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra. She was also a published songwriter and recorded two albums.


Vintage postcard.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. W. 993a. Photo: Radio.

Maisie
Originally a redhead, Ann Sothern began to bleach her hair blonde for comedy roles. After working at MGM and on Broadway, Ann was signed by Columbia Pictures for Let's Fall in Love (David Burton, 1933). Harry Cohn changed her name to Ann Sothern.

The next year she would work with Eddie Cantor in his hit Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934). Sothern would be in 11 "B" pictures until she was dropped by Columbia in 1936.

She then went to RKO, where the quality of her films did not improve. She appeared in a series of "B' films such as Dangerous Number (Richard Thorpe, 1937) and She's Got Everything (Joseph Santley, 1937) with Gene Raymond, but her career was going nowhere.

In 1938 she left RKO and played Jean Livingstone, the tart in Trade Winds (Tay Garnett, 1938), starring Fredric March and Joan Bennett , which got her a contract at MGM.

She was given the lead in Maisie (Edwin L. Marin, 1939), a "B" comedy about a brassy, energetic showgirl, not a salesgirl - a role originally intended for Jean Harlow . The character was based on the Maisie short stories by Nell Martin. Maisie (Edwin L. Marin, 1939) became a huge hit and spawned a series of ten films with the last being Undercover Maisie (Harry Beaumont, 1947). The popularity of the film series led to her own radio program, 'The Adventures of Maisie', broadcast on CBS from 1945 to 1947.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1936. Photo: Columbia EIA.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1938. Photo: Columbia Pictures.

My Mother the Car
Ann Sothern also appeared in such well-received features as Brother Orchid (Lloyd Bacon, 1940) with Edward G. Robinson , Cry 'Havoc' (Richard Thorpe, 1943) with Margaret Sullavan and Joan Blondell , and A Letter to Three Wives (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1949) with Linda Darnell and Jeanne Crain .

During the 1950s, she played in only four films, including Fritz Lang 's Film Noir The Blue Gardenia (1953) with Anne Baxter. By this time, however, Sothern had turned to the relatively new medium - television, where she would attract legions of new fans.

She played the meddlesome Susie in the TV series Private Secretary (1953). Sothern was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her role in the series four times. The series was cancelled in 1957 and Ann came back in The Ann Sothern Show (1958-1961).

After The Ann Sothern Show ended, she returned to the cinema in The Best Man (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1964), opposite Henry Fonda . She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her work in the film. In 1965, she had a recurring role on her friend Lucille Ball 's The Lucy Show as the "Countess Framboise" (née Rosie Harrigan). She also would be the voice of the 1928 Porter in the camp classic My Mother the Car (1965). This TV series was about a man (Jerry Van Dyke) who bought a 1928 Porter and, lo and behold, it was "Mom".

The 1970s and 1980s were relatively quiet for Ann. She appeared in some B-films like the horror film The Killing Kind (Curtis Harrington, 1973) as the mother of psycho John Savage, but finally, she would be nominated for an Academy Award for her role as the neighbour of Lillian Gish and Bette Davis in The Whales of August (Lindsay Anderson, 1987). After, she lived in quiet retirement in Ketcham, Idaho near her daughter and granddaughter, until her death of heart failure at 92. Ann Sothern passed away in 2001 in Ketchum, Idaho.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. W. 382. Photo: MGM.

Sources: (IMDb), (IMDb), Wikipedia and .

Willem Nijholt

Dutch actor Willem Nijholt (1934-2023) was also a dancer and singer. His versatility led him to work in musicals, TV shows, stage plays, cabaret and several films. In later years he also became known as a TV juror and author. At the age of 88, Willem Nijholt passed away in his sleep on 23 June 2023 in his homeplace Amsterdam.


Dutch autograph card.

Started with nothing
Willem Adrianus Nijholt was born in Gombong, Kedoe, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1934. He was the son of Jan Nijholt, a KNIL instructor, and Willemina Sophia Maria Arntz.

At age eight he ended up in a Japanese POW camp, which left a deep scar for the rest of his life. At fourteen, he saw his father again, who was sent to work on the Burma Railway by the Japanese.

After World War II, the family left the Dutch East Indies and settled in Millingen, the birthplace of his mother. Nijholt attended temporarily HBS (Higher Civic School) in Nijmegen, was briefly in the Navy and went to study at the School for dramatic arts in Amsterdam at age 23. His ill mother died in 1959 before she could see him performing on stage.

Nijholt fell in love with the author Gerard Reve, who rejected him, but in 1962 he played a role in Reve’s play 'Commissaris Fennedy' (Commissioner Fennedy) and the two connected. His letters to Reve are published in the book 'Met Niets Begonnen' (Started With Nothing).

He made his screen debut in the TV film De huzaren/The Hussars (Walter van der Kamp, 1960). In 1964 he performed the role of Hoofd Piet (Head Pete) once during the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Hoorn. In 1968 he appeared in the popular satirical TV Show Hadimassa. He became very popular among children with his part in the innovative TV show Oebele (Bram van Erkel, 1968-1972) with Wieteke van Dort. And he made his film debut in Daniel (Erik Terpstra, 1971) with Peter Schaapman.


Dutch card.

The Duch equivalent of the Academy Award
In the 1970s, Willem Nijholt had his definitive breakthrough. On stage, he worked with Wim Sonneveld in a successful cabaret show in 1971.

In 1974 he played Theo Oudijck in the popular TV series De stille kracht/The Silent Force (Walter van der Kamp, 1974), with Pleuni Touw. Their nude scene was a sensation. He also played Ben van Rooyen in the youth series De Kris Pusaka/The Kris Pusaka (Bram van Erkel, 1977).

Nijholt starred in several stage musicals, including 'Wat een planeet' (What a Planet; 1973) and 'Foxtrot' (1977), both written by Annie MG Schmidt. In 1977 he was awarded the Johan Kaartprijs (Johan Kaart Award). In 1981 he played a voice teacher in the play 'Children of a Lesser God'. Later, he was asked to play this role in London too, but he did not accept the offer.

He played roles in Dutch films like the box office hit Ciske de Rat (Guido Pieters, 1984) with Danny de Munk and Willeke van Ammelrooy, and Havinck (Frans Weisz, 1987) in which he played the title character. Chip Douglas at IMDb : “Nijholt, at age 50, was ten years too old. But director Frans Weisz, who screen testing countless leading men opposite (debutant Anne Martien) Lousberg, still wanted Nijholt to read with her, because he had a feeling Willem could bring out the best in Anne Martien. The young actress obviously felt the same way, because she decided there and then that Nijholt was the one to play her father. He ended up winning the coveted 'Golden Calf' award (the Duch equivalent of the Academy Award) for his efforts.”

In 1989 he played the lead role in the short film Alaska, Mike van Diem’s graduation film at the Dutch Film and Television Academy. The film won a Golden Calf and a Student Academy Award. In 1989, Nijholt played the Master of Ceremonies in the musical 'Cabaret' (1989). That year, actor Guido de Moor passed to him the prestigious Paul Steenbergen medal, which he passed in 2002 to actor Pierre Bokma.


Dutch press photo by Jacques Senf b.v., Maasland. Photo: Jorge Fatauros. Willem Nijholt and Linda van Dijck in the play Sukses/Success (Jo Dua, 1982) written by Norman Beim.


Dutch press photo by Jacques Senf b.v., Maasland. Photo: Jorge Fatauros. Willem Nijholt and Linda van Dijck in the play Sukses/Success (Jo Dua, 1982) written by Norman Beim.

The last call
Willem Nijholt played major parts in the acclaimed TV series Bij nader inzien/On closer inspection (Frans Weisz, 1991) and Op afbetaling/In part-payment (Frans Weisz, 1993) with Renée Soutendijk.

He also continued to appear regularly in Dutch films. He played Etienne in the Harry Mulisch adaptation Hoogste Tijd/The Last Call (Frans Weisz, 1995) starring Rijk de Gooijer. He also appeared with Helmut Berger and Udo Kier in Unter den Palmen/Under the palms (Miriam Kruishoop, 1999) and he reunited with Pleuni Touw in De vriendschap/The friendship (Nouchka van Brakel, 2001).

Nijholt appeared in several family films, including Pietje Bell/Peter Bell (Maria Peters, 2002), Pietje Bell 2: De Jacht op de Tsarenkroon/Peter Bell II: The Hunt for the Czar Crown (Maria Peters, 2003) and De Griezelbus/The Horror Bus (Pieter Kuijpers, 2005).

Willem Nijholt enjoyed massive success when he played the controller in the Dutch edition of the stage musical Miss Saigon (1996). Another great musical role was Fagin in Oliver! (1999-2000).

In 2002 he retired from the musical and in 2004 he played his last stage role. In 1999 Willem Nijholt was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. In the television talent quest show Op zoek naar ... (2007-2011; Looking for Evita, Looking for Joseph, Looking for Mary Poppins and Looking for Zorro), Nijholt was the juror. Since 2011 he was a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. His final screen role was in the TV crime series Penoza II (Diederik Van Rooijen, 2012-2013), starring Monic Hendrickx.


Willem Nijholt sings Koen de Postkoetsboef in the TV show Oebele (ca. 1972). Sorry, no subtitles. Source: Geluidsjager (YouTube).


Wim Sonneveld & Willem Nijholt in the Wim Sonneveld Show (1974). Sorry, no subtitles. Source: NostalgieTheater (YouTube).

Sources: Chip Douglas (IMDb), Een leven lang theater (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch), and .

Die Nibelungen (1924), revisited

Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924) is one of the masterpieces of the Weimar cinema. It is a diptych of silent fantasy films: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache/Kriemhild's Revenge. Years ago, we already did a post of  Die Nibelungen  with sepia postcards by Ross Verlag. Today, EFSP presents a German postcard series with watercolours by Uvachrom and an Italian series with stills in black and white by G. Vettori. This post is the first in a series of posts about three classic silent films by Fritz Lang.


German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5433. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen I (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Siegfried's sword.

How Siegfried Slayed the Dragon
Die Nibelungen was produced by the Ufa and Decla studios, and it starred Austrian actor Paul Richter as the (nearly) invulnerable hero Siegfried. The screenplays were written by Fritz Lang and his wife at the time, Thea von Harbou. They were based upon the epic Nordic poem 'Nibelungenlied', written around AD 1200 and told through seven cantos.


German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5434. Photo: Ufa. Paul Richter as Siegfried in Die Nibelungen I (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: The lime leaf.

It is the tale of the legendary German hero Siegfried ( Paul Richter ), son of King Siegmund. He masters the art of forging a sword at the shop of Mime (Georg John). On his journey home, he hears tales from the locals about Princess Kriemhild ( Margarete Schön ), the beautiful sister of King Gunter of Burgundy ( Theodor Loos ).


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Paul Richter and Georg John in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Die Nibelungen - Mime tries to betray Siegfried by putting him on the wrong track -.

Siegfried decides to go to Worms, the capital of Burgundy, to win Kriemhild. On his journey to Worms, he is attacked by a dragon. Siegfried slays the dragon and bathes in his blood. This bath makes him invulnerable - except for one spot on his shoulder blade which is missed after being covered by a falling lime leaf.

How Volker, the Bard, sang of Siegfried in front of Kriemhild, and How Siegfried Came in Worms

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Paul Richter in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924).

Siegfried trespasses on the land of the Nibelungen and is attacked by Alberich, King of the Dwarves (again Georg John). He fights and defeats Alberich who was wearing his wonder cloak of invisibility and transformation. Alberich asks Siegfried to spare his life and in return, he gives the Treasure of the Nibelungen and the Balmung sword. While Siegfried is mesmerised by the treasure, Alberich tries to defeat him but dies in the attempt. Dying, Alberich curses all inheritors of the treasure and he and his dwarves turn to stone. Siegfried makes twelve kings as his vassals and arrives in Worms as a hero.

How Siegfried Won Brunhild for Gunther

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Hanna Ralph , as Brunhild in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Die Nibelungen - Siegfried - Brunhild.

News reaches the court that Brunhild, a queen of outstanding strength and beauty may be won only by a man capable of matching her athletic prowess. Gunther decides to woo Brunhild ( Hanna Ralph ) with the aid of Siegfried, to whom he promises the hand of Kriemhild if successful. The men travel to Iceland, to the kingdom of Brunhild, where Siegfried feigns vassalage to Gunther so that he can avoid Brunhild's challenge. He uses instead the cloak's power of invisibility to help Gunther beat the powerful Queen in a three-fold Amazonian battle of strength: throwing stones, throwing a spear and jumping.

How Brunhild Enters Worms and How the King Celebrate Their Wedding

German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5435. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen I (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Brünhilde's entry.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Die Nibelungen - Siegfried ...you don't have to carry it - A terrible secret is locked in its short circle.

The men return to Burgundy where Gunther marries Brunhild and Siegfried weds Kriemhild. Brunhild is not, however, completely defeated. She suspects deceit and says to Gunther that she is his captive but not his bride. Hagen von Tronje ( Hans Adalbert Schlettow ) convinces Siegfried to help. Siegfried transforms himself with the cloak into Gunther and battles Brunhild and removes her arm ring during battle after which she submits to his will. Siegfried leaves the real Gunther to consummate the marriage. Siegfried accidentally brings Brunhild's armlet with him.

How After Half a Year, Siegfried's Gift to His Bride, The Nibelungen Treasure, Arrives in Worms and How the Two Queens Quarrel With Each Other

German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5436. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen I (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: The quarrel of the queens.

When Kriemhild finds Brunhild's armlet, Siegfried tells her how her brother won the queen. When the Nibelungen treasure that Siegfried acquired from Alberich arrives at the court of Burgundy as Kriemhild's morning gift, the jealous Brunhild becomes more suspicious about Siegfried's feigned vassalage to Gunther. Brunhild dons the Queen Mother's jewellery and proceeds to the cathedral to enter as the first person, as is her right as Queen of Burgundy. Kriemhild and Brunhild quarrel. Brunhild ridicules Kriemhild for marrying a vassal, and Kriemhild reveals Siegfried’s and Gunther’s deception.

How Gunther Betrayed Siegfried

German postcard by Uvachrome, Serie 405, no. 5437. Image: Watercolour after a famous still from Die Nibelungen I (Fritz Lang, 1924).


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Paul Richter as Siegfried in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Die Nibelungen - The arrow of vengeance touched the vulnerable spot and killed Siegfried.

Brunhild demands Siegfried be killed. She lies to Gunther and tells him that Siegfried stole her maidenhood when he battled her on her wedding night. King Gunther and his uncle and loyal warrior, Hagen von Tronje ( Hans Adalbert Schlettow ), conspire to murder Siegfried during a hunt in the Odenwald Forest. Hagen deceives Kriemhild into telling him the vulnerable part of Siegfried's body where the leaf has fallen. She sews a cross on the spot in Siegfried's tunic. After the hunt, Hagen challenges Siegfried to a race to a nearby spring. When Siegfried is on his knees drinking, Hagen pierces him from behind with a spear.

How Kriemhild Swears Revenge to Hagen Tronje

German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5438. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen I (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Kriemhilde's Lament.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Hanna Ralph , Paul Richter and Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Die Nibelungen - Kriemhild and Brunhild watch over Siegfried's body.

In an evil twist of bitter revenge, Brunhild confesses that she lied about Siegfried stealing her maidenhood to avenge Gunther's deceit of her. Gunther killed his only loyal friend. Kriemhild demands her family avenge her husband's death at the hands of Siegfried, but her family is complicit in the murder, and so they protect Hagen. Kriemhild swears revenge against Hagen while a guilt-ridden Brunhild commits suicide at the foot of Siegfried's corpse laid in state in the cathedral. Kriemhild swears revenge to Hagen.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna. Hans Adalbert Schlettow as Hagen, Theodor Loos as Gunter, Paul Richter as Siegfried and Margarete Schön as Kriemhild in Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Die Nibelungen - You must avenge me King Gunter - Hagen of Tronje killed my groom.

Kriemhild's Revenge

German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5653. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen II (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Rüdiger, King Etzel's Bride wooer.


German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5654. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen II (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Kriemhild's Entry into Hun Country.

In the second film, Kriemhild's Rache/Kriemhild's Revenge, is shown how Kriemhild gets her revenge. After Siegfried's dead, Kriemhild marries Etzel, the King of the Huns. She gives birth to a child and invites her brothers to a party. She tries to persuade Etzel and the other Huns, that they kill Hagen, the murderer of Siegfried, but he is protected by her brothers. A fierce battle begins to force her brothers to give Hagen to her.

Probably no literary work has given more to Germanic arts than the 'Nibelungenlied'. Many variations and adaptations appeared through the centuries. The most significant modern adaptation is Richard Wagner’s famous opera cycle 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' (1853–1874). The 1924 film Die Nibelungen is still astounding to look at. Fritz Lang gives the film a real sense of wonder by way of fantasy elements such as dwarfs, dragons and magic powers. Amazingly, such a masterpiece of cinema could have been made in the early 1920s. The standout is the dragon-slaying scene with its wonderful special effects.


German postcard by Uvachrom, series 405, no. 5656. Photo: Ufa. Die Nibelungen II (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: The grim Hagen.

Sources: Claudio Carvalho (IMDb), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Encyclopedia Britannica, IMDb and Wikipedia.