Quantcast
Channel: European Film Star Postcards
Viewing all 4108 articles
Browse latest View live

Lido Manetti a.k.a. Arnold Kent

0
0
Italian actor Lido Manetti (1899-1928) had a prolific career as a young leading man in Italian silent cinema. He was brought to America and renamed Arnold Kent, but he died before living up to his promise.

Lido Manetti
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 537A.

Arnold Kent aka Lido Manetti
'Foreign' postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3382/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount.

Lido Manetti (Arnold Kent) in The Woman Disputed (1928)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3673/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Lido Manetti (Arnold Kent) in The Woman Disputed (Henry King, Sam Taylor, 1928).

Male Love Interest


Lido Manetti was born in Florence, Italy in 1899 (according to all our sources, but this must be a mistake, looking at his film curriculum with his first leading film roles already in 1917).

He studied civil engineering, but entered the theatre and then films subsequently to his schooling. His first Italian film was probably La principessa/The Princess (Camillo De Riso, 1917) starring diva Leda Gysfor Caesar Film.

From then on Manetti would be the male love interest in many diva-like films such as Il processo Clemenceau/The Clemenceau Affair (Alfredo De Antoni, 1917) and Malia/Liliana (Alfredo De Antoni, 1917) both with Francesca Bertini, and La passagera/The Passager (Gero Zambuto, 1917) with Pina Menichelli.

In 1918 followed Addio giovinezza/Good-bye Youth (Augusto Genina, 1918) with both Maria Jacobini and Helena Makowska, Femmina/Female (Augusto Genina, 1918) with Italia Almirante Manzini, and L’onestà del peccato/The Wife He Neglected (Augusto Genina, 1918) with Maria Jacobini.

The next year saw Una donna funesta/A baleful woman (Camillo De Riso, 1919) with Tilde Kassay, Il bacio di Dorina/The kiss of Dorina (Giulio Antamoro, 1919) with Lina Millefleurs, La signora delle rose/The Lady of the Roses (Diana Karenne, 1919) starring Diana Karenne herself, and La fiamma e il cenere/The flame and the ashes (Giulio Antamoro), 1919 with again Karenne.

Memorable titles from the early 1920s were Amore rosso/Red Love (Gennaro Righelli, 1921) and La preda/The prey (Guglielmo Zorzi, 1921), both co-starring Maria Jacobini and Amleto Novelli, La statua di carne/The statue of meat (Mario Almirante, 1921) with Italia Almirante Manzini, Il richiamo/The call (Gennaro Righelli, 1921) with Maria Jacobini, La madre folle/Through the Shadows (Carmine Gallone, 1923) with Soava Gallone, La leggenda delle Dolomiti/The legend of the Dolomites (Guglielmo Zorzi, 1920) and Povere bimbe/Poor girls (Giovanni Pastrone, 1924) both with Linda Pini.

The plot of La statua di carne looks a bit like Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and its literary predecessor Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach. Well-to-do Paul has an affair with simple, innocent flowershop girl Mary until she dies of a weak heart. He meets Noemi, an eccentric femme fatale who is the spitting image of Mary, and who agrees to pose for him every day as Mary. Noemi falls in love with Paul, but cannot stand that he doesn’t love herself but only the defunct Mary. In contrast to Rodenbach, here the man doesn’t kill the lookalike, but he duels for her with her ex-lover. In the end he wins the duel but also admits his love for Noemi.

Lido Manetti, Ruggero Capodaglio and Maria Jacobini in Addio giovinezza (1918)
Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Milano, no. 142. Photo: Lido Manetti, Ruggero Capodaglio and Maria Jacobini in Addio giovinezza/Good-bye youth (Augusto Genina, 1918), a silent film adaptation of the play by Sandro Camasio and Nino Oxilia.

Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti in Addio giovinezza
Italian postcard, no. 430. Photo: Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti in Addio giovinezza/Good-bye youth (Augusto Genina, 1918).

Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti in Il richiamo
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 67. Publicity still of Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti in Il richiamo/The call (Gennaro Righelli, 1921). A print of this film is in the Komiya Collection at the National Film Center in Tokyo. A restored version was shown at the festival Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna (June/July 2012).

Italia Almirante, Lido Manetti and Oreste Bilancia in La statua di carne
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Italia Almirante Manzini, Lido Manetti and Oreste Bilancia in the closing scene of La statua di carne/The statue of meat (Mario Almirante, 1921).

Italia Almirante and Lido Manetti in La chiromante
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Italia Almirante Manzini and Lido Manetti in La chiromante/The Fortune Teller (Mario Almirante, 1921).

Car Accident on a Hollywood Street


Lido Manetti also performed in strong man films such as Saetta, principe per un giorno/Saetta, Prince for a day (Mario Camerini, 1924) starring Domenico Gambino alias Saetta, and Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste against the Sheikh (Mario Camerini, 1926) starring Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste. It would be one his last Italian films.

While he had a small part as Roman Guard in the epic Quo vadis? (Gabriellino d’Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) starring Emil Janningsas Nero, Manetti had major parts in films such as Il focolare spento/The extinguished fire (Augusto Genina, 1925) with Carmen Boni and La bocca chiusa/The Closed Mouth (Guglielmo Zorzi, 1925) starring Maria Jacobini.

In La bocca chiusa, Manetti plays a British duke who seduces a poor country girl (Jacobini). Her stepfather (Augusto Poggioli) sells her child to the duke, making her believe the child died. With the money he embellishes his house, but when the girl finds out, she goes mad, burns down the house and becomes a wanderer. Twenty years later, her son (Manetti again) lovingly takes her into his service, not knowing who she is. She recognises a picture, though, and not wanting to destroy his happiness, she silently goes away.

At that time the Italian film production was in decline, and when Manetti was spotted by a Universal studio talent scout in 1925, he moved to Hollywood. He played a small part in The Love Thief (John McDermott, 1926) starring Norman Kerry and Greta Nissen.

After two more small roles in Universal productions, he signed a contract with Paramount. He was renamed with the less ethnic stage name Arnold Kent and got male leads or major supporting roles in films like The World at Her Feet (Luther Reed, 1927) with Florence Vidor, The Woman on Trial (Mauritz Stiller, 1927) with Pola Negri, Hula (Victor Fleming, 1928) starring It-girl Clara Bow, and the adventure film Beau Sabreur (John Waters, 1928) starring Gary Cooper.

Handsome Kent appeared often in the fan magazines and the rising young star bought a La Salle standard seven passenger sedan. He was playing a prominent role in the adventure film The Four Feathers (Merian C. Cooper, Lothar Mendes, Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1929), when one evening a car driven by a film extra struck him on a Hollywood street.

Arnold Kent aka Lido Manetti died of the injuries from the road accident. He was replaced in the film and his scenes were reshot (probably with Theodore Von Eltz). He had been considered for a role in Mary Pickford’s Coquette (1929) at the time of his death. Actor Matt Moore later portrayed this role in a film that won Pickford an Oscar.

The last film in which Arnold Kent is credited, was the part-talkie The Woman Disputed (Henry King, Sam Taylor, 1928) with Norma Talmadge.

Rina De Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato (1925)
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano (La Fotominio), no. 355. Photo: A.P. Film. Rina De Liguoro and Lido Manetti (Arnold Kent) in La via del peccato (Amleto Palermi, A.P. Film 1925).

Rina de Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato (1925)
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano (La Fotominio), no. 361. Rina de Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).

Lido Manetti in Maciste contro lo sceicco
Italian postcard, no. 511. Photo: FERT. Lido Manetti in Maciste contro lo sceicco (Mario Camerini, 1926).

Arnold Kent
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3382/1, 1928-1929. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1929. Photo: Paramount.

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Hans J. Wollstein (AllMovie), Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

Zappy Max

0
0
Dynamic Zappy Max (1921-2019) was one of the most popular radio hosts in France and Belgium during the 1950s till the 1970s. He worked for Radio Luxembourg (now RTL) and Radio Monte Carlo (RMC), and his partner was Mr. Champagne. He also appeared in several French films, often as himself. In June 2019, Max passed away at the age of 97.

Zappy Max
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 613. Photo: Studio Vallois, Paris.

Zappy Max
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris / Édition du Radio-Circus, Paris, no. 2 10 A. Photo: Studio Longchamp.

A Passion for the Music-Hall


Zappy Max is the pseudonym of Maxime Doucet, who was born in Paris in 1921. He was the only son of Maxime and Julia Doucet.

He lost his father in 1937. His father passed him a passion for the Music-Hall. In 1941, Zappy began appearing in Music-Halls with the group The 5 Mathurins where he imitated Popeye in English wearing the uniform of the Marines.

In 1945, he became a singer and entertainer at the orchestra of Jacques Hélian, with whom he remained for two years.

In 1947, he went to work for Radio Luxembourg, where he hosted many games such as 'Quitte ou double' (Double or Nothing) and 'Crochet radiophonique'.

The 'Crochet radiophonique' was part of the Radio Circus, a combination of show, talent contest and game show created by Roger Audiffred and Jean Coupan. With Radio Circus, Zappy travelled all over France and Belgium. Radio-Circus gave shows for 10,000 to 20,000 spectators, while promoting Dop shampoo.

For Radio Luxembourg, Zappy made several radio serials: 'Vas-y Zappy' (Go Zappy), 'Ça va bouillir' (It will boil) and 'C'est parti mon Zappy' (It’s gone My Zappy). His contract at Radio Luxembourg ended in 1966 when the station became RTL. His eviction reportedly annoyed him very much.

Max continued his radio career from 1974 until 1982/1983 at Radio Monte Carlo (RMC). There he hosted the game 'Quitte ou double' (Double or Nothing) again.

Zappy Max
French postcard by Édition du Radio-Circus. Photo: Harcourt. Caption: Vedette des disques "Festival".

Hamming it up and rolling his eyes every five minutes


Zappy Max performed in plays and in several films. He made his first appearances as an extra. he was a musician in the Fernandel comedy Coeur de coq/Rooster Heart (Maurice Cloche, 1946) and played another bit part in the anthology film Souvenirs perdus/Lost Souvenirs (Christian Jacque, 1950).

Two years later, he appeared as himself in Quitte ou Double/Double or Nothing (Robert Vernay, 1952) with Suzanne Dehelly and Danielle Godet.

Max had his first leading part in the comedy Faites-Moi Confiance/Trust me (Gilles Grangier, 1954) with André Gabriello and Louis de Funès in a supporting part. DB DuMonteil at IMDb is not enthusiastic about Zappy's film antics: "On the screen, to put it mildly, he reveals himself a limited actor, hamming it up and rolling his eyes every five minutes."

There's a reference to his radio show in the classic thriller Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955): Simone Signoret's tenants are listening to Zappy Max while their landlady is helping to murder her boyfriend.

Other films with Max include Les Chiffoniers d'Emmaüs/The Chiffoniers Emmaus (Robert Darène, 1955) with Dany Carrel, Les lumières du soir/The Evening Lights (Robert Vernay, 1956) with Gaby Morlay, and Printemps à Paris/Spring in Paris (Jean-Claude Roy, 1957) starring Dominique Boschero.

During the following decades, he did a few more performances in films and TV series. His last film appearance was in the drama Outremer/Overseas (Brigitte Roüan, 1990) with Nicole Garcia and Marianne Basler.

Zappy Max
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 7. Photo: Charles Vandamme, Paris.

It will boil!


Zappy Max published his memories in 'Ça va bouillir' (It will boil!, 2000) and 'L'âge d'or de la radio' (The Golden Age of Radio, 2004).

In 2005, he was awarded with the Prix Jean Nohain, and was also honoured as Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters).

A comic entitled 'Zappy Max: ça va bouillir' (Zappy Max: it's going to boil) was designed by Maurice Tillieux for the journal Pilote in 1959, but it was republished in 2010 by Editions de l'Élan.

That year, Max also published a new book about his passion for the Music-Hall: 'Mes GEANTS du music-hall' (My GIANTS of the Music-Hall).

Indefatigable, he announced a new book, 'Mes Z d'or... Mémoires d'un cinéphile' (My Golden Z ... Memoirs of a film buff), with portraits of his favourite actors.

However, Zappy Max passed away in 2019, before the book was published. He was 97.

Zappy Max
French postcard by Po, no. 7. Photo: Jean Louis Kramel. Caption: Radio Monte Carlo - 1400 m G;O.


Scopitone clip for the song Elle S'était Fait Couper Les Cheveux (She had her hair cut) by accordionist Aimable and Zappy Max. The clip was directed by Claude Lelouch. Source: Music Zone 1 (YouTube).

Sources: DB DuMonteil (IMDb), Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

New Acquisitions: Kino-Autogrammkarten

0
0
Lately, I found this series of German autograph cards on eBay. These 'Autogrammkarten' were published by film magazine Kino in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Four cards were printed on one sheet which was glued into each magazine, and the reader had to tear them loose. Bravo magazine in Germany and other European magazines also supplied these kind of cards in this way as, an extra for their readers. A Kino-Autogrammkarte consists of a star photo, a pre-printed autograph and the Kino logo on the front side and on the other side: biographical information, a contact address and a film list, which always stops in 1988, 1989 or 1990. I like these cards because the range of stars is much more varied than on the film star postcards of that period. Here you find other faces than just the Hollywood mega stars, such as one-time Oscar nominated Sally Kirkland or B-movie Queen Sybil Danning.

Jane Birkin
German autograph card by Kino.

In the Swinging Sixties, shy, awkward-looking British actress Jane Birkin (1946) made a huge international splash as one of the nude models in Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966). In France she became the muse of singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote several of her albums, plus their explicitly erotic duet Je t'aime... moi non plus. Later she worked with such respected film directors as Jacques Rivette, Agnès Varda and Jacques Doillon, and won several acting awards.

Jacqueline Bisset
German autograph card by Kino.

English actress Jacqueline Bisset (1944) has been an international film star since the late 1960s. She received her first roles mainly because of her stunning beauty, but over time she has become a fine actress respected by fans and critics alike. Bisset has worked with directors John Huston, François Truffaut, George Cukor and Roman Polanski. She received France’s Légion d'honneur in 2010.

Sybil Danning
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

Austrian actress Sybil Danning (1949) was a statuesque blonde beauty who became a dynamic and commanding B-movie queen. Never a helpless victim or mere boy-toy, the voluptuous Danning gained her widest audience with a series of sweat-drenched action pictures in the 1980s. For her work in Chained Heat (1983) and Hercules (1983), she won a Golden Razzie.

Faye Dunaway
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

American film actress Faye Dunaway (1941) is a classic beauty with high cheekbones and a husky resonant voice. She had her breakthrough as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and became one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1970s with Chinatown (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Network (1976), for which she won the Oscar.

Lauren Hutton
German autograph card by Kino, 1988.

Over her career, Lauren Hutton (1943) has worked both as a model and an actress. Though she was initially dismissed by agents for a signature gap in her teeth, Hutton signed a modelling contract with Revlon in 1973, which at the time was the biggest contract in the history of the modelling industry. She made her film debut in the sports drama Paper Lion (1968) and played leading roles in The Gambler (1974) and American Gigolo (1980). On television, she appeared in such series as Paper Dolls (1984) and Nip/Tuck (2007).

Sally Kirkland
German Autograph card by Kino.

American actress Sally Kirkland (1941) received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for her performance in Anna (1987). She is also known for Cold Feet (1989), and The Haunted (1991).

Steve Martin
German autograph card by Kino.

American actor Steve Martin (1945) is also known as a comedian, writer, and musician. Martin came to public notice in the 1960s as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. His collaboration with writer-director-actor Carl Reiner on the hit comedies The Jerk (1979), Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984) established Martin as a film star of the first rank. Since the 1980s, Martin also became an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player.

Philippe Noiret
German autograph card by Kino.

French film actor Philippe Noiret (1930-2006) acted in several Hollywood productions, but he is best known for his roles as Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso (1988), Pablo Neruda in Il Postino (1994), and Major Dellaplane in Bertrand Tavernier's La vie et rien d'autre/Life and Nothing But (1989).

Nick Nolte
German autograph card by Kino, 1988.

American actor Nick Nolte (1941) won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Oscar for his role in The Prince of Tides (1991). He went on to receive Academy Award nominations for Affliction (1998) and Warrior (2011). His other film appearances include The Deep (1977), 48 Hrs. (1982), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Cape Fear (1991), The Thin Red Line (1998), and Hotel Rwanda (2004).

Peter O'Toole
German autograph card by Kino.

Golden-haired, blue-eyed Peter O'Toole (1932-2013) became an international superstar with his unforgettable turn as the British expatriate T.E. Lawrence in David Lean's epic masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia (1962). After surviving cancer and alcoholism, O’Toole made a triumphant come-back with Oscar nominated appearances in The Stunt Man (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982).

Michel Piccoli
German autograph card by Kino.

French actor Michel Piccoli (1925) has appeared in many different roles, from seducer to cop to gangster to Pope in more than 200 films and TV films. Among the directors he worked with are Jean Renoir, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, and Alfred Hitchcock.

William Shatner
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1988.

Canadian-born actor William Shatner, (1931) is best known as Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk, the main character in the classic American TV series Star Trek and its subsequent films. As the commander of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, square-jawed Kirk leads his crew as they explore "where no man has gone before".

Jon Voight
German autograph card by Kino.

American actor Jon Voight (1938) became a star playing the street hustler Joe Buck in the groundbreaking film Midnight Cowboy (1969). He had a successful career taking on challenging leading and character roles in a wide range of films and television shows. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.

Rutger Hauer (1944-2019)
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1989.

Blonde, blue-eyed, tall and handsome Dutch actor Rutger Hauer (1944-2019) played everything - from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. During the 1970s, he had his international breakthrough with the Dutch films by Paul Verhoeven and later he became a cult star with Blade Runner (1982), The Hitcher (1986) and Blind Fury (1989). Before that he was the hero of many Dutch kids in the classic TV series Floris (1969), also directed by Verhoeven.

Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989)
German autograph card by Kino. Photo: Jack Nicholson in Batman (Tim Burton, 1989).

Jack Nicholson (1937) is an American actor and filmmaker who has performed for over sixty years. His rise in Hollywood was far from meteoric, and for years, he sustained his career with guest spots in television series and Roger Corman films. He is known for his wide range of roles, including satirical comedy, romance, and dark portrayals of anti-heroes and villainous characters. In many films, he played rebels against the social structure. Nicholson's 12 Oscar nominations make him the most nominated male actor ever. He won the Oscars for Best Actor twice – for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and As Good as It Gets (1997), and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Terms of Endearment (1983).

Pierre Richard
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1989.

French actor Pierre Richard (1934) became popular as a clumsy daydreamer in comedy films of the 1970s. Richard is best known internationally as the star of the zany spy farce Le Grand Blond Avec Une Chassure Noire/The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972) and for his hilarious comedies with Gérard Dépardieu. He also wrote and directed several films himself.

Billy Dee Williams
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1989.

American actor Billy Dee Williams (1937) is best known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise. First he starred in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983), and nearly forty years later again in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Williams has appeared in at least 70 films over six decades.

Ricki Lake
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1990.

American actress Ricki Lake (1968) is best known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in John Waters' cult classic Hairspray (1988). She is also known for her talk show which was broadcast internationally between 1993 and 2004.

Ralph Macchio
German autograph card by Kino, ca. 1990.

American actor Ralph Macchio Jr. (1961) became a teen idol with his role as Daniel LaRusso in three Karate Kid films. He is also known for his roles in The Outsiders (1983), My Cousin Vinny (1992), and the TV series Ugly Betty (2008-2009). In 2018, he returned as Daniel la Russo in the YouTube series Cobra Kai.

A Dog's Life (1918)

0
0
The 35 minutes short A Dog's Life (1918) was Charlie Chaplin's first film for First National Films under a $1M contract where Chaplin had full creative control over his films for the first time. His co-star is Mut who plays the stray dog Scraps. As the title says, Scraps is the hero of the film, as he helps the Tramp and dance hall singer Edna (Edna Purviance) towards a better life. A small part as a lunchwagon owner is played by Sydney Chaplin. It was the first time the two brothers were on screen together. A Dog's Life was a worthy predecessor for Chaplin's first full-length feature The Kid (1920). This postcard series by the Spanish chocolate manufacturer Amatller, Marca Luna, was collected by Ivo Blom. In the coming months ,we'll do more film specials on fifferent series by Amattler at EFSP.

Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 11. Photo: First National. Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 1. Photo: First National. Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 3. Photo: First National. Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 4. Photo: First National. Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 6. Photo: First National. Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918). Granville Redmond played the dancehall owner.

Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 10. Photo: First National. Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin in  A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 12. Photo: First National. Charlie Chaplinin A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 13. Photo: First National. Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 15. Photo: First National. Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918). Second from left: Henry Bergman.

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 16. Photo: First National. Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in A Dog's Life (1918)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, series 9, no. 17. Photo: First National. Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin in A Dog's Life (Charles Chaplin, 1918).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb

Edoardo Ferravilla

0
0
Edoardo Ferravilla (1846-1915) was a comic actor and playwright of the Italian stage and silent screen. He performed in Milanese dialect and became the darling of the Italian public. Between 1913 and 1915, Ferravilla also had a short but successful film career. This post gives an impression of his characters and the films he made in 1914 for the Comerio Film company. Just a year later the actor passed away.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5894. Photo: Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Edoardo Ferravilla in Ferravilla nelle sue più caratteristiche interpretazioni/Ferravilla in his most characteristic interpretations (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1915). Caption in Milanese dialect: Masinelli: Watch out, Crapotti, if you don't stand still, I will become a vortex. It is better to be a thief than a nosebody like you.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5895. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Edoardo Ferravilla in Ferravilla nelle sue più caratteristiche interpretazioni/Ferravilla in his most characteristic interpretations (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1915). Caption in Milanese dialect: Gajna (the drunkard): Is it me wanting to meet the light or is it the light wanting to meet me?

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5896. Photo: Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni.Edoardo Ferravilla in Ferravilla nelle sue più caratteristiche interpretazioni/Ferravilla in his most characteristic interpretations (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1915). Caption in Milanese dialect: Maester Pastisa: My opera will start with a funeral march, just for a change, and will consist of 16 acts and 48 choruses. Mocking Italian composers, Ferravilla here performs his character Maester Pastisa.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5897. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni.

Verdi and Queen Margherita among his fans


Edoardo Ferravilla was born in Milano, Italy in 1846. As an actor Ferravilla would always perform in the Milanese dialect.

The surname Ferravilla might have been the union between the initials of the mother's surname, the variety actress Luisa Maria Ferrari, and that of his natural father, Marquis Filippo Villani, so his nom de plume would be a pseudonym of Edoardo Villani.

According to the Enciclopedia Italiana, though, his mother was the Portuguese singer Giulia Ferravilla, whose surname he then adopted. An orphan of his mother at the age of six and abandoned by his father who married a dancer, he was adopted by the family of his guardian, the accountant Vigliezzi.

Discovered as an actor by Cletto Arrighi, founder of the Teatro Milanese, he acted with him from 1870 on. He made his debut in the comedy 'El Barchett de Boffalora', which would become one of the most important in his repertoire. He would stage it hundreds of times.

He soon became the darling of the Italian public. Even opera composer Giuseppe Verdi and Queen Margherita were among his fans. This success allowed him to take the artistic direction of the theatre company in 1876. During the second half of the nineteenth century, he was active in various theatre companies

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5898. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Caption in Milanese dialect: Gajna (the drunkard): Wait...Waiter!... Bring me a bottle of petrol! ...Ah, well! ciao! Here Ferravilla performs his character Tecoppa.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5899. Photo: Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Edoardo Ferravilla in Tecoppa & c. (1914). Caption in Milanese dialect: Gajna, I am a bit in shambles, so to say! My wife is at home with her children, which are a bit also mine! Here Ferravilla performs his character Tecoppa.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5900. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Caption [in Milanese dialect]: The songwriter: Ah! Virginia, my love! You are the star of my love! Here Ferravilla performs his character Gigione.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5901. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Ferravilla in Massinelli in vacanza (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1914). Caption: Massinelli sings a romantic song, while grimly glaring a young man sitting next to his fiancee, and when he has finished singing, he will sit down next to him and her, even if there is no place anymore on the sofa.

Legendary for his naturalness


In 1900, Edoardo Ferravilla published his memoir as Edoardo Ferravilla parla della sua vita, della sua arte, del suo teatro (Edoardo Ferravilla talks about his life, his art, his theatre). From 1902 on, he alternated his appearances on the scene alternated with longer and longer periods of rest.

During his career, Ferravilla wrote some 22 comedies, vaudeville acts, farces and parodies, often reworkings of existing farces by other actors. Ferravilla was legendary for the naturalness with which he interpreted comedies in the vernacular language. He created a series of very important characters in the imagination of the Milanese public of the late nineteenth century: Massinelli, El sciur Pànera, Gigione, Master Pastizza, and Tecoppa.

He also performed these characters in the cinema. In the eve of World War I, he performed in several comical and theatrical short films, shot between 1913 and 1915. He thus immortalised some of his most popular sketches, and linked the early cinema to the repertoire of an ancient stage tradition.

First he worked at Mediolanum Film and then at Comerio Films, the company of Luca Comerio. Actor Piero Mazzarella considered him his artistic father, and in some comedies, he also recreated his characters, including the aforementioned Tecoppa.

The Cineteca Italiana in Milan recently restored 5 film sketches with Ferravilla and released them on DVD: Tecoppa e gli altri personaggi di Edoardo Ferravilla. The related film titles are: Ferravilla nelle sue più caratteristiche interpretazioni/Ferravilla in his most characteristic interpretations, Tecoppa & c., La class di asen/The class of asses, Massinelli in vacanza/Massinelli on vacation, and Ferravilla al trucco, all dating from 1914. Apart from Tecoppa & c., all films were directed by Arnaldo Giacomelli.

At the Paolo Grassi Library in Milan, a sound fragment with Ferravilla's voice was discovered which matched with one of the films restored by the Cineteca Italiano, Scena a soggetto musicale (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1915), in which he appeared with his wife Maria Ferravilla. It is the exceptional testimony of how 'experimental' cinema was already in 1915!

In the autumn of 1915, Edoardo Ferravilla passed away in his beloved hometown Milan.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5902. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Ferravilla in La class di asen (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1914). La class di asen is Milanese dialect for La classe degli asini (The class of the asses). Caption: Teacher: What are the five continents of the world? Massinelli: The four contents of the world are three: Asia and Africa.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5903. Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. The card refers probably to La class di asen (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1914), staring Ferravilla. Caption: Ferravilla as soldier - One two... One two!... Yes, let's go to war! To war, we'll go!

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5904. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Postcard for the film La class di asen (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1914). Caption: What is earth? Earth are those little stones that dirt your fingers when you pick them up.

Ferravilla
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5905. Photo: Fot. Comerio, Milano / V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Ferravilla in La class di asen (Arnaldo Giacomelli, 1914). La class di asen is Milanese dialect for La classe degli asini (The class of the asses). Caption partly in Milanese dialect: The story of the excursion. One day it was party time, the sky had taken the color of blotting paper, and then the rain came pouring down. All the farmers grouped around the cart with the marenata (marenata is a typical dessert made with amarene/ black cherries).

Sources: Cineteca Milano (Italian), Enciclopedia Treccani (Italian), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

With special thanks to Marcello Seregni for helping us to translate the captions.

Spasimi (1917)

0
0
EFSP starts a series of weekly posts on Spanish collectors cards, published by Chocolate manufacturers. Ivo Blom collects these cards, which were all published in the late 1910s. We start the series with a series by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell about the Italian silent film Spasimi/Spasms (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917). The Spanish release title of the film was Espasmos. Star was French actress Fabienne Fabrèges (1889-?) who was also a scriptwriter and director of silent films. She had a rich career at Gaumont, and afterwards in Italian silent film. The cards series consists of six cards, all of which Ivo found. As far as known, no copy of the film exists anymore.

Fabienne Fabrèges in Spasimi (1916)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell, no. 1. Photo: Corona Films. Fabienne Fabrèges and Didaco Chellini in Spasimi (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917).

Fabienne Fabrèges in Spasimi (1916)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell, no. 2. Photo: Corona Films. Fabienne Fabrèges and probably Didaco Chellini in Spasimi (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917).

Gracious Fabienne


The plot of Spasimi/Spasms (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917) is told on the backside of the cards. Fabienne Fabrèges plays an orphan, alone and ruined. At the auction of her palace, Marquis Chabrol asks Fabienne to become the piano teacher of his daughter Renée. She is overcome by the wealth of the marquis's mansion, while Henri, the son of the marquis, falls in love with her.

His father chases him away and Henri goes for easy pleasures. Fabienne takes care of the ill marquis, which is rewarded by the marquis' gratitude but also the envy of his daughter. During a nightly garden party by the Count of St. Privat, Fabienne is the toast of the evening. The count whispers sweet words to her. She confesses him her only mistake in life but he forgives her and asks her in marriage.

Jealous Renée plots to ruin Fabienne's happiness by telling her brother Henri how fond their father is of Fabienne and asking him to return immediately. Henri returns after the wedding and is vexed Fabienne didn't choose him. The count, remembering Fabienne's confusion she once had another man, takes her on a honeymoon to far away places.

Henri pursues them, though. He confronts Fabienne, who declares she despises him and loves her husband, but she thinks he will kill her husband, so she agrees to a secret rendezvous. The count finds the letter and suspects his wife of adultery. Armed with a revolver, Fabienne goes to Henri's house to defend her husband, followed by the Count. But entering the house, she finds the corpse of Henri, who has killed himself and holds in his hands a letter exonerating Fabienne. From that day, the happiness for the couple returns.

In his reference work Il cinema muto italiano (1916, part II), Vittorio Martinelli doesn't list any of the other actors, and only gives a vague plot. Just like in Signora giurati (Giuseppe Giusti, 1916), one of the few remaining Italian films with Fabienne Fabrèges, and produced almost at the same time as Spasimi, we may conclude that Attilio De Virgiliis played the male lead of the film, the Count. If the same cast of Signori giurati collaborated, then Bonaventura Ibanez may have played the old Marquis, Didaco Chellini young Henri, and Valeria Creti Renée. Indeed, Chellini looks like the man on the first two cards.

Spasimi premiered in Rome on 12 June 1917. While the Italian press thought the plot unimpressive, it praised Fabienne Fabrèges' performance as "gracious, without the grand gestures and poses of the worst style", probably referring to the Italian divas or rather their epigones (Giuseppe Lega in Cine-Gazzetto, Rome, 9-6-2017). The film apparently was a public success.

Fabienne Fabrèges in Spasimi (1916)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell, no. 3. Photo: Corona Films. Fabienne Fabrèges and Attilio De Virgiliis in Spasimi (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917).

Fabienne Fabrèges in Spasimi (1916)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell, no. 4. Photo: Corona Films. Fabienne Fabrèges and Attilio De Virgiliis in Spasimi (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917).

A modern young woman


Fabienne Fabrèges was part of a generation of 'modern' young women who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, were able to overcome the roles of women who were forced upon them in Western society when pursuing their careers.

Fabrèges began as a young actress at the age of 15 in 'Cousin Bette' by Honoré de Balzac. In 1911, her talent as a performer was already receiving favourable reviews. Then she was part of the troupe of the company of Charles Baret, performing in Strasbourg and various French cities. Fabrèges also played in theatrical performances abroad, notably on the stages of Saint-Petersburg, Berlin, London, and Madrid.

Fabrèges's film career (1910-1923) can be divided into three phases. Between 1910 and 1916, she worked in France for the Société des Établissements Gaumont where she joined Léonce Perret's troupe, director of the company with Louis Feuillade. At Gaumont she acted in some forty films, mostly directed by Perret, and from 1913 also by Feuillade, including the third episode of Fantomas (1913).

During the First World War, in 1916, Fabienne Fabrèges moved to Italy, where she was immediately recognised as a leading actress by the Italian film industry. Film historian Vittorio Martinelli notes that critics of the time hailed her as a great actress of international standing and praised her refined acting style in these first films.

Between 1916 and 1923, she played in over twenty Italian films. Fabrèges first acted at the Turin based company Corona Films, e.g. in Signora giurati (Giuseppe Giusti, 1916), of which a tinted print was found at the Dutch EYE Filmmuseum. Fabrèges here plays the owner of an opium den, who falls in love with one of her victims (Bonaventura Ibáñez). Fabrèges also scripted the film.

Indeed, for several of these Italian films, Fabrèges is also credited as screenwriter. In 1917 she also acted at other companies, such as Gladiator Film and Latino Ars. In 1918 she reached the apex of her career, when moving to De Giglio films. Producer Alfonso De Giglio was so impressed by her that he not only gave her several leads, but also let her found her own company, the Fabrèges Film Company. It operated under the aegis of De Giglio and produced four films in 1919: Il cuore di Musette, L’altalena della vita, Sua Maestà il Denaro, and Sua Maestà l’Amore.

Fabrèges scripted all four films and played the lead, while for L'altalena della vita she also functioned as director. Yet, despite praise for her direction and performance, critics condemned her script of the latter film. This may have meant the end of her own company (of which very few details are known), though Fabrèges still acted in two films by De Giglio in 1920, while a third had a late release in 1923.

Finally, somewhere in 1920-1921, she left the stage and the screen in Italy and moved to Britain, where she continued to perform on stage in theatres, and starred in one film, The Pennyless Millionnaire (Einar Bruun, 1921), with Stewart Rome in the lead, and Gregory Scott and Cameron Carr as co-stars.

There, her career seems to have ended after 1923, following a breakup in love. She retired to Scotland and no longer showed herself in public. It is unknown when and where Fabienne Fabrèges died. She is sometimes mentioned as Fabrège or Fabrege.

Fabienne Fabrèges in Spasimi (1916)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell, no. 5. Photo: Corona Films. Fabienne Fabrèges and Attilio De Virgiliis in Spasimi (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917).

Fabienne Fabrèges in Spasimi (1916)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Salas-Sabadell, no. 6. Photo: Corona Films. Fabienne Fabrèges and Attilio De Virgiliis in Spasimi (Giuseppe Giusti, 1917).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano 1916 - Italian), Elena Nepoti (Women Film Pioneers Project), the collectors cards themselves, Wikipedia (English and French) and IMDb.

Katharina Mayberg

0
0
German actress Katharina Mayberg (1925–2007) was a popular actress in German and Austrian film productions the 1950s and 1960s.

Katharina Mayberg
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 4082/295, 1957. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch. Katharina Mayberg in Mazurka der Liebe/Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Hans Müller, 1957).

Katharina Mayberg in Dr. Crippen lebt (1958)
Belgian collectors card, no. 297. Photo: Europ Film. Katharina Mayberg in Dr. Crippen lebt/Doctor Crippen Lives (Erich Engels, 1958).

Katharina Mayberg
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1514, 1961. Photo: Kurt Wunsch.

The Marriage of Figaro


Katharina Mayberg was born in 1925 in Hamburg, Germany. Mayberg took acting classes with Waldemar Stegemann and initially worked as a stage actress.

She made her film debut with a small part in the drama Die Söhne des Herrn Gaspary/Gaspary's Sons (Rolf Meyer, 1948) starring Lil Dagover and Hans Stüwe.

The following year, she played Barbarina in the East German musical Figaros Hochzeit/The Marriage of Figaro (Georg Wildhagen, 1949) starring Angelika Hauff and Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender. It was based on the opera 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, which was itself based on the play 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Pierre Beaumarchais.

The film was made by DEFA, the state production company of East Germany, in their Babelsberg Studio and the nearby Babelsberg Park. The production used not the original Italian but a German text. The recitatives were replaced with dialogue spoken by the actors. It sold 5,479,427 tickets.

She had a supporting part in the Austrian-German sports comedy Der Theodor im Fußballtor/Theodore the Goalkeeper (E.W. Emo, 1950) starring Theo Lingen and Hans Moser. She had a major role in the drama Hinter Klostermauern/Behind Monastery Walls (Harald Reinl, 1952) starring Olga Tschechowa and Frits van Dongen (Philip Dorn). The film takes place in a priory and is sometimes known by the alternative title of The Unholy Intruders.

Katharina Mayberg in Die Todesarena (1953)
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 891. Photo: DCF. Katharina Mayberg in Die Todesarena/Arena of Death (Kurt Meisel, 1953).

Katharina Mayberg in Die süßesten Früchte (1954)
West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1003. Photo: NF / Ariston GmbH. Katharina Mayberg in Die süssesten Früchte/The Sweetest Fruits (Franz Antel, 1954).

Katharina Mayberg in Die schöne Müllerin (1954)
West-German postcard ny Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1221. Photo: Algefa / Constantin / Wesel. Katharina Mayberg in Die schöne Müllerin/The Beautiful Miller (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1954).

Her own production company


Katharina Mayberg had her first female leading role in the Austrian-German crime film Die Todesarena/Arena of Death (Kurt Meisel, 1953) co-starring Richard Häussler and Friedl Hardt.

A popular success was the drama Rosen-Resli/Rose-Girl Resli (Harald Reinl, 1954) which turned child actress Christine Kaufmann into a star. In this and other films like the romantic drama Die schöne Müllerin/The Beautiful Miller (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1954) featuring Waltraut Haas, Mayberg played supporting parts again.

Throughout the 1950s, her parts became smaller, such as in the Spanish film El batallón de las sombras/The Battalion in the Shadows (Manuel Mur Oti, 1957).

She played again a leading role as Brunilde in the Italian fantasy Sigfrido/The Dragon's Blood (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1957), based on Richard Wagner's 'Der Ring des Nibelungen'. Dragon's Blood giant dragon was one of the earliest creatures created by special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi, who later would be responsible for the special effects on King Kong (John Guillermin, 1976) and E.T. (Steven Spielberg, 1982).

Back in Germany, Mayberg appeared in comedies like Immer die Radfahrer/Cyclists Forever (Hans Deppe, 1958) and Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon/Buy a colourful balloon (Géza von Cziffra, 1961). Later she appeared in the Austrian crime film Mann im Schatten/Man in the Shadow (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1961), the TV film Jan Himp und die kleine Brise/Jan Himp and the little Breeze (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1966) with Ulli Lommel, and the sexploitation Wilder Sex junger Mädchen/Love Times Three (Jürgen Schindler, Nino Casale, 1972).

In the literary adaptation Der Schimmelreiter/Rider of a White Horse (Alfred Weidenmann, 1977), starring John Phillip Law and Gert Fröbe, she played her last role, the maid Ann Grete. The film was produced by her own company Schimmelreiter Albis Film GmbH.

Mayberg was married to film producer Alf Teich from 1956 till 1992 (his death) and they had a son. Katharina Mayberg passed away after a long illness in 2007 at her home in Hamburg-Othmarschen. She was 83.

Katharina Mayberg in Klisura (1956)
West-German postcard . Photo: Studio / Titanus Film / Matador-Film. Katharina Mayberg in Klisura (Bosko Kosanovic, 1956).

Katharina Mayberg in Mazurka der Liebe (1957)
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 4077/294. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch. Katharina Mayberg in Mazurka der Liebe/Love's Mazurka (Hans Müller, 1957).

Katharina Mayberg
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 5093/473, 1957. Photo: Kurt Wunsch.

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

Kieron Moore

0
0
With his dark good looks and tall figure, Irish actor Kieron Moore (1924-2007) made a name for himself in post-war British films as both heroes and villains. His roles included Count Vronsky opposite Vivien Leigh in Anna Karenina (1947) and a homosexual bank robber in The League of Gentlemen (1960). He later also appeared in French, Italian and American productions, and starred in the Sci-Fi classics The Day of the Triffids (1962) and Crack in the World (1965).After Moore retired as an actor, he became a passionate Catholic journalist and charity worker.

Kieron Moore
British postcard by A Real Photograph, no. F.S. 56.

Kieron Moore
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 338. Photo: British Lion.

Everyman


Kieron Moore was born as Ciarán Ó hAnnracháin, Anglicised Kieron O'Hanrahan, in Skibbereen, in the County Cork in Ireland, in 1924. He grew up in a hearty, Irish-speaking-only household. His father, Peadar Ó hAnnracháin, was an Irish Nationalist writer, poet, editor and political activist who was twice imprisoned by the British during the Irish Civil War.

Kieron inherited from this family background a lifelong concern with oppressed or dispossessed people. Encouraged by their parents to pursue their artistic leanings, Kieron's sister Nease became an actress for the Raidió Éireann Players, brother Fachtna became a music director for the same radio station, and sister Blaithin played harp for the National Symphony Orchestra.

Kieron himself was educated in Dublin and started to study medicine at University College Dublin. He abandoned his studies, however, after an Abbey Theatre rep saw him in a Gaelic play at the Little Peacock Theatre, and accepted his application for membership. As Kieron O'Hanrahan he had a notable success at the Abbey Players as Everyman. In 1943 the handsome 19-year old moved to England and made his London stage debut as Heathcliff in a production of 'Wuthering Heights' at the Richmond Theatre. He went on to gain more notice in a production of 'Purple Dust' by Sean O'Casey in Liverpool.

He made an impressive film debut as an IRA killer in The Voice Within (Maurice J. Wilson, 1945). The heroine in the film, murdered by Kieron's character, was played by actress Barbara White. Despite their fatal on-camera relationship, they married in 1947. White retired shortly thereafter and they had three sons (Casey, Colm, Sean) and one daughter (Theresa).

Gary Brumburgh writes in his IMDb bio: “Kieron was a talented, durable player but seemed to lack the charisma or drive for top stardom despite his early promise. An impressed Alexander Korda signed him up with his London Films following a heralded performance in the West End version of Sean O'Casey's play 'Red Roses for Me' in 1946. The marquee name of Kieron Moore was bestowed upon him at this time. While he excelled in his next unsympathetic role, the psychological drama Mine Own Executioner (Anthony Kimmins, 1947) in which he plays a schizophrenic POW treated by doctor Burgess Meredith (with real-wife Barbara playing his wife in one of her last film roles), Kieron failed to capitalize on the one role that could have made him a star. As the urbane count in Anna Karenina (Julien Duvivier, 1948), he was deemed wooden and miscast by many of his reviews.”

Ironically, his role as Count Vronsky opposite Vivien Leigh's Anna Karenina is now perhaps his best known performance. There is a restored version with an additional 15 minutes to the original theatrical version. At IMDb, reviewer Jandesimpson thinks the addition is an improvement: “mainly early scenes that established minor characters with greater clarity. However the most significant restoration was a closing shot held considerably longer, thus giving that additional weight to the final tragedy that a really thoughtful director of Duvivier's calibre must have originally intended.”

Kieron Moore
British postcard in The People series by Show Parade Picture Service, London, no. P 1111. Photo: London Film Productions LTD.

Kieron Moore
British postcard.

Flesh-eating Plants From Outer Space


Kieron Moore starred in some international co-productions. He appeared in the French-British production Maria Chapdelaine/The Naked Heart (Marc Allégret, 1950) opposite Michèle Morgan, and in Italy in Due mogli sono trope/Honeymoon Deferred (Mario Camerini, 1950) opposite Sally Ann Howes.

In Hollywood he appeared as Uriah the Hittite in the biblical epic David and Bathsheba (Henry King, 1951) opposite Gregory Peck, and as a dashing Foreign Legion corporal in Ten Tall Men (Willis Goldbeck, 1951), starring Burt Lancaster. Not much happened as a result and he returned to England.

There he continued to offer fine and varied performances, notably in The Green Scarf (George More O'Ferrall, 1954) starring Michael Redgrave, in which Moore earned applause for his role as a deaf, dumb and blind author who confesses to a murder in the mistaken belief that his wife is the guilty one.

Another part that garnered some attention was the bully Pony Sugrue in the Disney classic Darby O'Gill and the Little People (Robert Stevenson, 1959) with Sean Connery. This was topped by the strong kudos he received in the comedy-thriller The League of Gentlemen (Basil Dearden, 1960) as a homosexual ex-officer recruited by Jack Hawkins for a bank robbery.

He turned hero again as a man forced to battle flesh-eating plants from outer space in the classic sci-fi thriller The Day of the Triffids (Steve Sekely, 1962) with Nicole Maurey. His status started to regress in such routine films as the horror thriller Doctor Blood's Coffin (Sidney J. Furie, 1961) with Hazel Court, the Susan Hayward vehicle I Thank a Fool (Robert Stevens, 1962) and the war drama The Thin Red Line (Andrew Marton, 1964).

He played second fiddle to special effects in the Sci-Fi epic Crack in the World (Andrew Marton, 1965) and to Gregory Peck (again) in the adventure film Arabesque (Stanley Donen, 1966). He took as his final film the underwhelming Custer of the West (Robert Siodmak, 1967) in which he was oddly cast as Indian chief Dull Knife opposite Robert Shaw. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he customarily performed on TV, including the short-lived BBC action series Ryan International (1970), which he also wrote.

After retiring from feature film work altogether in 1974, his life took a religious and socially-active turn. He joined CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), for whom he worked for seven years, directing and narrating two film documentaries in the course of that time. The films dealt specifically with the struggle for survival in Third World countries. He also travelled extensively in the Middle East and India and provided voice-overs for other documentary features as well.

After this he became an associate editor of the biggest-selling Catholic paper in Great Britain, The Universe. In 1994, Kieron Moore retired quietly to the Charente-Maritime in France where he died in 2007 at age 82. He was survived by his wife, Barbara White, and their four children. They all entered caring professions: his daughter a nun, two of his sons teachers and the other a psychotherapist.

Gregory Peck in David and Bathsheba (1951)
British postcard by The Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 87. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Gregory Peck and Kieron Moore in David and Bathsheba (Henry King, 1951).

Gregory Peck and Kieron Moore in David and Bathsheba (1951)
British postcard by The Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 90. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Gregory Peck and Kieron Moore in David and Bathsheba (Henry King, 1951).


Trailer Dr. Blood's Coffin (1961). Source: mirkodamian (YouTube).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Mark Lawson (The Guardian), Brian J. Walker (Brian´s Drive-in Theater), JandeSimpson (IMDb), BritMovie.co.uk, The Telegraph, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Max Pallenberg

0
0
Max Pallenberg (1877-1934) was an Austrian singer, actor and comedian. He was one of the most important comedians of his time and often played under the direction of Max Reinhardt. Although Pallenberg was successful as a stage comedian, he only incidentally accepted roles in films.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1803. Photo: Lili Baruch, Berlin.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1806. Photo: Lili Baruch, Berlin.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1891. Photo: Lili Baruch, Berlin.

Max Pallenberg in Der Biberpelz
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 7129. Photo: Fritz Richard. Max Pallenberg as Rentier [Reindeer] Krüger in the stage play 'Der Biberpelz' (The beaver fur, 1919).

Max Pallenberg and Else Lehmann in Der Biberpelz (1919)
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 1757. Photo: Fritz Richard. Max Pallenberg and Else Lehmann in the stage play Der Biberpelz (1919).

Max Pallenberg in Der brave Sünder (1931)
French postcard by Europe, no. 2384. Photo: Emelka. Max Pallenberg in Der brave Sünder/The Upright Sinner (Fritz Kortner, 1931).

The Good Soldier Švejk


Max Pallenberg was born as Max Pollack in 1877 in Vienna, Austria. Max was the son of Markus Pallenberg, who immigrated to Galicia from Vienna, and his wife Kressel (also Therese) born Korsower.

Pallenberg's career started in 1904 and he played in provincial theatres and with touring companies. In 1908, he joined the then famous Theater an der Wien as an operetta comedian and sang, inter alia, in the world premiere of Franz Lehár's operetta 'Der Graf von Luxemburg' (The Count of Luxembourg).

In 1910-1911, Pallenberg performed at the Volkstheater in Vienna, and from 1911 on in Munich at the Deutsches Theater. In 1914 he was committed by Max Reinhardt to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. There he achieved his artistic breakthrough.

Under the direction of Max Reinhardt, he played brilliant roles such as Schluck in Gerhart Hauptmann's 'Schluck and Jau' and as Peachum in the 'Dreigroschenoper' (Threepenny Opera). Soon he became one of the most famous character comedians of his time. Pallenberg's stellar role was in Erwin Piscator's dramatic adaptation of Jaroslav Hašek's novel 'Der brave Soldat Schwejk' (The Good Soldier Švejk).

Pallenberg's most important roles at the Salzburg Festival include Mephisto in 'Faust', Argan in Mollière's 'Der eingebildet Kranke' (The Imaginary Invalid), the Devil in 'Jedermann' (Everyman), and Truffaldino in 'Turandot', all directed by Max Reinhardt.

In 1917 he married Fritzi Massary who became one of the operetta divas of the German stage of the 1920s. His first wife had been Betty Franke (1903-1917). They had one child.

Max Pallenberg and Louise Kartousch in Ein Herbstmanöver (1909)
Austrian postcard by B.K.W.I. Photo: Ludwig Gutmann, Wien, 1909. Max Pallenberg and Louise Kartousch in the stage operetta 'Ein Herbstmanöver' (1909). Caption: "Ist auch schön die Uniform, Drückt sie manchmal ganz enorm." (Is also nice the uniform, Sometimes pushes her enormously). 'Ein Herbstmanöver' was the Viennese title of Emmerich Kalman’s first operetta hit, 'Tatájárás' which also launched his Austrian operetta career at Theater an der Wien. 'The Gay Hussars' was the title of the 1909 Broadway version. In 2003, it was recorded at the Ohio Light Opera and released on Albany Records, rechristened 'Autumn Maneuvers'.

Max Pallenberg in The Miracle
British postcard by Rotary, no. 2701 B. Photo: Hoppe, London. Max Pallenberg as the Spielmann in Max Reinhardt's stage production of The Miracle (1911).

Max Pallenberg in Familie Schimek
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7398. Photo: Max Pallenberg as Johannes Nepomuk Zawadil in the play 'Die Familie Schimek' by Gustav Kadelburg. In 1916 the play was performed by the Deutsches Theater Berlin under the direction of Emil Jannings.

Max Pallenberg in Tobias Buntschuh (1917)
German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin, no. 9307. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Max Pallenberg in the play 'Tobias Buntschuh' (1917).

Max Pallenberg in Turandot
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 633. Photo: Laszlo Willinger. Under the direction of Max Reinhardt, Max Pallenberg played Traffaldino in 'Turandot' (1926) by Giacomo Puccini at the Salzburger Festspiele.

A Butt of anti-Semitic propaganda


Max Pallenberg also starred in several silent and sound films. He made his film debut in the German short Der fidele Bauer - Ich hab mein Zipfelhaubn/The Merry Farmer - I have my Zipfel hood (Franz Glawatsch, 1908) with Wilhelm Binder and Louise Kartousch.

In the early 1910s, he had great success in the cinema with his figure Pampulik and appeared in such Austrian films as Pampulik als Affe/Pampulik as Ape (Alexander Kolowrat, 1912), Pampulik kriegt ein Kind/Pampulik gets a child (Alexander Kolowrat, 1912) and Pampulik hat Hunger/Pampulik is hungry (Alexander Kolowrat, 1913).

During World War I, such films followed as Max und seine zwei Frauen/Max and his two wives (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1915) with Martha Novelly, Der rasende Roland/The Racing Roland (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1915) and Kapellmeister Pflegekind/Conductor Pflegekind (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1915). After the war he appeared in Die Nacht und der Leichnam/The night and the corpse (Adolf Abter, 1921) withRia Jende.

Pallenberg also appeared in sound films. In Der brave Sünder/The Virtuous Sinner (Fritz Kortner, 1931), he co-starred with Heinz Rühmann. The film is based on the play 'The Embezzlers' which was in turn based on a novel by the Soviet writer Valentin Kataev. Pallenberg had previously rejected all offers to appear in films based on his theatre appearances. He was finally convinced by the producer Arnold Pressburger to try and film one of his stage successes. The film also offered Fritz Kortner a chance to fulfill his ambitions to become a director.

In the 1930s, Max Pallenberg and Fritzi Massary became a butt of the anti-Semitic propaganda of the upcoming Nazis. The Jewish couple went into exile in Austria.

A year later Max died in an airplane crash near Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) in today's Czech Republic. He had changed his ticket for the five o'clock flight against a ticket which left Prague already at three o'clock. The five o'clock flight arrived on time, Pallenberg's flight however crashed a few minutes after the takeoff. Pallenberg was 56. he was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering, where his ashes are also buried.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 781. Photo: N. & C. Hess, Frankfurt a.M.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard in the Bühnen-Sterne series by Rotophot, Berlin, no. 3/2. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard in the Bühnen-Sterne series by Rotophot, Berlin, no. 3/4. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard by Verlag Ross / W.J. Mörlins, Berlin, no. 420/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Karl Schenker.

Max Pallenberg
German postcard by Verlag Ross / W.J. Mörlins, Berlin, no. 420/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Karl Schenker.

Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

New Acquisitions: Nos artistes dans leur loge

0
0
In 2012, EFSP had a post on the French postcard series 'Nos artistes dans leur loge'. The series presents dozens of French stage and film stars of the early 1920s in their dressing rooms. Nearly all of the postcards were produced by the French journal Comoedia. Since then, Ivo Blom collected more cards of the series and we did a post on these in November last year. Here are 31 more fascinating examples of the series, which Ivo acquired recently and EFSP never published before.

André Calmettes
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 52. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

André Calmettes (1861-1942) was a French stage and screen actor an director. After being a stage actor for twenty years, Calmettes became artistic director and director of the company Le Film d'Art, founded by the Laffitte brothers. Its films were distributed by Pathé Frères. Until the early 1920s he acted on stage, mainly at the Parisian theatres Odéon, Vaudeville, Gymnase, and Porte St. Martin.

Christiane Delval
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 56. Photo: Comoedia.

Christiane Delval (?-?) acted as child actress in eight French silent films in the early 1920s, starting with the drama Face à l’océan (René Leprince, 1920). That year, Delval also acted in Le petit poucet (Robert Boudrioz, 1920) and Fabienne (Camille de Morlhon, 1920). Delval acted as young Geneviève and Palôtte in the four episodes of the family drama Gigolette (Henry Pouctal, 1921). Other films Delval acted in were the Zola adaptation Le rêve (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1920) with Gabriel Signoretand Andrée Brabant, La tentation (Henry de Golen, 1921) with Georges Wague, La folie du doute (René Leprince, 1923) with Jean Dax, and Pour une nuit d'amour (Yakov Protazanov, 1923) with Edmond Van Daële. In 1931 Delval acted in the French early sound comedy Plein la vue (Edmond Carlus, 1931), shot at the Tobis studios in Epinay, while her last part was in the comedy Dora Nelson (René Guissart, 1935) starring Elvire Popesco. Delval also acted on stage.

Christiane Delval
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 57. Photo: Comoedia.

Christiane Delval (?-?) acted as a child actress in eight French silent films in the early 1920s, starting with the drama Face à l’océan (René Leprince, 1920). In 1920 Delval also acted in Le petit poucet (Robert Boudrioz, 1920) and Fabienne (Camille de Morlhon, 1920). In 1921 Delval acted as young Geneviève and Palôtte in the four episodes of the family drama Gigolette (Henry Pouctal, 1921). Other films Delval acted in were the Emile Zola adaptation Le rêve (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1920) with Gabriel Signoret and Andrée Brabant, La tentation (Henry de Golen, 1921) with Georges Wague,La folie du doute (René Leprince, 1923) with Jean Dax, and Pour une nuit d'amour (Yakov Protazanov, 1923) with Edmond Van Daële. In 1931 Delval acted in the French early sound comedy Plein la vue (Edmond Carlus, 1931) starring Raymond Dandy and shot at the Tobis studios in Epinay, while her last part was in the comedy Dora Nelson (René Guissart, 1935) starring Elvire Popesco.

Maud Strassel
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 80. Photo: Comoedia.

Little is known about Maud Strassel but shat was a performer in revues and operettas in the early 1920s. In those years she played Aphasie in the operetta 'Phi-Phi' at the Bouffes Parisiens, and also performed e.g. at the Folies-Bergère and the Théàtre de la Gaité-Lyrique. As far as known she did not act in cinema.

Camille Bos
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 98. Photo: Comoedia.

Camille Bos (born 1899) was a French ballet dancer. At the age of 10, she entered the ballet school of the Paris Opera. In 1920 she was named 'première danseuse', and in 1925 she was promoted to 'danseuse étoile/star dancer'. Bos participated in numerous performances e.g. 'Siang-Sin' (1927), 'L'écran des jeunes filles' (1929) and 'La Grisi' (1935). Her partners included the famous Serge Peretti and Serge Lifar with whom she danced in 'Le Spectre de la Rose' (1931) by Michel Fokine. At the age of 36 she stopped dancing to dedicate herself to teaching. For 12 years she taught at the Opéra de Paris. Her only known film performance was as a dancer in the Zola adaptation Nantas (Donatien, 1925), starring Donatien, Lucienne Legrand, and Maxime Desjardins.

Inga Agni
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 102. Photo: Comoedia

Little is known about singer/actress Inga Agni. In the early 1920s she performed at the Folies-Bergère, e.g. in the revue 'C'est la folie', and at the Casino de Paris, e.g. in the revue 'Y a qu' Paris!' with Dorville. She probably never acted in cinema.

Lucette Darbelle
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 103. Photo: Comoedia.

Lucette Darbelle (?-1943), originally Louise Silvain, was a French operetta singer. She probably didn't act in film. Darbelle became a Parisian vedette after the success of her part of Madame Phidias in Phi-Phi in 1921. She was e.g. part of the troupe of 'La Revue des Étoiles '(1922), starring American crime serial queen Pearl White. She had a fatal ending during the war: because of a relationship with a German officer, she was strangled with a telephone cable. Not to be confused with the actress Louise Silvain (1874–1930), wife of actor Eugène Silvain.

Mary-Hett
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 104. Photo: Comoedia.

French actress and operetta singer Mary-Hett (?-?) was already around 1900 a popular Parisian café-concert singer and would remain so for decades. In the late 1890s Edouard Marchand overtook the Parisian theatre Eldorado, appointed Leon Garnier as director and the latter composed a group of newcomers among whom a few would become very popular such as Mistinguett and Dranem. Mary Hett was also among these newcomers. She was also a popular actress in revues at the Folies-Bergères and sang at the Scala. In 1909-1910, she played Conchita in 'L'Amour en Espagne', which revived the French operetta after its fall, while in 1915 she starred in the comic operetta 'Antonio Toréador'. She would remain highly active operetta singer all through the 1920s, in operettas mostly by Maurice Yvain, including 'La dame en rose' (1921), the extremely popular 'Ta bouche' (1922-1931, with reprisals in 1936, 1940 and 1944), and 'La dame en décolleté' (1923-1925). Mary Hett acted in a handful of short films in the early cinema. In 1909 she started at Pathé Frères in the comedy Octave (1909) with a young Harry Baur, the comedy Le Roman d’une bottine et d’un escarpin (Georges Monca, 1909), L'Infidélité d’Ernest (1910) with Prince, and the drama Le Bon agent (Georges Monca, 1910). Under the name of Miss Ellynett, Hett also acted in the comedy Mariage à l’espagnole (Michel Carré, 1909) and La Malle du peintre (1910) with Prince. Later, she acted in the Lux production Un bal d'apaches dans le grand monde (André Heuzé, 1912), and was one of the leads in the two-reeler comedy Deux maris, deux femmes et un commissaire (1917), about a presumed adultery cleared before the police. The title of the feature-length silent comedy Miss Helyett (Georges Monca, Maurice Kéroul, 1928) seems to hint at Hett's earlier used pseudonym. Hett herself also had a major part in the film as a Spanish senorita, though the title role was for Marie Glory. It was her last film role.

Louis-Jacques Boucot
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 121. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

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

Jean Hervé
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 132. Photo: Comoedia.

Jean Hervé (1884-1966) was a French stage and screen actor, known for his work at the Comédie-Française but also for his parts in Film d'Art cinema, the Rocambole films, La Terre (1921) and Feu Mathias Pascal (1926).

Paul Gerbault
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 137. Photo: Comoedia.

Paul Gerbault (?-?) was an esteemed French stage actor, who also played in a handful of films. As far as can be reconstructed, he acted at the Comédie-Française from 1912 onward, first in Le Ménage de Molière (1912). He alternated the classics of Molière, Corneille, Euripides, Sophocles, and Hugo, with modern repertory by Bataille, Bernard, and Ibsen. In 1931 Gerbault acted in his last Comédie performance, 'Patrie!' by Sardou, directed by Émile Fabre, and starring Albert Lambert fils and an all-star cast. The play was reprised in 1932, with Gerbault again acting, by the Théâtre National Populaire. Gerbault's last part was that of Orgon in Molière's classic 'Tartuffe',  in 1935 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier.In the cinema, Gerbault acted in the historical drama La Jacquerie, révolution paysanne de 1358 (Henri Pouctal, 1911), a Pathé production on a farmer's rebellion in the Middle Ages. He played Colline in the Pathé drama La Bohème (Albert Capellani, 1912) with Paul Capellani as Rodolphe and Suzanne Revonne as Mimí. In 1914 he acted opposite Léon Bernard in Sa majesté l'argent (Adrien Caillard, 1914). After a long absence from the screen, Gerbault returned as Dr. Boudon in Le crime du Bouif (1922), starring the popular comedian Tramel. His last film part was that of the judge in La main qui a tué (Maurice de Marsan, Maurice Gleize, 1924). The costume on the postcard reminds this part. Gina Manès played the lead in this film.

Suzanne Nivette
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 145. Photo: Comoedia.

French stage and screen actress Suzanne Nivette (1895-1995) debuted on screen as Eponine in Les Misérables (Henri Fescourt, 1925), based on Victor Hugo's classical novel, while in 1921 she had debuted on stage in the theatrical version of the same source. This was her only silent film part, as only from 1934 she had a steady career as film actress in the French sound cinema, which would end in 1960 and include some 20 films. One of her last film parts would be in another adaptation of Les Misérables (1958), now playing Mademoiselle Gillesnormand. In addition to film, Nivette had a rich stage career. Her last part evolved at the Comédie Française in the early 1950s. Suzanne Nivette would become 100. She was married to the actor Georges Saillard (1877-1967).

René Rocher
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 149. Photo: Comoedia.

René Rocher (1890–1970) was a France stage actor and theater director. In 1923, Rocher gave its name to the current Comédie-Caumartin. He was managing director of the Théâtre Antoine from 1928 to 1933, then of the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier from 1935 to 1943, and of the Théâtre de l'Odéon from 1940 to 1944. In the 1910s he acted in four films, a.o. Le coupable (André Antoine, 1917) and Blessée au coeur (director unknown, 1917).

Jo Magnard
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 159. Photo: Comoedia.

While a Jo Magnard could not be found, this may have been the actor Jean Magnard (?-1924), aka Magnard. The earliest known film with him is the Pathé production La coupable (1911), with Henry Krauss and Stacia Napierkowska, about a woman who tries to prevent her sister's husband to kill her for adultery, by taking the blame on herself. In 1916 Magnard acted in Chignon d'or (André Hugon, 1916), starring Mistinguett as the title character. The film was shown last year at the Giornate del Cinema Muto within the Mistinguett retro, and deals with a vedette of the stage who amuses herself posing as a gigolette in the Parisian underworld, and has an affair with a count who is also posing as apache. Magnard plays the jealous real apache, called Le Frisé, causing trouble to the fake apaches of course. Magnard then acted in a comical short La chambre de la bonne (Georges Monca, 1918), in which he is he romantic hero, and La marque révélatrice (Maurice de Marsan, 1919). After a gap, Magnard acted in two more films, but minor parts: he was an apache in Soirée mondaine (Pierre Colombier, 1924) starring André Luguet, and André in L'étrange aventure (Robert Saidreau, 1924) about a husband (Pierre Etchepare) who wants his wife (Edmée Dormeuil) to remain submissive and plays a dirty trick on her. Magnard first had a stage career. Then he focused on music-hall, and performed in 'La revue des Folies Bergère' by Michel Carré and André Barde in 1913. In 1923 he married Maryse Tirville, music-hall artist like himself. While Magnard in 1924 still performed in a revue by Rip and Briquet at the theatre Chez Fursy et Mauricet, he died in October 1924 after a long and painful illness.

René Alexandre
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 164. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

René Alexandre (1885-1946) was a French actor of the Comédie-Française. Between 1909 and 1940 he acted in some 53 films, mainly shorts by Pathé but also Antoine’s rural drama La Terre (1921).

André Allard
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 179. Photo: Comoedia.

André Allard (1874-1939) was a French opera and operetta singer. He studied singing at the Conservatoire de Paris and made his debut in 1897 at the Opéra National de Bordeaux. He entered the Parisian Opéra Comique in 1900, and was one of its stars between 1900 and 1910. In the early 1910s he starred at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, while during WWI and the early 1920s, he returned to the Opéra-Comique. Allard only performed randomly in cinema: in 1920 he had the lead opposite Suzanne Bianchettiand André Noxin La Marseillaise (Henri Desfontaines, 1920), and in 1930 he had a supporting part in the French early sound film Le Requin (Henri Chomette, 1930).

Louis-Jacques Boucot
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 183. Photo: Comoedia. (See also no. 121).

Louis-Jacques Boucot aka Boucot (1882-1949) was a French stage and screen actor, famous for his comic characters of Pénard and Babylas. Just like the more famous Dranem, Boucot was a comical actor known for his vivacity and grimaces who knew a career from music-hall to cinema. Boucot started acting at Pathé Frères in 1910, first in Une petite femme bien douce (Georges Denola, 1910), scripted and performed by Mistinguett. By 1911 he had his own comedies such as Ami trop entreprenant (1911) and La dame de compagnie (1911), while in the same year he also developed the popular comic character of Babylas in various shorts directed by Alfred Machin. Sometimes, Machin's pet panther Mimir acted in these films too, such as in Babylas vient d'hériter d'une panthère (Alfred Machin, 1911). In 1912 Boucot also developed another character, Pénard, with whom he made even more short comedies (16 films in 1912-13), all for Pathé. During the First World War, Boucot could only be seen in one Babylas comedy, Babylas marraine (1917). After the war, he acted in only one film in the 1920s, La première idylle de Boucot (Robert Saidreau, 1920). He only returned to the screen when sound film had set in and would act in 14 films between 1930 and 1938, such as the drama Une femme a menti (Charles de Rochefort, 1930), the musical comedy Arthur (Léonce Perret, 1931) with Boucot in the lead, Le costaud des PTT (Jean Bertin, 1931) in which he sang several songs, La bonne aventure (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1932) with again Boucot in the lead, Brevet 95-75 (Pierre Miquel, 1934), and Le puritain (Jeff Musso, 1938).

Peggy Vere
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 206. Photo: Comoedia.

Peggy Vere (?-?) was a British music-hall artist, dancer and singer, as well as a stage and screen actress. She debuted at the Parisian music-hall Concert Mayol and at the Théâtre des Variétés, then moved on to the Ambassadeurs and Casino de Paris in 1920. Between 1920 and 1940 she mostly performed at the Concert Mayol again. She was active in spreading the Lambeth Walk in France. De Vere debuted on the film screen in the propagandist drama Dans les ténèbres (Théo Bergerat, 1919). In 1923 she acted in La porteuse de pain (René Le Somptier, 1923), one of the many adaptations of Xavier de Montepin's popular novel, scripted by Germaine Dulac, and with Suzanne Desprès in the lead. In the comedy Ma tante d'Honfleur (Robert Saidreau, 1923) she played Albertine, opposite Jane Loury as the title character. In the early sound era she also played in two films, Le roi du camembert (Antoine Mourre, 1931), in which she had a lead as Miss Peggy Wood opposite Louis Rollin as the title character, and she played a supporting part in La dernière nuit (Jacques de Casembroot, 1933), starring Florelle.

Albert Decoeur
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 223. Photo: Comoedia.

Albert Decoeur (1879-?), aka Decoeur, was a French stage and screen actor. In 1911 he debuted in the film Le pouce, made by Gaston Roudès for the company Éclipse. In 1912 he played Francis Drake in the Pathé production Les amours de la reine Élisabeth (Henri Desfontaines, Louis Mercanton, 1912) starring Sarah Bernhardt and Lou Tellegen, followed by Adrienne Lecouvreur (Henri Desfontaines, Louis Mercanton, 1913) again with Bernhardt. In 1913 he continued at Éclipse with La sandale rouge (Henry Houry, 1913), while for the company Éclair he had the male lead in La bergère d'Ivry (Maurice Tourneur, 1913). In 1914 he played Thomas Wyatt in the Éclipse film Anne de Boleyn (1914), and had the lead of a detective fighting a gang in The Thumb Print (1914), a Gaumont film for which the French title is unknown. In 1920 Decoeur retook his screen career and would act in 12 films between 1920 and 1927, including La faute d'Odette Maréchal (1920), La fille des chiffonniers (1922), La bouquetière des innocents (1923), Les première armes de Rocambole (1924), Les amours de Rocambole (1924), Les deux gosses (1924), Mylord l'Arsouille (1925), Jean Chouan (1926), L'espionne aux yeux noirs (1926), La petite bonne du palace (1926), Le capitaine Rascasse (1927), and Casanova (1927). Often these were historical drama and adventure films. Memorable were Decoeur's major supporting parts as the evil Bamboche in La fille des chiffonniers, Jacques Bonhomme in La bouquetière des innocents, and Sir William in the Rocambole films, though he never was the male lead in his films anymore. His last film Decoeur did, was the sound film La châtelaine du Liban (Jean Epstein, 1934), starring Spinelly and Jean Murat.

Gabrielle Colonna-Romano
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 237. Photo: Comoedia.

Gabrielle Dreyfuss, better known as (Gabrielle) Colonna-Romano aka Colonna (1883-1981) was a French stage and screen actress. A pupil and devotee of Sarah Bernhardt, Colonna Romano became a member of the Comédie-Française from 1913 to 1936. She was famous for her roles as tragedienne, and she gave numerous plays and poetry readings, notably by the poet Saint-Pol-Roux. She was also a favourite model of the Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir for several of his paintings, notably 'Jeune femme à la rose' (1913), while she had an affair with his son Pierre until he left her for the actress Vera Sergine. In 1916 Romano married actor Georges Grand (1863-1921), who died of a heart attack at the age of 56. In 1939 she married actor Pierre Alcover (1893-1957). Both her husbands were actors from the Comédie-Française. Colonna-Romano can be seen acting in the documentary Un soir à la Comédie-Française (Léonce Perret, 1935). Between 1908 and 1913 she also acted in such Film d'art shorts as Hamlet (Henri Desfontaines, 1908), in which she played Queen Gertrude, Hop-Frog (Henri Desfontaines, 1910), and L'Honneur (Albert Capellani, 1910).

Christiane Dor
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 248. photo: Comoedia.

Christiane Dor (1892-1939) was a French stage and screen actress and singer, who was a star in 1920s French operettas and musical comedies. Apart from one French silent film, she acted in some 25 French sound films between 1932 and 1936. Notable films with her were Poil de carotte (Julien Duvivier, 1932) with Robert Lynen in the title role and Harry Baur, and Pomme d'amour (Jean Dréville, 1932), with André Perchicot and Raymond Cordy, followed by Madame Bovary (Jean Renoir, 19330, with Valentine Tessier in the title role and Renoir himself, and Cette vieille canaille (Anatole Litvak, 1933) with Harry Baur and Pierre Blanchar.

Suzy Renard
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 249. photo: Comoedia.

Suzy Renard (?-?) was a stage actress who had a small film career too. Renard did the Conservatoire in Paris, but according to the stage journal La Rampe she received a harsh judgement by the jury in 1918, although she won second prize in the category Comedy. The same year she joined a tour around France with the play 'La Reine Wanda', starring Pierre Magnier. In 1919, the Comédie Française engaged Renard for its summer tour, where she debuted in 'Le Dépit amoureux'. December 1919 she acted at the Comédie française in 'Les Soeurs d'amour' by Bataille, starring Léon BernardRenard, though, never became a pensionnaire nor a sociétaire of the Comédie. In the satirical journal Les Potins de Paris, her collaboration with the respectful Comédie Française was even criticised and ridiculed.Renard left the Comédie after one year and focused on light comedy on the stage. In 1921 she played a supporting part in 'Le Chasseur de chez Maxim's', performed at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. Renard debuted in cinema in the Gaumont drama Le Noël d'Yveline (Georges-André Lacroix, 1918), with Suzy Prim and Simone Vaudry. In 1920 she was with Blanche Ritier in the Film d'Art production Illusions (Jean Manoussi, 1920). Her last part according to IMDb was in the shor, La revanche de Suzanne (1921), for whom the director is unknown. Renard seems also to have played in a Feydeau adaptation, the comedy Un fil à la patte (Robert Saidreau, 1924) starring Armand Bernard. In it, the actress is credited at IMDB as Suzanne Renard, but papers from 1924 indicate it was Suzy.

René Gerbert
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 260. Photo: Comoedia.

René Gerbert (?-?) was a popular French operetta singer of the 1920s and early 1930s, for a long time engaged to the Théâtre de la Gaité-Lyrique. In 1921 he sang there the part of Tromboli in Franz von Suppé's 'Boccaccio'. Around 1929-1930, Gerbert was most prominent at the Théâtre de la Gaité-Lyrique when performing the title character in the operetta 'Mr. Beaucaire'. As far as can be traced he didn't act in films, while his voice could be heard singing 'Les gars de la marine' and 'Quand la brise vagabonde' in Le capitaine Craddock (Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil, 1931), the French version of Bomben auf Monte Carlo/Bombs Over Monte Carlo (Hanns Schwarz, 1931). The songs were released on records too, just like several of Gerbert's operetta songs like 'Tous nous charme' from Emmerich Kalman's 'Die Czardasprinzessin'.

Jane Renouardt
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 266. Photo: Comoedia.

Jane Renouardt aka Jane Renouard (1890–1972), born Victorine Catherine Renouard, was a French actress of the silent screen. She played Jane, the partner of Max Linder, in many of his short comedies for Pathé Frères. During the First World War she acted in various feature films, such as the pantomime L'Enfant prodigue (Michel Carré, André Wormser, 1916) with Cécile Guyon as Pierrot and Renouardt as 'his' beloved Phrynette, and the tragedy Clown/Le Clown (1917) by and starring Maurice de Féraudy, as an old clown who kills himself for his son (René Rocher). In 1919 Renouardt did her last film, En quatrième vitesse, by Marcel Simon. She was the first manager of the Theater Danou, which opened in 1921. In 1936 she married the actor Fernand Gravey.

Andrée Féranne
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 269. Photo: Comoedia.

Little is known about French actress Andrée Féranne. She acted in one film: Vers l'argent ( René Plaissetty, 1920), starring Mary Massart.

Cora Laparcerie
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 271. Photo: Comoedia.

Marie-Caroline Laparcerie, better known as Cora Laparcerie (1875-1951), was an actress, poetess and French theatre director. Laparcerie was noticed by the actor Coquelin Sr. and began her career at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris in 1896, before performing around the world. She acted in particular in tragedies set in Antiquity or ancient mythology such as 'Dejanira', 'Fausta', 'Prométhée', and 'Lysistrata', of which some were staged by the Odeon players in the Summer season at the Théâtre des Arènes at Béziers. In 1901, she married the poet Jacques Richepin, whose works she interpreted. Laparcerie was director of several Parisian theatres, notably the Bouffes-Parisiens theatre (1907 or 1909-1913), the Renaissance theatre (1913-1928), the Mogador theatre (1923-1924) - rebaptised Théâtre Cora Laparcerie but too costly an adventure, so she returned to the Renaissance theatre in 1925. In 1926, Laparcerie received the Legion of Honour, but fell seriously ill in 1927. She had to stop her theatrical career, and took a three-year leave to the Côte d'Azur with her family. However, she continued to direct, became a columnist in the magazine Comœdia and created radio theatre on 9 June 1935 by performing on Radio-Paris 'La Vraie Carmen'. As far is known, Laparcerie didn't perform in films.

Edmée Favart
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 277. Photo: Comoedia.

Edmée Favart (1879-1941) was a French singer and the daughter of baritone, director and manager of French operas, Edmond Favart. As far as known, she acted in only one film: Mannequins (René Hervil, 1933).

Gisèle Picard
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 278. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

Gisèle Picard was a French stage actress, who performed at the Odeon in Paris in the 1920s. She was the older sister of the more known actress Nadine Picard. While Nadine Picard acted in some 18 films, her sister is not mentioned at IMDb.

Marcelle Praince
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 290. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

Marcelle Praince (1882–1969) was a French stage and screen actress, who debuted on stage around 1905 and had a first peak in her film career in the Pathé comedies with Prince. From 1930 until the mid-1950s, she had a rich career in French sound cinema, playing grandmothers, concierges, old countesses, and even fortunetellers, in over 50 films. Memorable titles were a.o. Rive gauche (Alexander Korda, 1931), La Vie parisienne (Robert Siodmak, 1936), Maman Colibri (Jean Dréville, 1937), Félicie Nanteuil (Marc Allégret, 1942/1945), Impasse des Deux-Anges (Maurice Tourneur, 1948), and Sous le ciel de Paris (Julien Duvivier, 1951). Praince had her last major film part in Chaque jour a son secret (Claude Boissol, 1958). In 1959, she stopped with acting on stage too.

Pierre Stéphen
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 305. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

Pierre Stéphen (1890–1980), originally Pierre Trambouze, was a French stage and screen actor. In 1906 he entered the Conservatoire, after which he was hired by the Odeon theater and started using his stage name. In 1920 he married the actress Yvonne Thénard and started his film career, acting in over 70 films between 1920 and 1962, often in the part of the stupid, shy and stammering lover. Memorable titles are Le double piège (Gaston Roudès, 1923), Les mufles (Robert Péguy, 1929) with Suzanne Bianchetti, Cette vieille canaille (Anatole Litvak, 1933) with Harry Baur, Au son des guitares (Pierre-Jean Ducis, 1936) with Tino Rossi, On ne roule pas Antoinette (Paul Madeux, 1936) with Armand Bernard, Les trois valses (Ludwig Berger, 1938) with Yvonne Printemps, and the TV film La dame aux camélias (François Gir, 1962).


Pearl White
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 323. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

Pearl White (1889-1938) was dubbed 'Queen of the Serials', and noted for doing her own stunts, in silent film serials such as The Perils of Pauline (1914) and The Exploits of Elaine (1914-1915). Many episodes ended with a literal cliffhanger. In Europe, The Exploits of Elaine were re-edited with two subsequent serials into Les Mystères de New York. Until the end of the First World War, White remained globally a popular action heroine.

NB. The 'Nos artistes dans leur loge' postcards were published in or before 1924, as in that year the journal Comoedia published the full list of all cards from the series.

Sources: Fondation Jerome Seydoux (French), Les étoiles de l'Opera de Paris (French), Les archives du spectacle (French), Giornate del cinema muto, Gallica, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

Alain Cuny

0
0
French actor Alain Cuny (1908-1994) worked in both France and Italy. Among his most notable films are Les Visiteurs du soir (1942), Les Amants/The Lovers (1958), La dolce vita (1960) and Satyricon (1969).

Alain Cuny
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 154. Photo: Carlet Ainé.

Alain Cuny
French postcard by E.C., Paris, no. 58. Photo: Aldò Graziati / Discina. Publicity still for Les visiteurs du soir (Marcel Carné, 1942).

Alain Cuny
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 28. Photo: Star.

Devil's Assistant


Alain Cuny was born René Xavier Marie in Saint-Malo, Brittany, in 1908. There, he attended Insitut Libre de Saint-Lô and the Collège Locroy-Saint-León. Then he studied architecture at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and studied drama with Charles Dullin.

He entered the film industry as a costume and set designer for such famous directors as Alberto Cavalcanti, Jacques Feyder, and Jean Renoir. With Cavalcanti he also worked as an assistant director.

At the end of the 1930s Cuny started acting on stage. He made his film debut in an insignificant role in Remorques/Stormy Waters (Jean Grémillon, 1941) starring Jean Gabin.

The following year he became instantly famous with his lively performance as the strolling minstrel and Devil's assistant, Gilles, in Les Visiteurs du soir/The Devil's Envoys (Marcel Carné, 1942) opposite Arletty.

Another popular role was Hervé in the atmospheric tale of the supernatural Le Baron fantôme/The Phantom Baron (Serge de Poligny, 1943). Cuny also collaborated on the script. Opposite Jean Cocteau, as the Baron, Cuny, the Baron's son and heir, created an unusual version of the romantic hero, reflecting the film's fantastic and legendary quality.

During the war he was also active in the theatre. Karl Tabery at Film Reference: “Cuny played increasingly realistic roles, and his performances became deeper and more psychologically complex. This gradual change was probably due to the influence of his theatrical work, especially after he began to appear at the Théâtre National Populaire under Jean Vilar. Cuny's first major stage success came at the 1947 Avignon Festival in Paul Claudel's 'L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sarah', and he also appeared in Vilar's subsequent production of 'Macbeth'.”

In the early 1950s, Cuny began starring in Italian films in addition to French films. Among his Italian films are Il Cristo proibito/Forbidden Christ (Curzio Malaparte, 1951) starring Raf Vallone, and La signora senza camelie/The Lady without Camelias (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1953) featuring Lucia Bosé.

Among his other notable roles of that decade are the villainous cleric Claude Frollo in Notre Dame de Paris/The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Jean Delannoy, 1956) co-starring Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Quinn, and the husband of Jeanne Moreau in the Nouvelle Vague classic Les Amants/The Lovers (Louis Malle, 1958).

Alain Cuny
French postcard by Editions E.C., Paris, no. 13. Photo: Carlet Ainé.

Alain Cuny
French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 252. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Alain Cuny
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 28. Photo: Star.

Seemingly Quiet and Even-tempered


Alain Cuny got international recognition for his next role as the conflicted philosophising author Steiner in La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960) starring Marcello Mastroianni. Cuny presented Steiner as a seemingly quiet and even-tempered man, living happily with a beautiful and intelligent wife, who yields to a sudden, mysterious attack of folly and commits suicide. A huge worldwide success, La Dolce Vita won several awards, including a New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Foreign Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cuny later also appeared in Fellini’s Satyricon (Federico Fellini, 1969), a free adaptation of Petronius' famous farcical chronicle of ancient Roman life starring Martin Potter and Hiram Keller.

He also worked with such noted directors as Mauro Bolognini at La corruzione/Corruption (1963), Marcel Ophüls at the comedy Peau de banane/Banana Peel (1963) and Luis Buñuel at La Voie Lactée/The Milky Way (1969).

Later in his career Cuny had a role in Emmanuelle (Just Jaeckin, 1974). This was the first and original Emmanuelle film in a highly successful series of soft core erotic films starring Sylvia Kristel. The world wide gross of the film was an estimated 100 million dollars.

Also in 1974 he played Sitting Bull in the absurdist Western Touche pas la femme blanche/Don't Touch the White Woman (Marco Ferreri, 1974) starring Catherine Deneuve.

He often worked with director Francesco Rosi such as on the political thriller Cadaveri eccellenti/Illustrious Corpses (1976) with Lino Ventura, and the historical war drama Cristo si è fermato a Eboli/Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) with Gian Maria Volonté.

Cuny played an old Mafioso in Godard’s Détective/Detective (Jean-Luc Godard, 1987). One of his last roles was in the biography Camille Claudel (Bruno Nuytten, 1988) as Louis-Prosper Claudel, father of the film's tragic heroine (Isabelle Adjani).

In 1991 he directed his first film, the romantic drama L'annonce faite à Marie/The Annunciation of Marie (1991).

Alain Cuny died in 1994 in Paris. He was 85. During his life, he befriended women such as Hafida Elalama, and many other models and actresses. Since 1962, he had been married to Marie-Blanche Guidicelli.


Original French trailer for Les Visiteurs du soir/The Devil's Envoys (1942). Source: Joel Spiggott (YouTube).


Original Italian trailer for La dolce vita (1960). Source: Pulp59 (YouTube).


US trailer for Emmanuelle (1974). Source: Robatsea2009 (YouTube).

Sources: Karel Tabery (Filmreference.com), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Linda Cristal

0
0
Linda Cristal (1934) is an Argentine-American actress. She appeared in a number of Westerns during the 1950s, before winning a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the comedy The Perfect Furlough (1958). From 1967 to 1971, Cristal starred as Victoria Cannon in the popular TV series The High Chaparral, for which she won a Golden Globe Award in 1968.

Linda Cristal
Italian postcard by Rotalcolor, Milano, no. 115.

Linda Cristal in The High Chaparral (1967-1971)
Dutch postcard. Linda Cristal as Victoria Cannon in the American TV series The High Chaparral (1967–1971).

New Star of the Year


Linda Cristal was born as Marta Victoria Moya Peggo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1934. She was the daughter of a French father and an Italian mother. Her father was a publisher who moved the family to Montevideo, Uruguay, because of political problems.

In 1947, Linda and her parents were involved in a road accident near Buenos Aires in Argentina. She survived, but her parents were killed. Linda was 13 at the time. She had two brothers, but of them had died prematurely.

Her education came at Conservatoria Franklin in Uruguay. She learned to speak different languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, and English.

In 1952, she was discovered by Mexican producer-director Miguelito Aleman, son of the Mexican president, Miguel Aleman. He gave her a bit part in the Mexican crime drama Cuando levanta la niebla/When the Fog Lifts (Emilio Fernández, 1952) starring Arturo de Córdova.

After she started her acting career. she altered her birth name to Linda Cristal. This was a common practice for actors and actresses in that period. In the following four years, Cristal did nine films in Argentina and Mexico for Aleman.

Her first English-language role was as Margarita in the Western Comanche (George Sherman, 1956) with Dana Andrews.

She won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for her part as Sandra Roca - the Argentine Bombshell in the romantic comedy The Perfect Furlough (Blake Edwards, 1958) with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

Next, Cristal went on to roles in Cry Tough (Paul Stanley, 1959) with John Saxon, the Italian epic Le legioni di Cleopatra/Legions of the Nile (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1959), with Ettore Manni and Georges Marchal, and another Peplum La donna dei faraoni/The Pharaohs' Woman (Victor Tourjansky, 1960) opposite Pierre Brice.

John Wayne asked her to play the part of Flaca in his epic The Alamo (John Wayne, 1960), and then she had a key role in the Western Two Rode Together (John Ford, 1961) starring James Stewart and Richard Widmark.

Linda Cristal
Italian postcard, no. 640.

Linda Cristal
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, no. 1483. Photo: Universal International.

A female matador


Along with these and other film roles, Linda Cristal appeared in episodes of network television series. She played a kidnapped Countess opposite Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood in an episode of Rawhide (1959).

On television, Cristal also played the female matador Gitana in an episode of The Tab Hunter Show (1961), and appeared in an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) with Richard Basehart and Dan Hedison.

Cristal semi-retired in 1964 to raise her two children. She was coaxed out of retirement when she became the last cast member to be added as a regular on the NBC series The High Chaparral (1967-1971), starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell. Her performance in the series, as Victoria Cannon, earned her two more Golden Globe nominations (winning Best Actress - Television Drama in 1968) and two Emmy Award nominations.

Cristal worked sparingly after The High Chaparral, with a few television and film roles, such as the film Mr. Majestyk (Richard Fleischer, 1974) starring Charles Bronson, and the television miniseries Condominium (Sidney Hayers, 1980) with Barbara Eden.

In 185 she returned to Argentina, where she appeared in the starring role of Victoria "Rossé" Wilson on the  soap opera Rossé (Mario Bellocchio, 1985). Her last role was a guest part in an episode of the long-running American daytime drama General Hospital (1988).

Linda Cristal was married thrice. Cristal wed for the first time in 1950 to Tito Gomez, when she was just 16-years-old. The marriage was annulled after five days in the same year. In 1958, she married business man Robert Champion, half-brother of dancer-actor Gower Champion. The secret wedding was made public only after a month. The marriage soon got bitter when Robert got a job in Venezuela, and the couple had to live far from each other for most of the time. They divorced in 1959.

In 1960, she wed Yale Wexler, a former actor who worked in real estate and was a multi-millionaire. The couple divorced in 1966. With Wexler, she has two sons, Gregory S. (1962) and Jordan R. (1963). Linda was granted the custody of both her sons. Away from acting, she became a successful realtor and started an import/export business of her own. Nowadays, she reportedly relishes her retirement life in California with her children.

Linda Cristal
Italian postcard, no. 604. Photo: Universal, 1957.

Linda Cristal
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C-35. Photo: Universal International.

Sources: Alchetron, Glamour Girls of the Silver ScreenWikipedia and IMDb.

The Valentine Girl (1917)

0
0
American actress Marguerite Clark played the title role in the Famous Players production The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917). The film was released in Spain as La hija del jugador. Cinematography was by H. Lyman Broening. Distributor was Paramount Pictures. The Valentine Girl, based on a story by Laura Sawyer, is presumed lost, but this series of Amattler postcards is complete.

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 1. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 2. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 3. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 4. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 5. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 6. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

All of her charm of impersonation


In The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917), Marguerite Clark plays Marion Morgan, a motherless young girl. She is given up by her guardian Lucille Haines (Kathryn Adams) to be henceforth raised by her father, John Morgan (Frank Losee), despite his criminal past.

Under the enchanting influence of his daughter, Morgan renounces his life of crime. However, a former partner (Adolphe Menjou) frames him for a bank robbery he did not commit, and he is sent to prison.

The distraught Marion runs away and upon taking refuge in a church, she is found and eventually adopted by a kind clergyman family named Bates. As the years pass, Marion grows into a young, beautiful woman who becomes engaged to her childhood friend, now a young man in high society, Robert Wentworth (Richard Barthelmess).

When her father is finally released, he seeks to reclaim his daughter. Ashamed, Morgan asks his daughter's forgiveness and explains being sent to prison on false charges. Marion is afraid Robert will back out when he will hear about her identity, but his love his bigger. Once the father's good name is restored, nothing prevents a marriage between Marion and her fiancé anymore.

The Valentine Girl was typical for Clark's child-woman-like characters (she was only 1.50 m.), a type popular in the 1910s (cf. Mary Pickford, Lilian Gish and Mary Miles Minter, who however were blondes while Clark was a brunette).

The Valentine Girl was released in late April 1917. While the Moving Picture World lauded Clark's performance: "She throws into her work all of her charm of impersonation", the Los Angeles Times was unimpressed: "A stock comedy of reminiscent quality."

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 7. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 8. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 9. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark and Richard Barthelmess in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 10. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark and Richard Barthelmess in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (1917)
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 11. Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl
Spanish postcard by Chocolate Amatller, Marca Luna, Series 10, no. 12 (of 12). Photo: Famous Players / Paramount. Marguerite Clark in The Valentine Girl (J. Searle Dawley, 1917).

Source: Curtis Nunn (Marguerite Clark, America's Darling of Broadway and the Silent Screen); Pamela Short (IMDb), and IMDb

Klári Tolnay

0
0
Klári Tolnay (1914-1998) was one of Hungary's most popular film and theatre stars. In the 1930s she was the glamorous star of many sophisticated comedies. Tolnay received the prestigious Kossuth Prize of her country in 1951 and 1952.

Klari Tolnay
Hungarian postcard by Filmbolt, no. 111. Photo: Havasi Napsütes / Objectiv Film.

Klari Tolnay
Hungarian postcard by Képzõmuvészeti Alap Kiadóvállata, Budapest, no. F. 410/563. Photo: MFI.

A virginal tease


Klári Tolnay was born Rozália Klára Tolnay (in Hungarian: Tolnay Rozália Klára) in 1914 in Budapest, then capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, integrated into the immense Habsburg Empire, now Hungary. She was the daughter of István Tolnay and Eleonóra Siess.

'Klarika' spent her childhood in the small village of Mohora, Nógrád county, on the estate of her father. Finishing elementary school there, she continued secondary school studies in Balassagyarmat, two years at the school operated by Institutum Beatae Mariae Virginis in Nyíregyháza, finishing high school in Debrecen's School of Business.

Singing and playing music since childhood, she followed the advice of newspaper editor János Bókay, and auditioned herself to prominent actors of the time, Gábor Rajnai, Jenő Heltai, and Sándor Hevesi.

After these early attempts were not followed by the desired results, she was spotted and mentored by film maker Béla Gaál, thus starting her career as a film actress at the Hunnia Film Studio. There she appeared in a small part in the comedy Az új rokon/The New Relative (Béla Gaál, 1934) starring Zita Perczel.

Her first notable role was in the romantic comedy Meseautó/The Dream Car (Béla Gaál, 1934) starring Zita Perczel and Ella Gombaszögi. A tycoon falls in love with a poor woman and secretly buys her a car. The film sparked an Eastern European vogue for sophisticated comedies.

Bobb Edwards at Find A Grave: "Tolnay's cover girl looks and breezy style made her a natural for the genre and she went on to star in such titles as Légy jó mindhalálig/Stay Good Until Death (István Székely, 1936), Az én lányom nem olyan/My Daughter Is Different (László Vajda, 1937), and A hölgy egy kissé bogaras/The Lady Is a Little Crazy (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1938), typically as a virginal tease."

In 1934, she was hired by the Vígszínház theatre (the Comedy Theatre of Budapest), to perform smaller roles. In 1936 she married film director Ákos Ráthonyi, and four years later, she gave birth to daughter Zsuzsanna. In 1938, she impressed theatre critics as Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet', which she performed throughout the nation.

In between she also appeared in the comedy Magdát kicsapják/Magda Expelled (László Vajda, 1938), starring Ida Turay, Tolnay and Antal Páger. The film was based on a play and was remade in Italy as Maddalena, zero in condotta/Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (Vittorio de Sica, 1940) with some changes.

So the young and beautiful actress worked with the greatest directors of her country, some of whom would later have an international career. István Székely was the future Steve Sekely, and László Vajda, became known as Ladislao Vajda. She also worked with Bolváry Géza (later known in Germany as Geza von Bolváry) for Tiszavirág/Flower of the Tisza(1937); and with Tóth Endre, later known in Hollywood as André De Toth, for Toprini nász/Wedding in Toprin (1938) and Hat hét boldogság/Six Weeks of Happiness (1939).

Klari Tolnay and Iván Darvas
Hungarian postcard by Képzõmuvészeti Alap Kiadóvállata, Budapest, no. F. 410/563. Photo: B. Kálman. Klári Tolnay and Iván Darvas in a stage production of Romeo és Julia (Romeo and Juliet) by William Shakespeare.

Klari Tolnay and Iván Darvas in Romeo and Juliet
Hungarian postcard by Képzõmuvészeti Alap Kiadóvállata, Budapest, no. F. 410/563. Photo: B. Kálman. Klári Tolnay and Iván Darvas in a stage production of Romeo és Julia (Romeo and Juliet) by William Shakespeare.

Using her star power

In the early 1940s, Klári Tolnay became a big film star in her country thanks to her performances in a dozen comedies or melodramas directed by her husband Ákos Ráthonyi. These included A szerelem nem szégyen/The Love Is Not Shame (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1940) and Egy csók és más semmi/One kiss and nothing more (Ákos Ráthonyi, 1941), both also with Pál Jávor.

After World War II ended in 1945, Ákos Ráthonyi left Hungary, but Klári Tolnay stayed. She moved away from the film sets. On stage she was still cast in glamorous roles, but as she grew older she greatly broadened her range, particularly in her work with the National and Madach theatres. Leaving the Vígszínház for the Művész Theatre in 1946-1947, Tolnay met Iván Darvas, whom she later married. They divorced in 1958 - according to Wikipedia, but according to IMDb in 1959. After the 1956 revolution, Tolnay's daughter Zsuzsanna followed her father abroad.

In 1947, together with Gyula Benkő and István Somló, Klári Tolnay was appointed as the co-manager of the Vígszínház theatre, where she was a major participant in restoring the institution to its pre-war glory. After the theatre was disbanded by the government in 1950, she joined the Madách Theatre, where she worked until her death in 1998.

Bobb Edwards: "Despite later Communist censorship of the arts, Tolnay was able to use her star power to bring notable American plays to her country. She played Blanche in Tennessee Williams''A Streetcar Named Desire', Martha in Edward Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', and Maude in Colin Higgins''Harold and Maude', all in their first Hungarian productions."

In 1958, she made a remarkable comeback in the cinema with A tettes ismeretlen/When Cannons Go Away ... (László Ranódy, László Nádasy, 1958), which was released in several other European countries.  The film tells the story of young children who find after the war a non-pinned grenade and how the indifference of adults leads to a tragedy.

Tolnay continued to star in films. Her best known later films are the drama Pacsirta/Drama of the Lark (László Ranódy, 1963), which was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, and Apa/Father (István Szabó, 1966), a coming of age story about a man who copes with his childhood loss of his father against the backdrop of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and memories of the Arrow Cross dictatorship.The film, which won several international awards, symbolised the Renaissance of the Hungarian cinema. Zsuzsa Ráthonyi, the daughter of Klári and Ákos Ráthonyi, was also in the cast.

Klári appeared in the Hungarian adventure film A koppányi aga testamentuma/The Testament of Aga Koppanyi (Éva Zsurzs, 1967), the Hungarian-Soviet epic musical/drama Szerelmi álmok – Liszt/Dreams of Love – Liszt (Márton Keleti, 1970) based on the biography of the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt, and the drama A vörös grófnő/The Red Countess (András Kovács, 1983), which was entered into the 14th Moscow International Film Festival. She also played in several television productions.

Klári Tolnay passed away in 1998 in Budapest, Hungary. She was 84. Overall she appeared in 85 films and 30 plays.  Her body rests in the Farkasreti cemetery of the Hungarian capital and a statue of Tolnay now stands in front of the National Theatre in Budapest.

Klari Tolnay
Hungarian postcard by Képzõmuvészeti Alap Kiadóvállata, Budapest, no. 2/582. Photo: Feny.Szöv.

Klari Tolnay
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 635, 1958. Photo: Magyar-Film.

Sources: Bobb Edwards (Find A Grave), Philippe Pelletier (CinéArtistes - French), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Margarete Schön

0
0
The career of German stage and film actress Margarete Schön (1895-1985) spanned nearly fifty years. She is best known for her role as Kriemhild, the beautiful but revengeful princess of Burgundy in Fritz Lang’s silent epic Die Nibelungen (1924).

Margarete Schön
German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 4838. Photo: Atelier E. Bieber, Berlin.

Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 672/6, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924).

Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 676/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924).

Die Nibelungen, part II
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 677/2. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen, II. Teil, Kriemhilds Rache/Kriemhild's Revenge (Fritz Lang, 1924). Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) at the spring where Siegfried died.

Margarete Schön in Kampf um die Scholle (1925)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/10. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Margarete Schön as Frieda, wife of Axel.

The Vengeful Kriemhild


Margarete Schön was born as Margarete Schippang in Magdeburg, Germany in 1895.

She received private acting lessons with the theatre actor Hans Calm in Dessau. In 1912 she made her stage debut in Bad Freienwalde. Shortly thereafter, she received a commitment at the municipal theatre of Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz, Poland). From 1915 to 1918, she was part of the ensemble cast of the Deutsches Theater in Hannover, and from 1918 to 1945 she performed at the famous Staatstheater Berlin (Berlin State Theatre).

According to Wikipedia, Schön made her film debut in the silent Du meine Himmelskönigin/You are my queen of heaven (Carl Wilhelm, 1919). Philippe Pelletier at Ciné Artistes and Thomas Staedeli at Cyranos write that her first appearance was a year earlier, in Schirokko/Scirocco (Edmund Heuberger, 1918) with Kurt Brenkendorf.

She would spend the next years in small roles for directors Carl Froelich, Hanna Henning, and Walter Schmidthässler. She had bigger parts in Die Pflicht zu leben/The obligation to live (Carl Wilhelm, 1919) with Reinhold Schünzel, and Die goldene Krone/The Golden Crown (Alfred Halm, 1920) starring Henny Porten.

She worked several times with the Danish director Robert Dinesen who was her husband at the time. Among their films were Frauen vom Gnadenstein/Women of Gnadenstein (Joe May, Robert Dinesen, 1920), and Der Leidensweg der Inge Krafft/Inge Krafft's Calvary (Robert Dinesen, 1921) featuring Mia May.

Schön had a leading role as Hannele’s (Margarete Schlegel) mother in the popular drama Hanneles Himmelfahrt/Hannele's Ascension (Urban Gad, 1922), based on the Traumgedicht (dream poem) by Gerhart Hauptman. For director Friedrich Zelnik she appeared in Erniedrigte und beleidigte (1922) starring Lya Mara.

Then she really became a star after the release of Fritz Lang's two-part mythical fantasy Die Nibelungen (1924). Lang and his wife at the time, Thea von Harbou, had written a script based on the epic poem 'Nibelungenlied' written around AD 1200. Schön had a starring role as the vengeful Kriemhild, opposite Paul Richter as the epic hero Siegfried.

The success of Die Nibelungen (1924) would cement her popularity in Germany and she achieved international recognition as an actress. Strangely, there was not a real follow-up film. She appeared in several unremarkable productions. In the more interesting films, like her husband’s Der Weg durch die Nacht/The Way Through the Night (Robert Dinesen, 1929), she only had a supporting part.

Paul Richter and Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen (1924)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 673/1. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Siegfried (Paul Richter) and Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) in part I. of Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924).

Ferdinand von Alten and Margarete Schön in Kampf um die Scholle (1925)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/8. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Ferdinand von Alten and Margarete Schön.

Margarete Schön
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 851/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Hanni Schwarze, Berlin.

Margarete Schön
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1097/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ernst Sandau, Berlin.

Margarete Schön
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1922/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Ebert, Berlin.

Wife or Mother


Margarete Schön made the transition to sound films with ease and through the 1930s and 1940s she was a popular character actress. She often portrayed parts as the wife or the mother.

For the Ufa she played princess Amalie in Das flötenkonzert von Sans-Souci/The Flute Concert of Sans-Souci (Gustav Ucicky, 1930) starring Otto Gebühr as King Frederick II of Prussia; Madame Mercier in the Chopin biography Abschiedswalzer/Farewell Waltz (Géza von Bolváry, 1934), and the mother of Ilse Werner in Ihr erstes Erlebnis/Her First Experience (Joseph von Báky, 1939).

In 1931 she even co-directed a film herself, Schön ist die Manöverzeit/Manoeuver Time Is Fine (Margarete Schön, Erich Schönfelder, 1931) with Ida Wüst. It would remain her only directorial job.

During the Second World War she appeared in approximately ten films, but she generally avoided roles in Nazi propaganda films and stayed decidedly apolitical. One exception was an uncredited bit part in Veit Harlan's nationalistic film Kolberg (Veit Harlan, 1945) starring Heinrich George.

One of her most popular roles of the era was the character Frau Knauer opposite Heinz Rühmann in the classic comedy Die Feuerzangenbowle/The Punch Bowl (Helmut Weiss, 1944) for the Terra-Filmkunst studios.

After the Second World War, Schön worked extensively for the radio and also worked as a voice actor for the synchronisation of foreign films.

From 1948 to 1950, she played for the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), the state-owned film studio of East Germany. There she appeared in small roles in such films as Affaire Blum/The Blum Affair (Erich Engel, 1948) about an anti-Semitic court case in Weimar Germany, Die blauen Schwerter/The Blue Swords (Wolfgang Schleif, 1949) starring Hans Quest as the inventor of blue porcelain, and the biography Semmelweis - Retter der Mütter/Dr. Semmelweis (Georg C. Klaren, 1950) with Käthe Braun.

In West-Germany she had parts in such films as the thriller Rittmeister Wronski/Cavalry Captain Wronski (Ulrich Erfurth, 1954) starring Willi Birgel, and Oberwachtmeister Borck/Sergeant Borck (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1955). Her last screen appearance was in the TV film Ich rufe Dresden/I Call Dresden (Curt Goetz-Pflug, 1960).

That same year Margarete Schön retired from acting. In 1968, she was awarded the Bundesfilmpreis for her long and outstanding achievements in the German cinema. At the age of 90, she died in West-Berlin, Germany in 1985. Schön was married to Danish director Robert Dinesen.

Die Nibelungen I
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 673/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: Siegfried (Paul Richter) presents Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) the circlet.

Die Nibelungen
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, nr. 673/6, ca. 1924. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924). Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) mourns Siegfried's (Paul Richter) death and points accusingly to Volker von Alzey (Hans Adalbert Schlettow).

Die Nibelungen, part I
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 675/5. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen, part I, Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924). Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) and the women in the 'kemenate', the heated private room of the castle, also called 'cabinet'.

Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 675/9, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924). Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) and Brunhild (Hanna Ralph) at the side of the body of Siegfried (Paul Richter).

Margarete Schön in Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 677/8, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Publicity still for Die Nibelungen 2: Kriemhilds Rache/Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (Fritz Lang, 1924). Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) has got the deathblow. In the back, King Hetzel (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) looks on in astonishment.

Sources: Philippe Pelletier (CinéArtistes - French), Volker Wachter (DEFA Filmsterne - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Joseph Schildkraut

0
0
Joseph Schildkraut (1896-1964) was an Austrian-American actor. He started his career in the silent German cinema and became a matinee idol in silent Hollywood. Schildkraut won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film The Life of Emile Zola (1937). Later he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as Otto Frank in the film The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and a Prime time Emmy for his performance as Rabbi Gottlieb in a 1962 episode of the television series Sam Benedict.

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8378. Photo: Hänse Herrmann.

Joseph Schildkraut in Shipwrecked (1926)
Romanian postcard by Kawa Film. Photo: Joseph Schildkraut in Shipwrecked (Joseph Henabery, 1926).

Joseph Schildkraut in Young April (1926)
Romanian postcard. Photo: Kawa-Film. Joseph Schildkraut in Young April (Donald Crisp, 1926).

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 1477/1, 1927-1928. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft).

Joseph Schildkraut
British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 92.

His marriage-threatening, Lothario-like behaviour off-stage


Joseph Schildkraut was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), in 1896. He was the son of Erna (née Weinstein) and famed Yiddish stage actor Rudolph Schildkraut.

The family moved to Hamburg, Germany, when Joseph was 4. Joseph studied the piano and violin and grew inspired with his father's profession. On stage (with his father) from age 6, the family again relocated to Berlin where his father built a strong association with famed theatrical director Max Reinhardt.

Following Joseph's graduation from Berlin's Royal Academy of Music in 1911, the family migrated to America and settled in New York in 1912. His father continued making his mark in America's Yiddish theatre while Joseph was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Offered lucrative theatre work back in Germany, Rudolf and family returned to Europe where Joseph began to grow in stature on the stage with the help of mentor Albert Bassermann. Joseph, like his father, would become well known not only for his prodigious talents on stage, but his marriage-threatening, Lothario-like behaviour off-stage."

Joseph made his stage debut in 1913, in Berlin, and started his film career in 1915 in the German feature films Dämon und Mensch/Demon and human (Richard Oswald, 1915) and Schlemihl (Richard Oswald, 1915) in which his father played the leading role. Roles followed in the films Das Wiegenlied/The Lullaby (Max Mack, 1916) with Aud Egede-Nissen and Leopoldine Konstantin, and Der Glücksschneider (Hans Otto, 1916) opposite his father.

In 1920 he appeared in the Austrian films Der Roman der Komtesse Orth/The Novel of Countess Ruth (Hans Otto, 1920) and Theodor Herzl, der Bannerträger des jüdischen Volkes/Theodor Herzl, the standard bearer of the Jewish people (Otto Kreisler, 1921), an early film biography of the founder of modern Zionism.

Then the family Schildkraut emigrated to the USA. From 1920, Joseph appeared in Broadway productions. Among the plays that he starred in was a notable production of 'Peer Gynt'. In 1921, Schildkraut played the title role in the first American stage production of Ferenc Molnár's 'Liliom', the play that would eventually become the basis for Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Carousel'.

He then began working in silent films, although he did return to the stage occasionally. He had immediate success as the Chevalier de Vaudrey in D. W. Griffith's classic Orphans of the Storm (1921) alongside sisters Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish. It made him a matinee idol along the lines of Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Navarro.

Later, he was featured in Cecil B. DeMille's epics The Road to Yesterday (1925) and The King of Kings (1927), as Judas Iscariot. Schildkraut's father Rudolf also appeared in the film as the high priest Caiaphas.

Joseph Schildkraut also played a Viennese-accented, non-singing Gaylord Ravenal in the part-talkie film version of Edna Ferber's Show Boat (1929) opposite Laura La Plante as Magnolia. The character of Gaylord as written in the 1929 film was much closer to Ferber's original than to the depiction of him in the classic Kern and Hammerstein musical play based on the novel as well as the 1936 and 1951 film versions of the musical, but the 1929 film was not a critical or box-office success.

Joseph Schildkraut in A Midsummer Night's Dream
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8366. Photo: Hänse Herrmann. Joseph Schildkraut as Oberon in a German stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1585. Photo: Alex Binder.

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1587. Photo: Alex Binder.

Joseph Schildkraut
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5018. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft) / Sascha Film.

Joseph Schildkraut
Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5027. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft) / Sascha.

The Father of Anne Frank


Joseph Schildkraut's career peaked in the 1930s. Despite his preference for the theatre, Depression-era finances forced him to relocate to Los Angeles for more job security. He played Wallace Beery's nemesis, General Pascal in Viva Villa! (Jack Conway, 1934). In 1934 he also played King Herod alongside Claudette Colbert in Cleopatra (Cecil B. DeMille, 1934).

He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Alfred Dreyfus in The Life of Emile Zola (William Dieterle, 1937), in which he acted alongside Paul Muniand Gale Sondergaard. He gained further fame for playing the ambitious duc d'Orléans in the historical epic Marie Antoinette (WS Van Dyke, 1938), opposite Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power, and gave a notable performance as the villainous Nicolas Fouquet in the adventure film The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale, 1939), featuring Louis Hayward.

His film output slowed down considerably at the outbreak of WWII in 1941. He continued to show vitality on the stage with notable successes in 'Clash by Night' (1941) with Tallulah Bankhead,'Uncle Harry' (1942) and 'The Cherry Orchard' (1944) with Eva Le Gallienne.

Schildkraut is perhaps best remembered today for playing the role of Otto Frank, the Jewish father-in-hiding, in both the original stage production (in 1955) and film version of The Diary of Anne Frank (George Stevens, 1959), starring Millie Perkins.

His biography 'My Father and I' was published in 1959. Joseph Schildkraut was also an active character actor and appeared in guest roles on several early television shows, including the Hallmark Hall of Fame, in which he played Claudius in the 1953 television production of Hamlet, with Maurice Evans in the title role. Schildkraut also hosted and starred in Joseph Schildkraut Presents, a short-lived series on the DuMont Television Network from October 1953 to January 1954.

In 1961, during the 3rd season of The Twilight Zone, he made his first appearance on episode 9, 'Deaths-Head Revisited'. He later played an elderly man in 'The Trade-Ins' in season 3, episode 31 of the same show. In 1963, he was nominated for a Best Actor Emmy Award for his performance in a guest starring role on NBC's Sam Benedict legal drama which starred Edmond O'Brien and Richard Rust.

Schildkraut was married three times. His first marriage was to actress Elise Bartlett in 1923; they divorced in 1931. He married Mary McKay in 1932, until her death in 1962. In 1963, Schildkraut married Leonora Rogers, who survived him. In 1964, Schildkraut died at his home in New York City of a heart attack after a song-and-dance rehearsal for a musical comedy 'Cafe Crown,' which was due for a New York opening in the spring of 1964. He was 67. His father also died at the same age, also of a heart attack.

His last film role was Nicodemus in the epic failure The Greatest Story Ever Told (George Stevens, 1965). The film was released posthumously. For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Schildkraut has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6780 Hollywood Boulevard. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

The King of Kings (1927)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/8. Photo: National Film. H.B. Warner as Jesus and at his right Joseph Schildkraut as Judas in The King of Kings (Cecil B. deMille, 1927). Caption: The Last Supper.

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 1477/1. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft).

Lya de Putti and Joseph Schildkraut in The Heart Thief (1927)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3495/1, 1928-1929. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft). Lya de Putti and Joseph Schildkraut in The Heart Thief (Nils Olaf Chrisander, 1927).

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3726/1, 1928-1929. Photo: DPG (Deutsche Photographische Gesellschaft).

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4473/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Universal.

Vilma Banky and Joseph Schildkraut in A Lady to Love (1930)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5365/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Vilma Banky and Joseph Schildkraut in A Lady to Love ( Victor Sjöström, 1930).

Joseph Schildkraut
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5637/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Universal.

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia (English, Dutch and German) and IMDb.

Silent Italian comedy

0
0
Ivo Blom wrote ‘All the Same or Strategies of Difference: Early Italian Comedy in International Perspective’, an article about the silent Italian comedy, published in Italian Silent Cinema. A Reader. You can now read Ivo's interesting article at his website. What were the characterisations of and differences between the typical comedians of the early Italian cinema like Cretinetti, Polidor, Kri-Kri and Robinet? And which were the differences between slapstick and situational comedy such as the Morano-Rodolfi comedies by Ambrosio? Ivo also compares the Italian silent comedies with its French and American counterparts at Pathé, Gaumont and Vitagraph. The online publication of the article matches EYE’s wonderful recent upload of several Italian silent comedies from the Desmet Collection at YouTube. For EFSP, Ivo made this selection from our collections with vintage postcards of Italian silent comedians and comedies.

Fregoli
Italian postcard by Garzini e Pezzini, Milano, 1908.

Leopoldo Fregoli (1867-1936) was one of the first vaudeville actors who used film in his acts. Fregoli was famous for his rapid transformation acts, in which he did impersonations of famous artistic and political characters. In 1898 he bought a Cinematographe from the Lumière brothers and started to show shorts, named Fregoligraph, as part of his stage act. These were recordings of his transformation acts.

André Deed
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: X.

One the most popular comedians in the French and the Italian silent cinema was André Deed (1879-1940) who was known under the names of Boireau and Cretinetti. In 1908, the Torinese company Itala lured him from Pathé to Italy, where Deed started the series of Cretinetti (‘little stupid’). He not only acted, but also directed his films. Deed behaved in a quite anarchic way, creating destruction and pursuits allover. Between 1909 and 1911 and between 1915 and 1920 Deed made 90 shorts with Cretinetti, such as the absurdist Cretinetti e le donne (1910), in which fanatic women tear the man to pieces. In the end all his loose limbs gather again.

Valentina Frascaroli
French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Caption: M[ademoise]lle Frascaroli.

Valentina Frascaroli (1890-1955) was an Italian actress of the silent screen. After a training in dance and acting, she performed on stage. In 1909 she was hired by Itala Film, first as a screenwriter, then as actress. At Itala, she became the beloved companion of former Pathé comedian André Deed, known in Italy as Cretinetti and in France as Gribouille. She followed him to France when he returned to Pathé, now as Boireau. Frascaroli also had her own comedies there as the character Griboulette. Between 1915 and 1922 she acted in many, mostly dramatic Italian films such as Maciste alpino (1916), Tigre reale (1916), La guerra e il sogno di Momi (1917), etc. - mostly at Itala Film. Already in the early 1910s, she had acted opposite Ermete Zacconi in Padre (1912) and would be paired with him again in L'emigrante (1915). Frascaroli retired form the screen in 1925 but continued to perform on stage.

Edoardo Ferravilla in Tecoppa & c.
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5899. Photo Comerio, Milano. V. Uff. Rev. St. Terni. Edoardo Ferravilla in Tecoppa & c.. Caption (in Milanese dialect): Gajna: I am a bit in shambles, so to say! My wife is at home with her children, which are a bit also mine! Ferravilla here performs his character Tecoppa.

Edoardo Ferravilla (1846-1915) was an actor and playwright of the Italian stage and silent screen. He performed in Milanese dialect and became the darling of the Italian public. Between 1913 and 1915, Ferravilla also had a short but successful film career. He thus immortalised some of his most popular sketches, and linked the early cinema to the repertoire of an ancient stage tradition.

Camillo De Riso
Italian postcard by Magazine Film - corriere dei cinematografici, Napoli / Roma. Photo Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Italian screen and stage actor and director Camillo De Riso (1854-1924) was most famous for his comedies at the companies Ambrosio, Gloria and Caesar. In 1912 he was hired by Ambrosio Film in Turin, where he formed a successful trio with Gigetta Morano and Eleuterio Rodolfi, contributing with his rotund face, small size and generous look of bourgeois bonhomme. Examples are Un successo diplomatico and L’oca alla Colbert, both 1913 and both directed by Rodolfi. The films of the trio were often based on Italian and French fin de siecle pochades and grew in length over the years. In late 1913, De Riso started at the Gloria company. Here he created the gay epicure and shameless libertine character of ‘Camillo’, and directed himself in a series of comical shorts between 1913 and 1914.

Polidor
Italian postcard by Tip. Sent by mail in 1922.

Polidor
Italian postcard by La Rotofotografica / Unione Cinematografica Italiana, no. 137.

Italian comical actor Ferdinand Guillaume (1887-1977) was famous in the 1910s as Tontolini and as Polidor. He was enrolled by the Cines company in 1910 together with his brother Natale and their wives. Guillaume was launched as the character Tontolini, in 1912 also known in Britain and the US as Jenkins. Guillaume provided Cines and Italy an international reputation in the field of comedies. Actress Lea Giunchi, who was married to Natale (Natalino) Guillaume, often played as 'Lea' in the Tontolini comedies. Later she became the regular film partner of Kri-Kri (Raymond Frau), who more or less substituted Guillaume when the latter moved over to Pasquali. After some 100 shorts as Tontolini, and after the success of his first feature-length film, Pinocchio (Giulio Antamoro, 1911), Ferdinand Guillaume went over to the Pasquali company. Here he created the character of Polidor named after a horse in his old circus shows. From 1912 till 1914, he shot some 100 Polidor films, which were distributed all over Europe and the US.

Gigetta Morano
Italian postcard by Fotocelere.

Italian actress Luigia 'Gigetta' Morano (1887–1986) was very popular as a comedian in the early 1910s at the Ambrosio film studio. She had her own comic series with the type Gigetta. Together with Eleuterio Rodolfi, her partner on screen and her most prolific director, she did countless comedies, both shorts and longer films. At Ambrosio, she also acted in dramatic parts, e.g. as Lucia in I promessi sposi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1913).

Eleuterio Rodolfi
Italian postcard by Fotocelere.

Eleuterio Rodolfi (1876-1933) was an Italian actor, director and scriptwriter, who was highly active in the Italian silent cinema. For Ambrosio, Rodolfi acted in some 95 films of which some 80 ones were directed and scripted by himself. Many of these were comedies in which Rodolfi and Gigetta Morano played ‘Gigetta’ and ‘Rodolfi’. In contrast to the previous ‘comiche’ the anarchist farces by Cretinetti and others focused on speed and havoc, the comedies with Gigetta and Rodolfi were true ‘commedie’, so more situational, boulevardier, less speedy, and often hinting at forbidden fruits and voyeurism.

Angelo Musco in San Giovanni decollato (1917)
Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bolgna. Angelo Musco in San Giovanni Decollato (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1917).

Angelo Musco in S. Giovanni Decollato
Italian postcard. This could be a postcard for either the film San Giovanni Decollato (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1917) or the play by Nino Martoglio on which it was based and which he had written for Musco. Angelo Musco (1872-1937) played in both film and stageplay. The woman on this card could be Rosina Anselmi, playing Musco's wife. All the actors in the play repeated their roles in Ruggeri's film, and Martoglio scripted the film too.

Oreste Bilancia
Italian postcard. Photo Scorrone.

Italian stage and film actor Oreste Bilancia (1881-1945) was highly active in Italian silent and sound cinema and also in the late silent cinema of the Weimar republic. He mostly worked as supporting actor, but occasionally he played the main character. The rotund Bilancia, often wearing a monocle, represented the bonvivant and gentleman in many Italian silent films. In the 1930s and early 1940s Bilancia acted in many Italian comedies, a.o. with Erminio Macario.

Leda Gys in Santarellina
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 322. Photo: Leda Gys in the comedy Santarellina (Eugenio Perego, 1923).

Film diva Leda Gys (1892-1957) starred in ca. 60 dramas, comedies, thrillers and even Westerns of the Italian and Spanish silent cinema. Her claim to fame came with the film Christus (1916), shot in Egypt and Palestine, where Gys performed the Madonna.

Pina Menichelli and Marcel Lévesque in La dame de Chez Maxim's
Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Pina Menichelli and Marcel Lévesque in La dame de Chez Maxim's (Amleto Palermi, 1923).

The comedy La dame de Chez Maxim's was one of diva Pina Menichelli's last films. With this film and with Occupati d'Amelia (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1925), both adaptations of popular Georges Feydeau boulevard comedies, Menichelli proved she was well able to do comedy and not only melodramatic and 'vampy' films. In both films one of her co-stars was the French comedian Marcel Lévesque, on the far right on this card.

Armando Falconi and Tina Di Lorenzo
Italian postcard by NPC, no. 19. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano.

Though he was foremost a theatre actor and comedian, Armando Falconi (1871-1954) had a prolific career as comedian in Italian cinema of the 1930s and early 1940s. He was married to the famous stage actress Tina Di Lorenzo, with whom he also often acted together.

Stathis Giallelis

0
0
Stathis Giallelis(1941) is a Greek actor, who won brief international renown in the early 1960s as the star of Elia Kazan's immigrant epic America America (1963). He appears in nearly every scene of the 174-minute film and his "towering performance" brought him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, as well as a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. However, he appeared in front of the camera only seven more times and retired from the cinema in 1983. The colourful Spanish cards in this post are a reminder of what a promising and popular international star Giallellis once was.

Stathis Giallelis
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C-187, 1964. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Stathis Giallelis
Spanish postcard by Toro de Bronche, no. 233. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Searching for verisimilitude


Stathis Giallelis or in Greek Στάθης Γιαλελής was born in 1941. The date of his birth is generally accepted as correct, according to Wikipedia, although two sources indicate 1939 as the year. All listings agree that he was born in Greece, but none specify the location.

The medium-height, slightly built Giallelis was twenty-one years old in mid-1962, upon Elia Kazan's arrival in Greece to meet the future star of his long-planned cinematic representation of his uncle's life in 1890s Anatolia and the eventual fulfilment of his determined dream of immigrating to the United States.

Kazan wanted an unknown actor in whom the audience would see the character rather than the familiar face. In his autobiography, 'Elia Kazan: A Life', the director describes the details of his search for "a ferret, not a lion", someone who, like his uncle, did not always behave honourably, but had "my boy's single redeeming quality, devotion to his father and family".

Kazan first tried to find his leading actor in England and, subsequently, in France, where a likely candidate was found, tested and rejected as "too handsome" and "lacking desperation" (although the actor was never named, circumstantial evidence points to Alain Delon).

Even the Actors Studio proved deficient in providing the ideal aspirant. Finally, as he described it, "I did the obvious, went to Athens, and in the office a film director found an apprentice sweeping the floor so he could be near production work". This was the office of Greek producer/director Daniel Bourla, according to Kazan at Wikipedia.

However, in a 2017 interview with Alicia Malone, Giallellis remembered differently: "My grandmother’s school in Greece was actually where Elia Kazan found me. He would often say that he found me in a producer’s office sweeping the floor. He used to change the story a lot. He’d say, “The older you get the more the story changes.” He and I remained friends until the very end. In fact, the last few years of life, he was a recluse but we still managed to see each other every once in a while."

Stathis Giallelis was severely limited in both acting experience and knowledge of English. The only son in a family with four daughters, he nevertheless impressed Kazan with his sincerity and deeply felt reminiscences of his Communist father's martyrdom in the aftermath of the Communist–centrist/rightist struggle in the Greek Civil War.

Kazan continued to insist over the following decades that had the central role been played by a contemporary actor of the calibre of Marlon Brando or Warren Beatty (both of whom became stars under Kazan's direction) or one of the 1970s stars such as Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino or Robert De Niro, the project would have lacked verisimilitude, even while enjoying much greater financial success. He compared Giallelis' performance to that of the protagonist in the Neorealist classic Ladri di biciclette/The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948).

Stathis Giallelis
Spanish card. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Stathis Giallelis
Spanish postcard by CyA, no. 53. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Putting fire and spirit into the role


Stathis Giallelis perfected his English-language skills as he spent nearly 18 months preparing for and filming his role, and the result was evident in the critical notices. The New York Times'Bosley Crowther, in his 1963 review of the film, noted that "Greek lad Stathis Giallelis (pronounced STAH-this-Ya-lah-LEASE) is incredibly good as the determined hero, putting fire and spirit into the role". Other critics called his performance "mesmerizing", "heartbreaking" and "unforgettable".

America America earned three Oscar nominations for Elia Kazan (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), but its only win on Oscar night in 1964 was for Gene Callahan's black-and-white Art Direction. Eleven additional nominations came from other awards, including Golden Globes, which named Elia Kazan"Best Director" and Stathis Giallelis"Most Promising Male Newcomer/New Star of the Year", an award he shared with two of the remaining five nominees—Albert Finney and Robert Walker, Jr. He was also nominated for "Best Actor in a Drama", but lost to Sidney Poitier in his Oscar-winning Lilies of the Field role.

As America America received wide distribution in Europe and elsewhere in 1964-1965, Stathis Giallelis basked in the spotlight. In the months between the end of production and its December release, he completed a cameo role in the Greek art film Mikres Afrodites/Young Aphrodites (Nikos Koundouros, 1963).

Returning to Hollywood, the young actor seemed to be on the verge of a long and successful film career. Ultimately, however, in the 16-year period between 1964 and 1980, he appeared in front of the camera only seven more times in widely spaced film projects, only three of which (Cast a Giant Shadow, Blue and The Children of Sanchez) were American productions.

Giallelis' first post-America America film offer came shortly after the epic went into wide release during Christmas week of 1963. Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentina's internationally best known filmmaker, whose hypocrisy- and corruption-themed films regularly received acclaim at European film festivals, invited him to star in his new project, El Ojo de la Cerradura/The Eavesdropper (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, 1966). His co-star, and the only other non-Spanish speaker in the cast was twenty-one-year-old actress Janet Margolin who, two years earlier, had received critical praise for her co-starring role with Keir Dullea in Frank Perry's David and Lisa (1964).

Filmed in Buenos Aires, El Ojo de la Cerradura garnered encouraging notices at a number of film festivals and won the Silver Condor Best Film Award from the Argentine Film Critics Association. Two years later it received a belated release in U.S. art houses, including a September 1966 New York premiere. Despite good notices, it soon ended its run and has remained elusive.

In between he also appeared in the American produced war drama Act of Reprisal (Erricos Andreou, Robert Tronson, 1964), a love story set against the backdrop of Cyprus' struggle for independence from the British in the 1950s. The film starred Ina Balin and Jeremy Brett.

Stathis Giallelis
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C-187, 1964. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Not leaving a strong impression


Stathis Giallelis' second 1966 U.S. release, Cast a Giant Shadow (Melville Shavelson, 1966) is the only title in his brief filmography structured as a major studio production. The all-star epic about a Jewish-American army officer's key leadership role in winning the battles which led to the 1948 establishment of Israel, found him fifth-billed after Kirk Douglas (as the central figure, Colonel Mickey Marcus), Senta Berger, Angie Dickinson and James Donald.

His role, as a dedicated Israeli fighter for independence, spotted him in various brief moments throughout the film, but did not leave a strong impression, according to Wikipedia. Despite its Hollywood pedigree, Cast a Giant Shadow was shot by director Melville Shavelson entirely on outdoor locations in Israel and Italy as well as studio interiors at Rome's Cinecittà studios.

Two more years would pass before Stathis Giallelis was seen in another film. Blue (Silvio Narizzano, 1968) was a well-budgeted independent Western filmed on picturesque Utah locations. Billed fourth after Terence Stamp (as "Azul" ["Blue" in Spanish]), Joanna Pettet and Karl Malden, Giallelis, as the son of Mexican bandit Ricardo Montalbán had little to show for his dramatic efforts and, with Montalban's 'Special guest' billing factored in, he actually was, again, in fifth place.

Wikipedia: "Released by Paramount, Blue was perceived by a number of critics as an anti-war allegory, specifically focusing on Vietnam. Saddled with a mostly negative response from the critics, the film was quickly out of theatres."

Some sources including IMDb credit Stathis Giallelis with a role in the Yugoslav-produced war film Rekvijem/Last Train to Berlin (Caslav Damjanovic, 1970), but his participation remains unconfirmed. The World War II heroics on display gave top billing to American Ty Hardin who at the time appeared in a number of European-made action films and Spaghetti Westerns. Rekvijem premiered in Yugoslavia in 1970 and, although it never had a U.S. release, it was later seen on television in a cut and dubbed version entitled Last Rampage.

In 1974, Jules Dassin and his wife Melina Mercouri used the donated services of many top entertainment personalities to produce The Rehearsal (Jules Dassin, 1974), an angry docudrama which reconstructed the events leading to the killing of some forty students in Athens, as they protested against the heavy-handed rule of the Greek Junta.

As a Greek living abroad, Stathis Giallelis was invited to participate along with Olympia Dukakis, Mikis Theodorakis and other celebrities of varying nationalities, such as Laurence Olivier and Maximilian Schell. Socially active writers, including Lillian Hellman and former Elia Kazan compatriot Arthur Miller also took rare acting turns in the production.

Filmed in a makeshift New York studio, the film was finished only days before the Junta's fall in July, and was thus set aside without public showings. Decades later, it received a brief New York premiere in 2001.

Stathis Giallelis
Spanish postcard by Raker, no. 1139, 1965. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Stathis Giallelis in America America (1963)
Spanish postcard by Toro de Bronche, no. 234. Photo: Warner Bros. Photo: Stathis Giallelis in America America (Elia Kazan, 1963).

Exiting the life of Hollywood glam


Now able to return to his homeland, Stathis Giallelis appeared in esteemed Greek director Pantelis Voulgaris' Nineteen Eighty-Four-like allegory Happy Day (Pantelis Voulgaris, 1974), playing one of the leads in the story about imprisonment and repression in an unspecified European-style society.

Having briefly been a Hollywood star in the previous decade, he was still seen as a celebrity in his homeland, but the film, despite receiving top awards at Greek film festivals in 1976 and a showing in Canada at the 1977 Toronto Festival of Festivals, had little impact on his career.

After a passage of another two years, Giallelis appeared in his last-to-date American film, The Children of Sanchez (Hall Bartlett, 1978). This adaptation of the Oscar Lewis novel was filmed on location in Mexico and starred native-born Anthony Quinn as his country's putative everyman, Jesus Sanchez. Giallelis received yet another fifth billing, following two veteran Mexican actresses, Dolores del Río and Katy Jurado, as well as Venezuelan Lupita Ferrer who, at the time, was married to Hall Bartlett.

Wikipedia:"Gialellis's role as Roberto was relatively small and underwritten, but he did receive a couple of closeups, which showed premature aging on the 37-year-old actor's once-youthful face." Upon its Los Angeles premiere in 1978, the film received mixed to poor reviews, with the primary attention going to Chuck Mangione's lively score.

In the Italian TV miniseries, Panagulis vive/Panagoulis Lives (Giuseppe Ferrara, 1980), which examined the life and death of Greece's renowned martyred poet-politician/democracy activist Alexandros Panagoulis, the title role went to Giallelis, whose ethnicity, still-remaining international fame, and age (a year-and-a-half younger than Panagoulis) made him a natural candidate for the part. Heading a large cast, he received generally favourable reviews.

IMDb mentions one further film in which Giallellis played the leading role, the Greek production To tragoudi tis epistrofis/Homecoming Song (Yannis Smaragdis, 1983). The film was nominated for the Golden Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.

After his years as an award-winning actor, Stathis Giallelis exited the life of Hollywood glam and went to work at the United Nations International School in Manhattan, New York, working as a child supervisor and mentor. He retired in the summer of 2008. IMDb mentions also that he married Joan Brecher in 1967.

Forgotten for many decades, America America (Elia Kazan, 1963) burst back to the big screen in 2011 at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna and was later also presented in the US at the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival. More than 50 years after the film had its premiere, America America still remains a stirring epic on the immigrant's role in American culture.


Trailer for America America (1963). Source: Jo Xiokas (YouTube).


German director Fatih Akin and Stathis Giallelis present America, America (1963) at the at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2011 in Bologna. Source: Cineteca Bologna (YouTube).

Sources: Ryan Williams (Movie Maker), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Hesperia

0
0
Hesperia (1885-1959), was one of the Italian divas of the silent screen. In her films, she could get into uncontrollable rages but also into wildly merry moods. Hesperia often worked with director Baldassarre Negroni, who later became her husband. In later life, the formerly 'dishonoured woman' whose family had once closed the door to her because of her vaudeville career, became a countess.

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Roma. Photo: Pinto, Roma.

Hesperia
Romanian postcard by Edition S.A.R.P.I.C., Bucharest, no. 52.

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 465.

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Ed. Fotocelere, Torino, no. 216.

Hesperia
Spanish postcard by Leonar.

Tableaux Vivants


Hesperia was born as Olga Mambelli in 1885 in Bertinora, Italy. Her niece was film actress Pauline Polaire, who also appeared in Italian silent films.

Hesperia started her career as a child actor at the Teatro Comunale, the local theatre in Meldola in the Italian Romagna, where she grew up.

Between 1910 and 1912 she had her breakthrough as vaudeville artist with tableaux vivants of sculptures and paintings, performing all around Italy. Her parents considered her hence a dishonoured woman and closed the door to her.

Baron Fassini of the Roman Cines film company saw a future star in this quite matron like woman. He put her into films, first in two- and three-reelers, often paired with Ignazio Lupi.

Among these early films were silent shorts like Quando la donna vuole.../When the woman wants ... (N.N., 1912), Altruismo/Altruism (N.N., 1912), and La madre/The Mother (Baldassarre Negroni, 1913) with Leda Gys. Hesperia proved to be as well a good dramatic actress as a comedienne.

Hesperia
Possibly a Turkish or Egyptian postcard. Hesperia as Casque d'Or in Anime buie (Emilio Ghione, 1916). See also Silents please.

Hesperia in L'aigrette
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Hesperia and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). This was an adaptation of a play by Dario Niccodemi. The countess of Saint-Servant (Ida Carolini Talli) has raised her son Enrico (Tullio Carminati) to be proud of his name and title, and to cherish honour and virtue, symbolised by the feather of her aigrette. In reality the countess is hunted by creditors, the castle is falling apart. Enrico falls in love with Susanne Leblanc (Hesperia), wife of banker, and in return she loads him with money in order to restore the castle. Her husband (André Habay) is not so happy with this kind of charity...

Hesperia and André Habay in L'aigrette
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5107. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Hesperia and André Habay in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: 'The Leblanc family in happier days.'

Hesperia in La cuccagna
Italian postcard by Tiber Film, Roma, no. 5071. Photo: IPA CT Duplex.
Saccard (Claudio Nicola) surprises Renée (Hesperia) and Max (Alberto Collo) in La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). The film was an adaptation of Emile Zola's 'La curée' (The Kill). Hesperia is Renata/Renée, second wife of the cunning and wealthy Saccard, who married young Renata for her money. She has an affair with Saccard's son Max, played by Collo. In the end money triumphs instead of love, just as in Zola's novel. On this postcard the father (left) looks not much older than the son (right).

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 167.  Hesperia and Alberto Collo in La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). In the end, money triumphs instead of love, just as in Emile Zola's novel, 'La curée'. That's why some Italian critics thought the film title La cuccagna (Abundance) was too cheerful, while 'La curée' literally means 'The Loot' and the official English title of the novel is 'The Kill'.

Incontrollable Rages


In 1914, Hesperia switched to Milano-Films, with her future husband, film director Baldassarre Negroni. He had already been directing her at Cines. For a while he was also the artistic director at Milano.

Among their films for Milano were L'ultima battaglia/The Last Battle (Baldassarre Negroni, 1914) with Livio Pavanelli, Vizio atavico/Atavistic Vice (Baldassarre Negroni, 1914) starring Mercedes Brignone, and Nel nido straniero/Stranger in the nest (Baldassarre Negroni, 1914).

In 1915, when Italy joined the Allies in the First World War and Milano had to stop producing, Negroni took Hesperia with him to the Tiber Film company in Rome, where Francesca Bertini just had left for the Caesar company.

A strong competition between the two leading ladies started, exploiting both the typical diva repertory of boulevard drama, leading to simultaneous adaptations of Alexandre Dumas fils''La dame aux camélias' in 1915. While Bertini remained more solemn, Hesperia could get into uncontrollable rages but also wildly merry moods.

The following years, Hesperia appeared at Tiber-Film in such films as Marcella (Baldassarre Negroni, 1915) based on a play by Victorien Sardou, La morsa/The Vice (Emilio Ghione, 1916) and La donna di cuori/The queen of hearts (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) wih Tullio Carminati.

Between 1912 and 1923, the year she married count Negroni and withdrew from film business, Hesperia made some 70 films, mostly impeccable and often popular bourgeois dramas and comedies.

Even later films such as Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne/The son of Madame Sans-Gêne (Baldassarre Negroni, 1921) with her niece Pauline Polaire knew to draw crowds in Italy.

In 1938, the by now countess Olga Negroni had a small reappearance on Italian screens in the film Orgoglio/Pride, (Marco Elter, 1938) starring Fosco Giachetti and shot at the Cinecittà film studios.

In 1959, Hesperia passed away in Rome, Italy. The countess was 73.

Hesperia and André Habay in La principessa di Bagdad (1918)
Spanish postcard. Hesperia and André Habay in La principessa di Bagdad/The Princess of Bagdad (Baldassarre Negroni, 1918).

Hesperia in La principessa di Bagdad (1918)
Spanish collectors card in the Colec. cromos cinematográficos by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 5 (in a serie of 6 cromos). Photo: Tiber-Film, Roma / J. Verdaguer, Barcelona. Hesperia in La principessa di Bagdad/The Princess of Bagdad (Baldassarre Negroni, 1918).

Hesperia in Vertigine (1919)
Spanish collectors card the Colec. cromos cinematográficos by Chocolat Imperial, Series of 6 'cromos', no. 1. Photo: Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer / FAI. Hesperia and Giovanni Schettini (the man at left) in El Vertigo, Spanish title for the Italian silent drama Vertigine/Vertigo (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919). Unknown is who the man at right is.

Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (1919)
Spanish collectors card the Colec. cromos cinematográficos by Chocolat Imperial, Series of 6 'cromos', no. 5. Photo: Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer / FAI. Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine/Vertigo (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne (1921)
French postcard by Le Deley, Paris. Photo: U.C.I. / Gaumont / Tiber Film. Publicity still for the Italian silent film Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne (Baldassarre Negroni, 1921). Adapted from the novel by Emile Moreau. The women here may be Hesperia and Pauline Polaire (Mme Ambzac).

Hesperia in La belle Madame Hebert (1922)
Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia and probably Carlo Troisi in La belle Madame Hebert (Baldassarre Negroni, 1922). The film was an adaptation of the homonymous French play by Abel Hermant.

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna.

Hesperia,
Spanish postcard by La novela semanal cinematografica, no. 25.

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 581.

Hesperia
Italian postcard by Uff. Rev. Stampa, Milano, no. 229, 2-4-1917. Hesperia by Tito Corbella.

Source: Vittorio Martinelli, Le dive del silenzio; Tonino Simoncelli, Hesperia, stella del varietà e diva del muto (in Griffithiana, Issues 55-56), and IMDb.

Midinettes (1917)

0
0
Star of the French silent film Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) is striking, sophisticated Suzanne Grandais. She was the most beautiful and refined actress of the French silent cinema. Her nickname was 'the French Mary Pickford' because of her angel face and blond hair. She died in a car crash when she was only 27.

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 1. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 2. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais and Brodsky in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 3. Photo: Eclipse. Brodsky and Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 4. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 5. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 6. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais, Jane Danjou and Brodsky in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 7. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 8. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais and Jean Peyrière in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 9. Photo: Eclipse. Jean Peyrière and Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Her light love for a young mechanic


Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) aka Midinette was one of the typical films of the so-called 'Third Series' of Suzanne Grandais films, produced by Charles Mary for the film company Eclipse. The Spanish postcards which we use for this post, were published by the chocolate company Amatller Marca Luna. Amatller published several series on the films with Grandais.

Ciné-Journal described the content as follows: "Midinette is the simple adventure of a charming little seamstress, that belongs to a big fashion house, in which she leads the usual life of female workers, a life shared between the workshop, her little room, and her light love for a young mechanic.

Then suddenly a radical shift takes place in her life when she gets a large heritance. She turns into a wealthy lady and is courted by a debt-ridden aristocrat, who would like to recolour his blazon with Rosette's blue billets. The delicious young girl brings all of her independence and her neighbourhood esprit into the milieu. But after some time, the exquisite Rosette understands she has no real vocation for the aristocracy, so she returns to her room and her mechanic, whom she marries."

The 'midinettes' (seamstresses) were called this way, because they often lived far from their work, and at lunchtime they had to eat quickly. So they had a 'dinette' at 'midi'.

Suzanne Grandais played Rosette of course, while Jean Peyrière played the young Duke, Anthony Gildès and Marie-Ange Fériel played his parents, and Jane Danjou played Rosette's friend. It is unclear who played the mechanic; it probably was (first name unknown) Brodsky. Directors René Hervil and Louis Mercanton were also the co-writers of the film, while the regular cinematographer of Eclipse, Wladimir, took care of the photography.

Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) premiered in Paris on 10 August 1917. While the plot was quite simple, the press lauded Grandais' performance as well as that of her co-star Danjou. The critics also liked the several shots shot on location in Paris, such as that of the walk by the lake at night.

The film came out in a particular context, because in May 1917 the real 'midinettes' raised a strike in France, refusing a reduction of their salary because of the war. Already because of the war, they were forced to work 10 hours a day. Just like in Britain, the French employers cut half a day of work on Saturday, but in contrast to the Brits, they would not pay for it. Soon, all Parisian female seamstresses were on strike. Moreover, the strike quickly spread also to female workers working in factories and banks, so within 5 days some 10.000 women were on strike.

In the end, French employers gave in and accepted the 'English week' of one and a half-day paid weekend. This was the first step in the recognition of a weekend. Up till then, few women had joined a union because of their work being mostly domestic, but because of the strike, by the end of 1917, a third of the members of the big CGT union consisted of women.

Yet, Laure Lee Downs, in her book 'Manufacturing Inequality: Gender Division in the French and British Metalworking Industries, 1914-1939' (1995), writes that the midinettes, with their flowers on their clothes and waving the national flags, were easier embraced by the bourgeois establishment than the 'munitionettes' (the women working in the weapon factories), waving red flags and behaving less gentle. The latter group would 'face arrest, interrogation, imprisonment, and victimization of those identified as ringleaders."

One may wonder what the real midinettes may have thought of the deterministic, conventional storyline of Midinettes - stay within your class. On the other hand, during a war, the government probably would not have allowed for a film that came too close to reality.

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 10. Photo: Eclipse. Jane Danjou, Brodsky and Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 11. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais and Anthony Gildès in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 12. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais and Marcel Marquet in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 13. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 14. Photo: Eclipse. Anthony GildèsSuzanne Grandais, Marie-Ange Fériel and Marcel Marquet in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 15. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais and Jean Peyrière in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 16. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais, Berthe Jalabert and Brodsky in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 17. Photo: Eclipse. Marie-Ange Fériel, Anthony Gildès, Suzanne Grandais and Jean Peyrière in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

Suzanne Grandais in Midinettes (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna chocolate, series 3, no. 18. Photo: Eclipse. Suzanne Grandais, Brodsky and Jane Danjou in Midinettes (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). This card shows the conclusion of the plot.

Sources: Gauchemip (French) Ciné-Journal (14 July 1917- French), Wikipedia and IMDb.
Viewing all 4108 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images

Vimeo 10.7.0 by Vimeo.com, Inc.

Vimeo 10.7.0 by Vimeo.com, Inc.

HANGAD

HANGAD

MAKAKAALAM

MAKAKAALAM

Doodle Jump 3.11.30 by Lima Sky LLC

Doodle Jump 3.11.30 by Lima Sky LLC

Doodle Jump 3.11.30 by Lima Sky LLC

Doodle Jump 3.11.30 by Lima Sky LLC

Vimeo 10.6.1 by Vimeo.com, Inc.

Vimeo 10.6.1 by Vimeo.com, Inc.

Vimeo 10.6.0 by Vimeo.com, Inc.

Vimeo 10.6.0 by Vimeo.com, Inc.

Re:

Re:

Re:

Re: