Republic Pictures was an American film production-distribution corporation that operated from 1935 to 1967. The studio was best known for its Westerns, serials and B films emphasising mystery and action. Republic was also developed the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. It also financed and distributed several John Ford-directed films during the 1940s and early 1950s and one Shakespeare film, Macbeth (1948), directed by Orson Welles. Under the cigar-chomping Herbert J. Yates, Republic was considered a mini-major film studio.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Republic Pictures.

American singer and cowboy actor Roy Rogers (1911–1998) was one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the 'King of the Cowboys', he appeared in over 100 films.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 596. Photo: British Lion Republic. Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Trigger.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 512. Photo: British Lion.

The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music performers and remained popular through the years. Since 1933, through many changes in membership, the Sons of the Pioneers have remained one of the longest-surviving country music vocal groups. Between 1935 and 1984, the Sons of the Pioneers appeared in 87 films.

A studio merger on Poverty Row

In 1935, Republic was created by Herbert J. Yates (1880-1966), a long time investor in film and owner of the film processing laboratory Consolidated Film Industries. Yates had discreetly helped finance Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures in 1933. Zanuck's new studio would become a major customer of Yates' Consolidated Film Industries. Republic was initially formed by Yates' acquisition of six smaller independent studios along Gower Gulch, a section of Gower Street in Hollywood, also called 'Poverty Row'.

In the depths of the Great Depression, Yates' laboratory was no longer servicing the major studios, which had developed their own in-house laboratories for purposes of both economy and control, while the small, independent producers were going under in the face of Depression-born increased competition from the majors combined with the general impact of the depressed economy.

Yates thus decided to create a studio of his own to insure Consolidated's stability. Six surviving small companies (Monogram Pictures, Mascot Pictures, Liberty Pictures, Majestic Pictures, Chesterfield Pictures and Invincible Pictures) were all in debt to his lab. He prevailed upon these studios to merge under his leadership or else face foreclosure on their outstanding lab bills. Yates' new company, Republic Pictures Corporation, was presented to their producer-owners as a collaborative enterprise focused on low-budget product.

The largest of Republic's components was Monogram Pictures, run by producers Trem Carr and W. Ray Johnston, which specialised in B films and operated a nationwide distribution system. The most technologically advanced of the studios that now comprised Republic was Nat Levine's Mascot Pictures Corporation, which had been making serials almost exclusively since the mid-1920s and had a first-class production facility, the former Mack Sennett-Keystone lot in Studio City. Mascot also had just discovered Gene Autry and signed him to a contract as a singing cowboy star.

Larry Darmour's Majestic Pictures had developed an exhibitor following with big-name stars and rented sets giving his humble productions a polished look. Republic took its original Liberty Bell logo from M.H. Hoffman's Liberty Pictures as well as Hoffman's talents as a low-budget film producer. Chesterfield Pictures and Invincible Pictures, two sister companies under the same ownership, were skilled in producing low-budget melodramas and mysteries.

Acquiring and integrating these six companies enabled Republic to begin life with an experienced production staff, a company of veteran B-film supporting players and at least one very promising star, a complete distribution system and a functioning and modern studio. In exchange for merging, the principals were promised independence in their productions under the Republic aegis, and higher budgets with which to improve the quality of the films.

One of the first films Republic released successfully was the Western Westward Ho (Robert N. Bradbury, 1935) starring John Wayne and Sheila Bromley. Another box office hit was the Western Tumbling Tumbleweeds (Joseph Kane, 1935) starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and George ‘Gabby’ Hayes. Written by Ford Beebe, the film is about a cowboy who returns home after a five-year absence to find his father murdered and his boyhood pal accused of the dastardly deed. Tumbling Tumbleweeds features several songs including the classic 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds'.


Dutch postcard, no. KF 34. Photo: Republic Pictures. Roy Rogers.


Dutch postcard, no. KF 50. Photo: Republic Pictures.

American character actor George 'Gabby' Hayes (1885-1969) was one of the colourful sidekicks to the leading men in the Hollywood Westerns of the 1930s and 1940s. His grizzled codger was so popular that Hayes landed repeatedly on the annual list of Top Ten Western Box-office Stars.


Dutch postcard, no. KF 31. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Gene Autry (1907-1998) was an American singer, and actor who gained fame as a singing cowboy in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 hosted The Gene Autry Show television series.


Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic.

After achieving modest fame as an ice skater in her native Czechoslovakia, Vera Hruba (1923-2003) was brought to America by Republic Pictures head Herbert J. Yates, who hoped to turn her into the next Sonja Henie. After featuring her in two Ice Capades films, he added Ralston' to her name and tried to pass her off as a leading lady.

A Rise of Dissension in the Ranks

After he had learned the basics of film production and distribution from his partners, Herbert Yates began asserting more and more authority over their film departments, and dissension arose in the ranks. Trem Carr and W. Ray Johnston constantly clashed with Yates, who they felt was a tyrannical Hollywood interloper. They left and reactivated Monogram Pictures in 1937. Larry Darmour resumed independent production for Columbia Pictures.

Nat Levine managed to largely remain out of the fray, and by using many of the same production techniques he had used at Mascot, the new studio's output came to resemble the best of Levine's Mascot product. Levine was later bought out by Yates. Republic could also boast of having the best special effects department (then called 'miniatures') in the industry, which was headed by former Mascot employees Howard Lydecker and his brother Theodore Lydecker. This was a factor that greatly contributed to the quality level of Republic's output. Republic was often contracted by the major studios to provide special effects and miniature work for them.

Meanwhile, Yates installed a staff of new, associate producers who were loyal to him. Freed of partners, Yates presided over what was now his film studio and acquiring senior production and management staff who served him as employees, not experienced peers with independent ideas and agendas. Republic also acquired Brunswick Records to record its singing cowboys Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and hired Cy Feuer as head of its music department.

In its early years Republic was itself sometimes labelled a ‘Poverty Row’ company, as its primary products were B films and serials. Republic, however, showed more interest in — and provided larger budgets to — these films than many of the larger studios were doing, and certainly more than other independents were able to. The heart of the company was its Westerns, and its many Western-film leads — among them John Wayne, Gene Autry, Rex Allen and Roy Rogers— became recognisable stars at Republic.

However, by the mid-1940s Yates was producing better-quality pictures, mounting big-budget fare like Sands of Iwo Jima (Allan Dwan, 1949) starring John Wayne, The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952) with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954) with Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden, and The Maverick Queen (Joseph Kane, 1956) featuring Barbara Stanwyck. Another distinguishing aspect of the studio was Yates' avoidance of any controversial subject matter, adhering to the Breen Office, in contrast to the other studios which dodged the Production Code.

From the mid-1940s Republic films often featured Vera Hruba Ralston, a former ice-skater from Czechoslovakia who had won the heart of studio boss Yates, becoming the second Mrs. Yates in 1949. She was originally featured in musicals as Republic's answer to Sonja Henie, but Yates tried to build her up as a dramatic star, casting her in leading roles opposite important male stars. Yates billed her as 'the most beautiful woman in films', but her charms were lost on the cinema audiences and exhibitors complained that Republic was making too many Ralston pictures. Years later, John Wayne admitted that the reason he left Republic in 1952 was the threat of having to make another picture with Miss Ralston. Yates remained Ralston's biggest supporter, and she continued to appear in Republic features until its very last production.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. D 298. Photo: Republic Pictures.

American actress Mala Powers (1931-2007) played the lovely Roxanne opposite José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and starred in other Hollywood films of the 1950s. She was a leading authority on the acting techniques of Russian-American theatre practitioner Michael Chekhov.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 936. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Vivacious blue-eyed blonde Penny Edwards (1928-1998) was an American actress who performed on stage, in films, and on television. She made about two dozen films, initially working at Warners and Universal in the 1940s. She was under a term players contract at Republic Pictures from May, 1950 through October, 1951. At Republic, Edwards did mostly Westerns - six with Roy Rogers and one each with Rex Allen and Allan Lane.


Dutch postcard, no. 3484. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Blue-eyed blonde Anna Lee (1913-2004) was a British-born American actress. She started her career in British films and earned the title 'Queen of the Quota Quickies'. In 1939, she moved to Hollywood with her husband, director Robert Stevenson. There she often worked with John Ford, and later became a TV star in the soap series General Hospital.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no W 477. Photo: British Lion / Republic Pictures.

American actor John Wayne (1907-1979) was one of the most popular film stars of the 20th century. He received his first leading film role in The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh, 1930). Working with John Ford, he got his next big break in Stagecoach (1939). His career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). Wayne won his first Academy Award in 1969. He starred in 142 films altogether and remains a popular American icon to this day.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf. Photo: Republic Pictures / Gloria Filmverleih.

American actress Gail Russell (1924-1961) was an incredible doe-eyed beauty who presented a screen image of great innocence and vulnerability. She is best known for the supernatural horror film The Uninvited (1944). During a promising career at Paramount, she became a victim of alcoholism. It ruined her career, appearance and marriage to Guy Madison. In 1961, she died from liver damage, only 36.

Television as the prop supporting Republic

With production costs increasing, Herbert Yates organised Republic's output into four types of films: ‘Jubilee’, usually a Western shot in seven days for about $50,000; ‘Anniversary’, filmed in 14-15 days for $175,000-$200,000; ‘Deluxe’, major productions made with a budget of around $500,000; and ‘Premiere’, which were usually made by top-rank directors who did not usually work for Republic, such as John Ford, Fritz Lang and Frank Borzage, and which could have a budget of $1,000,000 or more. An example of a 'Premiere' was the Film Noir House by the River (Fritz Lang, 1950) starring Louis Hayward and Jane Wyatt.

Some of these ‘Deluxe’ films were from independent production companies that were picked up for release by Republic. Although Republic made most of its films in black and white, it occasionally produced a higher-budgeted film, such as The Red Pony (Lewis Milestone, 1949) with Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum, and The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952), in Technicolor.

During the late 1940s and 1950s Yates utilised a low-cost Cinecolor process called Trucolor in many of his films, including Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954), The Last Command (Frank Lloyd, 1955) with Sterling Hayden and Anna Maria Alberghetti, and Magic Fire (William Dieterle, 1956), starring Yvonne De Carlo and Carlos Thompson. In 1956 Republic came up with its own widescreen film process, Naturama, with The Maverick Queen (Joseph Kane, 1956) the first film made in that process.

Perhaps inspired by the success of American International Pictures catering to teenagers, Republic released several films in the late 1950s about juvenile delinquency such as The Wayward Girl (Lesley Selander, 1957) with Marcia Henderson, Juvenile Jungle (William Witney, 1958) and Young and Wild (William Witney, 1958) starring Gene Evans.

Republic was one of the first Hollywood studios to offer its film library to television. In 1951 Republic established a subsidiary, Hollywood Television Service, to sell screening rights in its vintage Westerns and action thrillers. Many of these films, especially the Westerns, were edited to fit in a one-hour television slot. Hollywood Television Service also produced television shows filmed in the same style as Republic's serials, such as The Adventures of Fu Manchu (Franklin Adreon, 1956). Also, in 1952 the Republic studio lot became the first home of MCA's series factory, Revue Productions.

While it appeared that Republic was well suited for television series production, it did not have the finances or vision to do so. Yet by the mid-1950s, thanks to its sale of old features and leasing of studio space to MCA, television was the prop supporting Republic. During this period the studio produced Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (Harry Keller, Franklin Adreon, Fred C. Brannon, 1953). The 12-part serial was unsuccessful as a theatre release, but it was later sold to NBC for television distribution.

Talent agent MCA exerted influence at the studio, bringing in some high-paid clients for occasional features, and it was rumoured at various times that either MCA or deposed MGM head Louis B. Mayer would buy the studio outright. Republic produced The Pride of the Family (Bob Finkel, a.o., 1953-1954), a situation comedy on ABC starring Paul Hartman, Fay Wray and Natalie Wood. The following years, the studio produced Stories of the Century (William Witney, Franklin Andreon, 1954-1955), starring and narrated by Jim Davis. The syndicated series was the first Western to win an Emmy Award.

As the demand and market for films declined with the increasing popularity of television, Republic began to cut back on its films, slowing production from 40 features annually in the early 1950s to 18 in 1957. A tearful Yates informed shareholders at the 1958 annual meeting that feature film production was ending. The distribution offices were shut down the following year.

In 1959 Victor M. Carter, a Los Angeles businessman and turnaround specialist, acquired controlling interest in the floundering company, becoming its president. He turned Republic into a diversified business that included plastics and appliances in addition to its film and studio rentals and Consolidated Film Industries, renaming the company Republic Corporations. Having used the studio for series production for years, Republic began leasing its backlot to other firms, including CBS, in 1963. In 1967 Republic's studio was purchased outright by CBS. Republic sold its library of films to National Telefilm Associates (NTA).

In 1966, Herbert Yates died an extremely wealthy man and eventually left Vera Ralston a very rich widow. The Republic film library is now located at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, no D. 496. Photo: Republic Pictures.

Ben Cooper (1933) is a retired American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in Westerns. The baby faced leading man appeared as well in Republic Westerns and in many TV Western series.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Republic Pictures.

American country music performer and actor Smiley Burnette (1911-1967) was known as Gene Autry's plump, comic sidekick 'Ole Frog' Milhouse in over 60 Westerns. His trademarks were his floppy black hat and his trick voice, imitating a deep, froglike croak. Smiley's career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Centrafilm / Republic Pictures.

Monte Hale (1919-2009) was an American B-Western film star and country musician. He was one of the last of the 'singing cowboys' of Republic Pictures.


Small German collectors card, no. 85. Photo: Republic.

After a Hollywood career as Tarzan and as Mr. Lana Turner, Lex Barker (1919-1973) moved to Europe. Here he worked with Federico Fellini and later became Old Shatterhand in the popular Karl May film series.


Small collectors card, no. C 28. Photo: Republic Pictures.

American comedian Joe E. Brown (1891-1973) is dearly remembered for his portrayal as Osgood Fielding III in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959), in which he utters the famous punchline "Well, nobody's perfect". With his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile, Brown was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s, with successful films like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Earthworm Tractors (1936) and Alibi Ike (1935).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Georges Melchior (1889-1944) was a French film actor, active in French cinema between 1911 and 1937. He was known for his roles in the Fantômas serials by Louis Feuillade (1913-1914), and the Jacques Feyder classic L'Atlantide (1921).


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 26.

Fantômas

Georges Melchior was born in 1889 in Paris. He made his first film, L'Envieuse/The envious (Albert Capellani, 1910), at Pathé Frères, but quickly shifted to rival company Gaumont.

After several shorts at Gaumont, he had his breakthrough as the journalist Jérôme Fandor of the newspaper 'La Capitale' in Louis Feuillade's crime serial Fantômas - À l'ombre de la guillotine/Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913), with René Navarre as the title character and criminal mastermind. Its success inspired the sequels Juve contre Fantomas/Juve versus Fantômas (Louis Feuillade, 1913), La Mort qui tue/Fantômas: The Dead Man Who Killed (Louis Feuillade, 1913), Fantômas contre Fantômas/Fantomas Against Fantomas (Louis Feuillade, 1914), and Le Faux Magistrat/Fantômas: The False Magistrate (Louis Feuillade, 1914), in which Melchior all played.

Parallel to this, Melchior acted in several modern realist dramas, historical films, and comedies at Gaumont, often directed by Feuillade but also by René Le Somptier and Henri Fescourt. During the First World War, Melchior's film career slowed down to a handful of films, including the French propaganda film Mères françaises/Mothers of France (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) starring Sarah Bernhardt. After that, he was away from the film sets for several years.

In 1921, Melchior returned with a bang in Jacques Feyder's Orientalist mystery drama L'Atlantide/Lost Atlantis (1921), set and partly filmed in North Africa, and starring Jean Angelo and Stacia Napierkowska. Melchior played lieutenant Saint-Avit, who, pushed by vengeful, fatal desert queen Antinea (Napierkowska) kills his rival in love and army buddy captain Morhange (Angelo), who has rejected Antinea. Helped with Antinea's servant Tanit-Zerga (Marie-Louise Iribe), Saint-Avit flees and is found in the desert by soldiers, but he cannot forget Antinea. So years later, he returns to his desert queen.

The success of L'Atlantide guaranteed Melchior a fruitful career in French silent cinema of the 1920s. His films of the 1920s include e.g. Les Roquevillard/The Roquevillards (Julien Duvivier, 1922) with Maxime Desjardins, and Les Hommes nouveaux/The New Men (Émile-Bernard Donatien, Édouard-Émile Violet, 1922-1923), starring Donatien and Lucienne Legrand.


French postcard in the Les Vedettes du Cinéma series by Editions Filma, no. 24.


French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 73. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères.

Sarah Bernhardt

Georges Melchior played the male lead opposite Sarah Bernhardt in La Voyante/The Clairvoyant (Leon Abrams, 1924). During the production of the film, Sarah Bernhardt died in 1923. The actress Jeanne Brindeau replaced her as double, which much delayed the release of the film. The story deals with the son of a politician (Melchior), thrown out of the house by his father (Harry Baur), who suspects him of having an affair with his mother-in-law (Mary Marquet). He is rescued by a painter and hosted in a house that is also inhabited by an old medium (Bernhardt). In the end, all ends well and the son marries the medium's daughter (Lily Damita). The film was scripted by Sacha Guitry, had costumes by Paul Poiret, and was partly shot at Bernhardt's own home, but unfortunately, the film is considered lost.

In the early 1920s, Melchior often acted in films by Gaston Roudès such as Le Lac d'argent/The silver lake (1922), Le Petit Moineau de Paris/The Little Sparrow of Paris (1923) and Les Rantzeau/The Rantzaus (1923) with France Dhélia and Maurice Schutz. Melchior and Roudès later also worked together on Le Dédale/The maze (Marcel Dumont, Gaston Roudès, 1926) with Claude France, and La Maison au soleil/House in the Sun (Gaston Roudès, 1928) with Gaston Jacquet. In the later 1920s, Melchior often acted in films by Donatien, including Mon curé chez les riches/My priest among the rich (Donatien, 1925), Au revoir...et merci/Good bye and thank you (Pierre Colombier, Donatien, 1926), and Florine, la fleur du Valois/Florine, the flower of Valois (Donatien, 1926).

Melchior also worked with René Le Somptier, his former director at Gaumont, on the Belgian film La Forêt qui tue/The forest that kills (1926) and the serial Le P'tit Parigot/The Small Parisian One (1926). In La Sirène des Tropiques/Siren of the Tropics (Henri Etievant, Mario Nalpas, 1927), Melchior is a marquis who tries to prevent the marriage between his nephew (Pierre Batcheff) and his goddaughter (Régina Thomas) - as he eyes her himself. He sends his nephew off to the Antilles, where he hopes an evil aid will kill him, but a young local (Josephine Baker) saves him.

Melchior seems to have quite easily made the passage to sound cinema, as he appeared in nine films between 1930 and 1933. His first sound film probably was Les saltimbanques/The Mountebanks (Robert Land, Lucien Jaquelux, 1930), a Franco-German musical comedy with Käthe von Nagy, Nicolas Koline and Max Hansen. By now, Melchior played supporting parts as the older man, such as the rich father of Harry Krimer in Les vagabonds magnifiques/The beautiful vagabonds (Gennaro Dini, 1931), also starring Nadia Sibirskaïa; and the colonel in the comedy Le billet de logement/The accommodation ticket (Charles-Félix Tavano, 1932).

Gradually, his parts became smaller and smaller, though he still was billed on posters such as that for Le grand bluff/The Big Bluff (Maurice Champreux, 1933), starring José Noguero and Florelle. He also had a major part in La Vierge du rocher/The virgin of the rock (Georges Pallu, 1933), about a young boy who starts walking again because of the Virgin of Lourdes. After a gap of years, Melchior had a last supporting part in the period piece La citadelle du silence/The Citadel of Silence (Marcel L'Herbier, 1937), starring Annabella, but his name was not on the film posters anymore.

Georges Melchior died in 1944 at Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine. He was 54. All in all, he had acted in some 67 films.


French postcard for the Louis Aubert production L'Atlantide (1921) by Jacques Feyder, based on the novel by Pierre Benoit. The card depicts the French captain Morhange (Jean Angelo) received by the mysterious and cruel desert queen Antinéa (Stacia Napierkowska). The sets were by Manuel Orazi.

Sources: dvdtoile.com, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

Danish actor, director, scriptwriter and producer Viggo Larsen (1880-1957) was one of the pioneers of the Danish cinema. During the 1910s, he also worked in Germany for the Messter-Film studio. One of his German films is the comedy Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (1918) which he directed, produced and starred in.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 542/1. Photo: Messter-Film. Viggo Larsen in Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (Viggo Larsen, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 542/2. Photo: Messter-Film. Viggo Larsen in Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (Viggo Larsen, 1918). The woman is Käthe Haack.

A racehorse called Imperator

The screenplay of Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (Viggo Larsen, 1918) was written by Karl Singer and Rudolf Strauß and based on a novel by Ludwig Wolff.

The title of the film does not refer to the historical figure but to a horse and the film is mainly situated at a Berlin racetrack.

Viggo Larsen plays an elegant racing team owner, Count Ferdinand Muntaniz, who buys a racehorse, a descendant of the stallion Hannibal, and calls it 'Imperator'. Immediately he bets with Count Szivarwany that the horse will win the first derby. Due to race shifts and game losses, Count Ferdinand is forced to resell Imperator but he has recovered his losses through the bet.

The German magazine Kinematographische Rundschau was enthusiastic about the results: "The brilliant acting of Viggo Larsen, who understands the role of an aristocrat as truly aristocratic and sympathetic, is among the best achievements of this popular artist. Even as his own director, he has created a framework that effectively highlights the moving action. (...) A good idea is associated with beautiful images, which is accompanied by success."

In 1926, the film was remade as Der Sohn des Hannibal (Felix Basch, 1926), a silent film with Liane Haid, Alphons Fryland, Ferdinand von Alten, Albert Paulig and Sig Arno.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 542/3. Photo: Messter-Film. Viggo Larsen in Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (Viggo Larsen, 1918). The woman with the gun is Käthe Haack.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 542/4. Photo: Messter-Film. Viggo Larsen in Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (Viggo Larsen, 1918). The man on the left could be Franz Verdier.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 542/6. Photo: Messter-Film. Viggo Larsen in Der Sohn des Hannibal/The Son of Hannibal (Viggo Larsen, 1918).

Sources: Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

In 1915, the Turinese company Pasquali Film produced an adaptation of the classic, nationalistic novel 'Ettore Fieramosca' by Massimo D'Azeglio. The film, La disfida di Barletta/The Challenge of Barletta (1915), was directed by Umberto Paradisi and with scenography by Domenico Gaido, according to film historian Vittorio Martinelli. IMDb claims Gaido was co-director with Paradisi. Acclaimed actors Gustavo Serena and Domenico Gambino had supporting parts in the film.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: During the banquet given in her honour, Elvira Consalvo cannot take her eyes from Ettore Fieramosca.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: The Count of Monreale, who had organised the defense of Capua, returns gravely wounded to his castle, welcomed by his daughter Ginevra.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: Zoraide saves Fieramosca, sucking the venom of the wound and dies.

A farewell kiss which awakens her

La disfida di Barletta/Ettore Fieramosca (Umberto Paradisi, 1915) was based on a literary action epic by Massimo D'Azeglio. During the Risorgimento and the rise of Fascism, Ettore Fieramosca was presented as a national hero and became the subject of national celebrations. D'Azeglio wrote his novel in 1833 novel in an effort to boost Italian patriotism.

In 1938, during the Fascist era, Alessandro Blasetti directed a sound film Ettore Fieramosca. Two warships, the protected cruiser Ettore Fieramosca and the submarine Ettore Fieramosca, were named after him. Before that Fieramosca had been the subject of two Italian silent films by the Ambrosio company, Ettore Fieramosca (Ernesto Maria Pasquali, 1909) and La disfida di Barletta/Ettore Fieramosca (Umberto Paradisi, 1915).

In 1503, the French army is walking towards Rome. Ettore Fieramosca (Giovanni Cimara), engaged to Ginevra di Monreale (Laura Darville), is sent to Bari to organise the Resistance. But the invaders proceed and they capture the castle of Monreale.

The old count of Monreale offers his daughter in a marriage to Grajano d'Asti (Nello Carotenuto), a renegade who commands the French troops, if he frees them from the foreign soldiers. Among Grajano's friends is Valentino Borgia, who becomes hot for Ginevra and gives her a potion which creates an apparent death.

Yet when Ettore returns from Bari and hears from her death, he gives her a farewell kiss... and awakens her. The two of them flee, so when Borgia opens the coffin, it is empty. The French now move to Barletta, ruled by Ettore.

During a seize fire, a French captain, prisoner of war of the Italians, insults the honour of the fighting Italians. Ettore then proposes a challenge of 13 Italians against 13 French and their allies. During the fight the Italians win and Grajano dies.

Borgia makes Ginevra believe Ettore has another love, so she has a heart attack. When Ettore returns to her, he finds her dead by grief. He then saddles his horse, storms towards a rock and ends up in sea.

While produced in 1915, La disfida di Barletta/Ettore Fieramosca was released late, e.g. in 1917 in Turin. The critics wrote that the film should have been lauded before the war (the First World War), but now looked old style, for instance in its performances, despite the tasteful sets and shots on location.

Vittorio Martinelli suspects that this oudated reputation may have been enforced by the insertion of fragments from the 1909 version, which is now considered a lost film.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: Duke Valentino confessions his passion to Ginevra.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: Valentino Borgia's local cronies press the sacristan to leave the door of the church open.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: In the still of the night, Ettore Fieramosca lifts the drugged Ginevra from the coffin and thus subtracts her from the infamous Borgia.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: In the name of the Italian armies, Ettore Fieramosca challenges Baron la Motta, who has insulted Italy.


Italian postcard. Pasquali Film. Caption: Ettore Fieramosca reads to the Duke of Nemours, commander in chief of the French armies, the challenge by the Italians.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: Fieramosca hears that Ginevra has stopped suffering.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pasquali Film. Caption: Ettore Fieramosca before the dead Ginevra.

Source: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1915), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Mary Pickford (1892-1979) was a legendary silent film actress and was known as 'America’s sweetheart.' She was a founder of United Artists and helped to establish the Academy.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 838/1. Photo: Terra Film A.G., Berlin. Publicity still for Rosita (Ernst Lubitsch, 1923).


French postcard by Europe, no. 710. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (Marshall Neilan, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3100/2, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4778/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ifa / United Artists. Publicity still for Coquette (Sam Taylor, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5214/1, 1930-1931. Photo: publicity still for The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, 1929).

The Girl with the Golden Curls

Mary Pickford was born Gladys Mary Smith in 1892, in Toronto, Canada. She was the sister of actor/director Jack Pickford and stage/screen actress Lottie Pickford.

Pickford began performing at the age of five on the stage and was known for a time as 'Baby Gladys.' After her father was killed in an accident, Gladys became the family’s main breadwinner by performing in the theatre. She was seven years old.

The stage became a family venture, as her younger siblings Lottie and Jack and even her mother took up the trade. After touring in different shows and productions for more than nine years, Gladys went to New York to conquer Broadway.

In 1907, she made her Broadway debut in The Warrens of Virginia, produced by the famous director-producer David Belasco. He insisted that Gladys Smith would assume the stage name Mary Pickford.

In 1909, when Pickford was between stage engagements, she approached David Wark Griffith, director and head of the Biograph Company (American Mutoscope & Biograph) in New York and asked him for work in moving pictures.

Pickford had no intention of working permanently in the new medium, but hoped the income would tide her over before she went back to Belasco and the stage. That same year, 'the girl with the curls' appeared in 40 films for Biograph (according to some sources even 51 films).

In January 1910, Griffith moved his operation to California, and Pickford went with him. Actors were not listed in the credits of the Biograph pictures. Audiences noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance.

Exhibitors in turn capitalised on her popularity by advertising on sandwich boards that a film featuring 'The Girl with the Golden Curls' or 'The Biograph Girl' was inside.


French postcard by Cinemagazine-Edition, no. 4 Photo: Evans L.A.


British postcard by Rotary Photo, London, no. S 62-4. Photo: Moody, N.Y. Caption: "This is a Real Photograph on Rajar Bromide Card."


British postcard in the 'Pictures' Portrait Gallery, London.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1165/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ifa / United Artists.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3666/2, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists.

The Most Popular Actress in America, if not the World

Mary Pickford stayed with the Biograph Company, working as both an actress and writer from 1909 to 1911. She left Biograph in December 1910 for a brief stint at Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP). Unhappy with their creative standards, Pickford returned to work with Griffith. Some of her best performances were in his films, such as Friends (D.W. Griffith, 1912) with Henry B. Walthall, The Mender of Nets (D.W. Griffith, 1912) with Mabel Normand, and The Female of the Species (D.W. Griffith, 1912).

In 1913, after a run on Broadway in 'A Good Little Devil', Pickford made a definitive break from the stage by signing a film contract with Adolph Zukor who had formed one of the first American feature film companies: Famous Players in Famous Plays later known as Paramount Pictures.

Hearts Adrift (Edwin S. Porter, 1914) made her irresistible to filmgoers. With Harold Lockwood, she played a man and a woman who are shipwrecked on a desert island. It doesn't take long before they fall in love and, figuring that they would never see civilisation again, declare themselves married ... The film was so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicised pay raises based on the profits and reviews. The film marked the first time Pickford’s name was featured above the title on cinema marquees.

Tess of the Storm Country (Edwin S. Porter, 1914) was released five weeks later. Mary played a fiery young woman fighting for the underclass. The film caused a sensation. Biographer Kevin Brownlow observed that the film "sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not the world." Over the years, her fame grew as well as her salary. In 1916, Pickford had negotiated a contract that gave her a $10,000 a week salary, 50% of her film profits, and her own production company.

'Little Mary' became an international star, beloved for her beauty and charm. She often appeared on screen in young girl roles, even when she was an adult. Some of Mary Pickford’s greatest films were a collaborative effort with friend and writer-director Frances Marion. Together they worked on such hits as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Marshall Neilan, 1917) and Poor Little Rich Girl (Maurice Tourneur, 1917).

Christel Schmidt at Women Film Pioneers Project: "Pickford is often remembered for her portrayals of children in films including Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) and Daddy-Long-Legs (1919). The stories were adapted from popular novels and had been performed on stage with an adult actress (Edith Taliaferro and Ruth Chatterton) playing the role of a young girl. Pickford’s petite size and youthful beauty made her ideal for these parts, but it was her acting talent that seared these roles into the public consciousness."

Mary Pickford also worked as a producer. In 1919, when she was only twenty-seven years old, Pickford cofounded United Artists, the first independent film distribution company along with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., She had been married to actor Owen Moore since 1911, but in 1920, she divorced him to be with Fairbanks.


American postcard by California Postcard Company, Los Angeles. Pickfair. The "Doug (Douglas Fairbanks) and Mary" (Mary Pickford) Home, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.


American postcard by Western Publishing & Novelty Co., Los Angeles, no. 850. Pickfair. Residence of Mary Pickford, "America's sweetheart" (and Douglas Fairbanks), Beverly Hills, California.


American postcard by California Postcard Co., Los Angeles. Photo: Glen G. Stone, Los Angeles. Mary Pickford in the title role of Tess of the Storm Country (John S. Robertson, 1922), on location, speaking by a radiophone with her studio at Hollywood, at thirty miles distant.


French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 85. Photo: United Artists. Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., the 'United Artists'.


Vintage postcard, no. 960/2. Probably a vintage reprint of a Ross Verlag postcard. In 1926, Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. visited Berlin and stayed at the Hotel Adlon near the Brandenburg Gate, which is in the background of this picture.

One of Hollywood’s Earliest Supercouples

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr married in 1920, becoming one of Hollywood’s earliest supercouples. Fans adored the pairing, and the couple was mobbed at every port on their whirlwind European honeymoon. The couple were known to host fabulous events at their home, called Pickfair, which were attended by many of the leading figures in film.

In the 1920s, Pickford continued to score more box-office hits with Polyanna (Paul Powell, 1920), Little Lord Fauntleroy (Alfred E. Green, Jack Pickford, 1921) with Claude Gillingwater, and a new version of Tess of the Storm Country (John S. Robertson, 1922).

German director Ernst Lubitsch came to America at Mary's invitation to direct Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924), but when he arrived he had changed his mind and would not do it. The film was eventually directed by Marshall Neilan. Instead, Ernst Lubitsch and Mary Pickford made Rosita (1923) together.

Another hit was Little Annie Rooney (William Beaudine, 1925) with William Haines, and her last silent film, My Best Girl (Sam Taylor, 1927) with Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, would be one of the greatest of the era.

Mary Pickford was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. Around this time, the film industry was changing and talking pictures were on the rise. In 1929, Pickford starred in her first sound film, Coquette (Sam Taylor, 1929), which explored the dark side of a wealthy family. She won an Academy Award for her work on the film.

Still she was never quite able to recreate the phenomenal success she had in the silent pictures with the sound films. Her last film was Secrets (Frank Borzage, 1933) with Leslie Howard. Mary Pickford retired from the screen in 1933 but continued to produce.

Pickford, whose professional decline had begun in the same year as the death of her beloved mother, Gladys, in 1928, saw her brother and sister die in the 1930s. In 1936, her fairytale marriage to Fairbanks ended in divorce. Fairbanks died of heart failure only three years later.

In 1937, Pickford married actor and band leader Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, her costar in My Best Girl. They stayed together until her death and adopted two children. Mary Pickford died in 1979 in Santa Monica, California.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 689/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Terra-Film, Berlin. Publicity still of Katherine Griffith and Mary Pickford in Pollyanna (Paul Powell, 1920), released in Germany as Sonne im Herzen (Sunshine in her Heart).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 683/5. Photo: Terra Film A.G., Berlin. Publicity still for Rosita (Ernst Lubitsch, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 839/4. Photo: Terra Film A.G., Berlin. Publicity still for Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (Marshall Neilan, 1924).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 906. Photo: United Artists / Projectograph-Film. Publicity still for Sparrows (William Beaudine, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 47784/2, 1929-1930. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for Coquette (Sam Taylor, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5214/2, 1930-1931. Photo: publicity still for Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, 1929).


German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. 5215/4 1930-1931. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, 1930) with Douglas Fairbanks Sr..


British postcard. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for Secrets (Frank Borzage, 1933) with Leslie Howard.

Sources: Christel Schmidt (Women's Film Pioneer Project), Biography.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Today, the Walt Disney Company is a diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, even the world's largest independent media conglomerate in terms of revenue. On 16 October 1923, two brothers - Walt and Roy O. Disney - founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; later operating under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions. The company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. But it all started with Mickey Mouse, who was created in 1928 and is still the signature mascot and emblem for Disney.


Vintage postcard. In 1932, Walt Disney received an honorary Academy Award for creating Mickey Mouse.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5227/1, 1930-1931. Image: Walt Disney. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series. Image: Walt Disney. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

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German postcard by Ross-Verlag, Berlin, no. 5174/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Harlip, Berlin. Mickey surrenders Europe and Olga Tschechova.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 14. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: To reward her little friends, Snow White serves them a tasty dinner.

A Mouse named Mortimer

In early 1923, animator Walt Disney created a short film entitled Alice's Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Disney moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Roy O. Disney. Film distributor Margaret J. Winkler of M.J. Winkler Productions contacted Disney with plans to distribute a whole series of Alice Comedies purchased for $1,500 per reel with Disney as a production partner.

Walt and Roy Disney formed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice. In January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, the Disney Brothers Studio's name was changed to the Walt Disney Studio. Hundreds of Alice Comedies were produced between 1923 and 1927, before they lost popularity.

After the demise of the Alice Comedies, Disney developed an all-cartoon series starring his first original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which was distributed by Winkler Pictures through Universal Pictures. The distributor owned Oswald, so Disney only made a few hundred dollars.

From 1927 on, Disney completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract in February 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Winkler's husband Charles Mintz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Disney Studio, Mintz hired away four of Disney's primary animators (the exception being Ub Iwerks) to start his own animation studio, Snappy Comedies.

In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse.

Disney's first sound film Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, 1928), a cartoon starring Mickey, was released in 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Plane Crazy (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, 1928), and The Gallopin' Gaucho (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, 1928).

Steamboat Willie, with Walt as the voice of Mickey, was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronised sound. Disney's Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho were then retrofitted with synchronised sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.

Disney continued to produce cartoons with Mickey Mouse and friends, including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more. He began the Silly Symphony series, a cartoon series that didn't have a continuous character, with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929. In September 1929, theatre manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Mickey Mouse Club which Walt approved. In November, test comics strips were sent to King Features, who requested additional samples to show to the publisher, William Randolph Hearst. On 30 December, King Features signed its first newspaper, New York Mirror, to publish the Mickey Mouse comic strip with Walt's permission.

In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor (through the end of 1935) to produce cartoons in colour. The first, Flowers and Trees (Burt Gillett, 1932), was also the first cartoon to win an Oscar.  Another cartoon, Three Little Pigs (Burt Gillett, 1933), was so popular it was often billed above the feature films it accompanied. Disney released cartoons through Powers' Celebrity Pictures (1928–1930), Columbia Pictures (1930–1932), and United Artists (1932–1937). The popularity of the Mickey Mouse series allowed Disney to plan for his first feature-length animation. Criticasters called it "Disney's Folly".


French postcard in the series The Wonderful World of Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 203. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij, Amsterdam. Image: Walt Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: "And Pinocchio danced on stage with the Dutch marionette girls..."


French postcard in the series The Wonderful World of Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 6. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Fantasia (James Algar, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Hyacinth Hippo and alligator dance partner in the segment Dance of the Hours.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 22. Sent by mail in 1953. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: This is the big jump, Dumbo will fly? Timothy lodged in his hat is worried.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Publicity still for Bambi (David Hand, 1942). Caption: Eat as many vegetables as you can, Thumper says to Bambi.

Pushing the boundaries of Animation

Walt Disney decided to push the boundaries of animation further. He began production of his first feature-length animated film in 1934. Taking three years to complete, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937), premiered in December 1937 and by 1939 became the highest-grossing film of that time. Snow White was released through RKO Radio Pictures, which had assumed distribution of Disney's product in July 1937, after United Artists attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts.

Using the profits from Snow White, Disney financed the construction of a new 51-acre (210,000 m2) studio complex in Burbank, California. The new Walt Disney Studios, in which the company is headquartered to this day, was completed and open for business by the end of 1939. The studio continued releasing animated shorts and features, such as Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940), Fantasia (James Algar, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940), Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941), and Bambi (David Hand, 1942).

After World War II began, box office profits declined. When the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of Disney's animators were drafted into the armed forces. The U.S. and Canadian governments commissioned the studio to produce training and propaganda films. By 1942, 90% of its 550 employees were working on war-related films. Films such as the feature Victory Through Air Power (Perce Pearce, a.o., 1943) and the short Education for Death (Clyde Geronimi, 1943) were meant to increase public support for the war effort. Even the studio's characters joined the effort, as Donald Duck appeared in a number of comical propaganda shorts, including the Academy Award-winning Der Fuehrer's Face (Jack Kinney, 1943).

With limited staff and little operating capital during and after the war, Disney's feature films during much of the 1940s were 'package films', or collections of shorts, such as The Three Caballeros (Norman Ferguson, a.o., 1944) and Melody Time (Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, 1948), which performed poorly at the box office.

At the same time, the studio began producing live-action films and documentaries. Song of the South (Harve Foster, Wilfred Jackson, 1946) and So Dear to My Heart (Harold D. Schuster, Hamilton Luske, 1948) featured animated segments, while the True-Life Adventures series, which included such films as Seal Island (James Algar, 1948) and The Vanishing Prairie (James Algar, 1954), were also popular. Eight of the films in the series won Academy Awards.

The release of Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, 1950) proved that feature-length animation could still succeed in the marketplace. Other releases of the period included Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1951) and Peter Pan (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1953), both in production before the war began, and Disney's first all-live action feature, Treasure Island (Byron Haskin, 1950). Disney ended its distribution contract with RKO in 1953, forming its own distribution arm, Buena Vista Distribution.

In December 1950, Walt Disney Productions and the Coca-Cola Company teamed up for Disney's first venture into television, the NBC television network special An Hour in Wonderland. In October 1954, the ABC network launched Disney's first regular television series.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 104. Picture: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1950).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona, no. 108/4. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Lady and the Tramp (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1955).


French card by Jouets Masport, Chanas (Isère), no. 39/882. Photo: Walt Disney. Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen in Davy Crockett - King of the Wild Frontier/Davy Crockett (Norman Foster, 1955).


French postcard by Editions Krõma, Paris in the Le monde merveuilleux de Walt Disney series. Illustration: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona, no. 116/1. Image: Disney. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963).

Walt Disney's Magnum Opus

In 1954, Walt Disney used his Disneyland series to unveil what would become Disneyland, an idea conceived out of a desire for a place where parents and children could both have fun at the same time. In 1955, Disney opened Disneyland to the general public. After a shaky start, Disneyland continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world. In 1965, a second Disney theme park, Disney World', was announced, outside of Orlando, Florida.

Disney continued to focus its talents on television throughout the 1950s. Its weekday afternoon children's television program The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) was a great success, as was the Davy Crockett miniseries, starring Fess Parker and broadcast on the Disneyland anthology show. Two years later, Zorro (1957) would prove just as popular, running for two seasons on ABC.

Disney's film studios stayed busy as well, averaging five or six releases per year during this period. While the production of shorts slowed significantly during the 1950s and 1960s, the studio released a number of popular animated features, like Lady and the Tramp (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1955), Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi, a.o., 1959) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961), which introduced a new xerography process to transfer the drawings to animation cels.

Disney's live-action releases were spread across a number of genres, including the historical fiction film Johnny Tremain (Robert Stevenson, 1957), the children's book adaptation Pollyanna (David Swift, 1960) starring Hayley Mills, and the modern-day comedy The Shaggy Dog (Charles Barton, 1959), with Fred MacMurray.

Disney's most successful film of the 1960s was a musical adaptation of Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964), which mixed live-action with animation. It is considered by many to be Walt Disney's magnum opus. Mary Poppins became one of the all-time highest-grossing films and received five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews and Best Song for Robert B. Sherman& Richard M. Sherman for 'Chim Chim Cher-ee'.

In 1966, Walt Disney died of complications relating to lung cancer, and Roy Disney took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company. One of his first acts was to rename Disney World as 'Walt Disney World' in honour of his brother and his vision. In 1967, the last two films Walt actively supervised were released, the animated feature The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) and the musical The Happiest Millionaire (Norman Tokar, 1967).

The studio released a number of comedies in the late 1960s, including The Love Bug (Robert Stevenson, 1969), the year's highest-grossing film, and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (Robert Butler, 1969), which starred another young Disney discovery, Kurt Russell. The 1970s opened with the release of Disney's first 'post-Walt' animated feature, The AristoCats (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1970), followed by a return to fantasy musicals in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Robert Stevenson, 1971) with Angela Lansbury.

In December 1971, Roy Disney died of a stroke. He left the company under control of Donn Tatum, Card Walker, and Walt's son-in-law Ron Miller, each trained by Walt and Roy. While Walt Disney Productions continued releasing family-friendly films throughout the 1970s, such as Escape to Witch Mountain (John Hough, 1975) and Freaky Friday (Gary Nielson, 1976) with Jodie Foster, the films did not fare as well at the box office as earlier material. However, the animation studio saw success with Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973), The Rescuers (Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Art Stevens, 1977), and The Fox and the Hound (Ted Berman, Richard Rich, Art Stevens, 1981).

As head of the studio, Ron Miller attempted to make films to drive the profitable teenage market who generally passed on seeing Disney films. Inspired by the popularity of Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977), Disney produced the science-fiction adventure The Black Hole (Gary Nelson, 1979) that cost $20 million to make, but was lost in Star Wars' wake. Disney dabbled in the horror genre with The Watcher in the Woods (John Hough, Vincent McEveety, 1980) starring Bette Davis, and financed the boldly innovative Tron (Steven Lisberger, 1982) with Jeff Bridges, but both films were released to minimal success.


French postcard. Photo: Walt Disney Productions. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964).


Belgian postcard by Edicorna. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, no. 117. Illustration: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for The AristoCats (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1970).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belleville, Paris. Image: Walt Disney Productions, 1965. Publicity still for the short film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1966), later incorporated in the feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, 1977).

The Michael Eisner Era

The 1983 release of Mickey's Christmas Carol began a string of successful films, starting with Never Cry Wolf (Carroll Ballard, 1983) and the Ray Bradbury adaptation Something Wicked This Way Comes (Jack Clayton, 1983). In 1984, Disney CEO Ron Miller created Touchstone Films as a brand for Disney to release more major motion pictures. Touchstone's first release was the comedy Splash (Ron Howard. 1984), which was a box office success. In 1980, Disney launched Walt Disney Home Video to take advantage of the newly emerging videocassette market. In 1983, The Disney Channel debuted as a subscription-level channel on cable systems nationwide.

Despite the success of the Disney Channel and its new theme park creations, Walt Disney Productions was financially vulnerable. Its film library was valuable, but offered few current successes, and its leadership team was unable to keep up with other studios, particularly the works of Don Bluth, who defected from Disney in 1979. By the early 1980s, the parks were generating 70% of Disney's income.

With the Sid Bass family purchase of 18.7 percent of Disney, Bass and the board brought in Michael Eisner from Paramount as CEO and Frank Wells from Warner Bros. as president. Eisner emphasised Touchstone with Down and Out in Beverly Hills (Paul Mazursky, 1985) to start leading to increased output with Good Morning, Vietnam (Barry Levinson, 1987), Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir, 1989), Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990) and additional hits.

Beginning with Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, 1988), Disney's flagship animation studio enjoyed a series of commercial and critical successes with such films as The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1989), Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991), Aladdin (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1992) and The Lion King (Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, 1994). Disney moved to first place in box office receipts by 1988 and had increased revenues by 20% every year. In 1989, Disney signed an agreement-in-principle to acquire The Jim Henson Company from its founder, Muppet creator Jim Henson.

Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film when then-Disney Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg acquired Miramax Films in 1993. Wells was killed in a helicopter crash in 1994. Shortly thereafter, Katzenberg resigned and formed DreamWorks SKG because Eisner would not appoint Katzenberg to Wells' now-available post (Katzenberg had also sued over the terms of his contract). Instead, Eisner recruited his friend Michael Ovitz, one of the founders of the Creative Artists Agency, to be President. Ovitz lasted only 14 months and left Disney in December 1996.

In 2003, Disney became the first studio to record over $3 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Eisner did not want the board to renominate Roy E. Disney, the son of Disney co-founder Roy O. Disney, as a board director citing his age of 72 as a required retirement age. Stanley Gold responded by resigning from the board and requesting the other board members oust Eisner. On 30 November 2003, Disney resigned from his positions as the company's vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation, accusing Eisner of micromanagement, failures with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning The Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box office film flops starting in the year 2000.

In 2005, Walt Disney's nephew, Roy E. Disney, returned to the company as a consultant and as non-voting director emeritus. Walt Disney Feature Animation released Chicken Little, the company's first film using 3D animation. Bob Iger replaced Eisner as CEO.  In January 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar. Former Executive Vice-President of Pixar, John Lasseter, became Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, its division Disneytoon Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios, as well as assuming the role of Principal Creative Advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering.

In February 2006, Disney acquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC Universal (including the character's intellectual property and the 26 Oswald cartoons produced by Walt Disney) as part of an exchange of minor assets. In 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment. Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney died of stomach cancer that year.

In 2018, Disney announced that Lasseter would be leaving the company. Pete Docter and Jennifer Lee replaced him as chief creative officers of Pixar and Disney Animation, respectively. In 2018, Disneytoon Studios was shut down, resulting in the layoffs of 75 animators and staff. Disney acquired 21st Century Fox. The acquisition lead to the formation of a new company, which kept the Walt Disney Company name.

In August 2017, Disney announced that they would be starting its own streaming service, known as Disney+, to compete with the longtime industry monopoly Netflix. Disney+ is currently scheduled to begin service in late 2019, with many series announced that will be using its many successful franchises. Disney currently has a publishing deal with Netflix to stream its content, however, Disney has said that its contract will end in 2019 and they won't renew it. Disney films and franchises will only be available via the new Disney+ subscription. The service will have content from Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona. Photo: Walt Disney Productions. Photo: publicity still for The Fox and the Hound (Ted Berman, Richard Rich, Art Stevens, 1981).


Dutch postcard by Interstat, Amsterdam. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Pocahontas (Mike Gabriel, Eric Goldberg, 1995).


Dutch postcard by Donald Duck magazine. Image: Disney. Publicity still for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998).


Danish postcard by Interstat. Photo: Disney. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006).


Disney 50 movies / 50 filme | celebration trailer (2010) Walt Disney Animation Studios. Source: moviemaniacsDE (YouTube).

The next six days, EFSP presents six film specials with Disney animation classics!

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937) was produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was the first full-length cell animated feature film and the earliest Disney animated feature film. Walt Disney turned the German fairy tale by the Grimm brothers into a charming family film that is still holding up very well more than 80 years later. EFSP presents vintage postcards made for the film by two different French publishers: E. Séphériades and Editions Superluxe in Paris, plus a vintage German postcard by Erdal-Fabrik in Völklingen. And we added some more recent cards from Belgium and France.


Belgian postcard by Edicorna. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 1. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: From the top of the balcony, Snow White casts a rose, to Prince Charming.


French postcard by E. Séphériades, Paris, no. 2. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Snow White, guided by her friends, explores the house of the dwarfs.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 6. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Oh!!!... Someone has surely come into our house!


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 8. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Singing happily, the dwarfs return home.

Heigh Ho

Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937) is simple enough.

Snow White is a beautiful princess who flees her jealous stepmother and finds refuge with seven friendly dwarfs. The Disney studio spent much time and effort into developing the characters of these seven dwarfs and gave each a distinct personality, a feat which was absent in the original fairy tale.

The artwork is stunning, a virtual watercolour painting come to life. The details in the animation are still amazing. The raindrops in the chase sequence really hit the rocks, and slip away.

The film makers toned down the famous German fairy tale considerably to make it more 'family friendly, but the fascinating and scary transformation of the Wicked Queen into a hideous hag at the climax was the subject of much controversy at the time. No Disney villain would ever be so frightening and enchanting at the same time.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was immediately embraced both by critics and audiences, and received a special Academy Award in 1938.

The songs of the film, like the dwarfs song as they bathe 'Whistle While You Work', their 'Heigh Ho' and Snow White's anthem 'Some Day My Prince Will Come', became evergreens. They were composed by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 13. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: To please Snow White, the Dwarves wash themselves vigourously - except Grumpy who is noticeably obstinate.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 14. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: To reward her little friends, Snow White serves them a tasty dinner.


French postcard by E. Séphériades, Paris, no. 15. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Evenings went smoothly, making music.


German collectors card by Erdal-Fabrik, Völklingen, no. 15. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: A happy dance. Even Grumpy participates and plays the organ.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 21. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Before their leaving for the mine, Snow White embraces each of her friends.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 22. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: The dwarves leave happily at work and Snow White gives them a last farewell.


French postcard by Superluxe, Paris, no. 23. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: The dwarves plan to make a bed, for Snow White.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 24. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Feeling that she is in danger, all the friends of Snow White come to her rescue.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 25. Image: Walt Disney - Micky Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: Discovered by Prince Charming, Snow White leaves her friends of the forest and follows him to this marvellous castle. They marry.

Disney's folly

Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937), the Disney studio had been primarily involved in the production of animated short subjects in the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series.

Disney had hoped to expand his studio's prestige and revenues by moving into features. He had to mortgage his house to help finance the film's production, which eventually ran up a total cost of $1,488,422.74, a massive sum for a feature film in 1937.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Bypassing early temptations to transform the heroine Snow White into a plump Betty Boop type or a woebegone ZaSu Pitts lookalike, the Disney staffers wisely made radical differentiations between the 'straight' and 'funny' characters in the story. Thus, Snow White and Prince Charming moved and were drawn realistically, while the Seven Dwarfs were rendered in the rounded, caricatured manner of Disney's short-subject characters. In this way, the serious elements of the story could be propelled forward in a believable enough manner to grab the adult viewers, while the dwarfs provided enough comic and musical hijinks to keep the kids happy."

Only after the enormous success of 'Disney's folly', other film makers attempted their own full-length cartoon features. Snow White's success led to Disney moving ahead with more feature-film productions.

Walt Disney used much of the profits from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to finance a new $4.5 million studio in Burbank – the location on which The Walt Disney Studios is located to this day.

Within two years, the studio completed Pinocchio and Fantasia and had begun production on features such as Dumbo, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

In 1989, the United States Library of Congress deemed Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.


French postcard in the series Le Monde merveilleux de Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Casissargues, no. 201-1. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


French postcard in the series The Wonderful World of Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 202. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


French postcard in the series The Wonderful World of Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 203. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


French postcard in the series Le Monde merveilleux de Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Casissargues, no. 206. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


French postcard in the series Le Monde merveilleux de Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Casissargues, no. 207. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).


French postcard in the series The Wonderful World of Walt Disney by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 208. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

The second full length animated Disney classic, Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940), is based on the 19th century Italian novel of the same name by Carlo Collodi. It's a gem. For this post we found some wonderful vintage postcards from The Netherlands, published by Rembrandt Uitgeversmaatschappij in Amsterdam. We added French vintage cards by Editions E. Séphériadès and Editions Superluxe, and a more recent French postcard.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij, Amsterdam. Image: Walt Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: "Who is there?", Gepetto called with shattering teeth.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij, Amsterdam. Image: Walt Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: And Pinocchio danced on stage with the Dutch marionette girls...


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij, Amsterdam. Image: Walt Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Lampwick, the britterchopper lit a cigar when he went playing billiards.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij, Amsterdam. Image: Walt Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Pinocchio felt something terrible .... two long ears and a tail!


French postcard by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 10. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940).

Childhood is full of temptations

In Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940), the kind woodcarver Geppetto creates a wooden marionette, which he calls Pinocchio.

His wish for Pinocchio to be a real boy is unexpectedly granted by a fairy. The fairy assigns Jiminy Cricket to act as Pinocchio's 'conscience' and keep him out of trouble.

However, Pinocchio is weak-willed and Jiminy is not too successful in his endeavour. Pinocchio doesn't always listen to reason and most of the film he is deep in trouble.

The story has never a dull moment. In fact Pinocchio is about childhood and temptation. Tasting jam, stealing, not going to school, lying, childhood is full of temptations. Everything is new then everything looks pretty.

When the standard for kids is to obey to authoritarian figures who know the best for them, the most precious lesson in Pinocchio is not to obey for the sake of obedience but to follow your conscience. Differentiate between right or wrong. That's what being a real boy is about, being unselfish, trustful and brave, not being obedient.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 1. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: The olf wood sculptor Gepetto wishes that the puppet he made, comes to life.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 2. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: The Blue Fairy comes during the night, to fulfil the wish of Gepetto.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 3. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: The Blue Fairy baptises Jiminy Cricket, by telling him: "You will be from now on Pinocchio's conscience."


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 4. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Pinocchio meets Gepetto's favourites, Figaro the cat and Cléo the goldfish.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 5. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Gepetto is delighted that the Blue Fairy has given life to his masterpiece and sends Pinocchio to school, recommending him to be wise.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 5. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Unfortunately, Pinocchio meets on his way John the Fox and Gèdèon his friend, both of whom give him bad advice, and divert him from the right path.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 10. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Coming to his aid, the Blue Fairy wants to know the cause of his imprisonment, but Pinocchio tells her lies and to his great terror, she lengthens his nose.

Unforgettable imagery

Although the atmosphere is quite dark and creepy in some parts, most of the time Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940) is a sweet fairy-tale. It is entertaining, heartwarming and magical.

Animation and soundtrack are superb. Walt Disney made Pinocchio shortly after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, a.o., 1937), and the film showed marked improvement in the art of animation technology with startling special effects. The animation makes brilliant use of the multiplane camera, featuring a sprawling opening sequence in which the viewer practically sees the entire village at night.

Geppetto's inventive clocks come to life as realistically as any real-life photography could do. The scene of Geppetto searching for Pinocchio with a lantern on a rainy night after he has been captured by Stromboli is unforgettable imagery.

The characters are colourful and fun. Pinocchio is cute, innocent and lovable like a human child, although stubborn and prone to temptation at times. Jiminy Cricket is humorous and cool, but a bit impatient.

Pinocchio is full of sweet characters like Geppetto's goldfish Cleo and kitten Figaro. Honest John Foulfellow and his sidekick Gideon aka 'Giddy' are the perfect comic relief. Giddy is a cat and a funny mute character. Honest John is the epitome of the sly fox: not 'really' evil, but clever, hilarious, charming, shameless, unscrupulous and greedy. And Monstro, the enormous sperm whale, is one of the most impressive animated beasts of all time.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 11. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: The more Pinocchio lies, the longer his nose gets, and Jiminy Cricket adjures him to tell the truth.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 12. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Pinocchio has finally decided to tell the truth, and not to start again. His nose becomes normal again and the Blue Fairy sets him free.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 13. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Rescued Pinocchio, accompanied by Jiminy Cricket, runs to his father's house.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 14. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Unfortunately Pinocchio meets John the Fox and Gideon again, who by lies, sell him to the Big Coach who takes all the naughty boys to the Island of Pleasures.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 15. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: At the Island of Pleasures, Pinocchio with his new friend Lampwick, tastes of all the amusements, and does not want to listen to the advice of Jiminy Cricket.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 16. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: The bad boy Lampwick has changed into an ass, to the stupefaction of Pinocchio, who persists in not listening to the good advice by his conscience Jiminy Cricket.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 17. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Having managed to escape from Pleasure Island, Pinocchio and Jiminy cricket finally return home, where they find the door closed and his father away looking for him.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 18. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Wanting to find his father Gepetto, swallowed by the Whale when he was looking for him, Pinocchio attaches a stone to the end of the tail, and plunges to the bottom of the sea.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 20. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Pinocchio has the joy of finding his father Gepetto alive in the belly of the monster.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 21. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: At the bewilderment of Gepetto, Pinocchio shows him that he has ears and a donkey tail, by his disobedience.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 22. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: Having built a raft, they managed to escape the monster and to flee to the land.


French postcard by Editions E. Séphériadès, Paris, no. 23. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940). Caption: The raft having capsized, they fail on the ground, half drowned; Gepetto believing dead Pinocchio, prays and implores the Blue Fairy.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 115/2. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 115/3. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 115/4. Image: Disney. Publicity still for Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Dumbo (1941) was Walt Disney's fourth animated feature and a masterpiece. It deals with discrimination, self esteem, the importance of family and friendship. For this post, I've found some old French postcards of Dumbo, published in the 1940s by Éditions Superluxe in Paris, and a more recent American postcard.


Big American postcard in the Walt Disney's Classics series by Classico, San Francisco, no. 511-021. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1983. Image: The Walt Disney Company. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: Based upon an original story, Dumbo, the Flying Elephant, by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, the Disney feature starred a little circus elephant who never talked and his pal, Timothy Mouse, who talked for both of them. After mistakenly drinking some champagne that belonged to the clowns, the elephant and the mouse fell asleep and awoke to find themselves upon the limb of a tall tree with a flock of crows. "Your ears, Dumbo. Dere poifect wings. You flew!", exclaimed Timothy, and he persuaded the little elephant to do it again.


French postcard by Éditions Superluxe, Paris, no. 2. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey-Mouse, S.A. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: But what a joyful surprise for Mrs. Jumbo when the stork comes to deposit a small stirring package in the wagon.


French postcard by Éditions Superluxe, Paris, no. 5. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey-Mouse, S.A. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: Ms. Jumbo gets angry, punishes the children and becomes very hard to master for the circus staff.

The tough, tough circus world

Honestly, I've watched Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941) more than a hundred times, together with my mentally handicapped son Lucas. The film still thrills us no matter how many times we have seen it.

Dumbo is based upon a children's story written by Helen Aberson-Mayer and Harold Pearl, with illustrations by Helen Durney, that was prepared to demonstrate the prototype of a toy storytelling display device called 'Roll-A-Book', which was similar in principle to a panorama. It involved only eight drawings and just a few lines of text.

Dumbo was first brought to the attention of Walt Disney in late 1939 by Disney's head of merchandise licensing Kay Kamen, who showed a prototype of the Roll-A-Book that included Dumbo. Disney immediately grasped its possibilities and heartwarming story and purchased the rights to it. Originally it was intended to be a short film, but Disney soon found that the only way to do justice to the book was to make it feature-length.

In the opening sequence, a flock of storks delivers babies while circus animals are being transported by train from their 'Winter Quarters'. Finally, a tired stork also delivers a baby elephant to Mrs. Jumbo, a veteran of the tough circus world. All the other elephants ridicule the newborn Jumbo Jr. for his gigantic ears. He is dubbed 'Dumbo' and is shut out.

After his mother has been locked up in a jail-like waggon for protecting him, Dumbo is all alone.  Heartbreaking is the scene scene when Dumbo's mother in chains rocks him with her trunk from beyond the bars. Timothy Q. Mouse feels sympathy for Dumbo and appoints himself as Dumbo's mentor and protector. Timothy is determined to help Dumbo regain his spirits.

The circus director makes Dumbo the top of an elephant pyramid stunt. The performance goes awry as Dumbo trips over his ears and misses his target, causing the other elephants to suffer various injuries, and bring down the big top.

When Dumbo is relegated to the circus' clown acts, it is up to his only friend, Timothy, to assist the little elephant to achieve his full potential at last.  Dumbo learns that he can fly and becomes he 'ninth wonder of the universe', and the only elephant in the world who can fly.


French postcard by Éditions Superluxe, Paris, no. 10. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey-Mouse, S.A. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: Timothy, the nice little mouse consoles Dumbo of his woes and Dumbo is happy to have found a friend.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 12. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: Timothy has found a great role for Dumbo. He will have to jump from a springboard and come to plant a flag at the top of a pyramid of elephants.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 15. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: After his unfortunate exploits, Dumbo made up and costumed as a clown must jump from a house on fire.

Some of Disney's best visual poetry

At just 64 minutes, Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941) is short and sweet. But it also contains some of Disney's best visual poetry. The style is elegant, vivid, and occasionally grotesque in ways that recall not only classic circus posters but also Paul Cadmus paintings and vintage 'New Yorker' cover art, as one of the IMDb reviewers observes.

Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941) certainly has a hint of nostalgia. The film presents a rosy-hued portrait of old America but in the middle is a simple, tender story about acceptance and mother love.

Dumbo and his mother are both mute which means that their entire characters are created through their body language. You see all the emotions Dumbo is passing through. Mrs Jumbo rearing up and destroying the big top to protect her little son from taunting kids is an incredible scene.

These performances are triumphs of animation. The entire opening sequence, till the gossipy elephants start talking, plays out without words, and its like the best silent films: simply beautiful.

The other characters, both good and bad, are painted with broad, memorable strokes. The songs and score are flawless, and the show-stopping, nightmarish pink elephant sequence is brilliant. One of the most inventive animation sequences ever.

Ben Sharpsteen was the supervising director of Dumbo. Sequences were directed by Sam Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts and (uncredited) by John Elliotte. Despite the advent of World War II, Dumbo proved to be the most financially successful Disney film of the 1940s.

Tim Burton released a live-action adaptation of the film earlier this year, but I won't go to the cinema to see the new version. This one is just perfect.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 19. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: Mr. Crow wakes Timothy and he tells the story of Dumbo's woes.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 22. Sent by mail in 1953. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: This is the big jump, Dumbo will fly? Timothy lodged in his hat is worried.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 23. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941). Caption: Hurrah. Dumbo flies and his friends the crows encourage him.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Bambi (David Hand, 1942) was the fifth animated feature produced by Walt Disney. It was directed by David Hand who supervised a team of sequence directors, produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten. Creator of the visual style of Bambi was the Chinese-American artist Tyrus Wong. As his inspiration, he took the landscape paintings of the Song dynasty. The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Sound (Sam Slyfield), Best Song (for Love Is a Song sung by Donald Novis) and Original Music Score. For this post, we combined exquisite Dutch postcards by Rembrandt publishers from the 1940s, with vintage French postcards by Superluxe and more recent postcards from Italy and Germany.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "Deep in a dark green forest, Prince Bambi is born."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "All the animals of the forest want to see the young Prince Bambi."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Ltd. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "'He can already walk!', calls Thumper, the rabbit."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "Little Thumper, what did your father say?", asks Mother Rabbit."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "Eat as many vegetables as you can, Thumper says to Bambi."

If this moment doesn't move you to tears, you're made of stone

The main characters of Bambi (David Hand, 1942) are Bambi, a mule deer and his parents, the Great Prince of the forest and his unnamed mother. His friends are Thumper, a pink-nosed rabbit; and Flower, a skunk. and his childhood friend and future mate, Faline.

For the film, Disney took the liberty of changing Bambi's species into a mule deer from his original species of roe deer, since roe deer are not native to North America, and the mule deer is more widespread in the United States.

English film historian Leslie Halliwell wrote that Bambi was "one of Disney's most memorable and brilliant achievements with a great comic character in Thumper and a climactic forest fire sequence that is genuinely thrilling". He concluded his review that it was "a triumph of the animator's arts".

Hal Erickson at AllMovie adds: "In the grand Disney tradition, Bambi is brimming with unforgettable sequences, notably the young deer's attempts to negotiate an iced-over pond, and most especially the death of Bambi's mother - and if this moment doesn't move you to tears, you're made of stone (many subsequent Disney films, including Lion King, have tried, most in vain, to match the horror and pathos of this one scene).

The score in Bambi yielded no hits along the lines of 'Whistle While You Work', but the songs are adroitly integrated into the action. Bambi was the last of the 'classic' early Disney features before the studio went into a decade-long doldrums of disjointed animated pastiches like Make Mine Music."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Ltd. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "The rabbit friends learn Bambi how to jump."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "'What a strange beasts!', Bambi thinks."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "Quietly, a butterfly lands on Bambi's tail."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse Co. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "Splash... what a pound of snow!", Bambi thinks.


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "Smooth Ice, huh!", says Thumper. "I'll get your legs out of the knot..."


Dutch postcard by Rembrandt Uitg. Mij. Amsterdam, circa 1949. Image: Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Ltd. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: "'You don't have to be afraid, Bambi!', says Feline, the deer girl."

Artwork that did not necessarily look like the forest but felt like it

Chinese-American artist Tyrus Wong (1910-2016) was the creator of the visual style of Bambi (1942). Wong, newly married and needing steady work, joined Disney in 1938 as an 'in-betweener'. He draw hundreds of pictures between poses to create the illusion of motion.

When Walt Disney began pre-production on Bambi, Wong went home and painted several pictures of a deer in a forest. Disney saw that Wong was able to produce artwork that did not necessarily look like the forest - but rather, felt like the forest.

As a staff artist for Hollywood studios from the 1930s to the 1960s, Wong drew storyboards and made vibrant paintings, as detailed as any architectural illustrations, that helped the director envision each scene before it was shot. For Bambi, he was involved with every phase of production.

Margalit Fox in The New York Times: "Invoking the exquisite landscape paintings of the Song dynasty (A.D. 960–1279), he rendered in watercolors and pastels a series of nature scenes that were moody, lyrical and atmospheric — at once lush and spare — with backgrounds subtly suggested by a stroke or two of the brush."

Tyrus Wong only worked at Disney for three years, as a consequence of the Disney animators' strike. He moved to Warner Brothers as a concept artist, designing greeting cards for Hallmark on the side. Over the years his work informed the look live-action films for Warner Brothers and other studios.

In a statement after his death in 2016, the Walt Disney Family Museum said "his influence on the artistic composition of the animated feature Bambi cannot be overstated."


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 4. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: Bambi, encouraged by his friend Thumper, tries to jump over a tree trunk, but his paws are still too weak.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 19. Image: Walt Disney Mickey Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: Bambi gathering all his forces fights against the dogs that attack him from all sides and manages to put them to flight.


French postcard by Editions Superluxe, Paris, no. 21. Image: Walt Disney - Mickey Mouse S.A.. Publicity still for Bambi (1942). Caption: 'Alerted, the Big Deer, King of the Forest, observes the camp of these men who, in the past, took him the mother of Bambi."


German postcard by Hansa-Verlagsanstalt, Bonn. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Bambi (David Hand, 1942).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 101. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Bambi (David Hand, 1942). Sent by mail in 1969.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 101. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Bambi (David Hand, 1942).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 101. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for Bambi (David Hand, 1942).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961), often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is an American animated adventure film  based on the 1956 novel 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' by Dodie Smith. It's the 17th Disney animated feature film.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona. Illustration: Disney. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


Italian postcard by JC, no. 3318. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


French postcard by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. B. 75. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


French postcard by Kroma, Caissargues, no. B. 86. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


French postcard in the 'Le Monde Merveilleux de Walt Disney' by Editions Kroma, Caissargues, no. 97. Illustration: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).

When Walt Disney read it, it immediately grabbed his attention

Dodie Smith wrote the book 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' in 1956. When Walt Disney read it in 1957, it immediately grabbed his attention, and he promptly obtained the rights. Smith had always secretly hoped that Disney would make it into a film.

The 17th Disney animated feature film tells the story of a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by the villainous Cruella de Vil, who wants to use their fur to make into coats.

Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, set out to save their children from Cruella, all the while rescuing 84 additional puppies that were bought in pet shops, bringing the total of Dalmatians to 101.

Originally released to theatres on 25 January 1961, by Buena Vista Distribution, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961) was a box office success, pulling the studio out of the financial slump caused by Sleeping Beauty, a costlier production released two years prior.

Aside from its box office revenue, its commercial success was due to the employment of inexpensive animation techniques — such as using xerography during the process of inking and painting traditional animation cells — that kept production costs down.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 110/1. Photo: Disney. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris, no. 221, 1964. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961). Caption: The evasion from Devil's Castle.


French postcard by Editions Krõma, Paris in the Le monde merveuilleux de Walt Disney series, no. B 83. Sent by mail in 1973. Illustration: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


French postcard by Editions Krõma, Paris in the Le monde merveuilleux de Walt Disney series. Illustration: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).

One of the greatest movie villains - cartoon or real - of all time

One Hundred and One Dalmatians was re-released theatrically in 1969, 1979, 1985, and 1991. The film's total domestic lifetime gross is $145 million, and its total worldwide gross is $215 million.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians was first released on VHS in 1992, as part of the Walt Disney Classics video series. Two months later, it had sold 11.1 million copies. At the time, it was the sixth best-selling video of all time.

In 1996, it was remade into a live-action film, 101 Dalmatians (Stephen Herek, 1996), starring Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson and Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It grossed $136.2 million in North America and $320.7 million worldwide.

Disney has announced that another live-action film is in development, but this film will focus on the origin of Cruella de Vil. The prequel is titled Cruella and will be directed by Alex Timbers. Marc Platt and Andrew Gunn will produce. Glenn Close is executive producer. Emma Stone is set to play Cruella.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "101 Dalmatians represents the Disney animation staff at its very best, and as a bonus introduces the world to Cruella De Vil, one of the greatest movie villains - cartoon or "real" - of all time."


Spanish postcard by Ediciones Beascoa, S.A., Barcelona. Illustration: Disney. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


Italian postcard by Nuova Arti Grafiche Ricordi, Milano, no. 1603. Illustration: Disney. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


French postcard. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).


Russian postcard by Chromovogue, no. 850-4, 1998. Illustration: Disney. Publicity still for One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

The 18th Disney animated feature film, The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963) is a take on King Arthur's legend, scripted by Bill Peet. It was the final Animation feature to be released before Walt Disney's death and the first solo directorial effort of famous animator Wolfgang Reithermann.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona, no. 116. Image: Disney. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti, Verona, no. 116. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963).


French postcard by Walt Disney Productions, 1964. Image: Disney. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963) in French: Merlin l'enchanteur.

A screamingly funny bit of nonsense

The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963) is based on the novel by T.H. White, which was first published in 1938, and was republished in 1958 as the first book of the tetralogy 'The Once and Future King'. In 1939, Walt Disney first obtained the film rights to White's novel, and the initial storyboards were produced in 1949. When work on One Hundred and One Dalmatians was completed in 1960,  The Sword in the Stone was in development by veteran story artist Bill Peet.

After Disney had seen the 1960 Broadway production of 'Camelot', he approved the project to enter production. The Sword in the Stone, was released to theatres on 25 December 1963 to mixed reviews. The songs in the film were written and composed by the Sherman Brothers.

The King of England dies, and no heir to the throne is named, leaving England threatened to be torn apart by war. Miraculously, the 'Sword in the Stone' appears inside an anvil in London, with an inscription proclaiming that whoever can pull it out is the rightful King of England. Many try to remove the sword, but none succeed, and the sword is eventually forgotten, leaving England in the Dark Ages.

Years later, a 12-year-old orphan named Arthur, commonly called Wart, meets Merlin the wizard, and his talking pet owl Archimedes. Merlin declares himself Arthur's tutor. Sir Pellinore announces that the annual jousting tournament will be held in London, and the winner will be crowned king. Sir Ector, Arthur's foster father, decides to put his son, Kay through serious training for the tournament and appoints Arthur as Kay's squire.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised the film: "Adapting T. H. White's beloved novel of King Arthur's boyhood, the Disney unit has shaped a warm, wise and amusing film version. The unorthodox source, with its artful earthiness, was certainly no snap undertaking as a movie cartoon. To the credit of the scenarist, Bill Peet, the director, Wolfgang Reitherman, and their colleagues, the picture makes an eye-filling package of rollicking fun and thoughtful common sense. The humor sparkles with real, knowing sophistication."

"Just as flavorsome, visually, are several droll caricatures of English nobility, a temperamental, educated owl named Archimedes and, for good measure, a perky, self-spooning little sugar bowl. But the most beguiling of the lot is Merlin's arch rival, a harum-scarum old sorceress named Madam Mim. Their 'magicians' duel', a screamingly funny bit of nonsense, is pure Disney gold. This sequence alone should be enough Christmas for anybody."

Aubry Anne D'Arminio at AllMovie: "The lackluster animation and unimpressive musical numbers disappointed audiences upon the film's initial opening, but its tale of a stout-hearted child destined for greatness proved timeless as it lured scores of Disney fans to theaters upon its several re-releases."

"If the movie's animation is not up to par, the remarkable and eccentric characters well make up for it. The skinny, bowlegged Wart is as much a hero as his predecessors, the wooden Pinocchio and the big-eared Dumbo. Moreover, Merlin's skeptical sidekick, the scholarly owl Archimedes, as well as his wacky nemesis, the sorceress Mad Madam Mim , make the film as colorful as any of its state-of-the-art cartoon counterparts."

The Sword in the Stone was a box office success and became the sixth highest-grossing film of 1963. A live-action adaptation of the film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is scheduled to be released later in 2019.

This was the last post in our Walt Disney week, but more posts on Disney Classics will follow soon.


French postcard by Les Presses de Belleville, Paris, no. 347. Image: Walt Disney, 1964. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963). Caption: A little squirrel girl came to say hello.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona, no. 116/1. Image: Disney. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963).


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti S.R.L., Verona. Image: Disney. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963). Sent by mail in 1998.

Sources: Bosley Crowther (The New York Times), Aubry Anne D'Arminio (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Ciao! We're in Bologna, Italy. Like every year, we join here the Cinema Ritrovato festival: one of the greatest film parties in the world, offering some 500 great films, masterpieces and rarities. EFSP follows the events with posts on actors and programs. We start with 'One hundred years ago: 1919', for which Ivo Blom made a selection with rare postcards with stars from the films which are shown in this section.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no 1078/1. Richard Lund as Sir Archi(e) in Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).


Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, no. 550. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm. Lars Hanson and Lillebil Christensen in Sängen om den eldröda blomman/The Song of the Red Flower (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).


Italia Almirante. Italian postcard by Neg. Scofione, no. 347.


Vladimir Gajdarov. Latvian (?) postcard by KLTD. Photo: May-Film.


Anita Berber. German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2406. Photo: Atelier Eberth, Berlin.


Conrad Veidt. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 272/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


Mary MacLaren. British postcard in the Cinema Chat series. Photo: Transatlantic (Universal's European distribution branch).


Ruth Stonehouse. British postcard. Photo: Essanay Film Manufacturing Company.


Oscar Beregi Sr. German postcard by NPG, no. 1275 Photo: Angelo, Budapest, 1918.


Fritz Kortner. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1325/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ernst Sandau, Berlin.


Pauline Starke. French postcard by Les Vedettes de Cinéma by A.N., Paris, no. 227. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Production.

We're in Bologna, Italy, and like every year, EFSP follows Cinema Ritrovato! One of the programmes is 'Jean Gabin, The Man With The Blue Eyes', which offers only nine out of his ninety-five performances on film, leaving out such masterpieces as La Grande illusion or Le Jour se lève which have been shown at previous editions of the festival. Jean Gabin (1904-1976) was one of the greatest stars of the European cinema. In the 1930s he became the the tragic rebel of the poetic realist film, a kind of James Dean avant la lettre. After the war Gabin was reborn as a tough anti-hero, set in his beliefs, feared and respected by all, the John Wayne of French cinema. Cinema Ritrovato shows some rarities such as Anatole Litvak’s Coeur de lilas and G.W. Pabst’s Du haut en bas, as well as forgotten works such René Clément’s Au-delà des grilles, Marcel Carné’s La Marie du port and films in which he partners with Brigitte Bardot and Simone Signoret, not to mention an inimitable performance as Georges Simenon’s Maigret. 


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 23.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 29. Photo: Star. Publicity still for Gueule d'amour/Madeleine (Jean Grémillon, 1937).


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1160. Photo: Films Osso. Publicity still for Le quai des brumes/Port of Shadows (Marcel Carne, 1938).


French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil (S.-O.), no, 49B. Photo: Raymond Voinquel / Sigma. Publicity still for Le jour se lève/Daybreak (Marcel Carne, 1939).


French postcard by Edition Chantal, Paris, no. 49.


French collectors card by Massilia.

From Bottom To Top

Jean Gabin was born Jean-Alexis Gabin Moncorgé in Paris, in 1904. He grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 35 km north of Paris. His parents, Ferdinand Moncorgé and Hélène Petit, were entertainers, who performed in local cafés.

Jean worked as a labourer, but from an early age, entertainment was in his blood. At 18, he took a turn at the Folies-Bergère. He then appeared in revues and operettas, singing and dancing, and becoming famous for his imitation of Maurice Chevalier.

Through a chance meeting with the singer Mistinguett in 1928, he was given a spot at the Moulin-Rouge. This led to uncredited parts in two silent sketch films Ohé! Les valises/Hey! Suitcases (1928) and Les Lions/The Lions (1928) with the comic Raymond Dandy.

Two years later, he easily made the transition to sound film in the Pathé Frèresproduction Chacun sa Chance/Everyone a chance (René Pujol, Hans Steinhoff, 1930). In this film he appeared with Gaby Basset, whom he had married in 1927.

Gabin made more than a dozen films over the next four years, including Méphisto (Henri Debain, Georges Vinter, 1930), Tout ça ne vaut pas l'amour/While it's not worth the love (Jacques Tourneur, 1931), Coeur de lilas/Lilac (Anatole Litvak, 1932), Les gaietés de l'escadron/Fun in Barracks (Maurice Tourneur, 1932), La Foule hurle (John Daumery, Howard Hawks, 1932) and Du haut en bas/From Top to Bottom (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1933).

He gained real recognition for his performance in Maria Chapdelaine (Julien Duvivier, 1934) starring Madeleine Renaud. Cast as a romantic hero opposite Annabella in the war drama La Bandera/Escape from Yesterday (Julien Duvivier, 1936) established Gabin as a major star.

He teamed up with Julien Duvivier again, this time in La belle équipe/They Were Five (1936) and in the highly successful Pépé le Moko (1937) that became one of the top grossing films of 1937 worldwide. Its popularity brought Gabin international recognition.

That same year, he starred in the masterpiece La grande Illusion/The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937) an anti-war film that was a huge box office success and given universal critical acclaim, even running at a New York City theatre for an unprecedented six months.

This was followed by another one of Renoir's great successes: La bête humaine/The Human Beast (Jean Renoir, 1938), a Film Noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Gabin and Simone Simon, as well as Le quai des brumes/Port of Shadows (1938) and Le jour se lève/Daybreak (1939) with Arletty, two of director Marcel Carné's most acclaimed films.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 692. Photo: Film Pathé-Natan. Publicity still for Chacun sa chance/Everyone a chance (René Pujol, Hans Steinhoff, 1930).


French postcard by Edition Chantal, Paris, no. 49. Photo: Pathé-Consortium.


French postcard, no. 49. Photo: publicity still for La Bandera (Julien Duvivier, 1935).


French postcard by Erpé, no. 567. Photo: Film ACE, Paris. Publicity still for Gueule d'amour/Madeleine (Jean Grémillon, 1937).


French postcard by Crépa, Editeur, Paris. Photo: Sam Lévin. Publicity still for La grande illusion/The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937) with Jean Gabin, Dalio, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot and Pierre Fresnay.


French postcard by Crépa, Editeur, Paris. Photo: Sam Lévin / Production R.A.C. Marcel Dalio, Gaston Modot and Jean Gabin in La grande illusion/The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937).


French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 49B.


French postcard by Viny, no. 12. Photo: Paris Film.


French postcard by edition Chantal, Paris, no. 49A. Photo: Paris Film Production.

Marlene

Jean Gabin was flooded with offers from Hollywood. For a time he turned them all down until the outbreak of World War II. Following the German occupation of France, he joined Jean Renoir and Julien Duvivier in the United States.

He had divorced his second wife Suzanne Mauchain in 1939, and during his time in Hollywood, Gabin began a torrid romance with film star Marlene Dietrich.

His Hollywood film career proved to be less successful: he made two films, Moon Tide (Archie Mayo, 1942) and The Impostor (Julien Duvivier, 1944), both of which were flops. Scheduled to star in an RKO film, at the last minute he demanded Dietrich be given the co-starring role. The studio refused. After Gabin remained steadfast in his demand, he was fired, and the film project was shelved.

Undaunted, he enlisted in 1943 as a tank commander in the Forces françaises libres. He earned the Médaille Militaireand a Croix de Guerrefor his wartime valour fighting with the Allies in North Africa. Following D-Day, Gabin was part of the military contingent that entered a liberated Paris. Captured on film by the media is a scene where an anxious Marlene Dietrich is waiting in the crowd when she spots Gabin onboard a battle tank and rushes to him.

In 1946, Gabin was hired by Marcel Carné to star in the film, Les Portes de la Nuit/Gates of the Night, but his conduct got him fired again. He then found a French producer and director willing to cast him and Marlene Dietrich together in the box office success Martin Roumagnac/The Room Upstairs (Georges Lacombe, 1946), but their personal relationship soon ended.

After the box office failure of Miroir/Mirror (Raymond Lamy, 1947) Gabin returned to the stage, but there too, the production was a financial disaster. He was cast in the lead role of Au-Delà Des Grilles/The Walls of Malapaga (René Clément, 1949) that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite this recognition, the film did not do well at the French box office, and the next five years brought little more than repeated box office failures.


French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 135. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by S.E.R.P., Paris, no. 22. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1094. Offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Marcel Bougureau.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, Dutch licence holder for Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Templehof, no. 1501. Photo: Serge Beauvarlet / Franco London Film, Paris. Publicity still for French Cancan (Jean Renoir, 1954) with Maria Félix.


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 2042. Photo: Pallas Film. Publicity still for Chiens perdus sans collier/The Little Rebels (Jean Delannoy, 1955).

Lemon Prize

Jean Gabin's career seemed headed for oblivion. In 1953 he was the male winner of the Lemon Prize, awarded by French journalists to the nastiest French actors. However, he made a comeback in the classic policier Touchez pas au grisbi/Don't Touch the Loot (Jacques Becker, 1954) with René Dary. His performance earned him critical acclaim, and the film was a very profitable international success.

Later, he worked once again with Jean Renoir on French Cancan (1955), with María Félixand Françoise Arnoul. Over the next twenty years, Gabin made close to 50 more films, most of them very successful commercially and critically, including many for Gafer Films, his production partnership with fellow actor Fernandel.

One of his most popular personalities was inspector Maigretfrom the detective novels by Georges Simenon in Maigret tend un piège/Maigret Sets a Trap (Jean Delannoy, 1958) and Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre/Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (Jean Delannoy, 1959). But he was also able to play all other kind of people: aristocrats, farmers, thieves and managers.

With age, a new Gabin persona emerged, more solid, more self-assured, yet always human. His co-stars included French cinema stars as his good friend Lino Venturain Razzia sur la Chnouf/Razzia (Henri Decoin, 1955), Bourvil in La traversée de Paris/The Trip Across Paris (Claude Autant-Lara, 1956), Brigitte Bardot in En cas de malheur/In Case of Adversity (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958), Jean-Paul Belmondo in Un singe en hiver/A Monkey in Winter (Henri Verneuil, 1962), Simone Signoret in Le Chat/The Cat (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1971), and Alain Delon in Mélodie en sous-sol/Any Number Can Win (Henri Verneuil, 1963), Le Clan des Siciliens/The Sicilian Clan (Henri Verneuil, 1969), and Deux hommes dans la ville/Two Men in Town (José Giovanni, 1973).

In 1960 Gabin was made an Officier de la Légion d'honneur (officer of France's Legion of Honor). Gabin never stopped working and when death surprised him in 1976 he was still an institution for the French audience. His last film was the comedy L'Année sainte/Holy Year (Jean Girault, 1976).

Jean Gabin died in 1976 of a heart attack in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. His body was cremated and with full military honours, his ashes were dispersed into the sea from the military ship Détroyat.

Since 1949, he had been married to Dominique Fournier, who had been a mannequin for couturier Lanvin. They had three children, Valérie Moncorgé, Florence Moncorgé and Mathias Moncorgé. He had bought a sprawling farm in Normandy, and was as contented in his life as the country farmer as he was acting in front of a film camera. The Musée Jean Gabin in his native town, Mériel, contains his story and features his war and film memorabilia.


French postcard by Editions et Impressions Combier, Mâcon, no. 3. Illustration: Jean-Pierre Gillot.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: publicity still for Le jardinier d'Argenteuil/The Gardener of Argenteuil (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1966).


French postcard by Editions Hazan, Paris, 1991, no. 6251. Photo: publicity still for Le cave se rebiffe/Money Money Money (Gilles Grangier, 1961) with Bernard Blier.


Czech collectors card by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague), no. S 125/6, 1966. Publicity still for Un Singe en Hiver/A Monkey in Winter (Henri Verneuil, 1962) with Jean-Paul Belmondo.


French postcard by Finart-Print (DR), no. 304. Photo: publicity still for Le clan des Siciliens/The Sicilian Clan (Henri Verneuil, 1969) with Alain Delon, Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura.


Romanian postcard by Cas Filmului Acin, no. 436. Photo: publicity still for Le clan des Siciliens/The Sicilian Clan (Henri Verneuil, 1969) with Lino Ventura and Alain Delon.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 152/72. Photo: Unifrance Film. Publicity still for Le soleil des voyous/Leather and Nylon (Jean Delannoy, 1967).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 2917, 1967. Photo: Unifrance Film. Publicity still for Le soleil des voyous/Leather and Nylon (Jean Delannoy, 1967).


Trailer La grande Illusion/The Grand Illusion (1937). Source: Danios 12345 (YouTube).


Trailer for French Cancan (1955). Source: BFI Trailers (YouTube).


Trailer En Cas de Malheur (1958). Source: films7story (YouTube).


Trailer Le clan des Siciliens/The Sicilian Clan (1969). Source: Dicfish (YouTube).

Sources: James Travers (Films de France), Volker Boehm (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

In the section 'Recovered and Restored', Cinema Ritrovato presents Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Bob Rafelson. It is one of my favourite Jack Nicholson films. He became my hero when I saw him in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) during high school. In both films he was the guy who rebels against the social structure. Since then he played countless anti-heroes and villains. Although Nicholson has performed in films for over sixty years now and received 12 (yes twelve!) Oscar nominations, I still have a soft spot for these two films he made in the first half of the 1970s.


French postcard in the Collection Cinéma Couleur by Editions Le Malibran, Paris, 1989, no. MC 24. Photo: Douglas Kirkland. Caption: Jack Nicholson (1973).


Spanish postcard by Foto Parjetas, Madrid, no. FC-225. Photo: Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975).

Class Clown of 1954

Jack Nicholson was born in 1937 as John Joseph Nicholson in Neptune City, New Jersey. He was the son of a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson). She married Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) in 1936, before realising that he was already married.

Biographer Patrick McGilligan stated in his book 'Jack's Life' that Latvian-born Eddie King, June's manager, may have been Nicholson's biological father, rather than Furcillo. Other sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was. As June was only seventeen years old and unmarried, her parents agreed to raise Nicholson as their own child without revealing his true parentage, and June would act as his sister.

In 1974, Time magazine researchers learned, and informed Nicholson, that his 'sister', June, was actually his mother, and his other 'sister', Lorraine, was really his aunt. By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). On finding out, Nicholson said it was "a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn't what I'd call traumatizing ... I was pretty well psychologically formed".

Before starting high school, his family moved to an apartment in Spring Lake, New Jersey. When Jack was ready for high school, the family moved once more, to old-money Spring Lake, New Jersey's so-called Irish Riviera, where Ethel May set up her beauty parlour. 'Nick', as he was known to his high school friends, attended nearby Manasquan High School, where he was voted 'Class Clown' by the Class of 1954.

In 1957, Nicholson joined the California Air National Guard. After completing the Air Force's basic training, Nicholson performed weekend drills and two-week annual training as a fire fighter. Nicholson first came to Hollywood in 1954, when he was seventeen, to visit his sister. He took a job as an office worker for animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the MGM cartoon studio.

He trained to be an actor with a group called the Players Ring Theater, after which time he found small parts performing on the stage and in TV soap operas. He made his film debut in a low-budget teen drama The Cry Baby Killer (Justus Addiss, 1958), playing the title role. For the following decade, Nicholson was a frequent collaborator with the film's producer, Roger Corman. Corman directed Nicholson on several occasions, most notably in The Little Shop of Horrors (Roger Corman, 1960), as masochistic dental patient and undertaker Wilbur Force, and also in The Raven (Roger Corman, 1963), The Terror (Roger Corman, 1963) as a French officer seduced by an evil ghost, and The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Roger Corman, 1967).

Nicholson also frequently worked with director Monte Hellman on low-budget Westerns, including the cult successes Ride in the Whirlwind (Monte Hellman, 1966) with Cameron Mitchell, and The Shooting (Monte Hellman, 1966) opposite Millie Perkins. Nicholson also appeared in episodes of TV series like Dr. Kildare (1966) and The Andy Griffith Show (1966-1967).

However, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the screenplay for the counterculture film The Trip (Roger Corman, 1967), which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. Nicholson also co-wrote, with Bob Rafelson, Head (Bob Rafelson, 1968), which starred The Monkees. He also arranged the film's soundtrack. Nicholson's first turn in the director's chair was for Drive, He Said (1971).


French postcard by Especially for you, no. Réf. 39. Photo: Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975).


French postcard by Edition Librairie Images 'In', no. H 18. Photo: Jack Nicholson in Goin' South (Jack Nicholson, 1978).

A hero of the counter-culture movement

Jack Nicholson had his acting break when a spot opened up in Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969). Nicholson played liquor-soaked lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination. The film cost only $400,000 to make, and became a blockbuster, grossing $40 million. Overnight, Nicholson became a hero of the counter-culture movement.

Nicholson was cast by Stanley Kubrick, who was impressed with his role in Easy Rider, in the part of Napoleon in a film about his life, and although production on the film commenced, the project fizzled out, partly due to a change in ownership at MGM.

Nicholson starred in Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970) alongside Karen Black. Bobby Dupea, an oil rig worker, became his persona-defining role. Nicholson and Black were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. Critics began speculating whether he might become anotherMarlon Brando or James Dean.

His career and income skyrocketed. Nicholson starred in Carnal Knowledge (Mike Nichols, 1971), which co-starred Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret, and Candice Bergen. Other roles included Billy 'Bad Ass' Buddusky in The Last Detail (Hal Ashby, 1973). For his role, Nicholson won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, and he was nominated for his third Oscar and a Golden Globe.

In 1974, Nicholson starred in Roman Polanski's majestic Film Noir Chinatown, opposite Faye Dunaway. For his role as private detective Jake Gittes, he was again nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor. The role was a major transition from the exploitation films of the previous decade.

One of Nicholson's greatest successes came with his role as Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975). It was an adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel, and co-produced by Michael Douglas. Nicholson plays an anti-authoritarian patient at a mental hospital where he becomes an inspiring leader for the other patients. The film swept the Academy Awards with nine nominations, and won the top five, including Nicholson's first for Best Actor.

Also in that year, Nicholson starred in Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975), which co-starred Maria Schneider. The film received good reviews and revived Antonioni's reputation as one of cinema's great directors. Nicholson took a small role in The Last Tycoon (Elia Kazan, 1976), opposite Robert De Niro. He took a less sympathetic role in Arthur Penn's Western The Missouri Breaks (1976), specifically to work with Marlon Brando.


British postcard by Athena International, Bat, no. 11, 1989, no. 0334341. Photo: DC Comics Inc. Jack Nicholson in Batman (Tim Burton, 1989).


French postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 87. Photo: Jack Nicholson in Batman (Tim Burton, 1989).

The Joker

Although Jack Nicholson did not win an Oscar for Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining (1980), it remains one of his more significant roles. Nicholson improvised his now famous "Here's Johnny!" line, along with the scene in which he's sitting at the typewriter and unleashes his anger upon his wife after she discovers he has gone insane when she looks at his writing ("all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" typed endlessly).

In 1982, he starred as an immigration enforcement agent in The Border (Tony Richardson, 1982, co-starring Warren Oates. Nicholson won his second Oscar, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role of retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, 1983), starring Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. He and MacLaine played many of their scenes in different ways, constantly testing and making adjustments.

Nicholson continued to work prolifically in the 1980s, starring in such films as The Postman Always Rings Twice (Bob Rafelson, 1981), Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981), where Nicholson portrays the writer Eugene O'Neill with a quiet intensity, Prizzi's Honor (John Huston, 1985), The Witches of Eastwick (George Miller, 1987), Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, 1987), and Ironweed (Hector Babenco, 1987) with Meryl Streep. Three Oscar nominations also followed, for Reds, Prizzi's Honor, and Ironweed.

In Batman (Tim Burton, 1989), Nicholson played the psychotic murderer and villain, the Joker. Batman creator Bob Kane personally recommended him for the role. The film was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned him a percentage of the box office gross estimated at $60 million to $90 million.

For his role as hot-headed Col. Nathan R. Jessup in A Few Good Men (Rob Reiner, 1992), a film about a murder in a U.S. Marine Corps unit, Nicholson received yet another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1996, Nicholson collaborated once more with Batman director Tim Burton on Mars Attacks!, pulling double duty as two contrasting characters, President James Dale and Las Vegas property developer Art Land. At first, studio executives at Warner Bros. disliked the idea of killing off Nicholson's character, so Burton created two characters and killed them both off.

Not all of Nicholson's performances have been well received. He was nominated for Razzie Awards as worst actor for Man Trouble (Bob Rafelson, 1992) and Hoffa (Danny DeVito, 1992). However, Nicholson's performance in Hoffa also earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Nicholson went on to win his next Academy Award for Best Actor in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets (1997), his third film directed by James L. Brooks. He played Melvin Udall, a wickedly funny, mean-spirited, obsessive-compulsive novelist. His Oscar was matched with the Academy Award for Best Actress for Helen Hunt, who played a Manhattan wisecracking, single-mother waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a frequent diner in the restaurant. The film was a impressive box office success, grossing $314 million, which made it Nicholson's second-best-grossing film of his career, after Batman.


British postcard by World Postcards, no. X253, 1989. Photo: Albert Watson, 1981. Caption: Jack Nicholson, Snow.


French postcard. Caption: Jack Nicholson luminant un cigare

A return to the dark side

In About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, 2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired Omaha, Nebraska, actuary who questions his own life following his wife's death. His quietly restrained performance earned him another Oscar Nomination. In Anger Management (Peter Segal, 2003), he played an aggressive therapist assigned to help an over pacifist man (Adam Sandler).

In 2003, Nicholson also starred in Something's Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003), as an ageing playboy who falls for the mother (Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend.

In late 2006, Nicholson marked his return to the dark side as Frank Costello, a nefarious Boston Irish Mob boss, based on Whitey Bulger who was still on the run at that time, presiding over Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning film The Departed, a remake of Andrew Lau's Mou gaan dou/Infernal Affairs (2002). The role earned Nicholson worldwide critical praise, along with various award wins and nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2007, Nicholson co-starred with Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List (Rob Reiner, 2007). Nicholson and Freeman portrayed dying men who fulfil their list of goals. Nicholson reunited with James L. Brooks, director of Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good as It Gets, for a supporting role as Paul Rudd's character's father in How Do You Know (2012).

It had been widely reported in subsequent years that Nicholson had retired from acting because of memory loss, but in a September 2013 Vanity Fair article, Nicholson clarified that he did not consider himself retired, merely that he was now less driven to "be out there any more". In 2015, Nicholson made a special appearance as a presenter on SNL 40, the 40th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live.

After the death of boxer Muhammad Ali in 2016, Nicholson appeared on HBO's The Fight Game with Jim Lampley for an exclusive interview about his friendship with Ali. In 2017, it was reported that Nicholson would be starring in an English-language remake of Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016) opposite Kristen Wiig, but Nicholson dropped out of the project.

Jack Nicholson has also directed three films, including The Two Jakes (1990), the sequel to Chinatown. Nicholson is one of three male actors to win three Academy Awards. He also has won six Golden Globe Awards.

He has had a number of high-profile relationships, and was married to actress Sandra Knight from 1962 until their divorce in 1968. Nicholson has five children. His eldest daughter is Jennifer Nicholson (1963), from his marriage to Knight. He has a son, Caleb James Goddard (1970) with actress Susan Anspach, and a daughter, Honey Hollman (1981) with Danish supermodel Winnie Hollman. With Rebecca Broussard, he has two children, Lorraine Nicholson (1990) and Ray Nicholson (1992). Nicholson's longest relationship was the 17 years he spent with actress Anjelica Huston; this ended when Broussard become pregnant with his child.

Jack Nicholson is the only actor to ever play the Devil, the Joker, and a werewolf.


Trailer Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970). Source: ryy79 (YouTube).

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

One of the curosities at Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, I would like to see is Dario Argento's early Giallo Il gatto a nove code/The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) in a restored version. The director himself called it 'his least favourite film', but the public disagreed: in his native Italy it remains his most popular video rental. Stars are Karl Malden, James Franciscus and French actress and singer Catherine Spaak (1945). Who was this now forgotten actress? She started as a Lolita-like vamp in Italian films of the early 1960s, made records and became a teenage star. She played in several classic Italian comedies and was a popular TV host. Spaak is still active on Italian TV, wrote books and has appeared in some 100 films. So I chose her for this Cinema Ritrovato post.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 519.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 91.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

The niece of the Belgian prime minister

Catherine Spaak was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France in 1945. Her father was the Belgian critic and screenwriter Charles Spaak, her mother the actress Claudie Clèves and her sister is actress-photographer Agnès Spaak.

As a teenager, Catherine started her career with small roles in French films like the short L’hiver/The winter (Jacques Gautier, 1959) and the thriller Le Trou/Nightwatch (Jacques Becker, 1960).

When she moved to Italy later that year, her father introduced her to film director Alberto Lattuada, who cast her in his film I dolci inganni/Sweet Deceptions (Alberto Lattuada, 1960). That coming of age film made her a star in Italy. She played a young Roman girl in love, who spends the day observing other lovers' behaviours and considering whether she is ready to jump.

J.C. Mohsen at IMDb: “This film's unpredictability is refreshing. Whether written or filmed, coming-of-age stories often fail to surprise or intrigue the audience. In I Dolci Inganni, most characters seem at first to be crazily entertaining walking clichés, but they later astonish the audience by revealing their depth and their inner struggles.”

From age 15 to 18, Spaak was the lead actress in a dozen films, including La voglia matta/Crazy Desire (Luciano Salce, 1961) opposite Ugo Tognazzi, the classic comedy Il sorpasso/The Easy Life (Dino Risi, 1962) with Vittorio Gassman, La parmigiana/The Girl from Parma (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1963) with Nino Manfredi, and the Alberto Moravia adaptation La noia/The Empty Canvas (Damiano Damiani, 1963) with Horst Buchholz and Bette Davis.

For her performance in La noia she was awarded in 1964 the David di Donatello, the Italian Oscar. Spaak often played the Lolita-type who seduced men, and the Italian scandal press wrote about herself in that way. In their articles, journalists always included that she was the niece of the Belgian prime minister, Paul-Henri Spaak.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 194.


Small Romanian collectors card. Photo: Catherine Spaak in Made in Italy (Nanni Loy, 1965).


Italian postcard by Edizione diesse.

Some highlights of the Commedia all'Italiana

Catherine Spaak’s screen success, combined with her love of singing and guitar playing, led to an offer of the Ricordi label in 1962. She recorded covers of Françoise Hardy originals and songs in Hardy’s style.

Ready steady girls!, the site on Europe’s fab female singers of the 1960s in their bio: “Perdono – written by Gino Paoli (who had worked with stars such as Mina) and arranged by Ennio Morricone– was issued as her debut single and swiftly made the Italian top 20. Vocally, Catherine drew comparisons with France’s newest star, Françoise Hardy, so Ricordi opted to have their young signing record a couple of Hardy songs for the Italian market. Issued in 1963, the bilingual Tous les garçons et les filles (Quelli della mia età) – backed with J’ai jeté mon coeur (Ho scherzato con il cuore) – gave Hardy’s original a run for its money, reaching number seven in September 1963 and confirming Catherine as a new star.”

In 1964, she returned to France to appear in La Ronde (Roger Vadim, 1964) and the war drama Week-end à Zuydcoote/Weekend at Dunkirk (Henri Verneuil, 1964) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Back in Italy she played in some more highlights of the Commedia all'Italiana such as L'armata Brancaleone/Brancaleone's Army (Mario Monicelli, 1965) featuring Vittorio Gassman, and Made in Italy (Nanni Loy, 1965).

Other notable appearances include L'uomo dei cinque palloni/Break up (Marco Ferreri, 1965) starring Marcello Mastroianni, and La matriarca/The Libertine (Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1968) with Jean-Louis Trintignant.

In 1967 she went to Hollywood to play Rod Taylor’s love interest in Hotel (Richard Quine, 1967), based on the novel by Arthur Hailey.Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “Once she came to Hollywood, however, Spaak was packaged and promoted as just another foreign starlet, interchangeable with Claudia Cardinale, Camilla Sparv, Elke Sommer and the rest of the batch.”

The result was not a success and soon she was back in Italy. Two years later she did a cameo in another Hollywood production, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (Mel Stuart, 1969).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 25. Photo: Catherine Spaak and Philippe Leroy in the crime comedy La notte è fatta per... rubare/Night Is Made for Stealing (Giorgio Capitani, 1968).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 105. Catherine Spaak and Philippe Leroy in La notte è fatta per... rubare/Night Is Made for Stealing (Giorgio Capitani, 1968), which evolves in Montecarlo.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 24/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: Catherine Spaak in La notte è fatta per... rubare /Night Is Made for Stealing (Giorgio Capitani, 1968).

The Cat of Nine Tails

Seeking a new direction, Catherine Spaak joined fellow singer Johnny Dorelli in the operetta 'La vedova allegra' (The Merry Widow) in 1968. The pair went on to enjoy a lasting relationship, both personally and professionally. They enjoyed success as a duo with 'Song sung blue' (1972) and 'Una serata insieme a te' (1973).

During the early 1970s, she continued to appear in many Italian films, but they became less interesting. She starred with Karl Malden and James Franciscus in the Giallo Il gatto a nove code/The Cat o' Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971). A reviewer at IMDb call ist "an entertaining and clever thriller that's well worth a look."

In France she made the crime film Un meurtre est un meurtre/A Murder Is a Murder... Is a Murder (Étienne Périer, 1972) with Jean-Claude Brialy. In the American-Italian Western Take a Hard Ride (Antonio Margheriti, 1975), she co-starred with Jim Brown and Lee van Cleef.

From then on, her film appearances became more incidental. In 1978, she had success on stage in the musical 'Cyrano', and would continue to play on stage. She hosted several Italian TV shows such as Forum (1985-1988) and Harem (1989-2002), and wrote articles for newspaper Il corriere della sera and Italian magazines. She also published six books in Italian, such as '26 Donne' (26 women, 1984), 'Un cuore perso' (A lost heart, 1996), 'Lui' (He, 2006) and 'L’amore blu'(Blue Love, 2011).

Her later films include the sex comedy anthology Sunday Lovers (Bryan Forbes, Edouard Molinaro, Dino Risi, Gene Wilder, 1980) as Ugo Tognazzi’s psychoanalyst, Scandalo Segreto/Secret Scandal (Monica Vitti, 1989) and Tandem (Lucio Pellegrini, 2000) starring the comic duo Luca & Paolo.

More recently she was seen in the film Alice (Oreste Crisostomi, 2009), the BBC mini-series Zen (John Alexander, Jon Jones, Christopher Menaul, 2011) starring Rufus Sewell as detective Aurelio Zen and Spaak as his Mamma, and the film I più' grandi di tutti/The greatest of all (Carlo Virzì, 2012).

Catherine Spaak was married to actor and producer Fabrizio Capucci (1963-1971) and Italian singer-actor Johnny Dorelli (1972-1979). Her present husband is actor Orso Maria Guerrini. With Capucci, she has a daughter, stage actress Sabrina Capucci (1963), and with Dorelli a son, Gabriele Dorelli.


Italian collectors card by La Rotografica Romana. Edito dalla Nat Nuova Alta Tensione.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), CatherineSpaak.eu, Ready Steady Girls!, Wikipedia (Italian, French, German and English) and IMDb.

In 1935, the arrival of Becky Sharp, the first feature-length Technicolor film, forever changed the vision of film viewers around the world. The three colours of the new process were so beautiful they could transcend the reality. Not only had cinema made the coveted technological achievement of colour reproduction, but the process also made such brilliant and blazing colours that it perhaps was the most dazzling technology that audiences had ever experienced since the arrival of sound! It instantly became a new, richly nuanced means of expression. Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian, 1935), featuring the great Miriam Hopkins (1902-1972), is one of the highlights of the In search of colour programme at Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna. Hopkins had joined Paramount in 1930, after ten years on the stage as a successful actress. She soon became one of Hollywood's top-ranking stars. When her film career slowed in the 1940s, she returned to the stage, and during the 1950s she added television to her repertoire.


French postcard by Editions EC, Paris, no. 504. Photo: RKO. Miriam Hopkins in Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian, 1935).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5976/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount. Maurice Chevalier and Miriam Hopkins in The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch, 1931).

A rebellious girl as a good start

Ellen Miriam Hopkins was born into wealth in Savannah, Georgia in 1902. Her parents were Homer Hopkins and Ellen Cutler.

She spent most of her formative years with her maternal grandmother. After her parents separated, she moved as a teen with her mother to Syracuse, New York to be near her uncle, Thomas Cramer Hopkins, head of the geology department at Syracuse University.

She attended Goddard Seminary in Barre, Vermont and Syracuse University. Upon graduation, she decided to become a ballet dancer. Studying dance in New York, she received her first taste of show business as a chorus girl at twenty.

Hopkins appeared in Broadway revues and vaudeville before she began expanding her horizons by trying out dramatic roles four years later. By 1928, Miriam was appearing in stock companies on the East Coast and her reviews were getting better after having been vilified earlier in her career.

In 1930, Miriam decided to try the silver screen and signed with Paramount Studios. Since she was already established on Broadway, Paramount felt they were getting a seasoned performer after the rave reviews she had received on Broadway. Her first role was opposite Carole Lombard in Fast and Loose (Fred C. Newmeyer, 1930). Her role as a rebellious girl was a good start.


French postcard by EPC, no. 116. Photo: Paramount.


British postcard by De Reszke Cigarettes, no. 36. Photo: Radio (RKO).

A talent that had all the earmarks of stardom

Miriam Hopkins was killed by her husband (Regis Toomey) in 24 Hours (Marion Gering, 1931). She played Princess Anna in The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch, 1931) opposite Maurice Chevalier. Still considered a newcomer, Miriam displayed a talent that had all the earmarks of stardom.

She was to finish out the year by playing the prostitute Ivy Pearson in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) featuring Fredric March. She received rave reviews, but because of the character's and film's potential controversy, many of her scenes were cut before the official release, reducing her screen time to about five minutes.

Miriam began filming The World and the Flesh (John Cromwell, 1932) with George Bancroft, which was not a box-office blockbuster. Later, she appeared in Dancers in the Dark (David Burton, 1932) with George Raft. The film was unexpectedly strong and enjoyable which served as a catalyst to propel Miriam and Raft to bigger stardom.

In Two Kinds of Women (William C. de Mille, 1932), Hopkins once again performed magnificently. Later that year she played beautiful and jealous pickpocket Lily Vautier in the sophisticated comedy Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932) with Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall. Denny Jackson at IMDb: "A film that should have been nominated for an Academy Award, it has lasted through the years as a masterpiece in comedy - even today, film buffs and historians rave about it."

Miriam's brilliant performance opposite Fredric March and Gary Cooper in Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933) propelled her to the top of Paramount's salary scale. Later that year, she played the title role in The Story of Temple Drake (Stephen Roberts, 1933). Paramount was forced to tone down the film's violence and character being raped to pass the Hayes Office code. Despite being watered down, it was still a box-office smash.

In 1934, Miriam filmed All of Me (James Flood, 1934) which was less than well-received. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the historical drama Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian, 1935). The film was considered a landmark in cinema as the first feature film to use the newly developed three-strip Technicolor production throughout.

She also starred in the drama These Three (William Wyler, 1936) with Joel McCrea and Bonita Granville. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman was based on her 1934 play 'The Children's Hour'. It was the first of four films, Hopkins would make with director William Wyler.


British Real Photograph postcard by Milton Postcard, no. 41. Photo: Paramount Pictures.


British Real Photograph postcard. Photo: London Film Productions. Miriam Hopkins in Men Are Not Gods (Walter Reisch, 1936).

Two divas in a boxing ring, gloves up

Soon, the country was abuzz as to who would play Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Miriam Hopkins was Mitchell's first choice to play Scarlett. Hopkins wanted the coveted spot especially since she was a Southern lady and Georgia native. Unfortunately, as we all know, she didn't win the role.

As a matter of fact, her only film role that year was in The Old Maid (Edmund Goulding, 1939) starring opposite her arch-enemy, Bette Davis. By this time, the roles were only trickling in for her. With the slowdown in film work, Miriam Hopkins found herself returning to the stage.

She made two films in 1940, none in 1941, and one in 1942 and 1943, respectively. Hopkins had well-publicised fights with Bette Davis, when they costarred again in Old Acquaintance (1943). Davis admitted to enjoying very much a scene in which she shakes Hopkins forcefully when Hopkins's character makes unfounded allegations against Davis's. Press photos were even taken with the two divas in a boxing ring, gloves up, and director Vincent Sherman between them like a referee. Davis described Hopkins as a "terribly good actress", but also "terribly jealous" in later interviews.

For Hopkins, the stage was her work now. However, in 1949, she received the role of Lavinia Penniman in The Heiress (William Wyler, 1949), starring Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift.

Hopkins made only three films in the 1950s, but she had begun making appearances on such television programmes as The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949), Pulitzer Prize Playhouse (1951), and Lux Video Theatre (1951-1955). She later guest-starred on dramatic series like The Outer Limits (1964) and an episode of The Flying Nun (1969).

Hopkins made her final big screen appearance in the horror thriller Savage Intruder (Donald Wolfe, 1970) as an ageing, drunken and washed-out film star living in a decaying mansion in Hollywood Hills.

In July 1972, despite concerns about her health and a premonition that she shouldn't travel, she flew to New York to attend the special screening of Story of Temple Drake, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Paramount Pictures, followed by a gala party in her honour at the Museum of Modern Art. Just as she had feared, she suffered a major heart attack and died in her hotel suite before getting back to her California home. She was 69.

Hopkins had married and divorced four times. Her husbands were Brandon Peters (1926-1928), Austin Parker (1928-1932), film director Anatole Litvak (1937-1939), and Raymond Benton Brock (1945-1951). In 1932, at a time when single-parent adoption was illegal in most states, she adopted a baby boy while between marriages. She adored her son, Michael, and always called him the most important man in her life.


French postcard by EPC, no. 116. Photo: Paramount.

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Herman Seifer (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

We're in Bologna, Italy, and like every year, EFSP follows Cinema Ritrovato! This festival we like to discover the genius of Neapolitan actor-director Eduardo De Filippo (1900-1985) as filmmaker in Cinécitta. This towering, multifaceted figure of Italian culture was best known for his plays Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria. He began to direct films in 1940. During the 1950s, he turned out a string of successful light comedies, many based on his own plays. In addition to writing and directing his own films, he also wrote or collaborated on films with such directors as Vittorio De Sica.


Italian postcard.


Italian postcard. Film scene with at left Titina de Filippo and right Eduardo De Filippo. In between them an unknown actress.


Italian postcard.

Do not pay!

Eduardo De Filippo was born in Naples, Italy in 1900. He was the illegitimate son of actor/playwright Eduardo Scarpetta and theatre seamstress/costumer Luisa De Filippo. His sister was actress Titina De Filippo and his brother actor/writer Peppino De Filippo.

Eduardo began acting at the age of four or five, the sources differ. According to Italica, the website of Rai International, he made his debut in 1904 as a Japanese child in La geisha (The Geisha), written by his father. The next year, he was Peppiniello in his father's comedy Miseria e Nobiltà (Poverty and Nobility).

In 1914 he joined the regular staff of his step-brother Eduardo Scarpetta's theatre company, where he stayed until 1920 when he was called up for military service. In 1922, on completing his military service, he resumed his acting career in the theatre.

Like his father, he also started to write for the stage. Among his early plays are Farmacia di turno (The All-night Chemist, 1920), Uomo e galantuomo (Man and Gentleman, 1922), Requie a l'anema soja/I morti non fanno paura (May his soul rest, 1926) and Filosoficamente (Philosophically, 1928).

In the early 1930s he wrote Ogni anno punto e da capo (Every Year Back from the Start, 1931), È arrivato 'o trentuno (The 31st is Here, 1931), Natale in casa Cupiello (Christmas at the Cupiello's, 1931) and La voce del padrone/Il successo del giorno (Success of the Day, 1932).

In 1932 he formed a theatre company with his brother Peppino and sister Titina, called compagnia del Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo.

From 1933 they also appeared in films. In the French-Italian comedy Tre uomini in frack/Three Lucky Fools (Mario Bonnard, 1933), Eduardo co-starred with opera tenor Tito Schipa and French actor Fred Pasquali.

It was followed by Il cappello a tre punte/Three Cornered Hat (Mario Camerini, 1934) and Quei due (Gennaro Righelli, 1935). He started to directed the comedies he starred in, like In campagna è caduta una stella/In the Country Fell a Star (Eduardo De Filippo, 1939).

With Titina and Peppino De Filippo, he played in the comedy Non ti pago!/Do not pay! (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1942), which he also co-wrote. The trio enjoyed success in both mediums, but broke up soon after World War II ended.


Italian postcard. Photo: publicity still of Casanova farebbe così/Casanova Would Do It That Way! (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1942) with Peppino and Eduardo De Filippo and in between them Clelia Matania.


Italian postcard. Eduardo De Filippo and Totó in one of their many comedies.


Italian postcard. Photo of Titina, Eduardo and Peppino De Filippo.

Life Begins Anew

Eduardo De Filippo founded the Compagnia di Eduardo, which in 1946 staged Questi fantasmi (Ghosts - Italian Style), followed by the hugely successful Filumena Marturano, which was to become the most famous role of his sister Titina.

Other plays were Napoli milionaria (The Millions of Naples, 1945), Le voci di dentro (Inner Voices, 1948), Mia famiglia (Family of Mine, 1955) and Sabato, domenica e lunedì (Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 1959).

In the cinema he appeared with Alida Valli and Fosco Giachetti in the drama La vita ricomincia/Life Begins Anew (Mario Mattoli. 1945). It was the second most popular Italian film of the year after Roberto Rossellini's Paisan.

He also appeared in dramas like Assunta Spina/Scarred (Mario Mattoli, 1948) starring Anna Magnani, but De Filippo is better known for his comedies like Napoli milionaria/The Millions of Naples (Eduardo De Filippo, 1950) based on his own play, Filumena Marturano (Eduardo De Filippo, 1951) featuring Titiana and the anthology film L'oro di Napoli/The Gold of Naples (Vittorio De Sica, 1954). In a segment with Tina Pica he played ‘professor’ Ersilio Micci, a ‘wisdom seller’ solving problems.

In 1964, Filomena Maurano was filmed again as Matrimonio all'italiana/Marriage Italian Style (Vittorio De Sica, 1964) starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

One of De Filippo’s most successful films as a director was Fortunella/Happy-go-lucky Girl (Eduardo De Filippo, 1958) featuring Giulietta Massina. Other interesting films are L'amore più bello/The Most Beautiful Love (Glauco Pellegrini, 1958) with Alida Valli and child star Edoardo Nevola, the war drama Tutti a casa/ Everybody Go Home (Luigi Comencini, 1960) with Alberto Sordi, and the fantasy Fantasmi a Roma/Ghosts of Rome (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1961) starring Marcello Mastroianni.

Later he mostly appeared on television. In 1973 his play Sabato, domenica e lunedi (Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 1959), was put on at the Old Vic theatre in London. The production directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Laurence Olivier, won the London drama critics' award.

In 1981, Eduardo De Filippo was appointed life senator of the Italian Republic. He died four years later in Rome at the age of 84.

His last screen appearance was in the TV mini-series Cuore/Heart (Luigi Comencini, 1984) with Johnny Dorelli.

De Filippo was married three or maybe four times: to Vanna Polverosi (?), Dorothy Pennington (1928-1956), Thea Prandi (1956-1959), with whom he had two children, and to Isabella Quarantotti (1977-1984). His artistic legacy has been carried over by his son, Luca De Filippo.

His plays are often used for TV films, such as Filumena Marturano (Franza Di Rosa, 2010) featuring Mariangela Melato and Sabato, domenica e lunedì/Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Franza Di Rosa, 2012) with Massimo Ranieri.


Peppino De Filippo. Italian postcard in the series Gli Artisti di Napoli.


Italian postcard in the series Gli Artisti di Napoli.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 969. Photo: ENIC. Eduardo De Filippo in Traviata '53 (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1953).

Sources: Gianluca Toscano (IMDb), Italica, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Cinema Ritrovato presented this week Rendez-nous Musidora!, a rich programme focusing on the French mega-star. With her heavily kohled dark eyes, somewhat sinister make-up, pale skin and exotic wardrobes, Musidora (1889-1957) created an unforgettable vamp persona. Musidora is best known for her roles in the Louis Feuillade serials Les Vampires (1915-1916) as Irma Vep (an anagram for ‘vampire’), the voluptuous leader of a gang of criminals, and in Judex (1917) as Marie Verdier. At a time when many women in the film industry were relegated to acting, Musidora also achieved some success as a producer and director. Later she became a journalist and wrote about cinema. This is our final Cinema Ritrovato 2019 post. Arrivederci!


French cigarette card by Cigarettes Le Nil, no. 38. Photo: H. Manuel.


French postcard by Editions Gordon & Cie., Vincennes (Seine).


French postcard by Editions Sid, Paris, no. 8039. Photo: G.I. Manuel Frères.

Gift of the Muses

Musidora was born Jeanne Roques in Paris, France in 1889. She was raised by a feminist mother and socialist father.

She began her career in the arts at an early age, writing her first novel at the age of fifteen and acting on the stage with the likes of Colette, one of her lifelong friends. She performed in revues at French music halls and cabarets, such as the Folies Bergère, Concert Mayol, and La Cigale. Jeanne adopted the stage name Musidora (Greek for 'gift of the muses'), after the heroine in Théophile Gautier's novel Fortunio.

She made her film debut already around 1909, but in 1914, she started to appear regularly in short silent films like Les miseres de l'aiguille/The misery of the needle (Raphael Clamour, 1914). She starred in a few silent films by Gaston Ravel, including La bouquetière des Catalans/The Flower Girl of Catalonia (Gaston Ravel, 1914) and Le trophée du Zouave/The Zouave trophy (Gaston Ravel, 1915).

She also began to work with the highly successful film director Louis Feuillade, and appeared in a dozen of his short silent films for Gaumont. These included Severo Torelli (Louis Feuillade, 1914), Tu n'épouseras jamais un avocet/You will never marry a lawyer (Louis Feuillade, 1914) featuring Marcel Lévesque, Le calvaire/The Calvary (Louis Feuillade, 1914) with René Navarre, and Les noces d'argent/Silver Wedding (Louis Feuillade, 1915) with Édouard Mathé.

Musidora then appeared in his hugely successful serial Les Vampires/The Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915-1916) as cabaret singer Irma Vep opposite Édouard Mathé as crusading journalist Philippe Guerande.
Musidora’s mystique was accentuated in Les Vampires by her large, dark eyes and wearing a black leotard, hood and tights. Les Vampires was not actually about vampires, but about a criminal gang-cum-secret society inspired by the exploits of the real-life Bonnot Gang.

Irma Vep was adored by the surrealists, who deemed her both an embodiment of cinema itself and the projection of the deepest truth of the time. A modern fairy, a haunting enigma made flesh, night incarnate in her black silk catsuit, a bewitching shadow, the elusive and wild character of Irma Vep, with her dark-eyed gaze and seductive silhouette, made the actress Musidora immortal.

Besides playing a leading role in the Vampires' crimes, Irma Vep also spends two episodes under the hypnotic control of Moreno, a rival criminal who makes her his lover and induces her to assassinate the Grand Vampire. The series used gadgets like poison rings, poison fountain pens, cabinets with fake back panels etc. It was an immediate success with French cinema-goers and ran in 10 installments until 1916.

After the Les Vampires serial, Musidora starred in Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1917), another popular Feuillade serial filmed in 1916 but delayed for release until 1917 because of World War I. Judex is a twelve part serial following the adventures of the masked vigilante Judex (René Cresté) as he fights against criminals led by the corrupt banker Favrauxom. Les Vampires and Judex have been lauded by critics like André Bazin as the birth of avant-garde cinema and cited by filmmakers as Fritz Lang and Luis Buñuel as being extremely influential in their desires to become directors.


French postcard by Maury's International Attraction Circuit. Photo: publicity still for Severo Torelli (Louis Feuillade, 1914). Severo Torelli was a French silent feature, produced by Gaumont and based on a 1883 play by François Coppée. Fernand Herrmann played the title role and the female lead was for Renée Carl (Dona Pia). Musidora played Portia.


Musidora as Irma Vep in Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915-1916). Collection: The Island of Cinema @ Flickr.

The most deserving girl of France

Musidora also starred in films by other directors, like in Le pied qui étreint (Jacques Feyder, 1916) - a funny send-up of the Feuillade's serials, the silent adventure film Les chacals/The Jackals (André Hugon, 1917), starring André Nox, La jeune fille la plus méritante de France/The most deserving girl of France (Germaine Dulac, 1918), and Mademoiselle Chiffon (André Hugon, 1919), with Suzanne Munte.

Apart from her acting career, she became a film producer and director under the tutelage of her mentor, Louis Feuillade. Her first film was an adaptation of a novel by her friend Colette, La vagabonda/The Vagabond (Musidora, Eugenio Perego, 1918). Between the late 1910s and early 1920s, she directed ten films, all of which are lost with the exception of two: the tragic romance Soleil et ombre/Sol y sombre/Sun and Shadow (Jaime De Lasuen, Musidora, 1922) and La terre des taureaux/La tierra de los toros/The Land of the Bulls (Musidora, 1924), both of which were filmed in Spain, starring the Cordoban mounted bullfighter Antonio Cañero.

In Italy, she produced and directed La Flamme Cachée/The Hidden Flame (Roger Lion, Musidora, 1918) based on another work by Colette. At a time when many women in the film industry were relegated to acting, Musidora achieved a degree of success as a producer and director.

Annette Förster writes in an article at Women Film Pioneers Project: “While her films were favorably reviewed in the press, Musidora as producer reputedly only lost money on them. It remains unclear whether this was due to the terms of her contract, as she claimed in a 1946 interview with Renee Sylvaire, or to the fact that the films failed at the box office.”

Her final film role was as Delilah in the drama Le berceau de dieu/The Cradle of God (Fred LeRoy Granville, 1926) After her career as an actress was over, she focused on writing and producing. Her last film was an homage to her mentor Feuillade entitled La Magique Image/The Magic Image (1950), which she both directed and starred in.

Late in her life she would occasionally work in the ticket booth of the Cinematheque Francaise. Few patrons realised that the older woman in the foyer might be starring in the film they were watching.

At 68, Musidora died in Paris, France in 1957 and was laid to rest in the Cimetière de Bois-le-Roi. Musidora was married to Dr. Clément Marot from 1927 till 1944. The union produced one child, Clément Marot Jr.


French postcard, no. 67. Caption: Le Tréport - Le Repos de la Pêcheuse de Crevettes. (Le Tréport - The Rest of the Shrimp Fisherwoman). Collection: Marlène Pilaete.


French postcard in the Nos Artistes dans leur loge series. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Beth Ann Gallagher (Flickr).


French collectors card in the series 'Portrait de Stars; L'encyclopédie du Cinéma' by Edito Service, 1992. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Française. Caption: Musidora, 1915, France.

Sources: Annette Förster (Women Film Pioneers Project), Bobb Edwards (Find A Grave), Wikipedia, and IMDb.