European Film Star Postcards

American actor Jackie Coogan (1914-1984) began as a child actor in silent films. He was Charlie Chaplin's irascible sidekick in The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921) and played the title role in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922). In 1924, the popular child star made a charity tour through Europe of which remarkably many postcards were published.

Jackie Coogan, on board of SS Leviathan in 1924. French postcard by A.N. in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series, Paris, no. 88. Photo: Rol. On 4 November 1924, Jackie went back to the US on the SS Leviathan, after his European tour of September-October that year, visiting London, Paris, Rome, Athens, Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin. He had come with the same boat, wearing a cap from the boat during his tour.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, 922/1. Photo: Rembrandt, Berlin. The photo was taken in Berlin during Coogan's European tour in 1924. The man at the left is Coogan's father, John Henry Coogan Jr.

Jackie Coogan in Berlin. The man at the far left is Coogan's father. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 923/1. Photo: C. Fernstädt, Berlin.

Using his status for a humanitarian cause

According to Wikipedia, Jackie Coogan toured across the United States and Europe in 1924 on a "Children's Crusade", working with Near East Relief (NER). The tour was part of his fundraising drive, which provided more than $1 million in clothing, food, and other contributions (worth more than $13 million in 2012 dollars), funds raised for Armenian and Greek Genocide Orphans.

In addition, the tour promoted Coogan's film A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924), which, oddly enough, takes place in the Netherlands and not in Belgium of which Flanders is a part. Coogan was also dressed up in a typical Volendamer (Dutch) folkloristic outfit. In The Netherlands, the film was therefore rebaptised 'Een Hollandsche jongen' (A Dutch Boy).

According to the newspapers, September 1924 Coogan docked in Southampton and then visited London, Paris, Rome, and Athens. After ten days of holidays early October in Semmering (Austria), the trip continued to Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin. Attempts to have him visit Amsterdam as well failed.

Coogan was honored by officials in the United States, Greece, and Rome, where he had an audience with Pope Pius XI. He also had a 15-minute meeting with Benito Mussolini, who gave him an autographed photo inscribed "Al Piccolo Grande" (To the Little Great One). There were demonstrations against his visit to Vienna in October 1924 because some people on the far right believed he was Jewish. He was in fact of Irish Catholic descent.

Coogan may well have been the first star using his status for a humanitarian cause. After a return to Paris, Jackie Coogan and his father took the ship back to the US on 4 November, as he had to work from 28 October on the film sets again.

Jackie Coogan ans his father travelling to/from Berlin

Jackie Coogan and his father travelling to Berlin. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 923/2. Photo: C. Fernstädt, Berlin.

Held by his father, Jackie Coogan waves to his fans from the balcony of the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, October 1924. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 923/3. Photo: C. Fernstädt, Berlin.

Part of the 1924 charity tour of Jackie Coogan through Europe. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 924/3. Photo: C. Fernstädt, Berlin.

Part of the 1924 charity tour of Jackie Coogan through Europe. Mark the cap from the ocean liner Leviathan with which he traveled to and from Europe. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 924/4. Photo: C. Fernstädt, Berlin.

Jackie Coogan in A Boy of Flanders (1924)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 669/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

French pop singer Sylvie Vartan (1944) was one of the first rock girls in France. She was the diva of the yé-yé genre. With Johnny Hallyday, she formed France's Golden Couple of their generation, and they performed in several films, together and apart. With her slick stage shows, her sequined costumes, and her sheer professionalism she has become a national icon in France.

West-German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/267 Photo: Neuvecelle.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 482. Photo: Jean Marie Perier.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 507. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2051. Photo: Raymond Depardon / Gamma.

French promotion card by RCA.

The Twisting Schoolgirl

Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskretz near Sofia, Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian was a Bulgarian of Armenian descent. He worked as an attache at the French embassy in Sofia. Her mother, Illona Vartanian, was Hungarian.

In September 1944, when the Soviet Army occupied Bulgaria, the Vartan family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. A friend of father Georges offered Sylvie a role of a schoolgirl in his film Pod igoto/Under the Yoke (Dako Dakovski, 1952). The film was about Bulgarian rebels against the Turkish occupation. Being a part of the film had a lasting impression on her and made her dream of becoming an entertainer.

The family emigrated to Paris in December 1952. By the example of her brother, professional trumpeter and later artistic director at RCA records Eddie Vartan, teenage Sylvie's main interest was music. In 1961 Eddie offered Sylvie to record the song 'Panne d'essence' (Out of gas) with the French rocker Frankie Jordan. It was a surprise hit and provided her first appearance on French TV.

Journalists gave her the nickname "La lycéenne du twist". After "the Twisting Schoolgirl" had finished the Lycée Victor Hugo (Victor Hugo School), she signed a solo recording contract with RCA. Her first single 'Quand le film est triste', covering Sue Thompson's 'Sad movies' was a hit in December 1961.

Soon followed more hits like her version of 'The Loco-Motion' and 'Tous mes copains'. Six of her thirty-one songs released in 1962 became top 20 hits in Europe. A small part as a singer in Un clair de lune à Maubeuge/Moonlight in Maubeuge (Jean Chérasse, 1962) starring Claude Brasseur was her first film appearance as an adult.

Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Hilversum, no. AX 5643.

French postcard by E.D.U.G. Publicity card for RCA Victor. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, no. 818. Photo: Spitzer.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, no. 939. Photo: Patrick Bertrand.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1092. Photo: Anders.

Short Skirts, Barbarella Boots and the Beatles

In 1962 Sylvie Vartan met Jean-Philippe Smet, better known as Johnny Hallyday, during her second concert in the Olympia. In 1963, after announcing their engagement over the radio, the young couple performed to a noisy audience of 200,000 at La Nation square of Paris.

Sylvie and Johnny appeared together in the film D'où viens-tu, Johnny?/Where Are You From, Johnny? (Noël Howard, 1963). And that year she was voted top French singer in the first pole on the TV programme Salut les copains. The next year, she played a supporting role in the film Patate/Friend of the Family (Robert Thomas, 1964) opposite ;Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux. Being accompanied by the film Cherchez l’idole/The Chase (Michel Boisrond, 1964) with Dany Saval, her song 'La plus belle pour aller danser' sold over a million copies in Japan.

In 1964 Sylvie shared the bill with the Beatles and Trini Lopez at the Olympia.

EFSP co-editor and Vartan fan Marlene Pilaete: "Bruno Coquatrix, Olympia’s owner, had decided to produce a show for teenagers. He chose the Beatles, Sylvie Vartan, and Trini Lopez to be the stars of his show. The show took place from the 16th of January to the 4th of February 1964, twice a day. In Coquatrix’s mind, the three stars were of equal importance and their billing on the programs and on Olympia’s marquee was identical. The same character size was used for the three. No name was in bigger letters than the others.

In the beginning, the order of appearance was this: first the Beatles, then Sylvie Vartan, then Trini Lopez. During the first performances, the Beatles were not badly received but their welcome was not as tremendous as it was in Great Britain. It was different from what they had experienced in their native country: there were no hysterical female fans shouting and crying.

But, as days went by, their success became more and more resounding. Coquatrix understood that the Beatles fans were not too happy to see their band sing a few songs and then be replaced by Sylvie Vartan. For Vartan, who was not yet twenty at the time, it was not easy to handle angry Beatles fans. So, Coquatrix decided to change the order of appearance after a few days: it became first Trini Lopez, then Sylvie Vartan, then the Beatles. But there was no change regarding the billing. The three names still appeared in the same size."

Sylvie made numerous US TV appearances and an international concert tour, including Canada, South America, and Japan. In 1965 Sylvie and Johnny were married in Loconville. They had a son David Michael Benjamin, known now as singer David Hallyday. In 1968 Sylvie suffered a traffic accident but was back on tour in August.

No longer a shy young yé-yé girl but a sexy dancer, more into cabaret than rock & roll. She appeared often on French and Italian TV, dressed in short skirts and Barbarella boots. In Italy, she had huge hits with 'Zum zum zum' in 1968 and 'Irrestibilmente' in 1969. She continued with intensive performing and recording.

Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan in D'où viens-tu... Johnny (1963)

French postcard by Encyclopédie du Cinéma, no. EDC 552 Vis. 6. Photo: Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan in D'où viens-tu... Johnny?/Where Are You From, Johnny? (Noël Howard, 1963).

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 329. Photo: Sam Lévin / RCA Victor.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 276. Offered by André. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 329. Photo: Sam Lévin / RCA Victor.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1116. Photo: Kasparian.

French postcard by PSG, no. 453 Photo: Philippe d'Argence / RCA Victor.

Going Disco

Sylvie Vartan returned on the screen opposite Mathieu Carrière and Orson Welles in the cult film Malpertuis/The Legend of Doom House (1971, Harry Kümel). She also appeared in two documentaries by Francois Reichenbach, J’ai tout donné/I’ve given everything (1971) and Mon Amie Sylvie/My Friend Sylvie (1972).

Musically, she had a hit in 1976 with the John Kongos' cover 'Qu'est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes?', topping the French charts for several weeks. She went disco with a single called 'Disco Queen' in 1978. Marlene Pilaete: "I’ve bought that single at the time and I still have it. But, contrary to her colleague Sheila, Vartan never really warmed to disco and her next two singles, 'Solitude' and 'Fantaisie', were not disco. She came back to disco once with 'I don’t want the night to end' in 1979 and then completely gave up that style of music. She never really had her disco era."

In 1980, after several widely publicised disagreements, Sylvie and Johnny finally divorced. After releasing 'Love again' in duet with John Denver, a #85 single on Billboard Hot 100 in 1984, Vartan took a break in show business. In 1990 she gave a concert at the Palace of Culture of Sofia, opening and closing with a Bulgarian song. This was her first visit to the city after her emigration.

After her brother Eddie from a brain haemorrhage in 2001, she took another break in performing public. In the fall of 2004, she started recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in French-speaking countries and Japan. Her last film appearances were in L’ange noir/The Black Angel (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 1994) with Michel Piccoli and Tchéky Karyo, and opposite Francis Huster in the TV film Mausolée pour une garce/Mausoleum for a Bitch (Arnaud Sélignac, 2001), adapted from a best-selling novel by Frédéric Dard.

Vartan celebrated her 60th birthday in style in 2004, publishing her autobiography, 'Entre ombre et lumière' (Between Shadow and Light), and releasing a brand new album, simply entitled 'Sylvie'. In the following years, several new albums and tours followed. In 2014 she returned to the screen in the French romantic comedy Tu veux ou tu veux pas/Sex, Love & Therapy (Tonie Marshall, 2014) starring Sophie Marceau and Patrick Bruel.

Since 1984, Sylvie Vartan is married to Italian-American producer Tony Scotti. They have adopted a young Bulgarian girl, Darina. Sylvie Vartan is an aunt to Eddie Vartan's son, actor Michael Vartan.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 499 Photo: Jean-Marie Perier / RCA.

Vintage postcard.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 382. Photo: Philippe D'Argence.

French postcard by PSG, no. 1034. Photo: Laurent Camil / RCA Victor.

With Johnny Hallyday. French postcard by Carterie Artistique et Cinématographique, Pont du Casse, no. ST JH 13.

French postcard by PSG, offered by Corvisart, no. 1194 A. Photo: R. Kasparian / RCA.

Scopitone clip of Sylvie Vartan singing 'Est ce Que Tu Le Sais'. Source: Cheryl Lynn (YouTube).

Sylvie Vartan sings 'La plus belle pour aller danser' in Cherchez l'Idole (1964). Source: win081 (YouTube).

Trailer Malpertuis (1973). Source: Wim Baelus (YouTube).

Sylvie Vartan sings 'Déprime' in Cadence 3 (1983). Source: The Catrate (YouTube).

Sources: RFI Musique (French), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

American singer and actor Fabian Forte (1943) a.k.a. Fabian is a former teen idol from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s who entertained audiences with his music, performances, and films. Eleven of his songs reached the Billboard Hot 100. 20th Century Fox had enjoyed success casting pop stars in films, such as Elvis Presley, and decided to do the same thing with Fabian. Until 1999, he starred in dozens of feature films, television movies, and series.

Dutch postcard, no. 1061.

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Int. Filmpers, Amsterdam (I.F.P.), no. WPS 33 / 261. Photo: Chancellor. Caption: Read "Song Parade". More than 20 song texts every month.

Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4600. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Fabian in Hound-Dog Man (Don Siegel, 1959).

Big Dutch card. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Fabian in North to Alaska (Henry Hathaway, 1959).

The little girls at the hop went wild

Fabiano Anthony Forte, stage name Fabian, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1943. He was the son of Josephine and Dominic Forte; his father was a Philadelphia police officer.

Fabian was discovered in 1957 by Bob Marcucci and Peter DeAngelis, the owners of Chancellor Records. At the time, record producers were looking to the South Philadelphia neighborhoods in search of teenage talents with good looks. Frankie Avalon, also from South Philadelphia, tipped them off about Fabian.

At 15, he won second prize as "The Promising Male Vocalist of 1958". His first local hit was 'Lilli Lou' in 1958. This helped Fabian meet Dick Clark, who agreed to try Fabian at one of Clark's record hops, where singers would perform to teenage audiences. Fabian lip-synched to a song and Clark wrote "the little girls at the hop went wild. They started screaming and yelling for this guy who didn't do a thing but stand there. I've never seen anything like it."

Clark told Marcucci: "you got a hit, he's a star. Now all you have to do is teach him to sing." Clark eventually put the young singer on American Bandstand where he sang 'I'm in Love'. From then he had a series of successes in a short time with songs by composers Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, such as 'I'm a Man' (1958), 'Hound Dog Man' (1959), 'Turn Me Loose' (1959) and his biggest hit 'Tiger' (1959), which reached number 3 on the Billboard charts.

A few years later, he already had a dozen hits, eight albums, and three gold records to his name. His singing career more or less came to an end at the age of eighteen when he bought out his contract with Marcucci. It happened in the wake of the Payola scandal between 1959 and 1962. Forte testified before Congress that his recordings had been doctored electronically to "significantly improve his voice.

Nik Cohn later wrote that the record people had produced "a computer product" with Fabian: "He brought the basic requirements with him - an olive complexion, duck-tail hairdo and assembly-line face [...] They had him dressed up, had him learn how to talk real nice, had his voice trained. They made him really round and flawless like a billiard ball. There was only one catch: he couldn't sing ..."

Vintage postcard.

Belgian collectors card in The Twist Series, no. 2.

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 154.

West-German postcard by Krüger. Photo: Terb Agency.

Posing nude for Playgirl

Fabian signed a deal with 20th Century Fox. The studio had enjoyed success casting teen idol pop stars in films, such as Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. They decided to do the same thing with Fabian. He played his first role in the film drama Hound-Dog Man (Don Siegel, 1959), with Stuart Whitman and Carol Lynley. The film was not a success, but the title song, sung by Fabian, became a hit in 1959.

The studio, however, tried again in two smaller roles, supporting a bigger star – the comedy High Time (Blake Edwards, 1959), with Bing Crosby, and the Western North to Alaska (Henry Hathaway, 1959), with John Wayne. Both films were popular, especially the latter, and in November 1960 his contract with the studio was amended with an increase in salary – it was now a seven-year deal with an option for two films a year.

Controversial was his role as a psychopathic killer in the episode A Lion Walks Among Us (Robert Altman, 1961) of the TV programme Bus Stop. The episode was extremely violent, leading other parties to refuse to broadcast it, and the programme was even discussed in the US Senate. However, the series was good for Fabian's acting career and saw him regarded with more respect. He later said this was his best performance.

Fabian appeared in Five Weeks in a Balloon (Irwin Allen, 1962) with Red Buttons and Barbara Eden. The film was loosely based on the 1863 novel of the same name by Jules Verne. He also played a suitor to James Stewart's daughter in the hit comedy Mr. Hobbs Takes a Holiday (Henry Koster, 1962) and a soldier in the star-studded war film The Longest Day (Andrew Marton, a.o., 1962).

Fabian had not become a film star but was in demand as an actor, appearing in episodes of series like The Virginian, Wagon Train, The Greatest Show on Earth, and The Eleventh Hour. In November 1965, he was contracted by American International Pictures. His first film for the company was alongside Beach Party stars Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in the stock car racing film Fireball 500 (William Asher, 1966). AIP then sent him to Italy to play a role originally intended for Avalon in Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (Mario Bava, 1966), supporting Vincent Price.

Back in the United States, he made another stock car racing film for AIP, Thunder Alley (Richard Rush, 1967), opposite Funicello. His fourth movie for AIP was Maryjane (Maury Dexter, 1968), where Fabian played a school teacher fighting the evils of the marijuana trade. He returned to racing car dramas with The Wild Racers (Daniel Haller, 1968), partly financed by Roger Corman and shot in Europe. This was not a big hit on release but has developed a cult following. In his seventh and last film for AIP, A Bullet for Pretty Boy (Larry Buchanan, 1970), he played gangster Charles Arthur Floyd opposite Jocelyn (Jackie) Lane.

To raise his profile, he posed nude for Playgirl magazine. In 1973, he picked up singing again, only to quit temporarily in 1977 and return in 1981. He performed in the context of numerous revival shows, for example as a trio with Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell. However, he would not reach the popularity of his teenage years. Fabian has been married three times. His first marriage was to model Kathleen Regan in 1966. They had two children together, Christian and Julie, but they divorced in 1979. He married Kate Netter in 1980; they divorced in 1990. In 1998 he married American beauty queen Andrea Patrick. In 2002, Fabian received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, no. 923. Sent by mail in 1963.

West-German postcard by ISV, no. A 98. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès "Carboplane", no. FK 98 A. Editions P.I. was the French license holder for Universum Film AG (Ufa). Photo: Terb Agency / Ufa.

Dutch postcard. Photo: Ufa.

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and German) and IMDb.

Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964) is the first film adaptation in the 1960s of the oriental novels by best-selling 19th-century German writer Karl May. These adventure novels are set in the Orient and the Middle East and feature Kara Ben Nemsi who travels throughout the Ottoman Empire, alongside his friend and servant Hadschi Halef Omar. In Der Schut, Lex Barker stars as Kara Ben Nemsi and Ralf Wolter plays Halef. German-born Hollywood director Robert Siodmak, famous for the Burt Lancaster classics The Killers (1946) and The Crimson Pirate (1952), directed the picture on location in Yugoslavia.

Der Schut (1964) with Dieter Borsche, Chris Howland and Lex Barker

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 2. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Dieter Borsche, Chris Howland and Lex Barker in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "Mister Kara, so good that I meet you. Your friend Galingré was attacked and kidnapped by bandits of the Yellow One. A certain Nirwan visited me on board of my yacht and told me about it .'- 'In these circumstances, I can not travel with you to Egypt of course, Sir David, which will you understand. I will ride to Strumnitza where my kidnapped friend's wife lives ... I need to find the Yellow One'!"

Der Schut (1964) with Lex Barker and Ralf Wolter

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 7. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Publicity still for Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "Do not worry, my good man. We are friends of yours. My Sidi, the famous Kara Ben Nemsi, and I will do everything possible to catch these rogues, the Schut."

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 9. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Renato Baldini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "'Barud, take my knife! '- 'Yes, now it gets better! If someone should like to persecute us, then he just needs to come across the bridge."

Der Schut (1964) with Friedrich von Ledebur

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 13. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Friedrich von Ledebur in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "I am so afraid of the Holy Mübarek, he will be angry that I speak to you, and his ravens will tell him what I told you ... That he warned the people for you ...!"

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 15. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Ralf Wolter and Lex Barker in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "In the evening at home Galingré: 'Halef, I will play a trick on the Mübarek. Therefore, you had to get me bismuth and mercury. From this, I'll make bullets that look like lead bullets but disintegrate during firing. Now I'll load the gun alternately with a bullet made of lead and a fake one ...'"

Der Schut (1964) with Lex Barker, Ralph Wolter and Friedrich von Ledebur

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 16. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Lex Barker, Ralf Wolter and Friedrich von Ledebur in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "The Holy Mübarek faces his opponent, Kara Ben Nemsi. "This blonde Giaur will be punished because he shot a sacred raven. It is the will of Allah!" - You lie, Mübarek. It is not God's will but yours. You're afraid of me because I am a greater magician than you. I want to prove it to you. Here is a gun that shoots more accurately and better than any other. If you can meet with a single bullet, then it should belong to you, Mübarek. Halef, show him the rifle and how to fire it."

Heroic Kara Ben Nemsi

The secretive 'Schut' or 'The Yellow One' (Rik Battaglia) is a bandit king who terrorises a whole region in the land of the Skipetars - modern Albanians, one of the few Balkan people who adopted the Turkish Muslim faith. He controls the land in the disguise of the wealthy Persian carpet merchant Nirwan.

The Schut holds an English aristocrat and a French merchant for a ransom, then he also abducts the beautiful Tschita (Marie Versini), Kara's friend Omar's fiancée. The corrupt police force does not take any action against him.

Heroic Kara Ben Nemsi, the Turkish-Arabic name means 'black(bearded) German' (Lex Barker) tries to find the Schut's hiding-place in the mountains and free the prisoners. But the Schut has many rogues and assassins under his command who make this search long and dangerous.

After unmasking the Mübarek, a local phony 'magician', and dealing with some other ruffians and corruption, Kara Ben Nemsi and Lord Lindsay (Dieter Borsche) with his butler Archie (Chris Howland) set out to finish The Schut off.

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 17. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Friedrich von Ledebur in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "Do you see what's behind the mask of this saint? Halif has torn down his coat and forth came the tattered dress of the supposedly lame and deaf-mute beggar Busra. He was always everywhere and nowhere - despite his ill legs. Not the Ravens have told the Mübarek everything, but he could hear himself what was being said about him."

West-German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 20. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Verleih. Marie Versini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "Let go of me! If you don't want to help me, then at least let me ride away. Let me go, I want to leave!"

West-German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 22. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Verleih. Marie Versini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: Manach returned to the hostel and dragged Chita on. "Hello, shepherd! I've got a pretty little bird that Schut has been waiting for. I'll take her to a cave now. In the meantime, hold my horse!"

West-German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 24. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Verleih. Marie Versini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "You have a visitor, gentlemen! Here sit all those who have disobeyed the Schut. That one, in the grey suit, is Monsieur Galingré, a man with a lot of money, haha!"

Pierre Fromont and Marie Versini in Der Schut (1964)

West-German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 25. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Verleih. Pierre Fromont and Marie Versini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "Monsieur Galingré - for God's sake what are you doing!" - "Don't mind me! Get out of here as fast as you can, or you'll be lost!" - "You'll pay for this, Frenchman, you scoundrel!"

West-German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 26. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Verleih. Marie Versini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: Chita, who escaped from prison as silently as a wildcat, is fighting for life and limb. Her unsuspecting guard is already a dead man.

Marianne Hold and Lex Barker in Der Schut (1964)

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 29. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Marianne Hold and Lex Barker in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "How glad I am that nothing happened to you, Mister Kara (Lex Barker). I heard the shots ...." - 'As you can see, everything went well with this Mübarek, Madame Galingré (Marianne Hold). Fine that you brought the horses. Omar, Halef, and I can immediately do on with the persecution of The Yellow One'."

Der Schut (1964) with Lex Barker, Ralf Wolter and Marianne Hold

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 31. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Lex Barker, Ralf Wolter and Marianne Hold in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "The fully loaded raft. A good target for the bandits, who are hiding between the rocks."

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 36. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Dusan Janicijevic in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "For the last time! Where is my bride Tschita? Where did you drag her?"

Der Schut (1964) with Lex Barker and Marianne Hold

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 37. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Lex Barker and Marianne HoldDer Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "A short break is inserted, so Madame Galingré can recover from the rigors of the raid. The next morning the search for the Yellow One will be continued."

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 39. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Ralf Wolter in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "They have pulled Halef into the canyon lodge and tied him up there. 'Where is Kara holding on? Speak... or! '- But Halef remains silent and resists all threats and beatings."

Karl May's Oriental Cycle

Der Schut was not the first adaptation of the Oriental novels with Kara Ben Nemsi by Karl May. In 1920, May's friends Marie Luise Droop and her husband Adolf Droop among others founded in cooperation with the Karl May Press the production company Ustad-Film.

They produced three silent films: Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses/On the Brink of Paradise (Josef Stein, 1920), Die Todeskarawane/Caravan of Death (Josef Stein, 1920) and Die Teufelsanbeter/The Devil Worshippers (Marie Luise Droop, 1920), all starring Carl de Vogt as Kara Ben Nemsi. These three films are believed to be lost. Due to the low success, Ustad-Film went bankrupt in the following year.

The first sound film was Durch die Wüste/Through the Desert (J.A. Hübler-Kahla, 1936). Kara Ben Nemsi was played by Fred Raupach.

The German-Spanish Die Sklavenkarawane/Caravan of Slaves (Georg Marischka, Ramón Torrado, 1958) and its sequel Der Löwe von Babylon/The Lion of Babylon (Johannes Kai, Ramón Torrado, 1959) were the first colour films. In the first film, Kara Ben Nemsi was played by Viktor Staal and in the second by Helmuth Schneider. In both films, Halef was played by Georg Thomalla and Sir David Lindsay by Theo Lingen.

Famous is the Karl May film wave from 1962–1968, which was one of the most successful German film series ever. Most of these films were made separately by the two competitors Horst Wendlandt and Artur Brauner.

Most of the 17 films of this series were Westerns starring Pierre Brice as Winnetou, beginning with Der Schatz im Silbersee/The Treasure of the Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1962).

Three of the films were based on the Orient cycle. After Der Schut followed Durchs wilde Kurdistan/Wild Kurdistan (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965) and Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen/Kingdom of the Silver Lion (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965). In all three films, Lex Barker starred as Kara Ben Nemsi.

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 40. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Lex Barker and Ralf Wolter in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "Kara, who suddenly missed his faithful servant, has followed in his footsteps, and could free him in time from the clutches of the bandits. Kara now takes each bandit on the grain with his dreaded bear hunter."

West-German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 41. Photo: CCC / Gloria-Verleih. Marie Versini in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: By force, the Schut wants to subdue his beautiful prey. Greed and boundless jealousy surround her in a golden cage. How can I get out of here?, thinks Chita.

Der Schut, Dieter Borsche, Chris Howland

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 43. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Dieter Borsche and Chris Howland in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "'Archibald now what?', Sir Lindsay asks his butler, when The Shoot unexpectedly captures them in a cave, which is located beneath his palace."

Der Schut (1964) with Dieter Borsche and Chris Howland

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 44. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Dieter Borsche and Chris Howland in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "The Lord and his servant won't be shaken by the situation. Archie has in his magical suitcase everything ready to make his Lord's stay in the cave as pleasant as possible."

Der Schut (1964) with Ralf Wolter and Marianne Hold

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 46. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Ralf Wolter and Marianne Hold in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "By a ruse and with the help of Turkish soldiers, the faithful servant Halef can free his beloved Lord, Kara Ben Nemsi, from the hands of the Yellow One, who has imprisoned him."

Lex Barker and Ralf Wolter in Der Schut (1964)

German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 48. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Ralf Wolter and Lex Barker in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "The Farewell Bell Tolls. Kara wants to return to his homeland. Sad Halef says his beloved Lord "Good-bye". 'Sidi, we 'll meet again, when the son of Rih has seen the light of day!'"

German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 921. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Gloria / Schnelle. Marie Versini as Tschita in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964).

German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Rik Battaglia in Der Schut/The Yellow One (Robert Siodmak, 1964).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Marie Osborne Yeats aka Baby Marie Osborne (1911-2010) was the first major child star of American silent films. She was one of the three major American child stars of the Hollywood silent film era along with Jackie Coogan and Baby Peggy (Diana Serra Cary). As an adult, from 1934 until 1950, and now billed as Marie Osborne, she continued in film productions, although she appeared only in uncredited roles. In the 1950s, after retiring from the acting profession, she carved out a second career as a costume designer for Hollywood film.

British postcard by Pathé Frères Cinema Ltd Series. Pathé Exchange was the distributor of Marie's films.

American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Pathé. Publicity postcard for a screening of Daddy's Girl (William Bertram, 1918) in the Town Hall in Danville.

A lucrative contract with Balboa Films by the age of five

Born as Helen Alice Myres in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Roy and Mary Myres. She soon became — under mysterious circumstances — the child of Leon and Edith Osborn, who added the 'e' to her surname, apparently to obscure the adoption. At the suggestion of her foster mother, the girl's name was changed to Marie. Her real father was H.L. Shriver, a man who became a tycoon and left her a substantial inheritance on his death. She was unaware that he was her father until after he had died.

Her foster parents, the Osbornes, introduced their daughter to silent films when they left Colorado to work at Balboa Amusement Company in Long Beach, California. Unable to afford a babysitter, her parents took Baby Marie to the studio. While her parents worked, the little girl played at the studio, and she soon was discovered by actor-director Henry King, who in fact was looking for a boy actor. It was her Dutch bob haircut that attracted his attention.

She was cast as a male toddler in 1The Maid of the Wild (Sherwood MacDonald, 1915) with King acting, She was signed to a lucrative contract with Balboa Films and by the age of five, she was starring in silent films. She went to work with Henry King and writer Clara Beranger. Osborne made her debut credited as Baby Osbourne in the short drama film Kidnapped in New York (J. Stuart Blackton, 1914) starring Barney Gilmore and produced by King.

Her best-remembered film, is Little Mary Sunshine (Henry King, 1916), with King in the male lead. It is also one of her few films which still survive on celluloid. Some of her other films are Sunshine and Gold (Henry King, 1917), When Baby Forgot (Eugene Moore, 1917), Daddy's Girl (William Bertram, 1918) with Lew Cody, Winning Grandma (William Bertram, 1918), The Sawdust Doll (William Bertram, 1919), and Daddy Number Two (dir. unknown, 1919).

At the age of eight, she completed her final film as a child star, Miss Gingersnap (William Bertram, 1919). In all, she was featured or starred in 29 films in a six-year period, including some 7 films directed by Henry King. Most of her films were produced at Diando Studios, the former Kalem Movie Studio in Glendale, California.

Marie Osborne in Little Mary Sunshine (1916)

British postcard in the Pathé Frères Cinema LTD Series. Photo: Pathé. Marie Osborne in Little Mary Sunshine (Henry King, 1916). Caption: The cuddly kid.

16 years working as an extra or as a stand-in

Marie Osborne returned to motion pictures 15 years later. When her first marriage was in trouble, Osborne decided to find work once again in films. She contacted her former mentor, Henry King, asking him to help her find a job. He aided her in obtaining a card with Screen Actors Guild and she registered with Central Casting Corporation.

She appeared as an extra in his film Carolina (Henry King, 1934), starring Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore. This film also featured future child star Shirley Temple in a minor role. After appearing in more than a dozen films, she made her last on-screen appearance in Bunco Squad (Herbert I. Leeds, 1950), starring Robert Sterling and Joan Dixon.

Over the next 16 years, Osborne worked as a film extra, e.g. in The Last Days of Pompeii (Ernest B. Schoedsack, Merian C. Cooper, 1935), or additionally serving as a stand-in for actresses such as Ginger Rogers, Deanna Durbin, and Betty Hutton. During World War II she met her second husband, Murray Yeats, while working at the Hollywood Canteen. As the years passed, she tired of having to call Central Casting daily for extra work so in 1952 she again changed the direction of her career.

She started a new career as a costumer for the Western Costume Company, a clothing supplier for the motion picture industry. She selected and fitted costumes for actresses and extras. In 1954, she became a costumer with 20th Century Fox, later becoming a wardrobe supervisor. Osborne worked on the wardrobes for such films as Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956), How to Murder Your Wife (Richard Quine, 1965) starring Jack Lemmon, The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974), and Harry and Walter Go to New York (Mark Rydell, 1976).

In 1963, Osborne worked as a special costumer for Elizabeth Taylor in the big-budget historical epic, Cleopatra (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963). Osborne retired in 1977 and moved to San Clemente, California.

Osborne married Frank J. Dempsey in 1931. Dempsey was the father of Osborne's only child, Joan (1932). They divorced in 1937. Osborne married 36-year-old actor Murray F. Yeats in 1945 and moved to Sepulveda, California. They remained married until his death in 1975. Marie Osborne Yeats died in 2010 in San Clemente, California, six days after her 99th birthday. She was interred at Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery. Marie was survived by her daughter, Joan, and five grandchildren.

French postcar in the. Les Vedettes du Cinéma series by Editions Filma, no. 43. Photo: Witzel / Films Pathé.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1316/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Loew-Metro-Goldwyn.

Sources: Billy Doyle (Classic Images), Bob Hufford (Find A Grave), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

American film, musical theatre, and television actress Janis Paige (1922) felt out of place in her early Hollywood films. She became a star on Broadway and then returned to Hollywood for a second film career. Beginning in the mid-fifties, she would also make numerous television appearances, as well as star in her own sitcom It's Always Jan. With a career spanning over 60 years, she is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 759. Photo: Warner Bros.

Vintage card.

Black Widow Girl

Janis Paige was born Donna Mae Tjaden in 1922 in Tacoma, Washington. She was singing in public from age 5 in local amateur shows.

She moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and was hired as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen, a studio-sponsored gathering spot for servicemen during World War II. She chose her first name in honor of Elsie Janis, beloved entertainer of the troops during World War I; and Paige was her maternal grandmother's name. United States Army Air Forces pilots flying the P-61 Black Widow chose her as their "Black Widow Girl". In appreciation, she posed as a pin-up model, dressed in an appropriate costume.

A Warner Bros. agent saw her potential and signed her to a contract. One of her first film roles was co-starring in the Warner Brothers film, Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944), where she plays a Warner Brothers messenger girl working at the canteen.

She began co-starring in low-budget musicals, often paired with Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She co-starred in Romance on the High Seas (Michael Curtiz, 1948), the film in which Doris Day made her film debut. Paige later co-starred in adventures and dramas, in which she felt out of place.

Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Paige started out playing rather bland film ingénues, but never seemed to be comfortable in those roles - she had too much snap, crackle and pop to be confined in such a formulaic way." Following her role in Two Gals and a Guy (Alfred E. Green, 1951) with Robert Alda, she decided to leave Hollywood. Paige appeared on Broadway and was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play, 'Remains to Be Seen', co-starring Jackie Cooper.

Italian postcard by Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (B.F.F. Edit.), no. 2104. Photo: Warner Bros.

Dutch postcard by Takken, no. 16. Photo: Warner Bros / MPEA.

The love-starved married neighbour of Bob Hope

Stardom for Janis Paige came in 1954 with her role as Babe in the Broadway musical 'The Pajama Game'. After six years away, Paige returned to Hollywood in Silk Stockings (Rouben Mamoulian, 1957), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. She played an Esther Williams-like aquatic movie star.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "She was permitted one strong number, 'Stereophonic Sound,' with costar Fred Astaire, and copped most of the film's laughs as she slapped herself in the head to get the water out of her ears during interviews."

She also was excellent in the Doris Day comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Charles Walters, 1960), and in Bachelor in Paradise (Jack Arnold, 1961) as the love-starved married neighbour of Bob Hope. A rare dramatic role was as Marion, a sharp-tongued man-hating prostitute, in The Caretakers (Hal Bartlett, 1963).

Craig Butler at AllMovie: "The Caretakers is high camp and therefore a field day for those who prefer their acting performances so far over the top as to be in actual orbit. (...) Although the main drawing card for many will be Joan Crawford - who does not disappoint, down to and including her judo classes for her nurses - the true acting "honors" actually go to Polly Bergen, whose performance is shamelessly out of control; the opening breakdown at the movie theatre must be seen to be believed. Janis Paige also steals a number of scenes."

Janis carried on in summer stock, playing such indomitable roles as Annie Oakley in 'Annie Get Your Gun', Margo Channing in 'Applause', Mama Rose in 'Gypsy', and Adelaide in 'Guys and Dolls'. From the mid-1950s on, Janis also appeared on TV in such series as It's Always Jan (1955), Lanigan's Rabbi (1976), and Trapper John, M.D. (1979).

In the 1990s, among other TV appearances, she had recurring roles on the daytime serials General Hospital (1963) and Santa Barbara (1984). In 2001, she made her last temporary appearance on TV in an episode of Family Law. In 2017 Paige wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter in which she stated that Alfred Bloomingdale had attempted to rape her when she was 22 years old. Last year, she appeared as herself in the documentary Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission (Christopher Johnson, Mariana Coku, 2021).

Paige married three times in her life.in 1947, she married Frank Martinelli. However, the couple divorced again in 1950. Her second marriage was even shorter: in January 1956, she married Arthur Stander but divorced him again in June 1957. With her third marriage, she really seemed to have found happiness. In 1962, she married Disney composer Ray Gilbert, who wrote the classic children's song 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.' After a marriage of almost 14 years, Gilbert died in 1976 after complications from open-heart surgery. Since then, Paige has never married again. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6624 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California in 1960.

Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 1250. Photo: Warner Bros.

Vintage card. Photo: Warner Bros.

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Craig Butler (AllMovie), Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and IMDb.

In 1916-1917, Roseo & Co., Naples, made a series of star portraits of the actors of the Roman company Caesar Film. As far as can be traced, many actors on the cards like Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena, Camillo De Riso, and Carlo and Olga Benetti acted in the Caesar production Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917). Yet, a few portraits point to another Caesar film, La cieca di Sorrento (Gustavo Serena, 1916) with Serena, Lea Giunchi, Giovanni Gizzi, and Bianca Cipriani. A card with Olga Vannelli points to a third Caesar film, Fernanda (Gustavo Serena, 1917), starring Leda Gys, Vannelli, Orlando Ricci, Alfredo De Antoni, and Serena himself. All cards were made by Caesar Film as a supplement for the magazine Film, 'corriere dei cinematografici', based in Naples and Rome.

Italian postcard by Caesar Film for the magazine Film, Naples / Rome. Photo: Roseo & Co., Naples.

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, Francesca Bertini(1892-1985) was a majestic diva of the Italian silent cinema. She often played the 'femme fatale', with men devouring eyes, glamorous attire, clenched fists, and in opulent settings... She starred in the film Caesar production Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917).

Italian postcard by Caesar Film for the magazine Film, Naples / Rome. Photo: Roseo & Co., Naples.

Italian postcard by Caesar Film for the magazine Film, Naples / Rome. Photo: Roseo & Co., Naples.

Italian actor Gustavo Serena (1882-1970) is most remembered as Francesca Bertini's co-star, but he did more than that. For Caesar Film, he directed and acted in the films La cieca di Sorrento (1916), Andreina (1917), and Fernanda (1917).

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Camillo De Riso (1854-1924) was an Italian actor and director of the Italian stage and screen, most famous for his comic acting and directing at the companies Ambrosio, Gloria, and Caesar. He appeared in Caesar's Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917).

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Caesar Film

Caesar Film was an Italian film production and distribution company that was initially active during silent cinema from 1914 to 1919, and until 1925 if the U.C.I. period is also considered. During these years it became one of the main production companies, involving many of the most important directors and actors of the time and linking its name in particular with diva Francesca Bertini. Later on, it was relaunched at the beginning of sound cinema for the second period of activity that lasted from 1931 to 1935.

Caesar was born from the transformation of a company founded in October 1913 by three pioneers in the film industry. The first two, Gualtiero Giomini and Augusto Panella, were owners of a small production company located in Albano Laziale, Tebro Film, of which only one film is known to have been produced in 1912. The third pioneer, Giuseppe Barattolo, had already been active for some time in the distribution and rental sector with considerable success. he had an agreement with five US production companies, Biograph, Essanay, Kalem, Lubin, and Selig, to import their films into Italy. At the time of its foundation, the company was called 'Società anonima Barattolo, Giomini & Panella'.

The founders' intention was to be part of the golden age of Italian cinema in the first half of the 1910s, which, with its 'colossal' productions of historical films. This development guaranteed substantial income from the export of Italian films, so much so that in the years leading up to Italy's entry into the war the trade in Italian films reached the considerable sum of 40 million gold lire.

Soon the company changed its name, becoming 'Caesar Film' in the early months of 1914. Barattolo remained its only manager and the production programmes began to appear, while the plants located in the Circonvallazione Appia, at that time the Via Zaccaria in Rome, were completed. Emilio Ghione became the company's artistic director. But in 1914, the first year of activity, in the absence of an artistic cast, only two documentaries were produced.

The company really took off at the beginning of 1915, when Barattolo managed to recruit a group of actors mostly from Celio Film. In the following months, he recruited more actors and directors, including Gustavo Serena and Camillo De Riso. But the most important acquisition was that of Francesca Bertini, who had already established herself at Tiber film. Bertini opened her season at Caesar with Nelly la gigolette/Nelly the gigolette (Emilio Ghione, 1915), successfully creating a figure of a beautiful and independent woman.

In the second half of 1914, the beginning of the war in Europe had led to the closure or reduction of activity of most production companies, even though Italy was still not involved. Caesar went against the tide and Barattolo increased production. He relied on the rising stardom of Bertini, who became one of the grand divas of the silent Italian cinema.

When Italy entered the war in 1915, Caesar gave very little space to patriotic works and hired several filmmakers who had lost their jobs due to the war. These included Roberto Roberti, who would become Bertini's trusted director, and Arrigo Frusta, who until then had been the main author of subjects for Ambrosio in Turin. During the war period, Caesar and Tiber (later Itala Film) remained the two major Italian film companies. There would be various legal disputes between the two companies. The first and best-known dispute concerned 'Signora delle camelie' (The Lady of the Camellias), Alexandre Dumas's novel of which two Italian film adaptations were made at the same time, directed by Gustavo Serena (for Caesar) and Baldassarre Negroni (for Tiber).

During the war years, Caesar produced about 80 films, including many Bertini productions, or comedies with Polidor and Camillo De Riso. Caesar also secured the collaboration of another great actress, until then applauded mainly in the theatre, Vera Vergani. After the war, Italian cinema suffered under the import of Hollywood productions, but also by its own inability to renew itself, and went into crisis. Barattolo became the architect of the constitution of the UCI, which gradually brought together the main production companies in the conviction that a trust of Italian companies could counteract the American dominance of the market. Caesar was of course one of the first companies to join the Union in 1919.

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Carlo Benetti(1885-1958) was an actor in Italian silent cinema. He married Olga Benetti (?-1958) and both made their film debut in 1912 at the Cines company. Important were Olga Benetti's roles as the antagonist in the Francesca Bertini dramas, such as in Caesar's Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917), in which Carlo also acted.

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film. Collection: Joseph North.

Lea Giunchi (1884-?) was the first comical actress in Italian cinema, acting either in her own 'Lea' series, or with male comedians such as Ferdinand Guillaume (Tontolini) and Raymond Frau (Kri Kri). She also played in the Italian silent epic Quo vadis? (1913),and in the Caesar production La cieca di Sorrento (Gustavo Serena, 1916).

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Little is known about Italian actor Alfredo Cruicchi (?-?), who debuted at Caesar Film as the American impresario Barnum in the Francesca Bertini vehicle Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917). Afterward, he acted in the Caesar serial Mademoiselle Monte Cristo (Camillo De Riso, 1918), starring Tilde Kassay. In the early 1920s he did two more films, La sconosciuta (Bianca Virginia Camagni, Tito Spagnol, 1921) with Camagni in the lead, and produced by Camagni too, and Il grido dell'aquila (Mario Volpe, 1923).

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Giovanni Gizzi (?-?) was an actor on the Italian silent screen. After his role as Peter in Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913), he became a regular supporting actor at Caesar Film in such films as Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917).

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Vittorio Bianchi (1865-?) was an actor and screenwriter of the Italian silent screen. In 1916, he became one of the regular supporting actors at Caesar Film, first in Ferréol (Edoardo Bencivenga, 1916). He then acted in a range of dramas with diva Francesca Bertini: Fedora (Giuseppe de Liguoro, Gustavo Serena, 1916), Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917), Tosca (Alfredo De Antoni, 1918), La lussuria (Bencivenga, 1919), La contessa Sara (Roberto Roberti, 1919), and La serpe (Roberti, 1920). For La lussuria and La serpe, he was also the screenwriter. At Caesar he also acted in other films such as Le due orfanelle (Bencivenga, 1918), Maman Colibri (De Antoni, 1918) with Tilde Teldi, Dora o Le spie ((Roberti, 1919) with Vera Vergani, La morte civile (Bencivenga, 1919), Il cuore sotto il maggio (Camillo De Riso, 1920), Fino alla tenebra (Bencivenga, 1920), etc. Often these films were society dramas based on French plays by Victorien Sardou and others. His last films at Caesar, Bianchi did in 1921.

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Little is known about Italian silent film actress Bianca Cipriani. She was mainly a stage actress, who first acted in two films by the Roman company Latium Film. In 1915, after some 190 films, Latium Film closed down its production. It may have been the reason for Cipriani to move to the Roman company Caesar Film, where she acted in La cieca di Sorrento (Gustavo Serena, 1916), adapted from the novel of Francesco Mastriani. The plot of the film deals with the inmate of a prisoner condemned to death for murder. The inmate, Gianni (Serena), takes care of the latter's son, Gaetano. The son emigrates and returns a famous oculist. He will heal the eyes of the daughter of the murdered man (Lea Giunchi), with the help of Gianni - who fights the girl's greedy aunt (her warden) and the second murderer of her father. It is not clear which part Cipriani played. After this film, Cipriani's career in the cinema was over.

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Olga Vannelli may have been a Neapolitan actress, as her film debut was at the company Napoli Film, in Promozione per... meriti personali (Oreste Gherardini, 1914). In 1917 she acted in two films at Caesar Film in Rome, first in the D'Annunzio adaptation La figlia di Jorio (Edoardo Bencivenga, 1917) starring Mario Bonnard as Aligi and Irene Saffo Momo as Mila di Codro. Vannelli played Vanda, the wife. Next was the Sardou adaptation Fernanda (Gustavo Serena, 1917) with Leda Gys and Serena himself. Vannelli played Gys' mother, who tries to survive accepts to run a gambling house but is arrested and imprisoned when her daughter (Gys) refuses the avances of a crook, Roqueville (Orlando Ricci). Vannelli's last part was in Serena's film L'albergo nero (1920), a Caesar production also with Serena and Thea (Teresa Termini). The film was already produced in 1916 but was released four years after. Censorship may have been the cause one critic thought the film incomprehensible. Vannelli played a mother who plans to rob the man who saved her son and accidentally kills her son. Nothing more is known about the life and career of Olga Vannelli.

Italian postcard by Magazine Film, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Roseo & Co, Naples / Caesar Film.

Italian film director Edoardo Bencivenga (1885-1934) was one of the most active film directors in Italian silent cinema. In 1907, he entered Alberini's film company Cines, directing Raffaello e la Fornarina. In 1910-1911, he worked in Turin, first mostly at Aquila where he was responsible for its major successes, then in 1911 at Savoia and in 1912 at Ambrosio. At Ambrosio he directed e.g. a series of short D'Annunzio adaptations and an impressive feature, L'epopea napoleonica (1913-14). In 1915 he did a few patriotic films at Polifilms in Naples, after which in 1916 he entered the Roman Caesar Film company where he worked for several years. He directed a few films with Mario Bonnard such as Ferréol (1916), and Don Giovanni (1916). The he did the D'Annunzio adaptation La figlia di Jorio (1917) with Bonnard and Irene-Saffo Momo, and the serial Le due orfanelle (1918) with Enna Saredo. He also directed many films with the Italian diva Francesca Bertini, including several episodes of the series I sette peccati capitali as well as Mariute (1918) and La piovra (1919). From the late 1910s, Bencivenga worked for various companies, in films with Enna Saredo, Gemma Bellincioni, and Elena Sangro. All in all, Bencivenga directed over 65 films.

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian), and IMDb.

'Artisti di sempre' was an Italian postcard series by Edit. ris. Rotalfoto S.p.A. in Milano. The big-sized postcards show classic Hollywood and European film stars of the 1960s in full colour. Artisti di sempre translates as 'Artists of all times'.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, in the series Artisti di sempre, no. 118.

Cuban-American actor Tomás Milián or Thomas Milian (1933) worked extensively in Italian films from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. He played neurotic and sadistic killers in several Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and lone-wolf anti-heroes in violent action and police thrillers of the 1970s. Very popular in Italy were his crime-comedies of the late 1970s and 1980s. Besides these genre films, he worked with such prolific directors as Mauro Bolognini, Luchino Visconti, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Michelangelo Antonioni.

Italian postcard in the series Artisti di Sempre by Ed. Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 291.

American film actor Paul Newman(1925-2008) was as much a hero off-screen as on. A blue-eyed matinee idol whose career successfully spanned five decades, he was also a prominent social activist, a major proponent of actors' creative rights, and a noted philanthropist.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto in the Artisti di Sempre series, no. 294.

Gorgeous Italian actress and photojournalist Gina Lollobrigida (1927) was the first European sex symbol of the post-war years. ‘La Lollo’ paved the way into Hollywood for her younger colleagues Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale.

Italian postcard by Ed. Ris. Rotalfoto S.p.A., Milano (Milan) in the series Artisti di Sempre, no. 295. Joan Collins.

Glamorous English actress Joan Collins (1933) is one of the great survivors of the cinema. She began in the early 1950s as a starlet of British film. 20th Century Fox brought her to Hollywood as their answer to MGM's Elizabeth Taylor. In the 1970’s she was the ‘Queen of the B-pictures’, but in the 1980s Joan became the highest-paid TV star, thanks to Dynasty.

Italian postcard by in the Artisti di Sempre series by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 297.

Cleft-chinned and steely-eyed American superstar Kirk Douglas (1916-2020) made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, Westerns, and war films. Our favourites are the two classics he made with Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). During his long career, he appeared in more than 90 films.

Italian postcard in the Artisti di sempre series by Edit. ris. Rotalfoto S.p.A., Milano, no 298.

Demure, dark-haired English beauty Jean Simmons (1929-2010) was in the late 1940s a box office attraction in films like Great Expectations and Hamlet. In 1950 she moved to Hollywood with her husband, Stewart Granger, and soon became a major Hollywood star who would be twice nominated for an Oscar.

Italian postcard in the series Artisti di Sempre by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 299.

American actress Ava Gardner(1922-1990) was signed to a contract by MGM in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She became one of Hollywood's leading stars and was considered one of the most beautiful women of her day. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953). She appeared in several high-profile films from the 1950s to 1970s and continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death at the age of 67.

Big Italian postcard in the Artisti di Sempre series by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 341.

Doris Day (1922-2019) was a legendary actress and singer. She performed with several big bands before going solo in 1947. In the 1950s, she made a series of popular film musicals, including Calamity Jane (1953) and The Pajama Game (1957). With Rock Hudson, she starred in the box office hit Pillow Talk (1959). On TV, she appeared in the sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968-1973).

Italian postcard in the Artisti di Sempre series by Ed. ris. Rotalfoto S.p.A., Milano, no. 343.

French film actress and dancer Leslie Caron (1931) was one of the most famous Hollywood stars in the 1950s. She is best known for the waif-like gamines in musical films like An American in Paris (1951), Lili (1953), and Gigi (1958). Since the 1960s she’s also working in European cinema.

Italian postcard in the Artisti di Sempre series by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 344.

American actress Jane Fonda (1937) is a two-time Academy Award winner. In 2014, she was the recipient of the American Film Institute AFI Life Achievement Award.

Italian postcard in the Artisti di Sempre series by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 347.

American actress Raquel Welch (1940) is one of the icons of the 1960s and 1970s. She first won attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966). In Great Britain, she then made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although she had only three lines in the film, a poster of Welch in a furry prehistoric bikini became an amazing bestseller and catapulted her to stardom.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano in the Artisti di Sempre series, no. 358.

Stunning Swiss sex symbol, starlet, and jet-setter Ursula Andress (1936) will always be remembered as the first and quintessential Bond girl. In Dr. No (1962) she made film history when she spectacularly rises out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini. Though she won a Golden Globe Ursula's looks generally outweighed her acting talent and she never took her film career very seriously.

Danish actress Asta Nielsen (1881-1972) was one of the first superstars of the silent screen. Of her 74 films between 1910 and 1932, seventy were made in Germany where she was known simply as "Die Asta". Noted for her large dark eyes, mask-like face, and boyish figure, Nielsen most often portrayed strong-willed, passionate women trapped by tragic consequences.

German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3047.

Asta Nielsen in Der verlorene Sohn (1918)

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2769. Photo: Freddy Wingardh. Asta Nielsen in the stage pantomime 'Der verlorene Sohn' (The Lost Son, 1918). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 644/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Art-Film / Asta Nielsen-Film. Asta Nielsen as Hamlet in Hamlet (Svend Gade, Heinz Schall, 1921). Asta Nielsen had produced the film herself.

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 200. Photo: Asta Nielsen in Hedda Gabler (Franz Eckstein, 1925).

Asta Nielsen in Die freudlose gasse (1925)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1020/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Oertel, Berlin. Asta Nielsen in Die freudlose gasse/The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925). Dutch artist Pyke Koch used photos like the one on this card for his portrait of Asta Nielsen (1929).

Unique Physical Attraction

Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen was born in the Copenhagen suburb of Vesterbro, Denmark, in 1881. She was the daughter of an often unemployed blacksmith and a washerwoman. Nielsen's family moved several times during her childhood while her father sought employment.

When she was fourteen years old, her father died. Asta's stage debut came as a child in the chorus of the Kongelige Teater's production of Arrigo Boito's opera 'Mephistophele'. At the age of eighteen, Nielsen was accepted into the drama school of the Royal Danish Theatre. During her time there, she studied with the Royal Danish actor Peter Jerndorff.

In 1901, twenty years old, she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Jesta. She refused to marry the child’s father, a law student because marriage would have inhibited her theatrical ambitions. It was a fairly audacious decision for a working-class girl in 1901, but Nielsen was single-minded in matters of love and work. Nielsen never revealed the identity of the father and chose to raise her child alone with the help of her mother and older sister.

In 1902 she graduated from drama school. For the next three years, she worked at the Dagmar Theatre, then toured in Norway and Sweden from 1905 to 1907 with De Otte and the Peter Fjelstrup companies. Returning to Denmark, she was employed at Det Ny Theater (The New Theatre) from 1907 to 1910.

Although she worked steadily as a stage actress, her performances remained unremarkable. Danish historian Robert Neiiedam wrote that Nielsen's unique physical attraction, which was of great value on the screen, was limited on stage by her deep and uneven speaking voice.

Asta Nielsen and Hugo Flink in Die Kinder des Generals (1912)

German postcard. Photo: Asta Nielsen and Hugo Flink in Die Kinder des Generals/The General's Children (Urban Gad, 1912).

Asta Nielsen and Hans Mierendorff in Jugend und Tollheit (1913)

German postcard. Asta Nielsen and Hans Mierendorff in Jugend und Tollheit/Lady Madcap's Way (Urban Gad, 1913).

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1307. Photo: Asta Nielsen Atelier.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1309. Photo: Freddy Wingärdh. Asta Nielsen in Das Liebes-ABC (Magnus Stifter, 1916).

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1312. Photo: Freddy Wingardh. Asta Nielsen in Dora Brandes (Magnus Stifter, 1916).

Scandalous eroticism and a uniquely minimalist acting style

In 1909, set designer and director Urban Gad encouraged Asta Nielsen to become a film actress and she starred in his Danish silent film Afgrunden/The Abyss (Urban Gad. 1910). Gary Morris observes in Bright Lights Film Journal: "this film established from the beginning key components of her legend: scandalous eroticism and a uniquely minimalist acting style."

Asta plays a music teacher lured away from her stolid fiancee (Robert Dinesen) by a sexy but faithless circus cowboy (Poul Reumert). In a startling sequence of sexual intensity, she lassos her boyfriend and does a lewd dance, bumping and grinding against him. Morris: "This vulgar ‘gaucho-dance’ was what most viewers remembered, but critics of the time also applauded Asta's naturalistic acting."

The film was a huge success so she was encouraged to continue. The following year Balletdanserinden/The Ballet Dancer (August Blom, 1911) proved to be another success. Nielsen and Gad soon married.

A German distributor, Paul Davidson, invited Nielsen to Germany, where he was building a new studio. Eventually, this would become Europe's largest film studio - the Universum Film Union A.-G. (or Ufa). Asta signed a contract for $80,000 a year, then the highest salary for a film actress. In 1911, she moved to Berlin with Urban Gad.

In a Russian popularity poll of that year, she was voted 'world's top female film star', behind French comedian Max Linder and ahead of her Danish compatriot Valdemar Psilander.

Asta Nielsen in Das Versuchskaninchen (1916)

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1313. Photo: Freddy Wingardh. Asta Nielsen in her outfit from Das Versuchskaninchen/The guinea pig (Edmund Edel, 1916).

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1422. Photo: Neutral-Film. Asta Nielsen in Das Eskimo-Baby/The Eskimo Baby (Walter Schmidthaessler, 1916-1918).

Asta Nielsen and Freddy Wingardh in Das Eskimobaby (1918)

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1423. Photo: Neutral Film. Asta Nielsen and Freddy Wingardh in their outfits from Das Eskimobaby (Walter Schmidthässler, 1916-1918).

Asta Nielsen in Die weissen Rosen (1916)

German postcard by Verl. Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7282. Asta Nielsen in Die weissen Rosen/The white roses (Urban Gad, 1916).

Asta Nielsen and Alf Blütecher in Mod lyset (1919)

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3131. Photo: Nordisk. Asta Nielsen and Alf Blütecher in Mod lyset/Fackelträger/Towards the Light (Holger-Madsen, 1919).

The drunkard's vision and the lonely man's dream

In the next six years, Asta Nielsen played every conceivable kind of character in both tragedies and comedies. In Die Suffragette/The Militant Suffragette (Urban Gad, 1913), she is an English female liberationist whose beliefs force her to become violent, placing a bomb in Parliament.

In Zapatas Bande/Zapata's Gang (Urban Gad, 1916), she plays a highway robber. In the comedy Das Liebes-ABC/The ABCs of Love (Magnus Stifter, 1916), she pretends to be a man and takes her wimpy boyfriend out on the town in order to "bring out the man in him."

Nielsen was so famous that the name Asta became a trademark for cigarettes and perfumes. In the Dutch city The Hague, a cinema was named after her. Her beauty was praised by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire as "the drunkard's vision and the lonely man's dream". Belgian Paul van Ostaijen included the expressionistic poem 'Asta Nielsen', a paean to Nielsen's sensuousness, in his 1921 collection 'Bezette Stad' (Occupied City).

One of Asta's most interesting productions was Hamlet (Sven Gade, Heinz Schall, 1921). Gary Morris: "Asta brings a subtle twist to her version not by playing a man, but by playing a woman disguised as a man, adding another level of gender complexity. Hamlet was based less on William Shakespeare than on a popular book of the time that said Hamlet was actually a girl forcibly raised as a boy in order to provide an heir to the Danish throne. At first, the effect is more puzzling than effective, but the actress's strategy becomes evident in sexually charged scenes between Asta/Hamlet and Horatio, who caress and coddle each other in what surely appeared to viewers of the time (as it does to modern audiences) as a gay tryst.

Asta brilliantly imparts the gender-unstable nature of the character in these scenes with Horatio and others with Fortinbras, whose encounters with Hamlet are also clearly coded as gay. The actress's effortless creation of these subtle, sympathetic homosexual tableaux gives a tremendous vitality to this production. The fact that the film was truly hers — being the first film she made with her own production company — shows just how daring and modern she was."

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 644/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Art-Films. Asta Nielsen as Hamlet in Hamlet (Svend Gade, Heinz Schall, 1921). Asta Nielsen had produced the film herself.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 485/1, 1919-1924. Asta Nielsen in Fräulein Julie/Miss Julie (Felix Basch, 1922), after the play 'Fröken Julie' by August Strindberg.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 580/5, 1919-1924. Photo: Art FilmAsta Nielsen as operetta diva Kaja Falk and Albert Bozenhard as her husband Frank Lorris in Der Absturz/Downfall (Ludwig Wolff, 1923). The Danish release title was Afgrunden, just like Nielsen's first film.

Asta Nielsen and Alfred Abel in Rausch (1919)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 614/1. Photo: Union. Asta Nielsen and Alfred Abel in Rausch/Intoxication (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).

Henny Porten and Asta Nielsen in I.N.R.I. (1923)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 667/4. Photo: Neumann. Asta Nielsen as Mary Magdalen and Henny Porten as the Virgin Mary in the Biblical film I.N.R.I. (Robert Wiene, 1923).

Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 342. Photo: Nero-Film. Asta Nielsen and Carl Auen in Das Haus am Meer/The house by the sea (Fritz Kaufmann, 1924).

Die Freudlose Gasse

Nowadays Asta Nielsen is best known for the classic Die Freudlose Gasse/The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925). Asta plays in this film an impoverished woman who resorts to prostitution and murder.

In the original prints, there were two equal-time female leads: Nielsen and a young actress from Sweden, Greta Garbo. Ruthlessly cut for American release, the film suddenly became a Garbo vehicle. Fortunately, the print has been restored recently and Asta triumphs in it as the increasingly unbalanced Marie.

Nielsen continued to be a screen legend in Germany and appeared in films like Dirnentragödie/Tragedy of the Street (Bruno Rahn, 1927) and in her only sound film Unmögliche Liebe/Crown of Thorns (Erich Waschneck, 1932).

After the Nazis came to power she was rumoured to be offered her own studio by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Understanding the implications well, she left Germany for good in 1936, settling in Denmark where she returned to stage acting and became a private figure.

During the Second World War, she provided money for Allan O. Hagedorff, a young Dane living in Germany, to assist Jews. Using money provided by Nielsen, Hagedorff sent so many food parcels to the Theresienstadt Ghetto that he was warned by the Gestapo. Among others, Victor Klemperer, the diarist and philologist, was offered money by Hagedorff.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 470/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

Asta Nielsen and Gregori Chmara in Der Absturz (1923)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 580/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Art Film. Asta Nielsen and Gregori Chmara in Der Absturz/Downfall (Ludwig Wolff, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1006/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Stein. Asta Nielsen in Hedda Gabler (Franz Eckstein, 1925).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1140/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin. Asta Nielsen in Erdgeist/Earth Spirit (Leopold Jesner, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1140/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3084/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Wulson, Berlin.

A director at 86

In her later years, Asta Nielsen wrote articles on art and politics and a two-volume autobiography, 'Den tiende Muse' (The Silent Muse) in 1946. She also became an acclaimed collage artist.

In 1964, Nielsen had to come to terms with the most severe blow of her life: her daughter Jesta committed suicide following the death of her husband.

At 86, Asta directed her first film. Luise F. Pusch writes in FemBio: "After a film about her life did not meet with her approval, she set to work on the project herself. The result was a work of art."

Nielsen had four long-term relationships and was divorced twice. In 1912, she married the Danish film director Urban Gad following their move together to Germany in 1911 to build their own film studio. They were divorced by 1919 when Nielsen married the Swedish shipbuilder Freddy Windgårdh. This marriage was short-lived and ended in divorce in the mid-1920s.

Nielsen fell in love with the Russian actor Gregori Chmara whom she met through their mutual friend Georg Brandes. They began a long-term common-law marriage that lasted from 1923 until the late 1930s.

In the late 1960s, Nielsen began a relationship with Danish art collector, Christian Theede, whom she had met through dealings of her own artwork. In 1970, at the age of 88-years-old, Nielsen married the 77-year-old Theede. the great love of her life. Nielsen and Theede's happiness at marrying at an advanced age was celebrated in the world press. The two enjoyed their travels together so much that they decided to leave their fortune to a foundation to fund trips for the elderly.

In 1972, Asta Nielsen died at Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen after a leg fracture. She was 90.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 379/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 379/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass phot.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 380/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 380/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 406/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 406/4. 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3522/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Mahrenholz.

German postcard by Verl. Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 3009.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, no. 8643. Photo: Willinger. Caption: Asta Nielsen at home. Nielsen wears the dress and hat from her film Die falsche Asta Nielsen/The false Asta Nielsen (Urban Gad, 1915).

Afgrunden/The Abyss (1910). Source: The First Movies (YouTube).

Sources: Gary Morris (Bright Lights Film Journal), Pamela Hutchinson (The Guardian), Luise F. Pusch (FemBio), Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

American actor Troy Donahue (1936-2001), was especially known in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a teen idol. His blond hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes appeared frequently on the covers of movie magazines. In the 1970s, alcohol and drugs problems cost him his career.

Spanish postcard by C y A, no. 29. Photo: Warner Bros. Caption: Troy Donahue, co-stars in Warner Bros. Palm Springs Weekend.

West-German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/23. Photo: Terb Agency.

West-German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/15. Photo: Terb Agency.

Young, blond, blue-eyed

Troy Donahue was born Merle Johnson Jr. in New York, in 1936. He was the son of Merle Johnson Sr., the manager of the motion-picture department of General Motors, and a retired stage actress. His father died when Troy was 14.

When Donahue was 18, he moved to New York and got a job as a messenger in a film company founded by his father. Troy first came into contact with the acting profession while studying journalism at Columbia. At that time, he joined a repertory company. In the mid-1950s, he left for Hollywood to pursue his acting career.

Actress Fran Bennett introduced him to agent Henry Willson, who represented Rock Hudson, among others. Willson signed him and changed his name to Troy Donahue. He made his film debut in 1957 with a small, uncredited role in the Film Noir Man Afraid (Harry Keller, 1957) starring George Nader.

Larger roles followed, including in the drama The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1957) starring Rock Hudsonand Robert Stack, and the Film Noir Live Fast, Die Young (Paul Henreid, 1958). Donahue achieved good reviews for a brief, but effective part in Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959), playing a man who beats up his girlfriend after he discovers she is black.

The big break came in 1959 when Warner Bros. signed him to a long-term contract. The studio put him to work guest-starring in episodes of their Western TV series, such as Colt .45 (1959), Maverick (1959), Sugarfoot (1959), The Alaskans (1960), and Lawman (1960). They also gave him a leading role opposite Sandra Dee in A Summer Place (Delmer Daves, 1959). The film was a huge success. The young, blond, blue-eyed Donahue became a star, especially with teenage girls, and regularly appeared on the cover of magazines.

Angie Dickinson, Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette, in Rome Adventure (1962)

Spanish postcard by CyA, no. 35. Photo: Warner Bros. Angie Dickinson, Troy Donahue, and Suzanne Pleshette in Rome Adventure (Delmer Daves, 1962).

Surfside 6 with Troy Donahue, Lee Patterson, Van Williams

Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 16-T. Photo: Warner Bros. Troy Donahue, Lee Patterson, and Van Williams in the TV series Surfside 6 (1960-1962).

Troy Donahue in A Distant Trumpet (1964)

Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C- 245. Photo: Warner Bros. Troy Donahue in A Distant Trumpet (Raoul Walsh, 1964).

Out of fashion

In the following years, Troy Donahue played leading roles for Warner Bros. in several major films, especially those aimed at teenage audiences. Donahue's most successful film was Parrish (Delmer Daves, 1961), in which he played the title character. Donahue and Daves reunited for another melodrama, Susan Slade (Delmer Daves, 1962).

In Rome Adventure (Delmer Daves, 1962), he starred opposite Suzanne Pleshette, whom he married and divorced again in 1964. In addition to his film work, Troy Donahue could also be seen on television, first in Surfside 6 (1960-1962), one of several spin-offs of 77 Sunset Strip, and then in Hawaiian Eye (1962-1963), another spinoff of Sunset Strip.

A more challenging role came with the Western A Distant Trumpet (Raoul Walsh, 1964), about the conflicts between the US Cavalry and the Indians. In 1965, Donahue was cast as a psychopathic killer opposite Joey Heatherton in the thriller My Blood Runs Cold (William Conrad, 1965). While Donahue was happy to break type and play a different type of role, it was not well received by the public.

After years in the limelight, Troy Donahue went out of fashion and he was offered smaller and lesser roles. In 1966, his contract with Warner Bros. was not renewed. Low-budget television films became his main income. He had roles in low-budget films such as Sweet Savior (Robert L. Roberts, 1971), Cockfighter (Monte Hellman, 1974), and the horror film Seizure (1974), Oliver Stone's directorial debut.

A small revival came when Francis Ford Coppola gave him a role in The Godfather Part II (1974) as the fiancé of Connie Corleone. The character in that film carried his own name, Merle Johnson. However, due to an alcohol and drug addiction, he disappeared from view from the mid-1970s. For a while, he was even homeless. In 1982, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, which he credited for helping him achieve and maintain sobriety.

In the mid-1980s he returned to film, mostly exploitation films for the low-budget home video market, e.g., Sexpot (1990) and Nudity Required (1990). But he also appeared in the cult classic Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990) starring Johnny Depp. The film spawned a Broadway musical of the same name which was nominated for four Tony Awards. Donahue's final film role was in the comedy The Boys Behind the Desk (2000), directed by Sally Kirkland.

Troy Donahue was married several times, but never for long. His brief marriage to actress Suzanne Pleshette lasted from 4 January to 8 September 1964. In 1966, he married actress Valerie Allen. The couple was married for just over a year and divorced in 1968. He was also married to Vicky Taylor from 1979 to 1981. At the time of his death, he was living with his fiancée, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao. Donahue had two children, a son and a daughter, and three grandchildren. Troy Donahue died of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 65.

Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C 43. Photo: Warner Bros. Caption: "Troy Donahue (John Hunter) de Warner Bros." John Hunter was the character Donahue played in A Summer Place (Delmer Daves, 1959), but the picture seems to be a studio portrait and not connected to this film.

West-German postcard. Photo: Warner Bros. Troy Donahue in Parrish (Delmer Daves, 1961).

Israelian postcard by Editions de Luxe, no. 133.

Source: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and IMDb.

In the Karl May adaptation Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965), Apache Chief Winnetou (Pierre Brice) and scout Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) team up to assist a wagon-train of settlers who are threatened by the machinations of an unscrupulous crook known as 'the Oil Prince' (Harald Leipnitz). The West German-Yugoslav Western was also known as Rampage at Apache Wells. The film was one of a series of Karl May films made by Rialto Film.

German postcard, no. 1 (of 32). Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Harald Leipnitz in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: This is the oil prince, a ruthless adventurer who will do anything to get his hands on land and oil wells. His helpers are members of the Finders Gang. He has now commissioned them to intercept and kill the scout Bill Forner, who is to lead a trek of settlers to Lake Shelly. A member of the Finders Gang is to take his place and lead the trek astray because he needs the area around Lake Shelly for his machinations.

German postcard, no. 5 (of 32). Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) as Richard Forsythe in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: A commotion ensues in the hotel, which ends in a brawl. Members of the Finders gang, who have been playing poker with young Forsythe, have discovered that Forsythe is a cardsharp. The oil prince rescues the young man from this situation. In return, he is supposed to join the trek and serve as a spy for the oil prince.

Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) in Der Ölprinz (1965)

German postcard, no. 8. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) in Der Ölprinz/Rampage at Apache Wells (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: The trek reaches according to appointment to the first stage near the river. The young Forsyth secretly sneaks out of the camp and meets with members of the Finders gang in the blockhouse. Here he receives his instructions, for the Finders gang will in the discharge of the Oil prince attack the wagons during the night.

Bandits, Indians, and Settlers

The bandit the Oil Prince (Harald Leipnitz) wants to sell the banker Duncan (Vladimir Leib) a fake oil well. However, a trek of settlers who want to settle in the area, of all places, stands in his way. The Oil Prince has the settlers' scout replaced by a member of the Finders Gang. Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) and Winnetou (Pierre Brice) track him down and are able to warn the trek.

Winnetou convinces the Navajo chief Nitsas-ini (Petar Dobric) of the peaceful nature of the settlers, and he lets them pass through his territory unhindered with Old Wabble (Milan Srdoc) as their guide to a stopover at the Chinla River. On the way to Utah, Old Surehand is lured into a trap by the Finders bandits, but Winnetou is able to rescue him.

At the Chinla River, the settlers, among them the widow Ebersbach (Antje Weisgerber), the cantor Hampel (Heinz Erhardt), the cardsharp Richard Forsythe (Mario Girotti a.k.a. Terence Hill), and the shady businessman Bergmann (Veljko Maricic), are getting ready to spend the night when the Finders bandits attack. However, the attack can be repelled by Winnetou and Old Surehand, who arrive in time.

After the attack fails, the Oil Prince comes up with something new. He murders the son of the chief Mokaschi (Milivoje Popovic-Mavid) and blames the Indians for it on the settlers. The Indians surround the settlers at the river but are persuaded to wait with their attack if Old Surehand delivers the real murderer to them within a day.

Winnetou tries to bring the women and children to safety on the raging river with a raft. However, they fall into the water and are only saved when Old Surehand arrives. Old Surehand sets off in pursuit of the Oil Prince, who in the meantime has taken the money for the fake oil well from the banker Duncan and has trapped him in the oil cave with an avalanche of rubble.

Old Surehand is able to capture and tie up the Oil Prince after a short chase and a fight. The Indians have become impatient in the meantime and begin their attack on the settlers. The first wagons are already in flames when Old Surehand returns. The Oil Prince, who has been brought along, is handed over to the Indians and receives his just punishment from them.

Harald Leipnitz and Pierre Brice in Der Ölprinz (1965)

German postcard, no. 10 (of 32). Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Harald Leipnitz and Pierre Brice in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: In the Comanche camp he tells the chief that one of the settlers is in possession of a silver dollar sack. This must be the only survivor of the stagecoach robbery.

German postcard, no. 12. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Pierre Brice, Stewart Granger, and Walter Barnes in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: When he arrives in the camp of the settlers, chief Mokaschi reports what has been told to him by the Oil Prince. Winnetou, Old Surehand, and Campbell reaffirm that they have no money. The Chief is welcome to search their wagon.

German postcard, no. 15 (of 32). Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Harald Leipnitz in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: The Oil Prince has arrived at Lake Shelly with his servant Knife. There he meets the chief executive of the Arizona Commercial Bank and his secretary. After demonstrating fake oil chains to the director, he sells them to him for 75,000 dollars. But that is not enough. After issuing the cheque, he has them both killed by the Finders Gang.

German postcard. Photo: Rialto / Constantin, no. 20. Stewart Granger as Old Surehand in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: Bravely, young Forsythe holds his own on the raft. Old Surehand has reached a jutting cliff. In time he can throw his lasso to young Forsythe and pull him ashore. The empty raft crashes down the waterfall.

Old Surehand instead of Old Shatterhand

Apart from Der Schut, Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965) is the only Karl May film in which the title character is a villain.

For the second time, Stewart Granger plays Old Surehand, deviating from the Karl May novel in which Old Shatterhand takes the main role. Producer Horst Wendlandt was unable to cast Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand because of Artur Brauner's production Through Wild Kurdistan.

The part of Lizzy (Macha Méril) was originally supposed to be played by Marie Versini, but she was also already under contract with Brauner at the time of filming. Fred Denger wrote the script, which was subsequently revised by Harald Philipp.

As Harald Reinl and Alfred Vohrer were busy, Wendlandt originally wanted Paul Martin as director. When the collaboration did not materialise, he called Harald Philipp in Berlin at Christmas 1964, who immediately agreed. Martin Böttcher once again composed an atmospheric score.

Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince was shot at the Spandau Studios in Berlin and on location in Yugoslavia. The film's sets were designed by the art director Dusan Jericevic. Jericević had transformed the Western town of "Golden Hill" from Old Shatterhand into "Tucson".

Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince recorded admissions of 409,817 in France, 1,449,558 in Spain, and over 3 million in Germany.

Stewart Granger and Harald Leipnitz in Der Ölprinz (1965)

German postcard, no. 21. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Stewart Granger as Old Surehand and Harald Leipnitz in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: The oil prince in possession of the cheque is in a hurry to get back to town. Accompanied by Knife, he chooses a suspension bridge as a shortcut. Old Surehand surprises them. He forces them both to return by shooting the rungs.

German postcard, no. 25. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Stewart Granger as Old Surehand and Slobodan Dimitrijevic as Knife in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: The battle swings back and forth. Then Old Surehand manages to wrest the knife from Knife and knocks him down with a punch. Now they have to get to the settlers' camp as quickly as possible in order to save them.

Pierre Brice, Stewart Granger, and Harald Leipnitz in Der Ölprinz (1965)

German postcard, no. 29. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice, Milivoje Popovic-Msvid, Stewart Granger and Harald Leipnitz in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: Old Surehand has kept his promise. With the dead Knife, he brings the murderer of his son to the chief. Fearing revenge, the cowardly Oil Prince claims to have known nothing about all this.

Pierre Brice, Milivoje Popovic-Msvid and Stewart Granger in Der Ölprinz (1965)

German postcard, no. 30. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice, Milivoje Popovic-Msvid and Stewart Granger in Der Ölprinz/The Oil Prince (Harald Philipp, 1965). Caption: The proof that Knife can be the murderer is the knife that the chief picked up. It fits exactly into the scabbard that Knife wore on his arm.

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

Albanian-Austrian Alexander Moissi (1879-1935) was one of the great European stage actors of the early 20th century. The attractive and charismatic women's idol also appeared in several silent and early sound films.

German postcard Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm. no. 6904. Photo: Becker & Maass.

German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 2680.

Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 537/1. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Eduard von Winterstein in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (Arthur Wellin, Amboss-Film, Dworsky Co. 1918). The film was produced by Rudolf Dworsky and scripted by Hans Land (pseudonym of Hugo Landsberger) and Emil Rameau. Plot: A hunchback named Henrik obtains a wishing ring: youth, beauty and health.

German postcar by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 7527. Photo: Becker & Maass. Alexander Moissi as Hamlet.

German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 8709. Photo: Becker & Maass.

Buried Alive

Alexander Moissi was born as Aleksander Moisiu in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (now Italy) in 1879. He was the fifth and last child of Konstantin Moisiu, a rich Albanian merchant in oil and wheat, and the half Albanian, half Italian Amalia di Rada, the daughter of a Florentine writer and doctor.

After an international childhood in Trieste, Durrës, and Graz, 20-year-old Alexander finally settled with his mother and two sisters in Vienna. There he was spotted by Paul Schlenther, the director of the famous Burgtheater, and by the legendary actor Josef Kainz, who gave him acting lessons.

In 1901 Moissi moved to Prague where he worked for the Neue Deutsche Theater, and in 1904 to Berlin, where he became a protégé of the influential director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsche Theater. Here he had his breakthrough as Oswald in the Henrik Ibsen play 'Ghosts'. He would continue to play the part for more than two decades.

Under Reinhardt he played parts in many William Shakespeare plays including the jester in 'King Lear', Romeo in 'Romeo and Juliet' (1907), and the title role in 'Hamlet' (1909). In 1911, Moissi followed the Reinhardt Ensemble to Russia and was acclaimed in St. Petersburg by critic and dramatist Anatoliy Lunacharsky for his interpretation of Oedipus.

Travelling all over Europe and the Americas, he became a globally known star. His repertoire of leading roles encompassed the whole spectrum of European drama, from Greek tragedy to twentieth-century modernism. He was the first in Europe to interpret characters from Strindberg, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pirandello, and Hofmannsthal.

His interpretations of Hamlet, Oedipus, Faust, Dubedat in George Bernard Shaw's 'The Doctor's Dilemma', and many others, were celebrated at the time, as were his voice and emotional range. His most famous role was Fedya in Leo Tolstoy's 'Buried Alive (or The Living Corpse)'. He performed this role 1500 times between 1913 and 1935 and more than one-and-a-half million people saw him playing the part.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4850. Photo: publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet with Lia Eibenschütz .

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 8198. Photo: Dr. Hans Boehm. Publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Julietwith Lia Eibenschütz .

Alexander Moissi in Die Braut von Messina

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4293. Photo: Becker & Maass. Alexander Moissi as Don Manuel in a stage production of 'Die Braut von Messina' (The Bride of Messina) by Friedrich Schiller.

Alexander Moissi and Rudolf Schildkraut in Hamlet, ich sag dir was! (1909)

German postcard by Photo Verlag Jos. Paul Böhm, München (Munich), no. 3051. Alexander Moissi (right) and Rudolf Schildkraut in the play 'Hamlet, ich sag dir was!' (1909).

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4883. Photo: Hans Boehm. Alexander Moissi as Achilles in 'Penthesilea' by Heinrich von Kleist. The play premiered on 23 September 1911 at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. Gertrud Eysoldt played the title role.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4913.

Alexander Moissi in Der lebende Leichnam

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7552. Photo: Fritz Richard. Alexander Moissi as Fedja in Leo Tolstoy's play 'Der lebende Leichnam' (The Living Corpse).

German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7554. Photo: Fritz Richard. Alexander Moissi as Fedja in the play 'Der lebende Leichnam' (The Living Corpse or Russian: Живой труп) by Leo Tolstoy.

Prisoner in France

Though primarily a stage actor, Alexander Moissi appeared in 17 films productions between 1913 and 1935.

In 1913 he appeared in Germany in four silent films for the Deutsche Bioscop GmbH: the experimental pantomime Das schwarze Los/The black lot (Emil Albes, John Gottowt, 1913), Meier Helmbrechts Flucht und Ende/Meier Helmbrecht’s Flight and End (Leo Greiner, 1913), Die Augen des Ole Brandis/The Eyes of Ole Brandis (Stellan Rye, 1913), and he had a supporting role in the classic fantasy film Der Student von Prag/The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, Paul Wegener, 1913) starring Paul Wegener.

Two years later he starred in the films Kulissenzauber/Background magic (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, Leo Peukert, 1915) and Sein einziger Sohn/His Only Son (Adolf Gartner, 1915).

It was World War I and in 1915 Moissi was mobilized by the Austrian army. As an airman, he was taken prisoner in France, but he got free five months later through a prisoner exchange. Till 1917 he worked as a stage actor in Switzerland.

In 1918 he starred as Stanislaus in Pique Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918), a film adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s short story The Queen of Spades. That same year he appeared opposite Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).

The following years he played in such silent films as Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Käthe Dorsch, Zwischen Tod und Leben/Between Life and Death (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Bernhard Goetzke, Figaros Hochzeit/Figaro’s Wedding (Max Mack, 1920) based on the play by Beaumarchais, and Die Nacht der Königin Isabeau/The Night of Queen Isabeau (Robert Wiene, 1920) starring Fern Andra.

Austrian postcard by Traub, Salzburg. Photo: Atelier K. Hintner. Alexander Moissi as Jedermann in the stage production 'Jedermann' (Everyman) at the Salzburger Festspiele. Max Reinhardt directed Moissi in this production in 1919 and 1920 and from 1926 till 1931.

Austrian postcard by Traub, Salzburg. Photo: Ernst Maier (Atelier K. Hintner). Alexander Moissi as Jedermann in the stage production 'Jedermann' (Everyman) at the Salzburger Festspiele, performed before the Salzburg Dom (cathedral). Max Reinhardt directed Moissi in this production in 1919 and 1920 and from 1926 till 1931. Caption: Everyman in front of the cathedral.

Austrian postcard by Traub, Salzburg. Photo: Ernst Maier (Atelier K. Hintner). Alexander Moissi as Jedermann in the stage production 'Jedermann' (Everyman) at the Salzburger Festspiele. Max Reinhardt directed Moissi in this production in 1919 and 1920 and from 1926 till 1931. Caption: Everyman in front of the cathedral.

German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3233. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Alexander Moissi as the Jester in 'König Lear' (King Lear).

German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 4165. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of 'Die Räuber' (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Franz Moor.

Alexander Moissi as Franz Moor in Die Räuber

German postcard by Verl. v. Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3285. Photo: Becker & Maass. Alexander Moissi as Franz Moor in the stage play 'Die Räuber' (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller.

German postcard. Photo: Alexander Moissi as Hamlet a stage production of 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare.

Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 328. Photo: Zimler.

Albanian citizen

Alexander Moissi’s last silent film was Kean (Rudolf Biebrach, 1921) based on the play by Alexandre Dumas père. Edmund Kean, born in 1787, was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. Remarkable is that Moissi’s first sound film, the Hollywood production Die Königsloge/The Royal Box (Bryan Foy, 1929) also told the story of Edmund Kean. The German-language production by Warner Brothers was not a success.

In the 1920s Moissi had more success in Russia, France, Austria, and Italy than in Germany. After the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Moissi reportedly became an Albanian citizen in 1934 (some sources say that he got an Italian passport). After a successful stage tour through Italy in 1934, Mossi starred in the Italian film production Lorenzino de' Medici/The Magnificent Rogue (Guido Brignone, 1935) with Maria Denis. It would be his final film.

A year later, Alexander Moissi died of pneumonia in Vienna, (some sources say Lugano, Switzerland), and lies buried at the Morcote cemetery overlooking Lake Lugano.

He was married twice. With his first wife, the Viennese actress Maria Moissi he had a daughter, Bettina, who also would become an actress. In 1919 he married actress Johanna Terwin. He is the over-grandfather of German actor Gedeon Burkhard.

In his honor, the High College of Drama in Tirana, and the Professional Theatre of Durrës, Albania, are named ‘Aleksander Moisiu.’ The 60th anniversary of his death was remembered in Albania in 1995 with an Artistic Year dedicated to him; it was sponsored by the Aleksander Moisiu Foundation in Durrës.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 218/2. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 218/3. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 537/2. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi (left) in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 537/3. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne Series, no. 537/8. Photo: Amboss-Film, Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi, Ria Jende and Eduard von Winterstein in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (Arthur Wellin, 1918).

Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück (1919)

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 538/4. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 7521. Photo: Hans Boehm. Caption: Alexander Moissi in seinem Heim (at home).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4725/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Defina.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8519. Photo: Becker & Maass. Caption: Alexander Moissi and his mother.

German postcard by Kunst-Verlag L. Murr, München, no. 406. Photo: Friede Hostrup, München.

German postcard by Kunst-Verlag L. Murr, München, no. 408. Photo: Friede Hostrup, München.

Alexander Moissi in Lorenzino de' Medici (1935)

Italian postcard by Ed. Manenti Film, Roma. Alexander Moissi in the Italian historical film Lorenzino de' Medici (Guido Brignone, 1935). The Henry VIII-like figure is the perfidious Duke Alessandro, played by Camillo Pilotto, who covets Lorenzo's (Moissi) sweetheart (Germana Paolieri).

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Harrison Ford (1884-1957) was an American stage and film actor. He was a leading Broadway theatre performer and a star of the silent film era.

French postcard by Cinémagazine Edition, Paris, no. 328. On the card is his name written as 'Harrisson Ford' (sic).

German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 803/1, 1925-1926. Photo: British American Films A.G. (Bafag).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 848/1, 1925-1926. Photo: British American Films A.G. Bafag.

Harrison Ford and Marie Prevost in Up in Mabel's Room

Romanian postcard. Photo: Cawa-Film / Christie Film. Harrison Ford and Marie Prevost in the comedy Up in Mabel's Room (E. Mason Hopper, 1926). The Romanian title 'Buduarul doamnei' translates as 'A Lady's Boudoir'.

Strongheart

Harrison Edward Ford was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1884. Ford has no known relation to the later film actor of the same name.

He began his acting career on the stage. He made his Broadway debut in 1904 in Richard Harding Davis's 'Ranson's Folly'.

He went on to appear in productions of William C. DeMille's 'Strongheart' and 'Glorious Betsy' by Rida Johnson Young. This production lasted only 24 performances but the play was later adapted for an Oscar-nominated film of the same name.

He also appeared in Bayard Veiller's 'The Fight', which quickly closed; Edgar Wallace's 'The Switchboard'; Edward Locke's 'The Bubble'; and Edgar Selwyn's 'Rolling Stones'. In 1909, Ford married New York stage actress Beatrice Prentice.

Norma Talmadge and Harrison Ford in The Wonderful Thing

Spanish collectors card by Escenas selectas de cinematografia, series A, no. 16. Photo: Norma Talmadge Film. Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Howard Truesdale in The Wonderful Thing (Herbert Brenon, 1921), presented in Spain as 'La princesita del jamón' (The Ham Princess).

Constance Talmadge and Harrison Ford in Wedding Bells

Spanish collectors card by Escenas selectas de cinematografia, series B, no. 7. Photo: Constance Talmadge Film. Harrison Ford and Constance Talmadgein Wedding Bells (Chester Withey, 1921), released in Spain as 'La senorita del pelo corto'.

Harrison Ford and Constance Talmadge in Wedding Bells

Spanish collectors card by Escenas selectas de cinematografia, series B, no. 21. Photo: Constance Talmadge Film. Harrison Ford and Constance Talmadge in Wedding Bells (Chester Withey, 1921), released in Spain as 'La senorita del pelo corto'.

Food for Scandal

Harrison Ford turned to film in 1915 and moved to Hollywood. He became a leading man opposite stars such as Constance Talmadge, Norma Talmadge, Marie Prevost, Marion Davies, Marguerite De La Motte, and Clara Bow.

For director James Cruze, he appeared in such films as Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (James Cruze, 1919) with Wallace Reid, and Food for Scandal (James Cruze, 1920) with Wanda Hawley.

Ford's film career ended with the advent of sound film. His final film, and only talkie, Love in High Gear (Frank R. Strayer, 1932). He returned to acting in the theatre, and also directed productions at the Little Theater of the Verdugos in Glendale, California.

During World War II, he toured with the United Service Organizations (USO). According to IMDb, Ford was a recluse: "he shunned personal publicity and Hollywood itself."

In 1951, he was struck by a car driven by a teen girl while out walking. He never recovered from the severe injuries received and spent the rest of his life at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, and died there in 1957, at the age of 73. He was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Harrison Ford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Musso & Frank Grill at 6665 Hollywood Blvd.

Spanish collectors card by Novela Popular Cinematográfica, gift supplement to no. 172.

Spanish postcard, no. 530. The same photo was also on a Ross Verlag postcard, no. 803/1.

Wallace Reid and Harrison Ford in Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1919)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, series CC, artist 35, no. 77. Wallace Reid and Harrison Ford in Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (James Cruze, 1919). It is one of the few surviving films with Reid.

Spanish postcard in the series Estrella del cine, no. 70. Photo: Paramount Film, no. P 708.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

The American silent film The Sheik (George Melford, 1921) caused a sensation and made Rudolph Valentino a sex symbol. It nearly singlehandedly founded the genre of 'oriental romance' Hollywood films. The Sheik is about Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Eyres) a free-spirited English woman who is kidnapped in the North African town of Biskra by Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan with whom she eventually falls in love. In the original 1919 novel by Edith Maude Hull, Diana falls in love with the sheik precisely because he rapes her. In the film, however, this rape is only hinted at. Although set in Algeria, the film was shot entirely in the United States. In 1926, also starring Valentino, an even more popular sequel was made under the title The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926). The Sheik craze led to several imitations and parodies.

British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star Series by Beagles, no. 196.S. Photo: Paramount. Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1921). Valentino wore the same costume in The Son of the Sheik, so we doubted for which of the two films this still was taken. However, Paramount was the producer of The Sheik.

Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was Hollywood's ultimate 'Latin Lover'. The Italian-born American actor starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Sheik (1922), Blood and Sand (1922), The Eagle (1925), and The Son of the Sheik (1926). His early death at age 31 caused mass hysteria among his female fans and propelled him into iconic status.

Pola Negri, Paul Wegener and Jenny Hasselquist in Sumurun (1920)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still for Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Pola Negri, Paul Wegener and Jenny Hasselqvist.

Ernst Lubitsch's silent film Sumurun (1920) tells the story of the favourite slave girl (Hasselquist) of a tyrannical sheik (Wegener), who falls in love with a cloth merchant (Harry Liedtke). Meanwhile, a hunchback clown (Lubitsch himself) suffers unrequited love for a traveling dancer (Negri) who wants to join the harem.

Ben Turpin in The Shriek of Araby (1923)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 14: Ben Turpin. Image: Martinez Surroca. Ben Turpin played a sheik in The Shriek of Araby (F. Richard Jones, 1923).

Cross-eyed silent comedian Ben Turpin (1869-1940) was not born that way. Supposedly his right eye slipped out of alignment while playing the role of the similarly afflicted Happy Hooligan in vaudeville and it never adjusted. Ironically, it was this disability that would enhance his comic value and make him a top name in the silent film era. Turpin's true forte was impersonating the most dashingly romantic and sophisticated stars of the day and turning them into clumsy oafs. He also invented a Hollywood tradition by being the first actor to receive a pie in his face.

Rex Ingram, Alice Terry and Ramon Novarro during the shooting of The Arab

Spanish minicard in the Series 'Intimidades de artistas de cine'. Caption: Under the Algerian sun. Director Rex Ingram, his wife, and female lead Alice Terry, and male star Ramon Novarro during the shooting of The Arab (1924). Ingram was keen on realism, so he shot portions of the film on location in Algiers and hired real Bedouins as extras.

Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. In the 1920s he made several films under the direction of Ingram, including The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) and Scaramouche (1923). Yet, his biggest claim of fame remains his lead in the mega-epic Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).

Alice Terry (1900–1987) appeared in almost 40 films between 1916 and 1933. Though a brunette, Terry's trademark look was her blonde hair, for which she wore wigs from 1920 onwards. Her most acclaimed role is the leading lady in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rex Ingram, 1921) starring Rudolph Valentino. Ingram, who married her in 1921, would shoot her in many of his films and often paired her to Novarro. Terry proved also in films without her husband’s direction she was a legitimate star. In 1923 the couple moved to the French Riviera, where they set up a small studio in Nice and made several films on location in North Africa, Spain, and Italy.

Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 40/3. Photo: IFA / United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad(Raoul Walsh, 1924).

Douglas Fairbanks was the star of the magical adventure The Thief of Bagdad (1924), directed by Raoul Walsh. This Arabian Nights fantasy tells the story of a recalcitrant thief who falls in love with the beautiful daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad. The imaginative special effects, including a flying carpet, a magic rope, fearsome monsters, and the massive Arabian-style sets are still amazing. The Thief of Bagdad was a box-office failure in 1924, but now it is seen as one of the great silent Hollywood films and one of Fairbanks's greatest works.

Italian postcard. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino (Turin). Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in the Italian silent film Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste Against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926).

Bartolomeo Pagano (1878-1947) was an Italian actor in Italian and German silent films. His name is forever attached to the character of the strong man Maciste.

Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3373/2. Photo: United Artists. Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentinoin The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926), retaking a scene from the original Paramount production The Sheik (George Melford, 1921).

Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1534/3, 1927-1928. Photo: United Artists. Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3373/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926).

Full-blooded, romantic, silent melodrama at its very best

The Sheik (George Melford, 1920) was a major success with audiences and set new attendance records where it premiered. In its first week of release, it set attendance records at two of New York's major theaters, the Rialto and the Rivoli. The New York Telegraph estimated that in the first few weeks 125,000 people had seen the film. The film’s power over the public imagination relied on American fantasies of the Orient as a place of billowing sands, luxurious silks, and heated primal romance

Due to the film's success, Jesse Lasky declared the last week of November 1921 as "The Sheik Week", and screened the film at 250 theatres in the United States on 20 November 1921. The Sheik became so popular that the word came to be used to mean a young man on the prowl. The object of a Sheik's desire was dubbed "a Sheba". The film ran for six months in Sydney, Australia, as well as 42 weeks in one theatre in France. It was the first Valentino film to show in his native Italy.

Within the first year of its release, The Sheik exceeded $1 million in ticket sales while the film was made for under $200,000. The Sheik helped to solidify Valentino's image as one of the first male sex symbols of the cinema and made him an international star. While he was a popular draw with female audiences, some male audiences mocked his onscreen persona and questioned his masculinity.

The popular song 'The Sheik of Araby' was written in response to the film. The Sheik became widely copied over the years. Burning Sands (George Melford, 1922) with Milton Sills, The Tents of Allah (Charles Logue, 1923) with Monte Blue, A Son of the Sahara (Edwin Carewe, René Plaissetty, 1924), Rex Ingram's The Arab (1924), which starred Ramón Novarro, and Felix the Cat Shatters the Sheik (Otto Messmer, 1926). The Shriek of Araby ( F. Richard Jones, 1923) starring Ben Turpin, the Baby Peggy short Peg o' the Movies (Alfred J. Goulding, 1923), and the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon The Shriek (William Nolan, 1933) were also parodies of The Sheik.

Rudolph Valentino would later attempt to portray roles that went against his 'Sheik' image with limited success. In 1925, he signed with United Artists. In an effort to capitalize on the success that Valentino had achieved with The Sheik, United Artists' president Joseph M. Schenck bought the rights to Edith Maude Hull's novel 'Son of the Sheik' and cast Valentino in the dual role of father and son.

Donna Hill in her essay 'The Son of the Sheik': "Valentino might have chafed a bit at reprising the role, but he recognised the necessity of doing it. Sequels were not yet common in 1926, but all signs pointed to the film being a sure-fire winner." The novel was adapted for the screen by Frances Marion and Fred de Gresac. Hill: "Set Design was handled by William Cameron Menzies, now famous for The Thief of Bagdad, who worked magic within budget confines, making a lush world out of little more than decorative fabrics and fake – albeit artistic – palm trees."

The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926) was shot on location in California and in the Yuma Desert in Arizona which substituted for the Sahara dunes. Hill: "Conditions there were little better than the actual Sahara: 110o heat during the day, barely cooling at night. The cast and crew camped in tents. The prop master, Irving Sindler, recorded in his diary that unlike co-stars Montagu Love and Vilma Banky, Valentino worked uncomplainingly in the brutal conditions. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself; home movie footage documents a pith helmeted Valentino racing around the sands on his horse, appearing to have a wonderful time."

At AllMovie, Hans J. Wollstein loves the result: "Son of the Sheik is full-blooded, romantic, silent melodrama at its very best and played with complete sincerity by everyone involved, with the exception of a couple of minor characters provided for comic relief. More than anything that would follow in the fast-approaching sound era, this desert romance relied thoroughly on sex appeal. Valentino's own, of course, bordered on mythical proportions, but Vilma Banky was awarded just as many loving close-ups and she photographed luminously. The culmination of all this cinematic lust remains Valentino, on his indigo horse, kidnapping dancing girl Banky, whom he mistakenly accuses of having betrayed him."

The Son of the Sheik went into general release nearly two weeks after his death from peritonitis at the age of 31. However, Valentino lived only long enough to witness the film’s success in Los Angeles and New York. He was promoting it when he fell ill and died at the age of 31, but lived long enough to know it was going to be a box office hit. The film grossed $1,000,000 within the first year of its release. Eventually, it more than doubled that. Donna Hill: "lines snaked down busy metropolitan streets attesting to the flappers and sheiks who yearned for a final glimpse of the Latin lover in what is arguably his best-remembered film."

Had Valentino lived, Son of the Sheik would undoubtedly have put him back on top. Years later, the film rights of The Sheik were bought by producer Edward Small who recreated segments of The Sheik in the biographical picture Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951), starring Anthony Dexter as Valentino, who Small announced would star in a remake of The Sheik, but which was never made. Harum Scarum (1965), which starred Elvis Presley, was inspired by the film.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 493. Photo: Paramount Films. Bebe Daniels in She's a Sheik (Clarence G. Badger, 1927).

Bebe Daniels (1901-1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress and later as the love interest of Harold Lloyd in dozens of short comedies. Cecil B. de Mille made her a silent star and later she sang and danced in early musicals like Rio Rita (1929) and 42nd Street (1933). In Great Britain, she gained further fame on stage, radio, and television. In her long career, Bebe Daniels appeared in 230 films.

French postcard by Europe, no. 41. Publicity still for the French silent film L'Occident (Henri Fescourt, 1927, released 1928). The card makes publicity for the film's premiere screening at the Paris cinema Marivaux. Caption from La Petite Illustration, 398, 1928: "The hour of prayer of the tribe of Zerrath-Hama."

L'Occident/The West (1927) was based on the play by Henri Kistemaeckers (who also scripted the film), produced by Société des Cinéromans, and distributed by Pathé Consortium Cinéma. The leading actors were Lucien Dalsace, Claudia Victrix, and Jaque Catelain. The sets were by Robert Gys. The film premiered in France on 26 September 1928 at the Paris cinema Marivaux.

Léon Mathot in Dans l'Ombre du Harem (1928)

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 540. Photo: Franco Film. Léon Mathotin the French silent film Dans l'ombre du harem/In the Shadow of the Harem (Léon Mathot, André Liabel, 1928). The title on the postcard is slightly incorrect.

French actor and director Léon Mathot (1886-1968) became well-known for his role as Edmond Dantès in the French serial Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (Henri Pouctal, 1918). Mathot was one of the most popular stars of French silent film of the 1920s with such films as L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922) and Coeur fidèle (Jean Epstein, 1923). From 1927, he also became a film director, directing over 20 films.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4101/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Adolphe Menjou in His Tiger Wife (Hobart Henley, 1928).

Suave and debonair American actor Adolphe Menjou (1890-1963) with his trademark waxy black moustache was one of Hollywood's most distinguished stars and one of America's 'Best Dressed Men'. He started as a matinée idol in the silent cinema in such classics as The Sheik (George Melford, 1920), Ernst Lubitsch's The Marriage Circle (1924). His sound films included Morocco (1931) with Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper, A Star is Born (1937), and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) with Kirk Douglas. In 1931, he was nominated for an Oscar for The Front Page (1931).

Ramon Novarro in A Night in Cairo/ The Barbarian (1933)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5935/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Ramon Novarro in A Night in Cairo/ The Barbarian (Sam Wood, 1933).

Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s.

Ramon Novarro and Myrna Loy in A Night in Cairo/ The Barbarian (1933)

Dutch postcard, no. 484. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro and Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (Sam Wood, 1933).

Myrna Loy (1905-1993) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She was originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, but her career prospects improved greatly following her portrayal of Nora Charles in The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934). Suddenly she was 'Queen of the Movies' and remained so until the late 1940s.

British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C. 338. Photo: Alexander Korda Productions. Sabu in The Thief of Baghdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, 1940).

British Indian actor Sabu (1924-1963) had 'a smile as broad as the Ganges and charm enough to lure the stripes off a tiger'. He became an instant star with the release of the British film Elephant Boy in 1937. His succession of tropical Technicolor treats delighted audiences before and during WW II.

Italian programme card for Il Cinema Ritrovata 2011. Photo: June Deprez and Conrad Veidt in The Thief of Bagdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda, William Cameron Menzies, 1940).

Spanish card, 1948. Photo: Universal. María Montez in Arabian Nights (John Rawlins, 1942).

Dominican film actress María Montez (1912-1951) gained fame and popularity as a tempestuous Latino beauty in Hollywood movies of the 1940s. In a series of exotic adventures filmed in Technicolor, she starred as Arabian princesses, jungle goddesses, and highborn gypsies, dressed in fanciful costumes and sparkling jewels. Over her career, ‘The Queen of Technicolor’ appeared in 26 films, of which five were made in Europe.

Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, Barcelona. Photo: Universal. María Montez in Sudan (John Rawlins, 1945).

Small Italian collectors card, no. 291. Photo: Ivo Meldones. Totò in Totò sceicco/Toto the Sheik (Mario Mattoli, 1950).

Totò (1898–1967) was one of the most popular Italian film stars ever, nicknamed il principe della risata (the prince of laughter). He starred in about 100 films, many of which are still frequently broadcast on Italian television. Totò is an heir of the Commedia dell'Arte tradition and can be compared to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. His style and some of his recurring jokes and gestures are universally known in Italy.

Sources: Donna Hill (Library of Congress), Sophie Hammond (Inquiries), Hans J. Wollstein (AllMovie), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English), and IMDb.

In the silent film era, there were many wonderful series of collectors cards in Spain. Often they were a supplement when you bought a box of chocolates or your favourite film magazine. An example is 'Escenas selectas de cinematografìa', a series of mini collectors cards that presented film scenes, which give an interesting view of the American and European film production in the early 1920s. The cards have short descriptions of the film plot on the back and were presented by several manufacturers, including the companies Chocolates Guillèn in Barcelona, and Piera y Brugueras in Tarasa (Barcelona). The latter produced 'Chocolates, Bombones y Caramelos' (Chocolates, candies, and sweets).

Series A

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 1. Raquel Meller and André Roanne (?) in Les Opprimés/Flanders under Philip II (Henry Roussel, 1923), released in Spain as La Rosa de Flandes. It was the first film shot at Hippolyte Kempeneer's Mechelen studios in Belgium.

Erich von Stroheim in Foolish Wives (not Mae Busch)

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 2, for Chocolate Guillèn. Erich von Stroheim in Foolish Wives (Von Stroheim, 1922). The lady depicted is not Mae Busch but Miss Dupont.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 4. Mary Pickford in Through the Back Door (Alfred E. Green, Jack Pickford, 1921). The Spanish title is Por la puerta de servicio.

Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro (1920)

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 5, for Chocolates Guillèn, Barcelona. Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920). The woman is probably Marguerite de la Motte and the Spanish title was El signo del zorro.

Luciano Albertini and Lya De Putti in Die Schlucht des Todes

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 6. Luciano Albertini, and Lya De Putti in Die Schlucht des Todes/The Ravine of Death (Luciano Albertini, Francis A. Bertoni, 1923). The Spanish release title of the film is El barranco de la muerte.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 7. Raquel Meller and André Roanne in Les Opprimés/Flanders under Philip II (Henry Roussel, 1923), released in Spain as 'La Rosa de Flandes'.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 8. Charles Ray and Viola Dana (?) in Mirando la luna (Looking at the moon). It's unknown which American film this is. It was shown in Madrid, Spain in November-December 1925.

Einar Hanson and Mary Johnnson in Gunnar hedes saga 2, Spanish minicard

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 9. Einar Hanson and Mary Johnson in Gunnar Hedes saga/Snowbound (Mauritz Stiller, 1923). The Spanish title of the film is 'Contra soberbia' (Against Pride). NB As on the card above, Hanson's name is misspelled as Hansson and although Pauline Brunius plays Hede's mother in the film, she is not the woman on the card.

Escenas selectas, Norma Talmadge in The Eternal Flame (1922)

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 10. Norma Talmadge and Conway Tearle in The Eternal Flame (Frank Lloyd, 1922). The Spanish title of the film is El eterna llama.

Escenas selectas, Harry Carey, Lealtad Cayena

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 12. Harry Carey in Lealtad (Loyalty). Cayena may be a misspelling of Carey's regular character Cheyenne Harry.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 13. Sandra Milovanoff, Berthe Jalabert and René Poyen in Le Gamin de Paris/Paris Urchin (Louis Feuillade, 1923). The Spanish release title of the film is El muchacho de Paris. Poyen's comic character Bout-de-Zan at Gaumont - some ten years before this film - was called Minutiyo in Spain.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 14. Richard Talmadge in The Cub Reporter (John Francis Dillon, 1922), presented in Spain as Ricardito reporter.

Betty Balfour in Love, Life and Laughter

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 15. Betty Balfour as Tip-Toes and Harry Jonas as the Boy in Love, Life and Laughter (George Pearson, 1923), released in Spain as Risas y lagrimas (Laughter and Tears). Long presumed lost, Love, Life and Laughter (George Pearson, 1923) was found in the Netherlands in 2014 by the Eye Filmmuseum. A copy of the British production was found in the inventory of bioscoop/theater De Vries (cinema/theatre De Vries), a former cinema in Hattem, the Netherlands. The film was listed as one of the British Film Institute's '75 Most Wanted' lost films. Eye restored the film. Plot: Tip-Toes (Balfour) is a chorus girl in a garret. She befriends a lonely young boy who dreams of being a writer, while she dreams of being a music-hall star. They agree to meet at midnight in two years' time in their slum tenement to see which of their dreams has come true.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 16. Photo: Norma Talmadge Film. Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Howard Truesdale in The Wonderful Thing (Herbert Brenon, 1921), presented in Spain as 'La princesita del jamón' (The Ham Princess).

Sandra Milovanoff in Le fils du filibustier

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 17. Aimé Simon-Girard, Sandra Milovanoff, and Bernard Derigal in Le fils du flibustier/The buccaneer's son (Louis Feuillade, 1922). The Spanish title of the film is 'El hijo del pirata'.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, Serie A, no. 20. Richard Talmadge in El senor X, probably The Mysterious Stranger (Jack Nelson, 1925).

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series A, no. 21. Although the card indicates that this is Lya De Putti in El paraiso nevado (The Snowy Paradise), we have our doubts. The film was shown in Spain in 1924, but we haven't identified yet its original, probably German title. Marlene Pilaete: "I was puzzled by the “El paraiso nevado” Spanish card on Flickr. I think that the lady on the card doesn’t look like Lya De Putti. Maybe that card has nothing to do with her and is rather related to the 1923 German movie “Das Paradies im Schnee”, directed by Georg Jacoby. The title matches with “El paraiso nevado”. According to the synopsis I found on Wikipedia, there is a carnival scene in it, which may explain the funny costumes worn by the two characters and the presence of what seems to be confetti and streamers. The man could be Bruno Kastner and the lady could be either Lona Schmidt or Elga Brink." We think Marlene is right.

Series B

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, serie B, no. 1. Richard Talmadge in El senor X, probably The Mysterious Stranger (Jack Nelson, 1925).

Thomas Meighan in The Miracle Man (1919)

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 2, for Juan Garcia, Chocolates Gavilan, Alicante. Thomas Meighan in The Miracle Man (George Loan Tucker, 1919). The woman could be Betty Compson and the Spanish title is El milagro.

Fernand Herrmann and Bernard Derigal in Le fils du flibustier (1922)

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 3, for Juan Garcia, Chocolates Gavilan, Alicante. Fernand Herrmann and Bernard Derigal in Le fils du flibustier/The buccaneer's son (Louis Feuillade, 1922). The Spanish title is El hijo del pirata.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 4, for Juan Garcia, Chocolates Gavilan, Alicante. Georges Biscot in Le fils du flibustier/The buccaneer's son (Louis Feuillade, 1922). The Spanish title is El hijo del pirata.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 5. Luciano Albertini and Lya De Putti in Die Schlucht des Todes/The Ravine of Death (Luciano Albertini, Francis A. Bertoni, 1923). The Spanish release title of the film is El barranco de la muerte.

Escenas selectas, Sessue Hayakawa, En el corazon del barrio chino

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 6. Sessue Hayakawa, in En el corazon del barrio chino (In the heart of Chinatown). It probably refers to The Swamp (Colin Campbell, 1921), in which Hayakawa wears the same costume and hairdo.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 7. Photo: Constance Talmadge Film. Constance Talmadge and Harrison Ford in Wedding Bells (Chester Withey, 1921), released in Spain as La senorita del pelo corto.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 8. Betty Balfour in Love, Life and Laughter (George Pearson, 1923), released in Spain as Risas y lagrimas (Laughter and Tears).

Escenas selectas, Marguerite Courtot Lew Cody The Blazing Barriers

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 9. Marguerite Courtot and Lew Cody in Jacqueline, or Blazing Barriers (Dell Henderson, 1923). The Spanish title of the film is El bosque en llamas (The forest in flames).

Escenas selectas, Dorothy Philips, La voz de la mujer

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 10. Dorothy Philips in Man-Woman-Marriage (Alan Holubar, 1921). The Spanish title of the film is La voz de la mujer (The voice of women).

Raquel Meller in Violettes impériales (1924)

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 11, for Chocolates Guillèn, Barcelona. Raquel Meller in Violettes impériales/Imperial violets (Henry Roussel, 1924). To the right of her, André Roanne. Spanish title is Violetas imperiales.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 12, for Juan Garcia, Chocolates Gavilan, Alicante. Roscoe Arbuckle in Moonshine (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, 1918). To the right of him, Al St. John as The Mountain Man. The Spanish title is Fatty aduanero. With thanks to Steve Massa for the identification.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 13, for Juan Garcia, Chocolates Gavilan, Alicante. René Poyen (Bout de Zan) as war orphan Joseph (left) in Le gamin de Paris/Paris urchin (Louis Feuillade, 1923). The little girl in Poyen's arms was Bouboule as Gaby, the general was played by Adolphe Candé, and the lady at right, Madame de Mersange, by Renée van Delly. Spanish title is El muchacho de Paris. As a child star, René Poyen was known in France as Bout de Zan and in Spain as Minutiyo.

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 14. Richard Talmadge in The Cub Reporter (John Francis Dillon, 1922), presented in Spain as Ricardito reporter.

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 15. Charles Ray in A Tailor-Made Man (Joseph De Grasse, 1922). This comedy was released in Spain in 1923 as Un frac para dos.

Escenas selectas, Norma Talmadge in The Eternal Flame

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 16. Norma Talmadge and Conway Tearle in The Eternal Flame (Frank Lloyd, 1922). The Spanish title of the film is El eterna llama.

Einar Hanson and Mary Johnson in Gunnar hedes saga 1, Spanish card

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series, series B, no. 17. Einar Hanson and Mary Johnson in Gunnar Hedes saga/Snowbound (Mauritz Stiller, 1923). The Spanish title of the film is Contra soberbia (Against Pride). Hanson's name is misspelled on the card as Hansson and although Pauline Brunius plays in this film Hede's mother, she is not the woman on this card.

Constance Talmadge in La coqueta irresistibile

Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series by Chocolates Piera y Brugueras, Tarrasa (Barcelona), series B, no. 19.Constance Talmadge and Conway Tearle in A Virtuous Vamp (David Kirkland, 1919). The Spanish title is La coqueta irresistibile. With thanks to Erhanizzet Oncel for the identification.

Georges Biscot and Fernand Herrmann in Les deux gamines (1921)

Spanish collectors card in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series B, no. 20. Photo: Gaumont. Georges Biscot and Fernand Herrmann in Les deux gamines/The two kids (Louis Feuillade, 1921), presented in Spain as Las dos niñas de París.

Austrian-born stage actress Mady Christians (1892-1951) was a star of the German silent cinema and appeared in Austrian, French, British, and Hollywood films too.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1715. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser. Berlin-Wilm., no. 436. Photo: Zander & Labisch.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 460/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 754/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1548/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3603/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4990/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Balazs, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5216/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.

The Man Without a Name

Mady Christians was born as Marguerita Maria Christians in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1892. She was the daughter of opera singer Bertha Klein and actor Rudolph Christians. When her father took over a German-speaking theater in New York in 1912, the whole family went to the USA, where Mady made her film debut in Audrey (Robert G. Vignola, 1916) as Margarete Christians.

Because of World War I, Mady and her mother returned mother to Europe and she studied in Berlin with Max Reinhardt. She worked as a stage actress, but soon she was monopolised by the new cinema world.

She played leads in silent films like Die fremde Frau/The Strange Woman (Hubert Moest, 1917) with Hedda Vernon, Nachtschatten/Night Shadows (Friedrich Zelnik aka Frederic Zelnik, 1918), and Die Gesunkenen/The Down-and-outs (Fred Sauer, 1919). Her breakthrough was her part in the serial Der Mann ohne Namen/The Man Without A Name (Georg Jacoby, 1921) with Harry Liedtke as the thief Peter Voss.

In the following years, she appeared in several classics of the Weimar cinema such as Das Weib des Pharao/Pharoah's Wife (Ernst Lubitsch, 1922), Ein Glas Wasser/One Glass of Water (Ludwig Berger, 1923), Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/Finances of the Grand Duke (F.W. Murnau, 1924), Michael (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1924), Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925) and in the two-part costume drama Königin Luise/Queen Louise (Karl Grune, 1927-1928).

In 1928 she founded with director Ludwig Berger the Länder-Film Company in Berlin, but the company was already finished by 1931. She acted in the British production The Runaway Princess (Anthony Asquith, Fritz Wendhausen, 1929) and in the French Mon coeur incognito/My Heart is Incognito (André-Paul Antoine, Manfred Noa, 1930) opposite Jean Angelo, an alternative language version of Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren (Manfred Noa, 1930) with Gustav Diessl. The German sound film offered her only little work, but she did appear in Das Schicksal der Renate Langen/The Fate of Renate Langen (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1931) and Friederike/Frederica (Fritz Friedmann-Frederich, 1932).

Mady Christians and Hugo Flink in Die Verteidigerin (1918)

German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2267. Photo: Berliner Film-Manufaktur. Mady Christians (here: Margarethe Christians) and Hugo Flink in Die Verteidigerin/The Defender (Friedrich Zelnik, 1918).

German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2285. Photo: Berliner Film-Manufaktur. Mady Christians (here: Margarethe Christians) in Die Dreizehn/The Thirteen (Alfred Halm, 1918).

Mady Christians & Willy Fritsch in Ein Walzertraum

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/1. Mady Christians and Willy Fritsch in the Ufa-film Ein Walzertraum (Ludwig Berger, 1925).

Mady Christians and Bruno Kastner in Die geschiedene Frau (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 65/1. Photo: Aafa-Film. Mady Christians and Bruno Kastner in Die geschiedene Frau/The Divorcée (Victor Janson, 1926).

Mady Christians and Viktor Janson in Die geschiedene Frau (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 65/3. Photo: Aafa-Film. Mady Christians and Viktor Janson in Die geschiedene Frau/The Divorcée (Victor Janson, 1926).

Hans Adalbert Schlettow and Mady Christians in Die Jugend der Königin Luise (1927)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 88/4. Photo: Terra Film. Publicity still for Königin Luise, 1. Teil - Die Jugend der Königin Luise/Queen Louise (Karl Grune, 1927) with Hans Adalbert Schlettow.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5384/2, 1930-1931. Photo: AAFA Film. Publicity still for Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5384/1, 1930-1931. Photo: AAFA Film. Publicity still for Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930).

I Remember Mama

After the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933, Mady Christians emigrated to the United States. In the following decades, she shuttled between Hollywood and Broadway.

In Hollywood, she starred in The Only Girl (Frederick Hollander/Friedrich Holländer, 1934) with Charles Boyer. She appeared in several popular pictures like A Wicked Woman (Charles Brabin, 1934), Escapade (Robert Z. Leonard, 1935) with William Powell, Come and Get It (Howard Hawks a.o., 1936), Seventh Heaven (Henry King, 1937) with James Stewart, and Tender Comrade (Edward Dmytryk, 1943) with Ginger Rogers.

In films, she tended to play supporting character parts, while on stage she continued to find leading roles. On Broadway, she originated the title role in the play I Remember Mama (1944). In 1945 she became a drama teacher at Columbia University.

Her last movie roles were in Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948) and All My Sons (Irving Reis, 1948) based on the play by Arthur Miller, in which she co-starred with Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson.

In 1950 she was blacklisted after being labelled a communist sympathizer during the McCarthy-era ‘witch trials’. Mady Christians died in 1951 in Norwalk, Connecticut, from a cerebral haemorrhage.

French postcard by Europe, no. 52. Photo: Aafa.

Gustav Diessl and Mady Christians in Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren (1930)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5385/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Aafa-Film. Gustav Diessl and Mady Christians in Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6067/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Mady Christians and Hans Heinz Bollmann in Friederike (1932)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 166/2. Photo: Indra-Film. Mady Christians and Hans Heinz Bollmann in Friederike/Frederica (Fritz Friedmann-Frederich, 1932).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 181/2. Photo: Ufa. Lilian Harvey and Mady Christians in Ich und die Kaiserin (1933).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 609 (Ross Luxus Series). Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 7201/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.

Otto Wallburg and Mady Christians in Der Schwarze Husar (1932)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 152/3 Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Schwarze Husar/The Black Hussar (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1932) with Otto Wallburg.

Conrad Veidt and Mady Christians in Der schwarze Husar (1932)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 7205/1. Photo: Ufa. Conrad Veidt and Mady Christians in Der schwarze Husar/The Black Hussar (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1932).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7532/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Hisa-Film. Publicity still for Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe/Manolescu, the King of Thieves (Georg C. Klaren, Willi Wolff, 1933).

Source: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Denny Jackson (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Simone de Oliveira (1938), also known as Simone, is one of the great divas of Portugal. The accomplished singer represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1965 and 1969. In an era ruled by dictatorial regimen, the lyrics of her evergreen 'Desfolhada' touched Portuguese hearts deeply. Simone also has decades of acting experience in films, theatre, and soap operas. Tonight, 29 March 2022, she gives her farewell performance at the Coliseo in Lissabon. Although we here at EFSP are fans of many film stars, some people have a special place in our hearts. Simone de Oliveira is one of them. We met her in 2009 and since then we are fans.

Portuguese advertisement. 19 March, Coliseu, Lisboa: Simone de Oliveira.

A surprise meeting

First, our memory of Simone. In July 2009, we spent a week in Lissabon. We stayed in a former cinema, the Eden, at the Avenida da Liberdade. The Eden was one of the grand movie palaces on the Avenida when classical Hollywood cinema ruled. The Eden closed in 1989 and in 1991 it was used as a location in Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World. In 2001 the building was converted into a huge four-star hotel while retaining part of the original facade.

Every night we took an old tram up the hill to the Bairro Alto where there are many old bars and restaurants. One day someone suggested we visit a special restaurant that was frequented by many gays, lesbians, and other interesting people. When we arrived at the restaurant, the waiter told us that it was unfortunately full. We chatted a bit and told the waiter where we were coming from. The waiter smiled. He was a huge fan of the city of Amsterdam and said there might be a table next to the kitchen.

That was fine with us. A table was cleared and a few regulars kindly moved over. We ended up sitting next to an elegant older blonde, who was drinking a huge bubble of whiskey while chain-smoking. It became a night to remember. The food was delicious, the wine was even better and the company was excellent. We had a lot of fun with the waiter and the other guests.

The waiter kept putting on unintelligible but beautiful music for us by a Portuguese singer. Sometimes it was cheerful, sometimes melancholic. At the end of the evening, I asked who the singer was. He showed me his CD of Simone and pointed at our neighbour. It was her! We applauded.

The next day I immediately bought her album 'Perfil'. When I showed it to a Portuguese friend and told her that we had met this lady the night before, our friend almost fainted. Simone is a true legend in Portugal, as big as Barbra Streisand in the US. Of course, we went looking for postcards of her. Fortunately, we finally were able to find one.

Portuguese card by Decca.

Descendant of an African King

Simone de Macedo de Oliveira was born in 1938 in Lisbon, Portugal. Her father was Guy de Macedo de Oliveira, and her mother Maria do Carmo Lopes da Silva. He was a descendant of an African King of São Tomé e Príncipe in the nineteenth-century Portuguese territory.

Simone started singing in high school. When she was 19 she had a depression. Her doctor told her that she needed to find something to do. Simone decided to go to the Centro de Preparação de Artistas da Emissora Naional (Artists Preparation Center of National Emission).

The first time Simone sang in public was at the Festival da Canção Portuguesa (Portuguese Song Festival) in 1958. She placed third with the song 'Olhos nos Olhos' (Eyes in Eyes).

In the following decade, she performed several times at the popular Festival da Canção Portuguesa. In 1965 she won the festival with the song 'Sol de Inverno' (Winter's Sun) and represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965.

Simone sings 'Sol de Inverno' at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. Source: RTP (YouTube).

Important Stage Actress

Simone also became an important stage actress in Portugal.

In 1962 she had made her theater debut, and she appeared in plays like: 'O Contracto' (The Contract), 'A menina Alice e o Inspector' (Miss Alice and the Inspector), 'A Tragédia da Rua das Flores' (The Tragedy of Flowers Street), and 'Conheci Miguel Torga' (I meet Miguel Torga).

A great popular success in Portugal was 'Passa por mim no Rossio'.

Another success was the homage to the singer Madalena Iglésias who represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966 in the musical play 'What happened to Madalena Iglésias?' in which Simone played the leading role.

Simone reached the breaking point of her singing career in 1969 with the song 'Desfolhada portuguesa', with lyrics by José Carlos Ary dos Santos and music by Nuno Nazareth Fernandes.

This song was a great success in Portugal, with innovative lyrics in Portugal at the time of the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar. The song represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 in Madrid. Despite its popularity in Portugal, this song was not successful at the ESC, getting only 4 votes.

After singing 'Desfolhada Portuguesa' she lost her voice for years. During these years she worked in journalism, radio, and hosted TV shows.

Simone de Oliveira sings Desfolhada Portuguesa at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. Source: Eurovision Portugal (YouTube).

Breast Cancer Survivor

Simone returned to the stages in 1973, with a deeper, still potent, voice, and in 1979 she won the Festival da Nova Canção de Lisboa (New Song Lisbon Festival) with the song 'Sempre que tu vens é Primavera' (Every time you come it's Spring).

She starred on stage and also appeared in four films: Canção da saudade (Henrique Campos, 1964), the action thriller Operação diamante (Pedro Martins, 1967), Cântico final (Manuel Guimarães, 1976) and the drama A estrangeira (João Mário Grilo, 1983) with Fernando Rey.

In 1987 she successfully fought breast cancer, and in 1997 she celebrated her 40 years of career. Simone also appeared regularly on television, where she hosted many shows and acted in soap operas like Tu e Eu (2006) and Vila Faia (2008-2009), and many other series.

In 2009 Simone returned to the spotlight, with a new album, 'Perfil', including 36 of her most memorable hits. At the Festival da Canção de 2010 (the 2010 Portuguese Song Contest), she once again performed 'Desfolhada', wearing the same dress she had worn 40 years before when she won the Festival in 1969. In 2011, at the XVI edition of the Golden Globes (Portugal), she received the Golden Globe of Merit and Excellence from Dr. Pinto Balsemão.

Simone de Oliveira was married twice: first to António José Coimbra Mano and later to actor Varela Silva. With her first husband, she had two children: Maria Eduarda and António Pedro. She has two ex-stepdaughters from Varela Silva’s first marriage (to Celeste Rodrigues, and she has two grandsons.

In March 2021, Simone de Oliveira announced that she had decided to put an end to her career and would give one last performance. Finally, after a long delay by Covid, that's possible and today, 29 March 2022, Simone will perform and bid farewell. Thank you for your wonderful music, great diva!

Tribute to Simone de Oliveira at the Festival da Canção 2018. Source: EFestival da Canção (YouTube).

Sources: Nelson Costa (Oikotimes.com), Wikipedia (English and Portuguese), and IMDb.

On 21 March 2022, German film and television actress Eva Ingeborg Scholz (1928-2022) passed away. Since her East-German debut in 1948, she played in more than 110 film and television productions. Scholz was 94.

Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Des Teufels General (1955)

West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1400. Photo: Real / Europa Film-Verleih / Gabriele. Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Des Teufels General/The Devil's General (Helmut Käutner, 1955).

Expressive eyes, and a strong on-screen presence

Eva Ingeborg Scholz was born in 1928 in Brandenburg, Prussia. She attended the Max Reinhardt School and acted at the Schlosspark Theatre and the Renaissance Theatre from 1947 to 1950.

From 1950 to 1953 she was engaged at the Komödie Berlin, after which she was part of the ensemble at the Münchner Kammerspiele. As an ensemble member, she covered both comedic and dramatic assignments.

She made her film debut in the title role of the East German film 1-2-3 Corona (Hans Müller, 1948) opposite Lutz Moik. It was a post-war love story with a circus setting, filmed at Ufa's Babelsberg studio.

I.S. Mowis at IMDb: "Though diminutive and rather unimposing in stature, she had expressive eyes, and, as it turned out, possessed a strong on-screen presence." From then on, she appeared regularly in films, including a performance as a young lodger in Peter Lorre's only directorial effort, the West-German drama Der Verlorene/The Lost One (1951).

Scholz alternated leading roles in light comedies and operettas such as Pension Schöller (Georg Jacoby, 1952) and Ball im Savoy/Ball at the Savoy (Paul Martin, 1955)) with high profile supporting parts in dramas. She did her best acting in films with a wartime theme, such as a supporting role opposite Curd Jürgens in Des Teufels General/The Devil's General (Helmut Käutner, 1955), based on the play by Carl Zuckmayer.

Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Ball im Savoy (1955)

West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. 1652. Photo: T. v. Mindszenty / Central Europa Film / Europa Film. Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Ball im Savoy/Ball at the Savoy (Paul Martin, 1955).

Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Unternehmen Schlafsack (1955)

West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G,m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 1635. Photo: Real / Rank-Film / v Mindszenty. Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Unternehmen Schlafsack/Operation Sleeping Bag (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1955).

Disney and Fassbinder

From the early 1960s, Eva Ingeborg Scholz appeared increasingly on television, where she remained active until the age of 90 years in 2018. She appeared in popular television Krimi series like Tatort, Derrick, Der Alte/The Old Fox, and SOKO Stuttgart/Stuttgart Homicide.

In 2018, she won the Deutscher Schauspielpreis (German Actors Award) for her supporting role in the Tatort episode Die Liebe, ein seltsames Spiel (2017).

Eva-Ingeborg Scholz also worked as a dubbing artist and lent her voice to the title character of the animated film Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1950) and to Alice's sister in Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1951).

Among her later films are the Disney production Emil and the Detectives (Peter Tewksbury, 1964), based on the novel by Erich Kästner, in which she played Emil's mother, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Der amerikanische Soldat/The American Soldier (1970). One of her final films was the comedy Die Apothekerin/The Pharmacist (Rainer Kaufmann, 1997) with Katja Riemann.

She was married twice. Her first husband was screenwriter Georg Hurdalek with whom she had a son, Stefan Hurdalek (1951). In 1953, she married actor Wilfried Seyferth but he died a year later in a car accident. Their daughter is actress Katharina Seyferth (1954). Eva Ingeborg Scholz lived and worked in Gräfelfing near Munich. She died in March 2022 at the age of 94.

Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Pension Schöller (1952)

West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 566. Photo: Magna Film / Deutsche London Film. Eva Ingeborg Scholz in Pension Schöller (Georg Jacoby, 1952).

Sources: I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

Lawrence 'Larry' Semon (1889-1928) was an American Slapstick comedian known for his charming, white-painted face and clownish smile. French audiences knew him as Zigoto, Italian ones as Ridolini, and Spanish ones as Jaimito. In his day, Semon was considered a major film comedian, but he is now remembered mainly for working with both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they started working together. He is also sometimes noted for directing (as well as appearing in) the silent film The Wizard of Oz (1925), which had a slight influence on the better-known sound version of The Wizard of Oz (1939). His career was marred by personal problems. By the time he died at the age of 39, he'd already been hospitalised for a nervous breakdown and was penniless.

Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 2051. Caption: Lary (sic) Semon (Ridolini). Sent by mail in 1925.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 128. Photo: Vitagraph, New York. Caption: Ridolini Imperatore. Larry Semon (Ridolini) in A Pair of Kings (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1922).

Larry Semon and Kathleen Myers in The Midnight Cabaret (1923)

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 325. Caption: Ridolini "al Tabarin". Larry Semon (Ridolini) and Kathleen Myers in The Midnight Cabaret (Larry Semon, 1923).

Laurel and Hardy

Born in West Point, Mississippi in 1889, Larry Semon was the son of a travelling Jewish vaudeville magician Zera Semon, who billed himself as "Zera the Great". His mother, Irene Semon (née Rea) worked as his assistant. Along with his older sister, Semon joined his parents' act until his father's death.

After completing his education in Savannah, Georgia, Semon moved to New York City, where he worked for The New York Sun and later The New York Morning Telegraph as a cartoonist, comics artist, and graphic artist.

While working as an artist, Semon appeared in monologues in vaudeville, where he attracted the attention of Vitagraph Studios. In 1915, he was offered a contract with the company. He quickly proved himself and was promoted to director for the Hughie Mack series of comedies. His background in magic helped him create interesting new gags for the comedian.

When Mack left the studio in 1917, Semon took over the starring role himself. His first screen appearance was in Boats and Boldness (Larry Semon, 1917), a Western in which he played an unbelievable outlaw with an easy gun. In a short time, having refined his technique and delineated the psychological profile of the clown who entertains without making people think, with his one-roll comedies where action, acrobatics, gags in bursts, simple but exhilarating, whose rhythm cut off the breath, he became a favourite with the public.

His one-reelers were quite successful, and Vitagraph sent him to California to participate in its new West Coast operation. He produced as well as wrote, starred in, and directed his own films, at the same time also producing films for other comics. He usually played a white-faced goof in derby hat and overalls who would enter any given setting (a bakery, a restaurant, a construction site, a prison camp, etc.) and cause chaos, with people being covered with debris and property being destroyed.

He became very popular in Europe. In Italy he came to fame as 'Ridolini', in France he was known as 'Zigoto', in Spain he was 'Jaimito'. Once he had developed his characteristic mask with its floured face and very high-waisted trousers, he was easily identified with the traditional circus clown of old tradition. The European public already appreciated such film clowns as the French André Deed ("Cretinetti") and the Italian Ferdinand Guillaume ("Polidor" or "Tontolini").

His short slapstick comedies were made and released quickly and prolifically, making Semon very familiar to moviegoers. In 1918 Semon began featuring in his films a young comedian named Stan Laurel, and their successful pairing seemed to portend a new comedy team. However, for reasons that were never made quite clear, Laurel left the partnership in its infancy.

Coincidentally, within a year, Laurel's future partner Oliver Hardy would join Semon's troupe, eventually becoming a prominent member. As Semon's fame grew, his films expanded from one reel (about 12 minutes) to two reels, and Semon was given a free hand in making them. This became a dangerous policy because Semon became notorious for being expensive and extravagant: his two-reel comedies could easily cost more than an average five-reel feature film.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 124. Photo: Vitagraph, New York. Caption: Ridolini "Imperatore". Larry Semon (Ridolini) in A Pair of Kings (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1922).

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 125. Photo: Vitagraph, New York. Caption: Ridolini "Imperatore". Larry Semon (Ridolini) in A Pair of Kings (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1922).

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 126. Photo: Vitagraph, New York. Caption: Ridolini "Imperatore". Larry Semon (Ridolini) in A Pair of Kings (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1922).

Airplane chases, exploding barns, falling water towers, and auto wrecks

As a former cartoonist, Larry Semon staged similarly cartoony sight gags, using elaborate special effects. No gag was too big for Semon. He loved chase sequences involving airplanes (sometimes using three in a film), exploding barns, falling water towers, auto wrecks and/or explosions, and liberal use of substances in which to douse people.

A typical Semon comedy might involve barrels of flour, sacks of soot, gallons of ink, gobs of jam, or pits filled with mud. For example, in Semon's The Bell Hop (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1921), a man sleeping under the spray of a malfunctioning fountain imagines he is swimming in the ocean, and in his sleep, he dives off the bed, through the floor, and into a vat of paint in the lobby below.

Oliver Hardy recalled in an interview that Semon when staging his comedy short The Sawmill (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1922) in a lumber camp, would not use traditional, painted stage sets. Instead, Semon insisted on building permanent log cabins complete with modern conveniences. The production budget soared, and his bosses at Vitagraph finally demanded that Semon become his own producer and underwrite his productions personally.

Semon tried to reverse his money problems by entering the more lucrative field of feature films but was none too successful. In a new partnership with producer I.E. Chadwick's Chadwick Pictures, Semon returned to two-reelers. He then embarked on what would turn out to be a disastrous dream project - an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'.

Jim Beaver at IMDb: "The film boasted a superb cast, with Semon at the helm, and while it was wildly expensive it was enormously promising. Yet Semon failed utterly to capitalize on that promise, and the film (The Wizard of Oz (1925)) turned out to be a trite and inept run-of-the-mill comedy that seemed only to share a title and character names with Baum's beloved story, instead of the classic film it could have been."

A gangster role in Josef von Sternberg's Underworld (1927) was impressive, but a mere ripple. Larry went back in short subjects released through Educational Pictures. These also failed. After filing for bankruptcy in March 1928, Semon returned to vaudeville. While traveling on the vaudeville circuit, he suffered a nervous breakdown and went back to Los Angeles.

After returning to Los Angeles, Semon was admitted to a sanatorium in Victorville, California, where at the age of 39, he died of pneumonia and tuberculosis in 1928. His wife Dorothy Dwan was reported to be at his bedside when he died.

In its obituary for Semon, the trade paper Variety speculated that ongoing stress related to his dire financial circumstances was a contributing factor in his demise, alluding to The Wizard of Oz (1925) as the major cause of his money woes: "This screen disaster caused Mr. Semon no end of worry and repeated efforts to recoup only added to his discomfiture. Last March he filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy, listing debts at nearly $500,000. Ceaseless worry undermined his health making him an easy victim of pneumonia."

Larry Semon and Lucille Carlisle in A Pair of Kings (1922)

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 127. Caption: Ridolini Imperatore. Larry Semon (Ridolini) and Lucille Carlisle in A Pair of Kings (Larry Semon, Norman Taurog, 1922).

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 285. Caption: Ridolini "al Tabarin". Larry Semon (Ridolini) in Trouble Brewing (James D. Davis, Larry Semon, 1924).

Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 11: Larry Semon. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and Italian), and IMDb.

American actor, screenwriter, and director John Gilbert (1899-1936) rose to fame during the silent film era and became a popular leading man known as 'The Great Lover'. With Great Garbo, he began a highly publicised, torrid off-screen affair. The studio publicity department worked overtime to publicise the romance between the two. His career did not survive the arrival of sound film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1319/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Loew Metro Goldwyn. John Gilbert in The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925).

French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 393. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925).

John Gilbert and Mae Murray in The Merry Widow (1925)

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 383. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Film. Publicity still for The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925) with Mae Murray.

Lillian Gish and John Gilbert in La Bohème (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 63/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / Parufamet. Publicity still for La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926) with Lillian Gish.

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in Flesh and the Devil (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1886/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Clarence Sinclair Bull / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926) with Greta Garbo.

Turning from villain to leading man

John Gilbert was born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah, in 1899. His parents, John Pringle (1865–1929) and Ida Apperly Gilbert (1877–1913) were both stock-company actors. His father was a comic with the Pringle Stock Company. John struggled through a childhood of abuse and neglect. His family moved frequently and Gilbert attended several schools throughout the United States. After his family settled in California, he attended Hitchcock Military Academy in San Rafael, California.

After he left school Gilbert worked as a rubber goods salesman in San Francisco, then as a stage manager in a stock company in Spokane, Washington in 1915. He lost his job when the company folded. He decided to try acting and got work in films as an extra. Gilbert first appeared in a short directed by Wilfred Lucas, The Mother Instinct (1915). He found work as an extra with the Thomas Ince Studios on films such as the historical war drama The Coward (Reginald Barker, 1915), the drama Aloha Oe (Richard Stanton, Charles Swickard, Gilbert P. Hamilton, 1915), and William S. Hart's Western Hell's Hinges (Charles Swickard, William S. Hart, Clifford Smith, 1916).

Gilbert began to get parts at Kay-Bee Pictures, billed as 'Jack Gilbert' in the Western The Aryan (William S. Hart, Reginald Barker, Clifford Smith, 1916) with William S. Hart, and the war film Shell 43 (Reginald Barker, 1916) with H.B. Warner. He had an early leading part in Kay-Bee's The Apostle of Vengeance (William S. Hart, Clifford Smith, 1916).

His first leading role was in Princess of the Dark (Charles Miller, 1917) with Enid Bennett, but the film was not a big success and he went back to supporting roles in The Dark Road (Charles Miller, 1917), Happiness (Reginald Barker, 1917), and the drama The Hater of Men (Charles Miller, 1917). Gilbert did The White Heather (Maurice Tourneur, 1919) for Maurice Tourneur, Widow by Proxy (Walter Edwards, 1919) for Paramount, and Heart o' the Hills (Joseph De Grasse, Sidney Franklin, 1919) for Mary Pickford.

Tourneur signed him to a contract to both write and act in films. Gilbert acted in and co-wrote The White Circle (Maurice Tourneur, 1920), The Great Redeemer (Clarence Brown, Maurice Tourneur, 1921), and Deep Waters (Maurice Tourneur, 1921). As a writer, only he worked on The Bait (Maurice Tourneur, 1921), starring and produced by Hope Hampton. For Hampton, Gilbert wrote and directed, but did not appear in Love's Penalty (1921).

In 1921 he signed a three-year contract with Fox Films. His popularity continued to soar and he was turning from villain to leading man. Fox gave Gilbert his first real starring part in Shame (Emmett J. Flynn, 1921). He followed it with leading roles in such films as Arabian Love (Jerome Storm, 1922) with Barbara LaMarr, Monte Cristo (Emmett J. Flynn, 1922) an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas''The Count of Monte Cristo', and A California Romance (1922). Many of these films were written by Jules Furthman.

He returned to Tourneur to costar with Lon Chaney in While Paris Sleeps (Maurice Tourneur, 1923). Back at Fox, Gilbert starred in Truxton King (Jerome Storm, 1923), St. Elmo (Jerome Storm, 1923) with Barbara LaMarr and Bessie Love, and the drama Cameo Kirby (1923), directed by John Ford, and co-starring Jean Arthur in her film debut. He appeared in The Wolf Man (Edmund Mortimer, 1923) with Norma Shearer. It was not a horror film, but the story of a man who believes he murdered his fiancee's brother while drunk.

In 1924 he signed with MGM which put him into His Hour (King Vidor, 1924), written by Elinor Glyn and co-starring Aileen Pringle. It was a big success. He followed this with such high profile films as He Who Gets Slapped (Victor Sjöström, 1924) co-starring Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer; and The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925), co-starring Mae Murray. The latter was a huge box office success.

Gilbert was once again directed by Vidor in the war epic The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925), which became the second-highest-grossing silent film and the most profitable film of the silent era. His performance in this film made him a major star. Now at the height of his career, Gilbert rivalled Rudolph Valentino, another silent film-era leading man, as a box office draw. Lillian Gish, who had a new contract with MGM, picked Gilbert to co-star with her in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926). He then did another film with Vidor, Bardelys the Magnificent (King Vidor, 1926).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3254/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

John Gilbert and Aileen Pringle in His Hour (1924)

Italian postcard. Photo: MGM. John Gilbert and Aileen Pringle in the American silent drama His Hour (King Vidor, 1924).

Renée Adorée and John Gilbert, The Big Parade (1925)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, no. 115. Renée Adorée and John Gilbert in The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Lilian Gish and John Gilbert in La Bohème (1926)

Italian postcard by Fotocelere, no. 129. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Lillian Gish and John Gilbert in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926).

John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman in Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 322. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Production. Publicity still for Bardelys the Magnificent (King Vidor, 1926) with Eleonor Boardman.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3778/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for The Cossacks (George Hill, Clarence Brown, 1928).

Eva von Berne and John Gilbert in The Masks of the Devil (1928)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4509/1, 1929-1930. Photo: MGM. Eva von Berne and John Gilbert in The Masks of the Devil (Victor Sjöström, 1928).

A torrid off-screen affair

Then came Greta Garbo. In 1926, Gilbert made Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926), his first film with Garbo. They soon began a highly publicised, torrid off-screen affair, much to the delight of their fans. The screen chemistry between the two was incredible, and the studio publicity department worked overtime to publicise the romance between the two. The couple starred together again in Love (Edmund Goulding, 1927), and A Woman of Affairs (Clarence Brown, 1928).

When it came time to marry, John was reportedly left at the altar. His performances after that were devoid of the sparkle that he once had and he began to drink heavily. Gilbert's popularity began to wane when silent pictures gave way to talkies. Though Gilbert was often cited as one of the high-profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, his decline as a star had far more to do with studio politics and money than with the sound of his screen voice, which was rich and distinctive. Throughout his time at MGM, Gilbert frequently clashed with studio head Louis B. Mayer over creative, social, and financial matters.

Audiences awaited Gilbert's first romantic role on the talking screen. The vehicle was the Ruritanian romance His Glorious Night (1929), directed by Lionel Barrymore. According to reviewers, audiences laughed nervously at Gilbert's performance. The fault was not Gilbert's voice, it was said, but the awkward scenario along with overly ardent love scenes. In one, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady, (Catherine Dale Owen), while saying "I love you" over and over again. The scene was parodied in the MGM musical Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952) in which a preview of the fictional The Dueling Cavalier flops disastrously.

Garbo tried to restore some of his image when she insisted that he played opposite her in Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933), but by then it was too late. Columbia Pictures gave him what would be his final chance for a comeback in The Captain Hates the Sea (Lewis Milestone, 1934). The film involves a Grand Hotel-style series of intertwining stories involving the passengers on a cruise ship and Gilbert gave a capable performance as a frustrated playwright. But the off-screen cast of heavy drinkers encouraged his alcoholism and the film was his last. By 1934, alcoholism had severely damaged Gilbert's health. He suffered a serious heart attack in December 1935, which left him in poor health. Gilbert suffered a second heart attack at his Bel Air home on 9 January 1936, which was fatal.

Gilbert was married four times. His first marriage was to Olivia Burwell (1918-1921). In February 1921, Gilbert announced his engagement to actress Leatrice Joy. They married in Tijuana in November 1921. As Gilbert had failed to secure a divorce from his first wife and the legality of Gilbert and Joy's Mexican marriage was questionable, the couple separated and had the marriage annulled to avoid a scandal. They remarried in March 1922. The marriage was tumultuous and, in June 1923, Joy filed for legal separation after she claimed that Gilbert slapped her face after a night of heavy drinking. They reconciled several months later. In August 1924, Joy, who was pregnant with the couple's first child, filed for divorce. Joy later said she left Gilbert after discovering he was having an affair with actress Laurette Taylor. Joy also claimed that Gilbert had conducted affairs with Barbara La Marr, Lila Lee, and Bebe Daniels. Gilbert and Joy had a daughter, Leatrice Gilbert (1924-2015). Joy was granted a divorce in May 1925.

In 1929, Gilbert eloped with actress Ina Claire to Las Vegas. They separated in February 1931 and divorced six months later. Gilbert's fourth and final marriage was in August 1932, to actress Virginia Bruce, who had recently co-starred with him on the MGM film Downstairs (Monta Bell, 1932). Bruce retired briefly from acting following the birth of their daughter Susan Ann; however, she resumed her career after their divorce in May 1934.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1578/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer / FaNaMet. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 6017. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Pictures.

John Gilbert in His Glorious Night (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4510/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for His Glorious Night (Lionel Barrymore, 1929).

Norma Shearer and John Gilbert in The Hollywood Revue of 1929

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4700/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Norma Shearer as Juliet and John Gilbert as Romeo in the early sound film The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (Charles Reisner, 1929), shot as a series of variety acts. In the film, this sequence was shot in two-color Technicolor.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5089/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Redemption (Fred Niblo, 1930).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5361/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. John Gilbert in the American pre-Code sound film Way for a Sailor (Sam Wood, 1930).

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, Queen Christina (1933)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 194/3. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933) with Greta Garbo.

German postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 3938/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

French postcard by Europe, no. 21. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in Queen Christina (1933)

German collectors card in the Moderne Schönheitsgalerie by Ross Verlag for Edelzigarette Kurmark, series 2, no. 47 (of 300). Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933).

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