European Film Star Postcards

Good-looking Swedish actor Nils Asther (1897-1981) was an intense star of silent European cinema. He was labelled ‘the male Greta Garbo’. In Hollywood, he played the leading man to divas like Pola Negri, Joan Crawford, and Marion Davies.

British postcard, no. 1139/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1283/1, 1927-1928. Photo: H. Natze / Ufa.

German postcard in the Foreign Series by Ross Verlag, no. 1459/1. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1459/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 341.

British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 47.

Dutch postcard, no. 69.

Darkly handsome

Nils Anton Alfhild Asther was born in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark (some sources say Hellerup, Denmark), in 1897, but he was raised in Malmö, Sweden, by his wealthy Swedish parents.

After attending the Kungliga Dramatiska Teaterns Elevskola (Royal Dramatic Theater School) in Stockholm, the darkly handsome Asther began his stage career in Copenhagen.

In 1916 legendary director - and the later mentor of Greta Garbo - Mauritz Stiller discovered him. Reportedly they also began an affair.

Stiller cast him in the leading role (as an aspiring actor, appropriately enough) in the Swedish film Vingarne/The Wings (Mauritz Stiller, 1916). In the following years, Asther acted on the Swedish stage and in a few films.

In 1922 he worked with another acclaimed Swedish director, Victor Sjöström in Vem dömer/Love's Crucible (1922) with Gösta Ekman. Then he starred in German productions like Briefe, die ihn nicht erreichten/Letters, Which Never Reached Him (Friedrich Zelnik/Frederic Zelnik, 1925), Der Goldene Schmetterling/The Golden Butterfly (Mihály Kertész/Michael Curtiz, 1926) opposite Lily Damita, and Hotelratten/Hotel Rats (Jaap Speyer, 1927).

Gunnar Tolnaes in Himmelskibet/Das Himmelschiff

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2161. Photo: Nordisk. Publicity still for Himmelskibet/Das Himmelschiff (Holger-Madsen, 1918) with Gunnar Tolnaes as Avanti Planetaros, Philip Bech as the Martian leader, Lilly Jacobssonas Marya, the Martian leader's daughter, Alf Blütecher (kneeling) as his friend Dr. Krafft and Nils Asther as the fallen Martian.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 722. Photo: Sascha Film. Nils Asther in the German silent film Die versunkene Flotte (Manfred Noa, 1926), released in the US in 1929 as The Wrath of the Seas.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 786. Photo: Vienna-Film.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 956. Photo: Verleih Engel & Walter. Probably publicity still for Sorrell & Son (Herbert Brenon, 1927).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1456/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balàzs, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3616/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928) with Pola Negri.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4260/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Joan Crawford and Nils Asther in Dream of Love (Fred Niblo, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4512/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Almost impossibly handsome

In 1927 Nils Asther moved to Hollywood. His first American films were Topsy and Eva (Del Lord, 1927), based on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the popular comedy Sorrell and Son (Herbert Brenon, 1927), in which he played Sorrell Jr.

Another successful film directed by Herbert Brenon was Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) starring Lon Chaney. Asther’s foreign, exotic looks made him a popular actor, and he soon grew a thin moustache that amplified his suave appearance.

His good looks landed him romantic roles with such co-stars as Pola Negri in Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928), Marion Davies in The Cardboard Lover (Robert Z. Leonard, 1928), and Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928).

Hans Wollstein writes at AllMovie: "Almost impossibly handsome, (...) Asther had the misfortune to be tagged the 'male Greta Garbo. He did two films with his famous counterpart: The Single Standard (John S. Robertson, 1929) and Wild Orchids (Sidney Franklin, 1929), and what an exotically handsome couple they made."

Asther was bisexual, and for a while, he was smitten with Garbo. Like John Gilbert, he unsuccessfully proposed in 1929 while they were filming The Single Standard (John S. Robertson, 1929).

In the early 1930s, he was briefly married to vaudeville actress Vivian Duncan, his co-star in Topsy and Eva (Del Lord, 1927).

Although his foreign accent was a hindrance in the sound film, he starred opposite Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton (Clarence Brown, 1932), and opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933). He also starred in James Whale’s charming romantic comedy By Candlelight (1933) with Elissa Landi.

Postcard of unknown nationality or editor.

French postcard in the Europe series, no. 362. Photo: Paramount. Could be for Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928).

French postcard in the Europe series, no. 559. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

French postcard in the Europe series, no. 583. Photo: Erko-Prodisco. Publicity still for Moonlight on the Danube (Paul Sloane, 1928).

French postcard in the Europe Series, no. 558. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Publicity still for the late silent film The Single Standard (John S. Robertson, 1929), starring Greta Garbo. The safety buoy reads: All Alone....

French postcard in the Europe series, no. 909. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Publicity still for The Single Standard (John S. Robertson, 1929).

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 777.

Pola Negri and Nils Asther in Loves of an Actress (1928)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3816/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri and Nils Asther in Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4258/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo and Nils Asther in the late silent film Wild Orchids (Sidney Franklin, 1929).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4258/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo and Nils Asther in Wild Orchids (Sidney Franklin, 1929).

Greta Garbo, Nils Asther in Wild Orchids

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4557/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Wild Orchids (Sidney Franklin, 1929) with Greta Garbo.

Blacklisted

Nils Asther's Hollywood career continued until 1934 when he was blacklisted for breaking a contract. In 1935, he moved to Britain for four years.

His British films included the spectacle Abdul the Damned (Karl Grune, 1935) with Fritz Kortner, and the historical romance The Marriage of Corbal (Karl Grune, 1936).

Although he was allowed back in 1941, his Hollywood career declined. He played supporting parts in B-films like The Night Before the Divorce (Robert Siodmak, 1942), Night Monster (Ford Beebe, 1942), and the film-noir Jealousy (Gustav Machaty, 1945) starring John Loder.

But according to Hans J. Wollstein at AllMovie"whatever the setting, Asther always delivered a carefully modulated performance."

By 1949 he was driving a truck.

In 1958, he returned to Sweden, where he made occasional appearances in films like När mörkret faller/When Darkness Falls (Arne Mattsson, 1960), and Vita frun/Lady in White (Arne Mattsson, 1962) opposite Anita Björk. He also worked for Swedish television and on stage.

Nils Asther died in 1981 in Stockholm. A very honest autobiography, 'Narren's Väg' (The Road of the Jester), was published posthumously in Sweden in 1988.

Aileen Pringle and Nils Asther in Dream of Love (1928)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4511/1. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Aileen Pringle and Nils Asther, probably in the late silent film Dream of Love (Fred Niblo, 1928). The film is considered lost.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4905/1, 1929-1930. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6237/1, 1931-1932. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7236/1, 1932-1933. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

Nils Asther, Paul Lukas and Esther Ralston in By Candlelight (1933)

British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Universal. Nils Asther, Paul Lukas and Esther Ralston in By Candlelight (James Whale, 1933).

Nils Asther and Esther Ralston in By Candlelight (1933)

British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Universal. Nils Asther and Esther Ralston in By Candlelight (James Whale, 1933).

Kay Francis, Walter Huston and Nils Asther in Storm at Daybreak

British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Storm at Daybreak (Richard Boleslawski, 1933) with Kay Francis and Walter Huston.

Nils Asther and Kay Francis in Storm at Daybreak

British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Storm at Daybreak (Richard Boleslawski, 1933).

Nils Asther, Kay Francis and Walter Huston in Storm at Daybreak

British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Storm at Daybreak (Richard Boleslawski, 1933).

Nils Asther with Greta Garbo and Lewis Stone in a scene from Wild Orchids (Sidney Franklin, 1929). Source: (YouTube).

Sources: Peter Rivendell (Gay For Today), Hans J. Wollstein (AllMovie), Lyn Hammond (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Art Unlimited in Amsterdam has issued the most diverse images on postcards. 'Due to the infinite views that people can hold on the concept of art, Art Unlimited has become known as a publisher that does not think "in boxes"', according to their own website. Photography is a technique that Art Unlimited has published the most on postcards by far. The publishing company had a breakthrough among the general public in the 1980s and published images that have become classics in 20th-century postcard history.The history of Art Unlimited now spans almost 4 decades. Here's a selection of Art Unlimited postcards we love.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. B 1948, 1994. Photo: Paul Huf, 1976.

Monique van de Ven (1952) is a Dutch actress and director. With her film debut in Paul Verhoeven's Turks fruit/Turkish Delight (1973), she was an international sensation. Although she appeared in some international films, she was mainly active in Dutch cinema and television.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. B 3468. Caption: Ingmar Bergman, photographer unknown, ca. 1963.

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) was a Swedish film writer and director who achieved world fame with such films as Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (1957); Smultronstället/Wild Strawberries (1957); the trilogy Såsom i en spegel/Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Nattsvardsgästerna/Winter Light (1963), and Tystnaden/The Silence (1963), and Viskningar och rop/Cries and Whispers (1972). His final feature, Fanny och Alexander/Fanny and Alexander (1982) won four Academy Awards, including for Best Foreign Language Film. Bergman directed over sixty films and documentaries, most of which he also wrote. He also directed over 170 plays and was Leading Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and of the Residenztheater in Munich.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. C 1930. Photo: Bettie Ringma, 1980. Caption: Nina Hagen with Sacha, New York.

German singer, songwriter, and actress Nina Hagen (1955) is known for her theatrical vocals and is often referred to as the ‘Godmother of Punk due to her prominence during the punk and new wave movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During her 40-years-career she appeared in several European films.

Monique Sluyter, bodypainted by Herman Brood

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, no. C 9824. Photo for Playboy by Herman Brood.

Monique Sluyter (1967) is a Dutch glamour model, TV presenter and actress. She posed five times for Playboy Magazine. In one of the sessions, she was bodypainted by artist Herman Brood.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, no. C 9826. Photo for Playboy by Herman Brood. Caption: bodyshot.

Monique Sluyter (1967) is a Dutch glamour model, TV presenter and actress. Sluyter made her film debut in Langer licht/Northern Light (David Lammers, 2006) opposite Raymond Thiry, for which she received good reviews. She also could be seen in bit roles in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (Mike Bigelow, 2005) and Deiji/Daisy (Andrew Lau, 2008).

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. B 1729, 1993. Photo: Dirk de Herder. Caption: Willy Alberti at the Westertoren, Amsterdam, 1962.

Dutch tenor Willy Alberti (1926-1985) sang in Dutch and Italian. The internationally popular ‘Tenore Napolitano’ was also an actor, and radio and TV personality. Alberti played a part as a café owner in the successful Dutch film Rififi in Amsterdam (John Korporaal aka Giovanni Korporaal, 1963).

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. C 5321, 1994. Photo: Dirk de Herder. Caption: "Tom Manders, Grand artiste".

Dutch artist, comedian and cabaret performer Tom Manders (1921-1972) was best known as Dorus. His TV shows were huge successes in the Netherlands and he also made a few films which were financial disasters.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, no. C 11205. Photo: Nico van der Stam (1968) / Maria Austria Instituut, Amsterdam / Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar.

Golden Earring is a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as the Golden Earrings (the 's' was dropped in 1969). They achieved worldwide fame with their hits Radar Love (1973), Twilight Zone (1982), and When the Lady Smiles (1984). During their career, they had nearly 30 top-ten singles on the Dutch charts, and over the years they produced 25 studio albums.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. B 2201. Photo: Robin Barton, 1988.

Brooding macho Oliver Reed (1938-1999) was one of England's darker leading men and villainous character actors. He juggled over 60 film roles in 40 years and a full-blooded social life of women, booze, and bar fights. After a start in Hammer films, Reed worked often with acclaimed British directors Ken Russell, Richard Lester, and Michael Winner. His final role was as the old, gruff gladiator trainer in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000).

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. 010a. Photo: Claude Vanheye.

The English musician and actor David Bowie (1947-2016) was a major pop star for over four decades. During the 1970s, he was a magnificent innovator, we love his album 'Changes'. With various stage and film roles, he showed to be a fine actor too.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. DB 316. Illustration: Dick Bruna, 1963.

Dutch author, artist, illustrator and graphic designer Dick Bruna(1927-2019) was famous for his Miffy (Nijntje in Dutch), a small rabbit drawn with heavy graphic lines, simple shapes and primary colors. Aside from his prolific catalog of children's books, Bruna also illustrated and designed book covers, posters and promotional materials for his father's publishing company A.W. Bruna and Zoon. His most popular designs graced the covers of the Zwarte Beertjes series of books. Well known among his designs are those for Simenon's Maigret books, typified by graphic silhouettes of a pipe on various backgrounds.

Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, 1975. Illustration: Dick Bruna, 1975.

In 1955, Dick Bruna drew Miffy (Nijntje) for the first time. In the first years, 'Mif' looks like a cloth toy animal, with somewhat clumsy ears. From 1963, when the Miffy booklets appeared in square format, she resembled the Rabbit as we still know her today. She looks at the reader with her black eyes, has two tight, pointed ears and nice round cheeks. The kid rabbit also starred in the cute TV series Miffy and Friends (2003-2007). In 2011, the last new book featuring Miffy appeared.

Sources: Art Unlimited, Nijntje (Dutch), and IMDb.

Pat Boone (1934) is an American singer and actor who was the second-biggest charting artist of the late 1950s, behind only Elvis Presley. Initially, he performed Rock and Roll, but later in his career, he switched to gospel music. Over the years he has had many hit songs including 'Moody River', 'Speedy Gonzales', and 'Bernardine. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in more than 12 Hollywood films.

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4211. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Pat Boone, Val Benedict, and Ronnie Burns in Bernardine (1957)

Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., no. 5008. Photo: London. Pat Boone, Val Benedict, and Ronnie Burns in Bernardine (Henry Levin, 1957).

Christine Carère and Pat Boone in Mardi Gras (1958)

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 3845. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Christine Carère and Pat Boone in Mardi Gras (Edmund Goulding, 1958).

Polishing rhythm-and-blues hits into more accessible versions

Charles Eugene Patrick (Pat) Boone was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1934. His father, Archie Altman Boone, was a building contractor and his mother, Margaret Virginia (née Pritchard), was a nurse. His younger brother, Nick Boone, also had a popular music career under the name Nick Todd.

Pat grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and attended David Lipscombe College, North Texas State College, and Columbia University from which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958. Boone began his career by performing in Nashville's Centennial Park and started recording for Republic Records in 1954.

In 1955 he released a cover of the single 'Ain't That a Shame' by Fats Domino, and significantly broke the sales records of the original version. A number-one single in 1956 by Boone was a second cover and a revival of a then seven-year-old song 'I Almost Lost My Mind', by Ivory Joe Hunter, which was originally covered by another black star, Nat King Cole.

It is representative of the early period of Boone's career, which mainly focused on polishing rhythm-and-blues hits into more accessible versions, allowing the Rock and Roll tunes to reach a much wider audience. Boone was also criticised for his homogenised, sanitized versions. He succeeded in removing all of the more suggestive lyrics from his cover of Little Richard's 'Long Tall Sally'. He changed the original's, "I saw Uncle John with Long Tall Sally, He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley" to, "Long Tall Sally's got a lot on the ball,/And nobody cares if she's long and tall." However, Little Richard himself once said: "It was Pat Boone who made me a millionaire".

Boone had the image of a fresh-faced smooth guy, who appealed to both teenagers and their parents. His singing style, a full baritone, followed in the footsteps of his idol Bing Crosby. Soon he switched more and more to singing ballads. At the end of the 1950s, Pat Boone was only surpassed in popularity by Elvis Presley. And just like Elvis, he made an attempt at some acting.

Although he made considerably fewer films than Elvis, it is said that his films were of considerably higher quality. Several film studios pursued him and he decided to go with 20th Century Fox, which had made Elvis Presley's first film. Fox reworked the play 'Bernardine' into a vehicle for Boone. The resulting film, Bernardine (Henry Levin, 1957), with Terry Moore and Janet Gaynor, was a solid hit, earning $3.75 million in the US.

His recording for the title song of his second film, April Love (Henry Levin, 1957), in which he co-starred with Shirley Jones, was nominated for an Oscar. At the age of 23, he began hosting a half-hour ABC variety television series, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, which aired for 115 episodes (1957–1960).

His recording of 'A Wonderful Time Up There' in 1958 became the first million-selling record with religious lyrics. Seeing himself as a devout born-again Christian, he refused music and film roles that went against his moral standards, including roles with the then-sex symbol Marilyn Monroe. In each of his film contracts, there was a term specifying that kissing his partner could not be forced on him by the director due to his religious convictions.

Less popular was the musical comedy Mardi Gras (Edmund Goulding, 1958) with Christine Carère. However, the Science-Fiction adventure, Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henri Levin, 1959), with James Mason and Arlene Dahl, was a huge hit.

Ann-Margret and Pat Boone in State Fair (1962)

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/262. Photo: Ann-Margret and Pat Boone in State Fair (José Ferrer, 1962).

Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, no. 100, 1964.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/64.

The end of Boone's career as a hit machine

Pat Boone wrote the lyrics for the title song for the film Exodus (Otto Preminger, 1960), which he titled 'This Land Is Mine'. He produced and starred in a documentary, Salute to the Teenagers (1960), but did not make a film for a while, studying acting with Sanford Meisner.

He returned with a military comedy, All Hands on Deck (Norman Taurog, 1961), a mild hit. He starred opposite Bobby Darin and Ann-Margret in another remake, State Fair (José Ferrer, 1962), but it was another box office disappointment. Musicals were becoming less fashionable in Hollywood.

An invasion of British pop groups such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and The Kinks ended Pat Boone's career as a hit machine, although he continued to make records in the 1960s. During the early 1960s, Boone starred in a handful of British films, produced by his own Cooga Mooga productions. In one of these, The Yellow Canary (Buzz Kulik, 1963), he attempted to shake up his established image by portraying a nasty, ill-tempered rock star.

In the 1960s, he also began writing self-help books for adolescents, including the best-seller 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty'. In the 1970s, he switched to gospel music and country and continued to perform in other media, especially radio. Later, he was a disc jockey for a popular American old-time radio station and ran his own record company, which re-releases records from the 1950s that no longer have a place on major record labels.

Boone married Shirley Lee Foley in 1953 and they had four daughters: Cherry, Lindy, Debby, and Laury. In the 1960s and 1970s, the family toured as gospel artists and made gospel albums such as 'The Pat Boone Family' and 'The Family Who Prays'.

In 1997, Boone released an album entitled 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', which featured a collection of heavy metal covers polished to fit the Pat Boone style. To advertise the album, he appeared at the American Music Awards ceremony in black leather. He lost his respectable image in one fell swoop, at least among large sections of his following among conservative Christians. Because of this action, he was fired from Gospel America, a television programme of the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

However, the music from this CD was often used during the intermission of hard rock and heavy metal concerts, and the CD was appreciated by the somewhat older guard of hard rockers who saw the humour in it and could appreciate the performance of the songs, which included a choir and a full orchestra. In 2003, his gospel recordings were recognised by Nashville's Gospel Music Association and added to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Boone lived in Los Angeles for many years with his wife Shirley Foley. They were influential members of the 'Church on the Road', the Inglewood Church of Christ in San Fernando Valley. Shirley (84) passed away in January 2019, when they had been married for 65 years.

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 3313. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Pat Boone in Bernardine (Henry Levin, 1957).

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 3843. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Christine Carère and Pat Boone in Mardi Gras (Edmund Goulding, 1958).

Pat Boone in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4213. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Pat Boone in Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henri Levin, 1959).

Dutch postcard. Sent by mail in 1964.

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

Lyda Borelli (1887-1959) was the first Italian film diva. La Borelli was already an acclaimed stage actress before she became a star of the Italian silent cinema. The fascinating diva caused a craze among female fans, which was called 'Borellismo. This post by Ivo Blom is dedicated to her first three films, Ma l'amor mio non muore/Love Everlasting (1913), La memoria dell'altro/Memory of the other (1914), and La donna nuda/The Naked Woman (1914), with sets of Spanish minicards. Next week, EFSP presents a post for which Ivo selected three of Borelli's later films.

Italian postcard by C.E. & Co. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

Ma l'amor mio non muore (1914)

Vittorio Rossi Pianelli in Ma l'amor mio non muore (1913)

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 1. Photo: Gloria Film. Vittorio Rossi Pianelli as Colonel Julius Holbein, Antonio Monti as The General, and Emilio Petacci as Colonel Theubner in Ma l'amor mio non muore (Mario Caserini, 1913). The Spanish title was ...Pero mi amor no muere.

Lyda Borelli in Ma l'amor mio non muore (1913)

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 2. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli, Vittorio Rossi Pianelli, and Emilio Petacci in Ma l'amor mio non muore (Mario Caserini, 1913).

She dies on stage in Maximilian's arms

Ma l'amor mio non muore/Love Everlasting (Mario Caserini, 1913) was Lyda Borelli's screen debut. She plays the beautiful Elsa Holbein, who lived in the Grand Duchy of Wallenstein. Elsa is the daughter of Colonel Julius Holbein (Vittorio Rossi Pianelli), who kills himself because he is falsely accused of treason. His missing military plans have been stolen by a foreign spy, Moise Stahr (Gian Paolo Rosmino).

Elsa, although innocent, is exiled and finds refuge on the Riviera. Here she begins to perform on the stage as an opera singer under the pseudonym Diana Cadouleur. Thanks to an engagement by the impresario Schaudard (Camillo De Riso), she achieves great success, but privately, she remains unhappy.

At the height of her success, Elsa meets Prince Maximilian (Mario Bonnard), heir to the Grand Duke, but both don't know each other's true identity. The two fall in love, and Elsa finds happiness, but during a boat trip on the Lago Maggiore, they meet Stahr. Having recognised the woman and been rejected by her, Stahr takes revenge by spreading the news of the Prince's affair, who is called back home.

Elsa, realising Maximilian is the son of the man who expelled her, is devastated. Broken, she returns to Schaudard. Maximilian, contravening the orders of his father, returns to Elsa, but seeing no future for the two of them, Elsa poisons herself and while performing the death scene from 'La Traviata', she collapses and dies on stage in Maximilian's arms.

In addition, Dante Cappelli played the Grand Duke, Maria Caserini the Grandduchess, and Emilio Petacci Colonel Theubner, who is first the close friend of Holbein and Elsa, but then becomes their enemy, acting on behalf of the Grandduke and the General Staff. Angelo Scalenghe was responsible for the cinematography, while the film is remarkable for its deep staging indoor cinematography, especially in the first scene of the film, its outdoor location shooting (around the Italian lakes), the elaborate costumes of Borelli, and its ingenious use of a triple mirror in the dressing room in the second part of the film.

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 3. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli and Mario Bonnard in Ma l'amor mio non muore (Mario Caserini, 1913).

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 4. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli and Camillo de Riso in Ma l'amor mio non muore (Mario Caserini, 1913).

One of the first "noble couples" of Italian cinema

In 1911, one of the most successful Italian silent film directors, Mario Caserini, left Cines for the Turin-based Ambrosio Film. A year later, he broke the contract with the latter as well and participated with the exhibitor Domenico Cazzulino and other partners in the establishment of a new film production company, the Film artistica Gloria.

In the new company Caserini brought with him his wife, the actress Maria Caserini, and a number of actors and actresses he had already directed at Cines and Ambrosio. After making the first two films Il treno degli spettri and Florette e Patapon, Gloria's prospects took off when it managed to recruit one of the most popular theatre actresses of the time, Lyda Borelli, who had never worked in the cinema before.

Caserini then set out to find a suitable subject for Borelli and found it in the writings of two Genoese non-professional authors, Emiliano Bonetti, a doctor, but also a lover of show business and music, and Giovanni Monleone, a teacher and journalist. The two friends had published a few minor works and now had decided to start writing for the cinema, insisting on sentimental and romantic themes. On this occasion, they created a story to which they gave a title taken from the last verse of Puccini's 'Manon Lescaut'.

Ma l'amor mio non muore/Love Everlasting was made in the middle of 1913 in the Turin factory of Gloria in Via Quittengo, where the newcomer Borelli was joined by an already experienced film actor, Mario Bonnard. They formed with one of the first "noble couples" of Italian cinema. Bonnard, however, found himself surpassed in notoriety and public passion, bordering on fanaticism, by the actress, who, according to a repetitive cliché of the "divas", also represents, in this case, a woman destined to die by suicide or to be the cause of death. Some scenes of passionate kissing between the two performers were nevertheless eliminated by the censors.

From the moment it appeared, Ma l'amor mio non muore was a triumphant success, contributing to the creation of the divine myth of Borelli. The periodicals of the time praised it as "the first film which, for the luxury of its staging, the vastness of its scenery and the impeccability of its interpretation, makes one forget the cinema and gives the impression of a work of dramatic art". Praise was lavished. Ma l'amor mio non muore was described as "harmonious, soft: from the small scenes with the faintest effect to the marvelous salons, the luxuriant exteriors, the mysterious landscapes, and the poetic, evocative close-ups", while Borelli was described as "a soft, elegant creature, ardent and painful, cloaked in nobility and voluptuousness, passing like a spring dress through a wood of flowering almond trees".

The writer Matilde Serao was also enthusiastic: "Never as in this film - she wrote - so tender and dramatic, so sumptuous and elegant, has Borelli achieved such a truth of physiognomy, all so differently beautiful". The film was also a commercial success as it was exported all over the world and the authors had news of successful performances for a long time, even from places as far away as Melbourne or La Paz. In later decades, critics and audiences were less enthusiastic, but when in 2013, exactly one century after its release, the film was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino, and shown at the Cinema Ritrovato film festival, the film was praised all over again. This restored edition has been available on DVD since 2013 as part of the Cineteca's series called Cinemalibero.

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 5. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli and Mario Bonnard in Ma l'amor mio non muore (Mario Caserini, 1913).

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 6. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli and Mario Bonnard in Ma l'amor mio non muore (Mario Caserini, 1913).

La memoria dell'altro (1914)

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli and Vittorio Rossi Pianelli in La memoria dell'altro (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914). The Spanish release title was El recuerdo del otro.

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 2 of 6 cards. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelliand Vittorio Rossi Pianelli in La memoria dell'altro (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914).

Her memory of Mario as her final vision

Just a few months after the release of Ma l’amor mio non muore! (Mario Caserini, 1913) followed Alberto Degli Abbati’s La memoria dell’altro/Memory of the other (1914), in which Lyda Borelli starred again with Mario Bonnard. La memoria dell’altro was made in the wake of the enormous success of its predecessor.

The two Gloria productions, both shot in Turin, became categorised as the first of “the Lyda Borelli series”, although immediately after La memoria dell’altro was finished Borelli left Gloria. She would hence continue her career at the Roman Cines company.

Lyda Borelli plays the young aviatrix Lyda, who spurns the advances of the Prince of Sèvre (Vittorio Rossi Pianelli). She falls in love with the journalist Mario (Mario Bonnard), who, although engaged to Cesarina (Letizia Quaranta), goes to Lyda’s home for an assignation. Cesarina sees them and manages to persuade Mario to leave Lyda.

Now alone, Lyda accepts the Prince’s advances even if she cannot forget Mario. Sometime later in Venice, the star-crossed lovers meet by chance in a theatre, re-igniting their memoria and their old love in a succession of romantic scenes.

The Prince goes berserk when he finds out. Yet, when Mario and Lyda have fled to Paris, Mario becomes ill and money runs out. Lyda first sells all of her belongings. Finally, she has to dance for money in a tavern, in order to get money for her beloved. But the medicine, alas, arrives too late. She becomes ill herself, dying in a hospital with her memory of Mario as her final vision.

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 3 of 6 cards. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli in La memoria dell'altro (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914).

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 4 of 6 cards. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli in La memoria dell'altro (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914).

A complex, articulate picture of the human heart

La memoria dell'altro/Memory of the other (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914) was written by Gloria company author Baroness Vittorina De Rege. Marcello Seregni in the festival catalogue of Giornate del Cinema Muto 2018: "The story has the sure ability to create a complex, articulate picture of the human heart.

Lyda’s character glows with sensuality, and the story gives more than a nod to women’s emancipation, with the magnificent opening scene of an airplane in flight, a metaphor for modernity, just as the power and abandon of the apache dance in the second part of the film confirm the independence of the female character."

Mario Bonnard partners Borelli elegantly, providing a perfect counterbalance for the actress’s exuberance, and giving the performance of a “highly effective actor, at the same time sober, measured, and honest”.

Bonnard is there, in the scene, but we could almost say that he isn’t; his most obvious trademark is the extreme flexibility – one critic called it camouflage – with which he enters the shot and performs his role without excess, but with distinction. This second appearance confirmed Bonnard’s skill in evoking the cliché of the tragic male; yet despite its success, he had the wisdom to part company with such type-casting later in his career.

Adding to the film’s success were the Venice locations, among them vaporetto trips and wonderful shots of the Piazza San Marco. The direction was in the capable hands of the versatile Alberto Degli Abbati.

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 5 of 6 cards. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelliand Mario Bonnard in La memoria dell'altro (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914).

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 6 of 6 cards. Photo: Gloria Film. Lyda Borelli in La memoria dell'altro (Alberto Degli Abbati, 1914).

La donna nuda (1914)

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli and Lamberto Picasso in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 2 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines. Lamberto Picasso, Lyda Borelli, and Wanda Capodaglio in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

Walking through an autumnal forest with leaves falling down

La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914) was one of the many film adaptations of Henry Bataille's stage play 'La femme nue'. The painter Pierre Bernier (Lamberto Picasso) becomes rich and famous thanks to the portrait 'The Naked Woman'.

The portrait represents his model, the seductive Lolette (Lyda Borelli), whom he has 'stolen' from his old master Rouchard (Ugo Piperno). The very evening of his triumph at the Salon des Expositions, he decides to marry her.

But, having become rich and famous, Pierre Bernier soon falls in love with the frivolous Princess of Chaban (Wanda Capodaglio), an amateur painter herself, and abandons the woman to whom he owes his success.

Lolette first implores the princess to give him up, but when she sees her embracing Pierre during a party at her own home, she goes hysterical, throws away her ring, and collapses.

She ends up in hospital where Pierre visits her, but she cannot forgive him. Deluded, she returns to Rouchard walking through an autumnal forest, with leaves falling down around her. When Pierre understands the princess is not in love with him, he asks Lolette to forgive him. Poor Rouchard, hopelessly in love with Lolette, will remain alone.

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 3 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 4 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli, and Lamberto Picasso, in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

One of Borelli's most outstanding performances

La donna nuda (1914)was Lyda Borelli's first production for the Roman company Cines, after her first two films at the Turinese company Gloria. Yet, the exteriors of the film were shot at the Valentino park in Turin.

The film had its Italian premiere in April 1914 and became a worldwide success. Even if some critics thought her earlier film Ma l'amor mio non muore a better film, the film critic Max wrote from Turin a raving review for the Neapolitan journal Film, considering it one of Cines' best films and one of Borelli's most outstanding performances, even if her comic moments were not really appreciated.

Even if a little astray boy risks ruining it, the shot in the autumnal forest is worthy of its sound equivalent at the end of The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) with Alida Valli.

Also, the shot through the half opaque glass during the ball, when Lolette witnesses the adultery, is masterfully done. Otherwise, the cinematography is static and it is rather the mise-en-scene that draws the attention, such as the deep staging interior scenes, or a back-lit shot on a bridge at the Valentino.

Lamberto Picasso is not very convincing as Pierre Bernier and while helping Lolette after her big scene of hysteria, he remarkable often holds his hands at her bosom. More touching is Ugo Piperno as the old painter who in the end loses Lolette, while being the more honest, loyal, and sincerely loving man.

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 5 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli, and Lamberto Picasso, in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

Spanish minicard (collectors card) by Reclam Films, Mallorca, no. 6 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli, Lamberto Picasso, and Wanda Capodaglio in La donna nuda (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

Sources: Marcello Seregni (Catalogue Giornate del Cinema Muto, 2018), Wikipedia (Italian), IMDb, and viewing of the films.

Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969) is an East German-Yugoslav 'Ostern' (Red Western or Eastern) about the time after the last Indian wars. Weiße Wölfe is a sequel of Spur des Falken/Trail of the Falcon (1968). The DEFA production stars Gojko Mitic and when released in 1969, sold 4,601,516 tickets.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 89/69. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Gojko Mitic in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Konrad Petzold, Bosko Boskovic, 1969).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 29/70. Photo: DEFA. Rolf Hoppe in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Konrad Petzold, Bosko Boskovic, 1969).

East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 53/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Barbara Brylska in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 56/69. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Rolf Hoppe in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Konrad Petzold, Bosko Boskovic, 1969).

The Shooting of Chief Farseeing Hawk

A group of four Dakota Indians led by Chief Farseeing Hawk (Gojko Mitic), travels through the Black Hills in winter. They want to join the Cheyenne tribal group under Chief Little Wolf who has fled their Indian reservation.

At the same time, the transport of trader Sam Blake (Helmut Schreiber) arrives at Fort Robinson. Blake has the gold trade in the Black Hills in his hands, which prevents Harrington (Horst Schulze), a mining boss travelling with them, from expanding his business. Blake also transports the money for the mining company GMI.

In order to get Blake into payment difficulties, Bashan's gang robs the cash transports several times. Bashan (Rolf Hoppe) is the head of the gold mine's guard and acts on Harrington's behalf. On his way back from a robbery, he shoots Blue Hair (Lali Meschi), the chief's wife. Falcon unsuccessfully tries to kill Bashan at the mine.

Due to these events, Harrington enforces the appointment of his employee Sleek (Karl Zugowski) as the deputy sheriff. The sheriff is the former prospector Pat Patterson (Holger Mahlich). Together with Peter Hille (Fred Delmare), he wants to keep law and order in Tanglewood. When Patterson himself runs a money transport, Bashan takes control of Tanglewood with Sleek's help.

Now Harrington can easily put pressure on Blake and demand payment of the looted funds. Meanwhile, Hille finds out that Harrington himself is behind the robberies. When Bashan also wants to rob Patterson of the money, Falcon comes to his aid and the robbery fails. Together they ride to Tanglewood and barricade themselves in the sheriff's office.

Patterson, however, is no longer able to take action against Harrington because Blake has defected to Harrington and the justice of the peace is being held by Harrington's men. Farseeing Hawk is able to leave the office and kill his wife's murderer but is shot himself in the process.

East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 89/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Scene from Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 118/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: Bläsig. Gojko Mitic in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

Holger Mahlich and Karl Zugowksi in Weisse Wölfe (1969)

East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 130/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: DEFA. Holger Mahlich and Karl Zugowksi in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

Fred Delmare, Holger Mahlich and Karl Zugowksi in Weisse Wölfe (1969)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 132/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Fred Delmare, Holger Mahlich and Karl Zugowksi in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

The breakout of the Cheyenne from their reservation

Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (1969) is the sequel to Spur des Falken/Trail of the Falcon (Gottfried Kolditz, 1968). The 'Ostern', an Eastern-German sub-genre of Western, depicts the situation in the USA after 1879. Power struggles between newly founded companies are characteristic of this period.

Historically documented is the breakout of the Cheyenne from their reservation. Weisse Wölfe tells its story in a much darker mood than contemporary Karl-May films of the West German cinema, showing at the beginning how the natives are forced to go into reservations and struggle for survival, an attempt which seems doomed.

The dramatic music of the film, often led by powerful brass instruments, does well to enhance its effect. Filming took place in the High Tatras in former Yugoslavia, in the Dinaric Mountains, in a limestone quarry near Halle and near Langerwisch.

The majority of the 'Easterns' by DEFA studio, was filmed in Yugoslavia, where nature is very similar to North America with Mountains, prairies, rivers, waterfalls, and typical towns of the Wild West. The buildings of the film town of Tanglewood near Langerwisch had to be guarded because the mahogany wood used could also be used to build dachas.

In addition to the Serbian Gojko Mitić, Polish Barbara Brylska, Czech Milan Jablonský, Serbian Slobodan Dimitrijević and Serbian Slobodan Velimirović, the cast includes such DEFA stars as Horst Schulze, Holger Mahlich, Fred Delmare, Rolf Hoppe and Karl Zugowski from East-Germany.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 152/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Fred Delmare in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

Barbara Brylska and Fred Ludwig in Weisse Wölfe (1969)

East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 188/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: DEFA / Rambo. Barbara Brylska and Fred Ludwig in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

Large East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 209/69, 1969. Retail price: 0,40 MDN. Photo: DEFA. Holger Mahlich in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Bosko Boskovic, Konrad Petzold, 1969).

Milan Jablonsky, Karl Zugowski and Holger Mahlich in Weisse Wölfe (1969)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 8/76. Photo: DEFA / Rambo(w). Milan Jablonsky, Karl Zugowski and Holger Mahlich in Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (Konrad Petzold, Bosko Boskovic, 1969). Caption: Blauhaar, Hawk's wife, has been shot by the Mining Corporation's bandit chief. Together with the incorruptible Sheriff Patterson, the chief comes to Tanglewood to atone for the crime. In the meantime, the white man's economic power struggle in the town has clearly gone in favour of the mining boss Harrington. There is no way back for Hawk.

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

Gustav Knuth (1901-1987) was a German actor who played folksy, good-natured characters in numerous films and TV series. After the Second World War, he took Swiss citizenship. He was a successful stage actor and starred in more than 120 films between 1935 and 1982. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the most distinguished German TV actors.

Gustav Knuth in Der fröhliche Weinberg (1952)

West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 670. Photo: Deutsche London Film / Magna Film. Gustav Knuth in Der fröhliche Weinberg/The Grapes Are Ripe (Erich Engel, 1952).

Gustav Knuth in Die Raub der Sabinerinnen (1954)

West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1051. Photo: Allianz Film / A. Grimm. Gustav Knuth in Die Raub der Sabinerinnen/Theft of the Sabines (Kurt Hoffmann, 1954).

Gustav Knuth and Romy Schneider in Sissi (1955)

Dutch postcard by Drukkerij Uitgeverij Int. Filmpers (I.F.P.), Amsterdam, no. 1245. Photo: publicity still for Sissi (Ernst Marischka, 1955). Romy Schneider as Sissi and Gustav Knuth as her father Duke Max in Bavaria at their own hunting ground.

The 'new morals' in Nazi Germany

Gustav Adolf Karl Friedrich Knuth was born in Braunschweig, in 1901. His parents the Reichsbahn conductor Christoph Karl Gustav Knuth, and Johanna Friederike Luise Hermine Knuth, née Jürges. Pushed by his father into a locksmith apprenticeship after primary school, he broke off this training and, financed by his sister Else, took acting lessons with the actor Casimir Paris in Braunschweig.

Through his mediation, he received his first engagement at the Stadttheater Hildesheim in 1918. This was followed by the Stadttheater Harburg from 1919 to 1922. Between 1922 and 1925 he played at the Stadttheater Basel, from 1925 to 1933 at the Stadttheater Altona. From 1933 to 1936 he worked at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. Gustav Knuth was appointed state actor in 1935. A year later, he was contracted by the "Preußische Staatstheater" in Berlin, where he stayed until 1945.

Since 1935 Knuth also appeared in front of the film camera. He made his film debut as a virile village blacksmith in Der Ammenkönig/The King of the Blackbirds (Hans Steinhoff, 1935). The film became a surprise success and was accompanied by a debate about the 'new morals' in Nazi Germany.

In the following years, he played mostly quite inconspicuous, plain, and somewhat awkward lovers. These films included Schatten über St. Pauli/Shadows Over St. Pauli (Fritz Kirchhoff, 1938) with Marieluise Claudius, the Krimi Der Vorhang fällt/The Curtain Falls (Georg Jacoby, 1939) starring Anneliese Uhlig, and the drama Zwischen Hamburg und Haiti/Between Hamburg and Haiti (Erich Waschneck, 1940).

Knuth also appeared as a shy seaman in Helmut Käutner's Große Freiheit Nr. 7/Great Freedom No. 7 (1943). He considered his best film to be the melancholic Unter den Brücken/Under the bridges, also directed by Helmut Käutner, which was shot in 1944 but not shown until 1946.

German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Minerva / Tobis. Gustav Knuth in Heimweh/Homesick (Jürgen von Alten, 1937).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2544/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Tobis / Clausen.

Gustav Knuth in Zwischen Hamburg und Haiti (1940)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3167/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Ufa / Baumann. Gustav Knuth in Zwischen Hamburg und Haiti/Between Hamburg and Haiti (Erich Waschneck, 1940).

The grumpy but cheerful Duke Max in Bayern

Between 1945 and 1949 Knuth worked again at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, among other places. In 1946, the British occupying power appointed him as a representative of the cultural workers in the appointed citizenship of Hamburg. In the first elections to the Bürgerschaft in the same year, he stood as the leading candidate of the 'Freien Kulturpolitischen Bundes' party (Free Cultural-Political Alliance), but was unsuccessful and did not enter parliament.

From 1949 he belonged to the ensemble of the Schauspielhaus Zurich. There he played together with Therese Giehse, among others. Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote the role of the scientist Beutler for Knuth in his play 'Die Physiker'. This play was staged for television in 1964 by Fritz Umgelter with Knuth and Giehse in the roles written for them.

In the cinema, he made his comedic signature performances in the comedy Der fröhliche Weinberg/The Grapes Are Ripe (Erich Engel, 1952) and as bribery director Striese in Der Raub der Sabinerinnen/Theft of the Sabines (Kurt Hoffmann, 1954). He also starred in the Sissi trilogy as the grumpy but cheerful Duke Max in Bayern (Sissi's father), alongside RomyandMagda Schneider.

Exceptional was his negative role as an arms smuggler in the drama Die Mücke/The Mosquito (Walter Reisch, 1954) starring Hilde Krahl. Furthermore, Knuth played the Puszta stationmaster in Ich denke oft an Piroschka/I Often Think of Piroschka (Kurt Hoffmann, 1955), motor carrier Karl John in Die Ratten/The Rats (Robert Siodmak, 1955) with Maria Schell, and the intrusive debaucher in Das kunstseidene Mädchen/The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1959), starring Giulietta Masina.

He transcended his roles with a witty lack of emotional commitment. He was also active from time to time as a radio play narrator. In 1953, for example, he played one of the leading roles as Philip Droste in the third Paul Temple multi-part 'Paul Temple und der Fall Vandyke' (Paul Temple and the Vandyke Case) by crime author Francis Durbridge, directed by Eduard Hermann.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. A 3414/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin, no. A 3621/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz / Bavaria Filmkunst.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin, no. A 3846/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

The last cab driver with a horse-drawn carriage in Berlin

With the breakthrough of television in the 1960s, Gustav Knuth became better known among the general public. As the veterinarian Dr. Hofer in the series Alle meine Tiere/All my animals (Otto Meyer, 1962-1963), he quickly became a public favourite. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the most outstanding German TV actors, playing popular, good-natured characters in numerous films and series.

He had further success with the family series Großer Mann, was nun?/Big man, what now? (Eugen York, 1967-1968). In the popular circus series Salto Mortale (Michael Braun, 1969-1972), he played the veteran trapeze performer Carlo Doria, the leader of a family of artists. The 26-part family series Drüben bei Lehmanns (Herbert Ballmann, 1970-1973) with Walter Gross and Brigitte Mira, was also very popular.

In 1979 Knuth appeared as Gustav, the last cab driver with a horse-drawn carriage in Berlin in the late 1920s in the TV Mini-series Der eiserne Gustav/Iron Gustav (Wolfgang Staudte, 1979). He played his last role in the cinema in Der Bockerer (Franz Antel, 1981).

Gustav Knuth was married to Gustl Busch. Their son Klaus (1935-2012) also became an actor. The marriage was dissolved in the 1930s. Then Gustav married his colleague Elisabeth Lennartz. The actress Nicole Knuth is his granddaughter. In 1974, Knuth published his memoirs 'Mit einem Lächeln im Knopfloch'. In 1977, he died from the effects of a heart attack in Küsnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland. Gustav Knuth was 85. His last resting place is in the cemetery of Hinterriet in Küsnacht.

He was awarded the Ernst Lubitsch Prize for his artistic performance in Der Lügner (1962). In 1967, 1968, and 1980, he received a Golden Bambi in each case, in 1970 a Silver Bambi. In 1976, he received the Goldene Kamera for his hosting of the celebrity talk show Künstlerstammtisch. For his long-standing and outstanding work in German film, he was awarded the "Goldene Filmband" in 1974.

Gustav Knuth in Die Nacht ohne Moral (1953)

German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 977. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Gustav Knuth in Die Nacht ohne Moral/The night without morals (Ferdinand Dörfler, 1953).

Gustav Knuth in Keine Angst für grossen Tieren (1953)

East-German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach i.V., no. G 7C6. Photo: Real v. Mindszenty, 1956. Gustav Knuth in Keine Angst für grossen Tieren/Not Afraid of Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953).

West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3822. Photo: Brünjes / Rhombus / Herzog Film. Gustav Knuth in Das Schloss in Tirol/Castle in Tyrol (Géza von Radványi, 1957).

Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 1049. Photo: Ufa/Film-Foto.

German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg.

Sources: Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English), and IMDb.

American actor Gregory Peck (1916-2003) was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s. Peck received five nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor and won once – for his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He almost always played courageous, nobly heroic good guys who saw injustice and fought it. Among his best-known films are Spellbound (1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Roman Holiday (1953), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Cape Fear (1962).

Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, Barcelona, no. 4046. Photo: M.G.M. Gregory Peck in The Yearling (Clarence Brown, 1946).

Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun (1946)

Spanish postcard, 1953. Photo: Procines S.A. Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946).

Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound (1945)

Italian postcard, no. 1216. Photo: United Artists. Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945).

Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward in David and Bathsheba (1951)

British postcard by The Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 92. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward in David and Bathsheba (Henry King, 1951).

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1952)

German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1079. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1952).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 229/70. Gregory Peck in Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969).

Tall, rugged, and heroic, with a basic decency

Eldred Gregory Peck was born in 1916 in La Jolla, California (now in San Diego). His parents were Bernice Mary (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist, and druggist in San Diego. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother.

He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the cinema every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. Peck's father encouraged him to take up medicine. He studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley and, while there, got bitten by the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies.

He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' play 'The Morning Star' (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood, where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory (Jacques Tourneur, 1944).

Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom (John M. Stahl, 1944), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles."

He appeared opposite Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as an amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling (Clarence Brown, 1946), he was again nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe. He was especially effective in Westerns and appeared in such varied fare as David O. Selznick's critically blasted Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), the somewhat better received Yellow Sky (William A. Wellman, 1948), and the acclaimed The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950).

He was nominated again for the Academy Award for his roles in Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), which dealt with anti-Semitism, and Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King, 1949), a story of high-level stress in an Air Force bomber unit in World War II. In 1947, Peck, along with Dorothy McGuire, David O'Selznick, and Mel Ferrer, founded the La Jolla Playhouse, located in his hometown, and produced many of the classics there. Due to film commitments, he could not return to Broadway but whet his appetite for live theatre on occasion at the Playhouse, keeping it firmly established with a strong, reputable name over the years.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 187. Photo: R.K.O. Radio.

Dutch postcard. Photo: M.G.M. This card is a gift from Loek Coenraad from his mother's legacy. Many thanks, Loek!

Vintage card. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Uruguayan postcard by CF. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

South-African postcard by East-West Publishers, Cape Town, no. 19.

American card by Movie Candid Color Card, Beverly Hills, Calif., no. A32. Photo: Frank Powolny / 20th Century Fox. Caption: Gregory Peck began his professional career in 1939 as a barker. After a few appearances on Broadway, screenwriter Casey Robinson brought him to Hollywood where he rapidly became one of the screen's most sought-after stars.

The greatest film hero of the past 100 years

With a string of hits to his credit, Gregory Peck made the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic, larger-than-life figures in such films as Captain Horatio Hornblower (Raoul Walsh, 1951) with Virginia Mayo, and Moby Dick (John Huston, 1956) with Richard Basehart.

He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her Hollywood debut film, Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953). While filming The Bravados (Henry King, 1958), he decided to become a cowboy in real life, so he purchased a vast working ranch near Santa Barbara, California - already stocked with 600 head of prize cattle.

In the early 1960s, he gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (J. Lee Thompson, 1961) opposite David Niven and Anthony Quinn. The film was one of the biggest box-office hits of that year. Peck finally won the Oscar, after four nominations, for his performance as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962).

He also appeared in two darker films than he usually made, Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962) opposite Robert Mitchum, and Captain Newman, M.D. (David Miller, 1963) with Tony Curtis, which dealt with the way people live. The financial failure of Cape Fear (1962) ended his company, Melville Productions.

After making Arabesque (Stanley Donen, 1966) with Sophia Loren, Peck withdrew from acting for three years in order to concentrate on various humanitarian causes, including the American Cancer Society. In the early 1970s, he produced two films, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Gordon Davidson, 1972) and The Dove (Charles Jarrott, 1974), when his film career stalled.

He made a comeback playing, somewhat woodenly, Ambassador Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976) with Lee Remick. After that, he returned to the bigger-than-life roles he was best known for, such as MacArthur (Joseph Sargent, 1977) and the infamous Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele in the huge hit The Boys from Brazil (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978) with Laurence Olivier and James Mason.

In the 1980s, he moved into television with the miniseries The Blue and the Gray (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1982) in which he played Abraham Lincoln, and The Scarlet and the Black (Jerry London, 1983) with Christopher Plummer and John Gielgud. In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different role, in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). He was also cast as the progressive-thinking owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money (Norman Jewison, 1991), starring Danny DeVito.

In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Always politically progressive, he was active in such causes as anti-war protests, workers' rights, and civil rights. In 2003, Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute, only two weeks before his death. Atticus beat out Indiana Jones, who was placed second, and James Bond who came third.

Gregory Peck died in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. He was 87. Peck was married twice. From 1942 till 1955, he was married to Greta Kukkonen. They had three children: Jonathan Peck (1944-1975), Stephen Peck (1946), and Carey Paul Peck (1949). His second wife was Veronique Passani, whom he met at the set of Roman Holliday. They married in 1955 and had two children: Tony Peck (1956) and Cecilia Peck (1958). The couple remained together till his death.

Spanish postcard by JDP, Valencia, no. 1092. Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945).

Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, and Joseph Cotten in Duel in the Sun (1946)

Spanish postcard, no. 5292, 1953. Photo: Procines S.A. Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, and Joseph Cotten in Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946).

Gregory Peck and Karl Struss on the set of The Macomber Affair (1947)

French postcard in the Entr'acte series by Éditions Asphodèle. Mâcon, no. 001/03. Gregory Peck and Karl Struss on the set of The Macomber Affair/Without Honor (Zoltan Korda, 1947). Caption: Low angle on Gregory Peck, on camera Karl Struss (middle).

Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo in Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)

Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 610. Photo: Warner Bros. Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo in Captain Horatio Hornblower (Raoul Walsh, 1951).

Gregory Peck and Amy Veness in Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. D. 20. Photo: Warner Bros. Gregory Peck and Amy Veness in Captain Horatio Hornblower (Raoul Walsh, 1951).

Gregory Peck and Kieron Moore in David and Bathsheba (1951)

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

Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

West-German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 507. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Henry King, 1952).

Gregory Peck in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

West-German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 513. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Gregory Peck in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Henry King, 1952).

Italian postcard by W. Di Giovanni. Photo: Augusto Di Giovanni. Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).

Gregory Peck and Win Min Tanh in The Purple Plain

Yugoslavian postcard by Sedma Sila. Photo: Morava Film, Beograd (Belgrade). Gregory Peck and Win Min Tanh in the British film The Purple Plain (Robert Parrish, 1954).

Gregory Peck and Diane Baker in Mirage (1965)

American collectors card by Universal Pictures Company, Inc., 1965. Photo: Universal. Gregory Peck and Diane Baker in Mirage (Edward Dmytryk, 1965).

Gregory Peck and Bob Kennedy on the set of Mackenna's Gold (1968)

French postcard in the Entr'acte series by Éditions Asphodèle, Mâcon, no. 003/10. Collection: B. Courtel /D.R. Gregory Peck and Bob Kennedy on the set of Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969). Caption: Senator Bob Kennedy visits the film crew shooting in Arizona, starring Gregory Peck.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 184/70. Gregory Peck in Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969).

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Gregory Peck in I Walk the Line (John Frankenheimer, 1970).

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), and IMDb.

In the 1920s, there was a new generation of self-confident women who cut their hair short in a bob, listened to jazz, and scorned what was considered acceptable and common behaviour at the time. Flappers wore heavy make-up, short skirts, drank heavily, smoked, drove cars, and had an easier time of it than the norm. There was something challenging, cheeky, and provocative about them. Social and sexual norms were generally flouted. Their attitude towards men was emancipated to an unprecedented degree for that time. They were also important for the coming-out and emancipation of lesbians. Well-known flappers included film stars Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Colleen Moore, and Norma Talmadge.

German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. 3980/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount.

American actress Clara Bow (1905-1965) rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s. It was her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It (Clarence G. Badger, 1927) that brought her global fame and the nickname 'The It Girl'. Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3510/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 6575. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Stunning Olive Borden (1906-1947) was considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the silent era. At 15, she started as a Mack Sennett bathing beauty and reached the peak of her career in 1926 when she made 11 films for Fox Studios and was earning $1,500 a week. She was nicknamed "the Joy Girl", after playing the lead in the 1927 film of that same title, but soon her career waned.

Charles Rogers and Nancy Carroll in Close Harmony (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4681/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Charles Rogers and Nancy Carroll in Close Harmony (John Cromwell, A. Edward Sutherland, 1929).

Red-haired, cupid-bow-mouthed Nancy Carroll (1903-1965) became a very popular Hollywood star upon the advent of sound film because of her singing and dancing abilities. She was reported to have received more fan mail than any of her Hollywood peers of the same era. As she expanded her acting range from flaming flapper to ditzy comedienne to sensitive heroine, she was nominated for an Oscar for The Devil's Holiday (1930).

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 765. Photo: Otto Dyar.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3839/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox Film.

Madge Bellamy (1899-1990) was a beautiful and temperamental leading lady of the silent era, known for such classics as John Ford's first Western The Iron Horse (1924). Because of her off-set temperament, she was nicknamed "Miss Firecracker". She appeared in about fifty silent films and also in a dozen sound films, including the cult favourite White Zombie (1932). By the late 1930s, her film career had virtually ended, but in 1943 she became again fodder for the press when she was arrested for shooting her former lover.

French postcard by Europe, no. 655. Photo: First National / Arta Film.

American actress Colleen Moore (1899-1988) was a star of the silent screen who appeared in about 100 films beginning in 1917. During the 1920s, she put her stamp on American social history, creating in dozens of films the image of the wide-eyed, insouciant flapper with her bobbed hair and short skirts.

Colleen Moore and Antonio Moreno in Synthetic Sin (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4943/1, 1929-1930. Photo: First National Pictures / Defina. Colleen Moore and Antonio Moreno in Synthetic Sin (William A. Seiter, 1929).

That's the bee's knees

The Flapper style originated in the 1920s in the United States during the period of Prohibition, in illegal bars (speakeasies), where religiously inspired abstinence and authority, in general, were scorned. The flapper lifestyle became especially popular in England and the United States.

The flapper was the model for an entirely new style of fashion that included the end of the corset and the rise of the pantyhose. Sarah Pruitt at History.com: "Flappers wore their skirts shorter so they could show off their legs and ankles—but also so they could dance. They particularly loved the Charleston, a 1920s dance craze involving waving arms and fast-moving feet that had been pioneered by African Americans, first in the South and later in Harlem. Dancing proved challenging in traditional women’s fashion, not only with long dresses, but also traditional corsets that tightly bound a woman’s midsection and accentuated her waist."

Around 1923, French designer Coco Chanel introduced what became known as the “garçonne look”, featuring not just high hemlines but dropped or nonexistent waistlines and straight, sleeveless tops. With lighter and more flexible undergarments that created a straight, slim silhouette, this new design allowed women to dance freely. Flappers wore heavy make-up, short skirts, drank heavily, smoked, and drove cars.

The first appearance of the flapper style in the United States came from the popular Frances Marion film, The Flapper (Alan Crosland, 1920), starring Olive Thomas. The flapper-girls also had their own slang, with words and phrases all their own, such as 'snugglepup' (a man who often goes to parties), 'barney-mugging' (sexy), or 'That's the bee's knees' (that's great) and 'That's so Jake'.

Famous flappers included actresses Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Colleen Moore, Norma Talmadge, Carla Laemmle, and authoress Zelda Fitzgerald, whose husband F. Scott Fitzgerald paid much attention to the flapper style in his work. Cartoon characters such as Minnie Mouse and Betty Boop were also inspired by the flapper style.

In Europe, the French dancer Mistinguett was a well-known flapper, who introduced the bob hairstyle at the Moulin Rouge (cabaret) in 1921. In Berlin around 1930, the Swiss writer and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach and the German writer and actress Ruth Landshoff-Yorck were at the centre of a circle of free-spirited flapper girls. Flappers are icons of the Roaring Twenties, the social, political turbulence and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of World War I, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe. With the Great Depression, the flapper style gradually disappeared.

Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5853. Photo: British International Pictures (BIP). Anna May Wong in Piccadilly (Ewald André Dupont, 1929).

Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American actress to gain international recognition. Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, Wong left for Europe, where she starred in such classics as Piccadilly (1929). Richard Corliss in Time: “Wong is a luminous presence, fanning her arms in right-angle gestures that seem both Oriental and flapperish."

British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 7.

Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 664. Photo: MGM. Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928).

American actress Joan Crawford (1905-1977) became nationally known as a flapper by the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, her fame rivaled, and later outlasted, MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and success.

Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery in Untamed (1929)

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 663. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery in Untamed (Jack Conway, 1929). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4855/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox Film.

American actress Sally Phipps (1911-1978) had just completed high school when she was selected as a Wampas Baby Star in 1927. As a little kid, she already had made three short films with the legendary film cowboy Broncho Billy, like Broncho Billy and the Baby (Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, 1915). Her first role as Sally Phipps was in Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl (Irving Cummings, 1926). Soon she completed appearances in Girls (Eugene Forde, 1927), Love Makes 'Em Wild (Albert Ray, 1927), and Gentlemen Prefer Scotch (George Marshall, 1927). In August 1927 she signed a five-year contract with Fox Film. The sound film probably finished the brief screen career of Sally Phipps.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 813. Photo: Fox Film. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4252/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Legendary American dancer and actress Louise Brooks (1906-1985) set the trend of the bobbed haircut and personified the flapper, the rebellious young woman of the 1920s. She played the lead in three European silent film classics: Die Büchse der Pandora/Pandora's Box (1929), Tagebuch einer Verlorenen/Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beauté/Miss Europe (1930).

French postcard by Europe, no. 599. Photo: Néro Film.

French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma Series by A.N., Paris, no. 216. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Production. Norma Shearer in the - lost - silent film A Slave of Fashion (Hobart Henley, 1925).

American actress Norma Shearer (1902-1983) was the 'First Lady of MGM'. She often played spunky, sexually liberated ingenues, and was the first person to be nominated five times for an Academy Award for acting. Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar for The Divorcee (1930).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5339/1, 1930-1931. Photo: George Hurrell / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Let Us Be Gay (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 792. Photo: Fanamet.

Norma Talmadge (1894-1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.

French postcard by Europe, no. 666. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Marion Davies (1897-1961) was one of the great comedic actresses of the silent era. She starred in nearly four dozen films between 1917 and 1937.

French postcard, no. 67. Photo: H. Manuel. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

French actress and singer Mistinguett (1875-1956) captivated Paris with her risqué routines. She went on to become the most popular French entertainer of her time and the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. She appeared more than 60 times in the cinema. During a tour of the United States, she was asked by Time magazine to explain her popularity. Her answer was: "It is a kind of magnetism. I say 'Come closer' and draw them to me."

French postcard by Bleuet, no. 970. Photo: Unibsein (?), Paris.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4076/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Vienna.

Gamine-like silent screen star Betty Balfour (1903-1977) was the ‘British Mary Pickford’. She was a great mimic who started in Music Hall and became known as ‘Britain's Queen of Happiness’. During the 1920s, Balfour was Britain’s most popular actress.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 226. Sent by mail in Great Britain in 1928. Photo: Balfour Welsh Pearson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3618/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Dutch film star Truus van Aalten (1910-1999) made 29 films in the 1920s and 1930s, and only one of them she made in the Netherlands.

Truus van Aalten in Die lustigen Vagabunden (1928)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3823/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Hegewald Film. Truus van Aalten in Die lustigen Vagabunden/The funny vagabonds (Jacob and Luise Fleck, 1928). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Sources: Sarah Pruitt (History.com), Wikipedia (Dutch and English).

M. Bonnist & Zonen was a Dutch publishing company located in Amsterdam. The name of the publisher is sometimes abbreviated to M.B. & Z. During the 1920s and 1930s, Bonnist published hundreds of film postcards. The firm published several postcards for the blossoming Dutch film industry of the 1930s but also postcards with star portraits or film scenes of popular Hollywood and European films.

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.

Dorothea Wieck and Hertha Thiele in Mädchen in Uniform (1931)

Dutch Postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, Z., no. 104 e. Photo: Fim Film, Amsterdam. Dorothea Wieckand Hertha Thiele in Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931).

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen Amsterdam. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Golddiggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933). Collection: Amsterdam EYE Filmmuseum.

Dutch postcard by M.B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen). Photo: Muntfilm, Amsterdam. Madeleine Renaud and Paulette Élambert in La Maternelle (1933). The card bears the stamp of the Dutch National Board of Film Censors.

Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery in Dinner at Eight (1933)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, no. B335. Photo: M.G.M. Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery in Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

British-Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. B 351. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg, 1934) with Marlene Dietrich as Catherine the Great, the notorious Empress of Russia.

The only importer of international film star photos

Maurits Bonnist (1871-1935) started out in Amsterdam as a diamond cutter but later set up a publishing company in advertising, photographs, and reproductions.

One of his sons, David (Donald) Maurits Bonnist, joined the company in 1924. In 1939, he and his bride Serine van Embden (an artist) went to America on their honeymoon. Unable to return to their homeland due to the war, Bonnist resigned from the parent company in Holland and the following year founded the Donald Art Company in America.

At the international exhibition 'Klank en Beeld' (Sound and Vision) in Amsterdam in 1932, M. Bonnist & Sons had a stand. In a newspaper article, the firm was described as follows: "The firm M. Bonnist & Sons in Amsterdam is the only importer of international film star photos. It has more than a thousand different ones!"

The Bonnist cards have the regular postcard size (14 x 9 cm). And there are not any colorised motifs in the collection. The motifs show excellent quality and most do have an edge around.

The individual card numbers can't be seen on the front sides, they are listed on the reverse sides. Besides unnumbered cards, two numbered series can be distinguished: Numbers 100 to 135 without a B in front of the number. Number B136 to B499. There are both cards of film stars and of film scenes.

Very popular stars in the Netherlands during the 1930s were Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. Bonnist & Zonen paid tribute to Garbo with 100 postcards showing her unique beauty to the whole world.

Maurits Bonnist died in 1935. His wife, Elisabeth Bonnist-Vredenburg, was killed in the Nazi extermination camp Sobibor in 1943. Their children Jules and Willy died in 1941.

Donald survived the war in the US. In the following decades, his American firm Donald Art Company grew to be recognised as one of the leading picture publishing companies in the world. Donald Bonnist passed away in 1986.

British postcard, distributed in the Netherlands by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. 136e. Photo: Paramount. Marlene Dietrich and Dickie Moore in Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932).

Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot (1932)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. 146. Photo: Filma, Amsterdam. Karin Hardt in Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (Erich Waschneck, 1932).

Dolly Haas in So ein Mädel vergisst man nicht (1932)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, Z., no. B 168. Photo: Filma, Amsterdam. Dolly Haas in So ein Mädel vergisst man nicht/A Girl You Don't Forget (Fritz Kortner, 1932).

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam-Z., no. B 299. Photo: Paramount. Dorothea Wieck in Cradle Song (Mitchell Leisen, 1933).

Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall in The Painted Veil (1934)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. B 422. Photo: MGM. Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall in The Painted Veil (Richard Boleslawski, 1934).

Johan Kaart jr., Willy Costello and Jan van Ees in De Jantjes (1934)

Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Johan Kaart jr., Willy Costello and Jan van Ees in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Enny Meunier and Roland Varno in Malle gevallen (1934)

Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 10. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Enny Meunier and Roland Varno in Malle gevallen/Ludicrous Events (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Truus van Aalten in Het meisje met den blauwen hoed (1934)

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Truus van Aalten in Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The girl with the blue hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Lou Bandy in Het Meisje met de Blauwe Hoed (1934)

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Lou Bandy in Het Meisje met de Blauwe Hoed/The girl with the blue hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934).

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Monopole Film. Fien de la Mar in Bleeke Bet/Pale Betty (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Monopole Film. Aaf Bouber in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Jan van Ees and Esther de Boer-van Rijk in Op hoop van Zegen (1934)

Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Jan van Ees and Esther de Boer-van Rijk in Op Hoop van Zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn, 1934).

Fien de la Mar, Frits van Dongen in Op stap (1935)

Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Nationaal Film. Frits van Dongen and Fien de la Mar in Op stap/On the Move (Ernst Winar, 1935).

Henriëtte Davids, Adolphe Engers and Jopie Koopman in Op stap (1935)

Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Nationaal Film. Henriëtte Davids, Adolphe Engers and Jopie Koopman in Op stap/On the Move (Ernst Winar, 1935).

Sylvain Poons in De familie van mijn vrouw (1935)

Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Productie. Sylvain Poons in De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (1935).

Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in China Seas (1935)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. B 447. Photo: M.G.M. Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in China Seas (Tay Garnett, 1935). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Herbert Marshall and Marlene Dietrich in Angel (1937)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. B 480. Photo: Paramount. Herbert Marshall and Marlene Dietrich in Angel (Ernst Lubitsch, 1937). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Deanna Durbin and Melvyn Douglas in That Certain Age (1938)

Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, no. 115. Photo: Universal. Deanna Durbin and Melvyn Douglas in That Certain Age (Edward Ludwig, 1938). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Dutch postcard. M.B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 199. Photo: Cifesa. Imperio Argentina. Cifesa was a big Spanish distribution company between the mid-1930s and the early 1960s.

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 1059. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Hedy Lamarr.

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 1076. Photo: Universal. Deanna Durbin. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 1206. Photo: Raymond Voinquel / Nova Film. Jean Gabin in Le jour se lève/Daybreak (Marcel Carne, 1939).

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 1215. Photo: Godfried de Groot. Lizzi Waldmüller.

Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 1224. Photo: Fan Film. Aino Taube in Laila (George Schnéevoigt, 1937).

Sources: Lodewijk van Duuren (VDP - Dutch), The Donald Art Company, and Garbo Forever.

Now covid seems on the way back, the VerzamelJaarbeurs could finally return. On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 April 2022, the Jaarbeurs halls in the city of Utrecht were transformed into the largest collectors' fair in Europe. Finally! The VerzamelJaarbeurs takes place twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn. You can find pretty much everything you can collect, from vintage furniture, a huge collection of vinyl, toys from the past and present, games, stamps, and lots of other beautiful curiosities and articles. Marlene, Ivo, and I were there to look for interesting film postcards for EFSP. Each of us will present you with 15 of the treasures we discovered in Utrecht. I will be the first to start.

French postcard by Vitagraph Co, no. 30. Photo: Vitagraph Caption: Flora Finch in the city and on stage.

Extraordinarily tall and skinny British actress Flora Finch (1867-1940) was one of the early comedy stars of the silent-film era. Together with John Bunny, she made more than 250 short films for the Vitagraph Co. between 1910 and 1915.

Betty Hutton in Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

Vintage postcard. Photo: M.G.M. Betty Hutton in Annie Get Your Gun (George Sidney, 1950).

American actress Betty Hutton (1921-2007) was an energetic 'blonde bombshell' of the 1940s. She appeared in successful musicals and comedies, including The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943), Red, Hot and Blue (1949), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1147/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Kindler, Berlin.

Kurt Wolowsky (1897-1985), was a German actor, who mainly acted in German silent cinema. He was impressive as young Hoffmann in the classic Hoffmans Erzählungen/The Tales of Hoffmann (Richard Oswald, 1916), a liberal adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's opera, which in its turn was loosely based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's Tales.

Orson Welles in The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Vintage postcard. Photo: Columbia. Orson Welles in The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947).

James Hall and Vilma Banky in This is Heaven (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4120/1, 1929-1930. Photo: United Artists. James Hall and Vilma Banky in This is Heaven (Alfred Santell, 1929).

Richard Talmadge in The Night Patrol (1926)

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5508. Photo: F.B.O. / Wiener Lichtbilderei. Richard Talmadge in The Night Patrol (Noel M. Smith, 1926).

Dutch postcard, no. 3198. Photo: Europa Columbia.

Evelyn Keyes(1916-2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and for the female lead in the blockbuster hit The Jolson Story (1946). Her final film was The Seven Year's Itch (1955) starring Marilyn Monroe.

Dutch postcard by Takken, no. 461. Photo: Universal International.

Tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde Peggie Castle (1927-1973) was an American actress who specialised in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. Castle was Miss Cheesecake in 1949.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6375/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Elli Marcus, Berlin.

Russian-born ballet dancer and actress Genia Nikolaieva(1904-2001) worked in the German cinema during the 1930s. In 1938 she emigrated to the United States, where she became ‘one of the most beautiful studio secretaries for Warner Bros'.

Betty Grable in The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend (1949)

American by Movie Candid Color Card, Beverly Hills, Calif., no. A20. Photo: Frank Powolny (Kodachrome) / 20th Century. Caption: Betty Grable, whose singing and dancing have won her the top20th Century Fox and Hollywood stardom, is married to bandleader Harry James. They have two children.

Paulette Goddard in Bride of Vengeance (1949)

American postcard by Movie Candid Color Card, Beverly Hills, Calif., no. A18. Photo: Jack Albin (Kodachrome). Publicity still for Bride of Vengeance/A Mask for Lucretia (Mitchell Leisen, 1949). Caption: Paulette Goddard, former Ziegfeld girl, later cavorted for Samuel Goldwyn, and won stardom opposite Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. Paulette really clicked at Paramount, where she teamed with Bob Hope, and followed with several starring roles for C.B. De Mille. Once married to Charlie Chaplin, she is now the wife of actor Burgess Meredith.

Margaret Leighton in The Elusive Pimpernel (1949)

Vintage card. Photo: London Films. Margaret Leighton in The Elusive Pimpernel (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1949).

Tall, reedy, thin-browed, light-haired Margaret Leighton (1922-1976) was a British award-winning theatre and film actress. She appeared with her future husband Michael Wilding in the Hitchcock film Under Capricorn (1949). She won two Tony Awards for Broadway performances as Best Actress (Dramatic): in 1957 for 'Separate Tables' and in 1962 for Tennessee Williams''The Night of the Iguana'. 'Leighton received an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA award for her role in The Go-Between (Joseph Losey, 1971). She also won an Emmy Award for a 1970 television version of 'Hamlet'.

Dutch postcard by Weenenk & Snel, Baarn.

Pim Maas (1944) is a Dutch rock'n'roll singer and guitarist. In 1959, he won the Dutch Elvis Presley election, just before Ria Valk, who came in second. In the 1960s and 1970s, a number of singles by Maas were released and he performed with various accompaniment groups.

Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam, no. 6017. Photo: Fontana / Phonogram. Singers Ria Valk and Heidi Brühl during a promotional visit of the latter in the Netherlands.

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 5985, 1964.

Funny-looking, reddish André van Duin (1947) is a famous comedian and actor in Dutch-speaking countries. He is also a singer, writer, and creator of television programs, and he starred in three Dutch film comedies.

Source: VerzamelJaarbeurs (Dutch).

American actor Jackie Coogan (1914-1984) is beloved as Uncle Fester in the classic TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966). He began in silent films as Charlie Chaplin's irascible sidekick in The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921). In the following years, he became the most popular child actor of the silent era and one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. In this post, we highlight three of his best films from that period, Oliver Twist (1922), Daddy (1923), and A Boy of Flanders (1924).

Oliver Twist (1922)

British postcard presented with The Penny Magazine. Photo: First National. Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922). “Please, sir, I want some more”.

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition. Photo: Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 715/1. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 725/2. Photo: Transocean-Film Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922).

In Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922), Jackie Coogan plays Charles Dickens' beloved orphan named Oliver Twist. Oliver's mother, a penniless outcast, died giving birth to him. As a young boy, Oliver is brought up in a workhouse, is deemed a troublemaker, and sent away to apprentice to an undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry (Nelson McDowell).

Then Oliver meets a pickpocket, Edouard Trebaol as The Artful Dodger, on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master (Lon Chaney as Fagin). Oliver also meets a burglar named Bill Sykes (George Siegmann) and a prostitute named Nancy (Gladys Brockwell). After realizing that his new friends are on the wrong side of the law, Oliver spends the rest of the film trying to escape them, all the while, his mysterious past is threatening to come to light…

Producer Sol Lesser of First National Pictures and the Coogan family correctly saw Charles Dickens' classic story as an excellent vehicle for their young star, who adds a touch of his own personality to the character. Lon Chaney had built his reputation as a villain and a master of makeup. Director Frank Lloyd had already successfully tackled Dickens in the Fox prestige production of A Tale of Two Cities. Jackie Coogan, Lon Chaney, and Frank Lloyd all get the job done. Once feared lost, a print was reportedly discovered in Yugoslavia in 1973. The print lacked intertitles, which were subsequently restored by Blackhawk Films with the help of Jackie Coogan and Sol Lesser.

Lugonian at IMDb: "many of the film's best moments belong to little Jackie. It's certainly hard to forget his sad facial emotions capturing the essence of Dickens's character, particularly one who's never experienced happiness. Even in a courtroom scene where the accused thief is forced to stand on a platform as he fights dizziness and keeping his eyes open to what's happening around him, brings forth emotional pity, though not by his stern judges.

Only when taken in by the wealthy Mr. Brownlow is he given that opportunity to find the true meaning of happiness and consider himself one of the family. Being abducted back to the gang of thieves who strip him of his luxury clothing and revert him back to his former pauper-looking appearance is quite an emotional impact for little Oliver, especially when in the clutches of the likes of Bill Sykes. No wonder Coogan became the most popular child actor of his time."

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 670/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan as Oliver and Gertrude Claire as Mrs. Maylie in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922).

Jackie Coogan and Edouard Trebaol in Oliver Twist (1922)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 670/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan as Oliver and Edouard Trebaol as The Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 670/5, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean Film-Verleih. Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922). On the left, Edouard Trebaol as The Artful Dodger.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 670/6. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922). The stout man on the right must be George Siegmann playing Bill Sykes.

Daddy (1923)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 668/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923) with Anna Townsend and Bert Woodruff.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 668/2. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan and Cesare Gravina in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 668/4. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan and Cesare Gravina in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 668/5. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan and Cesare Gravina in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 668/6. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan and Cesare Gravina in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

Jackie Coogan's parents, Jack and Lillian Coogan, wrote the script for the silent drama Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923) for Associated First National Pictures. In fact, Daddy was a family affair, it was "A Jackie Coogan Production,""personally supervised by Jack Coogan".

Jackie plays the son of a poor violin teacher (Arthur Edmund Carewe) who is separated from his father when his parents break up their marriage. Believing her husband to be unfaithful, Helene Savelli (Josie Sedgwick) takes her little son Jackie (Coogan) to live on the Holden farm. Helene dies shortly thereafter and Jackie runs away from home when the Holdens (Bert Woodruff and Anna Townsend) are forced into the poorhouse. In the Big City, Jackie befriends Gallo (Cesare Gravina), a sidewalk musician who just happens to be the former teacher of world-famous violinist Paul Savelli, Jackie's long-lost father. Before he dies, Gallo manages not only to reunite father and son but restore the farm to the kindhearted Holdens.

Daddy was a commercial and critical success. It was the 5th highest-grossing American film of 1923 at the box office after Safety Last!.

The Daily Independent of Murphysboro, Illinois praised the full cast, believing Hopper's "directorial genius" to have brought out the best in everybody. They stated that Coogan possessed an "undiminished power" as a star which "draw[s] to him all classes and ages and both sexes".

The Daily Courier of Connellsville, Pennsylvania stated that the film is "richer in opportunities than any previous Jackie Coogan vehicle and reported that spectators at the theatres were "thrilled to hushed silence when little Jackie moved through the scene in which his guardian passes away and Jackie finds his real daddy". The newspaper declared that the film will "live in our memory forever".

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 668/8. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan and Arthur Edmund Carewe in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 669/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 669/2. Photo: Transocean Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 669/3. Photo: Transocean Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 669/4. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan and his pet piglet in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 669/5. Photo: Transocean Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 669/6. Photo: Transocean Film Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923). Postcard sent in the former Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 701/3. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 701/4. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan possibly in Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923).

A Boy of Flanders (1924)

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Editions. Photo: DIX, Paris.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 680/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Bafag / MGM. Jackie Coogan in A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, MGM 1924), based on the novel by Ouida. The girl is Jeanne "Jean" Carpenter, who plays Alios Cogez, while the woman may be Nell Craig, who plays her mother, Marie Cogez.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 680/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. Jackie Coogan in A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924).

The American drama A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924) is the second adaptation of the novel 'A Dog of Flanders' published in 1872 by the British author Ouida. The script was written by Max Abramson. The first adaptation was A Dog of Flanders (Howell Hansel, 1914) with Marguerite Snow as Nello.

The film was conceived as a vehicle for the young star, Jackie Coogan, who had starred successfully in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid (1921) followed by My Boy (Victor Heerman, Albert Austin, 1921), Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922) and Daddy (E. Mason Hopper, 1923). Coogan was the first child actor to play the leading role in this story. In the first version of 1914, the role had been entrusted to an actress.

The prominence given to the young star is also immediately apparent in the change of title from the original 'A Dog of Flanders' to 'A Boy of Flanders'. For the role of the dog, however, a superstar was chosen, Teddy the Dog ("Keystone Teddy, the Wonder Dog"), a canine celebrity of Hollywood cinema at the time, who had already starred in numerous short films, but also in successful films such as Stella Maris (Marshall Neilan, 1918) with Mary Pickford.

When his mother and grandfather die, Nello is left to be an orphan boy in the village of St Agnes. His only friend is Alois Cogez (Jeanne Carpenter), the daughter of the richest man in the village. Nello is sent away by her father (Lionel Belmore) and befriends the dog Patrasche. When Cogez's barn burns down, Nello is blamed. The villagers are about to send him to the orphanage when the famous painter Jan van Dullen arrives in the village.

Jan van Dullen (Josef Swickard) awards a prize for the best children's drawing. Because Nello's drawing is overlooked, another child wins the contest. Later, when Van Dullen notices the drawing, he goes looking for the boy during a snowstorm. Patrasche helps to find Nello, who is dying.

As in the 1914 version, A Boy of Flanders is given a happy ending, where the original story ended with the death of the boy and the dog. Eventually, Cogez decides to take the boy under his wing. In this way, Coogan can once again play his usual role of a poor orphan child who eventually finds happiness and a new family.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 816/1. Photo: Bafag / MGM. Jackie Coogan in A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924), based on the novel by Ouida.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 816/2. Photo: Bafag / MGM. Jackie Coogan in A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924), based on the novel by Ouida.

Hungarian postcard by FMSI, no. 84. Photo: Mûvèsz Film. In 1924 Coogan visited Budapest during his grand European tour. The photo refers to Coogan's outfit in A Boy of Flanders (Victor Schertzinger, 1924). Mûvèsz Film may have been the Hungarian distributor of that film.

Sources: Hans J. Wollstein (AllMovie), Movies Silently, Lugonian (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Osceola (1971) is a DEFA Ostern by director Konrad Petzold and the Red Circle group from 1971. The 'Red Western', made in cooperation with Kino-Zentrum Sofia (Bulgaria) and ICAIC Havana (Cuba), is about the struggle of the Indian chief Osceola (Gojko Mitic, of course) and his tribe for their land in southern North America, which they have to defend against rich white Americans. On the other hand, the film also deals with the role of the black population in this conflict.

Kati Bus and Karin Ugowski in Osceola (1971)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 5/71 D a. Photo: DEFA. Kati Bus and Karin Ugowski in Osceola (Konrad Petzold, 1971).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 5/71 D h. Photo: DEFA. Karin Ugowski in Osceola (Konrad Petzold, 1971).

The beginning of a seven-year war

Osceola (Konrad Petzold, 1971) is situated in Florida, 1830. Of all eastern Native American tribes, only the Seminoles have resisted being moved to reservations.

Having retreated to Florida, they live a simple horticultural life. But white plantation owners, angry at the increasing numbers of black slaves fleeing to Seminole protection, want to take their land.

Plantation owner Raynes (Horst Schulze), in particular, has convinced the military to wipe out the Seminoles. His rival Moore (Iurie Darie), a sawmill owner from the North who has a Seminole wife, is against slavery and considers it unprofitable.

Chief Osceola (Gojko Mitic) sees the coming danger. When a gunboat takes a large number of escaped slaves under fire, Osceola realises that he can no longer prevent the war and intervenes.

First, he frees his wife from the hands of Raynes, killing Hammer and setting fire to the mansion, then he uses a ruse to blow up the gunboat. In the end, the escaped slaves are able to flee on boats along with the Indians.

Moore, whose sawmill was destroyed by the gunboat, flees north as he no longer has a livelihood in Florida. For the Seminoles, this is the beginning of a seven-year war that will claim many more victims on both sides.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin. Photo: DEFA. Scene from Osceola (Konrad Petzold, 1971).

Interesting for its historical background

Osceola (1971), produced by the East German film studio DEFA, was primarily filmed in Cuba and Bulgaria by an East-German crew. The film script was written by Gunter Karl and Walter Puschel.

It was a screen adaptation of the novel 'Osceola: Leader of the Seminoles' by the English writer Thomas Mein Reed. However, the only overlapping elements bertween novel and film are a scene of negotiations between whites and Indians about relocation, during which Oceola plunges a knife into the treaty, and a fight between Indians, led by Oceola who did not agree to relocation, and Indians who did agree to relocation.

The film shows only a short period before the Second Seminole War begins, while the novel shows the fighting and a few years before the war (the story of Oceola destroying a US army ship is not in the novel). In the beginning of the novel, Oceola is a small-time planter with mixed white and Indian blood in his veins, he does not become a chief until the middle of the novel (in the movie he is only a chief).

Director Konrad Petzold had also directed the famous Yugoslav actor and "Honored Indian of the Soviet Union", Gojko Mitic' two previous 'Osterns' (communist Westerns), Weisse Wölfe/White Wolves (1969) and Tödlicher Irrtum/Fatal Error (1970). In 1973 the film was released in the USSR and was seen by 35.3 million people.

"A straightforwardly told Indian film" was the verdict of the Encyclopaedia of International Film.

At IMDb, somebody under the name of Unbroken Metal reviews: "Osceola is a bit slow sometimes, too much singing and talking in between the action sequences, but it is interesting for its historical background, rather different from the usual Prairie Indians. Somebody gets a credit for "scientific advice" in the titles to point out it was well researched..."

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 79/71, 1971. Photo: Schwarz / DEFA. Horst Schulze in Osceola (Konrad Petzold, 1971).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 101/71, 1971. Photo: Schwarz / DEFA. Kurt Kachlicki in Osceola (Konrad Petzold, 1971).

Sources: DEFA-Stiftung (German), Wikipedia (German and Russian), and IMDb.

Vija Artmane (1929-2008) was a popular Latvian stage and screen actress, who had her film breakthrough with Rodnaya krov/Blood Ties (1964) and was henceforth called "Mother Latvia". She enjoyed a steady film career in the Soviet Union during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Sovietrussian postcard by Leningrad buro otd. propaganda iskusstvo, no. C. 1972-73.

Vija Artmane and Evgeniy Matveev in Rodnaya krov/ Blood Ties (1964)

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Photo: Lenfilm. Vija Artmane and Evgeniy Matveev in Rodnaya krov/Blood Ties (Mikhail Yershov, 1964). The film deals with a soldier on leave (Matveev) who stops to help a woman (Artmane) run a ferry and bring up her three children while her husband is away at war.

Vija Artmane in Davana vientulai sievietei (1973)

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Vija Artmane in Davana vientulai sievietei/Gift for the Single Woman (Eriks Lacis 1973).

Juliet of Romeo

Alida Fritsevna Artmane was born in 1929 in the Latvian village of Kaivė near Tukums, at the time when Latvia was a sovereign nation. Her parents, Fritsis Artmane and Anna Zaborska, owned a farm there. Her father died in an accident aged 19, four months before she was born and her Polish mother survived as a single mother by doing seasonal agricultural jobs.

Artmane grew up playing in the fields. While her mother worked for a landlord, her master sent young Artmane to study music and dance at a ballet class for a couple of years. At the age of 10, young Artmane became a shepherd girl. She worked with a herd of cows for five years and survived until the end of the Second World War.

In 1946 she graduated from secondary school and had a dream of becoming a lawyer in order to make the world a better place. At the same time, she was involved in amateur acting at her school and became interested in film and theatre, and eventually, her passion for acting prevailed. She changed her first name to Vija. From 1946 to 1949, she studied at the Second Studio of the Dailes Theatre and became an actress at the Dailes Theatre in 1949. She would be a member of the troupe for the next 50 years. In 1950 she became a member of the Latvian Theatre Union.

When she started to work at the theatre, she quickly attracted the attention of the legendary Latvian theatre director Eduards Smiļģis, founder and main director of the Daile Theater. From 1949 to 1998 Artmane was the leading star of the troupe at the Daile Theatre in Riga. Her first big success came with the role of Juliet in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' (1953), where her partner was Eduards Pāvuls. Another success was her role as Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion'.

Artmane also created important roles in Latvian plays such as 'Indulis and Ārija' and 'Fire and Night' under the direction of the National Actor of Latvia, Rainis. She was critically acclaimed for her stage works in Russian plays, such as her passionate performance as Tolstoy's heroine 'Anna Karenina'; she also played in Tolstoy's 'War and Peace', in Gogol's 'Dead Souls', and other classic Russian plays.

In 1953, Artmane married the Dailes Theatre actor Artūrs Dimiters (1915-1986). They had two children - musician Kaspars Dimiters (1957) and artist Kristiāna Dimitere (1965).

Vija Artmane in Za lebedinov staey oblakov (1957)

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Vija Artmane in Za lebedinov staey oblakov/Following the Swan Flock of Clouds (Pavel Armand, 1957).

Vija Artmane in Edgar and Kristina (1966)

Latvian (former Sovietunion) postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Photo: Rigas Kinostudija. Vija Artmane in Purva bridejs/Edgar and Kristina (Leonids Leimanis, 1966). NB the card dates the film as of 1967, IMDb as of 1966. The plot, set in late 19th century Latvia, deals with the coachman Edgar (Uldis Pucitis) who is in love with the maid Kristina (Artmane), though he is unable to overcome her mother's resistance. A charming, wealthy suitor arrives with a proposal but Kristina just can't forget Edgar.

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Vija Artmane in the Latvian/Russian film Mernieku laiki/The Times of the Surveyors (Voldemars Puce, 1970).

A beautiful and loving mother

Vija Artmane's first screen role came in 1956 in Rolands Kalniņš's film Posle shtorma/After the Storm (1957).

She really came to prominence with the role of Dace in Pāvels Armand's film Kā gulbji balti padebeši iet/Following the Swan Flock of Clouds (1956). It was the real beginning of her film career. In 1958, she became a member of the Union of Latvian Filmmakers.

In 1964 she shot to fame in the Soviet Union with her leading role as Sonya, a beautiful and loving mother, opposite Evgeni Matveev in the popular film Rodnaya krov/Blood Ties. After that film, Artmane was nicknamed "Mother-Latvia" in her homeland.

She enjoyed a steady film career in the Soviet Union during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Her film career was highlighted with such roles as Veda Kong in the popular Science Fiction film Tumannost' Andromedy/Andromeda Nebula (Evgeniy Sherstobitov, 1967), as Empress Catherine the Great in the historical drama Emelyan Pugachev/Pugachev (Aleksei Saltykov, 1978), and as Julia Lambert in the film Teātris/Theatre (Janis Streics, 1978).

Vija Artmane appeared as herself in a documentary on her life entitled Saruna ar karalieni/Conversation with the Queen (Rolands Kalnins, 1980) which was produced at the Riga Film Studio. From 1998 to 2000 she worked with the New Riga Theatre. There she appeared in the title role in a stage production of 'Queen of Spades' based on the eponymous drama by Alexander Pushkin. Her most recent film is Zolotoy vek/The Golden Age (Ilya Khotinenko, 2003).

All in all, Vija Artmane was one of the most outstanding Latvian theater and film actresses of the 20th century. In total, she played at least 85 roles on stage and 50 on-screen. In 1986, after the death of her husband, she suffered from an emotional breakdown and later had a stroke. In the 1990s, Artmane moved out of the city of Riga and settled in the countryside. In the early 2000s, she converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. In 2004 she published 'Ziemcieši. Mirkļi no manas dzīves', a book of memoirs covering her acting career as well as her personal life. She died in 2008 and is buried in the Pokrov Cemetery in Riga.

Vija Artmane and Igor Ledogorov in Tavs dels (1978)

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Vija Artmane and Igor Ledogorov in Tavs dels/Your Son (Gunars Piesis, 1978). Plot: The mother (Artmane) of an adult son falls in love and now she has to decide whether to arrange her fate or to obey the egoism of her child, who does not want to "share" her mother with anyone.

Vija Artmane and Igor Gorbachyov in Pugachev (1978-79)

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Photo: Mosfilm. Vija Artmane as Catherine the Great and Igor Gorbachyov as Nikita Panin, Catherine's mentor, in Emelyan Pugachev/Pugachev (Aleksei Saltykov, 1978-79). Plot: Don Cossack Yemelyan/ Emelyan Pugachev (Evgeniy Matveev) says goodbye to his wife and children and intends to leave, but the elder Filaret begs him to stay and lead a rebellion under the insignia of Peter III of Russia. The rebels led by Pugachev then attack the landowners. Tsarina Catherine II, however, sends troops against the rebels to repress them. Due to a betrayal Pugachev is captured, and later transported across Russia locked in an iron cage.

Vija Artmane as Julia in Teatris (Janis Streics, 1978)

Latvian postcard by Latvian branch of the All-union bureau of cinematographic propaganda, Riga, 1982. Photo: Rigas Kinostudija. Vija Artmane as Julia Lambert in the Somerset Maugham adaptation of 'Theatre': Teatris (Janis Streics, 1978). The plot deals with a popular, slightly elder stage actress, Julia Lambert, whose husband Michel is understanding but also a bit dull. Julia is vain and self-centered, but then she falls in love with Paul, a younger man, who is rather a career hunter and loves an ambitious upcoming actress. The plot, set to play by Guy Bolton, was later filmed and televised several times, with e.g. Danielle Darrieux and Annette Benning as Julia.

Sources: Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb

Today is the birthday of our favourite film stars, Claudia Cardinale (1938). The combination of her beauty, dark, flashing eyes, explosive sexuality and genuine acting talent made her a global super star. We salute her today for her unforgettable roles in 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963), Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963), Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968), and so many, many other films. Tanti auguri, Claudia!.

Belgian collectors card no. 25 (of 26). Claudia Cardinale in Cartouche (Philippe de Broca, 1962).

Dutch postcard by Hercules, Haarlem, no. 252.

Dutch postcard by Hercules, Haarlem, no. 262.

Dutch postcard.

Dutch postcard. Sent by mail in 1962.

Italian postcard by Ufa (Universion Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 425. Photo: Herbert Fried / Ufa.

German postcard. Photo: Herbert Fried / Ufa.

Belgian postcard by Edt. Decker, Brussels, no. A. 104.

West-German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 5143. Photo: Herbert Fried / Ufa.

Vintage photo.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano (Rotalcolor), no. 240.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto (Rotalcolor), Milano, no. N. 203.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 922.

German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 893. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Italian postcard by SAG, Trieste, Serie, no. 10.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Claudia Cardinale and daughter Claudia Squitieri.

With rented tricycles full of map racks, the founders of Boomerang strolled along the cafés in Amsterdam and the other Dutch cities. "It was the spring of 1993. Everyone wanted such a rack on their wall", they remember on their website. Boomerang introduced freecards. "Our idea at the time was that advertising should be so nice that people would come and get it themselves from our racks." In the past three decades, Boomerang has grown into a cultural phenomenon and has evolved into an international media conglomerate. Boomerang gave the film postcard a new impulse. Here are 16 great examples of their film freecards.

Dutch postcard by Boomerang, Amsterdam. Photo: Al Pacino in Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma, 1993).

Dutch postcard by Boomerang Freecards, Amsterdam. Photo: Sharon Stone in Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995).

Dutch postcard by Boomerang, no. P18-06. Photo: Frans Jansen / BNN. Sexy and exotic Katja Schuurman (1975) was one of the first soap stars of the Netherlands. She showed durability as a TV host and as an actress in many TV series and films.

Belgian postcard by Boomerang Free Cards. Photo: Warner Bros. Jim Carrey as Riddler in Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher, 1995).

Nicole Kidman in The Portrait of a Lady (1996)

Dutch postcard by Boomerang Freecards, Amsterdam. Nicole Kidman in The Portrait of a Lady (Jane Campion, 1996). Captions: I'm absolutely in love with you (front). After 'The Piano' the new film by Jane Campion.

Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue in The Saint (1997)

British postcard by Boomerang Media. Photo: Paramount. Val Kilmer in The Saint (Philip Noyce, 1997).

Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted (1999)

British freecard by Boomerang. Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted (James Mangold, 1999). Captions: The crazy thing is, you're not crazy. Girl, Interrupted. Based on a true story. Opens March 24 at Cinemas across the country.

The Freecards phenomenon

Freecards are free postcards that are distributed in different ways. Some publishers distribute the cards via their own racks, which are hung up in hotels, restaurants, schools, gyms and/or on golf courses. Other publishers offer the cards through bookstores, cinemas, at events, or in (their own) shops.

The first publisher of freecards was Vanguardia in Spain in 1985. France followed in 1987, Italy in 1989, Denmark in 1990, Belgium and Sweden in 1991, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom in 1992, and the Netherlands and several other countries in 1993.

In the Netherlands, the freecards were initially published by Free Card and Take Art. But Boomerang took over, quickly followed by competitor Advertising Post.

The VDP (Vereniging Documentatie Prentbriefkaarten) has been busy from the beginning with documenting the released freecards in the Netherlands. In September 1994 the very first VDP freecard catalogue was published, containing all the Boomerang and Advertising Post cards released at that time. Since then the VDP and since 2003 the Boomerang Fanclub (BFC) releases a new freecard catalogue every year.

Cas Jansen and Chantal Janzen in Volle Maan (2002)

Dutch postcard by Boomerang, Amsterdam. Photo: Ray Christian / De Krom Studio. Artwork: Michiel van Randeraat / Locust Enterainment. Cas Jansen and Chantal Janzen in Volle Maan/Full Moon Party (Johan Nijenhuis, 2002).

British postcard by Boomerang Media Cards in the Best of British Quirky Traits series, no. 6, Humour. Photo: Jon Lyons. Tommy Cooper. Collection: Carla Bosch.

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black II (2002)

Dutch postcard by Boomerang. Photo: Amblin Entertainment / Columbia Pictures. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black II (Barry Sonnenfeld, 2002). Caption: Back in black.

Belgian postcard by Boomerang Free Cards, no. 1/4. Image: Marvel / Regency / 20th Century Fox. Ben Affleck in Daredevil (Mark Steven Johnson, 2003).

Dutch postcard by Boomerang Freecards for H & M, no. P 20-98. Gary Oldman.

Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Dutch postcard by Boomerang Studycards, Amsterdam, no. P08-03, 2003. Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Reloaded (Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, 2003).

Ioan Gruffudd in Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Belgian postcard by Boomerang.be. Image: Marvel / 20th Century Fox. Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic / Reed Richards in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Tim Story, 2007). Caption: I have a fantastic thing to tell you.

Belgian postcard by Boomerang. Image: Disney / Pixar. The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004). Caption: Now on DVD!

British postcard in the 'Greatest' Series - Drunks by Boomerang. Photo: John Curtis / Rex. Oliver Reed.

Sources: Boomerang.nl (Dutch) and VDP (Dutch).

Dear friends, we wish you all: Happy Easter! Frohe Ostern! Joyeuses Pâques ! ¡Feliz Pascua! Feliz Páscoa! Glad påsk! Счастливой Пасхи! ハッピーイースターVrolijk Pasen!

British postcard by Rotary Photo in the Rotary Photographic Series, no. 956 A.

English singer and actress Phyllis Dare (1890-1975) was famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other forms of musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century. She appeared occasionally in films and was one of the leading Picture Postcard beauties of the Belle Epoque.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4884/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

British born, German actress and singer Lilian Harvey (1906-1968) was Ufa's biggest star of the 1930s. With Willy Fritsch, she formed the 'Dream Team of the European Cinema'. Their best film was the immensely popular film operetta Der Kongress tanzt/The Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4885/3, 1929/1930. Photo: Ufa.

Willy Fritsch (1901-1973) was the immensely popular ‘Sunny Boy’ of the Ufa operettas of the 1930s and 1940s.

Belgian postcard. Photo: Warner Bros.

Legendary actress and singerDoris Day (1922-2019) 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), and on TV, she appeared in the sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968-1973). Que Será, Será!

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-64. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Central Europa Film.

Johanna von Koczian (1933) was in the late 1950s and early 1960s one of Germany’s most popular film stars. Later she evolved into a stage actress, a popular schlager singer, a TV presenter, and a successful author of novels and children's books.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 480. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Ann Miller (1923-2004) was an American dancer, singer and actress. She was famed for her speed in tap dancing and her style of glamour: massive black bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a splash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her lithe figure and long dancer's legs. Miller is best remembered for her work in the classic Hollywood musicals Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949) and Kiss Me Kate (1953).

Dutch postcard by Takken, no. A.X. 351.

American actress and dancer Virginia Mayo (1920-2005) is best known for her series of film comedies with Danny Kaye, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Norman Z. McLeod, 1947). She personified the quintessential voluptuous Hollywood beauty, like a pin-up painting coming to life.

West-German collectors card, no. 53.

American actress and writer Yvette Mimieux (1942) is known for The Time Machine (1960), and several other popular films of the 1960s. She was nominated for three Golden Globe awards during her acting career.

On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 April 2022, we could finally attend the VerzamelJaarbeurs again. The Jaarbeurs halls in the city of Utrecht were transformed into the largest collectors' fair in Europe. You can find pretty much everything you can collect, from vintage furniture, a huge collection of vinyl, toys from the past and present, games, stamps, and lots of other beautiful curiosities and articles. Marlene, Ivo, and I were there to look for interesting film postcards for EFSP. Last Monday, we presented the treasures I discovered in Utrecht. Today's it's Ivo Blom's turn.

French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Left to right: Aimé Simon-Girard as D'Artagnan, Charles Martinelli as Porthos, Pierre de Guingand as Aramis, and Henri Rollan as Athos in Les trois mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1921). This card is part of six cards of this film we recently found at the Utrecht collectors' fair. These are additional to the ones we already uploaded. The others will be uploaded soon.

Georges Colin as Le Tigre in Tigre et Coquelicot

French postcard. Photo: Rahma. Georges Colin as Le Tigre in the play 'Le Tigre et Coquelicot' by Charles Henry Hirsch, staged in 1923 at the Théâtre Cora Laparcerie in Paris. Laparcerie played the female lead opposite Colin.

Georges Colin (1880-1945) was a French actor, who appeared in nearly 40 silent and sound films between 1909 and 1945.

French postcard by Théâtre du Chatelet. Photo: scene from the play 'La Tour du Monde en 80 jours' (Around the world in eighty days). Caption: Pièce à grand spectacle de D'Ennery et monsieur Jules Verne. 13e Tableau, La Ligne du Pacifique. L'Attaque du Train. (A large-scale play by D'Ennery and Monsieur Jules Verne. 13th act, The Pacific Line. The Attack on the Train.)

The play 'La Tour du Monde en 80 jours' (Around the world in eighty days) was written by Adolphe D'Ennery and Jules Verne, after Verne's eponymous novel, written in 1873-1874. It was first performed 7 November 1874 at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin in Paris. Despite the enormous investments, even a real elephant was involved, the play was a giant success. People were queuing around the block to see how one could travel the whole world in eighty days, and in the case of the play, within the time span of just a few hours. From 1874 to the start of WWII, the play was constantly restaged and with great success. The version of this card must date from the early 1900s, while the first staging at the Châtelet dates of 1887, where it remained a crowd-puller for years. On 19 June, EFSP will present a special post on the French author, 'Written by Jules Verne'.

French postcard. Scene from the play 'Nanà' by William Busnach, a play in five acts adapted from the novel by Emile Zola and performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu. Tableau 3, Queen Pomare: I too ruined men, owned horses and carriages. The play was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu on 6 February 1904. Nanâ was played by Armande Cassive. It was one of her most memorable roles.

Dutch postcard by Vereenigd Rotterdamsch Hofstadtooneel, part of a booklet on the stage play 'Boefje'. Photo: Willem Coret, The Hague. Piet Bron as father Grovers in the stage play 'Boefje' (Little Rascal, 1922), starring Annie van Ees, who also played the lead in the 1939 Dutch film adaptation by Douglas Sirk. The play was staged by Van Ees' husband, Cor van der Lugt Melsert and was immensely popular.

Dutch stage and screen actor Piet Bron (1882-1973) was especially known for his father role in the play 'Boefje', adapted from the 1905 novel by M.J. Brusse. Bron played the part 550 times. Bron also acted in the film. He had one of the leads in the film adaptation of Merijntje Gijzen's jeugd (1936), based on the novel by A.M. de Jong, and directed by German emigré Kurt Gerron.

Dutch postcard in the Photogravure series b, no. 903. Photo: Henri Berssenbrugge, The Hague. This sepia card is part of a large series of 1920s Dutch stage players and directors, photographed by Berssenbrugge and other acclaimed Dutch photographers such as J. Merkelbach.

Tilly Lus (1888-1971) was a Dutch theatre actress. She also played a handful of parts in Dutch silent cinema between 1911 and 1915. She debuted as a supporting actress in the film De Bannelingen/The Exiles (Leon Boedels, Caroline van Dommelen, 1911), produced by Film-Fabriek F.A. Nöggerath. In 1912 Lus started to act also at the new film company Hollandia. In 1915, she married Cor Ruys, actor and theatre manager, with whom she had six children.

Oscar Tourniaire als Lodewijk Coornevelt in De Opstandigen

Dutch postcard. Part of a booklet of cards for the Dutch stage play 'De Opstandigen' (The Rebels) by August Defresne and based on the novel by Jo van Ammers-Küller. It premiered on 6 November 1926 at the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam and was performed by the company Het Nieuwe Nederlandsch Tooneel. The Director and art director of the play was Louis Saalborn.

Oscar Tourniaire had the male lead as the stern patriarch Lodewijk Coornvelt, while the female lead was for Jacqueline Royaards-Sandberg as Maria Elizabeth "Miebetje" Sylvain, the only one to resist the patriarch's autocratic, conservative rule. Oscar Tourniaire (1880-1939) was a major Dutch stage actor. In 1898 he made his stage debut with the Koninklijke Vereeniging Het Nederlandsch Tooneel (K.V.H.N.T.). Tourniaire directed one silent film for Film-Fabriek Anton Nöggerath, Roze Kate/Pink Kate (1912).

British postcard by Rotary Photo, E.C., no. 4890 D. Photo: Foulsham and Banfield. Marie Studholme in the musical comedy 'Miss Hook of Holland' (1907) by Paul Rubens. She starred in the title role, during a long provincial tour from 1907 to 1910, while originally in London, Isabel Jay played the lead in the same play.

Marie Studholme (1872-1930) was an English actress and singer of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, known for her supporting and sometimes starring roles in Edwardian musical comedy. Her attractive features (and outfits) made her one of the most popular postcard beauties of her day. The masses of postcards of her today still testify to this popularity. As far as we know, she never played in the cinema.

Isabel Jay as Christine in Dear Little Denmark

British postcard by Rotary Photo, E.C., no. 11550 B. Photo: Foulsham and Banfield. In 1909 Isabel Jay starred in the musical comedy 'Dear Little Denmark', written by Paul Rubens. It was felt to be too much of a repetition of Rubens' extremely popular operetta 'Miss Hook of Holland' (1907), in which Jay had starred before, earlier in 1907.

Isabel Jay (11879-1927) was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and in Edwardian musical comedies. During Jay's career, picture postcards were immensely popular, and Jay was photographed for over 400 different postcards. She retired in 1911 at age 31. As far as we know, she didn't act in the film.

British postcard by Rotary Photo, E.C., no. 11642 E. Photo: Foulsham and Banfield. Bertram Wallis in 'The Count of Luxembourg', an operetta in two acts with English lyrics and libretto by Basil Hood and Adrian Ross, music by Franz Lehár, based on Lehár's three-act German operetta 'Der Graf von Luxemburg' which had premiered in Vienna in 1909. The original production opened at Daly's Theatre in London in 1911 and ran for 345 performances, starring Lily Elsie, Huntley Wright, W. H. Berry, and Bertram Wallis.

Tall and handsome Bertram Wallis (1874-1952) was a renowned English actor and singer. He was a glamorous matinée idol in popular plays and musical comedies in the early 20th century. Between the two wars, he also appeared in several films.

Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII

British postcard by Beagles' postcards, no. 566 M. Photo: Daily Mirror Studios. Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Cardinal Wolsey in the play 'Henry VIII', Tree's longest-running revival. It ran for a sensational 254 consecutive performances from 1 September 1910 to 8 April 1911.

Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852-1917) was one of the most famous English actors and theatre managers of the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods. In 1895 he put on the first production of 'A Woman of No Importance', a new play written by Oscar Wilde. Beerbohm Tree also helped the career of George Bernard Shaw, by producing 'Pygmalion' in 1914. His lavish productions with their strong emphasis on the visual can be seen as prefiguring the cinema. The versatile and skilled actor also appeared in some early British and American films. He founded the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1904 and was knighted, for his contributions to the theatre, in 1909. Famous film director Carol Reed was one of his illegitimate children and actor Oliver Reed was a grandson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4886/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa.

Prima ballerina, dancer, singer, and actress Liane Haid (1895-2000) was the first film star of Austria. She was the epitome of the 'Süßes Wiener Mädel' (Sweet Viennese Girl) and from the mid-1910s on she made close to a hundred films.

Dutch postcard by FAN Film. Photo: Carlo Aldini Film. Carlo Aldini in Der Mann ohne Kopf (Nunzio Malasomma, 1927). Dutch distributor FAN Film released the film as 'De Millionnair-Politieagent'. The back of the card makes publicity for the film at the Flora Theatre in The Hague, where the film was shown in March 1929. The film started its Dutch release in January 1929 at the Amsterdam based Passage-Bioscoop.

Carlo Aldini (1894-1961) was an athletic hero of the Italian and German silent cinema. In Der Mann ohne Kopf, Aldini plays a double role: millionaire Freddy Hillock, who has serious brain damage after a flight accident, trades places with poor police officer John, after a night of merriment and booze. For both the change has serious consequences: John has to train for many sports like wrestling and polo, under the severe guidance of a robust black trainer. Freddy becomes police officer. After causing mishap because of his confused brain, he has to save his girlfriend and after wild chases he manages, regaining his wits as bonus. The Bundesarchiv Berlin has a print of he film.

Dutch postcard, no. 178. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Duncan Renaldo in Trader Horn (W.S. Van Dyke, 1931).

Renault Renaldo Duncan (1904–1980), better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid.

West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild.

Sophia Loren (1934) rose to fame in post-war Italy as a voluptuous sex goddess. Soon after, she became one of the most successful stars of the 20th Century, who won an Oscar for her mother role in La ciociara (Vittorio De Sica, 1960).

Last Sunday, on 17 April 2022, French actress and singer Catherine Spaak (1945) passed away. Who was this now forgotten actress? She started as a Lolita-like vamp in Italian films of the early 1960s, made records and became a teenage star. She played in several classic Italian comedies, was a popular TV host and wrote books. Spaak appeared in some 100 films.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto (Rotalcolor), Milano, no. 244.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 519.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 91.

The niece of the Belgian prime minister

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

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

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

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

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

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

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 194.

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

Italian postcard by Edizione diesse.

Highlights of the Commedia all'Italiana

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

Ready steady girls!, the site on Europe’s fab female singers of the 1960s in their bio: “Perdono – written by Gino Paoli (who had worked with stars such as Mina) and arranged by Ennio Morricone– was issued as her debut single and swiftly made the Italian top 20.

Vocally, Catherine drew comparisons with France’s newest star, Françoise Hardy, so Ricordi opted to have their young signing record a couple of Hardy songs for the Italian market. Issued in 1963, the bilingual 'Tous les garçons et les filles' (Quelli della mia età) – backed with J’ai jeté mon coeur (Ho scherzato con il cuore) – gave Hardy’s original a run for its money, reaching number seven in September 1963 and confirming Catherine as a new star.”

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

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

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

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

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

Catherine Spaak and Philippe Leroy in La notte è fatta per... rubare (1968)

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

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

Catherine Spaak in La notte è fatta per... rubare (1968)

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

The Cat of Nine Tails

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

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

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

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

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

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

Catherine Spaak was married to actor and producer Fabrizio Capucci (1963-1971) and Italian singer-actor Johnny Dorelli (1972-1979). Her last husband was actor Orso Maria Guerrini. With Capucci, she had a daughter, stage actress Sabrina Capucci (1963), and with Dorelli a son, Gabriele Dorelli. Spaak died in 2022 at the age of 77, having previously suffered two brain hemorrhages.

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

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

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

Italian diva Francesca Bertini starred in a silent film series called I sette peccati capitali (The Seven Mortal Sins), based on Eugène Sue's popular novel 'Les sept péchés capitaux'. She produced the series with her own production company Bertini Film in association with Caesar Film. Earlier, EFSP presented a post on L'orgoglio/Pride a.k.a. La superbia (Edoardo Bencivenga, 1918) with 'Cromos', coloured collector cards, that were made in Spain as a supplement for the chocolate boxes of Chocolate Imperial. Today Ivo Blom presents another part of this series, L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919), released in Spain as Pereza, for which Chocolate Imperial also produced a series of 10 collectors cards. In Ivo's collection, one of the cards is still missing.

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 1. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Camillo De Riso and Francesca Bertini in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 2. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Camillo De Riso and two unidentified actors in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 3. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Unknown actress and possibly down, right Livio Pavanelli in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 4. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini and Livio Pavanelli in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Genuinely looking and acting discretely, even in dramatic scenes

It is nine years since Octavio Fortis (Guido Trento) has left his natal village. He has enjoyed city life while becoming an energetic industrial engineer. When returning full of nostalgia to his village, he meets the beautiful but inert Bianca (Francesca Bertini), who has escaped her house, always peopled by the sleepy trio of her father, the pharmacist Fanelli, the village priest Alfonso Procacci (Camillo De Riso), and the majordomos of the local castle.

The two young people fall in love. Meanwhile, the priest is setting up a marriage between Bianca and Duke Luciano (Livio Pavanelli), the owner of the castle. Bianca first rebels but then gives in and marries the duke. She blames the duke's inertia on the castle and convinces him to move to the city to enjoy the high life there (to which the duke is insensible).

There she meets Manuel, Count of the Antilles, who impresses everyone with his fame and fortune. Yet, he proves to be a reckless womaniser. When also Octavio pursuits her, and the two meet again at a ball, rekindling their flame, Bianca fears for her marriage and wants to go back to the castle and the quiet countryside.

Yet, to Bianca's horror, the duke also invites his friend the count, who again starts to pursuit her, makes a deal with the majordomos and even gets the key to the house. He blackmails Bianca because of her talks to Octavio. He also challenges Octavio to a duel, but the latter refuses such nonsense. The count, therefore, sets a trap, warning the Duke his wife is about to commit adultery and pressing him to kill the rival.

When the two men catch the couple at Octavio's house, the inert duke has the first anger explosion of his life. Still, he cannot shoot people, so the count points at Octavio with his gun. Yet, the engineer throws himself on him. Only when disarming him, he accidentally shoots the duke. Bianca is in tears. Days after, she will reunite with Octavio, and find her true life.

The description above of L'accidia (1919) is based on the texts of the cromos. The plot in Vittorio Martinelli's Il cinema muto italiano 1919, is much shorter but adds that Octavio is planning to redevelop the village by use of hydroelectricity.

L'accidia was scripted by George Ruby, cinematographed by Giuseppe Filippa, while sets were by Alfredo Manzi. Other actors were Alberto Albertini, Luigi Cigoli, and Francesco Gennaro. The Roman premiere took place on 1 November 1919. The journal Cine-Fono judged the story and direction as okay, but praised Bertini, who "for once looked genuine, was acting discretely (even in dramatic scenes) and didn't twist her mouth for once".

I sette peccati capitali is based on the Eugène Sue novel series Les sept pêchés capitaux (1847-1852). The complete series consists of: L'orgoglio (pride), La gola (gluttony), L'ira (wrath) and L'avarizia (greed) (all 1918), L'Invidia (envy), L'accidia (acedia) and La lussuria (lust) (all 1919). Critics didn't like the series at the time but audiences flocked to see it. The film series was believed lost until found at the Prague Film Institute (Ceskoslovensky Filmovy Archiv). It was carefully restored including the original tinting. The first two restorations, L'avarizia and L'orgoglio, were shown at the festival Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna in 1991 and the complete series was shown there in 2003.

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 5. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini, Livio Pavanelli and Guido Trento in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 6. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Camillo de Riso and unknown actor in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 7. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 9. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Spanish cromo by Chocolate Imperial in the Series 'Los siete pecados capitales' (The Seven Capital Sins), no. 10. Photo: Caesar Film / Spanish distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini in L'accidia/Acedia (Alfredo De Antoni, 1919).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano 1919. I film del dopoguerra - Italian), and IMDb.

The good-looking Corsican singer and film actor Tino Rossi (1907-1983) was one of the great romantic idols of his time. The quintessential ‘Latin lover’ sold over 300 million records and appeared in more than 25 film musicals. Rossi is the most popular personality to come from Corsica since Napoleon Bonaparte.

French postcard by Massilia. Photo: Studio Intran.

French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinematographiques (EPC), no. 12. Photo: Limot / Paris Film Production.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 33. Photo: Star.

French postcard by O.P., Paris, no. 79. Photo: Teddy Piaz.

French postcard. The edges have been cut off but it looks like a Viny card. Written on the back: "1939 Avril" [April 1939].

Operatic Voice

Constantino Rossi was born as the third of eight children in a Corsican family in Ajaccio, France, in 1907.

He was gifted with an operatic voice. As a teenager, he played guitar and sang at a variety of small venues in his hometown before going on to perform in Marseilles and at resort clubs along the French Riviera.

He competed in amateur singing contests while working for a mortgage company to support himself. Though a failed marriage detoured him and his career briefly, eventually, a promoter saw Rossi performing and signed him in 1929 to a short tour circuit.

Although that and the two songs he recorded with Parlophone, 'O Ciuciarella' and 'Ninni Nanni', didn't bring him immediate success, in 1933 Columbia offered him the deal he wanted.

French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques, no. 119. Photo: Arnal / EPC.

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 6492. Image: Jacques Weismann, 1936.

French card by Massilia.

French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 136. Photo: Star.

French postcard by Erpé, no. 545. Photo: Star.

Major Box Office Attraction

In 1934 Tino Rossi represented Corsica in La Parade de France, where he was met with much acclaim.

His fame truly commenced when he began starring in film musicals like Naples au Baiser de Feu/The Kiss of Fire (Augusto Genina, 1937) with Michel Simon and Mireille Balin.

His romantic ballads had women swooning and his art songs by Jules Massenet, Reynaldo Hahn, and other composers helped draw massive audiences wherever he performed.

Rossi's success was greatly aided by songwriter Vincent Scotto, who wrote his first hits and collaborated with him for many years.

Prior to World War II, Rossi was a major box office attraction in the French-speaking world but expanded his audience to America with a 1938 visit followed up by wartime tours across the USA and Canada.

French postcard by Viny, no. 35. Photo: Paris Film Production.

French postcard by SERP, Paris, no. 69. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 107. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Edition P.I., Paris, no. 4.

Vintage postcard.

Latin Lover

A ‘Latin lover’ persona made Tino Rossi a true film star. He began his film career in Les nuits moscovites/Moscow Nights (Alexis Granowsky, 1934) starring Annabella, but his first real success came with Marinella (Pierre Caron, 1936) with Yvette Lebon.

It was followed by Lumières de Paris/Lights of Paris (Richard Pottier, 1938) with Michèle Alfa, Fiévres/Fever (Jean Delannoy, 1942) opposite Jacqueline Delubac, and Le Soleil a toujours raison/The Sun Has Always a Reason (Pierre Billon, 1943) co-starring Charles Vanel.

All his films were musicals and capitalised on his success as a singer. During the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, Rossi's film career reached its peak, notably with Mon amour est près de toi/My Love Is For You (Richard Pottier, 1943) and L'île d'amour/The Isle of Love (Maurice Cram, 1944) with Josseline Gaël.

After the Liberation, the French authorities reproached him for associating with the French Gestapo, but most importantly for actively supporting collaborationist causes such as the LVF (Légion des Volontaires Français) who sent French volunteers to work in German factories.

He was arrested in October 1944 and spent three weeks in Fresnes prison (near Paris). Following a trial in 1945, his sentence was relatively light unlike that of colleagues as Arletty, Mireille Balin, and Josseline Gaël. Rossi received a retrospective and largely symbolic work suspension.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1025/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Intran-Studio, Paris.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2782/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Schostal.

French postcard by Erpé, no. 503. Photo: Simson.

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1036. Photo: Intran Studio, Paris.

French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 107. Photo: Sigma-Cyrnos. Tino Rossi in L'île d'amour/The island of love (Maurice Cam, 1944).

Overwhelming popularity

Tino Rossi's post-war films include Sérénade aux nuages/Song of the Clouds (André Cayatte, 1946), Destins/Destinies (Richard Pottier, 1946) with Mila Parély, Le Gardian/The Guardian (Jean de Marguenat, 1946), and Marlène (Pierre de Hérain, 1949).

Destins/Destinies (1946) contained his most popular song, 'Petit Papa Noël', which sold more than thirty million copies worldwide. In 1947 he married Lilia Vetti, a young dancer and actress he had met while making Le Chant de l'exilé/The Song of the Exile (André Hugon, 1943). They would have a son, Laurent, in a marriage that lasted for a lifetime.

In 1954, he joined the all-star cast of Si Versailles m'était conté/Affairs in Versailles (Sacha Guitry, 1954), the history of the palace of Versailles from its founding to the present. James Travers at Films de France: "Towards the end of his career, writer and film director Sacha Guitry made three major historical films, each of which earned him critical acclaim and each of which has retained enduring popularity. Si Versailles m’était conté is arguably the best of the three, although its sister films Si Paris nous était conté and Napoléon are also highly regarded by many. All three films are lavish, well-scripted episodic historical films, featuring a dizzying cast of France’s best-known actors."

In 1955 Tino Rossi starred in the stage operetta 'Méditerranée', and in the following years, he continued performing around France and the world. His career also evolved into the television era, appearing in a number of popular variety shows. By the 1960s, Rossi largely retired from performing as he passed his 50th birthday and rock-and-roll made his style of music obsolete.

In 1982, President François Mitterrand named Tino Rossi a Commander of the Legion of Honor for his contribution to France and its culture. That same year the 75-year-old singer gave his last public performance at the Casino de Paris, a show that popular demand turned into a three-month stint. Their overwhelming popularity even earned the performer a new recording contract with Pathé Marconi. However, soon after his farewell concerts, Tino Rossi died of pancreatic cancer in his home in Neilly-sur-Seine, one of the Parisian suburbs, in 1983.

French postcard.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 333.

French postcard by JPH. Photo: Disques Columbia.

Sources: James Travers (Films de France), Marisa Brown (AllMusic), Wikipedia, and IMDb.