Multi-picture postcards from the Soviet Union

In May this year, I was a few days in the beautiful city Riga in Latvia (lots of wonderful Art Nouveau and wooden buildings). In the street of our hotel, there was an 'antikvariāts', which we passed by every day. One day I went inside and asked the man behind the counter for vintage postcards, and yes, he even had some European film star postcards. In other 'antikvariāts', I was now getting steamed up, we found a lot of Russian postcards from the Soviet Union period. Of these, I prefer the multi-picture postcards in black and white from the 1950s. But the Cyrillic signs proved to be quite a puzzle. Happily, my sister Ellen once studied Russian and she helped me to decipher the Cyrillic signs and to translate the texts. So here are some of my finds from Riga. I added short bios of the actors, but if you want to know more about them, check our extended biographies of them at Flickr (just click twice at the postcard).


Russian postcard, series no. 33. Caption: My favourite artists. Film stars pictured are amongst others Viktor Avdyushko and Lyudmila Khityaeva in Vsyo nachinayetsya s dorogi/Everything Begins with Hitting the Road (Nikolay Dostal, Villen Azarov, 1960), Iya Arepina in Khmuryy Vangur/Gloomy Vangur (Anatoliy Dudorov, 1959), Tatyana Konyukhova and Evgeniy Samoylov in Zare navstrechu/Dawn to meet (Tatyana Lukashevich, 1960), Nadir Malishevsky and Evgeniya Kozyreva in Vesenniye grozy/Spring Thunderstorms (Nikolai Figurovsky, 1960), and Vasily Lanovoy.


Russian multi-view postcard by Izd. fabriki "Promhudožnik" gor. Kišinev, no. Ab08249. The card was issued in 10,000 copies. Retail price was 75 Kop. Pictures from Selskiy vrach/The Country Doctor (Sergey Gerasimov, 1952), Molodaya gvardiya/The Young Guard (Sergey Gerasimov, 1948) and Tri vstrechi (Aleksandr Ptushko, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Sergei Yutkevich, 1949).

Tamara Makarova (1907-1997) was a famous star of the Soviet cinema, who appeared in 31 films between 1927 and 1984. She was also a writer, and the wife and co-worker of director Sergey Gerasimov. Among her best known films are Kozintsev en Trauberg's Novyy Vavilon/The New Babylon (1929), Pudovkin's Dezertir/The Deserter (1933), and 16 films by Gerasimov.


Soviet postcard by photo department Ed. 'Molot', Rostov-on-Don, no. 109, 1958. The card was issued in 75,000 copies. The price was 75 K. Pictures from Na podmostkakh stseny/Behind the Footlights (Konstantin Yudin, 1956), Chempion mira/World Champion (Vladimir Gonchukov, 1955), Dvenadtsataya noch/Twelfth Night (Yan Frid, 1955), Obyknovennyy chelovek/Ordinary Person (Aleksandr Stolbov, 1956) and Vernye druz'ya/True Friends (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1954).

Russian actor Vasiliy Merkurev (1904-1978) played more than 40 roles in Soviet films and he acted in over 100 stage plays of the Pushkin Drama Theatre (Aleksandrinski Theatre).He was also a stage director and drama teacher. His professional acting career spanned over 50 years.


Soviet postcard by photo department Ed. 'Molot', Rostov-on-Don, no. 06453, 1959. The card was issued in 75,000 copies. The price was 75 K. Pictures from Po tu storonu/On the other side (Fyodor Filippov, 1958), Devushka s gitaroy/A Girl with Guitar (Aleksandr Faintsimmer, 1958), Devushka bez adresa/Girl Without an Address (Eldar Ryazanov, 1958), and Oleko Dundich/Aleksa Dundic (Leonid Lukov, 1958).

Sergey Filippov (1912-1990) was a comical Soviet film and theatre actor, best known for his parts in films like Priklyucheniya Korzinkinoi/Adventures of Korzinkina (1941), Notchnoi patrul/The Night Patrol (1957) and the adaptation of Ilf and Petrov's classic The Twelve Chairs (1971), which granted him the People's Artist of the RSFSR title in 1974. His life ended as a tragedy.


Soviet postcard by Izdaiie Bjuro propagandy sovetskogo kino-iskusstva, Lskusstva, 1961. Retail price: 8 K. Photos: publicity stills for Neobyknovennoye leto/An Unusual Summer (Vladimir Basov, 1957), Shkola muzhestva/Courage School (Vladimir Basov, Mstislav Korchagin, 1954), Oni vstretilis v puti/They Met on the Road (Tatyana Lukashevich, 1957), and Obyknovennyy chelovek/Ordinary person (Aleksandr Stolbov, 1956).

Roza Makagonova (1927-1995) was a Soviet actress. Makagonova was awarded as a Meritorious Artist of the USSR in 1976.


Soviet postcard by photo department Ed. 'Molot', Rostov-on-Don, no. 15, 1959. This postcard was printed in an edition of 100,000 cards. The price was 75 K. Among the pictures are from left to right publicity stills for Ilya Muromets/The Epic Hero and the Beast (Aleksandr Ptushko, 1956), Bolshaya semya/A Big Family (Iosif Kheifits, 1954), Maksimka/Maximka (Vladimir Braun, 1953), and Meksikanets/The Mexican (Vladimir Kaplunovskiy, 1956).

Boris Andreyev (1915-1982) was a mechanic turned actor. He became a leading star of the Soviet cinema who appeared in 51 films between 1939 and 1982. These included Skazanie o zemle sibirskoy (1948), Padenie Berlina (1950), and Bolshaya semya/A Big Family (1954).


Soviet postcard, no. 4319, 1959. Retail price: 75 K. Photos: publicity stills for Otello/Othello (Sergei Yutkevich, 1956) with Irina Skobtseva, Poprygunya/The Cricket (Samson Samsonov, 1955), Kavalier zolotoy zvezdy/Cavalier of the Golden Star (Yuli Raizman, 1951), and Taras Shevchenko (Aleksandr Alov, Vladimir Naumov, Igor Savchenko, 1951).

Film director, co-producer, writer, and actor Sergey Bondarchuk (1920–1994) was one of the most important filmmakers of the Soviet Union and had a career that spanned over five decades. The theme of war ran through many of the films he directed. He won an Oscar for his spectacular epic Voyna i mir/War and Peace (1967), in which he also starred as Pierre Bezukhov.


Soviet postcard by FK, Rostov on Don, Engels, no. 54. The card was issued in 100,000 copies. Pictures from Otello/Othello (Sergei Yutkevich, 1955), Obyknovennyy chelovek/The Ordinary Man (Aleksandr Stolbov, 1956), Annushka (Boris Barnet, 1959), and Ivan Franko (Timofei Levchuk, 1956).

Russian actress Irina Skobtseva (1927) was a famous star of the Soviet cinema. She was the second wife of Sergey Bondarchuk, and played Helen Kuragina in his epic film Voina i mir/War and Peace (1966), a powerful adaptation of the eponymous masterpiece by Leo Tolstoy.


Soviet postcard by photo department Ed. 'Molot', Rostov-on-Don, no. 109, 1958. The price was 75 K. Among the pictures are from left to right publicity stills for Devushka bez adresa/Girl Without an Address (Eldar Ryazanov, 1958), Zolushka/Cinderella (Nadezhda Kosheverova, Mikhail Shapiro, 1947), (unidentified film), and Nesterka/Nasty (Aleksandr Zarkhi, 1955).

Actor, screenwriter and director Erast Garin (1902-1980) was one of the film stars of the Soviet cinema. Together with Igor Ilyinsky and Sergey Martinson, he was one of the leading comic actors of Vsevolod Meyerhold's theatre company. Later, he was known for such films as Zhenitba (1936), Muzykalnaya istoriya/Musical Story (1940) and Zolushka/Cinderella (1947).


Soviet postcard, no. 115, 1958. Photos: a.o. publicity stills of Bogatyr idyot v Marto/The bogatyr goes to Marto (Yevgeni Bryunchugin, Sigizmund Navrotsky, 1954),Doroga/The Road (Aleksandr Stolper, 1955), Sasha vstupayet v zhizn/Sasha Enters Life (Mikhail Shvejtser, 1957) and Oni vstretilis v puti/They Met on the Road (Tatyana Lukashevich, 1957).

Viktor Avdyushko (1925-1975) was a Soviet film star, who appeared in over 40 feature films and TV productions. He was known for such films as Doroga/The Road (1955), Ottsy i deti (1959), and Januskopf/Janus (1972). He was named a People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.


Russian multiview postcard by Izd. fabriki "Promhudožnik" gor. Kišinev, no. Abc8570, 1959. This postcard was printed in an edition of 40.000 cards. Retail price: 75 K. Pictures from Pervaya perchatka/The First Glove (Andrei Frolov, 1946),
Chempion mira/World Champion (Vladimir Gonchukov, 1954) and Matros Chizhik/My friend the sailor (Vladimir Braun, 1956).

Pretty Nadezhda Cherednichenko (1927) was a Soviet stage and film actress. Between 1954 and 1960 she played major parts in several films.


Soviet postcard by FK, Series no. 60, 7-III-60. This postcard was printed in an edition of 100.000 cards. Retail price: 75 K. Pictures from Pravda/Truth (Viktor Dobrovolsky, Isaak Shmaruk, 1957), Soldat Ivan Brovkin/Soldier Ivan Brovkin (Ivan Lukinsky, 1955), Delo Pyostrykh/The Variegateds Case (Nikolay Dostal, 1958) and Ivan Brovkin na tseline/Ivan Brovkin on the State Farm (Ivan Lukinsky, 1959).

Mikhail Pugovkin (1923-2008) was a Soviet and Russian comic actor, known for his roles in Svadba v Malinovke/Wedding in Malinovka (1967) and Ivan Vasilevich menyaet professiyu/Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973). He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1988.


Soviet postcard by photo department Ed. 'Molot', Rostov-on-Don, no. 34, 1959. The card was issued in 75,000 copies. The price was 75 K. Pictures from Khozhdenie za tri morya/Journey Beyond Three Seas (Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Vasili Pronin, 1957), Sorok pervyy/The Forty-First (Grigori Chukhrai, 1956), V tvoikh rukakh zhizn (Nikolai Rozantsev, 1959) and Kapitanskaya dochka/The Captain's Daughter (Vladimir Kaplunovskiy, 1958).

Prominent Russian actor Oleg Strizhenov (1929) was both People's Artist of the Soviet Union and a heartthrob, ‘a Russian Gérard Philipe’. He played in more than 31 major films between 1951 and 2000.


Russian postcard by FK, Rostov on Don, Engels, no. 54. The card was issued in 100,000 copies. Pictures from Dorogoy moy chelovek/My Beloved (Iosif Kheifits, 1958), Delo Rumyantseva/The Case of Sergei Rumyantsev (Iosif Kheifits, 1956), Mat/Mother (Mark Donskoy, 1956), and Letyat zhuravli/The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957).

Russian actor and director Aleksey Batalov (1928-2017) played positive and noble characters in several classics of the Soviet cinema such as Bolshaya Semya/The Big Family (Iosif Kheifets, 1954), Letyat zhuravli/The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957), Dama s sobachkoi/The Lady with the Dog (Iosif Kheifits, 1962), and Oscar winner Moskva slezam ne verit/Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Vladimir Menshov, 1979). He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1976 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1989.


Russian multiview postcard, no. 115, 1958. Photos from above: Elina Bystritskaya in Bogatyr idyot v Marto/The bogatyr goes to Marto (Yevgeni Bryunchugin, Sigizmund Navrotsky, 1954), Neokonchennaya povest/Unfinished Story (Fridrikh Ermler, 1955) and Tikhiy Don/Quiet Flows the Don (Sergei Gerasimov, 1957).

Actress Elina Bystritskaya (1928-2019) was one of the most beautiful women of the Soviet cinema. She is best known for her role of Axinia in the epic film trilogy of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel Tikhiy Don/And Quiet Flows the Don (1957-1958) by Sergey Gerasimov.


Russian postcard, series no. 38. Caption: My favourite artists. Film stars pictured are amongst others Sergey Bondarchuk, Aleksey Batalov, Izolda Izvitskaya, Irina Skobtseva and Vyacheslav Tikhonov.