Artistas de Cine

Ivo Blom found this sweet series of Spanish collectors cards by Chocolates Amatller in Barcelona. The series, called 'Artistas de cine' (Cinema artists), dates from the 1920s and all the caricatures of the silent film stars were made by Fulgencio Martínez Surroca (1902-1967), a cartoonist, illustrator, and publicist, born in Cieza, Murcia, Spain.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 1: Greta Garbo. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Swedish Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was one of the greatest and most glamorous film stars ever produced by the Hollywood studio system. She was part of the Golden Age of the silent cinema of the 1920s and was one of the few actors who made a glorious transition to the talkies. She started her career in the European cinema and would always stay more popular in Europe than in the USA.



Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 3: Douglas Fairbanks. Image: Martinez Surroca.

American actor Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), and The Thief of Bagdad (1924), but spent the early part of his career making comedies. Fairbanks was a founding member of United Artists and of The Motion Picture Academy. He hosted the first Oscars Ceremony in 1929. With his marriage to Mary Pickford in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty, and Fairbanks was referred to as The King of Hollywood'', but his career rapidly declined with the advent of the 'talkies. His final film was made in Great Britain, The Private Life of Don Juan (1934).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 5: Norman Kerry. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Norman Kerry (1894–1956) was an American actor of the silent era, who peaked in the Lon Chaney films The Hunchback of the Notre Dame (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and The Unknown (1927).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 7: John Gilbert. Image: Martinez Surroca.

American actor, screenwriter, and director John Gilbert (1899-1936) rose to fame during the silent film era and became a popular leading man known as 'The Great Lover'.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 8: Tom Mix. Image: Martinez Surroca.

American film actor Tom Mix (1880-1940) was the star of many early Westerns between 1909 and 1935. Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood's first Western megastar and helped to define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 9: Karl Dane. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Danish-American comedian Karl Dane (1886-1934) became a star with his part as Slim The Big Parade (King Vidor1925), one of the most successful Hollywood films of the silent era. After signing with MGM in 1926, he appeared in supporting roles in several popular silent films before teaming up with George K. Arthur to form the successful comedy duo Dane & Arthur. They appeared in a number of silent, short comedy films and toured the vaudeville circuit. By 1930, Dane was relegated to less prominent roles, often with little to no dialogue. Later that year, MGM terminated his contract. Broke and despondent, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April 1934.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 10: Wallace Beery. Image: Martinez Surroca.

American actor Wallace Beery (1885-1949) is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films in a 36-year career. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery, Sr. and uncle of actor Noah Beery, Jr.


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

Lawrence 'Larry' Semon (1889-1928) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter during the silent film era. In his day, Semon was considered a major film comedian, but he is now remembered mainly for working with both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they started working together. He is also sometimes noted for directing (as well as appearing in) the silent film The Wizard of Oz (1925), which had a slight influence on the better-known sound version The Wizard of Oz (1939).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 12: Walter Hiers. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Walter Hiers (1893-1933) was an American actor of the silent cinema.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 14: Ben Turpin. Image: Martinez Surroca.

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


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 15: Sessue Hayakawa. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Sessue Hayakawa (1889–1973) was a Japanese Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. He was the first Asian actor to find stardom in the United States and Europe. His 'broodingly handsome' good looks and typecasting as a sinister villain with sexual dominance made him a heartthrob among American women. Several years before Rudolph Valentino, he was Hollywood's first male sex symbol. During those early years, Hayakawa was as well known and as popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, although today his name is largely unknown to the public.

Martínez Surroca

Fulgencio Martínez Surroca was born in Cieza, Murcia, Spain, in 1902.

From its first issues, he was one of the illustrators who most often published his drawings in the children's magazine Alegría, founded in Terrassa by Magdalena Rossell.

He was an art teacher at the School of Artistic Arts and Crafts of Barcelona. In 1929, the jury of the poster contest of the Barcelona Exhibition recommended the acquisition of the original that bore the number 70, entitled 'Carmen', and which was his work.

This is how this author began his long and personal career in Catalan poster design. A few years later, together with Helios Gómez (1905-1956), Lluís Muntané i Muns (1899-1987) and Joaquim Martí Bas (1910-1966), he founded the Associació de Cartellistes de Catalunya.

Among Martínez Surroca's most outstanding works as a graphic artist are his designs for the Assegurança Obligatòria de Maternitat (1935), for the Maternal Work of the Caixa de Pensions (1934) and, especially, the poster entitled Barcelonins: Compreu les vostres flors a la Rambla. Spring Festivities. April 1934 (1934), for which he won the contest called by Amics de la Rambla.

He is also the author of the poster of the Aurigemma Festivals at the Novedades Theater (1935) and the poster 'Tárrega. IV Provincial Contest of Agricultural Products' (1944), as well as those published in 1937 - at the height of the Civil War - by the Barcelona City Council with the titles 10 mesos de desordre: the one that produced the feixisme and Obeeix l´agent de tràfic: ell vetlla per la teva vida, of which the National Library of Madrid conserves individual copies.

Martínez Surroca was the brother of soccer player Salvador Martínez Surroca (1901-1974), who played for FC Barcelona between 1920 and 1926 and, later, for FC Lleida, CE Manresa and FC Tàrrega. Another brother, Antonio Martínez Surroca (1908-?), was an industrial chemist and trade unionist, and, after the Civil War, he went into exile in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Panama.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 17: Richard Talmadge. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Richard Talmadge, originally Sylvester Metzetti, Ricardo Metzetti, or Sylvester Ricardo Metzett (1892-1981) was a German-born actor, stuntman, and film director.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 19: Ramon Novarro. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 20: Hoot Gibson. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Hoot Gibson (1892-1962) was a rodeo champion and pioneering cowboy star of silent Westerns. With his easy combination of light, breezy, boyish charm comedy and riding abilities, Hoot filled a gap between the austere William S. Hart and the flamboyant Tom Mix and appealed both to adults (especially women) and kids. During the 1920s, he was one of the most popular children's matinée heroes, ranking second only to Mix, and one of Universal's top-paid stars. In his real life, however, he had an expensive love for fast cars, motorcycles, and airplanes and lead a rather painful rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags career.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 21: Renée Adorée. Image: Martinez Surroca.

French actress Renée Adorée (1898-1933) appeared in Hollywood in several silent films during the 1920s. She is best known as Melisande in the successful war epic The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925) opposite John Gilbert. She died a few days after her 35th birthday.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 23: Mary Pickford. Image: Martinez Surroca.

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


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 24: John Barrymore. Image: Martinez Surroca. The picture refers to the 'Moby Dick' adaptation The Sea Beast (Millard Webb, 1926).

John Barrymore (1882-1942) was an American stage and screen actor whose rise to superstardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical family in America, he was also its most acclaimed star. He excelled in high drama, in productions of 'Justice' (1916), 'Richard III' (1920), and 'Hamlet' (1922). After a success as Hamlet in London in 1925, Barrymore left the stage for 14 years and instead focused entirely on films.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 25: George O'Brien. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Athletic American actor George O'Brien (1899-1985) was a handsome American leading man of classic silent films, like John Ford's The Iron Horse (1924) and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927). He became a different kind of star as a cowboy in B-Westerns during the sound era.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 27: Alice Terry. Image: Martinez Surroca.

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


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 28: Charles Ray. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Charles Ray (1891-1943) was an American actor, scriptwriter, and director of the silent screen, who knew a parabole from rags to riches and back again. He worked for Paramount, his own company, United Artists and MGM. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was a very popular actor and one of Hollywood's best-paid stars.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 29: Adolphe Menjou. Image: Martinez Surroca.

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


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 30: Mae Murray. Image: Martinez Surroca.

American actress and dancer Mae Murray (1885-1965) had her breakthrough on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Follies. Her film debut was in To Have and to Hold (1916). Murray became one of the biggest stars of Universal, often directed by her then-husband, Robert Z. Leonard. At the height of her career, she decided to found her own company with director John Stahl. While the films were successful, critics didn’t like them, because of her exaggerated emotions and her costumes. In the early 1920s, Murray started acting at Metro (later MGM). Murray’s most famous role was that in Erich Von Stroheim’s The Merry Widow (1925), co-starring John Gilbert.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 32: William S. Hart. Image: Martinez Surroca.

William S. (Surrey) Hart (1864–1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He entered films in 1914 where, after playing supporting roles in two short films, he achieved stardom as the lead in The Bargain (Reginald Barker, 1914), his first Western. He became the foremost Western star of the silent era who played characters with honor and integrity. Hart was particularly interested in making realistic Westerns, and his films are noted for their authentic costumes and props. Hart also had an extraordinary acting ability, honed on Shakespearean theatre stages in the United States and England.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 33: Bobby Vernon. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Bobby Vernon, born Sylvion de Jardin (1897-1939) was an American comedic actor in silent films. He later became a writer and comedy supervisor at Paramount for W. C. Fields and Bing Crosby, when the sound era arrived. Blue-eyed with medium brown hair, he stood five feet and two-and-a-half inches, making him perfect for juvenile comedy roles. His comedies were popular with children.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 34: Biscot. Image: Martinez Surroca. This picture refers to Le roi de la pédale (Maurice Champreux, 1925).

Georges Biscot (1886-1945) was a popular French music-hall and revue singer and actor, who also knew a career in the French silent and sound cinema.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 35: Reginald Denny. Image: Martinez Surroca.

English stage, film, and television actor Reginald Denny (1891-1967) was also an aviator and a pioneer in the field of radio-controlled, pilotless aviation. He appeared in more than 200 films, both in Great-Britain and in the United States, first as a lead in silent films and later as a character actor in sound films and TV productions.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 36: Jackie Coogan. Image: Martinez Surroca.

American actor John Leslie 'Jackie' Coogan (1914-1984) began as a child actor in silent films. He was Charlie Chaplin's irascible sidekick in The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921) and played the title role in Oliver Twist (Frank Lloyd, 1922). Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester in the TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966). In the interim, he sued his mother and stepfather over his squandered film earnings ($48 million to $65 million adjusted for 2012 dollars) and provoked California to enact the first known legal protection for the earnings of child performers, widely known as 'the Coogan Act'.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 37: Lloyd Hamilton. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Lloyd Vernon Hamilton (1891-1935) was an American film comedian, best remembered for his work in the silent era.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolates Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Artistas de cine' series, no. 38: Snub Pollard. Image: Martinez Surroca.

Australian-born comedian Snub Pollard (1889-1962) with his walrus moustache was one of the well-known faces of the Hal Roach company during the 1910s.

Sources: Tebeosfera.