Ross Verlag, Part 23: Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm (1)

EFSP continues the grand Ross Verlag Tribute with four posts on the second series of 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst' (From the Genesis of German cinema). This series, no. 11, treats the German sound film, Der Tonfilm. Again, some of the cards are smaller than postcards, others bigger, and all are in black and white. This series includes star portraits and film scenes, but also pictures of film sets and one of the Ufa studios in Babelsberg. The collector cards date from around 1935 and album no. 11 contains cards with scenes from the popular Operetta films but also of Nazi Propaganda films.

German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 4. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Dita Parlo and Willy Fritsch in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 6, group 44. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Gustav Fröhlich and Liane Haid in Die unsterbliche Lump/The Immortal Vagabond (Gustav Ucicky, Joe May, 1930).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 12. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Caption: Karl Hoffmann wraps himself and his buzzing camera in thick clothes.


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 16. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Caption: The Ufa site Neubabelsberg, with a total area of more than 430,000 square meters and 11 big studio halls, is the largest film studio in Europe.


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 18. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. The composer with a stopwatch.


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 20. Photo: Super-Film / Ross Verlag. Walter Janssen and Gretl Theimer in Zwei Herzen im Dreiviertel-Takt/Two Hearts in Waltz Time (Géza von Bolváry, 1930).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 23. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Käthe von Nagy and Willy Fritsch in Ihre Hoheit befiehlt/Her Grace Commands (Hanns Schwarz, 1931).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 25. Photo: Bayerische Filmges. / Ross Verlag. Richard Tauber in Das Land des Lächelns/The Land of Smiles (Max Reichmann, 1930).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 28. Photo: Badal-Film / Ross Verlag. Louis Graveure in Ein Walzer für dich/A Waltz for You (Georg Zoch, 1934).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 30. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Ida Wüst and Leo Slezak in Freut Euch des Lebens/Enjoy Yourselves (Hans Steinhoff, 1934).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 31. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Jan Kiepura and Brigitte Helm in Die singende Stadt/The Singing City (Carmine Gallone, 1930).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 32. Photo: Cine-Allianz / Ross Verlag. Jan Kiepura and Julius Falkenstein in Das Lied einer Nacht/The Song of Night (Anatole Litvak, 1932).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 34. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Willy Fritsch and Renate Müller in Walzerkrieg/Waltz War (Ludwig Berger, 1933).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 35, group 44. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Willy Fritsch learns the young Queen of England Hanna Waag to waltz in Walzerkrieg/Waltz War (Ludwig Berger, 1933).


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 36. Photo: Boston-Film / Ross Verlag. Magda Schneider and Willi Forst in Ich kenn' dich nicht und liebe dich/I Don't Know You, But I Love You (Géza von Bolváry, 1934).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 39. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Lilian Harvey in Der Kongress tanzt/The Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 41. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener in Inge und die Millionen/Inge and the Millions (Erich Engel, 1933).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 42. Photo: Aafa / Ross Verlag. Sepp Rist and Leni Riefenstahl in Stürme über dem Mont Blanc/Storm Over Mont Blanc (Arnold Fanck, 1930).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 43, group 44. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Leni Riefenstahl and Gustav Diessl in S.O.S. Eisberg/S.O.S. Iceberg (Arnold Fanck, 1933).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 44. Photo: Cine-Allianz / Ross Verlag. Sepp Rist in Der ewige Traum/The Eternal Dream (Arnold Fanck, 1934).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', no. 47. Photo: Froelich-Film / Ross Verlag. Ida Wüst and Paul Kemp in Mieter Schulze gegen alle/Tenant Schulze against everyone (Carl Froelich, 1932).

The Ross Verlag Tribute will be continued next week.

Directed by Carl Froelich

Carl Froelich (1875-1953) was a German film pioneer and film director, who made many silent films with Henny Porten and produced such classics as Die Brüder Karamasoff/The Brothers Karamazov (1922), the first German sound film, Die Nacht gehört uns/The Night Belongs To Us (1929) and the groundbreaking Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (1931). In 1933, Froelich became a member of the National Socialist Party and later became President of the Reichsfilmkammer. After the end of the war, Froelich was arrested and in 1948 he was de-Nazified. Between 1912 and 1951 he made 77 films.


German cigarette card for Hänsom cigarettes by Jasmatzi Cigarettenfabrik G.M.b.H, Dresden/Ross Verlag, Film Series 4 'Aus tönenden Filmen' (From sound films), no. 508. Photo: Froelich-Film. Carl Froelich.


German postcard by Ross Verlag no. 620/5. Photo: Maxim Film. Lotte Neumann in Arme Thea/Poor Thea (Carl Froelich, 1919).


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2650. Photo: Neutral-Film. Ernst Hofmann in Der Adler von Flandern/The Eagle of Flanders, released as Ikarus, der fliegende Mensch/Icarus, the Flying Man (Carl Froehlich, 1919).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 631/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Maxim Film. Lotte Neumann in Das Schicksal der Carola von Geldern/The Fate of Carola von Geldern (Carl Froelich, 1919). The man extreme left is Rudolf Letttinger.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 29/3. Photo: HPF (Henny Porten-Froelich-Produktion). Henny Porten, Ferdinand von Alten and Livio Pavanelli in Kammermusik/My Bachelor Husbands (Carl Froelich, 1925).

One of the worst transport disasters of the time

Carl August Hugo Froelich was born in Berlin, Germany in 1875. From 1903 Froelich worked with Oskar Messter, one of the pioneers of German cinema. For Messter, he initially worked in the construction department for cinematographic apparatuses. In 1906, he started to work as a cinematographer. As a cameraman for Messter's weekly newsreels, he filmed among many other things the aftermath of a train accident on the Berlin elevated railway on 28 September 1908, one of the worst transport disasters of the time.

In 1913 Froelich made his directorial debut with Richard Wagner (Carl Froelich, William Wauer, 1913) with Giuseppe Becce as the famous German composer. He directed Asta Nielsen in Irrende Seelen/Wandering Souls (Carl Froelich, 1921) which was based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1869 novel ‘The Idiot’.

In 1920, he set up his own production company, Froelich-Film GmbH, in conjunction with film star Henny Porten, who had made her screen debut at the Messter Studio. He produced such films as the Friedrich Schiller adaptation Luise Millerin/Kabale und Liebe (1922) with Lil Dagover, the Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation Die Brüder Karamasoff/The Brothers Karamazov (1922) starring Fritz Kortner and Emil Jannings, and the drama Mutter und Kind/Mother and Child (1924) with Henny Porten.

During these years he made many films with Porten including Kammermusik/Chamber Music (1925), Das Abenteuer der Sibylle Brant/The Adventures of Sybil Brent (1925), Tragödie/Tragedy (1925) with Walter Janssen, and Die Flammen lügen/The Flames Lie (1926).

In 1926 Froelich and Porten founded the production company Henny Porten-Froelich-Produktion which ended in 1929. They made such comedies as Meine Tante - deine Tante/My Aunt, Your Aunt (1927) and Liebe im Kuhstall/Love in Kuhstall (1928) and dramas like Violantha (1927) with Wilhelm Dieterle and Zuflucht/Refuge (1928) with Franz Lederer.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1192/6. Photo: Henny-Porten-Film. Henny Porten in Tragödie/Tragedy (Carl Froelich, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 79/5. Photo: Henny Porten-Froehlich Produktion GmbH. Henny Porten and Walter Slezak in Die grosse Pause/The Big Break (Carl Froehlich, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 100/2. Photo: Alex. Schmoll / HPF (Henny Porten Film). Henny Porten and Franz Lederer in Zuflucht/Refuge (Carl Froelich, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 102/4. Photo: Henny Porten Freuhlich-Produktion. Henny Porten and Oskar Karlweis in Liebe im Kuhstall/Love in the Cowshed (Carl Froelich, 1928).


German Postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 109/1. Photo: Henny Porten Film. Henny Porten in Die Frau, die jeder liebst, bist Du/The woman everyone loves is you! (Carl Froehlich, 1929).

A lesbian classic

Carl Froelich made one of the first German sound films, Die Nacht gehört uns/The Night Belongs To Us (1929), starring Hans Albers. In 1930 he took over two glasshouses in Berlin-Tempelhof, which had been used as studios in the days of silent film. He converted them to sound film studios. Here he produced many films, including the short film Das Schönheitsfleckchen/The Beauty Spot (Rolf Hansen, 1936), the first German drama film in colour.

In 1931 he was advisor, credited as ‘senior artistic director’, to Leontine Sagan's famous boarding-school film Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (1931). The film is now seen as a lesbian classic. By 1933 Froelich was one of Germany's most noted film artists, producing successful films with the stars of the period, including Hans Albers, Heinz Rühmann, Ingrid Bergman and Zarah Leander.

Froelich became a member of the National Socialist Party in 1933 and took over the direction of the Gesamtverbandes der Filmherstellung und Filmverwertung (Union of Film Manufacture and Film Evaluation). For the Reich Propaganda Directorate of the NSDAP, he directed the Propaganda film Ich für dich, du für mich/I'm for You, You're for Me (1934). Some of the best-known films he made during this period were: Heimat/Homeland (1938) starring Zarah Leander, Das Herz der Königin/The Queen's Heart (1940), an anti-British historical film about Mary, Queen of Scots (also Zarah Leander), and the comedy Der Gasmann/The Gasman (1941) in which Heinz Rühmann plays a gas-meter reader suspected of being a foreign spy.

In 1937 Froelich was awarded a professorship and in 1939 was appointed president of the Reichsfilmkammer, an office which he retained until the end of the war in 1945. The Reichsfilmkammer was a subordinate to the Reichskulturkammer, which as a National Socialist trade organisation regulated and controlled access to all artistic professions. He was one of the few filmmakers who received the title ‘Filmprofessor’ from Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

After the end of the war, Froelich was arrested and in 1948 he was de-Nazified. His studio had been badly damaged during the war and did not resume production. He directed only two more films before his death: the comedies Drei Mädchen spinnen/Three Girls Spinning (1950) and Stips (1951) with Gustav Fröhlich. Carl Froelich died in 1953 in Berlin at 77. He was married to Emmy Hoffert (1905-1940) and Edith Faust (1941-1953).


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


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 146, group 44. Photo: Nero-Porten-Film. Henny Porten and Gustaf Gründgens in Luise, Königin von Preußen/Luise, Queen of Prussia (Carl Froelich, 1931).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 47. Photo: Froelich-Film. Ida Wüst and Paul Kemp in Mieter Schulze gegen alle/Tenant Schulze against everyone (Carl Froelich, 1932).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 46, group 44. Photo: Froelich-Film. Margot Wagner and Karl Ludwig Diehl in Volldampf voraus!/Full steam ahead! (Carl Froelich, 1934).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, image no. 87. Photo: Itala-Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Abenteuer eines jungen Herrn in Polen/Love and Alarum (Gustav Froelich, 1934).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 167. Photo: Froelich-Film. Wilhelm P. Krüger in Krach um Jolanthe/Noisy Jolanthe (Carl Froelich, 1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6810/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Angelo Photos. Gitta Alpar and Gustav Fröhlich in Gitta entdeckt ihr Herz/Gitta Discovers Her Heart (Carl Froelich, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7159/1, 1932-1933. Photo: FFG. Max Hansen and Gitta Alpar in Die - oder keine/This One or None (Carl Froelich, 1932).


German Postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7363/1, 1933-1934. Photo: FFG. Adele Sandrock in Liebe auf den ersten Ton/Love at First Sight (Carl Froelich, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 175/3. Photo: Alex Schmoll / FFG. Ludwig Trautmann, Olga Tschechowa and Elga Brink in Der Choral von Leuthen/The Anthem of Leuthen (Carl Froelich, 1933).


German postcard. Photo: Europa Verleih. Peter Voss, Albert Lieven and Hertha Thiele in Reifende Jugend/Ripening Youth (Carl Froelich, 1933).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9473/1, 1935-1936. Photo: FFG (Froelich-Film GmbH). Hilde von Stolz in Traumulus (Carl Froelich, 1936).


German postcard. Photo: Ufa / Hämmerer. Ingrid Bergman in Die vier Gesellen/The Four Companions (Carl Froelich, 1938).


German postcard by Das Illustrierte Blatt. Photo: Ufa / Lindner. Willy Birgel and Lotte Koch in Das Herz der Königin/Mary Queen of Scots (Carl Froelich, 1940).

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

Teresa Wright

American actress Teresa Wright (1918-2005) was a natural and lovely talent who was discovered for films by Samuel Goldwyn. She was the only performer nominated for Oscars for her first three films. She won the 1942 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Carol Beldon in Mrs. Miniver. Always true to herself, she earned Hollywood stardom on her unglamorous terms.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Brussels, no. 1036. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Teresa Wright in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).


British postcard in the Picturgoer Series, London, no. FP 12. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


Dutch postcard, 1947.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2025. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Teresa Wright and Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).

No cheesecake publicity

Muriel Teresa Wright was born in the Harlem district of New York City in 1918. Her parents divorced when she was young and she lived with various relatives in New York and New Jersey. An uncle of hers was a stage actor. She attended the exclusive Rosehaven School in Tenafly, New Jersey. The acting bug revealed itself when she saw the legendary Helen Hayes perform in a production of 'Victoria Regina'. After performing in school plays and graduating from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, she pursued acting professionally.

Wright apprenticed at the Wharf Theatre in Provincetown, Massachusetts during the summers of 1937 and 1938 in such plays as 'The Vinegar Tree' and 'Susan and God'. She moved to New York and changed her name to Teresa after discovering a Muriel Wright in Actors Equity. Her first New York play was Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town' wherein she played a small part but also understudied the lead ingénue role of Emily. She eventually replaced Martha Scott in the lead after the actress was escorted to Hollywood to make pictures and recreate the Emily role on film.

It was during her year-long run in 'Life with Father' that Teresa was seen by Goldwyn talent scouts, was tested, and ultimately won the coveted role of Alexandra in the film The Little Foxes (William Wyler, 1941). Teresa Wright accepted an MGM starlet contract on the condition that she would not be forced to endure cheesecake publicity or photos for any type of promotion and could return to the theatre at least once a year. She was Oscar-nominated for her work in The Little Foxes alongside Bette Davis as calculating mother Regina and Patricia Collinge, recreating her scene-stealing Broadway role as the flighty, dipsomaniac Aunt Birdie.

Teresa's star rose even higher with her next pictures. She played the good-hearted roles of the granddaughter in the war-era tearjerker Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942) and baseball icon Lou Gehrig's altruistic wife in The Pride of the Yankees (Sam Wood, 1942) opposite Gary Cooper. The pretty newcomer won both 'Best Supporting Actress' and 'Best Actress' nods respectively in the same year, ultimately taking home the supporting trophy.

Teresa's fourth huge picture in a row was Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and she even received top-billing over established star Joseph Cotten who played a murdering uncle to her suspecting niece. In 1942, she married screenwriter Niven Busch. She had a slip with her fifth picture Casanova Brown (Sam Wood, 1944) but bounced right back as part of the ensemble cast in the 'Best Picture' of the year The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946) portraying the assuaging daughter of Fredric March and Myrna Loy who falls in love with damaged soldier-turned-civilian Dana Andrews.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2017. Photo: MGM. Teresa Wright and Richard Ney in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 359. Photo: MGM. Teresa Wright and Richard Ney in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: N.V. Columbia F.B.O. Teresa Wright in Casanova Brown (Sam Wood, 1944).


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Columbia F.B. / M.P.E. Sent by mail in 1947.


Spanish postcard, no. 1137.

The fascinating story of an American housewife who claimed she lived a previous life

With The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946), Teresa Wright's MGM contract ended. Remarkably, she made only one film for the studio (Mrs. Miniver) during that time. The rest were all loanouts. In 1947, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter Mary Kelly Busch. As a freelancing agent, the quality of her films began to dramatically decline.

Pictures such as Enchantment (Irving Reis, 1948) with David Niven, Something to Live For (George Stevens, 1952) opposite Joan Fontaine and Ray Milland, California Conquest (Lew Landers, 1952), Count the Hours! (Don Diegel, 1953), Track of the Cat (William A. Wellman, 1954) starring Robert Mitchum and Escapade in Japan (Arthur Lubin, 1957) pretty much came and went. For her screenwriter husband, she appeared in the above-average Western thriller Pursued (Raoul Walsh, 1947) and crime drama The Capture (John Sturges, 1950).

Her most inspired films of that post-war era were The Men (Fred Zinnemann, 1950) opposite film newcomer Marlon Brando and the lowbudgeted but intriguing The Search for Bridey Murphy (Noel Langley, 1956) which chronicled the fascinating story of an American housewife who claimed she lived a previous life. The Golden Age of TV was her salvation during these lean film years in which she appeared in fine form in several dramatic showcases. She recreated for TV the perennial holiday classic The Miracle on 34th Street (Robert Stevenson, 1955) in which she played the Maureen O'Hara role opposite Macdonald Carey and Thomas Mitchell.

She was nominated three times for an Emmy Award for her guest roles, in 1957 in The Miracle Worker, in 1960 in The Margaret Bourke-White Story, and in 1989 in Dolphin Cove. Divorced from Busch, the father of her two children, Teresa Wright made a concentrated effort to return to the stage and found consistency in such plays as 'Salt of the Earth' (1952), 'Bell, Book and Candle' (1953), 'The Country Girl' (1953), 'The Heiress' (1954), 'The Rainmaker' (1955) and 'The Dark at the Top of the Stairs' (1957) opposite Pat Hingle, in which she made a successful Broadway return. Marrying renowned playwright Robert Anderson in 1959, stage and TV continued to be her primary focuses, notably appearing under the theatre lights in her husband's emotive drama 'I Never Sang for My Father' in 1968.

The couple lived on a farm in upstate New York until their divorce in 1978. By this time a mature actress now in her 50s, challenging stage work came in the form of 'The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds', 'Long Day's Journey Into Night', 'Morning's at Seven' and 'Ah, Wilderness!' Teresa also graced the stage alongside George C. Scott's Willy Loman (as wife Linda) in an acclaimed presentation of 'Death of a Salesman' (1975), and appeared opposite Scott again in her very last play, 'On Borrowed Time' (1991). After almost a decade away from films, she came back to play the touching role of an elderly landlady opposite Matt Damon in her last picture, John Grisham's The Rainmaker (Francis Ford Coppola, 1997). Teresa Wright passed away in New Haven from a heart attack in 2005.


Dutch postcard by Fotoarchief Film en Toneel, no. 3227. Photo: Paramount Pictures.


Dutch postcard by Foto-archief Film en Toneel, no. 3229. Photo: Warner Bros.


Vintage card. Photo: Paramount Pictures.


West German postcard by F.J. Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 427. Photo: Columbia. Teresa Wright in California Conquest (Lew Landers, 1952).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.