Directed by Fred Niblo

Fred Niblo directed several legendary stars of the 1920s in some of that decade's biggest films. He worked with Douglas Fairbanks on The Mark of Zorro (1920) and Rudolph Valentino on Blood and Sand (1922). The American director guided Greta Garbo through The Temptress (1926) and The Mysterious Lady (1928). And he was the director of the cinema's first real super-spectacle, Ben Hur (1926). But Niblo's career as an A-film director did not last many years past Ben Hur.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 133/10 Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro and May McAvoy in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925).


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 60. Photo: First National. Gilbert Roland and Norma Talmadge in Camille (Fred Niblo, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3062/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Parufamet. Greta Garbo and Antonio Moreno in The Temptress (Fred Niblo, Mauritz Stiller, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4132/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Greta Garbo in The Mysterious Lady (Fred Niblo, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 5090/2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Eleanor Boardman and John Gilbert in the early sound film Redemption (Fred Niblo, 1930).

Action-packed film spectacles

Fred Niblo was born Frederick Liedtke in York, Nebraska, in 1874. He had a French mother, Annette Dubergere Liedtke, and a Prussian father, Frederick Liedtke, a Civil War captain, who was wounded at the famous Battle of Gettysburg. His father and mother were divorced in 1881. His son, Peter Niblo, recalled on Silent Are Golden: "In his early years, after his parents separated, Dad and his mother went to New York City. He started working at a theatre and coffee house named Niblo Gardens located on Broadway and Prince Streets. The business was created by a man of Irish descent named William Niblo. It is believed that my Dad started his Broadway acting career there. He adopted the Niblo name to pursue his career."

Fred Niblo began as a Vaudeville performer and blackface monologuist. He did a financial venture with George M. Cohan when the latter became an independent producer. It gave Niblo the chance to star in musical comedy, dramatic productions and comedies, which he also wrote. These included 'Hit-the-Trail-Holliday', written for him by George M. Cohan, and 'The Fortune Hunter.' In 1901, he married George's sister, Broadway actress Josephine Cohan. He managed the Four Cohans in their two big successes: 'The Governor's Son' and 'Running for Office'. From 1904 to 1905, Fred resumed his stage career, appearing as Walter Lee Leonard in 'The Rogers Brothers in Paris' and then returned to vaudeville.

Niblo and his wife, Josephine Cohan, travelled worldwide and in 1907, Niblo shot travelogues on a cruise through and across central Africa. In 1912-1915, he took the American repertory company to Australia. There, he directed two films, Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1915) and Officer 666 (1916), for Australian theatrical company J.C. Williamson. He also acted in the film. In 1916, his wife died prematurely. The following year, The following year, Fred returned to Australia, where he met Australian actress Enid Bennett. They were married in 1918 and returned to America to become leading players in the new Hollywood.

Enid Bennett found work in the studio of Thomas H. Ince. Soon, Niblo began making films as producer-director for Ince, distributed by Paramount. Paramount gave him a three-year contract from 1918 to 1921. His first film for the studio was The Marriage Ring (1918), starring Enid Bennett and Jack Holt. A box office hit was the drama Sex (1920) starring Louise Glaum. The film is a morality tale on the evils of marital infidelity and the wild lifestyle of New York actors. One of the unusual elements in the filming of Sex was the use of three cameras. One camera was used to produce the negative from which prints were to be made for use in the United States, and a second was used to be used for foreign prints. The film's title and subject matter were the subject of controversy.

Fred Niblo made his name in Hollywood with the adventure film The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks. The film was a landmark in the career of Fairbanks, but also in the development of the action-adventure film. Star and director teamed up again the following year for another action-packed film spectacle, The Three Musketeers (1921). Then followed Blood and Sand (1922) with Rudolph Valentino. The film was another box office hit and was one of the top-grossing films of 1922. It helped to establish Valentino as a star. In 1923, Niblo was hired by Louis B. Mayer, for whom he directed The Red Lily (1924) starring Ramon Novarro, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery, and Thy Name Is Woman (1924) starring Ramon Novarro and Barbara La Marr. The latter, now lost film, made an estimated profit of more than $100,000. Mayer liked Niblo and brought him along when the Goldwyn Company, Loew's Metro, and Louis B. Mayer joined together to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. There, Fred Niblo reached the pinnacle of his career with the legendary film adaptation of Ben-Hur (1925), which set standards for its time in terms of cost.


Spanish cromo by Chocolates Guillèn, Barcelona, in the series Escenas selectas de cinematografia, Series A, no. 5. Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920). The woman is Marguerite de la Motte, who plays Lolita.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3658/3. Photo: United Artists. The card depicts a moment in The Three Musketeers (Fred Niblo, 1921), but stems from c. 1929 when Douglas Fairbanks made the sequel to The Three Musketeers: The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan, 1929).


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1268. Photo: Paramount. Rudolph Valentino in Blood and Sand (Fred Niblo, 1922).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4686/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Nita Naldi and Rudolph Valentino in Blood and Sand (Fred Niblo, 1922). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Mexican postcard by CIF, no. 2098. Barbara La Marr in Thy Name Is Woman (Fred Niblo, 1924). The men in the picture are William V. Mong, Robert Edeson and Wallace MacDonald. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

One of the biggest blockbusters of the decade

Ben-Hur was begun by the Goldwyn Company and passed along when MGM was founded. The film was initially shot on location in Italy. The production ran into financial difficulties. The dissatisfied studio ordered a revised script. Ramon Novarro replaced George Walsh in the title role, and Niblo, the choice of Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg, was brought in to replace director Charles Brabin. I.S. Mowis: "He not only rescued it but made it into one of the biggest blockbusters of the decade. However, it was second-unit director B. Reeves Eason who deserves credit for the famous chariot race."

The Coliseum was rebuilt several blocks from the MGM lot. Inside the studio, Roman galleys floated inside a large tank. Eventually, the budget climbed to $3 million (or $4 million - the sources differ) with over one million feet of film shot. Rob Edelman at Film Reference: "Ben Hur is the Titanic of its day, a boondoggle that ran way over budget and took two years to complete. Niblo, not so much directed as coordinated Ben Hur, and the result was all effect and no drama. Sometimes the film is confusing and even tiring, yet it is also at its best thrilling. The image of Novarro and Francis X. Bushman (as Messala) racing their chariots remains one of the best-recalled of the silent era. This sequence is supposed to have influenced the staging of the same scene in William Wyler's far superior remake."

In 1926, Niblo replaced Swedish director Mauritz Stiller, who had a disagreement with producer Irving Thalberg, on Greta Garbo's The Temptress (1926). Towards the end of the silent era, Niblo made Camille (1927) with Norma Talmadge and another film with Greta Garbo, The Mysterious Lady (1928). These films were his last successes. When talkies were introduced to Hollywood at the end of the 1920s, his first sound film, Redemption, starring two of the era's biggest stars: John Gilbert and Renée Adorée, was a flop. His next film, the Western parody Way Out West (1930) starring William Haines, made a mild profit, but his next films made losses. His final film was the British crime comedy Diamond Cut Diamond (Maurice Elvey, Fred Niblo, 1932) starring Adolphe Menjou, Claud Allister and Benita Hume.

In 1928, Niblo was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars every year. Only four years later, he retired from directing in 1932. Later, for fun, he occasionally took on minor film roles as an actor and worked in Britain and was also employed as a radio commentator and master of ceremonies. In the early 1940s, he retired and slipped quietly into relative obscurity. While on a trip with Enid Bennett, Fred Niblo died of pneumonia in New Orleans in 1948. His first marriage, which began in 1901, was to Josephine Cohan, the younger sister of George M. Cohan. Their son was the screenwriter Fred Niblo Jr., who wrote several film scripts between 1930 and 1950. After Josephine's premature death in 1916, Niblo married Enid Bennett in 1918, with whom he remained married until he died in 1948. They had three children, Louise, Peter and Judith. Fred Niblo is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Film historians don't agree about Niblo's qualities as a film director. David Robinson, in 'Hollywood in the Twenties': "Fred Niblo was a model of the conscientious, craftsman-like, entirely professional director of the twenties." However, Rob Edelman is less gracious: "Ultimately, Niblo's career success was more a case of luck than any inherent talent or aesthetic vision. Before Don Juan, The Jazz Singer, and the demise of silent movies, Niblo made some intriguing prognostications. He foresaw the advent of sound, declaring that motion picture music would be synchronised by radio to replace the live piano; subtitles would be synchronised and broadcast in the same way, in the actual voices of the actors. He predicted other advances as well, including the use of colour cinematography, three-dimensional screens to prevent distortion, and theatres specialising in children's films. While Niblo may have been a decent technician at best in the director's chair, he was far more adept with a crystal ball."


French postcard. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Ramon Novarro, Claire McDowell, May McAvoy and Kathleen Key in Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 64/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / Fanamet. Publicity still for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925). Caption: 'Galeeren-Sträflinge' (convicts).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 326. Photo: Esclusiva S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Norma Talmadge in Camille (Fred Niblo, 1926), produced by Talmadge's own film company and distributed by First National. The film was based on the often filmed novel and stage play 'La Dame aux Camélias' (The Lady of the Camellias), both by Alexandre Dumas, fils. Stefano Pittaluga distributed the film in Italy. The man next to Talmadge could be Oscar Beregi, who plays the Count, or Harvey Clark, who plays the Baron.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3375/4, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky in Two Lovers (Fred Niblo, 1928). Someone scribbled the original Dutch release title on the postcard: Onder Alva's Bewind (Under Alva's Regime).


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


French postcard by Europe, no. 501. Photo: MGM. Joan Crawford in Dream of Love (Fred Niblo, 1928). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5343/1, 1930-1931. Photo: MGM. Eleanor Boardman and Conrad Nagel in Redemption (Fred Niblo, 1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5350/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. William Haines in Way Out West (Fred Niblo, 1930). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Sources: Peter Niblo (Silent Are Golden), Rob Edelman (Film Reference), I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Wikipedia (English, German and French) and IMDb.

15 New cards from G.D.I.: Laurel & Hardy and some curiosities

Every 15th of the month, EFSP devotes a post to the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute's postcard collection. Some time ago, Egbert Barten, director of G.D.I., brought two large bags full of albums with new donations and acquisitions. In them, we also found a plastic folder with a set of 10 Dutch postcards with scenes from the Laurel and Hardy films and a few curiosities, including an amazing and rare photograph of Dutch film pioneer Anton Nöggerath Jr.


Vintage photo. This photo was used in the original publication of Nöggerath's memoirs, published in the Dutch trade journal De Kinematograaf between February 1918 and January 1919.

In 1901, young Dutch film pioneer Anton Nöggerath Jr. worked for the British Warwick Trading Co. Shortly before becoming the first cameraman in Iceland, he was hired to make a sensational shot of a car crash for the Drury Lane Theatre, for the play 'The Great Millionaire' by Cecil Raleigh, staged by Arthur Collins. The car would be filmed crashing into a fake rock, after which the next shot would show the car tumbling from the real rocks. As the car supposedly was the first motor car seen in Plymouth, it drew a crowd. Yet, during filming on a road at Plymouth, the chauffeur backed out at the last moment, stating 'his brakes were imperfect', and so only the first part of the shot was saved. After the first night of the play, the makers discarded the film insert and instead used mechanical means to suggest the car tumbling from the rocks. The car falling down the rocks, though, became the key image to the poster for the play, designed by Edward Patrick Kinsella.


Dutch postcard. Johan Kaart in drag imitating Marlene Dietrich in Kermisgasten / Carnival People (Jaap Speijer, 1936). 

For decades, Johan Kaart Junior (1897-1976) was a huge star in the Dutch entertainment world. Between 1934 and 1937, he starred in seven films, and after the war, he played in several more films. He also often worked for radio and television, but his main stage was the theatre. In the lost film Kermisgasten / Carnival People (Jaap Speyer, 1936) with Henriëtte Davids, he did a hilarious Marlene Dietrich impersonation. Dutch critic Henk van Gelder wrote in his biography of Kaart at Huygens.ING: "Unlike many of his colleagues, Kaart realised very well that the camera did not allow stage acting. He radiated a natural kind of joviality that made him a crowd favourite. Whether he played a popular type, a slow student or a dedicated policeman, he easily knew how to create a credible character out of every kind of role."


British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star Series by Beagles Postcards, no. 236N. Photo: Allied Artists Picture. Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky in The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926).

Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was Hollywood's ultimate 'Latin Lover'. The Italian-born American actor starred in several well-known silent films, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Sheik (1922), Blood and Sand (1922), The Eagle (1925), and The Son of the Sheik (1926). His early death at age 31 caused mass hysteria among his female fans and propelled him into iconic status. Hungarian-born silent film star Vilma Bánky (1898-1991) filmed in Budapest, France, Austria, and Germany, before Sam Goldwyn took her to Hollywood. There she starred opposite great silent stars like Rudolph Valentino and Ronald Colman. She became Goldwyn's biggest moneymaker till sound finished her career.


Dutch postcard by Ed. De Muinck & Co., Amsterdam. This card is from the first Tom Poes (Tom Puss) series, 'Tom Poes ontdekt het geheim der blauwe aarde', Series 1, no. 2. Image: Marten Toonder. Caption: We are the giants from the blue earth, falderalderare! 

'Tom Poes ontdekt het geheim der blauwe aarde' (Tom Poes discovers the secret of the blue earth, book edition: 'The Secret of the Blue Earth') is the first story by Phiny Dick and Marten Toonder from the Bommelsaga (or Tom Poes) series. The first issue of the story appeared on 16 March 1941, and it ran in comic strips in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf until 18 April 1941. Tom Puss lives in a large forest, where he gets into an argument with the evil dwarf Pikkin, who turns out to be able to grow giants out of blue earth, marching on boots. These rob the Marquis of Mouseis of all his gold. Tom Puss promises to return the gold. He devises a plan to defuse the giants on the evil boots and to grow benign giants on clogs. At the end of the story, Tom Puss tells the marquis where he can pick up the bound dwarf. That this comic could appear during occupation time is amazing, as the anti-German (at least anti-military) and nationalist (clogs) message is quite clear. Toonder did get investigated by the German occupying forces, but after a month, the strip was allowed to reappear. Phiny Dick, Marten Toonder's wife, was the writer of the first six Tom Poes stories, after which Toonder hesitantly took over.


Belgian postcard by P.E. (Photo Edition, Brussels), no. 48. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Harry Dressel, also known as Harry Dresselhuys, was born Frans Hendrik Dresselhuijs in 1908 in Winschoten, Netherlands. During the 1930s, he acted and sang in many Dutch stage productions, like the operetta 'Bal in Savoy' (1937), 'Rose Marie' (1937) and 'Die Fledermaus' (1940). He was also known for a supporting part in the Dutch crime film Het mysterie van de Mondscheinsonate / The Mystery of the Mondscheinsonate (Kurt Gerron, 1935) starring Louis de Bree. Harry Dressel worked as an entertainer in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France and Argentina. Decades after his film debut, he appeared in the Dutch TV Mini-series De wonderbaarlijke avonturen van Professor Vreemdeling / The amazing adventures of Professor Stranger (Klaas Rusticus, 1977) starring Joop Doderer as the professor. Harry Dressel died in Winschoten in 2000. He was 92.

Harry Dressel had a second life as a character in two partly autobiographical novels by Patrick Modiano. The author introduced the ‘strange Harry Dressel’ in his novel 'Villa triste', before returning in his next work of fiction, 'Livret de famille. In Chapter XII, the main character, an adolescent named P. Modiano, meets a young girl, Denise Dressel. To seduce her, he sets about writing a biography of her father, Harry Dressel, a man who has fallen into oblivion and whose successive lives he largely reinvents. Who is this Dressel of 'Livret de famille'? A second-rate Dutch artist, dancer, singer and, vaguely, actor, he moved to Paris in 1937, then left for Cairo in 1951, where he disappeared the following year, possibly murdered. 'Livret de famille' was published on 25 April 1977 by Gallimard.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Edna Marion in Flying Elephants (Frank Butler, 1928).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Two Tars (James Parrott, 1928).

Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Anne Cornwall and Gloria Greer in Men O'War (Lewis R. Foster, 1929).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Anne Cornwall and Gloria Greer in Men O'War (Lewis R. Foster, 1929).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Jean Harlow in Double Whoopee (Lewis R. Foster, 1929).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Vivian Oakland in Scram! (Ray McCarey, 1932).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Twice Two (James Parrott, 1933).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Sheila Ryan in A-Haunting We Will Go (Alfred L. Werker, 1933).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Betty Healy, Iris Adrian, Daphne Pollard and Lana Andre in Our Relations (Harry Lachman, 1936).


Dutch postcard. Stan Laurel, Grete Natzler (a.k.a. Della Lind) and Oliver Hardy in Swiss Miss (John G. Blystone, Hal Roach, 1938).

All Postcards: Collection Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

For more information on Anton Nöggerath: Ivo Blom, ‘Chapters from the Life of a Camera Operator. The recollections of Anton Nöggerath – filming news and non-fiction, 1897-1908‘, Film History, vol. 11, 3, 1999, p. 262-281, (Ivo Blom (Wordpress). Other sources: Henk van Gelder (Huygens.ING), TheaterEncyclopedie (Dutch) and IMDb.

Diane Keaton (1946-2025)

On Saturday, 11 October, American actress Diane Keaton (1946-2025) passed away at the age of 79. She was one of the biggest female Hollywood stars of the 1970s and 1980s. Her greatest successes include The Godfather (1972), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), and Reds (1981). Keaton and Woody Allen made eight films together: Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979), Radio Days (1987) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Diane Keaton won an Oscar for Annie Hall (1977).


German collector card by Kino.


American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. 40-1979. Photo: Douglas Kirkland / Contact.

The wife of the Godfather

Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall in Los Angeles in 1946. Keaton was the eldest of four children. Her father, Jack Hall, was a civil engineer, and her mother, Dorothy Keaton, was a housewife and amateur photographer. Keaton studied drama at Santa Ana College, but left after three semesters at the age of nineteen to pursue a career in Manhattan. She had to change her name when she wanted to register with the actors' union, as there was already a Diane Hall registered, and the union required that, to avoid confusion, no two people with the same name could be registered. She chose the name ‘Keaton’, her mother's maiden name.

In New York, she took classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse theatre school. She also worked as a singer for a short time during those years. In 1968, she landed a supporting role and became an understudy for one of the leading roles in the successful Broadway rock musical 'Hair'. She gained some notoriety as the only actress who refused to undress when all the other actors were naked. In 1969, Woody Allen asked her to star in his play 'Play It Again, Sam'. For this, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Around that time, she began a relationship with Allen. While performing in this play, she received many offers from Hollywood and in 1970, she played her first film role in the comedy Lovers and Other Strangers (Cy Howard, 1970), starring Gig Young and Bea Arthur. That same year, she appeared in a commercial for deodorant.

Diane Keaton had her big breakthrough when Francis Ford Coppola cast her as Kay Adams-Corleone, the wife of mafia boss Michael Corleone, in The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972). The film is based on the book of the same name by Mario Puzo. Keaton told People magazine in 2022 that she had not read the bestseller before being cast in the role. ‘I didn't know anything about it. I just auditioned. That was great for me. And then I had to read the book,’ Keaton said. The Godfather was a huge financial and critical success, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, among other awards. She also played this role in the other two parts of the trilogy, The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) and The Godfather Part III (Francis Ford Coppola, 1990).

In 1972, she also starred alongside Woody Allen in the film version of Play It Again, Sam (Herbert Ross, 1972). Although their relationship had ended by the time they made the film, the two remained very close. Allen would cast her several times in eccentric roles in his comedy films during the 1970s, including Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973), Love and Death (Woody Allen, 1975), Interiors (Woody Allen, 1978) and Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979).

The most famous film they made together is Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977). The story revolves around the troubled relationship between Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Keaton started a fashion trend with her tomboy clothing style, which included cardigans, ties and fedora hats. She won an Oscar for her role as Annie Hall. ‘It was an idealised version of myself,’ she said of her role in an interview. In total, they collaborated on eight films. Her friendship with Allen remained very strong. She always stood by him, even after the allegations of sexual abuse he allegedly committed against his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow.


French poster card by Editions F. Nugeron, no. E 168. Poster designed by Neil Fujita for Paramount / Cinema International Corp. Poster for The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972), starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and many others. In France, the film was released as Le Parrain. The puppet master's hand logo for the film was already used for the book cover of the novel by Mario Puzo, on which the film was based.

Alternating acting with directing

Diane Keaton feared that she would be known primarily as a comedienne. In 1977, she took on the lead role as a promiscuous teacher in the controversial drama Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977) with Richard Gere, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1979, after the filming of Manhattan, her long working relationship with Woody Allen came to an end. It was not until 1993 that the two would work together again. In the late 1970s, she began a relationship with Warren Beatty, with whom she would co-star in Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981). For her role as radical journalist Louise Bryant, she received both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination.

In the 1980s, she appeared in only a few films. She starred in the action thriller The Little Drummer Girl (George Roy Hill, 1984), but the film was not a great success. Crimes of the Heart (Bruce Beresford, 1986) was a minor success, in which she appeared alongside Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek. In 1987, she had a big hit with the comedy Baby Boom (Charles Shyer, 1987), about a career woman who suddenly has to take care of a baby. That same year, she had a cameo as a nightclub singer in Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987). The Good Mother (Leonard Nimoy, 1988) was a critical and financial disappointment.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she alternated acting with directing. In 1987, she directed her first film, a documentary, Heaven, about life after death. In the years that followed, she also directed television films, music videos, including Belinda Carlisle's ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’, and episodes of TV series, including an episode of Twin Peaks. In 1995, she directed her first theatrically released feature film, Unstrung Heroes, a sensitive drama about a son who loses his mother to a serious illness. As an actress, she appeared as Steve Martin's wife in Father of the Bride (Charles Shyer, 1991) and its sequel, Father of the Bride Part II (Charles Shyer, 1995). She reunited with Woody Allen in Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen, 1993), after Mia Farrow, originally slated to play the lead, dropped out following her and Allen's notorious breakup. In 1996, she starred alongside Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler in her biggest commercial success of the decade, the comedy The First Wives Club (Hugh Wilson, 1996). That same year, she received her third Academy Award nomination for her role as a leukaemia patient in the film Marvin's Room (Jerry Zaks, 1996) with Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

In 2000, Diane Keaton starred in and directed the film Hanging Up, starring Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow. The film wasn't a huge success, nor was Town & Country (Peter Chelsom, 2001), in which she reunited with Warren Beatty. Keaton had her first real hit since 1996 with the film Something's Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers, 2003) starring Jack Nicholson. The romantic comedy garnered attention due to the age of its leads (Keaton was 57 at the time, Nicholson 66), which was considered a bold choice for a romantic comedy. It was also the first film in which Keaton had a nude scene. She briefly appeared topless. Keaton received her fourth Academy Award nomination for this film. In 2003, she also executive-produced Gus Van Sant's drama Elephant, which received several awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Later, Keaton starred in the film Mad Money (Callie Khouri, 2008), starring Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes. Michael Douglas co-starred with her in the romantic comedy And So It Goes (Rob Reiner, 2014). Her final film was the quirky comedy Summer Camp (Castille Landon, 2024) with Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard.

Keaton had relationships with Woody Allen, Al Pacino and Warren Beatty, who, according to her, came into her life at different ‘decades’. ‘Woody was my twenties, Warren my thirties, and Al my late thirties and early forties,’ she told the British newspaper The Telegraph in 2003. She never married. Later in life, she said that she realised that men were not important in her life. ‘I remember when I was young, I had this ridiculous belief that you would find someone to grow old with. Not being married doesn't make my life any less fulfilling. That old spinster myth is nonsense.’ At the age of fifty, in 1996, she adopted her daughter Dexter, followed five years later by her son Duke. Motherhood had, in her own words, completely changed her. Like her mother, Keaton was interested in photography. In 1980, her photographs were published in a book, 'Reservations'. A second book, 'Still Life', appeared in 1983. She wrote a memoir about her relationship with her alcoholic brother Randy, 'Brother & Sister' (2020). In it, she published a letter that her brother wrote to her after seeing her in one of her films: "There are times in Reds (1981) when I wanted to stop the projector, so the moment wouldn't move so fast. Where did you learn to use your face so well? I think you ran across every emotion in the book, then threw the book away and made up some of your own". When a journalist read the letter back to her, Diane could barely hold back her tears when she responded, "That was sweet of him. I don't know what to say....I'm sorry." Diane Keaton died on 11 October 2025, in California, at the age of 79.


American poster postcard by Broadway Star, New York. Media Comm +. This poster has Italian text. The original design was by Burt Kleeger for Joseph Caroff Associates / United Artists Europe Inc. Poster for Manhattan (Woody Allen 1979), starring Allen himself, Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway.


French postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 341. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson in Mrs. Soffel (Gillian Armstrong, 1984).

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

Dennis King

Dennis King (1897–1971) was an English actor and singer. Among his most notable performances were his roles in the Broadway musical 'Rose Marie' and Captain Fairfax in the play 'Billy Budd' (1951). He also appeared in a few films, including the musical The Vagabond King (1930). In the late 1940s, Dennis turned to the new medium of television.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 449.


Vintage postcard in the Celebrity Series by Associated Photo Printers, London, no. 117. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Dennis King in The Vagabond King (Ludwig Berger, 1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4983/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Dennis King in The Vagabond King (Ludwig Berger, 1930).

When Oscar Hammerstein heard him singing in his dressing room

Dennis King was born Dennis Pratt in 1897 in Coventry, Warwickshire. He was the son of John and Elizabeth King Pratt. Dennis had one sister and three brothers. King described his father as "a man of tremendous vision but little initiative", resulting in the family's being "very poor". When he was a young boy, his family moved to Balsall Heath in Birmingham, where he was educated at Dennis Road School.

His first involvement with the stage was working as a call boy at the newly opened Birmingham Repertory Theatre when he was 14 years old. With the hope of eventually appearing on stage, he changed his surname to King, his mother's maiden name. He first performed on stage at age 16. With George Melville Cooper, he played two footmen in 'The Return of the Prodigal' in 1914, carrying the leading man on stage and depositing him on a sofa.

He served in the Oxford Bucks Infantry during World War I. Injured in battle, he spent a night in a muddy shell hole before stretcher-bearers took him to a first-aid station for initial treatment. Two days later, he was moved to a field hospital, where plastic surgeons repaired the damage that shrapnel had done to his face. He was discharged, and he returned home. After appearing legitimately in further shows, he moved to Edinburgh in 1916, appearing in a musical at the Royal Lyceum, where he met his future wife, actress Edith Wright.

King debuted in London in 'Monsieur Beaucaire' in 1919 and had a stage career in drama, including works by William Shakespeare. He immigrated to the US in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. His career turned from drama to music after Oscar Hammerstein heard him singing in his dressing room.

Persuaded by Hammerstein, King tried out for the male lead in the original production of Rudolf Friml's 'Rose-Marie' (1925). In this musical, he introduced the songs 'Rose-Marie' and 'Indian Love Call'. His success in that production led to his performing in other musical comedy shows on Broadway, including 'The Vagabond King' (1925) as François Villon and 'The Three Musketeers' (1928) as d'Artagnan. Two years later, he repeated the role in London's West End.


Belgian postcard. Photo: Films Paramount. Jeanette MacDonald and Dennis King in The Vagabond King (Ludwig Berger, 1930). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Belgian postcard by Ern. Thill, Bruxelles / Nels. Photo: Paramount. Dennis King and Lillian Roth in The Vagabond King (Ludwig Berger, 1930).


Belgian postcard by Ern. Thill, Bruxelles / Nels. Photo: Paramount. Dennis King and Jeanette MacDonald in The Vagabond King (Ludwig Berger, 1930).

Laurel and Hardy's biggest-selling feature at the box office

Dennis King appeared in two musical films. He starred in the Two-colour Technicolour Operetta The Vagabond King (Ludwig Berger, 1930) with Jeanette MacDonald. It told the story of the real-life renegade French poet named François Villon.

His second film was the all-star American pre-Code revue Paramount on Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, a.o., 1930). King soon returned to Broadway, where he appeared as Gaylord Ravenal in the revival of 'Show Boat' (1932). He switched again to the screen as Fra Diavolo in the musical comedy The Devil's Brother / Fra Diavolo (Hal Roach, Charles Rogers, 1933) starring Laurel and Hardy and based on Daniel Auber's operetta 'Fra Diavolo' about the Italian bandit. It became Laurel and Hardy's biggest-selling feature at the box office.

His later Broadway shows included 'I Married an Angel' (1938) as Count Willi Palaffi, 'Music in the Air' (1951) as Bruno Mahler, and 'Shangri-La' (1956) as Hugh Conway. King was one of the first star actors to devote himself almost exclusively to television. He appeared in six full-length dramas on TV from the fall of 1948 to February 1949. He was also featured in TV musical productions, including Knickerbocker Holiday (1950), Babes in Toyland (1950), Jack and the Beanstalk (1956) and Aladdin (Ralph Nelson, 1958) with Sal Mineo.

In 1960, he performed in a colour special of The Mikado with Groucho Marx and Stanley Holloway. In between, he made periodic returns to Broadway, including starring in 'Pygmalion' with Gertrude Lawrence in 1946-1947. His later (non-singing) film roles were in Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944) starring John Garfield and The Miracle (Irving Rapper, 1959) with Carroll Baker. His final film was the comedy Some Kind of a Nut (Garson Kanin, 1969), starring Dick Van Dyke.

King became a citizen of the United States in 1953. He was made president of The Players in June 1965, a position he held until 1970. That year, he was nominated for a Tony Award as best supporting actor in John Osborne's 'A Patriot For Me'. King was married to stage actress Edith Wright till she died in 1963. They had two sons, Dennis King Jr. and musical theatre actor John Michael King, who originated the role of Freddy Eynsford Hill in 'My Fair Lady. Dennis King died of heart disease in University Hospital in New York City in 1971. He was 73.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 449a.


French postcard by Europe, no. 1060. Photo: Paramount.

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

16 of our favourite photographers

Earlier this week, European Film Star Postcards passed 10 million page views - since January 2010, when Blogger started counting. With 267,964 page views last month, EFSP also had a new record. Time for a fun post. Ivo Blom chose his 16 favourite photographers, and Paul van Yperen and Ivo both selected their favourite postcards of them.

Angelo

Hungarian Pál Funk (1894-1974), under the name of Angelo, was a leading photographer of European celebrities during the 1920s and 1930s. The glamorous film star portraits of his Angelo Photos studio graced countless European postcards.


Hungarian postcard. Photo: Angelo, Budapest. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Hungarian actor Béla Lugosi (1882 –1956) is best known as the vampire Count Dracula in the Horror classic Dracula (1931). He started his film career in the silent Hungarian cinema and also appeared in German silent films. In the last phase of his career, he became the star of several of Ed Wood's low-budget epics and other poverty row shockers.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4591/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Angelo Photos.

Dita Parlo (1908-1971) was a popular European film star in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She inspired both Dita Von Teese and Madonna, who used Parlo's name & character from L'Atalante for her controversial Sex book and Erotica album.

Bettini

From 1908 on, Riccardo Bettini (c. 1880-1960) worked as a photographer in Rome. He published them as postcards with his own company, Edizione Società Anonima Italiana Bettini. The Museo di Roma has a large collection of his original negatives. It contains many pictures of the changing Rome of the first decades of the twentieth century, when old buildings were replaced by new ones. Bettini was close to the Italian royal family, the House of Savoy, and often portrayed them. Yet, few negatives remain of the hundreds of film and theatre actors Bettini photographed as well and which were used for the postcards.


Italian postcard by Ed. Soc. Anon. Bettini, Roma, no. 168. Photo: Riccardo Bettini.

Lyda Borelli (1887-1959) was already an acclaimed stage actress before she became the first diva of the Italian silent cinema. The fascinating film star, who reigned 1913-1918, caused a craze among female fans called 'Borellismo'.


Italian postcard by Ed. Soc. Anon. Bettini, Roma, no. 118. Photo: Riccardo Bettini.

(Madame) D'Ora

Atelier d’Ora was one of the most important Austrian photo salons of the first decades of the 20th century. The studio was founded in 1907 by Dora Kallmus with the support of Arthur Benda, who was the technical director. Kallmus, who took the pseudonym Madame d’Ora in 1907, quickly became, with her studio, one of the most sought-after of Vienna's society photographers. She also portrayed many European film stars in her Vienna salon and, from 1925 on, also in her second studio in Paris.


German postcard by Ross-Verlag, Berlin, no. 5070/1, 1930-1931. Photo: d'Ora, Paris.

Beautiful and seductive French actress Lily Damita (1902-1994) appeared in 33 French, Austrian and Hollywood films between 1922 and 1937. Her marriage to Errol Flynn was rather tempestuous and led to her nickname 'Dynamita'.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 640-1. Photo: D'Ora (Dora Kallmus).

Hungarian Maria Corda (1898-1975) was an immensely popular star of the silent cinema of Austria and Germany. The pretty, blonde actress was a queen of the popular epic spectacles of the 1920s, which were often directed by her husband, Alexander Korda.

Anny Eberth

In her Berlin studio, German photographer Anny Eberth portrayed aristocratic ladies and elegant fashion models, but also film actors and expressionist dancers, including the notorious Anita Berber. During the 1910s and 1920s, her photos were published in such Berlin magazines as Die Dame and Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, and were used for many sepia film star postcards.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2765. Photo: Atelier Eberth / Union. Pola Negri as Carmen in the German silent drama Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).

Polish film actress Pola Negri (1897-1987) achieved notoriety as a femme fatale in German and American silent films between the 1910s and 1930s.


German postcard by NPG, no. 795. Photo: Anny Eberth, Berlin. Fritzi Massary in Die Rose von Stambul / The Rose of Stamboul (Felix Basch, Arthur Wellin, 1919).

Austrian-American soprano singer and actress Fritzi Massary (1882-1969) was one of the greatest 20th-century operetta divas. She was a superstar in Berlin and Vienna in the Weimar era, but after the rise of the Nazis, Massary was forced to flee Germany. In London, she appeared in an operetta that Noel Coward wrote for her. The popular singer also starred in several early German ‘sound pictures’ and other silent films.

Evans

Nelson Evans (1889-1922), who signed as "Evans, L.A.", was a photographer during the days of early Hollywood. Evans was known for his portraits of film actors such as Mary Pickford, Marie Prevost, Jackie Coogan, and many others during the silent film era, including director Philip Rosen. He is also considered one of the creators of pin-up photography.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 29. Photo: Evans, L.A.

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'.


American Arcade card. Photo: Evans, L.A.

American silent film actor, comedian Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (1887-1933) was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s. He started at the Selig Polyscope and moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd. Arbuckle mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. In 1920, he signed a contract with Paramount Pictures for US$1 million. Between November 1921 and April 1922, Arbuckle was the defendant in three widely publicised trials for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. Following the trials, his films were banned, and he was publicly ostracised. Arbuckle later worked as a film director under the alias William Goodrich. He was finally able to return to acting, making short two-reel comedies in 1932 for Warner Bros. He died in his sleep of a heart attack in 1933 at age 46, reportedly on the same day he signed a contract with Warner Bros. to make a feature film.

Fontana

Fontana in Rome portrayed many divas and other stars of the Italian silent cinema. These portraits were reproduced for a series of popular postcards in sepia and later in black and white by Edizione A. Traldi in Milan.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 322. Photo: Fontana.

Italian actress Margot Pellegrinetti (1897-1966) was defined by the press at the time as the lady "with the strange face and the pensive eyes". Although this card and the photo must be at least 100 years old, the portrait looks astonishingly modern and contemporary.


Italian postcard, no. 388. Photo: Fontana.

Astrea was the enigmatic female ‘forzuto’ of Italian silent cinema. Nothing is known about Astrea’s dates of birth and death, nor her original name. Some say she was a Venetian countess originally, others claim she came from the circus, and the last name of Barbieri is mentioned.

E.O. Hoppé

British photographer of German origin Emil Otto Hoppé (1878-1972) was one of the most successful photographers in London in the early decades of the twentieth century. He was highly celebrated as a portrait, travel, and topographic photographer. In 1927-1928, Hoppé did portrait sittings in Berlin and made photographs for the Ufa that were used for many film star postcards by Ross Verlag.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3298/1, 1928-1929. Photo: E.O. Hoppé.

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.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4381/1, 1929-30. Photo: E.O. Hoppé, London.

German, but Dutch-born film actress Lil Dagover (1887-1980) was an exotic, dark beauty who featured prominently during the golden age of the German silent cinema. She had her breakthrough as the prey of Dr. Caligari's monster in the classic expressionist film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920), but gradually her fine and evanescent beauty changed, and she turned into a 'Salondame', a lady of the screen. Her career would span nearly six decades.

Studio Lorelle

Lucien Lorelle (1894-1968) was one of the great photographers of the early twentieth century. In his Studio Lorelle, he portrayed all the great French artists of his time.


French postcard by Cine-Europe, no. 339. Photo: Studio Lorelle.

German actress Brigitte Helm (1908-1996) is still famous for her dual role as Maria and her double, the evil Maria, the Maschinenmensch, in the silent SF classic Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). After Metropolis, she made a string of over 30 films in which she almost always had the starring role. She easily made the transition to sound films before she abruptly retired in 1935.


French postcard in the Europe series, no. 66, ca. 1932. Photo: Studio Lorelle.

Dick van Maarseveen

The Dutch photographer Dick van Maarseveen (1905-1990) was in the 1930s famous for his star portraits and film stills. After the war, he concentrated on corporate photography, but Van Maarseveen also moved into the field of advertising and fashion photography. In his spare time, he did nude photography. A special section of his oeuvre is the pictures he made as a prisoner of war in Camp Muhlberg during World War II.


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).

'Op Hoop van Zegen' (1900) (Dutch for 'Trusting Our Fate in the Hands of God') is a classic Dutch play about a fisherman's tragedy. It is still staged and remains the most popular play by Dutch dramatist Herman Heijermans. He was the leading Dutch dramatist at the close of the 19th century. He was a writer of strong, realistic and socialist tendencies who single-handedly brought Dutch theatre into the modern age. There are four films based on the play, produced in 1918, 1924, 1934, and 1986. The 1934 version won a special mention at the Venice Film Festival of 1935.


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

Legendary Fien de la Mar (1898-1965) was one of the few real film stars of the Netherlands. She starred in films in the 1930s when German emigrants like Douglas Sirk, Ludwig Berger and Max Ophüls created a Dutch Hollywood.

Manassé

Atelier Manassé was a legendary Austrian photo studio that captured the golden age of cinema and cabaret in Vienna of the 1920s and 1930s. The studio was founded by Olga Spolarics and her husband Adorján von Wlássics.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5070. Photo: Manassé, Wien.

Polish-born, German actress Dina Gralla (1905-1994) often appeared as a naïve, sexy dancer in German revues and in more than 35 silent and early sound films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5477/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien (Vienna).

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).

Frieda Riess

German photographer Frieda Riess (1890-ca. 1955) had a studio in central Berlin. Her sitters included Albert Einstein, Benito Mussolini, Josephine Baker, Jack Dempsey, and many film stars. She also worked as the stills photographer on Fritz Lang’s films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 363/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Frieda Riess.

Grit Hegesa (1891–1972) was a German dancer and silent film actress. She appeared in seventeen films, including Ewald André Dupont's crime film Whitechapel (1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 478/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.

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

Hanni Schwarz

Hanni Schwarz was a German portrait, dance and nude photographer who was active in Berlin from 1901 onwards. She was a well-known professional photographer in the German Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. During the 1920s, Ross Verlag and Verlag Hermann Leiser featured many of her studio's film star portraits on their postcards.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3115/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.

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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3116/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Hanni Schwarz.

Italian actor Angelo Ferrari (1897-1945) appeared in nearly 200 films. He started his career in Italian silent films and later got a strong foothold in the German cinema.

Emilio Sommariva

Emilio Sommariva (1883-1956) was a Milanese studio photographer and painter who, in the 1910s and 1920s, portrayed many of the Italian divas such as Lyda Borelli, Diana Karenne, and Helena Makowska, but also stars of prose and vaudeville like Anna Fougez. His original works are kept at the Brera Museum in Milan.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 541. Photo: Emilio Sommariva, Milano.

Anna Fougez (1894-1966) was a vaudeville star who shone on the Italian stage from the First World War to the mid-1920s. She also played in various Italian films.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 546. Photo: Emilio Sommariva, Milano. The photo was part of a photo shoot Sommariva did of Fougez in 1922.

Walery

Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg, also known as Walery (1863-1929), was a Polish photographer active in London and Paris between 1890 and 1929. After inheriting his father's name and photographic studio in London, he continued with portraiture for about a decade until the turn of the century, when he moved definitively to Paris. There, he achieved celebrity as an innovator and accomplished photographer of cabaret stars and of the female form.


French postcard. Photo: Walery, Paris. Mayol as Dandy and Arlette Dorgère as Prince Charming in the stage production 'Cinderella' (1906) at Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris. Caption: en route.

Félix Mayol (1872-1941) was a popular French singer of the Belle Époque. He became a success in Paris in 1895 as a singer performing in a campy, effeminate way. His hair tassel inspired many imitators. In 1905, he performed at Gaumont in 14 phonoscènes under the direction of Alice Guy.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5293. Photo: Waléry, Paris.

Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was well-known as a singer and dancer. In 1925, she became an instant success in Paris because of her erotic dance. She also performed in a handful of silent and early sound films, La Sirene des Tropiques (1927), Zouzou (1934) and La princesse TamTam (1935).

Witzel

Albert Witzel was a pioneer and prominent portrait photographer of Los Angeles. He was born in 1871 and died in 1929 after a long illness. The rise of his studio paralleled the emergence of the film industry following its relocation from the East Coast. Witzel made portraits of many of Los Angeles' leading figures, including such film icons as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Theda Bara.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 106. Photo: Albert Witzel, Los Angeles.

Theodore Roberts (1861–1928) was an American stage and screen actor, known for his many parts in films by Cecil B. DeMille and his brother William.


British postcard by Rotary, no 11675 A. Photo: Witzel.

In 1914, English comedian Charles ‘Charlie’ Chaplin (1889-1977) invented his classic character the Tramp! With his toothbrush moustache, undersized bowler hat and bamboo cane, the tramp struggled to survive while keeping his dignity in a world with great social injustice. Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent film era. He used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and he not only starred in his films, but also directed, wrote and produced them, and composed the music as well.

Wyndham

The British society portrait photographer Olivia Wyndham (1897-1967) was a talented bohemian who was an important photographer of the 'bright young things' of the 1920s. In France, some of her exquisite photos of stage and film actors were published as sepia-coloured postcards by her own company, Wyndham Ed.


French postcard by Wyndham Ed., no. W 109.

Legendary actress Cécile Sorel (1873-1966) was the ‘queen of the French stage’ during the Belle Epoque, the period between the Paris Exposition of 1900 and the First World War. Her public appearances, often in extravagant costumes, created a sensation. During her long life, she played in five films.


French postcard by Wyndham Ed., Paris, no. W 107. Vanni Marcoux's name was also written with a hyphen.

Jean-Émile Diogène Marcoux (1877–1962) was a French operatic bass-baritone, known professionally as Vanni Marcoux (aka Vanni-Marcoux), and renowned as one of the most memorable singing-actors of the 20th century. Marcoux only acted in 4 films, but these were leads as Faust in Don Juan et Faust (Marcel L'Herbier, 1922), as Maurice Ferrioul in the Franco-British coproduction The Scandal (Arthur Rooke, 1923), as Charles le Téméraire in Le Miracle des Loups (Raymond Bernard, 1924), and as Vitalis in Sans famille (Marc Allégret, 1934).