Käthe von Nagy

Hungarian actress Käthe von Nagy (1904-1973) started as the ‘Backfish’ of German films of the late 1920s. In the early 1930s, she became a fashionable and charming star of the German and French cinema.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4648/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5029/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Vienna.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, nr. 6107/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. A publicity still for Meine Frau, die Hochstaplerin / My Wife, the Impostor (Kurt Gerron, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6850/2, 1931-1932. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères, Paris / Ufa. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6972/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das schöne Abenteuer / Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7513/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8097/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 555. Photo: Ufa.

Backfisch

Käthe von Nagy was born Ekaterina Nagy von Cziser (Kato Nagy) in Szabadka, Austria-Hungary (now Subotica, Serbia) in 1904.

At the age of 16, she planned to get married and therefore her parents put her in the Sancta Christiana Convent near Vienna. After that, she worked in her father's bank office in Budapest and secretly started to write short stories for a newspaper. She also attended the acting school of director Béla Gáal, and in 1926, against the will of her parents, she went to Berlin to make films.

While searching for an acting job, she earned her money as a correspondent for the Hungarian newspaper Pester Hirlop. Hungarian director Alexander Korda helped her get her first film job. It was a supporting role in Männer von der Ehe / Men Before Marriage (Constantin J. David, 1927), which got her the reputation of a ‘backfisch’. The director, Constantin David, would also become her first husband.

Soon followed roles in Gustav Mond... Du gehst so stille / You Walk So Softly (Reinhold Schünzel, 1927) and Die Königin seines Herzens / Vienna, City of My Dreams (Victor Janson, 1928) starring Liane Haid.

With her first leading role in Die Durchgängerin / The Runaway Girl (Hanns Schwarz, 1928), she became the up-and-coming young actress of the European cinema of the 1920s. Next followed the Italian production Rotaie (Mario Camerini, 1929) and Mascottchen / Mascots (Felix Basch, 1929) with Jeanne Helbling.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 6567. Photo: Atelier Willinger, Berlin.


French postcard by Europe, no. 1. Photo: May Film. Käthe von Nagy in Ihre Majestät, die Liebe / Her Majesty Love (Joe May, 1931).


Dutch postcard, no. 662. Photo: Ufa. Käthe von Nagy and Aribert Wäscher in Ronny (Reinhold Schünzel, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3640/1, 1928-1929 Photo: Atelier Oertel, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5711/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5875/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Alex Binder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6367/1. 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Ronny (Reinhold Schünzel, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6807/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6972/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6415/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa / Frhr. v. Gudenburg. Publicity still for Einmal eine große Dame sein / Once be a great lady (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1934).

The fashionable, elegant, a bit exotic type

In 1930, Käthe von Nagy smoothly moved into the talkies. She appeared as a resolute demimonde dame with psychotherapeutic powers in the Jekyll-and-Hyde-drama Der Andere/The Other (Robert Wiene, 1930), costarring Fritz Kortner and Heinrich George.

She said goodbye to her ‘backfisch’ image and impersonated modern women frequently on the screen. Her operettas and musical comedies were very popular and confirmed her promise of the late 1920s.

To her successes of the 1930s belong Ihre Majestät die Liebe / Her Majesty Love (Joe May, 1930) with Franz Lederer, Meine Frau, die Hochstaplerin / My Wife, the Impostor (Kurt Gerron, 1931) opposite Heinz Rühmann, and Ronny (Reinhold Schünzel, 1931).

She had famous co-stars like Willy Fritsch in the delicious comedy Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht / I by Day, You by Night (Ludwig Berger, 1932) and Hans Albers in Der Sieger / The Victor (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932).

Her other notable films included Das Schöne Abenteuer / Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932), the anti-Soviet propaganda film Flüchtlinge / Fugitives (Gustav Ucicky, 1933), Die Töchter ihrer Exzellenz / The Daughters of Her Excellency (Reinhold Schünzel, 1934) and Salonwagen E 417 / Luxury Train (Paul Verhoeven, 1939) with Paul Hörbiger.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6605/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Sieger / The Winner (Paul Martin, Hans Hinrich, 1932) with Hans Albers.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6604/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Sieger / The Winner (Paul Martin, Hans Hinrich, 1932) with Hans Albers.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7076/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7131/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Le capitaine Craddock / Captain Craddock (Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil, 1931) with Jean Murat.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7535/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for À Moi le Jour, à Toi la Nuit / Day To Me, to You the Night (Ludwig Berger, Claude Heymann, 1932) with Fernand Gravey.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8822/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der junge Baron Neuhaus / The Young Baron Neuhaus (Gustav Ucicky, 1934) with Viktor de Kowa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 142/2. Photo: Günther Pilz / Ufa. Publicity still for Das Schöne Abenteuer / Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932) with Wolf Albach-Retty.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 142/6. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das schöne Abenteuer / Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932) with Wolf Albach-Retty.


French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 76. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for La belle aventure / Beautiful Adventure (Roger Le Bon, Reinhold Schünzel, 1932), the French language version of Das schöne Abenteuer (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932).


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 606.

France

Because of her multilingual education, Käthe von Nagy was able to establish herself in the French cinema too. As Kate de Nagy, she became a star in France.

To her French productions belong La Capitaine Craddock / Captain Craddock (Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil, 1931) with Jean Murat, La route impériale / The Imperial Road (Marcel L’Herbier, 1935) with Pierre Richard-Willm, Cargaison blanche / Woman Racket (Robert Siodmak, 1937) opposite Jules Berry, and La bataille silencieuse / The Silent Battle (Pierre Billon, 1937) starring Pierre Fresnay.

She withdrew from the film business at the beginning of World War II. After the war, she appeared only twice on the screen, in the French drama Cargaison clandestine / Alarm in San Juano (Alfred Rode, 1948-1950) with Luis Mariano, and the German remake of Die Försterchristl / The Forester's Daughter (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1952), alongside Johanna Matz.

In the mid-1950s, Käthe von Nagy went to California, where she worked as a French teacher at Happy Valley School in Ojai, California.

Käthe von Nagy died of cancer in Ojai, USA, in 1973. After her marriage to Constantin J. David, she was married to the Frenchman Jacques Fattini.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6849/3, 1931-1932. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris / Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6376/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8886/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Prinzessin Turandot / Princess Turandot (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8934/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Prinzessin Turandot / Princess Turandot (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1934) with Willy Fritsch.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7280/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7513/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7604/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8099/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8954/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9057/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa. Käthe von Nagy and Albin Skoda in Liebe, Tod und Teufel / Love, Death and the Devil (Heinz Hilpert, Reinhart Steinbicker, 1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9629/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Forum-Film. Pierre Richard Willm and Käthe von Nagy in La route impériale / The Imperial Road (Marcel L'Herbier, 1935).

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Operator 99 (Allure), Filmportal (German), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

La Collectionneuse: Wynne Gibson

During her film career, Hollywood wasn’t eager to give Wynne Gibson classy socialites or blushing ingenues to play. She was mostly used as hard-boiled dames, gangster’s molls, discarded lovers, ladies with a past, other women, unscrupulous females or shady characters. In her heyday at Paramount, she was a typical exponent of the tough gal from the pre-code era.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5986/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount.


British postcard. Photo: Paramount. Wynne Gibson in If I Had a Million (James Cruze, Ernst Lubitsch, a.o., 1932).

Gaining wide experience on stage

Wynne Gibson was born as Winifred Gibson on the 3rd of July 1898 in New York, U.S.A.

After several years spent at the Wadleigh School for Girls, she turned to the stage.

Over time, Gibson appeared in vaudeville and in stock.

She notably formed a vaudeville act with Billie Vernon, who was married to James Cagney from 1922 to his death.

On Broadway, she had her most substantial part as Pauline Clare, an inebriated minor actress, in 'Jarnegan' (1928-1929), starring Richard Bennett and offering his daughter, Joan Bennett, her first important role on the stage.


German postcard by Eidelsan, series II, Bild 86. Photo: Associated Press.

First steps in films

Wynne Gibson made her film debut in the Paramount Astoria studios in New York in Nothing But the Truth (1929), in which she formed a gold-digging sister pair with Helen Kane.

She was quick to catch that working in movies could be interesting and lucrative, and she soon departed for Hollywood.

In a 1931 interview, she reminisced: "When I boarded the train to come to Hollywood, I felt like an adventurer starting a new life. There was no contract in my purse, or even a verbal agreement with my manager that I would find work on the Coast. But I had cut all the old ties, and I was in the frame of mind to take a chance on anything".

Fortunately, Gibson didn’t have to wait long before being noticed.

At M.G.M., she played a secretary secretly in love with Lawrence Gray in Children of Pleasure (1930) and, at R.K.O, she was a gangster’s moll in The Fall Guy (1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6409/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount.

A contract with Paramount

She then signed with Paramount, which put her in two Jack Oakie vehicles, The Gang Buster (1931), as a mobster’s former lover, and June Moon (1931), as a discontented and cynical wife.

She played William Powell’s ex-girlfriend who helps him run a scandal sheet in Man of the World (1931).

She again was a gangster’s moll in City Streets (1931) and Kick In (1931).

She appeared in a supporting role as a dizzy divorcée in The Road to Reno (1931), an exposé about how a selfish and irresponsible mother’s behaviour affects her children’s lives.

In the women’s prison melodrama Ladies of the Big House (1931), she was excellent as a tough convict who is bitchy towards her fellow inmate Sylvia Sidney, before realising that she’s been set up and helping her in proving her innocence.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8040/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Paramount.

1932: a landmark year

In Two Kinds of Women (1932), Wynne Gibson was a fun-loving party girl, and, as a contrast, Miriam Hopkins was a senator’s naive daughter.

As a change of pace, Paramount starred her in the title role of The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932), a Madame X-style melodrama in which she had to endure many misfortunes such as being unfairly sent to jail, having to surrender her little child to adoption and killing her blackmailing husband to protect her now grown-up daughter, to whom she would never reveal she was her mother.

She was perfectly cast as Puff Rogers, a speakeasy hostess and prizefighter George Bancroft’s gal, in Lady and Gent (1932), in which both turn to the country life to offer proper upbringing to their adopted boy. She thereafter played George Raft’s discarded girlfriend, whom he had dumped in favour of the classier Constance Cummings, in Night After Night (1932). But this was the film debut of Mae West, who upstaged everybody.

She was at her best in the anthology film If I Had a Million (1932), as low-class and world-weary prostitute Violet Smith, who is among a group of people picked at random by an eccentric millionaire to receive one million dollars each. She uses her money to rent a room in a smart and costly hotel to be able at last to sleep alone, without any man at her side. This kind of story raised some eyebrows at The Studio Relations Committee, which had been created by William Hays in the 1920s. Several local censors deleted a scene in which she removes her black stockings in her large bed.

Wynne Gibson rounded up 1932 by playing a car thief ring leader’s girlfriend, who reforms and finds happiness with mechanic Edmund Lowe, in The Devil Is Driving (1932).


Spanish postcard by M.C. Barcelona, no. 313. Wynne Gibson in Night After Night (Archie Mayo, 1932).

11 films from 1933 to 1935

In The Crime of the Century (1933), Wynne Gibson was Jean Hersholt’s money-hungry and unfaithful wife. At R.K.O, she played a hard-bitten hospital nurse in Emergency Call (1933) and had the title role in Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men (1933), in which she transforms a mild-mannered and diffident man into a tough guy.

Her Paramount contract ended with Her Bodyguard (1933), as a Brooklyn-born Broadway star, who had changed her name from Margaret O’Brian to the posher Margot Brienne, attracted to the man hired to protect her.

In 1934, she was featured in the crime dramas The Crosby Case at Universal and Sleepers East and Gambling, both at Fox. At Columbia, she also appeared in The Captain Hates the Sea, John Gilbert’s final movie.

Two years after The Strange Case of Clara Deane, Universal had the idea to star her in another lachrymose mother-love story, I Give My Love, from a story by Vicki Baum.

Gibson then decided to try her luck in England, where she starred in the comedy Admirals All (1935), as a film actress and in the spy movie The Crouching Beast (1935), as a newspaper reporter.


Spanish postcard by Dümmatzen, no. 242. Photo: Paramount.

An actress kept busy in B-movies

Upon her return, Wynne Gibson was mostly used in B pictures, often at Columbia and Republic, such as Come Closer, Folks (1936), Racketeers in Exile (1937), Gangs of New York (1938), My Son Is Guilty (1939), Forgotten Girls (1940), Double Cross (1941) and A Man’s World (1942).

She was given an interesting role in Republic’s Michael O’Halloran (1937), as a selfish and careless woman who redeems herself through contact with two orphans. It was adapted from a 1915 Gene Stratton-Porter novel.

Her last movie was the crime whodunit Mystery Broadcast (1943), as a lady with a shady past who is murdered in the course of the action.

In the 1940s and 50s, she worked for radio and television. Her last TV appearance was in 1956.

In the 1950s, Wynne Gibson served as chair of the Equity Library Theater.


British postcard in the Colourgraph series, London, no. C201. Photo: Paramount.

Interred side by side

According to some sources, she would have briefly been married to a stage manager in her youth, but no mention of the husband’s name or the dates of the marriage can be found. So this is subject to caution.

It seems that a marriage to actor John Gallaudet from 1927 to 1930 is more plausible.

During the filming of the Joe E. Brown vehicle Flirting with Fate (1938), she met actress Beverly Roberts, who became her long-time companion.

Wynne Gibson passed away on the 15th of May 1987.

Her final resting place is Forest Lawn Memorial Park. In 2009, Beverly Roberts was buried in the grave located just next to hers.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2011/1, 1939-1940. Wynne Gibson and Jack Oakie are visiting the Paramount Zoo.


Spanish postcard by Dümmatzen, no. 325. Photo: Paramount.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.

Noah Beery

Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. (1882-1946) was a respected American character actor, adept at playing the cruel villain but sometimes portraying the hero. He was the older brother of another famous actor, Oscar winner Wallace Beery. His son, Noah Jr., also became a highly regarded character actor, especially on television.


Italian postcard by B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze Ed.), no. 771. Photo: SAJ Films Paramount, Rome. Noah Beery in The Spaniard (Raoul Walsh, 1925), released in Italy (as in France) as Matador.


Spanish postcard by Spanish postcard by Ediciones Adolfo Zerkowitz, no., no. C-26. Photo: Paramount.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5182. Photo: Paramount-Film.

A moustachioed scoundrel or wicked libertine

Noah Nicholas Beery was born in 1882 on a farm in Clay County, Missouri, not far from Smithville. (IMDb mistakenly writes Kansas City, Missouri, USA). He was the son of Noah Webster Beery and Frances Margaret Fitzgerald Beery. His brothers were William C. Beery and Wallace Beery, who both later also became actors. The Beery family left the farm in the 1890s and moved to nearby Kansas City, Missouri, where the father was employed as a police officer.

Noah's deep, rich voice in his early teens led several actors at the Gillis Theatre in Kansas City to encourage him to take singing lessons and consider a career as a performer. A summer of singing at Kansas City's Electric Park amusement park led to his leaving for New York City at age 16. Beery was three years older than his brother, Wallace, who also became an actor as quickly as he could. Noah started his career in vaudeville as a singer. Soon, though, he turned to acting in melodramas of the period, often under the direction of William A. Brady. For a dozen years, he worked mainly in the theatre.

In 1913, Noah Beery joined his brother Wallace in Hollywood and made his film debut at the Kalem company in The Influence of a Child (Edmund Lawrence, 1913). Soon, he became famous for his numerous roles as a moustachioed scoundrel or wicked libertine during the silent film era.

Among his most famous performances are Sergeant Pedro Gonzales in The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920), alongside Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the British consul in the exotic adventure In the Shadow of the Pagodas (Raoul Walsh, 1925), and the brutal Sergeant Lejaune in Beau Geste (Herbert Brenon, 1926), starring Ronald Colman and Ralph Forbes.

Noah Beery acted opposite his brother, Wallace Beery, in Stormswept (Robert Thornby, 1923). The tagline on the poster proclaimed "Wallace and Noah Beery, the Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen."


Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 778. Photo: S.R.I. Films Paramount, Roma. Pola Negri and Noah Beery in Lily of the Dust (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1924).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 368.

Technicolour musicals, Westerns and serials

Noah Beery successfully made the transition to sound films. He worked regularly in Technicolour musicals, such as the box office hit The Show of Shows (John C. Adolfi, 1929). He reached his peak in popularity in 1930, recording a phonograph record for Brunswick Records with songs from two of his films.

He is probably best remembered as Gus Jordan, the flamboyant saloon owner and lover of Mae West as Lady Lou in the comedy She Done Him Wrong (Lowell Sherman, 1933), also with Cary Grant.

Yet, his star declined in the 1930s, while his brother, Wallace Beery, gained an Oscar and became the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Noah appeared in secondary parts in Westerns and serials, such as Zorro Rides Again (John English, William Witney, 1937), often in villainous roles.

When his son, Noah Beery Jr., born in 1913, also became a film star, Beery was referred to as Noah Beery Sr. Father and son appeared together in The Trail Beyond (Robert N. Bradbury, 1934) with John Wayne, in which Noah Jr. played Wayne's sidekick throughout the picture. Noah Beery Sr. appeared in nearly 200 films during his career and, in 1945, returned to New York City to star in the Mike Todd Broadway production of 'Up in Central Park'.

Noah Beery Sr. died in 1946 after a heart attack at the home of his brother, Wallace, in Beverly Hills. It was Wallace's birthday, and in addition to celebrating the event, the brothers were rehearsing the radio drama 'Barnacle Bill', which they were scheduled to perform later in the evening. The show went on; another actor was brought on to play Noah's role. Noah was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. He was married twice. His first marriage to Beatrice Maudie Heath ended after two years in a divorce in 1909. Since 1910, he had been married to stage actress Marguerite Walker Lindsey. After his father died in 1946, their son Noah dropped the junior suffix. He became best known as James Garner's character's father, Rocky, in the 1970s television series The Rockford Files.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 253.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 301. Wallace Beery.


British postcard from the 'Greetings from' series. Photo: Republic. Noah Beery Jr. in The Savage Horde (Joseph Kane, 1950).

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, Italian and English) and IMDb.