Lya Ley

Lya Ley (1899-1992) was an Austro-Hungarian-born actress whose parents were stage actors too. After a career on the stage, she was discovered for film in 1914 by Paul Heidemann, who engaged her for various film comedies. In 1916, Franz Hofer became her regular director, who directed her in 13 films in 1916-1918, such as Heidenröschen / Rose on the Heath (1916) and Der gepumpte Papa / The Pumped-Up Dad (1916). In the early 1920s, she withdrew from film acting.


German postcard by NPG, no. 1511.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 5429. Photo: Memelsdorf, Berlin.


German postcard by Kunstverlag Juno, Charlottenburg, no. 120. Photo: Atelier Eberth.

Comedies and detective films

Lya Ley a.k.a. Lia Ley was born in 1899 as Maria Antonia Wilhelmine Steiner in Troppau. She was the daughter of opera singer Michael Steiner and his wife Elisabeth, née Sauppe.

She made her stage debut around 1910 as a small child in the role of Hansel in Ferdinand Raimund's folk theatre play 'The Spendthrift'. She failed, literally: a fall into obscurity ended with a minor injury; the next day, she was able to play the role again.

In 1914, at the age of 15, she was discovered for film by the director and producer Paul Heidemann during an engagement at the Berlin Theater am Nollendorfplatz, where she adopted the stage name Lya Ley.

Heidemann cast Ley in a series of comedies. Starting in 1916, Franz Hofer filmed a series with her, the most successful of which were the silent drama Heidenröschen / Rose on the Heath (1916) and Der gepumpte Papa / The pumped-up dad (1916), both with Fritz Achterberg.

Ley then starred in a detective series with director Hubert Moest. She made eight Lya Ley comedies for the Kowo Film Company.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 179/4. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, no. 5428. Photo: Memelsdorf.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3177. Photo: Binder.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3178. Photo: Binder.

Half-Jewish and Nazi

At the height of her career, Lya Ley was depicted in a 1920 caricature by Olaf Gulbransson in Simplicissimus magazine, alongside Pola Negri, Asta Nielsen, Henny Porten, Fern Andra, Mia May, Marija Leiko, and Lya Mara – with the simple caption 'Stars.'

In 1921, Lya Ley married the writer Wilhelm von Klitzing in Munich and retired from the film business. The marriage produced three daughters.

Although the former actress was considered 'half-Jewish' by the Nazi definition, she joined the Nazi Party in 1933.

After her husband's early death in 1934, she worked as an insurance clerk and endeavoured to exploit his literary legacy. Nothing is currently known about her later life.

Lya Ley died in 1992 in her apartment in Munich and was buried in Munich's Nordfriedhof Cemetery.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 179/1. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 179/2. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 179/3. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

Holger Reenberg

Holger Reenberg (1872-1942) was a Danish stage and screen actor. He appeared in more than 20 films between 1912 and 1940.


Danish postcard by Alex Vincents Kunstforlag, Copenhagen, no. 1008. Holger Reenberg in the play 'Fangen paa Zenda' (The Prisoner of Zenda), based on the novel by Anthony Hope. Reenberg played the double role of Crown Prince Rudolph of Ruritania and Rudolph Rassendyll in 'The Prisoner of Zenda' in August 1903 at the Casino theatre in Copenhagen.


Danish postcard by Alex Vincents Kunstforlag, Copenhagen, no. 372. Holger Reenberg in the fairytale play 'Prinsessen og det halve kongerige' by Holger Drachmann, first performed in 1905 at the Casino theatre in Copenhagen.

A lover in folk plays and operettas

Holger Christian Frederik Reenberg was born in 1872 in Copenhagen. He was the son of the merchant Tøger Reenberg and his wife Camilla Amalie Holgersen. He grew up in Copenhagen. After graduating from high school, he attended the Elevenschule (school) at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen.

He made his theatre debut in 1896 in Helsingør as Oregon in 'Tartuffe' with theatre director Oddgeir Steffensen. In 1900, he started in Copenhagen at the Dagmarteatret. At the Casino theatre, he played a large repertoire as a lover in folk plays and operettas. He played the lead role as Count Danilo in 'Den glade enke' (The Merry Widow) opposite Gerda Krum almost 200 times. He also had success at the same theatre as the alcoholic plumber Copeau in 'Faldgruben' (Germinal / The Pit) by Emile Zola.

Reenberg subsequently performed at numerous theatres in Copenhagen, including the Folketeatret, the Odense Theatre, the Aarhus Theatre, and the Betty Nansen Theatre, where he later became a long-term ensemble member. At the Folketeatret, he had success as Professor Unrath in 'Den blaa Engel ('The Blue Angel, 1933) by Heinrich Mann and as Bishop Beugel in 'Han sidder ved Smeltediglen' (He sits by the melting pot, 1936) by Kaj Munk.

Holger Reenberg made his debut as a film actor in 1912 at the company Kinografen, probably in the film Marconi-Telegrafisten / The Marconi Operator (Einar Zangenberg, 1912). Between 1912 and 1913, Reenberg did some 10 films at Kinografen, including Skuespilleren / The Actor (dir. unknown, 1913). He often had the leading role at Kinografen.

From 1914, Holger Reenberg acted at various companies, but with less frequency. He appeared opposite Valdemar Psilander in the Fotorama production Elskovsleg / Love's Devotee (Holger-Madsen, August Blom, 1914). After 1917, Holger Reenberg wasn't active in Danish silent cinema anymore, apart from supporting parts at the end of the silent era in two Pat & Patachon (Fy og Bi) comedies at Palladium. In Germany, he appeared in Ein Lebenskünstler / An Artist of Life (Holger-Madsen, 1925), starring Erna Morena and Grete Mosheim.


Danish postcard by Alex Vincents Kunstforlag, Copenhagen, no. 1425. Holger Reenberg in the fairytale play 'Prinsessen og det halve kongerige' by Holger Drachmann, first performed in 1905 at the Casino theatre in Copenhagen.


Danish postcard by Paul Heckscher, unnumbered. Mailed in 1907. Holger Reenberg in the Franz Léhar operetta 'Den glade Enke' (The Merry Widow) at the Casino theatre in Copenhagen in 1906.

A naturalistic actor with an excellent stage appearance and a sense of warm humanity

In 1931, Holger Reenberg acted in his first sound film, the crime drama Hotel Paradis (George Schnéevoigt, 1931). Between 1932 and 1940, he acted in five more Danish sound films. His last film appearance was in 1940 at ASA in Arne Weel's En Dersertør / A Deserter (Lau Lauritzen, 1940). From 1939 until his death in 1942, Reenberg was the manager of Fasan Bio, a cinema in Fredriksberg.

On stage, he performed at the Royal Theatre from 1930 to 1933 and at the Det Ny Teater from 1934 to 1935. Holger Reenberg's repertoire included character roles and, at the lighter end, roles as the leading man. With his fine singing voice, he also excelled in operetta. He was used a lot on the radio and hosted several reading evenings.

Holger Reenberg was married four times, and he had two sons and two daughters. His first marriage was in 1901 to actress Marie Sophie Christine Sørensen. His son, actor Palle Reenberg and daughter, actress Ellen Reenberg Dich, are from this marriage. His second wife (some sources say they never married) was the actress Olga Svendsen. Their daughter, Elga Svendsen (1906), also pursued a career in acting.

In 1920, he married for the third time to actress Magda Helene Borving Eriksen, with whom he had a daughter, the director and screenwriter Annelise Reenberg, in 1919. In 1928, he married actress Ellen Carla Marie Carstensen, with whom he had a son, Jørgen Reenberg, in 1927.

Holger Reenberg died in 1942 in Frederiksberg at the age of 69. He is buried in Aeldre-Kirkegard, Frederiksberg Old Cemetery. Jytte Wiingaard & Robert Neiiendam at Dansk Biografisk Leksikon: "R. was a naturalistic actor with an excellent stage appearance and a sense of warm humanity, but his stage talent lacked the fiery and passionate temperament."


Danish postcard by Paul Heckscher, no. 5079. Mailed in 1908. Holger Reenberg in 'Aladdin', a drama by Adam Oehlenschläger, performed at the Casino in Copenhagen in 1907.


Danish postcard by C.AT. (Carl Stenders), no. 4863. Holger Reenberg as Hades in the operetta 'Orpheus i Unterverden' (Orphée aux Enfers / Orpheus in the Underworld) by Jacques Offenbach.

Source: Jytte Wiingaard & Robert Neiiendam (Dansk Biografisk Leksikon - Danish), Danske Film (Danish), Biografmuseet (Danish), Wikipedia (English, German and Danish), and IMDb.

Jean Bradin

The programme of the third and final day of the Dutch Silent Film Festival starts with the French film Le voile du bonheur / The Veil of Happiness (Édouard-Émile Violet, 1923). With music composed by none other than Gabriel Fauré for Georges Clemenceau's original play. It will be played by festival director Daan van den Hurk on piano, Steven Henry on clarinet and bass clarinet and Maaike Peters on cello. Le voile du bonheur tells the story of a blind Chinese poet who finds solace in his belief that the world around him is made up of goodness. But when his sight suddenly recovers, he sees his friends are false, his wife is faithless, and his young son mimics his blindness. The man makes an important decision. The cast of the film is Chinese, with one exception: the French actor Jean Bradin (1899-1969). Very few personal facts are known about him, although he was a prolific film actor from the early 1920s onward. First, he acted in French silent films and later also in German and British films, including Hitchcock's Champagne (1928) and Dupont's Moulin Rouge (1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1941/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London.

Will his wife stand by him?

Jean Bradin, a.k.a. Jean Bradier, was born in the 5th arrondissement of Paris in 1899.

He debuted as an actor in French silent cinema, in the film L'auberge / The Inn (Donatien, Édouard-Émile Violet, 1922), with the two directors also in the leading roles. He also acted in the subsequent films of the two, Les hommes nouveaux / Man and His Gods (Donatien, Édouard-Émile Violet, 1922) and Le voile du bonheur / The Veil of Happiness (Édouard-Émile Violet, 1923).

After the lead in Paul et Virginie / Paul and Virginie (Robert Peguy, 1924), Bradin played Lt. d'Artelles opposite Maurice Schutz as Commander de Corlaix in the war drama Veille d'armes / In the Night Watch (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1925). The commander's young wife (Annette Benson) has an affair with a young officer, who dies during a torpedo attack. The commander is accused of negligence, but will his wife stand by him? Bradin stayed with De Baroncelli for Le réveil / The Alarm Clock (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1925), after which he played Christ in Le berceau de dieu / The Cradle of God (Fred LeRoy Granville, 1926), starring Léon Mathot.

In 1926, Jean Bradin embarked on a career in the German silent cinema, alternating with productions in Britain. In 1926-1929, Bradin acted in nine German silent films. In 1926 and 1927 he appeared in Eine Dubarry von heute / A Modern Dubarry (Alexander Korda, 1926) with Maria Corda, Die Frauengasse von Algier / The Bordellos of Algiers (Wolfgang Hoffmann-Harnisch, 1927) with Maria Jacobini, Die rollende Kugel / The Rolling Ball (Erich Schönfelder, 1927) with Erna Morena, Das Schicksal einer Nacht / The Fate of one Night (Erich Schönfelder, 1927) again with Morena, and Am Rande der Welt / At the Edge of the World (Karl Grune, 1927) with Brigitte Helm.

In 1928 and 1929 followed Das letzte Souper / Theatre (Mario Bonnard, 1928) with Marcella Albani, the sports film Ariadne in Hoppegarten (Robert Dinesen, 1928) again with Maria Jacobini, Die Dame auf der Banknote / The Lady on the Banknote (Karl Leiter, 1929) with Anita Dorris, and Anschluß um Mitternacht / Call at Midnight (Mario Bonnard, 1929) again with Albani.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1924/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Hans Natge.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4195/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ernst Sandau, Berlin.

His father opposes his marrying the daughter of a revue artist

Jean Bradin also acted in Britain, first in The Island of Despair (Henry Edwards, 1926) with Matheson Lang and Marjorie Hume. In Ewald André Dupont's Moulin Rouge (1928), he is the aristocratic lover of Olga Tschechowa's daughter, played by Eve Gray, but his father (Georges Tréville) opposes his marrying the daughter of a revue artist.

While Moulin Rouge originally was released as a silent film, in 1929, a part-talkie version was made with music and some sound effects but without dialogue. In the comedy Champagne (Alfred Hitchcock, 1928), a spoiled heiress, played by Betty Balfour, defies her father (Ferdinand von Alten) by running off to marry her lover (Bradin). "However, Daddy has a few tricks up his sleeve", according to IMDb.

In 1930, Bradin played an aristocratic suitor who offered a film contract to Louise Brooks's Lucienne in the early French sound film Prix de beauté / Miss Europe (Augusto Genina, 1930). The film is about a girl who joins the pageant contest of Miss Europe in San Sebastian, against the wishes of her jealous lover (Georges Charlia). Winning, she is surrounded by men but returns to her lover despite a film offer. Miserable because of their misery, she escapes her lover and does a screen test... Brooks' talking and singing were dubbed.

Between 1930 and 1939, Jean Bradin acted in six more French sound films. For Bradin, 1930-1932 were still productive years, with Le secret du docteur / Thew Doctor's Secret (Charles de Rochefort, 1930), David Golder (Julien Duvivier, 1931) with Harry Baur, Deux fois vingt ans / Forty years (Charles-Félix Tavano, 1931) with Germaine Rouer, and the crime film La complice / The Accomplice (Giuseppe Guarino, 1932), which was released in France in 1933.

Yet, after a gap of several years, Jean Bradin only acted in two more films, Sacha Guitry's Remontons les Champs-Élysées / Let's Go Up the Champs-Élysées (Robert Bibal, Sacha Guitry, 1938) and Feyder's La loi du nord / Law of the North (Jacques Feyder, 1939), starring Michèle Morgan. Bradin died in 1969 in Paris. He was 70.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Editore, Milano, no. 321. Photo: S.A.G. Leoni. Camilla Horn and Warwick Ward in Die Frauengasse von Algier / The Bordellos of Algiers (Wolfgang Hoffmann-Harnisch, 1927). Mistake alert: Jean Bradin was the other male star of the film.

Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

Musidora

We're at the Dutch Silent Film Festival, and the first film today is Soleil et ombre (Musidora, Jacques Lasseyne, 1922). A young maid is betrayed by her fiancé, a famous bullfighter who falls in love with an exotic foreign woman. With her heavily kohled dark eyes, somewhat sinister make-up, pale skin and exotic wardrobes, Musidora (1889-1957) created an unforgettable vamp persona. The French film star is best known for her roles in the Louis Feuillade serials Les Vampires (1915-1916) as Irma Vep (an anagram for ‘vampire’), the voluptuous leader of a gang of criminals, and in Judex (1917) as Marie Verdier. At a time when many women in the film industry were relegated to acting, Musidora also achieved some success as a producer and director. Later, she became a journalist and wrote about cinema.


French cigarette card by Cigarettes Le Nil, no. 38. Photo: H. Manuel.


French postcard by Editions Gordon & Cie., Vincennes (Seine).


French postcard by Photo-Editions Renaissance, no. 532. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French postcard by Editions Sid, Paris, no. 8039. Photo: G.I. Manuel Frères.


French magazine cover of Mon Ciné, no. 30, 14 September 1922. Musidora in Soleil et ombre / Sol y sombre / Sun and Shadow (Jaime De Lasuen, Musidora, 1922). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Gift of the muses

Musidora was born Jeanne Roques in Paris, France, in 1889. She was raised by a feminist mother and a socialist father. She began her career in the arts at an early age, writing her first novel at the age of fifteen and acting on the stage with the likes of Colette, one of her lifelong friends. She performed in revues at French music halls and cabarets, such as the Folies Bergère, Concert Mayol, and La Cigale. Jeanne adopted the stage name Musidora (Greek for 'gift of the muses'), after the heroine in Théophile Gautier's novel 'Fortunio'.

She made her film debut already around 1909, but in 1914, she started to appear regularly in short silent films like Les miseres de l'aiguille / The Misery of the Needle (Raphael Clamour, 1914). She starred in a few silent films by Gaston Ravel, including La bouquetière des Catalans / The Flower Girl of Catalonia (Gaston Ravel, 1914) and Le trophée du Zouave / The Zouave Trophy (Gaston Ravel, 1915). She also began to work with the highly successful film director Louis Feuillade and appeared in a dozen of his short silent films for Gaumont. These included Severo Torelli (Louis Feuillade, 1914), Tu n'épouseras jamais un avocat / You Will Never Marry a Lawyer (Louis Feuillade, 1914) featuring Marcel Lévesque, Le calvaire / The Calvary (Louis Feuillade, 1914) with René Navarre, and Les noces d'argent / Silver Wedding (Louis Feuillade, 1915) with Édouard Mathé.

Musidora then appeared in his hugely successful serial Les Vampires / The Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915-1916) as cabaret singer Irma Vep opposite Édouard Mathé as crusading journalist Philippe Guerande. Musidora’s mystique was accentuated in Les Vampires by her large, dark eyes and wearing a black leotard, hood and tights. Les Vampires was not actually about vampires, but about a criminal gang-cum-secret society inspired by the exploits of the real-life Bonnot Gang. Irma Vep was adored by the surrealists, who deemed her both an embodiment of cinema itself and the projection of the deepest truth of the time. A modern fairy, a haunting enigma made flesh, night incarnate in her black silk catsuit, a bewitching shadow, the elusive and wild character of Irma Vep, with her dark-eyed gaze and seductive silhouette, made the actress Musidora immortal.

Besides playing a leading role in the Vampires' crimes, Irma Vep also spends two episodes under the hypnotic control of Moreno, a rival criminal who makes her his lover and induces her to assassinate the Grand Vampire. The series used gadgets like poison rings, poison fountain pens, cabinets with fake back panels, etc. It was an immediate success with French cinema-goers and ran in 10 instalments until 1916.

After the Les Vampires serial, Musidora starred in Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1917), another popular Feuillade serial filmed in 1916 but delayed for release until 1917 because of World War I. Judex is a twelve-part serial following the adventures of the masked vigilante Judex (René Cresté) as he fights against criminals led by the corrupt banker Favraux. Les Vampires and Judex have been lauded by critics like André Bazin as the birth of avant-garde cinema and cited by filmmakers like Fritz Lang and Luis Buñuel as being extremely influential in their desires to become directors.


French postcard by Maury's International Attraction Circuit. Photo: publicity still for Severo Torelli (Louis Feuillade, 1914). Severo Torelli was a French silent feature, produced by Gaumont and based on a 1883 play by François Coppée. Fernand Herrmann played the title role, and the female lead was Renée Carl (Dona Pia). Musidora played Portia.


French postcard, no. 67. Caption: Le Tréport - Le Repos de la Pêcheuse de Crevettes. (Le Tréport - The Rest of the Shrimp Fisherwoman). Collection: Marlène Pilaete.


Spanish postcard. Photo: Gaumont. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Spanish promotional postcard for the 12-part serial Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1916) with Musidora and at right Marcel Lévesque. The man left is possibly Jean Devalde. It's a scene from episode 4, Le secret de la tombe / The Secret of the Tomb. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

The most deserving girl of France

Musidora also starred in films by other directors, like Le pied qui étreint (Jacques Feyder, 1916) - a funny send-up of Feuillade's serials, the silent adventure film Les chacals / The Jackals (André Hugon, 1917), starring André Nox, La jeune fille la plus méritante de France / The Most Deserving Girl of France (Germaine Dulac, 1918), and Mademoiselle Chiffon (André Hugon, 1919), with Suzanne Munte.

Apart from her acting career, she became a film producer and director under the tutelage of her mentor, Louis Feuillade. Her first film was an adaptation of a novel by her friend Colette, La vagabonda / The Vagabond (Musidora, Eugenio Perego, 1918). Between the late 1910s and early 1920s, she directed ten films, all of which are lost except two: the tragic romance Soleil et ombre / Sol y sombre / Sun and Shadow (Jaime De Lasuen aka Jacques Lasseyne, Musidora, 1922) and La terre des taureaux / La tierra de los toros / The Land of the Bulls (Musidora, 1924), both of which were filmed in Spain, starring the Cordoban mounted bullfighter Antonio Cañero.

In Italy, she produced and directed La Flamme Cachée / The Hidden Flame (Roger Lion, Musidora, 1918) based on another work by Colette. At a time when many women in the film industry were relegated to acting, Musidora achieved a degree of success as a producer and director. Annette Förster writes in an article at Women Film Pioneers Project: “While her films were favorably reviewed in the press, Musidora as producer reputedly only lost money on them. It remains unclear whether this was due to the terms of her contract, as she claimed in a 1946 interview with Renee Sylvaire, or to the fact that the films failed at the box office.”

Her final film role was as Delilah in the drama Le berceau de dieu / The Cradle of God (Fred LeRoy Granville, 1926). After her career as an actress was over, she focused on writing and producing. Her last film was an homage to her mentor Feuillade entitled La Magique Image / The Magic Image (1950), which she both directed and starred in.

Late in her life, she would occasionally work in the ticket booth of the Cinemathèque Française. Few patrons realised that the older woman in the foyer might be starring in the film they were watching. At 68, Musidora died in Paris, France, in 1957 and was laid to rest in the Cimetière de Bois-le-Roi. Musidora was married to Dr. Clément Marot from 1927 till 1944. The union produced one child, Clément Marot Jr.


French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur Loge, no. 97. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French postcard by A.N. Paris, no. 3737. French painter René Carrère (1879-1959) was notably known for his portraits of celebrities of his time, such as Mistinguett, Spinelly, Colette, Aristide Bruant or Sacha Guitry. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French collector card in the series 'Portrait de Stars; L'encyclopédie du Cinéma' by Edito Service, 1992. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Française. Caption: Musidora, 1915, France.


Italian postcard by Il Cinema Ritrovato, 2019. Poster: Collection La Cinémathèque Française.

Sources: Annette Förster (Women Film Pioneers Project), Bobb Edwards (Find A Grave), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Malcolm Tod

Tonight and this weekend, EFSP will join the Netherlands Silent Film Festival in the city of Eindhoven. The opening film is the German comedy Saxophon-Susi (Carl Lamac, 1928) starring Anny Ondra and British actor Malcolm Tod(d). Malcolm Tod (1897-1968) was a star of British and European silent cinema of the 1920s. He appeared in more than thirty films from 1921 to 1934.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 92. Photo: S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Malcolm Tod in the late silent film Il carnevale di Venezia (Mario Almirante 1928). On Italian postcards, Tod's name was often misspelt.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 247. Photo: Production Natan.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Édition, Paris, no. 68.

Smart, slightly snobbish aristocrats and gentlemen

Malcolm Tod was born in 1897 in Burton-on-Trent, England. He was the son of a brewer. During the First World War, he served on the French front. On 6 September 1917, when serving as 1st lieutenant in the First Black Watch Regiment, he married Margaret Bates.

After the war, he worked as an actor, growing from small 'walk-on' parts and extras in mass scenes to leads. In front of the camera, he convincingly played smart, slightly snobbish aristocrats and gentlemen.

From 1921, he acted in British silent cinema. Tod had a prolific career in the early 1920s as a supporting actor in crime films and detectives for Master Films and Stoll Picture Productions, with leading actors like Victor McLaglen, Ivy Close and Charles Hutchison.

From 1923, he also acted in French silent films, such as the Franco-Austrian coproduction Das Bildnis /The Portrait (Jacques Feyder, 1923) with Arlette Marchal, Victor Vina, Fred Louis Lerch and Armand Dufour, Les puits de Jacob / A Daughter of Israel (Edward José, 1925) with Betty Blythe and Léon Mathot, and Le berceau de dieu / The Cradle of God (Fred Leroy Granville, 1926) with an all-star cast of Mathot plus Stacia Napierkowska, Annette Benson, Joë Hamman, Gabriel Signoret, Musidora, André Roanne, Rachel Devirys, France Dhélia, and Gabriel De Gravone.

He also appeared in Rue de la paix (Henri Diamant-Berger 1927), starring Andrée Lafayette and Suzy Pierson, André Cornelis (Jean Kemm, 1927), in which Tod played both André and Justin Cornelis, opposite Suzy Pierson, Claude France and Georges Lannes, and Mon Paris (Albert Guyot 1928).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Editore, Milano, no. 4. Photo: Production Pittaluga Film, Torino.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 91. Photo: S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Maria Jacobini and Malcolm Tod in Il carnevale di Venezia (Mario Almirante, 1928). Exactly the same location and camera angle were already used five years before by Almirante in his film L'ombra / The Shadow (Mario Almirante, 1923).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 95. Photo: S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Maria Jacobini and Malcolm Tod in Il carnevale di Venezia (Mario Almirante, 1928).

Todd, not dead

From 1925, Malcolm Tod also acted in German films, such as Die Stadt der Versuchung / The City of Temptation (Walter Niebuhr, 1925) starring Olga Tschechova, Der Mitternachtswalzer / The Midnight Waltz (Heinz Paul, 1928) with Elisabeth Pinajeff, the comedy Saxophon-Susi / Suzy Saxophone (Carl Lamac, 1928) starring Anny Ondra, and the British-German film Die Siegerin / After the Verdict (Henrik Galeen, 1929) with Olga Tschechova and Warwick Ward.

In Germany, an extra 'd' was added to Tod's last name to avoid associations with death (Tod = death). A visit to Hollywood in 1925 didn't result in a breakthrough, so Tod continued his European career. In Britain, he starred in films like Poppies of Flanders (Arthur Maude, 1925) and The Woman Tempted (Maurice Elvey, 1926).

In 1927-1928, Tod acted in two Italian films by Mario Almirante for Pittaluga. The first film was Addio mia bella Napoli, shot in 1927 but then shelved and only released - quite unsuccessfully - in 1930 in a sonorised version, arranged by Guglielmo Zorzi, as Napoli che canta / The Double Adventure.

The second Italian film was Il carnevale di Venezia / The Carnival of Venice (Mario Almirante, 1928), starring Maria Jacobini, partly shot on location. In the sound era, Tod's career quickly halted. He had two last minor parts in the British films Love's Old Sweet Song (H. Manning Haynes, 1933) starring John Stuart, and in Nine Forty-Five (George King, 1934) starring Binnie Barnes.

In 1931, Malcolm Tod remarried to stage actress Jane Wood. After that, he apparently withdrew from the entertainment world. In 1939, he married his third wife, Pamela Ruth Burrows. His only two children were born of this marriage, Felicity Wendy Tod (born 1940) and April Belle Prunella Tod (1944). April later became a well-known Sports journalist. Malcolm Tod died in 1968 in Pitlochry, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, UK.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 102. Photo: S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Maria Jacobini and Malcolm Tod in Il carnevale di Venezia (Mario Almirante, 1928).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 106. Photo: S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Maria Jacobini and Malcolm Tod in Il carnevale di Venezia (Mario Almirante, 1928).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 107. Photo: S.A. Stefano Pittaluga. Maria Jacobini and Malcolm Tod in Il carnevale di Venezia (Mario Almirante, 1928).

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

15 New cards from G.D.I.

It's the 15th, and we make another splash in the wonderful postcard collection of the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. This time, I selected 15 postcards from a little brown album from the estate of the late film historians and journalists Tjitte de Vries and Atie Mul. It's a fan album containing postcards of Hollywood stars and European performers from the 1920s and 1930s. Amazing is the Dutch postcard of comedian Jo Buziau. This tiny comedian was the greatest star of the Dutch stage before WW II, and he also appeared in some lost silent films. His card is a rare find. Furthermore, the album contained delicious postcards of some of the most glamorous screen stars of the 1920s. Enjoy!


German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 351/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass / Deutsche Bioscope.

Uschi Elleot (1899–1975) was a German stage and film actress who starred in several silent films. She was the younger sister of actress Carola Toelle. After her cinema career ended, she emigrated to the United States and married an American.


German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 363/2, 1919-1924. Photo: 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. 1868/1, 1927-1928. Photo: First National.

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.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3583/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.

German actress Maria Paudler (1903-1990) was a popular star of the late silent cinema. She also played the leading role in the first German TV film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3683/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Defina.

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. 4398/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox.

American film actress Mary Astor (1906–1987) was famous for her part as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart. She won an Oscar as best supporting actress for The Great Lie (1941). Astor had a long acting career that already started in the silent era in 1921 and included over 100 films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5103/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Phyllis Haver (1899-1960) was an American actress of the silent film era. With her curvy figure and blonde hair, she started her career as one of the most popular of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties. Haver quickly worked her way up to leading roles, and she was signed by Cecil B. De Mille. Among her best roles were Roxy Hart in the first film version of Chicago (1927) and as Shanghai Mabel in What Price Glory? (1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5623/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Aileen Pringle (1895-1989) was an American film actress of the silent screen. She was catapulted into stardom by her appearance in the Goldwyn production Three Weeks (Alan Crosland, 1924) with Conrad Nagel.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5655/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Fox.

Marguerite Churchill (1910-2000) was an American film actress with a film career spanning from 1929 to 1952. She is best known today as John Wayne's first leading lady, in The Big Trail (1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5671/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa.

German actress and singer Else Elster (1910-1998) appeared in over forty films during the Weimar and Nazi eras.


Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1005. Photo: Nordisk Films Kompagni, Copenhagen.

Lilly Jacobsson (1893-1979), aka Lilly Jacobson, was a Swedish actress who starred in Swedish and Danish silent films by Eric Malmberg, Mauritz Stiller and Holger-Madsen. She was the leading lady of the popular Danish film Maharadjahens Yndlingshustru / The Maharaja’s Favourite Wife (1917).


Dutch postcard by Weenenk & Snel, Den Haag. Photo: Willem Coret.

Johan Buziau, aka Buziau (1877-1958), was a Dutch clownish comedian and revue artist.


French postcard by Europe, no. 969. Photo: Star Film. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1932.

Anna May Wong (1905-1961) will become the first Asian American to be on U.S. currency. She was the first Chinese-American movie star and 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).


Dutch postcard, no. 180. Photo: Universal. Genevieve Tobin and Conrad Nagel in Free Love (Hobart Henley, 1930).

American actress Genevieve Tobin (1899-1995) appeared in a few silent films as a child and formed a double role with her sister, Vivian. Her peak years as an actress were in the 1930s. She mostly played smaller roles in screwball comedies.

American actor Conrad Nagel (1897-1970) was a tall, blue-eyed matinee idol of the 1920s. He successfully made the transition to sound film.


Dutch postcard for Passage Theater, Den Haag (The Hague). Photo: Gaumont British / F.H. Film. Cicely Courtneidge in Aunt Sally (Tim Whelan, 1934). The Dutch title was Tante Sally. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

British actress Cicely Courtneidge (1893–1980) was an elegantly knockabout comedienne. For 62 years, she formed a husband and wife team with comedian Jack Hulbert on stage, radio, TV and in the cinema. During the 1930’s they also starred together in eleven British films and one disastrous American production.

All postcards are part of the collection of the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute (GDI). Our next GDI post will be on 15 February 2026.