08 June 2023

Fräulein Else (1929)

Fräulein Else/Miss Else (1929) was Elisabeth Bergner's last silent film. It was based on Arthur Schnitzler's novella of the same name.

Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else (1929)
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 6656. Photo: Poetic-Film. Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else/Miss Else (Paul Czinner, 1929).

Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else (1929)
German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 6568. Photo: Atelier W.v. Debschitz-Kunowski, Berlin. Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else/Miss Else (Paul Czinner, 1929).

Clad only in a white fur coat


In Fräulein Else/Miss Else, Elisabeth Bergner plays the carefree daughter of a Viennese lawyer. She is spending a happy winter holiday in St. Moritz, with her cousin Paul (Jack Trevor) and his mother (Adele Sandrock).

Then she receives the news that her father (Albert Bassermann) is in financial distress: he has gambled away his clients' money on the stock exchange. Only the wealthy art dealer Von Dorsday (Albert Steinrück), who is also in St. Moritz and has his eye on Else, could save him.

Else asks him for the money, but he sets one condition. He wants to see Else naked. She struggles with her decision. Finally, she takes poison and goes to him, clad only in a white fur coat. In the hotel bar, in front of everyone, she lets the coat slip down before his eyes and dies.

Fräulein Else was scripted by Paul Czinner and Béla Balázs, and cinematographed by Karl Freund, Adolf Schlasy and Robert Baberske. Exteriors were shot in Vienna and St. Moritz. The German premiere took place on 7 March 1929 at the Berlin cinema Capitol.

Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else (1928-29)
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5689. Photo: Poetic Film/Lux-Film Verleih. Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else (Paul Czinner, 1929).

The great creator of soulful nuances


While the Geman press was extremely laudatory about Bergner and Czinner's previous films such as Liebe (1927) and Dona Juana (1928), it was more critical of this film. Unjustly perhaps, for when we saw the film in 2004 at the Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, it was a heartbreaking film, that well expresses all of the mise-en-scene and cinematographic mastery of late 1920s German cinema.

Rudolf Kurtz in Lichtbild-Bühne, 8 March 1929: "The renunciation of all noisy, theatrical effects leads Czinner to seek his effects with quiet, dramatic means. He masters the register of retardation: it is excellently done how Bergner does not dare to address the brutal fellow, how she runs after him, turns away, approaches again, disappears behind a pillar, again a few steps forward - until the final meeting seems almost like a dramatic redemption.

Czinner uses the same means to stage the end, when the Bergner goes into the art dealer's room, does not find him, and pursues him - while the poison is already destroying her vital forces. Czinner has written the manuscript with a haunting rigidity for Elisabeth Bergner, as he conceives her. For him, she is the great creator of soulful nuances, of delicately passing spiritual subtlety, a person who expresses her inner self completely with rare art.

This is undoubtedly Bergner's strength, but this art alone does not provide the prerequisites for an effective film. Film effect is a dramatic effect with optical means: and what Bergner needs above all is the strong, firmly established dramatic framework into which she can fit, which provides the possibilities for her skill, and at the same time engages the spectator in the structure of a plot that goes to the heart.

It must be said again and again: Bergner is a great possession of German cinema. There is hardly an actress in the whole world whose face, whose body is such a pure expression of her inner life. With an inconceivable clarity, the sorrow and joy of her soul speak from her expression; here is a precious material that can only be classified in cinematic occasions with a strong hand. Only an artist of high rank is able to create an inner tension with pictorial monologues, without a partner, relying only on herself, which has a genuinely dramatic effect."

Albert Steinrück and Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else (1929)
German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 6657. Photo: Poetic-Film. Albert Steinrück and Elisabeth Bergner in Fräulein Else/Miss Else (Paul Czinner, 1929).

Elisabeth Bergner
Vintage postcard, no. 3950. Photo: Atelier Geiringer & Horovitz (Trude Geiringer & Dora Horovitz), Wien. Bergner wears the fur coat from the final scene in Fräulein Else.

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

07 June 2023

Varischi & Artico

In 1900, Italian photographers Arturo Varischi and Giovanni Artico assumed ownership of the L. Ricci portrait studio where they had both trained as employees. Varischi & Artico gained a reputation for infant portraits and for their ability to attract famous actors like Lyda Borelli, Irma Gramatica and Tina di Lorenzo, but also musicians, singers, and writers to their studio. For this post, we selected 25 film and stage star postcards with portraits by Varischi & Artico.

Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard. Photo: Varischi & Artico. Lyda Borelli.

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

Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2015. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano. Lyda Borelli.

Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2023. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co, Milano. Lyda Borelli.

Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2125. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano. Lyda Borelli.

Lyda Borelli and Giannina Chiantoni in La figlia di Jorio
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2120. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co, Milano. Lyda Borelli and Giannina Chiantoni in Gabriele D'Annunzio's stage play 'La figlia di Jorio' (1904)

Lyda Borelli in La figlia di Jorio
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2152. Photo: Varischi Artico Co., Milano. Lyda Borelli as Favetta in the stage play 'La figlia di Jorio' by Gabriele D'Annunzio (1904).

In 1903, Gabriele D'Annunzio wrote the drama 'La figlia di Jorio' (The Daughter of Jorio), a pastoral tragedy situated in the Abruzzi mountains in the centre of Italy. On 2 March 1904, the stage company Talli-Calabresi-Grammatica performed the premiere of the play at the Teatro Lirico in Milan. The protagonist should have been Eleonora Duse, but she fell ill. D' Annunzio, whose relationship with Duse was fading, didn't wait for her healing and gave the female lead to Irma Grammatica - which hurt Duse dearly. The painter Francesco Paolo Michetti, a good friend of D'Annunzio, designed the sets and costumes. The play was a huge success, also in Chieti in Abruzzi when it was performed there the same year. In 1907, with D'Annunzio's permission, a version in the Abruzzi dialect was written and performed.

Giannina Chiantoni as Ornella in La figlia di Jorio (1904)
Italian postcard by RA, no. 3515. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano. Giannina Chiantoni as Ornella in 'La figlia di Jorio' (1904).

Ruggero Ruggeri in La figlia di Jorio (1906)
Italian postcard by RA, no. 3546. Photo: Varischi Artico.& Co., Milano. Mailed 18 May 1906. Ruggero Ruggeri as Aligi in 'La figlia di Jorio' (1904).

Oreste Calabresi in La figlia di Jorio
Italian postcard by RA, no. 3557. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano. Oreste Calabresi as Lazaro in 'La figlia di Jorio' ( 1904).

Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard. Photo: Varischi & Artico, Milano. Lyda Borelli.


Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard. Photo: Varischi & Artico, Milano. Lyda Borelli.

Lyda Borelli
Italian postcard. Photo: Varischi & Artico, Milano. Lyda Borelli.

Daguerreotype business


In 1900, Arturo Varischi and Giovanni Artico became the owners of the portrait studio and photo laboratory of Leone Ricci in Milano, Italy, where they had both been trained.

Ricci had started his daguerreotype business already before 1850 and thus was one of the earliest photographers in Milano. His studio had a long history of portraying the Milanese bourgeoisie and aristocracy and Varischi & Artico Company continued this tradition.

Giovanni Artico was born in Vittorio Veneto in 1868. After his studies in chemistry, he established himself in Milan. Like many young contemporaries, he was interested in the upcoming business of photography. He chose to start working in the portrait studio of Leone Ricci.

There he met another employee, Arturo Varischi, and the two decided to take over Ricci's business.
The two photographers conveniently shared their business location (first Corso Vittorio Emanuele 110-111, later Corso Vittorio Emanuele 22) with Angelo Pettazzi, an established merchant and producer of photographic equipment and supplies.

Most of the photos of Varischi & Artico date from 1900-1920, while the company name was first spelt as Varischi, Artico & Co., and later on as Varischi & Artico Co. On postcards, the credit reads Fot. Varischi & Artico - Milano - as on the postcard above.

Irma Gramatica
Italian postcard by TCR, no. 1. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano. Irma Gramatica.

Irma Gramatica (1867-1962) was an Italian stage and screen actress, known for her talent but also for her temper.

Irma Gramatica
Italian postcard by TCR, no. 2. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co., Milano. Irma Gramatica.

Mercedes Brignone
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2027. Photo: Varischi Artico e C., Milano. Mercedes Brignone.

Mercedes Brignone (1885-1967) was an Italian theatre, film and television actress. She was a major star in Italian silent cinema of the 1910s and early 1920s. In the 1930s and early 1940s, she often played secondary parts in Italian sound films.

Mercedes Brignone
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2052. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co. Milano. Mercedes Brignone.
Mercedes Brignone
Italian postcard by AR, no. 2055. Photo: Varischi Artico e C., Milano. Mercedes Brignone.

Mercedes Brignone
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2061. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co. Milano. Sent by mail in Belgium in 1917. Mercedes Brignone.

Mercedes Brignone
Italian postcard by RA, no. 2074. Photo: Varischi Artico & Co. Milano. Sent by mail in Belgium in 1906. Mercedes Brignone.

Mercedes Brignone
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 1. Photo: Varischi Artico e C., Milano. Mercedes Brignone.

Performers of the Scala


Arturo Varischi and Giovanni Artico soon gained a reputation for their infant portraits. They were also known for their ability in attracting famous artists to their studio. Renowned opera performers from the Scala flocked to Varischi & Artico Co. for their publicity by use of souvenir photographs and picture postcards.

They also attracted famous musicians like Arturo Toscanini, stage actors and writers to their studio. Soon also the first film stars were portrayed by them. One of their most popular subjects was the first diva of the silent Italian cinema, Lyda Borelli. Notable is also their series of colour portraits.

Arturo Varischi died prematurely. In 1923 Artico took over on his own and transformed the 19th-century portrait studio into a modern business.

Giovanni Artico died in 1930, and his widow, Regina Trelancia, continued the activities till 1933. Later their son Carlo Artico also became a photographer and reopened Studio Artico in Milan.

In the archive of Studio Artico, there are about 70 original photos of famous personalities like author Giovanni Verga and actress Tina de Lorenzo, which were signed by the sitters. They show the artistry and craftsmanship of Artico. Many prints of his work can be found in archives all over Italy, especially in Milan.

Tina Di Lorenzo
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 2. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano. Tina Di Lorenzo.

Tina Di Lorenzo (1872-1930) was one of the 'grand dames' of the Italian stage during the early twentieth century, nicknamed "Angelicata" and "La encantadora". In 1915 she also acted in two or three films. In 1901 she married reputed stage actor Armando Falconi, who would have a second career in Italian sound cinema.

Tina Di Lorenzo
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 13. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano. Sent by mail on 12 May 1903. Tina Di Lorenzo.

Armando Falconi and Tina Di Lorenzo
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 19. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano. Armando Falconi and Tina Di Lorenzo.

Armando Falconi (1871-1954) was an Italian stage and screen actor. Though he was foremost a theatre actor and comedian, he had a prolific career as a comedian in Italian cinema of the 1930s and early 1940s. He was married to the famous stage actress Tina Di Lorenzo, with whom he also often acted together.

Tina Di Lorenzo
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 23. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano. Sent by mail on 18-12-1903. Tina Di Lorenzo.

Tina Di Lorenzo
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 39. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano. Tina Di Lorenzo.

Lidia Gauthier
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 3. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano.

Lidia Gauthier (?-?) is a little-known Italian stage actress who in the 1900s though knew a certain reputation and was portrayed by photo studios such as Varischi Artico. She acted e.g. at the stage company of Teresa Mariani, where Gianna Chiantoni was the leading actress.

Elisa Severi
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 4. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano.

Elisa Severi (1872-1930) started as a stage actress. She joined the Drammatica Compagnia Palladini-Talli in 1894, and headed a company with Oreste Calabresi for the 1905-1906 season, with Mercedes Brignone as one of the company's other actresses. Severi appeared in twenty silent films between 1913 and 1921. She was the grandmother of the famous film director Mario Monicelli.

Giulia Cassini Rizzotto
Italian postcard by NPG, no. 10. Photo: Varischi Artico & C., Milano.

Giulia Cassini Rizzotto (1865-1943) was an Italian actress and film director, kindergarten teacher, novelist, translator and writer. She appeared in many films in Italy including Malombra (1917) and Fabiola (1918) and directed five films herself. She was married to the actor Alfonso Cassini.

Sources: Giovanna Ginex (Varischi e Artico fotografi a Milano: i primi decenni del secolo), Silvia Paoli (Lo studio e laboratorio fotografico Artico, Rivista di storia e fotografia, no. 24, II, december 1996), Max Hochstetler (Luminous Lint), and Claudia Morgan (Commune di Trieste) (Italian).

06 June 2023

La Collectionneuse: Nita Naldi

With her exotic looks, Nita Naldi was one of the most famous Hollywood vamps of the 1920s. She notably co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in three movies. Interestingly enough, she also had a leading role in an early Alfred Hitchcock film. About her career, she once wittily declared: "They had ermine tails and paradises in my hair and a couple of snakes coiled around my neck. In real life, believe me, any man of sensibilities would have run 20 miles to get out of my sight".

Nita Naldi
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).

Nita Naldi
Spanish postcard by Ediciones Adolfo Zerkowitz, Barcelona, no. C-70. Photo: Paramount.

Nita Naldi
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini (B.F.F. Edit.), no. 119. Photo: Films Paramount. Nita Naldi in The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. De Mille, 1923).

Nita Naldi
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini (B.F.F. Edit.), no. 120. Photo: Films Paramount. Nita Naldi in The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. De Mille, 1923).

Nita Naldi
British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars Series by Beagles, no. 101 U. Photo: Paramount.

Nita Naldi on stage


Nita Naldi was born Mary Nonna Dooley on the 13th of November 1894 in New York, U.S.A.

Several years after her father had left the family, her mother passed away in 1915.

She soon turned to the stage and her first known Broadway credit was in 'Follow the Girl' in 1918.

She also appeared, e.g., in 'The Passing Show of 1918', a lavish revue produced by the famous Lee and Jacob J. Shubert.

Nita Naldi
American AZO postcard.

Nita Naldi
Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 193.

Nita Naldi
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 873/4, 1925-1926. Photo: Paramount.

Nita Naldi
Croatian postcard by Edit. Caklovic, Zagreb, no. 76. Photo: Bosna-Film.

Nita Naldi
Mexican postcard by CIE, no. 1322.

Her first steps in movies


The movie industry took interest in her and she was noticed as dancer Gina, a victim of the sinister Mr. Hyde, in Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), opposite John Barrymore.

Although of Irish descent, Nita Naldi had a type of beauty which mixed Latin and oriental features that gave an exotic flavour to her screen persona and prevented her to play wholesome All-American girls.

As a result, she quickly became typecast.

For example, she is a vamp whose extravagant demands cause her victim to forge a check in Life (1921), a malevolent mistress in The Common Sin (1920), a Spanish coquette in A Divorce of Convenience (1921), a money-hungry revue dancer in Channing of the Northwest (1922) and appropriately plays a character called Temptation in the allegory film Experience (1921).

Nita Naldi
Italian postcard.

Nita Naldi
Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 194.

Nita Naldi
British postcard by Picturegoer, no. 142. Photo: Paramount.

Nita Naldi
Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 656.

Nita Naldi
Romanian postcard.

Paramount’s no. 1 vamp


She got her big break when she was chosen to play man-eater Dona Sol in Blood and Sand (1922), opposite Rudolph Valentino. Her success prompted Paramount to sign her and she became their no. 1 vamp.

She played the role to the hilt: she is, notably, Countess Rostoff, an international thief, in Anna Ascends (1922), a vampy owner of a crooked gambling house who financially ruins Hope Hampton’s husband in Lawful Larceny (1923), a surgeon’s wife who seduces Lewis Stone, although he’s married to Leatrice Joy, in You Can’t Fool Your Wife (1923), a promiscuous opera diva who adds Jack Holt to her list of conquests, much to the chagrin of Agnes Ayres who sincerely loves him, in Don’t Call it Love (1923) and an actress with whom Matt Moore is infatuated with, which provokes her husband’s jealousy, in The Breaking Point (1924).

In Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1923), she plays evil Eurasian Sally Lung and her death scene especially stood out. To her lover who, in need of money, had pressed her for the return of a set of expensive pearls he had bought her, she nixes the idea by answering "Poor Sally would catch a cold without her pearls". After realizing that he won’t get anything from her, he takes the necklace by force and declares he’s through with her. She retaliates by telling him she’s a leper and that he most probably got the disease from her. Horrified, he shoots her and she utters, before expiring, "Danny dear, I’ll tell the devil you won’t be far behind", which proves prophetic as he soon dies in a fatal boat accident.

In March 1923, a beautiful portrait of her posing with a faun by Alberto Vargas was published in Shadowland. For the magazine, the artist added clothing on her left breast, which, in the original drawing, was naked.

Over the years, recurrent remarks in the press about her weight somewhat hampered her career and reviewers were not always subtle when discussing her girth. Her Paramount contract ended with A Sainted Devil (1924), as Carlotta, Rudolph Valentino’s jealous former girlfriend.

Nita Naldi
Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 115.

Nita Naldi
Spanish postcard by La Novela Grafica, no. 14.

Nita Naldi
Swedish postcard by Forlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1256.

Nita Naldi
Italian postcard. Nita Naldi in A Sainted Devil (Joseph Henabery, 1924).

Nita Naldi
French postcard by Europe, no. 197. Photo: United Artists Corporation, New York. Nita Naldi and Rudolph Valentino in Cobra (Joseph Henabery, 1925)

Last Hollywood films and Nita Naldi in Europe


She soon reteamed with Valentino in her third and final film with him, Cobra (1925), as ambitious and unscrupulous Elise Van Zile.

In What Price Beauty, produced by Valentino’s wife, Natacha Rambova, she is Rita Rinaldi, a vamp who competes with country girl Mary for the love of a man. This movie was made in 1925 but was only distributed in 1928.

Among Nita Naldi‘s last Hollywood roles were Toinette, a cabaret dancer with whom Corinne Griffith’s husband has an affair, in The Marriage Whirl (1925), Fifi, who is the reason why Virginia Valli breaks her engagement to Lewis Stone, in The Lady Who Lied (1925) and Blanchita d’Acosta, a revue star who entices Hope Hampton’s fiancé in The Unfair Sex (1926). She also appeared in Clothes Make the Pirate (1925) a Leon Errol comedy.

In 1926, she left for Europe, where she played the unusual role of a schoolteacher in the Anglo-German co-production The Mountain Eagle/Der Bergadler (1926), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

She also went to France for La femme nue (1926), as the wealthy Princesse de Chabran, Louise Lagrange’s love rival, and to Austria for Die Pratermizzi (1926), as a mysterious masked dancer who fascinates Anny Ondra’s boyfriend. In August 1929, she married James Searle Barclay Jr.,  in Paris. He hailed from a wealthy Long Island family and had been her lover for several years.

Nita Naldi
American postcard by Exhibit Supply Co., Chicago. Photo: First National. Nita Naldi in The Lady Who Lied (Edwin Carewe, 1925).

Nita Naldi
French postcard in Les vedettes de cinéma series by A.N. Paris, no. 184. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères.

Nita Naldi in La femme nue (1925)
Vintage postcard. Nita Naldi in La femme nue/The Model from Montmartre (Léonce Perret, 1926).

Nita Naldi
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 626. Photo: Sascha.

Nita Naldi and Igo Sym in Die Pratermizzi (1926)
Spanish postcard. Nita Naldi and Igo Sym in Die Pratermizzi/The Golden Mask (Karl Leiter, Gustav Ucicky, 1926). The Spanish title was La mascara de oro.

Harder times


Nita and her husband returned permanently to the U.S.A. in 1931 and, in 1932, she made her comeback on Broadway in a short-lived play starring Judith Anderson, 'Firebird'.

But her easy life was coming to an end: Nita Naldi and James Searle Barclay’s finances went downhill and she filed for bankruptcy in 1933. The couple had never been frugal in their expenses and Barclay’s wealth had melted away because of the Great Depression.

Afterwards, she occasionally went back to the stage and, in 1941, she was hired by Billy Rose to appear in his colourful Billy Rose Diamond Horseshoe Revue - The Silver Screen, in which she shared the bill with other old-timers such as Mae Murray, Gilda Gray and Carlyle Blackwell. She was widowed in 1945 and no probate was filed, as her husband had left so little money.

In 1952, she made her last appearance on Broadway as Marquesa Del Veccio Sporenza, a middle-aged woman fond of gigolos, in 'In Any Language', starring Uta Hagen. She could also be seen in several TV shows, such as The Robert Q. Lewis Show in 1950 or Jack Paar’s Tonight Show in 1958. On the 10th of March 1956, Nita, alongside the Gish Sisters, Leatrice Joy and Lila Lee, reminisced about the silent movie days on the CBS radio program 'Make up Your Mind'. In public, she always took care to maintain the old Nita Naldi image with jet-black hair, khôl-rimmed eyes, painted lips and long manicured nails.

During the last years of her life, the Actor’s Fund partially paid the rent of her room at the Wentworth Hotel in New York and she was plagued with health and sight problems. But she didn’t complain and kept her wit and her sense of humour. She passed away on the 17th of February 1961.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.