EFSP's Dazzling Dozen: News from Didier

We were happy to receive new scans from Didier Hanson in Spain. He acquired interesting rare vintage postcards dating from the era of the Russian Empire. Included were postcards of legendary stage productions of the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky. There was also a series of postcards of Feodor Chaliapin, probably the best opera singer ever. Didier also sent us postcards of the silent film divas Vera Kholodnaya, Vera Karalli and Pola Negri. My favourite is the one with a scene from Ernst Lubitsch's Die Augen der Mumie Ma/The Eyes of the Mummy (1918). Watch the mirror!


Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1909. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Russian poet and actor Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist movement. He produced a large and diverse body of work: he wrote poems, wrote and directed plays, appeared in films, edited the art journal LEF, and created agitprop posters in support of the Communist Party during the Russian Civil War. Though Mayakovsky's work regularly demonstrated ideological and patriotic support for the ideology of the Communist Party, his relationship with the Soviet state was always complex and often tumultuous.


Russian postcard. Photo: Moscow Art Theatre. Publicity still for the stage play Tri sestry/Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Vasily Kachalov played the part of Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard. Photo: K. Fisher / Moscow Art Theatre. Publicity still for the stage play Tri sestry/Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Vasily Kachalov played the part of Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard. Photo: K. Fisher / Moscow Art Theatre. Publicity still for the stage play Tri sestry/Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Vasily Kachalov played the part of Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach and Vera Baranovskaya played Irina, the youngest sister. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Russian film and stage actor Vasily Kachalov (1875-1948) was one of Konstantin Stanislavsky's best known performers. He led the so-called Kachalov Group within the Moscow Art Theatre. He also appeared in four films.




Feodor Chaliapin. Russian postcard, no. 2036. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Feodor Chaliapin as Mephisto. Russian postcard, no. 499. Photo: K. Fisher. Publicity still for the stage production of Arrigo Boito's opera Mefistofele. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin (Russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин) (1873–1938) was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large, deep and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.


Polaire. French postcard, no. 8307. Photo: H. Manuel. Publicity still for the stage play Claudine à Paris (1902) at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Vera Karalli, 1917. Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard, no. 140. Photo: publicity still for Posledneiye tango/Last Tango (Vyacheslav Viskovsky, 1918) with Vera Kholodnaya. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Pola Negri. German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3172. Photo: Alex Binder. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Charlie Chaplin and Pola Negri. Germna postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 453/2, 1919-1924. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2835. Photo: publicity still for Die Augen der Mumie Ma/The Eyes of the Mummy (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) with Pola Negri. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Thanks, Didier!

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.