New acquisitions at G.D.I.: a gift from Kathinka Dittrich, Part 1

Yesterday, EFSP had a post on a collection of postcards which Egbert Barten of the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute (G.D.I.) recently acquired. G.D.I. also received another, much older album from German film historian and author Kathinka Dittrich. Between 1981 and 1986, she was director of the Goethe Institute in Amsterdam and gained fame through the 'Berlin-Amsterdam 1920-1940 - Interactions' project. In 1987, she became a doctor of letters at the University of Amsterdam with her dissertation 'Achter het Doek' (Behind the Screen), about German emigrants in the Dutch cinema during the 1930s. Around that time, a lady from Amsterdam gave her this album. In the album, a little card reveals the name of the original owner, Mrs. Rietje Smith-Van Eekeren. The album contains film star postcards which the young Rietje probably collected around 1930, and it contains several hand-coloured and quite rare cards. For today's post we did a selection of the black and white and sepia postcards. Tomorrow follows a post with the hand-coloured cards.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 663. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery in Untamed (Jack Conway, 1929). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 674. Photo: Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


John Gilbert. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 428/2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Pictures. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 504. Photo: Fanamet-Film. Betty Bronson in A Kiss for Cinderella (Herbert Brenon, 1925). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Andrée Lafayette. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5641. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Marion Gerth. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5814. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Marceline Day. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5486. Photo: Fox. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Betty Bronson. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1701/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Fanamet. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Pat & Patachon (Fy og Bi). German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4453/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Lothar Stark-Film. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Marie Prevost. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4467/1, 1929-1930. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dolores Costello. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4478/1, 1929-1930. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Bessie Love. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4516/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Maly Delschaft. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4623/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Badekow, Berlin. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Leni Riefenstahl. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4660/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Kiesel. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Clara Bow. German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. 4672/4, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount.


Davey Lee. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4733/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Defina / First National. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Lilian Harvey. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4884/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Mary Brian. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5147/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Davey Lee. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5184/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Warner Bros. / National. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


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.


Marlene Dietrich. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5582/3, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5964/3, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. Marlene Dietrich in Dishonored/Agent X27 (Josef von Sternberg, 1931). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5992/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount. Robert Coogan in Sooky (Norman Taurog, 1931). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6715/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount. Barbara Kent and Harold Lloyd in Feet First (Clyde Bruckman, 1930). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 160/4. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford and John Barrymore in Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Nancy Carroll. British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 400. Sent by mail from The Netherlands to Berlgium in 1930. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Source: Wikipedia (Dutch). And many thanks to Egbert Barten, Kathinka Dittrich and Mrs. Rietje Smith-Van Eekeren.