Happy New Year! Bonne année! Frohes neues Jahr! Buon anno! 新年快乐! С Новым годом!

All the best for 2025! Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!, as we say in Dutch. Thanks for your visits and your comments in 2024. We hope to meet you all here again in 2025! My special thanks to the friends who contributed to EFSP this year 'La Collectionneuse' Marlene Pilaete, 'Ms Ross Verlag' Jean Ritsema,  Egbert Barten of the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute and 'Mr Sherlock' Erhannizzet! And of course to my partner in crime, Ivo Blom. 


German postcard by WHB, no. 8969. Image: Walt Disney. Sent by mail in 1932.


French postcard. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937). Caption: With all our wishes for a happy new year!


Spanish New Year Greetings postcard. Photo: Vicente Ibanez. Conchita Piquer. Collection: Marlène Pilaete.


British postcard, from 'Movie Star Photo Postcards', by Dover Publications, 1986.

Shirley Temple (1928-2014) was an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, and public servant, but everybody knows her as the most famous child star of the 1930s. Shirley could do it all: act, sing, and dance, and all at the age of five! Four years in a row, between 1935 and 1938, she was the top box-office draw for Hollywood. As an adult, she entered politics and became a diplomat, serving as United States Ambassador to Ghana and later to Czechoslovakia, and as Chief of Protocol of the United States.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7311/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

Hungarian-born singer and actress Márta Eggerth (1912-2013) maintained a global career for over 70 years. She was the popular and talented star of 30 German and Austrian operetta films of the 1930s. Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz, Oscar Straus, and Paul Abraham, composed works especially for her. After the rise of the Nazis, she continued her career with her partner Jan Kiepura in the US.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7720/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Hisa-Film-Vertrieb GmbH. Viktor de Kowa in Sag' mir, wer Du bist/Tell Me Who You Are (Georg Jacoby, 1933).


Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C 44. Photo: Universal International. Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.


Small Dutch collectors card. Myrna Hansen.


Small Dutch collectors card. Myrna Hansen.


Vintage card.

Austrian actress Romy Schneider (1938-1982) was one of the most beautiful and intelligent actors of her generation. Forty years after her death she still has an immense popular appeal.

Horst Buchholz (1933-2003) was the James Dean of the German Cinema. ‘Hotte’ was typecasted as a rebellious teenager in the late 1950s. He appeared in over sixty films between 1952 and 2002 and is now best remembered as the Mexican gunfighter Chico in The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960).


Dutch postcard by Ed. De Muinck & Co., Amsterdam. Image: Marten Toonder. Caption: Happy New Year. Tom Poes & heer Bommel (Tom Puss and Lord Bumble).


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Capelle ad IJssel / Brasschaat. Image: Joop Geesink's Dollywood, 1988. Caption: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Sent by mail in 1990.

Loeki de Leeuw (Loeki the Lion) was an animated puppet who appeared on Dutch public television from 1972 to 2004. He appeared in ultra-short sketches often even without any text and he was noted for his clumsiness and his catchphrase, "Asjemenou". KGF Vissers at IMDb compares the sketches with 'a one-line newspaper cartoon'. Loeki was named after the famous International football player Louis Biesbrouck (Loek), but also it is said that his name is a derivation of the verb to look. Dutch film producer and animator Joop Geesink (1913–1984) developed the character.


Linda Cristal. Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C-35. Photo: Universal International.


Gloria DeHaven. Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 856. Photo: Universal International. Caption: Happy New Year 1955.


Lucia Bosé. Italian postcard by Italfoto, Terni. Photo: Vedeo. 'Buon natale' on the calendar is Italian for 'Merry Christmas'. But is the year 1952 or 1958?


Jane Fonda. French postcard by EDUG, no. 377. Photo: Sam Levin.


Our Gang. Dutch postcard. Photo: a publicity shot of the Little Rascals a.k.a. Our Gang with Dickie Moore in the middle. Caption: "Gelukkig Nieuwjaar" (Happy New Year).


Ingrid Bergman. Dutch postcard. Sent by mail in 1950. Caption: "Gelukkig Nieuwjaar".


Renate Müller. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8243/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.


Margareta Pislaru. Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Czech postcard by Orbis, no. D107-7. Photo: publicity still for Špalíček/The Czech Year (Jiri Trnka 1947). Caption: radostne vanoce a mnoho uspechu v novem roce (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).


Dutch postcard by L. & B. -B. Sent by mail in 1925. Caption: Happy New Year!


Spanish postcard, no. 132. Caption: Evelin Smith (sic?).