La Collectionneuse: Mirror, Mirror, Part 2

The use of mirrors has become established in films. It developed as a device in the European silent cinema in the 1910s to distinguish the new medium from theatre and to connect film more with painting. Mirrors are often used for visual dialogues between off-screen and on-screen characters and for creating excitement and voyeurism in films. Last week, Ivo Blom selected postcards in which the mirror is an important and intriguing device in the picture. Today, Marlene Pilaete presents her interesting selection of 15 actresses and mirrors. Marlene: ""Here is a selection of my own “mirror” film star cards. I hope you’ll enjoy them."


French postcard, no. 153. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: “Les jolies jambes de Mistinguett” (“Mistinguett’s pretty legs”).

French actress and singer Mistinguett (1875-1956) captivated Paris with her risqué routines. She went on to become the most popular French entertainer of her time and the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. She appeared more than 60 times in the cinema.


British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd., no. C.M. 433 F.

Poppy Wyndham (1893-1928) starred in several British pictures in 1919 and 1920. She then turned to interior design before developing a passion for flying. An aviation pioneer, she died while trying to cross the Atlantic by plane in 1928.


Indian postcard by Jugatram & Co., Bombay, no. 295. Caption: Miss Jubeda, prominent Indian screen star.

Zubeida (1911-1988) was a major Indian film star from 1924 to the mid-1930s. She notably was the heroine of Alam Ara/The Light of the World (Ardeshir Irani, 1931), the first Indian talkie.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 472.

Dorothy Dalton was an American actress of the silent screen, at Kay-Bee, Thomas Ince Corp, and Famous Players/ Paramount. In the early 1920s she was a huge film star.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5551. Photo: Fox.

Brunette, petite American actress Sharon Lynn (1901-1963) was featured in several Fox movies from 1928 to 1930, including musicals such as Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (1929), Happy Days (1929) and Let’s Go Places (1930). However, her most famous role is certainly the evil saloon singer Lola Marcel in Way Out West (1937) with Laurel and Hardy.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5999. Photo: Ifuk Verleih / Delog Film.

Blond, German actress Charlotte Susa (1898-1967), was a major operetta star of the German-speaking world, and also a popular femme fatale of the German silent and early sound film.


Postcard by I.P., no. 1002b. Photo: MGM.

Mary Carlisle (1914-2018) was one of the 1930’s cutest Hollywood blondes. She was featured in about 40 movies from 1933 to 1939. She was Bing Crosby’s co-star in College Humor (1933), Double or Nothing (1937) and Doctor Rhythm (1938).


British postcard by Raphael Tuck & Sons, no. 10. Photo: Gaumont-British.

Evelyn Laye (1900–1996) was one of England's most popular stars of musical revue and operetta during the 1920s. She did a few screen appearances in both London and Hollywood, including in the classic musical Evensong (1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9314/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Paramount.

Sylvia Sidney (1910-1999) was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned over 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s, such as An American Tragedy (1931), City Streets (1931), Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage (1936), and Fritz Lang's Fury (1936) and You Only Live Once (1937). She later gained attention for her role as Juno, a caseworker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton's film Beetlejuice (1988), and she was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2289/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Paramount.

American actress and singer Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996) is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... comedies, starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. During World War II, Lamour was among the most popular pin-up girls among American servicemen.


Italian postcard. Photo: M. de Nisco.

A popular revue performer, Vera Rol (1920-1973) had leading roles in two Italian films in the second part of the 1940s: Malaspina (1947) and Nennella (1948).


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 436.

American actress Judith Braun (1930) had the leading female role, as a Red Cross worker, in Universal’s Redball Express (1952), a movie about military truck drivers during Second World War. However, she quickly turned to television and was featured in several TV series until 1962, including Perry Mason and Wanted : Dead or Alive.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 490.

Sophia Loren (1934) rose to fame in post-war Italy as a voluptuous sex goddess. Soon after, she became one of the most successful stars of the 20th Century, who won an Oscar for her mother role in La ciociara/Two Women (Vittorio De Sica, 1960).


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 51/14.

American actress Shelley Winters (1920-2006) appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television. She was a major film presence for six decades, and turned herself from a Blonde Bombshell into a widely-respected actress who won two Oscars, for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965). Less known, Winters also appeared in several European films, including Alfie (1966) and Roman Polanski's Le Locataire (1976).



Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 1034.

Rita Pavone (1945) was one of the biggest teenage stars in Europe during the 1960s, and one of the few Italian pop stars to gain a foothold in the American market. Pavone also starred in several 'Musicarellos'.

See more posts by Marlene Pilaete in our special section La Collectionneuse.