French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 74. Photo: George Hurrell / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
American actress Norma Shearer (1902-1983) was the 'First Lady of MGM'. She was married to the head of the production at MGM, Irving Thalberg. Norma wanted to play a sexy vamp in the film The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930), but, up until that time, she was known for her 'all-American girl next door' image. When she showed the script to her husband, he replied “Honey, I don’t think this part is for you. You are not sexy in THAT way.” After seeing Hurrell's photos of Ramon Novarro, she decided to have some photos taken by Hurrell so that she could convince her husband that she was indeed sexy in THAT way. Hurrell's photos convinced her husband, Shearer got the film role and their marriage improved. Shearer won the Academy Award for Best Actress as a result of her portrayal in that film, and Hurrell was offered a job as a portrait photographer at MGM.
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3948. Photo: Pathé /N.V. City film, Den Haag. Brigitte Bardot in La femme et le pantin/The Female (Julien Duvivier, 1958).
Beautiful French actress Brigitte Bardot (1934) was the sex kitten of the European film industry. Her box office hit La femme et le pantin/The Female (Julien Duvivier, 1958) is the fifth film adaptation of the novel by Pierre Louÿs, after versions by Reginald Barker (1920), Jacques de Baroncelli (1929), Josef von Sternberg (1935), and Wali Eddine Sameh (1946), and followed by Luis Buñuel's Cet obscur objet du désir (1977). BB starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement in 1973, she established herself as an animal rights activist and made vegetarianism sexy.
French postcard by A.N. Paris, no. 753. Photo: Osso. Albert Préjean in Un Soir De Rafle/Night Raid (Carmine Gallone, 1931).
French actor and singer Albert Préjean (1894-1979) was a former WWI flying ace. He is best known for playing heroes in the silent films of René Clair, and for playing George Simenon's detective Maigret. in Un Soir De Rafle/Night Raid, he played a sailor, who defeats a former boxing champ in a contest at a fair. The ex-champ trains the sailor to enter the European championship.
German postcard by Verlag Harlip, no. 611. Photo: Harlip.
Exotic, brunette actress Tamara Desni (1910–2008) was the daughter of Ukrainian-born film star Xenia Desni. Tamara started her stage and film career as a child in Berlin and appeared in several British films during the 1930s and 1940s.
Hungarian postcard by FM, no. 5119. Photo: MOFilm. Rudolph Valentino in The Young Rajah (Phil Rosen, 1922).
Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was Hollywood's ultimate 'Latin Lover'. The Italian-born American actor starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Sheik (1922), Blood and Sand (1922), The Eagle (1925), and The Son of the Sheik (1926). His early death at age 31 caused mass hysteria among his female fans and propelled him into iconic status.
French card by Ste Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.
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.
French postcard in the Les Vedettes de l'Écran series by Éditions Filma, no. 112.
René Cresté (1881-1922) was a French stage and film actor and director of the silent film era. He is best remembered as the amazingly cool title character in the crime-adventure serial Judex (1917-1918), directed by Louis Feuillade. Judex was the first superhero of the cinema.
French card by Massilia.
French star Paulette Dubost (1910-2011) appeared in more than 150 films during her 81-year career. She was a witty, naughty and clever comedienne in many French comedies of the 1930s. She also proved to be good in dramatic roles, such as Ginette in Hotel du Nord (1938) and Lisette in La règle du jeu (1939).
Dutch postcard by Croese Bosman Universal, no. 63. Sent by mail in 1933.
Blonde and utterly beautiful Mary Nolan (1905-1948) was known for her appearances on stage, on screen, and in tabloids. She began her show-business career as a teenage model and soon Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. signed her up for his Follies shows on Broadway. As a Jazz-Age baby and party girl by nature, Mary soon earned the nickname of Bubbles. Her abusive affair with married Ziegfeld comedian Frank Tinney stirred up a major sex scandal. The tabloids exposed the affair after Mary was seriously hospitalised during one of their many arguments. Mary was fired by Ziegfeld and fled to Germany where she starred in films under the name Imogene Robertson. In 1927 she returned to Hollywood as Mary Nolan and starred in several films till 1932. Later, she suffered several nervous breakdowns and her health declined. She turned to heroin, and it spelt the end. In 1948, she died of cardiac arrest and liver problems, at only 42 years old.
Spanish postcard by Cinema - Revista Quincenal.
Handsome and talented actor Jorge Mistral (1920-1972) became a star in Spanish films during the 1940s. In the 1950s, he lived and worked in México and appeared in Luis Buñuel's Abismos de pasión/Wuthering Heights (1954). Later, in the 1960s, he directed three films.
German postcard by Verl. Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 6972. Photo: Terra-Film. Ernst Winar in Aschermittwoch/Ash Wednesday (Otto Rippert, 1921).
Dutch actor Ernst Winar (1894-1978) appeared in 34 films between 1916 and 1955, in The Netherlands and as well in Germany. He was also a film director and made 14 films between 1922 and 1955. Later he edited the first short films of Paul Verhoeven.
French postcard by Editions et Publications cinématographiques (EPC), no. 168.
Eleanor Powell (1912-1982) was an American dancer and actress, best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, such as Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937), Honolulu (1939), and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940).
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4700. Photo: Hafbo.
Craggy-faced Eddie Constantine (1917-1993) was an American actor and singer who spent his career as a tough guy in European films. He became famous for a series of French B movies in which he played private eye Lemmy Caution, based on the hero of the detective novels by Peter Cheyney.
British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 285. Photo: Tunbridge.
Binkie Stuart (1932-2001) was a British child star. She won a Daily Mail contest as "London's Prettiest Baby" in 1935. Through this, she came to the attention of director Monty Banks, who saw her as England's answer to Shirley Temple. But Stuart never even approached the stardom of Temple in her brief film career, which was cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 185.
Beautiful Barbara La Marr (1896–1926) was an American film actress, who appeared in twenty-seven films during her career between 1920 and 1926. The "Girl Who Is Too Beautiful" was noted for her beauty and her tempestuous marital history. After some early experience in Vaudeville, she became a screenplay writer, and then a performer, appearing with Douglas Fairbanks and others in over thirty films, as well as dancing on Broadway. Her hedonistic lifestyle in Hollywood, with heavy drug dependence, led to her early death.
Thank you, Maria!
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