Caricatures by Girus

The Italian artist Giuseppe Russo (1888-1960), better known as Girus, was a caricaturist by passion. His subjects were show business and politics and in the late 1910s and early 1920s he made a series of caricatures of actors for the postcard company CCM (Cesare Capello, Milano). Capello's firm was founded in 1908, used a logo with the letters CCM between 1919 and 1927, and changed its name in 1930 to Cecami.


Italian postcard by CCM (Cesare Capello, Milano). Caricature by Girus.

Dina Galli (1877-1951) was a classic Italian comedienne who also performed in Italian silent and sound cinema.


Italian postcard by CCM (Cesare Capello, Milano). Caricature by Girus.

Ermete Zacconi (1857-1948) was a monstre sacré of the Italian theater. He also acted in various Italian silent and sound films.


Italian postcard by CCM (Cesare Capello, Milano). Caricature by Girus.

Italian actress Maria Melato (1885-1950) appeared in the theatre, on the radio and in the cinema. Her films included Ritorno/Return (1914), Anna Karenina (1917) and Il volo degli aironi/The Flight of the Herons (1920). Unfortunately, all her films are considered lost.


Italian postcard by CCM (Cesare Capello, Milano). Caricature by Girus.

Italian actor Ermete Novelli (1851-1919) was a legendary monstre sacré of the theatre. In the 1910s he appeared in films by Film d'Arte Italiana, Ambrosio and Raggio Film.

A caricaturist by passion

Giuseppe Russo (Girus) was born in Catanzaro, Italy, in 1888. Although trained as a dental technician, he was also a caricaturist by passion.

One day he asked Pio Vanzi - humourist and editor-in-chief of the Roman monthly Noi e il mondo by Lucio d'Ambra - if he could caricature him. He was thus discovered and brought to the capital, where he was successful with subjects related to current affairs in show business and politics.

He collaborated with various publications, also arriving at L'asino, Il becco giallo, the Milanese Guerin Meschino (at least from 1924 to 1939), and Il Travaso (until 1943).

He also tried his hand, with pleasing results, at comics, drawing characters and stories for the Corriere dei Piccoli between 1933 and 1935, such as the serial stories 'Il tesoro dei Caracai', 'Il Castello dei misteri' and 'Le fatiche d'Ercole'.

He collaborated with Guglielmo Giannini's new political and satirical weekly L'Uomo Qualunque, from the first issue was published in the liberated capital on 27 December 1944. Giuseppe Russo died in 1960.


Italian postcard by CCM. Caricature by Girus.

Marinella Bragaglia (1882-1918) was an Italian theatre actress.


Italian postcard by CCM. Caricature by Girus.

Giovanni Grasso (1873-1930) was an Italian stage and screen actor. While he goes as the best Sicilian tragic actor and one of the best in Italy, he also had a limited but very important career in Italian silent cinema.


Italian postcard by CCM. Caricature by Girus.

Tina Di Lorenzo (1872-1930) was one of the 'grandes dames' of the Italian stage during the early twentieth century, nicknamed "Angelicata" and "La encantadora". In 1915 she also acted in two or three films. In 1901 she married reputed stage actor Armando Falconi, who would have a second career in Italian sound cinema.


Italian postcard by CCM. Caricature by Girus.

Oreste Calabresi (1857-1915) was considered one of the most important Italian theatrical actors in business between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He also acted in two films.

Sources: Silvia Cappellazzo (Esposizioni d’Arte umoristica e di Caricatura tra fine Ottocento e primo Novecento in Italia, Università Ca'Foscari, 2013), Fondazione Franco Fossati (Italian), and Misterkappa. Thanks to Luigi F. Bona (Chair Fondazione Franco Fossati).