European Film Star Postcards: Terra-Color

20 February 2024

Terra-Color

Film stars and pin-pups were popular subjects of the Terra-Color postcards. These cards were published in West Germany during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the photos were hand-coloured, a style that was already quite old-fashioned after World War II. Sometimes the result is beautiful, but more often it gives the Terra-Color cards a trashy look.

The film stars

German postcard by Terra-Color, no. PU 8. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

American actress Mara Corday (1930) was also a popular showgirl, model and Playboy Playmate of the 1950s.

West German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 123.

Blonde, blue-eyed schlager singer and film star Heidi Brühl (1942-1991) was called 'the Doris Day of Germany'. In 1963 she was a German participant in the Eurovision Song Contest.

West German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 130. Photo: Morris, Rome.

Gorgeous Italian actress and photojournalist Gina Lollobrigida (1927-2023) was one of the first European sex symbols of the post-war years. ‘La Lollo’ paved the way into Hollywood for her younger colleagues Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale.

West German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 150. Photo: private.
German Stage and film actress Sabine Sinjen (1942-1995) was a teenage star of the 1950s, who became a protagonist of the Neue Deutsche Film in the 1960s.

German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 170. Photo: Electrola / Melodie / Gloria / Sascha / Appelt.

German singer and actor Fred Bertelmann's biggest hit was the song 'Der lachende Vagabund', which he also sang in the Schlager film Der lachende Vagabund/The Laughing Rover (Thomas Engel, 1958).

West German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 173. Photo: Omega.

Delicate German stage and film actress Corny Collins (1933) was a popular teenage star in entertainment films of the late 1950s.

German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 183.

German Stage and film actress Sabine Sinjen (1942-1995) was a teenage star of the 1950s, who became a protagonist of the Neue Deutsche Film in the 1960s.

West German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 188.

Rocco Granata (1938) is a Belgian-Italian singer and an occasional actor. He was born in Italy and his parents emigrated to Belgium when he was 10. His father was a coal miner, but Rocco pursued music instead.

West German postcard by Terra-Color, no. F 190. Sent by mail in 1962.

Academy Award-winning film actress Sophia Loren (1934) rose to fame in post-war Italy as a voluptuous sex goddess. She became one of the most successful international stars of the 20th Century and is still a major sex symbol.