Guest post Jean Ritsema: unnamed models on fashion cards

As the cataloger for the Image Archive on Mark Goffee’s Ross Verlag website, I regularly have cause to consult the European Film Star Postcards blog (EFSP) and the Flickr albums created by Paul van Yperen and Ivo Blom. Their postings and albums often have resolved hard-to-read elements on cards catalogued in the Ross Image Archive. Beyond their internet publications, however, both Paul and Ivo have been extraordinarily kind and helpful in sharing their extensive subject knowledge whenever I have presented a question to them. When Paul approached me to see if I would be interested in writing a guest posting for EFSP, I hesitated as I have limited knowledge of films and film stars.






























Ally Kolberg. German postcard by Rotophot, no. 5929/2. Collection: Universität Osnabrück.

I came to the Ross Image Archive project, not through films, but through my collection of early 20th-century photographic fashion postcards, particularly those produced by companies such as the Ross-affiliated Rotophot. However, time and again when consulting the EFSP blog and Flickr albums, I saw a face that was familiar to me from my fashion card collection. I soon came to realize there was considerable overlap between stage and film performers and the unnamed models on fashion cards. Identifying the models on fashion cards became a fun challenge shared with several other collectors. In this guest posting, three identifications are highlighted. Others may be seen at the Ross Image Archive.

Ally Kolberg

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 253, 1919-1924. Photo: Ernst Schneider.

RPH, no. 4264/5.
Collection:
University of Osnabrück.

One of the most direct identifications is that of Ally Kolberg, the subject of an EFSP blog on 15 June 2015. The Ross Verlag 253 card included in that posting reproduced a photo of Kolberg by Ernst Schneider, clearly matching the photoshoot for Rotophot’s fashion series 5929.

In addition to performing in close to 20 silent films, Kolberg had an extensive modelling career, with her photo appearing on hundreds of fashion postcards and in numerous popular magazines such as Die Woche, Illustrirte Zeitung Leipzig and The Sketch.

RPH, no. 4707/4.
Collection:
University of Osnabrück.

One example is the Rotophot 4264 series, where a photo from the same shoot appears in a September 1913 issue of Illustrirte Zeitung Leipzig, titled, 'Herbstmoden' (Autumn Fashions).

Describing the hat, the article notes it "shows us a very beautiful way of using lace. Here . . . the lace surrounds the edge in slight curves and is folded out at the back to form a characteristic, wing-like loop." The article provides the name of the hat’s designer – Regina Friedlaender. It also gives the name of the photographer – Ernst Schneider.

A second example is the Rotophot 4707 series, featuring Kolberg in a swimming costume that is reproduced in a June 1914, Illustrirte Zeitung Leipzig fashion article titled 'Für Reise und Bad'. The costume is described as a "Swimsuit, sailor style, with a large flap and soft, wide sash made of black silk." The photo is credited to the studios of Ernst Schneider.

Geneviève Félix

French postcard by A Noyer, no. 3166. Collection: Werner Mohr.


French postcard by Editions La Fayette in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 107. Photo Comoedia.

PC Paris, no. 343.
Collection:
Universität Osnabrück.

A visual match from several name-captioned movie cards to uncaptioned fashion cards for the French actress and model, Geneviève Félix, also was made by Crystal Glantz.

An interesting supplement to this visual identification can be found in the EFSP 23 Nov 2015 posting which includes a postcard by Photo Comœdia, showing Félix in her dressing room. On the dressing table is a photo from the A. Noyer series 3166, posing Félix in a fashion shot.

Irisa, no. 3535.
Collection:
Universität Osnabrück.

As the EFSP posting notes, Félix had a brief but successful career in the silent cinema, primarily in the 1920s.

Concurrent with her film career, Félix was a popular fashion and postcard model, appearing on scores of postcards without a name caption by French publishers such as A. Noyer, PC Paris and Irisa, and in fashion magazines such as l’Officiel de la Couture, de la Mode, Les Modes, and Vogue.

Félix’s postcards are often brightly and beautifully tinted, depicting Félix with a lovely smile.

Alice Hechy

German postcard by Rotophot, no. 4047/5. Collection: Universität Osnabrück.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Wolff, Berlin, no. P 53. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

A final performer on film postcards whose image also appears with some frequency on uncaptioned fashion postcards is Alice Hechy.

While her identification is not as direct as that of Ally Kolberg’s, a distinct visual similarity can be seen between performer cards such as Hermann Wolff’s P53 (EFSP, 23 May 2023) and Rotophot’s fashion cards such as those in series 4047.

Several of Hechy’s fashion card series show her posed with interesting musical instruments. For example, the large instrument pictured on RPH 4128 is a theorbo which Wikipedia defines as "a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox.

Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically with one or three sound holes decorated with rosettes. As with the lute, the player plucks or strums the strings with the right hand while ‘fretting’ (pressing down) the strings with the left hand."

Identification of the theorbo was provided by Prof. Dr. Dietrich Helms, Project Leader for the Archive Historical Picture Postcards – Universität Osnabrück. He adds: "The same instrument can be seen in full on another card of this series in the collection of Sabine Giesbrecht (our ID os_ub_0006871)."



















German postcard by RPH, no. 4128/1. Collection: Universität Osnabrück.

Others

Many additional cards have been catalogued for Kolberg, Félix and Hechy on the Image Archive at the ROSS VERLAG MOVIE STAR POSTCARDS AND OTHER VINTAGE EUROPEAN POSTCARD PUBLISHERS website.

They can most easily be accessed by opening the Name branch of the selection tree at the left side of the Image Archive interface.

In addition to Kolberg, Félix and Hechy, scores of other film stars who have been the subject of a posting on the EFSP blog can be found in the Ross Image Archive, including several where the performer also was a model on postcards where the name captions do not appear. Among them are:






























Blandine Ebinger. German postcard in the Rotophot Series, no. 54 2058.






























Carola Toelle. German postcard by Paul Fink, Berlin, no. 261.






























Elga Brink. German postcard by Rotophot, no. 6248/3.






























Else Berna.German postcard by Rotophot, no. 1876/3.






























Gladys Cooper. British postcard by Rotary, no. B.62-3.































Madge Lessing. British postcard by Rotophot, no. 2211/5.

Text and postcard selection: Jean Ritsema. Our special thanks to Prof. Dr. Dietrich Helms.