GDI: 15 Ross cards from the early 1930s

The Geoffrey Donaldson Institute (GDI) is one of the contributors to EFSP. A few months ago, Egbert Barten of GDI came along with two big bags full of postcard albums. So this year, we'll make a monthly post about one of those albums. Today, we selected 15 Ross Verlag postcards from the early 1930s you've never seen before at EFSP. Presented are female stars who worked for Ufa but also for Hollywood studios like Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5256/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Messtro-Film. Jenny Jugo in Heute nacht - eventuell/Tonight-Eventually (E.W. Emo, 1930).

Pretty Austrian actress Jenny Jugo (1904-2001) had a prolific career in German cinema, from the late silent era well into the war years. She did particularly well as a comedienne and starred between 1931 and 1942 in eleven smart and charming comedies directed by Erich Engel.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6024/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien. Lil Dagover in Elisabeth von Österreich/Elisabeth of Austria (Adolf Trotz, 1931).

German, but Dutch-born film actress Lil Dagover (1887-1980) was an exotic, dark beauty, who featured prominently during the golden age of German silent cinema. She had her breakthrough as the prey of Dr. Caligari's monster in the classic expressionist film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) but gradually her fine and evanescent beauty changed and she turned into a ´Salondame´, a lady of the screen. Her career would span nearly six decades.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6685/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Elmer Fryer / Warner Bros.


German postcard by Ross Verlag. no. 6257/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.

German actress Li(e)selotte Schaak (1908-?) began her film career with the silent films Achtung! Liebe! Lebensgefahr! (1929) and Rivalen im Weltrekord (1929). She experienced the height of her career in the early 1930s when she acted in such films as Alraune (1930) and Der tolle Bomberg (1932). She didn't continue her film career after the war.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 156/3. Photo: Paramount. Ernst Busch and Brigitte Helm in Eine von uns/One of Us (Johannes Meyer, 1931).

German actress Brigitte Helm (1908-1996) is still famous for her dual role as Maria and her double the evil Maria, the Maschinenmensch, in the silent SF classic Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). After Metropolis she made a string of over 30 films in which she almost always had the starring role. She easily made the transition to sound films, before she abruptly retired in 1935.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7705/1, 1932-1933. Photo: British European Film. Brigitte Helm in The Blue Danube (Herbert Wilcox, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6532/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Otto Kurt Vogelsang. Berlin.

German actress Marianne Winkelstern (1910-1966) became well-known as a ballerina in Germany and England. In Germany, she appeared in some silent films and early sound films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 184/2. Photo: Ufa. Renate Müller and Willy Fritsch in Saison in Kairo/Cairo Season (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933).

Popular actress Renate Müller (1906-1937) was the toast of late 1920s Berlin. She had a comet-like career in the early German sound cinema, that was abruptly ended by her mysterious early death.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7446/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Yva, Berlin.

German film and screenwriter Maria Solveg or Maria Matray (1907-1993) was a star of the late Weimar cinema. When Hitler came to power, the Jewish actress went into exile and had a new career in the US as a choreographer and writer.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8022/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Gerstenberg / Dührkoop, Berlin.

Austrian-born stage actress Mady Christians (1892-1951) was also a star of the German silent cinema and appeared in Austrian, French, British and Hollywood films too.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8244/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ondra Lamac-Film / Bayerische Film. Anny Ondra in Fräulein Hoffmanns Erzählungen/Miss Hoffmann's Tales (Karel Lamac, 1933).

Anny Ondra (1903-1987) was a Polish-Czech-Austrian-German-French singer, film, and stage actress. During the 1920s and 1930s, she was a popular actress in Czech, Austrian and German comedies, and she was Alfred Hitchcock’s first ‘Blonde’.

Lilian Harvey

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6733/3, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7191/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Jacobi, Berlin / Ufa. Lilian Harvey in Ein blonder Traum/A Blonde Dream (Paul Martin, 1932).

British-born, German actress and singer Lilian Harvey (1906-1968) was Ufa's biggest star of the 1930s. With Willy Fritsch, she formed the 'Dream Team of the European Cinema'. Their best film was the immensely popular Film Operetta Der Kongress tanzt/The Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7687/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Fox. Caption: Lilian Harvey In Hollywood.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7993/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Fox. Lilian Harvey and John Boles in My Lips Betray (John G. Blystone, Henry King, 1933).

To be continued on 15 March 2025. All postcards: Collection Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.