GDI: 15 more cards from the early 1930s

A few months ago, Egbert Barten of The Geoffrey Donaldson Institute (GDI) came along with two big bags full of postcard albums. So this year, we'll make a monthly post about one of these albums. On 15 February, we selected from a blue album 15 Ross Verlag postcards from German female stars of the early 1930s. For today we selected 15 more cards of the same album for EFSP. The 15 postcards we chose are a bit more diverse but from the same period. French and Dutch cards are included as well as a male star, three postcards of Romy's mum, Magda Schneider, two of Dutch actresses and one of a very glamorous Hollywood star.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4458/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.

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’.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 6063/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Yva, Berlin.

Austrian actress Gerda Maurus (1903-1968) was a star of the silent screen. With her protruded cheekbones and her forceful look, she bewitched many men, including her director Fritz Lang and Nazi Minister Josef Goebbels.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6609/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Fox.

Beautiful and seductive French actress Lily Damita (1904-1994) appeared in 33 French, Austrian, and Hollywood films between 1922 and 1937. Her marriage with Errol Flynn was rather tempestuous and led to her nickname 'Dynamita'.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6559/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

German Operetta diva Anny Ahlers (1902 or 1907-1933) had a beautiful voice and starred in successful operettas in Berlin and Vienna. Audiences loved her and she quickly became one of Europe's most popular stars. She made six films from 1928 to 1931 and then got an engagement for an operetta in London. In 1933 she suddenly died.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6922/3, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

Dutch actress Lien Deyers (1910-1965) - also known as Lien Deijers and Lien Dyers - was discovered by famous director Fritz Lang who gave her a part in Spione (1928). She acted in a stream of late silent and early sound films. After 1935 her star faded rapidly and her life ended in tragedy.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7046/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Freiherr von Gudenberg.

Petra Unkel (1925-2001), also known as Petra Unkel-Klinder, was a Hungarian-born actress of German film, singer, voice actress, radio spokesperson and cabaret artist, who was active in the industry from 1929 until 1958.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7093/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Freiherr von Gudenberg.

Dutch film star Truus van Aalten (1910-1999) made 29 films in the 1920s and 1930s, and only one of them in the Netherlands. The Germans lovingly called her "die kleine holländische Käse" (the little Dutch cheese).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7824/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Avanti Tonfilm / Bayerische Film. Dolly Haas and Otto Wallburg in Das hässliche Mädchen/The Ugly Girl (Hermann Kosterlitz a.k.a. Henry Koster, 1933).

German-born, British stage and screen actress Dolly Haas (1910-1994) was popular in the 1930s as a vivacious, red-haired gamine often wearing trousers in German and British films. Although she got a 3-year contract with Columbia and worked in Hollywood with Alfred Hitchcock, Dolly's American career mainly took place on and Off-Broadway.


French postcard by Europe, no. 1146. Dolly Haas in Der Ball/The Ball (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8315/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

Friedel Schuster (1903-1983) was a German Operetta singer and film actress. In 1931, she appeared at the Großes Schauspielhaus Berlin in the Max Reinhardt productions of 'Schöne Helena' and 'The Tales of Hoffmann'. Schuster also appeared in Operetta Films. In 1931, she played Viktoria alongside Michael Bohnen and Iván Petrovich in the operetta film Viktoria und ihr Husar based on Paul Abraham. Her film debut was a great success. In 1933, she appeared alongside Lilian Harvey, Conrad Veidt and Heinz Rühmann in Ich und die Kaiserin. She had great success in Berlin in 1938 with the title role in Paul Lincke's operetta 'Frau Luna'.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8900/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.

Austrian actress and singer Dorit Kreysler (1909-1999) appeared in German and Austrian comedies and musicals of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.


German postcard by Ross Verlag in the Luxus Klasse, no. 693. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch in Saison in Kairo/Cairo Season (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933).

Magda Schneider

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7374/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

German singer and actress Magda Schneider (1909-1996) is best known as the mother of film star Romy Schneider, but in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s s she starred in some 40 films. First, she appeared on the screen as a charming Wiener mädel (Viennese girl) and after the war, she often played the understanding mother or aunt.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6336/1, 1931-1932. Photo: D.L.S. Magda Schneider and Johannes Riemann in Fräulein - Falsch verbunden/Wrong Number, Miss (E.W. Emo, 1932).


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 373.

All postcards: Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. Next post on 15 April 2025.