Paul's 15 Favourites of the Fair

Two weeks ago, we were in Utrecht for the VerzamelJaarbeurs, the Collectors' Fair Spring 2025. Europe's largest indoor vintage market offered hundreds of stalls and over 30,000 m² full of vintage, curiosa, archaeology, comic books and yes, postcards. We met Marlene and had a great time, and together, we made the day for our favourite seller. We bought hundreds of cards and would like to show you some of our new treasures. Last week, Ivo Blom selected 15 of his finds. Today, I'll do the same. What I liked at the Fair was that I found a lot of Ross postcards I had not seen before. I selected some of these curiosities, including a card Marlene gave me.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4673/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Mary Brian in The Virginian (Victor Fleming, 1929).

Mary Brian (1906-2002) was an American actress and film star with dark brown curls and blue/grey eyes who made the transition from silent films to sound films. She was dubbed 'The Sweetest Girl in Pictures.'


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3192/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Autrey / Fox Film.

Madge Bellamy (1899-1990) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in about fifty silent films and a dozen sound films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 863/1, 1925-1926. Phopto: Atlantic Photo, Berlin.

The life story of American heavyweight boxing champ and incidental actor Jack Dempsey (1895-1983) could have been a Hollywood script. He was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1919 to 1926. He appeared in several films, often as himself.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4932/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Warner Bros. / National.

Louise Fazenda (1895-1962) was a gawky, highly popular, funny girl in slapstick comedies for Keystone Studios. She paired up well with comedian Charlie Murray. Her best-known character was her country bumpkin - complete with spit curls, multiple pigtails, and calico dresses. In the early 1920s, Louise left Sennett's company and progressed to feature films, where her eccentric talents were greatly utilised in musicals and knockabout comedies.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 2090/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Merna Kennedy in The Circus (Charles Chaplin, 1928).

American actress Merna Kennedy (1908-1944) was best known for her debut as the lovely circus rider in Chaplin’s classic The Circus (1928). She acted in dozens of early sound films till she married Busby Berkeley.


Big German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. K 1430. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

Baroness Irene von Meyendorff (1916-2001) never planned to become a film star, but she appeared in more than 40 films. Unexpectedly, the breathtakingly beautiful, ice-cold blonde became a star of the Ufa in the 1940s. Her beauty attracted Josef Goebbels, who got a harsh rebuff from her. After the war, she played several parts in interesting German films and led a full, remarkable life.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 375. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn.

American actor George 'Spanky' McFarland (1928-1993) was most famous for starring as a child as Spanky in Hal Roach's Our Gang series of the 1930s and 1940s. Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals) is a series of short comedy films about a group of poor neighbourhood children and their adventures.


French postcard by Edition Ross, no. P. 15. Photo: Intran Studios.

French actress Michèle Morgan (1920-2016) was a classic beauty and one of her country's most popular leading ladies for over five decades. The delicate, sophisticated, and detached star was especially noted for her large, expressive eyes.


French postcard by Edition Ross, no. 7800/1, 1932-1933. Photo: GFFA. Ivan Mozzhukhin in Der weiße Teufel / The White Devil (Alexandre Volkoff, 1930).

Russian actor Ivan Mozzhukhin (in French, Ivan Mosjoukine and in German Iwan Mosjukin) (1889-1939) was a legendary star of the European silent film, who shone in Russia, France, Germany and Austria, but suffered in Hollywood.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3405/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Autrey / Fox.

From 1925 on, American child actor Jerry Madden (1923-2009) appeared in silent films. He was the star of Jerry the Giant (1926) and its sequels, in which he is adopted by the members of a traveling circus. His dog, Pal, aids him in most of his escapades.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4860/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox.

The career of American actor Edmund Lowe (1890-1971) included over 100 films, beginning in 1915. The tall and athletic Lowe became a popular leading man in silent films, best remembered for his role as Sergeant Harry Quirt, a smart-mouthed buddy of the equally abrasive Captain Jimmy Flagg (Victor McLaglen) in What Price Glory? (1926). He worked steadily as a leading man throughout the 1930s, freelancing at various Hollywood studios. Once his days as a star were over, Edmund Lowe remained much sought-after by producers, having eased effortlessly into supporting roles.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3424/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lillian Gish in The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjöström, 1926).

American actress Lillian Gish (1893-1993) was 'The First Lady of the Silent Screen'. During the 1910s, she was one of director D.W. Griffith's greatest stars. She appeared in his features such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Broken Blossoms (1919), and Orphans of the Storm (1921). After 13 years with Griffith, she moved to MGM, where her first picture was La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926). In the 1940s, after a long interval, she returned to the screen in a handful of films and received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Laura Belle McCanles in Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946). Again, a decade later, she was marvellous in the classic Film Noir The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955). Her last film was The Whales of August (Lindsay Anderson, 1987), in which she shared the lead with Bette Davis.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8420/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Frhr. von Gudenberg / Ufa. Renate Müller in Viktor und Viktoria/Viktor and Viktoria (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 at 31.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 21/1.

Hans Junkermann (1872-1943) was a prolific German character comedian noted for his gauche manner and walrus moustache. In films from 1911, including a brief 1930 sojourn in Hollywood, acting in German-language versions of American films under the direction of Jacques Feyder. Subsequently, he was seen in many German A-grade productions until he died in 1943. He was married to the Austrian actress Julia Serda.


Dutch postcard, no. AX 1390. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This postcard was given to me by Marlene Pilaete.

Handsome Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009) was the epitome of elegance, charm, and grace on film, stage, and television. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he reinvigorated the Latin Lover style in Hollywood without achieving top screen stardom. He fought to upscale the Latin image in Hollywood, and this may have cost him several roles along the way, but he gained respect and a solid reputation and provided wider-range opportunities for Spanish-speaking actors. Montalban is probably best remembered for his starring role as the mysterious Mr. Roarke on the TV series Fantasy Island (1977–1984), with Hervé Villechaize as his partner Tatto, and as Grandfather Valentin in the Spy Kids franchise.

Thanks Marlene!