15 more cards from G.D.I.

In our monthly post on the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute (GDI), we chose 15 postcards from a big album from the estate of film historians Tjitte de Vries and Ati Mul. It's an album which they probably started somewhere in the 1970s with interesting postcards from several periods and several countries. We start today with a selection of the eldest postcards from the album.


American postcard by Max B. Sheffer Card Co., Chicago (M.B.S.C.Co.). Photo: Universal. Gladys Walton in The Man Tamer (Harry B. Harris, 1921).

Gladys Walton (1903-1993) was an American actress, who peaked in the American silent film of the 1920s. She was a flapper in such films such as The Girl Who Ran Wild (1922), and The Wise Kid (1922).


British postcard. Charlie Chaplin in The Idle Class (Charles Chaplin, 1921).

English comedian Charles ‘Charlie’ Chaplin (1889-1977) was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. His most famous role was that of The Tramp with his toothbrush moustache, undersized bowler hat and bamboo cane who struggled to survive while keeping his dignity in a world with great social injustice. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and he not only starred in his films, but also directed, wrote and produced them, and composed the music as well. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music Hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88. Author George Bernard Shaw called Chaplin "the only genius to come out of the movie industry".


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1107/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Bayerische Film-G.m.b.H. / Palladium Film. Pat and Patachon (Fy og Bi) in the Danish silent comedy Takt, Tone og Tosser/The Bilberries/ Pat und Patachon im Zirkus (Lau Lauritzen, 1925).

The Danish double-act Fy og Bi (Fyrtårnet og Bivognen a.k.a. Pat & Patachon) was the most famous comedy couple of the European silent cinema. Long Carl Schenstrom (1881-1942) and short Harald Madsen (1890-1949) became very popular in the 1920s with their short slapstick films.


French postcard in the Burelesques series by Librairie de la Fontaine, Paris, no. 2. Harold Lloyd in Welcome Danger (Clyde Bruckman, Malcolm St. Clair, 1929).

American actor, comedian, director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) is best known for his silent comedies. He ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the three most popular and influential comedians of silent film. Between 1914 and 1947, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedies, often as a bespectacled 'Glass' character, a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with the 1920s-era United States. His films frequently contained 'thrill sequences' of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats. A classic is Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street in Safety Last! (1923).


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 102. Photo: First National.

Stunningly beautiful and highly photogenic Billie Dove (1903-1997) was one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the 1920s. She was dubbed The American Beauty, after the title of one of her films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4709/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Beautiful Anita Page (1910–2008) was one of the most popular leading ladies of Hollywood during the last years of the silent screen and the first years of the sound era. According to MGM, she received the most fan mail at the time and her nickname was "the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood".


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5938/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Who were Tjitte de Vries and Ati Mul?

Dutch film journalist and researcher Tjitte de Vries (1938-2015) and his life partner Ati Mul (1947-2022) were true cinephiles and collectors. Tjitte de Vries worked as a film expert from the 1960s to the 1990s and wrote reviews in several newspapers, including Het Parool and the former Het Vrije Volk.

He published the booklet 'Tien Jaar Holland Animation: Rembrandt’s filmende erfgenamen' (Ten years of Holland Animation: Rembrandt's filming heirs, 1983) and together with Ati Mul, the article 'Joop Geesink, poppenfilmproducent' (Joop Geesink, puppet film producer, 1984) in Animatie magazine, largely based on interviews with former employees of the Geesink studio.

After De Vries's work for the newspapers ended, he and Mul embarked on their most important, internationally prominent research project. The subject was the British photographer and film pioneer Arthur Melbourne-Cooper, best known for his application of stop-motion techniques.

They published 'Arthur Melbourne-Cooper, Film Pioneer Wronged by History' (1994), 'A Documentation of Sources' (2004) and the book 'They Thought It Was a Marvel. Arthur Melbourne-Cooper (1874-1961), Pioneer of Puppet Animation' (2009). Until her death, Ati Mul continued working on a new publication on Melbourne-Cooper and managing the collections of information and equipment in her home.

Part of their huge private collection was transferred to Stichting Vrienden van het Filmarchief (Foundation Friends of the Film Archive) in 1991 and eventually ended up at the University of Groningen and Eye. The inventory included 83 35mm films, 449 16mm films, 293 documentaries, 216 negatives, 2,000 posters, 136 cameras and 103 projectors. They also donated photographs and posters to the Geoffrey Donaldson Institute, including this album with film postcards.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5399/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Paramount.

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. 5909/1, 1930-1931. Photo: United Artists. Mary Brian and Pat 'O Brien in The Front Page (Lewis Milestone, 1931).

Pat O'Brien (1899-1983) was an American actor of Irish descent. From 1930 on, he starred in around 150 films. He often starred alongside the actor James Cagney. He is best known for his roles in The Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938), Knute Rockne, All American (1940) and Some Like It Hot (1959).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5948/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro and Madge Evans in Son of India (Jacques Feyder, 1931).

Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s MGM films. He was the star of silent Hollywood's biggest epic, Ben-Hur (1925).

Lovely Madge Evans (1909-1981) was an American stage and film actress, who often played the 'nice' girl in Hollywood films of the 1930s. She began her career as a child performer and model, starting with Fairy Soap commercials at the age of two.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5234/1, 1930-1931. Photo: George Hurrell / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

American actress Norma Shearer (1902-1983) was the 'First Lady of MGM'. She often played spunky, sexually liberated ingenues, and was the first person to be nominated five times for an Academy Award for acting. Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar for The Divorcee (1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5307/1, 1931-1932. Photo: United Artists.

Mexican and American actress Dolores del Río (1905–1983) was a Hollywood star in the 1920s and 1930s, and one of the most important female actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Del Río was the first major Latin cross-over star in Hollywood and was considered one of the most beautiful faces that have emerged in Hollywood cinema. She also appeared in several European films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5349/1, 1930-1931. Photo: MGM.

American film star Joan Crawford (1904-1977) had a career that would span many decades, studios, and controversies. In her silent films, she made an impact as a vivacious Jazz Age flapper and later she matured into a star of psychological melodramas.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5913/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Aafa-Film.

German dancer and 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. 6001/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Paramount.

Red-haired, cupid-bow-mouthed Nancy Carroll (1903-1965) became a very popular Hollywood star upon the advent of sound film because of her singing and dancing abilities. She was reported to have received more fan mail than any of her Hollywood peers of the same era. As she expanded her acting range from flaming flapper to ditzy comedienne to sensitive heroine, she was nominated for an Oscar for The Devil's Holiday (1930).

Sources: Mariska Graveland (Eye), Hans Beerekamp (Het Schimmenrijk, 2015) and Jim Postma (Rotterdam vandaag & morgen - Dutch). All postcards: Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. Next post on 15 May 2025.