Animal Crackers

Tomorrow, 4 October 2025, it is World Animal Day for the 100th time. The World Animal Day 2025 theme is… 'Save Animals, Save the Planet!' For the occasion, we selected 18 postcards with different animals and film stars. And some of the animals were film stars too!


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 669/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Transocean-Film-Co., Berlin. A cow with Jackie Coogan in Daddy (1923).


Spanish postcard, no. 178. A Mink with Mari Blanchard.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1174/3, 1927-1928. A Dromedary and Georges Biscot, presented in Germany as 'Biscot Meyer', in L'orpheline / The orphan (Louis Feuillade, 1921).


German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. 5212/2, 1930-1931. Photo: K.O. Rahmn (Knut Olaf Rahmn) / United Artists. A Great Dane and Douglas Fairbanks in The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, 1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7426/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Studio Piaz. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Josephine Baker with Chiquita, her pet Cheetah.


German postcard by Rüdel Verlag, no. 3561. Photo: PALLAS / Vogelmann. A Lamb and Claudia Cardinale in Cartouche (Philippe de Broca, 1962). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. P 348. Photo: Phil Stern. Monkeys and Peter Finch in The Flight of the Phoenix (Robert Aldrich, 1965).


Dutch postcard, no. 3430. Sent by mail in 1950. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Jeanne Crain with her pet Lion, Shah-Shah. Crain later gave the lion to the Los Angeles Zoo. Her surname is mistakenly written here as Craine.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3793/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A Koala Bear with Anita Page.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5011. Photo: AAFA Film / Lux Film-Verleih. Two Geese and Maria Paudler and Fritz Kampers in Heiratsfieber / Marriage Fever (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928).


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 3864. Chicks and Mylène Demongeot.


French postcard by Grafique de France, no. SC 109. Photo: Dennis Stock, 1954. A Pig and James Dean. Dean asked Stock to accompany him to his family's farm in Fairmount, Indiana to celebrate his birthday. The photo was published in Life Magazine in 1955. Dennis Stock called this photo 'Ferrotype With Sow' because it reminded him of the old tintype pictures they used to take when photography was in its infancy.


Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L, Merksem (Anvers), no. B 16. Photo: Universal International. Francis the Talking Mule and Donald O'Connor in Francis in the Navy (Arthur Lubin, 1955).


American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. P148. Photo: Sid Avery, 1964. Bimbo the Elephant and Buster Keaton. The photo was made for an ad for US Steel.


Czech collector card by Pressfoto, Praha, no. S 37.8. A Sparrow and Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz (John Frankenheimer, 1962).


Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam. Pal and Roddy McDowall in Lassie Come Home (Fred M. Wilcox, 1943).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. A Goat and Kim Novak.


British postcard in the Photographs series, no. 101. Photo: Richard Avedon. A boa constrictor and Nastassja Kinski. The photo title is 'Nastassja and the Serpent'.

"According to American Vogue stylist Polly Mellen, the arrival of a snake on set was an unexpected turn of events. “We were in Los Angeles, and the shoot had already started. We were just doing fashion pictures,” she recalls in the 2001 documentary In Vogue: The Editor’s Eye. Looking for something to give the images a little extra kick, she asked model Nastassja Kinski if she had any ideas. Kinski’s reply? A boa constrictor. Naturally.

In 1981, Kinski was at the height of her career, modelling for the world’s leading fashion titles and appearing on screen for cutting-edge auteurs from Polanski to Wim Wenders. The legendary Richard Avedon had been charged by editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland with capturing the woman of the moment: following his blockbuster 1977 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest photographic retrospective the institution had ever staged, Avedon was arguably America’s most famous lensman.

The creative alchemy between these two industry titans would produce one of the most referenced fashion images ever, most recently recreated by Patrick Demarchelier and Jennifer Lawrence for Vanity Fair. Swiftly put into production by Condé Nast as a poster, Nastassja and the Serpent became ubiquitous as the décor feature of choice for any testosterone-fuelled 80s college dorm. 

“What I find interesting is that you have this incredibly famous male photographer, so you assume that he’s in control and calling the shots,” explains Sotheby’s Head of Photographs, Brandei Estes. “But then here’s this 21-year-old sex symbol saying, let’s do it with a snake and in the nude. Kinski was completely calm and in control and professional, even as she lay on cold concrete for hours with the snake hooked around her feet.”"

Source: Liam Hess (AnOther).

Please also check out EFSP's Animal House.