Published by L.A.B.

L.A.B. is an abbreviation for Les Editions d'Art, Bruxelles (Brussels). This Belgian publisher produced postcards in the late 1940s and early 1950s when Brussels loved Hollywood and MGM still had more stars than there are in heaven. When the Belgian capital was liberated in 1944, people flocked to the cinemas and films that had previously been hidden and censored were screened. Many cinemas changed their names to celebrate the victors (Churchill, Roosevelt, Monty, etc.) or simply to modernise (Roxy, Star, Dixy, etc.). In 1953, the Actual cinema changed its name to the Avenue. A second theatre, the Studio, was built on the same site. Together, these two theatres formed the world's first duplex cinema. In 1956, a third theatre was built, giving rise to the Club. The postcards show what all these people loved to see then in their magnificent movie palaces in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art (L.A.B.), Bruxelles, no. 1009. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Maureen O'Sullivan in Tarzan's Secret Treasure (Richard Thorpe, 1941).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 1031. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944).


Belgian postcard by Editions L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 1035. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Katharine Hepburn, as Chinese character Jade Tan, in Dragon Seed (Harold S. Bucquet, Jack Conway, 1944).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Brussels, no. 1036. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Teresa Wright in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles (Brussels), no. 1040. Photo: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind (1939). This postcard was given to us by Gill4kleuren. Many thanks!


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art, Bruxelles (L.A.B.), no. 1501. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 1508. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Van Heflin in Seven Sweethearts (Frank Borzage, 1942).


Belgian postcard by Editions L.A.B. Bruxelles, no. 2001. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Irene Dunne and Alan Marshall in The White Cliffs of Dover (Clarence Brown, 1944). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2007. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Van Johnson and Phyllis Thaxter in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (Mervyn LeRoy, 1944).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2009. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940). The French title was Rendez-vous.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2011. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor in Waterloo Bridge (Mervyn LeRoy, 1940). The Belgian title was La valse dans l'Ombre.


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2013. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1943).



Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2016. Photo: MGM. Claudette Colbert and Spencer Tracy in Boom Town (Jack Conway, 1940).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Brussels, no. 2020. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly in Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2022. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Maureen O'Sullivan and Johnny Sheffield in Tarzan's Secret Treasure (Richard Thorpe, 1941).


Belgian postcard by L.A.B. (Les Editions d'Art, Bruxelles) no. 2023. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Katharine Hepburn and Turhan Bey in Dragon Seed (Harold S. Bucquet, Jack Conway, 1944).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2025. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Teresa Wright and Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Brussels, no. 2027. Photo: David O'Selznick Production / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).


Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2905. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor in Waterloo Bridge (Mervyn LeRoy, 1940). The Belgian title was La valse dans l'Ombre.

Source: Cinemas art et essai Bruxellois (French). If you would like to see more L.A.B. film star postcards, please check out our Flickr album.