Albert Paulig

Albert Paulig (1873-1933) was a popular comedian in the German silent cinema of the 1910s and 1920s.


German postcard by Verl. Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 1746.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1319. Photo: Willinger.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, Berlin, no. 122/4. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 785. Photo: Greenbaum-Film / Lux Verleih.

His own comedy series

Born in Stollberg, Germany, in 1873, Albert Paulig was trained to become a teacher. He also did musical training at the Konservatorium Dresden (Conservatory of Dresden), but initially, he became a salesman.

In 1896, he had his stage debut at the Stadttheater in Zwickau. Other locations he performed were Łódź, Hannover and Dresden. In 1901, he first performed in Berlin at the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Theater, after which he did several guest performances in other Berlin stages.

In 1913, when he was already 40, Albert Paulig was discovered as a film comedian. Because of his success, he got his own series in the 1910s, the Albert-Paulig series, with titles just as simple as Paulig als Asta Nielsen / Paulig as Asta Nielsen (Albert Paulig, 1915) or Albert hat Prokura / Albert has the power of attorney (Uwe Jenss Kraft, 1919).

Starting with Alberts Hose / Albert’s Pants (1915), Paulig directed his own comedy series. But in between, he also acted in films by other directors.

Paulig, for example, played opposite Ernst Lubitsch in both the popular success Die Firma heiratet / The Firm Weds (Carl Wilhelm, 1914) and its unofficial sequel Der Stolz der Firma / The Pride of the Firm (Carl Wilhelm, 1914). He also co-starred with Hanni Weisse in Meine Braut, seine Frau / My bride, his Wife (Danny Kaden, 1916).


German postcard by G.L., no. 3172/3. Photo: Elite, Berlin. Albert Paulig, Alfred Walters and Fritzi Arco in the operetta 'Die Dollarprinzessin' (The dollar princess). This operetta by Leo Fall was first performed in Vienna in 1907; this card is for the Berlin version of 1908.


German postcard, no. 9434. Photo: Atelier Rembrandt.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 164. Photo: A. Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 165. Photo: A. Binder, Berlin.

Strong popularity

After he stopped his Albert-Paulig series in 1919, Paulig’s popularity remained strong among audiences. During the 1920s, he acted in over 100 films. While Albert Paulig mostly performed in supporting parts, he sometimes had major parts as the protagonist or the main antagonist.

Albert Paulig co-starred with Mia May and Georg Alexander in the comedy Die platonische Ehe / The platonic marriage (Paul Leni, 1919), and acted with Hans Albers and Ria Jende in Der Schuss aus dem Fenster / The shot out the window (director unknown, 1920).

He did several small parts in the Ossi Oswalda comedies of the late 1910s and early 1920s, such as Das Mädchen aus dem wilden Westen / The girl from the Wild West (Erich Schönfelder, 1921). The most famous example is the classic Die Austernprinzessin / The Oyster Princess (Ernst Lubisch, 1919).

Paulig was reunited with Hanni Weisse in the comedy Weil Du es bist / Because it's you (Hans Werckmeister, 1925). He had the lead as Archduke Albert Paul in G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald / Tales from the Vienna Woods (Jaap Speyer, 1928), co-starring Eric Barclay, Magnus Stifter and Fritz Schulz.

In the late 1920s, he was often seen in supporting parts in the sensational Harry Piel adventure films, such as Der Mann ohne Nerven / The Man Without Nerves (Harry Piel, 1924), Zigano, der Brigant vom Monte Diavolo / Zigano (Harry Piel, 1925), Sein grösster Bluff / His Greatest Bluff (Harry Piel, 1927), Panik / Panic (Harry Piel, 1928), and Männer ohne Beruf / Men without Profession (Harry Piel, 1929).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1328. Photo: Willinger.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1332. Photo: Willinger.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 122/2. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 122/3. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.

Army officers

When sound film set in, Albert Paulig managed to continue his career, often portraying aristocrats and industrials, but in particular army officers. An example of the latter is Schön ist die Manöverzeit / Manoeuver Time Is Fine (Erich Schönfelder, Margarete Schön, 1931) with Ida Wüst.

He acted in the musical Es war einmal ein Walzer / Once There Was a Waltz (Victor Janson, 1932), written by Billy Wilder, and Der Prinz von Arkadien / The Prince from Arcadien (Karl Hartl, 1932) with Willi Forst.

He also appeared in Das Testament des Cornelius Gulden / The Testament of Cornelius Gulden (E.W. Emo, 1932), starring Magda Schneider and Georg Alexander, and Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe / Manolescu (George C. Klaren, Willi Wolff, 1933), starring Iván Petrovich.

The crime film K1 greift ein / K1 intervenes (Edmund Heuberger, 1933) was his last film. He couldn’t attend the premiere of the film, as he died in Berlin on 19 March 1933, because of heart failure, two days after the film had passed censorship.

According to Filmportal.de, which lists his most extensive filmography, Albert Paulig acted in 183 films.


German postcard by Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm. Photo: J. Braae, nord. Photokunst.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, no. 3036.


German postcard by Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 6053. Berlin. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3024/1, 1928-1929.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5203. Photo: Badekow.

Sources: Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

Published by Editions Lyna

Editions Lyna was a publishing house in Paris which gave us dozens of delicious colour postcards during the 1960s and 1970s. We have collected Lyna postcards with pin-ups, with pop stars and with film actors and scenes. Some postcards fall into two categories, and some fall into all three categories. We selected 21 cards for you.

Seven pin-ups

French postcard by Lyna, Paris, Série A 150-9.


French postcard by Lyna, Paris, no. B.


French postcard by Ed. Lyna, Paris, no. 1.50-32.


French postcard by Lyna, Paris, no. 150 / 39.


French postcard by Lyna, Paris, Série A 150-5.


French postcard by Lyna, Paris, no. 105.


French postcard by Lyna, Paris, Série A 150-7.

Seven pop stars

French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2090. Photo: Michel Ginfray / Gamma.

Though sometimes dismissed in France as little more than a 'chanteur de charme' ('a ladies' singer'), Julien Clerc (1947) in fact enjoyed one of the most successful and longest-lived careers in contemporary French pop. He shaped the nouvelle chanson aesthetic across a span of decades that began in the shadow of the student rebellions of 1968 with the hit 'La Cavalerie' and continued well into the following century with such evergreens as 'Si on Chantait' and 'This Melody'.


French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2046. Photo: Laurent Maous / Production KUKLOS.

Charming Daniel Guichard (1948) is a popular French singer with hits like 'La Tendresse', 'Mon Vieux' and 'Le Gitan'. He also acted in two films.


French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2051. Photo: Raymond Depardon / Gamma.

French pop singer Sylvie Vartan (1944) was one of the first rock girls in France. She was the diva of the yé-yé genre. With Johnny Hallyday, she formed France's Golden Couple of their generation, and they performed in several films together and apart.


French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, offered by Biscottes Corvisart, Epinal, no. 2052. Photo: Bernard Leloud.

French singer and composer Michel Fugain (1942) started the group 'Le Big Bazar' in 1972. The happy group with eleven musicians, fifteen singers and dancers had some big hits all over Europe. In 1976, Fugain went solo, and the band stopped a year later.


French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2028. Photo: Alain Marouani / Barclay.

Les Poppys was a French boy group, named after the word 'Pop Music'. During the 1970s, they had big hits in Europe with 'Isabelle, je t'aime' and 'Non, non, rien n'a change'.


French postcard by Ed. Lyna, Paris, offered by Corvisart, no. 2015. Photo: Pathé Marconi.

Italian-Belgian composer and singer Salvatore Adamo (1943) was a teen idol in the first half of the 1960s. Occasionally, he also starred in films.


French postcard by Edition Lyna, Paris, no. 2017. Photo: A. Marouani.

Singer and actress Dalida (1933-1987) was born and raised in Egypt, but she lived most of her adult life in France. The former Miss Egypt 1954 received 55 gold records and was the first singer to receive a diamond disc. She also appeared in Egyptian and French films. The immensely popular diva died a tragic death in 1987. She has now become a cult figure for a whole new generation of fans.

Seven film postcards

French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2085. Photo: Sam Lévin, 1967.

Brigitte Bardot (1934-2025) was the sex kitten of European cinema. During the 1950s and 1960s, she was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris.


French postcard by Ed. Lyna, Paris, no. 2002, presented by Corvisart, Epinal.

Flamboyant singer and actor Johnny Hallyday (1943-2017) is the father of French Rock and Roll. He was a European teen idol in the 1960s with record-breaking crowds and mass hysteria, but he never became popular in the English-speaking market. In later years, he concentrated on being an actor and appeared in more than 35 films.


French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2013. Photo: Casanova - Formidable.

French singer and actor Eddy Mitchell (1942) began his career in the late 1950s with the rock & roll group Les Chaussettes Noires (The Black Socks). He went solo in 1963 and also played in many films. In numerous black and white French musical comedies of the 1960s, he appeared as himself fronting his band. His ‘real’ acting career started with Coup de torchon (1981). After a career of 50 years, Mr. Eddy has become the tranquil daddy of French rock & roll.


French postcard by Abeille Cartes / Ed. Lyna, Paris. A series of commemorative events of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. Poster or lobbycard of La Marseillaise (Jean Renoir, 1937), starring Pierre Renoir and Lise Delamare as Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Poster design by Maurice Toussaint.


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville / LYNA, no. 345, 1964. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963). Caption: Mosquito ended up in the water ... He was swimming!


French postcard by Les Presses de Belleville, Paris / LYNA, Paris. Image: Walt Disney Productions, 1965. Publicity still for the short film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1966), later incorporated in the feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, 1977). Caption: The honey thief.


French postcard by Editions Lyna, Paris, no. 2104. Caption: Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Brigitte Bardot (1934-2025) was the sex kitten of European cinema. She was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris.

For more cards, please check out our Editions Lyna album at Flickr.

La Collectionneuse: Ruth Chatterton

Ruth Chatterton had more than one string to her bow. In her lifetime, she acted on stage and in movies, piloted planes and wrote novels. In 1930, she was 'The First Lady of the Screen'. When she starred in her first talkie in 1929, she was already 37. She understood that the advent of sound would work in her favour and declared: 'Youth and beauty never had such a fling as it did in the movies. But that day is gone. A pretty girl is easy to look at, but mighty hard to listen to for very long'. Unfortunately, her reign as a movie queen only lasted a few years. Ironically, her last Hollywood film, Dodsworth (1936), turned out to be her best.


American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., New York. Advertisement for Plexo Creams.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4316/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount.

A privileged childhood

Ruth Chatterton was born on the 2nd of December 1892 in New York, U.S.A.

Her parents were Walter Chatterton and Lilian Reed. Lilian’s father, Andrew Reed and maternal grandfather, Rodney Lugar, had made good in the shipbuilding business.

Ruth spent a privileged and spoiled childhood in Andrew Reed’s large estate in Fordham Heights. She played piano, learned French and was passionate about literature.

Ruth’s parents were not the best as far as financial matters were concerned, and they both declared bankruptcy in 1904. Lilian’s mother passed away in 1905, and Andrew Reed followed his wife to the grave in 1906. Ensuing inheritance brought the Chattertons a brief respite.

Unfortunately, in 1907, Walter had money troubles again and was charged with default taxes. Ruth’s parents separated, and she was sent to Washington to live with her maternal aunt. Lilian, who had carelessly spent most of her inheritance, soon joined her daughter.


French postcard by Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 832. Photo: Paramount.

Henry Miller

Resolute to financially help her mother, Ruth Chatterton embarked on a stage career in 1909 and benefited from the help of famous actress Julia Dean, who befriended her, gave her good advice and provided her with costumes she didn’t use anymore.

In October 1911, she appeared for the first time on Broadway in 'The Great Name', which lasted 21 performances.

She got her big break in 1912 when she was chosen to be renowned actor and manager Henry Miller’s leading lady in 'The Rainbow'. A young girl who could sing, play piano and speak French had been needed for the role, and Ruth fit the bill.

The play opened on Broadway on the 11th of March and closed in June after 104 performances. Ruth scored a big personal success and got good reviews. Henry Miller, 33 years her senior, fell in love with her and the two were professionally and privately linked for about 10 years.

After a triumphant tour with 'The Rainbow', Miller decided to offer his protegee the opportunity to prove she could carry a play alone and asked author Jean Webster to adapt her book 'Daddy Long Legs' for the stage. It was a huge hit, and Ruth played it on Broadway for 264 performances, starting in September 1914. She was now a full-fledged star.


British autographed postcard in the Celebrity Series, no 147, by Associated Photo Printers, London. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

A Broadway stalwart

Henry Miller then produced and directed another successful Broadway play for Ruth Chatterton, 'Come Out of the Kitchen', which had a run of 224 performances from October 1916 to May 1917. After it closed, she appeared in three plays with Miller in San Francisco.

In April 1918, he opened his own theatre on Broadway. Ruth played there for the first time in 'Perkins', opposite Miller, which was a flop. A tour in 'A Marriage of Convenience' turned out to be much more rewarding for the twosome.

In 1918, she received an interesting offer to appear in films but declined because it didn’t give her script approval.

Back at the Henry Miller Theatre, Ruth starred in 'Moonlight and Honeysuckle' from September to December 1919. Then, against Miller’s wishes, Ruth decided to act in James Barrie’s 'Mary Rose'. She seems to have been right, as it played for 127 performances on Broadway from December 1920 to April 1921 and was thereafter successfully taken on tour.

In 1922, Ruth and Henry Miller were reunited on stage in French author Henry Bataille’s 'La Tendresse', which had been translated into English by the star herself. The play was about the relationship between a young actress and a much older married playwright. This story must have struck a chord with Ruth, as it was echoing her own private life.


British postcard in the Famous Cinema Stars series by Beagles, no. 71. U.

A declining stage star

The last time Ruth Chatterton and Henry Miller played together was in 'The Changelings', which had a run of 127 Broadway performances from September 1923 to January 1924.

The pair then decided to adapt 'Come Out of the Kitchen' into a musical-comedy version, rebaptised 'The Magnolia Lady'. Ruth chose British actor Ralph Forbes as her leading man. They fell in love.

'The Magnolia Lady' lasted only 47 performances from the 25th of November 1924 to the 3rd of January 1925. Most critics agreed that Ruth’s talents were not suited to musicals. During the run of 'The Magnolia Lady', Henry Miller opened on the 5th of December in 'The Man in Evening Clothes', which had been translated by Ruth from André Picard and Yves Mirande’s French play 'Un homme en habit'. It was not a success and closed after 11 performances.

Ruth and Ralph Forbes married on the 20th of December 1924. Following the wedding, a deeply hurt Henry Miller announced his decision to retire from the stage. He only came back in February 1926, but passed away in April.

In 1925, Ruth had two Broadway flops in a row, opposite Ralph Forbes, with 'The Little Minister' and 'The Man With a Load of Mischief', which both lasted only 16 performances. Her stage career was floundering.


British postcard in the Film Partners series by Picturegoer, no. PC24. Ruth Chatterton and Paul Lukas in The Right to Love (Richard Wallace, 1930).

Cinema comes to her rescue

In 1926, Ralph Forbes went to Hollywood to appear in Paramount’s Beau Geste. His performance got him an MGM contract.

On the West Coast, Ruth Chatterton starred in two plays: 'The Green Hat', which was well-received, and 'The Devil’s Plum Tree', which wasn’t.

A fading theatre star, she found herself in a difficult situation and was desperate to find work. Cinema would come to her rescue.

She screen-tested for Josef von Sternberg’s The Docks of New York (1928), but Olga Baclanova got the part instead.

Fortunately, Emil Jannings saw her test and chose her to play his slutty, harsh and calculating second wife in the silent Sins of the Fathers (1928). It was an impressive film debut. Paramount liked her and offered her a contract.


British postcard by Picturegoer, no. 429a.

The First Lady of the Screen

The advent of talkies proved the turning point in her career. Ruth Chatterton had presence, experience, talent and a trained voice. She was in the right place at the right moment.

Her first talkie was The Doctor’s Secret (1929). A critic wrote: "Of the women who, to date, have tried delivering in the talkies, she stands first and foremost". Her next one, The Dummy (1929), was a bit of a setback as Zasu Pitts, playing a jittery kidnapper, ran away with the picture.

She was then loaned to M.G.M. for one of her great achievements in Madame X (1929), a famous mother-love story. It had Ruth playing a fallen woman committing a crime and being defended on trial by a young lawyer, who is unaware he is her son. She was nominated for an Oscar but lost out to Mary Pickford in Coquette (1929). A sophisticated comedy, Charming Sinners (1929), adapted from Somerset Maugham’s play 'The Constant Wife', followed.

When Jeanne Eagels’s health problems forced her to withdraw from The Laughing Lady (1929), adapted from a 1923 Ethel Barrymore stage vehicle, Ruth replaced her. It had been filmed before with Gloria Swanson in 1924 under the title A Society Scandal.

Dorothy Arzner’s Sarah and Son (1930), another mother-love weepie, gained her a second Oscar nomination, but Norma Shearer won for The Divorcee. Then came The Lady of Scandal (1930), which she made on loan to M.G.M. Back at Paramount, she got excellent notices for the box office hits Anybody’s Woman (1930), again directed by Dorothy Arzner, and The Right to Love (1930), giving a dual characterisation as mother and daughter. Her position as 'The First Lady of the Screen' was now established.


Canadian postcard in the Artists of the Camera series by McKenzie & Marlow, Vancouver. Ruth Chatterton in Once a Lady (Guthrie McClintic, 1931).

Last Paramount Pictures

In January 1931, filming wrapped up on Unfaithful. That same month, the press, much to Paramount’s dismay, announced Ruth Chatterton would soon sign with Warner, which wanted to add some class and prestige to their female star roster. In March, Unfaithful was released. As her current contract still had several months to go, Ruth had to stay at Paramount for three more pictures.

The Magnificent Lie (1931) was a disappointment. Ruth complained that the touching story by Leonard Merrick had been too altered. An earlier version, Fool’s Paradise (1921), directed by Cecil B. DeMille, had fared much better.

Once a Lady (1931) was a remake of a 1928 Pola Negri melodrama, Three Sinners, and proved another undistinguished offering.

Ruth personally selected a 1931 Philip Barry’s Broadway hit for her last Paramount film. Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1932) got mixed reviews, but she herself considered it one of her favourite roles.

In the first half of 1932, alongside her screen work, she produced and directed on the West Coast the play 'Let Us Divorce', starring Ralph Forbes.


British postcard in the Colourgraph series by Picturegoer, London, no. C63.

Mixed results at Warner

Ruth Chatterton's lucrative Warner contract was officially signed in September 1931. Her stay started with The Rich Are Always with Us (1932), which dealt with philandering in high society. She fell in love with her leading man, George Brent, and married him on the 13th of August 1932, the day after her divorce from Ralph Forbes had been finalised. Warner reunited them in The Crash (1932), again about philandering, only this time with a stock market background. Famous New York Times critic Mordaunt Hall termed the film "scarcely a stimulating piece of work", deplored "many shortcomings", and complained about "sadly amateurish dialogue".

As her first two Warner films hadn’t met the expected success, the company reckoned that stories revolving around infidelity and divorces had started tiring the audiences and assigned Ruth to less sophisticated fare. In the melodrama Frisco Jenny (1932), she played a tough prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging ring leader who, in the best Madame X tradition, is eventually sentenced to death by her son, who doesn’t know she’s his mother. Frisco Jenny was the biggest box office hit of her Warner career.

Ruth was teamed with George Brent in her next two films. First came Lilly Turner (1933), adapted from a short-lived 1932 Broadway play which had been labelled as "barely plausible" by Time Magazine and as "a rag-bag play" and "three acts of aimless trivialities" by The New York Times. The screen adaptation drew the same kind of negative comments from quite a few film critics.

In Female (1933), she played a powerful woman executive who regularly sleeps with her male employees, with no sentimental feelings. At one time, her character declares: "I decided to drive the same open road that men travel. So I treat men the exact way they’ve always treated women". Despite a conservative ending showing the heroine becoming a compliant lady who yearns for married life and children, it was enjoyable pre-code stuff.

But audiences had begun to lose interest in Ruth, and Kay Francis had taken over from her as Queen of the Warner lot thanks to several box office hits. In 1934, she filed for divorce from George Brent and got the final decree the next year.


Spanish postcard by Dümmatzen, no. 313. Photo: Warner Bros / First National.

Aviatrix

Her Warner contract ended with Journal of a Crime (1934), which G.W. Pabst was originally assigned to direct. He was replaced by William Keighley, and the film didn’t relaunch her fading career.

It didn’t really matter to her as she had found a new interest in aviation. In April 1935, she was awarded a private pilot’s licence and, in May, she completed her first coast-to-coast flight.

In 1935 and 1936, she sponsored the Ruth Chatterton Air Derby, open to female and male contestants, which would reward the aviators who could navigate and pilot their aircraft the most accurately.

She came back on screen at Columbia in Lady of Secrets (1936), another routine mother-love story. This time, Ruth’s biological daughter, born out of wedlock when she was 16, has been raised as her sister to protect the family from scandal. Ruth would never reveal the truth to the young girl, but she helped her to find happiness in her private life.

The film got unfavourable reviews such as "No wonder she took up aviation" and "It would be advisable for Miss Chatterton to stick to her flying and derby races".


British postcard in the Autograph series by Picturegoer, no. A22.


Cigarette card in the Beauties of To-Day series.

At her best in Dodsworth

Ruth Chatterton was then hired by 20th Century Fox for Girl’s Dormitory (1936).

It was the American film debut of French actress Simone Simon, who was then given a big build-up. Zanuck favoured her and even changed the original ending, allowing Simone to win Herbert Marshall’s love instead of Ruth.

Simone Simon got the lion’s share in Girls' Dormitory’s publicity campaign. A philosophical Ruth declared: "I don’t mind. She’s young. Let her have her chance".

She probably got the best role of her career, to high praise, as a shallow, self-centred, and age-fearing wife in Dodsworth (1936), produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by William Wyler.

The fact that she was not nominated for an Oscar raised some eyebrows. Famous columnist Jimmie Fiedler wrote: "The failure to include Ruth Chatterton as a 1936 performance nominee was a shame that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will never live down". Unfortunately, Ruth, then a freelance actress, probably didn’t benefit from the right connections and lobbying.


British postcard by Valentine’s in the Film Stars and Their Pets series, no. 7113H.

Back to the stage

In 1937, Ruth Chatterton left for England and made her London stage debut in Somerset Maugham’s 'The Constant Wife'. Famous British film producer Herbert Wilcox also starred her in The Rat (1937) and A Royal Divorce (1938), as Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, which marked the end of her movie career. In 1939, as the political situation in Europe was becoming increasingly tense, she returned to the U.S.A.

She came back on stage in Boston in 'West of Broadway'. In May 1939, during the brief run of 'The Affairs of Anatol' in Maplewood, she fell in love with her male partner, Barry Thomson. It’s unclear if the two were ever legally married. Ruth’s niece, Olive Wehbring, expressed doubts about it. Anyway, they were a devoted couple until Thomson passed away in 1960.

Ruth continued her stage career until 1960. Among the plays she favored were Noel Coward’s 'Private Lives' (in 1940, 1942, 1943 and 1944), Sil-Vara’s 'Caprice' (in 1941, 1943, 1946 and 1947), Lillian Hellman’s 'The Little Foxes' (in 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1956 and 1958) and Terence Ratigan’s 'O Mistress Mine' (in 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1957). On Broadway, she had two flops in 'Leave Her to Heaven' (15 performances in 1940) and 'Second Best Bed' (8 performances in 1946).

On the 22nd of October 1946, she took over the role of 'The Speaker' in 'A Flag is Born', produced by the 'American League For a Free Palestine', which raised funds to help Jewish people to get to what would become Israel in 1948. The play, which had opened on Broadway on the 5th of September 1946, closed on the 14th of December and made a sizeable profit for the crusade to establish a Hebrew Homeland. Ruth had begun to be involved in the Jewish cause during World War II. She appeared on Broadway for the last time in a two-week revival of 'Idiot’s Delight' in 1951.

Ruth, who had been regularly performing on the radio since the 1930s, also tried her hand at the small screen. From 1948 to 1953, she acted in several TV movies, the most notable being the prestigious 'Hamlet', as Queen Gertrude, for NBC in 1953.


British postcard in the Film Scene series by Picturegoer, no. FS 93. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Ruth Chatterton and Herbert Marshall in Girls Dormitory (Irving Cummings, 1936).

Her writing career

At the end of the 1940s, Ruth Chatterton tackled a new challenge: writing.

Her first novel, 'Homeward Borne', was released in 1950 and hit the New York Times best-seller list. It was about a European Jewish war orphan adopted by an American couple. Plans to make it into a film failed. It was finally adapted for TV in a 1957 episode of the popular CBS anthology drama series Playhouse 90, with Linda Darnell as the adoptive mother.

Three other novels were published: 'The Betrayers' (1953) was an attack on McCarthyism, 'The Pride of the Peacock' (1954) was a 'marital-problemer' and 'The Southern Wild' (1958) concerned the race problem in the South, pleading for Integration.

She also wrote a short ghost story, 'Lady’s Man', which was incorporated into 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories For Late At Night', published in August 1961.

She was completing her fifth novel when she died from a brain haemorrhage on the 24th of November 1961.


British postcard by Picturegoer, no. 429d. Photo: United Artists.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete. This post was last updated on 7 June 2026.