La Collectionneuse: Sally Phipps

Sally Phipps, a Wampas Baby star of 1927, was one of those young, cute and perky Hollywood actresses who graced the screen in the second half of the 1920s. However, her life and family history were probably more colourful than her movie career.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1966/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 913. Photo: Fox Film.

An interesting lineage

Sally Phipps was born as Nellie Bernice Bogdon on the 25th of May 1911 in Oakland, U.S.A.

Her parents were Albert Bogdon, a professional magician, and Edithe Lane.

Sally’s maternal grandmother, Nellie Cleary Phelps, was the daughter of one of the plural wives of William Wines Phelps, an early leader of the Latter Day Saint Movement and author of numerous Mormon hymns.

But Nellie distanced herself from Mormonism and became known for her civic activities in Oakland for many years, especially in connection with the well-being of working girls, the education and welfare of children, the chamber of commerce and the local elections. Her husband, Jacob Lane, edited several directories, including two of Hawaii, in 1888 and 1890, both dedicated to King Kalakaua, the penultimate Hawaiian monarch, whom he had met several times. The Lanes, incidentally, were famous writer Jack London’s friends.

In 1892, Nellie and Jacob adopted Sally’s mother, Edithe, who was not yet one year old.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 523. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox Film Corp.

Winner of a beautiful baby contest

In 1913, Sally was placed in the house of neighbours Warren and Eva Sawyer, while her mother worked in an art photographic studio in San Francisco, as a colourist. That same year, she won a beautiful baby contest in Oakland.

The Sawyers worked at the Essanay film studios in Niles and suggested using Sally to play 'the baby' in a Broncho Billy short.

So, she made her film debut as Bernice Sawyer in Broncho Billy and the Baby (1915). Two other Western shorts opposite Broncho Billy followed: The Western Way (1915) and The Outlaw’s Awakening (1915).

Sally’s early film career ended following a serious stagecoach accident which happened during the filming of a picture, in which several people, including Eva Sawyer, were injured. Grandmother Nellie reckoned that the Essanay studios were not a safe place for a little girl and decided that Sally should live with her.

In 1916, Sally was chosen to take part with her grandmother in the 4th of July Celebration elaborate parade in Oakland, as an attendant to the Goddess of Liberty. The city was proud of its little movie star.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 529. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox Film Corp.

A film contract at Fox

In January 1917, Albert Bogdon and Edithe Lane divorced, after several years of separation.

Albert enlisted in the U.S. Navy in April. He also gave up magic to build a new career as a lawyer. In 1924, he was elected State Senator of Colorado.

In 1922, Edithe remarried Albert Beutler, whom she later divorced in the 1930s. Sally and her brother Lane joined them, although they would never like their stepfather.

In 1924, the family lived in Los Angeles. A friend ot them was married to musician Danny Borzage. His brother was none other than famous director Frank Borzage, who arranged for Fox to give Sally a screen test.

It led to a movie contract, and the young girl was quickly renamed Sally Phipps.


Spanish postcard in the Kursaal series. Photo: Fox.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 352. Photo: Fox Film Corp.

Wampas Baby Star

Her film career at Fox started in 1925 with uncredited bit parts. She then appeared in two comedy shorts, Light Wines and Bearded Ladies (1926) and Big Business (1926).

Her career received a big boost when she was selected as one of the Wampas Baby Stars of 1927.

She got leading roles in Love Makes’Em Wild (1927), High School Hero (1927), Why Sailors Go Wrong (1928), The News Parade (1928) and None But the Brave (1928). She was also featured in the comedy shorts Girls (1927), The Kangaroo Detective (1927), A Midsummer Night’s Steam (1927), Cupid and the Clock (1927), Gentlemen Prefer Scotch (1927), Mum’s the Word (1927) and Hold Your Hat (1928). Her frequent co-star was then Nick Stuart.

In June 1927, Sally’s father, Senator Albert Bogdon, was shot dead by a jealous husband, who was finally convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Bogdon’s widow, Adele, was convinced it was a frame-up, arranged by his political enemies.

In 1929, Sally officially asked to have a legal guardian appointed, explaining that her stepfather badly handled her financial affairs. The Court ruled in her favour, and she moved out of her parents’ house.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3841/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Fox.

Fox loses interest in Sally

At the end of the 1920s, Fox had somehow begun to lose interest in Sally, and she had to face strong competition from Sue Carol, another Fox contractee and a Wampas Baby star of 1928. Carol had a certain likeness to Sally and even sported the same kind of hairdo at one time. They were similar in type and were assigned the same kind of roles.

In 1928, Sally was slated to star in a sort of sequel to The News Parade but, when the film was finally released in 1929 as Chasing Through Europe, she was nowhere to be seen, and it was Sue Carol who headed the cast with Nick Stuart.

At the end of 1928, Sally started work on Scarehead, a film about the newspaper world, for which Fox had high hopes. But the movie, directed by Fred Newmeyer, was shelved. Benjamin Stoloff was assigned to rework it, and it finally came out as Protection (1929), with Dorothy Burgess replacing Sally as the female lead.

Sally performed a song for Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (1929), directed so far by Marcel Sano. When Fox’s executives realised that there were too many unrelated musical numbers and no plot, they called David Butler to the rescue. He was asked to replace Marcel Sano and to bring some coherence to the project. Butler quickly devised a story and shot some new scenes. As a result, Sally’s specialty act was edited out from the final cut. However, various Fox cuties, such as Sue Carol, Sharon Lynn, Lola Lane and Dixie Lee, appeared in Fox Movietone Follies of 1929. It was rather obvious that other female players were given more chances than Sally.

All she could get from Fox at the time were supporting roles in Joy Street (1929) and The One Woman Idea (1929). After the short Detectives Wanted (1929), the option on her Fox contract was dropped.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 654.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4492/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox.

Later acting career

Sally made a brilliant comeback on stage, as a movie-struck ingenue, in the Broadway hit 'Once in a Lifetime', which opened to rave reviews on the 24th of September 1930.

While playing in 'Once in a Lifetime', she appeared in her last film, a Vitaphone comedy short called Where Men Are Men (1931).

She left the play in May 1931 to marry Benedict Gimbel Jr., one of the wealthy brothers of a famous department store chain. In 1933, she decided to leave her philandering husband, and the divorce became final in June 1935.

After a Broadway flop, 'Knock on Wood', which lasted only 11 performances in 1935, Sally worked for a Shakespearean repertoire touring company in 1936.

At the end of the year, she was hired by the Federal Theatre Project in New York. She notably worked in clerical positions for their Research Department and performed in several of their radio broadcasts. She left in June 1939 and soon departed for India, where she stayed for a year. There she taught acting at a girls’ school, worked as a secretary and took part in radio shows.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 715. Photo: Fox Film.

Her unconventional later life

Back in New York, Sally met musician Alfred Harned and married him in 1941. They had a daughter, Maryanna, in 1942, and a son, Robert, in 1944.

In the mid-1940s, the family went to live in Hawaii, where Sally’s mother, who had become an expert in colouring black and white photographs, ran three photographic shops.

In 1946, Sally suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised for several months. After she was discharged, she decided to live alone, leaving Maryanna and Robert to stay with their father. In 1950, she abruptly departed from Hawaii, deserting her husband and children.

She chose to live in Denver, where she worked for several years as a secretary for the McQuay-Norris Mfg. Co., a large motor parts company. After a brief stint as an amateur talent show director at the Redpath-Horner Company, she definitely settled in New York at the end of 1955. In 1956, the divorce between Sally and Alfred was finalised.

Sally got more secretarial jobs over the years and finally found a permanent position in 1963 at the Emerson Television and Radio Company. She worked as a private secretary to their National Service Manager in Jersey City, in the New York metropolitan area. She would stay there until she resigned in 1973.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5534. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox.

Reconnecting with her children

In 1959, Sally decided to meet her daughter in Cleveland, where the young girl, then a promising athlete, was slated to take part in a track competition.

Unfortunately, they were unable to re-establish a deep bond and only maintained a cordial correspondence thereafter, without rejoining again.

In 1967, there was a reunion with her son, Robert, whom she had not seen for seventeen years. They got along very well and stayed close for the rest of Sally’s life.

In 1976, she received an Award from the Rosemary Association, an organisation that paid homage to former silent stars.

Sally Phipps died from cancer on the 17th of March 1978.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4855/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Fox.


Italian postcard by Foto Ebano.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.

Gwyneth Paltrow

American actress and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow (1972) is the daughter of filmmaker Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner. During the 1990s the 1990s and early 2000s, she was a leading lady in period films like Emma (1996) and Shakespeare in Love (1998). Later, she acted in blockbusters and franchises in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019). On television, she had a recurring guest role in Glee (2010–2011). Paltrow won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.


British postcard by the National Portrait Gallery, London. Photo: Mario Testino. Caption: Gwyneth Paltrow, Vanity Fair, 2000, New York.


Vintage postcard, no. 131.


American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. Z824. Photo: Annie Leibovitz. Caption: Gwyneth Paltrow and Blythe Danner, Vancouver, British Columbia.

The fictional girlfriend of William Shakespeare

Gwyneth Katherine Paltrow was born in 1972 in Los Angeles, California. Her parents were director and television producer Bruce Paltrow and Tony Award-winning actress Blythe Danner. Her brother Jake Paltrow also works in the film industry. She is the niece of actress Katherine Moennig. Gwyneth grew up in Santa Monica, where she attended the Crossroads School. When she was eleven, the family moved to Massachusetts, where her father began working in summer stock productions in the Berkshires.

At 15, she spent a year in Spain and speaks fairly good Spanish. She graduated from the all-girls Spence School in New York City and attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied art history. She dropped out of university to pursue acting. Earlier, she had demonstrated her talent by appearing in plays alongside her mother. She made her television debut in the drama High (1989), directed by her father. In 1990, Paltrow made her professional stage debut.

She played her first film role in the musical Shout (Jeffrey Hornaday, 1991) alongside John Travolta. In the same year, she played the young Wendy in the fantasy film Hook (1991), directed by her godfather Steven Spielberg. She had minor roles in the thrillers Flesh and Bone (Steve Kloves, 1993) and Malice (Harold Becker, 1993), alongside Nicole Kidman. Paltrow gained wider recognition with a supporting role in the thriller Se7en (David Fincher, 1995). She played a small but significant role as Brad Pitt’s wife. The two also began a relationship in real life, which received a great deal of media attention. The film was an international box-office hit.

In the following year, she played Emma Woodhouse in Emma (Douglas McGrath, 1996), based on the novel by Jane Austen. For her role, she received positive reviews. Roger Ebert: "In its high spirits and wicked good humor, Emma is a delightful film–second only to Persuasion among the modern Austen movies, and funnier, if not so insightful. Gwyneth Paltrow sparkles in the title role as young Miss Woodhouse, who wants to play God in her own little patch of England. You can see her eyes working the room, speculating on whose lives she can improve."

In 1998, she starred in five different films. Paltrow achieved her international breakthrough with the lead role of Viola De Lesseps in the romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998). She played the fictional girlfriend of William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes). Shakespeare in Love won seven Oscars, including Best Actress for Paltrow. The film was a hit with both critics and cinema audiences, and she also received a Golden Globe for her performance. The British film Sliding Doors (Peter Howitt, 1998) was also successful, both with critics and the public. That year, she was the first woman to speak out about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct. In 1999, she starred alongside Jude Law, Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett in the psychological thriller The Talented Mr Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999), based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith.


Poster freecard by Max Racks. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft and Robert De Niro in Great Expectations (Alfonso Cuarón, 1998). Caption: Let Desire Be Your Destiny.


New Zealand postcard by Creative Profile. Photos: Fox. Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke in Great Expectations (Alfonso Cuarón, 1998). Caption: Let Desire Be Your Destiny.


Poster postcard in the Cinemscope Collection, no. 141. Image: Paramount / Miramax. Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors (Peter Howitt, 1998).


Poster postcard in the Cinemascop Collection, no. 215. Image: Universal / Miramax. Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998). Caption: Love is the only inspiration.

The injustice faced by overweight people in society

Gwyneth Paltrow co-starred with her then-boyfriend Ben Affleck in the romantic film Bounce (Don Roos, 2000), which disappointed because of its predictable, formulaic plot. That year, she also starred in Duets (2000), directed by her father, Bruce Paltrow. In this karaoke comedy-drama, she did her own singing. She played the tragic poet Sylvia Plath in Sylvia (Christine Jeffs, 2003), in which she starred alongside her mother, Blythe Danner, for the first time. Roger Ebert: "The film stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia and Daniel Craig as Ted. They are well cast, not merely because they look something like the originals but because they sound like workers who live with words and value them; there’s a scene where they hurl quotations at each other, and it sounds like they know what they’re doing. Paltrow’s great feat is to underplay her character’s death wish. There was madness in Sylvia Plath, but of a sad, interior sort, and one of the film’s accomplishments is to show in a subtle way how it was so difficult for Hughes to live with her. The movie doesn’t pump up the volume."

Paltrow opted for more comedic roles. She was Margot Tenenbaum in the ensemble film The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001) and starred in the comedy Shallow Hal (Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, 2001) alongside Jack Black. For her role, she had to wear a 200-pound latex 'fat' suit at times. Paltrow said that this experience made her saddened by the injustice faced by overweight people in society. She played the lead role in the unsuccessful comedy View from the Top (Bruno Barreto, 2003), for which she received a fee of US$10 million. Then she appeared alongside Jude Law in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Kerry Conran, 2004). In 2006, Paltrow received another Golden Globe nomination for her remarkable performance in the drama The Proof (John Madden, 2005) as the loyal daughter of a brilliant but mad mathematician (Anthony Hopkins).

In 2007, she played the lead role in The Good Night, directed by her brother Jake. In 2008, US Forbes Magazine listed her among Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses. Between June 2007 and June 2008, she earned $25 million, placing her in fourth place alongside Reese Witherspoon, behind Cameron Diaz, Keira Knightley and Jennifer Aniston. In 2008, Paltrow launched the website Goop, based on a newsletter featuring her personal lifestyle tips and an associated online shop selling related products. The fact that Paltrow advised her followers not to rely on information from doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, but to ‘do their own research’, drew criticism.

Paltrow appeared as Pepper Potts in the action film Iron Man (Jon Favreau, 2008) alongside Robert Downey Jr. The film grossed over $500 million worldwide, and she reprised her role in the sequel, Iron Man 2 (Jon Favreau, 2010). In 2010, she was honoured with a star (no. 2427) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. By 2019, Paltrow had played the role of Pepper Potts in five further productions from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition, she appeared in other feature films and played Holly Holliday in the television series Glee (2010, 2011 and 2014). In 2011, she won an Emmy for her appearance in Glee. In March 2011, Paltrow reached number 1 in the Australian charts with the song ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah!)’ – a cover version of the song of the same name by Gary Glitter (1973).

She scaled back her acting work in 2017 to focus on her lifestyle company, Goop, and other ventures. Following relationships with Brad Pitt (engaged from 1995 to 1997) and Ben Affleck (in a relationship from 1998 to 2000), Paltrow married Chris Martin, the lead singer of the British band Coldplay, in 2003. Their daughter, Apple Martin, was born in 2004, and their son, Moses Martin, was born in 2006. Paltrow and Martin divorced in 2016. In 2018, Gwyneth Paltrow married TV producer Brad Falchuk. They had met on the set of Glee. She is a board member of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organisation dedicated to alleviating poverty in New York City. Recently, Paltrow appeared opposite Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie, 2025). She played Kay Stone, a wealthy, retired actress and socialite who has a sexual relationship with Marty. The film received critical acclaim and was a box-office success, grossing $192 million worldwide.


Poster postcard in the Cinemascope Collection, no. 233. Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow and Johnathon Schaech in Hush (Jonathan Darby, 1998). Captions: When Jackson brought home his new bride, she was everything a mother would kill for. Don't breathe a word.


Poster postcard, no. 6457. Image: Paramount / Miramax. Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow in The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Mingella, 1999). Caption: How far would you go to become someone else?


Dutch poster postcard by Boomerang Freecards, no. P07-02. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black in Shallow Hal (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 2002). Caption: It is inner beauty that really counts... The black background on the postcard is, in fact, a mirror. To recreate this smart effect was technically impossible for us.


British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 8656.

Sources: Roger Ebert (RogerEbert.com), Wikipedia (German, Dutch and English) and IMDb.

Die freudlose Gasse (1925)

Die freudlose Gasse / (The) Joyless Street (1925) is a German silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. It is the best-known film adaptation of a work by Austrian author Hugo Bettauer and is also one of the first films to be associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) art movement. The film starred Asta Nielsen and the young Greta Garbo.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1020/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Oertel, Berlin. Asta Nielsen in Die freudlose gasse / The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925)


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5098. Photo: Sascha / Sofar Film. Greta Garbo in Die freudlose Gasse / Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1007/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Oertel, Berlin. Asta Nielsen in Die freudlose gasse / The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925).

A piece of meat in exchange for sexual services

The plot of Die freudlose Gasse unfolds across several parallel levels that are interwoven and ultimately merge. The film is set in 1921. Some people enrich themselves through a share scam. Betting on falling prices, they spread a false rumour causing the price of a coal share to fall temporarily. Others are plunged into poverty as a result. In an alley called Melchiorgasse in a poor quarter of Vienna, the lives of several people coincide. Marie (Asta Nielsen), daughter of an abusive war veteran father (Max Kohlhase), hopes to escape her home with the help of her boyfriend Egon (Henry Stuart), a bank clerk. Grete (Greta Garbo) is the elder daughter of impoverished civil servant Rumfort.

Marie and Grete join the overnight line of waiting customers outside of the butcher's shop run by the abusive Josef Geiringer (Werner Krauss), but Grete passes out and loses her place. Marie and her friend Else (Hertha von Walther) manage to enter Geiringer's shop, where they receive a piece of meat in exchange for Else's sexual services. Else offers Marie to share the meat with her, but Marie declines, knowing that Else, whose husband is unemployed, has a young child to feed.

Marie runs away from home and asks Egon to take her in, but Egon, who is entangled with two women of Vienna's high society, hoping that they will help him climb up the social ladder, declines. She is offered help by Mrs. Greifer (Valeska Gert), owner of a fashion salon with an adjoining nightclub. This is where Vienna’s wealthy residents are drawn. Marie becomes the mistress of Canez (Robert Garrison), a speculator on the stock exchange market. During a date with Canez, she witnesses Egon meeting with Mrs. Lia Leid (Tamara), one of his female acquaintances. When Mrs. Leid is later found strangled, Marie states that she saw Egon commit the murder.

Meanwhile, Rumfort (Jaro Fürth) loses his pension in a share transaction in which Canez was involved, while Grete is dismissed from her job for rejecting her employer's sexual advances. To pay for their expenses, the Rumfort family offers a room to let to American Red Cross officer Lt. Davy (Einar Hanson), who is enamoured with Grete's charms. When Davy's adjutant (Mario Cusmich) accuses Grete's younger sister (Loni Nest) of stealing from their supplies, Grete's father insists that they leave. Grete borrows money from Mrs. Greifer, who in turn tries to talk Grete into working for her. Attached to the nightclub is the ‘Merkl’ love hotel, where, among other things, women pay off loans taken out from Mrs. Greifer or unpaid dress purchases by providing sexual services.

In the end, it turns out that the murder of the wealthy Lia Leid was committed out of jealousy by Marie (Asta Nielsen), who has sunk to the status of a streetwalker known as ‘Mizzi’. Her friend Else, in a fit of desperation, kills the butcher because he refuses to give her any meat. The poor residents of the street turn on the rich after hearing strange noises coming from the nightclub. They start throwing stones. In the process, the building catches fire. Else and her unemployed husband (Otto Reinwald) die in the flames, but manage to pass their child out of the window and save it. Thus, the child becomes the ‘Child of Melchiorgasse’. Only Grete Rumfort (Greta Garbo) has any hope of ever escaping this alley. Her relationship with Red Cross officer Davy offers the prospect of a better life.


German postcard by Ross Verlag G.m.b.H., Berlin. Photo: Sofar-Film-Produktion. Werner Krauss in Die freudlose Gasse / The Joyless Street (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag G.m.b.H., Berlin. Photo: Sofar-Film-Produktion. Henry Stuart, Agnes Eszterhazy, Ilka Grüning, Karl Etlinger, and Robert Garrison in Die freudlose Gasse / The Joyless Street (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1925). Caption: Hotel Carlton.


German postcard by Ross Verlag G.m.b.H., Berlin. Photo: Sofar-Film-Produktion. Einar Hanson and Mario Cusmich in Die freudlose Gasse / The Joyless Street (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1925). Caption: At Greifer. The postcard contains a stamp of Kino-Palast Zittau.

A highly controversial novel

Die freudlose Gasse / (The) Joyless Street (1925) is a landmark film of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). This art movement emerged in Germany in the early 1920s as a counter to expressionism. The term applies to a number of artistic forms, including film. Georg Wilhelm Pabst is the director most associated with the movement. His films of the 1920s concentrate on subjects such as abortion, prostitution, labour disputes, homosexuality, and addiction. His cool and critical Die freudlose Gasse / (The) Joyless Street established Pabst’s reputation as a leading director of German film realism.

Die freudlose Gasse turns away from expressionist imagery and towards the post-war reality marked by inflation. The sets were designed by Hans Sohnle and Otto Erdmann. The film, made in just five months, was based on Hugo Bettauer’s 1924 novel. Both the author and his work were highly controversial at the time: right-wing politicians and the press denounced Bettauer’s works, and there were even calls for his ‘extermination’. The writer was murdered before filming had even finished.

The film’s enduring impact is due in no small part to the fact that the plot is carried by three brilliant actresses. Frank de Jong at IMDb: "Marie (played by Asta Nielsen) is a daughter of a poor family. Grete (played by Greta Garbo) is daughter of an impoverished family. Marie ends badly, Grete escapes the misery. Symbolically two big stars of Scandinavian cinema pass on the relay baton in this movie. The most striking character of this film is however not played by either Asta Nielsen or Greta Garbo but by Valeska Gert as Frau Greifer. Her character is a sort of female Mephistopheles. She is both tailor and owner of a nightclub. As a tailor she sells expensive coats on credit. As the owner of the nightclub she coerces young girls to perform when they could not pay their debts."

Despite a happy ending - which, unlike the literary source material, was filmed as a concession to the producers and the audience - the film was censored and cut in many countries. The version shown at the premiere in Berlin at 18 May 1925 was still 3,738 metres long. On the night before the premiere, Pabst and his film editor Mark Sorkin had removed ‘a few important scenes’ that the cinema owner had criticised. The first round of censorship on 25 May 1925 resulted in the removal of only a relatively small number of frames - around 3.5 to 4 metres (approximately 7.5 seconds, based on 25 frames per second). Following a request, a further review was carried out the following year, after which only 3,477 metres remained. Consequently, there were many different versions of the film, which differed not only in length but also in the sequence of scenes. In England, the film was banned altogether.

In Germany, several attempts were made to reconstruct the film, with the aim of getting as close as possible to the original version, i.e. that of the premiere. The first attempt was made by Enno Patalas, who in 1989 edited a version at the Munich Film Museum from three surviving copies of the film, closely following Mark Sorkin’s screenplay. Between 1995 and 1998, the second reconstruction took place at the Munich Film Museum under the direction of Jan-Christopher Horak, utilising all known negative film stock as well as all available materials that provided clues as to the correct sequence of scenes and intertitles. The resulting reconstruction of the film is approximately 3,000 metres long and runs for 151 minutes.


German postcard by Anonyme Fotografie, no. A 43. Photo: Oertel / Collection Eckemeyer, Berlin. Asta Nielsen in Die freudlose Gasse / The Joyless Street (G. W. Pabst, 1925).


French magazine cover of Mon Ciné, V, no. 210, 25 February 1926. Greta Garbo in Die freudlose Gasse / Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925), released in France in 1926 as La rue sans joie.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1020/1. Photo: Curt Oertel, Berlin. Asta Nielsen in Die freudlose Gasse / Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925). In 1929, Dutch painter Pyke Koch painted Nielsen's portrait, using one of Oertel's photos. The painting is now at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht. Curt Oertel was one of the cinematographers of the film as well.

Sources: Frank de Jong (IMDb), Wikipedia (German, Dutch and English) and IMDb.

Souvenirs from Bologna (3)

Last month, we were at the Cinema Ritrovato Festival 2026 in Bologna. We bought books and vintage postcards at the film book fair, 'Mostra mercato dell'editoria cinematografica'. This month, we share our souvenirs in three posts at EFSP. For this third and final post, Ivo Blom selected his postcards of non Italian stars and films. Arrivederci, Bologna!


French photo card by Pathé Frères, Nizza. Still from Une partie de campagne (N.N., 1912), an early comedy not to be confused with the famous 1936 film by Jean Renoir. On Pentecost Monday, Mr. Balandard, having the day off, takes his entire family on a country outing to the outskirts of Paris. They rent a donkey-drawn carriage, and no sooner have they passed through the gates than the Balandards breathe in with delight the smoke-filled air from the factories and marvel at the barren landscape. Finally, they find an oasis of greenery where the Balandards settle down for lunch. Everything is going swimmingly, and the family is thoroughly enjoying their little outing when Auguste, the heir to the family name, has the misfortune of throwing his balloon into a tree, where it gets stuck. To console him, Mr. and Mrs. Balandard try—in vain, of course—to dislodge the balloon using various projectiles: leftovers from the feast, a hat, a jacket, an overcoat—they try everything, to no avail. So, after engaging in this costly endeavor, the Balandards find themselves as destitute as Job. And the return journey is a miserable one.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 337. Eva May in Paganini (Heinz Goldberg, 1923). The boy may be Martin Goldberg, who plays Paganini's son. Conrad Veidt starred as Paganini.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, no. 762. Photo: Films Paramount, Roma. Gloria Swanson and Mary Thurman in Zaza (Allan Dwan, 1923).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, no. 433. Gloria Swanson in Her Love Story (Allan Dwan, 1924). Italian title: Lagrime di regina (Tears of A Queen). 


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, no. 141. Photo: Films Paramount, Roma. Gloria Swanson and Charles de Roche(fort) in Madame Sans-Gêne (Léonce Perret, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 843. Photo: First National Pictures. Anna Q. Nilsson (1888-1974) was a Swedish-American actress, who peaked in the silent era. She became one of the first major stars in the US film industry and contributed in total about 200 silent movies.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 890. Photo: Le grandi films, Verginio Rebua, Milano. With her exotic looks, Nita Naldi was one of the most famous Hollywood vamps of the 1920s. She notably co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in three movies. Interestingly enough, she also had a leading role in an early Alfred Hitchcock film. About her career, she once wittily declared: "They had ermine tails and paradises in my hair and a couple of snakes coiled around my neck. In real life, believe me, any man of sensibilities would have run 20 miles to get out of my sight".


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, no. 605. Photo: MGM. Mae Murray and Roy D'Arcy in Valencia (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, no. 606. Photo: MGM. Mae Murray and Roy D'Arcy in Valencia (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, no. 607. Photo: MGM. Mae Murray and Lloyd Hughes in Valencia (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1926).


German postcard, no. 9226. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Maria Orska (1893-1930) was a Russian-Jewish actress of the German stage and screen in the 1910s and 1920s
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German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6465/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Fox. Elmer Goodfellow 'El' Brendel (1890-1964) was an American vaudeville comedian turned movie star. He is best remembered for his dialect routine as a Swedish immigrant. His biggest role was as 'Single-0' in the Sci-Fi musical Just Imagine (1930), produced by Fox Film.


Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026. Photo: Paul van Yperen.

Matt Damon

American actor Matt Damon (1970) studied English literature at Harvard while he started his film career. He and Ben Affleck co-wrote Good Will Hunting (1997), for which they won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Damon starred in such box office hits as Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). In 2002, Damon became an action hero in The Bourne Identity. In 2006, he starred alongside Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, which won four Oscars. He also worked on several blockbusters with directors Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan, including the latest mega-hit The Odyssey (2026).


British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 8270. Photo: Armando Gallo. Caption: Matt Damon - Black T-shirt.


Chinese postcard. Matt Damon and Anna Paquin in Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011).

An essay in the form of a film treatment as an exercise for an English class

Matthew Paige 'Matt' Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1970. His parents were Nancy Carlsson Paige and her husband, Kent Telfer Damon. His mother was a professor of education at Lesley University in Boston, and his father was a stockbroker. Damon has an older brother named Kyle, a sculptor and artist. Damon is a distant cousin of actors Casey and Ben Affleck. When he was two years old, his parents divorced. With his mother and brother, he moved from Newton to Cambridge.

Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, the same school as Ben Affleck. There, he frequently performed in various theatre groups before graduating in 1988. Damon went to study English literature at Harvard. He also registered with an audition agency and was offered a one-line part in the film Mystic Pizza (Donald Petrie, 1988) starring Julia Roberts. In the years that followed this debut, he played smaller roles in the television film Rising Son (John David Coles, 1990) and in prep-school drama School Ties (Robert Mandel, 1992) with Brendan Fraser and Ben Affleck.

He never earned a degree at Harvard, but continued to pursue acting and appeared in the play 'A... My Name is Alice'. When the film Geronimo: An American Legend (Walter Hill, 1993), with Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall, seemed to become a success, Damon knew for sure what he wanted. He dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles. His breakthrough came with Courage Under Fire (Edward Zwick, 1996), starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. For his role as a Gulf War vet, Damon had to lose ca. 20 kilos (44 or 47 pounds - the sources differ).

While at Harvard, Damon had written an essay in the form of a film treatment as an exercise for an English class. In 1995, he and Ben Affleck developed it into a screenplay about a young mathematics genius. For a long time, they tried to sell it to a studio, but they turned down several lucrative offers because the potential buyers weren't interested in casting both Damon and Affleck in the leading roles. It wasn't until Damon's first starring role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker (1997) was a hit that Miramax acquired the rights. Good Will Hunting (Gus van Sant, 1997), starring Affleck, Damon, and Robin Williams, was a huge success and earned the two writers an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award. Damon also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

In the following years, Matt Damon starred in various box-office smashes: the anti-war epic Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998) with Tom Hanks, The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999) opposite Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, the Heist comedy Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001), and the sequels Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh, 2004), and Ocean's Thirteen (Steven Soderbergh, 2007). The last three had an ensemble star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts.


Poster postcard in the Cinemascope Collection, no. 345. Photo: Paramount / Miramax. Matt Damon and Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999).


Poster postcard, no. 6457. Image: Paramount / Miramax. Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow in The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999). Caption: How far would you go to become someone else?


Dutch freecard by Boomerang, Amsterdam, no. P25-04. Poster: Warner Bros. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and Bernie Mac in Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh, 2004).

A well-received amnesiac assassin

In 2002, Matt Damon became an action hero. He took on the role of amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (Doug Limon, 2002), based on the bestseller by Robert Ludlum. He underwent three months of training in eskrima and boxing. The film was so well received that Damon also starred in the sequels The Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass, 2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass, 2007), and Jason Bourne (Paul Greengrass, 2016).

In between, he starred alongside Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's thriller The Departed (2006). The film won four Oscars and was well-received by both film critics and the general public. Damon also appeared in the Coen brothers' remake of the 1969 John Wayne-starring Western True Grit (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 2010) with Jeff Bridges.

In 2014, he was nominated for an Emmy Award (Outstanding Actor) for his role as Scott Thorson in Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh, 2013). The film portrays the last ten years of pianist Liberace's life and his relationship with Scott Thorson. The story is based on Thorson's memoirs, 'Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace' (1988). The Emmy Award went to his co-star Michael Douglas, who played Liberace. Damon also produced the reality series Project Greenlight (2001–2015) and the film Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan, 2016) starring Casey Affleck.

Matt Damon received a nomination for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015). The film depicts an astronaut's struggle to survive on Mars after being left behind and NASA's efforts to return him to Earth. The Martian opened to critical acclaim, and grossed $630.6 million worldwide. His later films include Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold, 2019) with Christian Bale, the epic historical drama The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2021), which he also co-wrote, and Air (Ben Affleck, 2023).

Christopher Nolan directed him in three hugely successful blockbusters: in a minor role as scientist Dr. Mann in Interstellar (2014), as Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project in Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023) and as Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, in The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan, 2026). In 2005, Damon married his Argentine girlfriend Luciana Barroso. Together they have three daughters, Isabella (2006), Gia (2008) and Stella (2010). Barroso also had a daughter, Alexia, from a previous relationship. Damon previously had relationships with Winona Ryder and Minnie Driver.


British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC 2109. Caption: Matt Damon - Portrait.


British postcard by Heroes Publishing LTD., London, no. SFC 3288.

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.