Today is our final day in Bologna. For our last post on Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026, we travel with the Time Machine to the section 'A Hundred Years Ago', curated by Oliver Hanley. For the 24th year in a row, Il Cinema Ritrovato devotes a portion of its programme to the cinema of 100 years past with a curated selection of films made and released in 1926. 'This year we’ll go mining for gold in the Yukon (by way of the Soviet Union) with Lev Kuleshov, witness the destruction of ancient Pompeii with Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi, make a Faustian bargain with the devil with F.W. Murnau, and visit two very different sides of Paris with Alberto Cavalcanti and Ernst Lubitsch', the festival website promises. For this post, we followed our own route and selected 30 remarkable postcards for films from 1926. Arrivederci, Bologna!
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 62/4. Photo: ParUfaMet / Ufa. Gösta Ekman and Emil Jannings in Faust (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1926). Collection: Didier Hanson.
French postcard by Europe, no. 180. Photo: Société des Cinéromans. Ivan Mozzhukhin, Nathalie Kovanko and Acho Chakatouny in Michel Strogoff (Victor Tourjansky, 1926), based on Jules Verne's classic novel.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4777/1, 1929-1930. Photo: United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks in The Black Pirate (Albert Parker, 1926).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1810/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Fanamet. Adolphe Menjou in The Sorrows of Satan (D.W. Griffith, 1926).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3068/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount / Fanamet. Pola Negri in Good and Naughty (Malcolm St. Clair, 1926).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3373/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1795/3, 1927-1928. Photo: United Artists. Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky in The Winning of Barbara Worth (Henry King, 1926).
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Ed. for Unica - Ciocolato Talmone al latte. Photo: Pittaluga Film. Maria Jacobini in Beatrice Cenci (Baldassarre Negroni, 1926).
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 818. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino. Publicity still for Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni / Maciste in the Lions' Cage (Guido Brignone, 1926).
Italian postcard by Edizione A. Traldi, Milano, no. 946. Oreste Bilancia in Die Flucht in die Nacht / The Flight in the Night (Amleto Palermi, 1926), based on the play 'Enrico IV' by Luigi Pirandello.
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino. Publicity still for the Italian silent film Maciste all'inferno / Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone, 1926), starring Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste. Caption: The Inhabitants of the Underworld.
Italian postcard. Photo: Pittaluga Film, Turin. Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in Maciste contro lo sceicco / Maciste against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1629/1. Photo: Nero-Film, Berlin. Was ist los im Zirkus Beely? / The Phantom of the Circus (Harry Piel, 1927) was Harry Piel's 75th film. It was the first Harry Piel film with a full-grown predator as Piel's companion: the tiger Bylard from the Leipzig Zoo. Mathias Bleckmann, in his 1992 biography of Piel, tells a nice anecdote. To the admiration of the wrangler present, Piel calmly managed to have the animal adapt to the camera. To have the tiger lick his face as the script demanded, he smeared his own mouth with cheese, but he had forgotten that a tiger's tongue might be sharp as a blade - so he ended up a few days in hospital...
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5508. Photo: F.B.O. / Wiener Lichtbilderei. Richard Talmadge in The Night Patrol (Noel M. Smith, 1926).
Soviet postcard: Photo: Vasili Yaroslavtsev in Bukhta smerti / The Bay of Death (Abram Room, 1926).
German postcard. Photo: Deutsch-Nordische Film-Union. La Jana in Die Weisse Geisha / Den hvide Geisha / The White Geisha (Valdemar Andersen, Karl Heiland, 1926). Caption: The white Geisha and the Rikshaman.
German postcard by Taschen, from the book 'Leni Riefenstahl: Five Lives' (2000). Leni Riefenstahl and Luis Trenker in Der heilige Berg / The Holy Mountain (Arnold Fanck, Leni Riefenstahl, 1926). Caption: The Ice Cathedral.
German postcard by Sokal Film, Berlin, for Residenz-Theater. Agnes Esterhazy in Der Student von Prag / The Man Who Cheated Life (Henrik Galeen, 1926).
Danish postcard by Nordisk. Photo: Deutsch Nordische Film Union / Nordisk. Gunnar Tolnaes in Maharadjahens yndlingshustru / The Maharaja's Favourite Wife (A.W. Sandberg, 1926), released in Germany as Die Lieblingsfrau des Maharadscha.
French postcard by Europe, no. 190. Photo: Soc.té des Cinéromans. André Roanne in Mlle. Josette ma femme / Fräulein Josette - Meine Frau / A Marriage of Convenience (Gaston Ravel, 1926).
Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 3536. Angelo Ferrari and Agnes Esterhazy in Die Flucht in die Nacht / The Flight in the Night (Amleto Palermi, 1926). The Italian title was Enrico IV.
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, no. 467. Photo: SBF / Film AB Nordstjaernan. Thor Christiernsson as Lt. Colonel K.L. Lode in the two-part historical film Fänrik Ståls sägner / The Tales of Ensign Stål (John W. Brunius, 1926). The film is set during the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia in 1808-1909, during the Napoleonic era. The script by Ivar Johansson was based on the epic poem 'The Tales of Ensign Stål' (1848) by nineteenth-century writer Johan Ludvig Runeberg. The film was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm, and exteriors were shot at Tavastehus, Ritoniemi, Ruovesi and other places. Cinematography was by Hugo Edlund and Karl Andersson, and sets were designed by Vilhelm Bryde. Runeberg's work had already been filmed in 1910 and would be again in 1939.
Danish postcard by Alex Vincents Kunstforlag, no. 2. Photo: Sacha Film / Phoebus Film. Nils Asther and Lily Damita in the Austro-German coproduction Die goldene Schmetterling / The Golden Butterfly (Mihaly Kertesz / Michael Curtiz, 1926).
French postcard by Ed. Expédition Citroën. Still from La croisière noire / The Black Journey (Léon Poirier, 1926). Caption: Indigenous Ubangi dressed for the ritual dance of the Gan'za. Ubangi-Shari was a French colony in Africa, part of French Equatorial Africa. It is now the Central African Republic. The French expedition film La croisière noire / The Black Journey (1926) was one of the publicity missions sponsored by André Citroën, with support from the Société de géographie and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, to promote his vehicles. The mission aimed to open a regular motor route in Africa and had political and cultural overtones. Starting at Béchaar, Algeria, on 28 October 1924, the expedition crossed the Sahara Desert and proceeded through Mali, Nigeria, Chad and Ubangi-Shari in French Equatorial Africa (AEF) and the Belgian Congo. The film and photos represent the European colonial gaze of a century ago.
Italian postcard by BFF (Ballerini & Fratini), no. 423. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn, Roma. Antonio Moreno and Alice Terry in Mare Nostrum (Rex Ingram, 1926).
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 603. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Films. Marion Davies in Beverly of Graustark (Sidney Franklin, 1926).
Reproduction of film still for Don Juan (Alan Crossland, 1926). Photo: Warner/ Vitaphone. John Barrymore as Don Juan fighting Count Giano Donati (Montague Love), while Cesare Borgia (Warner Oland) and Lucrezia Borgia (Estelle Taylor) look on. Set design by Ben Carré.
German postcard nu Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3424/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lillian Gish in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no 69/1. Photo: Reinhold Schünzel-Film / Ufa. Reinhold Schünzel and Margot Walter in In der Heimat, da gibt's ein Wiedersehn! / We'll Meet Again in the Heimat (Reinhold Schünzel, Leo Mittler, 1926). It meant the screen debut for Margot Walter (1903-1994), later known as Margot Landa when married to actor-director Max Landa.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 331. Photo: Max Munn Autrey / Fox Film. Dolores Del Rio and Edmund Lowe in What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926).
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was an American singer and dancer who became a legend in Europe. In 1925, 'the Bronze Venus' became an instant success in Paris with her coffee skin, ebony eyes, long legs, and 'smile to end all smiles'. She was the first African American female to become a world-famous entertainer, to integrate an American concert hall, and to star in a major film, the French production La Sirene des Tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (1927). For Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026, Emilie Cauquy curated the program 'Joséphine Baker, Renaissance Woman, ' showing Baker's full filmography, spiced up by a selection of newsreels from Gaumont Pathé archives and rarities.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5293. Photo: Walery, Paris.
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition (CE), no. 531. Photo: Walery, Paris. Josephine Baker in La revue des revues / Parisian Pleasures (Joe Francis, 1927). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
French postcard by Ajax, no. 31. Photo: Josephine Baker. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Caption: The black Venus.
Small French card by Columbia. Photo: d'Ora.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 66. Photo: Henri Manuel.
Racial discrimination
Josephine Baker was born Frida Josephine McDonald in 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri, US. Her mother, Carrie McDonald, was a laundress, and her father, Eddie Carson, a Vaudeville drummer. Between the ages of 8 and 10 she was out of school, helping to support her family. As a child Baker developed a taste for the flamboyant that was later to make her famous. At age 11, Josephine witnessed racist attacks on Black people in neighboring East St. Louis, in which at least 39 people were killed. Josephine dropped out of school at the age of 12, and first danced for the public on the streets of St. Louis for nickels and dimes.
At 13, she married Willie Wells, who was 26. They pretended she was 15. The marriage to Wells lasted less than a year. At 15, she married a Pullman porter named William Howard Baker. Two years later, she left him, but kept his name. Josephine was recruited for the St. Louis Chorus Vaudeville Show. Later, she joined the chorus in a road company (Jones Family Band and the Dixie Steppers) performing the musical comedy 'Shuffle Along' (1923). She headed to New York City, where during the Harlem Renaissance, she performed at the Plantation Club and in the chorus of the popular Broadway revue 'The Chocolate Dandies' (1924).
She performed as the last dancer in a chorus line, a position in which the dancer traditionally performed comically, as if they were unable to remember the dance, until the encore. At the encore, they would not only perform it correctly but also with additional complexity. Baker was then billed as 'the highest-paid chorus girl in Vaudeville.' The first time she left for France was in 1925, after she had been scouted by the white producer Caroline Dudley Reagan, wife of Joseph Delteil and creator of the famous Revue Nègre. Dudley Reagan requested her to come to perform in Paris with a black performing troupe. Paris was a haven for artists and intellectuals in the 1920s. Josephine Baker opened in Paris in 'La revue negre' at the Théatre des Champs-Élysées. The show was a resounding success. The final number of the evening, 'Danse Sauvage' (Wild Dance), was particularly popular. In this number, Baker was carried onto the stage by a muscular male dancer. She was naked (except for a skirt made of flamingo feathers) and seemingly lifeless. But she soon threw herself into a frenzied dance. As she danced more wildly, she rubbed against the man in a way that was unmistakable.
Curator Emilie Cauquy writes on the Il Cinema Ritrovato website: "Joséphine Baker was never just the woman with the banana skirt. She was a shockwave. Bursting onto the Paris scene of the 1920s, she carved herself into the collective imagination with a body in excessive motion, both fetishized and fiercely independent. Born on the streets of St. Louis, her art came from survival, improvisation, and jazz. Renaissance! Europe wanted 'the jungle', Baker brought the street, turning exoticization into both a weapon and a disguise. Her image, between nudity and animality, fed colonial fantasies, yet she constantly sabotaged them through exaggeration, grimace and refusal of stillness."
Marlene Pilaete reacts in a mail: "I'm always a bit puzzled by those 'modern' relectures of past performers, especially when I read this in the Cinema Ritrovato program about Josephine Baker: 'Her image, between nudity and animality, fed colonial fantasies, yet she constantly sabotaged them through exaggeration, grimace and refusal of stillness'. They rewrite history with present-day anti-colonialist lenses. It's funny, about 20-30 years ago, nobody talked about this 'theory' of Baker making faces and dancing energetically to debunk colonial clichés. Baker herself was clear in her 1949 book 'Mes Mémoires'. She referred to her stage career in the U.S. before she came to France and said this about it: 'I've moved from the background to the foreground by dint of crossing my eyes and throwing my arms and legs above the spectators' heads'. It was just her way to stand out from the other chorus girls. She simply used grimaces and exaggerated movements in France because they had brought her success in the U.S., and certainly not to deliberately sabotage colonial fantasies. The fact that Baker attended the 1931 Exposition Coloniale (as proven by the Pernod card I used in my November 2021 EFSP post) proves that, at the time, she didn't really care about colonialism and colonial clichés. I don't know why some people want to transform the young Josephine Baker into an anti-colonialist icon. It seems too difficult for them to simply accept her as a young and ebullient girl eager to please. She was handsomely paid for dancing half-naked or for wearing a banana belt. She gave European audiences what they wanted to see, without a second thought and with no anti-colonialist perspective. She only became a militant activist later in her life."
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. F291. Photo: James Abbe. Josephine Baker in 'La revue negre'.
French postcard by Editions Damilla, Paris, no. 95070. Photo: R.V.
French postcard. Photo: Roger Viollet. Caption: Josephine Baker (1906-1975), American music-hall artist, May 1926.
British postcard by James Gardiner Postcards, Watford, in The Glamour Queens series, no. 8, 1988. Caption: Josephine Baker, 1927.
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. HH13, 1979. Photo: George Hoyningen-Huene. Caption: Josephine Baker, c. 1930.
French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. CF 40. Josephine Baker and Jean Gabin in Zouzou (Marc Allégret, 1934).
Banana dance
Europe was a sensation for Josephine Baker. When she enjoyed lunch in the dining car of the boat train to Paris, it was the first time she had sat among only white people. In 'La Revue Nègre' (1925) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, she performed her 'Danse Sauvage', dressed only in ostrich feathers. In the show, she also wore a skirt made of imitation bananas, shamelessly portraying a caricature of how most white people viewed someone of African descent at the time. When Baker began performing in Paris, jazz was still a novelty to the European audience. Her fusion of jazz, charleston, and improvised African rhythms was particularly popular in avant-garde artistic circles. Paris was a haven for artists and intellectuals in the 1920s. In 1926, she interrupted the company's European tour and returned to Paris, where she joined the Folies Bergère with the act 'La Folie du Jour'.
In 1928, she undertook another European tour with her company, which caused quite a stir. For instance, her performances were met with fierce protests from conservative quarters in Austria, but she enjoyed great success in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Italy. In Munich, her performance was even banned in 1929 for 'offending public morals'. In 1929, she travelled through Central Europe on the Orient Express with her lover at the time, Giuseppe Pepito Abatino, visiting Yugoslavia and Hungary. In Serbia, she gave a charity performance for the benefit of children living in poverty. Back in Paris, she joined the Folies Bergère for several years. From then on, she was given nicknames such as 'Black Venus', 'The Black Pearl', and 'The Creole Goddess'. She quickly became a favourite of the French, and her fame grew.
Baker performed in a handful of silent and early sound films, including La Sirene des Tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (Henri Étiévant, Mario Nalpas, 1927) at the side of Pierre Batcheff, Zouzou (Marc Allégret, 1934) opposite Jean Gabin, and La princesse Tam Tam / Princess Tam-Tam (Edmond T. Gréville, 1935) with Albert Préjean. At this time, she also scored her greatest song hit, 'J'ai deux amours'(1931).
In 1936, Baker left for the US and expected a warm welcome. But it turned out to be a cold shower. On Broadway, she performed in 'Ziegfeld Follies' for which Vincente Minnelli had designed the sets and costumes, and Ira Gershwin had written the music. Theatre critics slammed her performances with racist remarks. Time called her a 'negro girl without particular talent'. Disillusioned, she returned to France.
Josephine Baker resolved to settle permanently in the country where she had already been received with open arms and was adored. In Paris, she felt at home and could be who she was. In 1937, she renounced her American citizenship and became a citizen of France. During the German occupation of France, Baker worked with the Red Cross and the Résistance, and as a member of the Free French forces she entertained troops in Africa and the Middle East. She was later awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour with the rosette of the Résistance.
French promotional postcard. Photo: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (Mario Nalpas, Henri Étiévant, 1927). Collection: Marlene Pilaete. The script was written by Maurice Dekobra.
French promotional postcard. Photo: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (Mario Nalpas, Henri Étiévant, 1927). Collection: Marlene Pilaete. The script was written by Maurice Dekobra.
French promotion card by Clacquesin. Caption: I have two loves... my pleasure and my health. Both are perfect thanks to Clacquesin. Josephine Baker.
French postcard by Éditions et Publications cinématographiques, no. 74. Photo: Films Roussillon. Josephine Baker in Zouzou (Marc Allégret, 1934).
French postcard, no. 612. Photo: Piaz, Paris.
French postcard. Photo: Harcourt. A previous owner of this card wrote in pencil on the back that it was related to the revue 'Paris-London' at the Casino de Paris (1939-1940). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Communist sympathiser?
After the war, Josephine Baker devoted much of her energy to Les Milandes, her estate in southwestern France, from which she began in 1950 to adopt babies of all nationalities in the cause of what she defined as 'an experiment in brotherhood' and her 'rainbow tribe'. ‘Children of different races who grew up as brothers and sisters do not suffer from racial hatred. That is something people invented,’ she explained. Baker retired from the stage in 1956, but to maintain Les Milandes she was later obliged to return, starring in Paris in 1959.
Although based in France, Baker supported the American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. In 1951, the Stork Club in New York City refused to serve her because she was black. Grace Kelly, who was also in the club, witnessed the incident. She resolutely took Baker by the arm and together they left the club – followed by Kelly’s friends. This incident led to a confrontation with right-wing columnist Walter Winchell. In 1951, the civil rights organization NAACP named her ‘Woman of the Year’. Later, she was falsely accused of being a 'communist sympathiser', and the FBI started a file on her. The FBI often used this term for the civil rights movement. During the McCarthy era, she was told that she was no longer welcome in the United States. In France, she was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, France's highest honour, in 1961. In 1963, she participated with 250,000 others in Martin Luther King’s march on Washington. ‘I have visited royal palaces and presidential residences and much more. But in the US, I can’t even get a cup of coffee in a hotel. That makes me angry,’ she said in a speech, just before King’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
In the late 1960s, she began having financial difficulties and stopped performing. In 1968 her estate was sold to satisfy accumulated debt. Princess Grace offered her a home in Monaco when she learned of Josephine's financial problems. At the request of the Princess, she performed at Monaco's summer ball in 1974, and it was a great success. That same year, she staged a week of performances in New York and called the show 'An Evening with Josephine Baker'.
In April 19075, Josephine Baker performed a Paris revue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut. The first show in Paris drew a full house. Baker danced on stage with youthful energy and changed outfits 12 times. Among the guests were stars such as Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, and Sophia Loren. A congratulatory telegram arrived from French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. A few days later, on 10 April 1975, she was stricken and went into a coma. She died later that day at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage. Baker received a funeral in Paris which was televised. 20,000 viewers watched as the flag-decorated coffin was driven to the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church in Paris. She was buried in Monaco. On 30 November 2021, she was symbolically interred in the Panthéon in Paris. Her life was dramatised in the television movie The Josephine Baker Story (1991) and was showcased in the documentary Joséphine Baker. Première icône noire / Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening (2018).
Josephine Baker was married six times: to foundry worker Willie Wells (1919), William Howard Baker (1921-1923), 'Count' Pepito di Abatino (1926), French sugar magnate Jean Lion (1937-1938), orchestra leader Joe Bouillon (1947-1957) and finally to American artist Robert Brady (1973 till her death in 1975). Baker was bisexual. Having been married to multiple men, she also maintained relationships with women throughout her adult life. Her famous lovers included the French writer Colette, whom Baker described as ‘the most beautiful panther’, and Cuban artist Frida Kahlo. Baker adopted 12 children, partly because she couldn't have any of her own and partly because she believed in equality for all, no matter what nationality, religion or race. Although Baker's children lacked nothing, some of them later indicated that they felt more like props in a project than living people. 'They were a kind of puppets to her', said her adopted son Jean-Claude Baker, who later wrote a critical biography of Josephine.
French postcard by Ray. Delvert, Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Josephine Baker and her fourth husband, Jo Bouillon, in the park of their Château des Milandes in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne. In 1937, Baker rented the château and moved there after the German invasion of Paris in 1941. She used it as a centre for resistance activity. In 1947, she and Jo Bouillon bought the château. There, they carried out their project to adopt children of different nationalities, to prove that the cohabitation of different 'races' could work admirably. Finally, they adopted twelve children. All the children that the couple adopted bear the name Bouillon. Baker and Bouillon separated in 1957 and divorced in 1961. In 1969, Baker had to give up the castle for financial reasons. There is now a museum dedicated to her.
French postcard by Éditions Jean Farcigny, Courbevoie. Photo: Lipnitzki / Viollet. Caption: Josephine Baker at L'Olympia in April 1964.
French postcard by Cie. des Arts Photomécaniques, Paris, no. 1556. Photo: Josephine Baker and Jo Bouillon. Caption: Les Milandes - 'Jorama' 1949. Josephine Sings.
French postcard “Lumicap” by Compagnie des Arts Photomécaniques, Paris. This card shows Josephine and her fourth husband, Jo Bouillon, with the first nine children they adopted: Aiko, Luis, Janot, Jari, Jean-Claude, Moïse, Brahim, Marianne, and Koffi. Later, three more children were added to the 'Rainbow Tribe': Mara and Noël in 1959 and Stellina in 1962 or 1964 (sources differ). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Dutch postcard, no. AX 3771.
Czech postcard by Edice z Videni, no 488. Photo: Miroslav Hucek. Caption: Josephine Bakerova (1970).
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 5293, 1970.
Josephine Baker performs the 'Danse sauvage' (Banana Dance) at the Folies Bergères. Source: Dwan (YouTube).
Josephine Baker in Pathécolor, shot for the French silent film La Revue Des Revues (1927). Source: Alhambra Museet for humor og satire Frederiksberg (YouTube).
