J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag

This January, EFSP focuses on Denmark and its film culture. J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag was a much smaller Danish postcard company than Alex Vincents Kunstforlag in Copenhagen. However, publisher Jens Christian Olsen (1891-1964) also produced an impressive series of sepia film postcards with Scandinavian and Hollywood stars of the 1920s. We chose 15 favourites from our Flickr album.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag. Eneret, no. 432.

American actor William Farnum (1876-1953) was one of the first major movie stars. From 1914 to 1925, Farnum was one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures include the Westerns The Spoilers (1914), which culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight, Drag Harlan (1920) and the drama-adventure If I Were King (1921).


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 452.

Betty Compson (1897–1974) was an American actress and film producer. She peaked in silent cinema and early talkies, and is best known for her performances as a suicidal prostitute rescued by a stoker (George Bancroft) in The Docks of New York (Joseph Von Sternberg, 1928), and as the manipulative carnival girl Carrie in the part-talkie The Barker (George Fitzmaurice, 1928), the latter earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag. Eneret, no. 454.

Lois Wilson (1894-1988) was an American screen and stage actress who played in about 150 silent films. She was directed by Lois Weber, William De Mille and James Cruze. She was often cast as the romantic woman and 'the marrying kind', though she didn't marry in real life.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 472. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Dorothy Dalton (1893-1972) was an American actress who was highly popular in the silent era. She worked for Kay-Bee, Thomas Ince Corp., and Famous Players (Paramount). She left the film sets in 1924 when she married theatre producer Arthur Hammerstein.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 500. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Alma Bennett.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 536. Photo: Milton Sills and Enid Bennett in The Sea Hawk (Frank Lloyd, 1924).

Milton Sills (1882-1930) was a major American silent film actor and university professor. His relatively early death and his unusual career made him a legend.

Enid Bennett (1893–1969) was an Australian silent film actress, mostly active in American film. She peaked in the late 1910s and early 1920s with films such as Robin Hood (1922), starring Douglas Fairbanks. In 1931, she played Jackie Coogan's mother in the Oscar-winning film Skippy. She was the wife of director Fred Niblo and, after his death of director Sidney Franklin.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 541. Lloyd Hughes in The Sea Hawk (Frank Lloyd, 1924).

Clean-cut, sensitive Lloyd Hughes (1897-1958) was an American actor of both the silent and sound film eras. He appeared in such silent classics as Tess of the Storm Country (1921), The Sea Hawk (1924), and The Lost World (1925).


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 542.

Ben Lyon (1901-1979) was an American stage, film, radio, and TV performer, as well as a studio manager. He is famous for his part as the war aviator in Hell's Angels (1930). He was married to the actresses Bebe Daniels and Marian Nixon.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, no. 549. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Lars Hanson (1886-1965) was a highly successful Swedish film and stage actor, mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film era, both in Scandinavia and Hollywood.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 565. Milton Sills posing with the book, which was adapted to the eponymous film, The Sea Hawk (Frank Lloyd, 1924), with Sills in the lead.

Milton Sills (1882-1930) was a major American silent film actor and university professor. His relatively early death and his unusual career made him a legend.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 580. Barbara La Marr in The Shooting of Dan McGrew (Clarence G. Badger, 1924). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Beautiful Barbara La Marr (1896–1926) was an American film actress, noted for her beauty and her tempestuous marital history. After some early experience in vaudeville, she became a screenplay writer and then a performer, appearing with Douglas Fairbanks and others in over thirty movies, as well as dancing on Broadway. Her hedonistic lifestyle in Hollywood, with heavy drug dependence, led to her early death.


Danish postcard by J.Ch. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 629. Photo: Nordisk. Karina Bell in the romantic comedy Kan Kvinder fejle / Can women fail? (A.W. Sandberg, 1924).

Danish actress Karina Bell (1898-1979) was one of the most popular stars of the Nordisk Films Kompagni in the 1920s. She also appeared in German and Swedish films. Kan Kvinder fejle / Can women fail? (A.W. Sandberg, 1924) was partly shot in Liguria, Italy. Sandberg told the newspapers the film crew started filming in Trieste and at Lake Garda, but in two days, two and a half meters of snow fell, forcing the crew to withdraw to Verona and Venice. As winter still chased the crew, they moved on to Bordighera on the Italian Riviera. Here, they finally got the weather they wanted, and the images were recorded under a scorching sun in 30-35 degree heat, according to A.W. Sandberg. After returning from Italy, Interior shots were taken in Valby, where, among other things, a set was built that envisioned "a wealthy home." To make the interior as compelling as possible, Sandberg almost emptied his apartment at Nørregade to provide props, such as chairs with embroidery made by his wife Elsa Fröhlich, paintings of snowy landscapes made by his father-in-law Thaulow, and an old dresser with bronze female statues by sculptor Jean René Gauguin, son of painter Paul Gauguin.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 642. Gunnar Tolnaes and Karina Bell in the Danish film Wienerbarnet / The Little Austrian (A.W. Sandberg, 1924).

Gunnar Tolnaes (1879-1940) had his most famous performance as an Indian prince in the Danish orientalist melodrama Maharadjahens Yndlingshustru / The Maharaja's Favourite Wife (1917), with Lilly Jacobson. It was so popular that it had a Danish sequel in 1919 and a German sequel in 1921. After a substantial film career in Denmark, he alternated acting in German films as well as in Danish films until the end of the silent era.

Danish actress Karina Bell (1898-1979) was one of the most popular stars of the Nordisk Films Kompagni in the 1920s. She also appeared in German and Swedish films.


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 656. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

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".


Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag, Eneret, no. 812. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Beautiful Barbara La Marr (1896–1926) was an American film actress, noted for her beauty and her tempestuous marital history. After some early experience in vaudeville, she became a screenplay writer and then a performer, appearing with Douglas Fairbanks and others in over thirty movies, as well as dancing on Broadway. Her hedonistic lifestyle in Hollywood, with heavy drug dependence, led to her early death.

And check out our Flickr album on J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag.

Photo by Quick

The rise of Nazism led to the eventual total control of the film industry by the Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. The Jewish and many other stars fled the country. The Nazis continued the film postcard publisher Ross Verlag and photo studio Binder, but with a new, non-Jewish management. The production of film star postcards continued, under the names Ross Verlag and Film-Foto-Verlag. From ca. 1938 on, a new photo studio, Quick Foto, specialised in glamour portraits. There is no further information about this studio that immediately vanished after the war. We chose 15 portraits by Quick of famous stars of the Nazi cinema.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 2245/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick / Ufa.

Chilean singer and actress Rosita Serrano (1914–1997) had her biggest success in Nazi Germany. Her nickname was the 'Chilenische Nachtigall' (Chilean Nightingale), although her most popular song was 'La Paloma' (The Dove).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2404/3, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick / Tobis.

Sexy German dancer and film actress La Jana (1905-1940) was the most popular showgirl of Berlin in the 1930s. She appeared in 25 European films, often dancing in exotic costumes. In 1940, she suddenly died of pneumonia and pleurisy.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2550/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick / Tobis.

Gorgeous Charlotte Thiele (1918-2004) played cool blondes in German films of the 1930s and 1940s. The Ufa star was sidelined by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels after she had rejected his advances.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2592/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick / Tobis.

Baroness Irene von Meyendorff (1916-2001) never planned to become a film star, but she appeared in more than 40 films. Unexpectedly, the breathtakingly beautiful, ice-cold blonde became a star of the Ufa in the 1940s. Her beauty attracted Josef Goebbels, who got a harsh rebuff from her. After the war, she played several parts in interesting German films and led a full, remarkable life.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2720/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick / Tobis. Sybille Schmitz in Trenck, der Pandur (Herbert Selpin, 1940).

Beautiful German actress Sybille Schmitz (1909-1955) started her career in the era of silent cinema. With her typical face and her relaxed, slightly mysterious way of playing, she became a prominent Ufa star during the Third Reich. After the war, she was beset by drug abuse and depression, and at 45, she committed suicide.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2729/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick.

Hilde von Stolz (1903-1973) was a blonde Austrian leading lady and supporting actress in Ufa films of the 1930s and 1940s.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2967/2, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick.

Pretty Austrian actress Jenny Jugo (1904-2001) had a prolific career in German cinema, from the late silent era well into the war years. She did particularly well as a comedienne and starred between 1931 and 1942 in eleven smart and charming comedies directed by Erich Engel.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3478/2, 1941-1944. Photo: Ufa / Quick.

Egyptian-born singer, dancer and actress of Hungarian descent, Marika Rökk (1913-2004) was the last film diva of the Ufa. She was an immensely talented musical performer who could tap with the rhythm and vitality of her Hollywood counterpart, Eleanor Powell, and switch to balletic movements with the conviction of Cyd Charisse. Her trade mark was her Hungarian accent.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3536/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick / Tobis.

Austrian-Hungarian actress Margit Symo (1913-1992) danced and sang in many German entertainment films of the Nazi era. She often appeared as a gypsy in her films. In 1974, she returned to the screen under the direction of Rainer Werner Fassbinder.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3594/2/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Foto Quick / Ufa.

No German star played self-sacrificing womanhood better than blond Austrian actress Luise Ullrich (1911-1985). She became a star of the Ufa in the 1930s and 1940s.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3732/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick / Ufa.

Dutch-born actress and singer Ilse Werner (1921-2005) was one of the most popular stars of the German screen during the Nazi years. After the war, she became a successful Schlager singer. Her nickname, 'Ein Frau mit Pfiff', translates as 'A Woman of Distinction', but also refers to her trademark, whistling.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3772/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick / Terra.

Attractive German-Russian actress Marina Ried (1921-1989) started her film career during the war years and became a busy supporting player in German comedies and musicals of the post-war period.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3901/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick.

German actress Ingeborg von Kusserow (1919-2014) enjoyed a flourishing career in the 1930s, first in the theatre, and then as a young Ufa star. In 1947, she went to Great Britain, where she filmed under the name Ingeborg Wells.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 124, 1941-1944. Photo: Foto Quick / Ufa.

Zarah Leander (1907-1981) was a Swedish actress and singer, who is best remembered for her German songs and films from the late 1930s and 1940s.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 190. Photo: Quick.

Pretty Hungarian actress Lili Muráti appeared in nearly 40 films between 1935 and 1995. She was a leading star of the Hungarian cinema in the 1930s. Her role in David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago (1965) became the subject of an urban legend.

And please check out our Flickr album on Foto Quick.

Debra Paget

Exotic American actress Debra Paget (1933) is perhaps best known for Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1956) and Elvis Presley’s film debut Love Me Tender (1956). Later, she had a career in Europe, too. In Germany, she starred in Fritz Lang's two-film adventure saga Der Tiger von Eschnapur / The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959) and Das Indische Grabmal / The Indian Tomb (1960) and in Italy, she also made films.


German postcard by ISV, no. A 14. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Debra Paget in Princess of the Nile (Harmon Jones, 1954).


Yugoslav postcard by Studio Sombor. Sent by mail in 1963.


Vintage postcard, Photo: 20th Century Fox.


Yugoslav postcard by ZK, no. 3896.


West German collector card by Schumann Verlag, Berlin-Lichterfelde-Düd / Heinerle, Bamberg. Photo: Gloria. Debra Paget in Der Tiger von Eschnapur / The Tiger of Eschnapur (Fritz Lang, 1959).

An Arabian Nights princess

Debra Paget was born as Debralee Griffin in Denver, Colorado, in 1933. She was one of the five children born to former actress Margaret Allen (née Gibson) and painter Frank Henry Griffin.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “She may have hailed from Denver, but actress Debra Paget had the sensual, exotic demeanour of an Arabian Nights princess.” And yes, the family moved from Denver to Los Angeles, California, in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Debra was enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School when she was 11.

Stage mother Margaret was determined that Debra and her siblings would also make their careers in show business. And indeed, three of her siblings, Marcia (Teala Loring), Leslie (Lisa Gaye), and Frank (Ruell Shayne), entered show business. Paget had her first professional job at age 8, and acquired some stage experience at 13 when she acted with Charles Coburn in a 1946 production of William Shakespeare's 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'.

Her first notable film role was as Teena Riconti, girlfriend of the character played by Richard Conte, in the Film Noir Cry of the City (Robert Siodmak, 1948). Fresh out of high school in 1949, she acted in three other films before being signed by 20th Century-Fox. Her first vehicle for Fox was the successful Western Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves, 1950) with James Stewart. Paget played a Native American maiden, Sonseeahray (Morningstar), who gives up her life to save Stewart's character.

Paget co-starred with Louis Jourdan in Bird of Paradise (Delmer Daves, 1951), a remake of the 1932 film starring Joel McCrea and Dolores del Rio. It was followed by roles in successful films like the Film Noir Fourteen Hours (Henry Hathaway, 1951), the adventure film Anne of the Indies (Jacques Tourneur, 1951) with Jean Peters and Louis Jourdan, and Prince Valiant (Henry Hathaway, 1954) starring Robert Wagner. Hal Erickson: “Most of her subsequent roles were merely decorative, though she was a more than adequate Cosette in the 1952 version of Les Misérables.”


Spanish postcard no. 1212. Debra Paget as Native American character Sonseeahray in Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves, 1950). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Vintage postcard, no. 1151. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Debra Paget in Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves, 1950).

Vintage postcard, no. 552. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Bird of Paradise (Delmer Daves, 1951) with Louis Jourdan.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 240. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Bird of Paradise (Delmer Daves, 1951).


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Debra Paget in Bird of Paradise (Delmer Daves, 1951).


Vintage postcard. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

The most beautiful girl in the world

After the campy costume drama Princess of the Nile (Harmon Jones, 1954) was released, the fan mail Debra Paget received at 20th Century-Fox was topped only by that for Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.

The Hollywood studio system dominated American feature film production in the first half of the 20th century. Under it, an actor would sign an exclusive contract to make films for a major studio, such as Fox. The system worked well at first for Paget as her early Fox films did well, so the studio bolstered her film career. In 1955, she broke the exclusivity clause of her contract.

For Fox, she played another Native American girl, Princess Appearing Day, in the Western White Feather (Robert D. Webb, 1955), along with Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter and later at MGM replaced Anne Bancroft as an Indian girl in another Western, The Last Hunt (Richard Brooks, 1956), starring Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger.

Then Fox lent her to Paramount for the part of Lilia, the water girl, in Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epic The Ten Commandments (1956). She had to wear brown contact lenses to hide her blue eyes. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film made. The Ten Commandments (1956) became her most successful film, grossing approximately $122.7 million at the box office during its initial release. It was the most successful film of 1956 and the second-highest-grossing film of the decade. In 1957, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Paget followed it up with Love Me Tender (Robert D. Webb, 1956), the film debut of Elvis Presley. According to Elizabeth Ann at IMDb, Elvis called Debra ‘the most beautiful girl in the world,’ but her mother would not allow them to date. The River's Edge (Allan Dwan, 1957), with Anthony Quinn and Ray Milland, was the last film she made for Fox. After that, her career began to decline.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 964. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Stars and Stripes Forever (Henry Koster, 1952).


Austrian postcard by Verlag Hubmann (HDH Verlag), Wien, no. 299. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Debra Paget in Stars and Stripes Forever (Henry Koster, 1952).


West German postcard, no. 353. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


Dutch postcard. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


British postcard in the Celebrity Autograph Series, no. 105. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Publicity still for Prince Valiant (Henry Hathaway, 1954).


West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H, Minden/Westf. no. 2482. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Richard Egan, Debra Paget and Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender (Robert D. Webb, 1956).

Her blood pressure-raising belly dance

Debra Paget was typically cast in exotic roles such as South Sea Island maidens or Middle Eastern harem girls. In 1958, she travelled to Germany and India to star opposite Paul Hubschmid and Walter Reyer in Fritz Lang's sumptuous international production Der Tiger von Eschnapur / The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959) and its sequel Das Indische Grabmal / The Indian Tomb (1959). She gained extensive publicity coverage for her blood pressure-raising belly dance in the film.

In 1960, American International Pictures obtained the rights to both films for the USA and combined them into one film called Journey to the Lost City. Tom Wiener at AllMovie: “Contemporary audiences might find Hubschmid and Paget's acting stiff, but psychological nuance is not what Lang was looking for here, and the two do generate genuine sexual chemistry, especially in their flight across the desert, which ends this instalment.”

In Italy, Paget then appeared in the historical drama Il sepolcro dei re / Cleopatra's Daughter (Fernando Cerchio, 1960) set in Egypt during the reign of the pharaoh Khufu (r. 2589-2566 BC). Wikipedia: “For some reason, the English version was translated very differently from the original Italian script, setting the film in the 1st century BC, rather than the early Bronze Age.”

In the USA, Paget appeared on TV in episodes of the Western series, Riverboat (1959) starring Darren McGavin, Rawhide (1960 and 1962) with Clint Eastwood, and Johnny Ringo (1960). In Italy, she starred in another historical film, I Masnadieri / Rome, 1585 (Mario Bonnard, 1961) with Antonio Cifariello.

Her final feature film was the horror film The Haunted Palace (Roger Corman, 1963) with Vincent Price and Lon Chaney Jr. Her last television performance was in an episode of Burke's Law (1965), starring Gene Barry. She retired and later became a born-again Christian. She hosted her own show, An Interlude with Debra Paget, on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), a Christian network, in the early 1990s.

Paget was married three times. First, she wed actor and singer David Street in 1958. Their marriage was annulled after four months. In 1960, she married prominent director Budd Boetticher in a Mexican café in Tijuana. He was 44; she was 27. She had acted for him in Seven Men From Now (1955). They separated after just 22 days, and their divorce became official in 1961. In 1962, she married Ling Chiech (Louis) Kung, a Chinese-American oil industry executive and nephew of Madame Chiang Kai-shek. This third marriage produced a son, Gregory, but ended in divorce in 1980. Gregory would graduate from Texas A&M University and become a lawyer. Today, Debra G. Kung lives a quiet life in Houston, Texas.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 542. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 977. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano.


Yugoslav postcard by Studio Sombor, no. 264.


West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Charlottenburg, no. A1727. Photo: CCC / Gloria Film / Grimm.


Debra Paget's Snake Dance Scene in Das Indische Grabmal /The Indian Tomb (1959). Source: Snips Of Clips (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Brian G. Walker (Brian's Drive-In Theater), Tom Wiener (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Elizabeth Ann (IMDb), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.