Paul Otto

Paul Otto (1878-1943) was a balding German stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter and producer. He was appointed State Actor by Adolf Hitler in 1937. However, the Nazis discovered his Jewish ancestry in 1943, and to avoid deportation, he and his wife committed suicide.


German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin-W., no. 5001. Photo: Becker & Maass.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 614/5. Photo: Union. Asta Nielsen in Rausch / Intoxication (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919), produced by Paul Otto.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 174. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Gentlemen and unscrupulous seducers

Paul Otto was born in 1878 in Berlin as Paul Otto Schlesinger. Initially, he began an apprenticeship for retail merchant and took acting lessons on the side.

At only 17, he made his stage debut in 1895. After engagements in Halle, Wiesbaden, and Hanover, he came to Berlin in 1906, where he performed on almost all the major stages until his death.

From 1910 onwards, Otto also appeared in films, often directed by Max Mack, Alwin Neuß, and Georg Jacoby. Between 1911 and 1920, he also directed films on several occasions.

One of his first parts was that of the French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin opposite Viggo Larsen as the brilliant English detective Sherlock Holmes in the five-part serial Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes (Viggo Larsen, 1910). He started at Duskes, where he made such films as Schuldig / Guilty (Paul Otto, 1912). Later, he also directed films at Oliver-Film. His preferred roles as a film actor were those of gentlemen: officers and diplomats, judges, professors, but he also played unscrupulous seducers.

Paul Otto was Asta Nielsen's partner in Die Filmprimadonna (1913) and Vordertreppe – Hintertreppe / Frontstairs and Backstairs (1916), both directed by Urban Gad. Otto played the railway inspector in Lupu Pick's Scherben / Shattered (1921), which is considered to be the earliest example of the Kammerspielfilm. Opposite Henny Porten, he acted in the drama Inge Larsen (Hans Steinhoff, 1923).


German postcard in the Film Sterne Series by Rotophot, no. 501/2. Photo: Decla. Hella Moja in Das Mädel von nebenan / The Girl Next Door (Otto Rippert, 1917), scripted by Paul Otto.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 501/3. Photo: Decla. Hella Moja and Theodor Loos (far left) in Die das Glück suchen / Those Searching for Happiness (1917). Odd is that this title does not appear in the databases Filmportal.de and IMDb. Yet, an announcement in Der Kinematograph of 1918 and earlier remarks in Der Lichtbildbühne of 1917 suggest the film did exist. It was directed by Otto Rippert and scripted by Paul Otto. By looking at the serial numbers of the Film-Sterne series, the film must be from 1917. It is not clear when the film when and if the film was released. Other actors mentioned as playing in the film were Hermann Thimig (who might be the doctor-like figure on our other card of the film), Anderly Lebius, and Oto Lins-Morstadt. Cinematography was by Max Fassbender. (With thanks to Jean Ritsema for this information).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 502/2. Photo: Decla. Alwin Neuss in Die Faust des Schicksals / Fist of Doom (Alwin Neuss, 1917), scripted by Paul Otto.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 511/3. Photro: Decla. Hella Moja in Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917), produced by Erich Pommer and scripted by Paul Otto.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 650/5. Photo: Henny Porten Filmproduktion (HPF). Henny Porten and Paul Otto in Inge Larsen (Hans Steinhoff, 1924).

His Jewish background remained undiscovered at first

Paul Otto also worked as a screenwriter and producer. In the late 1910s, he wrote several scripts for films with Hella Moja. He founded Argus-Film GmbH together with Marcel Boas in June 1918. His most ambitious production was Ernst Lubitsch's adaptation of August Strindberg's Rausch / Intoxication (1919), starring Asta Nielsen. In the film Erdgift / Earth Poison (Paul Otto, 1919), starring Grit Hegesa, and which Otto wrote and directed in 1919, he adapted motifs from Frank Wedekind's drama 'Erdgeist', using expressionist stylistic devices in part.

From 1921, Otto only acted in film and stopped his career as a scriptwriter and director. He became a popular supporting actor throughout the 1920s and acted in such films as Thamar, das Kind der Berge / Thamar, Child of the Mountains (Robert Dinesen, 1924) with Lya de Putti, Frauen, die man oft nicht grüßt / Women You Rarely Greet (Friedrich Zelnik, 1925) with Lya Mara, and Die Frauengasse von Algier / The Bordellos of Algiers (Wolfgang Hoffmann-Harnisch, 1926) with Maria Jacobini. In 1929, Otto was elected to the board of the newly founded Association of Berlin Stage Artists.

After roles in 96 silent films, Paul Otto made an effortless transition to sound film. In the early 1930s, he acted in such films as Yorck / General Yorck (Gustav Ucicky, 1931), Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen / Rasputin, Demon with Women (Adolf Trotz, 1931) with Conrad Veidt, Der Hauptmann von Köpenick / The Captain from Köpenick (Richard Oswald, 1931) starring Max Adalbert and Liebelei / A Love Story (Max Ophüls, 1933).

After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Paul Otto turned his attention increasingly to theatre work. He continued to appear in numerous films, but always in supporting roles. His Jewish background remained undiscovered at first. In 1937, he was appointed State Actor by Adolf Hitler on account of his stage work at Heinz Hilpert's Deutsches Theater, which was highly regarded by the National Socialists, and in 1942, he took over the management of the stage department of the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Theatre Chamber).

By chance, Paul Otto's Jewish ancestry was discovered in the fall of 1943. Otto didn't see a way out of his situation. To avoid deportation, he and his wife, actress Charlotte Klinder-Otto, took their own lives in their home in Berlin. His grave is located in the Wilmersdorf Cemetery in Berlin. Altogether, he played in 96 silent and 57 sound films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3109/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Rembrandt, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 154/2. Photo: FFG. Gitta Alpár and Paul Otto in Die - oder keine / She, or Nobody (Carl Froelich, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2666/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Quick / Tobis.

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

Madame Récamier (1928)

The French silent film Madame Récamier (1928) was directed by Gaston Ravel and Tony Lekain and starred Marie Bell. The film was based on the book 'Madame Récamier et ses amis' by Édouard Herriot. The Cinémathèque Française restored the film in the late 1980s. Juliette Récamier (1777-1849) was a fascinating French socialite of the Napoleonic Era. Her salon was a fashionable gathering place for the important political and literary figures of early 19th-century Paris. Two portraits of her became world-famous and have been endlessly reproduced and cited both on stage and on screen.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 81. Photo: Franco-Film. Marie Bell in Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928).


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 93. Émile Drain as Napoleon Bonaparte in Madame Récamier (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1928).


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 95. François Rozet as the Prince of Prussia in Madame Récamier (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1928).


French postcard by Neurdein Frères, Paris, in the Collections ND, no. 97. Madame Récamier (Julie Bernard).


French postcard in the Series Beautés Parisiennes, série 6049. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Years later, Cormon would play the elderly Mme Recamier in the homonymous film (1928) by Ravel and Lekain. On this card, Cormon imitates the famous portrait of Recamier (1802) by the painter François Gérard.

Beautiful, accomplished, and possessing a love of literature

The caption on the card above reads (our translation): Madame Récamier (Julie Bernard), born in Lyon in 1777. She married Monsieur Récamier, a wealthy banker, and opened a salon that became a meeting place for a select society. Forced to leave Paris by the Imperial Police, she did not return until after the fall of the empire, settling in Abbaye-aux-Bois (Rue de Sèvres), where her salon was frequented by all the celebrities of the time. Her most loyal friend was Chateaubriand, who remained devoted to her throughout her life. She died in Paris in 1849.

Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard was the only child of notary and King's counsellor Jean Bernard and his wife, the former Julie Matton. 'Juliette' was briefly educated at the monastery l'Abbaye royale de la Déserte in Lyon, until her family moved to Paris in 1792. Beautiful, accomplished, and possessing a love of literature, Récamier was described as shy and modest by nature. In 1793, at only 15, she married the 30 years older banker Jacques Récamier (1751-1830), who was initially intimate with her mother. Rumour had it that she was his natural daughter and that he married her at the height of the revolutionary terror to secure her future. The aristocrat assumed that if he were guillotined, she would inherit his money.

Récamier was fortunate and remained alive. For the first two years, Juliette continued to live at home and maintained a chaste and platonic relationship with her husband. Jacques suddenly became very wealthy when he was appointed to the Banque de France in 1800. Juliette Récamier had their house decorated in Etruscan style and furnished in Empire style, and from 1797, she held salons there. She became a society hostess of great charm and wit. From the earliest days of the French Consulate to almost the end of the July Monarchy, Récamier's salon in Paris was one of the chief resorts of literary and political society that followed what was fashionable. The habitués of her house included many former royalists, with others, such as General Jean Bernadotte (later Charles XIV of Sweden and Norway) and General Jean Victor Moreau, who were more or less opposed to the government of Napoleon.

As early as 1802, rumours circulated that Récamier would go bankrupt due to Napoleon’s policies, which did not happen until 1805. His property on Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, formerly owned by Jacques Necker, which everyone wanted to visit, was then purchased by Brussels businessman François-Dominique Mosselman. Mme Récamier turned down an appointment as lady-in-waiting to Empress consort Joséphine de Beauharnais three times. She travelled to Coppet in 1806, 1808 and 1809, where she visited Mme Germaine de Staël, a prominent philosopher, woman of letters, political theorist and her best friend. Récamier received a marriage proposal from Prince August of Prussia, but declined when her husband opposed a divorce. Because of her contact with de Staël, who had published a book about Germany, Juliette was also exiled by Napoleon in 1811. Joseph Fouché made it clear to her that she was allowed to leave, but could not return. Napoleon wanted Paris for himself. Récamier lived in Lyon, Châlons-en-Champagne and Chaumont, then moved to Rome, where she befriended officer and statesman Joachim Murat and his wife Carolina Bonaparte.

Back in Paris after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, she once again organised a successful salon and had a relationship with political activist and writer Benjamin Constant, who was appointed a state councillor in 1815. Lucien Bonaparte also visited, as did Jean-Jacques Ampère, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve and Victor Cousin. Until the end of her life, she maintained a relationship with François René de Chateaubriand, author and Minister of Foreign Affairs, although she did not wish to marry him even after her husband's death. In 1819, she moved to a convent, l'Abbaye-aux-Bois, then located on the outskirts of Paris, now Rue Juliette Récamier. Alphonse de Lamartine, Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo read their first works there. The nuns made sure that all visitors had left by midnight. In 1830, her husband died. Her role declined after the July Monarchy. Mme Récamier went blind at the end of her life and died during a cholera epidemic. She was 71. She is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 29. Photo: Musée du Louvre, no. Catalogue 199. J.L. David, 'Portrait de Mme Récamier'.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris. Photo: Henri Manuel. Pastiche of Jacques-Louis David's painting 'Portrait of Madame Récamier' (1800, unfinished), now at the Musée du Louvre. The welved bench the woman lies on is called a méridienne, which was very popular in the Empire era.


French postcard, no. 13. Photo: Paris qui chante, 1911. Stage scene of La Revue des Folies-Bergère, partly citing Jacques-Louis David's famous and often reproduced painting 'Portrait of Madame Récamier' (1800, unfinished), now at the Musée du Louvre. The singer and actress Marie Marville (1873-1961) plays Récamier.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 1534. Photo: F. Grainer, Munich. Rita Sacchetto in a tableau vivant of the famous portrait of Juliette 'Madame' Récamier (1800) by Jacques-Louis David.


Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna, series 5, no. 1. Photo: Caesar Film. Francesca Bertini as Floria Tosca in Tosca (Alfredo De Antoni, 1918). A citation of the famous portrait of Madame Récamier by J.L. David.


French postcard by Le Deley, Paris. Photo: U.C.I. / Gaumont / Tiber Film. Hesperia in Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne (Baldassarre Negroni, 1921). Adapted from the novel by Emile Moreau. Here, Hesperia, as Madame Sans-Gêne, is portrayed similarly to François Gérard's portrait of Juliette Récamier.

The muse of painters and writers

Paris salon hostess and society figure Juliette Récamier (1777-1849) cultivated a public persona as a great beauty, and her fame quickly spread across Europe. She befriended many intellectuals. Throughout her life, Juliette was the muse of painters and writers, resulting in countless portraits of her. Her friend Germaine de Staël described her in her novel 'Corinne'. Two paintings of her by Jacques-Louis David and Neoclassical painter François Gérard became world famous. Joseph Chinara made a marble bust of Récamier (ca. 1806). Italian artist Antonio Canova even made two busts of her.

Juliette Récamier was an icon of neoclassicism. Jacques-Louis David and François Gérard both portrayed her in her white cotton dress in Greek style and with her hair pinned up. David began his stern portrait of her in 1800. David painted her on a sofa or chaise longue on which she liked to recline. Both the painting and the sofa became so fashionable that the sofa was named after her, the récamier. However, Récamier was dissatisfied with what she thought was David's cold approach, and she commissioned his pupil, François Gérard, to make a new portrait of her. When he knew of this, David decided to leave her portrait unfinished.

François Gérard portrayed Récamier in a classic but natural environment. Her graceful curves andher complexion blend with the shapes and colours of her surroundings. Wikipedia: "Her pose, with her body slightly contorted, her neck left uncovered by the wide neckline of her empire dress, which barely covers her breasts, and her bare feet, have an unmistakable erotic effect and seems new compared to other representations of women of the time. Here, the eroticism is nuanced by the reflective facial expression of the sitter and the apparent quietness of the place, which could be a bathroom, protected from outside by a curtain. There is something thoughtful and intimate in Récamier's look, but at the same time, it appears somewhat suggestive. The tension between the conflicting emotions seems to give the painting a kind of 'aura'." Gérard's portrait remained in Récamier's drawing room for several years, until she gave it to her admirer, Prince Augustus of Prussia, in 1843. In 1860, it was acquired from his heirs by the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.

Both portraits of Madame Récamier have been endlessly reproduced and cited both on stage and on screen. David's painting was cited on stage, e.g. at the Revue des Folies-Bergère in 1911. Two silent films were made on the life of Récamier. The first was the German film Madame Récamier (Joseph Delmont, 1920) starring Fern Andra, Bernd Aldor, Albert Steinrück and Ferdinand von Alten as Napoleon. The film was written by Hans Gaus and produced by Fern Andra and Georg Bluen for the companies Fern Andra-Film and Sächsische Kunstfilm. Eight years later, a French film followed, Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928) with Marie Bell, Françoise Rosay, Edmond Van Daële and Émile Drain as Napoleon.

The surrealist artist René Magritte was also fascinated by Juliette Récamier. In 1950, he created two new paintings based on the portraits by Jacques-Louis David and François Gerard, in which he replaced Juliette Récamier with a coffin. In doing so, he parodied the stiffness of neoclassical art, but also paid tribute to Madame Récamier. In 'Creatures in an Alphabet', Djuna Barnes wrote about David's painting:

The Seal, she lounges like a bride,
Much too docile, there’s no doubt;
Madame Récamier, on side,
(if such she has), and bottom out.


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). On the cover: Marie Bell as Juliette Récamier.


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). Here are the two directors, photos by Maniezzi and G.L. Manuel.


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). A reception at the Palace of Fontainebleau, at the beginning of the French Empire under Napoleon.


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). Françoise Rosay as Madame de Stael and Marie Bell as Juliette Récamier.


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). The Salon of Mme Récamier, in 1848, at Abbey-sur-Bois (Paris). This was one year before she died in 1849. Nelly Cormon plays the elder Mme Récamier in her last role. On her right hand is Charles Le Bargy as Viscount Chateaubriand, who is in love with her. Above them hangs François Gérard's famous portrait of Mme Récamier (1802).


French journal La Petite Illustration, no. 385, 9 June 1928. A special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928). Here, Charles le Bargy as Viscount Chateaubriand, who in vain asks Récamier in marriage.

Sources: Jeroen de Baaij (Kunst Vensters - Dutch), Britannica, Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.

Miss DuPont

Miss DuPont (1894-1973) was an American film actress and fashion designer who had a relatively short career in silent cinema. She is best known for Erich von Stroheim's Foolish Wives (1922), with the director, Maude George and Mae Busch.


German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 555/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Freulich / Unfilman.


German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 555/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Freulich / Unfilman.

America's most beautiful blonde

Miss DuPont was born Patricia Hannon in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1894. Sometimes she is credited as Patty DuPont.

Although Erich von Stroheim is credited with discovering her, she had already made several films before they met. In 1919, she made her film debut as ‘Patricia Hannan’ (sic), in Lombardi, Ltd. (Jack Conway, 1919) with Bert Lytell. Then she acted in the drama The Day She Paid (Rex Ingram, 1919), starring Francelia Billington.

She was announced as America's most beautiful blonde when she played the lead in the drama The Rage of Paris (Jack Conway, 1921).

She had her breakthrough as a wealthy and naive American woman seduced by Erich von Stroheim's odious count in Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922). During the filming, she jumped from a tower and nearly drowned in a lake. She later said about it: "Put not your trust in directors. Mr. von Stroheim intimated that I should have to jump only a few feet, so I didn't worry. And when the time came, I had to climb over that railing and jump into that net or be burned up. He went first, so there was no one to argue with. But it wasn't so bad as being in the boat, for I can't swim, and the water came in and covered my face, and when Mr. von Stroheim lifted me, he stepped in a hole, and we both went down fourteen feet to the bottom."

When released in 1922, Foolish Wives was the most expensive film made at that time, and billed by Universal Studios as the 'first million-dollar movie' to come out of Hollywood. It reflected an industry-wide trend toward elaborate productions in a bid to lure audiences with spectacle, melodrama and sex. Foolish Wives became the eighth most popular film of 1922 in North America.


American postcard by M.B.S.C. Co. Photo: Universal - Super Jewel. Miss DuPont in Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922).


Spanish minicard in the Escenas selectas de cinematografía series, series A, no. 2, for Chocolate Guillèn. Erich von Stroheim in Foolish Wives (Von Stroheim, 1922). The lady depicted is not Mae Busch but Miss Dupont.

A string of films that are considered lost

After Foolish Wives, Miss DuPont starred in a string of films that are considered lost. She starred in Sidney Franklin's The First Wife (1923), with Monte Blue and Marie Prevost.

She played the second female lead in the drama One Night in Rome (Clarence G. Badger, 1924), starring stage legend Laurette Taylor. She had the female lead in the adventure crime drama Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (King Baggot, 1925) starring House Peters.

The following year, she had a supporting part in the comedy Mantrap (Victor Fleming, 1926) starring Clara Bow and Percy Marmont.

Her final two films were the comedy Hula (Victor Fleming, 1927) with Clara Bow and Clive Brook, in which she was credited as ‘Patricia Dupont’, and The Wheel of Destiny (Duke Worne, 1927), starring Forrest Stanley and Georgia Hale.

Miss DuPont retired when she became the second wife of Sylvanus Stokes. They had met while he was travelling in Los Angeles shortly after his 1926 divorce from his first wife, Margaret Fahnestock Stokes. They were married in January 1928. The couple was later living in Palm Beach, Florida, near the Palm Beach Country Club. Miss DuPont died in Palm Beach in 1973. She was 78.


German postcard by Ross Verlag. Photo: Universal / Super Jewel. Miss DuPont in Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922).


French postcard in the Les vedettes de cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 10. Photo: Universal Film.

Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

Joe Stöckel

Joe Stöckel (1894-1959) was a pioneer of Bavarian screen comedy alongside Karl Valentin, Weiß Ferdl, Josef Eichheim and Beppo Brem. He was celebrated for his hearty portrayals of rustic Bavarian characters and his contribution to regional comedy both in front of and behind the camera.


German collector card in the Bunte Filmbilder series by Polo / Ross Verlag, Series II, no. 480. Photo: Bavaria. Joe Stöckel in IA in Oberbayern / 1A in Upper Bavaria (Franz Seitz, 1937).

Silent American-style Westerns in Munich landscapes

Josef 'Joe' Stöckel was born in 1894 in München (Munich), Germany. He was born into a family with architectural roots, but Joe's ambition was for the theatre. At just sixteen, he enrolled at the Staatliche Schauspielschule in Munich. After his studies, he embarked on stage engagements in Bayreuth and Landshut.

His early career saw him transition from serious theatre into comic turns in operettas and popular stage pieces at the Gärtnerplatz-Theater. There, his flair for humour and character work became apparent. In the late 1910s, his stage success translated to the screen when the blossoming film industry offered new opportunities.

His film career started in 1916, and he made his first films for the Ostermayr Brothers. Around this time, Stöckel adopted the Anglicised name 'Joe,' initially in contrast to his Bavarian identity but later inseparable from his on-screen persona.

After the first successes, Stöckel founded his own production company and went on to realise a string of films with Joe Marcco, both as a director and as an actor. Joe Marcco was a larger-than-life adventurer in films such as Marcco kennt keine Furcht / Marcco Knows No Fear (Joe Stöckel, 1922) and Marcco, der Ringer des Mikado / Marcco, the Wrestler of the Mikado (Joe Stöckel, 1922) with Lotte Lorring.

In these films, he blended local Munich landscapes with the tropes of American-style Westerns. These early films, though now largely lost to time, showcased his ambition to entertain and innovate, even before the transition to sound.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8767/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Photola-Atelier.


German postcard by Das Programm von heute, Berlin. Photo: Bavaria Filmkunst / Ross Verlag. Joe Stöckel in Das sündige Dorf / The Sinful Village (Joe Stöckel, 1940).

Light-hearted classic Bavarian village comedies and Heimatfilms with Alpine scenery

Sound film suited Joe Stöckel as a comedian. He appeared in the popular comedies Der Schützenkönig / The Champion Shot (Franz Seitz, 1932) and Der Meisterdetektiv / The Master Detective (Franz Seitz, 1933) starring Weiß Ferdl. Stöckel also wrote the script for S.A.-Mann Brand (Franz Seitz, 1933), the first feature-length film by the Nazis to cover the SA. It was filmed in Munich by Bavaria Film on a low budget. It was one of three Propaganda films about the rise of the Nazi Party, along with Hitlerjunge Quex and Hans Westmar, all made in 1933. A review in The New York Times noted the film's production value and the absence of any anti-Semitic message favourably, but also expressed contempt for its unsophisticated plot.

Joe Stöckel starred opposite Lucie Englisch in the crime comedy Der ahnungslose Engel / The Unsuspecting Angel (Franz Seitz, 1936). He co-starred in Es waren zwei Junggesellen / There Were Two Bachelors (Franz Seitz, 1936). He also started to direct films, including the drama Das Recht auf Liebe / The Right to Love (Joe Stöckel, 1939) starring Magda Schneider, Anneliese Uhlig and Viktor Staal.

During wartime, Joe Stöckel only took part in a few films. He directed and played the lead in Das sündige Dorf / The Sinful Village (Joe Stöckel, 1940) with Joseph Eichheim and Hansi Knoteck. It is based on the play 'Das sündige Dorf' by Max Neal. A remake was produced in 1954 with Stöckel reprising his role. Other films include Der Hochtourist / The Mountaineer (Adolf Schlyssleder, 1942) with Trude Hesterberg and Die keusche Sünderin / The Chaste Sinner (Joe Stöckel, 1943) starring Elise Aulinger.

Joe Stöckel experienced the height of his career after the war. He directed and starred in several films. His stock-in-trade was the crafty, indomitable Bavarian farmer or villager elder, invariably taking the mickey out of Prussians or city slickers, with a requisite amount of guile and sarcasm. Stöckel’s films like Der eingebildete Kranke/ The Imaginary Invalid (Hans H. König, 1953) and Oh, diese lieben Verwandten / Oh, Those Dear Relatives (Joe Stöckel, 1955) reflected a uniquely Bavarian spirit that resonated throughout Germany. His performances in light-hearted classic Bavarian village comedies and Heimatfilms with Alpine scenery helped shape a vernacular national cinema that audiences loved.

Joe Stöckel died in 1959 at the age of only 64 in a Munich hospital and was buried in Munich's Ostfriedhof cemetery. His main achievement was bringing Bavarian stage comedies to the big screen. As a screenwriter and director, he adapted stage classics such as 'Die drei Dorfheiligen' (The Three Village Saints), 'Das sündige Dorf' (The Sinful Village), 'Der scheinheilige Florian' (The Hypocritical Florian) and 'Der verkaufte Großvater' (The Sold Grandfather) for the cinema. He was also probably the first to use the contrast between Bavarians and other German ethnic groups, especially the ‘Prussians’, for comedy.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3493/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Bavaria Filmkunst.


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: Carlton-Film / Meroth.

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

Carmel Myers

Carmel Myers (1899-1980) was a famous American actress of the silent screen. Her most memorable role was as the seductive Egyptian courtesan Iras in the super-production Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). During the rest of the 1920s, she had a high-flying career and was ranked among the screen's most glamorous and enticing vamps.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 64/7. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Ben-Hur (Fred Niblo, 1925).


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 549. Photo: Fanamet-Verleih.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5292. Photo: D.B.O. / Wiener Lichtbildnerei. Publicity still for Prowlers of the Sea (John G. Adolfi, 1928).


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 180.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 372.

The harem favourite in Babylon

Carmel Myers was born in San Francisco in 1899 as the daughter of an Australian rabbi and an Austrian Jewish mother.

Her father, who had close connections with the world of cinema, introduced her to pioneering film director D.W. Griffith. The famous director entrusted the young novice actress with a small role in his blockbuster Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916), where she played the harem favourite in the Babylonian episode.

Myers also managed to get Carmel's brother, Zion, to work in the film industry, becoming a Hollywood director and screenwriter.

After this experience, Carmel left New York, where she had worked at the theatre for two years and signed a contract with Universal, where she soon made herself known by playing vamp roles.

Of that period, probably her best-known film remains All Night (Paul Powell, 1918), where she acted alongside Rodolfo Valentino, then still little-known.


Spanish cromo by Chocolat Imperiale, Barcelona, no. 5 of 6 cards. Photo: Transatlantic Film / Exclusivas Verdaguer SA, Barcelona. Carmel Myers in the romantic comedy The Dream Lady (Elsie Jane Wilson, 1918), based on the novel 'Why Not?' by Margaret Widdener. Spanish title: ¿Por qué no..?


American postcard. Photo: Universal. Carmel Myers in A Daughter of the Law (Jack Conway, 1921), based on the novel 'The Black Cap' by Wadsworth Camp. This card uses the book title for the film title, so maybe the film was originally published with this title.


Croatian postcard. Photo: Pan-Film Zagreb. Carmel Myers in Garragan (Ludwig Wolff, 1924), starring Edward Burns and Myers. Ludwig Wolff also produced and scripted the film, while the script was based on a novel by Wolff himself. Garragan treats one of Wolff's favourite themes, that of reincarnation. Baron Garragan, who has been rightly condemned to ten years in prison for the murder of a man he believed to be his wife's lover, is released...


Italian postcard, no. 41. Carmel Myers in The Devil's circus (1926), in which she co-starred with Anna Q. Nilsson.

A formidable boost to her career

From 1924, Carmel Myers worked for MGM. She went to Italy for the super-production Ben-Hur, which was started by director Charles Brabin and months later finished by his colleague Fred Niblo. The waiting took so long that in the meantime, Myers could act in a German film in Berlin, Garragan (Ludwig Wolff, 1924), also with Edward Burns and Julanne Johnston.

However, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) gave a formidable boost to her career. She played the role of Iras, an Egyptian courtesan who, on the instigation of Messala (Francis X. Bushman), tries - in vain - to seduce Prince Judah Ben Hur (Ramon Novarro). The memorable POV shot of Iras eyeing Ben-Hur from bottom to top well shows that classic Hollywood was not only about the male gaze and female objectification.

From that moment on, Myers played major roles throughout the 1920s, sometimes in female leads as in The Careless Age (John Griffith Wray, 1929) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., but mostly as the mundane and less chaste antagonist to the better-behaved female leads such as Norma Shearer, Marceline Day, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Joan Crawford.

The advent of sound did not affect her career. She continued to act even though, due to her age, she saw herself entrusted with supporting roles. At the end of the Second World War, Myers retired from the scene for a few years She returned there in 1951, working for television. She also conducted a TV program called The Carmel Myers Show, but the series was unsuccessful. From then on, she devoted herself mainly to her real estate investments and to her perfume distribution company.

The last film she acted in was Won Ton Ton, The Dog That Saved Hollywood (Michael Winner, 1976). She appeared along with dozens of other former Hollywood stars who took part in the film in small cameos. Carmel Myers died in 1980, at the age of 81 and was buried at the Home of Peace Cemetery in Los Angeles next to her parents.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 73/2. Photo: MGM / ParUfaMet. Ramon Novarro and Carmel Myers in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 133/6. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Carmel Myers and Ramon Novarro in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925).


French postcard by J.R.P.R, Paris. no. 69. Photo: MGM. Carmel Myers and Ramon Novarro in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1039/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Phoebus-Film.


French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 231. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Production.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.