Published by Les Éditions Filma

Shortly after the First World War, French publishing house Les Éditions Filma created the well-known postcard series 'Les Vedettes du Cinéma' (The Stars of the Cinema). The sepia postcards contained portraits of French 'vedettes' of the silent cinema, but also of Hollywood stars like William S. Hart and Mary Pickford. Around the time this series stopped, in the early 1920s, Filma started another film star postcard series, 'Les Vedettes de l'Écran' (The Stars of the Screen). The numbers of this new set followed the numbers of the first series. During the late 1920s, another Paris-based publisher, André Noyer (A.N.), presented the 'Les Vedettes de Cinéma' series. In the past, EFSP had posts on all three series. Interestingly, Filma also published film books and other film postcards. Today we present 18 postcards by Les Éditions Filma, which were not part of the two Vedettes series and were published around 1923.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 6. Lillian Gish in The White Sister (Henry King, 1923).

American actress Lillian Gish (1893–1993) was 'The First Lady of the Silent Screen'. During the 1910s, she was one of director D.W. Griffith's greatest stars. She appeared in films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Broken Blossoms (1919), and Orphans of the Storm (1921). After 13 years with Griffith, she moved to MGM, where her first picture was La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926). In the 1940s, after a long interval, she returned to the screen in a handful of films and received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Laura Belle McCanles in Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946). Again, a decade later, she was marvellous in the classic Film Noir The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955). Her last film was The Whales of August (Lindsay Anderson, 1987) in which she shared the lead with Bette Davis.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 50. Photo: Pathé.

Romuald Joubé (1876–1949) was an actor of French silent cinema who became famous for his part in Abel Gance’s J’accuse (1918). He also acted in various naturalistic features by André Antoine.

French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 84. Photo: Abel.

Sessue Hayakawa (1889–1973) was a Japanese Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. He was the first Asian actor to find stardom in the United States and Europe. His 'broodingly handsome' good looks and typecasting as a sinister villain with sexual dominance made him a heartthrob among American women. Several years before Rudolph Valentino, he was Hollywood's first male sex symbol. During those early years, Hayakawa was as well known and as popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, although today his name is largely unknown to the public.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 100. Photo: [Ruben] Sobol.

Géneviève Félix (1901–?) was a French actress of the silent cinema. After being a regular actress of Georges Champavert and Jean Kemm, she starred in the Victor Hugo adaptation La dame de Monsoreau (1925).


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 107. Photo: F. Bixio.

Rolla Norman (1889–1971) was a French actor in silent and sound cinema. 'The Man with Many Faces’ was also a war hero.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 109. Photo: Wyndham.

French film actress Suzanne Bianchetti (1889–1936) was one of France's most loved and respected actresses of her time. She played Marie Antoinette in Abel Gance's epic Napoléon (1927) and worked with many other great names of the silent cinema. After her death, the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti was created in her memory, an annual French award given to the most promising young actress.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 121. Photo: Aubert.

French actor Edmond van Daële, aka Van Daele (1884–1960), is best known as the evil Robespierre in Abel Gance's masterpiece Napoleon (1927). Van Daele also appeared in films by Léon Poirier, Louis Delluc and Jean Epstein. He easily transferred to sound film and played in about fifty films until 1950.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 125. Photo: G. Fontaine.

Sandra Milowanoff (1892–1957), also written as Milovanoff, was a Russian actress who became a French citizen. She was a star of the French silent cinema in the 1920s, acting with directors such as Feuillade, De Baroncelli, Fescourt and Vanel.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 126. Photo: Fox Film.

William Russell (1884–1929) was an American popular actor of the silent screen. First at Biograph, Thanhouser. Mutual, American, and afterwards at Fox and Warner/ First National. He died already at age 44 in 1929.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 130.

Jane Rollette (1891–1994) was a French film actress who peaked in Louis Feuillade's serial films of the late 1910s and early 1920s.


French postcard by 'Éditions Filma, no. 133. Photo: Gaumont.

French silent film actress Marguérite Madys, aka Madys (1899–1986), started in 1919 at the Gaumont company. She starred in several films by Léon Poirier, Jean Kemm and Pierre Colombier. She also appeared in two Franco-German coproductions by Harry Piel. René Clair and Julien Duvivier also directed her before she ended her film career in 1927.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 135. Photo: Films. Ant. Jupiter. Emmy Lynn in Visages voilés... âmes closes / The Sheik's Wife (Henry Roussel, 1921).

Emmy Lynn (1889–1978) was a French stage and screen actress, known for her parts in the French silent films by Abel Gance, Henry Roussel, and Marcel L’Herbier.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 140. Photo: Sartony.

Sweet 'little angel' Régine Dumien (1914–1979) was a popular child star of the French silent cinema of the early 1920s.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 144. Photo: Gaumont. Armand Tallier in Jocelyn (Léon Poirier, 1922).

Armand Tallier (1887–1958) was a stage and screen actor who peaked in the silent era. Inspired by theatre director Jacques Copeau, who had opened the alternative Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, and who had directed Tallier on stage from 1913 for several years, Tallier created with Laurence Myrga the Studio des Ursulines, one of the first Parisian art houses, founded to ensure the diffusion of avant-garde cinema. The first session took place in January 1926. As an homage to him, since 1958, the best book on film is awarded the Prix Armand Tallier, which is since 1977 called Prix littéraire du syndicat français de la critique de cinéma.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 149. Photo: Abel.

Jean Dehelly (1896–1964) was a French film actor who was active in French cinema of the 1920s and early 1930s.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 150. Ivan Mozzhukhin in Kean / Edmund Kean: Prince Among Lovers (Alexandre Volkoff, 1924).

Russian actor Ivan Mozzhukhin (in France, Ivan Mosjoukine) (1889–1939) was a legendary star of the European silent film, who shone in Russia, France, Germany and Austria, but suffered in Hollywood.


French postcard by Éditions Filma, no. 151. Photo: P. Apers.

Spanish actress, singer, and diva Raquel Meller (1888–1962) acted mainly in French silent films. She was already a highly popular singer before debuting as a film actress in 1919.


French postcard, probably by Éditions Filma, no. 1002. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Geneviève Félix (1901–?) was a French actress of the silent cinema. After being a regular actress of Georges Champavert and Jean Kemm, she starred in the Victor Hugo adaptation La dame de Monsoreau (1925).

And check out our earlier posts on Les Éditions Filma:

Les Vedettes du Cinéma, 14 October 2017.
Les Vedettes de l'Écran, 23 October 2017.

Le roman d'un mousse (1913) and Les fiancés de Séville (1914)

We continue our weekly series on the small collector cards from the 1910s by the Spanish editor Reclam Films. Last Sunday, we posted about these mini-cards for two early French films produced by Pathé Frères. Ivo Blom also acquired two series of Reclam collector cards for two pre-WWI films made by the other big pioneering French film company, Gaumont. In this post, EFSP presents the melodrama in four parts: Le roman d'un mousse / The Curse of Greed (1913) by Léonce Perret and Les fiancés de Séville / The Betrothed of Seville (1914) by Louis Feuillade. Nous espérons que vous apprécierez!

Le roman d'un mousse (1913)

Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 1 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Le roman d'un mousse (Léonce Perret, 1913). Adrien Petit as Charles-Henri with Maurice Luguet as the usurer Werb.


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 2 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Le roman d'un mousse (Léonce Perret, 1913), starring Adrien Petit.


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 3 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Final scene from Le roman d'un mousse (Léonce Perret, 1913). Little Charles Henri (Adrien Petit) unmasks the evil Werb (Maurice Luguet) before the judges as his kidnapper. Shocked, his mother (Angèle Lérida), accused of the assassination of her husband, looks on at the revealing of the evil plan of Werb and her husband to get rid of mother and son.

The Spanish release title of Le roman d'un mousse / The Curse of Greed (1913) was Tormenta. It referred to the original French title, La Tourmente / The Ordeal. The numbering on the Reclam Minicards does not follow the plot: number 3 shows the final scene. So here follows the story. The Marquis de Luscky (Louis Leubas), gravely in debt, is refused a new loan by the moneylender Werb (Maurice Luguet). On his way home on horseback, the anxious Marquis accidentally throws himself in front of a car. His horse is killed, and he himself is seriously injured. The car is driven by the Countess de Ker Armor (Angèle Lérida), widow of a naval officer and daughter of an American multimillionaire. She has the injured man picked up, taken to her home, and first aid is administered. The marquis suffers from multiple fractures and is forced to remain immobile for a long time.

Upon hearing the news, Werb writes him a personal letter. He tells him that if he is clever and knows how to take advantage of the situation, he can win both the woman’s heart and a considerable fortune. The Marquis de Luscky realises what an opportunity has presented itself and redoubles his attentions toward the young woman, courting her assiduously and ardently. Werb and the Marquis concoct an evil plan. As soon as the marriage is concluded, the countess needs to disappear. Werb takes charge of her child, little Charles-Henri (Adrien Petit), the son of the Countess’s first marriage. He becomes the child’s tutor, and while the newlyweds are spending their honeymoon in Italy, Werb, under the pretext of a study trip, takes little Charles-Henri to Saint-Malo.

After putting little Charles-Henri to sleep, Werb hands him over to another creditor of his, Captain Dick (Emile André). The Captain agrees to take Charles-Henri on board as a ship's boy, with the intention of drowning him. The child's ordeal begins, but he meets a kind, old fisherman on board, Father Paimpol (Armand Dutertre), who takes the child under his wing and shields him from harm. Father Paimpol understands the skipper’s true intentions, and one night, when land is in sight, they escape in a rowboat. After weathering a terrible storm, they are picked up by a ship that brings them to Le Havre. Meanwhile, the Marquis de Luscky continues his work. Upon learning of her son’s disappearance, the countess, now a marquise, falls gravely ill. Werb returns, announcing that his task is completed and urging De Luscky to carry out his. De Luscky decides to pour a poison given to him by Werb into the marquise’s night glass; then, so as not to witness the death of the woman he was killing, he leaves and goes to meet his accomplice at a nightclub in Montmartre.

The Marquis returns in the early morning, not daring to glance into his wife’s room — she must be dead — but, overcome by the emotions of the night he has just endured, he goes to his study, takes a glass, and drinks the beverage that had been prepared for his wife. De Luscky tries to make his way back to his apartment, but he is wracked by a fierce pain and lets out a cry. The pain intensifies, and he collapses. Awakened by this cry, the Marquise de Luscky rises, alarmed. The Marquis is on the floor, still writhing. The distraught woman grabs the glass, wanting to give him a drink since he is asking for it, but he falls back down; death has done its work. At the cries raised by the Marquis and the Marquise de Luscky, the servants rush in. A doctor who has been summoned pronounces him dead, but at the same time becomes suspicious. The police get involved, and the marquise is arrested. The servants, when questioned, state that indeed, the marquise was holding the glass in her hand when, drawn by the screams, they entered the study where the marquis was dying. Her fingerprints are also on the glass.

The trial is underway. The marquise is appearing before the Assize Court. While this drama is unfolding in Paris, Charles Henry and Father Paimpol are in Le Havre. Upon leaving the maritime registration office, drawn by the cries of newspaper vendors, little Henry buys one and sees that his mother is implicated and that she is being tried as a poisoner and as the cause of his own disappearance, He takes Father Paimpol with him, and the two of them set off for Paris, arriving at the Criminal Court to prove the innocence of the Marquise de Luscky and expose the usurer Werb. At IMDb, DB Dumonteil rates the film 8 out of 10: "A visionary man, Perret, long before the overrated Nouvelle Vague which happened almost half a century later, already took the cinema out of the studio whenever he could: there are shots of Saint-Malo ramparts, of Le Havre harbour, and the final scene uses the sunset to startling effects. A melodrama in four parts, it's very good storytelling, well played (particularly the actor who plays Werb gives a masterful performance and the child actor rises to the occasion too)."


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 4 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Le roman d'un mousse (Léonce Perret, 1913), starring Adrien Petit as Charles-Henri, here with Armand Dutertre as Father Paimpol.


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 5 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Le roman d'un mousse (Léonce Perret, 1913), starring Adrien Petit as the ship's boy Charles Henri. Here he is with Armand Dutertre as Father Páimpol.


Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 6 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Le roman d'un mousse (Léonce Perret, 1913). The Countess (Angèle Lérida) is courted by the debt-ridden Marquis (Louis Leubas), who is after her money.

Les fiancés de Séville (1914)

Spanish collector by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 1 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Les fiancés de Séville (Louis Feuillade, 1914), starring Fernand Herrmann as Joselito. The man on the left of this card is René Navarre as Bertier.


Spanish collector by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 2 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Les fiancés de Séville (Louis Feuillade, 1914), starring Fernand Herrmann.


Spanish collector by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 3 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Les fiancés de Séville (Louis Feuillade, 1914).

In 1914, Gaumont director Louis Feuillade travelled to Spain to direct two feature films on the theme of bullfighting: Les fiancés de Séville / The Betrothed of Seville (Louis Feuillade, 1914). The Spanish release title was Amoríos sevillanos. In the cast were Fernand Herrmann, Eugène Bréon, Renée Carl, René Navarre, Suzanne Le Bret, Marthe Vinot and Maurice Vinot. Louis Feuillade also wrote the script for the film. The outbreak of World War I prevented him from completing his second Spanish film, but one of the sequences shot at that time was incorporated into the sixth episode of his famous serial Les Vampires, entitled Les Yeux qui fascinent (1916)

In Les fiancés de Séville / The Betrothed of Seville, the bullfighter Joselito, his fiancée Rosario, and her friend Angelita are posing for a genre painting by the artist Bertier, who is visiting Seville. Joselito is jealous, and his jealousy is fueled by Angelita, who secretly loves him.

One day, after Bertier gave Rosario a small gift to celebrate her birthday, Joselito waits for Bertier in the gardens of the Alcázar at night and stabs him in the back with his knife. Fortunately, the wound is not fatal. The newspapers report the news the next day. Angelita, pursuing her goal, shows the newspaper to Rosario and makes her understand that Joselito, her fiancé, is the murderer.

The young woman runs after the matador and, when she finds him, questions him. He lowers his head, and she understands that this gesture is a confession. She leaves him in outrage, telling him that she will never again see the one who cowardly attacks at night and from behind. Joselito instructs Angelita to deliver a letter to Rosario in which he writes that if she does not forgive him by the following Sunday, he will let himself be killed by the bull in the arena.

Angelita feels remorse and decides to prevent the tragedy she has caused. She runs to find Rosario and tells her about the matador’s letter, and they rush to the circus. Too late — Joselito has been gored by the second bull and is carried to the infirmary. Fortunately, his injury isn’t very serious. Rosario forgives him, just as she forgives Angelita.


Spanish collector by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 4 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Les fiancés de Séville (Louis Feuillade, 1914), starring Fernand Herrmann.


Spanish collector by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 5 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Les fiancés de Séville (Louis Feuillade, 1914), starring Fernand Herrmann.


Spanish collector by Reclam Films, Mallorca, card 6 of 6. Photo: Gaumont. Scene from Les fiancés de Séville (Louis Feuillade, 1914), starring Fernand Herrmann.

Sources: dbdumonteil (IMDb), Script Le roman d'un mousse (gparchives - French), Script Les fiancés de Séville (gparchives - French), Le Ciné-club de Caen (French) and IMDb.

Gladys Walton

American actress Gladys Walton (1903-1993) was nicknamed 'The Glad Girl'. She peaked in the American silent cinema of the 1920s. She was a Flapper in such films as The Girl Who Ran Wild (1922) and The Wise Kid (1922).


American postcard by Max B. Sheffer Card Co., Chicago (M.B.S.C.Co.). Photo: Universal. Gladys Walton in The Man Tamer (Harry B. Harris, 1921). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 2. Photo: Universal Film.


French postcard in the Les vedettes de cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 43. Photo: Universal Film.

Wild parties and risqué scenes

Gladys Dorothy Walton was born in 1903 in Boston, Massachusetts. When she was only three, her parents divorced, and she and her mother eventually went to live in Oregon with one of her aunts. She had a happy, active childhood, one where she never dreamed of ending up in the movies.

In 1919, when she was 16, Gladys and her mother spent the summer with relatives in Los Angeles. When they decided to tour the William S. Hart studio, a talent scout noticed Gladys's good looks and asked if she’d like to be in pictures. With her mother’s approval, she shot some screen tests at Fox Studios. She first acted with the Sunshine Comedy Company in two-reelers. Gladys showed a flair for comedy and had a bigger role in La La Lucille (Eddie Lyons, Lee Moran, 1920), which starred the popular comedic duo, Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran.

Gladys Walton was under contract to Universal between 1919 and 1925. She was the star in films such as Pink Tights (Reeves Eason, 1920) with Jack Perrin, and The Girl Who Ran Wild (Rupert Julian, 1922). She epitomised the 1920s Flapper in these films. At the time, 'Flapper' generally meant an impetuous, lively young woman.

Many of her film titles suggest wild parties and risqué scenes: Risky Business (Harry B. Harris, Rollin S. Sturgeon, 1920), All Dolled Up (Rollin S. Sturgeon, 1921), Desperate Youth (Harry B. Harris, 1921), The Man Tamer (Harry B. Harris, 1921), Short Skirts (Harry B. Harris, 1921), The Rowdy (David Kirkland, 1921), High Heels (Lee Kohlmar, 1921), Playing with Fire (Dallas M. Fitzgerald, 1921), A Dangerous Game (King Baggot, 1922), and indeed, The Wild Party (Herbert Blaché, 1923).

By the time of The Wise Kid (Tod Browning, 1922), she was being advertised as 'The Little Queen of the Flappers'. At the peak of her career, Gladys Walton earned $600 a week at Universal.


Spanish postcard by La Novela Semanal Cinematográfica, no. 19.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 710/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Unifilman (Universal).

Quite the forgotten flapper

Up to 1923, Gladys Walton acted in one film after another at Universal and hardly had a private life - she would do 8 to 9 features per year in 1921-1923. In 1921, she married writer Frank Liddell, but because of her packed acting life, the marriage lasted only half a year.

In 1923, she married sales manager Henry Merritt Herbel. When she left for a vacation without telling the studio, Universal docked her pay, so she left. She continued to act in independent productions, but she began to lose interest in making films. By 1925, her career ended as she wanted to focus on raising a family. She and Herbel would have six kids.

Walton and Herbel were married till their divorce in 1947. Later, she was married to Spiro (Samuel) Dilles (1953-1955) and Kenneth James Wells (1971-1973). Even in her 80s, she would go out dancing several times a week. Quite the forgotten Flapper, Gladys Walton died of cancer in 1993 in the seaside town of Morro Bay, California. She was 90.

Only 5 of Gladys Walton's 38 silent films still exist: Pink Tights (Reeves Eason, 1920), All Dolled Up (Rollin S. Sturgeon, 1921), The Untameable (Herbert Blaché, 1923) with Malcolm McGregor, Sawdust (Jack Conway, 1923), and A Little Girl in a Big City (Burton L. King, 1925).

In the self-published book, 'Walton and Capone: The Untold Story', Walton's son, John Walton, claimed that his mother was the girlfriend of notorious mobster Al Capone for some ten years (1922-1932), and he himself may have even been a child of the two. However, this is disputed.


Spanish collector card (minicard), Series C, no. 13.


American postcard.

Sources: Lea Stans (Silent-ology), Wikipedia and IMDb.

The Brat Pack

'The Brat Pack' is a term used to describe a generation of highly successful film stars in their early twenties who made their mark in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the early to mid-1980s. They often appeared together in the same films. The actors also socialised in their private lives and were known as wild party-goers. The term is a play on words on ‘Rat Pack’ from the 1950s and 1960s, and was first used in 1985 by David Blum in an article in New York magazine. In the coming weeks, we'll post about several official and unofficial members of The Brat Pack.


Vintage postcard, no. FA 240. Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985).


British postcard by Paramount. Photo: Paramount. Mollie Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer and James Spader in Pretty in Pink (Howard Deutch, 1986).


British postcard by Athena International, no. 0334313. Photo: Morgan Creek Productions Inc.Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko in Young Guns (Christopher Cain, 1988).


Australian postcard by TV Hits. Photo: N. Moran / Sygma / Austral International. Photo: Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise in The Outsiders (Francis Coppola, 1983).


Australian postcard by TV Hits. Sent by mail in 1992. The Brat Pack: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, River Phoenix, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim.

Who were the Brat Pack?

According to the postcard from Australian teen magazine TV Hits, the group consisted of Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, River Phoenix, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. The postcard was probably published in 1992, which explains why Phoenix, Feldman and Haim are included. They had their breakthroughs after 1985.

According to the Dutch version of Wikipedia and the website Brat Pack, the Brat Pack’s most notable films are the teen films The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985) and St. Elmo’s Fire (Joel Schumacher, 1985), and the members of the Brat Pack are: Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy.

The term ‘Brat Pack’ is also used to describe films that only became well-known years after their release, due to the emergence of actors who were unknown at the time but later achieved A-list status. This usually involves around five to seven actors appearing in the film. Examples are Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982), starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Forest Whitaker and Eric Stoltz, and Diner (Barry Levinson, 1982), starring Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke and Steve Guttenberg. The collaboration between the members of the Brat Pack dates back, in some cases, to their school days. Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, Chris Penn, Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe were already making Super 8 films together as teenagers.

German Wikipedia refers to the eponymous article in New York magazine by David Blum that initially included Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Tom Cruise, Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Nicolas Cage, Sean Penn and Matthew Broderick in the Brat Pack. It adds that their films were mostly aimed at a teenage audience, whose enthusiasm for most of these actors waned as both the viewers and the characters grew up.

Only later did the core group come to be defined by the leading actors in The Breakfast Club (1985) and St. Elmo’s Fire (1985). Beyond these two primary films, there is no generally accepted list of Brat Pack movies. While Blum's article credits Taps (Harold Becker, 1981) as the first Brat Pack movie, English Wikipedia lists The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) as the first one. The young stars of the latter film, C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane, and Tom Cruise are often counted among the Brat Pack. Furthermore, Robert Downey Jr., Lea Thompson, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and James Spader are also often considered Brat Pack members.


American postcard by American Postcard, no. 993. Photo: Ponyboy Inc. C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy, Matt Dillon as Dallas and Ralph Macchio as Johnny in The Outsiders (Francis Coppola, 1983).


British postcard by Santoro Graphics Ltd, London, no. C 289. Emilio Estevez.


British postcard by Santoro Graphics Ltd, London no. C 245. Rob Lowe.


German autograph card by Kino. Ally Sheedy.


Spanish postcard in the Collección Estrellas de Actualidad by Cacitel, S.L., no. 151. Retail price: 100 pts. Demi Moore.

A wild partying group of young actors in their 20s

The term ‘the Brat Pack’ was an allusion to 'the Rat Pack'. This was an informal group of singers that, in its second iteration, ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. The Rat Pack centred on Frank Sinatra, and included Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and others. They appeared together on stage and in films in the 1950s and 1960s, including the films Ocean's 11 (Lewis Milestone, 1960) and Sergeants 3 (John Sturges, 1962). After Lawford's expulsion, they filmed Robin and the 7 Hoods (Gordon Douglas, 1964) with Bing Crosby in what was to have been Lawford's role. The term 'Rat Pack' is said to have been first dubbed as such by Lauren Bacall.

The term ‘Brat Pack’ first appeared in a cover story in New York magazine on 10 June 1985. In this article, titled 'Hollywood's Brat Pack', author David Blum described the wild partying of a group of young actors in their 20s who, in varying combinations, had been appearing together in various films since the early 1980s. Blum wrote the article after witnessing several young actors being mobbed by groupies at Los Angeles' Hard Rock Cafe. The article partly highlights the talent of the young actors, whilst also citing the lack of formal acting training as a criterion for membership.

From the mid-1980s onwards, a series of debut novels by promising young writers were aggressively marketed as the ‘literary Brat Pack’.The media initially included the following authors and works in this loose group: Jay McInerney – 'Bright Lights, Big City'(1984), Bret Easton Ellis – 'Less Than Zero' (1985), Tama Janowitz – 'Slaves of New York' (1986) and Mark Lindquist – 'Sad Movies' (1987). The authors dealt with the process of growing older and themes such as drug abuse, consumerism, heartbreak and a sense of disorientation. Their novels shared a generally reflective, and at times cynical, perspective on social classes. The literary Brat Pack became hugely successful in the wake of this hype, and their books were filmed. In some cases, even with members of the Brat Pack, like Less Than Zero (Marek Kanievska, 1987) starring Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr.

In his New York article, David Blum is also highly critical, particularly in his description of the group’s behaviour and their star allure. Most of the actors labelled as such therefore disliked the term, and some even blamed the article for the decline of their careers. The article was originally supposed to be just about Emilio Estevez, but one night, Estevez invited Blum to hang out with him, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, and others at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a typical night out for the group, who had gotten close while filming St. Elmo's Fire. That night, Blum decided to change the article's focus to an entire group of young actors at the time. When the piece ran, the actors all felt betrayed, especially Estevez. The article mentioned people in several films but focused on Estevez, Lowe, and Nelson, and portrayed those three negatively.

The Brat Pack label stuck for years afterwards. With the increased negative attention to them, the actors soon stopped socialising with one another. On the group's camaraderie, Ally Sheedy later said the article "just destroyed it. I had felt truly a part of something, and that guy just blew it to pieces." During the late 1980s, several of the Brat Pack actors had their careers more or less derailed by problems relating to drugs like Robert Downey and Corey Haim, alcohol (think Charlie Sheen), and, in Rob Lowe's case, a sex tape. By the 21st century, the term Brat Pack had lost its negative connotation. Andrew McCarthy directed the documentary Brats (2024), about the Brat Pack. Brats reflects on the careers and lasting impact of the Brat Pack. It features interviews with Estevez, Lowe, Demi Moore, Sheedy, and David Blum. Brian Tallerico at Roger Ebert.com: "I’m just old enough to remember the explosion of fame that greeted the Brat Pack, who some may forget were barely old enough themselves to know what was happening. The well-spoken Lowe makes an intriguing case that the Brat Pack were the main driving force in an entire cultural shift to stories of young people, which gives Brats unexpected poignancy in that these actors and actresses who made such an impact were reduced to an undeniably insulting label. Brats is a reclamation and a reshaping of that label. And it’s overdue."


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/193. Photo: Terb Agency. The Rat Pack: Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra.


British postcard by Classics Postcards London, no. 59. Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke in Rumble Fish (Francis Coppola, 1983).


British postcard by Paramount. Photo: Paramount. James Spader, Jon Cryer, Mollie Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy in Pretty in Pink (Howard Deutch, 1986).


British postcard by Paramount. Photo: Paramount. Jon Cryer, James Spader, Mollie Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy in Pretty in Pink (Howard Deutch, 1986).


Spanish postcard. Photo: CB Films / Trans World Entertainment. Andrew McCarthy in Kansas (David Stevens, 1988). The Spanish title is Kansas, dos hombres, dos caminos.

Sources: Brian Tallerico (RogerEbert.com),  The Brat Pack, Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English).