Cléo de Mérode

Cléo de Mérode (1875-1966) was a French dancer of the Belle Époque. She has been referred to as the 'first real celebrity icon' and the 'first modern celebrity '. De Mérode was also the first woman whose photographic image, thanks in particular to photographers Nadar and Léopold-Émile Reutlinger, was distributed worldwide.


French postcard. Photo: Nadar, Paris, 1895. Sent by mail in 1901.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. serie 51e. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. serie 69e, no. 11. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

The talk of Parisian women

Cléo de Mérode was born in Paris, France, in 1875. She was the illegitimate daughter of Viennese Baroness Vincentia Maria Cäcilia Catharina de Mérode. Vincentia was estranged from Cléo's father, who was the Austrian judge, lawyer, and pioneer of tourism Theodor Christomannos. Cléo met her father as a young adult at a train station in Merano, and upon seeing him, jokingly exclaimed, "I really hope that you are wealthy, because I am used to luxury and the good life." Upon Christomannos' death in 1911, de Mérode left an inscription on his grave in German which reads, "The man who wanted everything for others and nothing for himself".

She was raised Catholic and affectionately called 'Lulu' by her family. At the age of eight, she was sent to study dance with the Sisters of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, and she made her professional debut at the Paris Opéra at age eleven. De Mérode became renowned for her glamour even more than for her dancing skills. Her image began appearing on postcards and playing cards. At 16, she debuted her signature hairstyle, a 'chignon', which became the talk of Parisian women and was quickly adopted as a popular style for all. The 'Cléo de Mérode hairdo' remained popular for decades. In 1895, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas did her portrait. She was sculpted by Alphonse Mucha. Her picture was taken by illustrious photographers of the day, including Nadar and his son and successor Paul Nadar, Léopold-Émile Reutlinger and his son Jean Reutlinger, Charles Ogerau, Henri Manuel, and Otto Sarony.

In the autumn of 1895, a rumour began that Cléo de Mérode was King Leopold II's latest mistress, and the two were dubbed 'Cléopold' by the media. De Mérode's reputation suffered, and she was labelled a 'courtesan' or 'demimondaine'. In an attempt to settle the rumours, de Mérode's mother wrote a letter to the editor of Le Figaro. De Mérode wrote in her autobiography: "I was completely bewildered by the dimensions that this story took on. The tale of my liaison with Léopold sped along, across France, throughout Europe, and around the world. Caricatures, gossip columns, songs, skits showed the king and me, snuggling, sharing a restaurant table, cracking open champagne at Maxim's, on a cruise, in a Pullman, and so on.... I did not know what to make of such inordinate publicity; it stunned me."

Michael Garval, de Mérode's biographer, said that although de Mérode posed as a courtesan to increase her fame, she never worked as one. In the spring of 1896, a second scandal erupted due to the exhibition of the sculpture 'La Danseuse' by Alexandre Falguière at the Salon des Artistes Française. The sculpture was a life-size nude in white marble that was carved from a plaster cast of de Mérode's body. Despite the grain of skin visible on the plaster, proving a live cast, de Mérode accused Falguière of having fabricated a scandalous work by moulding the body of the statue on another female model, whereas she posed only for the head. The scandal followed her throughout her career.

Despite the two scandals, de Mérode became an international star, performing across Europe and in the United States. In Germany, she danced at Hamburg's Hansa-Theater and Berlin's Wintergarten, and in France she appeared in the plays 'Les Deux Pigeons', 'La Korrigane', and 'Étoile'. Gustave Charpentier engaged her for the role of La Beauté in 'Le Couronnement de la Muse'. In 1897, she arrived in New York City, where she appeared for a month at Koster and Bial's in the play 'Faust'. During her stay in New York, she was besieged by reporters and followed down the street by girls begging for her autograph. de Mérode's performance was heavily anticipated, but was disappointing, and though the press praised her beauty, they said she could not dance.


French advertising postcard for Cristal Mont-Pilat (mineral water, alas, not champagne) with caricatures of Sarah Bernhardt, Cléo de Mérode, Carolina 'la belle' Otéro, and Yvette Guilbert. The black gloves were usually a part of Guilbert’s costume. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French postcard by S.I.P. Photos: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: Otéro (Caroline Otéro), A. Held (Anna Held), C. de Mérode (Cléo de Mérode).

Doing something other ballet divas had never done before

In 1900, Cléo de Mérode caused a sensation at the Exposition Universelle when she performed traditional Javanese and Khmer dances. She also appeared in two films, one of which was hand-tinted in colour. Both films showed her dancing. 50 years later, both films were included in Paris mil neuf cent (Nicole Védrès, 1947), a documentary limning the life of Paris and its citizens during 'La Belle Époque ', the years between 1900 and 1914. The film begins with the Paris Exposition of 1900. In 1901, Édouard Marchand organised for de Mérode to dance at the Folies Bergère in a three-act pantomime titled 'Lorenza'. She took a risk doing something other ballet divas had never done before. Her performance further increased her popularity. In 1904, she reprised her role as Phryne at the Olympia. That same year, she performed alongside dancer Paul Franck in 'Tanagra', a dance in Ancient Greek style.

In 1906, it was reported that 50,000,000 photographs of de Mérode had been sold and that a single Berlin firm produced 4,000,000 a year. In 1908, she portrayed Phoébe in 'Endymion et Phoébe' at the Opéra-Comique alongside Régina Badet. In 1912, de Mérode appeared in the opera 'La Danseuse de Pompeii' as part of the corps de ballet at the Opéra-Comique. The following year, she appeared in the revue 'Come Over Here' at the London Opera House. During World War I, she entertained wounded soldiers. After the war, she toured in the French provinces with Serge Peretti, reluctant to accept engagements abroad. She continued to dance until her late forties.

Throughout the early 1920s, Cléo de Mérode performed at galas and benefit concerts. The first was a fundraiser for Benoît-Constant Coquelin's old actors' home in Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames. She retired in 1924 to the seaside resort of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France. At the request of theatre director Henri Varna, she reappeared on stage at the Alcazar in 1934 in 'Viens poupoule' alongside the dancer George Skibine and the actress and singer Cassive. She did four routines: one in a Norman peasant costume, the traditional Khmer dance she had first performed at the Exposition Universelle in 1900, a Second Empire scene, and 'la Valse 1900'.

She then taught ballet before retiring in 1965. She was 90. As a hobby, she crafted figurines of dancers, shepherds, and shepherdesses in the classical style, which she then sold. The character 'Cleo of Paris', played by Mae Murray in the American silent film Peacock Alley (Robert Z. Leonard, 1922), was a parody of her. The film was one of the biggest box office hits of 1922. De Mérode unsuccessfully sued the film owners for 100,000 francs in damages, alleging that the film injured her reputation by burlesquing incidents in her career. She was portrayed by Fern Andra in the lost German silent film Frauen der Leidenschaft / Women of Passion (Ralf Randolf, 1926). Upon learning of the film and its portrayal of her as a courtesan, she protested in an open letter in the theatrical daily Comœdia, saying, "I lead and have always led the quietest of lives, I do not seek any publicity, and I really do not wish to be given any against my will, especially that sort of publicity."

In 1950, Cléo de Mérode sued Simone de Beauvoir for libel, claiming five million francs in damages. De Beauvoir had "wrongly described her as a prostitute who came from peasant stock and had taken an aristocratic-sounding stage name as self-promotion" in her book 'The Second Sex'. De Mérode won the lawsuit, and the passage was removed from the book. However, de Mérode only received one franc in damages because "the judge found that Cléo had permitted the rumours during the course of her career for their publicity value". In 1955, she published her autobiography, 'Le Ballet de ma vie' (The Dance of My Life). She never married or had children, which has led some biographers to categorise her as a lesbian.


French postcard in the Collection artistique du Vin Désiles by S.I.P. Photo: Reutlinger. Caption: Au délicieux Vin Désiles qui donne la santé et la gaité (To the delicious Vin Désiles that gives health and cheerfulness).


French postcard, no. 1188.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 825/1, 1925-1926. Photo: British-American-Films A.G. (Bafag). Mae Murray in Peacock Alley (Robert Z. Leonard, 1922).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Tom Drake

American actor Tom Drake (1918–1982) was a popular Hollywood co-star of Wallace Beery, Lassie and Deanna Durbin in the 1940s. He is fondly remembered as the wholesome 'boy next door ' that Judy Garland sings about in the classic musical, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Until the late 1970s, he appeared in around 130 films and TV productions.


Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 249. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 689. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Judy Garland's boy next door

Tom Drake was born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918. He was known as 'Buddy' to family and friends. He attended Iona Preparatory School and graduated from Mercersburg Academy. Billed as Alfred Alderdice, Drake gained his first acting experiences on Broadway in 'Run Sheep Run' (1938) and 'Clean Beds' (1939). It was the success of the latter in particular that brought him to Hollywood’s attention. From 1940 onwards, he was cast in mostly minor supporting roles in MGM films.

He made his debut in The Howards of Virginia (Frank Lloyd, 1940) billed as Richard Alden. In 1942, he had his break starring in the Broadway smash 'Janie'. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer offered him a full contract. The 24-year-old was excused from serving in World War II when his medical exams diagnosed a heart disease. Despite this limitation, he did act in British training films. MGM gave Drake first a supporting role in Two Girls and a Sailor (Richard Thorpe, 1944).

He was third billed in a 'B', Maisie Goes to Reno (Harry Beaumont, 1944), starring Ann Sothern. Then he had small roles in some 'A' pictures: Marriage Is a Private Affair (Robert Z. Leonard, 1944) starring Lana Turner, and Mrs. Parkington (Tay Garnett, 1944) with Greer Garson. Drake was more prominently featured as Judy Garland's leading man in Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944). He played John Truitt, the 'boy next door'. The film was a box-office hit and introduced Drake to a wider audience.

MGM promoted him to leading roles with This Man's Navy (William A. Wellman, 1944), co-starring Wallace Beery. MGM gave Drake the star role in the drama The Green Years (Victor Saville, 1946), which was a huge hit. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Drake managed to keep his head above water despite such formidable supporting acting talent as Hume Cronyn, Charles Coburn, Jessica Tandy and Gladys Cooper." It was followed by Courage of Lassie (Fred M. Wilcox, 1946), another big hit, and Faithful in My Fashion (Sidney Salkow, 1946), which lost money.

Universal borrowed him to play Deanna Durbin's leading man in I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947). Back at MGM, Drake was a supporting player in The Beginning or the End (Norman Taurog, 1947) and Cass Timberlane (George Sidney, 1947) starring Spencer Tracy. Drake was teamed with Beery again in Alias a Gentleman (1948). He did another Lassie film, Hills of Home (Fred M. Wilcox, 1948). He played composer Richard Rodgers in the loosely based biography Words and Music (Norman Taurog, 1948) alongside Mickey Rooney as Lorenz Hart. Cass Timberlane was popular, but the other films all lost money. Fox borrowed Drake to play the romantic lead in Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (Elliott Nugent, 1949), opposite Clifton Webb and Shirley Temple. Then MGM borrowed him for the Film Noir Scene of The Crime (Roy Rowland, 1949) with Van Johnson. He made the comedy The Great Rupert (Irving Pichel, 1950) for George Pal.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Universal M.P.E. Deanna Durbin and Tom Drake in I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947).


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Universal M.P.E. Deanna Durbin, William Bendix, Tom Drake and Adolphe Menjou in I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947).


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 165. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Dorothy Patrick and Tom Drake in Alias a Gentleman (Harry Beaumont, 1948).

A deeply closeted gay guy

In the 1950s, film offers for Tom Drake noticeably dried up. He went to Columbia for the Film Noir Never Trust a Gambler (Ralph Murphy, 1951) and to Allied Artists for the musical Disc Jockey (Will Jason, 1951). He also appeared with Audrey Totter in the Film Noir F.B.I. Girl (William Berke, 1951), and with Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl in the 3D-drama Sangaree (Edward Ludwig, 1953).

Drake turned his attention primarily to guest appearances in television series. He appeared in episodes of TV shows such as The Ford Theatre Hour, Suspense, Lights Out, Tales of Tomorrow, and The Unexpected. After television jobs for actors transitioned from live telecasts from New York to shows that were filmed in California, Drake had roles in the series Lassie, Cimarron City, Sunset Strip, The Rebel, Perry Mason, Combat!, Land of the Giants, Adam-12, The Streets of San Francisco and Wagon Train.

In the cinema, he continued to appear in smaller roles in the Horror film The Cyclops (Bert I. Gordon, 1957) and in the drama Raintree County (Edward Dmytryk, 1957). Drake had a rare lead as the honest owner of a second-hand car business in the English film Date with Disaster (Charles Saunders, 1957). Back in Hollywood, he played against type the leader of a gang of criminals in the Western Warlock (Edward Dmytryk, 1959). During the 1960s, he had minor roles in the films The Sandpiper (Vincente Minnelli, 1965) and The Singing Nun (Henry Koster, 1966), playing Ed Sullivan's producer Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Hal Erickson: "Never able to fulfil his potential, Drake continued into the '70s playing subordinate roles in 'A' pictures, the occasional lead in low-budget films, and secondary TV parts in such productions as Marcus Welby MD and The Return of Joe Forrester. A classic example of how talented people could fall between the tracks of the studio contract system." For financial reasons, he took on a second job as a second-hand car dealer. His final film role was the character Dr. Adam Forrest in The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (Mohy Quandour, 1974) with Cesar Romero. His last acting credit was in the TV series Project U.F.O. (1978), but as his health slipped, he had to give up working altogether.

Tom Drake’s only marriage, to Isabelle Eilenberger, ended in divorce in 1946 after just one year. The actor was homosexual. Elisa Rolle at Queer Places: "Tom Drake was a deeply closeted gay guy, and he was easily given to despair. He was never known to have had a serious romance, although he bedded both Rock Hudson and James Dean. As an adult, he lived with a profound drinking problem, and he lived a life of fear of having his gayness found out." In 1982, Tom Drake was taken by pneumonia, alone and mostly forgotten in a tiny apartment in Torrance, California. Later that year, he died of lung cancer at Torrance Memorial Hospital. He was 64. His body is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.


British postcard in "The People" Show Parade Picture Service, London, no. P 1144. Photo: Universal-International.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 165. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


Spanish postcard. Sent by mail in 1950.

Sources: Elisa Rolle (Queer Places), Hal Erickson (AllMovie at Wayback Machine), Dimos I (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

Directed by Paul von Woringen

Dutch-born, German film director Paul von Woringen (1859-1928) was the screenwriter-producer-director of the Deutsche Mutoskop & Biograph (DMB). He made the Autorenfilm Die Landstrasse (1913), but also directed several films with Lotte Neumann in her own series of melodramas for DMB.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2168. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film. Lotte Neumann in Die Ehe der Charlotte von Brakel / The Marriage of Charlotte von Brakel (Paul von Woringen, 1918).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2095. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film. Lotte Neumann in Die Richterin / The Judge (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2103. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann in Der Geigenspieler / The Violin Player (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2968. Photo: Deutsche Mutoskop & Biograph GmbH, Berlin. Magda Madeleine in Die einsame Frau / The Lonely Woman (Paul von Woringen, Willy Zeyn, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 359/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin / Deutsche Mutoskop & Biograph.

Artistic director of Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph

Ernest Guillaume Paul von Woringen was born in 1859 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He was the son of German parents. Thanks in part to his wife, the variety artist Nora Gilis, he started his film career as artistic director of the Berlin film company Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph GmbH, as the German subsidiary of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. The trademark of the company, usually referred to simply as Deutsche Mutoskop or DMB, was ‘DB’ within a circle. DMB distributed and produced several hundred films between 1898 and 1924. From the early 1910s, Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph shifted its focus increasingly towards film production, though it remained active in the distribution business until 1919. The company’s first large film studio was built at 10 Zietenstraße in Berlin-Lankwitz: a glass hall measuring approximately 700 m² on a multi-storey base.

In January 1911, Von Woringen became the company's general manager. He directed the production of feature films, mainly comedies and film dramas, and maintained the company in a time of rapidly evolving public taste for fictional action films. Von Woringen also quickly made the transition to long feature films. He was responsible for the prestigious and ambitious historical production Theodor Körner (1912), typical of the wave of nationalist, anti-French films from just before the First World War, in this case about the fight against Napoleon's marauders in Germany. The film was directed by Franz Porten and Gerhard Dammann, with Friedrich Feher in the title role and 300 soldiers in historical costumes.

From 1913, Paul von Woringen was active behind the camera as director of his own films. His directorial debut was Die Landstrasse / The Country Road (1913), in which an escaped convict commits a murder in a small village. The murder is blamed on a passing beggar, played by Carl Goetz. The original screenplay was written by renowned author Paul Lindau and used a short story by Duke Ernst of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the basis for the film. The story was thematically based on the Rannersdorf murder trial, which attracted considerable attention at the time.

In 1915, Von Woringen started to make films with Lotte Neumann (1896-1977). Neumann was one of the most successful actresses in the early days of the German silent cinema and the female star of the Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph GmbH, such as the Detective film Der rote Faden / The Common Thread (1915) with Rudolf Klein-Rhoden as Detective Barker Swift. Lotte Neumann also worked as a screenwriter and a producer. In 1917-1918, Von Woringen directed Neumann in films for her own company, Lotte Neumann-Film, founded within DMB.

The first film Neumann produced herself with Lotte Neumann-Film was Der Mut zum Glück / The Courage to Happiness (Paul von Woringen, 1917). The film was shot at the Mutoskop studio in Berlin-Lankwitz and co-starred Erich Kaiser-Titz and Heinrich Schroth. It passed censorship in July 1917 and then soon premiered at the Berliner Sportpalast. The Neue Kino-Rundschau (September 1917): "A very excellent film that met with undivided applause from those appearing in it. It is particularly characterised by the excellent interaction between Lotte Neumann and Erich Kaiser-Tietz [sic!]. A truly rare pleasure to immerse yourself in the performance by these two, where one is forced to wonder how much an artist can do from a role that he grasps and thinks through with all his soul! The direction also has its share in the completed whole and must be lauded."


German poster by DMB (Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph) for Die Landstrasse / The Country Road (Paul von Woringen, 1913). Design: A. Hubert. Collection: Eye Filmmuseum.


Gertman postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2089. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann as Eveline, Heinrich Schroth as her father and Franz Ramharter as Baron von Sanden in Der Mut zum Glück / The Courage to Happiness (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2091. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann in Der Mut zum Glück / The Courage to Happiness (Paul von Woringen 1917). This was the first film Neumann produced herself with her company, Lotte Neumann-Film.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin. no. K. 2094. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann in Die Richterin / The Judge (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, K. 2096. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann and Ernst Rückert in Hinter verschlossenen Türen / Behind Closed Doors (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, K. 2097. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann and Ernst Rückert in Hinter verschlossenen Türen / Behind Closed Doors (Paul von Woringen, 1917).

Left by Lotte Neumann

Paul von Woringen directed for Lotte Neumann-Film such melodramas as Die Richterin / The Judge (1917), Hinter verschlossenen Türen / Behind Closed Doors (1917), Die Ehe der Charlotte von Brakel / The Marriage of Charlotte von Brakel (1917), and the two-parter Das Schweige im Walde / The Silence in the Woods (1918, 2 parts).

In Die Richterin / The Judge (Paul von Woringen, 1917), Carl Clewing plays Fritz, a businessman who falls in love with his neighbour's daughter (Lotte Neumann), who was brought up in strict order by her father. The girl agrees to marry him. Since Fritz does not want to go into marriage with a lie, he admits to a misstep from a long time ago: in his youth, he falsified a check and went to jail. The strict paternal principles have turned the girl into a moral judge, and she lets the upcoming marriage burst at the last moment. The script was by Hans Land, a pseudonym of Hugo Landsberger. Die Richterin was shot at the Mutoskop studio in Berlin-Lankwitz. In October 1917, it was presented to the German Board of Censorship, and quite soon after, it was released.

Lotte Neumann also starred in Der Geigenspieler / The Violin Player (1917), a psychological crime movie which Von Woringen wrote and directed. Other actors were Johannes Müller, Paul Otto, Elisabeth Hruby, Marga Köhler, and Wilhelm Huch. It is not known when exactly the film premiered, but in August 1917 it was shown at the Berlin Passagetheater. In 1918, Lotte Neumann decided to continue her film career at Maxim Film, and she left DMB and Paul von Woringen.

In 1919-1920, Von Woringen made several films at DMB starring two new discoveries, Hilde Wolter and Magda Magdeleine. Magdeleine had debuted at Deutsche Mutoskop & Biograph in Das Licht in der Nacht / The Light in the Night (Emil Albes, 1917). After that, she had played leads in her own film series, often directed by Willy Zeyn. In 1918, Paul von Woringen directed her in Die einsame Frau / The Lonely Woman (Willy Zeyn, Paul von Woringen, 1918), Wenn Freunde zu Rivalen werden / When Friends Become Rivals (Paul von Woringen, 1919), Die Lüge der Pia Mahren / Pia Mahren’s Lie (Paul von Woringen, 1919), and Das Rätsel der Unbekannten / The Mystery of the Unknown (Paul von Woringen, 1919). Often, she was paired with actor Karl Beckersachs. Between late 1917 and early 1920, Madeleine made 16 films at Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph. Hilde Wolter had the female leads or supporting parts in 9 films directed by Von Woringen between 1919 and 1920, such as Eine tolle Kiste / A Brilliant Box (1919), Wie das Schicksal spielt / How Fate Works (1920) and Sybill Morgan (1920). In 1921, she switched to Orplid-Film.

The emergence of the UFA in 1917 created formidable competition for DMB. Due to the declining success of his films, Paul von Woringen gave up his post at Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph in 1921. After the DMB studio had remained largely unused for a time, it was bought by Muto-Großatelier für Filmherstellung GmbH in 1922. This was a joint venture between Flora-Film GmbH, Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph GmbH (DMB), Fern Andra Film-Atelier, Georg Bluen & Co. and Lixie Film-Atelier Weißensee GmbH. Von Woringen made only one more film with DMB, Im Schatten der Anderen / In the Shadow of Others (Paul von Woringen, 1924), again with Magda Magdeleine, before retiring completely. For Madeleine, it also meant her last leading role and her second-to-last film. Paul von Woringen died in Poortugaal near Rotterdam in 1928. Only a few of his films have survived, including the crime drama Der rote Faden. His first film, Die Landstrasse, is now part of Eye Filmmuseum's Desmet collection.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2099. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann in Hinter verschlossenen Türen / Behind Closed Doors (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2100. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann and probably Paul Otto in Der Geigenspieler / The Violin Player (Paul von Woringen, 1917). The first of a series of four cards.


German postcard. Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2101. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann in Der Geigenspieler / The Violin Player (Paul von Woringen, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2167. Photo: Lotte Neumann-Film, Berlin. Lotte Neumann in Die Ehe der Charlotte von Brakel / The Marriage of Charlotte von Brakel (Paul von Woringen, 1918). Her co-stars were Bruno Kastner and Frieda Richard. The man collapsing is Rudolf Lettinger.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 359/4. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin / Deutsche Mutoskop & Biograph Film-Ges.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 400/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin / Deutsche Mutoskop & Biograph Film-Ges. Hilde Wolter.

Sources: Michael Wedel (The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema), Early German Film Database, Filmportal, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Pola Negri

In the late 1910s and the 1920s, Polish film actress Pola Negri (1897-1987) achieved notoriety as a femme fatale in silent films in Poland, Berlin, and Hollywood. Negri was an overnight sensation in Ernst Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry / Passion (1919). Her vamp roles were so popular that she was a direct rival of Theda Bara, and lived in a Hollywood palace, modelled after the White House.


French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 433. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/8. Photo: Union. Pola Negri in Madame Dubarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2569. Photo: Union. Ernst Wendt, Pola Negri and Arthur Schröder in Mania (Eugen Illés, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 642/5. Photo: Union Film. Pola Negri in Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).


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, Berlin, no. 72/1. Photo: Parufamet / Paramount. Pola Negri in Hotel Imperial (Mauritz Stiller, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3814/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri in Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928).

Poverty and tuberculosis

Pola Negri was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec in Lipno (some sources say Janowa), Russian Empire (present-day Poland), in 1897. Her father, Juraj Chałupiec, was a Slovak immigrant tinsmith. Her mother had to make a living alone after her father was arrested by the Russians and sent to a Siberian prison camp, where he died. In 1902, mother and her only daughter moved to Warsaw, where they lived in poverty. As a teenager, Pola auditioned for the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet. She was accepted. As a ballerina, she showed great promise until she contracted tuberculosis and was forced to cut short her dance career.

She switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became an actress. Her triumphant debut as Hedwig in Henrik Ibsen's 'The Wild Duck' brought her to the attention of the prestigious and daring Little Theatre of Philharmonic Hall. After a brief stay, Pola moved on to the Rozmaitosci, the national theatre of Poland.

By now, Pola had become a popular and well-known actress in Warsaw, but the outbreak of World War I interrupted her rise and left her and her mother in dire financial straits. By the time the war receded, Pola had signed with the Polish film company Sphinx and debuted as a dancer in Niewolnica zmyslów / Slave of the Senses (Ryszard Ordynski, Jan Pawlowski, 1914).

She appeared in a variety of films, including Żona / The Wife (Aleksander Hertz, 1915), Bestia / Beast (Aleksander Hertz, 1915), and Studenci / Students (Aleksander Hertz, 1916). During that time, she adopted the pseudonym ‘Pola Negri’, after the Italian poetess Ada Negri.

As the situation in Warsaw stabilised, the city's theatres soon became active again, and Pola gained the chance of a lifetime. David Ordynski, a Polish director currently working with Max Reinhardt at his Deutsches Theater in Berlin, returned to Warsaw to stage the Polish premiere of Reinhardt's 'Sumurun'. This is the story of a mulatto dancer bought in the slave market for the Sheik but is loved by his son. She kills the Sheik in self-defence. Pola's success in the role of the slave girl took her to Berlin.


Polish postcard, no. 6011. Photo: Malarski & Tavrell. Pola Negri in 'Sumurun'.


Polish postcard. Photo: Malarski & Tavrell. Photo: Pola Negri in the play 'Sumurun'. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 234. Photo: Anny Eberth. Pola Negri in her costume of 'Sumurun'.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 302. Photo: Atelier Eberth, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 407/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt Phot.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 407/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt Phot. Pola Negri in Mania. Die Geschichte einer Zigarettenarbeiterin/Mania: The Story of a Cigarette Girl (Eugen Illés, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin / W.J. Mörling, Berlin, no. 425/2. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin / W.J. Mörling, Berlin, no. 425/3. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin / W.J. Mörling, Berlin, no. 477/1. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin. Pola Negri in the final scene of Sappho / Mad Love (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1921).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 488/3. Photo: Ernst Sandau.

The Lubitsch touch

In Berlin, Pola Negri found considerable success at the Deutsches Theater. She met German fellow actor-turned-director Ernst Lubitsch, who became famous for the ‘Lubitsch Touch’, the skilful blending of sly wit and innuendo that confounded even the strictest censor in the 1920s.

Lubitsch introduced Pola to Paul Davidson, head of Germany's Union Film Alliance, and together they made such films as Die Augen der Mumie Ma / The Eyes of Mummy Ma (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918), Carmen / Gypsy Blood (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) based on the Georges Bizet opera, a film version of Sumurun / One Arabian Night (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920), and Die Bergkatze / The Wildcat (Ernst Lubitsch, 1921).

The characters that Pola played were strong, earthy, passionate women - full of fire, and her roles to date were of women whose will and ardour were equal to Negri's own.

While Pola also hit it big in such non-Lubitsch films as Arme Violetta / Camille (Paul L. Stein, 1920) and Sappho (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1921), it was their pairing in the smash hit Madame Dubarry / Passion (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) that made them an overnight sensation.

Madame Dubarry / Passion was such a success in the USA that by 1922, Negri and Lubitsch both signed contracts with Famous Players and headed for Hollywood.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', picture no. 58, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Emil Jannings and Pola Negri in Die Augen der Mumie Ma / The Eyes of the Mummy (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2765. Photo: Atelier Eberth / Union. Pola Negri in Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2849. Photo: Union. Pola Negri in Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/1. Photo: Union. Pola Negri in Madame Dubarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 627/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Union. Pola Negri and Harry Liedtke in Madame Dubarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).


German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 642/1. Photo: Union. Pola Negri in Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still for Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Pola Negri, Paul Wegener, and Jenny Hasselqvist.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 760/5. Photo: Alex Binder. Pola Negri in Die Bergkatze / Wildcat (Ernst Lubitsch, 1921).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1523/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Parufamet. Pola Negri in Forbidden Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1924).


Italian postcard, no. 134. Photo: Films Paramount, Roma. Pola Negri in Forbidden Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1924), launched in Italy as La Czarina.

Excessive and lustful kissing

In 1923, Pola Negri landed the role of Maritana in The Spanish Dancer (Herbert Brenon, 1923) with Antonio Moreno and Wallace Beery. Her exotic style of glamour proved popular with filmgoers. Audiences equally liked her next productions, Bella Donna (George Fitzmaurice, 1923) and The Cheat (George Fitzmaurice, 1923). Negri lived in a palace in Los Angeles, modelled after the White House.

Forbidden Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1924), with Adolphe Menjou and Hotel Imperial (Mauritz Stiller, 1927) were two of her most successful films. However, her vamp style began to go out of vogue, and her popularity quickly began to fade.

Three things conspired to end her career in Hollywood. The display that she put on at the funeral of Rudolph Valentino in 1926 changed the public mood towards her. The Hays Office codes, which would not allow filming the 'scenes of passion' and 'excessive and lustful kissing' that had made her a sex-siren European star. And finally, her thick accent would not play in the sound pictures that were coming into vogue.

In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures entitled The Woman from Moscow (Ludwig Berger, 1928), opposite Norman Kerry. The film was only Negri's second talkie, the first being Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928) opposite Nils Asther, and Paramount didn’t renew her contract.

Having divorced Eugeniusz Dąbski in 1921, Negri married the self-claimed Georgian prince Serge Mdivani in 1927. In 1929, Negri lost most of her fortune in the Wall Street Crash. The couple divorced, and she left Hollywood for Great Britain to make the drama The Way of Lost Souls / The Woman He Scorned (Paul Czinner, 1929).


Dutch postcard by J.[Jos] M.H. Nuss, Laren, no. 4. Picture: Frank Godefroy.


Dutch postcard by J.[Jos] M.H. Nuss, Laren, no. 6. Picture: Frank Godefroy. Pola Negri in The Spanish Dancer (1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1093/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Paramount. Herbert Brenon directs Pola Negri in The Spanish Dancer (1923). This silent Paramount production is set in Spain in 1625. It tells of the adventures of Maritana, a Spanish gypsy singer, who is in love with the penniless nobleman and bon vivant Don César de Bazan. The lovers become involved in a court intrigue with the intention of driving the Spanish king and his French wife apart. Maritana's charm and shrewdness save the day.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1093/2. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri and director Dimitri Buchowetzki on the set of the film Men (1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 939/5, 1925-1926. Photo: Paramount-Film. Pola Negri in The Cheat (George Fitzmaurice, 1923).


Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 778. Photo: S.R.I. Films Paramount, Roma. Pola Negri and Noah Beery in Lily of the Dust (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze. Photo: Pola Negri in Good and Naughty (Malcolm St. Clair, 1926).


American postcard by Western Publishing & Novelty Co., Los Angeles, Calif, no. 828. Caption: Residence of Pola Negri, Beverly Hills, Calif.


Spanish collectors card by Amatller, Barcelona, in the 'Los artistas cinematograficos en la intimidad' Series, no. A. Photo: Pola Negri and Jesse Lasky.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 72/4. Photo: ParUfaMet / Paramount. James Hall and Pola Negri in Hotel Imperial (Mauritz Stiller, 1927). The German film title was Hotel "Stadt Lemberg".

Flamboyant

After 1930, Pola Negri worked mainly in England and Germany, where she acted in films for the Joseph Goebbels - controlled Ufa. Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935) gained much popularity in Germany and became one of Adolf Hitler's favourite films.

She fled Germany in 1938 after Nazi officials labelled her as having "part Jewish" ancestry. She moved to France, and then in 1941, she sailed from Portugal to New York and was temporarily detained at Ellis Island. After her release, she eventually returned to Hollywood. She briefly appeared in Hi Diddle Diddle (Andrew L. Stone, 1943), though her career was essentially over.

In 1951, Negri became a naturalised citizen of the United States. Her final film appearance was in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (James Neilson, 1964), with Hayley Mills. The same year, she received an honorary award from the German film industry for her career.

Negri lived her remaining years in San Antonio, Texas, with her companion, Texan heiress and composer, Margaret West. In 1970, she published her autobiography, 'Memoirs of a Star' (1970). Negri maintained her flamboyant persona to the end of her life and was often compared to the character role she once had turned down: Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950).

Pola Negri died in 1987 in San Antonio, USA, at the age of 90. Her death was caused by pneumonia. However, she was also suffering from a brain tumour for which she had refused treatment.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 448. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri in The Woman from Moscow (Ludwig Berger, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3261/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3261/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount / Parufamet.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3987/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri in Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4333/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri in Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4733/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount. Pola Negri in The Woman from Moscow (Ludwig Berger, 1928).


Belgian postcard issued by the Splendid-Cinéma for the showing of The Way of Los Souls / The Woman He Scorned (in French: Son dernier tango) (Paul Czinner, 1929), produced by Gaumont-British as an early sound film. Some say it was instead a late silent film, so maybe it was shot in both a silent and a sound version.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1393/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Atelier Sandau, Berlin. Albrecht Schoenhals and Pola Negri in Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935).


German postcard by Ross Verlag / Das Programm von Heute für Film und Theater G.m.b.H., Berlin. Photo: Cine-Allianz. Pola Negri in Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935).


German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Badal / Terra. Possibly Pola Negri in Der Weg nach Shanghai / Moskou Shanghai (Paul Wegener, 1936).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1047/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Euphono-Film / Terra. Pola Negri in Madame Bovary (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1937), based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert.


Scene with Pola Negri in A Woman of the World (Malcolm St. Clair, 1925). Source: Beruozinka (YouTube).

Sources: Glen Pringle and Kally Mavromatis (Silent Star of April - Now defunct), Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson (IMDb), David Gasten (Pola Negri Appreciation Site - Now defunct), Wikipedia and IMDb.