La Petite Illustration

La Petite Illustration started in 1913 as a weekly literary journal that published about new novels and stage plays, as a supplement to the newspaper L'Illustration. In 1925, La Petite Illustration Cinématographique was introduced, special issues of La Petite Illustration on individual upcoming French silent films. Just in a few cases, the magazine presented other films or had a special on silent Hollywood. One issue treated even four films. While on the cover the magazine presented itself as a weekly ('hebdomadaire'), the film issues only appeared only every three months or so, on a quite irregular basis. From mid-1927, La Petite Illustration Cinématographique was retitled simply as La Petite Illustration and it existed as a film magazine till ca. 1931. La Petite Illustration henceforth presented both cinema specials and general literary issues. In 1939, La Petite Illustration stopped altogether. This post only includes covers and pictures of the film issues from the silent era.


Cover of French magazine La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 1, 4 April 1925. Raquel Meller La Terre promise (Henry Roussel, 1925).


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 1, 4 april 1925, p. 2. Portrait of director Henry Roussel for La Terre promise (Henry Roussel, 1925).


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 1, 4 April 1925, p. 7. Raquel Meller in La Terre promise (Henry Roussel, 1925). Caption: Rabbi Samuel (Sauvejunte) asks his rich brother Moïse (Max Maxudian) to let his daughters Lia (Raquel Meller) and Esther return with him to his humble home, where they should not be ashamed of themselves.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 1, 4 april 1925, p. 11. La Terre promise (Henry Roussel, 1925), starring Raquel Meller. Caption: "Fire in the pitts!" The flames erupt and black smoke obscures the sky.


Cover of La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 2, 13 June 1925. Gaston Jacquet in Le Bossu (Jean Kemm, 1925), adapted from the novel by Paul Féval.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 2, 13 June 1925, p. 2. Photo: G.-L. Manuel. Portrait of director Jean Kemm of Le Bossu (Jean Kemm, 1925).


Photos from French magazine La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 2, 13 June 1925, p. 4. Gaston Jacquet in Le Bossu (Jean Kemm, 1925). Top: In a picturesque corner of old Paris, a (friendly) duel takes place between Chevalier de Lagardère (Gaston Jacquet) and Philippe de Lorraine, Duke of Nevers (Jean Lorette). Bottom: dinner in the high room of the castle. The two men are friends, so when Nevers is cowardly killed by the Prince of Gonzaga (Marcel Vibert), 18 years after, Lagardère avenges his friend, masked as an old hunchback.


Cover of La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 3, 19 September 1925. Rolla Norman as Matho and Jeanne de Balzac as Salammbô in the French silent film Salammbô (1925), directed by Pierre Marodon.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 3, 19 September 1925. Rolla Norman and Jeanne de Balzac in Salammbô (Pierre Marodon, 1925). In Punic Carthage, Matho (Rolla Norman) steals the sacred veil of Tanit. In the background, Salammbô (Jeanne de Balzac).


Cover of La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 4, 18 November 1925. Jean Angelo in Les Aventures de Robert Macaire (Jean Epstein, 1925), by Albatros. During the 1820s, gentleman crook Robert Macaire (Jean Angelo) and his loyal aid Bertrand (Alex Allin), pretending to be two aristocrats, plunder the French countryside, until Macaire helps the real aristocrat Louise de Sermèze (Suzanne Bianchetti), a lady who has fallen from her horse. Louise is totally smitten with Macaire, but her brother has doubts about Robert's true intentions.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 4, 18 November 1925, p. 2. Portrait of director Jean Epstein by G.-L. Manuel for Les Aventures de Robert Macaire (Jean Epstein, 1925).


Page from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 4, 18 November 1925, p. 11. Still from Les Aventures de Robert Macaire (Jean Epstein, 1925), starring Jean Angelo. Caption: "In a steep and wild place, a man armed with a shotgun was waiting." This is Bertrand in reality, posing as a bandit, menacing Henri.


Cover of La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 5, 20 February 1926. Jeanne Helbling in La Chaussée des géants (Jean Durand, 1926). When he was a child, François Gérard got to know Antiope, a little foreigner, in a Paris park. As an adult, he sees her again in her native country, Mingrelia, which is on the verge of revolution. He is then the host of Count of Antrim, who is also Antiope's father. However, once in the presence of François, the young woman does not seem particularly moved, which somewhat puzzles him.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 5, 20 February 1926, p. 2. Portrait of director Jean Durand for La Chaussée des géants (Jean Durand, 1926).


La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 5, 20 February 1926, p. 3. Jeanne Helbling in La Chaussée des géants (Jean Durand, 1926), adapted from a novel by Pierre Benoit. Caption: The fine silhouette of Antiope, dressed in white, detached itself from the Gothic woodworks... (Benoit's book, p. 9).


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 5, 20 February 1926, p. 12. Jeanne Helbling in La Chaussée des géants (Jean Durand, 1926), adapted from a novel by Pierre Benoit. Caption: Antiope (Jeanne Helbling) recognises Ralph (Philippe Hériat), blessed in combat.
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Cover for La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 7, 7 August 1926. Ivan Mozzhukhin in Michel Strogoff (Victor Tourjansky, 1926), based on the novel by Jules Verne. While interiors were shot at the studio in Billancourt, exteriors were shot in Latvia and Norway.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 7, 7 August 1926, p. 8. Ivan Mozzhukhin in Michel Strogoff (Victor Tourjansky, 1926). Caption: The scene of Michel Strogoff's torture. On the right, Ivan Ogareff (Acho Chakatouny) and the evil gypsy woman Sangarre (Tina Meller/ Tina de Yzarduy). Left on her knees, Jeanne Brindeau as Marfa Strogoff.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 7, 7 August 1926, p. 11. Ivan Mozzhukhin in Michel Strogoff (Victor Tourjansky, 1926).


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 7, 7 August 1926. In addition to the special issue on Michel Strogoff, an extra article was added, entitled 'Hollywood, capitale du cinéma', with photos of the studios, the star villas, and Hollywood Boulevard in the mid-1920s. Caption: Hollywood Boulevard, the main artery of Hollywood, linked with the city of Los Angeles.


Cover for La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 8, 5 February 1927. Charles Dullin as Baron von Kempelen in Le Joueur d'échecs / The Chess Player (Raymond Bernard, 1927), based on a novel by Henry Dupuy-Mazuel. It is a historical drama set in the late 18th century during the Russian domination of Polish Lithuania, and elements of the plot are drawn from the story of the chess-playing automaton known as The Turk.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 8, 5 February 1927, p. 2. Portrait of the director Raymond Bernard for Le Joueur d'échecs / The Chess Player (Raymond Bernard, 1927).


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 8, 5 February 1927, p. 5. In the foreground, Edith Jéhanne as Sophie and Pierre Blanchar as Boleslas in Le Joueur d'échecs / The Chess Player (Raymond Bernard, 1927). Caption: The oath of allegiance was sworn, while Sophie played the national anthem.


Photo from La Petite Illustration Cinématographique, no. 8, 5 February 1927, p. 12. Camille Bert as Major Nikolaieff in Le Joueur d'échecs / The Chess Player (Raymond Bernard, 1927). Caption: Thus with drawn sword in the hand, the soldiers advanced towards Major Nikolaieff.


Cover for La Petite Illustration, no. 345/ 10, 13 August 1927. Claudia Victrix as Princess Masha in Princesse Masha (René Leprince, 1927).


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 345/ 10, 13 August 1927, p. 5. Claudia Victrix as Princess Masha and André Marnay played Krivoshine in Princesse Masha (René Leprince, 1927). Caption: When Krivoshine heard what had happened, he had no other thought than to send Masha away at all cost, because the love of the general could be disastrous for all.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 345/ 10, 13 August 1927. Jean Toulout as General Prince Tcherkoff and Claudia Victrix as Princess Masha in La princesse Masha (René Leprince, 1927).


Cover of La Petite Illustration, no. 385/ 12, 9 June 1928. Special on the French silent film Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928), starring Marie Bell as Juliette Récamier.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 385/ 12, 9 June 1928. Marie Bell as Juliette Récamier and Françoise Rosay as Madame de Staël in Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1928).


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 385/ 12, 9 June 1928. Scene from Madame Récamier (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain), starring Marie Bell as Juliette Récamier. A reception at the Palace of Fontainebleau, at the beginning of the French Empire under Napoleon.


Cover of La Petite Illustration, no. 398/ 13, 8 September 1928. Special issue on the French silent film L'Occident (Henri Fescourt, 1927-1928). A French squadron before the coast of Morocco tries to prevent rebel gangs from attacking the caravans but is afraid to kill loyal citizens by bombing. So Captain Jean Cadière (Lucien Dalsace), who knows the local language and customs, is sent on a secret mission. He also substitutes for his young protégé, Lieutenant Arnaud de Saint-Guil (Jaque Catelain). The next morning, Hassina (Claudia Victrix), a captive of the tribe of Zerreth-Hama, finds Cadière at a well, bitten by a snake. Because of an old prediction, she believes he is her chosen one, so she saves him by sucking out his poison, considers him her master, and brings his papers to the French vessel


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 398/ 13, 8 September 1928, p. 9. Scene from L'Occident (Henri Fescourt, 1927-1928). Caption: A big Oriental party is given at the villa of aunt Aline.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 398/ 13, 8 September 1928, p. 11. Scene from L'Occident (Henri Fescourt, 1927-1928). Caption: Led by the good Le Goff, Fathima finds comfort.


Cover of La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 14 November 1928. Albert Préjean in Verdun, visions d'histoire (Léon Poirier, 1928). This issue, titled 'Les épopées françaises à l'écran', presents four films, two WWI films: Verduns, visions d'histoire (1928) by Léon Poirier and the less important La grande épreuve (1928) by André Duges and Alexandre Ryder, and two films about Jeanne d'Arc but with a totally different narrative and style: La merveilleuse vie de Jeanne d'Arc, fille de Lorraine (Marco de Gastyne, 1929), starring Simone Genevois, and La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1928), with Renée Falconetti. Remarkable is that the plot description of La grande épreuve in La Petite Illustration completely differs from that on French Wikipedia. Also remarkable is that De Gastyne's Jeanne d'Arc film was released one year after the issue of La Petite Illustration came out, in November 1929.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 4. Photo for Verduns, visions d'histoire (Léon Poirier, 1928). Caption: The Caures Forest, the day before the offensive of 21 February 1916 (the start of The Battle of Verdun).


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 7. Photo for Verduns, visions d'histoire (Léon Poirier, 1928). Caption: The surrender of the last defenders ; commander Raynal surrends his sword.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 9. Berthe Jalabert as the mother in La grande épreuve (André Duges, Alexandre Ryder, 1928). Caption: The death of the son.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 12. Photo for La merveilleuse vie de Jeanne d'Arc, fille de Lorraine / Saint Joan the Maid (Marco de Gastyne, 1929). Caption: An episode of the battle at Orléans.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 12. Photo for La merveilleuse vie de Jeanne d'Arc, fille de Lorraine / Saint Joan the Maid (Marco de Gastyne, 1929). Caption: The meeting at Chinon with the Dauphin.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 15. Renée Falconetti in La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928). Caption: A British soldier grabs the ring from Jeanne.


Photo from La Petite Illustration, no. 408/ 14, 24 November 1928, p. 15. Photo for La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928). The film shows very little of the wonderful sets by Hermann Warm, as the camera mostly stays very close to the actors.

Colette Marchand

Colette Marchand (1925-2015) was a French prima ballerina with a relatively brief acting career. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as streetwalker Marie Charlet in Moulin Rouge (1952), directed by John Huston. During the height of her dance career, she was considered one of the great dancers in Europe, known as 'Les jambes' (The Legs).


West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin W 15, no. A 818. Photo: Deutsche London Film. Colette Marchand in Moulin Rouge (John Huston, 1952).


West German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 792. Photo: Joe Niczky / Oskar Film, München / Union Film. Colette Marchand in Ungarische Rhapsodie / Hungarian Rhapsody (Peter Berneis, André Haguet, 1954).


West German postcard. Photo: Deutsche London Film. José Ferrer and Colette Marchand in Moulin Rouge (John Huston, 1952).

A première ballerina on Broadway

Colette Janine Marchand was born in 1925 in Paris, France. Her parents were Roger Marchand and his wife Alice Lioret. She began her career as a student at the Paris Opéra dance school in the 1940s.

Marchand joined the corps de ballet under Serge Lifar. She left that company in 1946 and performed with the Metropolitan Ballet, a British troupe, before joining Roland Petit's Les Ballets de Paris.

There she became a prima ballerina, notably in the choreographer's creations: 'L'Œuf à la coque' (The Boiled Egg), 'Carmen', in which she reprised the title role after Zizi Jeanmaire, and 'Les Demoiselles de la nuit'.

Marchand travelled around the world as a dancer and performed with many of the great ballet dancers of the 1940s and 1950s. She performed as a première ballerina on Broadway in Les Ballets de Paris (1949 and 1950). In the 1950 show, Marchand performed 'The Boiled Egg', for which she received rave reviews.

In 1951, she had a featured role in the Broadway musical 'Two on the Aisle', by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne. The show ran for 276 performances. While performing on Broadway, Marchand was featured in several magazines, including Life, and she made appearances on New York City television shows, including the Ford Star Revue, the Colgate Comedy Hour, and the Ed Sullivan Show.


West German collector card in the Kosmos-Sammelwerk series Anmut und Schönheit, no. 115 (of 200). Photo: dpa. Colette Marchand in the ballet 'Les Demoiselles de la Nuit' (1948), choreography by Roland Petit. During the height of her dance career, she was considered one of the great dancers in Europe, known as 'Les jambes' (The Legs).


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 217. Photo: Teddy Piaz, Paris.

A scandal at the Cannes Film Festival

Colette Marchand was considered one of the great dancers in Europe along with Violetta Elvin, Zizi Jeanmaire, Yvette Chauviré, Janine Charrat, and Margot Fonteyn.

Back in France, she lent her voice to the avant-garde film Traité de Bave et d'Éternité / Venom and Eternity (Isidore Isou, 1951). The film created a scandal at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1952, she received a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Moulin Rouge (John Huston, 1952). She played streetwalker Marie Charlet who has a love affair with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (José Ferrer). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but Gloria Grahame won the award.

Marchand returned to her dancing career. She appeared in the ballet 'The Lady in the Ice' (1953) by Jean-Michel Damase and directed by Orson Welles. According to Welles, the show "was very successful in London, and only moderately so in Paris, where it was very badly lit". That year, she married Jacques Bazire, the musical director for the Roland Petit Ballet. The following year, she appeared in Ungarische Rhapsodie / Hungarian Rhapsody (Peter Berneis, André Haguet, 1954) with Paul Hubschmid and Michel Simon, and the French-language version, Par Ordre du Tsar / At the Order of the Czar (André Haguet, 1954.

She also appeared in the musical short Romantic Youth (1954), for which she was also the choreographer. At the end of the 1950s, she returned to classical dance with the ballets of the Marquis de Cuevas. Her career declined as she grew older. Colette Marchand died in 2015, aged 90, and was survived by her sister, Yvonne (Marchand) Le Bras.


West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1084. Photo: Oskar / Union / Gamma-Film. Colette Marchand in Ungarische Rhapsodie / Hungarian Rhapsody (Peter Berneis, André Haguet, 1954).


West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: Oskar Film, München / Union Film. Colette Marchand in Ungarische Rhapsodie / Hungarian Rhapsody (Peter Berneis, André Haguet, 1954).


West German postcard by UFA/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 789. Photo: Joe Niczky / Oskar Film, München / Florida Films, Paris / Union Film. Colette Marchand and Paul Hubschmid in Ungarische Rhapsodie / Hungarian Rhapsody (Peter Berneis, André Haguet, 1954).

Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

Barry Coe

American actor Barry Coe (1934-2019) appeared in film and on television from 1956 to 1978. From 1955 onwards, he was cast in several initially minor film roles, often as a soldier in war films. He co-starred in one series, Follow the Sun (1961–1962) and also played Mr. Goodwrench in American TV commercials in the 1970s and 1980s.


Spanish postcard by Raker, no. 1086.


Spanish postcard, no. 341-V, 1966.

Lustful in Peyton Place

Barry S. Coe was born Barry Clark Heacock in Santa Monica, California, in 1934. His father, Francis Elmer Heacock, worked as a publicist for Warner Brothers in Los Angeles, but died in a car accident in 1940. His mother, Jean Elizabeth Shea, then married Joseph Spalding Coe in 1940, and he was renamed Joseph Spalding Coe.

When Coe attended the University of Southern California, he was discovered by a 20th Century Fox talent scout during a trip with his fraternity to Palm Springs in the mid-1950s. 20th Century Fox signed him. Coe's early film roles included uncredited appearances in House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller, 1955) with Robert Ryan, and How to Be Very, Very Popular (Nunnally Johnson, 1955).

His first credited parts were in On the Threshold of Space (Robert D. Webb, 1956), and D-Day the Sixth of June (Henry Koster, 1956). He had a small role in Elvis Presley's Love Me Tender (Robert D. Webb, 1956). On TV, he was in adaptations of The Late George Apley and Deep Water for The 20th Century Fox Hour.

Barry Coe's first really notable role was playing the lustful Rodney Harrington in Peyton Place (Mark Robson, 1957), based on the best-selling Grace Metalious 1956 novel of the same name. This was followed by a supporting part in Thundering Jets (Helmut Dantine, 1958). He then went back to Fox for The Bravados (Henry King, 1958) with Gregory Peck, and A Private's Affair (Raoul Walsh, 1959).

He played Carroll Baker's more age-appropriate boyfriend in But Not for Me (Walter Lang, 1959) at Paramount. Coe had supporting roles in One Foot in Hell (James B. Clark, 1960) with Alan Ladd and The Wizard of Baghdad (George Sherman, 1961). In 1960, he received a Golden Globe for the Most Promising Newcomer - Male, along with James Shigeta, Troy Donahue, and George Hamilton.


Spanish postcard by Ediciones Raker, Barcelona, no. 328. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Barry Coe in Peyton Place (Mark Robson, 1957). The Spanish title was Los Placeres del Infierno.


Spanish postcard by Rotan, no. 6640. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Barry Coe in Follow the Sun (1961–1962).

The fourth Cartwright brother of Bonanza

In 1961, Barry Coe and Brett Halsey played magazine writers Paul Templin and Ben Gregory on the ABC TV series Follow the Sun (1961-1962). The program was set in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the writers often ventured into private detective work. Despite some memorable episodes, Follow the Sun was cancelled after 29 segments. After Follow the Sun folded, Coe appeared in a supporting role in Fox's The 300 Spartans (Rudolph Maté, 1962).

In 1962, he guest-starred on the first episode of the fourth season of Bonanza. He portrayed Clay Stafford, who reveals himself to be the 'fourth' Cartwright, a half-brother to Little Joe (Michael Landon) via their mother Marie. Although stepfather Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and Joe take Clay at his word, the other Cartwright brothers, Hoss (Dan Blocker) and Adam (Pernell Roberts), are sceptical and intend to investigate Clay's claim.

The episode, The First Born, could have introduced Coe as a new cast member. The producers had hired Coe as a potential replacement for Pernell Roberts, but Michael Landon saw Coe, who was roughly the same age, as a rival and ensured that Coe’s appearance remained a one-off guest role. Over the course of the 1960s, Coe's career began to stall noticeably, and he had to content himself with guest appearances in television series and minor film roles. Coe guest-starred on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and appeared as a communications aide in Fantastic Voyage (Richard Fleischer, 1966), as Walt Kilby in The Cat (Ellis Kadison, 1966) and The Seven Minutes (Russ Meyer, 1971).

He made a comeback in the early 1970s with a role in the short-lived NBC television series Bracken's World (1969–1970) and in the Horror films One Minute Before Death (Rogelio A. González, 1972) with Wanda Hendrix and Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls (Eddie Saeta, 1973). He later played a reporter in MacArthur (Joseph Sargent, 1977), starring Gregory Peck. His last film role was as diving instructor Tom Andrews in Jaws 2 (Jeannot Szwarc, 1978). On television, he had a brief stint as Dr. Rex Pierce in the soap opera General Hospital (1974). His other television appearances include Mission: Impossible and The Moneychangers.

From the late 1970s into the early 1980s, Coe was Mr. Goodwrench in the television commercials for GM Goodwrench,  General Motors’ chain of national auto part/repair stores. Until his death, Coe was married to the former Jorunn Kristiansen (born 1940), a Norwegian beauty queen in the 1950s who later became a painter. They had three children. He had a side business in nutritional supplements—Adventures in Nutrition. He lived in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Brentwood for several years. Coe died in 2019 from myelodysplastic syndrome at the age of 84 in Palm Desert, California.


Spanish card by Foto-Ficha obsequio "Romantica" 2a serie. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C 82, 1963. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Photo: 20th Century Fox. AS publicity still for The 300 Spartans (Rudolph Maté, 1962).

Sources: Brian J. Walker (Brian's Drive-In Theatre), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.