Nos artistes dans leur loge

One of the most fascinating and beautiful series of star postcards is Nos artistes dans leur loge. The series presents dozens of French stage and film stars of the 1920s in their dressing rooms. The postcards were all produced by the French journal Comoedia and one with Editions La Fayette.


Huguette Duflos. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge by Editions La Fayette, Paris. Photo: Comoedia.


Maurice Chevalier. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 201. Photo: Comoedia.


Vera Sergine. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 69. Photo: Comoedia.


Jean Coquelin. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 59. Photo: Comoedia.


Raquel Meller. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 20. Photo: Comoedia.

Tour de France
Nowadays the Paris journal Comœdia is defunct. In 1907, it was founded by French bicycle racer and sports journalist Henri Desgrange (1865 – 1940), according to Wikipedia. Desgrange was also the first organizer of the Tour de France and the founder of the popular sports journal L’auto (nowadays L'Equipe). However, another source Le Guichet du Savoir cites an article by Nathalie Léger in Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: le XXe siècle, who claims that the founder was Georges de Pawlowski. The journal - or in French ‘revue’ – Comœdia appeared as a daily from 1 October 1907 to 6 August 1914. In the beginning it had four pages. Because of the First World War the publication then halted. After the war, on 1 October 1919 Comœdia returned, again as a daily. The 1920’s with its expanding rheatre and silent film industry were a golden period for Comœdia. Among its contributors were such famous authors as Francois Coppe, Tristan Bernard, Jean Richepin, Jules Renard, and Georges Courteline. They published columns, reviews and articles about actors, actresses and directors. There were two supplements. Since 1908 there was the bi-monthly art journal Comœdia illustrated. In 1926 the daily Comœdia-journal was started. In 1936 Desgrange fell ill and Comoedia disappeared. In 1941, after the death of Desgrange, the journal returned, but now as a weekly till August 1944. It reappeared between 1952 and 1954 under the name Paris-Comoedia, weekly show with journalist and scenario writer Jacques Chabannes as its director.


Damia. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 256. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Performing Arts / Artes Escénicas.


Gabriel Signoret. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 185. Photo: Comoedia.


Maurice de Féraudy. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 131. Photo: Comoedia.


Eugène Silvain. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 191. Photo: Comoedia.


Musidora. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 97. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Beth Gallagher.

The Mirror
The series Nos artistes dans leur loge was probably published between 1922 and 1926 as a supplement for Comœdia Illustrated. The series contained portraits of famous stage actors. The stars were often only referred to by their surname like Signoret, Dranem, De Feraudy et al. Many film stars were included. The ingredients of the picture were always the same. A full shot of an artist who is preparing for the spotlights in his or her dressing room. A recurring element on the photos is the mirror. Sometimes the star is glancing into the mirror, looking at himself or at the photographer. On other postcards he is watching the photographer – and the public – directly. The dressing room is never in full view, but on the pictures you can discover details: a chair, a lamp, an artwork. And every card has a signature of the artists written over it. The result is wonderful. And my favourite dressing room is Musidora's.


Victor Francen. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 108. Photo: Comoedia.


Max de Rieux. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 285. Photo: Comoedia.


Harry Baur. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 202. Photo: Comoedia.


Jacques Baumer. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 321. Photo: Comoedia.


Tramel. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 5. Sent by mail in 1923. Photo: Comoedia.

Sources: Wikipedia (French) and Le Guichet du Savoir (French).

Sylvain

Eugène Silvain (1851 - 1930), better known as Sylvain, was a prominent French stage actor. He is best remembered as the evil bishop Cauchon in Carl Dreyer’s silent masterpiece La passion de Jeanne d’Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928).

 
French postcard, ca. 1900.

 
French postcard, early 20th century.

Very Successful at the Comédie Française
Eugène Charles Joseph Silvain was born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France in 1851. Sylvain was an officer in the French army during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. After the war he left the army to become a stage actor. He debuted in Algeria, then played Beaumarchais in Paris. There he studied at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique. In 1878 he was accepted at the Comédie Française, where he became very successful. He played several times Ergaste in L’Ecole des maris by Molière. Sylvain was not only a typical Molière performer but also often acted in plays by Victor Hugo such as Hernani. In 1883 he was appointed sociétaire of the Comédie Française, and from 1916 to 1928 he was doyen (dean) of the prestigious theater company. In 1922 made his film debut in the silent film, Molière, sa vie, son oeuvre/Moliere, his life, his work (1922, Jacques de Feraudy). In this documentary De Feraudy first related about the places where Molière was born, studied, played his works and died. Then, through engravings, Molière is seen performing at Versailles and in front of Parisian audiences. Finally Sylvain and other actors of the Comédie-Française interpret scenes from Molière's work including Le dépit amoureux, Tartuffe, Les précieuses ridicules, Le Misanthrope, le bourgeois gentilhomme, Don Juan and Le malade imaginaire. Sylvain married actress Louise Hartman, who had a brilliant career at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, and afterwards at the Comédie Française. Their children were the dramaturg Jean Sylvain and Jeanne Sylvain, who was married to actor/director Edmond Roze.

 
French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 191. Photo: Comoedia.

 
French postcard by Wyndham Ed., Paris, no. W 103. Photo: Sylvain in Molière's play Tartuffe.

Fat, Skinny, Wrinkled, With Warts In Their Faces
In 1928 Sylvain left the Comédie Française. This coincided with his role in the silent masterpiece La passion de Jeanne d’Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer). La passion de Jeanne d’Arc is a true pan-European production with a Danish director, a German art director (Hermann Warm, famous for his sets for Caligari), a Polish-Hungarian director of photography (Rudolph Maté), and a largely French cast, led by Maria Falconetti – also a member of the Comédie-Française - as Jeanne d’Arc. The film focused on the famous trial of Jeanne d’Arc in 1431. Sylvain played Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, who leads the ecclesial court that must trial Jeanne. Despite the enormous set by Warm, Dreyer’s camera focuses only on emotions by keeping the camera close to the faces of Jeanne and her persecutors. They try to nail her for blasphemy and heresy, and are commissioned by the English to find a ground to burn her at the stake. Dreyer thus accentuates the ugliness of the judges, who are presented as fat or skinny, wrinkled, having warts in their faces etc. Their faces contrast with the virgin-like features of Jeanne. In addition to Sylvain, other judges were played by a.o. André Berley, Maurice Schutz and Antonin Artaud. For a long time the film was considered lost until a print was found in a mental hospital in Oslo. Sylvain died not too long after the release of the film, in 1930 in Marseille, the city where he had built his own theatre in 1923. His wife died just a few months after. Both were buried at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

 
French postcard by Ed. Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 83. Photo: Alliance Cinématographique. Publicity still for La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928).

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.