Sumurun (1920)

Ernst Lubitsch's silent film Sumurun (1920) or One Arabian Night tells the exotic story of the favourite slave girl (Jenny Hasselquist) of a tyrannical sheik (Paul Wegener), who falls in love with a cloth merchant (Harry Liedtke). Meanwhile, a hunchback clown (Lubitsch himself) suffers unrequited love for a travelling dancer (Pola Negri) who wants to join the harem. The film was based on a pantomime by Friedrich Freksa, which Max Reinhardt had already staged and filmed successfully, a decade earlier.


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 832/1, 1919-1924. Union Film. Publicity still for Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Jenny Hasselqvist aka Jenny Hasselquist as Sumurun.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 642/1. Photo: Union-Film. Pola Negri and Jakob Tiedtke in Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).

A Journey into a universe of emotions and passions

A company of travelling performers arrive at a fictional oriental city. It includes the beautiful dancer Janaia (Pola Negri), the hunchback clown Yeggar (Ernst Lubitsch himself in his last leading film role) who is lovesick for Janaia and the Old Lady (Margarete Kupfer) who loves Yeggar.

The Slave Trader Achmed wants to sell Janaia to the Sheik for his harem. At the Palace, the Sheik (Paul Wegener) finds out that his favourite, Sumurun (Jenny Hasselquist), is in love with Nur al Din (Harry Liedtke), the handsome clothes merchant. He wants to condemn her to death but his son obtains her pardon.

After seeing Janaia dancing, the Sheik is keen to buy her. Yeggar is desperate and takes a magic pill which make him look dead. His body is hidden in a chest. The women from the harem come to Nur al Din's shop and hide him in a chest so that he can be brought into the Palace.

The chest containing Yeggar's body is also brought to the Palace and the Old Lady manages to revive him. The Sheik finds Janaia making love to his son (Carl Clewing) and kills both of them. He then finds Sumurun making love to Nur al Din and wants to kill them but he is stabbed in the back by Yeggar.

The filming of Sumurun began at the Ufa studios Union Berlin Tempelhof on 13 March 1920. The monumental sets were realised by Kurt Richter and Erno Metzner. The costumes were designed by Ali Hubert. Sumurun was classified by the Film Censor's Office as not suitable for minors. The première took place on 1 September 1920 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin

The German critics praised Sumurun highly. It was described as "a cinematic journey into a universe of emotions and passions of great intensity and utter perfection, with a remarkable Ernst Lubitsch in one of the main roles."

In the US, The New-York Times wrote that Sumurun gave added evidence that Ernst Lubitsch "is the superior of most directors anywhere, and that Pola Negri,, a Polish-German actress, is one of the few real players of the screen who can make a character live and be something other than an actress playing a part." The New-York Times concluded that, despite some shortcomings, it remained one of the year's best pictures.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 642/2, 1919-1924. Union Film. Publicity still for Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Jenny Hasselquist and Aud Egede Nissen. Collection: Didier Hanson.


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 642/7. Photo: Union Film. Pola Negri in Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 642/8. Photo: Union-Film. Pola Negri and Paul Wegener in Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).

Who is Henrick?

The postcards here below were made for earlier versions of Sumurun. But which one? On the first postcard we could recognise at right Richard Grossman as the old woman. But who is the man left, 'Henrick'?

According to IMDb, Richard Grossman played 'Die alte' (the old woman) in Max Reinhardt's first film, Sumurun (1910), based on a pantomime by Friedrich Freksa. But IMDb does not mention a cast member called 'Henrick' for this silent film, produced by Deutsche Bioscope GmbH (Berlin)

So,perhaps this photo made for Max Reinhardt's stage production of Sumurun (1909)? In Krenn's Berlin-Chronik 1900 bis 1918, several stage members are mentioned in an article on the Berlin premiere (24 April 1910) of the stage production at the Kammerspielen de Deutsches Theaters. The article mentions that the production was a popular success and there had been already 74 performances.

Grete Wiesenthal played the lead as Sumurun and she would repeat her role in the 1910 film version. Leopoldine Konstantin played the dancer, both on stage as in the 1910 film. However, of the four main male actors - Alexander Moissi (as Nur Al Din), Rudolf Schildkraut, Paul Wegener (as the old Sheik) and Eduard von Winterstein (as his son) - only Von Winterstein returned in Reinhardt's film version, but now in the role of the old Sheik.

And Paul Wegener would return as the old Sheik in the 1920 film version of Sumurun by Ernst Lubitsch. But there's no mention of Henrick, so we still don't know for sure for which Sumurun production this postcard was made.


German postcard by Photo und Kunstverlag Jos. Paul Böhm, München, no. 3061. Photo: publicity still for Sumurun (Max Reinhardt, 1910)?


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, no. 4310. Photo: Becker & Maass. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Leopoldine Konstantin in the 1909 stage production of the exotic dance pantomime Sumurun by Max Reinhardt. Konstantin also made her first film appearance in Max Reinhardt’s early silent film version Sumurun (1910), featuring Bertha Wiesenthal.


Polish postcard. Photo: publicity still for the play Sumurun. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

From 1913 on, Pola Negri was a company member of the National Theatre of Warsaw. Her first big break there was her role of the dancer in the Pantomime Sumurun. A year later, she made her first Polish film, and in 1917 she moved to Berlin to make her German film debut. There Ernst Lubitsch made her a star and directed her in his film version of Sumurun (1920). Again she played the role of the dancer.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Madame DuBarry (1919)

Ernst Lubitsch's spectacular costume drama Madame DuBarry (1919) is an operatic version of the life, loves and death of the legendary 18th-century French courtesan. Pola Negri plays DuBarry, who sleeps her way from a worker in a Paris hat shop to to the court of King Louis XV, ultimately becoming his mistress. A cast-of-thousands spectacle, it got both its star  and its director noticed by Hollywood.


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no. 67, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Madame Dubarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919). Caption: Pola Negri as Madame Dubarry, execution on the market square in Paris.


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. Publicity still for Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) with Pola Negri and Harry Liedtke.

Victim of the Reign of Terror

Ernst Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry is a historical epic which opened as the premiere attraction of Berlin's impressive Zoopalast theatre on in 1919.

Writers Norbert Falk and Hanns Kraly tell the infamous story of Jeanne Becu, her rise to power's easily-swayed side, and in the end her ultimate fate at the hands of the Reign of Terror.

Pola Negri plays the milliner’s apprentice (in the film named Jeanne Marie Vaubernier), who has come to Paris from the country. Harry Liedtke plays her first love, Armand De Foix.

In a deal to save her next lover, Count DuBarry (Karl Platen), from financial ruin, the Parisian milliner's maid alias Madame DuBarry (Pola Negri) becomes the influential mistress of the reigning French king, Louis XV (Emil Jannings).

However, this relation is much to the dismay of the Minister of State and Finance, Choiseul (Reinhard Schünzel). This brilliant schemer had planned for his sister, the Duchesse de Grammont, to become the Queen of France. Choiseul thus starts a campaign to turn the people against the monarch and his new mistress.

Jeanne soon becomes a symbol for the extravagance of the much-hated aristocracy. When the king dies, Jeanne is ousted by the angry masses and she becomes one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/3. Photo: Union. Pola Negri in Madame Dubarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/4. Photo: Union Film. Pola Negri in Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919). By marrying the aristocrat Guillaume DuBarry (Karl Platen), Jeanne will be accepted at the Royal Court and become Louis XV's mistress. Back right on this card DuBarry's brother Jean (Eduard von Winterstein) who concocted the plan.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/5. Photo: Union Film. Pola Negri in Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).

Far from historical accuracy

Madame DuBarry (1919) had everything: sex, intrigue, war, violence. Shot in part at Frederick the Great’s Sans Souci palace in Potsdam and part in  the mammoth film studio of the Ufa formed in 1917, Madame Dubarry displays all the delights of French life at Versailles.

The film was a success in both Europe (except in France) and the U.S., where it was released as Passion, and successfully re-issued in 1928. It was one of the greatest triumphs of Pola Negri.

Negri's flirtatious Madame DuBarry is both comical and sympathetic. Emil Jannings is also excellent as a lecherous, bombastic King Louis XV. Harry Liedtke plays Jeanne's first love, the student Armand de Foix.

Madame DuBarry (1919) was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, written by Norbert Falk and Hanns Kräly. It strays far from historical accuracy, but the narrative is at least coherent.

In reality, King Louis XV died 15 years before the beginning of the French Revolution and Madame DuBarry was long gone from Versailles by the time of the storming of the Bastille. She was 50 when she was executed during the Reign of Terror.

Despite these flaws, Chuck Reilly reviews at IMDb, "the gigantic mob scenes and the final shots of poor Pola being carted off to the guillotine are well-staged and resonate even with modern viewers".

Shari Kizirian at Senses of Cinema: "From the first frame, Pola Negri charms us as Jeanne. Delightfully mischievous, she has a girlish way of getting what she wants. First, seeking someone to tote the hat she is delivering, she catches a stranger’s eye. Cut, and she’s leading him with her parcel in tow toward her true destination, her boyfriend’s place. Next, Sunday lunch with an aristocrat. She chooses the don over her commoner boyfriend, by counting, and then quickly recounting, the ribbons on her dress. Her ultimate prize? A pedicure from a king. When she commands the smitten Louis to sit back down, keeping him from the business of the realm, she exercises exceptional power for a grisette."


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 627/6. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still of Reinhold Schünzel and Pola Negri in Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919). After the death of king Louis XV (Emil Jannings), his minister Choiseul (Schünzel) chases DuBarry (Negri) from the Royal palace.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 627/7. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still of Reinhold Schünzel and Pola Negri in Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).


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

Sources: Shari Kizirian (Senses of Cinema), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Chuck Reilly (IMDb), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Carmen (1918)

In Lubitsch's silent drama Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) the gypsy vamp was of course played by Pola Negri. She does a great job. Her Don José was played by Harry Liedtke. The film was an international success.


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


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


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2850. Photo: Union. Pola Negri as Carmen and Harry Liedtke as Don José in the German silent drama Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).

Sassy, playful, capricious, cruel, generous…

Ernst Lubitsch’s career as a filmmaker blossomed just as the First World War was drawing to a close. In 1918, he went from being mostly a comedic director to a supposedly more serious filmmaker of pseudo-historical tragedies, with bigger budgets and a new star - Pola Negri, a fellow actor from the Deutsches Theater.

Lubitsch based his drama Carmen (1918) on the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. Like George Bizet's opera Carmen, the film only adapts the third part of Mérimée's novella.

Lubitsch transformed the character of Don José (Harry Liedtke) at the beginning of the story from bandit on the run to honest man in love with his childhood sweetheart.

The story is told by a man at a camp-fire who says that it took place many years before. Don José was a Dragoon Sergeant in Sevilla who fell madly in love with Carmen (Pola Negri), a beautiful gypsy. For her, he killed an officer and gave up his fiancée and his career in the army, and became a smuggler.

But Carmen's love did not last. She left him and went to Gibraltar where she fell in love with the famous bullfighter Escamillo. Back in Sevilla, Carmen rode triumphantly in Escamillo's carriage on his way to a bullfight. At the end of the bullfight, José confronted Carmen and when she told him that she no longer loved him, stabbed her to death.

Back at the camp-fire seen at the beginning, the man who told the story adds that some say that Carmen did not die ′for she was in league with the Devil himself.'

Carmen debuted in December 1918 at the U.T. Lichtspiele on Kurfürstendamm. It was a huge success in Germany with audiences and press.

After the unexpected American success of Madame Dubarry (released as Passion in December 1919), Carmen was re-edited for an American release in 1921, as Gypsy Blood. In the American version the framing story was hand-coloured and Lubitsch’s name was left off the credits. Adolph Zukor brought Pola Negri to Hollywood in the summer of 1922. He was not interested in Lubitsch, who had also hoped to get a contract with Paramount.

In her review at Movies Silently, Fritzi Kramer writes: "I am a fan of Geraldine Farrar’s lively take on the role in the 1915 Cecil B. DeMille version but Pola Negri is the best silent Carmen by far. Sassy, playful, capricious, cruel, generous… Negri projects all of Carmen’s contradictions on the screen and delivers an astonishing performance."


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2851. Photo: Union. Pola Negri as Carmen and Harry Liedtke as Don José in Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no, 59, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) with Harry Liedtke and Pola Negri.

Sources: Fritzi Kramer (Movies Silently), Stefan Droessler (Le Gionate del Cinema Muto), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Pola Negri

Today the Eye Film Institute will open in its new and beautiful (according to us anyway) location, on the north shore of the river IJ in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. One of the films that will be presented is a new restoration of the comical costume drama The Spanish Dancer (1923, Herbert Brenon). Because of this memorable event, we feature the star of The Spanish Dancer, Polish film actress Pola Negri (1897-1987). In the late 1910s and the 1920s, she achieved notoriety as a femme fatale in silent films in Poland, Berlin and Hollywood. Negri was an overnight sensation in Ernst Lubitsch' Madame du Barry/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.


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.


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. 510/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Ernst Sandau, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1200/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.

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 (1914, Ryszard Ordynski, Jan Pawlowski). She appeared in a variety of films, including Żona/The Wife (1915, Aleksander Hertz), Bestia/Beast (1915, Aleksander Hertz), and Studenci/Students (1916, Aleksander Hertz). During that time, she adopted the pseudonym ‘Pola Negri’, after the Italian poetess Ada Negri. As the situation in Warsaw stabilized, 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-defense. Pola's success in the role of the slave girl took her to Berlin.


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 407/5, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt Phot.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 510/5, 1919-1924. Photo Ernst Sandau, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 304. Photo: Atelier Eberth, Berlin.

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 skillful blending of sly wit and innuendo that confounded even the strictest censor in the 1920’s. 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 (1918, Ernst Lubitsch), Carmen/Gypsy Blood (1918, Ernst Lubitsch) based on the Bizet opera, a film version of Sumurun/One Arabian Night (1920, Ernst Lubitsch), and Die Bergkatze/The Wildcat (1921, Ernst Lubitsch). The characters that Pola played were strong, earthy, passionate women - full of fire, and her roles to date were of women whose will and ardor were equal to Negri's own. While Pola also hit it big in such non-Lubitsch films as Arme Violetta/Camille (1920, Paul L. Stein) and Sappho (1921, Dimitri Buchowetzki), it was their pairing in the smash hit Madame du Barry/Passion (1919, Ernst Lubitsch) that made them an overnight sensation. It was such a success in the USA that by 1922, Negri and Lubitsch both signed contracts with Famous Players and headed for Hollywood.


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3387/4, 1928-1929. Photo: Paramount.

Excessive and Lustful Kissing
In 1923 Pola Negri landed the role of Maritana in The Spanish Dancer (1923, Herbert Brenon) with Antonio Moreno and Wallace Beery. Her exotic style of glamour proved popular with filmgoers. They equally liked her next productions, Bella Donna (1923, George Fitzmaurice) and The Cheat (1923, George Fitzmaurice). Her vamp roles were so popular that she became a direct rival of Theda Bara. Negri lived in a palace in Los Angeles, modelled after the White House. Forbidden Paradise (1924, Ernst Lubitsch) with Adolphe Menjou, and Hotel Imperial (1927, Mauritz Stiller) 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 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 (1928, Ludwig Berger), opposite actor Norman Kerry. The film was only Negri's second talkie (the first being Loves of an Actress (1928, Rowland V. Lee) 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 (1929, Paul Czinner).


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


Italian postcard, no. 462. Photo: Paramount.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1665/3, 1927-1928. Photo: FaNaMet (or ParUfaMet).


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 306.

Flamboyant
After 1930 Pola Negri worked mainly in England and Germany, where she acted in films for the Joseph Goebbels-controlled Ufa. Mazurka (1935, Willi Forst) gained much popularity in Germany and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films. She fled Germany in 1938, after Nazi officials labeled 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 (1943, Andrew L. Stone), though her career was essentially over. In 1951, Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Her final film appearance was in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (1964, James Neilson), 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. 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 tumor (for which she had refused treatment).


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


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag/"Das Programm von Heute" für Film und Theater G.m.b.H., Berlin. Photo: Cine-Allianz.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4333/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Paramount.


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

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

Happy Birthday, Jan!

Today is the 50th birthday of Jan!!! Congratulations.

Who is Jan? It's his nom de plume, but he is my dearest friend and partner. He is the great unknown force behind EFSP. Many cards here are from Jan's incredible collection of silent film star postcards and numerous stories are in fact his. To give you an impression: here follow my 5 favorite cards of his collection.

5. Lyda Borelli


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 323. Photo: Fontana.

Considering her profile, it is not hard to imagine why critics and artists of the early 20th century compared Italian diva Lyda Borelli to the heroines of Aubrey Beardsley.

4. Josephine Baker


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5293.

Josephine Baker (1906-1975) is well-known as a singer and a dancer. In 1925 she became an instant success in Paris, because of her erotic dance. She also performed in a handful silent and early sound films, La Sirene des Tropiques (1927), Zouzou (1934) and La princesse TamTam (1935).

3. Pina Menicchelli


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 409. Photo: Pinto, Roma.

Pina Menichelli (1890-1984) was one of the true divas of Italian silent cinema.

2. Rudolph Valentino


Italian postcard.

The Son of the Sheik (George Fitzmaurice, 1926) was the last film of Rudolph Valentino, the latin lover of the 1920s. The film premiered July 1926; one month after Valentino had died, at the age of 31.

1. Pola Negri


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze.

A great picture of Pola Negri in Good and Naughty (Malcolm St. Clair, 1926).

A big hug for Jan.