MARAQUITA ROSTANO : A PRETTY DANCER (PHOTO BY GERLACH)

This vintage real photo postcard features dancer Maraquita Rostano. Although my research found other postcard images of Miss Rostano, I was unable to locate any biographical information. The postcard was published by Georg Gerlach & Co.. The firm was a real photo card publisher and printer based in Berlin, Germany. The postcard was part of a series (no725/3). The message on the card was written in 1910 and the card was addressed to En Ville (In Town). This postcard is in very good condition (see scans).

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Published in: on March 4, 2021 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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GRETE WEIXLER : ADORABLE AND VIVACIOUS GERMAN STAGE ACTRESS

POSTCARD 1
POSTCARD 1 (CLOSE-UP)

   Postcard 1 features Miss Weixler at a younger age than postcard 2. The image shows Grete in her night clothes and holding a teddy bear in her left hand. A second stuffed animal lies near her feet. Note Grete’s long braided hair, worn over the front of her left shoulder. This image was created at the Helga Schmitt studio which had two locations in Germany (Wehl and Friedenau). The postcard was published by Photochemie, a firm located in Berlin. The card is part of a series (No 1506). The message on the reverse of the postcard indicates that it was written in 1917. Miss Weixler was about 17 years-old when this photograph was taken.  This vintage real photo postcard in in very good condition (see scans).         

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POSTCARD 2

                                                                                 POSTCARD 2 (CLOSE-UP)            

Postcard 2  features German silent film actress, Grete Weixler (1900-1921). She appears to be quite young in this photograph; possibly in her teenage years. Grete has the appearance of a cute and vivacious young woman. She was the younger sister of actress Dorrit Weixler (1892-1916). Her grandfather was a successful actor in Hungary. She made her film debut in 1915 in a film directed by Franz Hofer, who was married to her sister Dorrit. In an interview, Grete described the different type of roles that she played in comparison to her sister. She states that Dorrit specialized in playing child-like young woman who “know nothing but know everything”. She added that Dorritt had “a shade of humor”. On the other hand, Grete asserts that she herself was drawn to more “serious” roles. Dorrit had a tragic life. She became addicted to morphine and died from suicide in 1916. In addition to acting in film, Grete was also a theatre actress. Her last film was the “The Daughter of the Seduced”. The IMDb reports that Grete appeared in 37 films between 1915 through 1921. The stamp box of this postcard has an interesting story. “NBC” (Neue Bromsilber Convention) was a price cartel established in 1909 that continued until the 1930’s. The purpose of the cartel was to ensure that the minimum price charged for postcards was kept at a sufficiently profitable level. A number of postcard publishing companies joined the cartel in an effort to stave off the effect of competition on the pricing of postcards. This postcard is part of a series (no. 121/2). The logo for the motion picture company “Film Sterne” can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the postcard. The photo studio that took this photograph was Becker & Maas. The firm was located in Berlin, Germany. This portrait postcard is in very good condition (see scans).                                                                   

                                                    

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POSTCARD 2

POSTCARD 1

PORTRAIT OF AN ADORABLE LITTLE GIRL IN BERLIN (PHOTOGRAPHER: SOPHUS WILLIAMS)

This carte de visite photograph features an adorable little girl. She is well dressed and is holding a parasol. This cdv photo was taken at the Berlin (Germany) studio of Sophus Williams. Mr. Williams was a significant figure in the early days of photography. His photographs are cited in many articles and they appear in multiple esteemed museums. Sophus Williams’s actual name was Sophus Vilhelm Schou. He was of Danish origin but became a German photographer and publisher. He was born in Copenhagen in 1835 and he died in Grabow, Germany in 1900. He went to London in 1859 and at an unknown date, moved to Berlin where he passed himself off as being British. He was married to Agnes Klitz (1843-1911). In 1868, Sophus partnered with businessman Rudolph Gustav Leonhard Reinhold Knaak , to buy out an art dealer’s trading company (E. Linde & Co). The firm was located in Berlin, Germany. Sophus Williams published the work of many photographers and participated in Vienna’s 1873 World Exhibition. His publishing firm was well known for many formats, including Stereoscopic photos, Carte de Visite images, Cabinet Cards, and Leporellos. What are Leporellos? They are printed material folded into an “accordion-pleat” style. The method is also known as a “concertina fold”. Williams’s “Linde & Co” was well known for their photographs of paintings. Williams was active in Berlin through much of the 1860’s and 1880’s. Sophus Williams succumbed to a heart attack in 1900. His work can be found in high profile museums such as J Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA) and the George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), The British Museum (London, England), and The Altes Museum (Berlin). This carte de visite image is in good condition (see scans). (COST)

PORTRAIT OF A LOVELY AND FASHIONABLE GERMAN COUPLE

This vintage real photo postcard features a lovely well dressed couple. Perhaps this is a wedding photograph. The woman in this photo appears lovely and loving. The gentleman can best be described as intellectual and austere. This image was found in a collection of 1920’s German postcards. The postcard is in very good condition (see scans).

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Published in: on February 4, 2021 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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PORTRAIT OF A FATHER, TWO YOUNG SONS, AND A HOOP TOY IN DUSSELDORF, GERMANY

This cabinet card captures a well dressed father and his two sons posing for their portrait at the Elite studio in Dusseldorf, Germany. The father is wearing a three piece suit with a tie and a pocket watch. The older child is holding a hoop toy. Both boys are wearing naval caps with lettering spelling out “Kaiserliche Marine”. The “Kaiserliche Marine” was the name of the German Empire’s Navy. It existed between 1871 and 1919. Kaiser Wilhelm II expanded and improved the navy, as well as, broadened it’s mission. The German navy became a very powerful force, second only to Britain’s Royal Navy. This fantastic family portrait has excellent clarity and is in very good condition (see scans).

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Published in: on December 4, 2020 at 12:00 pm  Comments (1)  
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FERN ANDRA : SILENT FILM ACTRESS POSES WITH HER BORZOI

This vintage real photo postcard features American silent film actress, Fern Andra (1893-1974). Andra was one of Germany’s most popular actresses in German silent film. She also worked as a film director, script writer, and producer. The pretty smiling Miss Andra poses with a Borzoi dog. She was born in Watseka, Illinois. Her father died when she was five years-old and her mother remarried. Fern’s step-dad was a vaudeville actor, circus performer and tight-rope walker. By age four, Fern was part of a tight-rope act. She later trained in dance and singing. In 1899, at age six, she made her first film, a version of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. She continued to perform with the circus and toured the United States, Canado, and Europe. She was a member of a famous troupe of wire artists. In Berlin, she took acting lessons from Max Reinhardt, prominent film and theater director. She appeared in several of his plays and films. In 1913, she acted in her first German film. In 1915, she was in her first Austrian film. Some believe Andra was an Allied spy in World War I. To deal with these rumors, she married a Prussian Baron. At some point, she stated that she actually was spying for the allies. This was her first marriage. He was killed in the war. Her second marriage was to a professional boxer. Her appearance in the film “Genuine” (1920) caused a great stir. In this horror film, she wore a costume that was simply, her painted body. She continued to make films in Europe but by the mid 1920’s, her popularity waned in Germany. In 1922, she was widely reported as being killed in a plane crash. In fact, she, and her companion, director Geog Bluen, survived the crash but according to one article, died the next day. However, the pilot, a former World War I fighter pilot and brother of the “Red Baron”, was killed. By 1928, Andra was working in the United Kingdom and the United States. She also expanded her acting to radio and television. Andra was married four times. She was widowed two times and divorced two times. Her fourth marriage, to a General, lasted about 35 years. She had no children. The IMDb gives Andra 51 acting credits between 1913 and 1930. She is also credited as a writer, producer, and director. An interesting side note is that when she was working as a producer, she interacted with a young German playwright named Josef Goebbels. Interestingly, she did propaganda broadcasts into Germany for the allies during World War II. Fern Andra died at age 80, in South Carolina. The stamp box of this postcard has an interesting story. “NBC” (Neue Bromsilber Convention) was a price cartel established in 1909 that continued until the 1930’s. The purpose of the cartel was to ensure that the minimum price charged for postcards was kept at a sufficiently profitable level. A number of postcard publishing companies joined the cartel in an effort to stave off the effect of competition on the pricing of postcards. This postcard is part of a series (no.131/1). The logo for the motion picture company, “Film Sterne” ,can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the image. SOLD

ERNA MORENA : PRETTY AND SUCCESSFUL GERMAN FILM ACTRESS

POSTCARD 1
POSTCARD 1 (CLOSE-UP)

This vintage real photo postcard (Postcard 1) features pretty German film actress, Erna Morena (1885-1962). In addition to being a performer, she was also  a film producer and screen writer during the silent era. The IMDb reports that Morena appeared in 122 films between 1913 and 1951. Morena grew up in a middle-class family in Bavaria. At age 17, she attended applied art school in Munich. In 1909, after a short stint in Paris, she moved to Berlin where she worked as a nurse. She became a student at the German Theater’s drama school and in 1910 was hired as an actress by Max Reinhardt, Austrian-born theater and film director. She played a number of small theater roles and in 1913, Morena made her film debut in “The Sphinx”, produced by Leteraria Film. She was a “big time” actress. She worked under many well known directors and with some of the most well known actors in German film. Morena made a bid to become a film producer and formed her own film company which produced films in 1918 and in 1920. By the mid 1920’s, she was considered one of the biggest stars in German films. With the advent of talkies, her career declined. However, she did appear in supporting roles during the 1930’s.  Between 1915 and 1921, Morena was married to the German writer, Wilhelm Herzog. He was a historian of literature and culture, a dramatist, the author of an encyclopedia, and a well known pacifist. Their marriage ended in divorce. Morena appeared in the 1940 film “Jud SuB”. The movie was a Nazi Germany historical drama propaganda film. The film was produced on the order of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi politician and trusted aide to Adolph Hitler. The movie is considered one of the most anti-semitic films of all time. Postcard 1 was published by Ross Verlag and is part of a series (no.1752/1). The company was located in Berlin, Germany. Morena was photographed by the German photographer, Ernst Schneider. Research about Mr Schneider yielded a great deal of information. He was considered to be one of the most celebrated studio photographers in Berlin during three decades (1900’s, 1910’s, 1920’s. He photographed many celebrities from the world of theater, opera, circuses, and film. He was also one of the most prominent fashion photographers in Berlin. In addition, he was well known for his nude photography and he published books showcasing his work in this domain. Sometime around 1908 Schneider began working with postcard publishers “Rotophot” and “Neue Photographische Gesellschaft” (NPG). In 1919 he began working with Ross Verlag. This postcard, a former resident of a postcard album, is in very good condition (see scans below).            

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$34.00

Postcard 2
POSTCARD 2 (CLOSE-UP)

Postcard 2 also features the lovely Miss Morena. This postcard was published by Photochemie, located in Berlin, Germany. The card is part of a series (no.k149). Photochemie published postcards of only German film stars or European performers performing in German films. The postcards were published between 1914 and 1919. The firm also produced postcards of other subjects. The photographer of this terrific image was Alexander Binder (1888-1929). He had the largest photo studio in Europe during the late 1920’s and the 1930’s. Many of his entertainment star portraits appear on Ross Verlag postards. It is thought that Binder was of Swiss origin. He was of the Jewish faith. He studied engineering but did not complete his studies. From 1908 to 1910 he studied photography at a school in Munich, Germany. After the completion of his photography studies, he went to Berlin and in 1913 opened his first photography studio. Before long, he became one of the premier photographers in Berlin.  He primarily focussed on fashion and celebrity photography. Since Berlin was the capital of the European film industry, Binder photographed all the stars of the European film industry including, Lilian Harvey, Conrad Veidt, and Lya De Putti. Many of his images were used in popular film portrait postcards. His photographs could be seen in postcards published by Ross Verlag and Photochemie. Binder died in 1929 but new photo cards bearing his signature continued to be published until 1937. It is thought that the real photographer of these new postcards was Hubs Floeter (1910-1974) who was employed at the studio as an operator. The studio continued to be owned by Binder’s widow, Mrs. Binder Alleman and their two daughters. The studio was managed by the Jewish Elisabeth Baroness Vonhedlis Stengel who was later deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In 1938 the Nazi’s closed Binder’s studio and it was later taken over by an Aryan photographer, Karl Ludwig Haenchen . Haenchen continued to produce celebrity portraits for postcards. His publishers included Film-Foto-Verlag. After World War II the studio was taken over by the Hasse und Wiese company. This postcard has a Hamburg, Germany postmark and is dated 1918. The postcard is in very good condition (see scans)

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POSTCARD 2

EDDA CROY : BURST INTO, AND OUT OF SILENT FILMS IN 1927

This vintage real photo postcard features silent film actress, Edda Croy. Edda has “the girl next door” look. Preliminary research uncovered little about her. Edda had a very short career. She played in three German silent films, all release in the same year (1927). One of these films was directed by Robert Wiene. He is well known for directing the silent film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920) and other expressionist films. Popular actor, Harry Liedtke, appeared in all three of her films. Actress Erna Morena, who’s photograph can be seen elsewhere in the Cabinet Card Gallery, apppeared in one of Edda’s films. This postcard was published by Ross Verlag (Berlin). It is part of a series (no.1923/1). Miss Croy’s photograph was taken by photographer Hans Natge. Natge was very involved in German film production. He played roles in the realm of cameras, directing and assistant directing. He was born in Berlin in 1893. His filmography on IMDb reports that he has 28 film credits between 1924 and 1949. Nineteen of these credits were for his role as the film’s “still photographer”. It is likely safe to assume that he took this photograph of Miss Croy in 1927. This vintage portrait postcard is rare and in very good condition (see scans).

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CHRISTIANE JANSEN : GERMAN FILM ACTRESS (1952)

The pretty actress seen in this vintage real photo postcard is Christiane Jansen (1929-?). She was born in Germany. The IMDb credits her for 26 film performances between 1951 and 1972. Christiane appears very relaxed in this photograph. The logos from two film companies can be seen on the front of this card. “Berolina” was a film production company which operated in West Germany between 1948 and 1964. The second company is “Herzog Film”. Jansen was clearly employed by these conpanies at some point in her career. The photographer of this photo is K. L. Haenchen and it was taken while she was making “Mikosch Rockt Ein” (1952). The English translation of the movie title is “Mikosch Rocks On”. Christiane was 23 years of age when this photo was taken. The postcard was published by Kunst and Bild as part of a series (no.A636).  This vintage postcard is in very good condition (see sans).

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$13.00

CHARLOTTE SUSA : GERMAN STAGE AND FILM ACTRESS : SIGNED BY MGM AS RIVAL TO GRETA GARBO

This vintage real photo postcard features German actress, Charlotte Susa (1898-1976). Sosa was very pretty and the “look” she gives the camera indicates that she knew it. She certainly has a sultry appearance in that dress. Susa was born in Memel, East Prussia. One of her parents was Italian and the other was Swiss. Her first stage appearance was in 1915. She began a successful career as both a singer and an actress. She played in a number of German opera and operetta venues. Her film debut occurred in 1926 with an appearance in a German silent movie. She became a popular actress and appeared in many femme fatale roles. After the advent of sound films, Susa began assuming leading roles.  In 1932 she signed with MGM, relocated to the United States, and started an international film career. One newspaper columnist of the time wrote that Susa, Lilian Harvey, Anna Sten, and Henry Garat were all important “foreign talents” that were joining Hollywood pictures. Susa was projected to be a rival to Greta Garbo. Success in Hollywood did not come to fruition. She cancelled her contract in 1934. She stopped acting  in films but returned to the stage after World War II.  Susa, like many film stars, had multiple marriages. Susa stopped replacing husbands after her third marriage. Her third husband was Andrews Engelmann (1901-1992), a Russian born German actor. He appeared in German and British films during his career. Charlotte Susa died in Basel, Switzerland. The IMDb reports Susa had thirty-six film credits ranging from 1926 to 1941. This postcard portrait was photographed by H. Gartner and published by Ross Verlag as part of a series (no.5309/1). Eichberg Films is credited on this postcard. Richard Eichberg (1888-1952) began his career as an actor but became a succssful film director and producer in the German film industry. He directed 87 films and produced 77 films. At the time that Susa’s photograph was taken for this postcard, she was employed by Eichberg’s company.  (SOLD)