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Vintage French postcard, 1920s. Series Nos artistes dans leur loge. Comoedia, Nr. 113.

Régina Camier (1894-?) was a French stage and screen actress, famous for her little feet. It is clear she had a rich theatre career in the 1920s and 1930s, in plays by Crommelynck (Le Cocu magnifique, 1920, reprised 1926 and 1935) and Duvernois ( La Guitare et le Jazz-band, 1924; Coeur, 1930; Jeanne, 1932). At one stage she even owned a theatre. She also directed two operettas in the 1920s: Un bon garçon (1926-27) and Comte Obligado! (1927-28).

Yet, it is unclear how much film she did. Cine-Ressources indicates only a small part in Par la vérité (1917) by Gaston Leprieur and Maurice de Féraudy. The BFI indicates she is visible in a British Gaumont newsreel of 1922, Around the Town No. 110. Camier was married to Léon Deutsch (1892-1982), who built the Théâtre des Nouveautés in 1920.

Sources: Gallica, Les Archives du Spectacle, Cine-Ressources, BFI.

Vintage French postcard, 1920s. Series Nos artistes dans leur loge. Comoedia, Nr. 122.

Hilda Roosevelt (1991-1965), aka Hilde Roosevelt-Arosa, was a Parisian opera singer. Though French-born, she was a niece of American president Theodore Roosevelt. Early 1918 she sang in Paris at the Salle Gaveau at a charity for the war effort. In 1919 she debuted as singer in Paris at the Opéra-Comique, where she worked for years. In 1924 she sang at the Scala in London in The Three Musketeers by Isidore de Lara.

Sources: Gallica.

Vintage French postcard, 1920s. Series Nos artistes dans leur loge. Comoedia Nr., 105.

This could be the actress Renée Devilder (?-?). Between 1926 and 1931 she played in various operettas, such as No no, Nanette (1926) starring Félix Oudart, and Brummel (1931). In the early 1930s she acted in seven French musical films. After debuting in a supporting part in the French alternative version Moi et l'impératrice (Friedrich Hollaender, Paul Martin, 1933) starring Lilian Harvey, Devilder had the lead opposite Jean Garat in Cent mille francs pour un baiser (Hubert Bourlon & Georges Delance, 1933). Yet, mostly she played supporting parts.

Vintage French postcard, 1920s. Series Nos artistes dans leur loge. Comoedia Nr., 273.

During the 1910s and 1920s, Sonia Pavloff (1885-1938), born in Russia, was a renowned dancer at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

Vintage French postcard, 1920s. Series Nos artistes dans leur loge. Comoedia Nr., 253.

Odette Darthys (?-?) was a French prima donna singer at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Afterward, she married auto racer Roger Lacor (1905-1976).

Vintage French postcard. S.I.P., 59e Série, No. 14. Photo by Reutlinger, Paris.

Vintage French postcard. S.I.P. 3. Photo by Reutlinger, Paris.

Vintage French postcard. Reutlinger, Théâtre Antoine. Andrée Mégard in Anna Karénine, performed in 1907 under direction of Firmin Gémier at the Théâtre Antoine.

Andrée Mégard (born Marie Adélaïde Alexandrine Chamonal, 1869–1952), was a French actress and stage beauty.

Mégard worked as an artists' model as a young woman in Paris, especially for artist Auguste Toulmouche. She was on the Paris stage from 1896 to 1925, appearing in performances including Shakespearean tragedies, comedies, and plays directed by her husband since 1903, Firmin Gémier (1869-1933), with whom she often also co-acted. She worked under Gémier first at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in 1901-2, when he directed the theatre there, and afterward in 1907-1923 at the Théâtre Antoine, where Gémier was director between 1906 and 1919. Mégard also did several plays at the Théâtre du Gymnase, and some at the Théâtre du Vaudeville and the Théâtre national de l'Odéon. Mégard played the love interest, Roxane, in a 1913 revival of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, while she was having an affair with Rostand himself. She starred in a stage adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in Paris in 1907, where Gémier directed and played Alexis Karenin while Gaston Séverin played Wronsky. In 1908 she knocked herself unconscious on stage during an emotional scene. Also, from 1909 she was known as a reckless car driver. Mégard continued to act on stage well into the 1920s, e.g. in 1917 as Portia opposite Gémier as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and in 1918 as Cleopatra opposite Gémier as Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Probably her last performance was in 1925 in Le Rosaire (after the Rosary by Florence L. Barclay), opposite Jean Yonnel, at the Odéon.

Mégard appeared in three silent films. First as the murderous Queen Marguerite de Bourgogne opposite Henry Krauss as Buridan and René Alexandre as Gaultier in the Pathé production La tour de Nesle (1909) by Albert Capellani, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas. She then acted as 'the wife' opposite Roger Gaillard as 'the son', Félix Huguenet as 'the husband' and Jane Renouardt as the 'petite amie' in La Petite amie (1917) by Marcel Simon. Her last part was in a second film by Simon, with again Renouardt, Gaillard and Huguenet: En quatrième vitesse (1919).

Mégard was considered "tall, graceful, and distinguished looking." Her hairstyles and the designs of her costumes, hats, and gowns were reported in detail, internationally, often with photographs or drawings showing their features.

(Sources: English Wikipedia, Les Archives du Spectacle)

Vintage French postcard. PC, photo by Reutlinger, Paris.

Vintage French postcard. Reutlinger, Théâtre Antoine. Andrée Mégard in Anna Karénine, performed in 1907 under direction of Firmin Gémier at the Théâtre Antoine.

Vintage French postcard. Reutlinger, Théâtre Antoine. According to the site Les Archives du Spectacle, Andrée Mégard in Emile Fabre's play La Rabouilleuse in 1903, but at the Théâtre national de l'Odéon. The play was based on Honoré de Balzac's La Comédie humaine. Firmin Gémier had the male lead in this play as Philippe Bridau, while Mégard played Flore Brazier.

Vintage French postcard. Théâtre du Gymnase, Paris. Photo by Reutlinger, Paris. Andrée Mégard performed at the Gymnase between 1897 and 1906 in plays such as Les Trois filles de M. Dupont (1897), Mariage bourgeois (1898), Marraine (1898), Le Retour de Jérusalem (1903), Ces messieurs (1905) and Sacha (1906).

Vintage German postcard. Loew-Metro-Goldwyn. Ross Verlag, Berlin, 1306/1.

Claire Windsor (1897-1972) was an American film actress. Throughout the 1920s, Windsor was cast as the classy lady, princess, or socialite. She was also noticed by her fashion-conscious and trendsetting clothes.

Born Clara Viola Cronk in Marvin, Kansas, Windsor, in 1914 she married at a young age with Willis Bowes and had a son with him before she divorced on September 14, 1920. After having lived in Seattle, Windsor moved to Hollywood, where she at first she got bit parts but was soon noticed by Lois Weber, a high-quality director, and producer of Paramount Pictures, who gave her a role in her film The Blot (1921), starring Louis Calhern. Windsor's debut was in 1920 when she had he lead in Weber's To Please One Woman. The film was only a minor success, yet Paramount Pictures was determined to turn Windsor in a star, so they often let her pose for photos together with - the newly divorced - Charlie Chaplin. She got even more publicity when, in addition to Bessie Love, Lila Lee, Mary Philbin, and Colleen Moore, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1922. In the same year Windsor was contracted with Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and would appear in Broken Chains (Alan Holubar, 1922), starring Colleen Moore and Malcolm McGregor. The former 'Ola Cronk' became Claire Windsor.

Throughout the 1920s, Windsor was cast as the classy lady, princess, or socialite. She was also noticed by her fashion-conscious and trendsetting clothes. Between 1924 and 1927 she was top-drawing for MGM. While during this period she occasionally stepped out to other companies such as Tiffany Pictures, where Souls for Sables (1925), was a box-office hit for Windsor, in 1928-1929 Windsor would do a whole string of late silent films at Tiffany. In the press Windsor was often linked to her male co-stars. She had a much-publicised affair with Charles "Buddy" Rogers and she married matinee idol Bert Lytell in 1925. However, the marriage ended in 1927. She never married again, but she came several times in the newspapers for her affairs or scandals. At the end of the 1920s, Windsor had trouble with the transition to sound film. While her last silent film was the s-f drama Midstream (James Flood, 1929) with Ricardo Cortez, it would take until 1932 before she performed in a sound film. She made several sound films in the 1930s, but never became as popular as she was in the time of the silent movie. Her role in the famous movie Topper, for example, was very small. She quickly retired and became a painter. Windsor died of a heart attack in 1972.

Sources: Dutch, Italian and English Wikipedia, IMDB.

Vintage French postcard. M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinema. Portrait for the French silent film L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922), an adaptation of the novel by Felicien Champsaur, starring Léon Mathot, Gina Relly, Andrée Pascal and Henry Krauss.

The film tells about rich, young and spoiled Marc Anavan (Léon Mathot), who decides to change his life, becomes a vagabond and starts doing good around him. He becomes the peaceful spokesperson for the disinherited, helped by the love of pure, young Sylvette (Gina Relly). Marc has to face revolution, anarchism and the Great War, before retaking his humanitarian mission. In the end he overcomes all the hardships on his way. L’empereur des pauvres was released in France in 1922. Other main actors in the film were Henry Krauss, Gilbert Dalleu, Andrée Pascal and Lily Damita, while small parts were for Charles de Rochefort (as Charlot) and Maurice Schutz (Marc’s father).

Vintage French postcard. M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinema. Portrait for the French silent film L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922), an adaptation of the novel by Felicien Champsaur, starring Léon Mathot, Gina Relly, Andrée Pascal and Henry Krauss.

The film tells about rich, young and spoiled Marc Anavan (Léon Mathot), who decides to change his life, becomes a vagabond and starts doing good around him. He becomes the peaceful spokesperson for the disinherited, helped by the love of pure, young Sylvette (Gina Relly). Marc has to face revolution, anarchism and the Great War, before retaking his humanitarian mission. In the end he overcomes all the hardships on his way. L’empereur des pauvres was released in France in 1922. Other main actors in the film were Henry Krauss, Gilbert Dalleu, Andrée Pascal and Lily Damita, while small parts were for Charles de Rochefort (as Charlot) and Maurice Schutz (Marc’s father).

Andrée Pascal (1892-1982) was a French actress who was highly active in French silent cinema. She did over 30 films for Pathé in the early 1910s but suddenly stopped her film career after acting in L'empereur des pauvres (1922).

Vintage French postcard. Madeleine Roch (Comédie Française) as Guanhhumara in the stage play Les Burgraves by Victor Hugo, performed 3 July in Nissan.

Madeleine Roch (1883–1930) was a reputed French 'tragédienne' from the Comédie Française, who between 1909 and 1913 acted in a series of 11 film d'art-like historical films at Pathé Frères, such as the Tolstoy adaptation Résurrection (1909), Messaline (Ferdinand Zecca & Henri Andréani, 1910), Cléopâtre (Zecca & Andréani, 1910), Moïse sauvé des eaux (Henri Andréani, 1911), Radgrune (Camille de Morlhon, 1911), and Une intrigue à la cour d’Henry VIII (De Morlhon, 1911). Madeleine Roch entered the Comédie-Française in 1903 and was Sociétaire there between 1912 and 1930. Her quitting of film acting in 1912 may have had to do with becoming sociétaire. She was in particular a performer of the plays of Jean Racine, such as Andromaque, Britannicus, and Phèdre, and Greek tragedy. At the open air Théâtre des Arènes in Béziers, she starred in e.g. Le premier glaive (1908), La fille du soleil (1909), Héliogabale (1910), and Les esclaves (1910). In 1930 Roch gave her last stage performance. She died in the same year.

Vintage British postcard by J.F. Grimm & Co., for the French silent film Les trois mousquetaires (André Calmettes, Henri Pouctal, le Film d'Art 1913). Caption: Retribution. The executioner holds up the severed head of Milady. We see the three musketeers (Marcel Vibert, Adolphe Candé, Stellio) and D'Artagnan (Emile Dehelly) in the boat. Jean Duval played the executioner, Nelly Cormon Milady De Winter. NB while several sources like Wikipedia write the film was released in 1912, this is untrue. The film was first shown to Paris cinema owners and buyers in October 1913, before general release. See also our French card for this scene: www.flickr.com/photos/truusbobjantoo/17535379100/in/photo...

Vintage French postcard for the French silent film Gigolette (Henri Pouctal, 1921), with Séphora Mossé, Andrée Lionel, Camille Bert and Charles de Rochefort. It is not very clear who of them is depicted on this card. The man could be Charles de Rochefort or Camille Bert. The film was based on the eponymous novel by Pierre Decourcelle.

Vintage French postcard. Poster for the French silent film Martyre (Charles Burguet, 1927), with Charles Vanel, Suzanne Delvé. Desdemona Mazza, Suzy Vernon, Camille Bardou, Georges Flateau and Maxime Desjardins.

Vintage French postcard. M. Le Deley, Paris. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinema. Scene from the French silent film L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922), an adaptation of the novel by Felicien Champsaur, starring Léon Mathot, Gina Relly and Henry Krauss. The man down right on this card could be Mathot.

Léon Mathot was a French actor and director, born 1886 in Roubaix and died 1968 in Paris. Mathot became well-known for his role of Edmond Dantès in the French serial Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1918), directed by Henri Pouctal. Mathot became one of the most popular stars of French silent film of the 1920s with such film as L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922) and Coeur fidèle (1923) by Jean Epstein. From 1927, he also became a film director, directing over 20 films.