Dirnentragodie (“Tragedy of the Street”). 1927. Josef Fenneker.
36 ½ x 72 1/8 in./92.7 x 183.2 cm
You can already see, in this riveting two-sheet poster, why the Danish actress Asta Nielsen was the first international star of silent film: the large dark eyes, a haunted face, her boyish figure. She often portrayed headstrong, passionate women trapped by tragic circumstances: transforming this melodramatic trope with naturalism and overt eroticism – leading her films to be heavily censored in the U.S. “Dirnentragodie,” or ‘Tragedy of the Street,’ was Nielsen’s final silent role. The film epitomizes the Weimar movement called The New Objectivity, which tried to create a middle ground between Brechtian alienation and Expressionist emotionalism by forcing middle-class characters into the oppressive social circumstances of the street. “Dirnentragodie” features Nielsen as an aging prostitute who takes in a young man running away from his middle-class family. She fantasizes about a different future; the man returns to his family; she’s accused of murdering her pimp. This 1927 Fenneker design was used for the release of the film in Vienna.
“Of all the people Barbara Stanwyck was close to, her most consistent relationship was with her very loyal, sometimes live-in girl Friday, the prototypical actress-turned-publicist Helen Ferguson. The two never defined their relationship, but if Stanwyck’s marriages to men were described as lavender, the Stanwyck/Ferguson’s union may very well have been of the Boston variety. Ferguson was by Stanwyck’s side for the bulk of her career, from the Hollywood heyday to the 1960s, when Stanwyck started portraying a series of pioneering women on television shows like Wagon TrainandThe Big Valley.
In the book, Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Popular Culture, Luca Prono states that in the 1960s, 1970s, and even into the 1980s, Stanwyck was seen as a cultural and personal template for lesbians. ‘Stanwyck acquired the status of icon within lesbian communities,’ Prono writes. 'Stanwyck was a woman whose screen persona challenged respectability because of the strong and independent women she embodied in the 1940s.’”
Howard M. Mitchell by Truus, Bob & Jan too! Via Flickr: American postcard published by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Lubin. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Howard M. Mitchell (1883-1958) was an American actor and film director. He appeared in 270 films between 1910 and 1952 and directed 38 silent films between 1915 and 1927. Howard M. Mitchell was born in 1883 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1909, he started his film career as an actor in the Lubin Manufacturing Company’s Martyr or Crank? (N.N., 1909) with Harry Myers. For Lubin followed several short films such as The Irish Boy (1910), The Miner’s Sweetheart (1910), and A Change of Heart (1910) with Spottiswoode Aitken. In 1911 he married actress Mary Land. Till 1916, he appeared in many short films for Lubin and Thanhouser. He then focused on directing and made such films as The Mother Heart (1921), Lovetime (1921), and Romance Ranch (1924). In 1927, Howard M. Mitchell returned to the screen in A Bowery Cinderella (Burton L. King, 1927). During the following decades, he worked as a bit player in countless films. He could be glimpsed in films like They Won’t Forget (Mervyn LeRoy, 1937) with Claude Rains, The Great Waltz (Julien Duvivier, 1938) with Luise Rainer, and Queen of the Mob (James P. Hogan, 1940) with Ralph Bellamy. His final film appearance was in Carrie (William Wyler, 1952) starring Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones. Howard M. Mitchell died in 1958 in Hollywood, California. Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb. And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
