Romanian postcard. Photo: Dorian-Film. Maria Corda and Adelqui Migliar in Die Sklavenkönigin/The Moon of Israel (Mihaly Kertesz aka Michael Curtiz, 1924).

Hungarian Maria Corda (1898-1975) was an immensely popular star of the silent cinema of Austria and Germany. The pretty, blonde actress was a queen of the popular epic spectacles of the 1920s, which were often directed by her husband, Alexander Korda.

Adelqui Migliar aka Adelqui Millar (1891-1956) was a Chilean actor who was the male star of Dutch silent cinema in the 1910s and early 1920s. Later on, he acted and directed in Britain, Austria and Argentina.

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British postcard in the Film Partner series, no. PC 303. Photo: Warner Bros. John Garfield and Priscilla Lane in Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938).

American actor John Garfield (1913-1952) played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to 'name names', which effectively ended his film career. The stress led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack. Garfield is seen as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

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Belgian collectors card by Publesca for Le Cinéma Ritz, no. 123. Photo: Warner Bros. John Garfield in The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz, 1950).

American actor John Garfield (1913-1952) played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Garfield is seen as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean. Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to 'name names', which effectively ended his film career. The stress led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack.

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920, when he was 7. He grew up in the heart of the Yiddish Theatre District. Jacob was sent to a special school for problem children, where he was introduced to boxing and drama. As a boy, he won a state-wide oratory contest sponsored by the New York Times with Benjamin Franklin as his subject. Garfield later won a scholarship to Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school. In 1932, he landed a non-paying job at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, where he was recommended to by his acting teachers Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslawski. He changed his name to Jules Garfield and according to IMDb, he made his Broadway debut in that company's Counsellor-at-Law, written by Elmer Rice and starring Paul Muni. (Wikipedia writes that this was actually his second Broadway appearance and that Garfield made his Broadway debut in 1932 in a play called Lost Boy, which ran for only two weeks). Later, he joined the Group Theatre company, winning acclaim for his role as Ralph, the sensitive young son who pleads for "a chance to get to the first base" in Awake and Sing. The play opened in February 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid sense of character development." However, Garfield was passed over for the lead in Golden Boy, which had especially been written for him by author Clifford Odets. When the play was first produced by the Group Theatre in 1938, the powers that be decided Garfield wasn't 'ready' to play the role of the young violinist turned boxer. Luther Adler subsequently created the role. Embittered, Garfield signed a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his name to John Garfield. Because both Garfield and his wife did not want to 'go Hollywood,' he had a clause in his Warner contract that allowed him to perform in a legitimate play every year at his option. The couple also refused to own a home in Tinseltown. Garfield won enormous praise for his role as the cynical and tragic composer Mickey Borden in Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938), starring Claude Rains. For his part, he was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After the breakout success of Four Daughters, Warner Bros created a name-above-the-title vehicle for him, the crime film They Made Me a Criminal (Busby Berkeley, 1939). Garfield had already made a B movie called Blackwell's Island (William C. McGann, 1939). Not wanting their new star to appear in a low-budget film, Warners ordered an A movie upgrade by adding $100,000 to its budget and recalling director Michael Curtiz to shoot newly scripted scenes.

At the onset of World War II, John Garfield immediately attempted to enlist in the armed forces but was turned down because of his heart condition. Frustrated, he turned his energies to supporting the war effort. He and actress Bette Davis were the driving forces behind the opening of the Hollywood Canteen, a club offering food and entertainment for American servicemen. He traveled overseas to help entertain the troops, made several bond selling tours and starred in a string of popular, patriotic films like Air Force (Howard Hawks, 1943), Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) with Cary Grant, and Pride of the Marines (Delmer Faves, 1945) with Eleanor Parker. All were box office successes. Throughout his film career, John Garfield, again and again, brooding played rebellious roles despite his efforts to play varied parts. Garfield became one of Warner Bros' most suspended stars. He was suspended 11 times during his nine years at the studio. After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as the Film Noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946) with Lana Turner, and the showbiz melodrama Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946) with Joan Crawford. When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. Garfield was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so. In the Best Picture Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), Garfield took a featured but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America. In 1948, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947) with Lilli Palmer. That same year, Garfield returned to Broadway in the play Skipper Next to God.

Active in liberal political and social causes, John Garfield found himself embroiled in the Communist scare of the late 1940s. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. In his only TV appearance, Garfield played Joe Bonaparte and Kim Stanley played Lorna Moon in a scene from Clifford Odets' 'Golden Boy' on Cavalcade of Stars: John Garfield, Kim Stanley, Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney (1950). With film work scarce because of the blacklist, Garfield returned to Broadway and starred in a 1951 or 1952 revival (the sources differ) of Golden Boy. Garfield finally played the role which Odets had written for him and which was denied him years before at the Group Theater. His final film was the Film Noir He Ran All the Way (John Berry, 1951), with Shelley Winters. On 21 May 1952, John Garfield was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a friend, former showgirl Iris Whitney. A week before he had separated from his wife, and hours before his death he completed a statement modifying his 1951 testimony about his Communist affiliations. A day earlier Clifford Odets had testified before HUAC and reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. Garfield was the fourth actor to die after being subjected to HUAC investigation. The others were Mady Christians (at 59), J. Edward Bromberg (at 47) and Canada Lee (at 45). The official cause of his death was coronary thrombosis due to a blood clot blocking an artery in his heart. His funeral was mobbed by thousands of fans, in the largest funeral attendance for an actor since Rudolph Valentino. Garfield had been married to his childhood sweetheart Roberta Seidman, from 1935 till his death. They had three children, Katherine (1938-1945), actor David Garfield (1942-1995) and actress Julie Garfield (1946-). His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss. John Garfield is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Warner. Sheila Terry and William Powell in Private Detective 62 (Michael Curtiz, 1933).

In Private Detective 62 (Michael Curtiz, 1933), William Powell plays a discredited diplomat who accidentally finds work with a seedy private detective. The diplomat's ethics later bump up against the detective's illegal methods after their new partnership is financed by a local gambler. When the gambler ends up losing a lot of money to a good-looking socialite lady (Margaret Lindsay), the seedy detective is hired by the gambler to frame the lucky lady. He puts his new partner on the case but the ex-diplomat finds out that the lady is a lady, and falls in love. When the frame fails to materialise the detective and gambler fake a scene when the lady is paid off and attacked by the gambler. She shoots him with a fixed gun and runs. Right away, a hood shoots the gambler at the order of the detective and he gets two birds with one bullet...out from his partnership with the gambler (taking over his club and money) and future blackmail on the lady. But the diplomat partner gets in the way and, by playing a good detective, finds the hood and the evidence to clear the lady and get his former seedy partner arrested.

AlsExGal at IMDb: "William Powell's stay at Warner Brothers was a short one - only a couple of years - but he hit the bullseye in every picture he did there. This film is one of them. (...) here as in most of the early 30s Warner Brothers films, most of the fun is the journey, not the destination. Highly recommended." And Doug Doepke at IMDb: "Powell's his usual slick self, but without an opportunity for his amusing Thin Man tongue-in-cheek. Shot in just 21 days, the erratic script sometimes shows (follow Janet's path, if you can).
Nonetheless, ace studio director Mike Curtiz blends tricky plot elements in smooth fashion so that it's hard to notice. Note, however, the fleeting reference to "snow" (heroin) and "hophead". This is a pre-Code production, while such references to hard drugs would disappear from mainstream movies for several decades. Speaking of hopheads, I'm still wondering if James Bell's Whitey is supposed to be a dash of comic relief or suffering ill effects of his addiction. Either way, it's the movie's only actor's blemish, at least in my opinion. No, the movie's nothing special, except for the compelling Powell who would soon get to show his full range of talents in the delicious Thin Man series."

Source: IMDb.

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British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: Warner. Margaret Lindsay and William Powell in Private Detective 62 (Michael Curtiz, 1933).

In Private Detective 62 (Michael Curtiz, 1933), William Powell plays a discredited diplomat who accidentally finds work with a seedy private detective. The diplomat's ethics later bump up against the detective's illegal methods after their new partnership is financed by a local gambler. When the gambler ends up losing a lot of money to a good-looking socialite lady (Margaret Lindsay), the seedy detective is hired by the gambler to frame the lucky lady. He puts his new partner on the case but the ex-diplomat finds out that the lady is a lady, and falls in love. When the frame fails to materialise the detective and gambler fake a scene when the lady is paid off and attacked by the gambler. She shoots him with a fixed gun and runs. Right away, a hood shoots the gambler at the order of the detective and he gets two birds with one bullet...out from his partnership with the gambler (taking over his club and money) and future blackmail on the lady. But the diplomat partner gets in the way and, by playing a good detective, finds the hood and the evidence to clear the lady and get his former seedy partner arrested.

AlsExGal at IMDb: "William Powell's stay at Warner Brothers was a short one - only a couple of years - but he hit the bullseye in every picture he did there. This film is one of them. (...) here as in most of the early 30s Warner Brothers films, most of the fun is the journey, not the destination. Highly recommended." And Doug Doepke at IMDb: "Powell's his usual slick self, but without an opportunity for his amusing Thin Man tongue-in-cheek. Shot in just 21 days, the erratic script sometimes shows (follow Janet's path, if you can).
Nonetheless, ace studio director Mike Curtiz blends tricky plot elements in smooth fashion so that it's hard to notice. Note, however, the fleeting reference to "snow" (heroin) and "hophead". This is a pre-Code production, while such references to hard drugs would disappear from mainstream movies for several decades. Speaking of hopheads, I'm still wondering if James Bell's Whitey is supposed to be a dash of comic relief or suffering ill effects of his addiction. Either way, it's the movie's only actor's blemish, at least in my opinion. No, the movie's nothing special, except for the compelling Powell who would soon get to show his full range of talents in the delicious Thin Man series."

Source: IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Tags:   William Powell William Powell American Actor Margaret Lindsay Margaret Lindsay Actress Hollywood Movie Star Film Star Cinema Cine Kino Film Screen Picture Movie Movies Filmster Vintage Actrice Postcard Carte Postale Carte Cartolina Tarjet Postal Tarjet Postkarte Postkaart Briefkarte Briefkaart Ansichtskarte Ansichtkaart Private Detective 62 1933 Film Weekly Warner Bros Warner Filmshots

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