18.00USD
Welcome to "Idols of the 1920s," where we hope to provide a special, cozy place for those of you who long to linger among the stars of the early silver screen, the hoofers and songbirds of dear old vaudeville's fading hours, a few divas of the grand opera, and of the operetta too, flappers, flappers, more flappers, and of course, and perhaps especially, those femmes fatales who with one smoldering glance can melt a heart, or break it in two. Have fun!
Born Grafin Josika von Branyitska in Klausenburg, in what was formerly Transylvania (Yes, a real Transylvanian Countess! :) but was by that time a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is now Romania, Agnes Esterhazy (1891-1956), was a quiet, unassuming girl, pale and thirsty by nature, who bathed in the blood of maidens and...oh....that was so wrong. Sorry :)
She left her home, which following World War One, had become Romania, and relocated to Budapest, Hungary where she studied stagecraft, performed at the State Theater, and in 1920 made her first appearance in a Hungarian film. She soon received an offer from a film production company in Vienna, moved to Austria, and then on to Germany, where she became quite popular, playing mostly supporting, but some leading roles as well. Her film career lasted only for about ten years, until the talkies made their appearance. Though she did make a couple of sound pictures, she was unable to satisfactorily make that transition, and "silently" retired from the motion picture business, appearing in one film later in her life, in 1943. She was married to actor Fritz Schultz. In 1956 she passed away, either in Budapest Hungary, or Munich Germany. Sources are not in agreement on this.
Hmm...as to that...there is actually a third source, perhaps not so reliable, which reports that following her death, her coffin was placed aboard a small merchant ship, which mysteriously went off course and arrived one night in Whitby Harbor on the coast of Yorkshire, in England. When port authorities boarded the vessel, not a single member of the crew was to be found (a veritable ghost ship!), save the captain himself, who was lashed to the ship's helm, but unable to give an account of the journey, as he was a corpse, and when eventually they opened the crate which was supposed to have contained the remains of the countess, the crate was...EMPTY!!! Creepy, huh, and weirdly familiar too...but as we said, this version comes to us from an unreliable source.
A very nice card, posted, we believe, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in what looks like 1925.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!