16.00 USD
Here at Red Poulaine, we have a special place in our hearts for the Italian actress images of the early 1900s and into the 1920s. The quality of the portrait photography and subsequent postcard publication was particularly rich, with a flair for the dramatic and mysterious. Many of our favorites, like Anna Fougez and Nella Regini, began their careers as sciantose, a variation on the French term chanteuse, meaning female singer, but bringing to it other meanings, and implying a dark, mysterious, exotic quality that appealed to the theater going public at the time, and certainly appeals to us :) Naturally we love all of our images or we probably wouldn't purchase them for our shop, and feel an almost filial affection for the performers onto whom we project imagined personalities and traits (is that weird? :), but there is something about what seems to have been at the time a very Italian penchant for carrying the illusion of the stage and screen out into the public venue, a tendency to make even larger, the already "larger than life" persona of the theatrical personality, that we really love. So we have decided to open a new section devoted exclusively to these Italian artistes. We call it "La Bella Donna," and yes it is a bit of a play on words, given the tendency in many of these cards to focus on qualities of a "femme Fatale" type. We hope you will enjoy these images as much as we do.
Maria Jacobini, born in Rome, 1892. died in Rome, 1944, was a fortunate daughter of an aristocratic Roman family, and studied her craft, to great effect, at the prestigious Academy of Dramatic Arts. She made her debut in film, in the dawn of the silent film era, 1910, and was given her first leading role two years later. All told, she appeared in almost 100 films, made the transition from the silents to the talkies, and is today considered "The" Diva of the Italian silent film era.
Following WWI, and the slowdown of the Italian film industry, Signorina Jacobini worked primarily in the German film industry, returning a few years before her death to teach at her Alma Mater, the Academy. Here, she is pictured in a dramatic scene playing opposite Amleto Novelli in the very popular "country boy meets city girl....can it possibly work?" romance, "La Casa di Vetro," or The Glass House.
Below is a link to a full length feature, "L'isola e il Continente," a film by the same director, Gennaro Righelli, and starring Maria Jacobini, made two years after "The Glass House," in 1922. Warning, titles are all in Italian, but this gives us the pleasure of seeing Maria Jacobini at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSvdg-XmOGg
A very nice, unposted card. 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!