These postcards were first listed in "Cinema Stars on Picture Postcards", a self-published reference book,
long out of print, by Harry Shaw and David Williams.
More cards have been discovered since, thanks to the efforts of Neil Goulding and others; these are marked below as *NEW *
Please help us complete these lists by letting us know of any unlisted cards in YOUR collections or stock!
long out of print, by Harry Shaw and David Williams.
More cards have been discovered since, thanks to the efforts of Neil Goulding and others; these are marked below as *NEW *
Please help us complete these lists by letting us know of any unlisted cards in YOUR collections or stock!
Moving Pictures Sales Agency (MPSA)
This stood for the Motion Picture Sales Agency, and it handled sales of American Biograph, B & C, Kalem and Lubin Studios.
They issued some unusual promotional items, not just postcards - on the 21st of October 1911, an advert appeared in the first edition of “The Pictures” Magazine for “gold plated pendants” - in July 1913, another advert for “36 Photo Buttons”
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They issued some unusual promotional items, not just postcards - on the 21st of October 1911, an advert appeared in the first edition of “The Pictures” Magazine for “gold plated pendants” - in July 1913, another advert for “36 Photo Buttons”
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GROUP ONE
Real photographs, no borders, company logo and star signature/greeting within picture
Real photographs, no borders, company logo and star signature/greeting within picture
- 1 Alice Joyce : Kalem - holds horse
- 2 Alice Joyce : Kalem - on horse
- 3 Alice Joyce : Kalem - seated
- 4 Ruth Roland : Kalem - in oval
- 5 Ruth Roland : Kalem - as an Indian : vertical card - illustrated below
- 6 Carlyle Blackwell : Kalem – eyes front - illustrated below
- 7 Jack Clark : Kalem
- 8 George Melford : Kalem - waist length
- 9 Gene Gauntier : Kalem - seated
- 10 Anna Q. Nilsson : Kalem- pearls in hair *NEW*
- 11 Anna Nilsson : Kalem - wide hat (also seen as a colour version )
- 12 George Melford : Kalem - head and shoulders
- 13 Gene Gauntier : Kalem - looking up (also seen as a colour version)
- 14 Gene Gauntier : Kalem - looking half left - illustrated below
- 15 Lilian Bedford : AB : (ME)(NG) - would become Marion Leonard
- 16 Daphne Wayne : AB : (ME)(NG) - would become Blanche Sweet
- 17 card not yet seen : presumably an AB and possibly Muriel Fortescue, who would become Mabel Normand
- 18 Harry Benson : AB
- 19 Alexander Harvey : AB
- 20 Walter Terry : AB - would become Mack Sennett
- 21 Willie McBain : AB
- 22 Violet Crawford : AB – would become Vivian Prescott
- 23 *NEW* MARGARET WINTER : AB - would become Grace Henderson
- 24 Percival Hemming : AB
- 25 Gladys : AB - also known as “Little Gladys”, would become Gladys Egan
- 26 Phyllis Forde : AB
- 27 George Hargreaves : AB
- 28 Montague Lawrence : AB
- 29 Sydney Donaldson : AB
- 30 James Wilson : AB
- 31 Doris Carlton : AB – would become Claire MacDowell
- 32 Arthur Buchanan : AB
- 33 Charles Berry : AB
- 34 Florence Lawrence : Lubin
- 35 Arthur Johnson : Lubin - looking to front - illustrated below
- 36 Harry C. Myers : Lubin
- 37 Albert McGovern : Lubin
- 38 Romaine Fielding : Lubin
- 39 Ethel Elder : Lubin
- 40 Noah Reynolds : Lubin
- 41 George E. Reehm : Lubin
- 42 Jennie Nelson : Lubin - seated
- 43 Howard Mitchell : Lubin
- 44 Spottiswoode Aitken : Lubin
- 45 Eleanor Caines : Lubin
- 46 William Lewis : Lubin
- 47 *NEW* IVY MARTINEK : B&C
- 48 Dorothy Foster : B&C
- 49 Lieut. Daring R.N. : B&C - Lt. Daring was a role; played by an actor called Percy Moran
- 50 *NEW* IVY MARTINEK : B&C
- 51 Jane Wolfe : Kalem
- 52 Judson Melford : Kalem
- 53 Ruth Roland : Kalem - wearing wide hat
- 54 Mary Pickford : AB - in shawl
- 55 P.C. Hartigan : Kalem
- 56 Ruth Roland : Kalem - by trees
- 57 *NEW* MAY BUCKLEY : LUBIN (from the collection of Marlene Pilaete)
- 58 J.P. McGowan : Kalem
- 59 Charles Arthur : Lubin
- 60 Ed Coren : Kalem - the actor’s name was actually Ed Coxen
- 61 Alice Joyce : Kalem - has posy
- 62 May Hoteley : Lubin - wears collar
- 63 Marie Sais : Kalem - with horse - the actress’s name was actually Marin Sais
- 64 Robert G. Vignola : Kalem
- 65 Gene Gauntier in The Little Spreewald Maiden : Kalem:
- 66 Anna Nilsson : Kalem - in tall hat
- 67 Alice Joyce : Kalem - in cowboy hat
- 68 *NEW* BOSWELL JOHNSON : Kalem
- 69 May Buckley : Lubin
- 70 Ruth Roland : Kalem - as an Indian : horizontal card
- 71 Mary Pickford : AB - as an Indian
- 72 Ormi Hawley : Lubin - with headband
- 73 John Halliday : Lubin
- 74 Alice Joyce : Kalem - on horse, horizontal - illustrated below
There is one missing card from the next section, Rita Davies/Davis who was with Lubin and could well fit!
- 75 Lottie Briscoe : Lubin
- 76 May Hoteley : Lubin
- 77 Ormi Hawley : Lubin - looks front
- 78 Roswell 'Buster' Johnson : Lubin - with rifle - illustrated below
At the time of the original listings, these cards were shown as fitting in between numbers 1 and 78, but had not been recorded.
Bosco : Kalem - possibly #69
May Buckley : Lubin - (JUST FOUND, IT IS #57)
Rita Davies : Lubin - possibly #74 – and possibly a mistyping, her name was actually DAVIS:
Muriel Fortescue “AB” - possibly #17
Ivy Martinek : B&C - furs : possibly new card #47 or #50
Ivy Martinek : B&C : possibly new card #47 or #50
Anna Nilsson : Kalem – headband : possibly new card #10
Margaret Winter : American Biograph : possibly new card #23
- 101 Mae Hoteley : Lubin - holds chin
- 102 Edgar Jones : Lubin
- 103 Jennie Nelson : Lubin - as cowgirl
- 104 Charles Compton : Lubin
- 105 Jerold T. Henever : Lubin
- 106 Arthur Johnson : Lubin - seated
- 107 card not yet seen
- 108 card not yet seen
- 109 Guy Coombs : Kalem - left profile
- 110 Hal Clements : Kalem
- 111 Alice Joyce : Kalem - looks front
- 112 Alice Hollister : Kalem
- 113 Helen Lindroth : Kalem
- 114 Carlyle Blackwell : Kalem - right profile
- 115 Edwin August : Lubin
- 116 Marion Cooper : Kalem
- 117 Jane Wolfe : Kalem - large hat
- 118 Gladstone Healey : B&C
- 119 card not yet seen
- 120 Knute Rahmn : Kalem - left profile
- 121 Edna Payne : Lubin
- 122 card not yet seen
- 123 Ethel Clayton : Lubin
- 124 Wm. H. West : Kalem
- 125 Knute Rahmn : Kalem - facing front
- 126 Ivy Martinek : B&C – as Indian, with feather headdress - card illustrated below
At the time of the original listings, these cards were shown as fitting in between numbers 101 and 130, but had not been recorded.
True Boardman : Kalem
Dell Henderson : AB
Peter Lang : Lubin
Anna Lehr : AB
Henrietta O`Beck : Lubin
Mary Pickford : AB
Marin Sais
Marin Sais : The Girl from Sisco (ME) – possibly the above card
Henry Walthal : AB
Charles West : AB
GROUP TWO
Real photographs, four borders, company logo each side of bottom border
Real photographs, four borders, company logo each side of bottom border
- BIOGRAPH MASTERPIECE “RAMONA” - card illustrated below
The BIOGRAPH MASTERPIECE “RAMONA” was an early film version of a very popular 1884 American novel written by Helen Hunt Jackson, and originally serialized weekly in the Christian Union magazine, it has had more than 300 printings, made into five films and has been performed annually outdoors as a play since 1923! We can date this postcard exactly from an advert of the 7th of July 1910. And yes, that is Mary Pickford! Though at this point in her career, if named at all, it was as “Dorothy Nicholson”.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ABOVE COMPANIES
- AMERICAN BIOGRAPH (AB): Formed in 1895 in New York as The American Mutoscope Company to make coin in the slot flicker-viewers for arcades, then moved on to short documentaries/reality films. They successfully avoided Edison`s infringement laws by using a different size and feed mechanism to his patents, and won a case so they could use the 35mm format without paying him a licence. Their films feature large AB logos in an attempt to avoid film piracy. They had the first studio in Hollywood, their director D.W. Griffith finding the site on a location shoot. Once Griffith left, taking many of their best actors, Biograph fell on hard times and survived until 1915 only by re-issuing its old films and leasing its premises to other studios.
- B & C: a shortening of British Colonial Films or The British and Colonial Kinematograph Company. Formed in London in 1908 with one camera, made documentaries, newsreels, and features, created the character of Lieutenant Daring R.N, filmed a Shakespeare play and his biography, and produced the hour and a half long “Battle of Waterloo” in 1913 which cost £1,800 and took five days to shoot. They also filmed live action on the Western Front during WW1. They were wound up in 1924.
- KALEM: Founded in New York City in 1907, the name formed from founders` surnames, Kleine, Long, Marion. Their first film was made the same year. They relied heavily on location filming as they had no indoor facilities, and were the first studio to travel outside the USA to shoot on location (in Ireland); also one of the first to move to Florida in winter, enabling all year production. One of their stars, Gene Gauntier, was also one of the first female screenwriters, and Mary Pickford also directed their films. They were sold to Vitagraph in 1917.
- LUBIN: Founded in 1902 in Philadelphia by Siegmund Lubin who had been making short films and film equipment since 1896. The huge studio, constructed from scratch in 1910 was one of the most modern in the world. They also had sites in Florida and California. They became part of VSLE (Vitagraph, Selig Lubin and Essanay) in 1915 after struggling with a change in viewing styles that preferred longer films, and then a disastrous fire which destroyed much of their stock and equipment.