Mary Parker

Despite her English-sounding name, Mary Parker (1902-?) was a Polish actress who was active in the German cinema of the late silent era.


German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 6509. Phot: Kiesel, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 956-1, 1925-1926. Photo: Richard Oswald-Film AG, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 956/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Richard Oswald-Film, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3108/1, 1928-1929.

Sex education film about venereal disease

Mary Parker was born Magdalena Prohaska in Breslau (today Wroclaw), Poland, in 1902.

She debuted in German cinema in Die schönste Frau der Welt/The most beautiful woman in the world (Richard Eichberg, 1924) starring Lee Parry. Quickly several other films followed, such as the comedy Lumpen und Seide/Rags and silk (Richard Oswald, 1924), in which the rich Irene (Mary Parker) tries to refresh her marriage with Erik (Johannes Riemann) by taking a girl from the slums, Hilda, (Mary Kid) into their home. Hilda has a fiancee, Max, who is a shameless profiteer (Reinhold Schünzel).

Other memorable titles are Die Schmetterlingsschlacht/The Butterfly Battle (Franz Eckstein, 1924) starring Asta Nielsen, the Swiss production Das Paradies Europas. Bild vom Schweizer Volk und seinen Bergen/The Paradise of Europe. Image of the Swiss people and their mountains (Walther Zürn, 1924-1925), and Zaungäste des Lebens/Onlookers of life (Nikolai Malikoff, 1925) with Angelo Ferrari.

In Halbseide/Half silk (Richard Oswald, 1925), Parker had the female lead opposite Bernd Aldor as her husband. She also had a major part in the comedy Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus/Front house and back house (Richard Oswald, Carl Wilhelm, 1925) about a widower (Max Adalbert) who sublets a part of his house to the girl of his dreams (Parker) and her family.

For director Richard Oswald, Mary Parker also appeared in the sex education film Dürfen wir schweigen/Should We Be Silent? (Richard Oswald, 1926) about a painter (Conrad Veidt) who refuses to be treated for his venereal disease.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 989/4, 1925-1926. Photo: Kulturabteilung der UFA. Mary Parker as Luise, daughter of the estate manager Karl Marten in Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/6. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Otto Kronburger as Karl Merten, Mary Parker as his daughter Luise, and Hans Hermann (Schaufuss) as Gutseleve Fritz Quirlitz.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/9. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Oscar Marion as Franz, the younger brother of estate owner Axel, who has an affair with Luise (Mary Parker), daughter of the estate manager Karl Marten (left; Otto Kronburger). The man behind Parker is Wilhelm Diegelmann, who plays Uncle Uhl.

Just a few performances in German sound films

In the following years, Mary Parker also played in films like Ich hab mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren/I lost my heart in Heidelberg (Arthur Bergen, 1926), Das süsse Mädel/Das süße Mädel (Manfred Noa, 1926), the Danish film Dydsdragonen/The Dragon of Virtue (Valdemar Andersen, 1927), and Todessturz im Zirkus Cesarelli/Fatal fall in the Cesarelli Circus (Karoly Lajthay, 1927).

In 1928 Parker had the female leads in two films: Heut' war ich bei der Frieda/Today I was with Frieda (Siegfried Philippi, 1928), which title refers to the hit song of 1927, and the romantic comedy Wer das Scheiden hat erfunden/Who invented divorce (Wolfgang Neff, 1928) in which Parker played the Russian aristocrat Ljuba Pawlowa.

She had a supporting role in Saxophon-Susi/Suzy Saxophone (Karl Lamac, 1928) starring Anny Ondra. In 1929 Parker had the lead in the military comedy Fräulein Fähnrich/Miss Midshipman (Fred Sauer, 1929), playing opposite Willi Forst and Fritz Schulz. Her last silent role was in Ja, ja, die Frauen sind meine schwache Seite/Yes, yes, women are my weak side (Edmund Heuberger, 1929).

The year after she played in her first sound film, the Truus van Aalten comedy Susanne macht Ordnung/Susie Seeks Her Dad (Eugen Thiele, 1930). All in all Mary Parker did some 17 silent films, of which several together with Hans Albers (Halbseide, Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus, Wer das Scheiden hat erfunden, Saxophon-Susi, Heut' war ich bei der Frieda, and Ja, ja, die Frauen sind meine schwache Seite) and Mary Kid (Lumpen und Seide, Halbseide, Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus, Dydsdragonen).

Parker had just a few performances in German sound films. After Susanne macht Ordnung/Susie Seeks Her Dad (1930), she had a smaller part in Die unheimliche Geschichte/Ghastly Tales (1932) by her regular director Richard Oswald and a real bit part in the Anny Ondra vehicle Die Unwiderstehliche/The Irresistible Man (Geza von Bolvary, 1937) before she quitted altogether. It is not known when and where Mary Parker died.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1514/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Lichtenstein.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3648/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Kiesel, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3607/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Kiesel, Berlin.

Sources: Filmportal.de, Cyranos and IMDb.

Kampf um die Scholle (1925)

Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) was produced by the Cultural Department of the Universum Film AG (UFA). This was also announced on the series of Ross Verlag cards, issued to promote the film. The German production featured a cast with diverse stars like Polish-born Mary Parker, Hungarian matinee idol Oscar Marion, Ferdinand von Alten and Margarete Schön, known as Kriemhild from Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen (1924).


Oscar Marion. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 989/3, 1925-1926. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 989/4, 1925-1926. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925), with Mary Parker as Luise, daughter of the estate manager Karl Marten.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 989/3. This postcard is dated: Stuttgart, 19 June 1925. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Wilhelm Diegelman as Uncle Uhl.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 989/6. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Hans Hermann.

Much effort, passion and hard work

Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) was based on the novel Der Kampf um die Scholle : eine Geschichte aus Masuren by author Fritz Skowronnek. The subtitle refers to Mazury, then a part of Prussia, now a region in Poland, where the story is situated.

In Kampf um die Scholle, Freiherr (manor owner) von Wulfshagen (Gustav Oberg) has built- with much effort, passion and hard work - his manor into a magnificent estate. After the death of his father, son Axel (Ferdinand von Alten) takes over the management of the estate, but under his leadership, the property deteriorates rapidly.

Axel is not interested in agriculture, he is a lighthearted sportsman who does not care about the well-intentioned advice of the old inspector Karl (Otto Kronburger), but accumulates more and more debts.

Not even his younger brother Franz (Oscar Marion), who has studied agriculture and diligently builds his own estate, manages to speak to his conscience. Through his stubbornness, Axel spoils his relationships with all those who mean well with him.

As the sneaky property dealer Grosskopp (Victor Schwanneke) learns of Axel's money shortages, he scents an easy prey. He presents himself as an understanding friend and grants Axel repeatedly loans, albeit with the aim of bringing the valuable goods sooner or later into his possession.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/1. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Gustav Oberg as Freiherr von Wulfshagen.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/5. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with in the middle Ferdinand von Alten as Axel von Wulffshagen at the races, squandering his father's money.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/6. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Otto Kronburger as Karl Merten, Mary Parker as his daughter Luise, and Hans Hermann (Schaufuss) as Gutseleve Fritz Quirlitz.

Atmospheric lighting and sublime facial close-ups

Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (1925) was produced by the 'Kulturabteilung' (cultural department) of the UFA, and was a typical Heimatfilm. The Kulturabteilung was known as the documentary unit of UFA, but also produced the Kulturfilm Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit/Ways to Strength and Beauty (Wilhelm Prager, Nicholas Kaufmann, 1925).

Erich Waschneck made his directorial debut with this film. Waschneck had started his film career as a still photographer and later as camera assistant to the famous cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner. Since 1921, he had been a cinematographer for such films as Ein Glas Wasser/One Glass of Water (Ludwig Berger, 1923).

Kampf um die Scholle was scripted by Willy Rath and director Erich Waschneck, and they based it on a novel by Fritz Skowronnek. (IMDb and Wikipedia both mistakenly mention Fritz Reuter as the author. Skowronnek also wrote under the pseudonyms Fritz Bernhard and Hans Windeck). The set design was done by Botho Höfer, Bernhard Schwidewski, and Hans Minzloff.

Cinematographer was Friedl Behn-Grund, who was only 18 at the time. He had started his film career as a child actor in 1919. In 1923, he started to work as an assistant cameraman to Erich Wasneck and learned all aspects of the craft swiftly. Kampf um die Scholle was his debut as a cinematographer.

Hans-Michael Bock writes in The Concise Cinegraph about him: "Renowned for his atmospheric lighting, sublime facial close-ups and ability to adapt to the requirements of individual directors, Behn-Grund remained a sought-after cinematographer from the 1920s through the 1970s."

The exteriors of Kampf um die Scholle were shot between 1924 and January 1925 at Lensahn (Holstein). The film premiered on 27 January 1925, at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/8. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Ferdinand von Alten and Margarete Schön.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/9. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Oscar Marion as Franz, the younger brother of estate owner Axel, who has an affair with Luise (Mary Parker), daughter of the estate manager Karl Marten (left; Otto Kronburger). The man behind Parker is Wilhelm Diegelmann, who plays Uncle Uhl.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 700/10. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Kampf um die Scholle/Struggle for the Soil (Erich Waschneck, 1925) with Margarete Schön as Frieda, wife of Axel.

Sources: Hans-Michael Bock (The Concise Cinegraph), Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Mary Parker

Despite her English sounding name, Mary Parker (1902-?) was a Polish actress who was active in the German cinema of the late silent era. Little is known about her life.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3607/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Kiesel, Berlin.

Girl From the Slums

Mary Parker was born Magdalena Prohaska in Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland), in 1902. She debuted in the German cinema in 1924 in Die schönste Frau der Welt (Richard Eichberg, 1924) starring Lee Parry.

Quickly followed several other films, such as the comedy Lumpen und Seide (Richard Oswald, 1924), in which the rich Irene (Mary Parker) tries to refresh her marriage with Erik (Johannes Riemann) by taking a girl from the slums, Hilda, (Mary Kid) into their home. Hilda has a fiancee, Max, who is a shameless profiteer (Reinhold Schunzel).

Other memorable titles are Die Schmetterlingsschlacht (Franz Eckstein, 1924) starring Asta Nielsen, the Swiss production Das Paradies Europas. Bild vom Schweizer Volk und seinen Bergen (Walther Zürn, 1924-1925), and Zaungäste des Lebens (Nikolai Malikoff, 1925) with Angelo Ferari.

In Halbseide (Richard Oswald, 1925), Parker had the female lead opposite Bernd Aldor as her husband. She also had a major part in the comedy Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus (Richard Oswald, Carl Wilhelm, 1925) about a widower (Max Adalbert) who sublets a part of his house to the girl of his dreams (Parker) and her family, and in the sex education film Dürfen wir schweigen (Richard Oswald, 1926) about a painter (Conrad Veidt) who refuses to be treated for his venereal disease.

In the following years Parker also played in films like Ich hab mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren (Arthur Bergen, 1926), Das süsse Mädel (Manfred Noa, 1926), the Danish film Dydsdragonen (Valdemar Andersen, 1927), and Todessturz im Zirkus Cesarelli ( Karoly Lajthay, 1927).

In 1928 Parker had the female leads in two films: Heut' war ich bei der Frieda (Siegfried Philippi, 1928), which title refers to the hit song of 1927, and the romantic comedy Wer das Scheiden hat erfunden (Wolfgang Neff, 1928) in which Parker played the Russian aristocrat Ljuba Pawlowa.


The song Heut' war ich bei der Frieda (text: Fritz Rotter, music: Jim Crowley): "Heut war ich bei der Frieda, das tu’ ich morgen wieder.
Denn so was wie die Frieda war noch nie da." Source: Ilja Livschakoff (YouTube).

Alive?

Mary Parker had a supporting role in Saxophon-Susi (Carl Lamac, 1928) starring Anny Ondra. In 1929 Parker had the lead of the military comedy Fräulein Fähnrich (Fred Sauer, 1929), playing opposite Willi Forst and Fritz Schulz.

Her last silent role was in Ja, ja, die Frauen sind meine schwache Seite (Edmund Heuberger, 1929). The year after she played in her first sound film, the Truus van Aalten comedy Susanne macht Ordnung (Eugen Thiele, 1930).

All in all she did some 17 silent films, of which several together with Hans Albers (Halbseide, Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus, Wer das Scheiden hat erfunden, Saxophon-Susi, Heut' war ich bei der Frieda, and Ja, ja, die Frauen sind meine schwache Seite) and Mary Kid (Lumpen und Seide, Halbseide, Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus, Dydsdragonen).

Parker had just a few performances in German sound films. After Susanne macht Ordnung she had a smaller part in Die unheimliche Geschichte (1932) by her regular director Richard Oswald and a real bit part in the Anny Ondra vehicle Die Unwiderstehliche (Geza von Bolvary, 1937), before she quitted altogether.

It is not known when or where Mary Parker died.


Mary Kid. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3345/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, and IMDb.