Bleeke Bet (1934)

The tragi-comedy Bleeke Bet/Pale Betty (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934) was one of the first Dutch sound films. The distributor Monopole Film ordered a series of postcards with pictures by photographer Dick van Maarseveen to promote the film. The film was a success in the Dutch cinemas.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Monopole Film. Aaf Bouber in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Jopie Koopman in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Fien de la Mar and Jopie Koopman in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Monopole Film / Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Fien(tje) de la Mar in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Amsterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Sylvain Poons and Johan Heesters in Bleeke Bet (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

A greengrocer in the Jordaan

The directors of Bleeke Bet/Pale Betty (1934) were Alex Benno, who had already directed several silent Dutch films and the Austrian director, producer, and screenwriter Richard Oswald.

From 1914 on, Oswald made dozens of films in Weimar Germany, including the comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (1931) and the horror-comedy Unheimliche Geschichten/Uncanny Stories (1932) starring Paul Wegener. Being Jewish, Oswald was forced to flee Nazi Germany, first for occupied France and later emigrating to the United States.

Alex Benno had also written the screenplay for Bleeke Bet. It was based on a popular stage melodrama, written by Herman Bouber in 1917. Benno and Bouber made a silent version of Bleeke Bet in 1923 with Alida van Gijtenbeek as Bet. After the amazing box office success of the sound film De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1933), also based on a play by Bouber, Benno got the green light for a sound version of Bleeke Bet.

In the new sound version, Bouber's wife, Aaf Bouber, played the title role of Bleeke Bet, a greengrocer in the Jordaan, the old neighbourhood in the heart of Amsterdam. Bet wants her daughter Jans (Jopie Koopman) to marry the son of a dodgy businessman, but Jans loves sailor Ko (the young Johannes Heesters).

Bet's attempts to drive them apart come to nothing but when Ko is reported lost at sea, a desperate Jans gives in to her mother's wishes. On the wedding day, Ko turns out to be alive and just in time to take his rightful place at the altar next to Jans. The still on the last postcard of this post shows the happy ending with Fien de la Mar as Ka in the centre.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Monopole Film. Fien(tje) de la Mar in Bleeke Bet (1934, Alex Benno, Richard Oswald). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Monopole Film, Rotterdam / Maarseveen, Den Haag. Johan(nes) Heesters in Bleeke Bet (1934).


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Monopole Film / Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Corrie Vonk in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / Monopole Film. Johan Elsensohn in Bleeke Bet (1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch Postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Fien de la Mar in Bleeke Bet (1934).


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Sylvain Poons in Bleeke Bet (1934).

Nazi censors

Bleeke Bet was a commercial success and would be re-issued in 1941 and 1961. In 1941 Jewish actors like Sylvain Poons were cut out of the picture by the Nazi censors.

Poons as the ice cream salesman Sally sings an evergreen in the film, 'IJslied' (Ice cream Song). The music was composed by emigrant Hans May and the lyrics were written by the later collaborator, Jacques van Tol.

The film has more wonderful songs, including Fien de la Mar's torch song 'Ik wil gelukkig zijn' (I want to be happy).

Fien de la Mar, Sylvain Poons and Johan Elsensohn as Bet's husband got positive reviews in the Dutch newspapers for their performances. The voice of Johannes Heesters was also complimented.

However, the film's reviews were mixed, but it did not matter to the producer: the public loved it.


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still of a set built for Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934), a street in the old neighbourhood De Jordaan in Amsterdam. Set designer was Hans Ledersteger. The set would be used again for several other films.


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Fien(tje) de la Mar and Jopie Koopman in Bleeke Bet (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Amsterdam. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Johan Elsensohn, Jopie Koopman, Clara Vischer-Blaaser, Corry Vonk, Fien de la Mar and Jan van Ees in Bleeke Bet (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Amsterdam. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Clara Vischer-Blaaser, Aaf Bouber, Sylvain Poons, Corry Vonk, Fien de la Mar and Jopie Koopman in Bleeke Bet (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934).


Dutch Postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag (The Hague). Publicity still for Bleeke Bet (1934) with the main cast for the happy ending.


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Johan(nes) Heesters in Bleeke Bet (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.

Corry Vonk

At the Unofficial Netherlands Film Star Postcards Festival (NFSPF), today a post on a star of the Dutch cabaret and revue, Corry Vonk (1901-1988). In the 1930s, she also often appeared in some Dutch films.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Monopole Film/Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Bleeke Bet (1934).

Cabaret

Cornelia Diederika Vonk was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1901. Her father was the stage manager of Theater Carré, the most famous theatre in Amsterdam.

At 12, Corry (sometimes written as Corrie) made her stage debut with the theatre company of Nap de la Mar, the father of the legendary Dutch actress Fien de la Mar. Later she worked for the companies of cabaret star Louis Davids and actor/director Eduard Verkade.

In 1933 she married cabaret artist Wim Kan, who was almost ten years younger.

In the 1930s she played some supporting parts in Dutch films, like in Bleeke Bet/Bleak Beth (Alex Benno, Richard Oswald, 1934), De Suikerfreule/The Sugar Countess (Haro van Peski, 1935) with Johan Elsensohn, Kermisgasten/Show People (Jaap Speyer, 1936) with Johan Kaart, and Komedie om geld/The Trouble with Money (Max Ophüls, 1936).

She also co-wrote the scenario for the hit film Pygmalion (Ludwig Berger, 1937) based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. In 1936 Wim Kan started the ABC-cabaret, of which his wife was the big star. Kan wrote some texts for her which became classics of the Dutch cabaret, including the monologue Het konijn is dood (The bunny is dead).


Dutch Postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag (The Hague). Publicity still for Bleeke Bet (1934).


Dutch Postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag (The Hague). Publicity still for Bleeke Bet (1934).


Dutch Postcard by Monopole Film, Rotterdam. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag (The Hague). Publicity still for Bleeke Bet (1934).

Japanese Concentration Camp

In 1939 Corry Vonk, Wim Kan and the ABC-cabaret left for a tour through the Dutch East Indies. 2279 days later they could finally return. During the Japanese occupation Corry was imprisoned in the concentration camp Tjimahi.

Buttercup2009 commented on Flickr at the first postcard in this post: "The book, The Way of a Boy - a Memoir of Java by Ernest Hillen who was 7 years old at the time of the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, has some heart warming recollections of Corry Vonk - her selflessness (sharing her food and volunteering for a job no one else wanted - washing bandages at the hospital) and her courage as well as her wisdom. She organized a theatre group in the camp that lifted the spirits of both the participants and the audience. She showed by example how to keep one's goodness in the face of adversity".

After the war, the ABC-cabaret made a come back. Corry Vonk, who had become older, moved to the background. In the following decades Wim Kan became one of the three great stars of the Dutch post-war cabaret.

Corry had some major successes too, such as the 1966 song Met me vlaggetje, me hoedje en me toeter (With me flag, me hat and me horn). And she always appeared on stage at the end of her husband’s legendary one man shows at New Year’s Eve.

In 1982 Corry Vonk was stricken by a brain haemorrhage. One year later Wim Kan died. The last years of her life she passed in seclusion. In 1988 she died in Rheden, the Netherlands at the age of 86.


Trailer of Komedie om geld/The Trouble with Money (1936). Source: Flawless 1212 (YouTube).


Corry Vonk sings Met me vlaggetje, me hoedje en me toeter (With me flag, me hat and me horn). Source: Vanalleswat33 (YouTube).

Sources: Buttercup2009 (Flickr), Wikipedia, and IMDb.