Johan Kaart

For decades, Johan Kaart junior (1897-1976) was a huge star in the Dutch entertainment world. Between 1934 and 1937, he starred in seven films and after the war, he played in several more films. He also often worked for radio and television, but his main stage was the theatre.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Productie. Johan Kaart jr. in De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (Jaap Speyer, 1935).


Dutch postcard. Photo: Hollandia Film Prod./Loet C. Barnstijn. Jan van Ees, Willy Costello, and Johan Kaart jr. in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Willy Costello, Jan van Ees and Johan Kaart jr. in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 7. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart jr. in the comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart jr. in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Theatre dynasty

Johannes Antonius Kaart was born in a theatre dynasty in Amsterdam in 1897. He was the son of small-time actor Johannes Antonius Kaart (Senior), and soubrette and actress Isabella Willemsens. When Johan Junior was 16, he made his debut as an extra with the in Amsterdam located stage company Het Tooneel under the direction of Willem Royaards, against the wishes of his parents. A year later, his father gave in and sent him to acting classes.

With his stubby shape, gritty timbre and somewhat roughly cut facial features, he was not the appropriate figure for the role of the young lover. However, he soon became a star in the Dutch entertainment world. He played many classic theatre roles, but he also developed himself more and more like a comedian. In the second half of the 1930s, Kaart would find more and more work in the revue, alongside stars like Henriëtte Davids and Johan Buziau.

According to IMDb, Kaart made his screen debut in the Dutch silent film Helleveeg (Theo Frenkel, 1920) with Mien Duymaar van Twist and Lily Bouwmeester. This is a mistake, it was actually his father who appeared as a butler in the film.

Junior would have his breakthrough in one of the first Dutch sound films, De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934), based on the popular play by Herman Bouber. The film is based on a fairly well-known and still popular Dutch play, set in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood where the working class of Amsterdam used to live. Kaart played the role of 'De Schele', a cheerful Amsterdam sailor with a heart of gold. Forced by unemployment he signs, together with two comrades, for a six-year conscription to the army in the Dutch East Indies, which gives rise to numerous love affairs between the three and their girls.

Kaart played Manus or 'De Schele' (the Cross-Eyed), one of the three roguish tars of the title. The other two were Jan van Ees and Willy Costello. The three friends return from their military service in the Navy. Dolle Dries is happily united with his girlfriend Blonde Greet. 'Schele Manus' courts Jans, but is less lucky since she adores luxury. The third sailor, De Blauwe, is usually tipsy. The three sailors continue their comradeship and support each other during hardships.


Dutch postcard for the stage play Don Quichot op de Bruiloft van Kamatcho/Don Quichot on the Wedding of Kamatcho (1711) by Pieter Langendijk, starring Lau Ezerman as Don Quichotte and Johan Kaart Jr. as Sancho Panza. The play was performed by the Schouwburgtoneel of Jan Musch in the open-air theatre in Valkenburg in 1920. In 1925 the play was performed again with Kaart as Sancho Panza at the Amsterdam open-air theatre Frankendaal, this time by the company Vereenigd Tooneel.


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Johan Kaart, Suzy Klein, Willy Costello, Henriette Davids, Jan van Ees and Sylvain Poons in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod./Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Joan Remmelts, Jan van Ees, Sylvain Poons, Johan Kaart jr., Henriëtte Davids, Willy Costello and Susie Klein in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Johan Kaart jr., Willy Costello and Jan van Ees in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Willy Costello, Suzie Klein, Johan Kaart jr., Marie van Westerhoven and Jan van Ees in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Marlene Dietrich impersonation

After De Jantjes had become a surprisingly huge success, Johan Kaart went on to star in six more films between 1934 and 1937. Kaart realised that the camera did not appreciate stage acting. He exuded a natural kind of joviality that made him the audience favourite. This made Kaart a popular actor in pre-war Dutch films.

First, he reunited with director Jaap Speyer to make Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) and De familie van mijn vrouw/My Wife's Family (Jaap Speyer, 1935) with Sylvain Poons. Whether it was a working-class character, a bohemian student or a dedicated policeman, Kaart knew how to turn each role into a believable character with equal apparent ease.

Then followed De vier Mullers/The Four Mullers (Rudolf Meinert, 1935) with Johannes Heesters, the army comedy De big van het regiment/The Mascot of the Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935) with Frits van Dongen aka Philip Dorn), and 't was een april/It was April Fools' Day (Detlev Sierck aka Douglas Sirk, Jacques van Tol, 1936).

In Kermisgasten/Carnival People (Jaap Speyer, 1936) with Henriëtte Davids, he did a hilarious Marlene Dietrich impersonation.

Dutch critic Henk van Gelder writes in his biography of Kaart at Huygens.ING: "Unlike many of his colleagues, Kaart realised very well that the camera did not allow stage acting. He radiated a natural kind of joviality that made him a crowd favourite. Whether he played a popular type, a slow student or a dedicated policeman, he easily knew how to create a credible character out of every kind of role."


Dutch postcard by Monopole Film N.V. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute. For a better view of the postcard please click double on the picture.


Dutch postcard by N.V. Monopole Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch vintage postcard by Monopole Film NV. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen. Still for De Big van het Regiment (Max Nosseck, 1935). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Box office hit

In the first year of the occupation, Johan Kaart again founded his own theatre company, 'De Komedianten' (The Comedians), with which he performed comedies and farces until well into 1944. Initially, the Jewish actors Sylvain Poons and Adolphe Engers also performed there, until the measures taken by the German occupying forces made this impossible.

However, Kaart's Jewish companion 'Eetje' Kinsbergen - out of the picture - continued to work as business manager. Kaart complied with the requirement that his company had to be registered with the 'Kultuurkamer' (The Reich Chamber of Culture (Reichskulturkammer)). After the liberation, the Central Honour Office for the Arts, which took charge of the purification, saw no reason to ban him from performing.

In 1947 De Komedianten merged with Cor van der Lugt Melsert's 'Het Nederlandsch Tooneel', to perform a more artistic repertory. However, when it turned out that hardly any audience was attracted, Kaart broke away and at the end of 1950 he started 'the Toneelgezelschap Johan Kaart'.

After the war, Johan Kaart returned to the screen in the old-fashioned comedy Een koninkrijk voor een huis/A Kingdom for a House (1949), again directed by Jaap Speyer and co-starring Henriëtte Davids. Next, he played a cab driver who wanted to emigrate to Australia in the comedy Sterren Stralen Overal/Stars Twinkle Everywhere (Gerard Rutten, 1953).

A huge box office hit in the Netherlands was the drama Ciske de Rat/Ciske the Rat (Wolfgang Staudte, 1955) in which Kaart played a supporting part as a fatherly police inspector who has the best interests of the Amsterdam street urchin at heart. He played more supporting parts in the comedy Kleren maken de man/Clothes Make the Man (Georg Jacoby, 1957) starring Kees Brusse and the thriller Rififi in Amsterdam (Giovanni Korporaal, 1962) with Maxim Hamel and Kaart as a police commissioner worried about crime.


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 1. Photo: Publicity still for the comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Louis de Bree.


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 3. Photo: publicity still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 4. Photo: publicity still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 11. Photo: still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart and Riek Berkhout in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Potash & Perlmutter

Johan Kaart often worked for radio and later also for TV, but his main stage was the theatre. Since 1950 he performed Potasch en Perlemoer (Potash & Perlmutter) by Montague Glass more than 3,500 times. The farce is about the ups and downs of two constantly squabbling Jewish textile merchants. His co-star in this evergreen was Johan Boskamp.

Kaart was also acclaimed for his role as the work-shy garbage collector Alfred Doolittle in the 1960 Dutch stage version of 'My Fair Lady', alongside Wim Sonneveld as Professor Higgins. As a singing and dancing sixty-something, he was a vital centrepiece in a show that was performed more than seven hundred times in more than two years. Kaart's character had two of the show's greatest successes in his hands: the festive 'If I can just make it to church' and the lively 'If I can..., yes please', with which Kaart even made it into the hit list of those days.

On TV he was seen in the popular youth series Ja zuster, nee zuster/Yes Nurse, No Nurse (1967) and Oebele (1968-1971). Between 1969 and 1972, he went on tour again with Johan Boskamp as the opponent in Potasch & Perlemoer. Forced by the aftermath of a fractured hip, caused by a fall during a performance of this success, and Parkinson's disease, he disappeared from the scene.

In 1975 the Johan Kaart Prijs was introduced, a Dutch theatre entertainment award named after him. Due to Parkinson's disease, he disappeared from the stage. Nevertheless, he kept hoping that the farewell would not be final.

In 1976, Johan Kaart died in Amsterdam at the age of 78. He was married to former actress Maria Wilhelmina Jeanne 'Willy' von Saher from 1920 till his death in 1976. They had one daughter, Freddie (1924). Johan Kaart was also the uncle of the talented film actor and opera singer Hans Kaart.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Habé Film. Johan Kaart and Jacques Bijlevelt in the comedy De Vier Mullers (1935), a Dutch version of the Austrian multilingual Alles für die Firma (1935). Both were shot at the Schonbrunn studios in Vienna. The film deals with three quarrelsome generations of textile business owners: granddad Philip (Adolf Bouwmeester), dad Max (Bijlevelt) and son Otto (Johannes Heesters). Kaart plays their go-between Jacob Schat.


Dutch postcard by Habé Film. Photo: publicity still for De Vier Mullers/The Four Mullers (Rudolf Meinert, 1935) with Johannes Heesters.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Godfried de Groot, Amsterdam.


Dutch postcard by Editions Altona, Amsterdam, no. T 63. Photo: publicity still for Sterren Stralen Overal/Stars Twinkle Anywhere (Gerard Rutten, 1953).

Sources: Henk van Gelder (Huygens ING - Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis - Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 30 November 2024.

Malle gevallen (1934)

Johan Kaart Jr. and Louis de Bree starred in the Dutch romantic comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934), produced by the Dutch film mogul Loet C. Barnstijn.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Louis de Bree in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 1. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still for Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (1934) with Johan Kaart and Louis de Bree.


Dutch postcard, no. 2. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still for Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (1934) with Roland Varno, Annie van Duyn, Johan Kaart, Enny Meunier, Louis Borel, and Jopie Koopman. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard, no. 3. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Annie van Duyn, Enny Meunier, Johan Kaart, and Roland Varno in Malle gevallen (1934).

Three students and three girls

Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (1934) was one of the dozens of Dutch sound films, made after the success of the musical De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1933). The producer of De Jantjes, film distributor and former cinema operator Loet C. Barnstijn, engaged director Jaap Speyer, who had worked for years in the silent film industry in Berlin and who had directed De Jantjes.

In 1929, Barnstijn had Philips developed the ‘Loetafoon’, his own projection system for sound films. In the years that followed, he imported sound-film cameras and was the first person in the Netherlands to produce a short sound film.

Malle gevallen is a romantic comedy written by Hans Martin and Simon Koster based on Martin's 1913 novel. The plot is about three students, Bram, Boy and Hans (Johan Kaart Jr., Roland Varno, and Louis Borel) who fall in love with the schoolgirls Kitty and Toos, and the secretary Loeki (Enny Meunier, Annie van Duyn and Jopie Koopman). The girls live above the grumpy Mr. Smallebroek (Louis de Bree). Johan Kaart Jr. (1897-1976 was appointed to the lead role in Malle gevallen for his popular interpretation as the cross-eyed tar in De Jantjes. Kaart starred in seven Dutch films between 1934 and 1937. After the war, he played in several other Dutch films. He also worked often on radio and TV, but his main stage was the theatre.

At the time, Roland Varno (1908-1996) was already known for his role as one of the gymnasium students in Josef von Sternberg's Der blaue Engel/The Blue Angel (1930). He later worked in Hollywood as a character actor, mainly in B-pictures. Louis Borel (1905-1973) appeared in films in the Netherlands, Great Britain and Hollywood. He also adapted, translated, directed and starred in many plays. At the end of his career, he became a popular TV star. 

Enny Meunier (1912-1996) was a celebrated stage actress, who also performed on radio and TV. During the 1930s she starred in a few Dutch films. Stage actress Annie van Duyn (1915-?) played in six films of the 1930s and also in a film after the war. Later she moved to the USA. Jopie Koopman (1910-1979) was a pretty cabaret artist, who sang and played in several revues and early sound films.


Dutch postcard, no. 4. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still of Roland Varno, Louis Borel, and Johan Kaart in Malle gevallen (1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 5. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Louis Borel and Jopie Koopman in Malle gevallen (1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 6. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still for Malle Gevallen (1934) with Johan Kaart, Annie van Duyn, Roland Varno, Adriaan van Hees, Louis Borel, Enny Meunier and Jopie Koopman. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard, no. 7. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart Jr. in Malle gevallen (1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 8. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Roland Varno, Jopie Koopman and Annie van Duyn in Malle gevallen (1934).

Coarseness and bad taste

Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (1934) was intended as a light romantic comedy, but it was made into a musical with songs by orchestra leader Max Tak. Although scriptwriters Martin and Koster had wanted to make something sophisticated, the final result was a farce. 

The famous Dutch film critic L.J. Jordaan complained about the "coarseness and bad taste" in the film. Nevertheless, the film was a commercial success. The film was regularly shown in Dutch cinemas until it was banned in 1942 by the Nazis. Why the Nazis forbade the film is still unknown.

In 1935, Loet C. Barnstijn released De familie van mijn vrouw/The family of my wife (Jaap Speyer, 1935) with Sylvain Poons. That same year he bought the Oosterbeek Estate near Wassenaar and built two film studios. He called this Filmstad (Film City). It consisted of an office, a storage film, a recording studio and a technical workshop.

This studio produced the successful film Merijntje Gijzen's jeugd/Merijntje Gijzen's Youth (Kurt Gerron, 1936), based on the novels by A.M. de Jong. When World War II broke out, Barnstijn stayed in the United States because of his Jewish background. The film studios of Oosterbeek were confiscated by the German film company Ufa and were later destroyed during an air raid. 

Loet Barnstijn died in the USA in 1953. In 2007, the Dutch Filmmuseum presented a DVD of Malle gevallen.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 9. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Roland Varno and Enny Meunier in Malle gevallen (1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 10. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Roland Varno and Enny Meunier in Malle gevallen (1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 11. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still for Malle gevallen (1934) with Roland Varno, Johan Kaart, Annie van Duyn, Louis Borel, Jopie Koopman and Enny Meunier. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard, no. 12. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Louis de Bree in Malle gevallen (1934).


Dutch postcard, no. 14. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Publicity still for Malle gevallen (1934) with Roland Varno, Johan Kaart, Annie van Duyn, Enny Meunier and Adriaan van Hees. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart and Riek Berkhout in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Johan Kaart in Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).

Sources: Eye (Dutch - page now disfunct), Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 4 February 2024.

De Jantjes (1934)

From this Friday on, EFSP will follow Cinefest, the 17th International Festival of German Film-Heritage in Hamburg. The theme of the festival is 'Cinema, War, and Tulips: German-Dutch Film Relations'. A landmark in the Dutch cinema is the musical drama De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934). Before, director Jaap Speyer had a productive career in the silent German cinema of the 1920s. De Jantjes was the second Dutch sound film and a huge box office hit at the time. The film was based on a popular play by Herman Bouber and one of the leads was played by his wife, character actress Aaf Bouber.


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Jan van Ees, Willy Castello, and Johan Kaart jr. in De Jantjes (1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Jan van Ees, Willy Castello, and Johan Kaart jr. in De Jantjes (1934).


Dutch postcard by M. Bonist & Zonen, Amsterdam, no. B 314. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn / Hollandia Film Prod. Heintje Davids and Sylvain Poons in De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speijer, 1934).

Jordaan Play

De Jantjes (the international title is The Tars) was based on a popular 'Jordaan play' (a play set in an old neighbourhood of Amsterdam, the Jordaan) by Herman Bouber.

The music of the songs was written by Louis Davids. The musical was performed for the first time in 1920 with Louis Davids and his wife Margie Morris in the principal parts. The musical is one of the classics of the Dutch entertainment world.

De Jantjes had already been adapted as a silent film in 1922 starring Louis Davids. In 1933 director Jaap Speyer, who had made many silent films in Germany, started to shoot a new sound version.

There was even a competition which film would be the first Dutch sound film in the cinema. The other competitor, Willem van Oranje/Willem of Orange (Jan Teunissen, 1934) won, but lost at the box office, and got the worst reviews.

De Jantjes/The Tars (Jaap Speyer, 1934) has nice camera work by Henk Alsem and Akos Farkas and a couple of classic Dutch songs. The cast is excellent including popular revue and film stars as Fien de la Mar, Cissy van Bennekom, Sylvain Poons, Heintje (Henriette) Davids and her brother Louis Davids, and Aaf Bouber, the wife of the author.

The title characters are three sailors, played by Jan van Ees, Willy Castello and Johan Kaart jr., who return from the Dutch Indies to their old neighbourhood. There they meet love and labour problems.


Dutch postcard by M. B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam) for Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Johan Kaart jr., Willy Castello, and Jan van Ees in De Jantjes (1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo:Joan Remmelts, Jan van Ees, Sylvain Poons, Johan Kaart jr., Henriëtte Davids, Willy Castello, Susie Klein in De Jantjes (1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Johan Kaart jr., Suzy Klein, Willy Castello, Heintje Davids, Jan van Ees and Sylvain Poons in De Jantjes (1934).

Aaf Bouber

Aaf Bouber (1885-1974), the wife of author Herman Bouber, played the central role of Aunt Piet in De Jantjes/The Tars (1934). She acted in several Dutch films from the 1910s into the 1950s.

As a child, she was already loving the stage and performed at parties and markets in her hometown Hoorn. When she was sixteen she left home for Amsterdam and was engaged for the variety show 'Amsterdam' starring Louisette and Chrétienne in grand theatre Carré.

In the following years, she worked with such Dutch stage legends as Willem Hart and Louis Bouwmeester. She also acted in silent films like Fatum (Theo Frenkel sr., 1914) with Louis Bouwmeester, the fisher drama Het wrak in de Noordzee (Theo Frenkel sr., 1915) and Genie tegen geweld (Theo Frenkel sr., 1916).

Then she met Herman Bouber, director of the Plantage Theatre. He helped her to develop into an incomparable character actress in his popular folk plays like 'De Jantjes', 'Bleeke Bet' and 'Oranje Hein' all situated in the old Amsterdam neighbourhood De Jordaan.

She also played in the silent films Cirque Hollandais/Dutch Circus (Theo Frenkel Sr., 1924) starring Louis Bouwmeester, Oranje Hein/Orange Hein (Alex Benno, 1925) and Klassenstrijd/Class Struggle (Willy Mullens, 1928).

In the many performances through the years of De Jantjes, Aaf Bouber (often billed as Aaf Bouber-ten Hoope) would play all the female roles. After the surprising success of the sound film version of De Jantjes (Jaap Speyer, 1934) she would play the title character in another film based on a play by her husband, Bleeke Bet/Pale Beth (Richard Oswald, Alex Benno, 1934), which also became a big hit.

Other films of the 1930s include the fisher drama Op hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn, 1934), De Suikerfreule (Haro van Peski, 1935), another adaptation of Oranje Hein (Max Nosseck, 1936), Drie wensen/Three Wishes (Kurt Gerron, 1937), the Daddy Longlegs adaptation Vadertje Langbeen (Friedrich Zelnik a.k.a. Frederic Zelnik, 1938) and Ergens in Nederland/Somewhere in the Netherlands (Ludwig Berger, 1940). The latter film was just ready for release when the Netherlands was conquered by the Nazis, who forbade its exhibition.

During the war, she was seen in 7 maal 7/Seven Times Seven (Walter Smith a.o., 1942) and De laatste dagen van een eiland/The Final Days of an Island (Ernst Winar, 1942). After the war she made one more film, the comedy Sterren stralen overal/Stars Twinkle Everywhere (Gerard Rutten, 1953).

During her long career, she would also play hundreds of roles on the stage, radio and television. When Aaf Bouber was 85 she played her last role in the TV thriller Ritueel/Ritual (1970). She passed away in 1974.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn / Hollandia Film Prod. Aaf Bouber is seen on the left with at right Marie van Westerhoven as the gossip Betje in De Jantjes (1934).


Dutch postcard by Hollandia Film Prod. / Loet C. Barnstijn. Photo: Willy Castello, Suzie Klein, Johan Kaart jr., Marie van Westerhoven, and Jan van Ees in De Jantjes (1934).


Dutch postcard. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn / Hollandia Film Prod. Heintje Davids and Sylvain Poons in De Jantjes (1934).

Sources: De Boubers (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch), and IMDb.