Nos artistes dans leur loge

One of the most fascinating and beautiful series of star postcards is Nos artistes dans leur loge. The series presents dozens of French stage and film stars of the 1920s in their dressing rooms. The postcards were all produced by the French journal Comoedia and one with Editions La Fayette.


Huguette Duflos. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge by Editions La Fayette, Paris. Photo: Comoedia.


Maurice Chevalier. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 201. Photo: Comoedia.


Vera Sergine. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 69. Photo: Comoedia.


Jean Coquelin. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 59. Photo: Comoedia.


Raquel Meller. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 20. Photo: Comoedia.

Tour de France
Nowadays the Paris journal Comœdia is defunct. In 1907, it was founded by French bicycle racer and sports journalist Henri Desgrange (1865 – 1940), according to Wikipedia. Desgrange was also the first organizer of the Tour de France and the founder of the popular sports journal L’auto (nowadays L'Equipe). However, another source Le Guichet du Savoir cites an article by Nathalie Léger in Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: le XXe siècle, who claims that the founder was Georges de Pawlowski. The journal - or in French ‘revue’ – Comœdia appeared as a daily from 1 October 1907 to 6 August 1914. In the beginning it had four pages. Because of the First World War the publication then halted. After the war, on 1 October 1919 Comœdia returned, again as a daily. The 1920’s with its expanding rheatre and silent film industry were a golden period for Comœdia. Among its contributors were such famous authors as Francois Coppe, Tristan Bernard, Jean Richepin, Jules Renard, and Georges Courteline. They published columns, reviews and articles about actors, actresses and directors. There were two supplements. Since 1908 there was the bi-monthly art journal Comœdia illustrated. In 1926 the daily Comœdia-journal was started. In 1936 Desgrange fell ill and Comoedia disappeared. In 1941, after the death of Desgrange, the journal returned, but now as a weekly till August 1944. It reappeared between 1952 and 1954 under the name Paris-Comoedia, weekly show with journalist and scenario writer Jacques Chabannes as its director.


Damia. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 256. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Performing Arts / Artes Escénicas.


Gabriel Signoret. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 185. Photo: Comoedia.


Maurice de Féraudy. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 131. Photo: Comoedia.


Eugène Silvain. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 191. Photo: Comoedia.


Musidora. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 97. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Beth Gallagher.

The Mirror
The series Nos artistes dans leur loge was probably published between 1922 and 1926 as a supplement for Comœdia Illustrated. The series contained portraits of famous stage actors. The stars were often only referred to by their surname like Signoret, Dranem, De Feraudy et al. Many film stars were included. The ingredients of the picture were always the same. A full shot of an artist who is preparing for the spotlights in his or her dressing room. A recurring element on the photos is the mirror. Sometimes the star is glancing into the mirror, looking at himself or at the photographer. On other postcards he is watching the photographer – and the public – directly. The dressing room is never in full view, but on the pictures you can discover details: a chair, a lamp, an artwork. And every card has a signature of the artists written over it. The result is wonderful. And my favourite dressing room is Musidora's.


Victor Francen. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 108. Photo: Comoedia.


Max de Rieux. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 285. Photo: Comoedia.


Harry Baur. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 202. Photo: Comoedia.


Jacques Baumer. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 321. Photo: Comoedia.


Tramel. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 5. Sent by mail in 1923. Photo: Comoedia.

Sources: Wikipedia (French) and Le Guichet du Savoir (French).

Véra Sergine

Véra Sergine (1884 - 1946) was a popular French stage actress between the 1910's and 1930's, who was also active in French silent cinema of the 1910's. She was first married to actor Pierre Renoir, and then had a long relationship with actor Henri Rollan. She is the mother of Claude Renoir.

 
French postcard. Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, No. 69. Photo Comoedia.

The Enfevered Woman
Véra Sergine was born Marie Marguerite Aimée Roche in Paris in 1884. She started acting in stage plays around 1904, probably first in Armide et Gildis by Camille de Sainte-Croix at the Théâtre de l'Odéon (1904). When playing The Enfevered Woman in Gabriele D’Annunzio’s Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien at the Théâtre du Chatelet in 1911, she was supposed to show the Holy Shroud to the early Christians. The typical jack-of-all-trades D’Annunzio quickly drew the face of Christ on a veil. Sergine annexed the veil as a souvenir from the tragedy, defending she had a right to it, but her new maid simply thought the veil was stained and washed it. Sergine was an early adapter to cinema. When the film d’art wave started, stage actors playing in films based on famous plays, novels or historical events, which gave the filmic medium prestige. Sergine made her film debut in Marie Stuart/Mary Stuart (1908, Albert Capellani). It was followed by such Pathé Frères productions as La grande bretèche/The Great Breach (1909) opposite André Calmettes, Pygmalion (1909, Daniel Riche), L’écharpe/The scarf (1910, André Calmettes) with Henri Pouctal, Moderne Galathée/Modern Galatea (1911, Georges Denola), and the two-part Les deux gosses/The two kids (1912, Adrien Caillard) starring little Marie Fromet. She also appeared in the propagandistic Patrie/Pro Patria (1914, Albert Capellani) starring Henri Krauss and Paul Capellani. In Le médecin des enfants/The Children's Doctor (1916, Georges Denola) she played the wife of the doctor (Maxime Desjardins). Finally she appeared in Le geste/The gesture (1916, Georges Denola), based on the novel by Maurice Montégut. While she was a big theatre star in the early 1910's, Sergine doesn’t seem to have done much on stage during the First World War. However she supported the French cause by propagandistic performances on stage. In the 1920's her stage career would peak and she even directed one play herself.

 
French postcard by A.N. Paris, no. 5. Photo: Henri Manuel.

 
French postcard by Wyndham Ed., Paris, no. W 108.

Volcanic Character
In 1910 (according to Wikipedia 1914), Véra Sergine married actor Pierre Renoir. In 1913, they had a son, Claude Renoir, who would become a famous director of photography. Pierre Renoir was the son of the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who painted a famous portrait of Sergine in 1914. Sergine introduced Pierre's brother, Jean Renoir, to theatrical circles and to the cinema. In 1925 Sergine divorced Pierre Renoir. After that she lived with actor Henri Rollan. She didn’t break the family tie entirely, though, and continued to visit Les Collettes, the Renoir estate. In 1913 she had acted with Rollan in Alsace by Gaston Leroux and Lucien Camille, at the Théâtre Femina in Paris. In the 1920's they would act together in La Danse de minuit by Charles Méré, staged by Victor Francen at the Théâtre de Paris. In the same year they professionally collaborated again when Sergine directed Rollan in La Tentation (1924), another play by Méré. She co-starred in it as well. In 1925 they acted together again, with Raimu, in La nuit est à nous by Henry Kistemaeckers, at the Théâtre de Paris. Kistemaeckers was apparently a beloved playwright for Sergine, as she also starred in his La Passante (Théâtre de Paris 1921) and L'Esclave errante (Théâtre de Paris, 1923). Sergine was known for her naturalistic style and her volcanic character. Until the mid-1930's she continued acting on stage. From 1927 on Sergine resided for some decades at the Villa Argentina at Saint-Raphaël (Boulouris), on the Cote d’Azur. Recently the villa was restored to its original splendor. Véra Sergine died in 1946 at Cagnes-sur-Mer, France. She was 61.

 
French promotional postcard by Campari. Photo: Studio G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: Campari! Le seul que je boive! (Campari! The only thing I drink!)

 
French promotional postcard by Campari. Photo: Studio G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: Campari! Le seul que je boive! (Campari! The only thing I drink!)

Sources: Tommaso Antongini (D’Annunzio), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.