Vintage original 3.5 x 5.25 in. German postcard depicting the British-born German silent film actress, COLETTE BRETTEL.
 
She is depicted in an interior medium publicity shot wearing a white dress with a large black hat and posing in front of a light backdrop. It was inscribed in English in black ink by Colette Brettel in, we believe, 1926, the year in which she appeared in six silent films in Germany. Printed by the renowned Ross-Verlag company of Berlin, it is unused in very fine condition. 
 
Provenance: We purchased a collection of two albums of vintage original German postcards from a rare book dealer at an antiquarian book fair in Pasadena, California. Approximately half of the postcards were signed by the respective personalities and the ones that were dated by the actors are all dated "1926." We were informed by the dealer that these photographs came from a film collector in Germany who acquired the postcards at the time they were issued and then had them signed by the respective actors when he met them in person. 
 
*"Colette Brettel (1902-1973) was a British stage and film actress. Born Dorothy Nicolette Pettigrew in London, she made her screen debut in the 1920 film, Wuthering Heights, and appeared in several British films of the early 1920’s, including The Prodigal Son. Following the Slump of 1924, in which the number of British films released sharply declined, she moved to Germany, where she appeared in Wettlauf ums Glück (1923) and Annemarie und ihr Ulan (1926). When she played in the film, Wettlauf ums Glück, in 1923, she met the Dutch actor Ernst Winar, whom she later married. Her film career ended with the introduction of sound."
*(source: Wikipedia)
 
Ross-Verlag in Berlin was a German publishing house specialized in photographs and photo postcards of artists. The owner of the company was Heinrich Ross (b. 10 August 1870; d. after 1954 as emigrant in the US).
 
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