As with other Hollywood and non-Hollywood stars, Louise Brooks’ image could be found on a number of commercial products. In the 1920s and 1930s, these products included printed items such as postcards, trading cards, and what are colloquially known as cigarette cards. The most familiar, of course, are postcards. They require a postage stamp to be sent through the mail, typically had an image on the front and space for a message on the back, and measure approximately 4 x 6 inches (or 10.2 x 15.2 cm). Trading or product cards were, as a rule, smaller in size, and were usually inserted into the packaging of a variety of items such as bread, cookies, candy (chocolate and gum), sugar, flour, and tobacco. The cards known as cigarette cards are considered a subset of trading cards, but differ in that they were inserted into just one type of product, namely packs of cigarettes. Essentially, trading cards were novelty items inserted into product packaging as an inducement to purchase… as in buy our product and “collect them all”. Though such cards were considered disposable and sometimes poorly printed, others were finely printed, attractive, and collected by film buffs or fans of the actor or actress they depicted. Some card publishers, whose series ran into the dozens or hundreds, even issued albums as a further inducement to collectors. Along with cards, albums also survive.
This page on the Louise Brooks Society website gathers a selection of vintage cards from around Europe (excluding Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.). According to information gleamed on the back of the Soviet postcard pictured to the right, this rare Russian card cost 10 kopeks and was published in Moscow in 1928. The portrait on the front is by M. I. Boris, who was born Boris Majdrakoff in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1887. Before coming to the United States, where he photographed film stars and celebrities, Boris worked in the photographic studio of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. The Cyrillic letters beneath Brooks’ portrait spell out her name in Russian.
The details behind other of these cards is lacking. If you know additional information about any of these cards, or possess other cards and would like to share a scan of your vintage treasure, please CONTACT the Louise Brooks Society. Thanks so much for your interest.
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| postcard, The Netherlands? | postcard, Finland | postcard, U.S.S.R. (back) Tea-Kino-Pecat #6 |
postcard, U.S.S.R. (front) Tea-Kino-Pecat #6 |
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cigarette card, Malta (front) |
cigarette card, Malta (back) Scerri’s Cinema Stars #99 |
cigarette card, Malta (back) Omega, F. Farrugia #31 |
cigarette card, Malta (front) Omega, F. Farrugia #31 |
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| postcard, Denmark Eneret |
postcard, Denmark Eneret |
postcard, Portugal |
cigarette card, Belgium Ross / De Beukelaer #5 |
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| postcard, Belgium Hobe-film |
cigarette card, Belgium De Beukelaer #203 |
candy card, Belgium (back) Chocolaterie CLOVIS #291 |
candy card, Belgium (front) Chocolaterie CLOVIS #291 |
Obviously,the Belgian trading card from Chocolaterie CLOVIS has misidentified Louise Brooks, who is not standing next to Maurice Chevalier. It is some other, unknown actress. Might you know who?