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Gertie Millar, a Yorkshire lass, was born in 1879 and went on to be one of the most famous stage performers of the Edwardian era.  At first it was probably her looks that won her work as a bit part singer and dancer, but her ability and determinism soon shone through and helped to advance her career.  By 1901 she was playing the starring role in musical comedies.  Her composer husband, a partnership that was too prove mutually beneficial, wrote the popular song "moonstruck" for her.    The cards postal frank is dated March 14th 1903, the year in which she performed before His Majesty King Edward VI and Queen Alexandria.  This was followed by further successes.    But by the outbreak of war, her husband ill and musical tastes changing she soon fell from the public eye.  Widowed, she went on to marry the 2nd earl of Dudley.

This postcard is dated 1907 and depicts "Miss Maude Jeffries" who was a competent shakespearean actress and was in the  acclaimed production of Twelve Night in which she played Olivia at Her Majesty's Theatre, London.  Miss Jeffries also went abroad, most notably Australia, in other theatrical productions.  But apart from that, I don't know much else about her life or career.

I'm not too keen on this photo.  The lady is made to appear playful but to me, she looks kind of feral, the same way a cat looks while playing with a dead mouse.  Perhaps it's the teeth and old style lipstick?  whatever the reason, I just don't like it.  This is curious as I like the look of Theda Bara.  Also the green lace appears more like some stage mesmerists limp ectoplasm than anything at all sexy.   This is Gladys Brockwell and in some alternate world, where death had not chosen to cut short her career, she would have been as famous as Lillian Gish.    Practically born onto the stage, Brockwell was the daughter of an ordinary chorus girl, and her debut was at the age of three.  Her natural acting ability saw her playing dramatic lead roles in her mid teens.

Again the postal frank is blurred and no date is given, but the photo is by FOX and so that dates it to around 1922.  She made the transition to film perfectly and her depiction of Nina, an absinth addled woman, was very shocking.  Brockwell's image as a screen beauty was marred by her strong physical presence on screen.  This was at odds with the waif fretful style that was in vogue, at this time, for actresses.   In 1928 she won considerable notice as a gangsters moll, in the first all sound movie "Lights of New York".  On the strength of her performances and as a popular crowd pleaser, she was given a seven-year contract with FOX.  Quite an achievement at the time, but fate had decided that she would be unable to fulfil such an oportunity.  For shortly after this success she was severely hurt in a motorcar accident and died of her injuries.  Had she have lived there was every indication that she would have become one of the early silver screens bigger names.

This is a production still of Theda Bara, taken from the 1917 film "Cleopatra".  She was once as famous as Chaplin and may have coined the phrase of the screen "vamp" and "Kiss me you fool".  Sadly only three of her films have survived and they are neither her best work or even in good condition.   Curiously little is actually known about her life prior to her movie career though some believe she was of jewish origin.  In her personal life she liked museums and visiting bookshops.   Her film career took off with her role as the vampire in the film version of "A fool there was".  But she found herself typecast as wonton women who come to a bad end as in "Solome" or "Sin".  Her attempts to control her career made her unpopular with the movie industry heirarchy.   She never made it to the "talkies".  The movie executives soon tired of her demands and moved on to more compliant actresses.  Her last movie was dogged by public protests over her possible jewish origins. Then her new husband forbade her acting again.  In latter years, she remained a sociable figure in both New York and Hollywood social circles.

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