Elsa Merlini was a star of the Italian sound cinema of the 1930s. She excelled in the so-called telefoni bianchi comedies. Elsa Merlini, pseudonym of Elsa Tscheliesnig, was born in Trieste in 1903, when the city was still part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. She moved to Florence where she worked hard on her diction because of German and Slav influences. She changed her name to a more Italianate version and started a career on stage with Annibale Ninchi, future leading actor of the film Scipione l'Africano. In 1930 she started at the Nicodemi company and over the years she proved to be an excellent comedian, working with Sergio Tofano and Luigi Cimara with whom she formed a new company in 1933, but already one year after she established a new company with her partner Renato Cialente, for which they did dramatic plays by Cechov and Pirandello. In the same era, Merlini started a career as singer, recording several songs, sometimes duetting wth Vittorio de Sica, such as the song "Dammi un bacio e ti dico di si" from the film Non ti conosco più. During the war her partner Cialente was killed by a bypassing German car while he was leaving the theater. After that Merlini actively returned to the stage. She also had a prolific career at the radio, first for EIAR, then at RAI. Elsa Merlini nowadays is best remembered for her film comedies of the 1930s. Her first film set the tone: it was the musical comedy La segretaria privata (1931) by Goffredo Alessandrini, an Italian version of the German film operetta Die Privatsekretärin by Wilhelm Thiele. Getting a simple job as a dactylograph - remember we are right in the Depression years - is enough for Elsa to sing out loud: 'Oh come son felice, felice, felice', the recurring motif of the soundtrack. Unknowingly ,she bonds with the director of the company who regards her as a fling first, but he is finally won over. After this hit, Merlini continued in films such as Paprika (1933) by Carl Boese, Non ti conosco più by Nunzio Malasomma (1936) and La dama bianca (1938) by Mario Mattoli. She was often matched with Nino Besozzi, who plays the director in La segretaria privata; with Renato Cialente, her partner; and with Vittorio De Sica. After the war Merlini did not perform in film until 1951, when she was relaunched in film with the comedy Cameriera bella presenza offresi by Giorgi Pastina. An all-star cast surrounded Merlini: Gino Cervi, the De Filippo's, Giulietta Masina and pre-war stars De Sica and Isa Miranda. Few other films followed, however. From the late 1950s on, she also performed on television while in 1968 she had a radio programme La maga Merlini. In 1983, Elsa Merlini died of a tumor at the age of 80. Ed. BFF. Production SAPF. If you want to hear Merlini sing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJLXKoetCHg and here together with Vittorio de Sica: www.youtube.com/watch?v=626bw6-Ei14&playnext=1&li...

Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 273. Mistake! This is not Grit Haid, but Else Elster. Thanks, Werner Mohr, for the identification. German actress and singer Else Elster (1910-1998) appeared in over forty films during the Weimar and Nazi eras. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3774/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for A Certain Young Man (Hobart Henley, 1928). Mexican-American actor Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) was a popular Latin Lover of the 1920s and early 1930s. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards Already over 3 million views! Or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8954/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Hungarian actress Käthe von Nagy (1904-1973) started as the ‘Backfish’ of German films of the late 1920s. In the early 1930s she became a fashionable and charming star of the German and French cinema. For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards or follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest.