Louise Brooks – Vintage Spanish Postcards

  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 Spain. Of note, this first card comes from the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Africa. The third card, issued by Luiz Z. Benitez as part of their series Coleccion Artistas Cine, also comes from Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the Canary Islands. The others come from the Spanish mainland. The Chocolates Torras #43 product card has “Loma Brooks” encouraging Spaniards to try Torras chocolates, which are recommended for both cooking and eating. This special type of chocolate is made in Bañolas (the Catalan name for Banyoles, a city located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia) in Spain.

Other details behind some 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.

trading card, Spain (front) Las Mascotas #72 “mas famosos artistas de cine”	trading card, Spain (back) Las Mascotas #72 “mas famosos artistas de cine”	trading card, Spain Chocolates Torras #43 as “Loma Brooks” c. 1930	cigarette card, Spain Luiz Z. Benitez / Coleccion Artistas Cine as “Loma Brooks”
postcard, Spain La Novela Frívola Cinematografica #23 issued by a spicy story magazine	trading card, Spain Estrellas del Cine #75 Editorial Gráffica – Barcelona	trading card, Spain Pidan en Todas Partes #119 “chocolates y bombones” – Sevilla	trading card, Spain Coleccion de 15 cromos, Serie Y #8 as “Luisa Brooks”
postcard, Spain M.C. Barcelona #130 sepia toned	trading card, Spain La Novela Semanal Cinematografica #319 issued by a film story magazine	trading card, Spain Cine La Alicantina #13 as “Luise Brook”	postcard, Spain? Spanish American Publishing Co. Fecha Edición c. 1932

 

The card on the left shown below was apparently affixed to an album or scrapbook.The text on the back of the card notes is 22 years old (which would date the card to around 1928) and that she was a dancer and lived in Brooklyn. The text also references Brooks’ role in It’s the Old Army Game.

The rare advertising postcard shown below, depicting Brooks as the Canary, was issued in Barcelona. Borotalco Ausonia was a line of widely advertised Spanish cosmetics which included a hygienic powder.

The card on the right shown below was issued in Zaragoza (also known in English as Saragossa), the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. The back of the card features a mini-biography of a “cute and gentle” and “modern, daring and bold girl.” The brief text also notes Brooks’ roles in Love Em and Leave Em, in which she is described as a “great actress,” as well as Beggars of Life and The Canary Murder Case.

candy card, Spain (front) Chocolate E. Juncosa, Serie K #19 as “Luisa Brooks”	advertising postcard, Spain Borotalco Ausonia “Estrella Paramount”	candy card, Spain (back) Chocolate E. Juncosa, Serie K #19 as “Luisa Brooks”