Asides - Hollywood via Cincinnati and Anna Sten Addendum

In 1933 the Nielin Publishing Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, began publishing a serialized story named "Ransom, The Story of a Lost Child, Intimate Chapters of a Film Star's Life". Each 32 page, 6 x 8 inch issue advanced a story that runs the gamut of romance, sex, & drugs in the life of a film starlet and her kidnapped child. I have no idea how many were ultimately published, but I do know there were over 74 issues, filling more than 2000 pages!

When I found these I was immediately attracted because of its 30's film setting, pulp nature, general obscurity, and "racy" artwork. I was interested to see that the illustrations were signed. I tracked down information on Cincinnati artist Walter E. Groniger (1891-1941) and it became clear that this was a job to pay the bills while he traveled with his wife around the country in a specially designed trailer looking for landscapes to paint. He is known for his watercolors. Below are pages scanned from issues three, four, and five. Also shown is one of Groniger's paintings.

Double click on the images for a larger view.

Front cover of issue 5.
I don't know if Groniger did the cover, which was always
the same except for the issue number.

Typical back cover

Groniger painting from the late 1930's.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The previous post took a look at Anna Sten, but I was unable to show any images from her work in Russia. A few days ago I got a copy of The Girl with the Hatbox and did some screen captures to show you Anna pre-Hollywood and pre-Goldwyn.

I also posted a British hand tinted postcard, but forgot to include an interesting bit of information found on the back of the card. As was mentioned, Anna's lack of commercial success in leading roles caused Goldwyn to cancel her contract. However, it seems she was scheduled to star in Barbary Coast, a vehicle that eventually went to Miriam Hopkins. Note the text on the card back.

Anna Sten

Anna Sten was born in Kiev December 3, 1908, as Anjuschka Stenski Sudakewitsch. Her father, a Russian ballet master died when she was 12. At 15, while acting in an amateur play in Kiev, Anna was discovered by Method Actor "father" Konstantin Stanislavsky, who arranged an audition for her at the Moscow Film Academy. Her first credited role was in Boris Barnet's 1927 comedy The Girl with a Hatbox (Available on Netflix). She soon relocated to Germany, where she starred in several films, including Trapeze (1931) and The Brothers Karamazov (1931), both well received. It was in the latter film she was noticed by Samuel Goldwyn, who brought her to the United States with the aim of creating a new screen personality to rival the popularity of Greta Garbo.

After arriving in Hollywood, Anna was tutored in English and taught Hollywood's film making technique. Unfortunately, Anna's first American production, Emile Zola's Nana (1934), was not successful at the box office, nor were her two subsequent Goldwyn films, We Live Again (1934) with Frederic March and The Wedding Night (1935), opposite Gary Cooper. Goldwyn reluctantly let her contract lapse. Personally, I think while Anna's performances were solid, the films themselves weren't exceptional, and American audiences were growing tired of European stars being transported to Hollywood. Anna had to walk in the footsteps Garbo and Dietrich, which probably didn't help matters either. Goldwyn's tutoring of Anna is mentioned in Cole Porter's 1934 song "Anything Goes" from the musical of the same name: "If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes."

Rather that retreat back to Germany or Russia, probably impossible at the time anyway, Anna continued to work in Hollywood. In the 1940's she worked with Fox and Universal in films including The Man I Married (1940), So Ends Our Night (1941), again opposite Fredric March, They Came to Blow Up America (1943) with George Sanders, Three Russian Girls (1943), and Let's Live a Little (1948). In the 1950's she appeared in one film and had several television appearances. Her final film role was in The Nun and the Sergeant (1962).

Anna Sten died November 12, 1993 at the age of 84.

Double click on the images for a larger view.

Motion Picture magazine November 1932

German postcard.

Early Thirties portrait.

British postcard - hand tinted.

Nana - publicity still.

Alberto Vargas painting of Anna from the photograph above.

Another Nana publicity still, this on a postcard mailed from Rotterdam.

Nana publicity still.

Players 1934 Film Stars cigarette card.

Frame captures from We Live Again.

Publicity stills from We Live Again.

Frame captures from The Wedding Night.

Publicity still from The Wedding Night.

Frame captures from So Ends Our Night.

Anna Sten - What do you think - Allure?