Vintage original 3.5 x 5.25 in. German postcard depicting the Austrian-born German silent film actress, LILLI FLOHR. The attractive dark-haired actress is depicted in a medium publicity shot with her back to the camera as she looks to her side. This postcard was signed in black ink by Lilli Flohr in, we believe, 1926 (see "Provenance" below). Printed by the renowned Ross-Verlag company of Berlin, this vintage original postcard was unused and is in very fine condition with a small area of light smudging in the bottom border at the right corner. There are no tears, stains, or other flaws. Silent Cinema Inc. (the seller here) guarantees the authenticity of Charles Willy Kayser's inscription and signature.

Provenance: Approximately 8 years ago, we purchased a collection of two albums of vintage original German postcards from a rare book dealer at an antiquarian book fair in Pasadena, California (see photos). Approximately half of the postcards were signed by the respective personalities and the ones that were dated by the actors are all dated "1926." We were informed by the dealer that these photographs came from a film collector in Germany who acquired the postcards at the time they were issued and then had them signed by the respective actors when he met them in person. We are now pleased to make these vintage original postcards available to other collectors.

Lilli Flohr was born in 1903 in Wien, Austria. She was an actress and writer, known for Ein Lied von Haß und Liebe (1918), Die kleine Midinette (1921), and Schande (1922). She grew up in an artistic environment because her father, a versatile gifted artist, was also busy as an actor, singer, musician, and painter. She already her first appearance at the Raimund Theater in Vienna at the age of eight and later became a busy stage actress. She soon experienced the drawback of the theater, where an actress had to play the same role several hundred times, which created a kind of monotony. Then she became aware of the film industry, where an actress could impersonate different roles within a year. When sound arrived, she retired from the film business. Although back on stage, she was not able to work much longer. Of Jewish descent, she left Germany for Austria following the Nazi takeover of power in 1933. Following the Anchluss in 1938, she emigrated to Shanghai, where she was able to continue her stage career at the side of other German-speaking emigrants. She died on July 7, 1978 in New South Wales, Australia.

Ross-Verlag in Berlin was a German publishing house specialized in photographs and photo postcards of artists. The owner of the company was Heinrich Ross (b. 10 August 1870; d. after 1954 as emigrant in the USA).