Vintage original 3.5 x 5.25 in. German postcard depicting the handsome Italian-born German silent film actor, producer, and director, LUCIANO ALBERTINI. He is depicted in a close publicity shot wearing a patterned sweater over a shirt and tie. This postcard was signed in black ink by Luciano Albertini on August 9, 1926 while he was in Berlin (see "Provenance" below). Printed by the renowned Ross-Verlag company of Berlin, this vintage original postcard is unused in very fine- condition with a light diagonal mark (not a crease) on each corner from where it was inserted into one of the albums described below. There are no tears, stains, or other flaws. 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. Luciano Albertini (November 30, 1882 – January 6, 1945) was an Italian film actor, producer, and director. Muscular and buoyant, he was a gym teacher in Turin, Italy, and later became a sailor before joining up with Circus Busch as an artist (he had created a famous number on the flying trapeze featuring eight persons). He then turned to the motion picture industry as an actor, producer, and director, first in Italy (where strongmen like him were then in favor), then in Germany (where his Latin appeal made German ladies swoon). After initially appearing in Italian films, he moved to Germany following the First World War. In 1921, he founded a production company, Albertini-Film, in partnership with Ernst Hugo Correll. During the Weimar era, he appeared in a number of silent thriller and adventure films. He also was popular in both the capitalistic USA (where he was the hero of a serial) and in the communist USSR (appearing in Aleksandr Dovzhenko's, Arsenal (1929)). Unfortunately for him, the style of films he made became outdated when sound arrived and, after a last film in Germany in 1932, he disappeared from the screen. His career came to an end because of a combination of the advent of the sound film and his severe alcoholism, which resulted in his being placed in a mental institution for a time. When he was released he began suffering from dementia--from the effects of his heavy drinking over the years--and was again placed in a mental institution. He died in 1945 in the San Gaetano psychiatric hospital in Budrino, Italy. 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).