Oh! Asta, you hot thing!

'Oh! Asta!',
Oh! Asta!‘, by Herre De Vos, published by De Nieuwe Muziekhandel (Amsterdam, 1917) and illustrated by H. Meyn.

Asta Nielsen is the first actress who became an international star. It’s true. The Deutsches Filminstitut hosted the 2011 conference Importing Asta Nielsen – Cinema-going and the Making of the Star System in the Early 1910s, at the Film Museum in Frankfurt. A result of this international gathering is the Importing Asta Nielsen Database accessible for cultural researchers all over the world.

Photographic portrait of Asta Nielsen, s.d.
Portrait of Asta Nielsen (German postcard, s.d.).

According to this database ‘Asta Nielsen was the first international film star who made her name a brand, nearly unrivalled in many countries in the years 1911 and 1912’.

The sheet music cover we started with (Oh! Asta!) is from 1917. It tells, no it sings about a young man who –in the darkness of a cinema– falls for the wild charms of Asta. And who wouldn’t? Look at how charming and natural Asta is in the 30-seconds opening scene of the 1910 silent film The Abyss (Afgrunden in Danish) filmed by Urban Gad, who she would marry two years later.

Nielsen was born in 1881 in Copenhagen. At eighteen she followed classes at the Royal Danish Theatre and… got pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Jesta, who would in the 1960’s, when her mother was already 83 years old, commit suicide. Asta Nielsen never revealed the identity of the father. She graduated when she was twenty-two, and became a stage actress in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In 1909 she started her film career with ‘Afgrunden’, in which she wisely adapted her acting to the demands of the film media: she performed naturally and avoided theatrical dramatization.

But above all her undisguised and shameless sexuality must have propelled her films and her career. Oh my! She’s really hot in what must have been the first ‘Gaucho Dance’ in cinematography (it heralds the craze of the Argentine tango that would offend Europe right before WWI). Look how she wriggles in her tightly stretched dress. See her wiggling her hips and pushing her bottom against that poor cowboy. Please, stop the torture!

We have added the music of the great Martha Argerich playing the Danza Del Gaucho Matrero by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. For the unedited, 37-minute silent movie Abgrunden, click here. While researching we found a different iconographic representation of the Gaucho dance, somewhat less erotic, uh…

Liebig chromo 'La danse des Gauchos'
‘La danse des Gauchos’ – Dans la République argentine, Liebig chromo, s.d. (source www.alamy.com).

The dancing Argentine cowboys and girls conquered the covers of many European sheet music. Here are two examples from our collection.

The Argentinian cowboys and girls conquered many sheet music covers.
Left: ‘El Gauchito‘ by Emile Köhler, illustrated by Clérice frères (published by Librairie Hachette, Paris, 1915). Right: ‘Gaucha flor‘ by Pedro Palau, unknown illustrator (published by Ildefonso Alier, Madrid, s.d.).

Asta Nielsen developed most of her film career in Germany until the mid-Thirties, when sound took over the silent era. The success of what was known as ‘Asta Nielsen films’ was immense, from Russia to the United States, where her films were heavily censored. Called the first international movie star, Nielsen earned a staggering salary. In 1925 she co-starred in the Pabst film Die freudlose Gasse with the next Scandinavian diva, Greta Garbo. Nielsen was portrayed on many film posters by artists (such as Ernst Deutsch-Dryden and Robert Leonard) who we also know as designers of sheet music covers.

Poster by Ernst Deutsch-Dryden
Poster by Ernst Deutsch-Dryden for the Asta Nielsen film ‘Komödianten’ (1913).
Poster illustrated by Leonard
Poster illustrated by Robert L. Leonard for the Asta Nielsen film ‘Hamlet’ (1921).

In 1935 Nielsen returned to Denmark where she continued acting on stage, wrote her biography, had a creative hand in visual arts, and travelled a lot with her third husband. She died in 1972.

Oh, Asta! You’re still hot and beautiful.

Photo of Asta Nielsen in 1966.
Asta Nielsen in 1966 (photography Tage Nielsen-Scanpix).

Prière à mon Ange

Sheet music cover illustrated by René Magritte: 'Prière à mon ante' by Toussain Masson (1924)
Prière à Mon Ange‘ by Toussaint Masson, published by Schott Frères (1924, Bruxelles) and illustrated by René Magritte.

René Magritte illustrated this cover in 1924 for a composition by Toussaint Masson, Prière à mon ange (Prayer to my angel). The drawing is simple. A girl is seen kneeling on the rug before her bed. Her hands are folded in prayer. She has a calm face, a devoted attitude. She wears a simple night dress. Apart from the strangely dotted bed curtain, everything looks simple, almost naive. The perspective is rather childish. The use of a monotonous brown accentuates the piousness of the subject. A dull, yet a compelling image.

The austere graphic above is quite in contrast with the fancy covers that Magritte created for other composers and publishers!

'Marche des Snobs' published by Jos. Buyst (1924, Bruxelles), illustrated by René Magritte.
Marche des Snobs‘ by Fernand Rousseau, published by Jos. Buyst (1924, Bruxelles), illustrated by René Magritte.
iSheet music llustrated by René Magritte.
L’heure du Tango‘ by René Demaret and Fred Dolys, published by l’Art Belge (1925, Bruxelles), illustrated by René Magritte.
Partition de musique, illustrée par René Magritte
Au Pays des Mosquées‘ by Sylvain Hamy and Jacques Loar, published by l’Art Belge (1926, Bruxelles). Illustrated by René Magritte.

We wonder what Magritte would have created for the ‘Prière à mon Ange’ if he had already been in his surrealistic period. And if his publisher Schott Frères would have paid for an additional color and given him carte blanche. Something like this?

I did not have sexual relations with that woman

ma petite bretonne copy
Left: ‘L’affaire Steinheil‘ by Antonin Louis, published by Edition Musicale Française (Paris, sd). Right: ‘Ma Petite Bretonne‘ by Berniaux, published by Charles Mayol (Paris, 1907), illustrated by Pousthomis.

Last week we got a present from our friend Etienne: a tattered leaflet, folded  twice to fit in a pocket, ready to hand for an impromptu performance. On the backside of the leaflet are the words for L’Affaire Steinheil. No musical notation was needed as one had to sing it to the tune of a 1907 hit song Ma Petite Bretonne.

The Madame Steinheil of the cover was born in Alsace in 1869 as Marguerite Japy, the daughter of a rich industrialist.

meg steinheil
Marguerite Steinheil, posing as an ancient Greek aulos player.

The gorgeous Marguerite married the well-known but less gifted painter Adolphe Steinheil in 1890. The marriage was not a happy one but it allowed Marguerite to move in the highest social circles in Paris. She became the mistress of the French president, Félix Faure, often visiting him for assignations in the Elysée Palace. During one of their trysts Faure died suddenly. The salacious circumstances of the president’s untimely demise (in 1899) and the identity of his companion became widely known thanks to the tabloid press. According to some, presumably his political opponents, it happened while Marguerite was giving the president the Monica Lewinsky treatment, which earned her the nickname ‘La Pompe Funèbre’.

faure1
An artist’s impression of President Faure’s death, as seen by his supporters.

After the president’s death Marguerite continued to have a string of famous lovers. In 1908 Marguerite’s mother and husband were murdered in their bedroom. They both died by strangulation. Marguerite was found bound and gagged but otherwise unharmed. She told the police that a gang of four black-robed burglars had perpetrated the murders and stolen her jewellery.

steinheilmoord
An artist’s impression of the 1908 murders. Marguerite is found, gagged and bound on her daughters bed by a servant. In the adjoining bedrooms we get a glimpse of the bodies of her mother and her husband.

From the start the police suspected her of playing a part in the murders but couldn’t find proof of this. In an attempt to draw the investigation away from herself, the recent widow tried (unsuccessfully) to frame the male servant who had initially discovered her. She told the police that she had found some of the stolen jewellery in the servant’s possession, including a pearl. Alas for her, a jeweller recognised it as the gem Marguerite had asked the jeweller to dismount from her ring, after the murders took place. So she must have hid it in her servants wallet later on.

Being confronted with her lies, Marguerite at long last accused Alexander Wolff, the son of her old cook Mariette. Alexander Wolff, a horse dealer, called her a vile lying whore. Lucky for him, the police soon proved him entirely innocent.

alexander wolff
On the left: Alexander Wolff accused of the murders by Marguerite Steinheil. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Marguerite’s wild accusations and tampering with evidence,  heightened the suspicion against her and finally led to her arrest. She was charged with murder and sent to Saint-Lazare to await her trial.
At that time Saint-Lazare was a gloomy prison for women, housing mostly prostitutes and female thieves. None other than Toulouse-Lautrec (signing as Treclau) illustrated Aristide Bruant’s song ‘A Saint-Lazare’.

a saint lazare
Left: ‘A Saint-Lazare‘ by Aristide Bruant, published by himself (Paris in 1887) and illustrated by Treclau (Toulouse-Lautrec). Not in our collection, Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Right: Madame Steinheil in Saint-Lazare (1909). Picture from her memoirs.

In contrast to Bruant’s reputation of singing with a thunderous voice, the wonderful Barbara gave a delicate enactment of the song:
“C’est de la prison que je t’écris mon pauvre Polyte
Et si t’aime bien ta petite souris réponds moi vite…”

The press covered every aspect of the Steinheil murders, the investigation, the arrest, the imprisonment and the trial. Conspirationists pretended that Marguerite had —almost a decade before— also poisoned president Félix Faure.

steinheil avocat
Marguerite and her lawyer during her trial. Le Petit Parisien, Supplément Littéraire Illustré, November 7th,1909.

The trial revealed all her lies and tampering. However, because there was no motive and only indirect evidence of any physical involvement with the murders, she was unexpectedly acquitted and released.

lettre steinheil & procureur
Left: caricature of the attorney during the trial holding in his arms Marguerite’s husband and President Faure (only clad in his shirt). Right: ‘Lettre à Madame Steinheil‘ by Dalbret, published by Valentin Pannier (Paris, sd) and illustrated by Léon Pousthomis (source: MédiHAL).

Following her acquittal Marguerite got another nickname: La Veuve Joyeuse after Franz Lehar’s Die Lüstige Witwe (The Merry Widow). The first production of this operetta in Paris had been in April of the same year.

steinheil veuve joyeuse

veuve joyeuse
Heure exquise‘ from ‘La Veuve Joyeuse’ by Franz Léhar, published by Max Eschig (Paris, 1909) and illustrated by Georges Dola.

Nonetheless, Marguerite didn’t remain a widow for very long. She changed her name to Madame de Serignac, moved to England where she married into the British aristocracy in 1917 and became Lady d’Abinger.

Marguerite’s faithful cook Mariette stayed in France. She was an important witness at the trial and was described as follows: “Mariette looks an old peasant woman from one of Balzac’s novels. (…) Her nose is strong, and her eyes are terrible—but when she wants to, she can soften their expression. There is hardly any interval between the nose and the stubborn little chin, which reminds one of a dried-up crabapple.”

mariette wolff steinheil
Mariette Wolff, the cook of Marguerite Steinheil.

Notwithstanding that her mistress had accused her son Alexander of the murders, Mariette remained a very loyal servant. At the trial she had said nothing that could possibly harm her boss: “When one is a domestic, one must see everything but say nothing.” This allegiance was not reciprocal. In her 1920 memoir Marguerite wrote: “She had a terrifying appearance, the old Mariette, with her eyes that flashed angrily, her threatening jaw, and her big clenched fists.” Marguerite even hinted that Mariette was implicated in the murders…

Oddly, after the trial Mariette Wolff became a well-known billposter for the publicity firm Gabert.

wolf afficheuse1
Mariette Wolff as a billposter in december 1909. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Her new boss, monsieur Gabert, had astutely reckoned that her notoriety could well attract the best crowd…

Photo Mariette Wolff attracting a crowd in 1909.
Mariette Wolff as a billposter attracting a huge crowd in december 1909. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Apart from being an advertiser Gabert was also a keen supporter of feminism and women’s suffrage. He would support the right for women to vote in the elections of 1912. But back in 1908 he already made his point by hiring the first female billposter, until then a profession reserved for men.

premiere colleuse
The first female billposter in Paris. Le Petit Journal, 11 october 1908.

Soon onlookers and photographers would assemble around Gabert’s ‘colleuses d’affiches’. These controversial women in a ‘male’ profession first gave rise to surprise and incredulity. But soon they would turn into a spectacle, appearing on postcards as if they were a curio.

eerste colleuse 3 copy
Left: The first female billposter. Right: Paris-Féministe – New professions for women: the billposter.
Belgium had to wait for the first female billposter till 1916.
eerste colleuse belgie 1916
A new Brussels profession, January 1916. Royal Library of Belgium
But back to our story. The mystery of the two murders has never been solved. Though according to the lyrics on our leaflet Marguerite was guilty as hell: “Elle va bientôt lâcher le morceau, ou d’ venir marteau. Mais cett’ femm’ si belle, est bien criminelle!”
And as to her spot of bother with Faure well, presidents will be presidents, won’t they?
hollande
Front page of the French magazine Closer revealing the French president’s supposed secret trysts with Julie Gayet. (2014)

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