ROSS VERLAG MOVIE STAR POST CARDS CHECKLIST PROJECT

THE BEGINNING -- ROTOPHOT AND FILM STERNE

The origins of Ross Verlag can be traced back to the earlier Rotophot postcard company.   Rotophot began in Germany around the turn of the century (1900) and published many assorted German and English postcards, including those of theater stars.

Around 1916 Rotophot began publishing movie star postcards under a series of cards known as Film Sterne.   At this point, motion pictures had been in existence for around 20 years.   The Rotophot symbol RPH was part of the Film Sterne logo.   The Rotophot cards had earlier began to include a drawing of a horse as part of their logo.   "Ross" is a German word for "horse."

There were three separate series of this generation of Rotophot postcards:   Bühnesterne (stage stars) which ran from #1 to #30, Film Sterne (film stars) which ran from #61 to about #200, and Film Scene cards which ran from #500 through around #600.   Some of the early Film Sterne cards had only "Film" on the logo.

The Ross name first appeared at the end of the run of the Film Sterne style cards, on a transitional card before the more common Ross Verlag cards began to be produced.   There were very few of these transitional cards with both the Ross name and RPH logo.   The first true Ross style card also had the Film Sterne logo printed on the back of the cards.   This only lasted for a short while, and then the Film Sterne/Rotophot logo was dropped completely.

The more familiar Ross cards first appeared in the early 1920's.   On the front of the card were the words: Verlag "Ross" Berlin SW68.   Verlag is the German word for publishing company.   SW stands for Southwest and 68 is an area code in that region of Berlin.

Both the Film Sterne and the majority of the Ross Verlag cards are numbered.   The numbering system includes a series number, then a slash followed by a card number (for example: 3112/2).   A few of the cards in the 200 group had only a series number without the slash or card number.   The card numbers of a particular series would be of one particular actress or group of actors or a film (for example, 3351/1, 3351/2, 3351/3 all show actress Greta Garbo).   Usually a set of cards of one or more actors would be from the same film (although not always).   Some of the film scene cards go as high as 20 cards to a series, but generally each series had far fewer cards.   The majority of the cards probably had only one card to a series, particularly in the later years.   The Ross card numbers went up to 9997/1 and then started over again with another series that began with the letter "A".   These cards began at A 1000 and continue to A 4096.

Around card number 1930/1 (in the year 1928), the Verlag "Ross" Berlin SW68 on the cards changed to simply "Ross" Verlag.   Until about card A 2660 (second series run in 1939), the cards said "Ross" Verlag with many of the cards having a mixture of English and German spelling of the words "Reproduction verboten" printed on the front of the cards.   After A 2660, the cards say Ross-Verlag, without the parenthesis and with a dash.   "Reproduktion verboten" is also now printed stictly with the German spelling.   At around A 3427/1 in 1941, The Ross-Verlag name changed to Film-Foto-Verlag, which it remained for the rest of the run.   The cards stopped being published around 1944.

Around the 5500 to 5900 series, about 1931, the card stock changed from a white to yellow color, for reasons unknown.   Although most of the Ross postcards were printed in black and white, a few were color tinted.   The hand coloring occured mainly with the white stock and rarely with the yellow.

There are two types of movie star postcards by Ross:   the actor cards which show one or more actors with their names printed underneath; and the film scene cards, which are similar to a movie still, and feature a scene from the movie.   The film scene cards print the name of the film (sometimes in several different languages), as well as (usually) the actors portrayed.   Most of the actor cards show scenes from films, of course, but they are not labeled as such.   Cards with more than one actor were called "Doppelbildnisse."   Film scene cards were referred to as "Szenen-Postkarten."

It is somewhat confusing, but Film Sterne and Ross Verlag were part of the same series of cards and the Ross numbering continued on from where Film Sterne ended.   What makes it difficult to follow is that the actor and film scene cards were seen as two different series in the beginning.   Film Sterne actor cards started at #61 and continued until around #200 and then Ross Verlag took over.   These Ross actor cards ran until #600.   The Film Sterne film scene cards began at #500 and continued until around #600.   Then the Ross film scene cards took over and ran through near #700.   Past #700 the Ross actor cards continued for the remainder of the series.   But the Ross film scene cards then took over at the beginning of the numbering #1 and ran until #200.   So the Film Sterne and Ross numbering occasionally overlapped on the different actor and film scene series.  

Some of the early numbers (for example #24) of the Ross named cards have both an earlier film scene card and a later actor card.   Also, some of the cards I and others have discovered with lower numbers may have been part of a seperate series (for example #15, the Zeppelin card).   It is difficult to say.

I have not yet heard of anyone coming across card #1.

This is the general order of the publishing, with some overlapping:

FIRST
61-200     Film Sterne actor cards.
500-600     Film Sterne film scene cards.

SECOND
200-600     Ross actor cards.
600-700     Ross film scene cards.

THIRD
700-9997     Ross actor cards (occassional film scene card.)
1(?)-200     Ross film scene cards (and others).

FOURTH
A1000-A4096   Ross actor cards

Here is the approximate dating of the Ross cards by series numbers:

1-200                   1925-1935

200-600               1919-1924

600-700               1919-1924

700-1000             1925-1926

1000-2100           1927-1928

3000-4000           1928-1929

4000-5000           1929-1930

5000-6000           1930-1931

6000-7000           1931-1932

7000-8000           1932-1933

8000-9000           1933-1934

9000-9997           1935-1936

A 1000-A 2000     1937-1938

A 2000-A 3000     1939-1940

A 3000-A 4096     1941-1944

The "Ross" of "Ross verlag" was an actual person named Heinrich Ross.   There is very little information known about him.   He was born on August 10th, 1870.   In 1912, he founded his publishing firm Ross-Bromsilber-Vertriebs-G.m.b.H.   He was also on the board of directors of Rotophot.   A German film magazine from 1930 refers to him as "The Father of the Artist Postcard."   He is believed to have immigrated with his daughter to America in the mid to late 1930's.   This would suggest perhaps that Mr. Ross may have been Jewish.   I have had no luck finding out what may have happened to him after he came to America.

Around 1937, the Ross Verlag firm was apparently a subsidiary of a film company known as Tobis Filmkunst G.m.b.H.   Although there is a Tobis Filmkunst G.m.b.H in existence in Germany today, it has no connection to the original Tobis.   The foundation that handles the archives of the original Tobis has no information on Ross Verlag.   They believe that most of the records were probably lost in the war.

During WWII, all film companies in Germany were owned by the government, so more than likely Ross verlag also came under National Socialist (Nazi) control.   The Ross Verlag name does appear on propaganda postcards related to the war effort.   Postcards of known Jewish performers were no longer advertised for sale or being published at this time.

Ross Verlag seemed to disappear by the end of the war, but the Film-Foto-Verlag name did reappear in the early to mid 1950's for a short while.   It soon changed to UFA/Film-Foto.   Whether this company had any links to the original Ross is unknown.

Although Ross postcards were probably available in drug stores and the like, they could also be obtained through the mail and were advertised in German movie magazines such as Filmwoche and Film Im Bild.   They could be ordered from the magazines or through Ross verlag directly.   The cards were published quarterly for most of their run, although at the beginning they were not printed as often.

Here is the address given for the Ross company:

"Ross" verlag
Berlin SW 68 Alexandrinenstrasse 110

And their phone number:   Dönhoff 1218-1219

(Go ahead and order those Louise Brooks and Josephine Baker cards!)

American stars first appeared on Ross cards in 1922.   Since many international stars also had careers in the United States, it is difficult to say exactly which American star was first.   Pola Negri's career was based in Germany when her cards were first published.   Charlie Chaplin appeared on an early Pola Negri card (although British, Chaplin's career was based in America).   Priscilla Dean seems to be the first American actress to appear on a Ross card.   Towards the end of the run, during the war years, the cards were predominately German actors, although American stars still occasionally appeared.   When the USA entered WWII, cards of American stars stopped being published.   The last American star to be featured on the card was Randolph Scott (A 3200 in 1941).  There were also non-film related subjects who appeared such as Charles Lindbergh, Albert Einstein and Miss Poland 1930.

There are at least seven series of Ross cards.   The main Ross Verlag set (which runs from 1/1(?) to 9997/1), the second A series (which runs from A 1000/1 to A 4096/1), and the smaller runs of K, G, W series and the Ross Luxus series.   There was also a 800 series of regular sized postcards of American stars.   Ross Luxus, K, G and W were a little larger than the regular postcards.   (The standard Ross postcards are 5 6/16 X 3 6/16 inches;  Ross Luxus are 5 12/16 X 4 1/16 inches).   There is also another series of unnumbered Ross postcards of an undetermined quantity that say "Das Program von Heute" (Program of the day) on the back.   These were made of a thinner, cheaper, brown cardboard.   These were published as part of a movie program.   There is also a postcard album designed solely for these cards.

Some of the regular Ross cards were also printed without numbers .   These may have been designed to be sent to film studios and to actors to be autographed and given to fans.   In Germany, there are a large number of vintage autographed movie star postcards, and collecting them is a hobby unto itself.   Many of these autographed cards are of the numbered variety too, although these may have been signed many years later.

It is estimated that there are between 15,000 and 30,000 different Ross verlag postcards that were published.

Ross also put out tobacco cards.   These were sold in packs and carton of cigarettes in Germany (and a few other countries).   Most had numbers on the back and were designed to be pasted into books.   Most of these were much smaller than postcards and came in various sizes.   One size was actually larger than a postcard (7 1/16 X 5 1/16) and were unnumbered.   Only occasionally were these found with the cigarette company name stamped on the back.

There was also a group of cigarette cards sold that were intended to be pasted into two books, one on the history of silent film in Germany, and one on the history of sound film in that country.   These cards came in two sizes.

Also sold were smaller unnumbered photos (2 12/16 X 1 13/16), similar in size to tobacco cards, but sold in packs of ten.   These smaller photos also appeared grouped together in fours on regular size postcards, and in groups of ten on larger cards.   The Ross name also appeared on postage stamps and books related to movie stars.

England published a series of cards that had the Ross numbers on them without the Ross Verlag name.   They had the word "Foreign" in one corner of the card.   These were handtinted cards.   Italy also published the Ross cards with the name and numbers of Ross on the card, but the Italian publishers name also on the back (Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze).   France seemed to have published a line of Ross cards in a F Series, as well as the regular German Ross cards in a larger format.

Many of the A series cards were published during WWII, and were probably only distributed through those countries occupied by or friendly to Germany.   Many American stars were still being published until Germany declared war on the USA in 1941.   Some of the stars featured include John Wayne, Ingrid Bergman, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Laurel & Hardy, James Stewart and others.