Truus van Aalten: Stuff

Content:

Stuff - Other Things

Movie Posters, etc

Poster for Die Sieben Töchter der Frau Gyurkovics. Sweden (?), 1926.

Poster for Die Sieben Töchter der Frau Gyurkovics. Sweden, 1926.

Poster for Sechs Mädchen suchen Nachtquartier. Russia (?), 1928.

Poster for Susanne Macht Ordnung. Sweden, 1930.

Courtesy of Richard Finegan (Click to enlarge.)

In 1986 the DDR Filmmuseum in Potsdam had a poster for Truus' 1929 film Ich hab' mein Herz im Autobus verloren, and I expect it's still there.

Movie Kuriers

(Click to enlarge.)

Movie Programme: Het Meisje met den Blauwen Hoed

Found (in a private collection) and photographed by Film Historian Daniel van Waalwijk. (Click to enlarge.)

Photos

15x20cm photo - Ross, Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

30x23.5cm stills from Jenny's Bummel durch die Männer (1929). (Click to enlarge.)

Calendars

This delightful little calendar (it's just 75mm tall) was originally owned by Truus herself. (Click to enlarge.)

Dutch calendar page, c1932. (Click to enlarge.)

"OUR TRUUS - Truus van Aalten helps to promote the Dutch element in the film industry. She symbolises the tiny (but just-possible) chance that an ordinary girl can become part of the movie world. Truus is famous in Berlin, attracting audiences - and contracts! Her career is progressing so well a German film journal has already used the word "prominent" referring to our Truusje. With journalists hailing her like that, we don't have to worry about her future!"

(Generously donated by Saskia Hahn. Translation: Elte Rauch.)

Advertising

Advertising postcard for Bubisan hair products. Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

Ad for Jantzen swimsuits. Printed in Deutche Illustrierte #25, 19 June 1928. Kindly scanned by Titia in Holland. (Click to enlarge.)

Jantzen is still regarded as the best swimsuit you can buy - they were a very high-class firm, and only used big film stars in their advertisements. The JV Grünwald store which placed this ad seems to no longer exist.

Advertising postcard for the Kivou Cocoa & Chocolate company, Vilvoorde, Belgium.

Identical cards were produced for the Dutch chocolate and sugar company De Faam. (Click to enlarge.)

Pages of Marylan-Creme booklets. Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

Magazine ad for Ross Verlag movie-star postcards. Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

Lux Soap ad in Photoplay, USA, December 1930. (Click to enlarge.)

When Truus started working under contract as a junior starlet at the Ufa studio in Berlin, she had to learn to act. The best way to do that was for her bosses to put her into as many films as possible, including features, shorts and even cinema adverts. One product she was lent out to endorse that she remembered for the rest of her life was Scherk facial cleanser. "This is really magnificent!" she gushes. "I was so fed up with my complexion, but now it's pure and smooth. Scherk really helped me." What nobody knew, and the reason Truus remembered the stuff, was that it smelt revolting! (Click to enlarge.)

Other Stuff

4-page leaflet advertising the opening of a new cinema complex in Berlin's Kaiserallee, with messages of congratulation from various film stars inside.

Owners of the five Staar cinemas in Berlin, Fritz and Eva Staar became two of Truus' best friends, and were supportive years later when she needed help. The Staars were Jewish, so what became of them during the war is anybody's guess... (Click to enlarge.)

Bensdorp Chocolate card. Netherlands, c1934. Courtesy of Kees Kleihues van Tol. (Click to enlarge.)

An unusual coloured album card, country unknown. (Click to enlarge.)

Cards given free with Cloetta Örn ("Eagle") cocoa. Sweden. (Click to enlarge.)

Newspaper ad for the Gala Premiere of Truus' only Dutch-language film. (Click to enlarge.)

Mystery card - blank on the back. (Click to enlarge.)

Card #A:50 given free with Effka margarine. Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

Card given free with Haas Brothers foods. Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

Cards given free with De Beukelaer biscuits in 1930. These are #109 of the UK and Belgian series. (Click to enlarge.)

In April 1928 Truus attended an international film exhibition, the Internationale Tentoonstelling op Filmgebied, in the Hague. She was amazed to get the full red carpet treatment, particularly when composer Alexander de Haas performed this song (later printed in issue 223 of Het Weekblad Cinema & Theater, and a lot funnier in the original Dutch) for her. de Haas was a well-known writer and singer, and years later would be one of the writers of Truus' only Dutch film, Het Meisje met den Blauwen Hoed.

A SONG FOR OUR TRUUS

Welcome blonde Truus van Aalten, Back to your motherland, Where – not so long ago – You were still lying in your cot. Finally you’ve returned from the world of romance, To the land of rain and mist, slush and rheumatism.

As an unknown teenager you left this place, A glamourous Film Star you've returned. The fantasy of all young girls, You made it come true over there, So now you have many a girl Gazing at you full of awe.

And even though the wise old men may say That a prophet is never worshipped in his own land You don’t listen to these stories, Because a prophet with eyes like yours Gets honour and respect, Far away and on her own soil too!!

What makes us Dutch so happy and so proud Is that you with your comedy, true star, Avoid the cheap laugh, mocking or cruelty, And you did not - thank goodness – give away your name - You stayed Truus instead of Mia, Asta, Pola or Renee.

If you will carry on On this path where your talent brought you Then don’t forget that this small country named Holland Expects just one thing of our young star: Stay the unspoiled child With open eye and open heart Keep in touch with your native Dutch simplicity Wherever you travel through the whole world!

(Courtesy of Kathinka Dittrich van Weringh, translated by Elte Rauch, 2008.)

(Click to enlarge - then find a piano and play it!)

DVD: 1929 - uw geboortejaar in beeld. The title translates as "1929: Your Birth Year In Pictures", and one of the items featured is footage of director Jaap Speyer and Truus shooting a sequence for the feature film Jenny's Bummel durch die Männer on Scheveningen pier. Tijdsbeeld Media, Netherlands, 2009.

Many thanks to Sally Mens for finding this. (Click to enlarge)

Got a time-machine? Get in it and go back to 1950 - here is Truus' own phone number in Amsterdam's Cliostraat (discovered by super-researcher Sally Mens) - give her a ring!

DVD of Het Meisje... Filmuseum #TDM F 5144. Netherlands, 2006.

Truus T-Shirt - one-off design owned by Roger Mitchell, 2007.

78rpm record from the soundtrack of Ausflug in's Leben, owned by Film and Audio Historian Daniel van Waalwijk. (Click to enlarge.)

This item is included not because you'll hear Truus singing on it, but because you won't. There is no evidence that Truus ever sang anything - which is odd considering the number of musicals and revues in which she appeared. Is it possible that she COULDN'T SING?

If you'd like to hear this record, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQeObtSJD3U

Jump to Menu