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ARCo’s first Blenheim (G-MKIV) was recovered from Canada and underwent a 12 year restoration project by a small team, who brought the aircraft back to flight in May 1987. In a terrible incident for all involved, the Blenheim was badly damaged in a crash just one month after its first flight.
Harnessing all their determination to get a Blenheim back in the air, the same team of volunteers strove over to restore a second Blenheim, G-BPIV, and in June 1993, she took to the skies, before being rolled out in public at her IWM Duxford home. After a decade of successful operations, tragedy struck again when the Blenheim team suffered another crash, this time a landing accident at Duxford in 2003. The team behind the Blenheim’s upkeep did not, however, give in, and a trust was formed to protect the aircraft’s future in the UK. The ARCo was contracted to provide two full-time engineers to the restoration project undertaken by Blenheim Duxford Limited which has seen the Blenheim converted to Mk.I standard with the earlier, shorter nose. On the 20th November 2014, to the delight of all concerned, she flew once again.
mercenary mech contract bounded, payment will be completed at the end of the task, no refunds.
later today you'll see the debut of the Mframe prototype mech.
on a side note: Go buy nexo knights, lets keep this theme alive! it is super awesome
April 1st 2019 saw the contract to shunt Eastleigh East yard awarded to GBRf from DB Cargo, spelling the end of mundane red sheds on the shunts, the former EWS 08's having disappeared years ago. A very welcome change sees 2 (but planned to be 3) RSS liveried 08's hired in for the work. The image depicts 08511 propelling back a lengthy rake of MTA / MHA / MPA four wheelers loaded with sharp sand. Loading of these by mechanical grab had finished a couple of hours previously at the virtual quarry, using the "by pass" line that is used by the stone trains to Eastleigh's stone terminal. This rake was subsequently split with approx. 2/3 of the loaded wagons positioned for a later northbound departure (Hinksey trip in the early afternoon?) and the balance being deposited in the sidings adjacent to the loco holding sidings (LHS). Wednesday 10 April 2019
The New Contract Missions are now open. Each month a new list of people of interest is posted with details on how you can build your mission and what you win of you complete it. Check it out on Eurobricks.com in The Great Brick War!
Pictured is a Royal Air Force Typhoon pilot in front of his Typhoon FGR4 (with groundcrew) in Latvia.
The Typhoon FGR4 provides the RAF with a highly capable and extremely agile multi-role combat aircraft, capable of being deployed in the full spectrum of air operations, including air policing, peace support and high intensity conflict.
Initially deployed in the air-to-air role as the Typhoon F2, the aircraft now has a potent and precise multirole capability.
The pilot can carry out many functions by voice command or through a hands-on stick and throttle system. Combined with an advanced cockpit and the HEA (Helmet equipment assembly) the pilot is superbly equipped for all aspects of air operations.
Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain formally agreed to start development of the aircraft in 1988 with contracts for a first batch of 148 aircraft – of which 53 were for the RAF – signed ten years later. Deliveries to the RAF started in 2003 to 17(R) Sqn who were based at BAE Systems Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire (alongside the factory where the aircraft were assembled) while detailed development and testing of the aircraft was carried out. Formal activation of the first Typhoon Squadron at RAF Coningsby occurred on the 1st Jul 2005.
The aircraft took over responsibility for UK QRA on 29 Jun 2007 and was formally declared as an advanced Air Defence platform on 1 Jan 2008.
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© Crown Copyright 2014
Photographer: Cpl Dave Blackburn
Image 45160577.jpg from www.defenceimages.mod.uk
This image is available for high resolution download at www.defenceimagery.mod.uk subject to the terms and conditions of the Open Government License at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/. Search for image number 45160577.jpg
For latest news visit www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence
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Nu er toch geen toeristen komen is het een ideale gelegenheid het stadhuis van Dordrecht eens flink in onderhoud te nemen.Om de vaart er in te houden hebben ze de klok ook maar verwijderd.....lijkt het.
The 6E70 BR Railfreight Distribution Contract Services train comprising empty chemicals tanks being returned to Teeside from the West Midlands was recorded passing Milford South. RfD Class 47/3 47349 had charge of the 11:35 Bescot Yard to ICI Haverton Hill Exchange Sidings.
All images on this site are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed written permission of the photographer. All rights reserved – Copyright Don Gatehouse
Poynters 22 (N22 POY) a Dennis Trident/East Lancs Lolyne, photographed along Royal Oak Way, Daventry with an afternoon school contract on the 25th September 2023.
The last ALX400 bodied DB250 now in service with Arriva is AKS 6007 (KL52 CWW), which was new to The Shires for London Transport contracts at Watford. This is expected to be withdrawn shortly as newer double deckers are being cascaded in from eleswhere.
Hornibrook was born in Ann Street, Brisbane in 1893 and commenced an apprenticeship as a carpenter at an early age. In 1913 he formed a partnership with George Fockes and two years later he opened his own contracting business. By the 1950s Manuel Hornibrook (later Sir), was the largest building contractor in Queensland.
Hornibrook concentrated on residential work for the first few years until he secured several civil engineering contracts in 1918, including stormwater drainage and sewerage systems for different metropolitan shire councils. Building projects he was involved in included: improvements to the Queensland National Bank, Queen Street which involved remodelling of the banking chamber; the first section of a ginnery at Whinstanes; bulk stores in James Street, the Valley; large bulk stores at Newstead for Dalgety and Co; the Savoy Theatre at Clayfield; and numerous other works in and around Brisbane.
In addition to buildings and drainage systems, Hornibrook built 100 bridges during his career, including the William Jolly Bridge (1927-1932) and the Hornibrook Highway Bridge at Redcliffe (1932-1935), which he actually conceived, organised finance for and constructed. In 1935 Hornibrook Constructions (Pty) Ltd and another Queensland firm, Evans Deakin, won the contract to construct the Story Bridge. When the bridge was opened five years later on 6 July 1940 it was Australia’s second largest bridge.
Hornibrook purchased this property in 1940, the year that the Story Bridge was completed, with the intention of expanding his business. His headquarters had been at James Street, Fortitude Valley, and he also had offices in Kangaroo Point and Bowen Hills. His new office on Breakfast Creek Road was first listed in Post Office Directories in 1941. It was built in an unusual style mixing Georgian and Art Deco features. The modern building was a fitting symbol of Hornibrook’s considerable stature as a builder and engineering contractor. In the late 1920s Breakfast Creek Road was predicted to become ‘a thoroughfare lined with palatial residences’. This may have influenced Hornibrook’s chosen design for his new headquarters, which, although being a commercial building, is a residential style. Despite the predictions of its becoming residential in nature, Breakfast Creek Road became an important inner urban commercial and industrial strip.
During the Second World War Hornibrook Constructions was involved in war contracts. After the war, the company undertook several major works including Northbrook Bridge in 1950, the Breakfast Creek Bridge just near the Company’s office around 1951, Victoria Bridge in 1969 and the shell roofs of the Sydney Opera House, completed in 1973. In April 1969 the Crown bought the property from M.R. Hornibrook and the Department of Primary Industries occupied the building until August 1992 when approval was given to sell the premises. In October 1992 after refurbishing the building the Queensland Principal Club moved in.
Source: Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
(Camera settings)
Camera: FinePix HS20EXR (FUJIFILM)
Focal Length: 8 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
Big Lemon Volvo B10M coach V9 VSN seen in Hove awaiting passengers. Every Monday - Friday V9 heads to London and a Mercedes is used locally on a shuttle service for the same customer.
Recently found 8x10 lobby/PR photo from the movie "The Marseilles Contract" (1974) starring Michael Caine's stunt double.
German postcard by Ross Verlag in the Luxus series, no. 657 (Schwarz Chamois version). Photo: Clarence Sinclair Bull / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice, 1931).
Swedish Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was one of the greatest and most glamorous film stars ever produced by the Hollywood studio system. She was part of the Golden Age of the silent cinema of the 1920s and was one of the few actors who made a glorious transition to the talkies. She started her career in European cinema and would always stay more popular in Europe than in the USA.
She was born as Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm. When she was 14 her father died, leaving the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and work as a clerk in the department store PUB, where she also would model for newspaper ads. She photographed beautifully. Her first film aspirations came when she appeared in two short film advertisements, Herr och fru Stockholm (Ragnar Ring, 1920) and Konsum Stockholm Promo (Ragnar Ring, 1921). They were seen by director Erik Arthur Petschler who gave her a small part as a bathing beauty in his comedy Luffar-Petter (Erik A. Petschler, 1922). From 1922 to 1924, she studied at Dramaten, the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. She met Mauritz Stiller, who was Sweden's foremost filmmaker in the early 1920s. He trained the 18-year-old in cinema acting techniques and gave her the stage name Greta Garbo. Stiller cast her in a major role opposite Lars Hanson in Gösta Berlings Saga (Mauritz Stiller, 1924). This dramatisation of a novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf was internationally successful and made Greta a minor star. On the strength of Gösta Berling, she was cast in the German prostitution and depression melodrama Die Freudlose Gasse (G.W. Pabst, 1925), in which she co-starred with the legendary Danish star Asta Nielsen.
And then Hollywood called. Louis B. Mayer invited Stiller to work for MGM when Gösta Berlings Saga caught his attention. On viewing the film, Mayer admired Stiller's direction but was unimpressed with Garbo's acting and screen presence. Stiller insisted on bringing his protégé to Hollywood, thus, Mayer contracted her as well. Garbo’s relationship with Mauritz Stiller came to an end as her fame in Hollywood grew and he struggled in the studio system. In 1928 Stiller was fired by MGM and returned to Sweden, where he died soon after. Garbo retired in 1949 after making some screentests for a never realised film project. She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with such personalities as Aristotle Onassis and Cecil Beaton, and spent the rest of her time gardening flowers and vegetables. In 1954, she was given a special Oscar ‘for her unforgettable performances, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked her as the fifth greatest female star of all time.
Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
A young Mt Goat kid negotiates a model contract with the photographer, Dennis E Kirkland. I have had many people ask me if I had ever had close encounters with the wildlife I have photographed. The answer is yes, but I usually don't have someone (in this case, my wife) photographing me while I have these encounters...they are great fun! Best viewed large. All rights reserved.
I saw a picture of this ex Australian Army Scammell Contractor tank transporter that'd been converted to a tipper here on Flickr around 2011, and when I was on holiday there in 2018 I decided to see if the 1971 built machine was still around.
With not much time or information I managed to track it down even though it'd moved location to a coal mine which was impossible to access without induction training!
Never mind, at least the old girl was parked fairly near the fence!
During the ‘naughties’ I paid a few visits to Crosshaven on the west side of Cork Harbour as it offered a good location for ship photography.
Located above Crosshaven is the impressive bastion of Camden Fort Meagher.
Today it is a museum and tourist attraction which I must visit when I get to return to Cork. However, back then it was an abandoned site which was firmly locked up with two substantial gates one each side of a bridge over a very deep, dry moat.
However, when I visited on July 29, 2006 both the outer and inner pedestrian gates were open!
There was no sign of life.
I couldn't resist the temptation to take a quick look inside!
However, being aware that should the gates be closed and locked I would have no means of escape and having left my mobile phone in my car I would have had no means of summoning help.
Hence, I only spent about 10 minutes inside and didn’t wander far beyond the view of the entrance.
In the early 2000s this historic site faced and uncertain future but by the 2013 when I sailed past on the MV BOUDICCA restoration was clearly underway. I was pleased to see it featured in a recent episode of UKTV Play’s Underground Worlds.
A Short History of Fort Meagher
Fort Meagher was originally constructed by the British Military along with other coastal defences in the Cork Harbour area during the Napoleonic Wars. During the British rule the fort bore the name Fort Camden - after the second Early of Camden, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1795. It occupies a 60 acre site 200 feet above sea level.
Fort Meagher is situated on the west side of the entrance to Cork Harbour. On the opposite side of the entrance lies Fort Davis (Fort Carlisle) which is still used by the Irish Army.
Between 1850 and 1865 the fort served as a convict prison. It was returned to military use being extended and extended present size during the period 1875 to 1880 using both contract and convict labour from the nearby Spike Island convict prison.
During this extension 30 additional guns were installed
A narrow gauge railway was installed to handle torpedoes in the 1890s, remains of the tracks are visible down on the quay.
There is a tunnel engineered to house a torpedo system invented by Louis Philip Brennan on the site as well as other extensive underground tunnels and a large underground magazine
Along with other military bases in the Cork Harbour area the British garrison remained 1938. However with war clouds looming in Europe and the presence of the British military threatening Irish neutrality the British withdrew on July 11, 1938 from Cork Harbour, along with the other "Treaty Ports", and they were handed over to the then Irish Free State Army.
The Irish Army renamed the fort after Thomas Francis Meagher. Meagher was born in the City of Waterford, Ireland, in 1823. He was educated at Stonyhurst College, in Lancashire, England and played a key part in the Young Ireland Rebellion in 1848.
After the rebellion he was sentenced to transportation to a penal colony in Tasmania from where he escaped to the United States of America.
He fought on the Union side in the American Civil War rising to the rank of Brigadier General, following the war he became Governor of Montana and died in a drowning "accident" in 1867.
Fort Meagher was occupied by the army during "The Emergency" as WWII is often referred to in Ireland. Following the war it was used by the Irish Naval Service.
In 1989 the fort was sold to Cork County Council. It is now a museum and open April to October each year.
More photographs of Camden Fort Meagher can be found here: www.jhluxton.com/Ireland/County-Cork/Camden-Fort-Meagher/
20190220_1731_7D2-200 KB Contracting Iveco on Pound Road
Heading north beside the airport on Pound Road. The white-topped structure on the left is part of the landing instrumentation at the south end of the main runway (#02/#20) at Christchurch.
#10493
The United Auto Workers union has voted to approve a tentative labor deal with General Motors Co. clearing the path for members to vote on the proposal, which presents significant wage gains and job commitments for the next four years.
UAW officials didn’t disclose details of the tentative pact, ...
www.thehrdigest.com/general-motors-and-u-a-w-reach-tentat...
Whitney quickly found Elizabeth and Adele in the coffeeshop. Whitney read through the provisions in the renter's agreement, taking her time to scroll through the agreement on Adele's notepad.
Adele: "As you'll see, this is a standard renter's agreement for six months. Elizabeth as the landlord reserves the right to inspect the property, and --"
Whitney: "I don't see anything about adding a wall so cars don't drive through my living room or a railing so I don't fall out of my bed. Either I wait to sign the agreement until these items are addressed, or the rent is too expensive."
Elizabeth was visibly getting irritated: "I said Bobby and his crew will inspect the property and repair any safety hazards for you."
Whitney: "Including adding a wall so Don Buzzle doesn't mow us down with his car in our own living room?"
Elizabeth: [sternly] "Of course."
Whitney: "Great! Just notify me when the lease is ready to be signed. I'm now going to go tell my cousin the good news. We're moving!"
Whitney left.....
Elizabeth: "This is going to be a nightmare, isn't it?"
Adele: "Being a landlord isn't for everyone. Are you sure you wouldn't rather just sell her the property?"
Elizabeth:"No, that's not an option. That's my home."
Adele excuses herself to begin amending the lease, remarking to herself, great -- stubborn client, stubborn renter.
Mexican postcard by Sello, no. 216. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
On 25 November 2020, Mexican singer and actress Flor Silvestre (1930-2020) passed away. She was one of the most prominent and successful performers of Mexican and Latin American music and was a star of classic Mexican films. Famous for her melodious voice and unique singing style, she was nicknamed "La Sentimental" (The Sentimental One) and "La Voz Que Acaricia" (The Voice That Caresses). Her more than 70-year career included stage productions, radio programs, records, films, television programs, comics, and rodeo shows.
Flor Silvestre was born Guillermina Jiménez Chabolla in 1930 in Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico. She was the third child and second daughter of Jesús Jiménez Cervantes, a butcher, and María de Jesús Chabolla Peña. Her sisters Enriqueta and María de la Luz also became singers. Guillermina was raised in Salamanca and began singing at an early age. Her parents, who were also fond of singing, encouraged her to sing. She loved the mariachi music of famous Mexican singers Jorge Negrete and Lucha Reyes, and also sang songs that belonged to the pasodoble, tango, and bolero genres, which were popular in Mexico in the late 1930s. Her family moved to Mexico City and there she began her singing career. In 1943, when she was 13 years old, she debuted at the Teatro del Pueblo. Her next performance at the Teatro del Pueblo was in the play 'La soldadera' (The female soldier), directed by López Santillán. She played a girl who comes out of a railway wagon and sings 'La soldadera', a song written for her by José de Jesús Morales. The play was also broadcast by Mexico's national radio station, XEFO, and 'La soldadera' became the first song she performed on radio. XEFO announcer Arturo Blancas chose the title of Dolores del Río's film Flor Silvestre (Emilio Fernández, 1943), as the young singer's new stage name, so Guillermina Jiménez became Flor Silvestre, which means 'wild flower'. In 1945, she was announced as the "Alma de la Canción Ranchera" (Soul of the Ranchera Song), and in 1950, the year in which she emerged as a radio star, she was proclaimed the "Reina de la Canción Mexicana" (Queen of Mexican Song). In February 1950, she was a part of the "numerous, hybrid, but useful cast" of '¡A los toros!', a revue about bullfighting staged at the Teatro Tívoli. It was written and presented by announcer Paco Malgesto, who would become her second husband. In the revue, she sang Mexican musical numbers associated with bullfights. Also in 1950, she signed a contract with Columbia Records and recorded her first hits, which include 'Imposible olvidarte', 'Que Dios te perdone', and 'Pobre corazón'. In 1957, she began recording for Musart Records and became one of the label's exclusive artists with numerous best-selling singles, such as 'Cielo rojo', 'Renunciación', and 'Gracias'. Many of her hits charted on Cashbox Mexico's Best Sellers and Record World Latin American Single Hit Parade. She also participated in her husband Antonio Aguilar's musical rodeo shows.
Flor Silvestre made her film debut in 1949 singing in Te besaré en la boca/I will kiss you on the mouth (Fernando Cortés, 1950). In 1950, Flor signed a five-film contract with Gregorio Walerstein, a leading film producer known as "the Tsar of Mexican films" She made her acting debut in his production Primero soy mexicano/First I am Mexican (1950), co-starring Joaquín Pardavé (who also wrote and directed the film) and Luis Aguilar and featuring Francisco "Charro" Avitia. She was reunited with Luis Aguilar and Francisco Avitia in the film El tigre enmascarado/The masked tiger (Zacarías Gómez Urquiza, 1951). She then appeared as the leading lady of actor Dagoberto Rodríguez in a film trilogy, El lobo solitario/The lonely wolf (Vicente Oroná, 1952), La justicia del lobo/Wolf justice (Vicente Oroná, 1952), and Vuelve el lobo/The wolf returns (Vicente Oroná, 1952). Between 1950 and 1990, she appeared in more than seventy films. Beautiful and statuesque, she became one of the leading stars of the 'golden age' of the Mexican film industry. In 1955, she appeared in her first color film, La doncella de piedra/The stone maiden (Miguel M. Delgado, 1956), one of the first Mexican CinemaScope productions. An adaptation of Rómulo Gallegos' novel 'Sobre la misma tierra', the film features Flor Silvestre in the role of Cantaralia Barroso, the mother of the novel's protagonist, Remota Montiel (played by Elsa Aguirre). Silvestre played opposite famous comedians, such as Cantinflas in the Eastmancolor comedy El bolero de Raquel/Raquel's Shoeshiner (Miguel M. Delgado, 1957). She received for the first time top billing in Pueblo en Armas/People in arms (Miguel Contreras Torres, 1959) and its sequel ¡Viva la soldadera!/Long live the female soldiers!(Miguel Contreras Torres, 1960). Director Ismael Rodríguez gave her important roles in the Mexican Revolution epic La cucaracha/The Soldiers of Pancho Villa (Ismael Rodríguez, 1959) opposite María Félix and Dolores del Río, and Ánimas Trujano/The Important Man (Ismael Rodríguez, 1962) with Toshiro Mifune, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won a Golden Globe. In 1960, she starred opposite the popular comedy duo Viruta and Capulina in Dos locos en escena/Two Crazy Ones on the Scene (Agustín P. Delgado, 1960).
In 1973, Flor Silvestre played one of Pancho Villa's lovers in La muerte de Pancho Villa (Mario Hernández, 1973), and played Felipe Carrillo Puerto's wife, Isabel Palma, in Peregrina (Mario Hernández, 1974). She sang 'La palma' in Simón Blanco (Mario Hernández, 1975) and played the female leads in Don Herculano enamorado/Don Herculano in love (Mario Hernández, 1975), El moro de cumpas/The Moor of Cumpas (Mario Hernández, 1977), and Mi caballo el cantador/My horse the singer (Mario Hernández, 1979). She made her final film, Triste recuerdo/Sad memory (Mario Hernández, 1990). She was also the star of the comic book 'La Llanera Vengadora'. In 2013, the Association of Mexican Cinema Journalists honored her with the Special Silver Goddess Award. In 2015, her documentary 'Flor Silvestre: su destino fue querer' premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival. The 24-minute documentary features interviews with Flor Silvestre, who recounts her life and career; her five children, Dalia, Francisco, Marcela, Antonio, and Pepe; and singers Angélica María and Guadalupe Pineda. Flor Silvestre married her first husband, Andrés Nieto, in the 1940s. She gave birth to her first child, singer and dancer Dalia Inés Nieto, when she was 16 years old. Around 1953, Flor Silvestre married radio announcer and bullfighting chronicler Francisco Rubiales Calvo "Paco Malgesto", who would later become a famous presenter and pioneer of Mexican television. They had two children, translator Francisco Rubiales and singer and actress Marcela Rubiales. They lived in a house in Mexico City's Lindavista neighborhood. The couple separated and began divorce proceedings in 1958. Flor Silvestre's third and last husband was singer and actor Antonio Aguilar, who died in 2007. He was the love of her life. Their relationship began when they made the film El rayo de Sinaloa in 1957. They married in 1959 (or 1960, according to some sources) and had two sons who also became singers and actors, Antonio "Toño" Aguilar and José "Pepe" Aguilar. Aguilar built her a spacious home and ranch, El Soyate, northeast of Tayahua, Zacatecas. Flor Silvestre died on 25 November 2020 at her home in Villanueva, Zacatecas. She was 90.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
New to Edinburgh Coach Lines in April 2022 was this Mercedes-Benz Tourismo M/2 C57Ft integral registered BV22 WPA.
Carrying Globus contract livery, it is seen here visiting the National Museum of Scotland in the Scottish capital in July 2023.
Russian postcard by 'Goznak', Moscow, series 2, no. A 1725, 1927. The card was issued in an edition of 15.000 copies.
Danish silent film actress Asta Nielsen (1881-1972), was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international film stars. Of her 74 films between 1910 and 1932, seventy were made in Germany where she was known simply as 'Die Asta'. Noted for her large dark eyes, mask-like face, and boyish figure, Nielsen most often portrayed strong-willed passionate women trapped by tragic consequences.
Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen was born in the Copenhagen suburb of Vesterbro, Denmark, in 1881. She was the daughter of an often unemployed blacksmith and a washerwoman. Nielsen's family moved several times during her childhood while her father sought employment. When she was fourteen years old, her father died. Asta's stage debut came as a child in the chorus of the Kongelige Teater's production of Boito's opera 'Mephistopheles'. At the age of eighteen, Nielsen was accepted into the drama school of the Royal Danish Theatre. During her time there, she studied with the Royal Danish actor Peter Jerndorff. In 1901, twenty years old, she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Jesta. Nielsen never revealed the identity of the father, and chose to raise her child alone with the help of her mother and older sister. In 1902, she graduated from drama school. For the next three years, she worked at the Dagmar Theatre, then toured in Norway and Sweden from 1905 to 1907 with De Otte and the Peter Fjelstrup companies. Returning to Denmark, she was employed at Det Ny Theater (The New Theatre) from 1907 to 1910. Although she worked steadily as a stage actress, her performances remained unremarkable. Danish historian Robert Neiiedam wrote that Nielsen's unique physical attraction, which was of great value on the screen, was limited on stage by her deep and uneven speaking voice.
In 1909, set designer and director Urban Gad encouraged Asta Nielsen to become a film actress and she starred in his Danish silent film Afgrunden/The Abyss (Urban Gad, 1910). Gary Morris observes in Bright Lights Film Journal: "this film established from the beginning key components of her legend: scandalous eroticism and a uniquely minimalist acting style." Asta plays a music teacher lured away from her stolid fiancee (Robert Dinesen) by a sexy but faithless circus cowboy (Poul Reumert). In a startling sequence of sexual intensity, she lassos her boyfriend and does a lewd dance, bumping and grinding against him. Morris: "This vulgar ‘gaucho-dance’ was what most viewers remembered, but critics of the time also applauded Asta's naturalistic acting." The film was a huge success so she was encouraged to continue. The following year Balletdanserinden/The Ballet Dancer (August Blom, 1911) proved to be another success. Nielsen and Gad soon married. A German distributor, Paul Davidson, invited Nielsen to Germany, where he was building a new studio. Eventually, this would become Europe's largest film studio - the Universum Film Union A.-G. (or Ufa). Asta signed a contract for $80,000 a year, then the highest salary for a film actress. In 1911, she moved to Berlin with Urban Gad. In a Russian popularity poll of that year, she was voted world's top female film star, behind French comedian Max Linder and ahead of her Danish compatriot Valdemar Psilander.
In the next six years, Asta Nielsen played every conceivable kind of character in both tragedies and comedies. In Die Suffragette/The Militant Suffragette (Urban Gad, 1913), she is an English female liberationist whose beliefs force her to become violent, placing a bomb in Parliament. In Zapatas Bande/Zapata's Gang (Urban Gad, 1916), she plays a highway robber. In the comedy Das Liebes-ABC/The ABCs of Love (Magnus Stifter, 1916), she pretends to be a man and takes her wimpy boyfriend out on the town in order to "bring out the man in him." Nielsen was so famous that the name Asta became a trademark for cigarettes and perfumes. In the Dutch city The Hague, a cinema was named after her. Her beauty was praised by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire as "the drunkard's vision and the lonely man's dream". One of Asta's most interesting productions was Hamlet (Sven Gade, Heinz Schall, 1921). Gary Morris: "Asta brings a subtle twist to her version not by playing a man, but by playing a woman disguised as a man, adding another level of gender complexity. Hamlet was based less on William Shakespeare than on a popular book of the time that said Hamlet was actually a girl forcibly raised as a boy in order to provide an heir to the Danish throne. At first, the effect is more puzzling than effective, but the actress's strategy becomes evident in sexually charged scenes between Asta/Hamlet and Horatio, who caress and coddle each other in what surely appeared to viewers of the time (as it does to modern audiences) as a gay tryst. Asta brilliantly imparts the gender-unstable nature of the character in these scenes with Horatio and others with Fortinbras, whose encounters with Hamlet are also clearly coded as gay. The actress's effortless creation of these subtle, sympathetic homosexual tableaux gives a tremendous vitality to this production. The fact that the film was truly hers — being the first film she made with her own production company — shows just how daring and modern she was."
Nowadays Asta Nielsen is best known for Die Freudlose Gasse/The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925). Asta plays in this film an impoverished woman who resorts to prostitution and murder. In the original prints there were two equal-time female leads: Nielsen and a young actress from Sweden, Greta Garbo. Ruthlessly cut for American release, the film suddenly became a Garbo vehicle. Fortunately, the print has been restored recently and Asta triumphs in it as the increasingly unbalanced Marie. Nielsen continued to be a screen legend in Germany, and appeared in films like Dirnentragödie/Tragedy of the Street (Bruno Rahn, 1927) and in her only sound film Unmögliche Liebe/Crown of Thorns (Erich Waschneck, 1932). After the Nazis came to power she was rumoured to be offered her own studio by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Understanding the implications well, she left Germany for good in 1936, settling in Denmark where she returned to stage acting and became a private figure. In her later years, Asta Nielsen wrote articles on art and politics and a two-volume autobiography, 'Den tiende Muse' (The Silent Muse) in 1946. She also became an acclaimed collage artist. In 1964, Nielsen had to come to terms with the most severe blow of her life: her daughter Jesta committed suicide following the death of her husband. At 86, Asta directed her first film. Luise F. Pusch writes in FemBio: "After a film about her life did not meet with her approval, she set to work on the project herself. The result was a work of art." At 88, Asta Nielsen married her third husband, Christian Theede, an art dealer 18 years her junior and the great love of her life. The two enjoyed their travels together so much that they decided to leave their fortune to a foundation to fund trips for the elderly. In 1972, Asta Nielsen died in Copenhagen after a leg fracture. She was 90.
Sources: Gary Morris (Bright Lights Film Journal), Luise F. Pusch (FemBio), Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.