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Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C. 168, 1964. Photo: Warner Bros. Van Williams in the TV series Surfside 6 (Charles R. Rondeau, a.o., 1960-1962). The Spanish title was Rompeolas.
Hunky American film and TV actor Van Williams (1934-2016) was best known for his leading role as Kenny Madison in both Warner Bros. television detective series Bourbon Street Beat (1959–1960) and its sequel, Surfside 6 (1960–1962). For one season, he starred as the title character in the television series The Green Hornet (1966–1967), with Bruce Lee as his partner Kato.
Van Zandt Jarvis Williams was born in 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas. Williams grew up on a ranch outside Fort Worth and later studied cattle farming at Texas Christian University. He and the famous singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt were cousins. He moved to Hawaii in 1956 after differences with his father on how the ranch should be run. He worked there as a scuba diving instructor. His clients included film producer Mike Todd and his then-wife Elizabeth Taylor. Todd noticed Williams' good looks and suggested he pursue an acting career. Williams first went to college and got a degree. Todd died in a plane crash in 1958, but Williams followed his advice, moved to Hollywood and took voice and acting lessons. He managed to get cast in episodes of General Electric Theatre (1958-1959), Lawman (1959) and Colt .45 (1959) and played minor theatre roles, including engagements on Broadway. Warner Brothers had a keen eye for photogenic hunks like Williams and signed him in 1959 for their television division. He was irresistible as the clean-cut private eye Kenny Madison on the Detective series Bourbon Street Beat (1959-1960), set in New Orleans. Although the show lasted only one season, Warner Bros carried his Kenny Madison character into the more popular adventure drama Surfside 6 (1960-1962) about a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat. His new colleagues were played by Troy Donahue, Lee Patterson, Diane McBain, and Margarita Sierra. Surfside 6 was one of four detective TV series produced by Warner Bros. around that time, the others being 77 Sunset Strip (set in Los Angeles), Hawaiian Eye (set in Hawaii), and the aforementioned Bourbon Street Beat (set in New Orleans). Plots, scripts (changing the names and locales), characters, and almost everything else crossed over from one series to another, not a difficult feat since they were all actually shot on the studio's backlots in Los Angeles. Williams also briefly appeared in the film Tall Story (Joshua Logan, 1960) as a smug jock stepping stark naked out of the men's locker room shower, giving a young Jane Fonda quite an eyeful of him, comically saying: "If it is alright with you, it is alright with me".
During the run of Surfside Street, Van Williams occasionally guest-starred on other Warner Bros shows, such as Cheyenne (1962) and 77 Sunset Strip (1961-1962). He appeared with Jack Webb in an anti-communist short, Red Nightmare / Freedom and You (George Waggner, 1962), produced for and financed by the Department of Defence during the Cold War. Williams also starred in a World War II television pilot titled The Leathernecks (1962), broadcast as an episode of The Gallant Men. He also appeared as a young doctor in the film The Caretakers (Hall Bartlett, 1963) starring Robert Stack and Joan Crawford. When his contract expired at Warner, Van Williams tried a comedy series next, The Tycoon (1964-1965). Walter Brennan starred as a busy, self-made millionaire, and Williams was his young assistant. Williams was signed to the series to provide the romantic interest, and he took the part to learn comedy. He worked in television commercials and guest appearances on various television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1965), The Beverly Hillbillies (1965) and The Milton Berle Show (1966). He also had an uncredited bit role in the Spy-Fi comedy Our Man Flint (Daniel Mann, 1966) that parodies the James Bond film series. The film starred James Coburn as master spy Derek Flint. 20th Century-Fox gave him his most vividly recalled part in The Green Hornet (1966-1967), as the mysterious masked hero and his alter ego, charming newspaper editor Britt Reid. Bruce Lee played his agile, Robin-like counterpart Kato. Inspired by the huge cult hit series Batman (1966), ABC-TV had William Dozier revive George W. Trendle's famous radio character in this new series. Williams played the role straight, unlike the comedy approach of the same producer's Batman show. He and Bruce Lee also made three guest appearances, in character, on the series Batman (1966-1967) and in the film Batman / Batman: The Movie (Leslie H. Martinson, 1966). The Green Hornet enjoyed a fast start but, like its predecessor, met an equally untimely finish. By the time he starred in The Green Hornet, Williams had become successful investing in various commercial ventures. Williams later said, "By the time The Green Hornet came along, I had pretty well decided to get out of the television business. About the only thing I enjoyed about those years was the location work. Basically I'm a shy person. I know that public appearances and autographs and all that are a necessary part of the business, but it wasn't for me."
However, after The Green Hornet ended, Van Williams guest starred on shows such as The Big Valley (1968), Mannix (1970), Love, American Style (1970), Nanny and the Professor (1970), Ironside (1971), Mission: Impossible (1972), Apple's Way (1974), Gunsmoke (1974), and The Manhunter (1975). He returned to the lead in a regular series with Westwind (Christian Nyby, 1975), a children's adventure series filmed in Hawaii. He co-starred with Dorothy MacGuire in the TV movie, The Runaways (Harry Harris, 1975) about a homeless teenage boy (Josh Albee) and an escaped leopard (Spot). William then again guest-starred in popular TV series such as Bert 'DAngelo/Superstar (1976), The Streets of San Francisco (1976), Barnaby Jones (1977), How the West Was Won (1978), The Night Rider (1979), Mrs. Columbo (1979) and The Rockford Files (1979). Ironically, he turned down the offer of a role in Falcon Crest (1981) because it involved too much location shooting. Williams retired from acting in 1982 to open a communications company in Santa Monica. He was also a longtime reserve deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and worked at the substation in Malibu, California. In 1993, Williams made a cameo in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (Rob Cohen, 1993) as the director of The Green Hornet television program. In 2010, the filmmakers of the Green Hornet film adaptation wanted him to make a cameo appearance as a cemetery guard, but Williams turned it down. Williams married Vicki Flaxman in 1959. Together they had two children, and one from Vicki's prior marriage to Jeff Richards. He had nine grandchildren. He also had twin daughters from a previous marriage to Drucilla Greenhaw, which also included four grandchildren. Outside the studios, Williams was also privately closely affiliated with Batman star Adam West. They were neighbours in Sun Valley and spent much leisure time together. West also claimed that when people saw them together outdoors, they would comment about Batman and The Green Hornet being on a secret case together. Van Williams died in 2016 from kidney failure at the age of 82 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), J.E. McKillop (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Dutch promotion card by CNR, Leiden. Photo: Weekblad Weekend.
Funny-looking, reddish André van Duin (1947) is a famous comedian and actor in Dutch-speaking countries. He is also a singer, writer, and creator of television programs, and he starred in three Dutch film comedies. Van Duin is one of the Netherlands' best-known entertainers, with a career spanning almost six decades.
André van Duin was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1947. His birth name was Adrianus Marinus Kloot, which he legally changed to Kyvon in 1966, a few years after taking the pseudonym, André van Duin. As a kid he developed the talent of amusing people, imitating celebrities and singing. At the age of 15, he sent letters to several TV networks, requesting an audition. In 1964 he was discovered when he won the TV talent contest show Nieuwe Oogst (New Harvest) and started appearing as a guest in a few shows like that of singing father and daughter Willy and Willeke Alberti. In 1965 he got the opportunity to do a television programme of his own, Een avondje TV met André/A TV evening with André. From 1967 onwards, he took an apprenticeship at comedians Willy Walden and Piet Muyselaar's Snip & Snap theatre shows. In the 1970s André van Duin set up his own Revue with Frans van Dusschoten as the straight man and Corrie van Gorp. These shows were televised on TROS and in 1975 Van Duin won an award for Dag dag heerlijke lach/Hello hello delicious laugh (1974-1975). During this decade Van Duin recorded several hit songs such as 'Het bananenlied' (1972), a parody of the Banana Boat Song. In 1972, André van Duin began the radio program Dik Voormekaar Show. First with broadcasting company Radio Noordzee Internationaal, later with the NCRV and TROS. He involved his then technician, Ferry de Groot, in the show, becoming the character Meneer de Groot (Mister de Groot). The show continued to air on the radio (and for a period also on TV) as recently as 2009. André van Duin debuted as an actor in the TV series Het meisje met de blauwe hoed/The Girl With The Blue Hat (Dick van 't Sant, 1972), playing an army recruit opposite Jenny Arean. It was a TV version of the film musical Het meisje met den blauwe hoed/The Girl With The Blue Hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934), with Truus van Aalten and Lou Bandy in the Van Duin part. In 1976, Van Duin had a massive hit with the song Willempie. Parents of mentally challenged children considered his performance offensive. Van Duin escaped legal action by apologising on television. Later that year, Van Duin released And're Andre (The Other Andre), an album stripped of wackiness that became the first of five volumes.
André van Duin made his film debut with Pretfilm/Fun Film (Robert Kaesen, 1976) in which he played various characters with his cronies from his stage and TV comedies, Frans van Dusschoten and Corrie van Gorp. In 1981 he starred with the same team in another comedy, Ik Ben Joep Meloen/I am Joep Melon (Guus Verstraete, 1981), which was another reasonable success. In 1982 followed De Boezemvriend/The Bosom Buddy (Dimitri Frenkel Frank, 1982), partly an adaptation of the Danny Kaye film The Inspector General. Van Duin portrayed charlatan dentist Fred van der Zee who is mistaken for Napoleon's delegate. De Boezemvriend was considered a failure and Van Duin hasn't returned to the big screen since. Cartoonist Toon van Driel created André's own comic book series in 1987. Very popular was the WWF-promoting TV series Animal Crackers (1988). Van Duin and his new stable-mate Ron Brandsteder were team-captains in the TV show Wie ben ik?/Who am I? (1989), hosted by Caroline Tensen. Between 1993 and 1999 Van Duin made television shows for RTL. In 2007 André's Nieuwe Revue-tour was launched; Belgium was visited in November 2008 for five shows in Antwerp. In 2009 he made a new series of Dik Voormekaar Shows. In 2010, Van Duin released the cd 'Dubbel', made up of both serious and wacky songs. During his career, he had 41 singles in the Dutch Top 40, 22 of those reached the Top 10 of which 3 singles became number one. André van Duin was in a relationship with Wim van der Pluym from 1974 until 1995 when Van der Pluym died. Van Duin married Martin Elferink in 2006. In 2013, he returned to TV as Petrus in the hit series 't Schaep met de 5 pooten/The Sheep with five legs. On stage, he impressed critics with his role in the play 'The Sunshine Boys' (2015). In 2016, he took over the presentation of the popular TV programme Heel Holland Bakt/Holland bakes from Martine Bijl, after her brain haemorrhage in 2015. In 2017 and 2019, Van Duin played in the TV series Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen/The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old (Tim Oliehoek, 2017-2019). In this drama series, he starred alongside Kees Hulst and Olga Zuiderhoek. He also appeared on television with the programme Denkend aan Holland (2019-2022). Together with Janny van der Heijden, with whom Van Duin had already worked in the television programme Heel Holland Bakt, he explored parts of the Netherlands, especially from the water. In 2020, his husband, Martin Elferink died at the age of 55 from the effects of bone cancer. Van Duin himself was found to have colon cancer in the summer of 2020. He underwent surgery for this in January 2021. In February 2022, Van Duin announced his new relationship with Fernando Reyes.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Spotted in the huge market in Arles was this well-preserved Citroën H van of 1947-81. Citroën engineers were obviously impressed by pre-war Junkers aircraft, notably the JU-52, which had corrugated metal bodywork for additional strength and rigidity. One can only gaze on such vehicles and mourn the passing of national characteristics from vehicle manufacture. Once, French vehicles had a national identity, as did those from Germany and Britain. Now all these nations produce bland euro-boxes, which could have been manufactured anywhere.
German autograph card by Gevaert.
Handsome, deep-voiced leading man Frits van Dongen (1901-1975), was one of the first Dutch Hollywood stars. He started his film career in the Netherlands, and in the mid-1930s he became a matinee idol in the German cinema. From 1940 on, he worked in Hollywood, billed as Philip Dorn. A freak accident caused him to retire in 1955.
Frits van Dongen was born as Hein van der Niet in Scheveningen, The Netherlands, in 1901. he was the son of shoemaker Leendert van der Niet and maid-servant Femia Schijf. At the age of 14, Hein made his amateur stage debut. At 20, he married to Cornelia Twilt whom he had met at the amateur stage company. Seven months later he became a father. He earned his money as a shoemaker but in 1923 he became a professional actor. Under the stage name Frits van Dongen he worked for the well-known Dutch theatre company De Haeghe-spelers from 1926 on. After a second son in 1926, his marriage did not go well. In 1929 he made a tour through the Dutch colonies. Reportedly Van Dongen had several affairs and in 1930 he and his wife divorced. A few months later, during another tour through the West Indies, he met the young actress Marianne van Dam. Two years later they married. In 1921, he had already made his film debut as an extra in the Dutch silent film De zwarte tulp/The Black Tulip (Maurits Binger, 1921), but his film career really started with a leading part in the fisher drama Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, Louis Saalborn, 1934). This was the third film adaptation of the most famous Dutch stage play, written by Herman Heijermans, and Van Dongen was praised for his natural acting style. Soon more Dutch films followed. Van Dongen starred in the musical Op stap/On the Road (1935, Ernst Winar) starring Fien de la Mar, the comedy De big van het regiment/The Regiment’s Mascot (Max Nosseck, Jan Teunissen, 1935), another comedy De Kribbebijter/The Grumbler (Hermann Kosterlitz aka Henry Koster, Ernst Winar, 1935) and the tempestuous tropical romance Rubber (Gerard Rutten, Johan de Meester, 1936) with Enny Meunier.
In 1936 the German film studio Tobis offered Frits van Dongen a contract. He traveled to Berlin, and appeared in Immer wenn ich glücklich bin/Waltz Melodies (Karl Lamac, 1936) with Márta Eggerth. The famous director Richard Eichberg gave him the leading part of Maharaja Chandra in the monumental two-part adventure Der Tiger von Eschnapur/The Tiger of Eschnapur - Das Indische Grabmal/The Indian Tomb (Richard Eichberg, 1938). This exotic extravaganza would be his breakthrough. The popular matinee idol appeared next in the mystery melodrama Verwehte Spuren/Covered Tracks (Veit Harlan, 1938) with Kristina Söderbaum, Der Hampelmann/The Jumping Jack (Karl Heinz Martin, 1938) with Hilde Krahl, and the psychological drama Die Reise nach Tilsit/The Trip to Tilsit (Veit Harlan, 1939), based on the novel by Hermann Sudermann, which was already filmed in a silent version as Sunrise (1927) by F.W. Murnau. Van Dongen was now top of the bill in Berlin, but he disliked the Nazi regime so much that he decided to leave Germany.
In 1939, Frits van Dongen moved to America just before World War II broke out. Director Henry Koster had invited him to come to Hollywood and gave him introductions. Between 1940 and 1951 he acted in dozens of MGM productions under the name Philip Dorn. He started with the low-budget anti-nazi film Enemy Agent (Lew Landers, 1940). During the war years, 10 of his 15 films were also such propaganda films. He was usually cast as Continental lovers, anti-Nazi Germans or refugees. His notable films include Escape (Mervyn LeRoy, 1940) starring Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor, Ziegfeld Girl (Robert Z. Leonard, 1941) with Judy Garland, Underground (Vincent Sherman, 1941), Tarzan's Secret Treasure (Richard Thorpe, 1941) starring Johnny Weissmuller, Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942) with Greer Garson, the melodrama Reunion in France (Jules Dassin, 1942) opposite Joan Crawford, Blonde Fever (Richard Whorf, 1944) with Gloria Grahame, and Passage to Marseille (Michael Curtiz, 1944) with Humphrey Bogart. In between films he did tours for the army with the Freedoms War Bond Show. Having long suffered from phlebitis, he had the first of a series of strokescin 1945. Over the next few years he went on to have a heart attack and to require brain surgery. He couldn’t work for a period, but in 1947 he appeared on Broadway in The Big Two at the side of Claire Trevor. He began playing more mature film roles in the late 1940s, notably as a tyrannical symphony conductor in I've Always Loved You (Frank Borzage, 1946) and as Papa in I Remember Mama (George Stevens, 1948) with Irene Dunne.
When his MGM-contract ended in 1952, Frits van Dongen returned to Europe and acted in German films like the drama Hinter Klostermauern/The Unholy Intruders (Harald Reinl, 1952) with Olga Tschechova, the romance Der Träumende Mund/Dreaming Lips (Josef von Baky, 1953) starring Maria Schell, and the circus romance Salto Mortale (Victor Tourjansky, 1953). He did not succeed in making a really successful come-back in Germany, and in 1954-1955 he appeared opposite former Dutch film star Lily Bouwmeester on the Dutch stages in the comedy play Het Hemelbed (The Four-poster) by Jan de Hartog. When he was visiting his birthtown Scheveningen in 1955, he was the victim of a freak accident. While he walked along a building site, a plank fell on his head. A brain injury eventually ruined his speaking ability; and Van Dongen had to retire. He lived the last two decades of his life confined to his comfortable California home. Frits van Dongen died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, USA, in 1975. He was still married to Marianne van Dam. He had divorced his Jewish wife in 1937 but they remarried in 1939 and would stay together in California till his death. In 2002 a biography was published in the Netherlands: Nederlands eerste Hollywood-ster, Hein van der Niet alias Frits van Dongen alias Philip Dorn (The First Dutch Hollywood Star, Hein van der Niet aka Frits van Dongen aka Philip Dorn), by Hans Toonen.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Henk van Gelder (Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland) (Dutch), Mariska Graveland (De Filmkrant) (Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience. I took these photos with my Samsung phone at the show in Kensington Gardens London
Its pretty easy to mistake this Majorette Ford Model A Panel Van for the more better known Matchbox equivalent as they look incredibly similar. Matchbox maximised theirs to the hilt though Majorette of course saw this casting as ideal for promotional work too. Quite a lot of plastic is evident here which makes me think it was deliberately engineered down to a price for Pepsi. Mint and boxed.
In 1916 the company Van Nelle bought a terrain along the river Schie in the then municipality of Overschie. Here was between 1927 and 1930 led by Cees van der Leeuw factory built by J.A. Brinkman and L.C. van der Vlugt. The Van Nelle factory today provides shelter to a wide range of companies in the field of media and design. In addition, a number of rooms used for meetings, conferences and events. The complex is not open for tourist visitors.
A Volkswagen Crafter C35 operated by Gwent Police and seen on the A48 in Newport, South Wales.
I am not sure where this is based as our local one is a Mercedes Sprinter.
own house van ravesteyn, front facade, prins hendriklaan 112, utrecht, architect: s. van ravesteyn;
excursion a+a+j tour 21
'Built by Van Ravesteyn for himself, this house exploits his pre-war themes: a functional parti, use of modern materials and a predilection for curves. Standing in one corner of a triangular site, its plan, too, is triangular. The curved glass partitions of both living room and roof terrace above offer a view of what was then unspoilt country.'