Lau Ezerman
Dutch Postcard by m.d.
Actor and stage director Lau Ezerman (1892-1940) played in several Dutch films from the pre-WW II era.
His debut was Nederland en Oranje (1913, Louis Chrispijn sr), a short silent film that portrayed in twenty scenes highlights from Dutch history. He became one of the actors of the ‘troupe’ of the Filmfabriek-Hollandia, the most active producer of silent films in The Netherlands. The company’s main directors were Maurits Binger, Louis Chrispijn sr and Theo Frenkel sr. Chrispijn directed Lau Ezerman in such melodramas as Zijn viool (1914), Gebroken levens (1914; starring the grand Louis Bouwmeester) and Weergevonden (1914). Most of these films are presumed to be missing, but Weergevonden (Rediscovered) was literally rediscovered in 1976. In 1920 Hollandia united with a British company and Ezerman played in their historical adventure film De zwarte tulp/The black tulip (1921, Maurits Binger, Frank Richardson) and their crime film Bulldog Drummond (1922, Oscar Apfel), based on a popular novel and play by Sapper (Herman C. McNeile).
In 1934 film companies competed to produce the first Dutch talkie. Lau Ezerman played in the ‘winner’, Willem van Oranje (1934, Jan Teunissen). This historical drama was shot at the Philips Studios ('Philiwood') in Eindhoven, using the Philips-Miller Filmband, a new system for recording sound. In the 1930s directors like Detlev Sierck (Douglas Sirk) and Ludwig Berger and scriptwriters like Walter Schlee flew from Nazi Germany and gave the Dutch film industry a healthy impulse. Ezerman played character parts in such films as the comedy Bleeke Bet (1934, Richard Oswald, Alex Benno), Het meisje met den blauwen hoed (1934, Rudolf Meinert), Komedie om geld (1936, Max Ophüls), the popular romcom Vadertje Langbeen (1938, Frederic (Friedrich) Zelnik) and the thriller De spooktrein (1939, Carl (Karel) Lamac), based on the play The Ghost Train (1925) by Arnold Ridley. In 1941 the Nazis censured films such as Bleeke Bet for reissues and all the Jewish actors such as Lau Ezerman disappeared from the film. In 1940 he had already committed suicide.
Sources: Of Joy and Sorrow and IMDb.
Lau Ezerman
Dutch Postcard by m.d.
Actor and stage director Lau Ezerman (1892-1940) played in several Dutch films from the pre-WW II era.
His debut was Nederland en Oranje (1913, Louis Chrispijn sr), a short silent film that portrayed in twenty scenes highlights from Dutch history. He became one of the actors of the ‘troupe’ of the Filmfabriek-Hollandia, the most active producer of silent films in The Netherlands. The company’s main directors were Maurits Binger, Louis Chrispijn sr and Theo Frenkel sr. Chrispijn directed Lau Ezerman in such melodramas as Zijn viool (1914), Gebroken levens (1914; starring the grand Louis Bouwmeester) and Weergevonden (1914). Most of these films are presumed to be missing, but Weergevonden (Rediscovered) was literally rediscovered in 1976. In 1920 Hollandia united with a British company and Ezerman played in their historical adventure film De zwarte tulp/The black tulip (1921, Maurits Binger, Frank Richardson) and their crime film Bulldog Drummond (1922, Oscar Apfel), based on a popular novel and play by Sapper (Herman C. McNeile).
In 1934 film companies competed to produce the first Dutch talkie. Lau Ezerman played in the ‘winner’, Willem van Oranje (1934, Jan Teunissen). This historical drama was shot at the Philips Studios ('Philiwood') in Eindhoven, using the Philips-Miller Filmband, a new system for recording sound. In the 1930s directors like Detlev Sierck (Douglas Sirk) and Ludwig Berger and scriptwriters like Walter Schlee flew from Nazi Germany and gave the Dutch film industry a healthy impulse. Ezerman played character parts in such films as the comedy Bleeke Bet (1934, Richard Oswald, Alex Benno), Het meisje met den blauwen hoed (1934, Rudolf Meinert), Komedie om geld (1936, Max Ophüls), the popular romcom Vadertje Langbeen (1938, Frederic (Friedrich) Zelnik) and the thriller De spooktrein (1939, Carl (Karel) Lamac), based on the play The Ghost Train (1925) by Arnold Ridley. In 1941 the Nazis censured films such as Bleeke Bet for reissues and all the Jewish actors such as Lau Ezerman disappeared from the film. In 1940 he had already committed suicide.
Sources: Of Joy and Sorrow and IMDb.