This may be titled simply as beauties but several of the ladies are actresses - America being represented by Sue Carroll, Australia by Eve Gray, Brazil by Lia Tora, Canada by Frances Doble, Denmark by Karina Bell, Ireland by Kathleen O'Regan, Spain by Maria Casjuana, Sweden by film star Greta Nissen, South Africa by Dorothy Black. In addition there are two very sought after cards, Mexico, which features Dolores Del Rio, and China, which shows Anna May Wong. Then there is a card for Turkey, which shows Khadidje Hanoum, but she was not an actress, she was the daughter of a government official.
It appears, without this information, in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, as :
- NATIONAL TYPES OF BEAUTY. Sm.65 x 34. Black and white photos. Nd. (36). See Ha.558 ... D64-31
The Ha. reference at that time leads us to the London Cigarette Card Company`s handbook, which tells us the following :
- Ha.558. BEAUTIFUL WOMEN or NATIONAL TYPES OF BEAUTY (titled series). Front glossy photoprints in black and white. Series of 36. Numbered series, except Simonets.
Drapkin - Titled "National Types of Beauty", Small size
Sarony - Titled "National Types of Beauty" - A. Small size
B. Medium size
Notaras - Titled "National Types of Beauty", Small size
Simonets, Jersey (overseas). Titled "Beautiful Women". Medium size. Unnumbered and without captions.
As far as dates, we know that our set, and both sizes of Sarony were issued in April, 1928. The Simonets version was also issued the same year, but we do not know the month. However the Notaras set, which you may not have encountered, actually preceded these, by some time, for theirs is said to have been issued in 1925.
In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, this includes a tantalising admission, that there is another version of one of the cards. The entry is :
- NATIONAL TYPES OF BEAUTY. Sm.65 x 34. Black and white photos. Nd. (36). 2 different pictures at No.36. See RB.113/414. ... D800-700
That card, number 36, is the card for Mexico. But I have not yet discovered what the difference is. And as for the RB.113 code, that appears in our updated Godfrey Phillips book, so I will try to find out what that says as well.
So, to the lady on our card, representing Australia, who is described as "the talented Miss Eve Gray, the "British International" film star". She was born on the 27th of November, 1900, in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, and christened Fanny Evelyn Garrett. Whilst still young, the family moved to Australia, but in 1924 she returned to England. Almost as soon as she arrived she found herself employment on the stage, with her first recorded role being Madame Pompadour, at Daly`s Theatre, near Leicester Square. I`m not so sure she played the title role, for several reasons but mostly because by 1927 she was appearing in films, as an extra, playing showgirls, and without her name on the billboards. And further research proves me right - for Madame Pompadour was played by Evelyn Laye
The curious thing is that if Notaras issued this set in 1925 our lady would not have been a "British International" film star. This could be explained by the fact that the Notaras version does not have the biographies, it merely has the country and says the card was "Given with MY PRINCESS GOLDEN VIRGINIA". But that suggests that the text would have to have been added by Drapkin/Sarony, which would have taken a substantial amount of research, especially without the internet to aid them, starting with just identifying the girls whose pictures appear on the front. That would have been far easier done in reverse, if Notaras removed the details, and added the advert instead, after the issue of the Drapkin/Sarony versions.
1927 was a better year, kind of. She appeared in an early Alfred Hitchcock film, "Story of the London Fog", a rather unsavoury tale about a serial killer; she was one of his victims. It also saw the first time her name appeared in any publicity was in a film called "Poppies of Flanders", in 1927, a melodrama from a story by "Sapper".
For the next couple of years she made a few films a year, the most notable of which was the 1928 "Moulin Rouge", though it is nothing like the modern version. In that year she appeared on this card (or rather, these) and also British American Tobacco`s "Cinema Stars" Set 8, where she is card 45.
In the 1930s she featured in advertising for "Ovaltine" drink, which is interesting as one of the advertisements links her to "Sleeping Beauty" at Drury Lane. This was produced by Julian Wylie, in 1929, and it ran from the 24th of December 1929 until the 1st of March 1930. She was hired by Sir Alfred Butt, to play Princess Beauty, with her love interest, Prince Florizel, being portrayed by Miss Lilian Davies.
Curiously, every reference to the production calls her an Australian actress, yet, as we have already said, she was actually English.
Whilst researching this I discovered that she also features in two other British American Tobacco sets, "Celebrities of Film and Stage" issued in 1930, as card 45 - and "Cinema Stars" Set 11, issued in 1931, as card 178.
Her last film was "His Lordship Regrets", in 1938.
But she did not die until the 23rd of May 1983, aged eighty-two. And I have no idea at all of whether she was married, had children, etc.