Thoughts about early cinema

Lux and their German representative Gertrud Grünspan

Sometimes I discover something by chance that seems so  
peculiar, unusual or just interesting that I like to write a short piece about it. In this case an ad by Gertrud Grünspan about her self proclaimed nonexisting business relation to Max Loeser was the trigger. As I try to at least slightly contextualise findings, research began ... and went on. In the case of Gertrud Grünspan information is pretty scarce. Weeks later it still feels incomplete and to be honest it probably never will due to lost or inaccessible sources. Anyway I hope you enjoy it nevertheless.

Société Anonyme des Phonographers et Cinématographes Lux (in this article abbreviated as Lux) was founded in November 14, 1906, by Henri Joly. Until their demise in December 1913 the company produced more than 850 films and established itself as a major French producer behind Pathé Frères, Gaumont, Éclair and Éclipse.1

Like the other major producers Lux gained a foothold in the German market. The first known mention of an official appearance of the company in Germany was in connection with the 1. Internationale Kinematographen-Industrie-Ausstellung which took place in Hamburg from June 13th to 28th, 1908. Among the 82 exhibitors listed in the exhibition guide Lux was named as number eleven:

List of exhibitors for the 1. Internationale Kinematographen-Industrie-Ausstellung.2

Cinematograph Lux, Paris und Berlin, Mauer-
strasse 86/88
Apparate, Films, Objective, Lampen, Laternen
Vertreter: Fräul. Gertrud Grünspan.

According to the entry Lux not only offered films but equipment for cinemas like lenses, lamps and lanterns likewise. The agent for Germany was named as well: miss Gertrud Grünspan. Apart from the official listing the company or miss Grünspan placed an ad in the guide to the exhibition.

Ad for LUX in the exhibition guide.3

Films und Kinematographen
„LUX“
Gertrud Grünspan
Vertreterin der Sciété des Phonographes et Cinématographes „Lux“, Paris
Aktiengesellschaft mit einem Kapital von 1 500 000 Frcs.
Telegramm-Adresse: „Cinolux“-Berlin. · Telephon: Amt I, Nr. 2075
Berlin, Mauerstr. 86/88.
Allererstklassigste Produktion von Films
Stetiger Eingang von Neuheiten
Hervorragende Projektionsapparate,
– eigenes Modell –
Sämtliche iknematographischen Zubehörteile stets am Lager
Ausführliche Listen und Kataloge stehen gern zur Verfügung.
Auf der Ausstellung: Stand Nr.

The ad extended the previously mentioned offering. Lux proclaimed to provide the finest films with an ever-expanding program as well as film projectors and notably a general availability of spare parts. To prospective buyers lists and catalogs were offered.

Side-note: Apparently the typographer forgot to add the actual number of the booth to the ad and mistyped the word kinematographischen – probably worth a discount.

The company‘s appearance at the exhibition was well regarded and positively reviewed in a lengthy passage by Emil Perlmann in Der Kinematograph as part of his general covering of the event.4

Nicht etwa nur, weil der Apparat originell konstruiert ist (ein Greifersystem spezieller Art mit besonderer Filmsführung, die ein Beobachten während des Vorführens durch den Operateur entbehrlich macht), auch nicht nur durch die geschickte Art der Linsenanordnung, die Licht also auch Strom- und Betriebskosten erspart, sondern vor allem durch die schlichte, allem Marktschreierischen peinlich ausweichende Art der Austellungs-Anordnung. Kein Wunder! Ist doch Alles von zarter Hand angegeben worden. Die Firma Lux ist nämlich in der selten glücklichen Lage, in einer ebenso charmanten als geschäftsklugen jungen Dame (Frl. Gertrud Grünspan) eine Vertreterin gefunden zu haben, der nicht gewöhnliche Gaben nachgerühmt werden. Durch ihre erfolgreiche Tätigkeit in drei der grössten Firmen der Kinematographen-Industrie kennt „jedes Kind“ der Branche die Dame, so dass uns ihr Stand als Originalität geradezu empfohlen wurde. Auch die nicht unbeträchtlichen Films-Umsätze sollen, wie erzählt wird, der für Deutschland originellen Art eines weiblichen Vertreters aber auch den von unerfreulicher Situationshascherei und Hintertreppen-Romantik freien Sujets zuzuschreiben sein.

Most notably Perlmann emphasises that the success of the presentation was not only due to quality of the projector shown, which was praised for its mechanical finesse, but mainly because of Grünspan‘s unobtrusive presentation. Even though he wrote favourable words about Grünspan‘s qualities as salesperson there is a certain sensation in his words that accentuates the uniqueness of her femininity in the film trade. He concludes that her qualities as a person and the qualities of Lux‘s products chime well together.

Perlmann notes that Grünspan was widely known in the profession due to her prior involvement with three major companies of the film industry. Likely employers could have been Messter or Duskes as major German producers or French companies with a Berlin based office. The latter is confirmed as she was involvement with the Berlin office of Théophile Pathé where she worked as secretary to his daughter Suzanne Pathé who led the office.5 Gertruds personal bonds with Suzanne where later strengthened by the fact that her brother Arthur married Suzanne in 1911.6 This was honoured in the French trade press even though the article misspells the family name Grünspan as Grünschpan:

C‘est avec un bien vif plaisir que nous apprenons le mariage de Mademoiselle Suzanne Pathé, la charmante fille de M. Théophile Pathé, avec M, le Docteur en philosophie Arthur Grünschpan, de Berlin, frère de Mademoiselle Gertrud Grünschpan, l‘active et distinguée représentante de la Société Lux, du Monofilm et du Film-d‘Art en Allemagne.
Nos compliments aux jeunes époux.7

Besides the stating the obvious compliments Gertrud Grünspan is named as representative for Monofilm respectively Film d’Art. While there is no proof for such a venture by Gertrud Grünspan a certain Erich Grünspan worked as representative for Le Film d‘Art.8 Whether Gertrud Grünspan and Erich Grünspan where related to one another is unknown therefore this could simply have been misstatement by the writer of the article due to the similarity of the name. Yet it is not unlikely that Erich was a family member since at least Gertrud‘s sister Johanna was directly involved in the film trade.

Die Firma Henri Adolph Müller teilt uns mit, dass die Prokura und Geschäftsführung des Herrn Erwin Minde erloschen ist und Frau Johanna Cohn-Grünspan an dessen Stelle die Prokura und Geschäftsführung der Berliner Filiale übernommen hat. Frau Cohn-Grünspan hat auch die Prokura und Geschäftsführung des General-Vertriebs der Imperator-Films übernommen. Frau Cohn-Grünspan ist eine der Kundschaft durch ihre frühere Tätigkeit bei ihrer Schwester Frau Gertrud Grünspan bekannte Dame, die über weitgehende Fach- und Branchenkenntnisse verfügt und bis vor kurzem als Leiterin von verschiedenen grossen Kinotheatern im Rheinland tätig war.9

Johanna Grünspan‘s career in the film trade seemingly startet at her sisters‘ company but she later took over her husband‘s cinema due his early death in 191110 eventually she was promoted to the management of Henri Adolph Müller‘s branch in Berlin, a position similar to her sister’s.

After the exhibition in Hamburg in 1908 Gertrud Grünspan started to promote the products of Lux in German trade journals. Around the end of 1908 a short note in Der Kinematograph highlighted her exclusive catalog which would have been send to prospective buyers for free in order to attract customers.

Films und Kinematographen „Lux“ (Gertrud Grünspan) Berlin hat soeben einen elegant ausgestatteten Katalog der Films-Neuheiten erscheinen lassen, der Interessenten auf Wunsch kostenlos zugesandt wird.11

Apparently most of Gertrud Grünspan activities were limited to the Erste Internationale Film-Zeitung.12 Additionally ads for Lux by Grünspan can be found in Der deutsche Lichtbildtheaterbesitzer13 while interestingly neither Der Kinematograph nor the Lichtbild-Bühne contain any ads nevertheless the company Lux and Gertrud Grünspan were mentioned occasionally in editorial texts.

Example for an ad for LUX in Der Deutsche Lichtbildtheater-Besitzer.14

Even though it is proven that Grünspan had been active for Lux since Summer 1908 her company was officially registered a few month later on February 27th, 1909.15 As one (wo)man business she was registered under number 33540 in section A of the Handelsregister in Berlin16, while a limited company (G.m.b.H.) would have been registered under section B. There is no indication why this process happened several month after her first public appearance.

Besides working for Lux Gertrud Grünspan engaged in related activities. She was for some time secretary to the Filmverband (abbreviated as J. E. F.) until she had to quit the position in summer of 1909 due to her workload.

Die Sekretärin des Filmverbandes J. E. F., Fräulein Gertrud Grünspan, hat wegen Arbeitsüberbürdung das Amt niedergelegt.17

Film trade was no casual business and people took advantage of situations if it deemed suitable. Sometimes it took as little as a rumor to get on someone’s nerves.

Erklärung!
Es wird mir von verschiedenen Seiten mitgeteilt, dass die Behauptung aufgestellt wird : „Ich sei an der von Herrn Max Loeser in Köln errichteten Filmzentrale beteiligt“. Ich erkläre hiermit, dass ich mit genanntem Unternehmen weder direkt noch indirekt in Verbindung stehe, und mache darauf aufmerksam, dass ich die Urheber, sowie die Verbreiter solcher Gerüchte unnachsichtlich zur Rechenschaft ziehen werde.
Gertrud Grünspan.18

The strong words contrast the prior descriptions of Gertrud Grünspan as as gentle businesswomen. With this ad Grünspan strongly opposed the rumour that she was involved in Max Loesers new business in Cologne. Loeser had been a representative for Thorogesellschaft m.b.H.19 and for Raleigh & Robert before moving to Cologne and his prior office was located at Mauerstr. 93 in Berlin20 in the direct proximity of Grünspan‘s office.

It is unknown why such a rumor was circulated but considering Grünspan‘s reaction it was obviously meant to harm her personally or her business. Nevertheless Grünspan‘s business kept on and her name popped up again in December 1911 when the Lichtbild-Bühne summed up an episode with public authorities regarding the censorship in Berlin.

Im übrigen ist auf dem erschreckenden Gesetz der Zensur noch ein zweiter, ebenfalls interessanter Fall zu vermelden:
Fräulein Grünspan bringt zum 23. Dezember den äusserst künstlerisch gespielten dramatischen Film „Bankrott“ heraus. Die berühmte Charlotte Wiché spielt darin die Hauptrolle. Der Film wurde verboten. Wie immer in der Regel. Da aber Ausnahmen die Regel bestätigen, so ist dieser Film nur für ein Berliner Kino-Institut zur Vorführung genehmigt worden. Es ist eigentlich recht viel Vernunft in dieser teilweisen Nachlaßwendung eines Filmverbots, denn einer eignet sich nicht für Alle, und das Empfinden des gesamten Publikums, das aus allen Alters-, Gesellschafts-, Berufs- und Interessengruppen besteht, ist demzufolge so verschieden, das jegliche generelle Zensurwendung immer falsch sein muß, weil eben das Empfinden und die Auffassung des Publikums jeweils eine andere ist.21

Gertrud Grünspan was supposed to release the movie Bankrott (insolvency) to the German audience on December 23, 1911. The film was initially forbidden by the authorities which was considered common behaviour. Yet the exception proves the rule since a single Berlin based cinema was allowed to show it. Apparently Grünspan or even cinema owner directly was able to effect the board of censorship in a way that made it possible to partly commercialise a copy of a new release for the audience in Berlin. New releases were advertised by Grünspan at least until May 1913.22

Editorial text highlighting new releases in Erste Internationale Film-Zeitung.23

Only a few weeks before Lux officially went out of business Gertrud Grünspan closed her business, as officially stated by the press.

Gelöscht sind folgende Firmen: […]
No. 33540 „Lux“ Verkauf von Films u. Kinematographen Gertrud Grünspan in Berlin.24

thoughts

With the end of Gertrud Grünspan’s business Lux quietly vanished from the German market. Lux did not open a new branch nor did they transfer the official rights to sell their films and equipment to any of the well established companies in Germany. Since there were mere weeks between the end of the German branch and the French parent company, there simply might have been no time to successfully negotiate with a different representative. With that in mind the demise of the Berlin branch appears to have been the harbinger of the greater fall as Lux shortly after ceased to exist all along. As for Gertrud Grünspan there is no publicly available evidence of any further engagement with the film industry.

The films done by Lux seem to have at least left a mark in Germany since there was a note in the trade press regarding the reappearance of one of Lux’s characters named Bill in a film about his return to cinema a few months after the end of the company.

Der zurückgekehrte Bill.
Seitdem die Firma Lux nicht mehr besteht, ist auch eine früher gerne gesehene Figur, jene des Bill, von der Leinwand verschwunden. Nun kehrt er wieder in dem Film „Bills Rückkehr zum Kino“ und zeigt sich auf einem zwischen England und Frankreich verkehrenden Dampfer und im Schnellzuge. So wird es nicht lange dauern, bis auch wir ihn wiedersehen.25

copyright

The images used are from reproductions mostly made by myself. Apart from that an image 26 used in this article is taken from:

sources

Some film trade journals are available at Internet Archive (Der Kinematograph, Lichtbild-Bühne). The trade journal Der Deutsche Lichtbildtheater-Besitzer can be accessed at the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek in Frankfurt. The Newspaper can be accessed on the Deutsches Zeitungsportal. The brochure for the 1908 exhibition in Hamburg and the issue of the Erste Internationale Film-Zeitung are privately owned.

  1. Loné, Éric. (1994). La production Lux (1906-1913). 1895, Revue d’histoire Du Cinéma, (16), 59–76. ↩︎

  2. Internationaler Kinematographen-Bund (1908). Ausstellungs-Führer. 1. Internationale Kinematographen Industrie-Ausstellung, Hamburg, p. 11. ↩︎

  3. Lux (1908). [Advertisement]. Ausstellungs-Führer. 1. Internationale Kinematographen Industrie-Ausstellung, Hamburg, p. 28. ↩︎

  4. Perlmann, Emil (1908, Juni 17). 1. Internationale Kinematographen-Industrie-Ausstellung Hamburg 1908. Der Kinematograph, 2(77). ↩︎

  5. Eye Filmmuseum (2019). Sisters. The 10th Women and the Silent Screen Conference [Brochure], p. 6. ↩︎

  6. Which is implied by the description of the keynote held by Sabine Lenk and Frank Kessler. Eye Filmmuseum (2019) ↩︎

  7. Carnet Mondain (1911, January 28). Cine-Journal, 4(127), p. 4. ↩︎

  8. Der Filmeinkäufer (1911, January 7). Lichtbild-Bühne, 4(1), p. 12. ↩︎

  9. Firmennachrichten (1914, January 14). Der Kinematograph, 7(368). ↩︎

  10. Cohn, Johanna (1911, April 27). [Advertisement]. Essener General-Anzeiger, 36(98), p. 9. ↩︎

  11. Geschäftliche Notizen (1908, September 16). Der Kinematograph, 2(90). ↩︎

  12. Kessler, Frank/Sabine Lenk (1996). »Gallischer Hahn und Deutscher Adler. Film-Kontakte vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg.« In: Sibylle M. Sturm/Arthur Wohlgemuth (Hg.): Hallo? Berlin? Ici Paris! Deutsch-französische Filmbeziehungen 1918-1939, München: Ed. text + kritik, pp. 17–32. ↩︎

  13. Lux (1910, July 29). [Advertisement]. Der deutsche Lichtbildtheater-Besitzer, 2(29). or Grünspan, Gertrud (1910, August 25). [Advertisement]. Der deutsche Lichtbildtheater-Besitzer, 2(34). ↩︎

  14. Lux (1910, July 21). [Advertisement]. Der Deutsche Lichtbildtheater-Besitzer, 2(29). ↩︎

  15. Berliner Handels-Register (1909, March 3). Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung, Abend-Ausgabe, 38(113), p. 11 ↩︎

  16. Handels-Register (1909, March 3). Berliner Börsen-Zeitung, Abend-Ausgabe, (104), p. 27. ↩︎

  17. Geschäftliches (1909,July 14). Der Kinematograph, 3(133). ↩︎

  18. Grünspan, Gertrud (1910, November 30). Der Kinematograph, 4(205). ↩︎

  19. Thorogesellschaft m.b.H.(1910, January 19). Der Kinematograph, 4(160). ↩︎

  20. Loeser, Max (1908, October 14). Der Kinematograph, 2(94). ↩︎

  21. Die Ereignisse der letzten Woche (1911, December 16). Lichtbild-Bühne, 5(50), p. 10. ↩︎

  22. Film-Neuheiten (1913, May 3). Erste Internationale Film-Zeitung 7(18), p. 131. ↩︎

  23. Film-Neuheiten (1913, May 3). Erste Internationale Film-Zeitung 7(18), p. 131. ↩︎

  24. Handels-Register (1913, October 2). Berliner Börsen-Zeitung, Abend-Ausgabe, (426), p. 23 ↩︎

  25. Allerlei (1914, May 16). Lichtbild-Bühne, 8(26), p. 30. ↩︎

  26. Grünspan, Gertrud (1910, November 30 ↩︎

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