Asta Nielsen - the International Film Star and the Emergence of the Star System 1911 to 1914

The research project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and carried out from 2018 to 2022 at the Philipps University Marburg and the University of Trier. The research team consisted of Yvonne Zimmermann and Martin Loiperdinger (leadership) and Friederike Grimm and Victor Chavez (research and doctoral studies) as well as numerous student assistants. As an associated researcher, Julie K. Allen from Brigham Young University in Provo, USA, participated in the research of the project. 

In order to assess the status of the film star Asta Nielsen for the establishment of the star system and the long feature film as the dominant programme format of commercial cinema, we reconstructed and analysed the distribution and screenings of the three Asta Nielsen exclusive film series in the cinema seasons 1911/12 to 1913/14 on the home markets of Germany and Austria-Hungary as well as on the foreign markets of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

For this purpose, a large number of rental and cinema advertisements in the trade press and local press of the five countries mentioned were identified and entered into the Importing Asta Nielsen Database (IANDb). Thus, with 16,000 data sets, IANDb has been developed into a productive research tool: https://importing-asta-nielsen.online.uni-marburg.de

Generally speaking, the following research results can be noted: 

In the home markets of Germany and Austria-Hungary, the initiators of the Asta Nielsen exclusive film series apparently succeeded to a relevant extent in realising the intended sales of their three feature film series starring Asta Nielsen in the mode of block and blind booking. The various design of local cinema advertisements with portrait and character vignettes of Asta Nielsen and frequent advertising attributes such as "Duse of cinema art", "world-famous tragedienne" etc. reflects different local advertising needs of cinema managers.

In the important British film market, the renowned film distributor Walturdaw Co. offered three Asta Nielsen exclusive  film series in compositions different from Germany. In the absence of sufficient cinema advertisements in the British local press, it remains unclear how many cinemas had booked complete series in advance. However, a trend comparison of Asta Nielsen's name mentions with 19 other short film and long feature film stars confirms the Danish actress's clear pre-eminence. This also applies to the small film markets of Australia and New Zealand, which can be documented in detail and where it is even possible to trace the distribution channels of individual film prints – thanks to the high rate of cinema advertisements and the advanced digitisation of the local press.    

Contrary to common assumptions, neither the film star as a global attraction of the cinema business nor block and blind booking was invented in Hollywood: The Asta Nielsen exclusive  film series produced in Berlin pioneered the star system in connection with the long feature film already in the early 1910s. The project database Importing Asta Nielsen Database (IANDb) allows transnational comparisons of the establishment of the star system from a wide range of perspectives as for instance star profiles, film programmes, performance modes and cinema advertising practices: https://importing-asta-nielsen.online.uni-marburg.de

The main project results are published as a special issue of the journal Early Popular Visual Culture, edited by Yvonne Zimmermann: Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/repv20/19/2-3

Database

Importing Asta Nielsen Database, 7^th edition, launched 06.07.2022: www.importing-asta-nielsen.online.uni-marburg.de

Publications

Zimmermann, Yvonne: Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film. In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 107-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2022.2059833

Grimm, Friederike: The Asta Nielsen Brand: Advertising Long Feature Star Series in German Local Newspapers, 1911 to 1914. In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, 19. Jg., Nr. 2-3, 2021, pp. 121-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2022.2059834

Chavez, Victor and Martin Loiperdinger: Asta Nielsen Film Trade in Great Britain: Pioneering the Exclusive Long Feature Star Series before the First World War. In: Yvonne Zimmermann (Hg.): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 149-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2021.2058184

Allen, Julie K.: Between Stage and Screen: Female European Stars of Early Feature Films in Australasia. In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed.): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 175-201 https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2021.2058188

Loiperdinger, Martin: Not Only Divas: Special Features of Films in Cinema Advertising in Trieste before the First World War.  In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 202-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2021.2058191

Grimm, Friederike: Spezial-Nummer der Asta Nielsen-Zeitung from 11 Nov. 1911. In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 229-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2021.2058195

Grimm, Friederike: “Cinema: Today’s Theatre” – Images from the 1914 Cologne Rose Monday Parade. In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film“, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 245-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2021.2058197

Allen, Julie K.: „Tracing the Australasian Asta Nielsen Boom in Trove and Papers Past: A Tool for Recreating the Circulation Histories of Silent Films.” In: Yvonne Zimmermann (ed): Early Popular Visual Culture, Special Issue „Asta Nielsen, the Film Star System and the Introduction of the Long Feature Film, vol. 19, nos. 2-3 (2021), pp. 261-274. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2021.2058204

Grimm, Friederike: Asta Nielsen in der Populärkultur – Parodien der ersten Filmdiva in Zeitschriften, Kino und Theater vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg. ffk-journal, no. 6 (2021), pp. 292-308. http://ffk-journal.de/?journal=ffk-journal&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=152

Loiperdinger, Martin: Early Film Stars in Trade Journals and Newspapers: Data-based Research on Global Distribution and Local Exhibition. In: Daniel Biltereyst, Richard Maltby, Philippe Meers (eds): The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History. Routledge: London, New York 2019, pp. 138-146.