German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, nr. A3684/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis/Star-Foto-Atelier. German actor Paul Henckels (1885-1967) appeared in over 230 films, often as a supporting actor. He played in films by directors like Fritz Lang, Jacques Feyder and G.W. Pabst. He also worked as a stage actor, a stage director and as a theatre manager. Paul Henckels was born in1885 in Hurth, near Koln (Cologne), Germany. His father was the industrialist and painter Paul Abraham Henckels and his mother was the actress Cacilia Warszawska. Paul studied from 1905 till 1907 at the Hochschule fur Buhnenkunst at the Dusseldorfer Schauspielhaus. He made his first stage appearance in Kotzebue’s Die deutschen Kleinstadter; and was a great success in the title role of Schneider Wibbel (1913), written by his school buddy Hans Muller-Schlosser. The great Max reinhardt invited him in 1920 to come to Berlin. In 1921 Henckels was a co-founder and the artistic director of the Schlosspark-Theater in Berlin. Here he appeared in 1922 as Moliere’s Der Geizige/The Miser. He later would work for the Volksbuhne, Deutschen Theater and many other Berlin stages. From 1936 till 1945 he was engaged at the prestigious Preu?ischen Staatstheater in Berlin under intendant Gustaf Grundgens. In 1921 film star Henny Porten discovered him for the cinema and he made his film debut in Das Geheimnis der sechs Spielkarten, 5. Teil – Das Herz Konig (1921). Among his other silent films are INRI (1923, Robert Wiene), Therese Raquin (1928, Jacques Feyder), Der Biberpelz/The Beaver Fur (1928, Erich Schonfelder) opposite La Jana, Geschlecht in Fesseln (1928, Wilhelm Dieterle) and § 173 St.G.B. Blutschande/Culpable Marriages (1929, James Bauer). When the sound film was near at hand he was enthusiastic about the idea of a talking picture. He worked at the ‘practice of the sound film actor’, and directed a short film Paul Graets als Berliner Zeitungsjunge (1929). The early sound film offered him leading parts in such films as Skandal um Eva/Scandal Around Eva (1930, Georg Wilhelm Pabst) starring Henny Porten, Er und sein Diener/He and His Servant (1931, Steve Sekely) and Flachsmann als Erzieher/Flachsmann as Educator (1930, Carl Heinz Wolff) opposite Charlotte Ander. He directed himself in Schneider Wibbel/Tailor Wibbel (1931, Paul Henckels). Typical for Paul Henckels film characters is their accent and humour from the Rhineland region. He often played cranky and stubborn fellows. Among his films were Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse/ The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933, Fritz Lang), Ein idealer Gatte/An Ideal Husband (1935, Herbert Selpin) starring Brigitte Helm; Napoleon ist an allem Schuld/Napoleon is to Blame for Everything (1938, Curt Goetz), Der Maulkorb/The Muzzle (1938, Erich Engel) and Zwei in einer gro?en Stadt/Two in a Big City (1942, Volker von Collande). Unforgettable was his character Professor Bommel in Die Feuerzangenbowle (1944, Helmut Weiss). This is the second film version of Heinrich Spoerl's novel about pupils playing various tricks and jokes on their teachers. The twist in the story is the leader of the pack, the major cause of the teachers' headaches: Johannes Pfeiffer (Heinz Ruhmann) is not a real pupil at all. He is a successful playwright with a PhD. One evening at the pub his friends discover that he never went to a school but was educated privately. Their stories of their boyhood years persuade him to see for himself and 'be a boy again'. The film was made in 1944, so it is a bit astonishing that the Nazi censors were prepared to pass a film with such an anti-authoritarian message. Die Feuerzangenbowle is very well made and today enjoys a cult status in Germany. Paul Henckels’ first post-war film was Wozzeck (1947, Georg C. Klaren), based on the famous play by Georg Buchner. In this early DEFA production he played a cold and cynically experimenting doctor. His later roles were more stereotypical characters. To his last films belong Pension Scholler (1952, Georg Jacoby) starring Camilla Spira, Staatsanwaltin Corda/Prosecutor Corda (1954, Karl Ritter), Kirschen in Nachbars Garten/Cherries in the Neighbour’s Garden (1956, Erich Engels), and Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull/Confessions of Felix Krull (1957, Kurt Hoffmann) featuring Horst Buchholz. He focussed on his stage work and did recital tours, performing Wilhelm Busch and German classics. During the 1950’s and 1960’s he also appeared often on tv, like in Die frohliche Weinrunde/The Cheerful Wine Bout with singer Margit Schramm, and in Nachsitzen fur Erwachsene/Detention for Adults as a professor, who explained interesting phenomenons for a class with four adults (among them was film actor Hans Richter). In 1962 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold for his longtime and important contributions to the German cinema. Paul Henckels died in 1967 in Kettwig, now Essen. He was married with actress Thea Grodtzinsky. His first wife was Cecilia Brie, a former actress, with w

I can't remember where I took this photo, probably Canton Road or Shanghai Street in Mongkok, Kowloon. Interestingly, both the Britons and the Chinese used colonnaded architectural designs in Hong Kong extensively up to the 1950s. This is a very typical design from the pre-World War II period where the apartments were built OVER the sidewalk which also features a colonnaded design. The design maximizes usable space of the buildings, and shelters pedestrians from the hot sun and the occasional monsoon rain in the summer. By the 1990s, buildings like this one are becoming rare, as urban re-developments led to the demolition of many such buildings. Look at the notes and you'll see two shops selling Zwilling J.A. Henckels knives. I'm creating a Zwilling J.A. Henckels photo group as none existed before.