#291: Asta Nielsen and Urban Gad
They were the most celebrated film couple of the first half of the 1910s: Asta, the first true superstar; Urban, the man behind her – her director, screenwriter and husband. But was he forgotten when she became famous? How did she deal with her many fans and the piles of fan letters they sent? Did contemporary audiences see the same feminism in the couple’s most political film that has brought Asta to the fore in our time? And why did Urban become a cinema owner in Copenhagen, while Asta was turned down at least a dozen times when she applied for a cinema license?
The four articles of this theme issue of Kosmorama illuminate the famous partnership anew:
Martin Loiperdinger analyzes Die Suffragette (1913), a strongly political film about women’s suffrage that was marketed in very different ways around the world.
Anna Bell examines Urban Gad’s reputation in his own time. Was he a well-known and respected figure in his own right? Or was it Asta’s status as a diva that made him famous, only for her fame to consign him to the ranks of the forgotten?
Stephan Michael Schröder has read Asta Nielsen’s collection of fan letters, revealing an ambivalent relationship between the star and her fans.
Julie K. Allen investigates why Asta Nielsen, despite numerous applications, never obtained a cinema license in Copenhagen, and sheds light on the peculiarities of the Danish cinema licensing system.
Guest professor at the Danish Film Institute, Julie K. Allen, edited this issue of Kosmorama. Rasmus J. Simonsen was web editor.
Enjoy your read!