Dutch film stars of the 30s: Holland’s favorite typist
In June 1935 Dolly Mollinger was introduced as ‘the Netherlands’ latest film discovery’. On the eve of the premiere of her first film – De Kribbebijter – she presented herself to the press like this: “I weigh 98 pounds, I love chocolate ice cream and my hobby is taking care of dogs, especially stray dogs.” Were these the right requisites for a new movie star? Maybe not. But the photo that came with the article was far more convincing: it showed a very pretty, cheekily smiling, young woman. Dolly was posing at the Cinetone Studio’s leaning against one of the cameras that would immortalize her. ‘Images say more than words’ is a fitting expression to introduce Mollinger’s debut on the Dutch movie scene. Unlike most actresses she didn’t come from theater and she didn’t have the usual qualifications: she was chosen because of her photogenic qualities. And, according to legend, she was snatched from her desk, and her typewriter, to step in front of the camera. And, as with Audrey Hepburn, many men would later claim the discovery as theirs: Haro van Peski, Rudi Meyer, and Hermann Kosterlitz.
The female lead in De Kribbebijter would initially be played by Mary Dresselhuys, a famed stage actress. The role was that of a ‘tipjuffie’ (a typist) which the son of a baron marries against his father’s will. Everything was set: until Dresselhuys was asked to shoot some tests. After shooting her, the four men responsible for the production and direction (Rudi Meyer, J.L. Pearl, Hermann Kosterlitz, and Ernst Winar) called her in and, after a long preamble, informed her that she wasn’t photogenic enough.
"Leider, gnadige Frau, Sie sind nicht zu fotografieren." (“Unfortunately, madam, you are impossible to photograph.”). Dresselhuys – whose involvement with the film was already announced in the press – was offered a new role as the typist’s sister-in-law. And, after Lily Bouwmeester was also tested unsuccessfully, a total unknown was offered the leading role: Dolly Mollinger. Robbed from her desk at Holfi (the production company of De Kribbebijter), she had that Cinderella quality required to seduce the audience that Dresselhuys and Bouwmeester didn’t posses.
De Kribbebijter was a success and Dolly was hailed as a new star. Soon she appeared in Haro van Peski’s Het leven is niet zoo kwaad. In the movie she plays… a typist. Courted by her goofy boss, she finally gives in, but only to make her unfaithful fiancé jealous. Léo Joannon’s De man zonder hart, a French-Dutch coproduction was her next film in which, again, she sits behind a typewriter. This time her boss actually marries her, but his jealousy ruins the marriage.
Only Gerard Rutten’s Rubber – in which she plays the wife of a planter – is an exception to the rule.
Dolly’s photogenic looks brought her international fame. In January 1936 – after the success of De Kribbebijter – the Dutch press reported that she had signed a contract with the British Gaumont and she would soon leave for Britain to star in a movie.
It would actually take until 1937, when she appeared next to Charles Laughton in The Vessel of Wrath, shot at the Elstree Studios. Hollywood seemed the next step but, instead, it was Paris. Dolly made two movies in France: Altitude 3200, and Place de la Concorde, before World War II abruptly ended her career. The last image we have of Dolly is from a newspaper from autumn 1940. The picture shows her with a friend on the Scheveningen boulevard. The caption says that, after the French capitulation, Dolly was unemployed.
After the war the name Dolly Mollinger was forgotten. In her place, a new star would rise: an even more photogenic one, one that made it to Hollywood: Audrey Hepburn.