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Poised, urbane—and sparkling without being flashy.  That is Claudette Colbert (1903-1996), star of Broadway and Hollywood.

My enthusiasm for Ms. Colbert dates back to when I was about nine years old, watching television with my German grandparents.  The film: It Happened One Night.  For years, little more than the memory of that night . . . and that alliterative, daydreams fuelling name.

As a teenager, ever on the lookout for the Hollywood glamour that had long faded from the screen, I was charmed (and tickled) by Colbert’s performances in Mitchell Leisen’s Midnight and Preston Sturges’s Palm Beach Story.

Moving to the US from the old world, as Claudette had done in the early days of the 20th century, I researched her career for several college projects.  During my studies, I learned about Ms. Colbert’s appearances on radio, a discovery that eventually resulted in Etherized Victorians, my doctoral dissertation on American radio drama.  

So much has happened since—and owing to—that one night in front of the television. 

Here, I am letting you in on what is and keeps happening as I share images from my growing collection of Colbertiana.