Authors: Donald Spoto
S
HE HAD IN FACT BEEN LONELY FOR YEARS—EVEN
when she was on tour, as Bernard Hall confirmed. Thus her final return to work on a film,
Just a Gigolo
in February 1978, had been singularly important for her.
Dietrich had prepared meticulously for this appearance. Not long before,
Vogue Paris
had featured a photoessay in which models were made up to resemble the great stars of earlier decades. She was impressed with the facsimile of herself—especially with the makeup devised by a wizard of the craft named Anthony Clavet. At Dietrich’s request, he met her at the studio and opened his makeup kit, attempting the transformation of an exhausted old lady into an elegant, timeless beauty. When he put the final touches to her lips, Dietrich suddenly reached out and clasped Clavet’s wrist.
“You have done it,” she whispered fiercely. “You must understand—I cannot see well enough any longer—I cannot see to do Marlene.” He was then astonished when she added, with utter gravity, “If—if I ever go on tour again—to do my show—will you please do the makeup for me?”
Marlene Dietrich drew closer to the reflection in the mirror, straining to see, as if by sheer effort she could find again the lost lineaments, the classic features adored by von Sternberg, improved by light, rouge, line and shadow—the enigmatic stare, the ambiguous smile idolized by millions but never duplicated ever, by anyone. Clavet saw only a painted old woman he had painstakingly made over for a color film. But then he saw that Dietrich continued to sit quietly at her dressing table, as if she beheld someone else returning her gaze: the serious young violin student she had been years before, perhaps. Or the prancing Thielscher Girl. Or the saucy Lola Lola . . . Amy
Jolly or Shanghai Lily . . . Frenchy the barmaid . . . or Major Marlene Dietrich, mistress of generals in wartime and comforter of soldiers languishing in army hospitals . . . lover to dozens, perhaps scores of those she met and liked. Perhaps she saw her most artful creation, the dauntless performer of her worldwide show, proclaiming that she was not only Eternal Woman but a kind of theatrical phoenix, ever rising from the cinders of one life to triumph in another.
Unheedful of the damp chill in the studio, she remained a long while at her dressing table. Motionless, silent, statuesque, she simply sat gazing into the mirror. And so in perhaps the truest sense she was at home, content at last with the half-glimpsed memories and dreams—with the illusions of Marlene created and recreated for decades by Maria Magdalene. She smiled.
notes
F
OR BREVITY, DETAILS OF INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED
for this book are supplied only at the first citation; unless otherwise stated, subsequent quotations from the same source derive from the interview with that source.
C
HAPTER
O
NE
1
-her jaw set: Hughes Pierce, “Aged 77—and she still looks stunning,”
The Sunday Times
, March 7, 1978.
2
-I will sing: Quoted in
Newsweek
, Aug. 7, 1978.
C
HAPTER
T
WO
4
-He who writes: Suzanne Everett,
Lost Berlin
(New York: Gallery Books, 1979), p. 18.
9
-Sie selbst glich: Marlene Dietrich,
Ich bin, Gott sei Dank, Berlinerin
(Berlin: Ullstein, 1987), p. 31. (For an account of Dietrich’s publishing history, see my comments on page 294.) (New York: Grove, 1989), a translation by Salvator Attanasio of
Ich bin
.
9
-Tu etwas:
Ibid
., p. 58.
9
-My whole upbringing: Leslie Frewin,
Dietrich
(New York: Stein and Day, 1967), pp. 15–16.
13
-We lived in: Marlene Dietrich,
Marlene
(New York: Grove, 1989), p. 22.
14
-Every face looks: Everett, p. 24.
15
-did not seem:
Marlene
, p. 22.
16
-No. You can’t: MD to Maximilian Schell, in his film
Marlene
(1983).
16
-She didn’t want:
Marlene
, pp. 14–15.
C
HAPTER
T
HREE
20
-a wonderful affair: Quoted in Werner Frisch and K. W. Obermeyer,
Brecht in Augsburg
(Frankfurt, 1976), translated in Ronald Hayman,
Brecht
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 53.
23
-a completely negative: Nora Hodges (trans.),
George Grosz: An Autobiography
(New York: Imago/Macmillan, 1983), p. 149.
26
-She was anything: Geza von Cziffra (trans. Jon Zimmermann), in Renate Seydel,
Marlene Dietrich: Eine Chronik ihres Lebens in Bildern und Dokumenten
(Munich: Nymphenburger, 1984), p. 82.
26
-a very strange: Lotte Andor to DS, May 25, 1990.
27
-And if they: William Dieterle, in Seydel, p. 82.
28
-Wie dann dein: Hugo von Hofmannsthal,
Death and the Fool
(Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1914); trans. Elisabeth Walter.
29
-One day, Held: Unpublished memoirs of Grete Mosheim, published here with the kind permission of Mosheim’s family.
30
-She tried: Stefan Lorant to DS, May 16, 1991.
32
-This is too: Quoted in Mosheim memoirs.
34
-One had the: William Dieterle, in Seydel, p. 82.
C
HAPTER
F
OUR
37
-The role should:
Berliner Tageblatt
, Feb. 22, 1926.
38
-wearing neither: Elisabeth Lennartz in Seydel, p. 82.
38
-It was chic: Bill Davidson, “The Dietrich Legend,”
McCall’s
, March 1960, p. 170.
38
-Only one woman: Käte Haack,
ibid
.
39
-Take some pictures:
New York Times
, Sept. 5, 1976.
42
-constantly pursued: Mia May,
ibid
.
43
-Oh, don’t worry: Quoted by Stefan Lorant to DS, May 16, 1991.
44
-She showed only: Karl Hartl in Seydel, p. 83 (trans. Jon Zimmermann).
45
-I haven’t a: Quoted in Sheridan Morley,
Marlene Dietrich
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976).
45
-Among the girls:
Neve Freie Presse
, Nov. 30, 1927.
47
-Marlene Dietrich sings: Herbert Jhering, in the
Berliner Bösen-Courier
, May 16, 1928.
48
-When Dietrich mimes: Unsigned review in
Film-Kurier
, Sept. 6, 1928 (trans. Jon Zimmermann).
49
-She simply sat: Lili Darvas, in Seydel, p. 85 (trans. Henriette Fremont).
49
-Marlene waged intrigues: Mary Kiersch (interviewer),
Curtis Bernhardt
(Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1986), p. 38.
50
-rare Garboesque:
New York Times
, Sept. 9, 1929, p. 30.
51
-plump but agile: Erich Urban, in
Börsen-Zeitung
, Sept. 6, 1929.
51
–52-with a cold: Josef von Sternberg,
Fun in a Chinese Laundry
(New York: Macmillan, 1965), p. 231.
C
HAPTER
F
IVE
53
-I feel as:
Film-Kurier
, Aug. 17, 1929.
54
-without my knowledge: Von Sternberg, p. 154.
56
-bovine listlessness:
Ibid
., p. 233.
56
-She came to life:
Ibid
., p. 237.
57
-von Sternberg had:
Marlene
, p. 51.
57
-Even while rehearsals: Willi Frischauer, “The Marlene Dietrich Story,” Reynolds News Service (London), June 13, 1954.
58
-Her behavior: Von Sternberg, p. 239.
58
-I didn’t know: Quoted in Peter Bogdanovich, “Hollywood,”
Esquire
, January 1972, p. 56.
59
-He pulled out: Quoted in Frank Westmore and Muriel Davidson,
The Westmores of Hollywood
(Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1976), pp. 69–70.
59
-I did not: Von Sternberg, p. 227.
60
-I am Miss Dietrich: Often quoted by von Sternberg; see, e.g., “Le Montreur d’Ombres,”
Cahiers du Cinéma
, no. 168 (July 1965), p. 21: “Marlène, c’est moi, et elle le sait mieux que personne.”
63
-Regardless: Von Sternberg, p. 242.
63
-simply wasn’t ambitious: E.g.,
Marlene
, p. 58.
64
-She had pinned: Ruth Landshoff-Yorck, “Sensual Indolence Only Part of Marlene Dietrich’s Allure,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, Dec. 29, 1977.
65
-In Europe it: Budd Schulberg,
Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince
(New York: Stein and Day, 1981), p. 278.
C
HAPTER
S
IX
68
–69-von Sternberg controlled: John Kobal,
People Will Talk
(New York: Knopf, 1985), p. 529.
71
-They didn’t like: Bogdanovich,
art. cit
., p. 56.
71
-Jo was jealous: Kobal, pp. 298–99.
74
-I planned to: Von Sternberg, p. 247.
74
-Woman is no: F. A. Macklin, “Interview with Josef von Sternberg,”
Film Heritage
, vol. 1, no. 2 (Winter 1965–66), pp. 5–6.
75
-I would much: E.g., Paramount press release dated May 18, 1937, and, much later, the (London)
Evening News
, May 31, 1949.
77
-The light source:
Marlène D
., pp. 68–69 (trans. DS); the published English version is not quite accurate in this case.
78
-Turn your shoulders: Von Sternberg, p. 253.
79
-I made seven: Herman Weinberg,
Josef von Sternberg
(New York: Dutton, 1967), pp. 126, 83; see also “Le Montreur d’Ombres, déclarations de Josef von Sternberg,”
Cahiers du Cinéma
, no. 168 (July 1965), p. 19.
C
HAPTER
S
EVEN
85
-to be Mr. Dietrich:
New York Times
, May 6, 1931.
85
-Mr. von Sternberg: Quoted in the
Los Angeles Herald
, Sept. 28, 1931.
86
-Mr. von Sternberg: Bogdanovich,
art. cit
.
86
-living in sin: Diane Johnson,
Dashiell Hammett: A Life
(New York: Random House, 1983), p. 100.
87
-to photograph me:
Marlene
, p. 97.
87
-Cooper was very: Bogdanovich,
art. cit
.
88
-Marlene worshipped: Nicholas von Sternberg to DS, May 16, 1989.
88
-I had nothing: From a Paramount Studios press release dated Oct. 27, 1933, issued under MD’s name.
88
-I never think:
Motion Picture Classic
, January 1932.