Sometimes I overlook entire pages at websites, including MDCB. Today, I noticed for the first time its most intriguing material: transcripts of letters and telegrams from Benno Vigny's real-life Amy Jolly to Dietrich, and even telegram transcripts from Benno Vigny to Amy Jolly herself. All my attempts to attain Vigny's novella, Amy Jolly--the basis of Dietrich's first American film, Morocco--have proven to be a pipe dream, so this correspondence somewhat serves as a consolation prize.
In short, Jolly requests some monetary compensation from Dietrich, which Vigny never paid her. Based on follow-up reports from Dietrich's friend, this Amy Jolly does not come off as the type to hike through desert sands in heels for her man. Rather, Jolly proves to be quite the hustler--as well as a North African Heidi Fleiss. Jolly does, however, express a genuine desire to possess a candid Dietrich photo, like other movie-goers who were struck immediately by the Dietrich mystique and wanted to penetrate its Hollywood trappings.
As an aside, I never knew Morocco was called Coeurs brulés in Francophone countries.
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