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07 August 2012

25th February 1966, Marlene in Poland for the second time

       On 25th February 1966, Marlene Dietrich was travelling to Poland for the second time.
As 'usual', she was greated by Pagart (Polish Art Agency). She wore beige coat and (it seems) floral print headscarf. Marlene went to the Bristol Hotel (the one in which she stayed back in 1964).

You can watch the airport arrival and Marlene during concert in 1966 in Warsaw here...:

...and something from a fan's private collection, including Polish magazine covers from 60s here(I hope you can watch this one).

 The plan was to give 13 concerts (6 in Warsaw, 5 in Gdańsk and 2 in Wrocław), then get back to Paris to get some rest as her health was really bad those days: in her journal she was writing about insomnia, back pain and frequent bleedings. Despite this, she gave all 13 concerts and didn't stop rehearsing with the orchestra.

She traveled by plane and train from town to town. Even though most of the organisors were able to provide decent conditions, in Gdańsk there were some problems; she didn't quite like the Grand Hotel in nearby Sopot, the stage location wasn't good either: she sang in shipyard which was just next to the railway; trains were so loud they interrupted the songs. You can find photos from Gdańsk airport right here. This Chanel (?) suit suited her so well. :)

Big highlights from Dietrich's second visit to Poland were her meetings with Polish artist: musicians (you can see beautiful Marlene with two well known pianist here), actors, among which the most important person was Cybulski. She met him in Wrocław, when she was staying in Monopol hotel, where eventually Cybulski also decided to spend some time. They got along immediately; she knew his movies; they spend quite a lot time together and when it was high time for her to get back to Warsaw, he escorted her to the railway station. Afterwars, they started to exchange letters.

After concerts in Warsaw and a glass of wine drank with musicians, Marlene headed for airport. She declared she wanted to return to Poland once more...but unfortunatelly, it has never happened.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this! By the way, everyone, theprovocateur wrote about Marlene's 1st Polish concert visit here. If I have seen that Polish collector's video, I have forgotten it, and I appreciate that you have brought it to our attention. Marlene's theater school student monologue always gives me a laugh.

    By the way, is that story about Cybulski dying at the Wrocław train station just after saying goodbye to Marlene true? I've read it perhaps only in David Bret's book, and I realized that the dates never made sense. Why would Marlene be traveling through Poland during January 1967?

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  2. I also have come across this story, but as you said - dates just never made sense. I've tried to find something more about the January 1967, but everywhere there's the same thing, copied ans pasted...

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  3. In the book I repeat only what Marlene told me. She claimed to have been there when Spishek fell under the train, and this story was confirmed over the phone to me by Hanna Dabrowska, who was Marlene's aide and translator during her visits to Poland. Further confirmation came from Ryszard Straszewski, Spishek's producer. davidbret@btinternet.com

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    1. David, I have to apologize because your book isn't the only place where I've read this account. It's also in Marlene's book, and I realized that while I was reading the eBook version. Nevertheless, the dates do not add up.

      What would be more interesting for me to know is this: while you were writing your biography, did you ever come to discover that Marlene was providing you with inaccurate information? Also, did you ever get the impression that the sources with whom you spoke may have been heavily influenced by Marlene's account of how events in her life transpired?

      --Joseph

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