The Testatrix Is Willing

Totally unrelated. Fred MacMurray & Marlene Dietrich
on the set of The Lady is Willing.;)

Marlene Dietrich's last will and testament as well as its codicil became public record after it was granted probate by the New York County Surrogate's Court in September 1992. Even though private recorded conversations and letters between Marlene and her friends as well as photographs of Marlene's wounded leg after her 1973 fall at Shady Grove Music Fair have circulated among Dietrich fans for years, her will--accessible to anyone--never appears to have emerged. Until now.

A Million Grains of Golden Caviar

That's what Diana Vreeland called this breathtaking, beaded gown when she exhibited it at the Metropolitan Museum in 1974 as part their Costume Institute's "Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design" retrospective.

The dress, designed by Travis Banton for Marlene to wear in Angel, was reportedly inspired by the mastery of Fabergé. It cost $8 000 to produce in 1937 -- too expensive for Paramount executives to allow Marlene to add this one to her personal collection, as was her usual custom. Altered, it appeared in several Paramount movies long after its original model had vacated her dressing room on the lot. By the 1990s, the gown was in such fragile condition that it required extensive restoration. It is said that the gown is now preserved in a private collection.

When Vreeland first contacted Marlene about the latter's old movie costumes, the star seemed less interested in golden caviar than in exactly who had told the ex-editor in which hotel she was currently staying:

UPDATE: To see a sketch of this costume, look here!

A Letter To Marlene

Letter from Jean Cocteau to Marlene Dietrich, 1953.

A Letter from Marlene

Letter written to Maria Callas in the 1950s.

Giacometti Letter to Dietrich Sells for $ 266 500

A letter written to Dietrich by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti in 1959 sold for $266,500 at a Sotheby's auction in New York on Friday, CBC News reports. The three page letter was written to Dietrich around the time of her 1959 triumph at Paris' Theatre de l'Etoile and features pen-and-ink drawings of roses.

Sotheby's Lot Description:
Autograph letter signed ("Alberto Giacometti"), 3 pages (10 5/8 x 8 1/2 in.; 270 x 215 mm) with 3 pen-and-ink drawings, Paris, 12 December 1959, to Marlene Dietrich; one vertical and one horizontal fold, minimal wear. Autograph envelope (signed "Alberto Giacometti"), also inscribed "Giacometti" in red ink by Dietrich.

Love letter to the Vampire in museum exhibit

At the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, a Dietrich love letter to Mercedes de Acosta will be on a Valentine's Day-themed exhibit. On February 11, 13, 20 and March 25, education coordinator Farrar Fitzgerald will lead tour groups of up to 6 visitors age 8 and up through epistolary schmaltz such as "I wanted to heal all your wounds and instead, because I see that I can't heal them, I give you new ones. I wanted so much to give you happiness." The tour is free with museum admission ($10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 students and children over 5).

Link

An amie jolie to Amy Jolly

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.