Marlene '59



Marlene Dietrich at the Sahara Hotel, 1959.

 When Marlene opened at the Sahara Hotel's Conga Room in May 1959, she gave 'em legs -- and feathers. Her dress, a beaded Jean Louis number with a thigh-high slit, was topped with extravagant yellow plumage. (The costume also came in sedate black, but photos of Dietrich wearing it in actual performance are hen's teeth).

She sang her usual suspects but included an odd  repertoire choice: Johnny Cash's "Don't Take Your Gun To Town".

In 1959, Marlene also announced her TV debut. Press were told that her upcoming performances in Paris would be filmed in colour, directed by Orson Welles. In the end, the special -- a French-language performance filmed for an American TV audience -- didn't happen, but Marlene  did  make her TV debut that year, without fuss, while on tour in Brazil.

 
  


Marlene makes her TV debut on Brazil's TV Tupi. With host, Jayce Campos (1959).



The show, on the TV-TUPI channel, was presented by Jayce Campos. Dietrich appeared in her top hat and tails to sing "The Boys in the Backroom" and "Falling in Love Again". After some chat, she changed into a dress for a final number.

Although it is a studio recording with overdubbed applause, the LP, Dietrich in Rio gives a good representation of the material Marlene sang on her South American Tour.

South American exuberance gave way to Parisian jubilation when Marlene performed at the Théâtre de l'Étoile in November. Orson Welles came for the opening, as did Jean Cocteau and Noel Coward. Coward thought Marlene too brassy, but liked her rendition of "One For My Baby":



(The entire performance, including Maurice Chevalier's introduction, is available as a digital download on itunes. Although the sound quality is sub-par, it is an interesting historical artifact.)

See Marlene's December 1959 French TV appearance as part of a charity appeal.

Read more about Marlene's 1959 Brazilian tour.

When Baryshnikov & Dietrich Met on Business

Back in 1987, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) hosted its 6th annual awards dinner at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For $750 a plate, attendees got to watch designers--who paid only $250 for their grub (beat that, AARP cardholders!)--walk like Egyptians to the podium and bask in the recognition of their peers.

Absent from the ceremony was Marlene Dietrich, who had won a lifetime achievement award, which someone less respectful than I might term a sort of "deathbed award" that Dietrich describes under her ABC entry, "Academy Award." On Marlene's behalf, Mikhail Baryshnikov accepted the award. Maria Riva tells us in her book that Dietrich rejected David Riva for this task in favor of the diminutive dancer-turned-actor, who became the object of her mother's unbridled octogenarian lust.

If Baryshnikov never had the chance to visit Dietrich's "nice and tight" nether regions, at least one of her top-shelf impersonators, played by Adele Anderson, flirted with him and Gene Hackman in the 1991 movie, Company Business. This Dietrich may be dressed like The Blue Angel's Lola-Lola, but she's singing "The Boys in the Backroom," the signature song of Destry Rides Again's Frenchy, even jiggling her Adam's apple like the saloon strumpet to whimper with vibrato!

Noel and Marlene, 1973

Marlene accompanied Noel Coward to the New York premiere of "Oh Coward" in January 1973. It was Coward's final public appearance. Earl Wilson's column reporting the event is reproduced below.

DIETRICH PLAYS NURSE TO DISABLED NOEL COWARD

Earl Wilson, 18 January 1973

NEW YORK, N.Y – Marlene Dietrich’s greatest performance as a modern Florence Nightingale is one that only a few of us saw.

Thare are many sharpshooters out after the glamorous grandma or great-grandma-to-be but when she assisted an aging, stooped, arthritic Si r Noel Coward, now 73 to her reported 71, up and down difficult stairs at the “Oh Coward” night at the New Theater and party at the Trattoria, we had to admit that Marlene was at her best and not seeking publicity.

In fact, at the Trattoria, she told one press lady, "I’m not speaking to you anymore." The press lady said, “You’ve just done me a big favor."

But there was Marlene in a pinkish lame gown (Chanel) actually helping hoist Sir Noel to his seat and saying to him, “It’s all going to be all right, we have made it this far, dear love”.

Sir Noel smoked his cigaret and fanned his flowing pocket handkerchief. Marlene backed away into brick wall and allowed busty Arlene Dahl, wearing something new in bosoms, to get into the pictures. Arlene said that her long dress became entangled on the seat and she told Sir Noel, “I may be on your lap.” H replied, “Don’t worry. I’m very broad-minded.”

As Sir Noel kissed and otherwise saluted the stars who came to the show in his honor, and to the party, one got to wondering whether he was arthritic or just liked to be petted by Anita Loos, Helen Hayes, Ethel Merman, Joan Sutherland, Glynis Johns, Celeste Holm, Phyllis Newman, Myrna Loy, and some others.

A fan came up and said to Marlene, “I saw you on TV. You were beautiful.”

“I hope so,” Marlene said. “But you should see me on the stage.” A shrug said that the real Marlene could only be seen in person.

Legendary, Lovely Marlene

On June 21, 1954, Marlene was introduced thus by Noel Coward before a star-studded audience at London's Café de Paris. It was her first appearance in London, and the show ran at that venue until 18 July that year. While she was in London, she also appeared at the "Night of 100 Stars" where she sang "Land Sea and Air" in duet with Noel.

Luckily for us, that "legendary, lovely" evening was recorded and issued as an album, so that we can easily relive it 53 years on. (Available at amazon.com : http://www.amazon.com/Marlene-Dietrich-Album-Live-Paris/dp/B000026IBN/ref=sr_1_2/104-1521198-1899140?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1182289096&sr=1-2 )