Vanished Vestments

To keep the goon squad's interest, let's talk about some famous Marlene Dietrich duds that have disappeared. Back in the late '80s, Los Angeles Times assiduously reported on the Hollywood relics that the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks had acquired from the then-(and still-)defunct Hollywood Museum Associates. For criminally demanding costly upkeep, these treasures were eventually sentenced to the decommissioned Lincoln Heights jail, where their Hollywood connection ironically continued. Because the jail served as a filming location for chefs d'oeuvre such as Chained Heat, these captive costumes and memorabilia allegedly became swag for thieving film crews.

This story described one such stolen goodie as "a white tuxedo worn in 1935 by Dietrich in The Devil Is a Woman." Oh, yes. I remember that scene as if it were yesterday. Concha gets deported from some South Pacific island for inciting barroom brawls yet manages to become a Russian empress who earns chump change as a clip joint floozy, coaxing electrical workers to squander their paychecks on apples. This must be from the scene in mind:

Obviously, this is not Concha, but Helen from Blonde Venus

Because the L.A. Times writer didn't cite the right Dietrich film, I wonder whether this costume was in fact snatched from some jail cell. Someone posted this photo of a white tuxedo displayed at the Filmmuseum Berlin as the one from Blonde Venus, but it's surely a tux from Dietrich's later cabaret career, isn't it? It reminds me an awful lot of the tux featured on the Dietrich in Rio LP cover. Whatever the truth is, the FIDM Museum blog continues to spoil us by sharing high-quality images of Dietrich-owned items on loan from the Dept. of Recreation and Parks, such as this pair of custom-made Delmans. Dietrich didn't need to dance when she could get the party started with those disco balls on her heels.

With all this Blonde Venus tux talk, I'd like to pay my respects to the late Whitney Houston, who referenced Dietrich, the Supremes, and Audrey Hepburn in her "I'm Your Baby Tonight" music video (the American and European versions below, to appeal to this blog's international readers).

American version:

European version:

Musically speaking, I prefer the American version, which exemplifies Houston's foray into harder-edged R&B after the 1989 Soul Train Awards audience booed her R&B/urban contemporary nomination for "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?"--a power-pop ballad whose soul truly is difficult to discern. The house remix of the European "I'm Your Baby Tonight" release nullifies this context, which may be inconsequential to non-American audiences who have never lived in the U.S. to experience its race relations, where crossover artists can be treated like traitors or nonentities. Think Houston's cousin, Dionne Warwick.

In terms of images, I don't notice any difference between the the videos' Dietrich homages. I will point out, however, that--although the tuxedo color, backup dancers, setting, and hand-grabbing certainly mirror the Blonde Venus comeback performance--the scene amalgamates some Morocco images, particularly Houston's reclining pose at the beginning and the flirtation between Houston and her female audience members.

Despite those nods, no lesbian kisses take place, and Houston tops a male audience member with her hat rather than presenting him with a flower. Also, Houston's video reconfigures the gender-bending with a sort of trompe l'oeil that led me to mistake the slender-necked male love interest for a lady in Josephine Baker drag. As for Baker, some credit her as the influence of Houston's video, but this begs me to argue in favor of Dietrich:

"Whatever you want from me, I'm giving you everything," sang Miss Houston, but none of us deserved so much.