After a simple search of the indexed 1940 United States census at FamilySearch.org, I finally discovered Marlene Dietrich's name on page 81 of the 84-page census schedule for California Enumeration District (ED) 19-43! Scouring through so many scanned sheets back in April must have made my eyes bleary because I know I viewed this very list. Indeed, Dietrich lived at the Beverly Hills Hotel (which then had the address 1201 Sunset Boulevard). Listed below Marlene is her retinue: daughter Maria Sieber, "secretary" Viola Rubber (a.k.a. "The Rhino"), and Erich Maria Remarque. See the full page for more details. You'll notice that Marlene is only 35, in keeping with her preferred birth year of 1904. You'll also observe that she worked only 8 weeks in 1939--on Destry Rides Again, of course--earning "over $5,000."
Great find, Joseph! Interesting that she uses her stage name. Can't recall where Rudi was at the time, do you know?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your views on the new kindle editions -- especially whether the autobiography is Marlene's original text or the translation.
missladiva
missladiva, I never tried searching for Rudi, but I'm glad you suggested it because I easily found him! He was a guest at the Gladstone Hotel in NYC, and his job was listed as "foreign publicity expert." You can see him on page 5 of the census schedule for New York ED 31-1406. Tami is conspicuously missing, although FamilySearch.org has some detailed information about her, such as a birth date (30 Sept. 1905), death date (26 Mar. 1965), and what I assume is her mother's maiden name (Zwereva). Also, her grandfather was named "Sarge Ilvovaky" in a border crossings record, which looks like a typo or misunderstanding of whatever she may have written/said at the border.
ReplyDeleteJoseph, thanks for this!
DeleteWhich sent me to Marlene's FBI file, according to which Tami later lived in the suite adjoining Rudi's at the Croydon (his was number 1125). He moved to the Croydon either 25 or 28 May 1940.
Tami, they say lived at the Croydon from 12 September 1941. Hoover's boys give her travels: Russia from 1905 - 1918; Constantinople from Oct 1919 - Nov 1920 ; Berlin from 1920 - 1931; Paris from 5 May 1931 - August 1939; New York from September 1939.
And according to them Rudi was born 20 February 1897; his parents were Antone and Rosa Sieber of Tittlebachstr 12, Aussig (an address I can't find on Google Maps).
missladiva
I suspected that the address would be a pain to find because a) the street names were Slavicized and b) the street names possibly changed with all the political changes that took place in that area. I found this 1936 map of Aussig and tried to compare it to the Google Map of present-day Ústí nad Labem. In the old map, Tittlbachstrasse is in coordinates G-III, just off Petschekova/Petschek Strasse and south of Stadion Kampfbahn (which is numbered 84). That appears to be present-day U [Ulice?] Stadiónu?
DeleteYou are a wonder! Thank you!
Deletemissladiva
Jospeh, once again I'm amazed with your research skills, great!
ReplyDeleteI've checked Remarques letters around first of april 1940. On 04-04-1940 Remarque writes to Marlene from the hotel, that he was so glad to see her that morning on the Airport. He returned from Mexico on that day. It is the hard part at the end of the relationship where he loves her to much to leave her. I feel bad for the sweetheart! He is suffering a great deal out of this (Marlene is seeing Jimmy Stewart and even asks him t come up with loves scenes phrases, which he does sometimes...because it is such a heaven to please her) untill the point he can't handle it anymore. Then he moves according his letters to Westwood, his first letter sended from there 24-05-1940. According to Maria he moved to Brentwood.
Thanks, but I should have found it back in April!
DeleteDid the letters from Westwood show an address? Brentwood and Westwood are adjacent communities, and Westwood is next to Beverly Hills--still close enough to be Marlene's lovesick pet.
Still close enough yes, Maria visit's him often and Remarque visits Marlene if she allows him. No address for the temporary house, however I found a hint online, which could maybe helpfull.... "later rented a two-story house in Westwood (owned by Nils Bagge, Danish husband of singer Gitta Alpar)." http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=117614&sid=1013767
Delete- Last letter from Westwood before NY 24.10.1940
- Next letter comes from New York 23.12.1940 (the Sherry-Netherlands)
- Westwood again 24.02.1941
- Then presumably on 08.04.1942 a letter from Beverly Hills (The beverly Whilshire)
- He remains there for a while untill he writes from New York again 31.10.1942 (the Sherry-Netherlands)
I think I found where he lived. The book, Erich Maria Remarque: The Last Romantic, by Hilton Tims claims the address is 1050 Hilt Avenue. That's not quite right because the street is actually called Hilts. You can see the bungalow here, which was apparently built in 1936. That's definitely in Westwood, not Brentwood.
DeleteNice! sorry I completely forgot that the book had a chronology in the back, which also states Hilts avenue. I could have told you that if I didn't have my eyes in my pocket.
DeleteHow is the book "The Last Romantic"? Is it a nice read? I checked the book, which could be something I would like to read. But the reviews complaining that there is to much gossip about Remarque being impotent bla bla. I don't mind gossip if it gives the book some entertaining value, but when it gets annoying I prefer not to. What do you think?
PS I read some letters again and in addition to our previous nickname posts on "The Child", I noticed that Marlene also calls her newborn grandson Michael "The Baby".
I didn't read that Remarque bio, but it looks quite readable from what I've seen on Google Books. I would take it with a grain of salt, of course, because Tims delves into Remarque's thoughts so often that it sounds highly interpretive. In his letters to Marlene, did Remarque talk about Jo Carstairs? Tims makes Carstairs sound like a serious rival.
Delete- 16 july 1938, They travel together to Antibes, Hotel Cap d'Antibes, they have seperate cabins.
Delete- 26 august 1938, Marlene starts the affair with Jo Carstairs.
- 6 september 1938, Remarque and Marlene travel back together to Paris, Hotel Prince de Galle, Jo Carstairs is also in Paris.
- 20 october 1938, Marlene ends the affair with Jo Carstairs.
The thing is that Remarque mostly doesn't write letters while they are together at the same place, only in times of crisis he does or long after their relationship has ended. There are no letters of the time in Antibes, however the first letter after their return to Paris, the 9th of september 1938 is a sad one. In the side notes it is stated that there is a big crisis in the relationship because of Marlenes affair with Jo.
Remarque doesn't mention her in the letters, at least not at the time Jo Carstarirs was around. I should dig further in the letters, because I remember that he does mention her about 10 years later. I can't find the letter at the moment, anyway it is long after the end of their relationship, when he still writes an ocasional letter to Marlene full of longing of the past and their wonderful time in Antibes. (over time the mind seems to erase most horros of the past and leaves the beautiful memories behind).
Crazy to see the all the "lovers" that where around in Antibes. Home video footage with comment of Maria on Remarque and Marlene in Antibes start at 16:40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HvkQhzhZJE
Some overlapping and partly different footage of Antibes, love all the home video material. At 03.17 that must been Jo Carstairs, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGpOiYxh78U&feature=relmfu
I meant to write "friends" instead of lovers :)
DeleteThat makes perfect sense. If you're vacationing with someone and not being locked out of their room, you're probably busy talking (among other things--but not much if you're impotent!) rather than scribbling letters. It's funny how people tend to create a more extensive written record of the bad times than the good times, but those home videos are certainly a compelling visual record of the good times that Dietrich & Remarque shared.
DeleteI've seen No Angel and wag my finger at the person(s) who edited the documentary. Maria's comment about Marlene having an affair with "Kennedy" was presented with a clip of JFK. How sly! Surely, Maria was referring to JFK's father. Also, Maria's veiled comments about Viola Rubber appear to be edited out of context. Viola wasn't mentioned in Maria or Steven's books until after Marlene & Co. had established themselves at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Yes, that's the tattooed Joe Carstairs smoking and strutting toward the camera.
You are so right about the editing of the docu, I also noticed that. The home video's are very light hearted, loveley! Remarque recounts these times often so they must for sure also have had a good time in there.
DeleteJoe looks much better in both videos, then what I expected after all the discriptions and the pictures I saw of her.
Sorry I coulnd't resist this one. [gossip modus on]
Apperently Remarque did knew some other things to do then talkin and writing.
In the intro of the book written by Werner Fuld, he mentioned their meeting in Venice, he takes up Maria's story and then he goes a little bit further writing that Johannes Mario Simmel (with whom MD held hours of phonecalls from her Paris appartment) confirmed him this:
- Remarque must have recognised what Marlene was or at least what she also was - he continues..
On the way to the hotel Remarque said "Incidentally, that I made this clear and that this later won't give a silly discussion: I'm totally impotent ... but if it is desired, I can of course be a very charming little lesbian. Marlene: God, I was relieved! God, how I loved this man!" [gossip modus off]
No need to apologize for gossip! This could serve as evidence of Maria taking a comment out of context because she quoted Marlene similarly but without the "charming lesbian" bit. Now it all becomes clear why Remarque might be jealous of The Pirate. It was scissor sister rivalry!
Deletehehe that must be it!
DeleteIt might be some kind of evidence, but if she didn't want it in her own book, why would she allow it in "Sag mir..."? In the front of the book it says the book is kindly permitted by Maria. She also wrote a foreword for this book or is that something completely different and could she never be in charge of this in a book written by someone else? I have no clue how these kind of things work.
Maria presented Remarque's impotence differently in her book. She quoted Marlene as saying "Oh, how wonderful!" to Remarque when he told her he was impotent, and then Maria sort of set up a punchline about imagining Remarque's reaction to Marlene's response. It was funny! I don't know whether Maria had already read through all these letters when she wrote that part, so she may not have known about the "charming lesbian" comment at the time.
DeleteWhat did Maria write in the foreword? Also, is anyone else credited for giving permission for the letters, e.g., Remarque's estate?
Paris exhibition update:
DeleteI went to the van Cleef & Arpels exhibition in Les Arts Décoratifs. At one point, to my big surprise I saw from the corner of my eye a dazzeling piece, unmistakebly Marlene's van Cleef & Arpels Jarretière bracelet. What a knock out piece! On forehand I didn't find any info, the piece would be here, but I also didn't make to much effort I have to say. Anyway if anyone would likes to see it, it's there.
http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/francais/accueil-292/bandeau-487/francais/arts-decoratifs/expositions-23/actuellement/dans-la-nef/van-cleef-arpels-l-art-de-la-haute/
http://www.vancleefarpels.com/jp/en/article/1096/Marlene%20Dietrich%E2%80%99s%20Jarreti%C3%A8re%20bracelet?page=1&grid=10
There is also a exhibition "Impressionism and Fashion" in musee d'Orsay and in addition to that "Falbalas, la mode dans le cinéma" which are movie screenings
Including:
Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright
sam. 3 novembre 2012 - 11h30
sam. 3 novembre 2012 - 15h00
Josef von Sternberg's Shanghai Gesture
dim. 4 novembre 2012 - 11h30
dim. 4 novembre 2012 - 15h00
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/evenements/cinema/presentation-generale/article/falbalas-la-mode-dans-le-cinema-35233.html?tx_ttnews[film]=1831&tx_ttnews[backPid]=641&cHash=37f30ba806
Jospeph, I know Maria's remark was funny! But I chuckled even more once I read Werner Fuld's version. I will get back to you about the forword and credited permissions. As you can read I'm in Paris and I don't have the book here to answer your questions.
Karine, this is excellent news that I either haven't noticed or forgot! I saw that an exhibition catalogue is available. Does anyone have it? If so, tell us about any Marlene-related information in it. The van Cleef & Arpels exhibition also has a website, with some goodies such as iPhone/Android apps. I'm downloading the Android app now and will look through it.
DeleteJoseph, I wondered if you ever recieved this book the German one (including the photo)?
DeleteCould be that Maria didn't know about "the charming little lesbian quote" although it was not in the letters either, it came from Johannes Mario Simmel. It's written in the introduction by Werner Fuld.
credits besides Maria:
- Thanks to Erich Maria Remarque archive, Osnabruck,
The Remarque-Collection, Fales Library, New York University and the Marlene Dietrich collection Berlin, without their support the publication of this book wouldn't been possible.
-the publisher and the editor thank Werner Sudendorf for the transcription of the letters by Erich Maria Remarque to Marlene Dietrich
In the foreword Maria writes about that what touches her the most in the complexity of Remarque - his vulnerability. That you don't expect a childlike innocence in someone who is the author of perhaps the ultimate book about a personal war experience, that this is even less expected of a world famous author, who carried fame and fortune with such a secure acceptance. Remarques armor, his cultivated guard against something that he didn't completely realized himself.
Maria writes that the true man lays in the invention of Alfred, the magical schoolboy - Remarque's personal Cyrano, that he created to court, beguile, enchant Marlene and touch her heart far beyond the emotional barrier, that could be built against a normal lover. Neither Remarque nor Marlene seem to understand the reality of the deep longing of Alfred, his unnoticed pure reserve, is just one more loss, so exceedingly suitable for the life of Erich Maria Remarque.
To give you one quote of Alfred "I thought love is the miracle, that two people together are much lighter then one alone. Like Aeroplanes."
PS I took a photo of the bracelet and the small label with discriptiom next to it, but I wasn't allowed to, oops - blame it on my French :) Anyway I could have a look what it said (not much).
No, I never got that book and have tried to order it again on French Amazon. I am already suspicious because every order I made on French Amazon has been expedited--except for this book. Thank you for sharing this information, though! What did you think about Maria's writing itself? I've been hoping that she will one day publish something else--she's got much more talent than most professional writers.
DeleteThat "Alfred" quote is so charmingly optimistic and naive. When times are good, two lovers can indeed feel light, but sometimes one hurts the other--or both hurt each other--causing such heaviness in the heart, as if anchors were strapped to the airplane's wings. Continuing the aeronautical imagery, people in love can feel as light as zeppelins, but heaven forbid one burns the other!
Alfred is definetely a charming and touching little character. I almost literally translated Maria's writing, it's just this small text, but to me it feels like she really grabs the essence of Remarque.
DeleteMaria is wonderfull, in interviews she is interesting to listen to and for sure I would love to read more written by Maria. I devoured her book several times! Yes she had an amazing subject, but I'm convinced this intelligent lady could captivated me with something different as well.
I hope you will receive the book, I don't know if you are a romantic, but these letters made me melt!
Oh, and I meant to put "bungalow" in sarcastic quotes because it looks like a proper house to me!
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Joseph !
ReplyDeleteI send to the Marlene's friends a link to a French cultural program (10/12/2012) : the spanish-cuban Zoé Valdés wrote a book about her admiration for Marlene, you have an interview and the end of the program :
http://www.france5.fr/entree-libre/index.php?page=article&numsite=7514&id_rubrique=7589&id_article=25694
Fabrice, have you read this book already? Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteNo, what a shame ! This book was published last august, and I had the inforamtion last friday ! I can't believe it... I will read it before the end of this month, and I will tell you what I think, of course. It's not a biography, but a love declaration.
DeleteThe book is available in spanish (original) and french (traduction).
This book was published in Spain in 2010, I did a brief review and comment on my blog, the link in case you want to read it: http://clasicmarlene.blogspot.com.es/search/label/Zo%C3%A9%20Vald%C3%A9s
ReplyDeleteThe book is a excited tribute to Marlene and how in some ways she has marked her work and her life. Very enjoyable and highly recommended reading for all those who admire her.
Sorry for my English and greetings.
Sorry, the book was published in 2009...Greetings
ReplyDeleteMuchas gracias, Miguel. Después de tres años, por fin se traduce su libro al francés. Sin embargo, Zoé Valdés vive en Francia y es famosa aquí.
DeleteOtro vídeo (publicitario) a propósito de la salida del libro : http://youtu.be/0XnutG7_su0
Off topic,but it has been bugging me for years.Featured often in pics of Marlene outside the stage door of the Queen's is a quite attractive man who I have now identified as one high society PR man.He was later involved with the Jeffrey Archer libel scandal.His name is Michael Stacpoole,he was often around escorting Marlene out of the theatre and into her car at that time.Not very interesting but I always thought he looked familiar.Jeffrey Archer was also involved with Marlene's charity appearance at Drury Lane.Paul
ReplyDeletePaul, could you point out Michael Stacpoole in one of those stage door photos? It seems he's lost his looks.
DeleteThis is such a great post! And the ensuing discussion in the comments section are a delight to read! It's always so wonderful to come back every now and then and find out something new that you've dug up. :D Thank you for your wonderful little gems!
ReplyDeleteCara, thank you! I hope you check out missladiva's Tumblr and YouTube (link in the sidebar) as well because there is lots of extraordinary and rare content.
DeleteI love missladiva's Tumblr site,but can someone explain the function of Tumblr,is it just photo sharing site or what?I just do not understand it at all.I can't seem to figure out how to leave a comment,or correct anything,am I being stupid.I don't mean just missladiva's site but all Tumblr sites.Please advise.Paul
DeletePaul, when I remember that Tumblr is teeming with tween Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj fans, I think it's for the best that they only have a heart and a "reblog" button readily available.
DeleteWith that said, there are Tumblr sites with lively discussions, but they're certainly not the norm (e.g., Paws Down Lil' Monsters). Test that one out, and you'll see that you aren't at all stupid.
My guess is that you need to have a Tumblr account, follow missladiva's blog for at least 2 weeks, and then you will be able to comment. I saw that I was easily able to comment. Then, I unfollowed the blog and re-followed, which seems to have reset my "follower" status. After 2 weeks, I should be able to comment again.;)