El Morocco Memories

With Clifton Webb, c 1937.

The zebra print on the banquettes was really dark blue, but that pattern (which reproduced so well in newsprint photos) served as background for the rich, the famous and the climbers of a generation and clearly identified their location at Manhattan's El Morocco nightclub.

The club, originally opened as a speakeasy, on 54th Street in in 1931, claimed to have invented not only the velvet rope at the entrance, but Sibera, too (on the wrong side of its tiny dance floor, to which the socially undesirable were banished). Nanette Fabray remembered: “One entered, and there was a hierarchy of where one sat. The first table on the right was the best; the second was reserved for the owner, John Perona. You didn't dare go unless you were perfectly turned out.”

Marlene Dietrich's New York Double Trouble (1939)

New York, 6 June 1939: Her heart belongs to Sammy! Arriving with an Afghan hound, one of the glamour boys of the dog world, is glamorous Marlene Dietrich, to whom we used to allude to as the "famous German movie star." Now Marlene, having been duly accepted as an American citizen, belongs to the US -- famous legs and all. In left rear behind Miss Dietrich is her husband, Rudolf Sieber, who will  sail with his wife for a visit to Europe on the Normandie this week.

13 June 1939: Absolutely quivering with indignation, Marlene Dietrich, svelte siren of the screen swept from the fashionable Monte Carlo Night Club in the wee hours of the morning today, June 13th -- a lady with a dress just like hers had turned the night sour for the film star.

It seems that Marlene was out on a farewell party prior to sailing for Paris. Flanked by Josef von Sternberg (director), Rudolf Sieber (husband) and Erich Maria Remarque (novelist), she made an almost regal entrance into the Monte Carlo in the shimmering white evening gown -- with hood, and sparkling wide belt. What should she spy there but Mrs Dudley Roberts Jr, New York socialite, gowned in an identical dress -- with hood and sparkling wide belt -- the coincidence was just too much for Marlene.

14 June 1939:There's a sad story behind Marlene Dietrich's gown which created such a furore in New York recently. It came to light in Hollywood today. That gown was created and styled right here in the film capital and was made especially to show off to better advantage the glamorous star's valuable collection of rubies.

But Miss Dietrich can neither wear the garment or rubies, for Uncle Sam seized both just the day before she sailed from New York for Europe as collateral pending settlement of a $ 284 000 income tax dispute. The story came from Howard Greer and Travis Banton, motion picture fashion designers, who created it for her before she departed from the film capital. There is only one copy of the gown and Marlene Dietrich owns it, said Greer today, which would tend to substantiate Miss Dietrich's statement  that she walked out of a New York cafe for a reason other than the fact that a society woman was supposed to be wearing a dress identically the same as her own. 

Above: Marlene Dietrich is talking with Federal men on the Normandie just before sailing. She was permitted to sail for Europe after surrendering $ 100 000 in jewels to guarantee $ 284 000 in her 1936-7 income taxes. The Normandie was delayed 44 minutes while  Federal men ordered her luggage to be taken off for inspection and then taken on the ship again.

Government agents appeared suddenly and, brushing aside autograph seekers had all her vacation finery -- except the modish clothes she wore -- removed to the pier. There were 34 pieces of luggage and they were shuttled from her suite to the pier so often they had the porters dizzy.

The actress' lawyer appeared in the crowd during the excitement and protested. John T Cahill, US attorney, showed up with four assistants and 20 federal agents went up the gangplank and then down   again.

Least perturbed in the little drama was Miss Dietrich herself. The German-born actress, who recently became an American citizen, said "It's all a riddle to me." She said the first she heard of it was this morning at her suite in the Sherry Netherland, where she had been staying since Monday, when she arrived from the West Coast.

She was dressed in a gray travel suit and a red fox fur cape. "This is the first time I am sailing as an American citizen," she said. "So far as I know I have paid my income tax in full each year, and it has been about the same amount, $ 105 000. As an alien, I had to show that my income tax was paid in order to get a sailing permit."

J B McNamara, deputy collector of internal revenue, explained that the government's claim was based on Miss Dietrich's earnings in England ... and that the government had no accounting of her British earnings. "We do not think Miss Dietrich is to blame," he added, "but her agent certainly has been lax."

(Compiled from photos and newspapers of the period.)

What The Dresser Saw

Marlene’s dresser, Gene Lovelle (married to the star’s guitarist, Chic Lovelle) first joined the Dietrich troupe  during its 1966 Warsaw season .

“There was no question of payment. Marlene would be paying my fares and hotels, and I would be together with my husband,” Gene later recalled. “With the enthusiasm of ignorance, I convinced myself that after years as a dresser helping little girls in and out of ballet costumes, I could cope with an international star.” Marlene had dismissed the Polish dresser that had been supplied – “I don’t want a strange dresser round me,  they stare so” – and proceeded to show Gene what would be expected of her.

In 1985, she shared memories of life on the road:

·         New York, 1967: ... at rehearsals she was very demanding and kept everyone on their toes. A violinist was ticked off for wearing short socks ... ‘ they come to see my legs, not yours.’

·         San Francisco, 1968: She liked her dressing room to be functional and sparsely furnished, but in San Francisco, it had been furnished and bedecked with beautiful antiques and rich brocades. She took one look and said to me: ‘Let’s move in next door,  honey,  who needs all this!’

·         Paris, 1973: Marlene excelled herself before one of the most exquisitely-dressed and sophisticated audiences we had ever seen. Among the celebrities ... who came backstage after the performance, was a very well-known female singer who, overcome and in tears at Marlene’s performance, embraced her. Marlene seemed equally moved. A moment later she turned to me and whispered,  ‘Who was that,  honey?’

Cornel Lucas Exhibition @ Fiorentini + Baker

My favorite Lucas shot--just a little flirtier than the more famous one exhibited

 Last year, missladiva reported on some Cornel Lucas prints of Marlene Dietrich on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Now, you New Yorkers have a chance to see them at Fiorentini + Baker through October 28.

As you will see, Dietrich is the star of the show at this exhibition and on Lucas' website. Time LightBox even features Marlene's face and Cornel's memories of her, another testimony of her perfectionism and directorial tendencies.

Funnily enough, Fiorentini + Baker is a shoe shop, and many of Lucas' images feature his subjects flaunting their footwear, including one of Dietrich on their flyer! Time LightBox also informs us that this is the first Lucas exhibition in New York, and I can't think of a more appropriate way for him to get his foot in the door.

Now, here's my question for you Dietrich scholars. Should these portraits of her be dated 1948? I thought they were taken for No Highway in the Sky, which was in production from October 1950-January 1951. Also, were they works made for hire (e.g., for 20th Century-Fox) or did Lucas take them as an independent contractor?

Earl Wilson's Vintage Gossip Bites: The Broadway Edition

At The Last Goddess, we devour good gossip; below are some tasty morsels from New York-based Earl Wilson's syndicated  column, written at the time of Marlene's two Broadway triumphs in 1967 and 1968:

MONTREAL -- Maurice Chevalier, "a very happy old man" in his own words, delivered himself of the provocative opinion here the other day that "Marlene Dietrich had the guts that Greta Garbo never had" in continuing her career and that Garbo "must not be very gay now not working." ... "I don't approve of Garbo not working," Chevalier said. "she got so scared because something she did went wrong, and she didn't dare to come back, and she has refused everything. If she had kept working she would still be the great Garbo, whereas now Dietrich is greater than Garbo. She would have had to take older parts so she would be the great old lady of the screen. It is better to be a great old lady than just a souvenir." Chevalier was sure that Marlene -- "who has a lot of guts and it's surprising to find guts in one so feminine" -- will be a big hit in her one-woman singing, dancing show which, he pointed out, "is not her profession, but a new one for her". (5 August 1967)

• Marlene Dietrich insists upon a special stage door watchman for her one woman show, to protect a gown allegedly costing $ 50,000. Advance word is that she's so good and lovely, that "she performs for an hour and 20 minutes, then takes bows for 40 minutes". (9 October 1967)

• Marlene Dietrich was escorted to El Morocco the other morning by Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret's husband who is here on business, and Alexander Lieberman of Vogue, and Mrs Lieberman. For supper (or breakfast) they had scrambled eggs with red wine. Several beautiful woman such as Mrs Pat Uchitel were there, and I asked what they noticed. They replied, "Marlene's figure." ... "Isn't she TOO thin?" asked somebody near me ... "A woman," they shrieked, is NEVER too thin!" (Is that right?) (24 October 1967)

• Marlene Dietrich rejected a 50Gs-a-week offer from Miami Beach Deauville, "but I'd like to vacation there". (18 November 1967)

• Marlene Dietrich told the Billy Reeds she'll go into white tie and tails again when she does Die Fledermaus in Vienna next summer. (19 November 1967)

• Marlene Dietrich shelved a return to NY -- but may play Osaka, Japan, Fair in the mid-1970s. (25 January 1968)

•  The Marlene Dietrich triumphal return had some light moments. The "white mink" floor-length coat -- or was it ermine? -- turned out to be swans' down (from the belly of a swan), and it was gorgeous, and I may start breeding swans ... Producer Alexander H. Cohen was funny when I mentioned to him that one bouquet-thrower, who also threw love beads, which Marlene promptly put on, was working both aisles, flinging flowers from one side to the other, and was later seen backstage. "Those flowers cost me a lot of money," joked Producer Cohen, "and Marlene won't let me use them twice." Marlene wore a Jean Louis silk net gown with bugle beads and crystals -- and now jewelry -- and as she took her short little hobble-skirted steps across the stage, bowed the deepest, prettiest bow in history, and waived from the parted red curtains, we thought she is the greatest showman of our time. (10 October 1968)

Little Gloria Meets Marlene, At Last

For Joseph: Marlene Dietrich-Sieber, John Ringling-North and Gloria Vanderbilt-DiCicco-Stokowski-not-yet-Lumet-Cooper at Madison Square Garden (1953). (Original photo currently for sale on ebay). Below, Marlene and unidentified showgals.

Standing in the Corner

Last year, a relatively unknown December 1948 portrait (below), of Marlene by Irving Penn, surfaced -- probably taken in Vogue's New York studios, it is one of his "corner studies".





Other subjects photographed in this fashion included the Duchess of Windsor, Noel Coward, Truman Capote and Spencer Tracy (the Tracy shot is used on the cover of James Curtis' new biography on the actor).


To Penn, this set-up was "a means of closing people in. Some people felt secure in this spot, some felt trapped. Their reaction made them quickly available to the camera," according to photo-seminars.com.


Whatever Penn's motivations may have been, Dietrich was not pleased with the result and refused the release of photos from this session -- although "Mutti" privately gave a print to her husband as a Christmas gift that year.


Christie's also auctioned some alternate shots from this shoot in April 2011 (right).

Shots from an previous shoot by Penn (also in 1948), have been widely published:

Unissued Marlene: Aus der Jugendzeit (1954)

Marlene performs "Aus der Jugendzeit", one of a set of unissued recordings made in July 1954 for Columbia Records. The orchestra is directed by Jimmy Carroll.

Monday Marlene

A White Sports Coat

MARLENE TURNS UP IN LEATHER: Grandmother screen star MARLENE DIETRICH who recently caused quite a sensation when she appeared at the SAHARA HOTEL in Las Vegas -- went to the other extreme when she turned up at Idlewild Airport - New York by wearing a Black Leather Coverall suit under a white leather coat. (Keystone Photo, 11-1-1954).

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!

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.

Weimar Cinema at MOMA

Weimar Cinema, 1919-1933: Daydreams and Nightmares, an exhibition presented by MOMA in association with the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, includes screenings of 75 Weimar-era films and an exhibition of posters and stills. The exhibit, which started in November, will run until 7 March 2011. Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt and Der Blaue Engel will be screened in January.

Count Ferdinand Von Galitzien has reviewed Die Frau, Nach Der Man Sich Sehnt at his blog.

993 Park Avenue: Marlene Dietrich's New York Apartment

Marlene Dietrich settled in Manhattan's swanky Upper East Side after the end of World War II, when the world's most glamorous grandmother relocated to New York to be close to her daughter Maria Riva and her grandchildren.

993 Park Avenue went co-op in the late fifties and Dietrich bought an apartment in the building. The full service, thirteen storey Italianite block had been built in the teens by Bing & Bing. Dietrich decorated her modest apartment, number 12E (a two bed / two bath unit of 1600 square feet), in a mixture of styles: Louis XIV furniture was offset against glizy mirrored walls befitting a movie star.

Dietrich photographed in her living room for Life Magazine (1952).

When she wasn't travelling the world with her spectacular one-woman show, Dietrich divided her time between her New York home and a Paris rental on the Avenue Montaigne. Visting Dietrich in Paris in the late 70s, her friend Leo Lerman noted "[t]he podge of the [Parisian] flat, which I find touching and that Gray [Foy] says is so unlike her New York controlled elegance. I like both and find both very much the way she is."

After a stage fall in Australia in 1975 Dietrich went into semi-retirement in Paris, becoming increasingly reclusive. Her grandson, J. Michael Riva lived at the Park Avenue apartment during the early 80s with his then-fiance, Jamie Lee Curtis, when the latter was filming "Trading Places" (1983).

Dietrich died in 1992.

Her heirs sold the apartment in 1998 for $615 000. "I walked in and the place was empty and disgusting and old," commented the buyer, who intended to redecorate. ""I have these dumb mirrors, too ... Because she had smoked-glass mirrors all over the place, including in the bedroom, which I am taking off."

993 Park Ave #12E reappeared on the market in 2010. Without its famous previous owner's "dumb mirrors" and shag carpeting, the genteel refurbished unit was listed by Sotheby's Real Estate for $ 2 250 000. It has now been sold.

Refurbished kitchen (2010).

Master bedroom (2010).

Living Room (2010).