Adorable Marlene

Yes. I love her, and I've also been collecting her pictures online. I have recently found a lot of her with the invasion forces into the heart of Nazi Germany in World War Two. She actually entertained the Troops ON THE LINE!!!! She was really something. She hated Hitler, the Nazis, and what they did to her homeland. She was also very intent on finding her mother in Berlin as soon as possible.

Unfortunately I can't post any photos here. But I'll be back to post some links to good Marlene sites that I have found.

She was great.
I loved that book that she wrote. The "Alphabet book". She was so smart and so funny. I just Googled it trying to find the title. I guess it must be rare. I couldn't find iit.
Anyone know?

Are you sure, she wrote a book? Unbelievable, I am her fan since more than 10 years and I´ve never heard about that book. I can´t find it anywhere too.

I know her daughter, Maria Riva, wrote a book about her mother. I saw Maria Riva in a TV-interview a couple of month ago. But her words did not sound very flattering. She told, Marlene was a great actress, but not a good mother.

Which is your favorite movie of Marlene? I love "Morocco", "Dishonored" and "Scarlett Empress" - I can´t believe, that this movie flopped.

One steamy August afternoon when I was 6 or 7, my older brother took me to a run-down movie theatre just off the Grand Concourse in The Bronx to see a showing of The Blue Angel. Little wonder that I turned out the way I did!

I have read the Riva book. I don't think it portrays Marlene in a bad light at all. One thing it makes you realize is that Dietrich was a very smart cookie indeed. There is a bit about her hunting for the perfect veil for a hat that is amazing-- this woman was totally in control of her image and knew exactly what she was doing.
I also got the impression that Marlene had a very strong sense of family-- indeed she was really very much the hausfrau at times with her cooking and cleaning. Much different from Crawford, who did it only for show, and Davis who never bothered at all. I think the publishers really wanted a "Mommie Dearest" from Riva and didn't exactly get it. If anything, Riva herself comes across as being a bit dull and bourgeois in comparison-- but who wouldn't with Dietrich as a mother?

Also of interest is Riva's take on her mother's alleged bisexuality, though again, she misses a lot of the point. I urge you, however, to google both Mercedes de Acosta and Countess Dorothy di Frasso, who though not as stellar as Marlene of course, were two very interesting characters caught up in the whole Dietrich mythos.
And those Hurrell photographs of Marlene... no one has ever looked like that again, though they have certainly tried.

I also urge you to listen to her rendition of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" It's over the top!

This book was very clever. It was a cook book or something. (Chi Chi just said it was more "household hints"). All I remember is that she took evey letter of the alphabet, started off with a recipe but quickly went off on a crazy tangent about life. It was probably written in the 60's. It was very funny. We have it somewhere. I'll try to find it.

The time: 1973. The place: NYC. I had just moved there and was doing hair on 57th street at a tony salon. The art director came over to me asking if I would go to The Carlyle Hotel to do a hair styling for a customer of his because he couldn't go. I went. I was met at the door to the penthouse by a frumpy old maid who brought me into the main parlour to set up my curling iron and wait for " madame". Forty-five mins and three cups of tea later in walked the amazing Dietrich. I gagged. I hadn't had much experience with celebrities then and it freaked me out completely. I was so nervous that i burned her ear with the curling iron. She yelped and then admonished me for my clumbsiness.
I was shaking like a leaf. She loved what I did with her hair and apologized for snapping about the ear burning. She also tipped me a whole dollar. I will never forget the perfume she was wearing though I don't know the name of it. I only wish I had taken my camera along at the time. I adored her so much. She also reffered Liz taylor to me about a week later. Liz was a gas! Funny and with a dirty mouth. She was very gernorius and tipped me twice what i charged for the hotel visit. But I didn't get any false teeth out of the deal like Dee Finley. Bless!

quote:

I also urge you to listen to her rendition of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" It's over the top!

I have 4 CDs of Marlene. Yes, I like "Where have all the flowers gone" pretty much. I love also:

"Lili Marleen" - The english and the german version

it ist so wonderful, and she sang it whith all her heart blood.

"Outside the barracks, by the corner light,
I'll always stand and wait for you at night,
we will create a world for two,
I'll wait for you the whole night through,
for you, Lili Marleen,
for you, Lili Marleen.

Bugle tonight don't play the call to arms,
I want another evening with her charms,
then we will say goodbye and part,
I'll always keep you in my heart,
with me, Lili Marleen,
with me, Lili Marleen.

Give me a rose to show how much you care,
tie to the stem a lock of golden hair,
surely tomorrow you'll feel blue,
but then will come a love that's new,
for you, Lili Marleen,
for you, Lili Marleen.

When we are marching in the mud and cold,
and when my pack seems more than I can hold,
my love for you renews my might,
I'm warm again, my pack is light,
it's you, Lili Marleen,
it's you, Lili Marleen."

I have to put it in my CD-player now!