La Dietrich

[ClassyCo]

I've read that when Garbo stopped working, she saw it as only a temporary break.

She apparently told Louis B. Mayer that she'd "sit out the war" but come back when it was over.

Her films were more popular overseas than domestically and the pending war closed the European markets to MGM.

All her films after QUEEN CHRISTINA (1933) depended on their success overseas to turn profits.

By the time the war was over, I suspect Garbo knew her era was over

Walter Wanger wanted her for LA DUCHESSE DE LANGEAIS in 1948. Screen tests exist, but the financing fell through.

And there's also the stories of Billy Wilder wanting her for Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD.

Dietrich and Crawford were able to adapt to the new age, but it seems unlikely Garbo would have or could have.

The appeal of Garbo is wrapped up in the tail end of the silent era and the prestige of the '30s MGM pictures that were elevated simply by her presence.

Funny, though, how Garbo and Dietrich are so often linked.

Paramount marketed Dietrich as their answer to Garbo, but I don't think their screen personas really overlap too much.

Dietrich possessed a sexiness Garbo never really did, and she comes across as breezier than the more refined and theatrical Garbo.

 

[ClassyCo]

 

[Monzo]

Marlene Dietrich's daughter Maria Riva has died.

Maria Riva, Actress and Daughter of Marlene Dietrich, Dies at 100

She appeared in films as a child with her mom before becoming a great star for CBS in the early days of television.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Crimson]

Dietrich's cabaret act was one of the curiosities of the mid-century. In the context of her films, her singing could be evocative or lively. But I can't imagine watching an elderly woman held together by wigs and foundation underwear warbling for 60 minutes.