1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: In the early days of Hollywood's Golden Age, German immigrant 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:11,879 Speaker 1: Marlena Dietrich electrified audiences around the world. She defied the 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: expectations of traditional women's roles in her films and in 4 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: her life. But it wasn't her acting that led Adolf 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: Hitler to label her a traitor to the quote unquote fatherland. 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: It was her patriotic support for her adopted homeland. When 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: the United States went to war, so did Marlena Dietrich. 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: It was the beginning of a lifelong dedication to American 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: soldiers that never wavered. I hope you enjoy hearing her story, 10 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: which I recorded for the audio version of my obituary's book, 11 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: Marlena Dietrich was one hundred percent. In nineteen seventy two, 12 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: the German born screen legend and internationally known cabaret artist 13 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: was in London rehearsing for a concert. She was seventy 14 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: years old. As with everything related to her image, Dietrich 15 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: knew exactly how she wanted to be lighted. Her trusted 16 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: longtime lighting designer, Joe Davis, was on hand to make 17 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: sure her expectations were met. Dietrich's twenty two year old 18 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: grandson Peter Reva was also there. He remembers the scene vividly. 19 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: I'm standing next to her on the London stage with 20 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: Joe Davis and way up in the clouds at the 21 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: top of the theater. There's a guy pointing a spotlight 22 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: on her face. She kept telling him, waving a hand 23 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: where to move the light. The man called down. I 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,679 Speaker 1: think that's perfect, Miss Dietrick. Joe Davis called up Doe 25 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: exactly as Miss Dietrich says. Marlena gestured again a few 26 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,919 Speaker 1: times and then turned to Joe and said that's fine. 27 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: So I asked Joe how she knew it was fine. 28 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: His reply, when it begins to burn her eyes, she 29 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: knows it is dead center. Like Elizabeth Taylor, Marlena Dietrich 30 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: is today remembered by many for her beauty, but Dietrich's 31 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: persona cool, husky voiced at times androgynous, was always more daring. 32 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: As the theater critic Kenneth Tynan wrote, her masculinity appeals 33 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: to women and her sexuality to men. In the Western 34 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: Destrie Rides, again, Dietrich gets into a bar fight, a 35 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: real knockdown drag out with another woman rolling around the 36 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: floor before Jimmy Stewart dumps a bucket of water on 37 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: both of them, then Dietrich attacks him with a bottle, 38 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: a chair, and her fists. Incidentally, this is the movie 39 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: where she sings Boys in the back Room brilliantly parodied 40 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: by Madeline Kahn as I'm Tired in Blazing Saddles. Turns 41 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: out Dietrich wasn't afraid of a good fight in real life. 42 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: Destri came out in nineteen thirty nine, the year Hitler's 43 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: Germany invaded Poland, commencing World War Two, and Dietrich stepped 44 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: right into the breach to help her new beloved homeland, 45 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,079 Speaker 1: the United States of America, defeat the country of her birth. 46 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: I don't think she was ever happier, more fulfilled than 47 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: when she was serving the Allied troops, Peter Reva told me. 48 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: Perhaps that's because she knew well what was at stake. 49 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: Born in Berlin as Marie Magdalena Dietrich in nineteen oh one, 50 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: Dietrich lost her father when she was just five. While 51 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: still a girl, she came up with the name Marlena 52 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: by fusing her first and second names. It was her 53 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: first act of self creation. She embarked on a career 54 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: in entertainment as a chorus girl in Berlin reviews and 55 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: then as an actress in the city's vibrant cinema scene. 56 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: Her breakout performance came as a cabaret singer in Joseph 57 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: von Sternberg's Blue Angel. Immediately, Paramount Studios came calling, and 58 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: Dietrich moved to Hollywood to star in a series of 59 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: six films in the early nineteen thirties, all directed by Sternberg. 60 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: She was usually cast in the role of a vamp 61 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: or femme fatale, but fast won a reputation for breaking 62 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: the rules. In nineteen thirty three, while sailing from New 63 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: York to France, she received a warning from Paris's chief 64 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: of police that should she arrive in the city wearing 65 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: men's trousers, she would be arrested, and so naturally, she 66 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: made sure to wear a white pantsuit when she disembarked. 67 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: The Paris papers hailed it as a revolution in fashion, 68 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: and the next day the chief of police showed up 69 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: with a bracelet inscribed with an apology. During the same 70 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: years that Dietrich was conquering Hollywood, Adolf Hitler was coming 71 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: to power back in Germany. Dietrich watched political developments in 72 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 1: her home country warily. Although the German government had banned 73 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: Blue Angel in nineteen thirty three, Sternberg was Jewish. Hitler 74 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,799 Speaker 1: loved the film. He wanted Dietrich to return to Germany 75 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: to continue her career. As her grandson Peter Reva told me, 76 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: Marlena was staunchly opposed to autocrats and fascists. When she 77 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: got to that position of security and fame, she took 78 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:12,679 Speaker 1: every opportunity she could to oppose the Nazis. German foreign 79 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 1: minister von Riebintroff came to visit her in nineteen thirty 80 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: seven at the Lancaster Hotel in Paris, bearing a mother's 81 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: cross to woo Marlena back to Germany. It would have 82 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,919 Speaker 1: essentially made her Queen of Germany with the promise of 83 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: a care free life. She said no then and many 84 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: other times. Hitler never asked again, just labeled her a 85 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: traitor to the fatherland. Instead, Dietrich worked with Jewish emigrat 86 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:43,160 Speaker 1: director Billy Wilder. Jews had been leaving Germany since the 87 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: Nazis came to power in nineteen thirty three, but in 88 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, with Krystelnacht, a nationwide pogrom against Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues, 89 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,919 Speaker 1: and schools. The refugee problem became a crisis. Dietrich and 90 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: Wilder started a fund to spawn refugees, and Dietrich escrote 91 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: her entire salary from nineteen thirty seven's Night Without Armor 92 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: at four hundred and fifty thousand dollars per film, she 93 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: was one of Hollywood's highest paid stars to support the cause. 94 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: And then in nineteen thirty nine, this woman, who was 95 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: culturally German to the core, publicly renounced her home country 96 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: and became an American citizen. She made sure the cameras 97 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: were there when she was sworn in. She wanted the 98 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: oath of American citizenship to be captured on film, says Reva, 99 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: in order to send a message to the Third Reich 100 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: and good Germans for them to know she was taking 101 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: that stand. This didn't go over well back home. The 102 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: Nazi newspaper Dar Stormer wrote that she had been corrupted 103 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: from her years spent among the Jews of Hollywood, calling 104 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: her decision a betrayal of the fatherland. Dietrich didn't care, 105 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,919 Speaker 1: but the bombing of Pearl Harbor she went further. In 106 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, she traveled throughout the United States to 107 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: promote the purchase of war bonds. Some estimates credit her 108 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: with raising a million dollars in sales. I am delighted 109 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: to have the opportunity to help my country in any 110 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: way I can, she told The New York Times that year. 111 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,239 Speaker 1: I consider it a privilege, not a duty. She also 112 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: supported the government's wartime propaganda, which used German language radio 113 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: to demoralize the Nazi troops, but Dietrich's greatest efforts were 114 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: for the USO. In nineteen forty four and nineteen forty five, 115 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: she volunteered for multiple tours entertaining troops and prisoners of 116 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: war in Algeria, Italy, France, and Germany for eighteen straight months, 117 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: with more time at the front, Billy Wilder said, than 118 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: General Eisenhower. She earned a reputation for abiding the rough conditions, 119 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: a lack of electricity, sleeping intents, and for being willing 120 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: to tour near enemy lines. The closer the better, as 121 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: far as Dietrich was concerned. Riva recalls Danny Thomas, who 122 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: was a young comic at the time touring with Dietrich, 123 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: once said to me, your grandmother, laughing and shaking his head. 124 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: She tried to get us killed. We were performing our 125 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: act for five guys in a foxhole with howitzer as 126 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: firing overhead. She performed for as many as half a 127 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: million troops, singing and even playing the saw, which she 128 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: bowed like a violin. As a teenager, she had aspired 129 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: to be a concert violinist, until a severe wrist injury 130 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,080 Speaker 1: dashed her hopes. She did some comic bits too. In 131 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: one act, she purported to be a mind reader. She 132 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 1: would call a serviceman up on stage and state that 133 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: she would tell the audience his thoughts. After a sly 134 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: look at the young man, she'd quip, oh, think of 135 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: something else. I can't talk about that. Actually, I think 136 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: Dietrich wanted to be a soldier, and you couldn't very 137 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: well be a soldier, so she fought her way, said 138 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: her daughter Maria Riva, mother of Peter, in a nineteen 139 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: ninety six British documentary. Maria Riva's acclaimed nineteen ninety two 140 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: memoir described Dietrich as not so much a mother as 141 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: a queen with her family as court. But on Dietrich's 142 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: contributions to the war effort. Maria Riva is unstinting. She 143 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: did a magnificent job. Certainly when she was finally overseas, 144 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: she practically was a soldier. She never said I was 145 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: with the USO. She was in the army. One of 146 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: Dietrich's more famous paramours, the actor Douglas Fairbanks Junior, claimed 147 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: that she entertained the idea of helping the Allied cause 148 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 1: in an even grander way by killing Hitler. Dietrich biographer 149 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: Charlotte Chandler quotes Fairbanks as saying that Dietrich toyed with 150 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: plans to seduce and then assassinate the German leader. Back 151 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 1: in the thirties, when Hitler still held out hopes that 152 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: Dietrich would return to Germany, Morlena suggested to Fairbanks that 153 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: she might accept the offer on the condition that she 154 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:01,559 Speaker 1: be granted a private audience with the fear. Her plan 155 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: was to gush about Hitler, soften him up, and then 156 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: strike the fatal blow. When Fairbanks expressed skepticism about the plan, 157 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: surely she would be searched before being allowed to meet 158 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: privately with Hitler, she countered that she would subject herself 159 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: to a strip search and use a poisoned hair pen 160 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,679 Speaker 1: as the lethal weapon. She always felt a responsibility to 161 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: do one hundred percent, says Peter Riva. If you detest 162 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: Hitler enough, you're going to give that one hundred percent 163 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: of your effort. After the war, the United States honored 164 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: its adopted citizen with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 165 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven, France named her a Chevalier of the 166 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,319 Speaker 1: Legion of Honor, Belgium a Knight of the Order of Leopold. 167 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty five, she became the first German and 168 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: the first woman to receive the Medallion of Valor from 169 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: the State of Israel. She was also honored by the 170 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: Jewish veterans of World War II, but not everyone honored her. 171 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: When she returned to Germany in nineteen sixty she encountered threats, protests, 172 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: and chants of Marlena go home from those who still 173 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: felt she had betrayed the nation. For the rest of 174 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: her life, she shared a bond with the young men 175 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: alongside whom she'd served. They were her boys, says Peter Reva. 176 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: She felt responsible for them, She felt grateful to them. 177 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: When she sang in Vegas the first time in nineteen 178 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: fifty three at the Sahara, many of her boys wore uniforms. 179 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: She called us the next morning, crying, happy that her 180 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: boys remembered and that she was able to thank them 181 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: once more. Every time I saw her perform London, Switzerland, Paris, 182 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: New York, Jersey, it was always the same. She'd ask 183 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: if any of her boys were in the audience. They'd 184 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: whoop and holler. She'd smile, flash a leg and sing provocatively. 185 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,320 Speaker 1: They were hers and she was theirs. She knew their sacrifice. 186 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: Never forgot she loved this country, says Peter Reva. She 187 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: did loved the spirit of can do. When the first 188 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: space shuttle flew in nineteen eighty one, she called everyone 189 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: she knew to turn on the TV and watch. It 190 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: wasn't about space travel, it was about the American ability 191 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: to reach out, explore, improve try. She loved that Americans 192 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:22,439 Speaker 1: built their lives on trying, persevering, the real immigrant spirit, 193 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:27,080 Speaker 1: and she was an immigrant. This special episode of the 194 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:32,439 Speaker 1: Mobituaries podcast is also included in the audiobook edition of Mobituaries. 195 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,199 Speaker 1: While You Just Heard the Surprising History of Marlena Dietrich. 196 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: The Mobituary's audiobook is filled with stories you won't hear 197 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: on the podcast. You'll get profiles of presidents who aren't 198 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: on Mount Rushmore, tributes to cars now consigned to the 199 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: scrap heap of history, tales of long gone sports teams, 200 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: and dragons, Yes, dragons, you see, people believed in dragons 201 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: until well. Anyway, you can download the audiobook edition of 202 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 1: Mobituaries wherever you get your audio books. Thanks for listening.