If you are a publisher and would like to submit a book and author for consideration please contact me at Terrance@paris-expat.com
A Conversation with Maria Riva
Maria Riva (she was read questions, & responded to by her son Peter)
I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Thanks for a great ride and a glimpse of the lost magic of Hollywood.
TG: First of all, what was the motivation to write this book after so many years?
Maria: She knew it would fall to me to chronicle the real history. I was trained for the job since childhood.
Peter: As Marlene wrote in 1990, "My daughter is the only one who knows the real history, she's my official biographer. Read her book."
TG: Please discuss the the writing process for this book and the sources that you accessed: Dietrich's diary, personal memories, conversations with survivors?
From Peter: As Bill Paley (founder CBS) said of Maria: "She was my favorite actress, talented and never forgot a line in 500 live teleplays in the '50s." After Marlene passed, in 1993, three truckloads of memorabilia was collated, some never opened since '39. When the dialogue in the book was checked with letters from that era, all the dialogue matched the letters.
Maria: For six months I would write, longhand on yellow lined paper, and my wonderful husband would stay up and type my words at night. At breakfast we'd review what I had written and I would set to work again. I wrote from memory finishing in Nov. 1990.
The 25th anniversary edition of the wildly entertaining and intimate biography of the glamorous and mysterious Marlene Dietrich, written by her daughter.
Wildly entertaining, Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother in vivid detail. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Berlin, we meet an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress whose own mother equated the stage with a world of vagabonds and thieves.
Dietrich would quickly rise to stardom on the Berlin stage in the 1920's with her sharp wit and bisexual sexuality,while wearing the top hat and tails that revolutionized our concept of beauty and femininity. Dietrich comes alive in these pages in all of her incarnations: as muse, artistic collaborator, bonafide movie star, box-office poison, lover, wife, and mother.
We also get a portrait of a child who survived a very unconventional childhood to be a successful writer, actor, wife and mother-bravo!
Many a Dietrich admirer (and lovers of fine jewellery) would love to be the owner of this tri-color gold bracelet, with a lapis lazuli clasp, which is being offered by Sotheby's New York as part of their Magnificent Jewels sale next week. Made by Cartier, it was given to Marlene by Erich Maria Remarque. She was photographed wearing it by Harper's Bazaar's Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Sotheby's estimates the 14 karat bracelet will fetch between $ 20 000 - $30 000.
Wow. Mentioned I saw "My Sister Eileen" a while ago on one of the old film channels. It was a comedy of course but not 100% light - definitely had a message for that post-WWII rapid-change period.
He (Brian Aherne) did very well paired with Rosalind Russell, a heavyweight herself.
