Day Tripping: December 27

Life is a cabaret

Marie Magdalene Dietrich was born in 1901 in the Shonenberg district which is now Berlin. Her family took to calling her Lena, and at age eleven, she combined her names to become Marlene Dietrich.

She became interested in theater and poetry while studying to be a concert violinist. But after a wrist injury, Marlene lost her job as a musician for silent films and her music career as well. So she started working as a chorus girl in Berlin revues.

By 1923, Dietrich was getting film roles and stage work in major productions. In 1929, she starred in The Blue Angel, her breakthrough performance which also introduced her signature song, Falling In Love Again.

The film attracted interest from Josef von Sternberg of Paramount Pictures who brought Marlene to Hollywood as an answer to MGM’s Greta Garbo. The studio lavished her with gifts including a green Rolls Royce Phantom II.

“There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.”

Von Sternberg directed Marlene Dietrich in six films, including Morrocco starring Gary Cooper. The string of films that featured Marlene as a cabaret singer solidified her image as the femme fatale.

But by the end of the 1930s, as her salary kept rising, her star did not. Along with Garbo and Joan Crawford, she was suddenly considered box office poison.

While in London, she was approached by Nazi officials who tried to recruit Dietrich as the star of the Third Reich. Marlene refused and returned to the US to take out citizenship.

As a vocal political activist, Marlene Dietrich started a fund with director Billy Wilder to help Jews and dissidents escape Nazi Germany. Her mother and sister remained in Germany during the war, running a cinema in a concentration camp. They reunited at the war’s end.

After the war, Dietrich began to earn roles from acclaimed directors like Wilder, Hitchcock, and Orson Welles. But for the following three decades, Marlene returned to the cabaret stage almost full time.

A stage accident in 1975 effectively ended her stage career when she broke a thigh bone. Dietrich moved to an apartment in Paris and led a reclusive life. She agreed to be the subject of a documentary film in 1984 but refused to be seen on camera. Marlene Dietrich was 90 when she died in 1992.

Musical Ride

The Faces announced their break up in 1975, so Rod Stewart could pursue a solo career, and Ronny Wood could join The Rolling Stones, full time.

Interesting Notes

The first mission to orbit the moon in a human-crewed spacecraft, Apollo 8, splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean in 1968.

Gone But Not Forgotten

The daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher was best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise. She later spoke publicly about her substance addictions and bipolar disorder. Carrie Fisher died in 2016 at age 60.

Notable Births

1822 — Louis Pasteur: “I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner.”

1943 — Peter Sinfield: “Every word has to count.”

K. Barrett Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Terry Trueman Dr. Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca Holly Kellums Michael Burg, MD Lucy Dan Dave Logan

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The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present

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