UNITED STATES: SOTHEBY'S TO AUCTION PROPERTY OF ACTRESS MARLENE DIETRICH IN LOS ANGELES

Record ID: 337659

  • Title: UNITED STATES: SOTHEBY'S TO AUCTION PROPERTY OF ACTRESS MARLENE DIETRICH IN LOS ANGELES
  • Date: 27th October 1997
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 27 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. ZOOM OUT EXTERIOR OF SOTHEBY'S 0.04 2. VARIOUS OF EXHIBITS / LUGGAGE, FUR COATS, AND TYPEWRITERS (2 SHOTS) 0.19 3. CLOSE-UP OF CIGARETTE CASE 0.23 4. WS DISPLAY CASE WITH CANE, LETTERS, JEWELLERY 0.29 5. CLOSE-UP OF HEMINGWAY "PAPA" SIGNATURE 0.35 6. ZOOM OUT/SV TYPEWRITER / DESK AND COROT PAINTING (2 SHOTS) 0.51 7. SV PETER RIVA, DIETRICH'S GRANDSON, SAYING, "SHE'S SITTING UP THERE WINKING AND GIGGLING AWAY LIKE CRAZY. THE IDEA IS THAT WE'RE SORT OF CARRYING ON HER TRADITION--BEING PRACTICAL. IF YOU'RE NOT USING IT, OR IT'S SITTING IN A DRAWER, YOU'RE WASTING THE OBJECT'S USEFULNESS. SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL PASS IT ON TO SOMEBODY WHO'LL GET SOME USE OUT OF IT, AND PLEASURE. THIS IS ALSO A CHANCE FOR FANS TO SHARE A LITTLE BIT. THERE'S NOT VERY MUCH HERE, BUT THERE ARE SOME WONDERFUL THINGS AND IT'S OUR LAST OPPORTUNITY TO PASS THINGS TO PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN ENJOY THEM." (ENGLISH) 1.17 8. PAN DOWN BOOKSHELF WITH RECORD PLAYER 1.24 9. SV DALI PICTURE WITH CLOSE-UP OF AUTOGRAPHS (2 SHOTS) 1.34 10. CLOSE-UP OF DIETRICH RECORD COVER TO RECORD PLAYER 1.40 11. SV RIVA SAYING, "THERE'S A CROSS-SECTION HERE OF TIME AND PLACE AND THINGS FROM DIFFERENT CONTINENTS AND CERTAINLY A LOT OF HER SPECIAL RELATIONSHIPS--LETTERS FROM HEMINGWAY AND COCTEAU AND FROM GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, A LOVELY LETTER FROM COLE PORTER AND A LETTER OF HERS TO PASTERNAK. THERE ARE SOME NICE PERSONAL PIECES OF HER HISTORICAL MEMENTOS HERE (ENGLISH) 2.02 12. CLOSE-UP OF DIETRICH PORTRAIT. 2.09 Initials S3,P3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 11th November 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAD6T9NW75VXPRKCKDW5GXNV4T4
  • Story Text: INTRO: Sotheby's is to auction the property of actress Marlene Dietrich in Los Angeles on Saturday (November 1).

    The items to be sold in Los Angeles on Saturday (November 1) are from Dietrich's Manhattan apartment and include everything from fur coats to gifts from famous lovers.

    In a life that spanned ninety years, Marlene Dietrich was courted on and off screen by some of history's most famous leading men.

    Among the items to be sold are a typewriter given to Dietrich by Noel Coward, a cigarette case from Gary Cooper and a gold key from Yul Brynner.

    Dietrich starred as a heartless cabaret singer in the 1931 film "The Blue Angel," which established her as a femme fatale featured in countless war-time posters.

    The German-born actress and singer lived in her Manhattan penthouse during the 1960's before leaving for Paris,where she died in 1992 at the age of 90. The New York apartment was kept as she left it nearly 20 years ago.

    Dietrich's four grandsons have organized the auction with Sotheby's. Grandson Peter Riva said that his grandmother would have been pleased to see her fans enjoy her belongings.

    Riva said, "She's sitting up there winking and giggling away like crazy. The idea is that we're sort of caryying on her tradition --- being practical. If you're not using it, or it's sitting in a drawer, you're wasting the object's usefulness. So you might as well pass it on to somebody who'll get some use out of it, and pleasure. This is also a chance for fans to share a little bit.

    There's not very much here, but there are some wonderful things and it's our last opportunity to pass things to people so that they can enjoy them," said Riva.

    Riva says that it's the public's memories of his grand- mother that count --- not the prices her property might fetch. He said, "There's a cross-section here of time and place and things from different continents and certainly a lot of her special relationships--letters from Hemingway and Cocteau and from George Bernard Shaw, a lovely letter from Cole Porter and a letter of hers to Pasternak. There are some nice personal pieces of her historical mementos here, but I think that more than anything else, you look at something like the piano which was more of a functional tool for her and somebody's going to get that and will have grteat pleasure out of it,and they will be the keepers of the memory and that's what's important."
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