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EUROPE 1933
At the beginng of 1933 Marlene was working on SONG
OF SONGS – the first film she did for four years
without Josef von Sternberg. At that time Sternberg was
in Vienna and Berlin to see if there would be a possibility
for him and Marlene to do a film together. Marlenes contract
with Paramount was running out and she not only planned
to go to Germany for a while but also to not renew her Paramount-contract.
Her mother already had rented a house for her in Berlin
but then everything changed. Hitler came to power in Germany
and Marlene immediately changed her plans. She did renew
her contract with Paramount (under the condition that
Sternberg would be her director) and she decided to
go to Paris and Austria instead of Berlin. Marlene arrived
May 20 at Gare St. Lazare in Paris. At the end of May she
was staying at the Hotel Ambassador in Vienna and at the
austrian countryside. On June 13th she was a celebrated
guest at a charity gala of Madame Chiappe, the wife
of the head of the Paris police. There she met Richard Tauber
who already had left Germany. On the same day she declared
at a press conference not to go back to Germany. At June
23rd she is attending the farewell performance of Cecile
Sorel at the Comedie Francaise. June 28th she celebrates
the end of the season with other members of the High Society
at the diner Petits Lits Blancs in the Ambassadeur. Other
guests were Douglas Fairbanks Jr, who came over from
London, Josephine Baker and famous singer Gitta Alpar
– she also went out of Germany because of the Nazi
regime. Before leaving for Cap d'Antibes at the end
of July Marlene recorded four new songs with Peter Kreuder:
"Assez", "Moi, je m'ennui"
in french and "Wo ist der Mann", "Allein
in einer großen Stadt" in german. For these songs
she called emigrants Max Colpet and Franz Waxmann for help.
Back in Paris in September she attends the european premiere
of SONG OF SONGS at the cinema "Miracle".
On the 25th of September she is already on her way back
to America. She sails on the SS Paris. Upon her arrival
in New York the american press notes that she did not take
a german boat.
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