美国国家公共电台 NPR Gallery Gives Movie Star Marlene Dietrich The Big-Picture Treatment

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One of the most glamorous¹ creatures ever to grace the silver screen is back in pictures at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. There are dozens of photographs of the seductive, German-born movie star Marlene Dietrich in a new exhibition. I always trust NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg. And she says the photos are dazzling.

KATE LEMAY: (Singing) Falling in love again.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE³: Oh, sure.

LEMAY: (Singing) Can't help it.

STAMBERG: (Singing) Can't help it.

LEMAY: (Singing) Can't help it. (Laughter) So great, yes.

STAMBERG: Seventy-something, 30-something, 21, 20 - we all know about Marlene Dietrich. But nobody sounds like her.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BLUE ANGEL")

MARLENE DIETRICH: (As Lola, singing) Falling in love again. Never wanted to. What am I to do? I can't help it.

STAMBERG: Her nickname was Legs. And you can see why in the big photograph Milton Greene took of her in 1952. Her face is not visible. It's covered by a curtain of blond hair as Dietrich, sitting on an upholstered something, bends over her long, shapely, crossed and extremely exposed legs - legs so famous her studio insured them - legs so shapely that she shaped them in the photo, wrote notes on the contact sheet about touchups. Marlene Dietrich always controlled her image. Well, almost always.

LEMAY: This is a very sweet, innocent 17-year-old Marlene Dietrich...

STAMBERG: Kate Lemay is a historian with the National Portrait Gallery.

LEMAY: ...Who had recently changed her name.

STAMBERG: She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich, this slightly pudgy Berlin schoolgirl with a big, black hair bow and big, lace collar. On closer inspection⁴, she's not so innocent.

LEMAY: She has a curl escaping her hair. At the time, hair being brought all the way up off your neck was a sign of a good girl, a good family. And Dietrich let that that curl escape. She's already declaring her independence.

STAMBERG: And her wish to be looked at - her eyes, 17 years old and the eyes of a seductress, lids a bit lowered, looking straight at us, daring us not to notice. Twenty-six years later, a huge star, Dietrich entertains American troops in World War II. Hundreds of men are noticing her. In one photograph, standing⁵ in a sea of soldiers, she looks like a mermaid⁶, skin-tight, sequined gown glimmering⁷.

LEMAY: She's in her element. She is flirting⁹ - probably the best kind of flirt⁸ anyone's ever seen. She's just having the time of her life.

STAMBERG: By then, she had made "The Blue Angel" - 1930 - a man-killer cabaret singer, "Falling In Love Again" and Morocco - also 1930 - tromping through the desert in slingback pumps.

LEMAY: And she kissed a woman.

STAMBERG: "Blonde Venus" - sings "Hot Voodoo" in an ape suit - don't ask - all directed by Josef von Sternberg. He was her Pygmalion - slimmed her down, pencilled in the eyebrows¹⁰ and lit her into a femme fatale.

LEMAY: He knew how to transform a young woman who had beautiful eyes but maybe not the most perfect nose and some flaws. And he lit her from 4 feet above her head and from the right side of her face with a specific, soft lighting¹¹. She was transformed into this incredible magnet for the eye.

STAMBERG: She took that lesson from the director and applied¹² it for the rest of her life. Bathed in light, made up to perfection, Dietrich often wore ties, top hats, tuxedoes.

LEMAY: She dressed in menswear. And she pioneered dressing¹³ in menswear in the '20s and '30s. She was the first cross-dressing woman to do so for a large audience.

STAMBERG: Shocking? It certainly was. But, says historian Kate Lemay...

LEMAY: Dietrich made it palatable¹⁴. And that is what intrigued¹⁵ me in putting this show together - was, wow, this is 1930, and American audiences are conservative. And yet here we have this German-born actor who's presenting an androgynous image and kissing a woman on stage. That's incredible.

STAMBERG: How did she get away with it?

LEMAY: She was just really charismatic. And she never apologized. When people did criticize her and ask her why she would dare do such a thing, she just let it roll off her back. She really did not apologize.

STAMBERG: Remember that 17-year-old student? She grew up majoring in don't give a damn. Dietrich's image changed over the years, even though her lighting didn't. She got more relaxed in films - downright funny, even.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DESTRY RIDES AGAIN")

DIETRICH: (As Frenchy, singing) See what the boys in the backroom will have.

STAMBERG: In "Destry Rides Again," a 1939 Western with James Stewart, she was a saloon gal² in cowboy hat, boots, a spangled vest. You can't give up the glitter. She had applied for American citizenship¹⁶. And she adopted big American smiles.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESTRY RIDES AGAIN")

DIETRICH: (As Frenchy, singing) Just see what the boys in the backroom will have. And tell them I sighed. And tell them I cried. And tell them I died of the same.

STAMBERG: The National Portrait Gallery show has a copy of the scandal magazine Confidential¹⁷ from 1955. An article has this headline.

DIETRICH: "You've Heard Lots About Marlene But You Haven't Heard It All."

STAMBERG: They outed her. Married with a daughter and lots of lovers, Dietrich was bisexual. Few in her adoring public had a clue. In this age of social media, a secret like that couldn't be kept for long. But in Dietrich's day, stars and studios had secrets that stuck. How did the great, glamorous actress react to this secret getting out?

LEMAY: She wouldn't really have cared. I really do believe she was unapologetic and just thought that was their problem.

STAMBERG: Marlene was 90 when she died in 1992. Years earlier, she had stopped going out in public. Her looks had faded. Breaks in those gorgeous legs kept her bedridden. But she stayed in touch with friends by telephone. And her image - her guts¹⁸ - a fierce anti-Nazi, she called Hitler insane. Her uber-confidence blazed screens and memories for decades.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SEVEN SINNERS")

DIETRICH: (As Bijou) I'm a bad influence.

STAMBERG: I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

1 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

2 gal   

n.姑娘，少女

参考例句：

• We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
• What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么？

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 mermaid   

n.美人鱼

参考例句：

• How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起，那个女孩会有多受欢迎！
• The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴，因为她等不及了。

7 glimmering   

n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I got some glimmering of what he was driving at. 他这么说是什么意思，我有点明白了。 来自辞典例句
• Now that darkness was falling, only their silhouettes were outlined against the faintly glimmering sky. 这时节两山只剩余一抹深黑，赖天空微明为画出一个轮廓。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

8 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。

9 flirting   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

10 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

11 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

12 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

13 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

14 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

15 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

16 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

17 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

18 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》