Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Marlene Dietrich

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: 

Marlene Dietrich

In my own personal big gay church there are many wings. In one such wing reside those who have forged careers by marching to a beat only they can hear. They are originals - unlike any other. Their styles created archetypes upon which many careers were built, but it all began with them. They created it. They own it.

One such sultry siren?

The unforgettable... Marlene Dietrich.

She gazed upon a world with half-lidded eyes and found it wanting. What was it in need of? 

Her.

So, she became Futura; her own Maschinenmensch. She created herself - an image, an attitude, a posture - and the world became instantly enthralled. 

But this diva was not content to color within the lines

She toyed with gender fluidity long before the concept was coined. She was fluid in many ways...

Because she knew things. About the sexes. About sex. And love. 

For her, it was all currency.

With a knowing haughtiness, she dared the world to be her audience. 

Admired. Worshipped. Enshrined. 

And then? 

She tired of it all. Turned her back. Receded from public view.

But the image lived on. The mystique grew... and became iconic.

Others may borrow. Others may imitate or may try it on, like a costume. 

But only one inhabited it. Perfected it. Created it.

Only she. 

The perfect Marlene.

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topics? Germany, Film, and The Sexes

"The Germans and I no longer speak the same language."

"America took me into her bosom when there was no longer a country worthy of the name, but in my heart I am German - German in my soul."

"The tears I have cried over Germany have dried. I have washed my face."

"I never enjoyed working in a film."

"I had no desire to be an film actress, to always play somebody else, to be always beautiful with somebody constantly straightening out your every eyelash. It was always a big bother to me."

"I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men."

"Darling, the legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them."

"The average man is more interested in a woman who is interested in him than he is in a woman with beautiful legs."

"A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman."

"Without tenderness, a man is uninteresting."

"Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him."

"Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast."

"To be completely woman you need a master, and in him a compass for your life. You need a man you can look up to and respect. If you dethrone him it's no wonder that you are discontented, and discontented women are not loved for long."

"Grumbling is the death of love."

"How do you know love is gone? If you said that you would be there at seven and you get there by nine, and he or she has not called the police yet - it's gone."

"Sex. In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact."

"Latins are tenderly enthusiastic. In Brazil they throw flowers at you. In Argentina they throw themselves."

Boys In The Backroom - Marlene Dietrich

Lili Marleen - Marlene Dietrich

Falling In Love Again - Marlene Dietrich

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

"I'm worth more dead than alive. Don't cry for me after I'm gone; cry for me now."

"I am not a myth."

"When you're dead, you're dead. That's it."