Indelible

110 years ago today, one of our patron saints here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Marie Magdelene Dietrich von Losch (better known as Marlene Dietrich) was born!

I am aware I have written about the lady before. Over at Dolores Delargo Towers - Museum of Camp, Fraulein Dietrich is our newest photographic exhibit.

However, on this special day, I feel it is timely to pay a musical tribute to an indelible icon...

Falling in Love Again:

Marlene Dietrich - Falling in Love Again

Johnny:

Marlene Dietrich - Johnny

The Boys in the Backroom:

Marlene Dietrich - The Boys in the Backroom

Lili Marlene:

Marlene Dietrich - Lili Marlene

...and, of course, her classic androgynous look in Morocco:



Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, indeed!

Blue Angel

One hundred and nine years ago yesterday, Fraulein Marlene Dietrich was born.

There is little I can add to the praise and admiration that millions of people have given this remarkable woman - a lucky escapee from Germany before WWII, she famously spoke out against the Nazis, yet her torch song Lili Marleen was a favourite of soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

Named "the ninth greatest female star of all time" by the American Film Institute, her career was indeed impressive. From The Blue Angel in 1930, through Shanghai Express, The Devil is a Woman, The Scarlet Empress, Destry Rides Again, Witness for the Prosecution to Just a Gigolo, she continually re-invented herself as androgyne, mysterious romantic, vamp and Ruritanian aristocrat. Her years as a concert performer were immensely popular, not least her lauded return to Berlin in 1960, and her Tony-winning Broadway appearances.

Her songs became anthems, including the magnificent Falling in Love Again (her signature tune), The Boys in the Backroom (a gay anthem), and her rendition of the anti-war song Where Have All the Flowers Gone - as well as her camp kitschy collaborations with the likes of Rosemary Clooney and even Noel Coward!

We at Dolores Delargo Towers salute a magnificent style icon! RIP.

Marlene Dietrich - Blue Angel screentest 1930

Marlene Dietrich - Boys in the Back Room

Marlene Dietrich last screen performance

Tell them I'm having the same!

I couldn't resist sharing this little slice of fabulousness - as Our Joan entertains the "troops" in a way only Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter can...

Joan Collins - Boys in the Backroom

I bet the Boys in the Backroom were squealing with delight!

Tell them I'm having the same...

We have a centenary to celebrate today, in the middle of my Gay Pride Countdown! Just as well it is Frank Loesser - composer of more than 700 numbers for a variety of musicals, not least was his own masterpiece Guys'n'Dolls.

I have of course blogged about the fabulous Mr Loesser before, on the occasion of the anniversary of his death last July.

However, I can always manage to find some new and unusual things to celebrate such an anniversary, AND tie it in with the gayness of this countdown week...

Here's a bizarre version of one of Mr Loesser's finest works (with all it's gay connotations - very daring for its time), here performed by an Italian travestito by the name of Quince ["Every time I play a female role, my name (half QU-een, half pr-INCE) will be: QUINCE!"]. Whatever. He/she is fab!

Quince - Boys in the Backroom

Here's a right slapper from the 1940s (well hardly by our standards!) with one of Frank's classically "suggestive" numbers, which, in its many variations, became an early gay classic:

Mary Healy - Kiss the Boys Goodbye

And how about one of Hollywood's "worst kept secrets" Mr Perkins, and his version of the gayest of gay Loesser songs?

Anthony Perkins - Never Will I Marry

Frank Henry Loesser (29th June 1910 – 28th July 1969)