Marlene Dietrich, Photographs and Memories, Signed by Her Daughter
[Signed by Marlene Dietrich’s Daughter] Riva, Maria. Marlene Dietrich, Photographs and Memories, From the Marlene Dietrich Collection of the FilmMuseum Berlin. First Edition. 2001. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition—minor staining to upper left corner of the jacket. Book is signed “Maria Riva Feb. 2002” on the title page. Compiled by Jean-Jacques Naudet.
Maria Riva was more than her mother Marlene Dietrich’s only child; she was her assistant, confidante, and therapist. Her detailed and insightful autobiography of Dietrich is considered one of the best books about Hollywood. In this coffee table book on the vast Dietrich archive in Berlin, Riva captions the photos with the sort of private information that only she knew (perhaps better than even Marlene Dietrich herself).
“A ship now sails the seas, registered as the Marlene; numberless children grow up with a name unknown to the world not long ago. ‘Marlene’ is a contraction of ‘Maria Magdalene,’ two names not often found in one person.”
--Josef von Sternberg