Is it normal to love Greta Garbo when you're six years old? Maybe if you grew up in the 1930's and 40's...but what if it were the eighties?
So it was with me. It all started with a People magazine.
Mom had it on our coffee table. In the very back, there was a photo of an elderly woman with a grey ponytail. The photo was head and shoulders, but a white trench coat was obvious.
I rememeber the picture bothered me...I thought it was scary for some reason. She wasn't smiling. She looked angry... distant. I remember it was a side profile, but very distinct. No shadow, blurr, or partial features here. It was most certainly...Garbo.
At least that's what mom said. She'd also mentioned how interesting it was that there should be a picture of her in this magazine. To me, she seemed, strange, I don't know.
In truth, I knew who she was, but didn't even realize it. The movie "Annie" (1982), had always been a favorite.
There was however, one part that I hated: the part where Annie, Daddy, Grace and Sandy are watching the 1937 Garbo classic "Camille" ILOVED seeing the Rockettes, but did we really have to sit through part of this ancient film (whien you're a kid you think that which is black and white is lame, you know) with the tragic death scene at the end?
That was Garbo... the one who collapses in Robert Taylor's arms, and then he realizes she's died, as he's talking to her about marrying her. So, that woman in the black and white movie, and this woman with the grey hair and the trench coat were the same person. (??)
I couldn't even read the paragraph under the photo, so mom read it to me.
How does a woman have so many pictures taken of her that she's forced into seclusion? (The irony being that this particular photo of her was "rare.")
What kind of life does someone have if they can barely leave their apartment? How does an actress so famous become even more famous for not wanting to be known?
Okay, okay... this is retrospect. I couldn't peice all that together at six, but how horrible for this woman to pretty much go into hiding because people would not leave her alone.
From then on, I was a fan... I wanted pictures of her, I wanted to know what movies she was in, and I no longer hated seeing that particular part of "Annie." Today, that part is my favorite part. I believe this is where my adoration for movies (but in particular classic movies) began. So how incredibly ironic that within two years, the movie "Garbo Talks" would come out, and I would learn so much more about this mysterious woman I had seen in the back of that mag....
Her apartment building in New York, her trade mark hats and red lipstick, her Maid, that was supposedley one of her only trusted friends.
now, I have to say, I loved Barbie's, Play Doh, coloring books, and Lite-Brites too, but always loved Garbo... her hair and her eyes, her amazing presence on screen, her laugh, her deep voice; her amazing wardrobe from her films, and (I know now), her amazing spunk and giddiness. I had the picture of her with the brown baret ( head tilted), and was tickeled pink when I saw that Estelle Ralfe (Anne Bancroft) in the movie had the same (very common) photo. :)
Today, there are actually quite a few Garbo films I've not seen. This is because my original devotion to her is attatched to "Camille," so I singled that movie out, and also because I became more mystified by Garbo because she became so elusive to the press who relentlessly pursued her all her life... how would Gilbert Ralfe ever find her so his mother could meet her? (Garbo Talks).
Greta Garbo died on Easter Sunday, 1990. Somewhere, I still have the paper from that day. I was 12 then, and remembered feeling sad. I still could not comprehend how she could've possibly been happy having been alone for so long...
But, as Garbo said herself (so infamously): "I want to be alone."
So it was with me. It all started with a People magazine.
Mom had it on our coffee table. In the very back, there was a photo of an elderly woman with a grey ponytail. The photo was head and shoulders, but a white trench coat was obvious.
I rememeber the picture bothered me...I thought it was scary for some reason. She wasn't smiling. She looked angry... distant. I remember it was a side profile, but very distinct. No shadow, blurr, or partial features here. It was most certainly...Garbo.
At least that's what mom said. She'd also mentioned how interesting it was that there should be a picture of her in this magazine. To me, she seemed, strange, I don't know.
In truth, I knew who she was, but didn't even realize it. The movie "Annie" (1982), had always been a favorite.
There was however, one part that I hated: the part where Annie, Daddy, Grace and Sandy are watching the 1937 Garbo classic "Camille" ILOVED seeing the Rockettes, but did we really have to sit through part of this ancient film (whien you're a kid you think that which is black and white is lame, you know) with the tragic death scene at the end?
That was Garbo... the one who collapses in Robert Taylor's arms, and then he realizes she's died, as he's talking to her about marrying her. So, that woman in the black and white movie, and this woman with the grey hair and the trench coat were the same person. (??)
I couldn't even read the paragraph under the photo, so mom read it to me.
How does a woman have so many pictures taken of her that she's forced into seclusion? (The irony being that this particular photo of her was "rare.")
What kind of life does someone have if they can barely leave their apartment? How does an actress so famous become even more famous for not wanting to be known?
Okay, okay... this is retrospect. I couldn't peice all that together at six, but how horrible for this woman to pretty much go into hiding because people would not leave her alone.
From then on, I was a fan... I wanted pictures of her, I wanted to know what movies she was in, and I no longer hated seeing that particular part of "Annie." Today, that part is my favorite part. I believe this is where my adoration for movies (but in particular classic movies) began. So how incredibly ironic that within two years, the movie "Garbo Talks" would come out, and I would learn so much more about this mysterious woman I had seen in the back of that mag....
Her apartment building in New York, her trade mark hats and red lipstick, her Maid, that was supposedley one of her only trusted friends.
now, I have to say, I loved Barbie's, Play Doh, coloring books, and Lite-Brites too, but always loved Garbo... her hair and her eyes, her amazing presence on screen, her laugh, her deep voice; her amazing wardrobe from her films, and (I know now), her amazing spunk and giddiness. I had the picture of her with the brown baret ( head tilted), and was tickeled pink when I saw that Estelle Ralfe (Anne Bancroft) in the movie had the same (very common) photo. :)
Today, there are actually quite a few Garbo films I've not seen. This is because my original devotion to her is attatched to "Camille," so I singled that movie out, and also because I became more mystified by Garbo because she became so elusive to the press who relentlessly pursued her all her life... how would Gilbert Ralfe ever find her so his mother could meet her? (Garbo Talks).
Greta Garbo died on Easter Sunday, 1990. Somewhere, I still have the paper from that day. I was 12 then, and remembered feeling sad. I still could not comprehend how she could've possibly been happy having been alone for so long...
But, as Garbo said herself (so infamously): "I want to be alone."
Photo: Greta Garbo & Robert Taylor
"Camille" 1937 MGM
No comments:
Post a Comment