I am always pleased to hear from
DIETRICH admirers from all over the world. MARLENE's music CDs can be obtained everywhere in good record stores and worldwide on the Internet. However there are also rare recordings which are nowadays either unavailable or very difficult to come by. There are, of course, endless reels
of tapes scattered all over the world, lying Her radio appearances number well over 40, ranging from short star guest-spots to full-length radio plays and series. Moreover there are TV appearances in many countries, interviews at almost every concert, tape recordings, telephone calls, and over 40 unpublished songs. Here is some
information about these rare recordings.
"Radio. A
great Medium; and I won't let anyone bury it yet" At the beginning of the forties many
MARLENE films were also re-recorded as radio plays, such as:
Even films in which MARLENE had not
appeared were recorded for the radio audience with her in the starring role, for example
the Greta Garbo classic 'Grand Hotel' (1948 ABC) and 'Anna Karenina' (MGM).
MARLENE spoke and sang in:
.
.
From the sixties onwards there are
many interviews, including ones in Brazil, the United States, MARLENE recorded a number of German
songs in New York in 1954:
In May 1954 MARLENE
finds herself in the Radio Records Studio on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood with
Rosemary Clooney and sings six songs in a duet with Rosie!
These songs are only made public in
1997, more than 40 years later, in the Rosemary Clooney 7 CD Box (BCD 15 985GK) on the
'Bear Family Records' label, apart from the Clooney-Dietrich EP 'Good for Nothing'
(Columbia B-1699). And the list goes on and on: in 1959 in Rio de Janeiro's
Copacabana Palace Hotel, in the 'Golden Room' she sings 'Luar do Sertao' in
Portuguese. In 1961 in Chicago: In Las Vegas and London songs are again recorded, never to be released: 'I Refuse to Rock'n Roll' in 1955 from the film
'Meet me in Las Vegas' There then follow songs such as 'Don't
smoke in Bed', 'C'est si bon' and 'Moonriver' in English and French. Her
pert, impudent androgyny and earlier bisexuality, which found expression in her lyrics, no
longer fitted the image of a legend and certainly not that of "the most beautiful
grandmother in the world". Her perfectionism could probably not permit these
spontaneous live versions to be released, and so they were locked away for many years,
probably for ever? MARLENE once said:
Thus perfect studio
recordings were made and these were then mixed with original MARLENE applause, which she
often had recorded on tour, and even put on MARLENE became 'invisible',
'untouchable', but by no means silent! There are many late recordings. In 1982
Maximilian Schell spent several days in conversation with MARLENE in her apartment in
Paris, the result of which was a DIETRICH greeted the audience and opened the 'Moulin Rouge Revue' in Paris from tape. She recorded a German and an English prologue for German rock singer Udo Lindenberg's songs 'Wenn ich mir was wuenschen duerfte' and 'Illusions' (Hermine, 1987 Poydor 835197-2Y).
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She has not been forgotten, and there is still
tremendous interest in MARLENE DIETRICH's recordings. I myself have had numerous enquiries
recently, ever since I put some 'RARE RECORDINGS' on the Collector's Stuff pages.
Unfortunately there are very few precise details and virtually no literature available
about all these rarities. 
round in many of the large record studios and radio stations, just
waiting to be discovered. This was only to be expected in view of MARLENE DIETRICH's long
and interesting life and great singing career. 
Great Britain, Belgium,
France, Denmark, East and West Germany and also Sweden. MARLENE's tours encompassed almost
the entire globe and she made studio recordings everywhere. As early as 1933 she recorded
'Ton Regard' in French in Paris . In Josef von Sternberg's classic 'The Devil is a
Woman' a second song 'If it isn't pain, Then it isn't Love' fell victim to the
censor in the final version in 1934 . In Washington in 1944 she belted out German versions
of 'The Boys in the Backroom' (Ja gib doch den Maennern am Stammtisch ihr Gift),
'You Got that Look' (Du hast 'nen Blick) and Carmen Miranda's 'South
American Way' (Nein Ich Heirate nie). 
'Dot's nice Donna Fight', 
record. These recordings then ended up in the shops as
"MARLENE live!" 
90-minute documentary. MARLENE spoke repeatedly and
energetically about the politics of the day. When in 1991 the former UFA studios (The Blue
Angel) in Potsdam were to be closed and hundreds of workers were threatened with
dismissal, MARLENE fought to keep the DEFA Studios open and gave a live interview on a
program on the main German television station. MARLENE made a further public call to
French radio when the Berlin wall fell. 
Those who think that MARLENE never sung again
from then on - think again! Whenever a friend mentioned a song to her or asked her about a
particular number, or she herself was searching for a few lines which had slipped her
mind, she would even sing over the phone and thus knew all the lyrics of her long career
by heart. No one dared to interrupt her nostalgia, perhaps also only because a tape
recorder was once again whirring secretly in the background ... 
