Hedy's Folly (23 page)

  1
spring of 1931:
The Weaker Sex
opened under Reinhardt’s direction on 8 May 1931 at the Theater in der Josefstadt, Vienna.

  2
“Are you here too” … “I took this as a mandate”: Weller (1939), 69.

  3
“Hedy had only the vaguest” … “Watch me look”: Ibid.

  4
“I had a little stage” … “from printing presses”: Quoted in Shearer (2010), 12.

  5
“She has always had”: Quoted in ibid., 10.

  6
“I underemphasized”: Quoted in Barton (2010), 13.

  7
son and daughter only learned: Anthony Loder and Denise Loder-Deluca, personal communications.

  8
Freud’s daughters: Barton (2010), 12.

  9
twenty-one districts: As of 1910. The number today is twenty-three.

10
“a city of a thousand”: Zweig (1943), 39.

11
“Precisely because the monarchy”: Ibid., 21.

12
“The whole city”: Ibid., 25.

13
“It was not the military”: Ibid., 22–23.

14
“I acted all the time”: Hall (1938), 24.

15
“in keeping with the Viennese” … “audience”: Zweig (1943), 51.

16
“He made me” … “He had encouraged”: Hall (1938), 21, 72.

17
“I knew that the studio”: Ibid., 72.

18
Geld auf der Strasse
: Lamarr misremembered which film in several later interviews, but
Geld
was released in November 1930 and is the only film that fits the chronology. I’ve corrected related facts such as her role and the director’s name. For a complete filmography, see Shearer (2010), 360–90.

19
“Well, it was not too bad”: Hall (1938), 72.

20
“were much more difficult”: Lamarr (1966), 17. 14 “Reinhardt made me read”: Ibid., 18.

21
“When you dance with her”: Weller (1939), 69.

22
“It was at the rehearsal”: Ibid.

23
“Almost before we knew it”: Ibid., 70.

24
“who simply recoiled”: Ibid.

25
“I’ve never been satisfied”: Hall (1938), 72.

26
“decided for herself”: Weller (1939), 70.

27
Alexis Granowsky: Barton (2010), 22.

28
“Excellent work”: Quoted in Shearer (2010), 26.

29
“When I had this opportunity”: Hall (1938), 73.

30
“I could not go”: Ibid.

31
“I went to Prague”: Quoted in Shearer (2010), 27.

32
“The world began”: Zweig (1943), 152–53.

33
“This health and self-confidence”: Ibid., 153.

34
“I don’t want to become”: Quoted in Horak (2001), 34. The source of this statement as Horak lists it is contemporary: the journal
Mein Film
356 (1932), 10.

35
Vienna premiere: Barton (2010), 35.

36
“artistic” … “I wanted to run”: Lamarr (1966), 30, 31.

37
“My mother and father suffered”: Hall (1938), 73.

38
“the courtship of the young”: “Sissy in Vienna,”
Time
, 2 Jan. 1933.

39
“At first I felt”: Hall (1938), 73.

40
“She looks wonderful”: Quoted in Barton (2010), 46.

41
“From the first night”: Hall (1938), 73.

42
ammunition factory in Hirtenberg: See Mötz (2010).

43
“he had negotiated”: Newton (1986), 545.

44
“He introduced himself”: Hall (1938), 73.

45
“a young viveur”: “Latin America: Double Cross?”
Time
, 16 April 1945.

46
“He was so powerful”: Hall (1938), 73–74.

47
“He asked me to go”: Ibid., 74.

48
“I began to feel attracted”: Ibid.

49
“small and quiet”: Ibid.

50
“Almost at once”: Ibid.

51
“Democracy is a luxury”: “Latin America: Double Cross?”

52
“try to track down”: Hall (1938), 74.

53
“nearly $300,000”: “Cinema: The New Pictures,”
Time
, 25 July 1938.

54
“it became one of the”: Hall (1938), 74.

55
“I knew very soon”: Ibid.

56
“prison of gold”: Ibid.

TWO: BAD BOY OF MUSIC

  1
to Europe in 1922: “In early 1922 I became a concert pianist, and traveled with my impresario, M. H. Hanson, to Europe where I was an immediate success.” “Autobiographical Notes,” box 14, folder 5, Antheil Collection, Library of Congress.

  2
“a cello-sized man”: “Music: Antheil’s Fourth,”
Time
, 28 Feb. 1944.

  3
“He did nothing but write”: Hecht (1964), 158.

  4
“When I first went”: Quoted in Antheil (1945), 2.

  5
“Curiously enough”: “The American Composer’s Heritage,” 1–2, box 14, folder 1, Antheil Collection.

  6
“I myself was present”: Ibid.

  7
“When I was 17”: “Why ‘Bad Boy of Music’?” box 14, folder 7, Antheil Collection.

  8
“I told him I was broke”: Antheil (1945), 19.

  9
“one of the richest”: Quoted in Ford (1987), 8–9.

10
“on the basis”: Bok to Antheil, 28 Sept. 1934, George Antheil Correspondence files, Library of Congress.

11
“In this way”: Antheil (1945), 10.

12
“the exact duplicate”: Antheil to Van H. Cartmell, 30 Sept. 1944, Correspondence files, Antheil Collection.

13
two tours: Ford (1987), 12.

14
“to either Italy”: Antheil (1945), 9.

15
“the day she had disappeared”: Ibid., 11.

16
“first, I wanted to learn”: Untitled essay beginning “In 1922, as a young American composer,” box 14, folder 14, Antheil Collection.

17
“the girls and wives”: Antheil (1945), 26–27.

18
“There were just too many”: Ibid., 27.

19
“George was a tremendously”: Boski Antheil memoir, 10–11, box 17, folders 1–3, Antheil Collection.

20
“Thereafter, for two straight months”: Antheil (1945), 33.

21
“about mechanistic”: George Antheil, “MAMA!” datelined Paris, April 1, 1925, box 14, folder 8, Antheil Collection.

22
“You play my music”: Antheil (1945), 40.

23
“an enormous fur coat”: Ibid., 46.

24
“I happened to be born”: Boski Antheil memoir, 9.

25
“dark, had high cheekbones”: Antheil (1945), 49.

26
“related to various”: Ibid., 50.

27
Jean Wiener: Stravinsky (1936), 110.

28
“She represented much”: Antheil (1945), 86.

29
“everybody was terribly poor”: Boski Antheil memoir, 10.

30
“When I later”: Antheil (1945), 90.

31
“We arrived in Paris”: Boski Antheil memoir, 8.

32
“which I gave up” … “none of which”: Stravinsky (1936), 104–5.

33
“In contrast to her brother”: Ibid., 102.

34
“Absolutely breathtaking”: Boski Antheil memoir, 17.

35
“When I went to school”: Ibid., 71.

36
“Paris was like a carnival”: Ibid., 8, 17.

37
“I still don’t remember”: Ibid., 18.

38
“she was kind”: Hemingway (1964), 35.

39
“threw up the job”: Walsh (2010), 87.

40
“I tried my best”: Ibid., 93.

41
“Sylvia and George immediately”: Boski Antheil memoir, 18.

42
“was on the look-out”: Imbs (1936), 23.

43
enclosed mezzanine: Ibid.

44
“consisted of one room” … “one went to the public”: Boski Antheil memoir, 20, 40.

45
“I was very shy”: Ibid., 20.

46
“the great piano warehouse”: Antheil (1945), 104.

47
“In order to prevent”: Stravinsky (1936), 101.

48
“the next day we went”: Antheil (1945), 104.

49
“Months later”: Ibid., 107.

50
“tremendously” … “for where”: Ibid., 107–8.

51
“We are done”: Antheil (1924).

52
“A dark, pretty”: Antheil (1945), 121.

53
Le coeur à barbe:
See Delson (2006), 47–49.

54
“All the celebrities”: Quoted in ibid., 48.

55
“One day a tall”: Quoted in ibid., 49.

56
“Even though the idea”: Boski Antheil memoir, 6. Boski’s recollection argues against Antheil’s claim in
Bad Boy of Music
that he conceived his
Ballet mécanique
first and then “sought a motion-picture accompaniment to this piece” (134).

57
“George was writing”: Boski Antheil memoir, 32 (55).

58
“Georgette Leblanc”: Monnier (1976), 247–48.

59
“the theater, the famous”: Antheil (1945), 7.

60
“The uproar was such”: Boski Antheil memoir, 28.

61
“I now plunged”: Antheil (1945), 133.

62
“After the finish”: Quoted in Whitesitt (1983), 19.

63
“Satie came out”: “Why ‘Bad Boy of Music’?”, 1.

64
“where Antheil played”: Copland and Perlis (1984), 75.

65
“My first big work”: Quoted in Oja (2000), 80–81.

THREE: MECHANISMS

  1
“Mr. George Antheil was engaged”: Quoted in Donald (2009), 44.

  2
“during the winter”: Antheil (1945), 137.

  3
“Kiesler liked it so well”: Boski Antheil memoir, 61, box 17, folders 1–3, Antheil Collection, Library of Congress.

  4
“One night we went”: Ibid., 65.

  5
“Bullitt is a striking man”: Kennan (1985), 57.

  6
“a hearty, charming”: Imbs (1936), 103.

  7
“And of course there was Bill”: Boski Antheil memoir, 60–62.

  8
“He was furious”: Brownell and Billings (1987), 112.

  9
“Bill and Louise”: Boski Antheil memoir, 60–62.

10
“We had a lovely”: Ibid., 44.

11
“One day in the future”: “The Death of Cities,” box 14, folder 3, Antheil Collection.

12
“We went to Vienna”: Boski Antheil memoir, 66–67.

13
“Fritz was immersed”: “Latin America: Double Cross?”
Time
, 16 April 1945.

14
“are unintelligible”: Sedgwick (1939), 282.

15
“The only serious problem”: Ford (1987), 42–43.

16
“This is the first edition”: Quoted in Whitesitt (1983), 22.

17
“The idea of [sixteen] pianos”: George Antheil, “My
Ballet mécanique,”
10 June 1951, box 14, folder 8, Antheil Collection.

18
“There was a great deal”: Imbs (1936), 100–2.

19
“We shall see”: Quoted in Lehrman (1999). Translation corrected from the original German version in
De Stijl
, 8 June 1924, 101–2.

20
two thousand player pianos: Mick Hamer, “Don’t Shoot the Pianola,”
New Scientist
, no. 1435/1436, 20–27 Dec. 1984, 52.

21
“And what will the music”: George Antheil, “An Introduction to the Actuality of My Present Music,” Ezra Pound file, box 1, folder 88, Antheil Collection.

22
“When I first came”: Boski Antheil memoir, 110.

23
“The eleven grand pianos”: Friede (1948), 52.

24
“Everybody wanted to meet”: Ibid., 55.