Barbette, enfin ! - photographs by Gaston Paris, Théâtre de l'Empire, Paris, 1937

How have I not yet posted about Barbette? Actually, I was certain that I had. I had to scour over more than a decade of posts to prove to myself that I hadn't. Alright, let this be the first, then. There are certain to be further posts about the aerial artist that the "astonished" and adoring Cocteau called "Un chef-d'œuvre théâtral. Un ange, une fleur, un oiseau." But here, with these images, I begin at the end; the very next year, Barbette ceased to exist. Texas-born Vander Clyde Broadway lived his remaining thirty-five years off-stage, never again willing - or, sadly, able - to venture into the spotlight.

The facts of Vander Clyde Broadway/Barbette's life are blurry at best. But here, such as it is, is his not entirely creditable Wikipedia page.

But then there's the man, himself, in this fascinating essay by Cocteau's biographer, Frances Steegmuller, which appeared in The New Yorker in 1969.

Marlène fait une entrée... et une sortie

Arriving.

Dietrich was what they used to call a star. Just as much in public as on the screen. And her "real life" seemed to be all about the glamorous entrance or exit. To and from planes, trains, automobiles, or ocean liners. Or just walking into a party or leaving the theater. Whether coming or going, Dietrich was always ready for the camera; she was prepared to be seen. 

Departing.
(Seated next to her is her hairdresser and close friend Nellie Manley.)

And for almost five decades until, with age and health problems, she no longer felt able to summon the glamorous, "ageless" illusion, before she shut herself away in her Paris apartment to spend the last thirteen years of her life, there was always a camera pointed in her direction. As she knew there always would be. The candid images here are in roughly chronological order, dating from her Hollywood-bound departure from Berlin in 1930 until 1965 when, still the star, she was the center of a Manchester crowd's frenzied attentions.

With her husband and French manager. 
(This image is frequently captioned as Dietrich being arrested in Paris for wearing pants, something that never happened.)

The same as above.

The original print has been altered, crop marks added, for publication purposes.

With Nellie Manley.

With Noël Coward.

In costume for "Knight Without Armour." With Nellie Manley.

With Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

With Josef von Sternberg.

With Henry Fonda.

With Tyrone Power and his then wife, Annabella.

With Jean Gabin.

With her daughter, Maria Riva.

With Noël Coward.

With Noël Coward.

With Jean Marais.

With Jean-Pierre Aumont and Jean Cocteau.

At Edith Piaf's funeral.

With Hildegard Nef.