Hi all So, for those who are interested..... I just got back from seeing newly-minted centenarian, Ms Luise Rainer, talk for 90 minutes at London's National Theatre (to Sir Christopher Frayling). Unusually, although perhaps characteristically, Rainer had decided in advance that she intended to only take questions from the audience (although Frayling did a great job of posing interesting follow-up questions and kept things moving along). The 'Viennese Teardrop' was on fantastic, fun, combative form, happily killing off rumours that she was in any way Thalberg's protege ("I hardly knew him! He met me at a party!') and downplaying her role in getting Brecht out of Nazi Germany ('He was already in Sweden!'). The Brecht story was one of the best anecdotes. Apparently Luise thought he was a genius and so happily signed an affidavit to speed his entry into the States. Brecht was so grateful and enchanted by Rainer that he wrote The Caucasion Chalk Circle for her. When Frayling asked Rainer why she had never appeared in this or any other Brecht plays, she laughed and said it was because after she met Brecht she realised she couldn't stand him! Rainer was also fascinating on the subject of her two Oscars, claiming that - for a newly-arrived foreigner to the US from Europe - these awards didn't really mean that much. Rainer says that director Max Reinhardt running up to her after a rehearsal to say 'Rainer, how did you do that?!' meant more to her than any Oscar. Rainer was also very interesting on her 'genius' husband Clifford Odets, who tried to, but could not, get her interested in politics: 'I know the difference between good and bad, rich and poor. But when he gave me Marx's book I read three pages and gave it back.' The best anecdote was about Rainer and Odets' honeymoon in Mexico. Odets religiously wrote at night (and slept during the day) and so it came to pass that, on their wedding night, his double oscar-winning bride was banished downstairs to the hotel bar. Here, she fell in with a large group of vacationing midgets who were drunk and who decided to revere the 'giant' Rainer as their God. They claimed that they had a miniature version of Rainer in their ranks which they proudly introduced to the actress. Rainer fled to the beach, where she stumbled across Odets. Thrilled to see him, she tried to leap into his arms, but he ducked out of the way fearing injury and she ended up in a heap on the sand. The evening ended with Frayling asking Rainer why she doesn't wear a watch (she never has). Rainer told him she doesn't need one. When Frayling asked her how she knows what time it is, she looked at him as if he was an idiot, 'Instinct!" she announced, "Instinct and intuition!" Rainer received a standing ovation at the end and was completely at ease and animated throughout. What an absolute pleasure to have a front row seat to such an event. I hope the NT will release a transcript to compensate for my sketchy memory. Apologies to MOPOers for who this is way, way OT! Best to you all Neil PS I just remembered that, when she was asked for her memories of her favourite leading men, Rainer told the audience that her favourite was not who they might think. With everyone suitably intrigued and waiting to hear who it was, Rainer threw her hands into the air with exasperation and announced that she had forgotten his name. She then flashed her eyes at the audience and shouted 'Give me a chance! I am a hundred you know!" Cue uproar and once the laughter had subsided, she announced that she HAD now remembered and that it was Melvyn Douglas.
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