The Lost One
Page 76
20. Material relating to Lorre’s drug addiction from Dr. D.D. Le Grand, Admission Summary, Personal History, March 24, 1947, USPHS DHHS.
21. Reference to Lorre’s frame of mind on set, D.W.C., “‘CRIME AND PUNISHMENT’—Behind the Cameras of the Dostoievsky Drama with Lorre and von Sternberg,” NYT, Sept. 15, 1935.
22. Dr. Ralph R. Greenson took his medical degree from the University of Berne in Switzerland and later taught psychiatry at UCLA from 1951 until his death in 1979. Lorre attracted the friendship of psychiatrists on both coasts sympathetic to his complaints of movie-made stress. Like most doctors, Greenson reluctantly acquiesced to the actor’s importunities for narcotic drugs, at the same time hospitalizing him for treatment as the need arose. When he finally said “no more,” an argument erupted and Lorre tried to bite him, suspending the friendship for more than ten years. Greenson, interview.
23. Lorre’s available medical records contain no reference to exopthalmos. While hyperthyroidism seems the most probable cause, medical texts cite more than one hundred syndromes and diseases associated with the eye condition, as well as chronic drug use. Roy, Ocular Differential Diagnosis, pp. 3–19.
24. In his diary, Sept. 3, 1942, Brecht took exception to this generalization: “The Americans too overact all the time and almost all of them are pretty stagey. It is just that theirs is a different staginess, with the result that our people here look stagey while the locals look natural. When you come down to it the American actors are theatricalising a different basic gest, that of the Americans. Our actors strike them as hammy because the muscle that raises the eyebrows is in constant use. In the Americans it is completely out of action. The movements of the Germans are for the most part too abrupt for the screen, too ‘angular.’ There is something fluid and pliant about the Americans which photographs better. Gesture and facial expression have to be shrunk on a scale of 1 to 10, since the main thing is the head and shoulders—in those giant cinemas the close-ups look tiny.” Brecht, Journals, p. 256.
25. During the voyage, Wilder and Lorre reportedly collaborated “on a psychological study of a murderer planned by Lorre for a picture subject.” “Lorre, Billie Wilder Work on Murder Yarn,” HR, Oct. 26, 1935.
26. Secret Agent “consisted of two of the Ashenden stories by Maugham, ‘The Traitor’ and ‘The Hairless Mexican’ and also a play about Ashenden which was written by Campbell Dixon.” Alfred Hitchcock, “My Spies,” Film Weekly, May 30, 1936.
27. Reference to the British Board of Film Censors, “The Mystery of the Secret Agent,” May 10, 1946, unidentified newspaper clipping, BFINL.
28. Gielgud, certainly unaware of Lorre’s Gründgens ditty (see page 16), would have been equally oblivious to the fact that the comparison may well have been a veiled reference to his own homosexuality.
29. Alfred Hitchcock’s article “My Spies,” Film Weekly, May 30, 1936.
30. The Hollywood Reporter grapevined news of Lorre’s “return within eighteen months to do one more for G.B., Hitchcock to direct.” “Lorre to Hollyw’d: Will Be U.S. Citizen,” HR, April 20, 1936.
31. Reference to public reaction to Secret Agent in Mexico City, “GB ‘Secret Agent’ Jerked in Mexico to Prevent Riots,” HR, Dec. 7, 1936.
32. That August, Peter and Celia submitted a Declaration of Intention to become U.S. citizens.
33. A Heller is a bronze Austrian coin of small value.
34. Karl Kraus died on June 12, 1936.
35. Peter Lorre’s and Fritz Lang’s telegrams are reproduced in Aurich, Jacobsen, and Schnauber, Fritz Lang, p. 263.
36. References to “The Monster” in HR: “Lorre as ‘Monster’ before ‘Hunchback,’” May 12, 1936; “‘Monster’ on Skids; To Wash Up Para Deal with H-MacA,” May 15, 1936; “Hecht, MacArthur Now Spot ‘Monster’ for GB,” May 19, 1936; “GB ‘Monster’ Plan Is News to Balcon,” June 17, 1936.
37. Reference to the planned production of Nachtasyl in Pariser Tageblatt, May 22, 1936.
38. Alternate titles included The Monarch of Russia, The Falcon, and The Cossack Czar.
39. Reference to Universal’s plans to star Lorre in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, “‘U’ Set for ‘Hunchback’; Lorre Probable as Star,” HR, Sept. 19, 1936.
40. Reference to Napoleon in Hollywood, Alma Whitaker, “Many Stars Seek Role of Napoleon,” LAT, July 19, 1936.
41. Sidney Kingsley won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Men in White (1933).
QUOTATION SOURCES BY PACE NUMBER
89 “for conscientious reasons … professionally at liberty”: Ivor Montagu to author, June 1, 1975.
89 “We wanted him … to be engaged”: Montagu to author, March 5, 1975.
90 “Hitch and I … Hitch had envisaged”: Montagu to author, Jan. 16, 1980.
90 “admired him and … amount of persuading”: ibid., Oct. 8, 1977.
90 “Peter told me … opened to him”: Falkenberg, interview.
90 “with a single … bring good luck”: PEM, “Mein Freund, der Versteller.”
91 “Now all I … got the part”: Lorre, interview by O’Connell.
91 “As soon as … in the picture”: Montagu to author, June 1, 1975.
91 “Your big problem … stars are known”: quoted in Higham and Greenberg, Celluloid Muse, p. 94.
91 “almost in despair … to play it”: Buchanan, “REAL and UNREAL Horror.”
92 “How tall are you”: Celia Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
92 “I wasn’t the … started the picture”: “Lorre, European Film Star, Here on Way to Hollywood,” Chicago Daily News, July 27, 1934.
92 “At that time … please, speak English”: Bennett to author, April 19, 1975.
92 “a brilliant scenario … a tour de force”: Truffaut, Hitchcock, p. 58.
93 “a musical without music, made very cheaply”: ibid.
93 “worked up”: Alfred Hitchcock, “My Strangest Year,” Film Weekly, May 16, 1936.
93 “The door is … from the pocket”: The Man Who Knew Too Much, shooting script, undated, BFINL.
93 “cupboard empty”: Montagu to author, Jan. 16, 1980.
94 “little men are … are ‘walking dynamite,’”: Lou Smith, “Peter Lorre—Biography,” Universal Studio, May, 1942, Peter Lorre file, BFINL.
94 “getting good actors … Understatement is priceless”: Alfred Hitchcock, “Some Aspects of Direction,” in Hochman, From Quasimodo to Scarlett O’Hara, p. 398.
94 “Lorre … passion for decorum”: Andrew Sarris, “Hitchcock’s Les Parents Terribles,” New York Voice, June 26, 1984.
94 “Peter had the … it is delivered”: St. Joseph, interview.
94 “a round-faced … apparently [his] nurse”: The Man Who Knew Too Much, shooting script, undated, BFINL.
94 “Mr. Lorre, as … placid moon face”: Andre Sennwald, “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” NYT, March 23, 1935.
95 “One of the … of the screen”: James Shelley Hamilton, “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” in Hochman, From Quasimodo to Scarlett O’Hara, p. 202.
95 “Even Charles Laughton … the bad boy”: Andrew Sennwald, “Peter Lorre, Poet of the Damned,” NYT, March 31, 1935.
95 “a brilliant actor … into Hitch’s conception”: Montagu to author, June 1, 1975.
95 “He told some … usually did) reciprocate”: Montagu to author, Oct. 26, 1984.
96 “the walking overcoat”: Truffaut, Hitchcock, p. 61.
96 “I regard this … the second floor”: Montagu to author, Oct. 26, 1984.
96 “We were married … dropped the book”: Dehn, “Mrs. Lorre says: Peter Is No Monster.”
97 “THIS IS A … LIVING IN SIN”: Lovksy, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
97 “You will be … to impress him”: Lorant, interview.
98 “Why so much … idea is surprising”: “The Düsseldorf Murders,” NYT, April 6, 1933.
98 “nearest relative or … in the U.S.”: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Passenger and Crew Lists Arriving
at New York, 1897–1943, RG 85, T-715, vol. 11873, list 46, p. 46, nos. 21 and 22.
98 “countries oftener than our shoes”: Bertolt Brecht, “To Those Born Later,” in Poems: 1913–1956, ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim with Erick Fried (New York: Methuen, 1979), p. 320.
98 “repellant spectacle … Hollywood long ago”: “The Murderer of ‘M,’” NYT, July 29, 1934.
98 “Both of us … home at night”: unidentified newspaper clipping, PLS.
99 “The links of … of our luxuries”: quoted in Taylor, Strangers in Paradise, p. 95.
99 “In all of … the ‘genius actor,’”: Elisabeth Hauptmann to Walter Benjamin, June 9, 1934, Elisabeth-Hauptman-Archiv, Stiftung Archiv der Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
99 “There is much … on the screen”: Surmelian, “Sh! Meet PETER LORRE.”
100 “kindliest of smiles”: Hasek, The Good Soldier: Schweik, p. 163.
100 “guileless lamb”: ibid., p. 56.
100 “is no mere … is only simulated”: Parrott, Jaroslav Hasek, p. 98.
100 “a half-wit for … mask of imbecility”: Hasek, The Good Soldier Švejk, p. 767.
100 “The little man … acumen and ingenuity”: F.X. Šalda, quoted ibid., pp. 174–75.
100 “idiot of genius”: Ivan Olbracht, quoted ibid., p. 167.
100 “epic phlegm”: Radko Pytlik, ibid., p. 73.
100 “By seeming to … one can fault”: Parrott, Jaroslav Hasek, p. 119.
101 “shows up the … laughed at it”: Ivan Olbracht, quoted ibid., p. 166.
101 “It is a … Good Soldier Schweik”: Reynolds, “Reluctant Menace.”
101 “Country of Last Permanent Residence”: Peterson, Refugee Intellectual, p. 12.
101 “likely to become … help from friends”: Morse, While Six Million Died, pp. 135, 144, 139, 140.
102 “Through its immigration … fleeing from Germany”: “Hitler Challenges American Protests,” NYT, April 7, 1933.
103 “Hollywood was still … rigid and unchanged”: Houseman, Run-Through, p. 433.
104 “The experience of … breakdown of hope”: Pachter, “On Being an Exile,” p. 19.
104 “a subdued reflection … electric stars below”: Mann and Mann, Escape to Life, p. 274.
104 “soulless soil”: Thomas Mann to Hans Carossa, May 7, 1951, in Mann, Briefe, p. 206.
104 “Neither the things … any real roots”: Hardwicke, Victorian in Orbit, p. 210.
105 “a journey of no return”: Karl Zuckmayer, A Part of Myself (New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1970), p. 329.
105 “The poor refugees … authority and importance”: Sakall, Story of Cuddles, p. 208.
105 “As long as … for some time”: 20th Century–Fox press release, MHL AMPAS.
105 “consequential position … in this respect”: “Peter Lorre Starved and Slept in Park to Get Start as Actor,” New York Herald-Tribune, Aug. 5, 1934.
106 “we have only … nothing but Americans”: Max Berges, “There Is No Place for a German Theater,” California Jewish Voice (Los Angeles), Jan. 24, 1941.
106 “who but a … in the garden”: Hollander, Those Torn from Earth, pp. 299–300.
106 “we have a … flowers, many flowers”: Service, “Women Scream.”
106 “I love everything … clothes of Hollywood”: Irene Thirer, “Peter Lorre Sails, High in Praise of Hollywood,” New York Post, Oct. 30, 1935.
107 “I confess that … in the world”: “Peter Lorre Starved.”
107 “Hollywood definitely … time to come”: unidentified newspaper clipping, PLS.
107 “I am the … for a snob”: Surmelian, “Sh! Meet PETER LORRE.”
107 “One of the … almost too shy”: “Weight Also Important in Playing Sinister Roles,” Secret Agent, pressbook, 1936.
107 “the constant excitement … makes me fidgety”: ibid.
107 “meeting people, talking … energy for work”: “Peter Lorre, Tactician,” NYT, Nov. 3, 1935.
107 “he still is … like a Buddha”: Shaffer, “Lorre’s Wife Describes Horror Artist.”
108 “And where do … cold and perfidious”: Mann and Mann, Escape to Life, p. 267.
108 “Assimilation … the absorbing body”: Peterson, Refugee Intellectual, p. 239.
108 “We were into Americana”: Wilder, interview, March 31, 1986.
109 “I was very … Mountain Dean wrestle”: Lorre, interview by Wallace, pre-interview notes.
109 “Lorre hasn’t missed … an unofficial second”: 20th Century–Fox press release, MHL AMPAS.
109 “He looks like … Ted Healy stooge”: Cecilia Ager, “Lorre Expounds on the Cinematic Thespic Art Minimizes Make-Up,” Variety, Nov. 6, 1935.
109 “If I had … and faced Hitler”: Davie, quoted in Refugees in America, p. 90.
109 “hipsters”: Ives, interview.
109 “rococo cherub gone slightly astray”: B.R. Crisler, “Footnotes on Pictures and People,” NYT, May 10, 1936.
109 “European stiffness of behavior”: Peterson, Refugee Intellectual, p. 153.
110 “I am a … to act forever”: “‘M’ Star Made Miserable,” New York Post, July 27, 1934.
110 “I am having … signed with Columbia”: Rose Pelswick, “PETER LORRE MODEST: ‘Crime and Punishment,’ His New Film, Due at Radio City Thursday,” New York Evening Journal, Nov. 19, 1935.
110 “What I would … as at home”: Mad Love, pressbook, 1935.
110 “never played a … a funny character”: 20th Century-Fox press release, MHL
AMPAS.
110 “I am … in the mind”: Service, “Women Scream.”
110 “It is the … typed like that”: Eileen Creelman, “Picture Plays and Players: Peter Lorre, the Murderer of ‘M,’ Here to Start Hollywood Career,” New York Sun, Aug. 2, 1934.
112 “Lorre Saves Dog”: “Besuch in Santa Monica,” Mein Film 499 (1935).
112 “Peter Lorre, expatriate … its way home”: Philip K. Scheuer, Town Called Hollywood: “BERLIN BURIAL,” LAT, Jan. 14, 1935.
112 “as quiet and … of every party”: Lynn, “He’d Rather Act than Eat.”
112 “as a sweet … a wounded raccoon”: Kilgallen, “Ten Knights in My Hollywood Date Book.”
112 “I am afraid … with no complexes”: Service, “Women Scream.”
113 “The boy, the … ‘Crime and Punishment’”: NYT, Nov. 3, 1935.
114 “There’s too great … a histrionic gag”: Robert Garland, “Hollywood’s Mr. Hyde,” Nov. 15, 1936, unidentified newspaper clipping, PLS.
114 “You can have … great suspense story”: Huston, interview.
114 “As a matter … go at that”: Guernsey, “Peter Lorre, Who Is Nothing like His Roles.”
114 “a rather Napoleonic … the Hollywood Wellingtons”: NYT, Nov. 3, 1935.
114 “I can’t give … in or out”: Cecilie Lorre to Dr. Oskar Samek, Feb. 22, 1935, in Wiener Stadt- und Landesbibliothek, Karl Kraus contra, p. 287.
114 “It is hugely … which everything depends”: ibid., pp. 287–88.
115 “specialize in unusual themes:”: “Karl Freund Signs as MGM Director,” HR, Feb. 4, 1935.
115 “a mixture of … his eyes protrude”: Mad Love, draft screenplay, May 22, 1935, Collection of Motion Picture Scripts (Collection 73), ALSC UCLA.
116 “couldn’t leave the … Peter very well”: Drake, interview.
116 “I believe the … be perfectly kind”: “Peter Lorre, Screen’s Most Frightening Villain, Has a Method All His Own,” Mad Love, pressbook, 1935.
116 “Peter had definite … reality and vitality”: Keye Luke to author, Aug. 8, 1973.
116 “Make-up’s an excuse … methods of disguise”: Surmelian, “Sh! Meet PETER LORRE.”
116 “It gives the … of personal appearance”: “Peter Lorre, Screen’s Most Frightening Villain.”
116 “They must be … a perfect method”: “Lorre Employs Light Instead of Grease Paint,” Mad Love, pressbook, 1935.
116 “My trick is … in the character”: “Charlie Chaplin Terms Peter Lorre World’s Greatest Character Actor,” Mad Love, pressbook, 1935.
117 “Peter was a … person, easily hurt”: Drake, interview.
117 “an explanation of … to help others”: unidentified newspaper clipping, PLS.
117 “right in the … and Box Office”: “Personal Triumph for Peter Lorre,” HR, June 27, 1935.
117 “first American production … no mean terms”: ibid.
117 “With any of … trifle silly”: Andre Sennwald, “Mad Love,” NYT, Aug. 5, 1935.
118 “very good … free for it”: Thirer, “Peter Lorre Sails.”
119 “this offering of … all horror films”: Whitney Williams, “PETER LORRE Acclaimed the WORLD’S GREATEST ACTOR,” SILVER SCREEN, AUG. 1935.
119 “The way I … frighten the audience”: Pelswick, “Crime and Punishment, His New Film.”
119 “I hold no … it in films”: Buchanan, “REAL and UNREAL Horror.”
119 “How this image … or do play”: Peter Lorre, interview by Merv Griffin, The Merv Griffin Show, NBC-TV, March 4, 1963.
119 “gets his effects … from scientific observation”: Ager, “Lorre Expounds.”
120 “It is a … few are aware”: P.K., “Peter Lorre—Fan of Brecht.”
120 “I cannot find … thank him for”: Lorre, interview by Hy Gardner.
120 “Poe never heard … heart and mind”: Donald Kirkley, “Theater Notes,” Baltimore Sun, March 6, 1949.
120 “perfectly harmless and … is psychological horror”: Buchanan, “REAL and UNREAL Horror.”
120 “I am less … portrayal of life”: Tazelaar, “Even the Doctors Are Amazed.”
120 “Lorre hopes that … him to do”: Kate Cameron, “Lorre in New Horror Role,” New York Sunday News, Nov. 24, 1935.
121 “The screen was … not the camera”: Aeneas MacKenzie, “Leonardo of the Lenses,” Life and Letters Today (London), Spring 1936.
121 “an irresistible need … of his creation”: Jean de Baroncelli, “A Formidable Voice,” Le Monde, March 2, 1966, quoted in Weinberg, Josef von Sternberg, p. 223.
121 “In this decelerating … a routine one”: Josef von Sternberg, Fun in a Chinese Laundry: An Autobiography (New York: Collier, 1965), pp. 168, 270.