Pola Negri
Pola Negri | |
---|---|
Lipno, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire | |
Died | 1 August 1987 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | (aged 90)
Resting place | Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles), California, U.S. 34°01′42″N 118°10′36″W / 34.02833°N 118.17667°W |
Nationality | Polish |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1914–1964 |
Spouses |
Pola Negri (
Raised in the
Negri signed with Paramount in 1922, making her the first European actress in history to be contracted in Hollywood. She spent much of the 1920s working in the United States appearing in numerous films for Paramount, establishing herself as one of the most popular actresses in American silent film. In the 1930s, during the emergence of sound film, Negri returned to Europe, where she appeared in multiple films for
Negri spent her later life largely outside the public sphere. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1951, and spent the remainder of her life living in San Antonio, Texas. In 1987, aged 90, she died of pneumonia secondary to a brain tumor for which she refused treatment.
Early life
Negri was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec on 3 January 1897 in Lipno, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (present-day Lipno, Poland), the only surviving child (of three) of a Polish mother, Eleonora Kiełczewska (died 24 August 1954). According to Negri, her mother came from impoverished Polish nobility,[13] with her family having lost their fortune over support of Napoléon Bonaparte.[14] Negri's father, Juraj Chalupec (Polish transcription Jerzy Chałupec or Chałupiec, died 1920), was an itinerant Romani-Slovak tinsmith from Nesluša.[15][16] After her father was arrested by the Russian authorities for revolutionary activities and sent to Siberia, she and her mother moved to Warsaw, where they lived in poverty,[17] with her mother supporting them by working as a cook.[18]
Chałupiec was raised Catholic by her mother, who was a lifelong practicing Catholic.
Career
Polish theatre and film
Pola Negri is very temperamental, but she has her temper under tight control. She, like other high-strung actresses as Norma Talmadge and Anna Q. Nilsson, resorts to tears if anything goes wrong. These three women I rate as the best on the screen today. It is a joy to direct them: they are so sensitive to impressions. But if any of them is asked to portray a character in a way that she thinks is alien to the part, she will not be able to go on".—Director Herbert Brenon (1880-1958) in Motion Picture Magazine, February 1926.[23]
After Negri returned from the sanatorium, she successfully auditioned at the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts. Alongside her formal schooling at the academy, she took private classes outside with renowned Polish stage actress and professor Honorata Leszczyńska. She made her theatrical debut before her graduation at The Small Theatre in Warsaw on 2 October 1912.
She made her stage debut in 1913 in
By the end of World War I, Negri had established herself as a popular stage actress. She made an appearance at the Grand Theatre in Sumurun, as well as in the Small Theatre (Aleksander Fredro's Śluby panieńskie), and at the Summer Theatre in the Saxon Garden. She debuted in film in 1914 in Slave to her Senses (Niewolnica zmysłów). She appeared in a variety of films made by the Warsaw film industry, including Bestia (Beast, released in the US as The Polish Dancer), Room No. 13 (Pokój nr 13), His Last Gesture (Jego ostatni czyn), Students (Studenci), and The Wife (Żona).[25]
Ernst Lubitsch and German silent film career
Negri's popularity in Poland provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany in 1917, to appear as the dancing girl in a German revival of
In 1918, Lubitsch convinced UFA to let him create a large-scale film with Negri as the main character. The result was Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918), which was a popular success and led to a series of Lubitsch/Negri collaborations, each larger in scale than the previous film. The next was Carmen (1918, reissued in the United States in 1921 as Gypsy Blood), which was followed by Madame DuBarry (1919, released in the U.S. as Passion).[28] Madame DuBarry became a huge international success, brought down the American embargo on German films, and launched a demand that briefly threatened to dislodge Hollywood's dominance in the international film market.[29] Negri and Lubitsch made three German films together after this, Sumurun (aka One Arabian Night, 1920), Die Bergkatze (aka The Mountain Cat or The Wildcat, 1921), and Die Flamme (The Flame, 1922), and UFA employed Negri for films with other directors, including Vendetta (1919) and Sappho (1921), many of which were purchased by American distributors and shown in the United States.[30]
Hollywood responded to this new threat by buying out key German talent, beginning with the procuration of the services of Lubitsch and Negri. Lubitsch was the first director to be brought to Hollywood, with
Paramount period
Negri ended up becoming one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the era, and certainly the richest woman of the film industry at the time,[35] living in a mansion in Los Angeles modeled after the White House. While in Hollywood, she started several ladies' fashion trends, some of which are still fashion staples today, including red painted toenails, fur boots, and turbans.[36] Negri was a frequent photography subject of Hollywood portrait photographer Eugene Robert Richee, and several photographs of her were taken during this period.[37][38]
Negri's first two Paramount films were Bella Donna (1923) and The Cheat (1923), both of which were directed by George Fitzmaurice and were remakes of Paramount films from 1915. Her first spectacle film was the Herbert Brenon-directed The Spanish Dancer (1923), based on the Victor Hugo novel Don César de Bazan. The initial screenplay was intended as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino before he left Paramount and was reworked for Negri. Rosita, Lubitsch's film with Mary Pickford, was released the same year and happened to be based on Don César de Bazan. According to the book Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them, "Critics had a field day comparing the two. The general opinion was that the Pickford film was more polished, but the Negri film was more entertaining."[39]
Initially Paramount used Negri as a mysterious European femme fatale and a clotheshorse as they had done with
In 1926, Negri starred in The Crown of Lies and Good and Naughty, the former of which earned an unfavorable review in Photoplay magazine, which deemed it an "impossible Pola Negri vehicle. If you have nothing else to do—see this and suffer with Pola."[41] Paramount transitioned into casting Negri in international peasant roles the following year in films such as the Mauritz Stiller-directed and Erich Pommer-produced Hotel Imperial (1927), in an apparent effort to give her a more down-to-earth, relatable image.[42] Although Hotel Imperial reportedly fared well at the box office, her next film Barbed Wire (1927), directed by Rowland V. Lee, and a number of subsequent films did not, reportedly due to negative publicity about her behavior at Rudolph Valentino's funeral (she fainted few times and cried exaggeratedly[43]) and her rebound marriage to Georgian prince Serge Mdivani,[44] although her films continued to fare well internationally. Negri defended herself, saying: "It is difficult for a foreigner coming to America...I had been told so much what not to do. It was particularly difficult for me, a Slav. My emotion seemed exaggerated to Americans. I cannot help that I haven't the Anglo-Saxon restraint and tact."[44]
In 1928 Negri was earning $10,000 a week,[31] and was directed by Rowland V. Lee in another three films (The Secret Hour, Three Sinners, and Loves of an Actress), before making her last film for Paramount Pictures, The Woman from Moscow, with Norman Kerry. Negri claimed in her autobiography she opted not to renew her contract with Paramount, choosing to retire from films and live as a wife at the Château de Rueil-Seraincourt, near Vigny that she owned and where she had married her second husband.[45][24] The same year, her short volume featuring reflections on art and film, La Vie et Le Rêve au Cinéma (lit. English: Life and Dreams of the Cinema), edited by Albin Michel, was published.[46] By 1929, she had reportedly earned $5 million.[31]
Later films; return to UFA
Negri's initial 1928 retirement turned out to be short-lived. She miscarried and later learned that her husband was gambling her fortune away on speculative business ventures, which strained their relationship. She went back to acting when an independent production company offered her work in a British film production that was to be distributed by Gaumont-British. Initially the film was to be a filmed version of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, and Shaw offered to alter the play to suit the film.[47] When the rights proved to be too expensive, the company settled on an original story and hired German Kammerspielfilm director Paul Czinner to direct. The resulting film, The Way of Lost Souls (also known as The Woman He Scorned), was released in 1929; it was Negri's final silent film.[citation needed]
Negri returned to Hollywood in 1931 to begin filming her first talking film,
After this, actor-director
After the success of Mazurka, Negri's former studio, the now Joseph Goebbels-controlled UFA, signed Negri to a new contract. Negri lived in France while working for UFA, making five films with the company: Moscow–Shanghai (1936), Madame Bovary, Tango Notturno (both 1937), Die fromme Lüge ("The Secret Lie", 1938), and Die Nacht der Entscheidung ("The Night of Decision", 1938).
After the Nazis took over France, Negri fled back to the United States. During her flight, she spent some days in Portugal. She stayed in Monte Estoril, at the Hotel Atlântico, between 28 June and 30 June 1940.[50] The following day she moved to Estoril's Hotel Palácio. She sailed to New York from Lisbon, Portugal, and initially lived by selling off jewelry. She was hired in a supporting role as the temperamental opera singer Genya Smetana for the 1943 comedy Hi Diddle Diddle. After the success of this film, Negri was offered numerous roles which were essentially rehashes of her role in Hi Diddle Diddle, all of which she turned down as derivative. In 1944, Negri was engaged by booking agent Miles Ingalls for a nationwide vaudeville tour.[51] According to her autobiography, she also appeared in a Boston supper club engagement in 1945 for a repertoire centered around the song "Paradise",[24] and retired from the entertainment business altogether.
Retirement and final appearances
In 1948, director
Negri came out of retirement to appear in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (1964), which starred Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach. Negri's appearance in the film as eccentric jewel collector Madame Habib was shot in London over the course of two weeks. While she was filming The Moon-Spinners she made a sensation by appearing before the London press at her hotel in the company of a feisty cheetah, which had also appeared in the film, on a steel chain leash.[53] The same year, she received an honorary award from the German film industry for her film work, followed by a Hemis-Film award in San Antonio in 1968.[54] In 1970 she published her autobiography Memoirs of a Star, published by Doubleday. She made an appearance at the Museum of Modern Art on 30 April 1970, for a screening event in her honor, which featured her film A Woman of the World (1925) and selections from her films.[55] Negri was a guest of honor at the 1972 screening of Carmen held at the Witte Museum in San Antonio.[56] In 1975, director Vincente Minnelli approached Negri to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in A Matter of Time, but Negri did not accept due to poor health. In 1978, Billy Wilder directed Fedora, and although Negri does not appear in the film, the title character was reportedly based largely on her.[52] Her final high-profile coverage in her lifetime was for a "Where Are They Now?" feature on silent film stars, which appeared in Life magazine in 1980.[52]
Personal life
Negri's first marriage was with Count Eugeniusz Dąbski, and proved to be short-lived. Negri married Dąbski in St Mary's Assumption Church in Sosnowiec on 5 November 1919, thus becoming Countess Apolonia Dąbska-Chałupec. After a long separation period, Negri and Dąbski's union was dissolved in 1922.[57]
After she began working in the United States, she made headlines and gossip columns with a string of celebrity love affairs, most notably with film stars Charlie Chaplin, Rod La Rocque, and Rudolph Valentino. Negri had met Chaplin while in Germany, and what began as a platonic relationship became a well-publicized affair and marriage speculation which received the headline "The Queen of Tragedy to Wed the King of Comedy."[58] The relationship soured, and Negri became involved for a time with actor Rod La Rocque, who appeared as her leading man in Forbidden Paradise (1924). Negri met Rudolph Valentino at a costume party held by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst at the San Simeon estate and was reportedly Valentino's lover until his death in 1926. She caused a media sensation at his New York funeral on 24 August 1926, at which she "fainted" several times, and according to actor Ben Lyon, arranged for a large floral arrangement that spelled "P-O-L-A" to be placed on Valentino's coffin.[59] The press dismissed her actions as a publicity stunt. At the time of his death and for the remainder of her life, Negri claimed Valentino was the love of her life.[60]
Just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, The New York Times estimated Negri's personal worth at $5 million.[61]
Negri soon married again, to the Georgian self-styled "Prince" Serge Mdivani. This action caused public opinion in the United States to sour against her because it happened so quickly after Rudolph Valentino's death. Negri and Mdivani were married on 14 May 1927 (less than nine months after Valentino's death); shortly after she became pregnant, and Negri, who always wanted a child, started taking better care of her health and even considered retiring from movies in order to be a housewife and mother. However, she reportedly suffered a miscarriage.[46] She grieved the loss of her child for the rest of her life;[46] she and Mdivani divorced on 2 April 1931.[62]
While residing at the Ambassador Hotel in New York in April 1932, Negri performed with
When Negri returned to the United States in the early 1940s, she became close friends with
Some scholars, such as Emily Leider, a Rudolph Valentino biographer, have suggested that Negri was
Death
Pola Negri died on 1 August 1987, aged 90 at the
Negri was interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles next to her mother Eleonora, who died in 1954 from pancreatic cancer.[74] As Negri had no children or siblings, she left most of her estate to St. Mary's University, in Texas, including a collection of memorabilia and several rare prints of her films. St. Mary's University also set up a scholarship in her name.[9] In addition, a generous portion of her estate was given to the Polish nuns of the Seraphic Order.
Legacy
Negri has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. She was the 11th star in Hollywood history to place her hand and foot prints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[75] She received a star in Poland's Walk of Fame(pl) in Łódź and Poland's post office issued a postage stamp honoring her in 1996. The Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles remembered her with the Pola Negri Award, given to outstanding film artists, and the Pola Negri Museum in Lipno gives a Polita award for outstanding artist achievement. [citation needed]
Negri, with Theda Bara and Mae Murray, were the actresses whose eyes were combined to form the Chicago International Film Festival's logo, a stark, black and white close up of the composite eyes set as repeated frames in a strip of film. It was created by Festival Founder and Artistic Director Michael Kutza.[76]
Negri (portrayed by an uncredited dancer/actress) makes a cameo appearance in the TV film Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies. In the film, Indiana Jones and Claire Lieberman attend a Hollywood party, where they spot Negri dancing with Valentino.
In 2006, a feature-length documentary about Negri's life,
Kotowski wrote a Polish-language biography of Negri titled Pola Negri: Legenda Hollywood (English title: Pola Negri: Hollywood Legend), released in Poland on 24 February 2011,[79] and an English-language biography Pola Negri: Hollywood's First Femme Fatale, published by the University Press of Kentucky on 8 April 2014.[80] Kotowski produced a 3-disc DVD compilation of early Negri films, Pola Negri, The Iconic Collection: The Early Years (2011).[80]
A large black and white portrait of Negri hangs in the small chapel of the Seraphic Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi Congregation,[81] next to Poland's patron, at Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa, at 138 Beethoven Street, in San Antonio.[82][83]
A 1924 portrait of Negri, by Tadeusz "Tadé" Styka (1889–1954), son of Jan Styka, is part of the San Antonio Museum of Art's permanent collection.[84][85]
In November 2018, a monument to Pola Negri, was set at Our Lady of the Bright Mount Church, Los Angeles.[86]
Filmography
† | Denotes a lost or presumed lost film |
In Congress Poland and Regency Kingdom
Year | Film | Director | Company | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1914 | Niewolnica zmysłów † | Aleksander Hertz | Sphinx Company | Alternate titles: Der Sklave der Sinne, lit. English: Slave of Sin Poland's first feature film |
[87] |
1915 | Żona † | lit. English: Wife | [87] | ||
Czarna książka † | lit. English: The Yellow Pass An early version of Der Gelbe Schein (The Yellow Ticket) |
[28] | |||
1916 | Studenci † | lit. English: Students | [88] | ||
1917 | Bestia | lit. English: Beast; Alternate titles: The Polish Dancer (U.S. release title), Bad Girl | [87] | ||
Tajemnica alei Ujazdowskich † | lit. English: Mystery of Uyazdovsky Avenue Part of the Tajemnice Warszawy (Mysteries of Warsaw) serial |
[89] | |||
Pokój Nr. 13 † | lit. English: Room #13 Part of the Tajemnice Warszawy (Mysteries of Warsaw) serial |
[89] | |||
Arabella † | Note: Though the majority of the film is presumed lost, a short fragment survives, as it was used in Polish film O czym się nie mówi (1939).[90] | [89] | |||
Jego ostatni czyn † | lit. English: His Last Gesture | [91] |
In Germany (silent period)
Year | Film | Director | Company | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1917 | Nicht lange täuschte mich das Glück † | Kurt Matull | Saturn-Film AG | Negri plays a dual supporting role as a nun and a cabaret dancer | [92] |
Zügelloses Blut † | Unknown | [92] | |||
Küsse, die man stiehlt im Dunkeln † | lit. English: Kisses Stolen in the Dark | [92] | |||
Die toten Augen † | lit. English: Dead Eyes | [92] | |||
When the Heart Burns with Hate | Kurt Matull | German: Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht This film survives and has been shown at La Cinémathèque Française in Paris, France, and at the Museum of Cinematography in Łódź , Poland
|
[93] | ||
1918 | Rosen, die der Sturm entblättert † | Unknown | [92] | ||
Mania | Eugen Illés | UFA | Set design by Paul Leni Full title: Mania, Die Geschichte einer Zigarettenarbeiterin (Mania: The Story of a Cigarette Girl). |
[92] | |
Die Augen der Mumie Ma | Ernst Lubitsch | lit. English: The Eyes of Mummy Ma Co-stars: Harry Liedtke and Emil Jannings First Negri/Lubitsch collaboration |
[94] | ||
Der gelbe Schein
|
Victor Janson and Eugen Illés | Co-stars: Harry Liedtke and Victor Janson Alternate title: The Yellow Ticket |
[92] | ||
Carmen | Ernst Lubitsch | Co-star: Harry Liedtke Alternate title: Gypsy Blood (U.S. release) |
[92] | ||
1919 | The Carousel of Life † | Georg Jacoby | Co-star: Harry Liedtke German:Das Karussell des Lebens ; Alternate title: The Last Payment (U.S. release) |
[28] | |
Vendetta † | Co-stars: Emil Jannings and Harry Liedtke Alternate title: Blutrache (Blood Revenge) |
[92] | |||
Dämmerung des Todes † | [93] | ||||
The Woman at the Crossroads † | German: Kreuziget sie! lit. English: Crucify Them! Co-stars: Harry Liedtke and Victor Janson |
[28] | |||
Madame DuBarry | Ernst Lubitsch | Co-stars: Emil Jannings and Harry Liedtke Alternate title: Passion (U.S. release) |
[28] | ||
Countess Doddy | Georg Jacoby | Co-stars: Harry Liedtke and Victor Janson Alternate title: Komtesse Dolly |
[28] | ||
1920 | The Marquise of Armiani † | Alfred Halm | German: Die Marchesa d'Armiani | [28] | |
Sumurun | Ernst Lubitsch | Co-stars: Ernst Lubitsch, Paul Wegener, Harry Liedtke, and Jenny Hasselqvist theater production, which also featured Negri and Lubitsch in the same respective roles, this is the only time the two appeared on screen together and is the last time the Lubitsch appeared on-screen as an actor.
Alternate title: One Arabian night (U.S. release) A film remake of the Max Reinhardt |
[28] | ||
Intrigue † | Paul Ludwig Stein | German: Das Martyrium lit. English: The Martyrium | [28] | ||
The Closed Chain † | Die geschlossene Kette; Alternate title: Intrigue (U.S. release) | [28] | |||
The Red Peacock | German: Arme Violetta lit. English: Poor Violetta, film was rediscovered in a basement in New York in 2020[95] | ||||
1921 | Die Bergkatze | Ernst Lubitsch | Co-stars: Victor Janson, Paul Heidemann lit. English: The Mountain Cat; Alternate title: The Wildcat A German Expressionist comedy and parody of the Expressionist film genre |
[28] | |
Sappho | Dimitri Buchowetzki | Co-stars: Alfred Abel and Johannes Riemann Alternate title: Mad Love (U.S. release) |
[94] | ||
Die Flamme | Ernst Lubitsch | Ernst Lubitsch Film GmbH | lit. English: The Flame Co-stars: Alfred Abel and Hermann Thimig Alternate title: Montmartre (U.S. Release) Ernst Lubitsch's final German film |
[94] |
Paramount period
Year | Film | Director | Company | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1923 | Bella Donna | George Fitzmaurice | Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount | Co-stars: Conway Tearle, Conrad Nagel, Adolphe Menjou Remake of the 1915 film Bella Donna starring Pauline Frederick |
[96] |
The Cheat † | Co-stars: Jack Holt and Charles de Roche Remake of the 1915 film The Cheat starring Fannie Ward and Sessue Hayakawa |
[96] | |||
Hollywood † | James Cruze | Negri plays a cameo role in this film, which features guest appearances from many other Hollywood stars from the period | [96] | ||
The Spanish Dancer | Herbert Brenon | Co-stars: Antonio Moreno, Wallace Beery and Adolphe Menjou | [96] | ||
1924 | Shadows of Paris † | Herbert Brenon | Co-stars: Charles de Roche, Adolphe Menjou, and George O'Brien | [96] | |
Men † | Dimitri Buchowetzki | [96] | |||
Lily of the Dust † | Co-stars: Ben Lyon, Noah Beery, and Raymond Griffith | [96] | |||
Forbidden Paradise | Ernst Lubitsch | Co-stars: Rod La Rocque, Adolphe Menjou, Pauline Starke, and Clark Gable (in a bit role). Only American Lubitsch/Negri collaboration and their final film together |
[96] | ||
1925 | East of Suez †
|
Raoul Walsh | Co-stars: Edmund Lowe and Noah Beery Negri's only film directed by Raoul Walsh |
[96] | |
The Charmer † | Sidney Olcott | Co-stars: Wallace MacDonald and Cesare Gravina | [96] | ||
Flower of Night † | Paul Bern | Co-stars: Warner Oland, Gustav von Seyffertitz | [96] | ||
A Woman of the World | Malcolm St. Clair | Co-stars: Charles Emmett Mack, Holmes Herbert, Chester Conklin | [96] | ||
1926 | The Crown of Lies † | Dimitri Buchowetzki | [97] | ||
Good and Naughty † | Malcolm St. Clair | Co-stars: Ford Sterling and Miss DuPont | [98] | ||
1927 | Hotel Imperial | Mauritz Stiller | Co-stars: James Hall, George Siegmann, and Max Davidson Broke box-office records for highest ticket sales |
[99] | |
Barbed Wire | Rowland V. Lee Mauritz Stiller |
Paramount | Co-stars: Clive Brook, Einar Hanson, and Gustav von Seyffertitz Mauritz Stiller started the film, but was replaced with Rowland V. Lee early on in the film |
[100] | |
The Woman on Trial † | Mauritz Stiller | Note: While mostly lost, surviving fragments are owned by the Museum of Modern Art.[101] | [100] | ||
1928 | The Secret Hour † | Rowland V. Lee | [100] | ||
Three Sinners † | Co-stars: Warner Baxter, Paul Lukas, and Olga Baclanova | [100] | |||
Loves of an Actress † | Co-stars: Nils Asther and Paul Lukas Silent film with soundtrack |
[100] | |||
The Woman from Moscow † | Ludwig Berger | Co-stars: Norman Kerry, Paul Lukas, and Otto Matiesen Alternate title: Rachel Silent film with soundtrack |
[100] |
International (sound period)
Year | Film | Director | Company | Country | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1929 | The Woman He Scorned
|
Paul Czinner | Charles Whittaker Productions UK (Distributed By Warners UK) | United Kingdom | Co-stars: Hans Rehmann, Warwick Ward Alternate Titles: The Way of Lost Souls, Street of Abandoned Children Silent film with soundtrack. Negri's final silent film. |
[102] |
1932 | A Woman Commands | Paul L. Stein | RKO | United States | Co-stars: Russ Colombo and Louis Prima , featured in the television show Adventures in Paradise, and used as soundtrack music for other films from the time.
|
[103] |
1934 | Fanatisme | Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel | Pathé | France | Negri's only French film; features her singing three songs | [104] |
1935 | Mazurka | Willi Forst | Cine-Allianz/Tobis-Klangfilm | Germany | Co-stars: Ingeborg Theek, Paul Hartmann, and Albrecht Schoenhals Features the songs "Je sens en moi", "Mazurka", and "Nur eine Stunde". Remade in 1937 by Warner Brothers as Confession starring Kay Francis and directed by Austrian director Joe May |
[105] |
1936 | Moscow–Shanghai | Paul Wegener | UFA | Co-star: Gustav Diessl German: Moskau-Shanghai; Alternate titles: Von Moskau nach Shanghai, Der Weg nach Shanghai, Begegnung in Shanghai, Zwischen Moskau und Shanghai Features the song "Mein Herz hat Heimweh..." |
[106] | |
1937 | Madame Bovary | Gerhard Lamprecht | Negri's only German sound film to be shown in the United States | [106] | ||
Tango Notturno | Fritz Kirchhoff | Co-star: Albrecht Schoenhals Features the songs "Ich hab an Dich Gedacht" and "Kommt das Glück nicht heut'? Dann kommt es morgen" |
[107] | |||
1938 | The Secret Lie | Nunzio Malasomma | German: Die fromme Lüge Co-star: Hermann Braun |
[107] | ||
The Night of Decision | Nunzio Malasomma | German: Die Nacht der Entscheidung Co-star: Iván Petrovich Features the songs "Siehst Du die Sterne am Himmel" and "Zeig' der Welt nicht Dein Herz" |
[106] |
Last films (U.S.)
Year | Film | Director | Company | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1943 | Hi Diddle Diddle | Andrew L. Stone | Andrew L. Stone Productions (Distributed by United Artists) | Co-stars: Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Billie Burke, Dennis O'Keefe, June Havoc | [108] |
1964 | The Moon-Spinners | James Neilson | Walt Disney Productions | Co-stars: Hayley Mills, Eli Wallach | [106] |
Discography
Negri released a total of ten 78 rpm singles. In 1931, she recorded seven gypsy folk songs in London accompanied by guitars and chorus, six of which were released as the sides of three records on Victor's His Master's Voice imprint. She recorded a French-language version of "Paradise" in Paris in 1933 with "Mes Nuits sont Mortes" as its flip side. (Sheet music was released for the English-language version, but the recorded version only appeared in the 1932 film, A Woman Commands, and was never released as a record.) The remainder of Negri's recordings, cut from 1935 to 1938, centered around songs that she sang in her German sound films.[109][110]
Matrix No. | Single No. | Label | Song Title | Time and Place of Recording | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
OB-641 | HMV EK-114 | His Master's Voice | V chas toski (The Hour of Longing) | Small Queen's Hall, London, 12 March 1931 | Accompanied by Boris Golovka and two others on guitar, with chorus. |
OB-642 | HMV EK-114 | His Master's Voice | Chto nam gore? (Why Are You Sorry?) | same | same |
OB-643 | (Not Released) | His Master's Voice | Yescho raz (Once again) | same | same |
OB-647 | HMV B-3820 | His Master's Voice | Ochy Tchornye (Dark Eyes) | Small Queen's Hall, London, 13 March 1931 | same |
OB-648 | HMV EK-115 | His Master's Voice | Why Fall in Love? | same | same |
OB-649 | HMV B-3820 | His Master's Voice | Adieu (Farewell, My Gypsy Camp) | same | same |
OB-650 | HMV EK-115 | His Master's Voice | Dwe gitary (Two Guitars aka "Gypsy, Sing!") | same | same; dedicated to Pola Negri by Boris Golovka |
P 76523 | AP 989 | Ultraphone | Mes Nuits sont Mortes | Paris, July 1933 | |
P 76524 | AP 989 | Ultraphone | Paradis | Paris, July 1933 | French-language version of "Paradise"; A-side of single AP 989 |
P Be 10937-3 | 0–4723 | Odéon | Mazurka (Ich Spür' In Mir...) | Berlin, 8 April 1935 | Song from the film Mazurka (1935); orchestra arr. by Peter Kreuder |
P Be 10938-3 | 0–4723 | Odéon | Nur eine Stunde | Berlin, 8 April 1935 | Song from the film Mazurka (1935); orchestra arr. by Peter Kreuder |
128338 | R 2271 | Parlophone | For That One Hour of Passion | Berlin, c. early 1936 | English-language version of "Nur eine Stunde". Original version from the film Mazurka. |
128337 | R 2271 | Parlophone | Stay Close to Me | Berlin, c. early 1936 | English-language version of "Ich Spür' In Mir". Original version from the film Mazurka. |
P Be 11241 | 0–4736 | Odéon | Vergiss deine Sehnsucht | Berlin, 17 March 1936 | Orchestra arranged by W. Schmidt-Boelcke. |
P Be 11242 | 0–4736 | Odéon | Wenn die Sonne hinter den Dächern versinkt | Berlin, 17 March 1936 | Orchestra arranged by W. Schmidt-Boelcke. |
P Be 11432-2 | 0–4742 | Odéon | Mein Herz hat Heimweh... | Berlin, 2 September 1936 | Song from the film Moskau-Shanghai (1936). Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann. |
P Be 11433 | 0–4742 | Odéon | Ich möchte einmal nur mein ganzes Herz verschwenden | Berlin, 2 September 1936 | Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann |
P Be 11891 | 0–4765 | Odéon | Ich hab an Dich gedacht | Berlin, 15 December 1937 | Song from the film Tango Notturno (1937). Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann. |
P Be 11892 | 0–4765 | Odéon | Kommt das Glück nicht heut'? Dann kommt es morgen | Berlin, 15 December 1937 | Song from the film Tango Notturno (1937). Orchestra arranged by Hans-Otto Borgmann. |
P Be 12171 | 0 288233 | Odéon | Zeig der Welt nicht Dein Herz | Berlin, 30 December 1938 | Song from the film Die Nacht der Entscheidung (1938). Orchestra arranged by Lothar Bruhne. |
P Be 12172 | 0 288233 | Odéon | Siehst Du die Sterne | Berlin, 30 December 1938 | Song from the film Die Nacht der Entscheidung (1938). Orchestra arranged by Lothar Bruhne. |
See also
Notes
- ^ The spelling is from multiple Polish language sources.[1][2][3] The spelling of Pola Negri's surname at birth is complicated not only by the difference between the Latin and Polish alphabets, but also by the fact that she was born in what was the Russian partition of Poland, at a time in which the use of Polish was suppressed and all government records, including her birth certificate, were kept in Russian using the Cyrillic alphabet, which is even less suitable for transcribing Polish than English. Negri's birth name was often Anglicized to Chalupec.[4][5][6][7][8][9]
- ^ In Polish, "ł" and "l" are distinct letters. The former is pronounced as the English "w", the latter as the English "l." Also, the "c" is pronounced as the English "ts."
- ^ Some sources cite 31 December 1896 as Negri's date of birth but the four-day discrepancy is due to the change in styling from the Julian calendar (OS) of Imperial Russia to the Gregorian calendar (NS) in Poland, per biographer Mariusz Kotowski, who uses the 3 January 1897 date in his biography of her life.[10] Negri herself used both dates on different documents, including United States immigration and naturalization paperwork, but liked to use the 31 December date and to state that she was born on the last day of the 19th century, which is why some documents, including Social Security, cite 31 December 1899, as does her crypt, indicating that Negri had made herself nearly three years younger.[11]
References
- ^ "Pola Negri Biografia". Retrieved 22 December 2023.
- ^ "Pola Negri". Retrieved 22 December 2023.
- ^ "Pola Negri". Retrieved 22 December 2023.
- ^ Ancestry Library Edition[verification needed]
- ^ "Pola Negri's birth certificate from 1978". Retrieved 28 August 2016.
- ^ "Pola Negri's birth certificate from 1960". Retrieved 28 August 2016.
- ^ Kotowski, Mariusz. Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema, Bright Shining City Productions (2006), DVD
- ^ Martin Votruba (12 April 2013). "Pola Negri". Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
The exact spelling of her and her parents' names is complicated by the mandated use of Russian in government records in that part of [partitioned] Poland, when she was born. For instance, her father's last name is recorded as Халупец at the Lipno Office of Vital Records, which can be rendered in Polish as Chalupec, Chałupec, Chalupiec, or Chałupiec.
- ^ a b Long, Christopher. "Chalupec, Barbara Apolonia (Pola Negri)". Texas State Historical Society. Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 5.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 6.
- ISBN 9780813144894. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
- ^ Negri 1970, pp. 16, 22, 87–90.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 9.
- ^ Votruba, Martin. "Pola Negri". Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
- ISSN 1234-2807.
- ^ Negri 1970, pp. 20, 61.
- ^ a b Delgado 2016, p. 11.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 164.
- ^ Adam Mickiewicz Institute (2011). "Pola Negri profile". Resource Library. Culture.pl. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- ^ Delgado 2016, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Bock 2009, p. 338.
- ^ Koszarski, 1976 p. 126
- ^ a b c Negri 1970, pp. 318–19.
- ^ Beinhorn 1975, p. 8.
- ^ 1978 interview with Pola Negri Archived 25 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Polanegri.com; accessed 29 March 2015.
- ^ Kreimeier 1999, pp. 19–22, 119–21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Delgado 2016, p. 18.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 34.
- ^ Kreimeier 1999, p. 92.
- ^ a b c d e f McCarthy, Todd (5 August 1987). "Femme Fatale Silent Film Star Pola Negri Succumbs in Texas". Variety. p. 4.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
- ^ Dinsmore, Jack (February 1922). "Pola Negri". Hot Dog: 26. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ Gasten, David. "Pola Negri biodata". La Cinémathèque Française. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8131-2559-6
- ^ Taylor, Angela. "Pola Negri's Memoirs: Best Roles Were Played in Real Life", The New York Times, 24 April 1970, p. 30.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 86.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 91.
- ^ Edmonds & Mimura 1980, p. 112.
- ^ Chaplin 1964, p. 300.
- ^ "The Crown of Lies". Photoplay. Brief Reviews of Current Pictures: 8. September 1926 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Hotel Imperial on DVD, Polanegri.com; accessed 17 May 2014.
- ^ Winnicka, Ewa (2013). Nowy Jork zbuntowany. Miasto w czasach prohibicji, jazzu i gangsterów. PWN. p. 116.
- ^ a b Kotowski 2014, p. 145.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, pp. 158–60.
- ^ a b c Kotowski 2014, p. 159.
- ^ "Pola Negri To Screen Shaw's 'Cleopatra'." The New York Times, 1 December 1928, p. 14.
- ^ "Pola Negri Collapses". The New York Times. 13 November 1933. p. 21.
- ^ "POLA NEGRI LEFT BEHIND.; Show Travels On to Washington Without Stricken Actress". The New York Times. 14 November 1933.
- ^ Exiles Memorial Center.
- ^ Billboard, 29 January 1944, p. 22.
- ^ a b c d Pola Negri FAQ, Polanegri.com; accessed 17 May 2014.
- ^ a b Krebs, Albin (3 August 1987). "Pola Negri, a Vamp of the Silent Screen, Dies at 88". The New York Times. p. D11.
- ^ a b Gonzales, Br. Alexis; Dispenza, Joseph (29 March 1970). "The Imperial Pola Negri". The Sunday Express-News. pp. 2, 15.
- ^ "Pola Negri, Famous Silent Film Star, Will Make Guest Appearance At Museum", Press Release from the Museum of Modern Art (1970); accessed 25 January 2011.
- ^ Greg Barrios, "Negri Called S.A. Home", The Sunday Express-News (San Antonio, TX), 2 August 1987, p. 4-A.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 206.
- ^ Bodeen, DeWitt, and Gene Ringgold. "Pola Negri", Screen Facts #15, vol 3, #3 (1967), p. 14.
- ^ Ben Lyon interview in Hollywood: Swanson and Valentino, directed by Kevin Brownlow for Thames Television (1980).
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 108.
- ^ a b c Leith, Brooke (7 November 2018). "Drama professor resurrects silent film star through research". St. Mary's University, Texas. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "Pola Negri Divorce Granted in Paris". The New York Times. 3 April 1931. p. 35.
- ^ Lanza & Penna 2002, p. 247.
- ^ a b Delgado 2016, p. 165.
- ^ "Remembering Pola Negri….the silent screen star who made San Antonio her home". Memories of San Antonio. 1 August 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 166.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 167.
- ^ Delgado 2016, pp. 168–9.
- ^ San Antonio Light, 9 August 1987, pp. J-11, J-14.
- ^ The Sunday Express-News, 2 August 1987, p. 4-A.
- Washington Post. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ Barrios, Gregg (9 August 1987). "Legendary Vamp Takes a Final Bow : Pola Negri on Her Hollywood Heydays". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- UPI. 2 August 1987. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.
- ^ Life is a Dream in Cinema by Pola Negri, Polish Cultural Institute.com, retrieved 13 November 2013.
- ^ About Our Logo, chicagofilmfestival.com; accessed 29 July 2014.
- ^ "Polish Film Festivals" Archived 7 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Polish Music News, April 2006, vol 12, #4; ISSN 1098-9188. Los Angeles: Polish Music Center, University of Southern California.
- ^ Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema page, Polanegri.com; accessed 29 July 2014.
- ^ "Pola Negri: new biog salutes Polish star", Polski Radio, 25 February 2011; accessed 2 March 2011.
- ^ a b Pola Negri newspage Archived 10 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine; updated 26 November 2013.
- ^ "The Mysterious Black Madonna: San Antonio's Shrine to Our Lady of Czestochowa". Texas Hill Country. 8 July 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^
- West, Richard (June 1980). "An Insider's Guide to San Antonio". Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications. p. 117. Retrieved 17 October 2023 – via books.google.com.
... 138 Beethoven. Only shrine anywhere that honors both Our Lady of Czestochowa, Poland's black Madonna, and silent film star Pola Negri, a resident of San Antonio. ...
- West, Richard (1 June 1980). "An Insider's Guide to San Antonio". Texas Monthly. texasmonthly.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- West, Richard (June 1980). "An Insider's Guide to San Antonio". Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications. p. 117. Retrieved 17 October 2023 – via books.google.com.
- ^ Swick, Thomas (23 July 2000). "The rhythms of San Antonio". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ Styka, Tadé. "Pola Negri". sanantonio.emuseum.com. San Antonio Museum of Art. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ Martinez, Kiko (20 October 2021). "San Antonio Museum of Art screens Hotel Imperial, featuring San Antonio-tied actress Pola Negri". San Antonio Current. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ Laski, Wojtek (11 November 2018). "The Monument to Pola Negri, set on the occasion of a 100 years of independence of Poland in the Californian Czestochowa in the parish of Our Lady of the Bright Mount Church, 3424 West Adams Boulevard". Getty Images. Los Angeles, CA. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ a b c Haltof 2002, p. 6.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 15.
- ^ a b c Haltof 2002, p. 20.
- YouTube
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Delgado 2016, p. 17.
- ^ a b Kotowski 2014, p. 214.
- ^ a b c Delgado 2016, p. 19.
- ^ "Pola Negri Lost Film on eBay - NitrateVille.com". www.nitrateville.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kotowski 2014, p. 215.
- ^ Delgado 2016, pp. 56, 96.
- ^ Delgado 2016, p. 97.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 207.
- ^ a b c d e f Kotowski 2014, p. 153.
- ^ "The Woman on Trial / Mauritz Stiller [motion picture]". American Silent Feature Film Survival Database. Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 163.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 168.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 208.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 173.
- ^ a b c d Kotowski 2014, p. 217.
- ^ a b Kotowski 2014, p. 180.
- ^ Kotowski 2014, p. 184.
- ^ Rust, Brian A., and Allen G. Debus. The complete entertainment discography, from the mid-1890s to 1942. Arlington House, 1973, p. 499.
- ^ Unknown author, liner notes of Pola Negri and Rudolph Valentino CD. Chansophone [France], 1995, pp. 2,3.
Works cited
- Beinhorn, Courtenay Wyche (January 1975). The Film Career of Pola Negri, 1914–1964 (Thesis). Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin.
- Bock, Hans-Michael (2009). The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopedia of German Cinema. New York: ISBN 978-1-571-81655-9.
- ISBN 978-0-370-00239-2.
- Delgado, Sergi (2016). Pola Negri: Temptress of Silent Hollywood. Jefferson, North Carolina: ISBN 978-1-476-62435-8.
- Edmonds, I.G.; Mimura, Reiko (1980). Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them. San Diego: A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc.
- Haltof, Marek (2002). Polish National Cinema. New York: ISBN 978-1-782-38469-4.
- Koszarski, Richard. 1976. Hollywood Directors: 1914-1940. Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 76-9262.
- Kotowski, Mariusz (2014). Pola Negri: Hollywood's First Femme Fatale. Lexington, KY: ISBN 978-0-813-14489-4.
- Kreimeier, Klaus (1999). The UFA Story: A Story of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918–1945. Los Angeles: ISBN 978-0-520-22069-0.
- Lanza, Joseph; Penna, Dennis (2002). Russ Columbo and the Crooner Mystique. Port Townsend, WA: Feral House. ISBN 978-0-922-91580-4.
- Negri, Pola (1970). Memoirs of a Star. New York: Doubleday. ASIN B0006C0782.
Further reading
English
- Barry, Iris (1972) [1926]. Let's Go to the Movies. Payson & Clarke. ISBN 978-0-405-03911-9.
- Basinger, Jeanine (2012). Silent Stars. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-82918-4.
- Botham, Noel; Donnelly, Peter (1976). Valentino: The Love God. New York: Everest Books, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-903-92599-0.
- Cawthorne, Nigel (2003) [1997]. Sex Lives of the Hollywood Idols. Prion Books, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-853-75523-1.
- ASIN B0091M8WBW.
- Clarke, David (1990). Location: Cornwall. Bossiney Books. ISBN 978-0-948-15861-2.
- Endres, Stacey; Cushman, Robert (2009) [1992]. Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the World-Famous Chinese Theatre. Pomegranate Press. ISBN 978-0-938-81764-2.
- Everson, William K. (1998). American Silent Film. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80876-0.
- Eyman, Scott (2000) [1993]. Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-801-86558-9.
- Guiles, Fred Lawrence (1972). Marion Davies: A Biography. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-070-25114-4.
- Hake, Sabine (1992). Passions And Deceptions: The Early Films of Ernest Lubitsch. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00878-3.
- Keylin, Arleen; Fleischer, Suri Fleischer (1977). Hollywood Album. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-405-10311-7.
- Lamparski, Richard (1977) [1967]. Whatever Became Of?. Bantam, Doubleday, Dell. ISBN 978-0-553-10102-7.
- Leider, Emily (2003). Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino. Faber and Faber. OCLC 901683955.
- Oberfirst, Robert (1977) [1962]. Rudolph Valentino: The Man Behind The Myth. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Pub. ISBN 978-0-425-03458-3.
- Parish, James Robert (2004). The Hollywood Book of Scandals: The Shocking, Often Disgraceful Deeds and Affairs of More Than 100 American Movie and TV Idols. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-071-42189-8.
- ISBN 978-0-714-33547-6.
- Villecco, Tony (2001). Silent Stars Speak: Interviews with Twelve Cinema Pioneers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-48209-2.
Non-English
- Czapińska, Wiesława (1996). Pola Negri – polska królowa Hollywood (in Polish). Warsaw: Philip Wilson. ISBN 83-85840-78-8.
- Florey, Robert (1926). Pola Negri: ses debuts, ses films, ses aventures. Les Grands Artists d l'Ecran (in French). Paris: Jean Pascal.
- Kotowski, Mariusz (2011). Pola Negri: Legenda Hollywood (in Polish). Proszynski Media.
- Legenda Kina: Pola Negri: Eine Kinolegende (in Polish and German). Muzeum Kinematografii w Lodzi. 2007.
- Legenda Kina: Pola Negri: A Cinema Legend (in Polish and English). Muzeum Kinematografii w Lodzi. 2008.
- Nowakowski, Jerzy (2005). Boska Pola i inni (in Polish). Warsaw: TO MY.
External links
- Pola Negri Papers San Antonio, Texas
- Chalupec, Barbara Apolonia (Pola Negri) (1897–1987) at Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association
- Interview with Pola Negri, 1978 The Pola Negri Appreciation Site, polanegri.com
- Caricature of Pola Negri (1923) by Miguel Covarrubias at Library of Congress
- Pola Negri Film Festival Polanegri.pl – website (in Polish)
- Pola Negri, Moviecards, Postcards, Books, Photographs, Magazines. film.virtual-history.com
- Pola Negri profile, Culture.pl (in Polish)