Events & Programs

John Baxter presents his biography Von Sternberg.

The reputation of Marlene Dietrich as singer and actress was launched by her 1929 film The Blue Angel. Produced in Berlin at the very moment the stock market crashed, precipitating the Great Depression, it became a symbol of a decadent Europe about to come to a catastrophic end. By then, however, with the help of Josef von Sternberg, the film's director (and her lover) Marlene was in Hollywood, being groomed into one of the most hallucinating of screen goddesses.

John Baxter's Von Sternberg, the first biography of the man some called "Dietrich's Svengali," tells the behind-the-scenes story of the love affair that began on the set of The Blue Angel. As well as scenes from The Blue Angel, John will show some of the treasures from the American Library's collection of Dietrich memorabilia donated to the Library by the actress's family.

About John Baxter

John Baxter is an Australian-born writer, journalist, and film-maker. The veteran biographer has made his home in Paris since 1989. He is the author of Immoveable feast: a Paris Christmas and A Pound of Paper, as well as biographies on George Lucas, Woody Allen,Stanley Kubrick, and Robert De Niro.