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It's ben nearly a century since she made her Hollywood screen debut and 80 years since her last film. In the relatively short span of 16 years she made 28 feature films and became such an iconic figure that her face was known the world over and when she returned home to her native Sweden she was stalked by an adoring mob that left her feeling paralyzed.
Forever shrouded in mystery, the persona of Greta Garbo appears to be a mass of contradictions. She wore clothes well and launched sartorial trends but said she cared not one wit about the latest fashions. Indeed, she preferred to dress in men's trousers and simple shirts. She claimed she hated the notoriety of being a star but daily gobbled up everything that was written about her in the tabloids and fan magazines. She begged to be alone (or was it left alone?) but was constantly on the move and often in the midst of crowds of people. She eschewed status but cultivated friendships with the rich and famous. She valued loyalty but could be capricious with those she demanded it from. She had an admirably strong work ethic but could turn away from the job at hand with no prior warning. Virtually frozen in time as a public figure, she remained nonetheless mercurial.
So much has been written about Garbo since she dropped out of view after her last movie in 1941, yet the mystique surrounding this most enigmatic of Hollywood legends has only increased. Barry Paris' Garbo remains the most definitive biography and stands as a masterful work in chronicling Garbo before during and after her years in Hollywood. But now along comes another book (also simply titled Garbo) by Robert Gottlieb that is not so much a biography as a sumptuous feast of critiques, evocations, photos, recollections and voyeuristic pop-culture observations. Gottlieb takes the long view of Garbo and presents us with a full, three-dimensional portrait of a shy, dazzlingly beautiful young Swede who had no formal education but possessed enough self-awareness and willingness to learn the early essentials of the silent screen that, under the tutelage of master filmmakers, she became first a curiosity, then a sensation and finally the world's most famous drifter.
Of course, through four decades Garbo "hid out" in the middle of densely-populated Manhattan where she maintained an apartment overlooking the East River in one of the city's poshest neighborhoods. Garbo made sound investments in real estate and art and didn't have to worry about money. She spent most of her time chatting on the phone, discretely visiting nearby friends, occasionally traveling, musing and mostly, walking. Her daily walks around Manhattan were legendary. She moved at a rapid pace, concealed her identity however she could, tended to shop or browse only at stores where she know that no attention would be called to her presence and deftly ducked away from photographers and the prying eyes of the public. For the most part, she mastered this elaborate cat and mouse game and photos, film or tape of Garbo were very rare. This was so much the case that the word "Garbo" became synonymous with reclusiveness.
But as Gottlieb explains, Garbo could be engaging, funny, gregarious, kind and even charming under the right circumstances and with the right people. Yes, prospective friends needed to prove they could follow Garbo's strict code of discretion, but once you were admitted into her realm you were in the presence not only of one of the world's great beauties but also a complex, continental personality. Still, your time with Garbo would likely be limited and, if you broke the rules, you never saw nor heard from her again. What all this meant is that the relationship was always win Garbo's terms, not yours.
The simple truth is that there has been no more beautiful star than Garbo before or since. Because she was trained for the silent screen, Garbo could speak with her eyes. And the eyes were luminous! She barely had to move at all to signal what she was thinking or feeling on the screen. And the same unmistakable quality comes through in her still photos. Then, when she did speak for the first time on the screen in 1930's Anna Christie, the voice perfectly matched the image. It was what you expected it to be, and more. Garbo was mesmerizing. When Garbo cried (as in Anna Karenina) the whole world cried. When she laughed (as in Ninotchka) the whole world laughed.
So enduring is the Garbo mystique that she's been the subject of numerous documentaries, has web sites and facebook pages dedicated to her and has been mentioned in pop standards and movie scripts. Plus, Gottlieb's book is one of two new books about Garbo. The other is The Savvy Sphinx, How Garbo Conquered Hollywood by Robert Dance. Both are worth your attention. And now, we'll leave the final word to Garbo herself: "Being a movie star, and this applies to all of them, means being looked at from every possible direction. You are never left at peace, you're just fair game."
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