Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
Greta Garbo, moments after receiving your dinner invitation. Rules for meeting Garbo #1: Be unavailable to meet Garbo. “Of the Swedes who made it big in Hollywood, Garbo was the star of the silent movies era; my mother, Ingrid Bergman, was the star of the sound era. That’s how the press classified them. When Mother first came to Hollywood, she immediately and politely sent Garbo some flowers and a note - she thought they could share some Swedish evenings: meatballs, aquavit, candles and relaxed conversation in their native tongue. Garbo sent a telegram accepting the invitation, but not until three months later, just as Mother was about to leave town. Mother told the director George Cukor, who was a friend of Garbo’s, about it and Cukor laughed. ‘Of course. Greta wouldn’t have sent the telegram unless she was certain you were leaving!’ -Isabella Rossellini

Greta Garbo, moments after receiving your dinner invitation.

Rules for meeting Garbo #1: Be unavailable to meet Garbo.

“Of the Swedes who made it big in Hollywood, Garbo was the star of the silent movies era; my mother, Ingrid Bergman, was the star of the sound era. That’s how the press classified them.

When Mother first came to Hollywood, she immediately and politely sent Garbo some flowers and a note - she thought they could share some Swedish evenings: meatballs, aquavit, candles and relaxed conversation in their native tongue. Garbo sent a telegram accepting the invitation, but not until three months later, just as Mother was about to leave town. Mother told the director George Cukor, who was a friend of Garbo’s, about it and Cukor laughed. ‘Of course. Greta wouldn’t have sent the telegram unless she was certain you were leaving!’

-Isabella Rossellini

Greta Garbo (1925, photo by Arnold Genthe) (via) “I asked Garbo if she and [Gloria] Swanson had been friends. ‘Yes. When we both lived in Hollywood, I used to know Miss Swanson. But it has been years since I talked to her. Three years ago, though, she wrote me a letter. It said, ‘Dear G., we both live in New York, near each other, we are both alone, we have similar lives. Why don’t we have dinner sometime? Please come over and have dinner with me.’ ‘Did you?’ I asked. ‘No. I didn’t even answer her letter.’ ‘Why?’ She paused and thought deeply. A hint of sadness crossed her face. Her answer to my simple question spoke volumes about Greta Garbo. ‘There was no one to make me.’” -excerpted from William Frye’s Vanity Fair profile The Garbo Next Door

Greta Garbo (1925, photo by Arnold Genthe) (via)

“I asked Garbo if she and [Gloria] Swanson had been friends.

‘Yes. When we both lived in Hollywood, I used to know Miss Swanson. But it has been years since I talked to her. Three years ago, though, she wrote me a letter. It said, ‘Dear G., we both live in New York, near each other, we are both alone, we have similar lives. Why don’t we have dinner sometime? Please come over and have dinner with me.’

‘Did you?’ I asked.

‘No. I didn’t even answer her letter.’

‘Why?’

She paused and thought deeply. A hint of sadness crossed her face. Her answer to my simple question spoke volumes about Greta Garbo. ‘There was no one to make me.’”

-excerpted from William Frye’s Vanity Fair profile The Garbo Next Door

Greta Garbo surrounded by reporters as she arrives in New York (1938, photo via Popperfoto/Getty Images) Rules for meeting Greta Garbo #2 - Wear nice shoes; try not to be stupid: “In Rome, Audrey Hepburn, informed that Marcello Mastroianni was unexpectedly coming to dinner, exclaimed, ‘Oh no! I’ve dreamed of this for years!’ In New York, a similar dream stirred another star - Greta Garbo. ‘They said she was nervous and I had to pretend it was an accidental encounter,’recalls the actor. ‘So we go to the East Side, above some antique store, and there are two women sitting with Garbo. I say, ‘Oh, Signora Garbo, what a surprise!’ She smiles and I smile. ‘Then she says, ‘What beautiful Italian shoes you have.’ They were English, but I only want to make her happy. So I say, ‘Yes, Signora, Italian.’ Then one of the ladies mentions an old Garbo film, and says: ‘How beautiful you were.’ With that, Garbo gets up and leaves. We go next to a party at the Actors Studio and someone’s shouting: ‘Mastroianni! Greta Garbo wants you on the phone! The whole place stops like a stuck film track. Garbo says: ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Mastroianni. I admire you very much, but I cannot stand stupid women’ - and hangs up.” -Still Mastroianni, New York Times, September 20th, 1987

Greta Garbo surrounded by reporters as she arrives in New York (1938, photo via Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Rules for meeting Greta Garbo #2 - Wear nice shoes; try not to be stupid:

“In Rome, Audrey Hepburn, informed that Marcello Mastroianni was unexpectedly coming to dinner, exclaimed, ‘Oh no! I’ve dreamed of this for years!’

In New York, a similar dream stirred another star - Greta Garbo.

‘They said she was nervous and I had to pretend it was an accidental encounter,’recalls the actor. ‘So we go to the East Side, above some antique store, and there are two women sitting with Garbo. I say, ‘Oh, Signora Garbo, what a surprise!’ She smiles and I smile.

‘Then she says, ‘What beautiful Italian shoes you have.’ They were English, but I only want to make her happy. So I say, ‘Yes, Signora, Italian.’ Then one of the ladies mentions an old Garbo film, and says: ‘How beautiful you were.’ With that, Garbo gets up and leaves. We go next to a party at the Actors Studio and someone’s shouting: ‘Mastroianni! Greta Garbo wants you on the phone! The whole place stops like a stuck film track. Garbo says: ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Mastroianni. I admire you very much, but I cannot stand stupid women’ - and hangs up.”

-Still Mastroianni, New York Times, September 20th, 1987