Talk:Marlene Dietrich

Removed Tag

I notice there are a grand total of two citation-needed inserts, the second of them in a sentence which actually links the film to which it refers, which is further listed at the end. This is childish, so I'm removing the 'I want even more references' tag.Sartoresartus (talk) 01:24, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

When did Dietrich become a US citizen? 1939 or 1937?

We have had problems recently with vandalism by one (or more) anonymous user(s) with no record who arbitrarily change dates in the article. So I was at first skeptical when an anonymous user just now changed the year for MD's US citizenship in the intro to this article (from 1939 to 1937). The 1939 date had stood in the article for more than a year without challenge. However, the 1937 date is cited to what looks like a bona fide website on MD's life. In addition, IMDB also quotes a date in 1937. I am therefore proposing to let the new date stand for now. However, if other users have access to more detailed reliable sources on Dietrich's life and career, it would be good to get this point confirmed authoritatively. Nandt1 (talk) 11:31, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

IMDB isn't a reliable source. No time to check into this further right now, but I'll try to take a look soon. NB: given the conflicting info floating around out there, date changes aren't necessarily arbitrary, let alone vandalism. Rivertorch (talk) 05:30, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for any solid research you can undertake. While I agree with you that date changes here are not necessarily vandalism, I would suggest that any changes that are unsourced are at this stage pretty much worthless. I also place rather more trust in users who have a name on Wikipedia and an editing record compared to those with just a number and no history. Nandt1 (talk) 11:34, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

According to newspaper reports of the time, Dietrich applied for US citizenship in 1937 ("Marlene Dietrich to be US Citizen". Painesville Telegraph, 6 March1937); it was granted in 1939 (see "Citizen Soon". The Telegraph Herald, 10 March 1939and "Seize Luggage of Marlene Dietrich". (Lawrence Journal World, 14 June 1939). The latter reports that this was the first time she was sailing as an American citizen . I'll update the article accordingly. TonyPolar (talk) 16:50, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

And when did she marry? 1923 or 1924? And when was her Daughter Born?

Same type of issue as above. This article has shown her as marrying in 1924, but now we have an apparently bona fide source for a marriage date of 1923. Though there are others which say 1924.

And while this article has been showing her daughter as born in 1924, I see that there seem to be a good many sources giving a 1925 birth date.... Nandt1 (talk) 21:12, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Just to emphasize the point a bit, I am concerned that many of the online sources are likely to be unreliable here. I say this because I have seen how they contradict each other, and also because I think there is a danger that they corrupt one another -- one copying another. Is there a really solid dependable print biography of Dietrich that one could rely on to get these dates straoghtened out? Nandt1 (talk) 00:41, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

I don't know, but I agree with you about online sources: I consulted several today and was left feeling unsure about the daughter's birth date. Until someone with good library access happens on the scene, it might be acceptable to insert a parenthetical note that there sources diverge on this point. Rivertorch (talk) 05:27, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Per the above suggestion, I have annotated the footnotes for those dates which seem to be in contention, so as to warn readers. I see this as a stopgap solution until someone with access to impeccable sources can sort out this confusion. I knew there had been some murkiness over Marlene's birthdate -- one would expect that(!) -- but had no idea it extended to so many other dates. Nandt1 (talk) 15:04, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Add to the list of contested dates, whether her father died in 1907 or 1911. Nandt1 (talk) 02:16, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

marlene loved peanuts — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.195.179.120 (talk) 15:16, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

• According to biographer Steven Bach, Dietrich married Rudolf Sieber in 1923: "Marlene and Rudi met in late 1922 and were married on May 17, 1923, in the registry office of the Berlin suburb of Friedenau..." (Bach, Steven. "Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend". University of Minnesota Press, 2011. Page 62.)
• On page 65: "Maria Elisabeth Sieber was born December 13, 1924 ... [t]he baby was called Heidede within the family..."
• Page 19: "By the time Marlene was six she was in her fourth home, and then suddenly a fifth, at which Josephine [Marlene's mother] listed herself in the growing Berlin telephone book as "Dietrich, Josephine, Ww.," or Witwe -- widow." Bach says "there is no extant official record" of Dietrich's father's death, but notes that "the year before his death he and Josephine had separate telephones at separate addresses, suggesting the love match (if it was that) was over" and that "Marlene later said she had known her father only as a 'shadowy silhouette', which is not surprising if her parents had separated before she reached shool age". Seems that Louis Erich Otto Dietrich's year of death was 1907.

TonyPolar (talk) 23:12, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Contralto

This article says that she had a limited voice range because she was a contralto - but one doesn't have to do with the other. Contralto just means a low singing voice. She might have had a limited voice range AND been a contralto, but she did not have a limited voice range BECAUSE she was a contralto. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.184.75.54 (talk) 19:27, 20 August 2011 (UTC)