Vilma Banky
Greta de Groat
question i had about Vilma Banky. When the announcement came out about
her death, it was reported that it was announced so long after the fact
because she didn't want it annouced because she had been forgotten. I
remember feeling sorry for her and wishing i had at least written a fan
letter. At that time i didn't know there was this whole community of
silent film fans and researchers out there and folks doing interviews
and organizing film fests, etc. etc Knowing what i do now, i can't
imagine that you all weren't all over her. So what was story behind her
claiming she was ignored? Did she allow contact? Was she upset about
something? Just old and sick and feeling bad? She doesn't have a
national library name authority record (i'm making one now), but i'm
sure that wasn't high on her agenda of desired recognitions!
Ever since i discovered you all out there i have been wondering about
this.
greta
John Aldrich
I remember this story all too well. I was living in LA at the time,
and it was reported that in her later years, after she had moved into
a 'senior' home, Vilma was not happy that her friends stopped calling
and coming to visit her. Supposedly, she instructed that when she
passed away it not be announced. The strory was that she said,
"Let's see how long it takes my so-called friends to figure out that
I'm gone".
It was months after her death that her obit appeared in the LA Times.
A very sad story.
I also recall that before she got too frail, Vilma used to visit the
Silent Movie when they showed one of her films.
--John Aldrich
Bob Birchard
She was also something of a recluse in later years. Word was that he
had gained so much eight she did not want to be seen, although since I never
saw her in person I have no way of knowing whether this was true or not.
An interesting side note, somewhat related, for fans of "Casablanca:"
As you recall the plot revolves around some "letters of transit" that will
allow the bearers to leave Casablanca. It has been often been said as a
matter of trivial detail that there were no such things as letters of
transit. WRONG!
I have Vilma Banky's "letter of transit" issued by the German
government shortly after her marriage to Rod La Rocque. The couple wanted
to visit Vilma's family in Hungary, but her Hungarian citizenship was
revoked when she married an American. And, at least in those days, she did
not become an American citizen until six months after her marriage. So, the
solution was to get a letter from the Germans attesting to who she was,
where she was born, the purpose of her trip, etc. The letters were later
stamped in the various countries they visited as would a passport. The
letter is on official German government forms, so this was not an isolated
case; but, of course it was "user specific" and required a photo and an
official stamp and a blind embossed seal; but such a document (left blank)
could have been useful to a skilled forger in Casablanca if it had been
pre-signed.
--
Bob Birchard
bbir...@earthlink.net
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
RobtMcKay
> She was also something of a recluse in later years. Word was that he
>had gained so much eight she did not want to be seen, although since I never
>saw her in person I have no way of knowing whether this was true or not.
>
I never saw her either, but I have been told by almost all people who did that
this was true.
Additionally, she was notoriously uncooperative with fans and people who wished
to talk with about her film career during her later years The only people I
know of who saw her in the 1950s or 1960s were actually visiting with LaRocque,
who was apparently extremely cordial.
They lived in an apartment just a block or two from Mae West's place on
Rossmore in LA.
I have been told the last several years of her life she was in a convalescent
home, and in very poor mental health. There is a story about one of the Los
Angeles autograph collectors who went to see her in the Rest home and asked her
to sign a picture for him - she took the photo, slowly drew a square on it, and
handed it back to him.
End of visit.
Rob McKay
Michael Gebert
<bbir...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> An interesting side note, somewhat related, for fans of "Casablanca:"
> As you recall the plot revolves around some "letters of transit" that will
> allow the bearers to leave Casablanca. It has been often been said as a
> matter of trivial detail that there were no such things as letters of
> transit. WRONG!
I thought that the only controversy was why any officer of Vichy (which,
however odious, was plainly the government of France at that moment) would
feel the least bit duty bound to respect something with the signature of
General deGaulle, pretender in exile. (The equivalent situation being
expecting a U.S. marshal during the Civil War to honor the signature of
Jefferson Davis.)
___________________________________________________
Michael Gebert, Writer | www.michaelgebert.com
IT'S A TERRIBLE THING TO NOT HAVE A MIND TO LOSE
"If a person doesn't have the capacity that we all want that person to
have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all."
--George W. Bush, to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute,
Washington, D.C., May 22, 2001
Frederica
Michael Gebert wrote:
> I thought that the only controversy was why any officer of Vichy (which,
> however odious, was plainly the government of France at that moment) would
> feel the least bit duty bound to respect something with the signature of
> General deGaulle, pretender in exile. (The equivalent situation being
> expecting a U.S. marshal during the Civil War to honor the signature of
> Jefferson Davis.)
Apparently there is a controversy over which general Peter Lorre is referring to
when he discusses the signature on the Letters of Transit. The English
subtitles on the DVD say De Gaulle, but the French (? can't remember) say
General Weygaud. How serendipitous! They just showed the scene in question on
Ebert & Roper on Sunday, and I watched Ebert & Roper for the first time ever.
Frederica
Mack Twamley
"Frederica" <missme...@yahoo.com> wrote in message > Apparently there is
a controversy over which general Peter Lorre is referring to
> when he discusses the signature on the Letters of Transit. The English
> subtitles on the DVD say De Gaulle, but the French (? can't remember) say
> General Weygaud. How serendipitous! They just showed the scene in
question on
> Ebert & Roper on Sunday, and I watched Ebert & Roper for the first time
ever.
>
> Frederica
Close but no cigar...the French subtitle says "from General WEYGAND" (of the
Vichy government, which would make sense in context). Weygand, BTW, would be
pronounced something like "Vay-gaun" which is almost a match for "Day-Goal".