 Marlene Dietrich | |
| Genre | Foreign intrigue/adventure |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Syndicates | American Broadcasting Company |
| Starring | Marlene Dietrich Ken Lynch Arnold Moss |
| Directed by | Marx Leebe |
| Produced by | Leonard Blair |
| Original release | January 6 – December 28, 1952 |
Cafe Istanbul is an old-time radio foreign intrigue and adventure program in the United States. It was broadcast on ABC January 6, 1952 - December 28, 1952. [1]
Mademoiselle Madou was the singer in Cafe Istanbul, a cabaret located somewhere in the Far East. Patrons of the cafe included "spies, criminals and the Secret Police," and Madou became involved with some of them in each episode. [2]
Jack O'Brian, a reviewer for International News Service, wrote in his radio-television column that the program, "which fills the air with a flavor mixed generously of throaty innuendo, sinister and exotic citizens of foreign extraction, is a fairly unbelievable mishmash but we have no complaints much on that score." [3] He concluded that it was an "earful of sultry fun." [3]
Marlene Dietrich played Mademoiselle Madou, a role that was "created specifically for" her. [4] Dietrich was apparently the power behind the show. In the book Dietrich Icon, Gerd Gemünden and Mary R. Desjardins wrote, "A radio executive told Colliers: 'The radio show is her package. She got the idea for it — based on the role she played in The Blue Angel — and she hires the actors and writers with her own money." [5] They also cited an article in Time that described Dietrich as sitting up until 3 a.m. "pecking out 17 pages of script revisions for the first show." [5]
Ken Lynch played Christopher Gard, "an American young man of mysterious connections, who holds a unique place in the affections of Mlle. Madou". [6] Arnold Moss played police Colonel Raul Felki, who didn't know "whether to make love to Madou or throw her in jail." [6] Marx Leebe was the director, and Leonard Blair was the producer. Bernard Green provided the music. [6]
Eve Arden was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades.
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich was a German and American actress and singer whose career spanned from the 1910s to the 1980s.
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The year 1952 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.
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An Evening With Marlene Dietrich is a concert-format television special, starring Marlene Dietrich, first broadcast in 1973.
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Sandra Jacqueline Denton, better known by her stage name Pepa or Pep, is a Jamaican-American rapper, best known for her work as a member of the female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa. Denton starred in The Salt-N-Pepa Show, a reality TV series focusing on reforming the group which aired on the VH1 network in 2008. Since January 2016, Denton has appeared as a supporting cast member on the music reality television show Growing Up Hip Hop which airs on We TV.
"The Boys in the Back Room" is a song written by Frank Loesser, set to music by Frederick Hollaender and performed by Marlene Dietrich in the film Destry Rides Again (1939). It is often referred to as "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have". Her winking performance was a parody of her vampish roles in earlier films such as The Blue Angel (1930) and Blonde Venus (1932). The song became a standard part of her repertoire, second only to "Lili Marlene". She also sang a German version called "Gib doch den Männern am Stammtisch ihr Gift".
Benno Vigny was a French-German screenwriter, novelist, songwriter, and librettist. Born into a Jewish family in France and raised in Vienna, Austria, Vigny's first significant work as a writer was the libretto for Robert Winterberg's operetta Fasching in Paris (1910). After serving in the French Army during World War I, he began a relationship with Marie-Louise Caussat, the mother of French songwriter Charles Trenet. She divorced her first husband in 1920, and married Vigny in 1922.
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Roberta Linn is an American singer and entertainer. From 1949 to 1954, she sang with the Lawrence Welk group. She was the Lawrence Welk Show first TV Champagne Lady. Linn is also closely associated with the Rat Pack and the Las Vegas Strip, where she was a regular solo performer beginning in 1955 at The New Frontier and then in 1961 with her husband Freddie Bell and the Bellboys at the Sahara Hotel. Linn continued performing in Las Vegas for 18 straight years at a variety of iconic hotels including the Stardust, Riviera, Dunes, Caesers, Desert Inn and the Sands at their Great American Songbook musical zenith in the 50s and 60s.
Time for Love is an old-time radio adventure drama in the United States. It was broadcast on CBS January 15, 1953 - May 27, 1954.
