In 1937, the German playwright, activist Ernst Toller lived in Hollywood. He was public enemy number one of the Nazi regime, from which he was an exile. He was also one of the first German refugee writers to sign a contract to write for the movies. He worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Toller worked on two screenplays in Hollywood. One was on the Suez Canal. The other was about the life of Lola Montez – an Irish woman named Eliza Gilbert who had reinvented herself as a Spanish dancer in 1842, took Europe by storm with her performances and theatrical manner, and eventually became the obsessive love object of King Ludwig I.
Toller reports that they were seeking Joan Crawford to play the role.
Ernst Toller briefly tells the story of Lola Montez in my play, Three Suitcases. But all the research I did on Lola Montez stuck with me. There was something more there to explore.
I read the best biography available: Bruce Seymour’s Lola Montez: A Life. There is no doubt that Lola was a brazen and prodigious liar. And Seymour tracks almost every one of the her lies to establish the truths of the matter.
Yet Seymour never loses his sympathy for Lola Montez. Why? Likely because any reinvention of oneself, undertaken in exigent circumstances – as happened with Lola – requires the person seeking transformation to concoct a tapestry of lies. And what Lola Montez did with her new life was audacious, reckless, dangerous, and, at bottom, immensely impressive.
For a few months in Munich in 1847 and 1848, she stood with King Ludwig I (and publicly) at the pinnacle of state power. Many politicians had been celebrities. But Lola was among the very first celebrities who found a way to push themselves to power.
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Seymour’s biography left me a bit sad. The veil of mystery about Lola Montez had been pushed aside. But his book led me to the lectures that she gave about her own life, and love, and fashion, in the 1850s. This was the moment when her body could no longer stand the rigors of dancing and acting. She spoke to curious and admiring crowds, who flocked to see her and warmly applauded her.
The reason is clear even today. Her lectures, which she penned herself, are dazzlingly smart, with a piercing wit, and a distinctive and unmistakable voice.
My play, An Evening with Lola Montez, seeks to rescue that Lola from the fading pages of history, and recall the story as she told it. I do hope you will come see it.
Richard Byrne lives in Washington, DC. His plays have been produced at Taffety Punk Theatre Company and WSC/Avant Bard. He has won first prizes in the A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival and the Prague Post Playwriting Festival. More info at http://www.richardbyrneplays.com/
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