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In 1938 the Independent Theater Owners of America declared Marlene Dietrich (amongst others) as Box Office Poison whose draw had “nil”. Really. Hmm. In 1939, Marlene Dietrich co-starred with Jimmy Stewart in “Destry Rides Again” and proved them wrong.
MARLENE DIETRICH AUTOGRAPHS
“Marlayna” is just about tied with Joan Crawford as my favorite actress. Not only because of their cannons of iconic films, but also because of their incredible discipline, focus and ability to re-create themselves.
Dietrich may be a tiny bit ahead of Crawford because I love the fact that she kept just about everything she could that related to her career. Warehouses and storage places full of costumes, memorabilia, items from her sets, clippings, etc. I LOVE THAT!
My stories and collection about Marlene are vast and varied, so I’m just going to share a droplet and come back later to flesh this out. Most notably I want to point out two things about Marlene’s fan mail and her daughter, Maria Riva (whom I met in person). Dietrich was a fantastic “pen pal”. I was shocked when she answered my first fan letter (mailed June 15th, 1990 and response arrived back on June 27th, 1990). You know, when the postal system was reliable? Marlene had dutifully signed everything that I sent her and included 8x10 glossies of her own. I was double shocked when an envelope from Paris arrived weeks later, and she sent me more pictures on her own, some signed in gold or silver pen (before they were commonplace) and a note on her famous, blue-lined stationery. One great piece was a book picture that she sent inscribed “This is from some book I don’t know but someone sent it to me. Maybe your father might like it!”. She was the best and answered me multiple times thereafter; always signed in those great metallic markers. I have over a dozen authentic Marlene autographs and I’ll share more later.
Her daughter, Maria, wrote not only THE definitive biography on Marlene Dietrich, but also one of the most comprehensive, well-written and best biographies about the Golden Age of Hollywood in general. At almost 800 pages, it is chock-full of nuggets, details, intensity, truths, glamour, and decline. I was heartbroken to read the section where Maria wrote about her mother sitting in bed drinking, wetting herself and meticulously answering her fan mail. She had pockets on the side of her bed where she’d pull out glamour stills, metallic markers, and the blue stationery. And all that time, I thought I was a special recipient. See, she’s pointing to me in the audience!
More about Marlene and Maria later. But I’ll leave you with this tidbit: Maria married a struggling actor named Dean Goodman in 1943 and divorced him a year later. Perhaps because she found out he was gay???? He wrote a book called “Maria, Marlene and Me: Intimate Recollections of a Life in Theatre and Film”. Well, how about this for an Intimate Recollection? You will see that he was the producer of a Jack Wrangler production in San Francisco and his presentation of a folder with an 8x10 of a nude, erect, self-handling Jack is dedicated and signed by him, along with Jack and other members of Dean’s “Intimate Theatre” production. (page 202: “Jack went on, against my advice, to become a star in both straight and gay porno films”) Mr. Goodman’s book doesn’t quite match the enthusiasm he displayed when he dedicated the self-handling nude photo portfolio of Wrangler. HA!
Since Marlene loved this Jean Louis dress (which has a great story behind it) she often sent out autographed photos where she is wearing it. You’ll see that she sent me three of them. I think you should have a glimpse of her in action in the diaphanous gown in 1972.
P.S. As you watch her in the dress, keep in mind that according to Maria, Marlene has tape and/or surgical needles embedded into her scalp and twisted through her real hair to stretch her skin (quick facelift) and then covered her head with a custom wig.
JAMES STEWART AUTOGRAPHS
Yes, he’s a favorite. Everybody loves Jimmy Stewart, the relatable “everyman”. Don’t hate me, but I must report that he simply doesn’t do it for me. I’ve never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Harvey” (nor do I want to) and I was paying much more attention to Kim Novak, Grace Kelly, Doris Day and even Barbara Bel Geddes more than Jimmy when I was watching his Hitchcock films. However, there’s still hope for me because I DO want to watch “The Philadelphia Story” (yes, I’m late) and I DID like him very much with Marlene in “Destry Rides Again”. Watch how feisty and glamorous Marlene is and the big buildup for the film in this trailer. (Box office poison, my ass!)
The three light brown signed autographs of Jimmy that you see here were obtained TTM by me when I was a teenager. Sent on May 4th, 1983 and returned to me on June 14th, 1983. All of us young collectors knew his address by heart, 918 N. Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, because he lived close to Lucille Ball at 1000 N. Roxbury – and they both were known to sign generously. Well, in his case a SECRETARY was known to sign generously on his behalf. ALL the autographs shown against the hardwood floor are secretarially signed or an autopen.
There are TWO authentic autographs of Mr. Stewart in my collection. One is the 10x8 with Jean Arthur, which you can see James Stewart matches his signature on a personal check paying his Hawaiian property taxes. (Very rare that he would authentically autograph JAMES Stewart.) The other authentic autograph is the small page from an autograph book signed in pencil, with his preferred signature “Jimmy” Stewart. The photo that I’ve paired with that signature is an original tinted photo from 1938 when he was loaned by MGM to Columbia for “You Can’t Take It with You”. It’s amusing how they gave male stars rouged cheeks and lips.
JAMES STEWART AUTOGRAPHS ARE ALMOST ALL SECRETARIAL!
There are HUNDREDS of James Stewart autographs on eBay and other sites right now. Literally 99% of them are secretarial. FACT! Regardless of any “Certificate of Authentication” – even from the most well-known and “legitimate” companies.
Unless it was signed in person, is a bit messy and says Jimmy instead of James – it falls into one of these categories. Here’s a very specific breakdown that I found of how Jimmy Stewart handled his fan mail.
The breakdown of how the Stewart proxy-signing timeline actually played out, along with the specific errors of that era, reveals the following:
1. The "Late 70s to 1980s" Secretarial Era
During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Stewart’s office relied heavily on a highly proficient secretarial signer to handle the massive influx of fan mail.
The Tell: The secretary typically signed the full name "James Stewart" rather than his preferred personal signature.
The Debunking: This secretarial hand was so smooth and frequent that it fooled major authenticators and publications for decades. Many TTM guides from the 2000s mistakenly published these "James Stewart" script examples as the standard authentic benchmark for his later-life mail requests. Today, seasoned vintage Hollywood experts universally flag TTMs from this era signed "James Stewart" as secretarial proxies.
2. The 1990s Pre-Prints & Autopens
Following the passing of his wife, Gloria, in 1994, and as his own health significantly declined prior to his death in 1997, Stewart stopped personally signing fan mail entirely.
The Methods: His office pivoted to using a combination of high-quality pre-printed photos (where the signature was embedded directly into the glossy layer of the image) and an Autopen machine.
The Discovery: Autopen usage by Hollywood legends was less understood by hobbyists in 2006 than it is today. Archival studies have since identified at least five distinct Autopen patterns used by Stewart's office during the 1990s. One pattern was used almost exclusively for TTM photo requests, while the other four were frequently utilized on bookplates for his release, Jimmy Stewart and His Poems. These display the textbook mechanical tells: uniform ink distribution, lack of shading, and microscopic "hard stops" at the beginning and end of the strokes.
The Verdict on the 2006 Autograph Collector Article
The July 2006 Autograph Collector article has absolutely been compromised by time and deeper study. Because it was published just as these secretarial and mechanical patterns were beginning to be systematically cross-referenced and isolated by independent researchers, it treats many proxy-signed TTM items as the baseline for "authentic elderly signatures."
If you are evaluating your own collection against that 2006 publication, any example shown in the magazine that was obtained via the mail between 1980 and 1997 should be treated with extreme skepticism. Genuine Stewart signatures are almost always signed "Jimmy Stewart" in a shaky but distinct, organic hand—especially in his later years—whereas the smooth, upright "James Stewart" scripts or perfectly identical 1990s duplicates are the definitive hallmarks of his office proxies.
JAMES STEWART SAYS “COME AND KNOCK ON MY DOOR”
As for everybody knowing James and Lucy’s address … can you imagine in 2026 not only having your address published in magazines, showing a picture of your house, and having no gates with just a dozen feet or so from the sidewalk to your front door? Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift would never!
While Autograph Collector magazine was an industry staple, many TTM examples that were widely published and accepted as genuine in the late 1990s and mid-2000s have since been thoroughly debunked.
