'• ' 1/ • • \ t* i THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Media History Digital Library https://archive.org/details/privatelifeofgreOOunse Two Homes: The second house from the right in the lower picture is Blekingegaten 32, Stockholm, where Greta Garbo was born; the upper picture shows her former home at Beverly Hills. Courtesy of Fred R. Morgan Compare these two studies of Greta Garbo. The one above was made during her first American role, in Ibanez’s The Torrent. © MOM While this one was taken during the production of a recent picture. Note the dyed black hair in the one on the left. © MGM The Greta Garbo of to-day: Portrait of the greatest screen actress. printed at the Country Life Press, garden c i t y, n. y., u. s. a. COPYRIGHT, 1931 BY RILLA PAGE PALMBORG ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FIRST EDITION THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO INTRODUCTION No picture star in the world has aroused the curiosity about her private life that Greta Garbo has. No picture star in the world but Greta Garbo has been able to keep her private life so nearly a closed book. The stories written about the great Swedish star tell almost nothing about the real Garbo as she is to-day. Very little is known about her childhood in Sweden. “I was born. I had a father and mother. I lived in a house. I went to school. What does it matter?” she says in answer to questions about her early life. During her romance with Jack Gilbert, Garbo did give a few interviews. But since Jack’s marriage to Ina Claire she has flatly refused to THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO 2 talk. The motion-picture magazines have been desperate to get stories about her. One magazine sent all the way to Sweden for a story of her life. Naturally the Swedish writer knew little about Garbo’s life in Hollywood—the place where she made herself famous. Not long ago a well known newspaper writer, whose column appears in the leading newspapers all over the world, walked over on Garbo’s set out at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. The Swedish star stopped work until a screen had been set up completely shutting off all view. On the screen was hung this sign, “Keep Out. This Means You.” This particular writer is the lady who informs the world what Hollywood is doing. Stars count themselves lucky when she visits their sets. The most desirable bits of information are laid in her lap. Garbo will not allow even the officials of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to see her at work. The other day one of them invited some of his distinguished friends over to watch his famous star. 3 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO “We can’t keep these people standing out- side,” wailed the guide when Garbo refused to allow them behind the screen. “All right. Let them come in,” Garbo replied, “and I will go home.” It makes no difference who it is, Garbo will permit no one on the set when she is in action except those actually engaged in the making of the picture. Wooden screens completely sur- round the set of a Garbo picture. A police officer guards the entrance. Only a star as popular as Garbo could get away with such methods. Only the cleverest and sharpest management could keep secret this star’s life away from the studio. The screen players themselves, even those who work on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot, are as curious about Garbo as the rest of the world. Heads pop out of dressing-room doors when she goes to and from the stage where she is working. Electricians and carpenters stop work when she walks on the set. Stars stand aside to catch a glimpse of her when her car drives through the studio gates. THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO \ She is seldom seen in public. She is never one of the gorgeously gowned stars who attend the brilliant premieres in the film capital. Radio listeners have never heard the announcer—who inevitably, each movie “first night,” stands at the theater entrance to introduce the stars as they alight in a blaze of klieg glory from their Rolls-Royces and Hispano Suizas—say, “Oh! Here comes that charming, glorious actress, Greta Garbo. As soon as she finishes autograph- ing all the books that are being thrust into her hands she will come over to the microphone and tell all her friends ‘Hello.’ She is wearing a per- fectly stunning creation in sky blue. You don’t know what you people out there are missing. Here she comes now. Miss Garbo, won’t you ” please say a few words to your friends of the air? These friends have never heard that deep, rich voice of Garbo’s call out, “Hello, everybody. This is a gorgeous opening. I wish you were all here. I must hurry in to see this wonderful show. Well, good-bye, everybody.” “It’s all so silly,” says Greta. “I’d much rather be at home with a good book.” 5 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO No one ever sees Greta Garbo dining and danc- ing in the smart restaurants of Hollywood or sipping liquid refreshments in gay and fashion- able night clubs. If Garbo were ever seen entering one of the smart, crowded Hollywood cafes dur- ing the lunch hour, there would be a riot. The girls in the exclusive shops along the Boulevard never telephone Miss Garbo, “The darlingest dress, just made for you, just came in this minute, and I am sending it out to you on approval.” These stylish clerks admit that they have never even seen Greta Garbo ; that her telephone number is not entered iif their little book of select customers. She is a mystery even in her own home town. Only the Greta Garbo of the screen is known to Hollywood and the world. That glamorous, sen- suous, exotic person whose strange personality holds her audiences spellbound. And what a contradiction Greta Garbo is! The real Garbo and the femininely alluring Garbo of the screen are two distinct personalities. This story will reveal the real Greta Garbo. THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO 6 The poor little Greta Garbo in Sweden. The great Greta Garbo in Hollywood. Greta Garbo as her few intimate friends know her. Greta Garbo in her own home. A most amazing life of a great and most amazing person. Rilla Page Palmborg. CHAPTER I On the morning of September 18, 1905, there was hushed excitement in the humble apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Gustafsson at 32 Blekingegaten Street, Stockholm, Sweden. None of the other families in the five-story apartment building were greatly concerned with what was happening in the Gustafsson household. A new baby was not an unusual occurrence in that neighborhood. It was not until years later, when this little baby had become known all over the world as the great Greta Garbo, that these neighbors remem- bered to brag that they recalled the very day that little Greta was born. Number 32 Blekingegaten Street is not a fashionable part of Stockholm. It is located across the river Malar, in a district known as 7 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO 8 Southside. There are no green lawns with shaded trees in that neighborhood. The plain apartment buildings and dingy shops are built right up to the sidewalk. The playground of the children is the street and the back yard, where clothes lines are always stretched overhead or in one of the vacant lots near by. When little Greta Gustafsson grew old enough to play with her brother Swen and sister Alva, she did not like to romp with the neighborhood children as they did. She much preferred to stay in the house by herself. When her mother sent her outdoors to play she would wander off in a corner by herself or slip away from the others down the street. When she was old enough to go to school she was most unhappy. It wasn’t the studying that she hated. It was being compelled to sit long hours before a desk. She dreaded the recesses even more. The few minutes she was compelled to play in a small yard with that howling mob of children were torture to her. The whole thing reminded her of a prison. She hated it all. And she felt so out of place among these little 9 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GRETA GARBO boys and girls, even though they were of her age. The other children often whispered about her because she was so tall. At twelve, Greta was as tall as she is to-day. The only study that interested her was history. She liked to read about foreign lands. Then she could forget that she was sitting at her desk in the drab schoolroom. She could feel herself living with these strange people and visiting in their far-away countries. When school was out, instead of hurrying home with her brother and sister, Greta would steal away by herself. There were several places where she loved to go. One of these places was the little bridge that jutted out from the rocks of Southside. She liked to stand on this bridge and look down on Stockholm as it lay spread out below. Looking over the city, she felt as though she were getting a glimpse of that unknown world that so fascinated her. Near this bridge was a gate that led into the courtyard of the Southside theater.