Autograph I

This autograph card shows Marisa Mell during the production of her movie "Masquerade" in 1965 and is one of her best. At age 26, between a young and more mature women, her beauty was stunning very much in the "Sophia Loren" kind of way during that era with full red lips, big emerald green eyes, heavy 60's eye make up and thick brown long hair almost always accompanied by golden hoop ear rings!

Wien, Biberstrasse 9

Being an avid long time collector of Marisa Mell memorabilia, it is not so easy any more to get surprised or being put a smile on your face thanks to the massive number of objects one has seen and collected during hunting time. So finding an exclusive object for your collection is becoming a rarity. Finding a exclusive object with an historical significance is even more of a rarity, if not almost impossible these days where collectors are snatching up everything that comes on the memorabilia market connected to a beloved actor or actress (whatever de flavor of the month may be). But exceptions still exsist, if only because the seller doesn't know what he is dealing or doesn't care and wants only to make a return on his investment. Whatever the case, a few weeks ago I had an incredible find for me as a "Marisa Mell" fan that was not originally intended but surpises are still possible in todays hard driven movie collectors world. So what happened? Well, during an auction in Austria, there was a production photo advertised from the Edgar Wallace movie "Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee" with the main actors Marisa Mell and Adrian Hoven pictured on it.A production photo is a staged photo by the actors acting some kind of scene or very close to a scene from the movie. The photo is not taken during shooting but mostly off scene when the actors are free and waiting for an another scene to be set up by the production crew for shooting. I had not such a photo in my collection for this movie so I bought the picture.

Nothing special on first sight I hear you say! Indeed, a nice vintage picture of Marisa Mell during her production time from december 1962 untill february 1963 on the movie. When I turned the picture to see the back of it, I saw that someone had scribbled on it, probably someone from a (Austrian or German) press agency.

On the back was written in a women's handwriting:

"Gangster in London"

Marisa Mell
Wien I., Biberstrasse 9
Tel: 52-60-233

And then it hit me! The handwritting was not from some women at a press agency as I presumed but the handwriting belonged to "Marisa Mell" herself! Could this be? Upon closer inspection I noticed that the words and her name were written in her characteristic handwriting. And yes, it was all there: the flowing stream of her handwriting, the characteristic "M"s en "L"s in her name "Marisa Mell". I could not believe it! So what was the purpose of this photo and its history???

The movie later known as "Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee" was based on a novel called "Gangster in London" written by crime author Edgar Wallace. During the production of the movie everybody on the production team called the movie "Gangster in London", its official production title. It was only at the end of the production and before the opening of the movie that the producers decided to change the title to its actual known title because of the success of their previous Edgar Wallace movie "Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzizzen" from 1961. So therefore, the card most have been written by Marisa Mell before the opening of the movie and during the production of it. If not, she would have used its official title!

Marisa Mell is the stage name of Marlies Moitzi. Since the start of her career Marisa Mell wrote her name almost always in the same way or fashion with very pronounced "M"s en "L"s. In the beginning she was not very known as an actress so she had time to write her name in a very correct and clear fashion, very readable, for example her "a"s are closed at the top and are a letter "a". In later years when she got busier and had more fan cards to write, her writing would still be very distinctive but for example her "a"s would be more flatter, often open and stretched out. They somethimes looked like "o"s. If there would be any doubt about the authenticity of the writing the autograph of Marisa Mell is a certainty that it is her writing.

In late 1962, Marisa Mell was still struggling as an actress. Although the parts in her films were getting bigger and bigger, she still needed to convince the producers to accept her for a role! Her part as Lilian Granger in "Das Rätsel der Roten Orchidee" was a big step in the right direction. Being part of the Edgar Wallace franchise could mean a boost in an actor's career. So the use of a photo from that movie proved that you had a leading part, especially when your counterpart was the well known and loved actor Adrian Hoven who had already carved for himself a career in German language movies! From the writing we learn that Marisa Mell was living during the production of the movie in the 1st district of Vienna! Vienna is the capital of Austria. During the beginning of the 60's a lot of movie's were being made in Vienna for the German language market. So it was only natural that Marisa Mell, after graduation from her theatre school "Max Reinhardt Seminar", would stay in this city to get a job in the then film business. A few years later she would relocate to Rome, Italy for her career in Cinecitta. The 1st district Vienna is at present recoded as "1010" Vienna. The street where she was living is called "Biber"-strasse or in English "Beaver"-street at number "9". Take a look at the odd way she is writing the number "9". Normally a number "9" is written by putting the long stroke down from the naught on the right hand side but she makes the opposite movement and connects the long stroke down on the left hand side from the naught. I have never asked me that question but "Was Marisa Mell left handed when writing?" Today, the street still exsists, even with a number "9". The building is reformed from living quarters into an office block with a coctail bar and lounge called "Sofie's Bar", a spiritual center and a luxury car rental office! And finally we get to know her telephone number: 52-60-233. Naturally the number does not exsist anymore today and is out of order.

So what could have been the origin of this photo and the writing on the back? In my opinion, there are two possibilities. First the photo was used by Marisa Mell to be sent together with a solicitation letter and cv to a movie production firm to be concidered for a new part or audition in a future movie that she heard of. The argument against this possibility is that the picture has no staple holes from being attached to a solicitation letter but on the other hand it could have been put in an envelope together with the letter. Second possibility is that she had the picture with her and that she used it as reference card when she met some producers on a social gathering. So she wrote her name, adress and telephone number on the back of the picture together with the name of the movie she was currently working on as a reference for the producers when they later would eventually make a selection of actresses for a film part. Personally I think that the last possibility could have happened! Unfortunately we will never know.

And now... a commercial break with LUX

In 1964 Marisa Mell was still only known in German speaking countries like Germany and her native Austria but her star was on the rise, especially with a contract to do a British movie called "French Dressing" to be directed by Ken Russell. So it wasn't strange that she caught the attention of the advertising world. One of her first ad's was for the soap brand Lux. This ad is rather special for several reasons: 1) contrary to almost all other Lux ad's with actresses this one with Marisa Mell has a side view of her and not a front view. Most of the actresses do not like their faces to be shot in a photo shoot from their sides because they don't like their noses or the silhouettes of their faces. So photo's of these women are almost always taken from the front. Marisa Mell was at that time regarded as such a classic beauty with an almost Greek statue like face that the campaign was build around her side view; 2) the brand Lux was at that time such a well known name that the connection of an actress and the word "Lux" was enough to make the link with the soap and 3) the ad has the autograph of Marisa Mell at the bottom of the page. This ad proves that the way she writes her stage name in an autograph was there from the beginning of her career and has been unchanged untill the end of her life which is rather exceptional because writing and autographs tend to change during the life of a person due to the changing of his or her personality when becoming older and more mature.

In 60's Europe, it wasn't very common to do ad's with movie stars in it contrary to the US which had a longer tradition. One of the reasons was that European movie stars thought it to be cheap to do commercials and advertisments next to their movie careers just like it was not done as a movie star to do television at that time. Times haves changed and now they all do it for the money almost as a main occupation with a movie career as a side track. One of the few exceptions in Europe at that time was the soap brand "Lux". Almost from the beginning of their existence starting in the 1930's, Lux concentrated on placing actresses on their ads like Lana Turner or Jane Wyman. More than 400 actresses untill now have lent their faces for a Lux ad. Even Paul Newman did one.

"Lux" soap was first launched in the UK in 1899 as a flaked version of Sunlight soap and in the US in 1916, where it was marketed as a laundry soap targeted specifically at 'delicates'. The producer of this soap were Lever Brothers who encouraged women to home launder their clothes without fear of satins and silks being turned yellow by harsh lyes that were often used in soaps at the time. The flake-type soap allowed the manufacturer some leeway from lye because it did not need to be shaped into traditional cake-shaped loaves as other soaps were. The result was a gentler soap that dissolved more readily and was advertised as suitable for home laundry use. The name "Lux" was chosen as the latin word for "light" and because it was suggestive of "luxury."
Lux is now owned by giant Unilever and is still a strong seller in the soap market especially in Asian markets like India, Nepal and Pakistan. In those countries with millions of poor people who are dreaming of a better life, the soap Lux has still an aura of wealth and richness when you are able to buy and use it in your day to day use.

Therefore the brand is heavely advertised by actresses from Bollywood, the Indian movie industry. Although at the moment, Lux's ambassador in India is actress Pryanka Chopra, the biggest seller of all time is another Bollywood star and regarded as "the most beautiful women in the world": Aishwarya "Ash" Rai.

Once a former Miss India and Miss World, the 35 year actress has already more than 40 movies on her resumé during her 13 year career. At one time, during the Pierce Brosnan-era of James Bond Aishwarya Rai was rumored to be in the running to become a number 1 Bond girl in one of his last movies. Although she admits that it was only a rumor, her greatest wish is to become a world movie star next to her Bollywood career. So becoming a Bond girl would have placed her in the spotlight. Maybe she gets another chance with the new James Bond Daniel Craig when he needs another Lux glamor girl at his side to be rescued.