"Mata Hari"-Dress Rehearsal (World Exclusive!)

Since the inception of the Marisa Mell Blog several entries have been dedicated to the musical "Mata Hari" from producer David Merrick, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Marisa Mell and "Bonaza"-star Pernell Roberts. Fresh from the success in movies like "Le Dolci Signore" or "Danger: Diabolik!" in the second half of the 60's the powers that be found it time to transfer Euro-beauty Marisa Mell from Italy to the USA in the wake of other Italian sirens like Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Claudia Cardinale, Virna Lisi.... The fact that she was not Italian but Austrian did not matter. Her appearence was all Italian-like with thick auburn hair, big emerald green eyes and lush voluptious lips. What could you ask for more??? After several appearences in magazines like Vogue and McCall's introducing her to the American audience it was time to throw her into the deep end of the showbizz waters, ready or not! And ready she was not! Being trained as a theatre and movie actress she had no idea what it required to be a musical actress. Although there is a lot in common between the two disciplines its major requirement is that, next to being a stage presence, you need to be trained as a musical singer. Not a common singer of pop songs or classical pieces but in the specific technique of using your singing voice on stage while acting. So you need to master two disciplines. And Marisa Mell was no singer. That was a talent she had not! She could dance, sword fight, ride a horse,... but singing she could not! Compare the 1995 re-recording of the musical sung by professional musical singers with the 1967 bootleg recording then you know what I mean. So the whole adventure in the USA turned into a disaster for her. After a try-out in Washington, D.C., the whole show was canceled and never got to Broadway much to dispair of Marisa Mell. She had high hopes that this production of "Mata Hari" would be her ticket to the USA and showbizz. It did not! She came back one year later very disappointed and desperate. People close to her mention that in fact she never recovered from it and was scarred for life! Others clame that this gave her carreer a whole other direction and was the beginning of her downfall as an A-list actress, once starring opposite Marcello Mastroianni in "Casanova 70".
"Mata Hara" is only a footnote in the musical dictionaries mentioning the musical flop that it was. So there is not much material available on the memorabelia market. Luckily there is the bootleg recording of the production with the voices of the entire cast, including Marisa Mell, speaking her role as Mata Hari with a singing pitch! We are still waiting for original film footage of the production to appear. And now there are these pictures. In my knowledge they have never been published before in any magazine in the world since the days of the production. They show Marisa Mell during a dress rehearsel of the musical on stage. From today's point of view and even from the 60's point of view they are horrible. Marisa Mell had a very sexy slime figure in those days but by the looks of it the producers did everything to cover and distract from it. They are big, dark, depressive and formless cloths. Maybe they should have reflected the poverty of the character or the dispair from World War I. Even Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady", starting out as Eliza Doolittle, the poor flower girl in Victorian London, had more beaufitul cloths than this. If these pictures give some kind of impression of the production quality than it is no wonder that, with everything else we know at the moment, this production was a faillure from the beginning. What is even more a mystery is that these cloths were drawn and made by Irene Sharaff, a 5-time Academy Award winner for productions like West Side Story, The King and I and... Cleopatra with Elisabeth Taylor. Maybe she had a headache the morning when she drew these cloths after a long night of partying and boozing in town? Who knows!

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The pictures come from the personal archieve of Marisa Mell thanks to Guido from Italy!

"Everybody Has Something To Hide" (Mata Hari)

In December of 1967, Marisa Mell starred in the musical Mata Hari. The try-out in Washington D.C. was a disaster. For example, Marisa Mell as Mata Hari was executed at the end of the play and "died" but before closing curtains she rised again making the audience laugh out loud! And there were other goofs so that the producer David Merrick decided to cancel the whole production even before it went to Broadway, NY, leaving behind a devistated Marisa Mell. In hinsight she never got over this faillure in her career. To my knowledge there are no film tapes available of this production but only bootleg audio tapes. Here is an example of Marisa Mell as Mata Hari singing the song "Everybody Has Something To Hide" referring to her spy activities during World War I in Europe. You will notice that Marisa Mell is not really singing but more or less talking her lyrics with a melodious voice. She could definitely not sing! Note: because this is a bootleg audiotape of the try-out with audience the quality is not that good but it is at the moment the only 43 year old recording of that production.

So you think you can dance!

Entry made in collaboration with Naldo.

A lot has been written about the faillure of the musical "Mata Hari" during the course of the years since it's inception, often targetting the perfomance of Marisa Mell as the main raison for this faillure. What people forget or mostly do not know is that Marisa Mell was a classical trained stage actress at the famous Austrian Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, a fact that not many other Eurocult actresses could present on their CV's. She had followed the whole repertoire to get her degree like courses in singing, dancing, fencing, horse-riding, drama, comedy,.... This musical was directed by Vincente Minnelli. What does he remember from this production as written in his autobiography "I remember it well":

(Vincente Minnelli in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, US, 1984)

"David Merrick asked me to join him in London to talk about the project of a musical centering around Mata Hari. He had already proposed to me other subjects, but I had found none of them interesting enough. The second half had still to be written, but the first part was so exciting that I accepted right away... even if I hadn't been working in Broadway for almost thirty years! Theater world had changed a lot. Back in the old days, preparing a show was always a pleasure; nowadays, it was sort of slave's work. It was out of the question to have people not syndicated, let alone demanding them to supply efforts if it was not written on their contracts... I was used to the more flexible rhythm of working in the cinema world, and I had already forgotten how difficult it was to organise rehearsals and put together a show. I tried to write down the second half of the show, along with Merrick, keeping on mind a clear conception of the main character. Mata Hari was always described as a spy, even as a femme fatale, while in fact she remains a mystery. Many historians have said that she was falsely accused and executed. I wanted audiences to leave the theater wondering about this woman's real personality. Even if it was a very demanding work, I thought it was essential to develop this aspect of the character. At the beginning of the second part of the show, Mata Hari is having an affair with the private of the National Bureau who was supposed to arrest her, but in the end he falls in love with her. I had in mind the scenery of a Swiss mountain house, with a background of birds singing, kind of an impossible dream. The forest where Mata Hari was to be executed had to be occupied with a group of soldiers, who were supposed to remind us of the terrible fate that was to come. While I was on rehearsal, Irene Sharaff worked on the wardrobe. I had showed to her some pictures taken from old newspapers, and we settled that every scene of the show should have a predominant colour. This would range from soft yellow and grey to orange and brown. I had already worked with Irene in movies, but this was the first time we worked together in the theater, which was her main territory. I have to say that she did a wonderful job on the wardrobe, being as good as what she did in « The king and I », both for cinema and theater. On the other hand, I was having some difficulties working with the main stars of the show: Marisa Mell who was Mata Hari, and Pernell Roberts who was playing the private. On top of that, Jack Cole the choreographer got sick and the scenery was not working as well as I had expected! Marisa Mell was very beautiful and she sang really well. She was playing some of the sequences with particular charm, but some of the musical parts demanded her a lot of work. I think that she was not well suited for the part. She loved the theater, no doubt about that, but she was much more interested in her private life! Pernell Roberts had just left the successful tv show « Bonanza », where he was not allowed to show his capacities as a baryton singer. He had played that part with a piece of hair that he refused to wear on our show, and prefered to present himself with his bald head and a long beard. He explained that he wanted to show some authenticity and destroy his public image as a tv young romantic lead. When we arrived at Washington D.C., we had to rush rehearsals as we couldn't postpose the première of the show. David Merrick announced to the audience that they will see the « avant-première »… and then everything went from bad to worse. Scenery and wardrobe changing took much more time than expected, resulting on uncomprehensible delays. Nevertheless, I have to say that after two weeks all these problems were more or less arranged and some people even come to say that they enjoyed the show! Anyway, David Merrick being a very realistic person, took the decision to cancel the show – which had costed almost a million dollars- and so we never reached New York. We remained good friends!" (French version of his autobiography)

Mata Hari-Time Magazine, December 8th 1967

Merrick Shoots Mata
Friday, Dec. 08, 1967
In a world where the popular image of a spy alternates between gadget-crammed fantasy and faceless seediness, can Mata Hari, the cooch-dancing agent of World War I, carry a lavish musical on her bare shoulders?
Producer David Merrick thought so — to the tune of an $800,000 investment, plus Hollywood's Vincente Minnelli to direct, plus a buildup for curvaceous star Marisa Mell that included coverage in Vogue and McCall's. But Merrick was wrong. After a ludicrous Washington preview at which everything from the scenery to the sound system came apart at the seams, Mata Hari opened to lethal reviews.
Last week Producer Merrick, who modestly describes himself as "the most vital force in the theater today," decided once again that mortality is sometimes the better part of vitality. He decreed that Mata Hari would have to be shot before opening on Broadway. Last year he similarly closed Breakfast at Tiffany's, losing a mere $400,000.