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Tallulah Bankhead
“Daddy always warned me about men and alcohol, but he never said a thing about women and cocaine.” Wise words from our lovable, didn’t- give- a- damn bi-sexual, Tallulah Bankhead.
But even “Tallu,” as open and outrageous as she was, had her struggles with the times she lived in. In the thirties when Marlene Dietrich was cut from a film because she insisted on working with director, Josef von Sternberg and no one else, in Blonde Venus, the part was offered to Tallulah.
Tallulah answered, “I always did want to get into Marlene’s pants.” Marlene Dietrich laughed; the Hays Office did not. Tallu was cut; Marlene Dietrich got her part and her director (McClennan, 2000)
Reference: McClennnan, D. (2000). The Girls. New York: St.Martin’s Press.
