For Immediate Release
April 7, 2000
Contact: Alisa Giardinelli
610.690.5717
[email protected]
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Home/News
Anticipation of Garbo Letters Reaffirms Country's Cult of Celebrity, Swarthmore Professors Say
Mercedes de Acosta, the poet and playwright who wrote of her affair with Greta Garbo in her autobiography, left the letters she received from the film star to Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum and Library on the condition they not be opened until 10 years after both of their deaths. Now that the ten-year waiting period is almost over (Acosta died in 1968, Garbo on April 15, 1990), two Swarthmore College English professors are eagerly awaiting their unsealing.
"I'm sure we'll find out more about the romantic nature of their relationship," says Patricia White, associate professor of English at Swarthmore and chair of film studies at the College. "The letters are interesting not only for the 'lesbian chic,' but because Garbo is endlessly fascinating. We know about Marlene Dietrich -- everyone talked! -- but with Garbo, we really don't have that confirmation."
Lisa Cohen, visiting assistant professor of English at Swarthmore, says the Garbo letters will also shed light on our collective fascination with celebrity. "Garbo's letters will tell us about the relationship between fan and star," says Cohen. "Why did Acosta fixate on Garbo? I think the letters will tell us more about their relationship." Cohen, who has written about modernism, fashion, and 20th century icons such as Marilyn Monroe, will give a public lecture on the relationship between Garbo and Acosta at the Rosenbach Museum and Library on May 4.
White, the author of unInvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability (Indiana University Press, 1999), hopes Acosta's role is not lost in the glare of the Garbo spotlight. "Mercedes de Acosta is a real heroine, a pre-Stonewall figure," says White. "She was virtually unrivaled in her ability to bring together Hollywood culture with high art and the Modernist literary tradition. Her significance is often eclipsed by her relationships with some of the most famous women of the century."
Located near Philadelphia, Swarthmore is a highly selective liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,400. Swarthmore is ranked the number one liberal arts college in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
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