When producer Alex Korda struck a deal with Samuel Goldwyn to share Merle Oberon's contract, she was sent away from her busy social life in London to isolation in California. She nearly spent her first Christmas in the United States alone, but Maurice Chevalier showed up in similar straits and the two raided the icebox and commiserated.
The following year was more promising for Oberon, she gained significant attention for her performance in Dark Angel, her carefree romance with David Niven gave her entry into the British colony of Hollywood, and she bought a Malibu beach house. There she met her neighbor, the awesomely ambitious Norma Shearer.
Oberon did not have the plans for world domination that Shearer did, and perhaps this is why their friendship was so uncomplicated. Unable to have children herself, Merle was close to Shearer's young son. When he showed his affection for her with the gift of an enormous, smelly fish, the women snuck out in the middle of the night and buried the creature in the sand.
When Shearer's husband, MGM production head Irving Thalberg, was nearing death from pneumonia, Oberon stopped production on her current film and rushed to be with Shearer. When Thalberg passed on, Oberon was one of her strongest supports as she grieved.
Marlene Dietrich and Mae West
Throughout the thirties, Marlene Dietrich and Mae West had dressing rooms right next to each other on the Paramount lot. Though both were notorious for being extremely image-conscious, they had different motivations. West needed to be the supreme goddess and creator of her films as a point of personal pride. Dietrich carefully cultivated her image in the interest of producing a quality product, and even referred to her screen persona in the third person. For this reason, their friendship developed with a minimum of jealousy, despite the fact that neither tended to befriend women.
West enjoyed shocking Dietrich, who despite her busy extramarital sex life, could be easily offended. In her biography of her mother, Dietrich, Maria Riva tells of one occasion where West took out one of her breasts and shook it at Dietrich to punctuate a point. She was stunned, though she roared with laughter as West sashayed out of the room.
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