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| Spring 2000 |
Issue
9
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EDITORIAL AND NEWS
Welcome to the latest edition of the Ingrid Chronicle. It will be difficult to follow our special Millennium edition, but here goes!!! There is always something to write about the greatest of them all…Ingrid Bergman. What amazes and pleases me is that Ingrid’s fame grows and grows even after her earthly presence is no longer with us. Has she indeed become a goddess? Well, that’s up to each of us fans to decide in our own heart…..and I’ve heard those words before! From Jeannie Lawson, in THE INN, if I’m not mistaken!
I continue to send a copy of each edition to Pia Lindstrom and I do hope that all of Ingrid’s children read the magazine. I hope too that they look at our Yahoo! Club and read the postings. If they do look at the club, they will realise just how loved Ingrid is and how dedicated are her fans.
NEWS
Michelle has disovered that two of Ingrid’s televison plays are to be released as videos sometime this year. They are “Hedda Gabler” and “The Human Voice”. I can’t wait! There is a website where they may be ordered, but I have had trouble even finding them. It’s early days yet and we will keep you all updated about their release.
For anyone who doesn’t know already, “24 Hours in a Woman’s Life” is available as a video from Amazon.com, as is the AFI Tribute to Alfred Hitchcock – hosted by Ingrid. She appears in this video a lot and how lovely she looked, how gracious – this was 1977 – so it’s worth buying to see so much of Ingrid. The Hitchcock tributes are also interesting.
The Ebay auctions continue to have many fascinating Ingrid items for sale. I was unlucky recently, as I was bidding for the record Ingrid made of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” and lost it at the last minute. I wish to thank Mika for keeping an eye on the bidding, as my telephone went dead that weekend!!!! It’s worth looking at the auctions, but we are often disappointed. It’s a pity these items of memorabilia are not for sale in a more straightforward way.
Please note that Pat Webb now has video clips in her briefcase, which can be reached via Links from our Yahoo! Club. This is another innovation to go with the stationery and wallpaper that Pat and Mika have so dedicatedly place on the club for us to download. Many thanks. I think ours is the only club to offer such novelties.
Pat has also designed two logos for the club and I shall be using these, alternating them with photos and stills, on the opening page.
It would be good to have illustrations in the Chronicle. I am thinking about it. I do print out the magazine to send by snail mail to a few people and am considering advertising in at least one British magazine, to find out if there are more fans who are not online and would like to receive the magazine. For those people, it would be a good idea to include photographs. For the rest of us, we have thousands of gorgeous pictures of Ingrid on the world wide web! Mika’s new website is going to be the definite graphics site. Thank you for all the hard work you are putting into making this such a professional site, Mika.
As always, thanks go to Matt for space on his page. He is in the process of a major re-design of The Complete Ingrid Bergman page – all good wishes for this project, Matt!!!!
I have received interesting contributions from Daniel Hendler and Joe Bozzetta. These will be incorporated when we have space. Daniel wrote a long letter on the club postings, about the ceremony of the scattering of Ingrid’s ashes and the unveiling of the sculpture in Ingrid Bergman Square in Fjallbacka. He has also sent me two photographs taken on that occasion and they will appear either on the Complete Ingrid Bergman Page or on the club. Joe’s photos of Ingrid on Stromboli are already in the second default album on the club.
NEWS OF THE BERGMAN CHILDREN
Things are rather quiet at the moment. Isabella Rossellini appeared again on the Dave Letterman Show on December 28th and was more beautiful and vivacious than ever- captivating Dave! She showed her new range of cosmetics – “Manifesto” – and Dave ATE a whole lot of the face cream and eye shadow, to the great glee of the audience. Isabella’s laugh is so like Ingrid’s –just close your eyes and it could be Ingrid laughing. When she mentioned on the show that her mother was Ingrid Bergman, there was a huge, spontaneous burst of applause!!!!!!
Thank you, Michelle, for sending me a copy of Isabella’s appearance on the Dave Letterman Show.
INGRID’S MEMORIAL SERVICE, 14TH OCTOBER 1982 – A PERSONAL MEMORY
By Peg Lowe
“Ingrid’s memorial service at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields was a truly uplifting experience. The church was full – some actors, many friends like Ann Todd, Joss Ackland and Wendy Hiller were there to read tributes; Liv Ullman’s was gloriously touching; she spoke of Ingrid’s great courage and of how her face[sadly often concealed by make-up] gave record in lines of all her joys and sorrows, fights and achievements.Her elderly lined face was glorious in its strength and character. Pia spoke on impulse [ not scheduled] of how her mother “ had come to glory” in suffering; she felt she was “in glory” now.. Joe Daly and the two grandsons, [very handsome at 8 and 6] were with her. I was close enough to Robin and the twins to hear Robin remark to his girlfriend “that there was a wreath from the Queen of England too!”. After the dear hymn “Abide With Me”, little girls from an actors’ academy danced gaily around the aisles, singing “This Old Man” from “Inn”. – some were Vietnamese from Ockenden; I cried a little then! The service was taken jointly by the vicar and a Swedish Lutheran pastor; the opera diva Kirsten Flagstad sang an aria. Lars Schmidt greeted the relatives and friends.”
[c.Peg Lowe, February 2000]
HISTORY OF THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS – OF WHICH STROMBOLI CONCERNS US!
Valued contribution from Giuseppe [Joe] La Bozzetta
AEOLIAN ISLAND
4000-2.500 B.C.
First evidence of Sicilian migration in Lipari (Castellaro Vecchio). Manufacture and commerce of obsidian highly developed until the introduction of metals.
1600 - 1250 a.C.
During the Bronze age the Eolians prosper by means of maritime commerce in an area extending from Mycenae to the British isles from where tin was imported. Villages flourished in Capo Graziano (Filicudi), Castello (Lipari), Serro dei Cianfi (Salina), Capo Milazzese (Panarea), Portella (Salina). All these settlements are destroyed by new italic invasions in 1250 B.C.
1240 - 850 a.C.
The islands are occupied by the Ausonians led by Liparus. Liparus is succeded by Eolus whose house, according to Homer, gave hospitality to Ulysses. 6th-4th Century B.C. In 580 B.C.Greek exiles from Rhodes land at Lipari to begin a period of Greek domination which was known for acts of piracy against Etruscan and Phoenecian shipping. Fine work in the production of vases and other ceramics. 3rd century B.C. - 3rd century A.D.
VI - IV sec. a.C.
The islanders are allies of the Carthaginians against Rome. The Romans sack Lipari and their domination leads to a period of decadence and poverty. 4th - 10th Century A.D.
IV - X sec.
At the fall of the Roman empire, the Eolian islands come under the sway of the Barbarian Visigoths, the Vandals and Ostrogoths, followed by the harsh domination of the Byzantine empire. In the year 264 a coffin containing the body of St. Bartholonen is washed uon the beach of Lipari with the result that Bartholonen is immediately elected Patron Saint of the islands. Calogerus the hermit was active in Lipari during the first half of the 4th century he gave his name to the thermal springs.
III sec. a.C. - III sec. d.C.
In 836 the Saracens sack Lipari, massacre the population and enslave the survivors. 11th - 15th century.
XI - XV sec.
The Normans liberate Sicily from the Arabs and lay the foundation of a period of good government and renewal. King Ruggero sends the Benedictine monks to Lipari which gives rise to considerable development in the islands. The cathedral dedicated to St. Bartholonen is built together with the Benedictine monastery in the castle. Lipari becomes a bishopric and agriculture makes progress in Salina as well as the smaller islands. In 1208 Frederick 11 of Swabia accedes to the throne of Sicily. The period of prosperity which follows and is consolidated during the course of his reign, ends with the domination of the Angevins and the rebellion of the Sicilians culminating in the revolt of the Sicilian Vespers. The Eolians however, remain loyal to Charles of Anjou, and commercial links are established with Naples, the capital of the Angevin kingdom. In 1337 Lipari opens its gates to the French fleet without resistance and in return obtains various commercial and fiscal benefits. In the middle of the 15th century, Naples and Palermo unite in the Kingdom of the two Sicilies under the crown of Alfonso V of Aragon. Eolian privileges are recognized. Eolian privateers fight with the Spanish against the French. 16th - 20th century.On 30th June 1544 a fleet of 180 Turkish vessels under the command of the great corsair Ariadeno Barbarossa occupy Lipari and lay siege to the castle. The desperate defense of Lipari is no match for the terrible havoc caused by the muslem cannonade surrender ensues. 9,000 of the 10,000 citizens are captured and enslaved. Many were already killed while others were finished off while attempting to escape. The city remains deserted and only after the tragedy do the Spanish authorities turn their attention to Lipari and repopulate the city with Sicilian, Calabrian and Spanish families. The City walls and the houses are rebuilt and an Eolian fleet is constructed which is able to successfully defend the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Turks. At the beginning of the year 1693 an earthquake destroyed all towns in eastern Sicily causing 140,000 deaths. After the population invoked the protection of St. Bartholonen during prayers in the Cathedral there was not a single victim in the islands. The economic conditions of the islands improve greatly during the 17th century with agricultural progress (malvasia, capers, excellent fruit, and fishing). With the Bourbons comes the affliction of criminal and political prisoners. This unhappy imposition continues and worsens until the unity of Italy. Towards the end of the 19th century the islands were repeatedly visited by Duke Luigi Salvatore of Austria a friend of the islands and also a man with a profound knowledge of the Archipelago. Between the years 1893-96 he published a work of eight volumes on the Eolian islands. In August 1888 the crater named the Fossa in Vulcano erupts and causes deaths in the sulphur mines. The eruptions continue for 19 months. In 1915 the penal colony is closed but the fascist regime tries to reopen it in 1926 - in vain, because the population reacts by pulling down the remains of the ex-penitentiary in the castle. However, not long after this, the castle is converted to accomodate anti-fascist politicals under enforced exile. Liparians fraternized with these exiles until the Liberation.
AND HERE IS SOMETHING FROM JOE HIMSELF!
Hi! I am Giuseppe la bozzetta
A second generation strombolian living in
Melbourne Australia
My father arrived at victoria docks Melbourne 1949for a better living
Few years’ later tourism opened up the island after the filming of Stromboli terra di dio by roberto Rossellini.
Around 4000 BC. The greecks named this island strongolaei, meaning spinning top later it
Became Stromboli. It is an island about 12.6 sq.kms. and active volcano 950-m. high and 2000 mt.under water it was considered
By early navigators to be the lamplight of the tyrrenean sea
The early people were agriculturist they grew wine figs olives capers lived in stone huts
Later as they became more affluent built 2 roomed stone homes lime begged iin white to withstand volcanic tremors well were built for collection of rain waters for-drinking and cooking irrigation was left to the rain seasons?
It sustained a population around 5000 trading theyr crops for a price to other main centres
Like Calabria 5 km. away and milazzo a very wealthy city at that time until defeated and ruled by romans
Ancient artifacts can be found at lipari museum
A necropolis was found at the excavation of the lungomare road linking scari and ficogrande were in the past a weekly supply ship anchored 200 m. offshore and two oared longboat
Went to his side and food and provision and few passengers to it.
No motor power to help through rough seas landed the supply to black pebled shore
With comunity help by pulling ythe long boat by rope and so unloading and going back few times untill all cargo was unloaded. Rain or sunshine calm or rough it had to be done
It was vital; it was their lifeline. And communities help a must.
Now they have a small pier of cement for daily ships lots of hydrofoils to land but many tourist miss the flight out because of bad weather and menefreghismo and greed.
The wells are dry and crop non-existent everything is bought in at very dear price
The locals now live on tourism and fishing the population has duindled to about
300 local born strombolani 100 acquired but in summer 10000 tourist look for accommodation in 2 hotel 1 hostel affittacamere and plentyof sleeping bags under a clear moon and cristal clear blue sea and the smell of broom ginestra begonvilia. That soothes your mind The volcano explosions can be seen from l'ossservatorio were now a pizza restaurant stand, every 15 minutes there is a narrow path to the peaks where i took some marvellous photos of explosion in 1964 it is dangerous i recommend the local guide.
{Many thanks to Joe for these fascinating contributions}
Stromboli by Michelle Fryou
“Raging Island…..Raging Passions!” So proclaimed
Howard Hughes’ desperate ad campaign to sell this movie as a sex-filled
romp, complete with posters showing an orgasmic looking Ingrid Bergman along
with the oh so subtle phallic image of the volcano powerfully erupting.
Anyone who went to see this film back in 1950 expecting some sort of tawdry
romance was in for a big disappointment. It’s actually a fascinating character
study of a person trying to discover her place in the world. There are numerous
themes throughout – alienation, clash of cultures, and the power of nature
over man.
Karin (Ingrid Bergman) finds herself in a displaced
persons internment camp, and with virtually no options, decides to marry
one of the guards. Her bid for freedom turns out to be nothing more than
an exchange of one prison, the camp with it’s barbed wire fence keeping
her in, for another, that of this primitive island with no foreseeable means
of escape. We as the viewer can’t help but relate to her and share her perspective.
This barren island is as alien to us as it is to her.
Rossellini wisely avoids depicting Karin as a complete
innocent, presenting her instead as a complex and confused woman, alternately
cunning and selfish, as well as someone who makes valiant attempts at creating
a cheerful atmosphere in her new home. Her attempts at bridging the gaps
of the differing cultures is met with suspicion and outright hostility by
the islanders who expect her to conform to their way of life.
There is much symbolism in the film, some of it
quite striking, such as when Karin is shown wandering lonely and confused
on the island like a mouse in a maze. Her feeling of isolation and of being
trapped is overwhelmingly palpable. This is a movie which certainly could
not have been filmed in a studio. The primitive beauty of the island serves
as an effective backdrop, and the majestic power of the volcano is a character
in itself.
The conclusion of the film, in which Karin attempts
to make her escape by climbing over the volcano and experiences something
akin to an epiphany is greatly moving, but Rossellini, as usual, leaves
it up to each individual viewer to interpret it’s meaning. Will she, or
won’t she return to the island? My belief is that she will. To me, her journey
up the volcano and the revelation she experiences symbolizes an achievement
of inner peace. Once we have become to some degree peaceful with ourselves
then we can transcend culture and environment, and no longer feel an alienation
from the world, but to instead embrace our place in it.
[Thank you, Michelle, for this superb appraisal of what can only be described as a very complex artistic film, capable of constant analysis. I really wonder why it wasn’t accepted at the time, although we, as Ingrid’s friends, do know the reason. What a terrible, terrible shame! It is now regarded as a work of art –and rightly so!!!! Mary]
SHORT COMMENT ON INGRID’S NATIONAL FILM THEATRE LECTURE by Ken Sephton
“Ingrid didn’t mind discussing the difficult time when she was exiled from America and spoke of her surprise at the continuing enormous success of “Casablanca”. In person she seemed to have a more pronounced accent and told us of the problem she still had speaking English on the stage.”
[Ingrid’s NFT lecture was in November 1980. This is a brief extract from an article on these Celebrity Lectures, which originally appeared in “Movie Memories” magazine – Mary]
EXCLUSIVE!!!!! ARTICLE FROM A SWEDISH MAGAZINE – from Mika Raatikainen
In her friends' words
(Article in a Swedish movie-magazine "Filmjournalen" from September, 1943. Written by Ingrid's schoolmate, here simply named "Micaela")
"But Ingrid, what is it with you? Are you ill? And the rest of you girls, what are you doing in the gymnasium at this hour?!"
Moving like a somnambulist, Ingrid Bergman, who was lying on the floor, sits up and turns a dazed look at her startled gymnastics teacher:
— We are playing "Green Elevator" and Ingrid is playing everything, Elisabeth Dävel, Ingrid's faithful companion gladly informs.
When this took place, Ingrid couldn't have been even 12 years old. The evening before she had gone to Vasateatern with her father, and saw her great idol, Gösta Ekman, taking similar pose on stage. A theatreclub, which consisted of five little giggling extras and Ingrid as its only actress, was summoned right on the next day in the gymnasium by our star, who wanted eagerly to recreate the roles with them. In the middle of her inspiration she was interrupted the way described above.
Normally this club met only once a week, and in much more artistically inspirational environment, namely in a small studio high above Kungsgatan (This must be a mistake by the author, surely she means Strandvägen), where Ingrid lived with her father. Here, in his sparetime Ingrid's father enjoyed himself by decking the walls with his own paintings.
Ingrid's mother, modern, and judging by the photographs, a wonderfully beautiful woman, had died many years ago. And when Ingrid was 14, she lost her father too. Her home, as well as the theatreclub, dissolved when Ingrid's feeble and ill aunt began to take care of her, or perhaps Ingrid began to take care of her aunt.
Ingrid's livelihood came from her father's photographic shop on Strandvägen. Sometimes the yield was good, more often quite small. In order to better the situation, Ingrid and Elisabeth made together countless suggestions to new signboards for the shop. All in vain. The old assistant in the shop formed tough resistance: "If these signboards have done fine for twenty years, they shall have to do for Ingrid, too." And the yellowpainted photographs stayed on… while more and more of clients did not.
After a few more years Ingrid was homeless again, as her aunt also died. Another aunt took Ingrid with her, and now for the first time could she live in a home with other children. It certainly was good for her, because despite her being natural, charming and positive as a child, she had no friends of the same age. Because she so early had to look after herself, she had become much more mature and independent than her classmates in girl-lycaeum. Ingrid's great interest, indeed her only interest: theatre, was no longer shared by those from the old theatre-club. Now it seemed to be boys, boys and boys everyone around her was talking about. Ingrid spent her time in movies and theatres, without company of boys, and watched her idols, those who were to play opposite to her one day: Gösta Ekman, Leslie Howard, Gary Cooper. Only when Ingrid was in the eighth class in girl-lycaeum, was she invited to her first ball.
But it was something so different to feel, instead of a dancefloor, a stage under her feet. An unforeseen confidence, with natural grace and unconstrained urge to create. The first performance on stage took naturally place in a high-school show, when Ingrid made a brilliant job in Anna-Maria Lenngren's "Porträtterna" (Portraits).
Then, finally came the Spring of 1933 and the end of school. Ingrid was free to do what she most wanted to. Her heart thumping she gathered up courage, and went to see Gabriel Alw to hear his opinion.
"I asked her to recite something," says mr. Alw, "and she got relaxed and began reciting. I don't remember anymore what it was, but I'll never forget the way she did it. I constantly had to look out of the window, not to show to this wonderful, skillful 16-year-old, that I had tears in my eyes. So I helped her in rehearsing three audition-plays for her Dramaten-examination. Amongst these three there were the young duke Frans of Rostand's "Örnungen" (L'Aiglon), and that robust, arrogant country-girl Horlacher-Lisa in Adolf Paul's "Samvetets Makt" (Power of Conscience(?)). She was very easy to direct, she was flexible and never argued over anything. Everything she did had a pure, clean "line". Her playing was cool, but paradoxically still intensive, her understanding of every role intuitively correct."
After only seven lessions with Gabriel Alw, Ingrid did the audition for Dramaten's theatre school and was accepted. Her first goal was reached. The road to the next ones meant very pleasant work and new friends, with whom she got along very well. Irma Christensson was one of her classmates, and she, Ingrid, Gunnar Sjöberg and Tord Stål soon formed one happy and lively foursome.
"Ingrid and I were tremendously proud that these mighty third-year-students, Gunnar och Tord, wanted to stoop themselves down to our 1-year-students theatrelevel," Mrs. Christensson confesses modestly. "Both of us were 17, but that's about all we had in common. In my eyes Ingrid was enormously confident and in a way ready, whereas I felt very insignificant and rustic by her side. I remember how I thought: I will never be that good, when Ingrid recited Fröding's "Stadens löjtnant" (lieutenant of the city) with such brilliant humour, voice and gestures that she almost brought the roof down in her aunt's natty home. Yes, we had fun together, although none of us had hardly any money to spend; so the amusements for us had to be free. "
"Back then, every once in a while, I had a 'sportstuga' (weekend cottage) at my disposal, and four of us used to make our Sunday walks there," says Gunnar Sjöberg. "Ingrid always gaily joined the company. He was always in a good mood, glad and brisk like very few. And she was very talented with a wonderful appetite for life and roles. Of course, as a first year student, she never got enough of the latter to satisfy the hunger. But she didn't need to. Ingrid was noticed, even without big roles. In that year's student plays she only worked as an extra in Sheridan's "Rivals", but with such grace and dignity that it resulted in an offer for a movie from S.F. (Svensk Filmindustri)"
Ingrid did wend her way to "Filmtown" for tests, and she was instantly treated as an old friend there. To tell the truth, that's because she was confounded with Birgit Tengroth. She passed the test shooting with flying colours, and so she had to face a choice: films or theatre. In this situation her great independence was a big help. Against all the advice by her friends in theatre, she decided to leave the school after only one year of studies, and devote herself entirely to films. Was it the right decision? At least her director, Gustav Molander, thinks so:
"Ingrid Bergman didn't need lessions," explains director Molander categorically. "First thing that came to one's mind, when seeing or hearing her, was that how beautifully everything was combined in her; her voice, plasticity, looks. Besides, she was extremely easy to film. She was also easy to work with. She understood how to subordinate herself under director, without drawing herself from stating her views, if she thought something wasn't working or from making suggestions. In fact, she solved my problems many times. What seems difficult, is often so easy for a great talent. The role she most liked herself was the one in 'Intermezzo', perhaps the only Swedish film that was worthy for her. Also it was the film, in which she made her artistic breakthrough in America. I think her success out there arises largely from the fact that she has had the character and strength to maintain her own style and personality, and of course great talent always creates respect."
In 'Casablanca', which just had its premiere in Stockholm, Ingrid Bergman gets a better opportunity than she had had in any other of her American films, to portray her Nordic beauty. And at the same time it is a film that shows us many new sides of her richly polished acting.
We most likely will never again get to hear our great star speak Swedish in a film, but we are happy to know that now she has all the benefits a large and rich country can offer, to develop her brilliant artistry.
Micaela
CHOICE OF POEM – Dedicated to our Ingrid, with love
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints – I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears of all my life! – and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning [1806-1861]
We four of the “Cambridge Theatre Gang” wrote out the above poem in 1965 and dedicated it to Ingrid then. I am happy to share it with my much larger “gang” of fans now.
I hope you enjoy the spring 2000 edition of “The Ingrid Chronicle” and don’t forget to send me your comments and contributions for future editions.
Always For Ingrid!