#acosta from mgm

[givekennyabreak]

Irreplaceable. (Kenny Liu x gn!reader)

Summary: A cop arrived along with Tabitha, and she thinks she owns the place; you think it's time to teach her how to be humble.

Rating: T

Warnings: whole lotta cursing, canon-compliant violence, spoilers for S3E8 of From, survivor's guilt, mourning, Acosta slander, reader is jealous but for a good reason, mentions of blood, mentions of gun. Acosta is her own warning.

Word count: 2.15k

Tabitha was back.

She went through the tree, got into a lighthouse, went outside and wound up back in town. She was hurt - scared, you could see the way she looked around with wide eyes at every waking moment.

You talked to her once; it didn't go far, though, as Jim arrived a couple minutes after you finally got the poor woman alone, telling you whatever went on in their life wasn't any of your business.

You flipped him off.

"If you ever need to talk," you told Tabitha, eyes as gentle as possible. "I'm at the station."

Not only did Tabitha come back, she brought in Victor's father with her (by accident, she said. Of course.). Henry, he said his name was, was a gentle man through and through. You could see how much he cared about Victor - the way he tried his best to be patient and reconnect with his son.

He never berated the man, listened to whatever he said with the utmost patience and always tried to remain calm, although you're all only human - he panics a few times, too.

He went to the goddamn caves with Victor.

If that isn’t love, you don’t know what is.

Victor, your first friend in this hellspace; one of the four people you trusted with your life - the other three, obviously, were Boyd, Donna, and Kenny.

The man was a gentle, misunderstood soul. If anyone asked you who was the person who wanted to leave this place the most, out of everyone, Victor would be your answer. He was used to it, yes - but he didn't like the place.

He was tired.

You were tired.

That's why you tried to help him as much as possible.

(Victor told you how he tried to remember what happened with Christopher and the townspeople at the beginning, but it didn't work - he was going to see Sara.

"Does it have to be her? Do we have to do this?"

"Yes."

"Dude, c’mon. She-"

"I know. But it’s gonna get scary, and she’s the scariest person in town."

You blinked up at him. He blinked back.

You sighed.

"Fine. But I'm taking a knife with me.")

Yet, there was a third party who got in town with the two good parts; and, as all is never well in this place, the woman was an absolute menace.

Acosta was her name - surname? Who knows -, a policewoman who refused to change out of her uniform, going around asking people invasive shit and managing to piss you off more times than you can count by berating Boyd, of all people.

Her last stunt was to come up to the station as you were talking to the sheriff about the kinds of food you managed to find with the last group of people who went foraging, demanding him to give her gun back.

She did so without even acknowledging your presence, trading insults back and forth while you watched the scene, flabbergasted; Boyd, tired of her shit, actually gave it back to her without the ammunition (this is why you trusted him so much), and she walked out of the station, without as much as a glance towards you.

"Am I invisible?"

Boyd sighed. "To her? Most people are."

And then - there went your last straw.

Just as you arrived at the diner, ready to give your boyfriend a tight, much needed hug, you caught sight of a blonde ponytail and blue uniform.

"Oh, hell no."

You swung open the inner door, and walked up to the stools just as Kenny poured hot water into a mug.

"Yeah, they… they do that sometimes." He said, as the jukebox played by itself (again.).

Acosta looked at him - really looked at him. “Is that something else you get comfortable with?” A pause. “Look, thanks for the tea.”

He looked down at the mug. “Uh, you didn't even...”

She stood up, body almost colliding with yours. “Excuse me.”

And then, Kenny looked up, eyes locking with yours. He brightened up immediately - his smile widened, and he put the pot back in its place, just to beckon you over with his free hands.

"Good morning, my love." You said, ducking under the opening to the back of the counter. When you straightened up, your boyfriend was already by your side, arms wrapped around your shoulders, drinking in your presence.

The blonde turned around, now staring at you, with furrowed brows and a scowl on her face.

“Mornin’.” He swooped down, lips connecting with yours in a chaste kiss. A sigh left your body, arms encasing around his shoulders, and you heard a scoff sound from behind, followed by the door opening and closing.

You stayed there for a couple of minutes, in each other’s arms, just enjoying the peace and quiet – the rarest thing to happen when in town. You nosed at Kenny’s throat and he inhaled deeply, red creeping up the side of his neck.

“I missed you.” You whispered. He stayed silent for a few seconds, squeezing you tighter.

“You saw me last night.”

You could hear the smile in his voice; this is it, you thought. This is a good change.

Kenny was hurting.

Kenny was mourning.

But the town – the people, didn’t give him the time he needed to go through this, so the best thing you could do to not see him fade away was stay by his side and not let him wither.

(You missed Tian-Chen, too.

She treated you like her own. She loved you, and you loved her.

She told you to stay with Jade and Victor that night.

You shouldn’t have.)

“It’s a few hours too much, still.” You replied, grinning.

Kenny let go of the embrace first, in favor of throwing away the – now – cold tea. "You're veeeery cheesy."

"This is how you love me, anyways."

"Yeah." He sighed, leaning back onto the counter, arms open again. He didn't need to ask - you gladly embraced him, arms around his waist this time, as he leaned down and hid his face near your collarbone.

"I do."

You stayed there for God knows how long, fingers carding through Kenny's soft, thick hair; humming a song you knew he loved, whispering about how your mornings went, and the dreams you had.

You both had given up on the house after Tian-Chen passed away, and Jim permeated the place with his presence (although you knew he meant no harm, the place was suffocating). Kenny moved into colony house, while you stayed at the station with Boyd. Victor would have no qualms about you moving there with him, seeing as he had the safest room in that place, but Henry was there with him, and you didn't mean to intrude.

The both of you left the diner together, hand-in-hand, ready to face the day ahead.

Shortly after, Boyd assigned you with the task of helping him around - there were more people now, and he could use some help figuring shit out. Ellis was panicking - something happened with Fatima -, and the man wanted to help his kid, so you left to do some of his own chores.

Night came.

You slept in the "archive room", a little nook used to store boxes in the station; Boyd had helped you get a bed in there, and that was good enough. There was one little window on the upper side of the room, and, even though you kept it tightly shut (you nailed it, as a precaution), the whispers and giggles still seeped into the space and made it harder for you to sleep.

The sun rose with a golden hue. The orange glow shone through the clear glass, straight onto your face; with a groan, you rose up from the mattress, stretching as your body slowly woke up.

Another day where you got up, did your shit and hoped for the best - except this time, there wasn't even any hope to begin with.

"Tillie's dead." Boyd told you as you got to colony house, a few minutes after him. "We don't know who did it, but it wasn't a creature."

Ellis fidgeted beside his dad; it looked like he wanted to say something, but held himself back.

"You okay, Ellis?" You asked, with furrowed brows. "Is Fatima okay?"

Ellis inhaled sharply. Boyd glanced at him, and back at you.

"She's fine." The young man replied, nodding his head. "Aside from the nausea, and the, uh. The other stuff."

The ultrasound issue.

"Oh. Make sure she's safe, okay?" You said, nodding at the sheriff. "'m going in."

Boyd shook his head no.

"Wait here, please. Kenny and Acosta are inside, questioning the folks."

A burning feeling made its way up the back of your neck, up to your cheeks and forehead - although it was commonly associated with red, you knew what this was: green.

Jealousy.

Now, you wouldn't consider yourself a jealous person in any way, no; but the lingering glances, the manner in which she scoffed with no shame at your affection, how she thought she was the crispiest fucking fry of the batch?

Oh, fuck no.

Boyd and Ellis rushed away while you steeped in your own anger. Not long after, you heard two sets of footsteps walk out of the house, and there they actually were - your boyfriend, and the blue-uniform menace.

Kenny had a troubled look on his face while Acosta - what the fuck was her name, again? - yapped away with no regard to his feelings; obviously, no one would walk on eggshells here when it came to other people's feelings, but this was too much.

"Was what that guy said about Sara and your dad true?"

Enough is enough.

"It's not that simple."

You trailed off behind the duo, your own brows furrowed and fists tightly closed as you breathed in and out slowly.

Do not fight her. Do not throw fists. Do not. Refrain.

"Okay, you didn't think it was worth mentioning the girl that already murdered two people?"

"Look, it's just, uh, she's different now, and Boyd trusts her."

"Who gives a shit what Boyd thinks, okay?"

"Hey!"

They stopped at your shout, turning around. Turns out you were closer than it seemed; four steps were all it took for you to walk up to her stupid face and swing a fist straight to her jaw.

Kenny yelped, rushing to your side as Acosta doubled over, hand cradling her face; wild, blue eyes stared into your own as she straightened up, raising her own fists. Your boyfriend tried to step in, but you walked around, pushing him behind your own body.

"Come on, hit me." You said, ready for a blow. She hesitated, and then - you spoke up. "You're walking around like you own this place. As if you're mightier than anyone who has been stuck here."

Kenny moved, but you lifted up your hand, placing it on his chest. "Hun, please. Sit this one out."

Acosta scoffed. You faced her, seeing the way she looked between you and Kenny.

"Yeah, we met here. Yes, we fell in love here, we got together here. Yes, this has become our routine. Do you think we wanted to be here? You think we chose to stay?" Her eyes softened. "No, we don't. But we're trying our fucking best to stay alive and sane, because that way, we can think and figure out how to escape."

Your fists shook, angry tears threatening to fall.

"You have no idea what it feels like to witness the people we love wither away and get lured in by those fucks by night. So, at least, try to be a little more considerate of these people's feelings, won't you?"

Kenny took one of your closed fists in his own hand, slowly opening it and lacing your fingers together.

"That way, you might be able to actually help someone." You finished, staring at her bruising jaw. "Sorry I punched you."

Acosta swallowed deeply, glancing between yourself and Kenny.

"I never thought about that." She said, eyes finally settling on your own. "I understand. Apology accepted."

Kenny squeezed your hand, leaning down to whisper in your ear.

"Well, that's better than nothing."

You held in a snort, bumping your shoulders together.

"Are you going to come with us?" She asked, tilting her head towards the forest.

You nodded your head. "Yeah. What did you guys find out?"

Just as she opened her mouth to answer, a shrill yell echoed through the place.

"Help!"

Ethan.

Everyone looked towards the boy, as Kenny rushed to ask him what happened.

Acosta looked at you, and nodded; the both of you ran, and you sure fucking hoped this was the beginning of a good teamwork.

[taiturner]

It's okay. I understand. That first day, when I saw you in the church... my heart broke for you. I thought, "He seems so sweet, so kind." I was like that once. I think... maybe we're exactly what this place looks for. People who just want to help.

FROM, 3x10 "Revelations: Chapter 2"

[sgt-dignam]

what? i've had this conversation before, and i've been on the other side of it.

FROM | 1.04 // 3.07

[silasplaskett]

kenny calling acosta by her previously unknown first name really caught me for some reason but like. someone had to befriend her so she didnt go crazy and do something stupid and i guess thats kenny. i hope we get a little rewind to her freakout tho bc i still havent moved on from it in terms of what her character would be up to

[kennys-friend]

My thoughts on Acosta.

- Not a fan of her personality but I think she's a good character.

- I'm assuming they'll put her and Kenny together romantically.

- she's been there 2-3 days. Of course she'll be acting up and flipping out. That's a normal human reaction when being trapped in a town where things from nightmares come out at night and the so called town sheriff tortures a teenage boy.

- I think once Acosta settles down, understands more, and once the others give her a chance she will be a loyal and a great team player who will do what needs to be done.

[nullaterra]

not to sound insane but i think Acosta has a lot of potential as a character. like yeah she’s a hotheaded dolt but it makes me excited for her potential growth as a character. plus what boyd literally just did in the last episode combined with the tension she has with him can create some really interesting things for the plot. still hate her for being a cop and for killing someone by accident though.

[r0semultiverse]

From season 3 episode 10 Revelations Chapter Two Live Blog

that's so fucking real, yeah & I'm glad Jim is finally fucking listening

That is an interesting insight into the potential laws of physics or I guess thermodynamics in Fromville.

OKAY SO SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT HAPPENED AT THAT TRUCK IN THE PAST. MAYBE CHILD KIDNAPPINGS? IDK

YA GOT CAUGHT. lmao

Ellis probably wants to scream at this little boy, I get it, but oof this whole situation fucking sucks.

Well, that's unsettling to hear you say that so confidently. Not beating the you-know-where-she-is allegations that's for sure!

YEAH ACTUALLY, THAT SOUNDS PRETTY CRAZY! Once again, unsettling to hear you say that so confidently!

My brain: "Hey Shadow, it's me, the devil, like in the Bible!" /reference

Boyd, I think this collective influence hollow ghost waterlogged lady thing isn't gonna let him.

OH MY GODS, WAIT, WHAT IF THE VOICES WERE TALKING ABOUT THE LITTLE BOY IN WHITE? I'm probably super late to figuring this out.

Not if the chest burster from Alien or Predator or whatever it's called has anything to say about it.

Elgin, that also sounds absolutely not within the realm of possibility! Especially not with at least 2 more seasons planned (idk if greenlit or not though).

YEAH, LIKE I WAS SAYING, UNDERSTANDABLE REACTION! Poor Elgin though, he's hardly in his right mind. Fromville's got it's grips on his psyche right now.

DONNA ME TOO THE FUCK, HOLY FUCKING SHIT. THIS WENT FROM 100 TO 500 REAL QUICK!!!

Even Ellis is having some second thoughts here it looks like at least to me.

Oh shit and with that I'm hitting 29 images already. Better make the 30th one count I guess. (okay took out a few images actually I'll try to be more sparing with them)

What is Victor gonna show him that's gonna make him angry?? I'm so confused.

Buddy, that's your papa, I don't think he could hate you.

KHATRI'S ACTOR IS SO FUCKING COOL EVERY TIME. lmao

Ghost Khatri or whatever is making itself look like him kinda has a point.

Khatri's making some good points, but is it him or a mimicry? Kinda interesting to think about especially given Jade's earlier words.

FATIMA OH GODS THIS IS GONNA BE HARD TO WATCH ISN'T IT.

LMAOOOO OH NO POOR JADE xD that is the look of a man who is about to lose his shit on some ghost kids HAHAHAH I'm fucking screaming "something more to say than fucking 'anghkooey'" got me fucking cackling audibly

HOLY SHIT IT'S LIKE THE CICADAS ARE LAUGHING AT HIM WTF OR IS THAT JUST HOW THEY SOUND USUALLY?

OH BUDDY DON'T.... DON'T DO IT...

Even Ellis is trying to stop him. oh Boyd....

"Now I need to do what I need to do." OH FUCKKKKKK THAT LINE GOES HARD!!

Thank you Henry for being here for your boy even though it's a super traumatic moment. :(((

HOLY SHIT MUSIC LANGUAGE!?!? I was just listening to a Homestuck video about that! 🤯

Elgin, you aren't making a great case for yourself right now. Boyd, I don't even know at this point man idk.

Okay, but why "can't" he though? Is he literally physically unable to? Or will ghost lady fucking kill him if he does? I mean Boyd is about to if she doesn't so idk maybe just tell him.

OH GODS THIS IS HARD TO WATCH FUCKKKKKKK

HOLY SHIT WHAT IF QUE SERA SERA IS THE FUCKING SONG THAT'S BEING DECODED? IT'S THE FUCKING OPENING SONG I BET.

Tabitha, you're a fucking genius.

A STORYWALKER?????? Someone who visits chapters of the story that already happened huh... wait will this have a butterfly effect on things?

WAIT YEAH THE FUCKING ROPE, SO IT DID HAVE AN EFFECT..... WAIT HOLY FUCK SO.... HOW MANY WEIRD THINGS HAVE BEEN PEOPLE TIME TRAVELING??

'No one can change a story once it's been told." Okay so explain the rope thing then?? Time loops theory??? idk

Sara.... what are you doing hun? What's uhhhh what's going on? Oh gods is she gonna continue where Boyd left off?

OH SARA HONEY NOOOO OH GODDDDDSSS OH NOOO DON'T PLEASE DON'T BUT IDK SHITTT THIS WHOLE THING SUCKS

oh god SARA NO SARA NO SARA NOOOO YOU WERE DOING SO GOOD

HOLY FUCK SO HE COULD ACTUALLY TELL THEM, BUT OH NO SARA :(((((( OH GIRLIE.....

MUSIC TIME BABEY LET'S DO THIS TIME TRAVEL SPACE TRAVEL OR SPACE TIME TRAVEL SHIT LETS MEET SOME GHOST KIDS IDFK

Okay anyone know what song Jade is playing like actually? Or was it commissioned for the show? Man looks damn good playing that violin though! 🔥

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT'S COMING OUT OF THAT TRAP DOOR WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

YEAH OKAY JUST GONNA PUT A SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING ON THE POST MAYBE, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT?

"I'll be right behind you, okay?" Famous last words...😬

wait..... these stairs look like Tabitha's light house dream!

Well, you've summoned them with their song! 👀 The unofficial captions call it "Jade's melody."

WHAT IS THAT LIGHT????

THE THINGS THAT CAME OUT AT NIGHT SACRIFICED THEIR CHILDREN??? OH FUCK.... SO WAIT..... OH SHIT... OH NO IS FATIMA BECOMING ONE BY FROMVILLE'S HAND? OH SHIT OH NO OH FUCK PLEASE NO

Fromville's entity promised those former people they would live forever if they sacrificed their kids to it? Monkey's paw type of deal to make I guess given what it turns them into. 👀

The gang's all here! /reference

Oh gods please don't let Fatima become one.... oh no oh fuck.... oh god if she does there goes multiple main characters too... oh shit oh fuck im nervous.

THIS BABY IS THE SIZE OF A GROWN ASS ADULT WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT IS HAPPENING?!?!

OH NOOOOO THEY FUCKING BROUGHT BACK JERMA!!! 😭 Why is the fucking happy smiler back?? Stay dead!!!

ANGHKOOEY MEANS "REMEMBER" OMG

DID THEY JUST INHERIT THE MEMORIES OF THE FROMVILLE MONSTERS PRE-MONSTERFICATION???

Jim be less aggressive, but I'm right there with you, I'm also confused as shit. Did she make multiple bracelets to cope with the loss of Thomas? What's Jade's deal then???

"The reason I felt what Miranda felt is because I was Miranda." IM SORRY????? EXCUSE ME!?!?!? Like as in reincarnation?? Wait then who was Jade?? Was he Christopher??

HE WAS OH MY GODS WHAT THE FUCK

WAIT THAT'S NOT OUR JULIE!!! HER HAIR IS SHORTER!!!!! WOAH OK OKAY SO TIME TRAVEL REAL THEN TIME TRAVEL SUPER FUCKING REAL

MGM OR EPIX OR WHOEVER THE FUCK YOU BETTER GIVE US THOSE 2 MORE SEASONS BECAUSE WHO THE FUCK IS THIS AND WHY IS HE OUT DURING THE DAY!?!?!

Well, RIP Jade and Jim probably. Right as Jim became a likeable character too smh. 😔✌

THIS IS THE FUCKING PHONE GUY!?!??! "Man in the Yellow Suit" oh yes very fucking specific, thanks.

Never thought I'd be calling a 2nd character phone guy, TWO NICKELS!!

"Well, RIP Jade and Jim probably. Right as Jim became a likeable character too smh. 😔✌" I WAS JOKING I WAS JUST MAKING A WITTY REMARK OR WHATEVER 😭😭

ALSO THE LIGHT HOUSE DREAM HAVING THE CHILDREN'S VOICES MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW BECAUSE THOSE SAME STAIRS LED TO THE MONSTER BIRTH SCENE & THAT'S INVOLVED WITH CHILD SACRIFICES

[ananke-xiii]

finally caught up with all "From" episodes... what to say? Very, very good storytelling, it's super clear and well executed, I don't understand people complaining about the mysteries not being "resolved", I feel like I'm back in time to when "LOST" was airing. Baby, it's about childhood trauma, it's always been. The theme is LITERALLY in the theme song.

Loving the vibe of the town atm: all these people, especially men, talking about how "broken" or soon to be so some women are while they're the ones who're clearly broken and refusing to see the truth as per usual. In the meantime, I think that the people who follow the "broken" women actually will have a chance. Things are getting dire for Jim, Boyd and Ellis and, frankly, maybe it's cause I'm tired tonight but yeah, I'd be okay with that. Growth or Death to controlling men or cut the show, I'm done.

[kennycatchabreak]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

i was so worried they was finna set acosta up with kenny

but she just said something kenny would kill her for

how you gon let kenny tell you that his parents died here and you use that against boyd as a gotcha for why he cant keep people safe

jokes on you bitch kenny got two daddies, now what?

why would you say that?

kenny never opened his mouth to even blame boyd then or now

[the-torchwood-magician]

The cop who joined From s3 (idc about her name) made me want to bang my head. Reinforced acab so fucking hard

I despise her

"I'm a good cop!" NO YOU'RE A FUCKASS BITCH WHO THINKS SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING IN A SITUATION WHERE SHE'S THE LAST TO JOIN

And wtf was that, handcuffing Tabby in the ambulance because she was terrified and asking for help, but no, your stupid fuck-head brain decided she was a danger.

Go fuck yourself, I hope the monsters kill you

[whileiamdying]

Greta Garbo, the “Furious Lesbian,” and a Classic Hollywood Love Triangle

In this exclusive excerpt from her new biography of the silent star, author Lois Banner explores the period in the early 1930s when Garbo was entangled with both the acting coach Salka Viertel and the glamorous writer Mercedes de Acosta.

BY LOIS BANNER

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

GETTY IMAGES

reta Garbo began her acting career in her native Sweden and moved to Hollywood in 1925, where she quickly became one of the industry’s most beloved stars. She was in a relationship with her frequent co-star John Gilbert, who also served as her acting coach. At the dawn of the 1930s their relationship was over, but Garbo’s star remained on the rise.

After the break with John Gilbert, Garbo had no acting coach. In April 1930, a year after she and Gilbert parted, she found a new coach at a party at the director Ernst Lubitsch’s home, a center for the Hollywood German community, where she met Salka Viertel, a Berlin stage actress. Garbo and Salka spent most of the evening talking on the terrace. Salka, who was sixteen years older than Garbo, found her “hypersensitive, although of a steely resistance,” while her opinions about people were “just, sharp, and objective.”

Salka had come to Hollywood in 1928 from Berlin, at the age of thirty-one, with her husband, Berthold, and their three sons, David, Peter, and Christopher. Fox studios had hired Berthold, a writer and director known in Germany. Salka had been a successful actress in Berlin, but she was rarely cast in roles in Hollywood films; she was, she said, “too old” and “not beautiful enough.”

Garbo and Salka Viertel in a scene of the German version of Anna Christie (1930).BY METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER/DE CARVALHO COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES.

Salka had a sensual glow. For several years she had an affair with her next-door neighbor, Oliver Garrett, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, who helped her navigate the ebbs and flows of Hollywood. She then had a long affair with Gottfried Reinhardt, the son of Max Reinhardt, the Berlin theatrical impresario. Gottfried was twenty years younger than she, but he was stocky, with a solemn manner, and they didn’t seem that different in age. The Viertels had an open marriage, and Berthold was so often in Europe and with other women that Gottfried often lived in her home and functioned as her husband. He worked as an assistant producer at MGM.

In 1929 the Viertels moved to a large house in Santa Monica Canyon, near the beach. Salka held Sunday afternoon get-togethers, with coffee and homemade cake, conversation, ping-pong, and walks on the beach. Garbo didn’t always attend Salka’s salons, partly because of attacks of shyness, but also because eventually she sometimes went to other Hollywood gatherings—at Vicki Baum’s home in Pacific Palisades, for example, a few miles up the coast from Santa Monica, or at director George Cukor’s home in the Hollywood Hills. Baum, from Berlin, wrote the novel on which Grand Hotel was based. Cukor, who was homosexual, held luncheons for gender-crossing friends. His home was a showpiece, with six acres of gardens terraced up a hill.

Salka often joined Garbo in hiking in the hills or swimming in the ocean early in the morning. Following Swedish practice, they swam in the nude. When together, they discussed films, the theater, literature, and their lives. Both Garbo and Salka wanted to return to Europe, but they felt they couldn’t. Garbo had her screen career and her drive to be financially independent, while Salka and the boys were dependent on Berthold, still employed by Hollywood studios. Jacques Feyder suggested that Salka play Marthy, the prostitute in Anna Christie, in MGM’s German version of the film, which he was to direct, and Garbo agreed. She and Salka grew close; Salka was the mother Garbo wanted; Garbo was the daughter in Salka’s family of males.

Fred Zinnemann, Berthold’s assistant, later an eminent Hollywood director, described Salka as “one of the world’s most generous and opinionated women,” and she dominated Garbo. At their meetings, Salka was the star and Garbo the audience. After reading a biography of Sweden’s Queen Christina, Salka suggested to Garbo that she play the queen in a biopic. Garbo agreed—and suggested that Salka write the screenplay. Salka wasn’t a writer, but Garbo knew that, at her request, Thalberg would partner Salka with MGM’s best writers. Garbo gave Salka a career—as a writer and an acting coach. Salka participated in writing the screenplays for Queen Christina and most of Garbo’s subsequent films. Deeply impressed by Salka, Garbo developed an abiding love for her. But Salka was never certain how she felt about Garbo.

Mercedes de AcostaBY NICKOLAS MURAY/ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY IMAGES.

In the summer of 1931, while Garbo was making Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, Salka was persuaded to introduce Garbo to Mercedes de Acosta, who had come to Hollywood to write a screenplay for Pola Negri—and to seduce Garbo. Mercedes had heard through the lesbian grapevine that Garbo wasn’t a lesbian, but she could easily become one. De Acosta, openly lesbian, had a reputation for skill as a lover, and she was on a mission to turn prominent actresses into lesbians. It’s not surprising that she wanted to meet Garbo, but Salka was worried about what might happen if that meeting took place.

Mercedes de Acosta, born to parents descended from the Spanish nobility, was raised in a wealthy section of New York’s West Side. She met celebrities through her sister Rita Lydig. Eighteen years older than Mercedes, Rita was a fabled beauty, a leader in New York high society, and a reformer who worked for women’s suffrage and birth control, as well as labor rights. The de Acosta family once had money, but Rita’s and Mercedes’s money came from their wealthy husbands.

Rita introduced Mercedes to her famous friends: the actress Sarah Bernhardt, the sculptor Auguste Rodin, Jack and Ethel Barrymore of the famed Barrymore acting family, and others. Raised a Catholic, Mercedes attended Catholic schools. In 1914 Vogue featured her as a New York debutante, and in 1920 she married Abram Poole, a New York society painter. She followed Rita into feminism, working for women’s suffrage and then for the Lucy Stone League, formed to persuade women to keep their maiden names after marriage, following the example of Lucy Stone, a leader in the nineteenth-century U.S. women’s movement.

Like Rita, Mercedes wore distinctive clothing, but she had her own style. She often wore capes, tricorne hats, and pointed shoes with silver buckles on them, looking like a pirate. She was also known for wearing a dark coat fitted at the waist, with wide lapels and a full skirt, designed by the Paris couturier Paul Poiret. Garbo liked the coat so much that she had a copy of it made for her. Mercedes dyed her hair black, painted her face white, and wore blood-red lipstick—prompting some people to call her “Madame Dracula.”

Mercedes wore only black and white clothes, so Garbo and Salka called her “Black and White.” Aldous Huxley described her as “a small but most exquisite woman, both in features and figure, and in the manner of her dress.” She was five feet four inches tall. Close to Cecil Beaton, she provided him with information about Garbo to use in his writing about her, until he and Garbo became close friends in the late 1940s.

Mercedes lived a dramatic life, engaging in what Cecil Beaton called “glorious enthusiasms.” She also had periods of deep depression. Until she was seven and saw the male sex organ, she thought she was a boy. Discovering her mistake devastated her, until she formed romantic friendships with girls and studied ancient Greek ideas of sex. She interpreted those ideas as suggesting that everyone has a masculine and a feminine side. She took up lesbianism as a cause. Cecil Beaton called her “a furious lesbian.”

Mercedes studied Hindu and Buddhist texts and followed Eastern mystics; her knowledge of Eastern religions was part of her attraction to Garbo, who continually looked for a spiritual path and never seemed to find one. And Mercedes always knew about the latest healers and remedies. She consulted Dr. Henry Bieler, who promoted vegetarianism. Not long after she met Mercedes, Garbo consulted Bieler and became a vegetarian.

Mercedes knew the two great dramatic actresses of the turn of the twentieth century: Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. She had had affairs with prominent female performers, including Isadora Duncan, a founder of modern dance, who promoted dress reform; the English actress Eva La Gallienne, with whom she exchanged wedding rings; and the Russian actress Alla Nazimova. When Nazimova came to Hollywood in 1916 to act in films, she formed a Sapphic circle, which some say was called “the sewing circle.” Isadora Duncan wrote passionate poems to Mercedes, extolling her sexual ability and writing paeans to her beautiful white hands.

Once Salka introduced Mercedes to Garbo in July 1931, Garbo initially fell for this aristocrat, with her tales of famous friends, knowledge of Eastern religions, and skill at sex. After finishing Susan Lenox that summer, Garbo took Mercedes to a cabin on an island in a lake in the High Sierras, where they swam, caught fish, talked, and began an affair. Mercedes was known for her sexual skill and Garbo for “the unbounded freedom of her life.”

After her trip to the High Sierras with Mercedes, Garbo displayed deep feelings for Salka, which suggests that the Sierra trip was a failure, that she was comparing Salka and Mercedes as friends and lovers, or that she was forming a triangle with the two of them. On September 18, which was Garbo’s birthday, she seduced Salka, who described what happened in a letter to Berthold—her confidante as well as her husband. Greta decorated her house with white gardenias, a symbol of femininity and of secret love. She served Champagne and played Sapphic songs on the gramophone. It was, according to Salka, “a gigantic temptation apparatus.” She concluded: “So we were together—it was harmonious and beautiful.”

By the late fall, Salka’s infatuation with Garbo had dissipated for a time, as Garbo became demanding. She was filming Mata Hari and spending time with Mercedes, in the first flush of their romance. Then, looking at Garbo one day, Salka realized that not only did she slouch but she also had a hump on her back. Salka wrote to Berthold, who was in New York, about the hump, but he replied that she should forget it because Garbo had influence in Hollywood and could damage his career. Salka stayed with Garbo as a close friend and mentor but kept her at a distance by having affairs with men, first with Oliver Garrett and then with Gottfried Reinhardt. After the episode of sex in 1931 between Garbo and Salka, there is no further evidence of sexual relations between them.

Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina and John Gilbert as Alexei Vronsky in a scene from the silent movie Love (1927). FROM BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES.

Even before Mercedes appeared in Garbo’s life in the summer of 1931, there were references to Garbo’s presumed lesbianism in the Hollywood trade journals and in movie magazines. In 1929, Variety’s review of Garbo’s movie The Single Standard slyly referred to Garbo’s free love views. In January 1931, in a review of Garbo’s movie Inspiration, a Variety writer called her “one of the strangest personalities of all the freaks or odd ones that have littered Hollywood for years.” And Mercedes persuaded Garbo to become more open about her masculinity. The Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood’s first tabloid, was launched in 1930. On August 21, 1931, a month after Mercedes and Garbo met, the tabloid noted that “Greta Garbo has a new love.” On September 23, 1931, the tabloid referred to “an ambidextrous foreign star.” (“Ambidextrous” means being able to use either hand for tasks; it was then a common circumlocution for lesbians, homosexuals, and bisexuals.) The tabloid also referred to “the two Garbos.”

But Garbo was ambivalent about Mercedes. After Salka, in her subtle, poetic way, informed Garbo that they could be close friends, but not lovers, Garbo turned to Mercedes for sex. That action unleashed Mercedes’s obsessive nature, expressed in constant demands for deep expressions of love. After several months, Garbo fled to New York to get away from her. When she returned to Hollywood after a month away, she found Mercedes living in a house near hers. Ever after, when Garbo moved, Mercedes moved to a nearby house. Garbo wrote to Hörke Wachtmeister, a close friend in Sweden, that Mercedes made her nervous. She also disliked Mercedes’s love of gossip, and she was incensed when she learned that Mercedes told Cecil Beaton about her doings, which he then used in writing about her.

Mercedes and Salka didn’t like each other, which isn’t surprising. Mercedes didn’t attend Salka’s salons; she formed one of her own, which may have been a continuation of Alla Nazimova’s “sewing circle.” She also had an affair with Marlene Dietrich, Garbo’s major Hollywood rival. Garbo eventually forgave her this breach of faith; free-love principles permitted it and forbade jealousy. And Mercedes was lavish in spending on Garbo; she once had an elaborate gate built overnight around her mansion when Garbo mentioned a need for it.

Mercedes’s husband divorced her in 1935 and married his mistress, but he didn’t cut off his large stipend to Mercedes for years. It was her major source of income, financing the mansions she rented and her largesse to Garbo. But she was indomitable. When the stipend ended, she managed to find jobs editing and writing for small magazines, moving between New York and Paris. She became friends with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and was often a guest at their Christmas celebrations. But when she died in 1968, she was destitute.

Garbo didn’t permanently break with Mercedes until her autobiography was published in 1960. Even though Mercedes hid their affair in a cloud of circumlocutions in the memoir, she included a photo she had taken of a topless Garbo on the island in the High Sierras. And her description of her research methods for the autobiography must have alarmed the perfectionist and secretive Garbo. Mercedes’s major source, she stated, was her memory. She had kept neither a diary nor a datebook, and when she wrote her appointments down on scraps of paper, she promptly lost them. She did keep letters written to her and other memorabilia; they are in her collection in the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia. The biographer can figure out a lot about their relationship from that collection, but far from all of it.

From IDEAL BEAUTY: The Life and Times of Greta Garbo by Dr. Lois W. Banner. Copyright © 2023 by Dr. Lois W. Banner. Excerpted by permission of Rutgers University Press.

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FROM, 3x09 "Revelations: Chapter 1"

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Randall Kirkland ladies and gentlemen