#but you should read it in its entirety on garboforever

[allgarbo]

Left without her special friend and protector (George Schlee), Garbo has taken up with some of her companions of earlier years, including Gayelord Hauser. Thanks, apparently, to his continued intake of blackstrap molasses, yoghurt and other “living” foods, Hauser, at 75, still a bachelor, remains full of bounce, and is noticeably pleased to resume the role of occasional escort. Garbo spent part of the summer following Schlee's death cruising among the Greek islands with two other old friends, Cecil Beaton, the fashionable British photographer and man about the arts, and Baroness Cecile de Rothschild, on the latter's yacht.

The Baroness, a daughter of a French banker is a white-haired, self-assured, cosmopolitan woman, who has made a reputation as connoisseur of objets d'art and people. Being the kind of person who is accustomed to taking command, she was the one to whom Garbo turned when Schlee was stricken, and it was to her Paris residence that Garbo repaired.

The Baroness is among the select few who visit Garbo in her apartment and are entrusted with her private telephone number. Possession of the number does not, however, guarantee getting through to its owner. As often as not, Garbo will answer the phone, and even if the caller's voice is as instantly recognizable as, for example, Cecil Beaton's, she will reply in the impersonal tone of a maid, “Miss Garbo isn't in. Is there a message?” Not all of her friends find this little conceit amusing.

Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel (1932) directed by Edmund Goulding.