I remember dressing up in my mother's clothes, heels and fur.
I always wanted to be a film star or a dancer.
I became a dancer - the smallest ballerina in Munich!
My mother took me to Berlin to see Anna Pavlova dance the Dying Swan. When
we got home my father said ' show me what she was like ' and I did, and my
mother said ' exactly, exactly like that.' We had a gramophone and a
Bechstein piano we all played but it was my father who played operettas
which my mother sang.
My mother encouraged my dancing, she had visions of me being famous!
I went to a private ballet studio with a Russian teacher and I remember
dancing the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty.
I wanted to be a dancer but I had to stop as there were no Jewish
ballerinas in 1937. My brother had been sent to Buenos Aires, I went to England. All I had
known was gone.
Alone, I worked in service then ran away to work in a factory.
Before my husband, I was married in 1945, I had lots of American soldier
boyfriends, too many love affairs, I loved beads and bangles and Piccadilly
dance halls.
After I was married I ran away, we were both too strong-minded. I went and
worked at the Lyceum Ballroom as a waitress - they used to say you could see
Sir Henry Irving's ghost but all I saw were rats, lots of them.
One night I was there on the balcony and I looked down and I saw my husband
walk in. He had looked in every dance hall in London to find me. I went
back to him.
my husband was was vicious and violent, he drove a streetcar and was
uneducated but he loved me. He would have killed me if I had been
unfaithful, and I would have never forgiven him, I can't stand
unfaithfulness. I could forgive murder but not that. I learnt to be quiet
so we had peace on earth but I lost all my personality.
He died in 1962 aged 42 of a heart attack - he was a heavy drinker and
smoker.
I became a very merry widow aged 42!
I did cause a sensation!
I had a few lovers - it takes two to tango, I had my delicatessen shop, my
Vitesse convertible sports car, beautiful clothes and Fritzy my poodle. He
had 8 outfits with collar and leads to match, a hair clipping every five
weeks and was beautiful and clever and the talk all around!
Every night after closing the shop I would drive into the centre of London
to go dancing. Fritzy was very patient - he would wait in the car sitting
behind the steering wheel.
My favourite dance was the tango, all south American dances.
I was good. It was MY dancing.
I would wait for the music to stop, walk across the length of the hall, sit
down, light a cigarette and look bored.
I was a sensation!
If any man started to annoy me I would just leave and drive home. I was
totally independent.
In my merry widow days my house, my car, my pets , me were immaculate!
I always was a sensation!
I am still a dancer, inside... full of grace...