...and Introducing...Tilly Losch

 …and Introducing…Tilly Losch

Some quick browsing on the Interwebs tells me that since 1900 there have been an average of 2,577 films produced each year around the world. I believe that number includes the 500 or so made annually by Nicholas Cage.

I try to watch as many films as I possibly can. If you follow @cinemawellman on Twitter and/or Instagram, you are more than aware of what’s going on over here. 

Over the past decade, I’ve averaged over 500 movies a year. My high total was 1,000 in 2020 and I blamed that on being in the Cinema/bunker during lockdown. I slowed down quite a bit last year and only watched 916. And this year I’m on a pace of only 884, so I’m glad I have things under control. :)

As an English teacher, I always encouraged my students to lead off with a strong hook whenever they were writing creatively. That hook, that lead, can alter how your audience looks at the overall product. It sometimes makes or breaks the entire piece. 

I feel the same way about movies in many cases. Introductions to characters, settings, and conflicts are obviously important, but what I’m referring to specifically here are the opening credits. 

I  love opening credits, especially from classic movies when all of the credits were FRONT LOADED!!!! You got EVERYTHING (cue Gary Oldman) but “The End” before the movie started! From the marquee stars to the person who stitched the gowns, you got to read all about them before the movie began. 

That format has obviously changed over the years, and credits are no longer fully front loaded. There are so many people working on films today (especially the big budgets with tons of CGI) that sometimes the credits at the end last over eight minutes! I’m all for giving people credit, but that’s a long time for credits, and there’s no way you could take care of all of that business before the film started. It just doesn’t work that way anymore, which is sad.

My personal favorite opening credit is something that’s pretty rare nowadays, and that credit is the focus for this blog and the upcoming series of episodes on the podcast (launching next week!) and blog spots here. That credit is the “...and Introducing…” credit, and it’s a dying breed.

I’ve been paying attention the past few years and I have kept track of this rare occurrence. I have, to date, come across it 18 times. To me the most fascinating part of this is who was considered deserving of this stand-alone credit putting them forever in the spotlight. 

Who are these people? Are they famous actors and actresses that we all know? Oscar winners? Was that film their first ever performance or credit? Was it their only credit? Were they “friends” with the producer or director? There really is no rhyme or reason to it, which makes it more interesting. Let’s begin by going back to 1936 and a film titled The Garden of Allah when the film world was introduced to Tilly Losch.

The Garden of Allah is an adventure/romance that tells the story of a star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman (Marlene Dietrich) and a renegade monk (Charles Boyer). The cast named on the poster has a total of 8 Oscar nominations and 1 win. Listed among that Hollywood star power was Tilly Losch. And she was given the “...and Introducing…” credit. Spotlight on Tilly! 

Tilly Losch was born in 1903 in what is now known as Austria. She left us on Christmas Eve 1975 at the age of 72 in New York City. 

Ms. Losch was a classically trained dancer, studying ballet from childhood. She made her dancing debut at the age of 10. She made her London debut at 25 and worked in London and New York as a dancer and choreographer. 

While in New York, she danced with Fred Astaire in the musical The Band Wagon. Stage success led her to a film career that would feature only four credits. 

Here is Tilly Losch’s entire filmography (after an uncredited appearance in 1936’s Limelight as a dancer):

Irena in The Garden of Allah (1936)

Lotus in The Good Earth (1937)

Dancer in Backstage (1937)

Mrs. Chavez in Duel in the Sun (1946)

And that’s it. She became dissatisfied with supporting roles and probably being typecast as a dancer in most films. Losch quit film to concentrate on dancing (she was the chief ballerina to the famous George Balanchine) and later became an accomplished painter. 

Tilly Losch was married twice. Her first husband, Edward James, was so into Tilly that he had her wet footprints woven into the rug at his house! She would routinely emerge from the bath leaving a trail of wet footprints as she ascended the spiral stairs, so he had her footprints made a permanent feature of the rug. When they divorced he did the same thing, but he replaced Tilly’s footprints with the footprints of his dog. That must not have been the Candyland of divorces. :)

Tilly’s second marriage was to Henry Herbert, the 6th Earl of Carnarvon (whatever that is!) which made Tilly the “Countess of Carnarvon!” Not in the movies…she was a real life countess!

Tilly Losch had a short stint in films, but it sounds like she led quite a life away from the cameras. I mean…how many carpets have you had your footprints woven into by lovers?

Upcoming “...and Introducing…” posts include:

Gloria Warren

Lawrence Tierney

Geraldine Page

Ali MacGraw

And

Jack Lemmon!