Pola Negri and her advice to Greta Garbo upon meeting her:
I knew neither Pommer nor Stiller well, so I invited them to dinner at my house to get better acquainted.
About an hour before the two men were to arrive for dinner, Stiller telephoned and asked, "May I be permitted to bring along a friend? She does not know many people here yet. Greta Garbo.”
It would not be helpful to have an outsider present during our discussions, but I did not want to offend Stiller, and so I acquiesced. To tell the truth, I was also very curious about the girl…
I do not recall what sort of seductive creature I was expecting but it was certainly not the tall shy girl of extraordinary beauty who arrived—a girl so seemingly dominated that she was constantly looking to her mentor for permission before uttering a syllable.
She smiled wistfully, as we shook hands. Traces of an adolescent pudginess clung to her figure, but time and exercise would take care of that. The striking thing was the feeling that behind the utter lack of worldliness and chic was the mysterious charge of personality which is completely indefinable-the thing called, for lack of a better term, "star quality." Without it, there could be no important career in films; with it, there was no gauging how far a performer could go. All that was necessary was the right opportunity. I wondered if her studio had sense enough to see beyond her demeaning position with Stiller to the potential of what she could become.
Through dinner she was resolutely silent. We later retired to the drawing room, leaving the men with their cigars and brandy.
Her shyness was so painful that I wanted to draw her out. I smiled as warmly as I could. "I've been here three years. By Hollywood time, an eternity. If I can help—if you want to ask any advice, please do."
She drew a deep breath, obviously summoning all her courage, and plunged ahead. "Well—yes. It is all so bewildering, so disheartening. There is so much competition. I want to get ahead!"
Her voice grew stronger. "How do I do it?"
For a moment I was taken aback by the simple directness of her question and then I thought about it. My own worst struggles had been over long before I ever got to Hollywood. I was a valuable property, and publicity, so essential to stardom, was created for me without my having to expend any effort.
“The most important thing is to be an original. You must try to be different from anyone else." I smiled again. "I’ve a feeling that won't be too difficult for you."
"How?" She cried. "I am frightened of the people out here. They are so unlike the people at home."
"Of course. They are the people here. Different from people anywhere else in the world. They won't adjust to you yet. For the time being you must adjust to them."
She held her head high. A look of intense interest was spreading over that perfectly chiseled face, making it the one thing that one would not have thought possible: even more beautiful.
I went on. "You'll have to conquer your natural timidity. It's disastrous here. Be shocking, audacious, egocentric—anything but shy. Never be aloof or private."
She arched her eyebrows surprisedly. "Why not? You've done very well doing exactly that."
Of course she was right. We looked at each other and both began to laugh. I said at length, "Ultimately we must take responsibility for ourselves. Do what we alone think is right. When I first came here I did not think it possible for me to succeed without the guidance of Lubitsch. I was wrong. I did. Soon, you will have to do the same—without Stiller. And it will also be possible."
(From Pola Negri: Memoirs of a Star by Pola Negri, 1970)
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