Thursday, April 29, 2010

her mortal coil























greta garbo played her. ingrid bergman dropped her name in the great film, 'notorious.' sylvia kristal, seventies icon of cinema's sexual liberation, portrayed her as well. it is a name as well known as 'svengali.' very real and widely misused, mata hari (which means 'eye of the day' in indonesian) is going down in history.

born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in holland on august 7, 1876, she was a mail order bride, dancer, circus horse rider(!) and toast of parisian music halls. accused of being a spy and collaborating with the germans, she was arrested while staying at the plaza athenee hotel in paris. found guilty she was executed at age 41.

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