On 2nd April 1999 Luise was interviewed by Sue Lawley for the long-running BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs. The programme, which began broadcasting in 1942, takes as its central idea the fantasy that a celebrity has been cast away on a desert island and must choose 8 pieces of music to take with them, which will be all they have to listen to whilst isolated. The rules state they are also given a copy of the Bible (or similar religious or philosophical book) and the Complete Works of Shakespeare; they are then asked to choose one further book and one luxury item which they can also take with them. Each guest is interviewed about their choices and what each means to them.
CLICK HERE to listen to the programme in full.
people in her life and how she has lived through some turbulent and extraordinary times. The interview is both celebratory and melancholic but ranks as of one of the best she has given as it only briefly concentrates on her film career and rather spends much time dealing with Luise herself, her thoughts and, especially, her emotions.
– Luise reminisced about being a great friend of Gershwin who “liked me very much, he was not in love with me, but I think he liked me!”. He would often play and compose music at her home and she recalled falling asleep upstairs as he played downstairs.
– Luise tells a wonderful story of her first trip to America, heading for Hollywood and her new life, accompanied only by her Scottie dog Johnny. As the purser had taken her passport (as was the norm in those days) the crew knew that she would be travelling on her 25th birthday. She sat down to lunch that evening and opened her menu to see “Birthday luncheon for Luise Rainer” printed. She was astounded, “I am nothing!” she thought. Also on the same ship were the Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin and the violinist Mischa Elman…who both proceeded to serenade her with a rendition of “Happy Birthday”. She couldn’t quite believe this “great, great, great basso” did such a thing, and you can still hear the excitement in her voice almost 65 years later.
– When Luise came to New York she met the Italian conductor Toscanini who was very kind to her. Sometime later they were both staying in the same hotel whilst visiting a music festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. Through a loudspeaker she vividly recounts hearing the broadcast of Hitler’s declaration, “We are marching into Poland”, effectively the start of the Second World War. That evening she attended a concert by Toscanini in a church in Lucerne where Verdi’s Requiem was performed. This defining moment had a lasting effect on her.
this is the one piece she would take with her if given the choice.