A Cherry Dress

Kommentierte Memoiren der exilierten Bühnen- und Lebenskünstlerin Anita Bild

Contributions by Traude Bollauf Contributions by Katharine Campbell Contributions by Ilse Reiter-Zatloukal Contributions by Primavera Driessen Gruber Contributions by Birgit Peter Contributions by Irene Messinger Contributions by Peter Bild Contributions by Jan Bild Contributions by Miranda Bild Contributions by Laura Barnett Contributions by Jessica Bates Contributions by Anita Bild Contributions by Anna Lelewer Edited by Peter Bild Edited by Irene Messinger Consultant editor Mechthild Dreyer Consultant editor Heinz Faßmann

Book cover: A Cherry Dress

Extent: 247 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Jewish Studies, Music & Performing Arts

Language: German

Hardback (Published)

(December 2017)

ISBN: 9783847107972

6.3 x 9.33 inches

Price: $69.00

Out of stock

Die Wiener Tanzerin Anita Bild floh Anfang 1939 mit einem Hausmadchen-Visum nach England. Die Scheinehe mit dem ehemaligen Spanienkampfer Donald Douglas ermoglichte ihr, wieder als Tanzerin aufzutreten. Sie organisierte die Ausreise ihrer Eltern nach London, die in einem Fluchtlingsheim unterkamen, dessen Leiter Fritz Bild sie spater heiratete. Bekannt wurde sie als Anita Douglas – The Viennese Nightingale und spater bei BBC im German Department. Die Beitrage dieses Bandes behandeln neben ihrer Tanzkarriere die Situation von Hausangestellten in England und von wichtigen Personen in Anita Bilds Familie und Umfeld.


A Cherry Dress is the memoir of a Viennese born dancer driven into exile. In her late 70s and 80s, Anita Bild wrote about her extraordinary life at her sons request. The main aim was to give her much-loved grandchildren a personal picture of the Viennese family she was born into, her sometimes exotic experiences as a dancer and choreographer in German language theatre, her escape from Nazi Austria and her early adventures in exile in London. Fleeing to London in February 1939, with a visa permitting her to work only as a domestic servant, she managed in just a few months, despite her lowly status, to arrange her parents flight to London just weeks before the outbreak of World War. She describes with fascinating details how she drifted from household to household and how new-found friends provided a social network enabling her to visit Londons leading high-court judge to plead, successfully, for her parents to be allowed into the UK. Those new friends even found her a generous, fascinating and eccentric Englishman happy to give her British citizenship via a marriage of convenience, thus enabling her to resume her stage career. Full of humour and vivid descriptions of people and events as she saw them, this very personal memoir is also a document of wider public interest. A series of academic essays and articles by members of her family provide historical context to accompany and to complement Anita Bilds charming memories of a charmed life lived to the full. She was the living proof that reflections on ones history are a source of wisdom and that variety is, indeed, the spice of life. This is a book that both charms in its personal reminiscences and illuminates events of a troubled, turbulent century.

  • Contributions by Traude Bollauf
  • Contributions by Katharine Campbell
  • Contributions by Ilse Reiter-Zatloukal
  • Contributions by Primavera Driessen Gruber
  • Contributions by Birgit Peter
  • Contributions by Irene Messinger
  • Contributions by Peter Bild
  • Contributions by Jan Bild
  • Contributions by Miranda Bild
  • Contributions by Laura Barnett
  • Contributions by Jessica Bates
  • Contributions by Anita Bild
  • Contributions by Anna Lelewer
  • Edited by Peter Bild
  • Edited by Irene Messinger
  • Consultant editor Mechthild Dreyer
  • Consultant editor Heinz Faßmann