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== Trivia ==
== Trivia ==


* The [[Karl Vollmöller]] spectacle play [[Das Mirakel (play)|Das Mirakel]] was made into three separate movie versions, two produced in 1912 and a revamped American version titled [[The Miracle (1959 film)|The Miracle]] in [[1959 in film|1959]] starring [[Carroll Baker]], and [[Roger Moore]] of [[James Bond]] fame.
* The [[Karl Vollmöller]] spectacle play [[Das Mirakel (play)|Das Mirakel]] was made into three separate movie versions, two produced in 1912 and a revamped American version titled [[The Miracle (1959 film)|The Miracle]] in [[1959 in film|1959]] starring [[Carroll Baker]], and [[Roger Moore]] of subsequent [[James Bond]] fame.
* Coincidentally, the first film version of Das Mirakel premiered in Germany on 21 December 1912,<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296756/releaseinfo Internet Movie Database]</ref> exactly 100 years to the day before the end of the [[Mayan calendar]], which ends on 21 December 2012, according to [[José Argüelles]].
* Coincidentally, the first film version of Das Mirakel premiered in Germany on 21 December 1912,<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296756/releaseinfo Internet Movie Database]</ref> exactly 100 years to the day before the end of the [[Mayan calendar]], which ends on 21 December 2012, according to [[José Argüelles]].
* In the 1940's Norina Matchabelli gave a series of well-attended public talks in [[Carnegie Hall]], [[New York City]] in which she said she was delivering "thought-transmission" messages directly from Meher Baba. When speaking, the personal "I" switched to "I, Meher Baba." This startled some of Meher Baba's followers and they questioned Baba on it in India, but he did not appear concerned. [http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/heroines2c.html] Thus Norina gained the reputation of a mystic or clairvoyant, an eccentric, and relatively occult in her thinking in comparison with other followers of Meher Baba of that time period.
* In the 1940's Norina Matchabelli gave a series of well-attended public talks in [[Carnegie Hall]], [[New York City]] in which she said she was delivering "thought-transmission" messages directly from Meher Baba. When speaking, the personal "I" switched to "I, Meher Baba." This startled some of Meher Baba's followers and they questioned Baba on it in India, but he did not appear concerned. [http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/heroines2c.html] Thus Norina gained the reputation of a mystic or clairvoyant, an eccentric, and relatively occult in her thinking in comparison with other followers of Meher Baba of that time period.

Revision as of 10:47, 22 January 2010

Norina Matchabelli
Stage name Maria Carmi
Born
Norina Gilli

(1880-03-03)3 March 1880
Florence, Italy
Died15 June 1957(1957-06-15) (aged 77)
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress
Perfumer
TitlePrincess
Spouse(s)Karl Vollmöller
Prince Georges V. Matchabelli

Princess Norina Matchabelli (3 March 1880 – 15 June 1957), born Norina Gilli in Florence, Italy, was co-founder of the perfume company Prince Matchabelli, a stage and screen actress, mime, mystic, publisher, and a devoted mandali of Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba. Her stage name was Maria Carmi.

Acting career as Maria Carmi

Norina Gilli began her stage career at Max Reinhardt's acting school at the Deutsches Theater and belonged to his company from 1907 to 1909. Under the stage name Maria Carmi, Norina played in Italian and German theater and later appeared in more than 25 silent films. Most notably she played the Madonna in the original spectacle-pantomime play The Miracle written by Karl Vollmöller whom she married. The play was originally produced in Germany in 1911 and opened in London on 23 December 1911.[1] In 1924 it was revived at Olympia Hall in London as well as Broadway that same year after a tour of Detroit, Milwaukee and Dallas. In the New York version she alternated nightly, not too amicably, with Lady Diana Manners, another international beauty of the period.[2] In all Norina gave over 1,000 performances of the play.[3] After the second tour she left the stage and for a short while opened (with well-known set designer Frederic Kiesler) an acting school, American Laboratory Theatre, in New York City, concentrating on mime.

Princess and perfume

Norina divorced Vollmöller and in 1916 married Prince Georges V. Matchabelli, the Georgian prince and diplomat who had been ambassador to Italy, but who fled Soviet Georgia and immigrated to the United States after the 1921 Bolshevik takeover of Georgia. Norina then became known as Princess Norina Matchabelli. Together in 1924 she and her new husband, who was also an amateur chemist, co-founded the now-famous perfume company Prince Matchabelli. Norina designed the perfume bottle after the family crown and in 1926 Georges dedicated the exquisite scent "Ave Maria" to her. In 1933 she and Georges divorced. Georges died in 1935 and in 1936 Norina sold the company to Saul Ganz for $250,000.00. [4]

Meher Baba

In 1931 Matchabelli met Spiritual teacher Meher Baba and became a devotee. She introduced many notable figures of the day to Meher Baba including Gabriel Pascal, Mercedes de Acosta and Karl Vollmöller (her first husband). She also founded the periodical Meher Baba Journal in 1938.

In the early 1940's Matchabelli co-founded the Meher Spiritual Center with Elizabeth Chapin Patterson in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S.

Death

Norina Matchabelli died at Youpon Dunes in Myrtle Beach in 1957 at the age of 77. Her ashes were interred close by Meher Baba's samadhi on Meherabad Hill, near Ahmednagar, India. Her grave marker bears the inscription: Princess Norina was and will ever remain Baba's. [5]

Filmography

Norina in Das Mirakel, 1912
  • 1912: Das Mirakel
  • 1913: Eine venezianische Nacht
  • 1914: L'Accordo in minore
  • 1914: Sperduti nel buio
  • 1914: Teresa Raquin
  • 1915: Fluch der Schönheit
  • 1915: Der Hermelinmantel
  • 1915: Die rätselhafte Frau
  • 1915: Sophias letztes Gesicht
  • 1916: Das Wunder der Madonna
  • 1916: Für den Ruhm des Geliebten
  • 1916: Aphrodite
  • 1916: Homunculus, Teil I
  • 1916: Homunculus, Teil IV - Die Rache des Homunculus
  • 1916: Der Pfad der Sünde
  • 1916: Der Letzte eines alten Geschlechts
  • 1916: Die Richterin von Solvigsholm
  • 1916: Das Haus der Leidenschaften
  • 1916: Der Fluch der Sonne
  • 1917: Der Weg des Todes
  • 1917: Wenn Tote sprechen
  • 1917: Die Memoiren der Tragödin Thamar
  • 1917: Rächende Liebe
  • 1918: Das Spitzentuch der Fürstin
  • 1920: Per il passato
  • 1921: Forse che si, forse che no

Trivia

  • The Karl Vollmöller spectacle play Das Mirakel was made into three separate movie versions, two produced in 1912 and a revamped American version titled The Miracle in 1959 starring Carroll Baker, and Roger Moore of subsequent James Bond fame.
  • Coincidentally, the first film version of Das Mirakel premiered in Germany on 21 December 1912,[6] exactly 100 years to the day before the end of the Mayan calendar, which ends on 21 December 2012, according to José Argüelles.
  • In the 1940's Norina Matchabelli gave a series of well-attended public talks in Carnegie Hall, New York City in which she said she was delivering "thought-transmission" messages directly from Meher Baba. When speaking, the personal "I" switched to "I, Meher Baba." This startled some of Meher Baba's followers and they questioned Baba on it in India, but he did not appear concerned. [4] Thus Norina gained the reputation of a mystic or clairvoyant, an eccentric, and relatively occult in her thinking in comparison with other followers of Meher Baba of that time period.
  • Norina Matchabelli confided with a friend that she believed her second husband Georges Matchabelli had the unique ability to detect and chemically reproduce "astral" fragrances in his perfumes, apparently accounting for his success as a perfumer. [5]

References

  1. ^ Boosey & Hawkes
  2. ^ New York Times, January 24, 1924. [1]
  3. ^ Awakener Magazine, Volume 20 Number 2, 1983 [2]
  4. ^ New York Times, 2 June 1986 [3]
  5. ^ The Awakener Magazine, Volume 20 Number 2, 1983
  6. ^ Internet Movie Database
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