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In the course of these activities, Cinemactress Riefenstahl delighted Berlin gossips by spending six unchaperoned weeks in a Mont Blanc cabin with eight male members of her cast whom she astonished by her skill with skis. In 1934 she met Adolf Hitler, who had long admired her work on the screen. He perceived in her a personification of those qualities of health, energy, ambition, good-looks, youth and love of sport which are the German equivalent of female glamour, promptly amazed the German cinema industry by commissioning her to make the official film of last summer's Nurnberg Party Congress in which she directed 800,000 men. When Herr Hitler's crony, Air Minister Göring, married Cinemactress Riefenstahl's crony, Actress Emmy Sonnemann, last year, Hitler was best man. That Realmleader Hitler, a confirmed celibate, has any such intentions concerning Cinemactress Leni Riefenstahl no one suspects for a moment, but that he holds her in high esteem, entertains romantic admiration for her achievements and her character as a prime example of German womanhood, is apparent to everyone. Functioning as an inspiration both to Herr Hitler and her female contemporaries is a job which, for Cinemactress Riefenstahl, is never done. At Garmisch-Partenkirchen last week, much too occupied to engage in her customary practice of skiing up & down hill in a bathing suit to acquire a tan, she was even busier than usual, keeping an expert Nazi eye on winter sports for Führer Hitler and giving visitors to Germany a startling picture of what he thinks German girls should be.
The Olympic Winter Games last eleven days, include hockey, bob-sled racing, speed and figure skating, four kinds of skiing. It is a truism that the Olympics, instituted to promulgate international goodwill, usually promulgate nothing of the sort. Last week, long before any significant results had been recorded, a series of major and minor brawls in sad contrast to the gay opening ceremonies made it clear that, in competitive ill-will, as well as in size, beauty of scene and dignity, the Winter Olympics of 1936 would outclass all their predecessors.
Bob Sledding. Before the Games started, major bob-sled controversies concerned: 1) the poor condition of the run, which U. S. Driver Hubert Stevens described as "unsound" and 2) the bad effect on it of U. S. runners, which are sharper than those of European bobsleds. Most romantic casualty of the week was Donna Fox, a Bronx undertaker who, after sustaining a bruised ear when his sled tipped over on a curve, ungraciously blamed the accident on the poor construction of the run. Fastest practice runs of the week were made by Hubert Stevens, who won the two-man event at Lake Placid in 1932, and Reto Capadrutt of Switzerland, both of whom averaged 60 m. p. h.
Hockey. Canada's officials protested two members of England's hockey team on the ground that they were really
Canadians. England threatened to withdraw. Hero of Germany's team was Jewish Rudi Ball who, recalled from self-exile just before the Games, skated so much faster and handled his stick so much better than his "Aryan" teammates that in the opening game of the week, Germany lost to the U. S. by only one point.