An extraordinary pair of relics from the film and stage icon: a half-smoked cigarette from Dietrich herself, saved by her longtime assistant in one of her empty pill bottles.  Fairmont Hotel Pharmacy, San Francisco, CA. 12/10/73. From the collection of Paul McMahon, a critic, photographer and artist who worked for more than 13 years touring with Dietrich as the icon’s stage manager, announcer, dresser, secretary and escort. Sold together with a letter of provenance from the husband of Paul McMahon, Ralph Hodgdon. An extraordinary bit of association ephemera, from the collection of a true smoking icon.

The bottle was formerly used to hold Clindamycin (Cleocin), used to treat bacterial infections. 

Dietrich was still performing onstage in 1975 when the sad pantomime’s final act began: She fell into an orchestra pit in Sydney and broke her femur. She retired to her Paris apartment, and would leave it only a few times over the next seventeen years. She absolutely refused to be photographed, her old body a thing of shame to her. Younger stars such as Madonna—who idolized Dietrich and has followed much of her sad trajectory—tried to visit but were refused admittance. So were her friends: She would talk to them on the phone only. She was bed-ridden, addicted to drugs, drinking half a bottle of scotch a day,