Here's an intriguing bit I never noticed before:
http://www.oocities.org/hollywood/5555/dietrich.html
During Rath's first night at The Blue Angel, a disturbing, slack-faced clown wanders aimlessly about, pushed here and there by various people as they move through the back rooms of the club. In spatial terms, Rath and the clown begin very far from one another, standing almost at opposite sides of the screen, but as the scenes progress, they move closer and closer together, until Rath finally pushes the clown aside himself. After that night, the clown mysteriously disappears altogether, but we see his costume and make-up much later, worn by the utterly decrepit Rath. Expelled from his original profession, almost penniless, and worn down both physically and mentally by a loveless five-year marriage to Lola, Rath finally becomes the parti-colored buffoon, a figure that represents not only the soulless, carnival atmosphere of the nightclub, but also a fragment of his own psyche, the dark and masochistic part of himself that is drawn inexorably to ridicule and destruction.
Perhaps he is taking a last look at the life he used to lead before he met Lola?
Think the clown was once in a relationship with Lola? Would be interesting if true.
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