I think it's a great nickname but I don't really get what it's supposed to imply about the person that it applies to. Was there an explanation in the book? We called him Marlene Dietrich...because he had penciled on eyebrows?...because he had zillions of lovers?...because he "switched sides" (euphemistically and literally--Marlene was Bi and she was a German that strongly supported the Allies)? Any ideas?
http://saucybetty.blogspot.com
Because he was effeminate, probably a homosexual, Marlene Dietrich was bisexual.
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Wow. I did not know that about Marlene Dietrich. I always thought she was this blonde Hollywood bombshell sex goddess. I never figured in that she was Bi.
This is my signature and I'm sticking to it. lol
It is ano†her way of saying that he was a prima donna. Shaving in front of one of his s†aff was only one facet of this trait.
shareAgree with the other posters. It either meant the Advisor was fussy, or that he was gay/bisexual. Probably both.
I read the book a few years ago but there was no mention of this nickname, to the best of my recollection. Smiley/Dobbs's boss was a man named Mason, I think, whom he despised for his rudeness and lack of imagination and for not being from the 'old school'. He looked quite a lot like Smiley's much later boss, Saul Enderby, actually.
" You ain't running this place, Bert, WILLIAMS is!" Sgt Harris
It would be closer to the truth to say,
that the derogatory term for 'gay' meant :
"He looked like a man... but was actually a woman"