Dietrich carried out her education at the Auguste-Viktoria Girls’ School and graduated from the Victoria-Luisen-Schule. There, she studied the violin but also became passionate about theater and poetry. While an injury to her wrist prevented her career as a concert violinist, her first job was playing violin in a pit orchestra to accompany silent film screenings in Berlin. After four weeks on the job, she was fired. Next, Dietrich found work as a chorus girl in several Berlin revues, unsuccessfully auditioning for theatrical director Max Reinhardt’s drama academy.
Despite this audition, she continued to work as a chorus girl and even carried out several small dramatic roles under the new stage name of Marlene Dietrich. As a child, Dietrich was nicknamed “Lena” and “Lene”, leading her to combine her first name and nickname in order to form what would become her new first name—Marlene.
