Elisabeth Handl, a young Austrian dancer-turned-actress, embarked on a new journey in her life by marrying Walter Reisch, a renowned Austrian comedy writer-producer. Reisch's greatest Viennese film success was Maskerade, a comedy that premiered in 1934 and starred the talented Paula Wessely as Leopoldine "Poldi" Dur, a prim secretary.
The coincidence between the fictional name "Poldi Dur" and the name of a scandalous nude model led to numerous misunderstandings and complications in the film. In 1938, the Reisches decided to relocate to the United States, where Walter Reisch enjoyed significant success as a writer and later producer.
Elisabeth Handl, who had previously acted in small roles in a few Hollywood films between 1941 and 1944, usually playing young foreign-accented women, including Hitler's niece in one film. However, for her second career in the United States, Elisabeth Handl Reisch changed her name to "Poldi Dur," which her husband had lifted from the heroine of his 1934 film Maskerade.
It is believed that the Reisches changed her name to avoid confusion with the established actress Elissa Landi. If Walter Reisch had remade Maskerade in Hollywood, with his wife playing the lead role, the casting would have been quite astonishing, with actress "Poldi Dur" playing the character "Poldi Dur."
