Rodgers and Hammerstein Nellie Forbush, and opera star Ezio Pinza starred as Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner. Also in the cast were Juanita Hall, Myron McCormick and Betta St. John. The 1958 film version, also directed by Logan, starred Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi, John Kerr, Ray Walston, and Juanita Hall. Brazzi, Kerr, and Hall had their singing dubbed by others. Based on Margaret Landon's "Anna and the King of Siam"—the story of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s—Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I opened on Broadway on March 29, 1951,
Anna Leibbrand and Anna Schlotterbeck were released from prison early in 1956, however. Release was followed by the usual unpublicised rehabilitation and quiet readmission into the ruling SED (party). The punishment was deleted from the official record in 1957. Friedrich and Anna Schlotterbeck settled in Groß Glienicke near Potsdam, supporting themselves by writing books and radio plays. They wrote several radio plays together including "Die Memoiren der Frau Viktoria" (1962), and became close friends with fellow writers and Christa Wolf. In 1968 Anna Schlotterbeck prepared a manuscript entitled ""Hohenschönhausen, Zelle 51"", which dealt with her experiences of state detention in East Germany,