"Gilda", our very first muse

Here at Gilda’s Tryst we are inspired by the feel-good glamour of bygone eras – from la belle epoque, to the Roaring 20s to Studio 54. We draw creatively on books, music, films and fashion. And our very first muse and namesake was Gilda, the character played by Rita Hayworth in the 1946 film noir. Gilda was glamorous, naughty, playful, sparkly – and much of her spirit is in us.


So here is a little about her tragic story... 


Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn to a Spanish immigrant father and an Irish-American mother, on October 17 1918. Her parents were dancers and Rita was trained to dance from early childhood. She became her father’s public dance partner from the age of 14 and made her debut film appearance dancing in the family troupe in La Fiesta (1926). Stuck between an alcoholic mother and a tyrannical father, Rita had a troubled childhood. In her teens, she met Eddie Judson, a former oilman turned promoter, 22 years her senior, who metamorphosed the Spanish brunette into a beautiful redhead, and really pushed her into film. She married him in 1937.

Rita had taken her first steps into the world of cinema under the name of Rita Cansino but at the encouragement of Eddie, changed to Rita Hayworth for her eleventh film. She played alongside Fred Astaire in "O Thou My Lovely" and "Love Comes In Dancing" and then won the main role in the soon-to-become legendary film "Gilda" (1946) with Glenn Ford.

The role changed her life, and to the public Rita started to become synonymous with Gilda. Rita Hayworth is famously reported to have said "Every man I have known has gone to bed with Gilda and wakened with me". Between 1944 and 1947, Rita became one of the most valuable stars in Hollywood.

Though her career was a success, her personal life was not. After years of enduring mental abuse and threats of physical violence from Eddie, Rita divorced him in 1943 citing cruelty. He exited the marriage with much of Rita’s wealth, but she was reportedly just happy to be free. That very same year, she married Orson Welles. There was now another dramatic change in look; as Welles – wishing to break the strong association with Gilda - made her cut her hair and dye it platinum blond for the role in which he cast her in 'The Lady from Shanghai (1948)’. She had her first daughter, Rebecca, with him but they divorced a few short years later in 1948.

By now, unhappy and drinking heavily, her career slowed down dramatically. Rita played again alongside Glenn Ford a further two occasions in “The Loves of Charmen” (1948) and "The Affair of Trinibad" (1952). They were her last big successes.

In 1949 Rita married the playboy prince Aly Khan, son of Agha Khan 3rd, Head of Ismaili Muslims, and they had a daughter,Yasmine. Aly tried to hold Rita back from her acting, and she fled her golden exile in 1953, making her way back to studios. Aly fought Rita for custody of their daughter.

The year she left Aly, Rita married for the fourth time; this time to Dick Haymes, a lounge singer whose career was on the decline. Dick had been married when he first met Gilda, and also owed tens of thousands in back taxes and child support. Their apparently tumultuous marriage kept Rita off the screen for four years. With Dick’s salary seized by the IRS and Rita off the screen, the two faced considerable financial problems. Rita who was still in a custody battle with Aly Khan, sent her kids to live with a nanny. After a troubled two years together, in 1955, Haymes apparently hit Hayworth in public at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and Hayworth walked out on him.

Between 1952 and 1965, Rita only appeared in nine movies. Although they were alongside renowned actors, such as Robert Mitchum (1957), Deborah Kerr and David Niven(1958), Gary Cooper and Van Helflin(1959), John Wayne (1964), Rita was no longer making headlines and gradually withdrew from Hollywood.

She was married one last time, to James Hill, a film producer and writer – the marriage lasted only from 1958 to 1961 and she left him citing mental cruelty. Rita sank irreconcilably into alcohol, and was publically diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She was eventually put under the care of her daughter Yasmin, then a grown woman, and spent her final years staring out a window in Central Park West. She died on May 16, 1987, aged 68, in New York.

Throughout her life Rita had endured drastic transformations and troubles; from erasure of her Latin heritage in name and look, to mental abuse and manipulation at the hands of multiple men.  Nevertheless, she remains an icon who fascinated a whole generation and still has the power to do so. She embodied beauty and femininity on the 40’s movie screens and was considered one of the greatest actresses of her time.

   

And now a little about the movie....

Gilda is a 1946 American film noir directed by Charles Vidor, staring Rita Hayworth in her signature role as a definite femme fatale.

In a few words, and without any spoilers, the movie is set in a glamorous ‘illegal’ casino in post WW2 Buenos Aires, where a sinister boss of a South American casino finds out that his right-hand man Johnny and his sensuous new – and much younger - wife Gilda already know each other.

One of our favourite scenes is the (in)famous ‘striptease’ scene in which Gilda sashays and sings “Put the Blame on Mame” removing only a glove. We could watch it again and again!