She loves me, she loves me not

Margarita Carmen Dolores Cansino was born on October 17th, 1918 in Brooklyn (New York) into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, was a Spanish man who immigrated from Seville to Brooklyn in 1913. He met Rita's mother, Volga Hayworth, a dancer of Irish descent, in 1916 and they married in 1917. They had two boys and a girl, Margarita, who was trained as a dancer in order to follow her parents' steps.

This picture shows her childhood. She's 5 years old.

As a child she was performing on stage with her family, in the short films, 'La Fiesta' and 'Anna Case with the Dancing Cansinos'. When she was 8 years old, the Cansinos opened a dance school and his father worked as a choreographer for Hollywood films. Joining her parents' stage act, at the age of 13, Margarita performed with the Spanish dancing troupe in shows in Mexico. Unfortunately, there were shady secrets in the family. As a teenager, Margarita danced in public with her father as partner. It reads, Margarita was subjected to sexual abuses by her father, Eduardo Cansino.

Margarita and her father. Poor girl :(

That's why she got married to the salesman and promoter Edward C. Judson at the age of 18. But this marriage was even worse. He acted as her manager and took over from his father. Judson negotiated a new contract for her young wife with Columbia Pictures in 1937. It was too hard. First she changed her name to Rita Hayworth and began to go through a transformation from humble latin dancer to a Hollywood superstar.

Margarita Cansino, before the transformation. 

Rita and her husband, the much-older Edward C.Judson.

How did Rita Hayworth change her physical appearance? Her hairline was too low on her forehead and she approved raising it by electrolysis for years. This is a way of removing individual hairs from the face or body, medical electrolysis devices destroy the growth center of the hair with chemical or heat energy. A very fine probe is inserted into the hair follicle at the surface of the skin. The hair is then removed with tweezers. Nowadays it may be very painful!!! I don't want to imagine what it would be in the 1940's. After that, her forehead was higher and she dyed her hair flaming red. She took voice lessons, learned to act and went on a diet too. A hard training, no doubt.

Her first Columbia film was 'Criminals of the air' in 1937. Two years later, she appeared in the film 'Only Angels have wings', starring Cary Grant. During her 5 years of marriage with Edward C.Judson she starred classic movies such as 'Strawberry Blonde' ,1941, with James Cagney, and 'Blood and Sand', 1941, with Tyrone Power as Juan Gallardo. The first one, was shot in black and white, nobody realized her new red hair. Rita, played the character Doña Sol, in 'Blood and Sand' where the matador Juan Gallardo, dazzled by her charms. The public understood why he would leave his good wife, Linda Darnell as Carmen Espinosa. Rita was so gorgeous and in this film she could act as Spanish beauty even though she was now thoroughly Anglicized. Some authors say, her much-older Edward C.Judson used to make her have sex with the most famous producers, to get roles in the movies.

Only Angels have wings (1939)

Strawberry Blonde (1941)

Blood and Sand (1941)

The film was a smash, and Columbia cast her in a series of happy happy dancey dancey films with the master dancer, Fred Astaire. They starred 'You'll never get rich' in 1941. It's amazing watching them!:)

The film was very successfully, and Rita Hayworth appeared on the cover of Time Magazine because she was the hottest Hollywood star. On the magazine , it read she was the new Astaire's lady given that the icon confessed that Rita was his favorite dancing partner instead of Ginger Rogers.

whip-woo!!! (wolf.whistling ;)

Next films were 'My Gal Sal', 'Tales of Manhattan' with Ginger Rogers legend and 'You were never lovelier' with Fred Astaire again, in 1942. During this period,  WWII had broken out, and Rita Hayworth became one of the most popular pin up for soldiers. They used her pic for non-gentleman purposes between the years of 1941 and 1945...and plastering her pictures and others pin up girls on any free surface. Yes! it's true, they used them from their B-17 cockpits to their walls. Did you know it? Next picture showed Hayworth sitting on a bed in a satin nightie. This picture became the second most popular pin up illustration, behind only Betty Grable's iconic white swimsuit pic. The goverment distributed it to relieve soldiers' sexual tension...

Rita, pin up legend.

She divorced Edward C. Judson in 1942. Her next husband was Orson Welles. Love sprang up between them, while he was shooting the film 'Citizen Kane' in 1941. He was her true love. They got married in 1943 and the following year she gave birth to her first daughter, Rebecca Welles. Returning to the screen after, Hayworth starred opposite Gene Kelly in 'Cover Girl in 1944 and went on to star in 'Tonight and Every Night' in 1945, which shows Hayworth dances samba with the song 'You excite me' . Marvelous!!!:)

Orson, Rita and Rebecca. I love this pic, it's so tender!

In 1946, she would be remembered forever, with the film 'Gilda', the femme fatale who drived crazy Glenn Ford and sang 'Put the blame on Mame' capturing the legendary one-glove striptease. If you haven't watched the movie yet, you would love it!. As a curiosity, while her film was still in release, publicity linked her to a widely covered nuclear American bomb test in the South Pacific. Young scientists had put the name of 'Gilda' and Hayworth's image on the bomb, alluding to her bombshell status as a film star. Her husband Orson Welles issued a public statement at the time, saying they would be pleased only if this were the last bomb test ever. Hayworth was furious to be used in this way. 

Around the world (mainly in Spain) people were shocked by the one-glove striptease but however they weren't shocked by the slapping scene...some kinds of censures are pretty funny, aren't they? :O

Put the blame on mame. Legendary scene.

In 1947, Orson Welles directed and starred with Rita Hayworth in 'The Lady of Shanghai', and this film was the end of the couple's marriage. He made Hayworth cut her lovely red curls and dyed it blonde. Why did their marriage end? Welles wanted to renovate her image, with or without Rita's consent. This film took away her main skills, her ability to dance, to make her hair bounce...everything. She ceased to exist as a person. They got divorced after the film was shot.

Blonde Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles.

After that scandal, the studio told her, she had to grow her hair out again. Her next film, 'The Loves of Carmen' an adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera in 1948. Hayworth played Carmen to Glenn Ford’s Don Juan. However the audience expected the bubbly Gilda and they were very disappointed. They weren't the  only ones. By her recent failure, she decided to travel around Europe where she met the famous womanizer Prince Aly Khan. After a very public courtship, Hayworth got married for the third time. During her marriage, she gave birth her second daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, in 1949.

The loves of Carmen (1948)

Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan.

Rita Hayworth and her daughters.

Her wedding was so ostentatious: 500 guests from the United States and Europe feasted on 50 pounds of caviar, 600 bottles of Champagne and other gourmet delights around a swimming pool scented with 200 gallons of perfume. The royal lifestyle and Prince Aly Khan's romantic adventures didn't suit the very shy  Rita Hayworth (she wasn't Gilda), so she returned to the United States after her split from Khan in 1951. Finally thet got divorced in 1953.

Her ostentous wedding.

When she came back to Hollywood, she starred in her fourth film with Glenn Ford, 'Affair in Trinidad' in 1952.  It was notable as Hayworth's return film after four years away from Columbia.

Affair in Trinidad (1952)

A year later, she starred in the Roman-set 'Salome' and as the title role in the South Pacific-set musical 'Miss Sadie Thompson'. Hayworth disappeared from the Hollywood screen for another three years in 1953 after another short-lived marriage, this time to Argentinean popular singer Dick Haymes, best known as Mr. Evil. He had been married three times and had considerable debts. When he got married again, seemed to perceive his financial and professional salvation in Rita Hayworth. She supported Dick through his battles with immigration and the threat of deportation. There were serious death threats against Rita and her daughter Princess Yasmin. Nevertheless the wedding to Dick Haymes went ahead in Las Vegas on 24th September 1953. Child neglect charges were filed against Rita. In the end the court allowed her custody of the two girls but said they would remain under supervision for 3 months as the complaint was fully justified. She spent most of the marriage embroiled in legal disputes of one kind or another. Dick Haymes both verbally and physically abused and controlled her life. He also stirred up trouble between her and Aly Khan. She was divorced from Dick Haymes in 1955. The final straw was an incident where he hit her in public, blacking her eye.

Rita Hayworth and Dick Haymes.

She starred in 'Pal Joey' with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak. By now however her age was starting to show. She married for the fifth time, Jim Hill, a partner in an independent production team. They had a turbulent marriage and Rita was often violent towards him. In 1960 Prince Aly Khan was killed in a car crash. She divorced Hill in 1961. Her final years saw a tragic descent into Alzheimer’s disease, sadly not diagnosed until 1980. She would spent the next 20 years gradually losing herself and every memory of her bittersweet life. Many people thought she was an alcoholic but she continued to make public appearances although her health was getting worse. She was eventually put under the care of her daughter Princess Yasmin Khan, then a grown woman, and spent her final years staring out a window in Central Park West. She died on May 14th 1987 at the age of 68 :(

Rita Hayworth and her daughter, Yasmin.

After reading my post, as far as we know, she had a hard life. Reading the heading, I named this post 'She loves me, she loves me not' because 'Margarita' means 'Daisy' in Spanish. The poor little 'Margarita' pulled her petals off. That's why I am posting a little tribute, for you, wherever you are, love :(

A Spanish embroidered shawl, a black satin glove and a Margarita cocktail. (Some legends say the Margarita cocktail was named for her when she was dancing under her real name in a Tijuana, Mexico nightclub:)

Here to the The Love Goddess! Cheers!

Love,

Lorena Be-Bop

P.S. El post estará traducido próximamente en mi Facebook, pero si quieres leer un post maravilloso en castellano sobre Rita Hayworth, visita el blog 'Diario de una Pin Up Frustrada' :)