Time to celebrate the most glamours star of the 1940s.
Rita Hayworth was trained to be a professional dancer in early childhood and began her film career in the mid 1930s. She went on to star in several musicals including "Cover Girl" with Gene Kelly and "You Were Never Lovelier" and "You'll Never Get Rich" with Fred Astaire. Her sultry turn in the 1946 noir "Gilda" caused a worldwide sensation and is the film considered her most famous. In 1948 she teamed with her second husband Orson Welles for the noir "Lady from Shanghai". Dubbed "The Love Goddess", she was one of the top pin ups of WWII and she devoted a considerable amount of time to entertaining soldiers at The Hollywood Canteen. Sadly, she was the first public figure to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and died in 1987. Her daughter Yasmin is active in raising funds for Alzheimer's research around the world. Click HERE to read more about her work.
The Recipe
This recipe is from the book "Famous Stars Favorite Foods", which was published in 1938 and edited by Fannie Sniff.
Special Guest
Danny Miller is a journalist, editor and film history expert. He also co-authored the book "About Face: The Life and Times of Dottie Ponedel: Make-up Artist to the Stars" with Meredith Ponedel. He's been very generous about letting me invade his 1909 Craftsman home to shoot this episode!
Lara Gabrielle is a writer and film historian. Her new book Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies was recently released from UC Press. She writes book reviews, festival coverage, and pieces on the history, theory and culture of film on her blog Backlots. You can find the book on Amazon or at Larry Edmund's Bookshop in Hollywood.
Caren Roberts-Frenzel has one of the largest collections of Rita Hayworth photos in the world. She appeared in a documentary about Rita Hayworth for E! Entertainment Television and is a consultant for Bonham's Auction House. She authored the book "Rita Hayworth A Photographic Retrospective".
The Final Result
Danny made the cake for this episode. He followed the directions to the letter and the cake turned out well. It was a bit dense, but we added lots of berries and enjoyed it.
Caren says Rita Hayworth never cooked, but there are TONS of publicity photos in the kitchen.
There are lots of Rita Hayworth films on DVD, Streaming and Turner Classic Movies.
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