Double Feature: Rita Hayworth

From early childhood, Rita Hayworth was a dancer. At age twelve, when she was still Margarita Cansino, her father Eduardo took her out of school and made her his dance partner in a traveling nightclub act. She even made her first film appearances with her father in two early musical shorts, La Fiesta and Anna Case with the Dancing Cansinos (both 1926).

Rita would not appear in another film until 1934, when she truly started her quest to be a movie star as an extra in Cruz Diablo. She spent the rest of the decade in unremarkable supporting roles, primarily for 'B' westerns and crime flicks. When she finally signed a contract with Columbia, studio head Harry Cohn tested his new actress with leads in the musicals Music in My Heart and Angels Over Broadway (both 1940). However, Rita made her breakthrough on loan to Warner Bros. with a supporting role in the big budget musical, The Strawberry Blonde (1941). That same year, she was also a huge sensation as the siren Dona Sol in Blood and Sand.

The roles that pushed Hayworth to stardom perfectly display the dichotomy that made her so fascinating. With her expressive dancing, bright presence and vibrant beauty she was one of the most appealing stars of forties musicals. However, she could easily transform the bouncing curls and open smile of a musical star into the swinging mane and naughty grin of a sleek film noir temptress.

Hayworth played both roles equally well, but as her most famous performance is as a lush seductress in Gilda (1946), time has favored her film noir bad girl side. It is a shame that her musical accomplishments are not as celebrated. Here are two films that show why they should be.

You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
Directed by: William A. Seiter
Also starring: Fred Astaire, Adolph Menjou, Xavier Cugat

In her second and final screen pairing with Fred Astaire (they also made You'll Never Get Rich in 1941), Hayworth holds her own with one of the most accomplished dancers in Hollywood. As Pauline Kael once wrote, she isn't as good a physical match with Astaire as Ginger Rogers was; her glamour girl aura tends to overwhelm angular and slim-shouldered Astaire. Still, they seem to draw energy from each other and their routines to the lively Latin soundtrack are electrifying. Though both enjoyed working together, Astaire insisted that this film be their last; after long pairings with Adele Astaire and Rogers, he did not want to be in another famous partnership.

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