Some of the gold paint used in Kismet
is still doing the rounds at the museum in Berlin housing Dietrich's
collection, seventy years after the film was made. It's fitting, as
her gilt legs – in that Jack Cole-choreographed dance – and the
loopy wigs she wore in it, are what the movie is remembered for.
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| Marlene with designer Irene. |
At that point in her career, an Arabian detour seemed fated for Marlene. She'd already done
Scheherazade on radio (playing the title role and the slave
girl and the monarch), and producer Edward Small announced
that he was preparing an Egyptian-set film romance, Bella Donna,
for her, to be released by United Artists.
The latter didn't materialise, but
Kismet did – at MGM, where stars were “flattered and
spoiled”. She thought her role (as Jamilla, in Baghdad by way of
Macedonia) was “impossible”, but her star salary would cover
expenses back home during her upcoming overseas USO tours. Marlene
“couldn't be happier,” Screenland gushed
about the star's
new two picture deal at Metro, before wondering
aloud if it was “true
that she wasn't invited to the wedding when her daughter married
recently. 'Tis rumored.”
While MGM was putting the final
pre-production touches on its piece of exotica, Marlene divided her time between duties as Orson Welles' assistant in his Mercury
Wonder Show on Cahuenga Boulevard – where she had replaced Rita
Hayworth – and doing shifts at the nearby Hollywood Canteen.
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| Mind reader Orson Welles' assistants, Rita Hayworth (soon-to-be Mrs Welles) and Marlene Dietrich using the power of suggestion. |
Principal photography on the film
started in late October 1943. Costume designer Irene devised golden
chainmail harem pants for Marlene to wear during her big dance
number. These would “jingle” and “glitter” as Marlene lolled
around on black lacquer floors (with the actual dancing provided by
an uncredited contract dancer).
Marlene and her dance double.
On the first day of shooting of the
number, Stravinsky boomed on loudspeakers on the sound stage and
Marlene went into her dance. She later remembered: “Suddenly all
one heard was crack, crack, crack, the sound of the chainlets
breaking, one after the other, then two, six at a time, until I stood
there without pants . . . General panic.”
Marlene, aware of schedules and budgets, went into practical mode. “'Gold,' I thought, 'how is a golden effect achieved on the screen?' It occurred to me to paint my legs with gold paint.”
This was done and – although the
paint starved her legs from oxygen, causing hypothermia – she
thought it looked “simply fabulous” on-screen.
They looked “fabulous” on Broadway too, where they dominated the huge billboard of the
Astor Theatre. Kismet opened
there on
22 August 1944 (replacing Bathing Beauty)
and
set a house record when it grossed $310
000 in its 11 week run in New York. Film Daily
in its review thought Marlene was “stunning” and “definitely
something for the boys.”
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| Betty Grable also has Kismet on her mind. |
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| Abbott and Costello's Lost in a Harem recycled sets and costumes from Kismet. |