Jaq, 27. Life-long Washingtonian (the state, not the city). Pan-asexual. Permanently and purposely unattached. Genderqueer. Geek. Eclectic agnostic. Progressive socialist. Writer. Coffee enthusiast. Activist. Humanitarian. Ridiculous human being. Proceed with extreme caution. I apologize for (almost) nothing in here.
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This reminds me of something my Grandma used to say, “Common sense sure isn’t that common.” ~ Kim
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I had to do more research because this blew my mind. I found this article on Crack.com
One of the defining silver screen sex symbols, Rita Hayworth was born with the much less American-sounding name, Margarita Carmen Cansino.
She was raised in a Spanish dance family, and spent much of her childhood dancing in bars (see? It’s totally a legitimate way to raise a kid.) After Hayworth, er, Cansino’s father moved the family to Hollywood, the 16-year-old signed with Fox studios. She tried a few minor roles, but never got her big break. Fox studios decided not to renew her option.
The Metamorphosis:
Columbia Pictures came along and, not being much for political correctness, pretty much told Cansino that her lack of success was due to her being way too Spanish-y. So, Cansino agreed to go along with a few surgical processes, such as:
A. Painful Hairline Electrolysis
Cansino had a low hairline, which pegged her as a Latina. This is the same discrimination which kept Vega out of the World Warrior tournament, until he wore a mask to conceal his hairline.
Cansino submitted to getting electric shocks to kill her follicles and stop them from growing. Keep in mind this is the 1930s, when “anaesthesiology” usually meant “stroking your hand while you chugged from a flask of bourbon.” Next time you have a hot hair curler or a live wire, poke yourself in the forehead with it several hundred times. Now you’re as pretty as Rita Hayworth… well, not yet, you still need some…
B. Skin Lightening
Now that you’ve got fresh shock marks on your forehead, scrub them with this bleach solution. That’s exactly what Cansino did, all over her entire body. Skin lightening is a dangerously unregulated practice even now, but it was significantly worse 70 years ago. But, Cansino wasn’t done yet, before she signed with Columbia, she also had to have a…
C. Hair Color and Name Change
Carmen Cansino became Rita Hayworth. Her dark hair was died auburn. The transformation complete, Rita Hayworth now looked Saltine enough for Columbia:
Not five years before, the young immigrant’s daughter was dancing in smoky bars for coins. After her “honky-fication,” she became the hottest thing in sanctioned Armed Forces self-pleasure. A picture of her kneeling on a bed in a nightgown sold 5 million copies. Her likeness was fashioned on the side of atomic bombs.
Columbia starred Hayworth in many successful pictures, most notably, Gilda. Rita Hayworth found herself dancing with stars like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Eventually, she settled down and married a prince.
The next time somebody tells you the path to success is “just be yourself,” tell them Rita’s inspirational story. It’s all about skin-bleaching.
Read more: 5 Celebrity Careers Launched by Ethnic Makeovers | Cracked.comWoah. Those 2 pics look nothing alike. Wow
I can’t believe people didn’t know this? It’s been generally known stuff about Rita for years…
I have had this picture open in a tag for weeks, so I figured I’d reblog it. Just, the contrast…perform a hugely painful and utter transformation of yourself: it’s scary to think that’s what women are asked to do.
its scary to think that’s what popular women of color are forced to do to assimilate into white culture.
dont think this is a simple case of “go on a diet and you’ll be famous!”
this a complete erasure of this woman’s race so she’d appear more white.
Santoine: I think we reblogged this before, but here it is again
she was so pretty. and this is really horrifying. however, I would like to point out that this was a long time ago, when blackface was still used for the portrayal of black characters. We’ve come a long way. I’m not saying it is not hard for a woman of color to get a job in show business, it probably is. At least harder than for a white woman. But it isn’t nearly as extreme as this.
A long time ago?
Skin bleaching is so popular for a reason.
It’s still as extreme, just more insidious.
I’ve been thinking about Moffat’s comment about how Elementary will ruin the “brand” of Sherlock Holmes and shouldn’t even be considered an adaptation because they’ve “changed too much” yet when Moffat was trying to defend his choice to bring Sherlock into modern times he said “Everyone’s favorite adaptation of Emma is Clueless”
Clueless, where they take a classic British story and bring it into modern day America. Okay Moffat.
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(via Too Gallant: Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge)
Jane Avril’s flinchingly high kick on the poster for her Jardin de Paris performance is perhaps the most defining image of turn-of-the-century Paris. Even at the time, Avril credited the Toulouse-Lautrec designed poster with launching her career, and now it’s become one of the most widely reproduced posters of all time.
However most peoples’ knowledge of the enigmatic dancer largely ends here … The daughter of an abusive alcoholic courtesan, Avril (then Jeanne Richepin) fled home aged thirteen only to be incarcerated in a mental asylum.
She was diagnosed with Syndenham’s chorea, a condition characterised by the rapid, jerking movements of the hands and feet. At one of the balls held for hospital patients, however, she astounded her doctors and fellow patients with her dancing: Avril channelled her ailment into the medium of dance, explaining her infamous eccentric style and later earning her the nickname La Mélinite (after a powerful form of explosive).how come we never hear these stories? how come we are constantly erasing disability and people with disabilities lives from history? i was just having this conversation after actually having my jaw drop when i was in a room of art buffs who all claimed to know and love frida kahlo’s work and life… and were trying to DEBATE with me that she didn’t have disabilities.
Disabled people are erased from history because everyone knows that Glee invented the idea of disabled people with talent.
But seriously though this story is fucking awesome.
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“How do you know all of this stuff?” “Uh… internet?”
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so now that Chris Evans has twitter is he just going to tweet about his daily life?
“just helped a little old lady cross the street”
“just played catch with an orphan”
“just saved a cat from a burning building”
“the cat didnt make it but I smiled and it came back to life”
“then i helped clean up the debris from the burning building”
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Shadowfax doesn’t always start up too smoothly.
And here it is, a Broship of the Ring anniversary offering! I drew it while watching The Fellowship of the Ring with my family tonight, just like old times. It should be big enough to use as a desktop wallpaper if you should so desire!
