Rita vs. Lynda: Put The Blame on Mame

She also lacked the cinematography and make up department. Lynda would have made more sense as Jane Russell.

Lynda had regained the facial fat she lost after the WWI episodes of Wonder Woman.

Debra Winger called Lynda a mannequin in an interview she had years ago when she was asked about working with Lynda on her WONDER WOMAN show. I felt bad for Debbie because she was saddled with that awful wig that made her look like someone’s mom dressed up like Wonder Woman for Halloween.

I was always curious about why Lynda’s singing career never really took off.

I remember being very excited to watch this when it first aired as I loved Rita Hayworth (and still do). I was skeptical about Wonder woman playing her, but glad Rita was getting such exposure.

Needless to say the movie was a disappointment. Not awful, just dull and boring and low budget. And Lynda was no Rita Hayworth though she tried.

With Julian Fellowes as "Aly Khan's chauffeur".

I loved this trend in early 80s tv movies. Loni and Arnold as Jayne and Mickey, too.

[Quote] I was always curious about why Lynda’s singing career never really took off.

Check out clips from her TV specials on YouTube. You'll get your answer.

Compared to Rita, Lynda looks like she's in some community theater production.

Lynda also wasn't much of a mover. She had a killer body, better than Rita's, though.

Lynda wasn’t awful. But Rita looked so spontaneous; she seemed to be enjoying every second of it. Lynda’s performance felt so choreographed. There was no way she could have been expected to bring Rita’s effortless sensuality to her singing.

As far as Lynda Carter’s singing career goes, I’ve never seen her live. But I do see ads for her gigs at some of NY’s posher clubs. I can imagine her singing wouldn’t distract you from your dinner.

R10 I rewatched Gilda recently and Rita really holds up in the charisma department.

Lynda is a lounge singer.

Lynda's not a bad singer at all. Not a very distinctive voice, but a good one.

I guess you don't give a shit about phrasing etc.

FUN FACT: In John Kobal's excellent book "People Will Talk", costume designer Jean Louis revealed that he had also designed a gorgeous sleeveless white fur vest, with the intention that Rita Hayworth wear it over his iconic "Gilda" gown. He expressed regret that the film's director opted only to show it being dragged across the floor before quickly tossing it aside; without the audience ever getting a chance to see the complete look he created.

After scouring the internet, I was able to find ONE photo of Rita actually wearing the sleeveless white fur over her "Gilda" dress. Unfortunately, it's only a closeup upper body shot and we still can't see Jean Louis' complete vision.

Her singing isn’t bad. Today they’d use auto tune to make her sound better.

Fun fact: Anita Ellis (who dubbed RH's singing voice) was Larry Kert's sister. She lived to be 95.

Lynda's hair in that clip ruins the effect because of all the frizz. I don't know if they did that on purpose to make her hair more "modern" (it was made in the early 80's) but it's very distracting.

Rita was pregnant while filming the scene. The black outfit was designed to disguise her baby bump.

That makes no sense. It's a shiny black outfit, not matte.

I remember reading that Jean Louis' "Mame" strapless frock was dark green, registering as black on screen.

RH had almost no torso, so he was a genius at giving her the illusion of one.

She'd be clowned for that flatt butt these days.

Those Golden Age Hollywood beauty makers worked wonders.

Ann Jillian played Mae West in a tv movie around this same time. And yes, it was just as horrible as you could imagine.

Loni Anderson’s turn as Jayne Mansfield was simply terrible. She wasn’t nearly as pretty and her shape was not even close to Jayne’s hourglass figure.

I agree with r10.

The biggest difference was that Lynda's seemed very rehearsed and choreographed will Rita just seemingly winged it. Lynda moves more like a dancer.

Also, in the key moments, like when she's removing the glove, Rita is a lot more alluring. Rita really plays it up almost as if she's removing lingerie, rather than a glove.

Lynda does not move like a dancer at all. She can't even do arms.

[Quote] Rita just seemingly winged it

Bless your fucking heart.

A true embarrassment was Jennifer Love Hewitt as Audrey Hepburn.

Did Barrie Youngfellow get to play anyone of note?

Rita Hayworth was not pregnant when she filmed Gilda. She gave birth to Rebecca Welles in Dec, 1944. Gilda filmed from September to December, 1945.

Her next child, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, was born in December, 1949.

Cheryl Ladd as Grace Kelly was a washout too.

R30, Barrie played Joan Crawford in the “Movieola” miniseries, the episode about the making of Gone With the Wind. She was excellent.

Here’s the Moviola episode with Barrie Youngfellow as Joan.

[quote] Rita Hayworth was not pregnant when she filmed Gilda. She gave birth to Rebecca Welles in Dec, 1944. Gilda filmed from September to December, 1945.

So R19 just made up a complete lie?

Rita looks like a goddess. Linda looks like a drunk on karaoke night.

I've seen the genuine Gilda dress in person. It was so tiny it couldn't zip all the way up the back on a department store mannequin.

It was said she still had a baby weight belly which is why Jean Louis had the bow at the waist.

Here's a video on the dress.

Rita Hayworth was a wonder every time she had a chance to dance or do a number, even if they replaced her singing. She was luminescent.

Lynda? TV movie?

No, OP.

Show a little dignity, for Christ's sake.

We all lacked the sinuous, slinky elegance of Rita's era, OP. :(

Add Sondra Locke's 1982 turn as Rosemary Clooney to the "Early 80s Made-For-TV Shobiz Bio" Craze.

Loni Anderson was not attractive, her face was pretty busted. She was all blonde hair and big tits. Suzanne Somers was the same. Without the tits and blonde hair, they were not pretty women.

[quote] It was said she still had a baby weight belly

A year after giving birth?

She ate because she was depressed at the time being married to Orson Welles who was never home.

Loni was pretty as a brunette as well.

Rita always appears so statuesque and larger than life on screen. But then I'm always surprised to see her dancing with Fred Astaire and she's shorter than he was and he was tiny, 5'7" and 135 lbs., so she was actually quite diminutive.

We all had to flats to dance with Fred.

... wear flats ...

But not Rita, Annie! Rita wore heels with Mr. Astaire.

Kick up your heels!

Google says she was 5.5 feet.

In terms of expression, Lynda's singing is as vacant and non-specific as her acting. But she loves the heartfelt, bluesy songs and tries to get by on her voice, and her pipes are impressive, even now. She keeps teasing in her act, talking like she's gonna really give it to us and show us how it's done, but then she never really delivers on that. Her movement is stiff and awkward. She sometimes does the Wonder Woman spins, but she doesn't sing the song.

Seen her in two rooms in NYC and she at least has the sense to surround herself with great Nashville studio guys and backup singers, so even though she's the worst musician up there and has the least "soul", it's still a great show. And not a cheap one for her to produce, she uses a full mini-band, she doesn't just get out there with a piano or trio and take the money and run. She also doesn't stage door/meet fans after for pictures and chat very much.

What's ironic is that if you read her social media it's clear LC is a great, great gal who isn't afraid to speak out about her causes. I don't think she needs to work, the singing and album making is a kind of paid hobby. She was a Washington wife for a long time, so she married well. She's newly widowed and she's been really openhearted about her grieving process and how her love for her husband continues.

Lynda looks like she is wearing a Korean wig.

[quote]She also doesn't stage door/meet fans after for pictures and chat very much.

I don't blame anybody for not doing this. There are so many crazies out there if I were a famous person I'd be worried for my safety. A meet and greet at a stage door is a very confined space and it would be easy for some nut to do something awful.

Lynda's late husband was filthy fucking rich, she has no money worries. She recently bought a $15 million condo somewhere in Florida.

Lynda's cover of Rickie Lee Jones' "Danny's All Star Joint" is actually pretty cute.

Btw, can facetune be applied to every frame of a moving image?

[quote]Barrie played Joan Crawford in the “Movieola” miniseries...

In GOWNS BY TRAVILLA!

"She sometimes does the Wonder Woman spins"

How can she do this on stage?

I thought Lynda was having drinking issues during that time period of her Rita movie, hence the somewhat bloated face?...

There’s an episode of the Carol Burnett show, ca. 1970-ish, and Rita is a guest and does her own singing in a number with Carol. Surprisingly, her voice is better than one would expect given the fact she was always dubbed in her films. Much better than Roz Russell’s voice, of Cyd Charisse’s.

She was in rehearsal to replace Lauren Bacall in Applause when Bacall left, and the producers sadly realized she simply couldn’t do the part, due to the effects of Alzheimer’s.

When isn't Lynda having drinking issues?

Imagine the gay bar scene in APPLAUSE if Rita had joined the cast as planned?

R57 I always loved it on the specials when Lynda tried to really go rock and roll.

Lynda allegedly quit drinking a long time ago. But don't they all say that?

pity Carol's Gilda parody Golda is hard to find unless you get that huge Carol DVD collection.

Off Topic, but I wonder is Lynda still good friends with Chris Evert..

A great shot of Rita.

R62 - she keeps her empties in her invisible plane.

Rita wasn't pregnant when she made Gilda, but she was pregnant when she made Tonight and every Night the previous year to Gilda. It was a musical so they shot the dance number early in the production. Here's her opening number, in which she dances Jack Cole, the choreographer of this film as well as Gilda.

She dances with Cole, who stepped in for another dancer. Note how the backup women all have RH hairstyles.

I've never seen that film R70, was it decent?

Janet Blair co-stars. She thought she could be the next Rita but the public disagreed.

[quote]Rita just seemingly winged it

[quote]Bless your fucking heart.

Idiots like you are why people buy into all the nonsense that cheeto spouted.

I said she "seemingly winged it" not that she didn't rehearse it. The point was that it came across as more spontaneous, carefree, and light.

Bless YOUR stupid heart.

Your phrasing was poor. Own it.

[Quote] She keeps teasing in her act, talking like she's gonna really give it to us and show us how it's done, but then she never really delivers on that.

Well then, she's not getting 88 cents out of me!

[Quote] Rita just seemingly winged it. Lynda moves more like a dancer.

Speaking of stupid...

Tonight and Every Night is a decent movie. Not in the same league as Rita's musicals with Astaire and Kelly, but it attempts a serious story line about a London musical revue theater committed to staying open during the London Blitz. Rita is the standout in this. Janet Blair is fine as Rita's friend, but she's no Rita Hayworth. Lee Bowman makes for a pallid leading man and love interest for Rita.

[Quote] I said she "seemingly winged it" not that she didn't rehearse it.

You also said Lynda moves more like a dancer, which she doesn't.

Lynda does move more like a dancer - a dancer whose recovering from polio.

When was Lynda drinking heavily?

I thought it was in the late 90s / early 00s.

[Quote] When was Lynda drinking heavily?

Check out her TV interviews from the last decade...

[Quote] After scouring the internet, I was able to find ONE photo of Rita actually wearing the sleeveless white fur over her "Gilda" dress.

MARY!

I saw an interview Lynda did on tv maybe 2 years ago and she sounded like she might have been a bit tipsy.

There was an interview with, I think, Katie Couric. Also, one with that Doctor guy (not Drew). Lynda was blotto.

This is Lynda on Dr. Oz's show from 2018. She does kind of sound like she had a few backstage.

How long was her husband ill? That might have sent her back to the bottle.

R86... she just talks and sounds different, yes, i know she is getting up there in age, but just strange to me....

Lynda is looking very "refreshed" lately.

Cringy. I would never return to that night club if the headliner of the night was giving that hammy performance. Terrible song and terrible choreography in the original and remake.

The original musical number with Rita Hayworth is one of the most famous musical numbers ever. She was magic in that scene and impossibly gorgeous.

No one can forget Connie Stevens as Marilyn Monroe.

Were there different cuts of Connie's "The Sex Symbol"? A theatrical version with nudity and a TV friendly version?

[Quote] Played with little‐girl hysteria by Connie Stevens, who looks more like an aging Ginger Rogers than a developing Marilyn Monroe

[quote]I've seen the genuine Gilda dress in person.

No one knows where it is, and if you saw it back when Forrest J Ackerman owned it, no one is sure he owned the original. It was going to be sold at his estate auction but it was removed, and the rumor was that it wasn't authentic so the auction house withdrew the lot.

I remember seeing the eBay auction in 2009 that was supposedly the Ackerman "Gilda" dress but it closed without a seller, best anyone could tell. Was only up for less than a day.

Patsy Kensit doing the same number

Wow, Patsy’s take is superior to Lynda’s…

Vocal by Minnie Mouse.

angie lansbury so fab on bway in MAME ! LUCY SUCKED DIRT.

Grew up hate-watching all these TV bio pics and TV specials! "Let's get a TV light-weight to play a legend!" Or "Here's a TV bimbo showing her "range!"

Oh, and Cheryl Ladd as Grace Kelly...