Forties Cheesecake Dance No. 1

[jewel1260]

Somehow I fell asleep while she was dancing.

[ATsarIsBorn]

Thanks for the commentary and casting! Yes, there were a lot of camels humping the sands of Hollywood in those days. (I love the guy who comments, "I'm straight and I love this movie!")

[GiselleBellyDancer]

Horrible hands!

[brickvandee]

I'm straight and I love this movie...

[rosecarol76]

she was from the Dominican Republic!!

[fromthesidelines]

Most of Maria's "exotic dancing" WAS doubled by a professional dancer (camouflaged by close-ups and other "diversions")- the same way Marlene Dietrich's "golden leg" dance in "Kismet" (1944) was actually executed by another dancer, with key close-ups of her face and body cleverly covering up that fact...

[zepp4]

A lot of long shots, a veil over her face .. that might not have been her dancing through the entire sequence.

[bixntram]

Two great movie lines from that era:

'Seize him" and:

"After him, you fools!"

[Phoglight]

That was about as undressed one could see a woman in those days, actually right through the fifties and into the sixties. You don't think that pubescent boys went to these movies for the story, do you?

These stories were supplanted by beach movies in the sixties. Also not Oscar material but very well attended.

[bixntram]

"That was about as undressed one could see a woman in those days"

Until Playboy magazine came along. Thank you, Hugh Heffner! What a Godsend - even if the pages often got stuck together (wonder how that happened?).

[fwabblewop]

do you think she realized how ridiculous the dancing looks? you know, once she had seen it herself and all.

[marcco44]

this is not maria dancing... notice the veil. it's a professional dancer in the long-shots with closeups of maria cut in.

[LushBudget]

I grew up watching Maria Montez on TV in all those beautiful Arabian Nights movies. Thanks for posting. She was a mesmerizing woman. A lot of these are now out on DVD, and we can only wonder at the art of Hollywood, the fantasy of it.

[Asheskitty]

it's just my opinion, but I think her dancing isn't very good.

[pwgr2000]

It's competent, by 40s Hollywood standards as it is just hokey "exotic" dancing to create mood. If you mean as genuine bellydance, you are correct. It is stiff and inept, and lacks any real allure or inventiveness.

[CesarBrauer]

Very good, thank you!

[Alcwathwen]

You think he's grow weary if a girl would be going around that cup like she did... :p

Why is this video actually called cheesecake??

[pwgr2000]

From Wikipedia:

"The term "cheesecake" is synonymous with pin-up photo. The earliest documented print usage of this sense of cheesecake is in 1934, predating pin-up, although anecdotes say the phrase was in spoken slang some 20 years earlier, originally in the phrase (said of a pretty woman) "better than cheesecake." In the 1950s, for example, there was a magazine called Cheesecake that had a young Marilyn Monroe in a yellow bikini on its cover in 1953."

[64102256]

She was no mans poor Dorothy Lamour. In fact she was more popular and her name was always listed first. Until she died so young.

[pwgr2000]

The title of "poor man's Dorothy Lamour" made perfect sense to me when I first read it. Maria doesn't sing, she speaks with a thick accent (always a barrier to wide popularity), and I also think her acting skills are not up to Ms Lamour's relaxed and comfortable standards. She always seems a little stiff to me.

Here's what she does have going for her - she is a sultry, Latin beauty and a much better dancer than Dorothy.

Anybody else want to comment?

[64102256]

Of course you are entitled to your opinion,

but Maria Montez in all her movies was listed as no.1. Don't get me wrong I liked Dorothy Lamour also. Especially in her early movies. She faded fast as no1 in her movies whle Montez died. But I still maintain they were equal.

[dinavienna]

oh really? the actress died young??

I'm sorry not to have heard of her so far!

Thank you very much for providing this video for us, pwgr2000!

It is very interesting to see the portrayal of bellydance in the Hollywood movies!

Necla Atesh is a great authentic dancer - but this one one needs to keep in mind, does not do oriental dance at all. SHe behaves "exotically" but really her movements have NOTHING to do with Arab dance. It looks very strange.

Still interesting to watch!

[pwgr2000]

You are absolutely correct. Maria Montez, as far as I know, had no formal training as a belly dancer. She was probably performing moves conceived by a Hollywood choreographer who visualised moves to evoke the "exotic East".

[Gayvert]

she is really good I think she born in dominican republic

[pwgr2000]

That's correct. She was born in Barahona, which is on the south side of the island, on 6 June 1912. In 2002 the population was 77,698. The main industries there were fishing, agriculture, coffee, sugar and textiles (Wikipedia).

While not quite a sleepy seaside village, it would have been a pretty relaxed place when Maria was growing up. She had taught herself English at a young age and in 1932 she married an American banker working in Barahona, later divorced and became a model in NY City.

[lawrence142002]

Technically your info on the Stooges is incorrect. Curly replaced Shemp when he went on his own and then Shemp returned after Curly's strokes.

[pwgr2000]

Thanks for pointing that out. I will update my comments.

[aherna9557]

Well Maria Montez was quite famous in the 40's I guess she photograhed very well in Technicolor that it was said she was the Queen of Technicolor. Poor thing she died a horrible death.

[Rusty350]

Truely...one of the most facinating movie stars that ever lived. Why? Just because she was Maria Montez, the Queen of Technicolor.

[AblePumper]

"Arabian Nights" 1942: Maria Montez as Sheherazade does the Sexy "Dance of Death."

[pianobopp]

TERHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!