Rita Cadillac

Rita Cadillac (1936 - 1995) was a French striptease artist, who appeared in a dozen French crime films in the 1950’s and 1960’s.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/297. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Agonizing Slowness
Rita Cadillac was born as Nicole Yasterbelsky in Paris, France, in 1936. At age 18, she began making a name for herself as an exotic dancer on the stage at Paris’ famous Crazy Horse Saloon. Rachel Shteir writes in her book on the history of striptease that Cadillac did complicated, highly produced, funny, sexy numbers. In one of her most famous boudoir acts, set in a 1880’s Arizona honky-tonk, Cadillac removed her white corset with green polka dots and her black tulle gloves with an agonizing slowness, that inspired total silence in the theatre. Her well-proportioned form became legendary in European popular culture circles. She used her pseudonym also for her records and films. Between 1959 and 1962 she recorded witty and racey songs like Ne comptez pas sur moi - pour me montrer toute nue (Don’t Count on Me to Show Myself Totally Nude), Adonis, C'est fou (It's Crazy) and J'ai peur de coucher toute seule (I'm Afraid to Sleep All Alone). At the time, a couple of Scopitone clips were made of her songs.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/296. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Body Double
Rita Cadillac appeared in a dozen films, both in leading roles and in small supporting parts, often doing a striptease number. She made her film debut in Soirs de Paris/Paris’ Evenings (1954, Jean Laviron), a sexploitation film about the night life of Paris. More interesting were Gueule d'ange/Pleasures and Vices (1955, Marcel Blistène) with Viviane Romance, the film-noir Jusqu'au dernier/Until the Last One (1957, Pierre Billon) starring Jeanne Moreau, and the espionage thriller Me faire ça à moi/Do That to Me (1960, Pierre Grimblat) with Eddie Constantine. The most distinguished of her films of the 1950’s was René Clément's Gervais (1956), for which, ironically enough, she received no credit, merely serving in one scene as the body double for Suzy Delair, who was 20 years her senior.


American poster for the Spanish sexploitation film Juventud a la intemperie/The Unsatisfied (1961).

Opera
In the early 1960’s Rita Cadillac acted in crime films like Dossier 1413/Secret File 1413 (1961, Alfred Rode) and La prostitution/Prostitution (1963, Maurice Boutel). She also appeared in more high profile films like Mélodie en sous-sol/Any Number Can Win (1962, Henri Verneuil) starring Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, and Cadavres en vacances/Copses on Holiday (1963, Jacqueline Audry) with Simone Renant. Outside France, she starred in the Spanish crime film Juventud a la intemperie/The Unsatisfied (1961, Ignacio F. Iquino) and played a supporting part in the Greek musical comedy Afto to kati allo! (1963, Grigoris Grigoriou). Then her film career halted. Later she worked on TV in the series Max le débonnaire (1967, Yves Allégret) and on stage in La Maison de Zaza by Gaby Bruyère (1971, Robert Manuel), at the Théâtre des Nouveautés in Paris. Reportedly she also appeared in operas. In 1981 she made a come-back for the cameras in the celebrated film and mini series Das boot/The Boat (1981-1985, Wolfgang Petersen) as Monique, a club singer in the town of La Rochelle. Rita Cadillac died of cancer in Deauville, France, in 1995.


Rita Cadillac sings C'est Fou in Scopitone no. A-14. Source: Spikepriggen (YouTube).


Scene from Afto to kati allo! (1963). Source: GrVidsMaster (YouTube).

Sources: Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Rachel Shteir (Striptease: the untold history of the girlie show), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Bernard of Hollywood

Bruno Bernard (1912–1987) fled from Nazi Germany to the USA in the 1930s. As Bernard of Hollywood he became one of the most popular glamour photographers of Tinseltown. In 1961 he returned to Germany, where he photographed many European starlets and also worked as a set photographer.


Mylène Demongeot. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/66. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Marisa Mell. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/349. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Margaret Rose Keil. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 900/288. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Rita Cadillac. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/296. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Heidi Brühl. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/319. Postcard: Bernard of Hollywood.

The Vargas of Photography
Bruno Bernard was born Bruno Bernard Sommerfeld (or Sommer) in Berlin, Germany in 1912. At age 11, he became interested in photography when his parents gave him his first camera. As a young man he worked as a photographer and reporter, and earned a Ph.D. in criminal psychology at the Kiel University in 1934. His activism in a Jewish youth organization landed him on the Gestapo’s blacklist, and caused him to emigrate to the United States in 1937. He settled in Los Angeles and set up his first photo studio in the basement of his apartment in 1938. Two years later he moved to a new studio on the Sunset Strip. Agent Paul Kohner, who helped many Europeans flee after the rise of Adolph Hitler and re-establish themselves in Hollywood, took notice of Bernard’s work when he opened his first studio. Kohner sent him clients, and thus brought him to the attention of the film industry. Soon he was called The King of Glamour Photography and The Vargas of Pinup Photography, after his mentor, pin-up painter Alberto Vargas. Over the next two years, Bernard opened studios at the Palm Springs Racquet Club, at Laguna Beach, and at Las Vegas’s Riviera Hotel.


Sophie Hardy. German postcard by Kruger, no. 902/290. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Brigitte Jelinek. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/299. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Maria Perschy. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/373. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Barbara Valentin. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/192. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Vivi Bach. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 902/274. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Strippers, Showgirls, Starlets
Bernard of Hollywood photographed most of the big stars of Hollywood of the 1940's and 1950's: Marlene Dietrich, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck, Anita Ekberg, and of course Marilyn Monroe. One of his most famous photos was of Monroe holding her white pleated skirt down from a blast of steam from a New York sidewalk gratein in The Seven Year Itch (1955, Billy Wilder). He was credited with introducing Monroe to Johnny Hyde, who got her a contract with 20th Century-Fox. Bernard's artistic muse was the legendary striptease artist Lili St. Cyr, a stunner with a sense of humor. Bernard of Hollywood's pin-up works range from strippers, Vegas showgirls; unknown, poignantly unnamed models; to all the starlets of the 1950's and 1960's.


German postcard by Kruger. Photo: Bruno Bernard/CCC Produktion. Publicity Still for Old Shatterhand (1964, Hugo Fregonese) with Pierre Brice as Winnetou.


German postcard by Kruger. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood (Bruno Bernard)/CCC-Produktion. Publicity Still for Old Shatterhand (1964, Hugo Fregonese) with Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/302. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood / CCC-Zugsmith Co-produktion. Publicity still for Fanny Hill (1964, Russ Meyer) with Letícia Román.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/358. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood. Publicity still for Fanny Hill (1964) with Renate Hütte and Britt Lindberg.

Legends
In 1961 Bruno Bernard sold his studios and started a new career as a foreign correspondent and photojournalist in Europe. For the German postcard publisher Krüger he photographed European starlets in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Among them were German film stars as Heidi Brühl, Maria Perschy and voluptuous Barbara Valentin, aka the German Jayne Mansfield. Bernard of Hollywood also photographed the original, when Jayne Mansfield was working in Europe after her Hollywood career had dried up. Bruno Bernard also worked as a still photographer for films including the erotic film Fanny Hill (1964, Russ Meyer) and the Eurowestern Old Shatterhand (1964, Hugo Fregonese). In 1984 Bernard was the first still photographer to be honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy organized an exhibition of more than 120 of his photographs. In addition to his photography, Bernard published six books before his death in 1987. He died of cancer in Los Angeles, 75 years old. He was survived by his daughter, Susan, and his grandson, Joshua Miller. In a review on a book Susan made about her father's work, Kevin Thomas wrote in The Los Angeles Times: "There is in Bernard's pinups an exuberant sexuality that is both innocent and mischievous, seductive yet sweet. Surely, it was the rapport that Bernard had with movie stars and models alike that yielded these wonderful combinations."


Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.


Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Sources: Kevin Thomas (Los Angeles Times), Adrienne Miller (Esquire), Bernard of Hollywood.com, and IMDb.