This Day in WWII - 6 February 1940 - 1945

[Donster]

Rita Hayworth RC Cola Ad - 1946

1940: The Finnish 9th Division finally manages to encircle the Russian 54th Division in Kuhmo.

1941: House of Commons vote for war credits of £1,600,000,000.

*Rita Hayworth

1941: Hitler makes one last appeal to the Spanish leader, General Franco, to enter the war.

1941: The Bishops of Norway start the Church’s struggle against the occupying German forces.

Rita Hayworth

1941: Australian forces capture Benghazi along with six senior Italian Generals. Italian forces make repeated attempts to break through the weak British blocking forces at Beda Fomm, but cannot.

1941: Adolf Hitler sends Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to North Africa to help the Italian forces.

Rita Hayworth

1942: The British are pushed back to Gazala. The British Commonwealth forces lose 40 tanks, 40 field guns and 1,400 troops. This was a disaster for the Allies in more ways than one. Now the Allied convoys to Malta must pass between Axis occupied Crete and Axis airfields in Benghazi.

1943: Russians cut off Army Group A by reaching Yeysk on the Sea of Rostov.

1943: The Americans outflank the retreating Japanese on Guadalcanal.

Rita Hayworth

1944: The Japanese pressure in Arakan forces the British to retreat.

1944: Kwajalein Island in the Central Pacific falls to U.S. Army troops.

Rita Hayworth

1945: The 1st Belorussian Front makes further advances to reach the Oder between Küstrin and Frankfurt.

1945: General MacArthur announced the imminent recapture of Manila while his staff planned a victory parade. But the battle for Manila had barely begun.

Rita Hayworth

*Margarita Carmen Cansino was born in New York on October 17, 1918 into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo was a dancer as was his father before him. He immigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's mother met Eduardo in 1916 and were married the following year. Rita, herself, was trained as a dancer in order to follow in her family's footsteps. She joined her family on stage when she was 8 when her family was filmed in a movie called La fiesta (1926) (aka La Fiesta). It was her first film appearance, albeit uncredited, but by no means was it to be her last. Rita was seen dancing by a Fox executive and was impressed enough to offer her a contract. Rita's "second" debut was in the film Cruz Diablo (1934) at the age of 16. She continued to play small bit parts in several films under the name of "Rita Cansino" until she played the second female lead in Only Angels Have Wings (1939) when she played "Judy McPherson". By this time, she was at Columbia where she was getting top billing but it was the Warner Brothers film The Strawberry Blonde (1941) that seemed to set her apart from the rest of what she had previously done. This was the film that exuded the warmth and seductive vitality that was to make her famous. Her natural, raw beauty was showcased later that year in Blood and Sand (1941) filmed in Technicolor. She was probably the second most popular actress after Betty Grable. In You'll Never Get Rich (1941) with Fred Astaire, in 1941, was probably the film that moviegoers felt close to Rita. Her dancing, for which she had trained all her life, was astounding. After the hit Gilda (1946), her career was on the skids. Although she was still making movies, they never approached her earlier work. The drought began between The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Champagne Safari (1952). Then after Salome (1953), she was not seen again until Pal Joey (1957). Part of the reasons for the downward spiral was television, but also Rita had been replaced by the new star at Columbia, Kim Novak. After a few, rather forgettable films in the 1960s, her career was essentially over. Her final film was The Wrath of God (1972). Her career was really never the same after Gilda (1946). Her dancing had made the film and had made her. Perhaps Gene Ringgold said it best when he remarked, "Rita Hayworth is not an actress of great depth. She was a dancer, a glamorous personality and a sex symbol. These qualities are such that they can carry her no further professionally". Perhaps he was right but Hayworth fans would vehemently disagree with him. Rita, herself, said, "Every man I have known has fallen in love with Gilda and wakened with me". By 1980, Rita was wracked with Alzheimer's Disease. It ravaged her so, that she finally died on May 14, 1987 in New York City. She was 68.

[Madman]

Oh....Rita!!!!

[Whizkid]

So sad to see how she died! There ought to be a law........................! RIP, Miss Cansino, and thanks for all the enjoyable minutes in movies you gave to the GIs in WW2.

[The Dude]

Rita! Rita! Rita!