Darlings!!
Many of you know I am currently making a short documentary on legendary 1930s New Orleans burlesque dancers Nita & Zita.
My journey began a few weeks ago when I woke up one morning and knew what I had to do starting that day: tell their story.
These globe-trotting exotic dancers had a profound impact on my life with Kim as we based our own acrobat-contortionist act on photos of them, choreography, costumes, even our hair was based on them.
But these sisters were mysterious, with only a few surviving photos and a magical mythology swirling about them like a swizzle stick in a Mint Julep.
With no actual facts, I decided to focus on their impact on artists, which is deep and vast.
Maybe their mystique grew because of their vintage glamour combined with their eccentric recluse years where they never left their house and painted it top to bottom with polka dots, while sewing thousands of costumes for each other. Or maybe it was because after they died with no family, their neighbor held a 5-year yard sale with their steamer trunks, handmade shoes, hand-beaded costumes, and crowns heading out into the world and now owned and treasured by thousands of different people, literally interwoven into the fabric of New Orleans and the people who love the city.
I describe the documentary as Gray Gardens Meets Gypsy Rose Lee Meets Sisterhood of the Traveling Underpants.
So every day I have researched and learned new information about these sisters. Then, the floodgates opened. Two weeks ago on Valentines Day, I received the BEST gift I could have imagined from my producer Sharon Gillen: the New Orleans Historic Collection has received a large donation of items belonging to the sisters, newspaper clippings, show programs, never-before-seen photographs, even the dolls they made and sewed costumes onto. Sharon photographed many of the items and sent them to me. I spent Valentines screaming in delight over this incredible treasure trove.
So following the threads has led to my 5-minute documentary expanding into a rich tapestry, an exploration of these marginalized sisters, told through my own unique lens as a way to illuminate their story, and also as a Love Letter to my own beloved soul sister, Kim, and our time together in the Royal Palace.
As Tennessee Williams/Blanche Dubois said: “I don’t want realism, I want magic!”
I agree Blanche! And in this story, I plan to weave the two together.
Donate to the Nita & Zita documentary here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marcidarling/the-nita-and-zita-documentary
