Yesterday we saw fragments of the lost 1918 version of ‘Salome’ starring Theda Bara. Today we jump ahead thirty-five years (it feels like thirty-five centuries) to the 1953 version starring Rita Hayworth. Above I’ve posted the ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ scene which was choreographed by Valerie Bettis, a well known (back then anyway) highly respected ‘modern’ dancer/choreographer. I have to be honest; Rita, while stunning as always, doesn’t really knock me out here. It’s more the dance’s fault than hers–this Salome belongs more to a Greenwich Village quasi beatnik style of period ‘art dancing’ and Rita isn’t entirely at home with it in my opinion. Given that this is the dance that is supposed to drive Herod (her stepfather) wild and arouse incestuous feelings that lead him to give her the right to choose whatever she wishes–which is of course John The Baptist’s head on a platter–it seems like scarcely enough of a motivator. On the other hand, if I were Herod and saw Rita in the below clip–the  bewitching and wildly seductive ‘Put The Blame On Mame’ from ‘Gilda’–John the Baptist’s head would be only the beginning of what gifts (?) I’d promise her.