Story Summary
The story of Nita & Zita is a tale of the ultimate “outsider” artists, marginalized women who lived by their own rules, globetrotting jewish immigrants who blazed their own trail as dancers. It is a story of mystery, intrigue, glamour, stardom, poverty, loneliness, and most of all, the extraordinary love and devotion of sisters. This is also the story of two muses, who inspired countless artists to create their own art.
In 1920, Piroska Gellert was reviewed in the Hungarian news as a young “dance phenomenon” performing her “barefoot oriental dances” around Transylvania. With anti-semitism growing on all sides and a homeland taken over by another country, the sisters set off to create a new life in New York City. It was 1922, and the Roaring Twenties were in full swing.
The sisters became U.S. citizens, danced all over New York City, then packed up their steamer trunks to perform all over the world: France, Shanghai, Manila, Buenos Aires, Havana, San Francisco, and Panama. In 1948, they bought a creole cottage on Dauphine Street in New Orleans where they retired from dancing.
Their story could have ended there, but Nita & Zita were not done creating a rich tapestry of their lives. They became eccentric recluses, rarely interacting with the outside world, never marrying, never having children. They continued their incredible story inside their house as recluses, creating an endless stream of art: costumes, painting furniture, embroidery, sewing, crafting, etc.
The sisters are now buried in the pauper’s section of the Hebrew Rest Cemetery in New Orleans. Their funerals were only attended by one neighbor and the Rabbi.
After they died, their neighbor found thousands of handmade costumes made of found objects in their house. She held a yard sale that lasted 5 years. The costumes and photos inspired countless artists to create their own art based on Nita & Zita.
Topic Summary
Nita & Zita is the extraordinary story of gender trailblazers, artistic devotion, marginalized women, and starry-eyed jewish immigrants. These two young girls in the 1920’s who left everything they knew to follow their dreams, forging their own path in a foreign country during a time when few women could make a living without a man to support them.
- Why have these sisters captured the imaginations of renowned artists even now, a century later?
Artistic Approach
Marci Darling is telling the story of Nita & Zita through the lens of her own background as an ex-burlesque dancer who performed an act based on Nita & Zita with her soul sister, Kim Murphy under the names Honey & Vermilion. This Dancing Duo of Delight performed their daring feats of strength and skill every Thursday night at the Viper Room in Hollywood for years, followed by performances all over the world. As one of the artists who was so intrigued by Nita & Zita’s photos and elusive story, Marci fell in love with New Orleans and eventually moved there.
Kim died 5 years ago, and this documentary is a love letter to her, to Nita & Zita, and to all the women whose voices are rarely heard.
Losing Kim gives Marci a unique take on the story of Nita & Zita as less a story of poverty and isolation, and more a story of love and creating one’s own world.
Additionally, she is exploring the way many different artists project their own ideas onto Nita & Zita, resonating with different parts of their stories.
We do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art... we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones ~ Anais Nin
