Filmmaker, dancer, and writer Marci Darling has had a thrilling life. She’s toured as a dancer worldwide, headlined countless nightclubs, and performed an acrobatic contortionist burlesque act on Sunset Boulevard. It’s no wonder she was drawn to the story of two women who embraced life with as much vigor as she does. Now, in a slightly more settled phase of life on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Darling has produced a film about the iconic, mysterious dance duo Nita and Zita.
Nita and Zita (known off stage as Flora and Piroska Gellert) were Jewish sisters who performed an iconic and groundbreaking burlesque act in the 1920s. As anti-Semitism grew strong in their native Hungary, the sisters immigrated to New York City and then traveled the globe performing.
“I had first been exposed to them when I visited New Orleans back in the ‘90s,” says Darling. “I saw a picture of Piroska from across a crowded bar, and I just floated over there, like I was in love. It was clear to me that I needed to tell the story of Nita and Zita.”
Although the sisters have long served as something of a mythic legend in the dance community, little was known about the intricacies of their actual lives. Darling’s film, “The Nita & Zita Project,” changes that.
Through her own experiences as a dancer, Darling knew that performers frequently change their names. By widening the search to include other stage monikers, Darling was able to unlock research about Nita and Zita that hadn’t been widely known. She also tapped into the network of research and researchers at American Ancestors (formerly known as the New England Historic Genealogical Society) and the Nita and Zita archive at the Historic New Orleans Collection.
“They saved a lot of their travel receipts, like their laundry receipts from Japan or their utility receipts from Shanghai,” says Darling. “So through that, I was able to figure out what they were doing, where they were going, and follow every single thread I could find to try and piece together their story.”
“The Nita & Zita Project” will screen at the Coolidge Corner Theater on April 16, followed by a Q&A with Darling.
The sisters lived big. They bought a house in New Orleans and decorated every inch with brilliantly painted flowers. They wore flashy costumes and took glamorous photos of themselves, even in their reclusive older years. They didn’t let anything stop them from being themselves.
Nita and Zita’s story feels remarkably relevant to the current moment. A century ago, when women barely got the right to vote in the United States, these sisters traveled the world, lived unconventionally, followed their artistic passions, and upended societal expectations.
Darling says, “My dream would be that people will leave the movie and want to create their own lives, to blaze their own trail, and to do what makes their hearts sing.”
