PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

The little girl Katcouta sat on the edge of her grandfather's bed. With all her innocence and shock at the father who left her at an orphanage and who abandoned her mother because she did not give birth to a boy, she said to her grandfather: "It's not permitted, my grandfather, to deprive me of your affection and to throw me to the street among the hungry dogs and cats." Then when she tried to kiss him while he slept, his moustache bothered her so she cut it and her grandfather woke up in surprise. He hugged her to his breast after he realized that she was his long lost granddaughter and told her that he would not leave her ever again. However, when he went to swear it by by his moustache he found that his moustache was gone. She told him "The cat ate your moustache," and he laughed and asked her "How did you manage to cut off my moustache that I've had for 30 years?"

She said to him, "Instead of growing your moustache you should have raised me, Grandfather," and he hugged her tenderly and cried.

No, on the contrary. There was an art festival at El Auberge for amateur performers who attended in hopes of being discovered by directors or filmmakers. Elias Mouadab kept his promise and I went with him to the amateur's festival held at El Auberge one March night in 1950. There were many bright lights and music. At the tables that were set up all around the theater sat three fourths of the stars of Egyptian cinema as well as many producers, directors and filmmakers including Asia, Mohamed Fawzy, Mahmoud Zou el Foukar, Aziza Amer, Madiha Yousry, Barakat, Gabriel Tal7me, Hassen Fawzy, Sabah, Taheya Carioca and others.

The Stick of Success

The thing that most attracted my attention in the theater was a long assaya with a hooked end. An amateur performer would get up on stage to either sing or dance or act and if the audience applauded they could continue, but if they did not applaud this meant he had flopped and the hooked assaya would immediately appear and remove him from the stage. The truth is that once I stepped on that stage and began to recite the monologue that Elias Mouadab had given me I heard the applause of everyone present and even the former King Farouk who was there that night gave me fifty pounds as a prize. I then had many film producers surrounding me all at the same time. Each one of them wanted me to put me under contract, but Elias Mouadad who was watching over me preferred to sign me on with Anwar Wagdy. Mr. Wagdy had given us an appointment for the next day at his office which was located at the Immobilia Building. So I went with my father. It was the first time I went to his office, and I rode the elevator. Anwar Wagdy would later tell everyone that he accidentally discovered me in the elevator.

I only remember that Anwar Wagdy brought me a dance trainer named Isaac Dickson who trained me for several weeks. After that he enrolled me in a private ballet academy so that I could learn ballet. He left me for many hours each day with his assistants Hassen El Saefi, Kamel el Telmesani and Mounir Mourad in order to train with them for every scene in the film. They were in a constant state of emergency with me, day and night. [Translator's note: Meaning that they were watching over her 24/7 and making sure that everything went smoothly for the film.]

One day I went with them to the shop called CLAIRE in Masr El Gedida. This store used to make clothes for the former Queen Nariman and it was also the store that would be making the costumes for the film. On that day Anwar Wagdy said to my father, "I'm sure that Fairouz will play this role very well because now she is used to me and she won't feel nervous or scared of standing in front of the camera for the first time." And this was what indeed happened, I played the role in this film quite easily.

Fairouz laughs when she remembers the film El Herman (Deprivation) which was produced by her father because he didn't want her to work on films produced by others and she said, "Anwar Wagdy wanted to take revenge on my father because my father refused to sign a contract with him again, so Anwar sent some people to the theater where the film was playing in 1953 and they stood in front of the cinema and started saying things quite loudly, such as "What is this film? And what is the idiotic role that Fairouz is playing in it?" Anwar Wagdy wanted this to cause bad publicity for the film so that people would not go see it, but it actually had quite the opposite effect and the film turned out to be very successful.

ABOUT THE PHOTO: This photo shows Fairouz in a scene from her movie Yasmin.

Click on the photo to the right to watch the video.

This scene appears in the 1950 film Yasmin starring a 7-year-old Fairouz in the title role. It also stars Anwar Wagdy and Made7a Yousry. This is not a dance clip; rather, it's a clip that showcases Fairouz's exceptional acting skills. Her performance is so amazing and tear-jerking in this scene that I had to share it. She was truly a little package of energy and extraordinary talent.

Fairouz was one of three very talented sisters who all performed in films as children. Her sister Nelly is well known throughout the Middle East for her Ramadan fawazeer. They are the cousins of actress Lebleba.

In this film, Yasmin (played by Fairouz) was abandoned at an orphanage at birth by her father. He was infuriated because he had wanted a son and his wife gave birth instead to a girl. His solution was to give her away. Yasmin lived at the orphanage and was renamed Katkouta. When her beloved teacher and caregiver died, she escaped from the orphanage and became a child street performer.

Yasmin was found by a struggling impoverished musician (played by Anwar Wagdy) who immediately saw the opportunity for success by teaming up with her. They began performing together. A strange coincidence leads them to Yasmin's maternal grandfather, who soon realizes that she is his granddaughter. However, she escapes again and they can't find her.

In this scene, Yasmin has finally located her maternal grandfather (played by Egyptian actor Zaki Rostum) and has walked into his room while he is sleeping. She talks to him and reprimands him for having allowed her to grow up on the streets with the cats and the dogs. However, she tells him that she loves him very much anyway.

When she gives him a kiss, his moustache tickles her, so she takes the scissors and begins to trim it. Later in the scene, her real mother walks in and realizes that this is the child that her ex-husband took from her, whom she never stopped thinking about. Yasmin also realizes that this is her mother.

Priscilla is a dancer of Lebanese heritage who enjoys researching the Golden Era of Egyptian dance. She owns a collection of more than one hundred classic black and white Egyptian films which is continually expanding.

Priscilla has also gathered a large library of dance related articles and clippings from Middle Eastern magazines and newspapers, many of which she has translated from the original Arabic to both English and Spanish.

Priscilla currently resides in Central America where she is a dance instructor.