Grand Hotel

This entry was made in collaboration with Johan Melle from the Euro Fever Blog (http://euro-fever.blogspot.com/)! Thanks Johan!

In the July 16th 1966 issue of the weekly Italian celebrity magazine "Grand Hotel" #1047 Marisa Mell was pictured on a full page and profiled in an accompanying article. Although this picture is dated in an issue from the year 1966 it shows Marisa Mell dressed and made up from a period before her Italian adventure which started with the movie "Casanova 70" from 1965. Her appearence stark resembles her Austrian-German period before going to Italy and adopting the Italian sunny lifestyle. Thus dropping the rather strict and harsh dress code after the Second World War which was the norm then in German movies where the actors often dressed in business suits, even in private outside the business hours and women in dull dark dresses. Her hair style resembles a lot the hair style from her photo shoot with German teeny magazine Bravo from August 6th 1963.

On the picture you can see in the right hand corner the vignet of the production company De Laurentiis, Via Della Vasca Navale, Rome where Marisa Mell was probably under contract at that moment in time. In 1966 Marisa Mell had no idea that she would become Eva Kant in the movie "Danger: Diabolik!" directed by Mario Bava and produced by De Laurentiis replacing several other candidates. In the end this film was shot during the months of April and May of 1967, with a premiere the following year on January 24th 1968. If you see the movie "Danger: Diabolik!" were Marisa Mell plays Eva Kant you notice that that women does not resemble anymore the women in this picture published in an issue of Grand Hotel.

In the left hand corner you see a dedication in her own characteristic handwriting: "Ai cari lettori di Grand Hotel da parte di Marisa Mell". When such dedication is used in a magazine a publisher often uses a font to write the message but in this case it was the real handwriting of Marisa Mell characterized by her way of writing the "M"'s in her name as often seen when writing her name on fan photo cards. Marisa Mell was known as a real animal lover. She had several dogs during her life time. So it could be possible that the Siamese cat in the picture was her own pet which accompanied her to the photo shoot which is more acceptable to me than a cat delivered by the production company for this shoot as centre piece for this picture. Personally I have never heard of Marisa Mell having a Siamese cat as a pet but it could very well be possible. Who knows???