As part of my ongoing efforts to share with you lucky Gentle Readers the treasures of Egyptian pop culture, herewith we find the ensemble once billed as the Supremes of the Nile. I don't know that I'd go that far, but they certainly had their moment. And their hairdos.
They were billed as El Sulasi El Marih, or Three Fun Girls (one might get more creative and go for Triple Treat, but I'm not sure it would be well advised), and who wouldn't agree? Sanaa, Safaa, and Wafaa (surprisingly, not sisters) got their start on popular radio amateur hours in the heady days of Nasser's new Egypt of the 1950s. By the early '60s they were staples of TV and film, ever as jolly and insinuating as they are here in their big hit "Qalak Eh? Qalak Ah!" (roughly, "He Said What? He Said That!"). I mentioned them to Mister Muscato and he immediately came out with what must have been their tagline: "Three songbirds with one voice!"
They're great fun, although I have to admit it took me a minute to get past the feeling that somehow the unholy trio of Tracy Turnblad, Tura Satana, and the Merm had taken over my fever dreams...
Well, aren't they something.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. What, exactly, might just be that Riddle of the Sphinx they keep talking about...
DeleteWhile they're not without their charms, some choreography and a handful of Safety Gays would certainly have brought things up a notch.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not like that ever hurts, is it?
DeleteOh, I've gotten hurt by a Safety Gay or two in my day. Summer stock in Milwaukee, 1974 at the Melody Top. Jo Ann Worley was doing Once Upon a Mattress. I got mixed up with a couple of chorus boys who told me they had An Opening for a Princess. I couldn't walk for two days. Ask Thom and Felix. They were ushering with me that season and witnessed the whole thing.
DeleteI commend Safaa in the center (presumably that is she) for reaching out to the younger set with her more natural flowing locks but that weak bumpit and those stiff bangs are doing her no favors. She should play to her strengths with towering sausage curls and a swept bang. After all Safaa you're no Michelle Phillips, in spite of your expert Cher flip back!
ReplyDeleteSuch was the state of things, believe it or not, in 1960, that they were the younger set. The natural look still has never really taken off in Cairo. And even today, the average romantic heroine in the movies is about 38. Kind of refreshing, really.
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