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???

A cat with an attitude!

During the production of the movie "Danger: Diabolik!", directed by Mario Bava and starring John Phillip Law as "Diabolik" and Marisa Mell as "Lady Eva Kant", the production crew did not only film in the studio's owned by producer "Dino de Laurentiis" called "Dinocitta" in Rome but also outside in two other places in the Italian country. The first place was Turin, a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, mostly famous for the Shroud of Turin, a linnen cloth with the face of Jesus. The other place is Anzio, a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about 57 km south of Rome. The city is well known for its seaside harbor setting, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene. During the production of the movie, Marisa Mell and John Phillip Law were a real life couple and were living together (as can be seen on a photo in the the excellent Tim Lucas book about the life and work of Mario Bava called "All the Colors of the Dark"). While filming on the beach of Anzio, best known in the movie for the famous Diabolik castle-scaling scene, both actors found a little stray black kitten. Marisa Mell being an animal lover could not leave the kitten to its fate. So she adopted the little one. Giving it a name was not difficult either: Diabolik. The character Diabolik in the Italian fumetti is often refered to as the black cat in 60's, the early years of the comic, in later years he is called the panther. The cat stayed with the couple during the entire production of the movie from april untill may of 1967. At the end of the production, both actors seperated and went their own way. Because Marisa Mell was more a dog then a cat lover, having owned several dogs during her life, the black cat found probably a new home with one of the productions members. Nevertheless, Diabolik the cat became movie history thanks to the behind the scene pictures of the staff photographer.