The Greek Goddess
Name: Catherine Foutsaki
Dance name: Kitty Futsaki.
Also Know as: Katie, Kitty, Kits
Date of birth: February 1, 1931
Her age in 2023: 92 years old.
Astrological sign: Aquarius.
Birthplace: Alexandria.
Religion: Greek Orthodox
Actress and Dancer
Years of activity: 1946 – 1980
Who Is that Girl?
A charming smile, a little skinny body, a lightness rarely found in a dancer, and an angelic laughing face, neither Egyptian nor Western, is a mixture of the two, but you feel comfortable looking at it.
She had an extraordinary talent in acting, she was not afraid to stand in front of Ismail Yassin and Faten Hamama, who were the King and Queen of Egyptian cinema. Nor was she afraid to stand in front of the cameras of many highly acclaimed directors, creating history in Egypt.
Countless rumors followed her suspicious disappearance. Here is a little bit of the 19 years (1946-1965) that Kitty spent in the magical world of Egyptian cinema.
Desperately Seeking Kitty
Searching for Kitty's history during her life in Egypt and the reason for her sudden departure after she became a star, in the complete sense of the word, is complex and confusing, especially since the available information about her is scarce and sources are unreliable.The most challenging thing is searching for her history after leaving Egypt. It was almost impossible for us to know her fate and answer the difficult question: Did Kitty die in 1980, as the Actor's Encyclopedia of Mahmoud Qassem says, as well as most Arab websites and newspapers? Or is she still alive, as some foreign websites claim?!Join us on a long journey searching for Kitty, the beautiful and elusive artist. A trip that will be fun and full of new information.
The dispute about Kitty and the conflicting information about her starts with the fact that in many newspapers, her name appeared in different forms; still, after searching through many foreign sources and a few Arab sources, we concluded that her correct name is "Kitty Fotsaki" and is written in Greek "Καίτη Βουτσάκη", and English "Keti Fotsaky". Some write it as Kitty, Katy, and Kits. They also attach it to the word Fotsaty, i.e. with the heart of the kaf ta, and this is understandable due to the difference in tongues and pronunciation of letters between one language and another. At the same time, a few Arabic sites indicate that her name is "Keti Loutraki". It is written in Greek "Καίτη Λουτράκι", an incorrect name that was spread by mistake. Searching for information about her in the Arabic language did not lead us to anything we could be sure about, so we only searched for her through foreign websites using her real name in Greek and translating her pronunciation into Arabic, so our first destination was to "Wikipedia", that reckless encyclopedia that carries a large amount of undocumented information.The surprise was that we found much information written about Kitty in the Greek language. Still, we faced a difficult challenge: translating all data from Greek into Arabic and, most importantly, ensuring the validity and accuracy of that information.The only thing to do was to seek the help of Egyptian translators. The result was our discovery of information from the Greek Wikipedia page about Kitty Futsaki.
Catherine
In February 1931, the Foutsaki family, one of the Orthodox Christian families whose origins go back to the island of Crete, had their first child, a baby girl with delicate features whom they called “Catherine”.
Catherine, who the family later called “Kitty,” had an artistic talent, which prompted her family to encourage her to study ballet and the performing arts. At the age of six, Kitty was enrolled in various schools in Alexandria, most notably the “Nicole” School – whose original headquarters was in Alexandria before moving its headquarters to Cairo. She also attended the “Manos Demetrius” school to study Theatre and Drama, as the school was organizing performances for its children and adult students before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945). Kitty was participating in these performances at an early age.
Soon, Kitty’s talent led her to become a professional; she started her career very young. During that period, she was able to present performances with the teams she was working for in Alexandria in front of many influential personalities. She even performed a dance show before Queen Farida, wife of Farouk I, King of Egypt.
When Kitty first appeared at the Greek Theatre in Alexandria, she was only eight. At the age of thirteen, she participated in the performances of the singer Sophia Vembo, who was on tour in Egypt at the time (Sophia Vembo is a Greek actress and singer; it was said that she is the owner of the original song “Ya Traveler Wahdak”, and her most famous film is a Greek film entitled “The Refugee” and directed by the director Egyptian Togo Mizrahi in 1938.
In 1943, Kitty found the artistic “colour” & style, what she felt was suitable for her and would accompany her throughout her work in Egypt after she joined the “Mary Giatra Limo” troupe, where she performed in several performances in various Alexandria theatres.
She also participated in many plays during that period. It was clear to see she was distinguished.
Kitty performed comedy roles, which she mixed dance to become a sign of the style and somewhat her trademark.
Eventually, she moved with her family and settled in Emad El Din Street in Cairo.
At this point, the Greek text from "Wikipedia" appears as if the author is someone who knows Kitty's history well, as he is trying to defend her. He may even be related to her. This raised the questions: If the information contained in the text is correct, then who is the author, and what is the degree of his closeness to Kitty?
If he knew her well would he know why did Kitty not return to Egypt, like some of the others who were also deported, including the Hoda Shams El Din or Nelly Mazloum? Why did she hide from El-Ayoun for so long, especially in Egypt? And what had been her fate?In the Greek "Wikipedia", the author said that "the information contained in the text is real and reliable", and that Mrs Kitty Futsaki is a personal friend of his, and that the information is mainly based on her testimonies, and she had seen this text when it was written for the first time and approved it and felt comfortable with it.
The writer of the "Wikipedia" text seemed sincere in his defence of Kitty and corrected the images and false information written about her in the Arabic Wikipedia. This was evident in his response to a person's comment, where he said, "I am sorry that my circumstances force me not to reveal my identity, but you know that Mrs Futsaki is not broadly known in Greece, but if you write the name Katy or Kitty in English or Arabic, you will see a lot written about it as well as in the Arabic Wikipedia, so a text had to be written to put things right, and I confirm that this comprehensive Greek Wikipedia text opened the eyes of many Arab friends who have already written a lot of wrong information."
The ascention
Kitty's
remarkable success in Alexandria encouraged her family to move to Cairo in 1946. After she settled in Emad El-Din Street to be near theatres and casinos, Kitty began to continue her studies of dance at the Russian Ballet School “Sonia Ivanova”; it is the same school where Tahia Carioca and Samia Gamal studied, where she also learned performing and acrobatic arts.
Around 1948,
she began working in the famous Casino run by the most famous dancer, Badia Masabni, which contributed significantly to her real artistic breakthrough, as she presented solo shows of European dances.
Badia Casino had two parties daily, including theatrical sketches and music and dance performances. It also served lunch in the middle of the day for the whole family while opening its doors at 9:30 in the evening with adult parties where alcohol was served. And on official holidays, and on Fridays and Sundays, the Casino was opened at exactly six thirty. Badia prevented her dancers and artists from sitting at tables with customers or opening bottles of wine for them. She wrote this clearly in her printed advertisements, which reassured Kitty’s family about their daughter when she told them of her desire to work in the Casino, especially since her family was keen to have a family member accompany her in addition to her mother in most of her shows.
Casino Opera
Kitty was among the dance team that received daily intensive training from Badia Masabni. The choreographies in The Casino were great choreographers such as Isaac Dixon (who was said to be a Spanish spy who was arrested in 1939 with another person named Wabash, but his presence as a coach in an excellent band at this late time in the forties, perhaps he denies this suspicion about him), Ibrahim Akef (the pioneer of the art of clacket in Egypt) and the Greek Christos Cladakis, who presented performances that mixed oriental and European dance and ballet.
Although Kitty was employed at the Casino to perform solo European dances, she was usually dressed as a belly dancer, often performing belly dances but with other groups.
The same year that Kitty joined Badia Casino, the young dancer got to perform a solo, oriental dance after the famous Armenian dancer Hoda Shams El Din was absent.
On this day, Badia suggested that Kitty be a substitute for Hoda in presenting the belly dance, and the surprise was that Kitty achieved fantastic success. This day was considered the beginning of her discovery in belly dancing, which constituted a new gain for the Casino.
This success contributed to Kitty’s association with this Casino for several years, as she continued to work in it until Badia Masabni sold it to Beba Ezz El Din in the early fifties, who changed its name to “Shaherazade Casino”. Baba Ezz El Din sold it in turn to Fathia Muhammad. Still, Kitty worked under the management of the three owners. Even when the Casino caught fire due to the Cairo fire in 1952, and all of Kitty’s dresses that one of her sisters had designed for her burned inside, Kitty did not leave the Casino and continued working there, parallel with her work in cinema.
Part 2 coming soon
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