HASSAN WA NAIMA 1959 BEBA IBRAHIM
This clip is from the 1959 film Hassan wa Naima (Hassan and Naima) starring Soad Hosny (in the window looking down) and Moharram Fouad. There are several dancers in this clip. It is a wedding celebration, a segregated one. The women are all upstairs in a large room looking down out of the window and the men are gathered downstairs. The first woman who dances is upstairs with the other women. She is not an actress but rather, a fellahi woman hired for the film as are several of the others in this scene. The second woman who dances (and ties a mandil around her hips) is beloved Egyptian actress Wedad Hamdi who was well known for playing the role of the humble servant in many Egyptian films. Wedad Hamdy met a tragic end in 1994 when she was murdered in her own home by a trusted employee, the film studio's messenger boy who had gone to her apartment to deliver her filming schedules. His motive was robbery. Downstairs where the men are gathered, the dancer who peforms in the heavy assuit dress and hipscarf is Beba Ibrahim. Beba was a dancer at Badia Masabni's club in the early days and she appeared in only a handful of films. In this clip she is older than when she worked at Badia's place, and every bit as good a dancer. The singer is Moharram Fouad who at one time was married to Taheya Carioca, though very briefly.