Big Red - A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles

Washington PostBig RedCharyn's reimagining of Hayworth's story begins in 1943, in a roomette at the Hollywood Hotel, where narrator Rusty Redburn an impetuous, second-string gossip columnist from Kalamazoo, Michigan bides her time between working as a gofer in the publicity offices of Columbia Pictures, volunteering at an indie movie house, and pursuing dalliances with young women on the Sunset Strip.

Called upon by the manipulative Columbia movie mogul Harry ?The Janitor?

Cohn to spy on Hayworth then, the Dream Factory's most alluring ?dame,? and Cohn's biggest movie star Rusty becomes Rita's confidante, accompanying her on a series of madcap adventures with her indomitable husband, the ?boy genius? Orson Welles.But Rusty, an outlaw who can see beyond the prejudices of Hollywood's male-dominated hierarchy, quickly becomes disgusted with the way actresses, and particularly Rita, are exploited by men.

As she struggles to balance the dangerous politics of Tinseltown with her desire to protect Rita from ruffians and journalists alike, Rusty has her own encounters some sweet, some bruising with characters real and imagined, from Julie Tanaka, an interned Japanese-American friend, to superstars like Clark Gable and Tallulah Bankhead, as well as notorious Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons.GildaThe Lady from ShanghaiBig Red