The writer is also known as:Rasool Aryadust
Tehranis from my generation know the Legend of the Lady in Red, a woman who wore nothing but red, including high heels and handbag. Every day, come rain, hail, sun or snow, she would be at the Ferdowsi Square for what I can only estimate to be about 30 years.
My experience with her was from 1974 to 1979. I am not certain what she did when the Revolution started and lost track of her after I left in 1979. In 2002, I inquired about her in The Iranian Times, asking if anyone remembered her and had any information about her.
I received some replies, most of which had seen her but did not know what happened to her. As for the legend itself, most stories contain variations on a theme of a lover going off to war and her promising to wait for his return,. She dressed in red so that he would be able to spot her immediately in Meidun-e-Ferdowsi, where they agreed to meet.
This woman was such a familiar fixture that millions of people have seen her during those years.
I searched for photos of her, but was unsuccessful until a few weeks ago. One of the responses I received from my original inquiry referred me to a pre-revolutionary film called "Tehran Yek Khatereh" or "Tehran, a Memory", which he claimed had some footage of her in it. Sure enough she is in it.
It is an amazing movie and a walk down memory lane with many things about old Tehran. So I have pulled a set of single frame photos of the Lady in Red from the movie, which I have attached here below for your viewing pleasure.
The narrator of the film says that she never spoke but I have a friend who did speak with her and here are his notes: “Once she said, ‘Life is beautiful and people could make it either better or worse.’ She said some people give her power to go on by being nice to her. The next time I saw her she was in a bad mood and didn’t want to talk to me or receive a gift!”
I am creating a posthumous fan club for the Lady in Red like a lonely heart’s club and arrange every year a pay party for the members where we will get together and take a bus tour of a winery and have a party. The initiation into the club will be a confession about our broken heart using a pseudonym for the object of our unrequited love.
I welcome hearing from anyone one who has a story about this Lady in Red, especially having to do with her real name.
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The Lady in Red, a woman who wore nothing but red, including high heels and handbag. " |
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