Rita Hayworth Comes To The Shoreham Hotel In Washington D.C. To Accept The National Screen Heritage Award For 1977. Gene Kelly Was There Also But No One Saw Him But Us

This is how she looked when we escorted her down from her suite to the Palladian Room in 1977.

Rita Hayworth Accepts The 1977 Screen Heritage Award At The Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. in The Palladian Room.

Since I can't find anything on the internet about this that names the hotel where she received this award I will post it here.

I was working as a Hotel Security Officer at The Shoreham Hotel in 1977. Another officer named Frank and I were working the 3pm to 11pm shift when we got word that we were to go upstairs and hold an elevator for Rita Hayworth and then escort her down to the Palladian Room. She got in the elevator with another woman who kept brushing her hair. Rita looked nervous but also excited and happy. When we got to the lobby level we headed for the Palladian Room. The doors were closed. We were told that when she was announced(this was after the guests had eaten and watched the movie Gilda) they would open the doors and she would enter.

The doors flew open. A blindingly bright spotlight was shining directly at us(really at her)and she smiled and entered the room and the doors closed behind her. She received the award shown above.

The Shoreham Hotel Washington, D.C.

The above photo is from the movie Gilda with Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth. This movie was shown in the Palladian Room at the Shoreham Hotel before Rita made her grand entrance into the room.
When she went in the crowd roared and applauded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_hayworth

Gene Kelly Was At The Hotel That Night But No One Saw Him.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kelly

Prior to going upstairs and escorting Rita Hayworth to the Palladian Room we had gotten a call to go down to the employee's entrance and escort a man upstairs to see Rita Hayworth. I can't remember if we were told who this person was going to be but I don't think we were.
   We got the elevator down to the sub basement level and in walked a man by himself. He got in the elevator. I looked at him and it was Gene Kelly that we were taking upstairs to see Rita. I could not think of anything to say to him so I just smiled. He smiled back. I must say he really did have a great smile. We took him upstairs to Rita's suite. He did not come down with her in the elevator to go to the Palladian Room. I guess he wanted her to have all the attention from her public that night.

This is the famous WW2 Pin Up of Rita Hayworth.