FOR THE STILL LOVED MOVIE MAN OF THE BOBINETTE CLAN, "HIGH-HO" JAY-JO MCFADDEN ... YOU REMAIN MISSED ... SAY HI TO GROUCHO AND THE REST OF YOUR FILM FRIENDS AND TELL THEM GUY AND I SAY HI!
8/23/1926 - Temporary madness seemingly grips a major portion of the world's population when at the height of his silent film career, a bout of peritonitis brought on by stomach surgery in a New York City hospital takes the life of the 31-year-old film lothario known as "The Latin Lover," Rudolph Valentino.
Valentino
The boy that grows up to be one of the world's first movie stars is born in Castellaneta, Apulia, Italy on May 6, 1895 to Giovanni Antonio Giuseppe Fedele Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguelia of Martinia Franca, Apulia (a former captain of cavalry in the Italian Army and later a veterinarian with a degree from the University of Naples who dies when his son is only 11), and his wife, Marie Berthe Gabrielle Barbin (a French woman of Torinese ancestry born in the Franche-Comte town of Lure in 1856 that goes on to become a lady-in-waiting for the region's local marquess before marrying Giovanni ... she dies in France on January 10, 1918 at the age of 61 before her youngest son becomes a world-famous screen actor). Besides his mother and father, the youngster's family will consist of an older brother named Alberto (1892-1981), a younger sister named Maria (1897-1969), along with a sister he will never know named Grazia that dies after only 14 months of life after coming down with diphtheria.
Mom And Dad
As a youngster, Valentino will cause a modicum of turmoil between his middle class mother and father (who are well enough off that their household includes a cook and a wet nurse). Like many children before and after, his mother will indulge the lad due to his good looks and playful personality, passing on her love of reading, French poetry, and philosophy, while his father sees his son as a bit of a fop in need of discipline. During this period of time the youth will be nicknamed "Mercury" (the Roman God associated with commerce, travel, trickery, eloquence, and fertility, along with guiding deceased souls to the underworld and quickly distributing to mortals, messages from the Gods) for his tendencies to be energetic, mischievous, hyperactive, and a bit of a dreamer. Despite their sometime disagreements about how their youngest son should be raised, Valentino grows up in a loving home that is shattered when his father dies in 1906 of malaria while trying to find a cure for the disease. As an adolescent, the youngster loses interest in formal school and pursues an agricultural education, earning his certificate in the subject from the Marsano Agricultural School in Genoa, Italy. But he quickly loses interest in a life in that arena of endeavor too, and heads off to Paris, France in search of what to do next. The City of Lights however is only lit for the youth for a short three months and when he runs out of money he is forced to write his mother requesting additional funds. When the money arrives, Valentino is dissatisfied with the amount and attempts to increase its total by gambling it on the gaming tables of Monte Carlo ... a disaster that sees the youth losing everything (325 pounds) in a little over two hours at the tables. Forced to return to Italy, he continues to struggle until with the prompting of his mother he makes the monumental decision to seek his future in the United States of America. He arrives at Ellis Island just before Christmas of 1913 at the age of 18.
As A Boy
Still A Pup
The Teenager
In New York, the Italian at first struggles mightily, taking work as a dishwasher, waiter, gardener, and busboy. When those jobs aren't available he lives and sleeps on the streets of "The Big Apple" and sometimes calls New York City's Central Park his home. Almost ready to call it quits (he is let go by Murray's on 42nd Street for spending too much time entertaining the restaurant's kitchen staff and not enough time busing tables) and head back to Italy, his fortunes start to turn when he puts his good looks and athletic skills to use and begins finding work as a dancer in the city's many dance halls and cabarets, becoming a hit with many of New York's wealthy female patrons. Luck turning finally, specializing in the Argentine tango, Valentino becomes a very in demand taxi dancer and instructor at Manhattan's trendiest nightclub, Maxim's Restaurant-Cabaret (he also gives private dance lessons there in an upper room that has it's own Victrola phonograph). His springboard to success dancing the tango, in 1914, Valentino is hired by restaurateur Joe Pani to tango with fellow hoofer Joan Sawyer (born Bessie Josephine Morrison in October of 1887) for $50 week, work that opens even more doors in New York City for the young man. Now springboarding from success to success, in 1915 the young dancer is paired with celebrity dancer Bonnie Glass (born Helen Roche in 1895) and begins to be noticed even more (their successful partnership.though ends in February of 1916 when Glass ends her performing career to marry society painter Ben Ali Haggan).
Maxim's
Glass
There is also major scandal in Valentino's life in 1916 when he becomes involved in the tempestuous divorce of Chilean heiress Blanca de Saulles, and her husband, John de Saulles (the couple have one son). The Mrs., a friend and fan of Valentino's, has the dancer testify on her behalf at her divorce trial, supporting her claims of her husband's infidelity, and stoking the Mister's wrath. Divorce from her husband granted, de Saulles uses his political connections to get a little payback against the dancer for his testimony, and on September 15, 1916, Valentino is arrested on trumped up vice charges, and spends a few days in jail before posting bail of $1,500 (down from an original demand for $10,000) to get his freedom back. The following year, the divorced couple get in a fight over custody of their child, and John loses their argument permanently when Blanca pulls a revolver and puts a fatal bullet in her ex-husband's head. Already suffering employment issues over his involvement in the couple's divorce and his subsequent arrest, rather then becoming involved in a fresh round of scandal, the dancer decides to leave New York and joins a traveling musical called "The Masked Model" ... a show that gets him to Utah, and there, Valentino becomes a member of the huge cast (over 200 people) of Al Jolson's traveling musical-comedy, "Robinson Crusoe, Jr.," which in turn gets the young hoofer to Los Angeles, California.
de Saulles
Joson In Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
In Los Angeles, Valentino dances, teaches dance, and takes any dance roles on stage or that are offered by the town's young film industry. Chasing jobs still, by the autumn of 1917 he is in San Francisco acting in a bit part in a theatrical production of "Nobody Home." Always on the lookout for the next opportunity or person that can help his career, in the City by the Bay he connects with actor Norman Kerry, a friend from New York City, who convinces the young man to give acting in movies a chance (the actor also pays for Valentino's ride south, becomes his roommate for awhile when the pair set up shop at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, and eventually will introduce the hoofer in 1920 to another dancer to partner with, Bonnie Glass (and Kerry becomes a star himself, with his most famous roles, coming opposite Lon Chaney as Phoebus de Chateaupers in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny in the "Phantom of the Opera," and as Malabar the Mighty in "The Unknown"). Continuing to dance, back in Los Angeles, Valentino begins taking acting roles (where he will mostly be cast as the "heavy" of the film, playing the movie's bad guy because of his swarthy "Italian" look): in 1918 he is in three movies, "A Society Sensation," "All Night," and "The Married Virgin," in 1919 he is in seven films, "The Delicious Little Devil," "The Big Little Person," "A Rogue's Romance," "The Homebreaker," "Virtuous Sinners," "Out of Luck/Nobody Home, and "Eyes of Youth," and in 1920 he is in six more movies, "Stolen Moments," "An Adventuress," "The Cheater," "Passion's Playground," "Once to Every Woman," and "The Wonderful Chance" (sadly most of these films are now considered lost). For a time he also tries to fight with the Allied Powers during WWI, but is rejected by the Italians, Canadians, British, and American services for a slight defect to the vision of his left eye.
1918 Valentino Movie Poster
Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, And Mary Philbin
In The Phantom Of The Opera
As if he is starring in his own Hollywood drama, in 1919 Valentino also becomes involved in a strange romance with bisexual actress Jean Acker (the actress will later become involved with a group of Hollywood bisexual and lesbian actresses called "The Sewing Circle" and will have affairs with Alla Nazimova, Grace Darmond, and former Ziegfeld Follies girl, Chloe Carter, along with relationships with a trio of males; Spanish marquis, Luis de Bezan y Sandovar, Egyptian magician, Fakir Rahman Bey, and married politician, William Delahanty). The two meet at a Hollywood party (at the time Acker is in a relationship) and become smitten with each other and after a whirlwind courtship, marry impulsively on November 6, 1919, but the actress immediately comes down with a case of "cold feet" and locks Valentino out of the couple's honeymoon suite at the Hollywood Hotel. Twenty minutes of banging on the locked door of the room the couple has taken at the hotel fails to gain the new husband access to his bride, and eventually Valentino just gives up and goes home. Marriage over without any consummation (years later Acker will claim that she acted as she did after discovering her new husband was suffering from a bad case of gonorrhea, a claim that is never proven and is immediately disputed by the actor when he hears of the calumny), the couple separates immediately though they fail to fully divorce until March 4th of 1923, with Mrs. Valentino somehow managing to convince a jury that she has been deserted by her husband (for her troubles she receives a one time alimony payment of $12,000 from the actor). Incredibly, the couple reconcile and form a friendship with each other in 1926 and Acker will be one of the last persons to see the actor alive, and she will attend his funeral).
Acker
Nazimova & Daemond
Incredibly, despite the failure of his first marriage, Valentino marries for a second time in May of 1922, hitching up with Natacha Rambova (real name Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy from Salt Lake City, Utah), a costume designer, set designer, and sometime actress that had formerly been a dancer for Russian ballet chorographer Theodore Kosloff in New York City. The pair meet in 1921 on the set of the Nazimova film "Uncharted Seas" and sparks immediately fly between the two and they marry in Mexico in 1922. Unfortunately though for Valentino, when he marries Rambova he is still officially married to Acker. The legal troubles put Valentino in a California jail on two counts of bigamy ... one for marrying again before his divorce is finalized and a second count for cohabiting with Rambova while still in California's interlocutory period of one year expired (not amused, Valentino's studio at the time, Famous Players-Lasky refuses to bail him out of jail and a group of his friends have to bail their buddy out of jail), and as a result, his marriage to Rambova is annulled and the pair are forced to live separately for a year. Luckily for Valentino, the judge on the case eventually dismisses the charges against the actor for insufficient evidence that the second marriage had ever been consummated. Eventually though his divorce from his first wife becomes final and he is able to marry Rambova in Crown Point, Indiana (a popular spot for quick marriages) on March 14, 1923. Sadly this second marriage will also end poorly. Bonding at first over mutual interests in art, poetry, and spiritualism, Rambova designs her husband's costumes for two movies ("The Young Rajah" and "Monsieur Beaucaire") and influences his attire off screen too, which the public and United Artists (the studio will eventually put a clause in his contract banning his wife being on the sets of his films) don't appreciate, claiming he often appears too feminine. Eventually their relationship falls apart over Valentino wanting a traditional marriage with his wife becoming a homemaker and mother, while Rambova wants to continue her Hollywood career and isn't interested in having children at all. As the stresses between the two grow into public fights and Rambova having an affair with cinematographer Joseph Devereaux Jennings (a founding member of the American Society of Cinematographers and a veteran of film work with Thomas Ince and Buster Keaton before he transitions to sound movies), eventually causing the married couple to separate in 1925, and then divorce the following year.
Rambova
While Valentino is failing with his two unsuccessful marriages, he is succeeding beyond his wildest dreams as a silent film actor. In 1919 he has a small part (he is on the screen for about ten minutes) in a film called "Eyes of Youth" in which he plays Clarence Morgan, a reprehensible character that is described as a "cabaret parasite" ... a role that grabs the attention of Metro/MGM screenwriter and studio executive June Mathis, who is working on a script she thinks Valentino would be perfect in, playing Julio Desnoyers, a young man whose character arc goes from a dancing playboy to an heroic soldier that dies in no-mans land from a shell strike alongside his German cousin. The movie is called "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and there is immediately trouble between Mathis, studio executives, and producer/director Rex Ingram over casting Valentino in the pivotal role of Julio ... arguments about Valentino's "Latin" appearance, the actor's lack of experience, and the director doubting the actor's abilities to pull off the role (during filming the director and actor will clash repeatedly, with Valentino considering challenging Ingram to a duel and Ingram threatening to replace the young actor with one of the extras on the movie). Mathis however never wavers in her faith that Valentino will be perfect for the film, and her conviction eventually wins out ... and proves correct. Premiering in New York City on March 6, 1921, the movie is an immediate hit with film critics (it will be favorably compared to "The Birth of a Nation" and will be one of the first six movies to have box offices of over a million dollars on their opening runs: #1 - "The Birth of a Nation" at $10 million, #2 - "The Big Parade" at $6.4 million, #3 - "Ben-Hur" at 5.5 million, #4 - "The Kid" at 5.45 million, #5 - "Way Down East" at $5 million, and #6 - "The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse" at $4.5 million) and a public that immediately falls in love with Valentino's performance (especially his tango performance opposite Hispanic actress and dancer Beatrice Domingues which vaults the actor to stardom and starts a nationwide dance craze in the United States) and makes him a huge star (though his salary of $350 a week is far below the salaries of the other principles).
On The Set - Valentino, Mathis, And Ingram
Standing Over Pomeroy Cannon
Star Making Tango
Suddenly a film star of the highest magnitude, Valentino will appear in four more movies in 1921, scoring another major hit with "The Sheik" (a film that makes over a million dollars in box office returns), in which he plays Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, an orphan with British and Spanish blood who has been brought up in the desert by the old Sheik that rescues him from death when he is just a nubbin, along with appearing with his friend, Alla Nazimova (along with appearing as the lead character, the actress also produces the piece) in a bit of romantic gobble-de-gook called "Camille" based on the writings of the legendary French author, Alexandre Dumas. The year also sees the actor leave MGM and begin working for Jesse L. Lasky at the studio he is running, a forerunner of Paramount Pictures, Famous Players-Lasky (though it is not released until 1922, his first year as a star also sees Valentino appear with Gloria Swanson in a flop called "Beyond the Rocks," which Photoplay magazine calls the film "a little unreal and hectic."). Five movies released in the year and Valentino is suddenly one of the biggest movie stars to ever work in Hollywood.
Another Hit
I Wonder What He's Thinking?
In 1922, the new star (he will be known as "The Latin Lover," "The Great Lover," "The Sheik," or simply "Valentino," or just "Rudy") will appear in four more movies and score another monster hit, this time in a film about a doomed Spanish bullfighter named Juan Gallardo. Valentino's first movie of the year however is called "Moran of the Lady Lefty" (based on a novel by Frank Norris in which Valentino plays a young San Franciscan socialite who is shanghaied on to a pirate ship called "Heart of China," and becomes a valued crew member on the ship) The pirate captain is played by Walter Long (the actor who is killed by Valentino at the end of "The Sheik" and dies again in his second flick with "Rudy") and the crux of the movie revolves around the rookie buccaneer rescuing a sailor from a sinking ship only to discover he has saved the title character female played by actress Dorothy Dalton ... who of course he falls in love with, but there is trouble brewing because the evil pirate captain played by Long also discovers the subterfuge and wants to bed her as soon as possible. Yikes! By the end of the 68 minute pot-boiler, Dalton's and Valentino's characters have of course fallen in love, Long's evil pirate, Captain "Slippery" Kitchell has been killed by Valentino's character, Ramon Laredo, when he throws the evil sailor off the upper rigging of the man's own pirate ship, and Ramon has captained the surviving crew into the port of San Diego where he meets some his former San Francisco friends, but rejects returning to his former life, and instead, returns to the "Heart of China" and the embraces of Moran. And audiences of the time lapped it all up (though it is unknown now how big of a profit it made).
Movie Poster Missing The Title Character
The Three Pulp Principles
The next Valentino movie to be released in 1922 is 1921's "Beyond the Rocks" with Valentino as Lord Hector Brancondate trying to marry Gloria Swanson (they meet "cute" when the Latin Lover rescues her from drowning when she falls out of a rowboat and into the ocean off coast of Dorset, England) in a mess of a movie that finally ends (after 80 minutes of romantic nonsense) with Swanson's wealthy, but much older husband, deliberating getting himself killed on a North African expedition so that the young couple can be together. A mess, the picture proves to be a bomb, but is quickly forgotten by the public when Valentino (he is billed under his "new" name, Rodolph Valentino) releases his next movie, another monster hit (and another film written for the screen by June Mathis, from a 1908 novel of the same name by Vincente Blasco Ibanez and a 1921 play by Thomas Cushing ... the movie will also be remade by Tyrone Power as the doomed bullfighter in 1941, and will be remade again in a 1989 Spanish version with Sharon Stone as the woman that causes the bullfighter's downfall, and the flick will also be twisted into two comedies, 1922's Stan Laurel parody, "Mud and Sand," and a 1924 comedy short with Will Rogers playing the matador in the Hal Roach film, "Big Moments From Little Pictures"), "Blood and Sand." As a peasant boy that grows up to become one of Spain's finest matadors, Valentino assuages the role of Juan Gallardo, a poor youth who grows up the be a talented matador, a bullfighter who eventually is hopelessly torn between his love for the sweet childhood friend he marries (played by actress Lila Lee and a wealthy, sexy women he meets after achieving fame and fortune as a matador, Dona Sol (played by Nita Naldi) . Torn between the two women, Valentino's character becomes a dissolute mess of a man that eventually is gored to death in the bullring, but not before reconciling with his wife during his last gasps of life (the movie also features a story that parallels the tale of the bullfighter in which a local peasant outlaw becomes a successful bandit until he takes part in one robbery too many and is shot to death by the local police). Premiering at the Rialto Theater in Los Angeles on August 22, 1922, the movie will go on to become a huge hit with the public and critics, taking in over a million dollars in its initial runs in America and Canada.
Another Hit
The Death Scene
Valentino's last movie of 1922 was yet another bite of romantic bologna called "The Young Rajah" in which he plays a young man named Amos Judd (based on the John Amos Mitchell of the same name), that raised in the United States discovers he was born as an Indian prince. As silly as silly can be, Valentino's character is raised in America after escaping a violent coup in his Indian homeland. Grown, he goes to college at Harvard, falls in love with a beautiful woman named Molly Cabot who is initially racist (played by actress Wanda Hawley), but will be cured of that character flaw by the end of the film, in which he also bests his rival on the rowing team for a spot on the squad and in Molly's heart. Oh, and Valentino's character has a birthmark that gives him precognitive powers ... and sure enough he has visions of big troubles coming his way, but chooses to return to India anyway and reclaim his throne from a tyrannical bad guy named Ali Khan despite having a vision of his own death ... by the 54th minute of this nonsense's conclusion, Valentino's character has caused Ali Khan to commit suicide, has become the new Maharajah of the fictional country of Dharmagar, and has a vision of marrying Molly and living happily ever after. Unlike most of his previous screen work, the movie bombs with both film critics and the public (for years the film is thought to be "lost," but in 2005 it becomes found once more, with a restoration being financed by Turner Classic Movies).
As The Young Rajah, Wearing A Costume
Designed By Rambova
Behind his film work work and his troubles with his first and second wives, 1922 also sees the star conduct a one-man strike against Famous Players-Lasky over what he believes is his unfair salary of $1,250 a week (working for the same studio, star Mary Pickford is making over $8,000 a week). Refusing to accept his paychecks, Paramount sues the actor and for a time bars him from work, though soon they offer him $7,000 per week, which Valentino refuses, stating that beyond the money he wants artistic control of his roles too. And he also rails about working conditions at the studio, complaining about the size of his dressing room and being denied the privilege of inviting friends to private screenings of his movies. The studio in turn responds by filing a lawsuit against the actor that prevents him from working for any other studio or appearing on stage. The actor in turn responds by embarking on a national dance tour with his wife that is sponsored by the Mineralavain Beauty Clay Company in which the couple perform numerous tango exhibitions in the United States and Canada (88 cities in all). And to further line their pockets, they also judge beauty contests, with the winners being brought to New York City's Madison Square Garden for the finals of the competition, with the winner receiving a film contract (though the winner, Norma Niblock, will only appear in a 13-minute movie about the contest shot by David O. Selznick called "Rudolph Valentino and his 88 American Beauties"). Lots of money being lost by both the studio and Valentino, with the help of lawyer Arthur Butler Graham, the actor will gain a new deal with Famous Players-Lasky in which his salary is increased to $7,500 a week and he gains a measure of creative control over the films he stars in.
Famous Players-Lasky
Before making pictures once more, while trying to keep his head above water, Valentino will publish a book of poetry he calls "Day Dreams." Published by Macfadden Publications, Incorporated, the poems are not enough to fix the actor's financial problems or have critics comparing him to T.S. Eliot or William Butler Yeats (one critic will simply call his work "rotten"). Though he is only 27, he also pens a "My Life Story" for Photoplay magazine, and it too does not provide the actor with a major amount of wealth. He also writes a series of illustrated articles for Liberty Magazine entitled "How You Can Keep Fit" in which he gives readers fitness tips and dietary advice (advice that comes in articles like "The Foundation of Strength is a Good Back" and "Let Your Abdomen Have the Strength of Iron Bands") Trying a different angle, he will record "Kashmin Song" and "El Relicario" for Brunswick Records on May 14 of the year, but with concerns about his pronunciations, they won't even be released until after the actor's death. He is not so caught up in his own troubles though that he doesn't have time to give to a worthy cause, and in June of the year he and his wife are the guests of honor at the Children's Orthopedic Hospital of Seattle's Pound Party, a charity event garnering donations of food, clothing, and other necessities (Valentino's appearance will make the event the most successful in its history). And of course there is a major trip back to Europe in July in which the couple journeys on the RMS Aquitania to London, England (a few days are spent in the city conducting interviews with reporters, sightseeing, and shopping for fine clothes at J. Dege & Sons, LTD), then the pair are off ro France (where they visit Paris, take a motor trip to the city of Nice, and find time to visit Cap d'Antibes where they stay in the magnificent estate of Rambova's stepfather, Richard Hudnut, a wealthy American perfumer ... they also almost burn down his mansion when they add candles to a Christmas tree inside the main home's library), before arriving at the couple's main destination, Valentino's home country of Italy. Ten years removed from his homeland, during the pair's visit to Valentino's homeland there will be jaunts and stops in the Italian's hometown of Castellaneta (where the couple visit with members of Valentino's family that include the actor's older brother, his younger sister, and a passel of aunts, uncles, and cousins), a trip to Florence where the celebrity almost gets into a fight with several Italian officers in a cafe because of the stares they send his wife's way, and a stay in Rome where the Valentino's shop, see the sights, and visit Cines Studio where the film "Quo Vadis" is being shot (there will also be a visit and lunch with actor Emil Jannings, though neither man speaks the other's language, and joined by their wives, a shared luncheon at the Borghese Gardens). European vacation over, the couple returns to the United States, once more aboard the RMS Aquitania, by December of 1923 (during their European sojourn, the couple will go on a massive buying spree that will have them buying a hodgepodge of items that include furniture, tapestries, jewelry, antique shawls, and a host of antique swords and armor)
Arriving In England
With His Older Brother
Returning to the United States, Valentino begins climbing out of the financial hole he has dug for himself (or at least he puts in an attempt ... he is in the hole for $80,000 ... or $1,503,929.82 in 2025 dollars). To fulfill his new contract with Famous Players-Lasky, he will make two movies for the studio in 1924, the first being another bit of insane romantic hookum called "Monsieur Beaucaire" in which the actor plays a royal Frenchman named the Duke de Chartres who loves King Louis XV's daughter, Princess Henriette (played by actress Bebe Daniels). The pair however have troubles and Valentino flees to England where he disguises himself as a common barber named Monsieur Beaucaire. As the title character he catches the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards and blackmails the man into introducing him into English high society (disguised as the Duke de Chateaurien) where he becomes involved with the beautiful Lady Mary (Doris Kenyon), who is hot to trot for him until she finds out he is just a masquerading barber, then falls for him again when it comes out that he is actually a French duke, whom Lady Mary very much wants again. Not confused yet, Valentino's duke is exposed as being just a barber by the Duke of Winterset, but turns the tables on the cad by exposing Winterset's dishonor ... and then with Lady Mary hot for him again, he decides to return to France as himself, and of course, the princess is now in love with him. Bunkum laced with poofery (in costumes designed by his wife of course, Valentino will appear in powdered wigs, lace, tight breeches, and in some scenes, massive amounts of makeup), the movie will not make back the money that is spent making it (the tale will be twisted into a Bob Hope comedy film in 1946, one that makes money and is ranked as the #20 box office movie of the year)..
Monsieur Beaucaire
Dancing With Lady Mary
Valentino is next on display in a "lost" movie called "A Sainted Devil," (based on a novel by Rex Beach called "Rope's End") in which he portrays a South American nobleman of Spanish descent that has a large estate in Argentina. The nobleman, Don Alonzo Castro, played by Valentino of course, is launched into a series of troubles that include an arranged marriage with a beauty named Julietta (played by Dagmar Godowsky), his wife being kidnapped by a bandit called "El Tigre' (at the behest of course of a jealous former lover of Valentino's nobleman), the Valentino character believing his wife is unfaithful and becoming disillusioned with the fair sex, a brawl with El Tigre in which Valentino has the upper hand until he is distracted by the former lover, and about to be killed, is saved when the bandit is done in by his mortal enemy, Don Luis, and the truth about his wife's kidnapping is reveled, giving Valentino's character a chance to be reunited with his wife and finally begin their new life together. Good Lord, Mercy Please! The movie is believed to have lost money, with critics citing the film's weak story telling, Valentino's unconvincing performance as Don Alonzo, the film's unconvincing structure, the tale's lack of charm, and once again one of the major culprits of the mess is identified as Valentino's wife who is the sole costume designer for the film, becomes involved in the narrative style and direction of the movie, clashes with actress Jetta Goudal until she is replaced by Godowsky in the lead role of Valentino's wife, and on many occasions, serves as an uncredited director on the film.
Another Bomb
He Does Dance Though
The year also sees Valentino try to fulfill the four picture deal he has with the Famous Players subsidiary, Ritz-Carlton Pictures. It does not go well. The first movie he tries to make is an historical drama set in 14th century Spain based loosely on the tale of El Cid called "The Hooded Falcon," and was to feature Valentino playing a bearded (which of course sets off a brief panic among American barbers that the males of America will soon stop shaving) Moorish nobleman and warrior (though at first his character is a young Spanish nobleman) who falls in love with a Moorish princess played by actress Nita Naldi amid a narrative featuring Spaniards, Moors, and Jews as key characters. The troubles for the film begin immediately when Rambova begins tinkering with the original script written by June Mathis (seething at the changes that are made to her script, Mathis will quit the movie and not talk to Valentino again until 1926, when the former friends reconcile shortly before the actor's death) ... and so it is that under the name, Justus Layne, an entirely new script is written by Valentino's wife in which his character transforms into a dark-skinned Moor (and of course, Rambova is also doing the costuming for the film). Before filming even begins, with the changes made to the original script attached to the Valentinos' already lavish spending on costumes and sets, the budget for the film begins to spiral out of control and the studio becomes heavily involved in the project, causing further turmoil with the pair until the decision is made to terminate the whole project, and pull the plug on the studio's involvement with the Valentinos (and his contract with Famous Players-Lasky will not be renewed).
A significant year for the actor as he tries to re-establish himself in the movie business, 1925 sees the actor investing in a place he and his wife can call home (designed by architect Wallace Neff and built by real estate developer George Read) high above South California's Benedict Canyon (although they will soon be divorced and she never lives there) for the sum of $175,000 (over $3,138,000 today), Valentino moves into a 4,700 square-foot, two-level, Spanish style villa with stucco walls and a red-tiled roof that he calls "Falcon Lair" (a name that pays homage to his never shot film, "The Hooded Falcon") at No. 2 Bella Drive. It is a mountain top estate of over 8 acres that is fit for a King, or one of the most famous entertainers in the world. Valentino's home contains 16 rooms, three of which are master bedrooms, three baths, an assortment of fireplaces, a library, and there is a detached four-car garage that has a 120-gallon gas pump and a separate upstairs four-bedroom servants' quarters, with everything surrounded by Italian-inspired gardens enclosed behind a privacy inducing 9-foot high concrete fence. Inside the home are an extensive collection of antiques, European furniture, and memorabilia the actor has collected on his travels. The estate also includes a stable for the four Arabian horses the actor owns ("Firefly," "Yacqui," "Ramadan," and "Haroun"), a kennel for his dogs (over the years he will own a Doberman Pinscher named "Kabar," an Irish Wolfhound named "Centaur Pendragon," German Shepherds named "Marquis" and "Sheik," a Spanish Greyhound named "Mirtza," two Italian Mastiffs named "Sheila" and "Shaitan," along with a number of other canines from the Pekingese and Great Dane breeds ... and there are also places on the estate in which the actor keeps six European falcons, a green monkey, a large gopher snake, and for a time, a lion cub named Zela (growing dangerous as it gets bigger, the "pet" will eventually grow too large to easily handle, begin escaping from the compound much to the anguish of the actor's neighbors, and will eventually maul the leg of an intruder on the property, a private detective hired by Valentino's first wife to spy on the actor, and he will be forced to return the cat to the animal trainer he was originally purchased from). Among the actor's neighbors will be future Oscar-winning screenwriter Francis Marion and her cowboy actor husband Fred Thomson (in a neighboring estate called "Enchanted Hill"), film director Fred Niblo (the man who directs the first version of "Ben Hur") who has a property bordering Valentino's called "Misty Mountain," married star players Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (who often drop in on Valentino unannounced), comedy star Harold Lloyd, genius comedian and filmmaker Buster Keaton, cowboy actor Tom Mix, actor John Gilbert, actress Corinne Griffith, and superstar comedian Charlie Chaplin. It is a heady place to live in, and whether it is Valentino or someone else, a party always seems to be in process.
Falcon Lair
Valentino In His Falcon Lair Home
With His Favorite Pet, "Kabar" At Falcon Lair
Needing an income to pay for the property, his pets, and the parties he throws at his palace, Valentino is back before the cameras in 1925. A joint production of Famous Players-Lasky and Ritz-Carlton Pictures, his first movie of the year is romantic potboiler (based on a Broadway play by Martin Brown in which the lead role is a female) called "Cobra' (from the notion that women can mesmerise men just like a cobra can with it's prey) in which Valentino plays Count Rodrigo Torriani, a character that is riddled with internal conflicts dealing with his attraction to women versus his needs to be honorable and loyal as he struggles with the pull of his temptations while seeking a better life for himself and his love. A very messed up individual, Valentino's character leaves Italy to spend time with a friend named Jack Dorning (played by Casson Ferguson) in New York City, where he works as an antiques expert for his buddy, and becomes involved with his friend's wife (played by Nita Naldi) and his friend's secretary (played by Gertrude Olmstead). Deluxe corn again (70 minutes of it), the Count almost makes love to his buddy's wife, but decides at the last minute that he can't betray his buddy and leaves ... AND JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME AS THE HOTEL CATCHES FIRE AND KILLS A HOST OF IT'S OCCUPANTS, INCLUDING MRS. DORNING! Free now to pursue his love for his buddy's secretary, the count instead pushes the secretary towards his widowed friend, boards a steamer and heads back to whatever the future holds for him in Europe. Behind the scenes there are a myriad of problems that keep the film from being released until the year is almost over, though the star does enjoy when the world heavy-weight boxing champion, Jack Dempsey, visits the set and gives him pugilistic tips. Once again Valentino's wife is involved in a share of the problems that plague the production and her script will require a full rewrite (and it doesn't help that during the same period of time her marriage to Valentino enters its "death throes" phase), but the difficulties with the movie go deeper than that and also involve the cinematographer quitting after a fight with director Joseph Henabery over how the picture is being filmed (he will be replaced by Devereaux Jennings) and the director will also be unhappy about most of the performances he oversees, Valentino is unhappy with the quality of the production, and Paramount Pictures, the film's distributer will be unhappy with the final cut of the production and hold the movie back until 1925 is almost over (and the public is once more glamoring for Valentino product after he has a hit with his next movie, "The Eagle").
Cobra
Tips From The World Champ
"Cobra" completed, Valentino goes to work on his next film (and his first on a three picture contract with United Artists at a salary of $10,000 a week for filming three movies for the company and a contract in it that has a clause banning Valentino's wife from participating in the production of his movies or being on the set when they are being filmed), plus a percentage of the profits. The first movie Valentino makes under his United Artists agreement is called "The Eagle," and is a romantic adventure story (of course) based on an 1841 novel by Alexander Pushkin set in 18th-Century Imperial Russia. In the film, Valentino plays Lt. Vladimir Dubrovsky, a Russian Army officer that saves a beautiful young lady (Vilma Banky as Mascha) and her aunt from a runaway stagecoach, which brings him to the attention of Czarina, Catherine the Great (played by Louise Dresser) who decides she wants the dashing young hero, but he doesn't want her and spurns becoming romantically involved with the Czarina, a decision that gets him declared a deserter and puts a price on his head from the spurned Imperial. At roughly the same time, an evil nobleman named Kyrilla Troekouroff (played by James Marcus) seizes the land belonging to the Dubrovsky family and has Valentino's father killed. Vowing revenge, Valentino's character transforms himself into a masked avenger called "The Black Eagle" that goes about protecting and avenging the injustices Troekouroff has wrought on the peasant population of the area. Complicating matters greatly, he is in love with Mascha, who turns out to be the daughter of the evil Troekouroff. Wanting to be near the women he loves, but that doesn't recognize him as her savior from earlier in the movie, and to gain revenge on the evil Troekouroff, Valentino assumes the role of a never before seen French tutor named Monsieur LeBlanc that is assigned to the Troekouroff household. Eventually Dubrovsky is exposed as being both "The Black Eagle" and Monsieur LeBlanc, and the movie's hero is arrested and turned over to the Czarina for execution, but of course at the last minute she has a change of heart and instead of putting Valentino's character to death (though she believes the execution has taken place), with the help of General Kushka (played by Austrian-American actor Albert Conti), Dubrovsky is sent to Paris as Monsieur LeBlanc with Mascha in tow, presumably to live happily ever after. Finally another hit for Valentino, the film makes a profit for both Valentino and United Artists, and is remembered for it's famous extended tracking shot of a large party taking place at a 60 foot long banquet table (directed by Clarence Brown and featuring the production designs of William Cameron Menzies) that will eventually be nominated by The American Film Institute for its 2001 listing on the group's 100 Most Thrilling American Movies of All Time (and in an uncredited role, a young actor by the name of Gary Cooper plays a masked Cossack in the Black Eagle's band of brigands).
Banky & Valentino In "The Eagle"
Along with the two movies he makes in 1925, and the work Valentino does on his Falcon Lair estate, the movie star finds time to establish a acting award called the Rudolph Valentino Medal for Screen Acting (as chosen by a select group of 75 major newspaper and periodical film critics, two official judges, and the actor himself) that is given to John Barrymore for his 1924 role in the film "Beau Brummel" (Valentino will personally present the winner with a medal during a dinner and award ceremony that takes place at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles before a gathering of notable Hollywood celebrities that include Marion Davies and Douglas Fairbanks, Norma and Constance Talmadge, Jack Warner, Darryl Zanuck, Hal Wallis, Bess Meredith, and Ernest Lubitsch). Additional pleasures not already mentioned come to the actor from cooking delicious but simple Italian dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs, driving about town in his collection of cars that included a Isotta Fraschini Italian touring car, a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (with a unique alligator paint finish), a French Avion Voisin, a Franklin Coupe, and for work around his home, a Ford truck, adding to his clothing collection of 40 suits, 300 neckties, 50 pairs of shoes, Homburg hats without their typical silk brims, and acquiring numerous gold, silver, and diamond cufflinks, fine watches, and scarf pins (he also often wears a slave bracelet given to him by his wife). And dating back to documenting his early days in America, Valentino becomes a photography enthusiast that has an extensive collection of high-quality equipment at his home that includes top-of-the-line French Debrie cameras, and a number of cameras for filming home movies (on his sets he can often be found filming behind-the-scenes footage).
Valentino Awarding Barrymore His Medal While
The Master Of Ceremonies For The Evening, Director And
Screenwriter Rupert Hughes Looks On
Valentino At His Estate With His 1923 Voisin C5 Sporting
Victoria And His Doberman Pinscher Pinscher, Kabar
Movie Poster
The Climatic Fight
Movie completed, while Valentino is wrapped up in promoting his latest film (there will be promotional stops in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City), he also finds time to continue romancing Pola Negri, begins planning his next movie (a film about Renaissance artist and adventurer Benvenuto Cellini), and becomes involved in a real-life feud while in Chicago with the Chicago Tribune over an editorial the paper publishes questioning the masculinity of the actor. The feud will be called the "Pink Powder Puff War" (for men's facial powder being sold in some of Chicago's men's restrooms) and is sparked when an anonymous (the writer is believed to be Tribune writer John Herrick) editorial appears in the paper on July 18 of 1926 in which the "feminization" of America is directly blamed on Valentino and the article questions why no one hasn't drowned the actor years before (there are also rumors that the whole thing is a secret publicity stunt orchestrated by Valentino's press agent, Victor Shapiro). Unsurprisingly, the incensed actor responds by challenging the unknown writer of the calumny to either a boxing or wrestling match to defend his honor (the furious actor will be quoted as stating, "Hoping I will have an opportunity to demonstrate to you that the wrist under a slave bracelet may snap a real fist into your sagging jaw."), but whoever the anonymous man is, he never surfaces and instead, in front of a group of writers, with his friend Jack Dempsey serving as the referee, Valentino fights sportswriter Buck O'Neil of the New York Evening Journal on the roof of New York City's Ambassador Hotel. Not much of a match at all (the whole thing appears to be staged), after the sportswriter lands one punch on the actor, Valentino throws his one punch and knocks down the much larger New Yorker who will exclaim, "That boy has a punch like a mule's kick!" (the controversy will also lead to a brief friendship with the writer H.L. Mencken who the actor consults about how to handle the entire controversy).
On The Road Promoting His Last Movie
Still in New York City promoting the film and himself, the actor is ensconced in a suite at the city's Ambassador Hotel on Park Avenue (at 51st Street) in Manhattan on August 15, 1926, when while reading the Sunday papers, he suddenly clutches his side, gasps in pain, doubles over before falling to the floor and passing out. Ambulance called by his manager George Ullman, the actor is rushed to the nearby Polyclinic Hospital on West 50th Street where in a matter of a few minutes he is being operated on for a ruptured gastric ulcer and appendicitis by a medical team of four doctors (lead surgeon Dr. H.D. Meeker, assistant surgeon Dr. Durham, the senior house physician at the hospital, Dr. Golden R. Battey, and a specialist in stomach diseases, Dr. G. Randolph Manning), assisted by the nurses on duty in the area. Valentino's pulse is 140, but he makes it through the first crisis of his medical emergency (conscious once more, he will ask Dr. Meeker if he is a pink powder puff, and Dr. Durham will quickly respond, "No indeed, you have been very brave," and when his manager arrives he will smile and ask Ullman, "How did I take it?" and when told he handled things just fine, will whisper, "Oh well, once a sheik, always a sheik"), and by August 17th in the hospital the rubber drains placed in the actor's body during his initial surgery stop draining, which is believed to be a good sign. On August 19 of his stomach problems, the actor's pulse and temperature return to normal, and everyone is optimistic that the worst is over. Unfortunately though, his condition suddenly worsens on the morning of August 20 with Valentino complaining about experiencing a chill and that he has severe pains in the upper region of his left abdomen and left chest (his medical team responding immediately, it will be found that the actor has developed pleurisy, which quickly becomes pneumonia in his left lung). The film star's condition continues to worsen on August 21 and August 22, with Valentino's pleurisy growing stronger as he becomes feverish and experiences extreme difficulty breathing as he pants for breath and moans with each inhale, his pulse races, he experiences severe stomach pains, along with nausea and vomiting, and his temperature soars to 104.2 degrees. In the early hours of August 23rd, Valentino is able to recognize his boss, Joseph M. Schenck, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Artists Corporation, and tells him, "Don't worry, Chief, I will be all right," tells his manager not to lower the shades in his hospital room, and before lapsing into unconsciousness, unaware he is dying, invites Dr. Meeker to come on a fishing trip later in the year and once more inquires whether he has acted like a "powder puff," then he slips into a final coma and passes away (with Valentino at the end are his manager S. George Ullman, his close friend Frank Mennillo, his surgeon, Dr. Meeker, actress Pola Negri, and the pastor of nearby St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church, Father Edward F. Leonard who gives the actor the church's last rites) at 12:10 p.m. on August 23, 1926. The actor is 31 years old at the time of his death. .
The Ambassador Hotel
New York Polyclinic Hospital
Following his demise, Valentino's body is placed in a wicker basket, covered with a gold cloth and taken to the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Church where it is embalmed before being dressed in full evening attire and placed on a draped catafalque for public viewing in the establishment's Gold Room. Like a huge super magnet, the body will attract enormous crowds that are estimated to be over 100,000 strong (many of them young women) to the funeral home ... a multitude that stretches out over 11 blocks and crazed by their desire to see the fallen star, start rioting (to which the city responds by sending into the area over 100 mounted officers and members of the NYPD's Police Reserve, the mess of humanity will have to be charged several times before order is finally restored); there will be smashed windows, knocked down barriers, trampled mourners, fights, Broadway being closed for hours at a time, brawls break out with over 100 individuals suffering injuries, several distraught women attempt suicide, and there will also be lots of fainting as the throngs of people leave the area around the funeral parlor littered with torn clothing, hats, umbrellas, and dozens of shoes. And there is more of the same when the actor's body is transported (amazingly, only one person will be arrested during all the funeral tumult) to St. Malachy's Church (famously known as "The Actor's Chapel") on Monday, August 30th at 11:00 in the morning for a private goodbye from celebrities and individuals in the movie industry. The Catholic Requiem Mass will be presided over by the church's rector. Father Edward F. Leonard (assisted by Father Joseph Congedo), will feature Spaeth's "Miserere," Gounod's "Ave Maria," and Massenet's "Elegy" for music (with a side performance of Pola Negri's dramatic weeping) and be attended by celebrities that include actor Douglas Fairbanks (an honorary pallbearer), actress Mary Pickford, actress Gloria Swanson, former Paramount Pictures head Adolph Zukor (an honorary pallbearer ... there will be twelve in all), Valentino's first wife, Jean Acker, actress Madge Bellamy, actor Richard Dix, the actress Talmadge sisters (Constance and Norma), actress Marion Davies (William Randolph Hearst's gal pal), Louise Brooks, and yet another (she starts with her arrival at New York's Grand Central station, beginning a series of mourning art pieces that last until she marries Prince Serge Mdivani months later) special "look-at-me" performance from Pola Negri full of weeping and fainting. And outside the church there is more of the same crowd madness that has been infecting New York City since the actor's death was officially announced, highlighted by several women attempting suicide.
Trying To Say Goodbye
The casket carrying Valentino then is driven to New York's Grand Central Station and departs for Los Angeles, California aboard the New York Central Railroad on their "Water Level Rout" ... moving through Albany, Buffalo, and Cleveland, before arriving at Chicago's LaSalle Street Station. There the funeral cars are transferred to the city's Dearborn Station for a journey on the Santa Fe Railroad that will pass through Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona before finally arriving in California (showing up in America after a journey to the United States aboard the White Star liner, "Homeric," Valentino's older brother, Alberto Gugliemi, accompanies his younger brother's body on it's cross country trip to Los Angeles ... also on the cross country train is Pola Negri, who once again does her grieving lover routine ... the journey is also shared by Valentino's grieving manager, S. George Ullman). To prevent the crowd chaos that took place in New York, the actor's remains are quickly removed from the train at the line's El Sereno station in northeast Los Angeles, placed in hearse and driven into Los Angeles, arriving in the city just before 3:00 p.m. on Monday, 9/6, 1926. Valentino's remains are then held by a local undertaker until the following day. On Tuesday, a private funeral service for the actor takes place at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills that is "invitation only" and is once more attended by a who's-who of celebrities (some that also attended his New York ceremony) that includes Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, the Talmadge sisters, Harold Lloyd, William S. Hart, Jesse Lasky, Pola Negri (doing her standard "grief" routine again), Marion Davies, first wife Jean Acker (and Acker's mother), Adolf Zucker, Valentino's manager, S. George Ullman, June Mathis, and of course, Valentino's older brother. When the traditional Catholic rites are completed, the actor's body is taken to Hollywood Memorial Park (now Hollywood Forever Cemetery) on Santa Monica Blvd. where he is interred in a crypt donated by June Mathis (who dies in New York City the following year at the age of only 40, and now rests beside Valentino) located in the cemetery's Cathedral Mausoleum.
Hearse Loading In El Sereno
At The Church Of The Good Shepard
Being Walked Into His Final Resting Place
Internment Spot - Note The Lipstick Marks
Valentino's story though doesn't end with his death and burial. In debt at the time of his death, Valentino's personal possessions and estate are put up for auction after his death in a heavily publicized event simply titled "Catalogue for the Public Auction of the Estate of Rudolph Valentino" ... and it is basically everything the actor owned. Among the items for sale are his Falcon Lair estate (it will have a handful of owners that get the property for a song ... among them are New York diamond broker Jules Howard who pays $145,000 for the property but never stays in it, actress Ann Harding buys the property for $75,000 and then sells it five months later for $125,00 to a San Francisco nightclub owner, and the property will also be rented out to a variety of tenants, one of which is western star Harry Carey, before being sold to tobacco heiress Doris Duke who buys the estate for an unknown price in 1953 (what is known is that her estate sells the property in 1998 for $2,294,000) and his Whitley Heights home, Villa Valentino, at 6776 Wedgewood Place (it's owners after Valentino are unknown, what is known is that the place is demolished in 1951 to make room for the Hollywood Freeway). Also up for sale at the auction are his automobiles, which include an Isotta Fraschini and a 32-foot wooden yacht able to comfortably sleep eight people called both "Charade" and "The Phoenix' (the actor will only be alive to use the vessel three times), the actor's personal wardrobe of 7 dressing robes, 10 dress suits, 6 pairs of colored Japanese silk pajamas, 146 pairs of socks, 60 pairs of gloves, 10 overcoats, over 100 ties, 60 pairs of shoes, 109 shirt collars, personal effects that include scarf pins, cufflinks, an onyx pocket watch, monogramed silverware, and an assortment of cameras, canes, spats, and vests. Additionally, the items up for auction also include the actor's collections of books, artwork, antique arms and armor, along with a grand piano, and all his dogs and horses. A cornucopia of collectibles that in two auctions (one at the Hall of Arts Studios in Hollywood, and a second in San Francisco shortly after 1927 begins) only garners $96,654 against estate debts that are over a million dollars (in March of 2021, a four acre piece of the property where the estate once stood sells for $15,000,000!).
Catalog Of Items
In 1927, the actor is back in the news as part of a mystery when for the first time on the anniversary of his death, a woman covered from foot to head in black, appears in front of his tomb, prays for a little while and then departs without saying a word, leaving behind a single red rose. For years and years, three decades in all, the mystery woman will show up at Valentino's tomb on the anniversary of his death a leave behind a single red rose. Later it will be determined that the woman is Ditra Flame (she is born with the name of Ditra Helena Mefford, but will also go by the moniker her adopted parents give her, Princess Orvella Wilson). She eventually becomes the famous "Woman in Black" after meeting the star through her parents when she is hospitalized, in a gravely ill state, when she is only 14 years old and is visited by the actor, who is a friend of her parents. On the occasion of their meeting, Valentino gives the girl a red rose and promised her she would recover, in return for his assurances that she will become well, the actor requests, "If I die before you do, please come and stay by me for awhile because I don't want to be alone." Ditra recovers, and after 1926 and Valentino's death, she begins fulfilling her promise to the actor, at least she does for awhile, a long while as it turns out. She will visit the actor's tomb on anniversary of the day of Valentino's death from 1927 to 1954, then will stop because she does not want to deal with all the other women in black that start also visiting the actor's resting place on the anniversary of his death, before resuming in 1974, and continuing her yearly visits until her death in 1984 (between visits, Flame is a professional violinist who plays in a band called "The Blondes, Brunettes and Redheads, and spends several years working at a Mojave Indian rescue mission, along with dedicating her time to raising money for the Rose of Sharon Missionary Fund) at the age of 78. And there will be other Ladies In Black that include Estrellita del Regil who continues the tradition after Flame's death. Actress Vicki Callahan will have the official duties since 1995, and a woman named Karie Bible that will attend the annual service for Valentino at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery attired completely in black (and there is a women named Anna Maria Carrascosa who will wrongly claim her mother was the actual first Lady In Black).
And as if that craziness isn't enough, almost immediately after Valentino's death, stories start being told that his ghost still haunts the areas he use to live in. At Falcon Lair in Beverly Hills there are numerous reports over the years of phantom footsteps being heard, doors opening and closing without human assistance (along with doorknobs turning though no one is there), and sightings of the actor's ghost at the home's stables petting living horses (one caretaker at the property even runs down the canyon in the middle of the night screaming that he has seen Valentino's ghost). It will be reported that actor Harry Carey eventually moves out of the home because of the frequency of Valentino visits, and heiress Doris Duke, who owns the home for decades (attended by her butler, Bernard Lefferty), will claim to encounter the shade numerous times, and there are reports that Valentino returns to his home to be with thirty mediums in which his spirit states, "This is Rudolph.You are in my house. Please be my guests." . Valentino's shade is also reported to haunt his final resting place at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (visitors will claim they have encountered the ghost near the actor's crypt), several security guards and studio personnel have reported seeing Valentino dressed in white and also in his famous "Sheik" costume on the grounds of Paramount Studios. He has also been reported to have been seen dancing in the former lounge of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel (even though the establishment opened after the actor's death), there have been reports of paranormal activity taking place at a beach house Valentino owned in Oxnard, a number of guests at the Santa Maria Inn have claimed to have encountered Valentino's spirit in one of the room's the actor always requested during stays there, his ghost is reported to have been spotted in the bathroom of the famous Musso and Frank Grill in Hollywood, and his shade has been said to give out "ghost kisses" to women that occupy Room 264 at the Hollywood Hotel.
Harry Carey, His Wife, And One Of Their Daughters At
Falcon Lair
And not to be left out, it is said that Valentino's dead dog, also haunts a number of places he enjoyed with his master during his brief life. Valentino's favorite pet of all the animals he owned, in 1923 as a young puppy only a few months old, the actor is gifted with a Doberman Pinscher from a Belgian diplomat that will come to be known as "Kabar" (from the Arabic word "kabir," meaning "great," magnificent," or "powerful" and Valentino's pet will display all those characteristics during his life). For actor and dog, it is love at first sight. and the two become inseparable companions with the dog traveling with Valentino (including when the actor is in first class), and sleeping in the same room as his beloved master. Not feeling well and worried how a heatwave in New York might affect his furry pal, Valentino decides to go on his movie promotional tour for "Son of the Sheik" without Kabar, but after four years together the two seem to be psychically linked, and at the moment the actor dies in New York City, thousands of miles away at Falcon Lair, the dog begins howling (many of the actor's other pets also then begin wailing) and is inconsolable as if he knows the actor has passed. Sadly, the pet never gets over the loss and begins constantly prowling his mountain home looking for the actor, and while under the care of Valentino's brother, becomes ill, and eventually runs away. It is believed by many that he vanishes seeking his master. Wherever he went, the dog eventually returns to Falcon Lair a few months later in very poor shape with his paws worn raw and his body excessively thin. Despite the best efforts of a local veterinarian, the dog refuses to eat and passes away on January 17, 1929, seemingly as a result of his broken heart for his missing master. Unable to bury the dog at Falcon Lair due to a city ordinance, Valentino's brother has the dog interned at the newly opened, nearby, Los Angeles Pet Park ... the first animal to be buried there, and in the following years the beloved Doberman Pinscher will be joined by an MGM lion named Tawny, Jiggs the chimpanzee that played Cheetah in the Tarzan movies, Topper, Hopalong Cassidy's horse, Pete the Pup from the "Our Gang" comedy series, Mae West's monkey, Boogie, a Champagne Cocker Spaniel belonging to Humphry Bogart and Lauren Bacall named Droopy, Boots, Charlie Chaplin's cat, an Irish Setter named Muggins that belonged to Jimmy Durante, along with pets once owned by William Randolph Hearst, William Shatner, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Barker, Debby Reynolds, Diana Ross, Eddie Fisher, Tori Spelling, Betty Grable, Steven Spielberg, Harry James, Bing Crosby, Ida Lupino, Edward G. Robinson, and Peter Lorre.
At Falcon Lair
Formal Portrait
But like his master, death doesn't stop the canine from continuing to seek out his beloved owner, and over the years there will be reports of the dog roaming the grounds of the Memorial Park he is buried at, with visitors over the years saying that near his grave barking and panting can be heard, and for a privileged few, their hands are licked. Along with the pet cemetery, the devoted dog has also put in many appearances on the grounds of Falcon Lair, usually around the time of his master's birthday, and in 1948 the dog is reported to have been seen by a group of mediums conducting a seance at Valentino's home. A dog lover myself, here's hoping that the two have found each other in the afterlife, and there, will be together forever and ever!
FINIS
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