Monthly Archives: Jun 2018

Ruth Williams, 82 a resident of Petaluma Convalescent Hospital recalls a moment in time that still brings a smile to her face today.  I met Rudolph Valentino when I was merely 16 she said and that was long before he made the movie that gained him stardom “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. He wasn’t anything like the press agents in Hollywood made him out to be.  Why, he was very reserved almost shy in fact. But dance, why he could dance.

“When a woman is beautiful, she is a miracle, a masterpiece of God, an acolyte of Venus a lotus of love”..Rudolph Valentino 1926

Rudolph Valentino celebrated his first night in Paris with a big Montmartre party, which wound up in Mitchells colored entertainment club in the Rue Blanche at 5:30 this morning when the tired movie start was unable to dance anymore.  With two friends, he bade good-bye to the beautiful women, climbed into a limousine, and drove home leaving the other men to escort the ladies to their hotels. Clad in full dress with tails, white waistcoat and white tie Valentino and his party created a furore wherever they appeared.  After the theatre he went to the new popular dancing place Florida next door to the Perroquet where the South American clientele greeted him with an ovation.  Rudolph danced a couple of one-steps with Mrs Jean Nash known as the best dressed and most extravagant women in Europe, but declined to attempt the Charleston and tango. After several bottles of champagne the party adjourned to Mitchells for more wine and breakfast, the movie star polishing off the night with pancakes, bacon and eggs.  A beautiful blonde Viennese actress formerly of high rank in Austrian society joined the party at Mitchells and Valentino danced twice with her.

Nobody will believe a handsome restaurant worker here when he tells them his name is Rudolph Valentino. “They think I’m kidding” he explained with an engaging smile. Actually, there is no relation between Rochester’s Rudolph and the movie’s idolized lover of yesteryear with the same name. But enough years have passed to dim memories of the great Valentino’s appearance so there is quite a fuss whenever anyone discovers Rochester Rudolph’s full name. “The second time someone meets me, the wisecracks start” the local man points out. “Its come to a point where I don’t tell anyone my last name if I can help it”. When he was younger he felt his name gave him a psychological edger with the opposite sex. “It certainly never scared any girls away” he said. At the restaurant where Rudolph works, many bets have been made over whether or not his name is “real”. The losers generally want to know how well a lover Rochester Rudy is. When he tried to enlist in the Marine Corps, the recruiting officer tore up his first application thought he was being a wise guy. When Rudolph attended a school of dramatics, the first thing he was told to do was change his name. Rudolph got his name after a three-week argument between his mother and father following his birth in Radicena, Italy, thirty-five years ago. Dad finally won out.

Memories carry me through the lonely years says 83-year-old Beatrice Fribush, Baltimore, MD. Young Bea had a strict father, loved to dance, but was not allowed to date boys or hang out at dance halls. To have some fun and “shake myself” she would tell her father, the owner of Jacks Tavern near the intersection of Gough and Spring Streets in East Baltimore, that she was going to movies with friends. Despite receiving spankings with a leather strap for her fibs, Beatrice continued to sneak away to dances. “One time I went to a dance and Rudolph Valentino was there on stage” she wrote. “He asked if anyone from the audience would care to dance with him. I smiled and raised my hand. We danced the tango and I felt wonderful. He said I was very good and asked me to be his dance partner. Since, I wasn’t even supposed to be going to dances I said no. I still regret turning him down to this day.

Rudolph Valentino is in a Baltimore Sanatorium taking a course of treatment for his nerves. The courts must have been getting on Rudolph’s nerves.

Metro-Screen Classics Film version of John Fleming Wilson “Unchartered Seas” starring Alice Lake and Rudolph Valentino is released this week. It is the story of a woman who, after suffering years of indignities at the hands of her husband, finally leaves him upon proof that he is a irretrievable coward and turns to “the man she hadn’t married” with whom she endures months of cold and agony while they fruitlessly explore the unchartered Arctic Seas. Privately we don’t care for fake icebergs and unreal miniatures in the scenic, and the terrors experienced by the hero and heroine make one wish that one of the tumbling glaciers would end it all. But when many souls are more dramatic than ours and for them such pictures are made. Let it be said seriously that an excellent aurora borealis effect has been obtained. It is far more convincing than some of the foregrounds upon which it shines. Miss Lake does Lucretia Eastman, the disgusted wife, with dignity. Mature roles suit her better than the flappers in which we have so often seen cast. Rudolph Valentino does little well as Ralph Underwood the romantic explorer who loves the wife of another man.

“Hello Central, give me Long Distance please”. “Long distance”? this is Miss Josephine Stewart editor of the Marion Times-Standard. I want to put in a call for Mr. Rudolph Valentino, Hollywood, California. Yes, Central Rudolph Valentino, you will call him thank you. Thus, began a long-distance telephone interview with Rudolph Valentino at Hollywood Studios. Wires started bussing and thirty minutes later listeners-in heard the following conversation with filmdom’s matinee idol and hear of Paramount’s sensational film Blood and Sand. “Hello, Miss Stewart, ready with Hollywood, California. Valentino’s on the wire “Hello Mr. Valentino”? “This is Rudolph Valentino speaking”. “Mr. Valentino, this is Miss Stewart, dramatic editor of The Marion Times-Standard. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your film work”. “Alright, I’ll be glad to answer them if I can”. “Well, I’ll be brief and to the point. Pardon me if I am a bit hurried”. “Certainly, go ahead”.

“What is your favorite picture, Mr. Valentino”? I think Blood and Sand, my latest release, is the best, at any rate I enjoyed making it most”. What about “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”? “Well that was a wonderful picture, but I didn’t have the opportunity for dramatic expression as in Blood and Sand”. “Who adapted Blood and Sand to the movie screen”? “Miss June Mathis, and she has handled Ibanez’s story in a remarkably clever manner”. “And who directed. Ro—pardon me, Mr. Valentino most called you Rudolph/ You see I’ve seen you so many times on the screen, I really feel like I know you”. Perfectly agreeable, I’m sure. In fact, I’d a little rather be Rudolph. You were asking who directed? Fred Niblo the man who made the Three Musketeers”. “Isn’t Lila Lee in the cast”? “Yes, and Nita Naldi, too and Miss Naldi’s work can’t be praised too highly. It’s really an inspiration to work with her”. “Do you actually engage in a bull-fight, Mr. Valentino”? “Yes, several times and frankly I’m glad that’s over. When I first went into the arena well, anyway, I won’t forget it soon. Talk about throwing the bull, that bull nearly threw me when we were making the first shots”. “You seem to fit in so well for Spanish parts. Do you like them”? “Sure, I enjoy the Spanish roles. The Spanish atmosphere somehow seems to inspire one to better acting.” “Do you think Blood and Sand will meet the same national success that The Sheik did?” “Well, I can’t say, but the critics that have reviewed the movie have been more than kind. In fact, some of them have grown enthusiastic over the film, and you know how hard-boiled they are. It broke all attendance records at Los Angeles, and Los Angeles fans are rather critical, we feel that this may be taken as a criterion.” “Is Walter Long in the picture?” “I should say he is. And say, he has an exceptionally strong part and does it wonderfully.” “I’ve had several people ask me if you were not once a dancer?” “Oh yes, for quite a while. That’s how I got my chance in The Four Horsemen.” “And how about a love story. Is there one in Blood and Sand?” “A beautiful one. It’s of the exotic Spanish type and there are situations in that will leave you breathless with excitement. By the way, when is Marion showing the picture?” “Friday and Saturday of this week at the Bonita and the whole town seems interested. We are all anxious to see it.” “Pardon me, but your time is up.” “Good bye Miss Stewart and regards to Marion.” “All right, Central. Goodbye Mr. Valentino.”