Monthly Archives: Aug 2022

Tribute to Rudolph Valentino is paid in a donation received by the Near East Relief from an American woman in Maryland.  The money was accompanied by a letter, in which the donation stated that “this gift is to be used for the support of an orphan child in memory of Rudolph Valentino, who brought so much joy into the world for so many people”.

Several readers have complained because the newspapers devoted more space to the death of Rudolph Valentino.  An editor is not a historian who seeks to put happenings into their proper perspective. If the great preoccupation of the public with Valentino is a thing to evaporate in a short time, that is more reason why it becomes news today.  It is well to remember also that the story of Valentino’s death is not concerned alone with the individual in question but with the reaction of the public to this event.  When thousands stand in the rain for hours seeking a chance to pass the dead man’s bier, that is news beyond any question.  It does not matter that many of the people in line were morbid curiosity seekers. The precise extend of morbidity is also a proper subject of journalistic concern. I rather think that some reports have been too severe in judging the motives of the crowd.  I saw long lines at a distance in the dripping rain, and it is my belief that if it had been possible for a reporter to investigate the hearts of all who waiting there he would have found in many who trudged the slow march through the doors a profound emotion. Valentino had become that priceless thing – a symbol. It was not so much a motion picture actor who lay dead as Pan of Apollo whom they are to bury from Campbell’s funeral parlor. He was to the thousands the romance which they never knew.  He was Prince Charming and came from the other side of the moon.  And if a symbol of romance in the lives of many millions fades, that is a not undignified matter of newspaper interest.  It is a long sleep to which Valentino has gone, and soon the thousands will have another symbol to take his place. It seems to me a little cruel to deny a dead actor his last full measure of press clippings.

A silent screen idol, Rudolph Valentino was eulogized at memorial services Tuesday as the man who “filled a need” for women who lost their loved ones in the first World War. About 50 persons, most of them middle-aged or elderly women, attended that memorial service that marked the 34th anniversary of Valentino’s death at the peak of his career. Former silent film star James Kirkwood, a life-long friend of Valentino, and Belle Martell, also of the silent screen era, both spoke in the solemn service at Valentino’s crypt at Hollywood Memorial Park.  Absent for the third straight year was the “Lady in Black”, who formerly made an annual pilgrimage to the crypt.  Miss Martell insisted this is not just a bit of showmanship, not a carnival. Rudolph Valentino was a great artist with a great big spark of genius. Kirkwood quoted from Hamlets speech to Horatio “Thou has been as one, suffering all…” and recalled the “great qualities” of the silent screen star whose “Son of the Sheik” recently was shown in a new television series.

A Rudolph Valentino autograph recently was sold for $75.00.  A mechanics weekly salary will buy Rudolph Valentino’s $18,000 Isotta Town Car, now dusting on a used automobile lot. Nina Wilcox Putnam has a Voisin formerly owned by Valentino.