Author Archives: 1920rudy

Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi was bom in the village of Castellanola in the deep south of Italy. When he was still a youngster, Rodolfo whose father was a veterinarian emigrated to the United States. The poor Italian immigrant grew up and became Rudolph Valentino, the handsome idol of the silent screen whose romantic style enraptured American womanhood. Despite his fame in the United States, Valentino was virtually an unknown in his homeland. Very few people remembered young Rodolfo Guglielmi or connected him with Rudolph Valentino for many years. And it was even a longer time before he became famous in Castellaneta mainly because there was no movie house in Valentino’s home town until 10 years after he died. Valentino is causing more of a stir in Italy now than he ever did when he was alive. The trouble started last year when the village of Castellaneta’ decided to pay tribute to its native son. The town fathers decided to erect a statue in Valentino’s honor with money that the critics said should have been used to clothe the village’s poverty-strick children. The dedication ceremonies took place Sept. 20. There was a banquet, receptions, speeches and. of course, the unveiling of a six-foot statue showing Valentino as “The Son of the Sheik.” On hand were government officials, movie personalities and a host of reporters and photographers. But the extravagance of the affair resulted in a storm of protest in the Italian press. Typical of what was published was an article by Rome’s “II Messaggero,” ! one of the most respected newspapers in the country. Totals Up Costs The newspaper said the poor village could have done without the monument. It totaled up the cost of the statue, the receptions, the banquets and noted that most of the hotels were taken over by the government to house the “personalities” who took part.  “This belated honoring of Rudolph Valentino represented a hard blow to the treasury of Castellaneta,” the newspaper said. “With the money for the banquet and the receptions, they could have bought shoes for the poorest children. With the money for the monument they could have built some public utility, which certainly would have been more useful than a monument. . .and particularly in a country where the people have enough to do to live, let alone find enough time to honor their saints.” This and similar articles apparently made an impression with the Italian government. A spokesman said today the monument was aimed at representing all tha emigrants who left Italy during hard times, rather than for Valentino himself. , “He was for the emigrants a symbol of success,” the government spokesman said. He also claimed that the expenditures for the statue and celebrations were “minimal ” and that the area was ‘ not as poor as the newspapers has led the public to believe.

Rudolph Valentino “lover of the .screen,’’ shortly after 10 o’clock today pushed his way through crowds of women into the court of Justice J. Walter Hanby for his preliminary hearing on a charge of bigamy. Long before the handteome young Italian, actor, his dark eyes glowing his black hair slicked tightly to his head made his appearance, the courtroom was crowded wi ii a chattering throng, largely composed of women from young high school girls to elderly matrons. Valentino, dressed in immaculate black, with a few vigorous strides as though crossing the camera’s lens, entered the courtroom and

slipped *into a chair. He appeared excited and ill at ease, looking at no one, and saying nothing as he did at his arraignment. He sat without smiling, chewing one finger of his right hand as he waited, attorneys, and film friends grouped about him, for the call of the bailiff. The courtroom hushed as Valentino entered and one girl dropped her knitting. Several consulted motion picture magazines, comparing the screen star with his pictures. Without moving from his place Valentino allowed several pictures to be taken by newspaper photographers. Deputy District Attorney J. D. Costello, briefly outlined the case and called the first witness, Jean Acker, first wife of the defendant, to the stand. Valentino did not look at her, a vision in creamy silk, but the expression of his eyes seemed to say that his thoughts were a continent away with Winifred Hudnut, his exiled bride who has sought refuge with her stepfather, Richard Hudnut, in New York. Costello at once began the examination, and Miss Acker, answering in soft tones, told him. she had been married to Valentino June 5, 1919, how they quarreled and separated, became reconcile 1 and quarreled again, and how sh? sued for divorce. Papers to show an interlocutory decree of divorce had been granted March 4, 1922, were introduced. Spectators leaned forward to see when photographed copies of the marniage license of “Rudolph Valentino and Winifred De Wolfe” was introduced as the first peiise premise in the state’s effort to prove its bigamy charge. The record showed that the wedding was performed in Mexicali, Mex., May 13, 1922, by Civil Judge Tolentini Santoval. At this point, the justice abruptly called the morning recess and the crowd surged round Valentino as he rose and shook hands with Miss Acker, conversing with animation for the first time. Miss Acker smiled, addressing him as “Rudolph.”