Author Archives: 1926Rudy

That last sad journey of Rudolph Valentino across the continent increased my respect for the human heart of the American public. Crowds don’t wait patiently in the rain at four o’clock in the morning out of idle curiosity. The roots of such action strike deeper than that. All the way, from New York City to Los Angeles, the throngs that assembled for a glimpse of the funeral train paid their one greatest tribute to his memory – the tribute of silence.  Somewhere on the prairies of Iowa as the dawn which “Rudy” was leaving behind forever began to grey the east, the train paused for a moment on a tiny hamlet. An elderly woman rushed up and thrust a bouquet of flowers into the hands of the porter. “For him” she expolained and then the train was on its way. Reverence not curiosity, does things like that.

All right sue me! is the catchword with which members of the scenario department at Lasky Studios greet each other nowadays! Plagarism suits have become such an expense item on move budget books that many companies send back all orginial manuscripts unopened. After a picture is released the producers are flooded with letters typewritten on business stationery, scrawled with a pencil on cheap lined paper penned in violet ink and scented with Night of Love perfume, but one and all declaring “you’ve stolen my movie plot”.  Each case that is taken to court costs the studio about fifteen hundrend dollars in lawyers fees and wastes several weeks of valuable time, though complaining authors seldom win their cases. the damages asked vary.  A shoe clerk who sent in a story about young love and has afterward seen a picture of young love on the screen may deman five thousand dollars but he is usually willing to settle for a couple of hundred out of court.  Scenario editor Edward Montaigne has handled tons of scripts submitted by amateur writers, each of who claims to have a new idea.  He is a married man, everyone who meets him wants to tell a plot.  Sometimes he admits astonishing ideas are presented to him. For example, there is a spiritualist who is in constant communication with Rudolph Valentino. In the spirit world she writes Rudie has met Edith Cavell, who insists that he must make one more picture on earth. For a consideration, she will sell Valentino’s services to Universal Studio to write and direct a movie.

Following the death of beloved Rudolph Valentino this department received an avalanche of letters expressing the deal and sincere sorrow of the movie fans. The letters following Valentino’s death received during August outnumbered thhoe on any other topic.