Sheik Week: How Valentino changed race in Hollywood

I think Sheik Week may kill me. But we're gonna get all these articles up we are! So let's dive right into one of the coolest ones: How Valentino changed race in Hollywood...and the US at that! For the record there will be an upcoming article series on the effects of yellow, brown, and black face in Silent Film. Its half way to done. But for now enjoy this.

Who was white, who wasn't

For the time period Valentino was born America was still quite a melting pot, with a huge immigration boom in the 1800s. America had this tradition of sorts: newest immigrants get razed until they assimilate. In the 1700 and 1800s it was the Germans and the Irish. Both groups were stereotyped well into the 20s (To Hell with the Kaiser, Intolerance) in the Germans case because of the War they were on the wrong end of.

Well into the 20s the only 'true' white Americans were the descendants of the British colonists, Brits themselves, and French folk. Swedes had assimilated well, so they and other Nordic folk counted as well. Obviously Irish looks white to modern eyes, but back then it was deeper than skin color. It was a culture thing. However as the Irish and Germans became second and third generation; it did become more superficial. Now it was 'who is the right shade of white' and 'who is too dark'?

In the mid to late 1800s, Asians immigrated en mass to build the railroads. White workers were jealous, and decided they didn't quite like the 'odd' Asian folk. So they made a bunch of laws that basically deemed Asians second class citizens. Anna May Wong, a third generation Chinese American born in California, was not legally a citizen because of her race. And obviously there was that whole slavery and racism towards African Americans thing, but we're well versed on that. What is weird is how 'brown people' were classified.

'Brown People' meaning anyone not African or Asian, yet not 'white' (by the above definition) either. It's a weird grouping but its still used today in sorts: Native Americans, Arabic folk, and Latins (Italians, Mexicans, etc.) This grouping was treated no better than the Chinese, Irish, or African Americans: the Native Americans were still discriminated against well into the 20s (see: Vanishing American. AMAZING movie btw), Arabs were seen as wild and weird exotic people (similar stereotypes to Asians), and Latins were seen as poor uneducated nuisances.

Italians in particular were generally stereotyped as Southern Italians (there is a difference in quality of life at that time), poor, uneducated, only good as laborers, and sickly rude people. Some were even LYNCHED! Its funny to think NOW but before the 1920s Italians were not seen as white, while today most would not see it any other way.

Race and Films

In early film there was no set standard of codes. Then Olive Thomas died, Fatty Arbuckle was accused of rape and murder, and that whole William Desmond Taylor thing. So a production code was put into place in 1922, headed by William Hays. This damn code would be upped in 27, and insanely upped in 34. That damn code was in place for almost 40 years before Hollywood finally could do away with it (and we still got that rating system thing).

As for race (and as those future articles will explore) the movies weren't how you say 'sensitive'. Politically correct did not exist in those days. Everyone was fair game. Jew, Catholic, Black, Irish, whatever...you could and would be stereotyped if someone felt the urge to do so. Rarely did you see 'non white' actors on the screen. It was just easier that way (ironically Little Mary had Irish in her...but she was technically Canadian so I guess it works out)...because the Hays Code made interracial casts hell to achieve.

Before the code there was a self imposed rule that colored actors (usually referring to African Americans) could not even be in scenes where they had to TOUCH a white actor (reason Birth of a Nation is heavy on the black face). This was eventually done away with, but the various incarnations of the Hays Code had a sticky rule on the matter: Portrayals of miscegenation (interracial romance) were forbidden. That is why both Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa were the only major Asian stars in American cinema for a very long time (even now there are very few), and why both had careers hampered by that little rule.

So on screen if we had a white leading actor (as obviously you usually would) they could not be paired opposite a non white actor in a romantic role. Anna and Sessue both experienced this the hard way. Sessue was sincerely the very first non white star of any form, and the only way he could get around this role was by playing opposite his Japanese wife Tsori Aoki. Or he could rape a white girl (such as in 1915's "The Cheat") but he'd die in the end...because it was evil for interracial love to occur.

That rule seemed to be the standard until Valentino. Anna May Wong experienced it through her whole damn career as obviously she had even less a chance than Sessue did being a woman and what not. In all her silents (and many later films as well) she could have a forbidden romance with a white man, but in the end she would die or he would leave her and some tragic consequence would occur, since again it was evil for interracial love to occur. Wong later lamented the fact she only played a mother once, and only kissed her on screen white husband once (in a b level talkie). Usually both she and Hayakawa were left to play villain styled roles, even if they were supposed to be sexy and daring while doing it. The Sheik, with no redeeming qualities if you will.

Enter Valentino

Valentino had a twist to him in real life that was key to his on screen racial break through: he was HALF FRENCH. His mother was from France, his father was Italian. And he was raised in Northern Italy, and did not come from extreme poverty like a lot of the Southern Italians. His mother had worked for a Governess and had done decent enough (middle class if you will). His Father was a veterinarian who died when Valentino was young. His mother was able to send him to private schools, help him move to France, and eventually send him to America.

Valentino wasn't stupid, but he was a brat. He had flunked out a bunch of schools for a careless attitude and a lack of effort towards his school work. But he did get a degree in agriculture (even though he hated it). So he was educated. And he spoke French and Italian when he moved to the US. In New York he learned English, and he eventually learned Spanish as well. Seriously...that's mad talent to me at least.

In New York he experienced a lot of hostility over his presumed origin and the assumptions that followed it. When he entered film he usually played tango 'heavies' or villains. Or in back then speak: that 'shifty Latin guy who's gonna rape you like those Damn Asians...'

However ironically enough he also was occasionally cast in 'whitey' roles despite his dark and 'foreign' looks such as in "A Society Sensation" (1918), All Night (1918), and The Delicious Little Devil (1919). But for each of these roles another handful cast him as some evil or exotic Italian.

Valentino thought the whole thing of 'casting type by looks' (i.e. Latins are evil) was insanely stupid and he wished to work against it. It seems he got his way some of the time, though most of those pictures were B rate releases. He was not yet a star.

Enter June Mathis

June Mathis was the first to 'white the Latin' if you will. She gave Valentino his big break in 1921's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". It was set in Argentina and then France. Valentino played 'Julio' a half 'Argentine' (Spanish) half French heart throb. He tango-ed and was spoiled, but he eventually redeemed himself and then died.

What is extremely interesting is how the death element was still used in sorts, but instead of it being for a naughty interracial romance, it was for a forbidden cheater romance. Which would apply to another Hays rule (No mockery of the institution of marriage) . Throughout the film Julio is treated as a Frenchie (minus some tango references) and his love leaves him long before he dies, which is a plot device used to redeem him from playboy to grown man. As she thinks of leaving her husband once again for him she finds out he has died.

Mathis played all the right cards: he was 'white enough', and his death made him a better person but not because he had been in a forbidden racial romances, but because he had been a playboy who had stolen someones wife. YET he was just FOREIGN enough (the tango) that women went CRAZY. He was Sessue Hayakawa, only you could really marry him and there weren't laws against it as he was 'white'. In one swoop, without mentioning the word Italian, June Mathis made Latins white enough. Another interesting note: this film was released just before the Hays Code first set in place. Smooth.

Valentino was rushed into another b rate film as Four Horsemen awaited release. "Uncharted Seas" (now lost) also put him as a whitey. But it was the string of June Mathis films that solidified the work she had already done. "The Conquering Power" and "Camille" again put Valentino as a 'white enough but exotic enough' French man. Valentino the Italian was now officially an acceptable shade of white, as was his Latin and French characters. That's when, inadvertently, Valentino had to take on another shade of Brown Face.

The Arab

With a new contract to Famous Players Lasky Valentino knew he had to work hard and do good. He was offered the role of the Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in of course what else, "The Sheik". After consulting with his agents Valentino took the role. Natacha (who he was dating at the time) found the popular novel trashy but Valentino seemed to enjoy the film well enough...though it would haunt him to the very end, even eclipsing the Latin Lover he and June Mathis had worked so hard to create and make okay.

The Sheik is Arabic, and decides hes gonna kidnap himself a beautiful independent white English girl. When she refuses to his 'brutal' ways he rapes her to make her all his, and continues to hold her captive. After realizing hes educated and kind she falls for him a little. But as she plots to tell him this a rival Sheik (Walter Long in Brown face) kidnaps her. Ahmed has to round up his men and fight for her, almost dying in the process. However in the end we find out hes okay, and he and Lady Diana can be together happily ever after.

You may be asking how they got this past the censors especially knowing what Hays was in the process of creating. Simple: they pulled a Mathis. Early on we are told the Sheik is French educated and he has a white friend and everything! In the end we find out (much like the Mathis films) he had a Spanish mother and British father who died when he was a baby. The ruling Sheik of the time found him, raised him, and sent him to school in France. So its okay! HES WHITE!

The funniest thing is despite the few hints throughout the film; this scene is quite literally in the very last minute. Instead of just killing him off like all the other earlier films did to interracial lovers, they just whited him instead. And being white it was now okay! Absolutely amazing that this logic worked.

With the amazing runaway success of the Sheik there was still a disturbing aspect: the stereotypes. For the most part the film isn't more offensive than anything else out there towards any other race. Yet given that Arabs were already stereotyped, this did not help. Instead of being taken as a hot fantasy, people just took the barbarian angle instead. Valentino found that extremely distasteful. When asked if Lady Diana would fall for a quote 'savage' in real life Valentino angrily replied, "People are not savages because they have dark skins. The Arabian civilization is one of the oldest in the world...the Arabs are dignified and keen brained"

I think I love him even more knowing that quote. As he's dead on. And throughout the rest of his career he worked hard at proving it.

The rest of Valentino's Career and further attempts at Whiteness

Valentino never made another film where he was a through and through white character. The Sheik and the Latin Lover were WILDLY successful and now he had not only managed to make Italians white but mostly all Latins, and Arabs were okay too. If you played it right. Sadly we didn't see a lot of that after his death but at least he tried.

Now a successful actor and celeb, Valentino set back to playing Latin boys. However they were for the most part non stereotypical, and helped to further blend Latin as an okay enough race. Obviously Latins were darker then the previously dubbed 'whites' but that was okay...there was no rules against a Latin kissing a white girl like there was against an Asian or African American kissing a white girl. Thanks to Valentino and Mathis that is. To understand the full significance of this one must realize that Valentino could play white or Latin and still kiss a white girl on screen, while Anna May Wong could not kiss a white man in yellow face because it would violate the Hays Code.

In Valentino's next two films: Moran of the Lady Letty and Beyond the Rocks, he played vaguely Latin characters who never spoke of it throughout the films. It took until teaming up with Mathis again for him to retackle and redefine old ground. In "Blood and Sand" the entire story takes place in Spain, with all characters of the same race (though Valentino was really the only authentic Latin). This time he played Juan, a fully Spanish man. And much like Julio the same ground is covered but this time no white redeeming factor needed. Julio cheats on his wife, tries to end the affair, and dies. Its a tell again of forbidden affairs, but not based on race. "Blood and Sand" was extremely popular, and helped to solidify anything already done in Four Horsemen.

The next film, "The Young Rajah" went to take on ground where "The Sheik" had treaded, but failed. It was probably intended to be a "Four Horsemen" for 'Arabs' (though obviously there is a difference between Arabs and Indians...but I don't think anyone made a major distinction then). This time Valentino played "Amos Judd" an Indian boy who was adopted by a white American family. Indian boy feels all American, but people give him a hard time over it. His white love interest Molly is worried about 'loving one of another race'. What is extremely interesting about this film is the fact that her father and other characters ENCOURAGE her to take part in the interracial romance. Show me where else that was done in the Silents and I will be surprised. I'm almost certain this was a one of a kind.

The other nice thing about "The Young Rajah" is that from appearances it did not really go into stereotypical area at all. Now this could be wrong; since it is basically a lost film and only bits survive. HOWEVER given the title cards and pictures, I think it was handled as authentically and sensitively as possible given the era and time.

Unfortunately given other issues in Valentino's life at the time (ex: fighting with the studios) this film flopped hard. It was one of his first flops. Why that is, its kinda hard to say not seeing the real whole picture. My best guess: audiences found June Mathis' preaching a bit much. However the duo got their point across, unfortunately unlike the other films I don't feel it revolutionized anything though. They tried.

After Valentino's 2 year break from films he returned with a full Whitey French film "Monsieur Beaucaire". It also flopped. Now that's probably the most interesting thing of all: the whitest possible setting ever, and Valentino flops. People wanted to see him as the Latin Lover, or the 'Forbidden but okay' Lover ala The Sheik. He made Latin love so okay that it was what the public DEMANDED!

Natacha still in control tried to remedy this by putting him in "The Sainted Devil" which was basically a rip off of his earlier Latin movies. People didn't mind that so much, but they felt it too familiar. The film also flopped. And unfortunately it does not survive, so how delicately it was handled is unknown.

Unfortunately Valentino was tired of those type roles, and kept trying to break new ground while being forced to cover tired old ground by his studio. "The Hooded Falcon" would have been interesting as it would have been another Mathis/Valentino pairing trying to break the Arab ground again (this time Moors). Valentino would have either loved a Moorish Princess, or been a Moor himself complete with beard. One wonders what kind of reaction that film would have had.

While "The Hooded Falcon" sat in Natacha hell, Valentino was forced to make "Cobra" quickly. It also flopped, but put him in his first leading man Italian role. And this time HE is vamped, by Nita Naldi. Ironically this would be his last Latin role, and his only leading Italian role.

"The Eagle" put Valentino in new territory as a Russian, and did fairly well. Much like "Blood and Sand" race is not an issue in the film, as it takes place in Russia and everyone is presumably of the same race. However the French element does enter at one point, when we find that Valentino's character, Vladimir Dubrovsky, speaks French. This plays heavily into the plot.

And in a twist of irony to end all ironies, Valentino's last role was "Son of the Sheik" again playing a Sheik (this time the son of Sheik Ahmed, whom we met in The Sheik). Race plays a lot less in this film, thank God. In "Son of the Sheik" Ahmed Jr. is in love with a gypsy dancing girl Yasmin (played by Vilma Banky). However the man she is supposed to marry kidnaps and tortures Ahmed teasing him that Yasmin didn't really love him, she was the bait and knew it. Ahmed believes him and is extremely hurt. With his croonies (KARL.DANE!) he kidnaps her and rapes her to teach her a lesson about 'paying for her kisses'. His father makes him return her to her people, and he finds out too late that she really WASN'T in on the kidnapping plot. Now he has to go risk his ass to save her, and does. They presumably live happily ever after as well.

Race in this film is interesting as its 1) not the focal point like the first Sheik and 2) it is insinuated to us that much like Blood and Sand and The Eagle that all these characters are from the same locale, same culture, and same race. Oh shes a gypsy, but shes not 'above' him. In fact it would almost be insinuated he as a Sheik would be above her, a lowly gypsy girl. But that's not even really explored, other than the line about how she HAS to dance, so they can eat because her father gambles away all her money.

And much like the other 2 films mentioned, "Son of the Sheik" uses a bunch of whites in Brown face (though it is not extremely obvious). Karl Dane, a Dane (ha!), was 'Ramadan' an Arabic servant and guard for Ahmed. Vilma was from Hungary and new to the US. In fact come to think of it there are only two white characters in this whole film: Ahmed's mother Diana, and the brief mentioned British cousin she wanted to arrange Ahmed's marriage to though this woman never appears. Both women have maybe less then 5 minutes in the entire movie.

Though "Son of the Sheik" didnt try to be all "Young Rajah" on us, it did give a lot less stereotypical view of Arabs, though still not 'realistic'. This time when Ahmed rapes, its because he thinks HE has been decieved and tricked. He had been tortured and held for ransom, so he seen it as getting even (also male ego...come on!) It wasnt pure naughty lust like the first Sheik, it was a broken heart because we seen in the beginning of the film how in love he was with her. And after the rape and the realization that she HADNT wronged him, Ahmed goes to save her once again because he NEEEEEEEDS her. Its still naughty, still foreign, still not realistic, yet its a lot more heart warming and meaty than the first movie.

After Valentino

Though he had his string of flops, and a tantrum against the studios, there had been numerous attempts to ride his coattails since Four Horsemen. Rex Ingram loathed him, and tried to take over the world with Mexican Ramon Navarro as revenge. Dolores Del Rio (Navarro's cousin) came along later as well doing for the women what the men had already done.

Funnily enough the white boys were all scrambling to compete with the Latin Lover image and Valentino himself. John Gilbert tried to steal the Lover away from the Latin and managed to do so briefly while Valentino had his career lag. When Valentino left Famous Players, they hired Ricardo Cortez to take Valentino styled roles (funny because Cortez was actually a white boy named Jacob Krantz).

To this day the Latin lover image lives on. And despite few good Italian roles, there has been a heavy influence from the Spanish actors and characters, pretty much since Valentino's death to this very day. The same can not be said of African Americans (who did not get a fair shake until the 1960s, and even then it was slow taking), Arabs (who thanks to that whole Iraq thing mostly get stereotyped as terrorists on shows and films STILL), or Asians (who took until the 1990s to really break any non stereotypical ground...and even that is debateable). The effects from the silent era were extremely long lasting, and unfortanitly that wasnt always good in the race case. However Valentino did do his share. And he and Mathis deserve recognition for it.