Tomorrow...TOMORROW is Sheik night! *Phew* its been a long go but it's been wonderful. I'd take a Valentino hang over any day! As I've ranted and raved through Sheik Week I brought up a sore point for me: how Valentino was and is remembered as an idolized God...not a real human. I'm sure he'd find it funny, and be glad that he was remembered probably more so than any other silent only star, but really people there was a man underneath that Sheik exterior. So tonight let's talk about him, and for fun I'm also going to throw in a little list of Hollywood stars and how Valentino interacted with them.
Who was Valentino really?
He was a spoiled little brat who grew up the apple of his mother's eye. His father died when he was 11, and she just could never say no to her middle child. Well he was a cute baby...can't blame her. Since he was spoiled he knew he could get away with anything, and he did. He failed miserably in school because of this...even flunking French class (his mother only spoke French to him...so uh...think on that) because he just didn't care. But that's not to say he was unintelligent. Valentino was a lifelong reader who read and studied in several languages. Italian and French were his native tongues, then he followed that with English and Spanish. I believe he had some books in German was well.
When his Uncles sent him to America, he continued being a spoiled brat...until he ran out of money. His mother was so proud and hopeful for him and he loved her so much that he realized he had to do SOMETHING. So he took some menial jobs, most of which he lost because he again defied authority or couldn't handle the boredom. He was talented and smart...but unless he WANTED to do it he just didn't.
When he began in films, he studied EVERYTHING even though he was just a little bit player. He'd look at the directors plans, and he could work a camera. There's several pictures of him doing this, and a picture of him filming Natacha. He took several home movies in Hollywood and also during his trips to Europe. The Hollywood ones exist but I wonder whatever happened to the Europe ones.
Valentino believed that a man should not be judged by his color, culture, or status in life. Very early on he bucked that trend until he and June Mathis made Latins equal and all. And funnily enough for all the roles he did take (the evil Counts, the Great Lovers) he well...wasn't that great a lover in real life.
Well a correction to that statement should be made: he was a great lover...if he choose you. He was an extremely one woman kinda guy, and though flattered he was slightly frightened and annoyed by the craziness that women had towards him. When he married Jean Acker he was unaware she was a lesbian (its likely she at least kissed and cuddled him to lead him to that belief), and devastated when she locked him out and turned him away. He wrote her love letters for months, and begged and pleaded for her to give him a chance. Someone musta eventually explained it to him, because he moved on to Natacha.
The funny thing is even though he wanted the Italian housewife and mother who cooked and cleaned and all that...he choose the biggest feminists possible for mates. Natacha couldn't cook, hated kids, and had no desire to stay at home. But he loved her anyways even knowing that. Valentino was a GREAT cook, he cooked for lots of his friends and associates. He loved making spaghetti especially. Many of his on screen loves remembered him having more passion for cooking than sexuality off screen.
He could definitely be sexy off screen, as the stories from Paul Ivano (his roommate and friend) would attest. One night Valentino and Natacha got a little TOO heated and she passed out from his lovemaking, and he thought he killed her. Ivano had to revive her with some water.
However Valentino's "Great Lover" playboy image did not transfer off screen. Between Jean and Natacha he and Ivano would go on double dates. Valentino would spend all night wooing a woman...only to fall asleep at the end of the night because he was working 18 hour or so days and was exhausted. Ivano would get the girl instead, and Valentino would wake up and cuss him out. Apparently they found this hilarious, and it is a pretty funny story.
The Sheik image didn't transfer over either. Valentino was an extremely submissive type personality, when it came to women anyways (even ones he was not romantically involved with). Oh he'd kick your ass if you were some guy trying to make him do something he didn't want to (Famous Players strike, all his NYC jobs, etc); but if you were a woman he cared for, he'd do whatever you asked of him. The most forceful thing he ever did was smack Jean Acker during one of their later fights, but that was out of frustration (she was still refusing his love notes and he still did not understand what was wrong in this scenario). He felt pretty bad about it too.
See this is the funny part: people like to accuse Valentino of being a pretty boy who couldn't act. Yet its quite easy to see in the footage we have that this 'Great Lover' was all an act, and he was DAMN GOOD at it. For instance compare "The Sheik" with "Valentino and his 88 American Beauties" (the film from the beauty contest he had to host for the dance tour at Madison Square Garden). In his characters he looks like he'll rape you until he owns you, and you'll LOVE it. While in the newsreel footage he looks like a slightly shy, sweet, normal man. People forget: he was an actor, and he was a human underneath that image.
Along with cooking, reading, and collecting fancy things, Valentino had a major love for children and animals. He and Natacha had no fewer than 10 dogs at one point or another (and probably more, but that's my rough count via his bio), a Green monkey, various horses, and a lion cub. Most of this was before he was famous, while he was making very little from his first contract and later the Famous Players contract. In fact at that point Natacha earned more!
His love of animals is extremely evident in photos and his films. In "Four Horsemen" he and that monkey look inseparable. In "Young Rajah" he pets that lion like its a kitty, and there are several photos with him and his puppies and horses. He adored his animals. It is said he used to frequent a private zoo and the animals loved him. At several points he and Natacha aimed to open a zoo or have a private one, though they were obviously never able to finance this.
As for kids he always wanted a family. Natacha didn't. And she had 3 abortions (he never knew) to make sure of it. I find that very sad, as I'm sure he would have been a good father and his children would have been adorable. There are again several photos of him with various co-workers kids. He was God father to George Ullman's sons. Child extras on many of his sets remember how sweet he was, giving them horse rides or singing songs during scenes he wasn't in. When he met his nephew Jean Valentino (well that's what he changed his name to) in Italy, he was instantly in love. He spoiled Jean, when his brother's family stayed with him in Hollywood towards the end of his life he eagerly set up a toy train track for Jean on Xmas. He adored children as much as animals.
Valentino got slighted a lot as an effeminate man who spent too much time primping or 'wearing jewelry'. In reality he was pretty manly...he LOVED sports and was especially skilled at fencing (Son of the Sheik people...), boxing, and obviously horseback riding. He did love the finer things, and Natacha only fueled that (though he had such a passion long before her). However it wasn't an effeminate thing, he just enjoyed history and art a great deal...two subjects that he tried to bring together with his films and antique collecting.
Overall he was just a sweet, quiet, but very loving and kind man. He was also an amazing actor, who does not get the recognition he deserved. Ah Valentino...we love ya!
Valentino and his Hollywood Pals
I always find it kinda cool to know how the old stars interacted with each other. Below is some stories about Valentino and his fellow stars
*Valentino met Mary Pickford in a restaurant before he had really done much in film. He politely approached her mother (as etiquette would dictate at the time), and asked her advice on how to break into pictures. Mary's mother gave him an answer, and failed to introduce Mary to him thus Mary never got a chance to speak to Valentino! She said in her biography she was greatly upset, as she found him EXTREMELY handsome and polite. Later when Valentino was a little more famous, she always had a fond spot for him. They were apparently friends, and he would visit her on set on occasion. She always thought very sweetly of him, and looked upset at his funeral.
*Douglas Fairbanks obviously had a small rivalry with Valentino, as he was the American ideal and Valentino was ousting him. At first they did not get along, Fairbanks threw him out of Pickfair...most likely jealous over Mary's little crush on him. Mary said she never seen him so rude to anyone in her life! However the two did eventually make amends, attending each other's film premieres and Fairbanks spoke to Valentino about joining UA.
*Charlie Chaplin spotted Valentino when he was a young bit player at the gym. He said he had never seen a more sad looking fellow, as this was about the time Valentino's dear mother had died. Charlie and Valentino would be friends, with Charlie telling him that some of his greatest art came from his most troubled times. Valentino took that to heart as he was going through a tough time himself.
*Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Valentino were good friends. Valentino stuck by him during the rape accusations, and they remained friends until his death. They played poker quite a bit. Interesting note is before his fame Valentino acted alongside the infamous Virginia Rappe, probably before he knew Fatty. Hmm...maybe he knew something we didn't? Miss Rappe was notoriously a trouble maker, unfortunately people of the 20s didn't see it that way...
*Mae Murray and Valentino met in New York before either were really famous. Mae gave him a break in her film "The Delicious Little Devil" (though she was pissed years later when they tried to rerelease it and give Valentino, now a star, top billing). They remained friends through their careers.
*Valentino met D.W. Griffith early on in his stay in Hollywood. He cooked Griffith a spaghetti dinner, and D.W. proceeded to tell him he was 'too ethnic and too fat' for films (Griffith was notorious for such blunt answers). Valentino tried for, and lost out on, several parts in Griffith films.
*Lillian Gish had a soft spot for Valentino and an eye for talent. She TRIED to convince Griffith to put him in a film, but Griffith dismissed him again with the same reasoning. Valentino played opposite her sister Dorothy in a film.
*Thomas Meighan did not really know Valentino, though their paths crossed a few times. When Valentino was jailed on bigamy charges, Meighan put up a good chunk of the bail. Very sweet of him!
*Though not probably friends, Valentino greatly admired the work of John Barrymore and Eric Von Stroheim. Barrymore was the recipient of his medal for excellence. Though again not friends, Valentino greatly loved music and admired Enrico Caruso and Al Jolson.
*Nita Naldi , Gloria Swanson, and Vilma Banky were close friends of his, but most likely never romantic counterparts
*Valentino did NOT get along with Rex Ingram. Ingram was a jerk, and Valentino did not like the way he was treated. This would also apply to Alice Terry. And contrary to what that jerk Hollywood Babylon guy has to say, Valentino didn't even really know Ramon Navarro!
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