Valentino - I just don't get it...

[FedoraGent]

Folks,

I know that this is going to sound a bit much...but I just don't get why people go ga ga (technical term) over Valentino. I'm going to be down there in Los Angeles for business this week and I'm going to go check out the Valentino grave with a couple of people. However...I just don't get it. What was so enchanting about him? I've read the newspaper articles from 1926 and I still don't get why everyone loved him so much. Was it his acting? Were the women hot for him because of his looks? Was he a great humanitarian? Someone please clear this one up for me.

FG.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Folks,

I know that this is going to sound a bit much...but I just don't get why people go ga ga (technical term) over Valentino. I'm going to be down there in Los Angeles for business this week and I'm going to go check out the Valentino grave with a couple of people. However...I just don't get it. What was so enchanting about him? I've read the newspaper articles from 1926 and I still don't get why everyone loved him so much. Was it his acting? Were the women hot for him because of his looks? Was he a great humanitarian? Someone please clear this one up for me.

FG.

Gals always go for the strong, silent type. Silent, get it? lol

Oh, and I know where his house is, right across the street from a famous 1960s crime scene.

 

[scotrace]

Are you kidding?

And he came along at a time when Wallace Beery was Big Box Office.

 

[FedoraGent]

Eh, I guess....

I guess...

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

(faints)

aaaahhhh.....

 

[HadleyH]

Yes, but dear W.Beery had a skinny mustache, didn't he , we've gotta give him that lol

 

[Fast]

Apologia for Valentino

Valentino was to men's jewelry what Elvis was to popular music.

Valentino wore a writswatch before almost anyone else did. Furthermore he wore it in period films, and is generally credited with the rise of the wristwatch and decline of the pocketwatch.

As to his popularity. I have no clue why women like and love what they do. I am but a lowly man. But the ladies truly did go for that man. I believe his competition in the superstar arena of the day was Houdini.

Carpe diem
Fast

 

[HadleyH]

... but seriously , I don't know if I can clear your question FedoraGent (or if anybody can for that matter) but i'll give it a try ...


" ... this was the Jazz Age, the "Roaring Twenties" a time of escape and nonsense ...he was the simbol of romance, he was The King of Sex, The Screen Greatest Lover>>> this name has lost its fascination for us. Today the man who has power over women is called a 'playboy' or a 'chauvinist', but thats only today... not in the 20s...then , women went about asserting their right to their enjoyment of life. Not quite Women's Lib but rather more fun They needed a man-simbol and Valentino delivered the goods at the right time and the right place".
The fact that he appealed by his looks, his screen technique and his amorous reputation well, all that goes without saying, doesn't it?


Hope that helps.

 

[FedoraGent]

Clear and Quantifiable...

H,

Yes, that was clear and quantifiable. Thank you very much. Basically he was a walking symbol of what a stud should really be.

FG.

... but seriously , I don't know if I can clear your question FedoraGent (or if anybody can for that matter) but i'll give it a try ...


" ... this was the Jazz Age, the "Roaring Twenties" a time of escape and nonsense ...he was the simbol of romance, he was The King of Sex, The Screen Greatest Lover>>> this name has lost its fascination for us. Today the man who has power over women is called a 'playboy' or a 'chauvinist', but thats only today... not in the 20s...then , women went about asserting their right to their enjoyment of life. Not quite Women's Lib but rather more fun They needed a man-simbol and Valentino delivered the goods at the right time and the right place".
The fact that he appealed by his looks, his screen technique and his amorous reputation well, all that goes without saying, doesn't it?


Hope that helps.

 

[jazzzbaby]

I watched a few of his films one night, and after I had watched
him I could totally see why the ladies found him attractive.
It's that panache he had in the films, along with the fact that
he was an attractive man. I think he was attractive, especially after
seeing him in his films.

Enjoy yourself at Hollywood Forever. It's a gorgeous cemetery with
many stars. The Talmadge sisters are buried there, along with
Renee Adoree ~ Bugsy Malone ~ DeMille ~ Fairbanks Sr. & Jr. ~
Virginia Rappe (The Fatty Arbuckle scandal) etc....I believe Jayne
Mansfield is buried close to Virginia Rappe. Anyhow, there are tons
of silent era film stars there. I didn't get to see Valentino's crypt
b/c that mausoleum was closed for repairs.

The history of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is quite interesting.
I bought a souvenir booklet from the little shop they have in the front by
the gate that listed all the celebrities. Although I thought it was overpriced
I am happy that I got it.

 

[LolitaHaze]

Gals always go for the strong, silent type. Silent, get it? lol

This made me spit from laughing when I read this... of course it could just be the extra drool from the mention of Valentino.

 

[Smyat]

...well, all that goes without saying, doesn't it?

It was the silent era. Everything went without saying.

 

[Mojito]

Fast, the next time someone asks me what Valentino's appeal was, I'm going to tell them it was his wristwatch advocacy work!

Adding to what Hadley says, I think the androgynous quality of his looks was quite in keeping with the androgynous elements of the era - you see it in George Barbier's illustrations, for example. Not popular with all, of course (even in the 20s there were disparaging comments about his unmanliness, although he did over-react to the "Chicago Tribune" piece about his effeminizing effect on American manhood).

Watching his movies now, I can certainly see the appeal in the dark, slim, chiselled good looks and (can't resist using it any longer) "smouldering" gaze. Much of that physical presence and charm has transcended the trappings of its time. Other elements have not - the mugging that was standard looks amusing today. There's a look he gets in The Sheik, when the eyebrows shoot up and the teeth are bared in a grimace, that always has me thinking more along the lines of "psychopath" rather than "exotic lover". But part of the reason I love him is that he is so evocative of his age - and while the fantasies of The Sheik, Blood and Sand etc seem rather trite and even laughable today, they must have been heady, exotic stuff in their day.

Say hallo to him for me, FG!

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I think too, we tend to see these things through our modern eyes and mindset. We're quite used to an endless parade of Burt Reynolds, Paul Newmans, Mel Gibsons and Brad Pitts - and the technology that brings them into our living rooms.

But, back in the "Golden Era" of the '20's, moving pictures were a pretty new phenomenon. Compared to the Circus, the Fair or the Livestock Show, some guy cavorting with dames on the silver screen must have been mesmerizing (It looks so real!) Along with newspaper photos, publicity hand-outs, and promotional appearances, the mystique of the Hollywood screen star would have been overwhelming.

All that was new back then and not only never seen before, but never dreamed of before....

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I never "got" Valentino, either. I like him as an actor and as an historical figure, but I don't find him attractive at all. Nor do I think he has "It" -- nothing really stands out to me [huh] I also don't see what was so great about his acting. He was average at best.

But then again, I swoon El Brendel and Allen Jenkins. lol

 

[dhermann1]

I think he was a terrific actor. I loved him in "Blood and Sand." That's the film that made me a Valentino fan.

 

[jazzzbaby]

Some Additional Photos of Valentino

I love the one with him on the horse!
Also...summary of his life for anyone who might want to see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Valentino

 

[Tommy Fedora]

He was a sexy, handsome man who also appealed to the women because he represented the " forbidden fruit " in an age when your heritage was important and almost all the stars were a bright shade of white.

 

[HadleyH]

[

We might like him or not as an actor, but look at the way he dressed! Even at the pool!

 

[Flitcraft]

Valentino Mystique....

Read an interesting quote from Valentino once where he said that, in his opinion, his greatest appeal was that he was a blank screen for women to project their fanasies upon. I think his movies really played up the fantasy angle,and he fit this roles perfectly.