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EPISODE TWO: THE QUEERING OF RUDOLPH VALENTINO

LISTEN: SOUNDCLOUD / ITUNES

NOTES: You can kinda hear my cat crying this one. (Give me a break, I’m one man recording in my bedroom after my day job.)

SOURCES: listed at the end of transcript

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi. Welcome to Tuck In, We’re Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. I’;m Jack, and this week and this week, we’re going to be talking about the queering of Rudolph Valentino. Rudolph Valentino is kind of an interesting person to talk about and I mentioned in, uh, in the episode before this, Episode Zero, that he’s not gay. And we will get to why we’re talking about him Now, I want to talk a little bit about the context of this story. This mostly takes place in the 1920′s, and as most people, I feel, are aware this was like -- the Great Jazz Age, you know, it gave us the -- The Great Gatsby, and the flapper revolution; these girls who smoked a lot of cigarettes and you know, didn’t necessarily want to be tired down. And you know, they did all of these fun things, and it was, you know, it was a mini sexual revolution and there was a lot of ambivalence towards gender roles.

And this is where our boy Rudy Valentino comes into play.

Rudolph Valentino was born in Italy, in Castalanetta – not a paisan, but we'll forgive him. He was born in 1895, and he immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island in 1913. While he was in New York, he made his way as something called a “tango pirate” or a “lounge lizard”. These are very funny names for basically what amounts to a high end male escort. He would take uh, rich older women dancing and spend time with them. And interestingly, this is how Clark Gable and Cary Grant made their living before they became famous.

But, I digress. RV first came into the public eye in 1915 during a divorce trial for a Chilean heiress at which he was giving testimony. And this is when the world kind of first looked at him like, “Who the heck is this guy?” He's very obviously foreign, he's very dark-looking, he's very slim, and there's something just very feminine about him. Now, in the course of this divorce trial, the husband of the heiress had him arrested and put away so that he couldn't give any more testimony, and shortly after he's released off of these um, these charges, the heiress murders her husband. And this point is when Valentino says, “You know, maybe I should get out of town for a little while.”

So, he does. And he goes to Hollywood, and when he gets to Hollywood, he finds a ton of rich older ladies who want to take care of him, and they do. They pay him to teach them how to dance and they give him cars to use. And they – at the same time, he's kind of snapped up to play bit parts by Paramount. And around this time is when he decides to marry a woman by the name of Jean Acker. And this is a huge mistake. Jean Acker is a lesbian who locks him out of their hotel room on their wedding night. That's another story for another day, but let's get back to Valentino himself.

In 1921, he makes a movie called The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, and this is kind of an important movie because it's one of the highest grossing silent films ever. And in 1921 he also made a movie called The Sheik. And, I'll – things like this are gonna come up a couple of times, where Hollywood doesn't want to cast actual people of color in roles like this. So they look at someone who looks like Valentino, very obviously foreign, very dark, and they're like, “Well, he's fine. We'll use him.” And I don't want to shy away from things like this because I feel like not mentioning it is denying that it ever happened. And yes, it was wrong, but this is what happened.

So after he makes The Sheik, this guy named Dick Dorgan – and that's, I'm not making that up – a guy named Dick Dorgan writes in Photoplay magazine – and Photoplay is kind of the Teen Beat or People of silent era film – and this is a direct quote and the language is a little strong, but it's a direct quote as I said. Dick Dorgan wrote, “The sheik is a bum Arab. He's really an Englishman who's mother is a wop or something.”

Now, this is kind of the first time since Rudolph Valentino has become a movie star that someone's really kinda of thrown down the gauntlet or come at him like this, and he's pretty pissed off about it – I mean, I would be too. So he tries to get Dick Dorgan banned from the studio, and Photoplay is like, “Oh, we're sorry, it won't happen again, you know – the next time we run an article about you, babe, don't worry about it. It's gonna be super positive.”

And then, of course, Photoplay publishes another article that's called A Song Of Hate. And it's supposedly, uh, like a good-natured like, “haha, this guy dances too well and he looks too good, haha, isn't that funny?” But it goes on to say some pretty strong stuff about his 'Roman face', 'patent leather hair', and it made a lot of references to his frilly costumes and the fact that they used to put him in earrings, and he had all this – long eyelashes and he was really pretty. And it is true, I found this picture earlier and I'm gonna reblog it onto the blog later so you folks can take a look at it. I don't know what movie it's from but he's decked out head to toe in pearls. So they did have a point about the costuming, but he was understandably pretty angry about it.

So, in 1922, amidst all of this stuff happening, he gets married to a woman named Natacha Rambova. And Natacha Rambova is … another foreign born person, she's a Russian costume designer, and she is a hard bitch in charge. She's gorgeous. I've reblogged a picture of her as well so you can take a look at her, but she's seen as this really controlling um, you know, strong woman who's steering him in a direction that he shouldn't necessarily be going. And it didn't really help his image as this kind of, like, soft effeminate man. And in 1922 he also stops, or, uh cancels his contract with Paramount and he splits from the studios. And this is seen as even more evidence of Rambova's quote-unquote “controlling influence”.

And people are writing about this, people are talking about this, and it's really, it's kind of – he's still getting very upset about it. So in 1923, he decides to pose for a magazine called How to Keep Fit, and he says, “I'm gonna take my shirt off, and I'm gonna pose, and I'm gonna look really strong, and no one's gonna question me anymore.” Now, I've seen pictures from this shoot. It's lit like a boudoir shot. It's lit like Rita Hayworth's famous Gilda pin-up. He's all soft light and brooding eyes and he just – looks like a pin-up. And it doesn't help him, and instead of people looking at – at these photos of him you know, uh, basically naked and instead of them saying “Wow! That man is super manly!” they look at it and they go, “Oh. That's – that's kinda sad.” So, also during this time, to keep him and – and Natacha afloat, he teaches dance lessons and judges beauty pageants. Really not helping himself, but, simpler times I suppose.

Um, now, after – around 1924, um, he goes back to Hollywood, and he hooks up with Charlie Chaplin and United Artists. And United Artists is a really cool thing, uh, I'm not really gonna talk about Charlie Chaplin, um, or United Artists, but it is a really cool story and you should look it up yourself, it's really interesting. But he makes a movie, again trying to disprove his femininity, called Monsiuer Beaucaire – and I'm sorry if I butchered that pronunciation, I do not speak French. He is overtly feminine in it. He is dressed up in a powdered wig and makeup, with a little fake beauty mark like a – like a French revolutionary fop. It's … it's very bad, I mean, his shirts are undone to his navel and he's got all this makeup and ruffles. And it, it really just – doesn't help him.

And around this time, he's also forced to make a uh, sequel to The Sheik, which originally cemented him as America's foremost, famous, foreign lover. And, he makes this movie, and Photoplay publishes yet another article, this one by a gentleman named Herbert Howe, and I'm gonna quote this directly: “The movie boys haven't been the same since The Four Horsemen.” And Herbert Howe goes on to point out all these feminine qualities in all these leading men. But that really wasn't what got Valentino's goat.

In July of 1926, after seeing a powder vending machine in a public men's restroom, an anonymous author in the Chicago Tribune, writes a pretty scathing article – it's almost infamous at this point, and uh, people start referring to Valentino as “The Pink Powderpuff” because of this article. And I'm gonna quote it directly because uh, the language is a little strong once again, but I won't do it justice trying to paraphrase it without direct quote. So, this is what it said: “A powder vending machine! Homo Americanus! Why didn't someone drown Rudolph Guglielmo, alias Valentino, years ago? [ … ] Do women like this type of 'man' who pats pink powder on is face in a public washroom and arranges his coiffure in a public elevator?”

The long and the short answer is: yeah. Women loved him. And I think it's around this time that it really comes to the forefront that men just really hate what women like or adore. And they sort of, um, equate anything women are associated with as being something that's unmasculine. I mean, think about it, to this day some men see housework and childrearing as quote-unquote “women's work”. And I mean, they even see feminism as something that's you know, rebellious, or something that they shouldn't be associated with. And, you know, men hate musical acts and performers or even some actors that women like. Um, you know, boy bands, female pop artists, think about Justin Beiber, One Direction, even Taylor Swift. You know, straight men aren't allowed to like things like that, which is a damn shame, in my personal opinion. I mean, even think about, um, Jai Courtney's character in, uh, Suicide Squad, Captain Boomerang. He has a pink unicorn, he's obsessed with unicorns, and he hides it in its jacket because – in his jacket because it's a shameful thing. And we're supposed to be laughing at it, it's not supposed to be – you know, it's, we're poking fun at him because he likes unicorns.

And, in the 1920's, the flapper movement kind of started this fear in men that strong women would be their downfall. They started breaking away from these social norms and this terrified men, and they panicked. And, in the same Chicago Tribune article, the 'pink powderpuff' article, it also said: “Better a rule by masculine women than feminine men.”

And Valentino's sex appeal added to his feminine quality instead of taking away from it, or building up his masculinity. And it exacerbated society's anxiety about strong, seemingly masculine women, uh, you know, based on his marriage to Natacha Rambova. Um, it – it – around this time he was often compared to the hyper-masculine Douglas Fairbanks Senior, who is a very, um, masculine gentleman. I've also included some photos of him on the blog. You know, and I've seen a photo of Dougie Fairbanks Senior, where he has an earring on, I think he's some kind of pirate or something, I haven't really uh, looked into what it's from, but it doesn't have the same effect on someone who's, for lack of a better word, as meaty-looking as Dougie Fairbanks as it did on someone as delicate and frankly, pretty, as Rudolph Valentino.

And um, Rudolph Valentino died very young, on August 23, 1926 at age 31. And, women were the vast majority of the mourners. I've seen numbers that range anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 flappers flooding the streets, tearing off their clothes, trampling through the funeral home. Um, at the time of his death he was supposedly engaged to actress Pola Negri, who literally fainted onto his coffin.

Now, as I said at the beginning of the show, there's no evidence that Valentino was gay. There's no evidence that Natacha Rambova was gay. So, why am I gonna devote an entire episode to him, in a queer history show? I mean, why am I even mentioning him at all?

What happened to Rudolph Valentino is kind of a cautionary tale. He's what happened to early stars when they were perceived as less than ultra-masculine, even if they were well loved. Even if they were good actors, and especially if they were well-loved by women. It wasn't enough that women loved him, men had to want to be him, and almost none of them did. Valentino was 'othered' for being foreign, effeminate, and a “threat” to traditional masculine roles, both in society and in films. He's what happened when the public eye turned sour, and what happens when someone kinda protests too much. Here we have the beginning of men rejecting feminine men and especially women's favorite, both in Hollywood and in – and elsewhere. Uh, maybe Valentino's story contributed to the quote-unquote “celluloid closet” that so many stars later in their life found themselves in. I mean, here's a guy who's a really good actor, but because he's seen as this overtly feminine person, he's completely shut off and completely shut down. So maybe other stars were kind of looking at him and thinking, “Well, geez, if – if people know that I'm uh, that I have sex with other men, I'm never gonna work in this town again.”

So, two interesting facts before I leave you for real. Um, Rudolph Valentino's death left kind of a gaping hole at Paramount Studios, and Paramount Studios was kind of in a fix at the time anyway because, uh, they were one of the last studios to uh, convert to talkies. And they – this was already during the Great Depression, when ticket sales and the movie business itself was just hemorrhaging money. So they were so desperate to replace him with a leading man that they replaced him with Cary Grant. And that's why we have the Cary Grant that we know and love. Um, my other second interesting fact is that I had no idea that in uh, American Horror Story: Hotel, Fin Wittrock actually plays Rudolph Valentino or something? And like there's an actress who plays uh, Natacha Rambova. So, when I was going through the tumblr tags trying to find photos of him to like, actually reblog and, so that when people went on they could see what he looked like and see what I was talking about, I couldn't find many. The tag is just flooded with American Horror Story fans, and I realize my um, that my frustration at this is very ironic in the context of this story, but I was still pretty frustrated.

So, thank you for listening to Tuck In, We're Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. This episode was researched, recorded, and kind of edited by me, Jack Segreto. You can find a transcript of this episode and all of our episodes along with our sources and some other fun facts and photos on our tumblr, tuckinpodcast.tumblr.com. You can also give us a like on Facebook at facebook.com/tuckinpodcast. On tumblr, our ask box is open for comments and suggestions, or you can always message us on Facebook. We are on Soundcloud, and as of a couple of hours ago, we are officially on the iTunes Store! So please rate and subscribe to us there so that more people can find us and listen to us. Special thanks today to my friend Greg, who taught me how to properly record without getting that weird tinny reverb, and also special thanks to my friend Min, for being my very first subscriber on iTunes. So, thanks for listening to Tuck In, We're Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. I hope to see you next time.

SOURCES:

One Hundred Years Of Men Taking Off Their Shirts by Anne Helen Petersen (BUZZFEED)

The “Latin Lover” and His Enemies by Gilbert King (SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE)

My dumb high school history class where I had to sit through lots of lectures on the Roaring 20′s and never though any of it would do me any good.

Cary Grant: A Memoir by Marc Eliot (2004, Rebel Road Inc.)

#queer history #queer history podcast #lgbt podcasts #hollywood history podcast #hollywood podcasts #rudolph valentino #natacha rambova #douglas fairbanks sr #( TRANSCRIPTS & SHOW NOTES. )#( EPISODE 1. )#[ i really thought i wouldn't finish this.#tune in next week for THE HAYES CODE AND OTHER TERRIBLE IDEAS. ]

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