David Sander
Valentino: Living the Dream …
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odolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaele Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla was born on May 6, 1895 in Castellaneta, a town located within the inner curve of the Italian boot. His mother was French, and his father worked as a dentist and veterinarian. By all accounts, the Guglielmi family lived a typical middle class existence, upset by the death of Rodolfo’s father when his son was 10. Rodolfo became very close to his mother, a fixation that may have been transferred to other powerful women later in his life. Having failed at the local educational institution, Rodolfo was sent to a boarding school in Perugia, which was run with military efficiency. At this point he hoped to become a cavalry officer, following a family tradition, but when he applied for service, he was rejected due to nearsightedness. Rodolfo then turned to landscape architecture and obtained a certificate after two years. In 1912 he journeyed to Paris and became exposed to fashion, society and dance, particularly the Argentine tango. When funds ran dry, he tried his luck at the gaming tables of Monte Carlo on the way home and once again was defeated. His mother worried Rodolfo had become dissolute and bought him a ticket to America, thereby sealing his fate forever. It wasn’t easy at first. After arriving in New York, Valentino (as he would soon style himself) had difficulty finding work, taking on unskilled employment at the beginning. He was forced to reside in sub-standard hotels, or worse, on park benches and in 24-hour movie houses. Eventually he made a useful contact that led him to Maxim’s. New York was in the midst of a dance craze and © Cat’s Collection/Corbis
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women were outstepping their male companions. Consequently, there developed a need for “taxi dancers,” to be hired by these unescorted ladies, and a quasi “gigolo” culture emerged. The sexuality inherent in the tango became especially attractive as these women tested the eroding boundaries of social acceptability. Successful as a partner and teacher, Valentino turned his eyes toward the stage and screen as the dancing rage began to wane. New York was then the capital of the newly emerging motion picture industry, and he was able to secure a few engagements as an extra. An opportunity to be part of a musical revue, The Masked Model, granted him passage across the country to sunny California. In San Francisco, Valentino was forced to return to the dance floor in order to make ends meet. He also trained as a securities salesman, but that proved unsuccessful as patriotic wartime investors were drawn to Liberty Bonds. Valentino renewed a relationship formed in New York with Norman Kerry, who encouraged him to settle in Los Angeles, as Hollywood was becoming the center for filmmaking now that Europe was focused on war. Paris had witnessed the naissance of projected motion pictures in the same year as Valentino’s birth. The Cinémathèque Lumière was invented by two brothers, Auguste and Louis. Another early inventor, Thomas Alva Edison established the Motion Picture Patents Company, or the Trust, an oligopoly intended to protect his creations. In one step of the vertical integration, Eastman Kodak guaranteed its film stock to Trust members only. The stranglehold over