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IT and US: Valentino, the Italian immigrant who created a dazzling, enduring legend
That was until 1922, when Valentino made a film called The Young Rajah. In this film , the young attractive star wore little more than a skimpy, bejeweled loincloth and turban. The loincloth displayed far too much of the star's anatomy to suit Papa.
"No wife of mine is going to be exposed to such scandalous behavior," he grumbled and forbade his wife to see the film. Grandma's temper erupted and for the next few days there would no peace in the house until Grandpa relented and took grandma to see the film.
But he issued one condition: Grandma would have to cover her eyes when Valentino's bare chest appeared on the screen. Grandma reluctantly agreed and was forced to watch the move through cupped hands, discreetly peeking through her fingers.
To capitalize on Valentino's popularity in the mid-1920s , the Chiradelli chocolate company included a randomly placed picture of the star inside the wrappers of their candy bars. Grandma took daily walks to the grocery store to purchase one of those chocolate bars. Most times Grandma tossed out the candy and kept the wrapper. A howl of delight
would echo through the house whenever Grandma discovered a picture of The sheik inside the wrapper.
Papa's attitude toward Valentino's films softened when the actor starred with the beautiful VilmaBanky in The Son of the Sheik. Grandpa was beguiled by the glamorous Banky and gladly took Grandma to see this movie. Unfortunately, it would be Valentino's final film.
During the 1920s,Valentino and his films came to symbolize exotic Arabian nights. As a result, ornate wall tapestries, tunics, cassocks and garish jewelry became the rage in home decorating and personal wear.
For many years, a gaudy tapestry of a sheik riding off on a white stallion hung on Grandma's living room wall. Although each male member of the family voiced his dislike for the garish tapestry, Grandma's daughters and granddaughters understood its significance and why she stubbornly refused to take it down during her lifetime. The tapestry served as a reminder to Grandma of her early arrival in this country, of her young married life, her lost youth, and her beloved movie sheik.He was to her what Elvis was to her Granddaughters.
Valentino died in 1926 at the age of 31. The official cause of death was a ruptured appendix. But millions of female fans, including Grandma, refused to accept that he could have been felled by something so mundane. Instead, they chose to believe he met with foul play, poisoned perhaps by a scorned lover. This theory was encouraged by a mysterious lady in black who, for 50 years, placed a bouquet of flowers on Valentino's grave.
Though Valentino earned millions during his heyday, when he died on Aug. 21, 1926, he was broke and deeply in debt.
There's an ancient belief that a man lives as long as the last person who remembers him. Few of Valentino's original fans survive today, but judging form the light that shone in Grandma's eyes each time she spoke of him, Valentino the man may be gone, but Valentino the legend will long live on.