Tuesday, July 13, 2021

An Artful Dodge

Of all the good and bad bandied about in discussions about Rudolph Valentino, would his clever tactfulness with the press be considered good or bad? I guess in this one instance, (see below) if you were Pola Negri it would not be optimal.

Valentino had an interesting rapport with the press I think. And sometimes I wonder if even half of what is attributed to him by the press was true. I was once interviewed for a show I worked on and was blown away reading the article. The free-wheeling reporter put a lot of words in my mouth which I never said and it made me cynical about news coverage ever since.

Was Rudolph Valentino an artful dodger and distracting a reporter with some witty banter? (see below) Or was this the truth? Here he is flanked by his manager Ullman and United Artist's publicity head Charles Moyer and I wonder if this was a talking point agreed upon. How free was Valentino to speak his mind?