A
few days ago, we had to hear one more time the idiocy that Natacha
Rambova “ruined” Valentino's career, left him in tatters, and how he
barely managed to survive her, etc. etc. I have written about this before
but offer here some food for thought. I doubt it will jar her hater's convictions because brain washing is a tough thing to turn about.
Nevertheless, if
the comparison is made between Rudolph's career and earning power
when he met Natacha and when they parted ways.... it is stunning
evidence of her powerful and extremely beneficial influence on her
love.
Despite
his success and emergence in 1921, he was not being paid well and
there was the issue of the request for that fifty dollar a week raise
from Metro. He was paid not so much more to film The Sheik. But
Natacha came into his life and contributed/demanded a higher level of respect/pay for Rudolph and
those who worked with them commented on her influence in a positive
light. Here, Joseph Henabery comments after he worked on Sainted Devil
and Cobra with Natacha:
“Mrs.
Valentino became a major factor in Rudy's success. She was a smart
woman and had good ideas of what was suitable for him. Some late-day
writers have indicated she had too much influence. I am sure she
incited him to rebel. Still, but for her influence, he would have
suffered poor stories, low budgets – and ended up discarded and
forgotten. It's because of Mrs. Valentino's foresight, determination,
and intelligence that today he is remembered as a great star. She had
her faults, but fewer than stated by those who disliked her because
they had to submit to her demands. By sniping and, as they say in
boxing waiting for openings, they tried to cut her down to size.”
George Ullman recounted her influence as follows:
“And
it is only fair to say that her culture, which she painstakingly but
subtly communicated to her husband, was one which others recognized
and which in my opinion put him forever in her debt. He was truly,
and in the highest sense, elevated by his association with Natacha.”
How
can anyone argue he did not wildly benefit from Natacha in many regards. He went from
living in small apartments around Los Angeles and borrowing suits from
Doug Gerrard, etc. when he met her....to this:
The money he would be earning by the time they separated and divorced was
astounding. The contract with United Artists tells that story. While
she was being wedged out the door of their business partnership, his
earning power was as high as it could be then. From Affairs
Valentino:
“In
addition to Rudy's impressive fifty percent of the profits, he would
receive a salary of $100,000.00 per film. He would receive this
$100,000.00 as follows; for the first of these two films he would
receive $50,000.00 cash upon signing the contract and another
$50,000.00 upon completion of the film.
For his work in the second film, he would receive a weekly paycheck
of $10,000.00 which would be deposited in his bank account every
Saturday morning.
Upon
the completion of the second film, if Rudy’s salary totaled less
than $100,000.00, the balance would be paid in full. Rudy would also
receive an additional $50,000.00 if production costs for each of
these films totaled less than $400,000.00.”
Putting
that into perspective, by today's exchange rate x 15, he received a salary of one and a half million dollars a film, receiving $750,000 on signing, another $750,000 on completion. For the second
film he would receive a weekly paycheck of $150,000 which he would receive
every Saturday morning.
And
in the court records I recovered in 2003, the following excerpt cites the
value of those last films as recorded in the court ordered Baskerville Audit:
Natacha
did extremely well by her man and the numbers tell the story. How ever ephemeral
their life together was or the personality and cultural clashes they suffered, they
reunited in the last hours of his life and... fact... she made the man.
We can
thank her for all her brilliant contributions.
