RetroBites: Adela Rogers St. Johns on Valentino (1970) | CBC

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 78

  • @MJLoverAngie
    @MJLoverAngie 14 років тому +27

    Valentino will never be forgotten.
    He is the man of my dreams,
    and he has many other fans who
    feel the same way.
    Thanks for posting. Thank you Joy
    for sharing.

    • @denisemoloney1751
      @denisemoloney1751 3 роки тому +3

      The two loves of my life , Michael Jackson 💖 and the wonderful Valentino 💖💖

  • @JSB1882
    @JSB1882 9 років тому +38

    I wish someone would do a documentary on Adela Rogers St. Johns. She's an interesting character. I remember her being on all the talk shows in the 1970s.

    • @sneadh1
      @sneadh1 4 роки тому +2

      Her book (and movie) A Free Soul is fiction, but uses many elements from her real life.

    • @jubalcalif9100
      @jubalcalif9100 Рік тому +1

      I agree 100 per cent !

  • @tobor444
    @tobor444 3 роки тому +36

    Poor Rudy, the prejudice he had to endure due to his Italian heritage. Yet he held is head high and did excellent work. He was a true gentleman.

  • @susannebass
    @susannebass 14 років тому +25

    She was one of the best journalists and she didn't focus on "trashing" the stars; just told it like it was. I have a lot of respect for Ms. St. Johns.

  • @wilburbonzo
    @wilburbonzo 10 років тому +58

    Valentino was not a peasant, his father was educated (a biologist/veterinarian) and middle class

    • @MosaicRose99
      @MosaicRose99 10 років тому +32

      She also got some other things wrong. Hollywood women were interested in him. Nita Naldi and Pola Negri to name two of them. Valentino's manager said that Rudy's wife was worried about those two women wanting Rudy, and he was right. She also claimed Rudy was simple minded? Ridiculous. He was well read and very intelligent, even Charlie Chaplin stated this. She claimed he was under 30 when he died, wrong again, he was 31. Adela Rogers St. John wasn't exactly batting 1000 with this interview....

    • @liannemettam3536
      @liannemettam3536 5 років тому +3

      thank you!

    • @lizzyhannan3875
      @lizzyhannan3875 5 років тому +13

      Yes ... I would put that down to both lazy journalism and slightly racist assumptions about his background. His detractors at the time didn't seem to get that his masculine expression of romance was normal in his own Southern Italian culture. Out of curiosity I did a little research on the general character of contemporary Southern Italian men ... and honestly it described Valentino down to a tee.

    • @leonakay6491
      @leonakay6491 4 роки тому +10

      Absolutely agree, this is just her own opinion. He was highly intelligent, and yes very well read, he could even play the piano and sing. His voice is recorded in a scene in the "Son of the Sheik." I have only just recently researched Valentino, and am fascinated by him. So sad though, as he only lived to the age of 31, and a tragedy how he died, as no antibiotics or drugs to help him in 1926.

    • @casandra079
      @casandra079 4 роки тому +5

      The truth is that Adela Rogers St John was a good friend of Valentino so I wouldnt dismiss what she is saying about him. The truth is he was not the characters he interpreted. I'm sure he was a very Kind, charming, Lively, sexy man în real life, but not the one on the screen. Also, about reading books, several people close to him said he hardly read any books, incuding his brother Alberto. I dont think the
      re is any need to reject some well documented facts. On the contrary, I think they make him more human.

  • @AnswersProductions
    @AnswersProductions 13 років тому +12

    this is so precious...thanks so much for posting! she was such a pioneer -- such a "cool chick"

  • @albertmorris6162
    @albertmorris6162 6 років тому +9

    Adella was a legend! I recall as a boy rushing home from school to watch the Merv Griffin Show. Merv doted on her and everybody watched.

  • @francaspini4938
    @francaspini4938 2 роки тому +24

    The lady proves to know the actor superficially and also to share the prejudices towards the Latins common to many Americans at that time. Valentino, as mentioned by others here had a diploma and had traveled to Europe, which for that time was considerable, besides he was fluent in 4 languages. His mother, Beatrice Bardin di Valentina d'Antoguolla, was of noble origin. She was daughter of Italians but she had French nationality and his son followed her on his travels. The boy had received a good education, which can be seen from his aristocratic, polite and elegant manner and his extremely refined and confident taste, which even imposed fashions. Note, for example, the shoes he wears, extremely avant-garde and eccentric for that time. Moreover , and in this the journalist is right, he was good, nice, funny, generous and sweet. Surely he was not a male chauvinist and this you may denote by his sentimental choice : he fell in love with a strong woman who loved to handle him and he let her do it. The fact that so many women were passionate about him is perfectly understandable, the John Wayne male ideal is precisely a male invention, Valentino embodied the sensitive, passionate, sweet, cultured and refined lover of their dreams

    • @sarahleach9997
      @sarahleach9997 Рік тому +3

      Well said. You described him in such a beautiful way. ❤😊

    • @janmargaret7972
      @janmargaret7972 5 місяців тому +1

      @@francaspini4938. He wasn't a peasant as this woman says. He was from a middle class family. His father had been an officer in the army and the a veterinarian. He was educated and cultured.

  • @frederickcombs8661
    @frederickcombs8661 2 роки тому +3

    excellent and so well said

  • @Massev6871
    @Massev6871 2 роки тому +10

    Valentino's brother said they were not very poor and uneducated at all. If's a shame that myth took hold.

  • @elissaschornstein9399
    @elissaschornstein9399 2 роки тому +9

    Continued....
    Studio stopped her from controlling his career.
    She was very angry and left him.
    She wanted things only her way and when they put a stop to her interferance
    she walked away!
    (Not wanting to have children was another problem.)
    Because Rudy always wanted kids!
    Although she apparently was clear from the start of their relationship that having children was a no no!!
    Because he loved so deeply I think he thought he might be able to change her mind.
    Rudy was not a Skirt Chaser!
    And wanted one special woman.
    All the other women didn't matter to him!
    An unlucky man in love and Life.
    To pass away so young with his whole life in front of him was truly great tragedy!!
    Rudy you are dearly missed.
    🌹🌹🌹

  • @rdo1231
    @rdo1231 5 років тому +7

    legend

  • @sarahleach9997
    @sarahleach9997 Рік тому +3

    He is loved and will have the same effect on women forever.

  • @cesaremasieri2224
    @cesaremasieri2224 4 роки тому +11

    Contestualizzare il discorso sulle condizioni economiche del Divo é necessario. Valentino era figlio di un Dottore in un periodo storico in cui il ,non solo il sud Italia, ma tutta la Nazione non era industrializzata. Questo equivale a dire che la famiglia del Divo apparteneva ad una famiglia della buona borghesia del Sud Italia. C'è da dire, che Valentino , dopo la morte del padre, conseguì un diploma ; e in quel determinato periodo storico valeva come una laurea di oggi ( forse di più).
    Quindi quello che racconta la giornalista americana intervistata in questo video, é vero fino ad un certo punto. Cioè quando dice che Valentino prima di imbarcarsi per New York , in Italia era un contadino del meridione , che fu costretto ad emigrare perché povero. Infatti , é vero che emigrò per cercare fortuna , ma non a causa della crisi agraria nel sud ,
    bensì per la morte del padre che
    ebbe conseguenze negative per la famiglia del Divo.

  • @kathrynbellerose6216
    @kathrynbellerose6216 5 місяців тому +1

    Valentino’s popularity continues today over 100 years later. This woman hit the nail on the head with her description of him. American men would still not be comfortable with the European manners and romantic style. I watch some of the Italian, Spanish, and Turkish tv series and movies and their attitude toward romance is in Valentino’s style.

  • @Williamharold1000
    @Williamharold1000 14 років тому +11

    Great video, historic, hey Valentino was some kind of ideal, otherwise he would have been just another heel.

  • @MsGrowltiger
    @MsGrowltiger 12 років тому +24

    Too bad she didn't know what she was talking about. Valentino came from a middle class family in Italy. His father was a Veterinarian and medical researcher -- I suspect better educated than hers (though I don't know). So far as the "Hollywood girls" not being interested in him, Mae Murray, Pola Negri and Nita Nalda all supposedly had affairs with him. He married Natacha Rambova who though an art designer was very beautiful and a REAL socialite (not just someone who writes about them).

  • @secretariatgirl4249
    @secretariatgirl4249 4 роки тому +7

    I would bet that Adela is quoting a lot from what the studios put out there for publicity purposes. That, to this day, is the basis of a lot of stories and bios about Rudy. At the time of this interview, there hadn't been the research and documents available that seemed to start surfacing in the 2000's. After his second divorce, as he deteriorated, the studio had to employ 2 or 3 press people to make sure the papers squelched stories about his escapades...She was 76 years old when this was taped and lost a few of the details. And, when she says "simple minded" I don't think she means he was stupid. Rambova herself thought he was dumb at first because he tried to tell jokes but never got the punchline right, probably because his English wasn't perfect. He seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve all the time and was endearingly needy...

  • @richardmcleod5967
    @richardmcleod5967 5 років тому +4

    Lawrence J. Quirk was the initial owner of Photoplay and sold it in 1933. The magazine was never the same after he sold it.

  • @richardmcleod5967
    @richardmcleod5967 5 років тому +8

    Adela Rogers St. Johns was known as "The Mother Confessor of Hollywood". If anyone knew Hollywood, it was Adela Rogers St. Johns. This is all discussed very well in her book, "The Honeycomb".

  • @jeanbaumgartner4052
    @jeanbaumgartner4052 Рік тому +3

    THERE WILL NEVER EVER BE ANOTHER ONE EXOTIC LOOKING MALE 👨 AS RUDY🧖 VALENTINO💘 LOOKS SO YOUNG 🧒 AND QUITE HANDSOME ROMANTIC AND VERY TALENTED PROFESSIONAL ACTOR WHO EVER LIVED IN OUR LIVES TIME ⌚!

  • @Andreatheists-yy1oj
    @Andreatheists-yy1oj Місяць тому

    Photo Play. Love it.

  • @musclemusicbox
    @musclemusicbox 13 років тому +17

    Wow she is so incorrect how she calls him an Italian Peasant; he was born into an Aristocratic Italian Family. Good speakers don't always make truthful remarks.

    • @Raptuza
      @Raptuza 6 років тому +5

      musclemusicbox Rodolfo was not aristocrat, he was a middle class guy

    • @barrynevin2127
      @barrynevin2127 6 років тому +4

      Watch the Hollywood (1980) Thames documentary that interviews his brother. He was no aristocrat.

    • @johnlorenzen4633
      @johnlorenzen4633 4 роки тому +5

      He wasn't aristocratic but he certainly came from solid middle class family. Not peasant.

    • @cesaremasieri2224
      @cesaremasieri2224 4 роки тому +7

      Non potrei mai tradurlo in Inglese ciò che sto scrivendo, ma posso garantire che Valentino visse in una famiglia agiata , me lo disse un mio amico che lavorava a Taranto. Egli conosceva bene la biografia del Divo , perché anche lui nacque nel paese dove visse Valentino quando ancora era bambino. Quindi bisogna contestualizzare il discorso sulla sua condizione economica. In quel determinato periodo storico essere figlio di un dottore ,quindi di un professionista, equivale oggi
      ad essere figlio di un'avvocato affermato. Egli cadde in disgrazia quando il padre morì. Questo é tutto ciò che mi disse il mio amico.

    • @cinderelladevil1687
      @cinderelladevil1687 2 роки тому

      @@cesaremasieri2224 sabe por qué emigró a Estados Unidos?

  • @brober
    @brober 8 років тому +18

    For all the ignorant fan girl disparagers of Ms Adela Rogers St John's bubble bursting truths about the so-called "great lover" may I point out she knew Rudy from his earliest days in Hollywood.She was a friend of Rudolph Valentino's.She sewed his pants. She danced with him and smelled his garlic breath. She knows what she is talking about because she was there. You were not. Educate yourselves.

    • @Raptuza
      @Raptuza 6 років тому +2

      Bruce Robertson Amen, well said

    • @liannemettam3536
      @liannemettam3536 5 років тому +3

      because she was the last journalist alive, she has tried to rewrite history.

    • @lizzyhannan3875
      @lizzyhannan3875 5 років тому +17

      What we want is accuracy ... I have read a lot of Photoplay articles that St. John's wrote ... some of them have awful disparagingly racist descriptions of Valentino ... I can quote them here ... she also said ... inaccurately that he was a peasant ... his family was middle class ... his father a veterinarian and biologist, his grandfather was a well-known engineer who built a very ingenious local bridge in Castalleneta ... these things can be sited and proved ... she makes some assumptions about Valentino ... that isn't good journalism.

    • @ji5340
      @ji5340 2 роки тому +3

      She was wrong about him being a peasant. His own brother is on tape stating that his family were middle class. That they lived a comfortable life in Italy.

    • @francaspini4938
      @francaspini4938 2 роки тому +5

      stupid stereotypes, Italians must smell of garlic and Americans of whiskey some Americans forget that they have to thank ancient Greece and the Roman Empire because, when they met, the Western European civilization and culture were born...

  • @susannebass
    @susannebass 13 років тому +5

    @Bandtrip50 Well, perhaps I don't know that much; what I read and heard in documentaries, she seemed to always speak well of the stars; Valentino, Swanson, Gilbert, Mae Murray. You undoubtedly no more than I, then.

  • @anneroy4560
    @anneroy4560 13 днів тому

    Rudy's father was a captain of cavalry in the Italian Army, later a veterinarian. He did not do all that well at school and was eventually enrolled in agricultural school in Genoa, where he earned a certificate. They off to the states ...

  • @Mark-s5i3c
    @Mark-s5i3c 3 місяці тому

    He wasn't a peasant! His brother dispelled this myth.

  • @karena3
    @karena3 12 років тому +23

    She had no class or refinement, I've seen her in a few video clips and she is always sounds painfully narrow minded and full of herself and her "accomplishments". Rudolph Valentino was not a peasant, nor was he simple minded.

    • @tobor444
      @tobor444 3 роки тому +5

      He spoke four languages, English, Spanish and was fluent in French and Italian. She could only speak English so she may have had limited conversations with him.

  • @AWiz-lx8lh
    @AWiz-lx8lh 3 місяці тому

    What Adela Said About Valentino Being a Peasant Is Spot On. Why? Cause When You Read All About Him, He Was Far From Rich Before He Made It In Hollywood. That’s 1). 2)It Was Because of Friends That He Got To Hollywood and Luck. His Train Trip to Hollywood From San Francisco was Because Of The Good Grace Of Louie Armstrong I Believe Who Let Him Ride Free Because, Once Again a Friend He Knew. Here’s Something We Can All Learn From. Natacha Was By Far The Best Women For Him. SHE WAS NOT A PEASANT. She Came From Wealth. So She Completed Him. The Yen to His Yang or Vice Versa. Even When Rudy Ended Up In Jail, Once Again, He Had To Rely Once More On a Friend of a Friend To Flip a Huge Bail Bond. What Does All That Mean, Being a Poor Immigrant? That Is Exactly Why He Became What He Was. Deep Inside, You Know Who You Really Are, Insecurities And All. That Is Why He Worked Harder Than Everyone Else. Watch His Work, Study Him. Without a Doubt, You Can Easily Place Him On a Top 100 All Time Best Actors List. And I Am Talking The Art of Acting. Not How Famous Of An Actor You Are. I Put Him Well Ahead Of Many Many Very Famous Actors. Anyhow, The United Artist Contract Did Him In. He Left His Wife Out And She Returned The Favor In Fashion Leaving Him Literally At The Railroad Tracks Chasing After Her Train. He Is Responsible For That As Well As George Ullman. Many Times, Friends and Family Dont Want To See Their Friend or Loved One Hurt But What They Do Not Understand, Is Life, God, The Universe Does Not Give You All You Want. It Gives You What You Need To Complete You On Your Short Journey Called Life. Learn It, Live It, Understand It And Thrive. Blessings.

  • @sneadh1
    @sneadh1 4 роки тому +6

    Tell us about Valentino's slave bracelet.

    • @jannepetersen4660
      @jannepetersen4660 3 роки тому +1

      The bracelet was a gift from Rampova, and he only left him when he filmed, and when he died, ths same goes for the cursed ring, Pola Negri got the ring, but she got sick and took it of after short time and gave it to a friend who died shortly after.
      The slave bracelet is first of all very beautiful, but in this case I think Rampova had her own goal with the gift, she did not love him, she saw possibility to make her own succes.
      When she was left out from his movies, she left him for good. I must say of all his girlfriends and lovers, Rampova was the the less beautiful.
      Her style was not very smart, sometimes she looked like a walking tent.....sorry.....

    • @tonyadenton9196
      @tonyadenton9196 2 роки тому

      @@jannepetersen4660 exactly!

    • @liudmilav.2838
      @liudmilav.2838 2 роки тому

      @@jannepetersen4660 I think she loved him, and she was very beautiful lady :).

    • @jannepetersen4660
      @jannepetersen4660 2 роки тому +1

      @@liudmilav.2838 Maybe, but you must remember that he adored women, so he was in female company, when he got sick, and one of his girlfriends call for help to him, but he might have loved only one, and then adored the rest, who knows.....

  • @tobor444
    @tobor444 3 роки тому +3

    She brags about starting the Hayes Office.

  • @Mensaje970
    @Mensaje970 4 роки тому +3

    cutesy lady

  • @moviestarmemories630
    @moviestarmemories630 4 місяці тому

    Someone who speaks 3 or 4 languages isn't a peasent.