Help on Valentino Photo

[bobfells]

I know we have a few Valentino specialists at N'ville so I am hoping somebody can shed some light on this photo (figuratively speaking). To my untrained eye, I'd guess this is a rather late photo, perhaps taken during Rudy's final trip to NYC. Also, does anybody know the occasion and what he said in the broadcast? Thanks for any info.

[rudyfan]

Hi Bob
This is from the Mineralava Tour. I do not know which city, but Valentino did radio in several cities including St. Louis and Atlanta. 1923 and photos of Valentino during the tour show him usually looking exhausted.

Valentino also did some radio in Atlantic City and NY in 1926 when he was on his last tour promoting Son of the Sheik.

[bobfells]

Thanks very much, Donna. I figured that if anybody knew, it would be you. I'm doing a Valentino tribute as our first official post on the new OLD HOLLYWOOD IN COLOR site for the 85th anniversary of his passing. I'm calling it "On the Set with Rudolph Valentino" and gathering as many on the set candids as I can find, including this radio one.

A coming attraction:

[LouieD]

A coming attraction:

GOOD GRIEF!

[Harlett O'Dowd]

GOOD GRIEF!

If he got rid of that white shirt he could perform "Magic To Do."

[Bruce Long]

Here's a press item regarding a 1922 radio broadcast, printed in the New York Morning Telegraph. I did not photocopy the end of the article.

[bobfells]

Thanks very much, Bruce. I appreciate this info. Interesting that Rudy was working for Paramount at the time but none of the individuals or films he mentions are from Paramount. I won't ask you to supply the remainder of the story but if you read the whole article, do you recall any comment on the quality of his voice? Thanks again.

[FrankFay]

Good Lord!

Bob, I know you didn't mean it, but the colored version put me in mind of the Chicago Tribune's "Pink Powder Puff" article.

[bobfells]

Good Lord!

Bob, I know you didn't mean it, but the colored version put me in mind of the Chicago Tribune's "Pink Powder Puff" article.

Would it help if I added a scar to his face? The poor guy is just sitting there smiling for the camera. If I gave him a funny colored suit.... Now I'm afraid to use a photo of Rudy applying makeup to boxer Gene Tunney!

[FrankFay]

Good Lord!

Bob, I know you didn't mean it, but the colored version put me in mind of the Chicago Tribune's "Pink Powder Puff" article.

Would it help if I added a scar to his face? The poor guy is just sitting there smiling for the camera. If I gave him a funny colored suit.... Now I'm afraid to use a photo of Rudy applying makeup to boxer Gene Tunney!

It's the very pink face and the eyebrows appearing to have been penciled on that does it. The original picture is just fine but this colorization doesn't work- at least for me.

[Bruce Long]

Thanks very much, Bruce. I appreciate this info. Interesting that Rudy was working for Paramount at the time but none of the individuals or films he mentions are from Paramount. I won't ask you to supply the remainder of the story but if you read the whole article, do you recall any comment on the quality of his voice? Thanks again.

Sorry, but I made the photocopy over a decade ago, and don't recall what else the article said. Valentino wasn't working for Paramount then; he had already sued to try to break his contract, and his negative attitude toward Paramount is implied.

[bobfells]

Good Lord!

Bob, I know you didn't mean it, but the colored version put me in mind of the Chicago Tribune's "Pink Powder Puff" article.

Would it help if I added a scar to his face? The poor guy is just sitting there smiling for the camera. If I gave him a funny colored suit.... Now I'm afraid to use a photo of Rudy applying makeup to boxer Gene Tunney!

It's the very pink face and the eyebrows appearing to have been penciled on that does it. The original picture is just fine but this colorization doesn't work- at least for me.

This is criticism I can work with. Thanks. Rudy and I went back to the drawing board and here is his new look:

[bobfells]

Switching stars for a moment, here's a Lon Chaney photo that I scanned directly from a negative. I believe it's from SHADOWS (1922):


I wonder what it would look like in color? WAIT - don't shoot!!!!

[FrankFay]

I think that this one has such fine black and white tones that color would not be needed. At most a deep rich sepia toning.

[bobfells]

How's this?

[CoffeeDan]

Great job on that Chaney photo, Bob! The tinting really brings out the details.

I believe it comes from OUTSIDE THE LAW (1921), where one of the Chinese characters Chaney plays wears a peaked cap like the one in the photo.

[bobfells]

Great job on that Chaney photo, Bob! The tinting really brings out the details.

I believe it comes from OUTSIDE THE LAW (1921), where one of the Chinese characters Chaney plays wears a peaked cap like the one in the photo.

Thanks for the info on OUTSIDE THE LAW - and for the compliment (I so rarely get any!).

[LouieD]

This is criticism I can work with. Thanks. Rudy and I went back to the drawing board and here is his new look:

GOOD GRIEF!

[LouieD]

How's this?

REALLY goddamn terrible.

[FrankFay]

I'm not fond of the flesh tones, but the sepia toning really does improve the details and open up the slightly clogged shadows.

[bobfells]

I'm not fond of the flesh tones, but the sepia toning really does improve the details and open up the slightly clogged shadows.

I gave the photo a brightness/contrast overhaul before applying the tinting. The chosen shade is meant to suggest a lantern light effect. The merit of the b/w version is the dramatic interplay between light and darkness. But substituting a flame-type lighting for a white spot the light/dark interplay is preserved and IMHO enhanced.