Every year since 1927, fans of the Rudolph Valentino have gathered to honor the actor's memory in Hollywood. In fact, the Valentino Memorial Service, held each year on August 23rd (beginning at 12:10 p.m., the time of Valentino's death in 1926), is the longest running annual event in Hollywood, even pre-dating the Academy Awards. I have attended a few of these events in the past, as opportunity allowed. Each included a talk, songs, historical perspective, and custom videos. Each was a memorable occasion.
Back in 2019, I was asked to give the keynote address at the 92 annual event. During my brief, ten minute presentation, I gave an illustrated talk and shared some rare material on the subject of Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino. The title of my talk was "Through the Black Velvet Curtain: Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino,"
with its subject being the two iconic silent film stars. My talk asks .
. . might these two Jazz Age personalities have known each other? Might
they have met? Over the years, various documents have come to light
which go a long way toward answering those questions. While we will
likely never know what Valentino thought of Brooks, we do know what
Brooks thought of Valentino.
Just recently, the original video tapes of every Valentino Memorial Service going back to 1996 have been professionally digitized and are now being presented exclusively on the WeNeverForget Youtube channel. I would encourage everyone to check out not only my 2019 appearance (which starts about 34 minutes into the event), but others as well. Each of the videos is fascinating material for anyone interested in silent film.
This blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further use prohibited.
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