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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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. 🌹🌹🌹

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

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.

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.

excellent and so well said

legend

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

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...

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 ⌚!

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).

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".

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

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

@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.

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.

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.

Tell us about Valentino's slave bracelet.

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.

She brags about starting the Hayes Office.

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.

cutesy lady