Valentino: A History
Valentino's death caused a mass hysteria the likes of which had never been seen before. A few stars had died before him during their careers: John Bunny (the first fat comedian), Olive Thomas (the first flapper), Wallace Reid (matinee idol), William Desmond Taylor (director).
Yet none of their deaths sparked the reaction his did. A 100,000 people lined the streets to see his body, and his funerals were marked with publicity stunts. His estate had been in debt at the time of his death, leaving no money to bury him. June Mathis offered to loan her crypt at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
The arrangement was supposed to be temporary as Pola claimed she would build a large monument, and a committee of Italian Americans was formed to create a proper memorial. Led by June Mathis and her Italian husband Sylvano Balboni the idea was to create an Italian park in Hollywood with statues of Valentino in various film roles. However June herself died unexpectedly in 1927 of a heart attack, and plans soon fell through. Valentino was moved to her husbands crypt, where he is still interred.
With the onset of the depression most memorial plans fell through. In the early 30s a statue was dedicated in De Longpre Park in Hollywood. Sadly its now a ghetto area, with the statue being the only attraction. For the longest time even Hollywood Forever Cemetery was in disrepair, though thankfully it has been lovingly restored in recent years. Valentino's legacy has been a mixed one. Immediately after his death Natacha announced he was speaking to her from the grave and wrote a book supposedly about it. Valentino had been a spiritualist in life and did believe in the occult.
This led to his legacy almost solely being overshadowed by The Sheik and the afterlife. The Valentino Memorial Guild created after his death to be a charity for children eventually became a charity run but occultists who really did nothing charitable. The guild ended in the early 1990s with the death of its eccentric president. Perhaps the only good thing they did was save the snippets we now have of The Young Rajah. A Lady in Black has visited his grave every year since his death and been the subject of much speculation and press. Likely it was originally created as a publicity stunt since his films were re-released well into the late 30s. Karie Bible now lovingly holds the position.
Every year since 1928 a Valentino Memorial Service has been held on the date of his death, at supposedly the time of his death (they fail to account for the time change between New York where he died, and California where he is buried). At first it was a Valentino family sponsored event, but became circus like in the following years. As of late it has tried to become more solemn, but still is full of Ladies in Black (and other colors), people promoting their Valentino death books, and other unsavory self promoting people. During the years silent film wasn't easy to view a few movies and specials were made about Valentino. However they are extremely inaccurate and in some karmic justice didn't do too well at the box office. Natacha threatened to sue the 1951 version and Valentino's brother did indeed sue the 1977 version (Natacha had passed away by that time).
Though his death now overshadows his life we are lucky to be able to still view most of Valentino's work. While something akin to 70% of silent films are lost over 60% of his survive. He was a method actor before the term was used (Natacha recalled he stayed in his Blood and Sand character the entire time they filmed...even when not on set) and had an extreme knack for it. Much like Marilyn Monroe his image and good looks overshadow his talent and ambitions, but it is not justified. Valentino was nothing like the Sheik and those who knew him said he was an extremely generous, polite, sensitive, and sweet man. Hopefully someday these qualities, alongside his acting, will overshadow his death legacy.