The Valentino Affair (52 page)

11
Ibid.

12
In later years this position would be retitled the White House Chief of Staff.

13
New York Evening Telegram,
November 26, 1917.

14
Ibid.

15
New York Herald,
November 27, 1917.

16
New York Sun,
November 27, 1917.

17
Ibid.

18
Ibid.

19
Ibid.

20
Ibid.

21
Ibid.

22
Ibid.

23
New York Times,
November 24, 1917.

24
Ibid., November 27, 1917.

25
Ibid., November 24, 1917.

26
Malone had one of the more unusual careers in American public life. A liberal activist who campaigned vociferously for female suffrage, he was also a noted lawyer who, in 1925, assisted Clarence Darrow during the infamous “Scopes Trial.” After this he resumed his successful divorce practice, this time in Paris, until moving to Hollywood and taking up a career as a movie actor. His most notable roles were playing the part of Winston Churchill—to whom he bore a strong physical resemblance—in three films. He died in 1950.

27
New York Evening Telegram,
November 23, 1917.

28
New York Sun,
December 14, 1913.

29
Home to the Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies until 1970.

30
New York Sun,
December 14, 1913.

Four

1
When presented to the US Immigration authorities, the ship’s manifest continued to show Rodolfo Guglielmi as a second-class passenger.

2
The column on Ellis Island where new arrivals were traditionally greeted by relatives and friends already resident in America.

3
This version of events comes from Valentino’s own life story, which was published in three parts by
Photoplay Magazine
in 1923. Others have claimed that he was actually “sponsored” by Frank Mennillo, a successful Italian businessman and old family friend who made his fortune importing olives to the United States, earning him the nickname of the “Olive King.” It was Mennillo, they say, who showed Valentino the ropes in New York City.

4
Rudolph Valentino, “My Life Story,”
part 255
. Photoplay Magazine,
1923.

5
The current Chilean minister, Henry Prather Fletcher, a career diplomat, had held the office since 1910 and President Wilson was disinclined to rock the boat, especially in light of Washington’s intention to elevate the post to the rank of ambassador. This occurred in September 1914.

6
Washington Herald,
March 11, 1914.

7
Ibid.

8
Allan R. Ellenberger,
The Valentino Mystique,
113.

9
Ibid.

10
New York Times,
March 31, 1957.

11
Before being converted into a hotel, 21 Pont Street was also the residence of Lily Langtry, the famed “Jersey Lily” who became the mistress of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. She continued to live there for two years after the transition. The hotel still has a restaurant named Langtry’s in her honor.

12
New York Tribune,
November 24, 1917.

13
New York Sun,
June 2, 1914.

14
Ibid., November 28, 1917.

15
New York Herald,
November 28, 1917.

16
Ibid.

17
Ibid.

18
Ibid.

19
Viscount Grey of Fallodon,
Twenty-Five Years 1892–1916
(Frederick A. Stokes Co.: New York, 1925), 20.

20
President Wilson had already confirmed America’s neutrality.

21
Milwaukee Sentinel,
May 24, 1942.

22
Ibid.

Five

1
Adela Rogers St. Johns, “Valentino: The Life Story of the Sheik,”
Liberty,
September 18, 1929, 66.

2
By 1918, more than one million horses were in use in all theaters of war. Two thirds of these came from North America.

3
Daily Mirror,
February 10, 1947.

4
Washington Post,
November 24, 1917.

5
Time,
November 19, 1965.

6
In 1935, once again living in England, the duke was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for fraud, but after four weeks behind bars his conviction was quashed and he was freed to lead a life of unabashed hedonism—usually at someone else’s expense—until his death in 1947.

7
New York Sun,
November 27, 1917.

8
Ibid.

9
Syracuse Herald,
November 26, 1917.

10
New York Sun,
November 27, 1917.

11
Brooklyn Daily Eagle,
November 26, 1917.

12
New York Times,
October 22, 1914.

13
An early type of listening device that allowed one to eavesdrop on a conversation.

14
New York Times,
November 24, 1917.

15
Although born in Liverpool, Fowler (1873–1943) was raised in the United States. After attaining the rank of colonel during the Great War, he later became First Deputy Commissioner in the New York Police Department.

16
New York Times,
November 24, 1917.

17
Ibid.

18
Ibid.

19
New York Sun,
November 24, 1917.

20
Ibid.

21
Paris did suffer artillery bombardment from March–August 1918.

22
Schwab didn’t return entirely empty-handed. By his estimation, American companies, including his own, had already secured contracts worth three hundred million dollars to provide goods to Europe.

23
New York Herald,
November 28, 1917.

24
Ibid.

25
Ibid.

26
New York Sun,
November 28, 1917.

Six

1
New York Times,
November 24, 1917.

2
New York Evening Telegram,
November 23, 1917.

3
New York Sun,
November 27, 1917.

4
New York Times,
April 25, 1915.

5
Ibid., May 9, 1915.

6
She returned to live with her husband at their house on Merrick Road, Freeport, and the couple was still living there in 1929 when Dr. Carman was convicted of performing abortions, placed on probation, and removed from the medical register.

7
New York Sun,
November 27, 1917.

8
New York Times,
November 24, 1917.

9
Divorce only became legal in Chile in 2004.