Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-29
VALENTINO, PERFECT SCREEN LOVER, FAILED TWICE
TO ACHIEVE LASTING HAPPINESS IN MARRIAGE
First Wife, Jean Acker, Is
Mourner at His Bier,
Frankly Grieved.
Wirifred Hudnut, Choice in
Second Venture, Cooled
After Ardent Vows.
BY GEORGE BUCHANAN FIFE.
CHAPTER v.

|
lover as Rudolph Valentino was upon
| the silver screen. however, tumul-
| tuously he caused myriad feminine
| hearts to quicken, he was unable to
prevent disaster in matrimony. Twice
he was married and twice his house
hold came tumbling about his ears.
! His first romance resulted in his
marrying Jean Acker, but happiness
| of it lasted something more than two
years, when she divorced him. Yet
| one cannot but feel that for all the
disaster that came of those years,
there was a clinging remembrance OF
| their early happiness in her breast,
! for Jean Acker went past his casket
| for a last gaze upon him IN frank,
| unreStrained tears.
Less than a. year after the divorce,
Valentino gave another hostage to
| fortune. He married Winifred Hud-
nut. adopted daughter of Richard
I Hudnut, perfume manufacturer OF
| New York, at MeXicali Lower, Cali
! fornia, May 10, 1922. For the reason
| that at that time the interiocutory
dec. ee granted to Jean Aclier had not
! become final the ceremony plunged
! Valentino into no end of trouble.
Faced Bigamy Charge.
He was arrested on a charge OF
| hicamy. to which he pleaded not
guilty, saying that the practice ne
understood to be common in the East
/ of having marriages performed in
New Jersey soon after divorces were
granted in New York had deceived
! him. Permission to obtain BAH was
accorded him and bond fixed at S1o,-
| 600 This was furnished by June
Mathis. the discoverer of him, who
! had put him in the famous -Four
! Horsemen of the Apocalypse" George
! Medford. a director at the LaSky
| Studio in Los Angeles, and ThomaS
Meighan, we'll known cinema star
This was their expression OF SYM
pathy with Valentino. Jean Acker'
, whose romance with his seems never
| quite to have died. voiced it other
wise She said:
II hone nv former husband is not
prosecuted and that he continues to
| hold his high place in the. screen
world AS for myself-Well, it's a
| tragedy I'm trying. to forget My
screen ambitions are my Chief con-
Germ now"
However, the charge against the
Young actor was dropped later and
so that there should be no subsequent
questioning of the proceedings, VAL
entino and Winifred Hudnut were
, remarked at Grown Point, Ind, on
March IS. 1928.
Both Pledged Lasting Love.
1t seemed incredible that this ro-
nance should end in Wreckage-aS
incredible as that the first should
have done so. Valentino was head
over heels in love with Winifred Hud-
nut, for her charm was great. she
was on her way from the coaS' TO
New York when she learned of Val
entino'S arrest, and according to her
TEAMMATES, so said the dispatches OF
the day, she declared her intention
never to forsake him. The same dis
patches said that during the journey
she sent him nine kilograms and
special delivery letter and received
a dozen telegraph messages from him
in the same period. His were punctu-
ated with terms of endearment, OF
counsel to patience and of assurance
that everything will be all right.
But if everything came out al right
in the "bigamy'' incident. such was
not to be the case in his second mar
riage adve nture. Early in 1925 came
the rift The second Mrs. Valentino,
ter of a resident of Salt Lake whose
widow had married Edward de Wolfe,
brother of Elsie de Wolfe, had taken
the name of the New York perfumer
upon her adoption. She had been an
interior decorator with fair for the
exotic in color and arrangement and
had been rather successful at it.
One of her many accomplishments
was dancing, and in 1920 she was an
instructress in the graceful art in
Los Angeles. Among the pupils who
came to her was ALA NaZimOva,
then at the height of her screen
fame. This led to an association Of
these two which resulted in Miss
Hudnut becoming designer of bizarre
costumes and scenery for Nine.
NazimoVa and also her art director
in the films. Hers were the sets for
cussed pictures.
Assumed New Stage Name.
Before her marriage to Valentino
Miss Hudnut assumed the name
| Natacha Rambova. Under it she
acted in several films and directed
! others. She was apparently bent
upon a career for herself, not content
to be what she had been character
lied. 1.-The shieks wife" This seems
to have been the rock upon which
| the Valentines split. Just a year
ago this month came word of their
asked if there had been separation,
separation. When Valentino was
he replied:
We'll. we don't like that word, it
sounds so final. Why not call it a
marital vacatiOn?"
AS a matter of fact, Mrs. Valentino
came to New York to return to dra-
matte work as Natacha Rambova,
and it was reported that her husband
went to the train in Los Angeles to
see her away and kissed her goodbye.
But this proved to be only gesture,
if q graceful one, because both were
convinced that their marriage could
not endure.
Within a short time after she
reached the East, Mrs. Valentino
| sailed for Europe. and on December
| Il. 1925, a petition was filed for her
in the Paris courts seeking an alb
solute divorce. She was in New
! York at. the time and said that it
was not in her mind to begin this
action when she went to Europe in
the Summer preceding. but that she
had resolved the rupture of the rela
tionship should be made legal. The
decree was made final this year.
Negri's Extravagant Praise.
If Valentines two matrimonial es-
says connoted any shortcomings on
his mart they were evidently not ap-