The Divo and the Duce
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THE DIVO AND THE DUCE PROMOTING FILM STARDOM AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN 1920S AMERICA GIORGIO BERTELLINI Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Constance and William Withey Endowment Fund in History and Music. The Divo and the Duce CINEMA CULTURES IN CONTACT Richard Abel, Giorgio Bertellini, and Matthew Solomon, Series Editors 1. The Divo and the Duce: Promoting Film Stardom and Political Leadership in 1920s America, by Giorgio Bertellini The Divo and the Duce Promoting Film Stardom and Political Leadership in 1920s America Giorgio Bertellini UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Oakland, California © 2019 by Giorgio Bertellini Suggested citation: Bertellini, G. The Divo and the Duce: Promoting Film Stardom and Political Leadership in 1920s America. Oakland: University of California Press, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.62 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. Cover illustrations: (Above) Valentino, posing before his bust-in-progress and unidentified sculptress. Rudolph Valentino, no. 194, Core Collection Biography Photos, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Courtesy of AMPAS. (Below) Mussolini, posing before his bust-in-progress and American sculptor Jo Davidson, ca. 1927. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Ufficio Propaganda (Fotografie Istituto Luce), b.1, 90. Courtesy of ACS. Author photo by Mary Lou Chlipala. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bertellini, Giorgio, 1967– author. Title: The Divo and the Duce : promoting film stardom and political leadership in 1920s America / Giorgio Bertellini. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019] | Series: Cinema cultures in contact ; 1 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. To view a copy of the license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/ licenses | Identifiers: LCCN 2018033486 (print) | LCCN 2018036816 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520972179 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520301368 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Publicity—United States—History—20th century. | Valentino, Rudolph, 1895–1926. | Mussolini, Benito, 1883–1945. | Mass media and publicity. | Communication in politics. | Celebrities in mass media. | Motion picture industry—United States—History— 20th century. Classification: LCC HM1226 (ebook) | LCC HM1226 .B48 2019 (print) | DDC 305.5/2--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018033486 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Leila contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: “Nothing Like Going to an Authority!” 1 part one. Power and Persuasion 1. Popular Sovereignty, Public Opinion, and the Presidency 17 2. Cultural Nationalism and Democracy’s Opinion Leaders 37 3. Wartime Film Stardom and Global Leadership 56 part two. The Divo, or the Governance of Romance 4. The Divo, New-Style Heavy 83 5. The Ballyhooed Art of Governing Romance 114 6. Stunts and Plebiscites 145 part Three. The Duce, or the Romance of Undemocratic Governing 7. Promoting a Romantic Biography 165 8. National Leader, International Actor 198 Conclusions 227 Archival Sources 235 Abbreviations 237 Notes 239 Selected Primary Sources 297 Index 303 Illustrations 1. Pickford, Fairbanks, and friends giving the Fascisti salute, 1927 2 2. Douglas Fairbanks in Rome at the Circo Massimo 2 3. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks at the Roman Forum, 1926 2 4. Mary Pickford sending Liberty Bond films to President Wilson, 1919 35 5. President Wilson planting the seeds of his peace treaty, 1919 43 6. Advertisement for The Little American, 1917 60 7. Douglas Fairbanks speaking about Liberty Loans, Subtreasury building 65 8. Rodolfo Di Valentina, a “new style heavy,” 1918 90 9. Valentino’s appealing gallantry in The Married Virgin, 1918 93 10. Valentino as Jimmy Calhoun in The Delicious Little Devil, 1919 96 11. Valentino stifling the cries of an innocent wife in Eyes of Youth, 1919 97 12. Key figures at Metro Studios, 1920 101 13–14. Tango scenes in Buenos Aires and in Paris, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1921 104 15. Valentino’s spiritual conversion in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1921 107 16–17. Advertisements for The Sheik, 1921 122 18. Herb Roth’s illustration for “What Europe Thinks of American Stars,” 1923 130 19. Herbert Howe on the box office as ballot box, 1926 132 20. Valentino and Elinor Glyn as collaborators, 1922 135 21. Valentino as “caveman” and as tender lover, 1922 136 22. Frontispiece in Valentino’s How You Can Keep Fit, 1923 141 23. Valentino and Rambova as tango dancers on the Mineralava tour 142 x Illustrations 24. Rube Goldberg’s cartoons about Valentino in Photoplay, 1925 143 25. Illustration inspired by Valentino’s new goatee, 1925 146 26. Cartoon about Valentino in boxing match, 1926 152 27. Crowd outside the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, 1926 156 28. Valentino and Caruso in heaven, composograph, New York Evening Graphic, 1927 157 29. New York Blackshirts with the Duce’s wreath for Valentino’s coffin, 1926 159 30. Woodrow Wilson headlined as “the supreme duce of the free peoples,” 1918 167 31. The Blackshirts compared to the KKK, 1922 171 32. Richard Washburn Child, Washington, DC, 1924 176 33. Prince Gelasio Caetani, 1922 183 34. “Mussolini: Idol of Women,” by Alice Rohe, 1927 192 35. Cartoon about Mussolini versus Valentino, 1926 196 36. Fascist leader David Rossi (Bert Lytell) in The Eternal City, 1924 200 37. The Eternal City advertisement, 1924 201 38. On the set of The Man of the Hour, Villa Torlonia, 1927 210 39. The operators of Fox-Case outfit no. 1 filming The Man of the Hour, 1927 210 40–41. An initial draft of Mussolini’s speech and its final English version 211 42. Published frames of Mussolini from The Man of the Hour, 1927 214 43. Program for Benito Mussolini in The Man of the Hour and Sunrise, 1927 215 44. Fox Movietone ad featuring celebrities, 1928 218 45–46. Title screen and close-up of Mussolini in Mussolini Speaks, 1933 224 Acknowledgments This study took (way) more than a decade of research, writing, conference presentations, and rewriting. Out of curiosity and, admittedly, inertia, I could have gone for a few more, but it was time to share my findings with readers. What follows may offer an indication of the volume of my debts. A large-scale research project requires large institutional shoulders, and I feel privileged to work at the University of Michigan. I would like to thank the Col- lege of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA); the Office of the Vice President for Research; and my two departments, Film, Television, and Media (FTVM), formerly known as Screen Arts and Cultures, and Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL), for their steady financial support and multiple accommodations. The generous resources of an associate professor fund enabled me to acquire primary materials (i.e., microfilms) and scores of secondary sources, as well as to travel to archives in the United States and Europe. An ADVANCE faculty summer writing grant allowed me to hire two amazingly competent copyeditors, Ken Garner and Rebecca Grapevine, who polished my prose. Three spring and summer grants from the Rackham Graduate School were also fundamental for compensating three remarkable gradu- ate students, Courtney Ritter, Pierluigi Erbaggio, and Roberto Vezzani, who assisted with research and with compiling the bibliography. Outside funding came from a Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University and a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society (APS). I wish to thank Barbara J. Grosz, then dean of the Radcliffe Institute; Judith Vichniac, director of its Fellowship Program; and Linda Musumeci, director of Grants and Fellowships for APS. In Ann Arbor, I was also spoiled by an incredibly efficient library system that delivered in-house and interlibrary-loan volumes practically to my office door. I am grateful to all the indefatigable librarians at Michigan for making research xii acknowledgments such a pleasurable adventure. This system could be improved only if, say, after the delivery of every ten books, they served an espresso macchiato. Over the years, I relied on the unwavering support and enthusiasm of different department chairs, Markus Nornes, Caryl Flinn, Johannes von Moltke, and Yeidy Rivero of Film, Television, and Media, and Michèle Hannoosh and Cristina Moreiras-Menor of Romance Languages and Literatures. In FTVM I have also been blessed to count on the exceptional professionalism and, most importantly, the friendship of Mary Lou Chlipala, the carpooler from “Up North” and a perfect house guest, the archi- vist-librarian-cum-magician Phil Hallman, and our departmental grand master Marga Schuhwerk-Hampel. I also wish to thank all my colleagues in FTVM and RLL for their support and help with bibliographic and scholarly suggestions, par- ticularly Richard Abel, Matthew Solomon, and Johannes von Moltke, as well as Vincenzo Binetti, Alison Cornish, Karla Mallette, and Paolo Squatriti. A special thank-you also to Dario Gaggio, from Michigan’s Department of History, for the generosity of his insights.