Everyone Loves A Lover

These are amongst the little-seen mug shots of silent screen star Rudolph Valentino.

Not really, just a few 1920s cigarette cards that have made their way into Nick and Nora's collection.

The Varsity Brand cigarette cards, manufactured by Lambert and Butler of England - especially in the larger sizes - are considered quite sought after.

Alas our cards are just the normal 1" by 2" but still collectable. According to this movie card site, the Valentinos above are worth $15 each. Not bad since we picked up a job lot of 40-odd cards for $5.

But the monetary value is secondary to the fun of finding out more about the stars of the silent era.

In the case of Valentino, his name has become a byword for romantic smouldering looks - the Great Lover, The Sheik.

Valentino indeed spent time behind bars - for bigamy - but in the poor guy's defence, his first marriage to a lesbian was doomed to fail.

Like James Dean of a generation later, Valentino lived fast and died young - as to whether he left a good looking corpse or not, you can see for yourself.

There is the man and there is the legend, fostered immediately on his death by popular silent era vamp Pola Negri, an accomplished actress in her own right who Hollywood career coincidentially stalled with the emergence of sound and the Hays Code.

Despite claims by friends to the contrary, Negri announced that that she was engaged to the twice divorced Valentino:

Negri caused a media sensation after the death in 1926 of Valentino by announcing that they had planned to marry, and following the train that carried his body from New York to Los Angeles, posing for photographers at every stop. At his funeral she "fainted" several times, and arranged for a large floral arrangement, which spelled out her name, to be placed on Valentino's coffin.

Nick and Nora are planning this Theatrical Thursday to be the first of a Hollywood Babylon-esque review of the stars of the silver screen.