Madam Valentino: The Many Lives of Natacha Rambova - Hardcover

Morris, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1558591362 ISBN 13: 9781558591363

Publisher: Abbeville Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Looks at the life of Valentino's second wife, who rose from humble beginnings in Utah to the Imperial Russian Ballet, then to the Hollywood spotlights

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Well-done life of Rudolph Valentino's wife, a woman of boundless gifts, by art historian Morris (St. Mary's College). With a keenly written text and 150 duotones (not seen), and considering Natacha Rambova's background in Egyptology, ballet, and as an exotic costume and set designer (she designed Alla Nazimova's film of Salome, basing her costumes and sets on Aubrey Beardsley's original drawings for Oscar Wilde), Morris's biography bids fair to satisfy in all departments. Born Winifred Shaughnessy in Salt Lake City, Rambova signed up with the Theodore Kosloff Imperial Russian Ballet in Manhattan, was given her stage name by her lover Kosloff, who first seduced her at 17. When she confronted Kosloff with his infidelities, he bloodied her leg with birdshot. Rambova's mother's sister-in-law was sapphic Elsie de Wolfe, the world's first interior decorator, who took on Rambova's mother as her partner; both became millionaires, decorating homes for the rich and mighty. Rambova herself, who read only world mythology both as a child and an adult, inherited the de Wolfe/Shaughnessy artistic temperament, designed her own ballet costumes, became a costume designer for Cecil B. De Mille, later designed Rudolph Valentino's image, costumes, and sets, and then became a writer/director. Valentino had made only one film when she met him and began shaping his publicity. When his studio fought her efforts, Valentino signed a contract excluding her from work on his pictures. She fled and divorced him. Chasing her, Valentino came down with a necrotic hole in his stomach, died of longing in Manhattan, had a riotous funeral. Rambova went on to become a playwright, an actress, and a spiritualist, with her huge labors in Egyptology winning the admiration of Carl Jung. She died at 56, of scleroderma, a disease that dried up her inner organs. A questing, creative woman far ahead of her time--and truly exotic. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Artist and spiritual seeker Natacha Rambova (1896-1966) was born Winifred Shaughnessy in Utah. Educated abroad, she changed her name when she joined a ballet troupe in Russia. Returning to America with her lover, a dancer named Kosloff, she designed sets and costumes for his company, until she left him (for abuse), receiving a bullet wound from his gun in the process. Renowned in Hollywood as a costume designer, Rambova was given credit for Rudolph Valentino's success in the silents. She and the star were married in Mexico in 1921, their life together happy until movie moguls cut off her participation in his films. The couple divorced. Rambova acted, scripted plays and translated, her activities culminating in the study of Egypt's ancient secrets to confirm her religious beliefs. This unconventional, little-remembered, glamorous and talented spiritualist is superbly resurrected by Morris, who teaches art and religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abbeville Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 1558591362
• ISBN 13: 9781558591363
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272