In Part One, of: Did They -- Or Didn't They??, we looked in some depth at the origins of the association of Andre Daven and Rudolph Valentino. In this second part, we pick-up where we left off, and investigate the increasing intensity of the relationship against the backdrop of Monsieur Beaucaire, and, why and when Andre suddenly returned to France.
By the time Andre arrived in America, on January 23rd, 1 the industry and the public were all too aware Rudy would be starring in Monsieur Beaucaire. Between mid. December 1923 and mid. January 1924, the readers of dailies, weeklies, and varied supplements and monthly magazines, had been bombarded with news that 'The Great Lover' was no longer on strike. And that he would return in a spectacular first-time screen adaptation - it had already been a play and an operetta - of Booth Tarkington's 1900 novel. Anybody paying attention knew who had designed the costumes, how big the cast was, who was in that cast, where the film would be shot and when shooting would begin. What they also became aware of, as time passed and the stories flowed forth, was a certain important component -- a Newly Discovered Talent, named Andre Daven.
The creation of Monsieur Beaucaire is, all by itself, a fascinating story. Yet, while there is no space, here, to fully tell that tale, we must dip into it in order to completely understand The Daven Affair. What occurred off and on the set during production, as we will see, impacted the shape of the connection. And it goes without saying that the foundation of the affair was the film itself.
One of the best resources for information about Andre and Rudy during the filming of Monsieur Beaucaire, is Jeanne de Recqueville's Rudolph Valentino. Published in French, in France, in 1978, 2 it features reproductions of appropriate sections of Daven's correspondence to a Parisian friend. And though the friend is never fully identified, the revealing extracts provide us with frank, straightforward Horse's Mouth testimony. 3
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| A prettified Daven in an early 1924 Paramount publicity image. |
By the time Andre arrived in America, on January 23rd, 1 the industry and the public were all too aware Rudy would be starring in Monsieur Beaucaire. Between mid. December 1923 and mid. January 1924, the readers of dailies, weeklies, and varied supplements and monthly magazines, had been bombarded with news that 'The Great Lover' was no longer on strike. And that he would return in a spectacular first-time screen adaptation - it had already been a play and an operetta - of Booth Tarkington's 1900 novel. Anybody paying attention knew who had designed the costumes, how big the cast was, who was in that cast, where the film would be shot and when shooting would begin. What they also became aware of, as time passed and the stories flowed forth, was a certain important component -- a Newly Discovered Talent, named Andre Daven.
The creation of Monsieur Beaucaire is, all by itself, a fascinating story. Yet, while there is no space, here, to fully tell that tale, we must dip into it in order to completely understand The Daven Affair. What occurred off and on the set during production, as we will see, impacted the shape of the connection. And it goes without saying that the foundation of the affair was the film itself.
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| The Famous Players-Lasky studio, at Astoria, Queens, where shooting took place. |
One of the best resources for information about Andre and Rudy during the filming of Monsieur Beaucaire, is Jeanne de Recqueville's Rudolph Valentino. Published in French, in France, in 1978, 2 it features reproductions of appropriate sections of Daven's correspondence to a Parisian friend. And though the friend is never fully identified, the revealing extracts provide us with frank, straightforward Horse's Mouth testimony. 3
On page 88, and before we learn anything, De Recqueville returns us to the middle of 1923, when Rudy insisted Andre consider being in films, rather than writing about, or, reviewing them. So persuasive was he, it seems, that he managed to get him to not only abandon Paris and his career there, but also his circle of friends and a person very dear to him at that time; referred to only as: Y... (This was, we know from later reports, the personality Yvonne Legeay.) 4 Jeanne de Recquville failed to see anything in this level of sacrifice -- or maybe refused to. However, we should not follow her lead, or, make a similar mistake.
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| The director of the film Sidney Olcott. |
As the cameras did not begin to turn, as planned, on February the first, Daven and Valentino were in a position to enjoy each other's company for a whole fortnight while everything fell into place. And, with Andre Daven being on good terms at this point with Natacha Rambova, we can picture the trio touring the series of beautiful sets, meeting with the director, Sidney Olcott, the story adapter Forrest Halsey, the Art Director Laurence W. Hitt, and varied fellow players, and technicians and studio executives.
Thanks to a report in Exhibitors' Trade Review 5 (on February the 2nd) we know this to be the case. Likewise, we are certain that, on February the 17th, the day before the first scene was shot, all three were present at "a catered luncheon" for everyone "from the featured players to the electricians and the property boys". Rudy, it appears, being eager when he spoke, to tell all those gathered that any rumours of him being difficult, or temperamental, were untrue. That he actively sought suggestions. And desired Monsieur Beaucaire to be: "... a fine production before and above anything and everything." 6
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| Rudolph Valentino prepares himself for a scene in his dressing room. |
Three weeks had been more than sufficient for Andre Daven to become settled. And though he was, without question, homesick, his many letters suggest there was little time to mope. Rudolph Valentino collected him from his prearranged accommodation (for which he paid $20 per week out of his $110 earnings) and dropped him back after busy days during which they took all their meals together. The Valentinos generously arranged for him to have an office of his own at the studio. And even provided him with a new typewriter prior to filming. 7 (Further favours were, we can be sure, forthcoming.)
"For the rest of the time I'm in the crowd, because Rudy wants me to be in the studio all the time, so that I can get the experience needed for the great role he wants to give me in another movie".
Andre to his mystery male friend in the Spring of 1924.
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| A published example of Rudy's attentiveness. |
Filming finally got underway on February the 18th. A column, titled MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE STARTS AUSPICIOUSLY, on page 38 of the February 23rd issue of Exhibitors' Trade Review, reveals that the first scene was shot in front of "forty press and trade representatives". And though this scene did not feature Andre, we can be sure he was there, with Natacha and others, for what was an important moment: the final, triumphant return of Rudolph to filmmaking.
According to de Recqueville Andre Daven had written home that he had "only two scenes". Further explaining, in the same letter, it was a coincidence the two scenes were: "... one at the beginning, and the other exactly at the end..." So, if this first scene - the boudoir of the Queen of France - was not his own first (which it was not), then it was no doubt within that first week or so of shooting that he appeared before the cameras.
This would have been the famous Dressing Scene with Rudolph Valentino on hand to encourage him. In the misty, poor-quality duplicate available on YouTube, we first see Rudy, seated, surrounded by other cast members, wearing a mask and having his wig powdered. After the comedic touch of an accident with the powder, a second visitor enters, by which time Rudy's character, the Duke of Chartres, is standing, shirtless. Another comedic touch, with Valentino looking at the camera, follows, and then, just as everything appears concluded, we cut to Daven's Duke of Nemours, brother to Chartres, arriving energetically in the doorway. Andre Daven walks from left to right towards Rudolph Valentino, grips him by the shoulders, and mouths his only line. He then begins to dress his brother while they chatter and emote.
This odd segment was created to please fans who had previously enjoyed a lot of exposed flesh in his last vehicle, The Young Rajah, and a similar (though far less nude) Dressing Scene, prior to that, in Blood and Sand. However, the desire to titillate viewers does not account for the need to place Andre here, or, for him to physically grasp or put a shirt onto Rudy. It all seems very pointless and unnecessary. And not something to import a person across the Atlantic for.
Looking at the original Booth Tarkington tale for clues, we see Henri Duc de Nemours - actually Henri Duc de Beaujolais 8 - does visit his sibling, but in England, not France. And well into the story rather than anywhere near the beginning. It could be argued that, because the silent film adaptation has a background that is absent in the 1900 six chapter novel, he is introduced to familiarise us with him. But the appearance is so sudden, brief, and seemingly bolted on, as well as being so far from his lengthy reappearance (in Bath), that we are primed to forget later who he even is.
Were there in fact only two scenes? At such a distance and so disconnected from one another? The notion Daven may have featured more than twice is given weight by the late, great Michael Morris. On page 150 of his commendable 1991 biography of Natacha Rambova: Madame Valentino: the Many Lives of Natacha Rambova, he states: "... an episode in which Rudy and Devan [sic] wrestle on the ground was cut in the final editing." 9 Unfortunately Morris gives no source for his statement. Though, regardless, it opens up the possibility he did indeed feature further, here and there. If so he would naturally have made more sense as a Brother and been a fully-formed character. A scene where they wrestled? What happened? Why was this and other potential further appearances removed?
We do not have to rely on de Requeville's Rudolph Valentino, Leider's Dark Lover..., or Morris's Madame Valentino..., to follow tightly the course of the production; as we have access today to reports they could not have accessed with the same ease, or speed, in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Online we can see news of production at every step -- literally hundreds of stories small and large. For example, how a group of exhibitors, headed by Billy Brandt, watched filming on the 21st; 10 that Rudolph was apparently arriving at the Astoria studio at 7 a. m., so he could practice his swordsmanship, with Professor Martinez Castello of The New York Athletic Club; 11 that the three minute palace garden scene, featuring a working cascade of water, had cost $84,000; 12 the way the cast members were speaking their lines in French for realism; 13 how Lowell Sherman, as Louis Quinze, worried about damaging his costume when required to sit; 14 the fact Helene Chadwick was replaced by Doris Kenyon due to a production hold-up; 15 how Constantine Stanislavsky and players from The Moscow Art Theatre were so impressed with a scene, at Versailles, shot in early April, that they applauded loudly when Olcott called: CUT!; 16 that all of the French scenes were completed by the middle of that month; 17 and much, much more.
Yet, when, exactly, did Rudy take Andre to Florida for their private holiday? The reports, initially anyway, appear contradictory. However, if we work intelligently backwards from announcements Rudy's second and final Paramount film, A Sainted Devil, began (again at the Astoria studio), on May the 22nd, we begin to get somewhere. In her biography Jeanne de Recqueville assists when, on page 91, she reveals Andre wrote to the same, unknown male friend on May 19th. As this is plainly after the trip, and we know that it lasted for a week, it is safe to assume, due to the contents, that Andre Daven had only just returned. Therefore it is likely the brief vacation commenced on the 12th and ended on the 18th. Or, possibly the week before that, between the 5th and the 11th.
This is all of extreme importance because, The Fishing Trip, as we will call it, is perhaps the most contentious component of The Daven Affair. Evelyn Zumaya recently claimed on SOUNDCLOUD that it never happened. There was no trip. However, her assertion flies in the face of the available evidence, most notably the series of contemporary news items placing him there, and the letter from Andre that preceded the May 19th communication, which is quoted word-for-word, in de Recqueville's book. 18
Type Florida and the year 1924 into any decent online news database, and you will be engulfed by advertisements for package trips and tours, etc. So it was not difficult to pick up the phone, order brochures, and then choose, pay, and pack for, a seven day sojourn. As we have Andre's letter home written during the break we know exactly what they decided on. 19 However, when we drop our hook into this brief vacation we snag a few questions, as follows. To begin with, how did Valentino and Daven leave unnoticed? And how was his absence explained? Rudy was a famous celebrity, with a face known to millions, and would, as a consequence, have been recognised instantly on any train. Also, how did he escape being identified once they arrived in Miami? Or at their final destination? Or during the stay, or, on the return journey? Next, why did he choose to go with Andre and nobody else? Did he not want Natacha Rambova to go too? Or S. George Ullman? Or anyone else? The only answers are, that they clearly left early, in his chauffeured car, boarded the waiting train (presumably under aliases), and entered their private room and stayed there. If a car was waiting for them on arrival, again, they could get inside it and drive off without anybody really seeing. And all of this could be repeated on the way back. But why alone and with Andre only? There is only one possible answer: so they could be totally private and enjoy and be themselves, and relax without any disturbances, or, any witnesses.
The Fishing Trip echoes the week alone six months earlier in Paris. On that occasion too Rudolph Valentino arrived quietly; was exclusively with Andre Daven; and disappeared from view for about seven days. Yet, while that interlude was, as far as we know, not written about, this was, and by Daven, in the previously mentioned communication.
"We caught two fish and almost caught a great shark. We also killed four alligators, and I, for my part, sent a dozen snakes to a better world. We are living in a small bungalow in a very small village, far from everything, and it is all relaxing."
The short passage from Andre's report home, reproduced in de Recqueville's biography, says so much about this Boys Only Break. After travelling incognito, by train, for a day and a half, they headed for a small boat to go fishing for two days and two nights alone. The tiny catch indicates it was maybe not their main concern. Nevertheless, there is a beautiful symbolism about the haul, considering the feeling between them. The Shark that escaped was, again, a wonderful moment. Something they no doubt laughed about. And whatever we rightly think today about the killing of creatures for fun, it was, then, an expected pastime. The dispatch of so many snakes, meanwhile, was likely on occasion a necessity. And these were probably shot with Rudy's own revolver.
The day and half journey back by train after total seclusion "in a small bungalow in a very small village" was perhaps a sad one. The true, private Valentino, would have to become again, the false, public Valentino. Behind lay days of relaxation and cool. Frank talk late into the night. Sweet memories. Ahead lay days of focus and hot lights. Scenes and shots to be worked through. Hard grind. Yet through it all Daven would be with him, by his side, and this time in a more substantial, worthwhile role in the next endeavour: Rope's End (A Sainted Devil). It would be bearable because of this. And another private trip could easily be arranged afterwards.
However there would be no future private trip. And the planned more substantial, worthwhile role was not to happen. What had been promised in December 1923, and then discussed, refined and made solid from January onwards, was to be literally crushed and thrown away. Any contract was torn up -- if there even was a contract. But why?
It was a whole year later, and in France, not America, that the truth about why Andre Daven was wrenched from the side of Rudolph Valentino in May 1924 finally emerged. Up to that point Andre had been publicly quiet. And so had Rudy. Yet, as such things often are, it had been spoken of in whispers, eventually becoming so irresistible to a party to the whisperings, that it was put into black and white in a French newspaper. 20
At some point immediately after the trip, Nazimova, friend and former collaborator of both Mr. and Mrs. Valentino, visited the Astoria studio to view Monsieur Beaucaire sequences, and, to look at stills and publicity material. "Oh!" she was heard when first seeing Daven to mischievously exclaim, "how beautiful he is!" Whatever else was said by Alla - our minds do not have to work overtime - was sufficiently disquieting for a nervous Rudy to discuss the matter at length with Natacha. According to the piece, her decision was, that Andre's varied appearances would be trimmed back to the original two. With those surviving scenes themselves cut back to further reduce his screen time, and, any potential to outshine the Star. The questionable wrestling scene hit the cutting room floor. And out went anything else added as filming had progressed. Obviously this was humiliating for Andre Daven. And it meant, too, that there could be no possibility of a second film opposite Rudolph Valentino. He had no reason to stay and therefore began to organise his return.
"I cannot tell you why I brought forward my departure, it would take too long and be too delicate by letter, but there is nothing broken, on the contrary. But do not whisper to anyone. Not even Rene Chaumette."
Daven returned to France somewhat dejected but also rather relieved. That he was gracious after being belittled, and removed from the next film, and the next, shows not only his character, but also his appeal for Valentino. He saw the logic of it and did not want to jeopardise in any way the flow or the impact of Monsieur Beaucaire. Keeping Rudy happy and helping him to return to his public effectively was his own goal too. Of course it was.
If the S. S. Mongolia was a step down from the ship on which he had, so triumphantly, set forth, it was also, being a Mail Ship, a good way to sneak in without fanfare. That he sought to be under the radar is reinforced in the way he makes clear that under no circumstances should Rene Chaumette (Rene Clair) know anything. (Could Clair have been a terrible gossip?) No he would quietly go back and pick up the pieces. And when he saw Rudolph Valentino again - he intuitively knew or had been told - they would rekindle their affair and nothing would be lost. But more about that in Part Three of: Did They -- Or Didn't They??
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| The Dressing Scene immediately prior to Andre's entrance. |
This odd segment was created to please fans who had previously enjoyed a lot of exposed flesh in his last vehicle, The Young Rajah, and a similar (though far less nude) Dressing Scene, prior to that, in Blood and Sand. However, the desire to titillate viewers does not account for the need to place Andre here, or, for him to physically grasp or put a shirt onto Rudy. It all seems very pointless and unnecessary. And not something to import a person across the Atlantic for.
Looking at the original Booth Tarkington tale for clues, we see Henri Duc de Nemours - actually Henri Duc de Beaujolais 8 - does visit his sibling, but in England, not France. And well into the story rather than anywhere near the beginning. It could be argued that, because the silent film adaptation has a background that is absent in the 1900 six chapter novel, he is introduced to familiarise us with him. But the appearance is so sudden, brief, and seemingly bolted on, as well as being so far from his lengthy reappearance (in Bath), that we are primed to forget later who he even is.
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| Andre Daven gorgeously attired in his second and final scene. |
We do not have to rely on de Requeville's Rudolph Valentino, Leider's Dark Lover..., or Morris's Madame Valentino..., to follow tightly the course of the production; as we have access today to reports they could not have accessed with the same ease, or speed, in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Online we can see news of production at every step -- literally hundreds of stories small and large. For example, how a group of exhibitors, headed by Billy Brandt, watched filming on the 21st; 10 that Rudolph was apparently arriving at the Astoria studio at 7 a. m., so he could practice his swordsmanship, with Professor Martinez Castello of The New York Athletic Club; 11 that the three minute palace garden scene, featuring a working cascade of water, had cost $84,000; 12 the way the cast members were speaking their lines in French for realism; 13 how Lowell Sherman, as Louis Quinze, worried about damaging his costume when required to sit; 14 the fact Helene Chadwick was replaced by Doris Kenyon due to a production hold-up; 15 how Constantine Stanislavsky and players from The Moscow Art Theatre were so impressed with a scene, at Versailles, shot in early April, that they applauded loudly when Olcott called: CUT!; 16 that all of the French scenes were completed by the middle of that month; 17 and much, much more.
Yet, when, exactly, did Rudy take Andre to Florida for their private holiday? The reports, initially anyway, appear contradictory. However, if we work intelligently backwards from announcements Rudy's second and final Paramount film, A Sainted Devil, began (again at the Astoria studio), on May the 22nd, we begin to get somewhere. In her biography Jeanne de Recqueville assists when, on page 91, she reveals Andre wrote to the same, unknown male friend on May 19th. As this is plainly after the trip, and we know that it lasted for a week, it is safe to assume, due to the contents, that Andre Daven had only just returned. Therefore it is likely the brief vacation commenced on the 12th and ended on the 18th. Or, possibly the week before that, between the 5th and the 11th.
This is all of extreme importance because, The Fishing Trip, as we will call it, is perhaps the most contentious component of The Daven Affair. Evelyn Zumaya recently claimed on SOUNDCLOUD that it never happened. There was no trip. However, her assertion flies in the face of the available evidence, most notably the series of contemporary news items placing him there, and the letter from Andre that preceded the May 19th communication, which is quoted word-for-word, in de Recqueville's book. 18
Type Florida and the year 1924 into any decent online news database, and you will be engulfed by advertisements for package trips and tours, etc. So it was not difficult to pick up the phone, order brochures, and then choose, pay, and pack for, a seven day sojourn. As we have Andre's letter home written during the break we know exactly what they decided on. 19 However, when we drop our hook into this brief vacation we snag a few questions, as follows. To begin with, how did Valentino and Daven leave unnoticed? And how was his absence explained? Rudy was a famous celebrity, with a face known to millions, and would, as a consequence, have been recognised instantly on any train. Also, how did he escape being identified once they arrived in Miami? Or at their final destination? Or during the stay, or, on the return journey? Next, why did he choose to go with Andre and nobody else? Did he not want Natacha Rambova to go too? Or S. George Ullman? Or anyone else? The only answers are, that they clearly left early, in his chauffeured car, boarded the waiting train (presumably under aliases), and entered their private room and stayed there. If a car was waiting for them on arrival, again, they could get inside it and drive off without anybody really seeing. And all of this could be repeated on the way back. But why alone and with Andre only? There is only one possible answer: so they could be totally private and enjoy and be themselves, and relax without any disturbances, or, any witnesses.
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| A snapshot of Valentino taken by Daven during their private Florida break. |
The Fishing Trip echoes the week alone six months earlier in Paris. On that occasion too Rudolph Valentino arrived quietly; was exclusively with Andre Daven; and disappeared from view for about seven days. Yet, while that interlude was, as far as we know, not written about, this was, and by Daven, in the previously mentioned communication.
"We caught two fish and almost caught a great shark. We also killed four alligators, and I, for my part, sent a dozen snakes to a better world. We are living in a small bungalow in a very small village, far from everything, and it is all relaxing."
A translation of a passage in Andre's letter home in May 1924.
The short passage from Andre's report home, reproduced in de Recqueville's biography, says so much about this Boys Only Break. After travelling incognito, by train, for a day and a half, they headed for a small boat to go fishing for two days and two nights alone. The tiny catch indicates it was maybe not their main concern. Nevertheless, there is a beautiful symbolism about the haul, considering the feeling between them. The Shark that escaped was, again, a wonderful moment. Something they no doubt laughed about. And whatever we rightly think today about the killing of creatures for fun, it was, then, an expected pastime. The dispatch of so many snakes, meanwhile, was likely on occasion a necessity. And these were probably shot with Rudy's own revolver.
The day and half journey back by train after total seclusion "in a small bungalow in a very small village" was perhaps a sad one. The true, private Valentino, would have to become again, the false, public Valentino. Behind lay days of relaxation and cool. Frank talk late into the night. Sweet memories. Ahead lay days of focus and hot lights. Scenes and shots to be worked through. Hard grind. Yet through it all Daven would be with him, by his side, and this time in a more substantial, worthwhile role in the next endeavour: Rope's End (A Sainted Devil). It would be bearable because of this. And another private trip could easily be arranged afterwards.
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| Alla Nazimova. |
However there would be no future private trip. And the planned more substantial, worthwhile role was not to happen. What had been promised in December 1923, and then discussed, refined and made solid from January onwards, was to be literally crushed and thrown away. Any contract was torn up -- if there even was a contract. But why?
It was a whole year later, and in France, not America, that the truth about why Andre Daven was wrenched from the side of Rudolph Valentino in May 1924 finally emerged. Up to that point Andre had been publicly quiet. And so had Rudy. Yet, as such things often are, it had been spoken of in whispers, eventually becoming so irresistible to a party to the whisperings, that it was put into black and white in a French newspaper. 20
At some point immediately after the trip, Nazimova, friend and former collaborator of both Mr. and Mrs. Valentino, visited the Astoria studio to view Monsieur Beaucaire sequences, and, to look at stills and publicity material. "Oh!" she was heard when first seeing Daven to mischievously exclaim, "how beautiful he is!" Whatever else was said by Alla - our minds do not have to work overtime - was sufficiently disquieting for a nervous Rudy to discuss the matter at length with Natacha. According to the piece, her decision was, that Andre's varied appearances would be trimmed back to the original two. With those surviving scenes themselves cut back to further reduce his screen time, and, any potential to outshine the Star. The questionable wrestling scene hit the cutting room floor. And out went anything else added as filming had progressed. Obviously this was humiliating for Andre Daven. And it meant, too, that there could be no possibility of a second film opposite Rudolph Valentino. He had no reason to stay and therefore began to organise his return.
"I cannot tell you why I brought forward my departure, it would take too long and be too delicate by letter, but there is nothing broken, on the contrary. But do not whisper to anyone. Not even Rene Chaumette."
An excerpt from Andre's May 19th letter to his friend in France.
Jeanne de Recqueville reproduced Daven's communication about his early return (in twenty days) in a matter of fact fashion. 21 She did not, as we now do, know the reason, and wisely decided against speculation. On the other hand, Emily Leider, in her more recent biography, took a different path. Conflating the holiday note and the later letter and deducing that something had happened between them while they were away. 22
This was not and could not have been the case. And for several reasons. 1. Daven himself states "there is nothing broken". 2. After the trip and after shooting of the next film began, on May 22nd, 1924, Andre publicly defended Rudy against accusations he was a Francophobe. 23 3. We have the French report about the actual reason. 4. Before leaving in early June A. D. wrote both R. V. and N. R. a charming goodbye letter. 24 5. On his way back to France, on the SS Mongolia, he wrote another letter to them. 25 6. And once back in France he was still in contact, again by letter, and, no doubt, also by Telegram. 26 Had The Daven Affair been completely over all contact would have ended. So it was not yet over for either.
This was not and could not have been the case. And for several reasons. 1. Daven himself states "there is nothing broken". 2. After the trip and after shooting of the next film began, on May 22nd, 1924, Andre publicly defended Rudy against accusations he was a Francophobe. 23 3. We have the French report about the actual reason. 4. Before leaving in early June A. D. wrote both R. V. and N. R. a charming goodbye letter. 24 5. On his way back to France, on the SS Mongolia, he wrote another letter to them. 25 6. And once back in France he was still in contact, again by letter, and, no doubt, also by Telegram. 26 Had The Daven Affair been completely over all contact would have ended. So it was not yet over for either.
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| The not-so-luxurious S. S. Mongolia. |
Daven returned to France somewhat dejected but also rather relieved. That he was gracious after being belittled, and removed from the next film, and the next, shows not only his character, but also his appeal for Valentino. He saw the logic of it and did not want to jeopardise in any way the flow or the impact of Monsieur Beaucaire. Keeping Rudy happy and helping him to return to his public effectively was his own goal too. Of course it was.
If the S. S. Mongolia was a step down from the ship on which he had, so triumphantly, set forth, it was also, being a Mail Ship, a good way to sneak in without fanfare. That he sought to be under the radar is reinforced in the way he makes clear that under no circumstances should Rene Chaumette (Rene Clair) know anything. (Could Clair have been a terrible gossip?) No he would quietly go back and pick up the pieces. And when he saw Rudolph Valentino again - he intuitively knew or had been told - they would rekindle their affair and nothing would be lost. But more about that in Part Three of: Did They -- Or Didn't They??
NOTES AND REFERENCES:
1. Daven is listed as a passenger on the Aquitania. His entry is, however, peculiarly lacking in detail.
2. RUDOLPH VALENTINO, Editions France Empire (1978).
3. The same excerpts were made use of, if less effectively, by Leider, in Dark Lover...
4. Y... (Yvonne Legeay) was several years older than Andre Daven and appears to have been in a relationship with him. For some reason de Recquville doesn't give her full name.
5. Page 13.
5. Page 13.
6. From, The Editor Gossips section, of the May 1924 edition of Motion Picture Magazine.
7. de Recqueville, page 91.
8. Duc de Nemours is actually one of Duc de Chartres many titles in the original Monsieur Beaucaire.
9. No source is provided.
10. THE Film DAILY, Thursday, February 21st, 1924.
11. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, February 24th, 1924.
12. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, March 2nd, 1924.
13. The Exhibitors' Trade Review, March 15th, 1924.
14. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, March 16th, 1924.
15. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, April 13th, 1924.
16. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, April 13th, 1924.
17. The Exhibitors' Trade Review, April 19th, 1924.
18. Page 91.
19. Rudolph Valentino, Jeane de Recqueville, page 91.
20. In l'Echo d'Alger, April 1st, 1925.
21. Rudolph Valentino, Jeanne de Recquville, page 91.
22. "Perhaps Daven feared they were becoming too attached to one another." Page 300, of Dark Lover: the Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino.
23. Valentino asked him to and it was internationally published.
24. Recently auctioned letters.
25. See 24
26. See 24
26. See 24
27. See 24
8. Duc de Nemours is actually one of Duc de Chartres many titles in the original Monsieur Beaucaire.
9. No source is provided.
10. THE Film DAILY, Thursday, February 21st, 1924.
11. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, February 24th, 1924.
12. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, March 2nd, 1924.
13. The Exhibitors' Trade Review, March 15th, 1924.
14. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, March 16th, 1924.
15. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, April 13th, 1924.
16. THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, April 13th, 1924.
17. The Exhibitors' Trade Review, April 19th, 1924.
18. Page 91.
19. Rudolph Valentino, Jeane de Recqueville, page 91.
20. In l'Echo d'Alger, April 1st, 1925.
21. Rudolph Valentino, Jeanne de Recquville, page 91.
22. "Perhaps Daven feared they were becoming too attached to one another." Page 300, of Dark Lover: the Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino.
23. Valentino asked him to and it was internationally published.
24. Recently auctioned letters.
25. See 24
26. See 24
26. See 24
27. See 24
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