Rudolph Valentino and His 88 American Beauties

I didn't know whether to give a 1 or a 10 to this short subject. It's so rotten it comes out on the other side as vastly entertaining. What the hey! Miss New York only came in second, so I'll give it a 1.

David Selznick made this film for quick cash at the height of the Valentino craze and there are a lot more shots of Mr. Valentino than of the 88 women in this beauty pageant. Yes, that's what it is, a beauty pageant, with title cards that are meant to be witty, but come off sounding insane. This was the era of ballyhoo, after all, when you could become world famous for sitting on a flagpole. Not at all like our sober age. So you have Valentino, 88 pretty girls and New York City. What more could you want?

During Valentino's two year long dispute with Famous Players-Lasky he was forbidden to work for other studios. To keep his name in the public eye he and his wife embarked on a cross continental dance tour sponsored by Mineralava cosmetics. One of his contractual obligations to Mineralava required him to judge a beauty contest, hence "Rudolph Valentino and His 88 American Beauties." There was a beauty contest after each performance (Rudy, probably wisely enough, let audience applause determine the winner in each city) with a grand finale in New York City where committee of five, including Valentino, determined the final winner. This short film will probably be of interest only to Valentino fans, but it shows that differences in fashion notwithstanding, beauty contests haven't changed all that much (here we have shepherdess crooks but are at least spared beauty queens in bathing suits and stiletto heels making speeches about world peace). Anyway, I was jingoistic enough to be glad that a fellow Torontonian ("the pride of the Dominion") took the crown.

Rudolph Valentino and His 88 American Beauties (1923)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This short was pretty much just thrown together by David O. Selznick to make a quick buck off of Valentino's popularity. What basically takes place is that 88 different cities had one woman selected to go to New York City where they'd compete in a beauty contest. The winner would be selected by Valentino and that winner would be very happy. That's pretty much what we get here as we get quick clips of the women and of course plenty of shots of Valentino. There's no question that this thing was cheaply thrown together as there's no artistic merit to be found and it's really nothing more than a newsreel with added clips of the star to sell to theater owners to cash in on his name. The only interesting things are seeing what was considered beauty in 1923 and we also get some clips inside Madison Square Garden.