Photoplay Magazine Cover — page 45: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

rit \ Rodolph since he has been A made a star. Otherwise he is the same Signor Valentino ATURALLY, I was scared to death. Who wouldn't be? I'd seen Rodolph Valentino dance on the screen— and in the ballroom. You know how he dances. I must borrow a word from Elinor Glyn and simply say, “Divine.” So, when we had finished our coffee and he asked me to dance with him, right there in the Ambassador ball- room, I was petrified. And yet—I simply couldn't resist it. Like Oscar Wilde, I can resist everything except temptation. T said, “I’m a perfectly rotten dancer.” And I am—or was. Rodolph Valentino smiled. “Oh, that’s all right. I've taught dancing, you know. This music is corking. I'll see you through somehow.” I got up. He put his arm around me. Well, there never was such a dancer. In a couple of minutes I had decided I was Pav- lowa. “Now,” he said, as he swung into the most fascinating little step, ‘‘don’t be stiff. That’s the first essential. You know, good dancing is not a matter of knowing a lot of fancy steps. It’s purely a sense of rhythm—and of control of your muscles that makes them flexible to follow your will. “Shut your eyes and listen to that music. You must feel its variations: not only in your feet but in your soul.” T did. , “That's great,” he said. “It is the grace with which your body follows the music that makes a really good dancer, If women forget self-consciousness they usually have grace and elasticity. “Do you mind if I tell you something?” shook my head. I didn’t. He could have told me any- thing. “Well, you don’t hold your shoulders:and neck erect enough. A woman should always hold her shoulders well back from her partner and her head tipped back just a little. That’s fine. See how much easier that is? And hold up the weight of your own right hand and arm. You have no idea how a _ woman tires a man when she lets him support her right hand as though it was a piece of iron.” The music stopped. Rodolph gallantly applauded. _ really awfully sweet. “Why, you're a corking dancer,” he said. Anybody not on crutches could dance with that man. “Most women dance too close to their partners—or too clumsily far away. You can’t dance with a woman that gets too close. See—this is right. I hold you close to me about the waist. Then, with your shoulders back, we are several inches apart from the waist up. He’s When Valentino a Me to Dance q 1 MARY WINSHIP a " My fi i iil i, ha Hi 1 LL ' é \ I Hill} AM Wy if Hy i] ut i %. | ‘ Wh hi i if Remember the fascinating tango in the Argentinian episode rs) ~The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"? That picture established Valentino as an actoras well as a dancer. But he hasn't forgotten how to dance! “Now, see if you can follow me. I’m going to do a fancy step or two.” His arm supported me like a brace. I swung myself back, closed my_ eyes, breathed in the music and —followed. I couldn’t have been so proud if I’d swum the English channel. We sat down and Rodolph ordered more coffee and lit my cigarette, “You know,” he said, “the se- cret of good dancing lies in the knees. You must be elastic in Always dance on the ball of the foot. The most your knees. terrible woman in the world to dance with is one who dances on her heels. Never touch the heel to (Concluded on page 118) HARLES WHITTAKER, the well known English dramatist, had just completed the screen adaptation of Ibanez * Enemies of Women" for the Internat onal, and he was tell- ing Rubye de Remer about it when they met in Paris. ‘But how," said Rubye, “can you write a whole scenario about wrinkles?” HERE'S a new descriptive phrase concern- ing the de Mille rothes that was heard on the Lasky lot—you know, William and Cecil B. de Miile. You know what their pictures are like. Somebody called them “Sacred and Pro- fane Love.” ——$—$———eoinniiKeriexerey Caco iil 45