made her entrance at Campbell's Funeral Home in New York (later the frenzied scene of Judy Garland's last public appearance), dressed in $3000 worth of mourning robes, flanked by bodyguards who supported her as she stumbled and collapsed. She struck poses for the assembled photographers, then dramatically flung herself on Valentino's open casket, wailing and weeping. It became too much for the already near-riotous crowd of thousands of "fans" outside of the funeral home; following
suit, the shrieking masses stormed the home, breaking windows, trampling flower arrangements, and clawing at Valentino's casket. This
accompanied the body back to California by train, posing outside of the rear car for photographers as she sobbed and fainted on cue. For the Hollywood funeral,
" in center, placed on the casket. Once again, she repeated her crying and fainting routine, as the cameras clicked away.
Even for the time period, when the public expected their movie stars to be outrageously larger-than-life,
Negri's behavior was considered in poor taste. However, either in spite of the skeptical and negative press, or in a stubborn attempt to refute it,
Negri continued to insist that Valentino had been the love of her life, for the rest of hers. Infamously, she once waxed rhapsodic about Valentino's culinary skills, and inadvertently gave the press one of her most quotable howlers: "I will never share with anyone the secret of his...meat sauce."
After that,
Negri's once-glittering career went into sharp decline. Her marriage to Prince Serge
Mdivani (whose brother, David, had married
Negri's good friend Mae Murray) attracted much attention -- but, in the wake of her professed fanatical devotion to Valentino, much of it was scornful. The Wall Street crash of 1929, in which
Negri lost much of her fortune due to
Mdivani's mishandling, and the advent of talkies, closed the curtain on her Hollywood career. She retreated to Europe, where she made a handful of films, including the acclaimed
Mazurka (1935) in Germany. It was reputedly one of Adolph Hitler's favorite films; this, coupled with some cobbled-together bits of gossip, led to the incorrect story that
Negri and the dictator were lovers. The story was actually printed as fact in a French magazine, which led a furious
Negri to file a libel lawsuit, which she won.
Eventually,
Negri returned to Hollywood, but remained in semi-retirement. She, along with Mae Murray and Mary Pickford, were among the actresses approached by Billy Wilder when he was casting the role of faded silent star Norma Desmond in
Sunset Blvd. Mary Pickford adored the story, but demanded that the role of Joe
Gillis be made practically invisible, with Norma always at the center of attention. Mae Murray, for her part, threw Wilder out of her home. And Wilder recounted that
Negri "threw a tantrum at the mere suggestion of playing a has-been." The role, of course, went to
Negri's old rival, Gloria Swanson, who revitalized her career in the process and won perhaps even greater fame than in her 1920's heyday. For
her "comeback" vehicle,
Negri waited another fourteen years to do the pleasant Disney thriller-comedy,
The Moon-Spinners (1964), with
Hayley Mills.
Negri's return to the screen was greeted politely, if not rapturously; and subsequent offers never materialized. As one wag put it, "Demand was small for elderly ladies who looked like
Vampira crossed with Marilyn Manson." She retreated to San Antonio, Texas, where, even in retirement,
Negri continued to cause scandal and gossip: she lived with her best friend, oil heiress Margaret West, causing many to speculate that the ladies were more than mere friends. In her own, not-entirely-candid autobiography,
Negri wrote, "It is difficult for some of the so-called sophisticates to understand the there had not been until then, nor would there ever be in the future, the slightest tinge of the sexual to what [Margaret and I] shared together." The rumors, however, continue to persist to this day.
Pola Negri went out as would be expected: as a drama queen to the end. Near death, suffering from pneumonia and a brain tumor, she was attended by a handsome young doctor who didn't register any recognition of her name when he looked at her chart. Indignantly pulling herself up into a regal, upright position, Pola Negri demanded, "You don't know who I am?!?!" She died on August 1, 1987. Her body was placed on view, clad in a gold chiffon gown and a matching gold turban.
The first person to recognize
Pola's Polish profile as our latest
Mystery Guest was the somewhat-mysterious-himself
Iván! For him, we have discovered the recipe for
Rudy's "secret" spaghetti sauce so that you, too, can share his meat. As always, thanks for playing, darlings!
Rudolph Valentino's "Secret" Spaghetti Sauce
2 Tablespoons olive oil - divided use
1 large onion - diced
1 and 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (8 oz.) can tomato paste
1 (16 oz.) can whole tomatoes, chopped and undrained
1 pound Italian sausage
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 (2 oz.) can anchovies
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet over low flame, cook mushrooms and onions until soft, adding a little water to pan while cooking so contents don't over-heat. Set aside.
In a large Dutch oven pot, combine the tomato sauce, paste and whole tomatoes, along with cooked mushrooms and onions, reserving skillet to cook meat. Simmer over very low flame.
Add 1 tabespoon of oil to coat skillet and add Italian sausage (depending on grade of Italian sausage, meat may need to be removed from casing and crumbled.) Cook over a medium flame and brown sausage.
While sausage is cooking, add 1 heaping teaspoon minced, fresh garlic or the equivalent of dry garlic powder, stirring constantly to combine.
Add the cooked meat, undrained, to the sauce pot, along with oregano and rosemary, continuing to simmer. Add 1/2 cup red wine to the skillet and heat for a few minutes over low flame to 'de-glaze' the skillet, using a spatula to move the wine around and release all of the bits from the pan. Add this to the sauce.
Add 1/2 can of anchovies, stirring vigorously until combined into sauce. Simmer 10 minutes, taste for flavor and desired taste, and add two more anchovies, repeating step if desired.
Simmer sauce for 30 more minutes.
