Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 651

A group of Rudolph Valentino contracts regarding The Hooded Falcon and Cobra

30 November 2016, 12:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$875 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Popular Culture specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A group of Rudolph Valentino contracts regarding The Hooded Falcon and Cobra

A typed legal document between Valentino and Ritz-Carlton Pictures, 24 pp, November 3, 1923, annotated, "Copy for Mr. Valentino" in pen, with facsimile signatures and "I approve / Natacha Valentino" in ink to last page; legal document between Valentino and Joseph M. Schenck, typed legal document, 16 pp, March 30, 1925; a typed legal document between Valentino and Ritz-Carlton Pictures, Famous Players-Lasky, and Ritz International Corporation, 10 pp, April 4, 1925, signed to last page ("Rudolph Valentino," "Adolph Zukor," "J. D. Williams," and six others) in ink; a typed letter signed ("J.D. Williams" twice and three others) in ink, 1 p, April 4, 1925, on Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Pictures/Artcraft Pictures stationery; a typed carbon letter from Valentino to Louella Parsons, February 13, 1925, unsigned; and other documents.
Valentino's 24 pp contract dictates a five-picture deal with Ritz-Carlton, giving Valentino enormous creative control. Valentino's The Hooded Falcon (1924) was a passion project for him, but excessive spending on the film caused Ritz-Carlton Pictures to halt production. The July 16, 1924, contract with Ritz-Carlton Pictures, Inc. and Famous Players states that Famous Players advanced Ritz-Carlton over $522,000 for Valentino's film Cobra (1925) and The Hooded Falcon, and that Famous Players would collect profits on Cobra until the amount due them was repaid. In a letter to columnist Louella Parsons, Valentino expresses concern about growing a (then-unfashionable) beard for The Hooded Falcon.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Omega Pocket Watch Engraved to Spencer Tracy from Joan Crawford Date: c. 1937

Gary Moore: A Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar, known as 'Stripe', 1959,

Marianne Faithfull: Two Passports and a Selection of Personal Ephemera, Qty

Bernie Krause (b. 1938) Day & Night in Gombe, 2025

Marianne Faithfull: A diary, a large collection of archival notes and lyrics, and other personal items, Qty

Marianne Faithfull: A Selection of Personal Books, with inscriptions, Various publishers and dates, Qty

Marianne Faithfull: A large collection of personal correspondence, Various dates, Qty

Marianne Faithfull: A Large Collection of Photographs, some professional and some personal,

Marianne Faithfull: A Large Annie Leibovitz campaign poster of Marianne Faithfull for GAP, 1990,

Anita Pallenberg (Italian, 1942-2017): Work on paper, titled "Babylon", 1994, 2

Marianne Faithfull: a Dyptich by Giuseppe Romeo, titled "Falsehood I" and "Falsehood II", Paris, 1995-96, 2

Carrie Fisher (1956-2016): Her personal trunk, Gifted to Marianne Faithfull,

Marianne Faithfull: Two paintings, one by Thierry Bisch, titled 'Butterflies', 2003, and undated, 3