Conversations with Rodolfo: A Novel

In 1926 Silent Film Idol Rudolph Valentino, known as The Great Lover, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 31. In the years that have since passed, his death has come to overshadow his life and his work. But what would have been had he not died so young? This is the inspiration behind the whimsical novel, "Conversations with Rodolfo" written by Hala Pickford, The Founding Sheba of The Rudolph Valentino Society. A lover of silent film, Pickford uses her knowledge of film history to paint a picture of what might have occurred had Valentino not died in 1926, but in 2005. Would he have made it in the new medium of 'talkies' (sound film)? Would he be remembered like Charlie Chaplin? Or forgotten like Mae Murray? Would he have reconciled with the love of his life, Natacha Rambova? Or would he have been able to find a new love? "Conversations with Rodolfo" opens in 2004, following down on his luck wannabe music journalist, Michael Johnston. Johnston is madly in love with a new girl he has met named Gloria. Trying to impress her he agrees to a Saturday spent with her beloved grandparents. There he finds her grandfather is a man who calls himself Rodolfo, though many others have known him by the name 'Rudolph Valentino'. Despite his age, Rodolfo is as lively as a 20 year old, and on Michael's request he agrees to a series of interviews about his long life, with the stipulation that they not be published until his death. Through these interviews we get to hear the story of Rudolph Valentino, from his boyhood in Italy to the birth of his granddaughter. From his role in The Sheik, to his work with Charlie Chaplin in the 1950s.