"RUDY" DIED A DEBTOR

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 47, 23 August 1930, Page 26

"RUDY" DIED A DEBTOR

When Budolph Valentino died ho was £33,000, in debt. But an admiring ;■ ~ . , public and a clever executor have created a £100,000 estate, says an exchange. ' Ardent admirers oi: Valentino clamoured for his tie, handkerchiefs, and even 'his suspenders. There was £7000 worth of what la-wyers blandly described as "junk," but the public bought it at £19,000. Mr. Georgs Ullman, who is-the exeeutor, has been temporarily deprived of his position by - Valentino's relatives, who accuse him of malfeasance. But Mr. Ullman's lawyer has told how his client succeeded in changing Valentrno's debts: into assets. "At the start Ullman found £3000 worth of odds and ends, such as swords, that belonged to Valentino. He put over a big auction."

Valentino, it seems, had shelves of book", but no bookplate. But Mr. Ullman fixed that. «h<j ■ decided'to get rid of Valentjno»s books," continued- the lawyer, "so he had a bookplate made and pasted into all the books. The public bought them. Some of the 6d papercovered books went for £1 or £2, or even more. "When Valentino died ho owed the Art Cinema £33,000. His estate was covered with liens, mortgages, and everything else. ' : "The only thing he really did own was all but two shares in his producing company. Ullman was secretary and treasurer, and the only thing the corporation owned were two pictures. "Out of these Ullman had made about £100,000, showing them everywhere, even in China, where,they don't know that Rudolph is dead."