Gladys' Favorite

Cars . . .

Rudolph Valentino takes Gladys for a ride in this phenomenal car !

EXCERPT FROM "GLADYS and CAPONE, the Untold Story"

(Valentino introduces Gladys to Charlie Chaplin on their way to out to the car.)

...  “But I’m not always such a tramp, whatever the newspapers print.”  The famous Chaplin wink.  “Well, I won’t keep you.”  He glanced at Valentino then again at her.  He patted Rudy’s arm, a kind of congratulations.  “You take good care of her, now.  A gem, yes, indeed.”

       She felt his eyes on her as they walked away.  When they reached the gilded doors Valentino leaned close and whispered, “Do not worry, Gladys, you are much too old for Charlie Chaplin.”

       He held the door, and they walked out to the Hispano Suiza.              

       Behind the wheel, Valentino seemed to make yet another transformation, and she with him, grinning, carefree, absorbed in power and speed, the thrust of the massive engine, the long, sleek lines, all that car behind them.  Like riding the shoulders of a yellow dragon.

       Late or not, he took a detour down the long empty stretch to Santa Monica, past acres of bean fields, the gauge edging past eighty, ninety.  How could human beings go so fast?  A speed to chase away all thought, all yearnings.  As fast as an aeroplane.

       “It is the engine of the Spad VIII they flew in the war,” he said, reading her mind again, leaning close so she could hear over the wind. 

       “Like Skeets Elliot’s plane.”  She nodded, felt the slightest brush of his lips on her ear, breathed his cologne, a faint scent of tobacco, his skin." ...