Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100Icons 52 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine mineralava; portland public library digital commons; image provided by herb adams apple-cheeked in- génues with bee- stung lips, was a photo of 17-year- old schoolgirl Dor- othy M. Apple- by, whose parents ran the Appleby Lunch Room at 265 St. John Street. Mature for her age, and a mix of Maine innocence with a vampish come-hither look, Appleby quick- ly made the editor’s cut for the half dozen lucky ladies advanced to the finals. making an entrance s befitted Hollywood royalty, the Valentinos rolled into Portland in a luxury train once used by the King of Belgium and President Wood- row Wilson. From a roaring reception at Union Station they (and their dainty Pekin- ese pug) were whisked away in a new Au- burn Silent Sedan on a whirlwind tour of the Western and Eastern Proms, past Mon- ument Square and the Longfellow House, to The Expo. There, the custodians were still sweeping the floor when Valentino grabbed a broom and joined in. A regular guy, the janitors grinned. Mrs. Valentino was something else. “Winifred Hudnut Shows Who’s Boss at Rehearsal,” said the Express when the ac- tor missed a dance step. “Two tiny French slippers stamped […] two slender hands slapped in irritation […] Mrs. Valentino told him that in penance for his stupidity he must practice alone until he could pass safely past the stumbling point.” Valentino “sweeps women to his feet, but does not play ‘The Sheik’ in his own home,” the paper noted wryly. “Miss Hud- nut rules that.” Promptly at 8 p.m., The Expo filled to the rafters with rapturous fans. The lights dimmed, and Valentino’s traveling orches- tra–all dressed as gauchos–crashed into the tango from The Four Horsemen. “Miss Hudnut,” reported the breathless paper, was “gorgeous in a long full gown of black velvet, with a brilliant red shawl draped about her. In her hair were two red flowers and the hem of her skirt was out- lined in the same brilliant tone. “Valentino, scarcely an inch taller than his beautiful wife, wore black velvet trou- sers bloused into his boot tops, a shirt of deep cream, and under the heavily studded leather belt, a knotted crimson scarf that hung gracefully at his side. “Adding atmosphere were the silver- mounted quirt hanging at his wrist and the heavy-handed knife stuck in his belt at the back, Spanish fashion.” Bowing to thunderous applause, Val- entino then judged a competition of Port- land’s best tango couples (won by Miss Cora Dame and Albert Leavitt) and then, smoothly, turned to the bevy of blushing young beauties breathless before him. “He spoke with but a slight accent,” re- ported the paper. “His voice is deep and full. Swarthy of complexion with narrowed dark eyes, he looks off stage very much as he does on the screen.” Launched to stardom Ahushfelloverthehugehall.Valentino’sdark eyesscannedtheeagerfaces.Apause,and withanodandaslighttouchonhershoulder, famesuddenlyfellonDorothyAppleby. Neither Valentino nor Appleby ever said why–perhaps it was cosmic–but in that in- stant, in an explosion of applause, delighted screams and swooning, the door to Dorothy’s future swung open. Valentino never spoke a word onscreen but had plenty to say at the Expo, pointed- ly, about the kind of films that had made him famous. “Valentino sweeps women to his feet, but does not play The Sheik in his own home–Miss Hudnut rules that.” –The Portland Evening Express The Portland Exposition Building was built in 1914 at a cost of roughly $81,000.It is the second-oldest arena still in operation in the United States; (right) “Dark eyes,with dark curls down her neck,“ as the Express described her,DorothyAppleby dazzled Hollywood in 1931,after she signed a contract with MGM; (left) Mineralava Beauty Clay.