Gilbert King

Thomas was a popular white Cajun pharmacist.

He was also, the author, Gilbert King, wrote, one of the best friends of a young St. Martinville lawyer named Bertrand de Blanc.

On the evening of August 3, 1945, police in Port Arthur, Texas, picked up Willie Francis, a black 16-year-old from St. Martinville.

He had Thomas' wallet and identification card on him, Dano wrote, though Wikipedia says he was held instead on suspicion of drug trafficking because he was carrying a briefcase and talked with a stutter.

I figured we could turn to Emily Leiter for a succinct, to-the-point explanation of the angle we're gonna take on the life of Rudolph Valentino for this episode.

Leiter writes, "While women swooned, dreaming of a smoldering, darkly romantic lover who looked like Valentino and kissed just as passionately, the men they lived with sneered." Gilbert King, a writer for Smithsonian Magazine, explains how the world saw Rudolph Valentino at this point in his career.

King writes, "Photoplay published yet another piece, this one by Herbert Howe, that described Valentino's influence on leading men after his stellar tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse like this: 'The movie boys haven't been the same,' Howe wrote.

'They're all racing around wearing spit curls, bobbed hair, and silk panties.

Turning back to King, we read, "In 1922, a writer named Dick Dorgan opined in Photoplay Magazine that, quote, 'The Sheik is a bum Arab that he is really an Englishman whose mother was a Wop or something like that.' Valentino was infuriated by the insult to his mother and tried to have Dorgan banned from the studio.

He also swore he would kill the writer if he ever saw him." King continues, "The magazine apologized and promised some favorable pieces in the future, but a few months later, it published Dorgan's A Song of Hate, in which he ra- railed against Valentino's Roman face, his patent leather hair, and his ability to make women dizzy.

The article was somewhat good-natured, a common man's jeremiad against a guy who danced too well and was too good-looking, but Valentino resented its references to his long eyelashes and the earrings he wore in films." So, we talked about that Dorgan piece through the lens of Gilbert King.

He gave us some highlights, or more appropriately lowlights I guess, from the original article.

I'm your creator and host, Paul Solitarov.

Executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wardus, and Gilbert King.

Our senior producer is Hannah Beal.

Our producers are Jackie Pauley, Austin Smith, and Kathleen Horne.

And thank you for listening.

Join us tomorrow when we catch up on the story behind Bone Valley with Pulitzer Prize winning author Gilbert King and accused killer Leo Schofield.

I'm Anne Schindler.

You've been listening to First Coast Connect on WJCT News 89.9.

I'm your creator and host, Paul Solitarov.

Executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wardus, and Gilbert King.

Our senior producer is Hannah Beal.

Our producers are Jackie Pauley, Austin Smith, and Kathleen Horne.

I'm your creator and host, Paul Solotarov.

Executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wartes, and Gilbert King.

Our senior producer is Hannah Beale.

Our producers are Jackie Pauly, Austin Smith, and Kathleen Horan.