TWO AMERICAN DEATHS.

Shannon News, 19 October 1926, Page 3

TWO AMERICAN DEATHS.

DR. .ELIOT AND VALENTINO. SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 8. Fame performs strange feats and 1 the press of' the United States has drawn attention to the deaths, at the same time, of Rudolph Valentino and Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University. The firstnamed, "the perfect lover of the screen,” was, a dozen years ago, a dish-washer in Now York City, takingall kinds of menial jobs to "get by.” Suddenly he burst forth in the moving ificture world, and his appearance on the silver screen have made him known'all over the world.

As Valentino lay cold in death, thousands of curious men and women, . and boys and girls, waited for hours J In heavy rain for a chance to view the remains in the Gold Room of one of New York’s undertaking parlours. The casket was one of the costliest obtainable. The morbid crowd ran riot at one time and 1 the whole scene was a reflection on all that constitutes reasonable conduct? The press contained page after page that gave accounts of the life and death of Valentino. His moral standards, judged by his matrimonial ventures, were not over high. Now he sleeps at Hollywood in Southern California, in the midst of the scenes of his picture triumphs. Dr. Eliot had lived 92 busy years. On on occasion President Theodore Roosevelt said: “Charles W. Eliot is the only man I envy." This was praise, indeed, when the source is considered. Perhaps America’s leading educator, famed in the sciences, and active in all good movements, the late President of Harvard University left a name that will stand out among the notables of the United States. And yet scant notice appeared of his passing. All the tributes that usually accompany fame were bestowed on the 31-year-oid actor, Rudolph Valentino. Popular acclaim was not for the man of letters. He seemed to belong to a bygone age. > There is the consolation, however* that time brings. In this particular discussion it is realised that as the years go by the name of Dr. Eliot will live, while the fleeting fame of Valentino will perish. Rabbi Loui s I. Newman, of San Francisco, put the matter nicely when he said: “The Thrills’ which came from the achievements of Eliot will abide, but these which the young hero of the screen awakened are for a moment. To-morrow the latter wil be a dim memory, while President Eliot will take his place on the bright pages of American progress. The same instinct which drives people in crowds to a Are gent them to the bier of the young player; the impulse allied to appreciation of an immortal) poem, a symphony, a work of art or literature, must function to cause a sincere understanding of President Eliot.”