POLA NEGRI - #85 MAY/2025 The Old Hollywood Newsletter

Hello Body House Members;

The first 120 days of this year have been quite a ride for many. Large scale blackouts in Spain and Portugal and never seen before weather events happening across America are shaking up the world.

To keep you focused on vintage sensuality, which is always grounding, I wanted to dig deep into the history of Old Hollywood and bring back awareness of a star from The Silent Era.

May is often a month of moves of many kinds. Staying active while moving down a good and right path for you is imperative.

With that said, in this month’s Old Hollywood Newsletter we’re featuring a Silent Era beauty who is from the great country of Poland!

Feast your eyes upon the lovely and sultry POLA NEGRI.

Thank you for your interest in The Body House.

Stay Sensual,

Dyann Bridges – Editor-in-Chief – Writer and VO Actor

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In The Beginning…

POLA NEGRI was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec on January 3, 1897, in either Lipno or Janowa, Poland (accounts differ).

Negri was the sole surviving child of three who survived infancy. The family was initially middle class. However, after her Slovakian father was arrested by the Russians and sent to a Siberian prison camp, she and her Polish mother became impoverished.

She and her mother moved to Warsaw in 1902 to find work and survive as it was difficult to live in post WWI. Most of Negri’s childhood was spent in deep poverty.

Luck struck Pola as a teenager when she auditioned for and was accepted in to the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet.

Sadly, an illness (tuberculosis) ended her dancing career but, she soon switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became an actress.

By 17 she was a star on the Warsaw stage, but World War I would soon change the theater scene.

With theater now gone, Negri turned to the movies. Her first role was in the film, “Die Bestie” in 1915.

Off To Hollywood!

With some good success on stage and a budding career in pictures, Negri went to Berlin and was teamed with German director Ernst Lubitsch. The Lubitsch-Negri combination proved to be very successful. The roles Negri played were earthy, exotic and strong women.

By the time the war ended she had starred in the Polish production of “Slave of Sin” in 1918. Her film career was taking off. She made several films that year.

One of her films, the highly acclaimed “Passion” which would later be named “Madame Du Barry” in 1919 became an absolute sensation in Europe. So much so that Hollywood came calling!

This film was so well-received that she was given a contract to make films in Hollywood. Her USA career was off and running.

By 1922 Negri and her frequent directorial partner Lubitsch, were BOTH given contracts to work in Hollywood.

Back To Poland!

While Negri’s first few films showed promise in the US, they were quickly overshadowed by her reported romances with such stars as Charles Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino and others.

(It was said that Valentino had bought a ring he gave Negri which was said to be cursed. More near the end of this page)

Negri started off with a bang in Hollywood, when she landed the role of Maritana in “The Spanish Dancer” 1923. Audiences also liked”Bella Donna” and “The Cheat” which were made that same year.

Negri’s vamp roles were highly popular and she was a direct rival of Theda Bara (Bera is the face of the logo for The Old Hollywood Newsletter and The Body House Chronicles).

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It seems Pola Negri’s time in Hollywood was meant to be limited though.

For example, she had a love affair with super star and uber sex symbol, Rudolph Valentino whom Negri says she ‘adored.’ Sadly, he died of perforated ulcers and other complications at the young age of 31.

Negri and Valentino were engaged to be married at the time of his death.

While at the funeral, Negri apparently was completely distraught. She threw herself on his coffin and displayed what many to believe as over the top hysterics and a performance. Many people were put off by this display and she lost favor with audiences.

Add to that, the fact that Negri had, in large part, become successful in the movies because she had a decidedly provocative presence on screen.

However, the Hays Office codes that would not allow her to show the very traits that made her a sex-siren in Europe.

Last, but certainly not the least nail in the coffin for her career, was when the ‘talkies’ came in the 1930s. Negri’s thick Polish accent didn’t play well for audiences.

At that point, Pola Negri returned to Europe and eventually made films for UFA, which was under Nazi management at the time.

In 1941 Negri returned to America to make films. She was also broke at the time.

Negri made Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) and became an American citizen in 1951.

Her next and last movie was The Moon-Spinners (1964).

Finally, Negri decided to retire in San Antonio, Texas.

Pola Negri passed away on August 1, 1987 (age 90 years) in San Antonio, Texas from pneumonia. Although she had been battling a brain tumor for two years prior, for which she had refused treatment.

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FAST FACTS ABOUT POLA NEGRI

POLA NEGRI was born Barbara Apolonia Chalupec on 3 January 1897 in Lipino, Poland
Negri passed away on 1 August 1987 from pneumonia in San Antonio, TX
Negri was engaged to Charlie Chaplin
Negri was engage to Rudolph Valentino when he passed away from perforated ulcers and other complications.
Negri was the only surviving child of three that her mother bore.
She lived most of her young life in poverty with her mother.
Her Slovakian father was taken to a Russian prison and never seen again.
Pola Negri was one of the first continental stars recruited through Hollywood’s fascination with Europe.
A Rudolph Valentino biographer and a Negri biographer, have suggested that Negri was bisexual.
It was said that Valentino had bought a ring he gave Negri which was said to be cursed.

POLA NEGRI’S TOP MOVIES

BARBED WIRE (1927)

Barbed Wire is set in 1914 pastoral France. The 1st World War breaks out and disrupts life as everyone knows it. The military decides a P.O.W. camp must be built on the farm.

The daughter of the Moreau farming family, Mona (Pola Negri), feels only hatred toward Germany and all that it has done to destroy and disrupt their land and country.

The military bring German prisoners to the camp and they begin to cast approving eyes on Mona.

However, the war keeps getting worse and keeps Mona mad! Untill, Oscar Muller, a prisoner working on the farm, proves himself a good man. The bond between Mona and Oscar strengthens. Yet, there is still much turmoil in the land..

Have a look below…

A Woman of the World (1925)

A lovely and sensual European countess arrives at a small American town. She quickly provokes moral outrage from the community. During her stay with a cousin, the temptress courts scandal by smoking, enticing men and wearing extravagant clothes. She even sports a tattoo!

I found this one on Tubi for Free. See links below…

https://tubitv.com/movies/100015061/a-woman-of-the-world?startPos=0

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016548/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

THE WILDCAT (1921)

A charismatic lieutenant (Victory Janson) is newly assigned to a remote fort.

He is soon captured by a group of mountain bandits, thus setting in motion a madcap farce. As well as, a series of flirtatious antics with the lovely Rischka (Pola Negri).

This is another pairing between Negri and director Lubitsch. The director it seems is at his most unrestrained here.

Have a look below…

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0011960/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

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POLA NEGRI PHOTO GALLERY

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POLA NEGRI’S LOVE LIFE

First Husband – Count Eugeniusz Dąbski (m. 1919; div. 1922)

Negri married her first husband, Count Eugeniusz Dąbski, in St Mary’s Assumption Church in Sosnowiec, Poland on 5 November 1919.

Thus becoming Countess Apolonia Dąbska-Chałupec.

The marriage was ill-conceived and after a long separation period, Negri and Dąbski’s marriage was dissolved in 1922.

* I could not find pictures of Negri and Count Dąbski.*

Second Husband – Prince Serge Mdivani (m. 1927; div. 1931)

After she divorced The Count and began working in the United States, she made headlines with a long string of celebrity love affairs. Pola Negri was a woman who loved men and they loved her.

One of her most endearing loves and stratospheric love affairs was with Rudolph Valentino. Sadly, he died while he and Negri were engaged to be married at the young age of 31.

It was said that Negri made a spectacle of herself at the funeral. Word got out. The gossip papers told of her fainting several times, throwing herself on his coffee and commissioning a florist to write out her name in flowers on the top of his coffin. It proved too much for the audience of 1920s America and they soured on her.

Negri soon married again, to the Georgian self-styled “Prince” Serge Mdivani.

This action caused public opinion in the United States to drop against her even more because it happened so quickly after Rudolph Valentino’s death.

Negri and Mdivani were married on 14 May 1927 (less than nine months after Valentino’s death); shortly after she became pregnant. Negri, who always wanted a child, began to consider retiring from movies in order to be a housewife and mother. However, she reportedly suffered a miscarriage and grieved the loss of her child for the rest of her life.

She and Mdivani divorced on 2 April 1931.

More on Negri’s engagements and significant relationships below

Below are pictures of Pola Negri and Prince Serge Mdivani

Significant Relationships…

Pola Negri was known to enjoy the company of men and they with her.

Three of the most high profile and passionate relationships Negri had were with Charlie Chaplin, and Rudolph Valentino who she was both engaged to and had an intense affair with Rod La Rocque.

Pola Negri had tremendous confidence, along with success and sensuality, so she easily attracted the attention of some of the most charismatic and powerful male movie stars of her time.

In fact, it could be said that her relationships with Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin were the original power couples of Hollywood.

Charlie Chaplin – Engaged

Negri first met Chaplin while in Germany.

What began as a platonic relationship became a well-publicized affair and marriage engagement.

Headlines began to read “The Queen of Tragedy to Wed the King of Comedy.”

The relationship eventually ended and Negri became involved for a time with actor Rod La Rocque.

Below are pictures of Pola Negri and Charlie Chaplin…

Rod La Rocque – Love Affair

Rod La Rocque was born Roderick Ross LaRocque on November 29, 1898 in Chicago to a French father and an Irish mother. Stage-struck in his early teen years, he spent his summers with local stock companies, acting for $1.00 per performance.

Negri’s career ran alongside a series of affairs with some of the most desirable actors of the era. This to some extent may have been manufactured as movie marketing.

However, it may have gone to far, since after her relationship with Chaplin, she was briefly linked with Rod La Rocque and then most notably, with Rudolph Valentino.

This took her place as movie vamp beyond the spectrum of respectable femininity in 1920s and 30s Hollywood.

For his part, La Rocque may have had a love affair with Pola Negri and others but in 1927, he married Hungarian actress Vilma Banky and stay married to her for 40 years until his death in 1969.

La Rocque now has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1580 Vine Street.

La Rocque appeared as Negri’s leading man in Forbidden Paradise (1924).

Below are pictures of Negri and La Rocque…

Rudolph Valentino – Engaged

Negri met Rudolph Valentino at a costume party held by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst at the amazing San Simeon Estate.

Negri and Valentino had a torrid affair that lead to an engagement. They were soon to be married when he died in 1926 at the age of 31. It’s been said that Negri ‘adored’ him and never got over his loss.

Valentino’s death was caused by a combination of complications from appendicitis and perforated ulcers which then lead to peritonitis and subsequently pleurisy. He died in a hospital in Manhattan, New York City, NY.

Pola Negri caused a media sensation at Valentino’s New York funeral on 24th August 1926, at which she “fainted” several times. Additionally, according to actor Ben Lyon, arranged for a large floral arrangement that spelled “P-O-L-A” to be placed on Valentino’s coffin.

The press dismissed her actions as a publicity stunt. At the time of his death and for the remainder of her life, Negri claimed Valentino was the love of her life.

It was said that Valentino had bought a ring he gave Negri which was said to be cursed which some believe brought about his early death and her continued misery. Negri did suffer a failed marriage and miscarriage after the death of Valentino.

A picture of Negri prayer over the body of Valentino

Quotes By POLA NEGRI

“Yes, I was correctly quoted in saying I introduced sex into films in the 20’s, but it was sex in good taste and left a great deal to one’s imagination.” – POLA NEGRI

“My hard work and excellent training entitled me to be a better actress than some of my competitors.” – POLA NEGRI

“…In the next shot the cameras zoomed to the fiancee who noticed the lights in the Czarina’s room go out and the camera then turned to the pond where two goldfish were making love.” – POLA NEGRI

“Stars didn’t have to worry as they were on long term contracts and were able to enjoy their vacations without worrying about tomorrow. Few had financial worries due to large incomes and little taxes.” – POLA NEGRI