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Confessions
of a
Gigolo
George Raft, the most talked-about actor in Hollywood and the sensation of Dancers in the Dark and Scarface, will startle you as Valentino did. And there's a reason. Twelve years ago, he and Rudy were dancing for profit in the same New York cafe, with women hunting for romance!
By ROBERT DONALDSON
THE shade of The Sheik has reached from the grave to bring movie fame to slick, varnishhaired George Raft — not as a Latin lover, but as a gangster. Nor is it the shade of Valentino at the height of his picture fame, but of Valentino, the gigolo. George Raft and Valentino were gigolos together in New York in the days before Rudy was discovered and won fame in "The Four Horsemen."
Nearly thirteen years ago, that was. Valentino's star has risen and tragically fallen since then. George Raft's is just rising. Strangely enough, the two look amazingly alike, although Ratt in no way capitalized on this in getting into pictures. The principal difference is that Valentino was somewhat taller.
Suave and sieek, Raft plays the bodyguard of that bloody character, Scarface, in the embattled Hughes picture of the same name. His death scene is one of the finest pieces of celluloid acting Hollywood has ever witnessed.
Oddly enough, people who have known George in New York whisper that at one time he played this role of bodyguard to a famous gangster in real life, and was seen about Broadway resorts, keeping always as close to him as his own shadow.
As the dapper and deadly underworld sheik in "Dancers in the Dark," he came close to stealing the picture from Miriam Hopkins and Jack Oakie. People left the theatre asking each other who he was. He has also appeared in "Quick Millions" and "Hush Money," the latter being his first film.
Raft was born in New York City, on 41st Street between
Ninth and Tenth Avenues. His mother was Italian, his
lather German. When in his teens, he became a professional
boxer, and fought fur two years in the flyweight class, at 112
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r)id~ vou know thai only a decade ago women paid George Raft to dance with them in New York's smartest cafes? And that he taught the Charleston to the Prince of Wales! His gigolo days are over now — and he's on his way to movie fame and fortune
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