[78-L] What happened to Rufy Vallee...

[David Sanderson]

Taylor Bowie wrote:

> others.  I know,  because I read their letters to Vallee.  My point here is 
> that he was not only a show biz giant but,  at one time in his life,  a 
> decent fellow.
> 
> But somewhere along the line his very strong ego morphed into something 
> self-destructive,  and by the end of his life,  he was a semi-addled parody 
> of his former glamorous self.  I imagine the "crazy" Vallee of later years 
> has ruined the stamp chances of the pioneer and trend-setting "real" Rudy 
> Vallee,  at least for the time being.
> 
> Taylor B

Well, old age takes people lots of different ways, too often sadly. 
Vallee remains a presence around here in western Maine because of his 
connection with Kezar Lake, where he had a compound between about 1930 
and 1948, a place he loved and where there were continual goings-on in 
season, aided and abetted by his neighbor Don Dickerman, the 
pirate-obsessed night club entrepreneur.  There are accounts of some of 
this in Vallee's autobiographies.

What I'm getting to is that about two years ago a local newspaper 
reporter got interested in Vallee, and ended up in touch with his widow, 
now remarried.  Whatever the past experience, she was extremely helpful 
and very friendly.  That summer she made a trip to Maine, presented one 
of Rudy's saxes to the University, and visited the place on Kezar (sold, 
I believe, before he married her).  I had assisted a bit with the 
reporter's research, and so got invited to meet her, at the Westbrook 
Historical Society (next door to Portland, Maine, where Rudy grew up). 
She was warm, charming and enthusiastic.  It's not too surprising, 
considering that she is at least a couple of decades younger than Rudy, 
and has had time to distance herself from past unpleasantness.

-- 




      David Sanderson
      East Waterford, Maine

      dwsanderson685 at roadrunner.com
      http://www.dwsanderson.com