[Guido Orlando, Italian-American press agent.] Copy of Typed Article on Orlando by W. Macqueen-Pope titled ‘“Enfant Terrible” of Public Relations’, with TLS to MP from Sidney Gordon of ‘Everybody’s’ magazine, rejecting the article as too scandalous.

From the Macqueen-Pope papers. (See his entry in the Oxford DNB.) The subject of MP’s article is the press agent and publicist Guido Orlando who came to the United States from Italy with his family in 1917. (MP may have come into contact with Orlando in his own position as press agent for Drury Lane and other theatres.) He was most active in Hollywood from the 1930s to 1960s. His papers are in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library. (He also has an uncredited part in Godard’s 1960 ‘Nouvelle Vague’ classic ‘À bout de souffle’ (‘Breathless’).) ONE: Sidney Gordon to MP. TLS, 28 December 1950. 1p, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and creased, with slight rust spotting from paperclip. As the editor Greville Poke is away from the office, he has ‘read the article carefully and I really do not think that he would consider it is suitable for Everybody’s. As you may have noticed, it alludes to various scandals (incidentally, the latest and, obvious “tie-up” for the article is now dead as far as public interest is concerned) and, generally, is not quite in line with what we want for this paper. My opinion is strengthened by the fact that we were submitted an article on Orlando some months ago and it was turned down because of a certain flashiness.’ He ends by conveying a message from Poke on another matter. TWO: Typed article titled ‘“Enfant Terrible” of Public Relations’. 17pp, 4to, each page on a separate page of cartridge paper. Double spaced, with title on an eighteenth leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, apart from a hole in the final leaf, resulting in loss of five or six words from the final paragraph. MP is not named as the author, but since he is submitting the piece, it is presumed that he is. Begins: ‘The grim summer of 1950 would have been even more of a nightmare for millions of newspaper readers if front pages burdened with battles and casualty reports had not been brightened by a royal romance between a king and a sixteen-year-old American schoolgirl. / The king, Egypt’s fabulous Farouk, apparently was spending a good deal of his time chasing Little Mimi Medart, from St. Louis, Missouri, through Europe’s most plush-lined playgrounds. From Deauville and Biarritz, the swankiest of France’s watering spots on the Atlantic Coast, to San Sebastian in Spain, the king trundled along in Mimi’s wake, dragging the royal entourage behind him. / On both sides of the Atlantic, the king and the commoner became front-page news. Only Farouk’s announcement of his engagement to Narriman Sadek ended the suspense. When it came, Mimi’s mother breathed a sigh loud enough to be heard round the world and exclaimed to newsmen: / “Thank God! Now my daughter can go back and finish her studies in peace.” / All of this, it should be explained, is one man’s idea of how to sell hamburgers in St. Louis. It sounded like a fairly far-fetched method until you realize that the man is Guido Orlando, the gift of the American public relations profession to Europe.’ The article finishes with the Farouk business after the first five pages. There follows a description of Orlando’s appearance and background, before an account of his other activities, with reference to ‘Don Jaime, the Duke of Segovia’, ‘Mayor Jimmy Walker of New York’ and ‘the Maharajah of Kapurthala’.