The silent film era had two mega matinee idols. One Rudolf Valentino, was foreign, dark, and had an alluring mystique. The other, Dash Buchanan, some years younger, was considered the wholesome red-blooded boy next door. Newspapers often glorified the infamous rivalry between Hollywood's most famous leading men, a rivalry that abruptly ended with the death of Rudolph Valentino on August 23, 1926. With his major rival gone, Dash Buchanan was poised to dominate the silent film world. Then in 1927 The Jazz Singer was released Dash Buchanan was never seen or heard from again. To this day film historians often speculate about whatever happened to him.