VALLEE FILM COLLECTION GIVEN TO UCLA

The UCLA Film and Television archive has received a collection of Rudy Vallee films from the singer and actor’s widow, Eleanor Vallee.

The collection, which covers Vallee’s career from 1929-34, is highlighted by an original print of Vallee’s first talking feature, “The Vagabond Lover,” and closed-circuit footage of Vallee on a mechanical television. The experimental footage is the earliest broadcast in the archive’s collection, according to archivist Charles Hopkins.

The collection includes a music short featuring Vallee called “Radio Rhythm,” a cartoon called “Finding His Voice,” and TV commercials the star made in the early ‘50s.

Vallee, who died last July, acted in such films as “It’s in the Bag,” “The Palm Beach Story,” “The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”