* I
recently found the following brilliant commentary and do not think it
has been shared. This was written by Renato Floris sometime around
2018. Renato writes:
"The Politically Correct Weapon.
Admitting
that I care very little about the sexuality of others, I will
for the record clarify my
position on Rudolph Valentino's sexuality.
I state
that my position is not governed by prejudices of any kind. For many
years, I worked in the world of entertainment and yes, ever since as
an adolescent in 1958, when I tiptoed into that world. On my
contract, "Child actor" was written and that qualification
is what Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret find so laughable. Perhaps
their reaction is due to the fact that their adolescences consisted
of deadly boredom and as we know,
envy is always the worst motive.
Well in
the entertainment world, it is rare for someone to feel they ever
needed to hide their sexual orientation
and this is a positive thing when one realizes the many areas where
such freedom is not allowed or accepted.
In my
years in the entertainment world, (going
on to act professionally in theater and then work in video and
television) I have had many friends with sexual orientations
different from mine. This fact never influenced or invalidated our
friendships. I confess that many times I declined sexual advances
which were not homogeneous with my sexuality but this never
generated conflict.
In my
many years of analyzing the character of Rudolph Valentino, I
have been able to form an image of who he was which I consider quite
precise and reliable; therefore I want to share my thoughts on this.
Let's
jump to that fateful February 26, 2009, when Evelyn, invited by the
University of Turin, delivered her lecture on Rodolfo Valentino's
sexuality.
Evelyn,
as an excellent researcher of historical "cold cases",
found that there is no direct evidence of a homosexual or bisexual
Valentino, a theory purported by Valentino biographer Emily Leider.
From Evelyn's research, it was
revealed that some self-appointed Valentino biographers contributed
their fantasies to create the most beautiful man, Valentino.. into a
gay icon, certainly a fate denied to Danny de Vito, Fernandel, Luis
Guzmán, Marty Feldman or Clint Howard, just to name a few.
Valentino's beauty and charm are the number one reasons he was
promoted to gay icon.
And this
without taking into account the personal history of Rudy Valentino
who, at the "venerable" age of 15 years, tells a friend how
he likes to have fun with female artists of the variety shows and
street prostitutes... he had so much fun with them he contracted a
venereal disease. It is not known if it was gonorrhea or syphilis but
this is of little importance.
It seems
to me that a fifteen-year-old boy fascinated by those charming and
available girls, professional or not, doesn't have enough credential
to become a gay icon.
And today
as I was writing this, something happened to me.. a paper appeared
as if fallen from heaven. Perhaps it was sent to me by the spirit of
Rudy asking for ransom? It was a print out of a post dated October
29, 2003 by Emily Leider, where she states that Valentino was not
"incapable of being bisexual"... This is truly what we
Italians refer to as a “Jesuit”
statement...double talk.
Ms. Leider writes verbatim: “I realize that I am not likely to
persuade anyone who believes that Valentino was incapable of
bisexuality to my point of view but my conviction that he (VALENTINO)
had a relationship with André Daven is based on more than they
shared fishing trip. Jacques Hébertot's letters and telegrams to
Valentino are a prime source. Another indication that Daven had
homosexual relationships comes from a book on the Swedish Ballet
which mentions Daven's relationship (after he had ceased to be close
to Valentino) with Rolf de Maré who was openly gay.”
So following her logic, anyone with a working relationship with a gay
person must be gay by default? This is really a prejudice of a
disheartening banality.
Jacques
Hébertot who, among other things, personally declared to Jeanne De
Recqueville that Valentino was not gay, which Robert Florey
confirmed. Leider also develops a bold theory by writing that Daven,
after having ceased his "relationship" with Valentino, and
we now know the actual reason for that, had an emotional relationship
with Rolf de Maré who was openly gay. Madame Leider ignores the fact
Daven was an employee of de Maré as he partially took over from
Hébertot in the managment of the Theatre des Champes Elysées.
Rolf de Maré was a Swedish entrepreneur and art collector who in
1920 founded, in Paris, with his life partner the Swedish dancer and
actor Jean Börlin, the Ballets Suédois at the Théâtre des
Champs-Élysées. De Maré and Börlin had a great and lasting
relationship without the need for Daven's intrusions.
That
André Daven who, in those same years, had an intense relationship
with Yvonne Legeay which was followed by the great love of his life,
Daniela Parola who he took as a wife and stayed with her until
separated by death. I kindly invite Ms. Leider to review her claims,
and if she can give me clear proof and documentation that she is
right, I will accept her theory.
Now given that Evelyn was unaware of what David Bret's response would
be to her examination of his undocumented tall tale boasting
Valentino's homosexuality.. and she was unconscious as to what his
reaction would be to her proving his anecdotes were only "witty
inventions".
The
result for her has been and is more than ten years of continuous
attack by David Bret who, taking advantage of the climate of
"politically correct" response to the very subject of
homophobia, portrayed Evelyn everywhere as a liar and flawed
homophobic and he did so by
invoking political correctness. This was and is an unspeakable crime.
To this
we must add that Evelyn was accused of unfair play by David Bret and
Cindy Martin who pretend that an author can not criticize a fellow
author... This despite the fact Bret was precisely doing this and
still is in a terrible way to Evelyn. I think it should be a
respectful exchange of fair play between honest authors but this
would require a degree of intellectual correctness.
Evelyn
has and has always had intellectual honestly while those who preach a
gay Valentino, with no documentation...demonstrate very little of that
honesty.
In
closing; if I declare Pope Francis is not muslim this doesn't mean
I'm islamophobic. I simply state that the Pope is not muslim and
that's all... but this is exacty what happened to Evelyn when she
said there is no evidence Valentino was homosexual which
does not mean she's homophobic.
Political correctness is an important achievement of our culture but
it can become a weapon, a double-edged sword if used in a way
misrepresenting the reality of the facts, therefore we must pay a lot
of attention when some people misuse political correctness in
targeting a scapegoat.
Think people think and I wish a happy intellectual honesty to y'all!"
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