I will not
respond to all of his name-calling and false accusations, but will
today focus on responding to Tracy Ryan Terhune's hypocritical
attempt to dismiss books as being “agenda-driven” such as those
written by George Ullman and Natacha Rambova. In my opinion, driving
an agenda is something Tracy Ryan Terhune knows a great deal about.
Both
Valentino's close friend and trusted business manager George Ullman
and Valentino's second wife, Natacha Rambova said they wrote their
memoirs promptly after Valentino's death because there was so much
fiction being churned out in haste in the wake of Valentino's death,
they wanted respectful truth to be available.
I
respond to Tracy Ryan Terhune's critical dismissal of their books
with his accusation of their being agenda-driven, by saying he is
hypocritical in this accusation as I allege he is the person who is
driving a heavy agenda in regards to Valentino today.
I cite the
following to support my statement.
For years,
after I published Affairs Valentino, I was accused of forging
the probate court records of Rudolph Valentino which I sourced
heavily. The online campaign to deter people from reading my work by
calling me a fiction writer and a forger.. was not
only something Tracy Terhune was aware of, but something he openly participated
in and still does today.
He ran and
continues to run a blog under my book's title where he has posted for some seven years and counting, his tag line that my book is “pure fiction” (even posting
this once in the first person as if I was saying this), by posting
images of the Bible, Satan and Jesus and threats of litigation in
bold red capital letters. By posting this on a blog under my book's
title, he willfully deceives legitimate web traffic seeking
information about Affairs Valentino.
Tracy Ryan
Terhune has linked this blog to other blogs, run by his affiliates,
where not only my good name was and is smeared mercilessly but my
parents names and my friends and business associates who were also
threatened and attacked with lies and mockery and for years. I have
ample proof as screenshots to prove this statement.
Throughout,
Tracy Ryan Terhune has accused me of bullying him whenever I issue a
response and whenever I refuse to remain silent in my own and in my
loved ones defense.
While I was
accused of writing fiction and being the forger of those court
records, Tracy Ryan Terhune said nothing to correct this. And this
was even when he knew those records existed. He would eventually
admit to having seen these very records and admit he knew of three
collectors who had these stolen documents at one time in their
possession.
To explain; in the course
of my researching Affairs Valentino, I sought to locate these
records to know the truth about the settlement of Valentino's estate
and the role his trusted manager George Ullman played as estate
executor. I learned the original case file, which was by law required
to be available for public review in the Los Angeles County Hall of
Records, had been stolen. I received verification of this from the
Hall of Records in the form of a Certificate of Clerk.
Some time
later I did locate some one thousand pages of these records as they
were copied by the California Court of Appeals. These were the
documents I brought forth which changed a great deal in Valentino's
history as it was then being told by the Valentino family and as
supported by Tracy Ryan Terhune.
It was obvious
to me that the content of that case file had been kept hidden for
decades while the false narrative was upheld. By not coming forward
to say he knew those records existed and were indeed not forged by
me, I charge that this is agenda-driven behavior by Tracy Ryan
Terhune.
Last year Ms.
Cindy Martin contacted my husband Renato Floris. For the previous
few years, Ms. Martin was one of the most vocal and prolific posters on Tracy
Ryan Terhune's hate Affairs Valentino blog. She told my
husband she had changed course and regretted her actions. I am
grateful to her for sharing inside information about the actions
against my work as it shed light on the true affiliations and
agendas, which according to Ms. Martin, are conducted and controlled
by Tracy Ryan Terhune.
I cite the
following to support this statement.
On June 10, 2019.. Ms. Martin wrote.
“Tracy,
David, Simon and that bunch continue their campaign against you.”
And on June 2, 2019 she writes,
“The problem is, Tracy has such power
over people because of that yearly memorial.. that he just has to
crook his little finger and they all come running.”
Cindy Martin
also told my husband Renato Floris in May of 2019, that she was not
made aware that Tracy Ryan Terhune knew those court records existed
and I quote her message dated May 29, 2019,
“ No one
gets wigged out the way Tracy did because of a book, but he sure
stirred us up and used the 'mob mentality' on many of us. I cannot,
still apologize enough for the part I played in all of that. I have
to ask myself if Tracy already had those court papers that Evelyn
found then why did Tracy not bring the information forward in his own
book? He could have written it or had Donna Hill help him.”
Why else would
Tracy Ryan Terhune keep his knowledge that those records existed... a secret.. other than to perpetuate his own
agenda-driven actions to ruin my reputation and deter potential
readers of my work from judging for themselves?
And in regards
to the stolen court records, which he knew about and which I was
accused of forging; I was told on two occasions who had those stolen
records. One of those occasions took place in a little coffee shop
next to the Castro Theater in San Francisco after the showing of
Valentino's film, Beyond the Rocks.
There I met
with Ms. Donna Hill who told me that the original case file of
records had been returned to the Valentino family spokeswoman from a
Valentino memorabilia collector in exchange for one of Valentino's
shirts. In Affairs Valentino I related this account and wrote the source, Ms. Hill, as anonymous. Apparently when this was published, Tracy Ryan
Terhune knew who to blame.
I cite the
following in support of this statement.
Ms. Martin writes on May, 29, 2019,
“I
will tell you a little something about the shirt thing and Donna. You
and Evelyn may or may not know this, but when Tracy found out that
Donna had given up that shirt in the cafe (which Tracy told Donna)
for that information, he was REALLY MAD at Donna and never really
trusted her again. He still doesn't. Donna has been trying to get
back into Tracy's good graces ever since. So it makes perfect sense
to me that she has been sending him the information behind your
backs. She will be trying to suck up to him forever. Tracy is calling
the shots and he is also controlling what Simon and Eleanor Gribbon
from Mad About the Boy puts there. “
I respond
today by calling out the fiercely-driven agenda in the world of
Valentino today which is not one perpetrated by Valentino's wife
Natacha Rambova or George Ullman or by myself. It is an agenda driven
by Tracy Ryan Terhune to bury my work and the new documentation I
brought forward. I personally can not think of another celebrity,
other than Rudolph Valentino, who is so victimized by an agenda, driven to
hide and protect lies about legitimate authors, discoveries and material.
I cite the
following to support this statement.
Again from the
same message on May 29, 2019, Ms. Martin writes:
“Was
Tracy paid to protect the lies that were out there? … Why should we
not know the truth? Why not all join together to protect His (Rudy's)
true legacy rather than waste our precious and short time on this
rock fighting...”
I agree with
her statement 100%. Ms. Martin stands as heroic in exposing this and
again I thank her. And as far as Tracy Ryan Terhune claiming this
response is bullying him, I state I will always stand up to defend my
good name from his public mud-slinging, i.e. his calling me, "Fool Zumaya", and I will always defend the
good name of my husband Renato Floris. I will never be silenced and
will defend and respond to the best of my ability to the unwarranted
attacks on my integrity and the honesty of our books. This is my
defense.
(Excerpts in this post follow the Fair Use guidelines defining fair use for the purposes of review, research or scholarly reporting, as in excerpting for critical purposes in commentary or for use as an illustration; also as clarification of the author's observations.)
(Excerpts in this post follow the Fair Use guidelines defining fair use for the purposes of review, research or scholarly reporting, as in excerpting for critical purposes in commentary or for use as an illustration; also as clarification of the author's observations.)
