On
this day of resurrection I want to apologize to my most loved person,
my wife Evelyn, who under her pen name Evelyn Zumaya has long been
well known in the world of Rudolph Valentino's fans. Yes, I want to
apologize because I have waited too long to make my voice heard in
her defense and I hope she forgives me.
Some
time ago, I dared to define the Forewarning... which Evelyn was
forced to write about ten years ago and which was published in the
first edition of her book Affairs Valentino as... "a
sincere report".
Now,
after almost 11 years Tracy Ryan Terhune is still here complaining
about the so-called bad things written, which he claims are about
him, by this “villain”, Evelyn in the Forewarning.
But I
dispute this so let's examine these iniquities.
Per
Tracy Ryan Terhune, this is what he wrote:
“That
she wrote I was/am a Valentino Cult Leader?
That
I might shoot people in the back of the head in a movie theater?
That
I was making crank telephone calls (to people I didn't even have
their phone #)
That
I used drugs?
This
is “A
sincere report”??”
It is
a fact that the name of Tracy Ryan Terhune never appears a single
time in this Forewarning and that therefore it is he who recognizes
himself.
What
she wrote is easy to understand even without much intellectual
effort.
So
let's see what Evelyn really wrote eleven years ago which Tracy
Terhune is still so very upset about today.
As for
the Cult Leader, it will be helpful, first of all to clarify the
meaning of the term cult: In modern English, a cult is a social group
that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical
beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality,
object or goal.
So I
think that to be a leader within a group of people sharing a common
interest in Rudolph Valentino is not something to be ashamed of or
offended by.
Let's
add that every year Tracy Ryan Terhune celebrates the anniversary of
Rudolph Valentino's death very close to his tomb with a display of
his collectible relics that some of the fortunate are permitted to
touch and all with inspired readings and with the secular recitation
of sacred texts. If this is not a cult, then what is?
I
respond to Tracy Ryan Terhune's second and third statements by citing
the actual text of Evelyn's Forewarning itself:
"I
was invited to dinner one evening at Musso and Frank's in Hollywood
by a woman who received non stop crank calls on her cell phone during
the meal. She was adamant the calls were coming from the Valentino
cult leader. She informed me that she had crossed swords with this
person when she broke rank and launched her own Valentino fan forum.
Every time the phone rang she would answer and yell some profanity
about the cult leader into the phone. I remember thinking, "Who
would believe this incredible story?" She even told me she
wanted to attend a showing of a Valentino film that night but feared
this man would be there and that he might actually try to kill her.
"If I do go," she said, "I will sit behind him. If I
sit in front he could shoot me in the back of the head. " She
was serious. I was amazed."
In
reading these few lines it can easily be deduced that Evelyn has
never accused Tracy Ryan Terhune of these iniquities but she simply
reported and in amazement, what she experienced and what other people
said and did: if this is not a sincere report, tell me, honestly what
is it? And although Evelyn kept all the names anonymous in the
Forewarning, Tracy Ryan Terhune posted publicly the name of the woman
receiving the crank calls. How would he know this if he had nothing
to do with it?
Regarding
the last statement, "That I used drugs." Evelyn writes:
“During
the years it took to write this book, people have contacted me 'off
the record' with stories of the cultists' behavior. For example, I
was told of drug use within their rank and file."
If
Tracy Ryan Terhune recognizes himself in these lines, the problem is
truly only his because no one has ever openly accused him of any of
this. Regarding the term which seems to annoy
him the most,"Magus of Myth" I want to reveal that this was
a scholarly suggestion from Padre Michael Morris, a great, iconic man
of prayer and culture.
Evelyn
was forced to write that sincere account after the horrible year of
2010 when Tracy Terhune and David Bret worked together to destroy her
work, her book and her peace of mind. And still after eleven years
that is all they can find to complain about when it was the truth and
very, very sincere.
Happy
resurrection to all!
Renato
Floris
