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 reasons he was promoted to Gay
Icon.
And this without taking
into account the personal history of Rudy 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, whose
intellectual honesty I do not question, 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 from a letter Valentino wrote to Hébertot, 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 it is 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 "political correctness" about the subject of homophobia... portrayed Evelyn
everywhere as a liar and flawed homophobic
and he did so precisely 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 on all sides.
Evelyn has always demonstrated intellectual honestly while those who preach about a gay Valentino and 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 exactly 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 you all!
