I
share this image from our home, because there is a story to that
piece of red clay roofing tile there on the shelf. This tile was
once a part of the roof of the Falcon Lair stables. It came to
Renato this way.
In
the mid-1990's Renato traveled to Los Angeles as an advance
production man for the Italian television RAI's production of the
documentary on Valentino, “Lo Squardo di Valentino”... translated
as “Valentino's Glance”.
His
host and Valentino expert was Ms. Patricia Lampinen. At the time, she
was known for publishing a regular newsletter about Valentino. Renato
is not completely sure but recalls she lived in Minneapolis.
At
one point in their filming, the documentary production team hosted a
luncheon at an Italian restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard where they
celebrated a sort of birthday party for Valentino. They set up this
luncheon to interview Valentino fans who attended.
One
of these fans attending the RAI luncheon organized by Renato was
Tracy Terhune. Go figure. And he appears in one brief segment of the
documentary. Renato has the documentary file and will be uploading it
on our Youtube channel soon. It is only in Italian but maybe that can
be another translation project for Renato... an English voice over.
So
back to the roof tile...Ms. Lampinen went up to Falcon Lair during
her visit to Los Angeles as would be expected. Upon her arrival she
noticed they were changing the roof tiles on the stables. She managed
to abscond with a few of the old tiles as treasured souvenirs. Before
she said goodbye to the Italian film makers from Turin, she made sure
Renato had one of the tiles.
Our
little piece of Falcon Lair... from our home to yours...thanks to
Patricia Lampinen.
