From
1921-1923, Robert Florey worked as a press agent and secretary for
Rudolph Valentino. When Valentino and his new bride Natacha Rambova
traveled to Europe in 1923, Florey acted as a critical advance man
for the tour. It was his job to organize press in advance of the
Valentino's arrival in a city by dispensing photographic materials
and press releases and making hotel reservations.
It was
during this trip in 1923, Valentino and Rambova visited France.
During this visit, Valentino faced a publicity crisis with his French
public which was caused by Robert Florey. Robert Florey reported
publicly how Valentino told him he found French women too fat, and
followed this disparaging remark with other denigrating statements
about France allegedly made by Valentino to Florey. The French
responded accordingly and it was an effort on Valentino's behalf to
quell the furor. French Valentino biographer, Jeanne DeRecqueville
wrote about this episode and included a letter penned to the French
press at the time in support of Valentino by René
Clair.
The result
of this crisis was that Florey was fired; not only as advance man but
as Valentino's friend. This seems understandable as the person who
was hired to expedite positive press for Valentino accomplished the
exact opposite.
My first
awareness of Valentino firing Florey came about in one of my
interviews with Valentino memorabilia collector William Self. Self,
as a television producer, gave Florey work as a director in the
1950's and 1960's and knew him well.
Self told me
the only person to ever speak badly to him about Valentino was Robert
Florey. He then added, “But Florey was the only person Valentino
ever personally fired.”
Florey
admits to only having a working relationship with Valentino until
1923, but does not mention why nor does he ever address publicly his
being fired over his divulging those denigrating remarks about
Valentino.
In 1948,
Florey published a book titled, Hollywood, Yesterday and Today
in France. In this book he included a chapter titled, “The Magic
Lantern” about his time spent as Valentino's press agent. I have
addressed this piece on Valentino by Florey in a podcast and found it
to include insults about Valentino while portraying him in a less
than favorable light. It is not surprising Florey would assume this
tone of revelation as he was someone who was fired by Valentino and
no doubt harbored resentment.
In “The
Magic Lantern”, Florey repeats the very information which had him
fired in 1923. In my opinion there is no admirable way to account for
his doing this. If he was such a great friend as he claims, he would
not have betrayed Valentino in the first place by making comments
which might have been shared with him in private. No press agent
would allow such comments to be made public knowing the result they
would generate.
I think the
answer to the question as to why Florey would subsequently repeat
them again and again is obvious; dead men don't tell tales and won't
protest. In my opinion this was his means of revenge threaded into a
general narrative about life in the presence of Valentino.
Which brings
us to the point of today's post. In 1956, Florey reissued his “Magic
Lantern” as an eight installment series on Valentino titled,
“Inoubliable, Inoublié, RUDOLPH VALENTINO Survit à Sa Légende“. (Unforgettable, Unforgotten, Rudolph Valentino Survives his Legend)
which he published in French in the fan magazine, Cinémonde.
This was in commemoration of the thirty year anniversary of
Valentino's death.
We learned
of this series from David Bret on a post he made as a comment on May
23rd on the blog run by Tracy Terhune under my book's
title. It was then Bret accused us of being homophobic because we did
not reference Florey's 1956 series, “Inoubliable, Inoublié”.
Bret also
claimed he did not reference “The Magic Lantern” as his source
for his claims Valentino was gay, but it was “Inoubliable,
Inoublié” instead. Now after having read this entire series, I
wonder if David Bret can read French or if he has ever read “The
Magic Lantern” or “Inoubliable, Inoublié” for that matter. If
he did...he would realize quickly that it is the same content and
anecdotes and that there is nothing new presented and nothing sexual
in this publication at all.
In Bret's
bibliography of his Valentino bio, he says “Inoubliable, Inoublié”
was “unpublished”. I correct that and say it was published.. not
once but twice.
Renato
located these eight installments and has translated the entire series
into Italian and English to verify as false Bret's allegation that
this was his true source of gay Valentino. “Inoubliable, Inoublié”
is nothing more than “The Magic Lantern” narrative with some
other information cobbled together presenting an even more
disrespectful portrait of Valentino.
Bret's
stating we are homophobic in not referencing this series by Florey is
a ridiculously false statement with no basis in fact other than the
fact that Bret has called us homophobic for a decade now as he does
with all of his critics. I state this is appalling behavior for
someone claiming to be a champion of gay rights. No one should ever
wield, and frivolously so, the subject of homophobia as a personal
weapon of choice. It should not be used to incite hatred of someone
he perceives as being an enemy. It is a dangerous, if not criminal, thing to do.
In 2009,
Bret claimed his source for his gay anecdotes about Valentino was,
“The Unpublished Diary of Rudolph Valentino”. When pressed, by
me, for the location of this diary, he gave me the name of a Italian
publisher. This publication he referred to was not unpublished and
was in fact the Italian translation of Valentino's “My Private
Diary”. Bret then referred to Florey and letters Florey published
which he claimed proved they were lovers. Those letters are included
in both the 1948 and 1956 Florey narratives and contain nothing but
instructional information about the work at hand. And yes before 1923
it was a cordial exchange.
For me this
is the end of the line for Bret's poorly executed attempts at
pointing to his non-existent sources to support his claims Valentino
was gay. If this was his true source, he had zero to reference;
absolutely zero. For some ten years and counting Bret has pointed in
many directions to divert anyone questioning his sources; and
“Inoubliable, Inoublié” is another false claim and another
diversion.
On May 23rd,
Bret claimed this was in fact his true source and now we can say
definitively this is not the source which he claims it to be.
In my
opinion, I think Florey was exploiting his working relationship with
Valentino and in 1956 he did so using the excuse it was 30 years
after Valentino's death. He neglects to mention he was fired,
neglects to mention he had no part in the actor's life after 1923. He
mentions the last time he ever saw Valentino was on the street in Los
Angeles as Valentino drove by with Pola Negri. I wonder if Valentino
waved.
We will be
publishing “Inoubliable, Inoublié” after negotiating the
copyright permission with the Bibliothèque
Nationale Française.