I was not the first person to feel the wrath of Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret. Not at all. And before I clarify this statement I want to say that as far as Tracy Terhune's running around pulling his hair out, yelling in his capital letters that I am “obsessed” with him... let me say this; I am not obsessed with him but yes I am very obsessed, obsessed with responding to Tracy Terhune's brazen bullying of us, obsessed with defending us against his hateful lies, his hosting the likes of David Bret, and I am obsessed with responding to his running that shit show all under the title of my book.. Affairs Valentino.. A book which is the culmination of a decade of hard work by many intelligent people, including the children of Rudolph Valentino's manager, the family of Rudolph Valentino's godfather. Yes...I am obsessed with defending these fine people and their work and the stories they shared about of their beloved father and grandfather which contributed so incredibly to Valentino's history. According to Tracy Terhune this all belongs in the trash bin.
I respond again... and he can add this to that long tally of times I was forced to respond...because Tracy Ryan Terhune wrote last week that I, Evelyn Zumaya, belong in the “trash bin of Valentino history”. I ask.. “really”?
I sit here with the hard drives of several computers full of terabytes of Valentino data and in an office stacked to the ceiling with plastic bins full of Valentino history documentation; both my archive and that of Michael Morris. This massive archive represents decades of research on Valentino and Rambova. Perhaps Terhune forgot that I discovered those historically valuable copies of the stolen Valentino court records which“they” all had and still do have their sticky little hands all over. Our books stand as evidence to our labors in regards to our contributions to Valentino history. My husband (no quotation marks there) and I have worked extremely hard publishing our books and Renato arduously translating some he felt would contribute to the Valentino history. And etc. etc. etc...
I was not the first person to be the target of the wrath and bullying of the team of Tracy Terhune and David Bret. Before I stepped forth on the stage in Turin in 2009, Bret was doing the exact same thing he would do and does to us to the fans of Mario Lanza. How they hated him for his treatment of Lanza in that tawdry bio...and the rhetoric he abused them with was the same. I have a great deal of evidence in saying this because while I was suffering his abuse, they found me and sent it all my way hoping I would do something to stop him. Over the years I heard from many folks he was abusing online in the same manner.
And I heard from people Tracy Terhune angered substantially including a woman who sent me the entire transcript of some exchange she had with him in a chat room long ago. At least I guess I can say he has not yet physically chased me... As he once did to another one of his perceived enemies some eight years ago now. Yes he once chased a young woman and her father through a parking lot in Utah yelling, “You're going to jail!” over and over and over as he tried to stop her with his citizen's arrest. The frantic foot chase went on as he ran after her and her Dad...through the courthouse and out into the parking lot...this while waving an expired bench warrant... Her father stopped and confronted Terhune, saying, “You tried to push her (his daughter) to suicide!” To which Terhune replies, “That was David Bret!” Father replies, “What will it take for you to stop harassing my daughter?” Terhune replies, “She has to guarantee that Affairs Valentino never happens again!”
Now this young woman published the First Edition of Affairs Valentino way back when but we had parted ways a couple of years before Terhune's chasing her in Utah. She had nothing to do with the book at that point. But I ask... in light of history such as this... who are the bullies here? And who is the one who is “obsessed”, or as Ms. Cindy Martin called it “wigging out over a book”? I think it is remarkably unambiguous just who is obsessed in this saga and who are the bullies.
It is so rewarding to be in touch with people I consider to be the true authorities on Valentino. They are intelligent, open-minded, excited for new discoveries and appreciative of documentation, ever generous in sharing ideas and expert on the smallest detail of the man's life. This, to me, is the absolute guardianship of Valentino's history.
It is seriously deplorable that these two men so ravage the “Valentino history” with their lies and innuendo and censoring of new discoveries; with their sadistic bullying and cruel name-calling and malicious alliance. In my opinion their biggest lie is that they feign having any role in Valentino's history or any real interest in him. If Rudolph Valentino was still about I think I know well who he would be heaving into the trash bin.
And if you want to see what Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret's contribution to Valentino's history truly is... head on over to that Affairs Valentino blog which Terhune runs and check it out.
