New Revelations About Valentino's 1913 Arrival in New York

Renato Writes:

It is important for many people to remain faithful to what is now proving to be the most inaccurate biographical account of Rodolfo Valentino's life, My Private Diary. These faithful proclaim when Valentino arrived in New York, on that fateful 22^nd of December 1913, that there was not a soul waiting for him and he wandered lonely in search of a safe haven with very little money.

We have always maintained that in New York there were at least two people waiting for him, Francesco “Frank” Mennillo, a family friend who took the 18-year-old Rodolfo under his wing. Another person waiting for him was Ernesto Filomarino, uncle of Rodolfo's sister-in-law, Ada Delmazzone. Although Tracy Ryan Terhune has called the presence of wealthy benefactors when Valentino arrived in America “fabrication”, he is 100% wrong and it is fact with increasing evidence presenting itself as follows.

Regarding Ernesto Filomarino, we found an interesting interview given by one of his employees; an Italian emigrant William Bianchino, a native of Coggiola in the province of Biella who arrived in the United States with his parents when he was only five years old.

I now give the floor to Mr. Bianchino who will tell you something about the arrival of Rodolfo Valentino, (see article below). He writes:

“When Valentino came to this country from Taranto, Italy, he came directly to our office because my boss, Mr. Filomarino was a good friend of Valentino's mother".

In regard to money, Mr. Bianchino tells us Rodolfo, working as a dancer, earned $75 dollars a week, equal to the current $1,963.47. To this we can add a weekly remittance from mother Gabrielle of $5 dollars, equal to $ 130.90 today. I believe an income of $8,377.48 per month, for an eighteen year old Rodolfo, has little to do with the much vaunted misery in the fictional story told in My Private Diary.

These are the words of Mr. Bianchino:

“I recall Valentino told me he made 75$ a week by dancing and on that salary he had to change clothes three times a day to meet reporters and his money was spent like that”. He also had the weekly $5 which his mother sent from Italy, according to Bianchino.

Bianchino also tells an interesting story of how he convinced Valentino not to relocate to Tulsa, Oklahoma. A fascinating read! (with an enlargement below)

           The article appeared in The News, Paterson, New Jersey, December 20, 1969.

This advertisement for Ernesto Filomarino's business in 1913, was found on E-bay.

Frank Mennillo - Guardian of Valentino's Last Words

I have reported how Valentino, in his final hours of life, whispered something to Frank Mennillo. Mennillo shared this secret only with Alberto Valentino. I have also reported on what I feel Valentino said to his godfather Frank and how Alberto reacted.

But today I ask...was Valentino's whisper not a blessing on Frank... now existing as evidence of Valentino's eternal acknowledgment Frank was considered family, that Frank was to be trusted, evidence that Frank was the godfather? There is something sacred in that recorded moment. Valentino chose Frank as guardian of his secret.

For those who demean themselves by demeaning and belittling this “great comrade” Frank Mennillo, I share the following. This is not "fabrication" it is fact: Frank Mennillo was certainly there when Valentino died. Valentino died in his godfather's arms.

                                 Daily News, New York, New York, September 2, 1926.

The Cabriolet!

Thank you to a friend who forwarded this image (see below). Rudolph and Natacha, side by side, test driving their new vehicles in the Bois de Boulogne in 1923. This image is particularly interesting to me because we see Natacha's custom two-seated Isotta Fraschini Cabriolet. The vehicle was shipped to New York and sold when the Valentino's moved back to Los Angeles. George Ullman reports how Natacha was the envy of all Manhattan in that luxury car.

Renato informs me all Isotta Fraschinis were custom made and the company only sold the chassis and engine. The expense was extreme as by today's exchange rate it would cost @$165,000. After purchasing the Isotta Fraschini chassis and engines, the bodies of both of these vehicles were custom-crafted by Voisin. 

Rudy is seen here (below) test driving his purchase of a Voisin roadster. Doesn't the “driver” in the back seat look bored in both of the images? I bet he wishes he was at home with a good bottle of French wine!

Rudy placed his custom orders with the designer and then owner of the Aéroplanes Voisin, Gabriel Voisin. Gabriel (below) owned the business with his brother Charles until Charles was killed test driving one of their vehicles in 1912.

Purchasing Prints was Expensivo

In the years since my dear friend, colleague and comrade in arms, Michael Morris' death, I have had legal custody of his Madam Valentino archive. Michael published Madam Valentino in 1991 and years before digital access to images. When I began work on Affairs Valentino in 2000, I was just then having access. But Michael had to purchase all of the physical prints. I am also surprised he had possession of so many of the 8" x 10" negatives which his publisher Abbeville apparently sent to him. 

The negatives in their sleeves with their data are especially beautiful. When Michael first loaned me his archive in 2003, all of these photographs were kept in one huge cardboard box. I am still working out a system. I will be housing all of the archive at some point but am also hoping to be able to have it digitally housed online, most probably on archive.org. 

Meanwhile...Thank-you! Michael. 

This is Not a Feud

 Today I spotted someone writing about this “Feud” in the Valentino world. Actually I think she said a “huge feud.” I would post this comment on that. It is no feud.

If you are walking down the street and you see a gang of thugs beating up a couple of elderly people... those two elderly folks are not “feuding” with their attackers. They are having the shit kicked out of them.

It is not a “feud” in the Valentino world. If that is what this person thinks, then she needs to do a bit more homework and check out the evidence.

The Campaign to Ruin Evelyn/kicking the shit out of two elderly folks... drags on now for what is it... year eleven?

I think it is high time for that gang of thugs to retire from their crazed wickedness and find some cabin deep, deep, deep, deep in the woods where they can all happily pull the wings off flies.

This video was made on our way to El Jadida in the fall of 2011.

We Do Not Fabricate Documents, Mr. Terhune.

 So Tracy Ryan Terhune cites Valentino's “arrival money” in the US in 1913 as being $4000, which by today's currency exchange would be... as cited @ www.in2013dollars.com  the equivalent today of about $105,017.37.  

I ask Terhune, how could Valentino have possibly burned through that kind of money within a few days of his arrival to spend his first Christmas in New York broke? Impossible. Even for Valentino.

And Terhune tells a follower on his Facebook group that our reporting Valentino gave his destination in NYC as a wealthy Uncle Ernesto is just, “fabrication”. Is he kidding? He tells people on his Facebook group we fabricated the Ellis Island records? Ernesto was a successful businessman, Ada's uncle and we found evidence he sponsored other family members as well. Terhune is the great fabricator in this one.

We do not “fabricate” and he knows that. But then this is the man who stated our work belonged in the “trash bin of Valentino history”. This is the man who runs the blog under the title of Affairs Valentino to deceive our web traffic. This is the man who calls us names, mocking our ages, with a “tick tock” counting down to our deaths, who mocks Renato as the man “wearing a dress”, etc., etc.

This is the man who provides a platform for David Bret to violate the court order with his vile defamatory comments about us. So now Terhune claims we “fabricated” the data of Rudy's arrival in NYC. This is tantamount to him calling the Mennillos liars, the Filomarino family liars and us forgers who I guess fabricated those Ellis Island records which are all on file online? Ridiculous. I think Terhune and Hill's followers should exercise some critical thinking and call them out on this.

Instead of welcoming new work done on their favorite subject, they dismiss it all saying we “fabricate”. The Guglielmis were not a poor family and Valentino did not arrive in NYC as some economically impoverished person with a cardboard suitcase in hand. This was and still is a sham of a studio-generated version of events published about Valentino to garner sympathy.

Tracy Terhune ignores the records on file, ignores the facts we brought forth over years of hard work, while still trying to appear as some authority. Valentino arriving with the equivalency of just over 100,000$ and with wealthy family in NYC... whose address he gave to the authorities... Mr. Terhune and Ms. Hill that is not our fabrication.

See previous post titled, “Who Was Ernesto Filomarino?”

David Bret Found Guilty of Defaming Evelyn Zumaya

*The documents shared in this blog are all public record. Passages and clips of images are excerpted under the guidelines of Fair Use as they are posted in brief to support the narrative. All of these public documents are available to anyone accessing the court archives.  

In 2014, after four years of online attacks from David Bret, which he posted daily on multiple social media venues and at one point on some five blogs designated to threatening me and savaging our reputations...I sued Bret in The Court of Asti in Italy, charging defamation. I won the case in 2016 and Bret was found guilty of defamation. 

As he has continued to bully and defame me by posting online that the case was fraudulent, the lawyers “crooked” and that I faked the entire thing, I share a few pages of the verdict. I address Tracy Ryan Terhune's comment meant to diminish this verdict; his  saying it was “just a default judgment.” Well, it was not.

In Italy there is no default judgment and in her verdict, the Honorable Judge Monica Mastrandrea included a good deal of specific commentary about her judgment. (see below excerpted) She found David Bret guilty of defaming me and condemned "the offending nature of his behavior".... I add he has yet to comply with a single aspect of the Judge's verdict and that is where the case stands currently as he continues to bully us, bully all of our attorneys and even the legal firms they work for. And throughout this gross violation of a standing court order, Tracy Terhune provides a platform for Bret to post illegal defamation of us disguised as commentary on his hijacked blog he runs under my book's title. 

This is a public case and always has been and all documents are public records. To read the case as it was filed, the Italian court's official translation of the verdict and view the body of evidence presented against Bret visit, www.zumayawinslawsuit.com  And I quote Judge Mastrandrea's verdict:

Thank you, Frank Mallen.

I know the subject of the cause of Valentino's death has been discussed recently with the poisoning theory hopefully debunked by yours truly in our podcast we titled, "Rudolph Valentino, Powdered Diamond Dust & More":  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSWWOqUTs8k

I wanted to file the following mention here as a record of what I believe to be the definitive statement on how that poisoning theory came to be purported.

Frank Mallen worked for the tabloid, The New York Evening Graphic when Valentino died. In the 1950's he wrote a book about the paper known for “ sex, sin and sensation”.. His book was titled Sauce for the Gander. It was somewhat by chance I found the book when I was searching for reproductions of those composographs the paper created. These were elaborately staged images which were then hand created and doctored by staff artists. They were sensational; Valentino in heaven with Caruso, on the operating table and in his coffin. This, I add was a photograph taken of him in his coffin before his body even arrived to the funeral home.

So the poisoning hoopla was launched by the paper to sell papers and that they did in record numbers. Frank Mallen's book was not a best seller but in the lexicon of Valentino literature I feel it should be. Every copy should be snatched up and guarded. What an account of those days after Valentino's death and because of that account, so much changed in the narrative. We realize Valentino's manager, George Ullman was actually removed from the paper's decisions and that last iconic photo of Rudy in his coffin in the Gold Room which we imagine to have been captured in serenity... well it was not I will just say that. 

What a find this book was! 

And anyone still believing Valentino was poisoned after reading this inside confession of Frank Mallen would be as gullible as those folks long ago in 1926 grabbing their copies of the corner tabloid. 

                             I hope this is readable (above) because this says it all. 

                          I like the phrase he "...rendered the Leader papers a fine service.." 

                                      Thank you Frank Mallen, wherever you are!

The Gentleman on His Right

It has come to our attention that this image was posted by Tracy Terhune and he was wondering if someone could ID the gentleman with Valentino. We are going with Henry Otto who directed Valentino in "The Cheater" in 1920. An interesting man with a great career in Hollywood.... with the very broad mouth and grin and the very long nose.  

What I am Responding to....

With no option but to respond again in my defense...David Bret seems to forget that it is an attorney's obligation to forward all correspondence regarding a case to the client. And David Bret seems to forget that he has reported every single lawyer we have had on this case to some oversight organization in a continuing effort to harass us and our fine attorneys. This behavior has gone on for years. In these e-mails he portrays himself as a victim and me as insane. 

He also seems to forget what I am responding to: eleven years of daily attacks of the most violating, offensive and threatening kind. He is not the victim. As just one of his victims, I made this little video in March of 2013. Although in the video I despair over what to do...the following year I did sue Bret in an Italian court and won a verdict which was upheld by the UK courts due to international European Union agreements in place.

He has not stopped and continues to harass our lawyers and us in violation of the verdict. Imagine the files we have had to accumulate now as another seven years have passed since I made my appeal for help here so long ago. 

As he never reports on what I am responding to... here is a sampling of what Bret has posted for eleven years now about me and our work, savaging my Google search. As excerpted from the original screenshots. More evidence filed with the lawsuit can be viewed @ www.zumayawinslawsuit.com

Renato Responds to Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret's Risky Statements

Perhaps it is better for David Bret and Tracy Ryan Terhune to cleanse their minds instead of making such risky statements about Evelyn and I, which as always are offensive and defamatory.

I refer to what they wrote in their last pathetic posts against Evelyn in the blog which, coincidentally, Terhune runs under the title of Evelyn's own book as its title.

In this post, Terhune lays out some of Evelyn's infractions/stabbings which I address:

1) Betraying Donna Hill's confidence:

Donna Hill knew she was talking to a writer, a researcher on Valentino and a person who was then searching for those missing probate court records of Valentino. Donna Hill spontaneously told Evelyn that the documents were stolen from the Los Angeles County archive and that she knew who had them. Of course Evelyn was going to pay attention to news like that. That was a researcher's break through. Donna Hill also added spontaneously to Evelyn that the documents had been "returned" to the Valentino family in exchange for one of Valentino's shirts. I suspect Donna Hill wanted to spread this news. This was a crime and of course Evelyn would not ignore something like that.

Well, if you do not want a writer, a journalist, a narrator to share with the world what you tell them, it is better to shut up because it is the intellectual duty of the writer to spread important and above all truthful news. Tracy gave us ample proof that the news about the Valentino family exchanging one of Rudy's shirts for those records was true.

Ergo: Stab 0

2) Bill Self was really sorry to have to obey Jeanine Villalobos' request to no longer speak with Evelyn. So there is no secret or stabbing in this case. Evelyn used the alias of Pelf for Self to exclude him from any Google searches and not for other reasons.

Ergo: Stab 0

3) Cindy Martin:

This is a very good point, but the one who stabs here is Tracy who strongly contradicts Martin and brazenly calls her a liar. Tracy Terhune calls Cindy Martin a liar because she told us those defamatory and offensive posts by Bret about us were endorsed by Tracy.

Ergo: Stab 1 but by Tracy Ryan Terhune.

4) Michael Morris:

He was a very good friend of Evelyn and myself and I can say that he actually did not write a single word of the Forewarning but made many suggestions, such as i.e. the nickname “Magus of the Cult”. I ask Tracy not to pay attention to what Bret has to say about Michael as this could be risky. Bret who, while pretending to advocate for the gay community, insults Micheal Morris by calling him “Padre Liberace”, “A Queer Priest”, a “Queen” and so on. A very homophobic way to defend the gay community; using the term gay to insult.

Ergo: stab 0

5) Jeanine Villalobos.

She never had a friendly and private conversation with Evelyn. She spoke to her in public, being unfriendly and warning her not to publish George Ullman's memoir or else. I was there with at least another fifteen other people when she said, "If you publish that you will kill my mother”, followed by, “We will publish incriminating material about Ullman”. Eleven years have passed but we are still waiting.

Ergo: Stab 0

6) David Bret:

I ask Tracy Ryan Terhune how he can speak about Bret as a victim of a default judgment? First of all in Italy every judgment has its own progress and the default doesn't exist. David Bret, instead of insulting the lawyers and sending crazy and hysterical emails to the general prosecutor, to the chief of the police and so on, had only to contact our lawyers in a gentlemanly way, (I admit this is an impossible position for him), and ask what was going on.

He did not need to scream from the roof tops that it was all a scam. Regarding the Bret letter to our lawyer which Evelyn posted, Terhune should wash his mouth out with soap before calling unethical our serious professionals.

That letter, as are all the documents in this lawsuit, are a legal part of this case and there is nothing illegal in disclosing them. Bret does not enjoy attorney/client privilege because this was and is our lawyer. Of course she would and will continue to forward all correspondence to us.

Illegal and unethical would be the words to describe Tracy Ryan Terhune's abuse of Evelyn's blog affairsvalentino.blospot.com.

Last but not least, if you do not want me or Evelyn to disclose what you say to us, it is better you stay silent. Because we are transparent like the clear water and do not live in the mud of defaming, pathetic lies.

I do not reply to Bret's delirium because the only thing he can do is to pay, that's all folks.

Renato Floris

Who Was Ernesto Filomarino?

 Who was Ernesto Filomarino? He was Alberto Valentino's wife Ada's Uncle. Her mother was a Filomarino and Ernesto Filomarino's sister. He emigrated early to America and enjoyed tremendous success supplying books to the Italian-American community. As Renato points out, many Italian-American immigrants at the time were illiterate and Ernesto accommodated this reality as we see in his advertisement for his national enterprise. His books were shipped nationally and he published a catalog of various items. Ernesto Filomarino was a wealthy man, advertising nationally as this ad was found in a San Francisco Italian newspaper. He was a pioneer in establishing affordable books for the Italian community in America.

Translation: "Do You Want Me? Soon Done! Buy the following views, now released, splendid and topical: 24 Views of the European war, 24 Views of the cities of Italy, 24 Views of the ITALO-TURKISH war and you will get me free, 72 Views and Graphoscope all for only $1 ( $26.00 today). We ship express. Those who want registered parcels, 25 cents more ($6.50 today). General catalog of the Library, 12 cents ($3.00 today). Send order and payment to E. FILOMARINO & Co., 215 Spring Street, New York City." 

                                        Ernesto Filomarino operates a printing press.

Even more fascinating than Uncle Ernesto's stereoscopic inventory shipped nationwide, was his hosting of family members who emigrated to New York. When Rudolph Valentino arrived in America in December of 1913, he gave the immigration officials the address and name of Ernesto Filomarino as his new home in America; 215 Spring Street, New York... New York.

We discovered insight into Ernesto's home and position when Renato recently found a second family member, Federico Rizzo, a cousin who arrived on June 1, 1916, also being boarded by Ernesto. 

Yet, the image of Valentino arriving to be hosted by a wealthy family member is no where to be found in the studio-generated version of his life story. Because this one small aspect of Valentino's story was an important one for Valentino's employers in Hollywood to change. They felt it imperative they portray Valentino as the rags to riches Horatio Alger hero who arrived in New York desperately poor, not speaking a word of English and knowing no one. After researching this with the assistance of the Filomarino family, I can say this absolutely was not how it all happened.

A teen-age Valentino arrived to Uncle Ernesto Filomarino's home... which because of his great success must have been a rather fabulous domicile. And having lived "Italian" for many years now I know one thing well; Italians live large. They take great pride in their homes, cook a great deal of food, they want you to eat a great deal of food and the food is always delicious with plenty of bread, wine and antipasto to go with. The classic cinemagraphic image of Valentino, having not eaten in days, shuffling along the streets of New York shivering like the little match girl is ridiculous in light of the existing documentation about Uncle Ernesto. I alleged the case for Valentino being welcomed by wealthy friends and family in Affairs Valentino by presenting the story of Frank Mennillo and Uncle Ernesto furthers this change in the Valentino narrative.

If Valentino held fast to that story of his starvation...it was because he was convinced his popularity would dissipate if his public knew he arrived to spend his first day with Mennillo's tailor and his first night sleeping in Uncle Ernesto's very comfortable mansion. I do not dispute the sleeping on a park bench stories but knowing what I do now, if Valentino slept on a park bench it was not for being homeless.

The thin broth version of those years has to be changed I think. I think that false version was created and perpetuated out of racism towards Italians. In reality, the world Valentino arrived to was not so harsh. He had money and some in his homeland say he arrived with $4000. U.S. dollars, others $300... In 1913 that was an enormous amount of money. The Guglielmi family held great pride in their royal lineage and were not poor folk. They would have never sent Rudolph to begin a new life with pennies in his pocket and to live as destitute in a place where he knew no one. He went to New York because Uncle Ernesto was there and had a grand home with many rooms. And can we imagine those rooms in the Filomarino home had fine linens, were elegantly appointed and it was not some boarding house where Valentino's suitcases were confiscated until he paid for his room.

Who thought that one up? They probably got a nice bonus for it. Valentino sleeping in a movie theater? Hardly. He arrived a prince and would always be one. Despite his struggles to be on his own, he danced with stars, made love to wealthy ladies like Blanca DeSaulles and left New York with the Masked Model road show as a star with billing. In the cast photo taken he stands center which is exactly where he should have been standing.

I once asked the Mennillo family when Frank Mennillo knew Rudolph and they answered, “Oh, Frank met him at the boat and took him straight to his tailor to have a couple of suits made for him. And he told Rudolph he should never been seen without a pair of fresh white spats on.”

This is hardly the description of someone grinding along the city streets for hours in search of a bowl of soup.

When Valentino was working with Baltasar Cué on “The True Story” of his life...his goal was to write the truth and it was then he told Cue the existing version, as told by the studios, was inaccurate and wrong. I wonder if he would have gone on, had he not died, to finish the book and give credit to Uncle Ernesto.

When I think of Valentino now in those first New York days, I think of him waking up in a bed of fresh linens, having his breakfast served to him on a silver tray and then heading off to greet the day in high fashion befitting his actual social status. He did well and quickly and I think it is time to brush that patina of desperation off his legacy and appreciate his truth. He had many people who loved and cared for him then and he was the “Marquis” and they saw to that. Truth is always more attractive to me than the fiction.

Thanks to Renato for finding the Ernesto Filomarino story. And thank you Renato for translating the advertisement.

More Endless, Endless Lies from Nora Naldi, Albert Morris & Joey Jenkinson

An e-mail, redacted, from David Bret to my attorney, sent during the early days of the collection process for damages awarded in the defamation lawsuit I won against him in 2016. In this e-mail he repeats his litany of ten years of lies about me and  suggests to my attorney that I undergo a psychiatric evaluation. There might be a kind of Freudian slip there in the paragraph which begins with.." Its very possible.." where he writes "what she says she owes me"..because actually I do not owe him a penny. Read on. 

Bodyguard

There's a danger in an audience. The larger the audience, the more the peril. If there is a lesson to be learned from Rudolph Valentino, it would be that for me. There is a scrutiny. If one person were to be looking over your shoulder to watch every move you make that would be destructive enough. But every new member of that audience expanded that destruction exponentially. Valentino didn't stand a chance.

And if that audience is out to get you, if anyone in that audience is out the get you... well imagine the psychological weight of bearing that.

And then there is that rogue psycho in the audience who presents such a danger that it requires security. ..the reason why Ullman carried a gun. Valentino's audience was especially aggressive during the filming of The Son of the Sheik. Isn't it interesting to think that even within the security of the United Artists' lot... George Ullman would have been standing by with a loaded gun in his pocket.

So it goes. Godspeed. 

To the Attention of Simon Constable:

 In response to your recent name-calling of George Ullman...I ask... why are you so very angry at George Ullman and also Frank Mennillo? Why do you seem so determined to tear these two great men down with your tragic insults and contrived rewrites of their actual lives? I surely have presented you with enough information over the years for you to know who these men were to Valentino and what they did for him. You surely have in the least taken a glance at what I discovered.

George Ullman was a fabulous character, a boxer, a classical violinist... an ad man.. and I can see why Valentino immediately wanted him to manage his business affairs. George managed things and he was no stuffed shirt as the expression goes. He was a kind of scientist in that way about life and the numbers he crunched made it work. I will not waste everyone's time here by recounting the incredible numbers he put up bringing Valentino back to work and in negotiating those fat contracts with Joe Schenck which would have made Valentino a millionaire within months had he lived.

And Frank Mennillo was swashbuckling Italian prince. Yes, he separated from his wife Zelinda and they had to work through a very rocky beginning to their life estranged. Simon, you find that Frank pulled a “John DeSaulles” and refused to return his son to his wife at the appointed time after a court scheduled visitation. For that he briefly faced charges of kidnapping until he surrendered the child which he did. So Simon, you peel your blaring headline off the presses saying Frank Mennillo was a child kidnapper. Who are you kidding? The rest of the story...which I reported on in Affairs Valentino ( a book you should read at least once in your life)... would have been good to share, Simon.

Frank and his wife were married their entire life. Although they were separated, both being staunch Catholics they did not believe in divorce. But they worked through their issues and co-parented their son who shared great memories of both of his parents with his son who I interviewed. Frank Mennillo's grandson shared all of this and much more with me.

I am not sure what you feel you gain in demeaning these two larger-than-life characters in Valentino's story, Simon Constable. Does it make you feel better in some way to loudly proclaim Valentino was so clueless he surrounded himself with crooks and bandits who, except for that handy handyman...were all out to destroy him? He did not and you know that. I believe Valentino was an astute judge of character and a savvy businessman himself.

I have lived a long life young man and to me your name-calling of these fine people demonstrates far more about you than they. Because I think it is more apparently about how badly you want to win favor in the eyes of the Valentino family and sadly motivated not by any truth but by how badly you want me to be wrong, to be ruined and debunked to the nth corner of the universe. And that makes your participation in this... all about you and not Rudolph Valentino.

Do you not care about the documentation and the facts I brought forth? Do you really still possibly think Valentino did not sorely need and appreciate both of these great friends/guardians? They were not saints but who is? Takes a lot to become a saint, Simon Constable, the process of canonization can take decades or even centuries to complete. Hence most of us would be just mortals.

In my opinion Simon Constable, you would be so much the grander presence if you built up Valentino's legacy instead of bringing it down. Pardon me for still having hope.

And don't be trash talking Valentino's old guard; sensationalizing with comments made entirely out of context. Frank and George were there until the end. They both led lives of great stature and earned the respect of anyone who knew them.

Because they can not be here today to defend themselves, I will do so for them. I think you have nothing against Ullman or Mennillo but you are against me because I discovered the truth and by default consider me the heretic.

“Friends on the Inside...”

One of the more disturbing aspects of the, “Campaign to Ruin Evelyn”, as devised and perpetuated by Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret, with the tacit approval of Donna Hill and Jeanine Villalobos... would be the following. In their campaign effort to bury our work and ruin our names, they have recruited spies... people acting as operatives dispatched to convince me they support our work and initiate a communication as a supporter and friend, gaining my confidence. 

In pointing out this situation, I want to be clear I am referring to a few notable people over the years who had other motives for saying hello and not the wonderful supporters who are genuine, knowledgeable and generous with materials and their time. It was always depressing for me to realize someone was not a friend, but an operative out to gather information about me and our work. 

One woman admitted this was exactly what was happening when discovered saying, “Yes, I have friends on the inside." 

I asked and still ask... The “inside” of what? Am I on the outside? Something to ponder, but I think it is pretty obvious to anyone knowing this story. 

She went on to explain that “they” just wanted to know how the work on the Ullman Memoir was going; (this took place during that time frame.) I recall this woman being extremely interested in our location when we were traveling that summer. At one point she asked me if we were going to go to LA to attend the crypt service. 

Another person contacted me with praise for Affairs Valentino, asking for our home address saying her son was coming to Italy and wanted to swing by our home to bring me a gift. I felt uncomfortable doing so and told her we were traveling. I never heard from her again and am not sure what happened to that gift. 

Well the spies/operatives do their best and some get farther along than others before I wise up. I am sure they all believed/believe they were and are doing something worthy for the Valentino cause/family. And I have no doubt when they get results for their Rudy espionage, they are rewarded. How thrilling to have a new Rudy image, a Rudy shirt....

I was once accused of being “eccentric” and “paranoid”. Well absolutely I now am. Anyone else would be too at this point... all things considered what we have to endure from these people. I was extremely disappointed way back then, and still am to learn and relearn these awful lessons. I was not an eccentric, paranoid woman way back then but I am now because of their aggressively sinister and unending campaign.

Are there spies in the Valentino world dispatched from the “inside” ?Incredibly, there are. My point in sharing this today? To say I do not appreciate anyone's decision to assist in any way those people who do their best to make us suffer; to make our lives very difficult, to openly impede our right to do business and by exacting their bullying best to psychologically exhaust us. Anyone who would rationalize helping these monsters is just as culpable.

This said, despite the efforts to bury our books and prevent sincere, interested people from hearing our stories and learning about the new discoveries...I refuse to surrender to their attempts to make our lives miserable. They are the miserable curs, snapping at the end of their leashes; held in check by the controlling hand of the master. The master with all the goods, all the images, the archives... even stolen ones... the master with all the artifacts and who knows those curs well.

Today is the 2,964^th day and counting that Tracy Ryan Terhune has been running that designated hate blog under my book's title.. as solid proof of just how very much he still fears Affairs Valentino.

Portraits

 Hello. Some beloved friends, family and fur babies. 

                             Roger, Wayne, a youthful Renato, Leeloo and an angel. 

My Vindication - I Fight On

As I know David Bret reads this blog, because he prints it out, highlights portions of it and sends it to my lawyer claiming I am harassing him by reporting on the collection process against him, I write the following:

For his information the collection process is not final, no final decision has been made and the case is not closed and will not be until he pays me every cent he owes me. This case is ongoing. I received today from my lawyer a status report from the OR, or Official Receiver in charge of assessing Bret's ability to pay the damages awarded to us by the Honorable Judge in the Court of Asti.

The Official Receiver informs me he can be contacted regarding any “possible breaches of insolvency legislation” and that he will “continue to be responsible for investigating the cause of the bankrupt's insolvency.” This collection process is ongoing and will be until every cent is collected.

It is somewhat poignant that this would arrive to my desk today on what would have been the birthday of my beloved Dad. And this has re-energized me in my fight for justice. David Bret savaged me and my father's memory in the days following my Dad's death in 2010. Bret wrote disgusting things about me and my Dad which are too vile to repeat. He delighted in linking his filthy posts to my Dad's obituary in his local paper and he completely deprived me of any mourning period for my father as I was assaulted daily in the day's following his death by Bret's vicious and sadistic attacks.

Bret wrote our lawyer and sent along my post on this blog I titled, “Boundless Energy” saying that he knew I would “never let this go.” No I will not. I will fight for justice for myself, for Renato and for my Dad on this his birthday. Until my dying day I will be pursuing collection on this legitimate debt and I might suggest to David Bret, “World's Greatest Author”/ “In Bankruptcy”, that instead of printing out this blog and wasting his time forwarding it all to my lawyer who has no more reason to ever communicate with him... that he best start paying on those damages he caused me. It will be the only closure on this subject. He can count on that. I vindicate my Father's memory from Bret's unthinkable defamation!

And yes, I have been reporting on this for years and will continue to do so. This is a public case and anyone can access the records. I write the truth... truth be told.

My Dad playing chess with a student in 1960. (He was a champion chess player)  Happy Birthday Daddy... I fight on. 

Doris Kenyon's "Rudolph Valentino" Sonnet

Today I received a note from a reader who shared the Motion Picture Magazine image below with me. In my previous post I shared a letter written to Michael Morris from Leslie Flint which included a poem, penned as a sonnet about Natacha Rambova by the actress Doris Kenyon. Doris Kenyon wrote two sonnets and today we read her "enchanting" tribute to Valentino. 

A Poem as Ode to Natacha Rambova

One of the more interesting correspondences in Michael Morris' archive, is his exchange with Leslie Flint., the President of the Valentino Memorial Guild of London. In this letter Flint sends Michael Morris a poem written by Doris Kenyon in 1924 during the filming of Monsieur Beaucaire. I share the letter and the enclosed poem which Michael Morris included in Madam Valentino. 

"Boundless Energy"

I realize it would be a pleasant experience for readers of this blog to enjoy more images of Rudolph Valentino and artful commentary to go with. But at this point do I have a choice but to expose the actions of those gate keepers of his myth, those merchants sullying his temple?

How tragic it is to me to realize this beloved idol's heavenly gates have come to be kept by people I believe belong in jail for what they do to Renato and I. In response, I do not plan to be silenced and shuffle away to weep for some loss. I fight to have this behavior exposed, fight to have our truth be known and fight for our good names.

As I have laid out in the narrative of this blog and will continue to do so, the current gate keepers of the myth brag about impeding our right to do business... proudly stating they have had our Valentino books removed from sale. I ask, does not bragging about impeding someone's legal right to do business make breaking that law even worse?

And in response to the torrents of defamation issued by these bandits while they work to ruin our book sales... I remind them defamation has its consequences... just ask David Bret. He spent years posting maniacally how our lawsuit against him was a fraud and swore as fact we hired actors I guess to pose as our lawyers. David Bret posted this on his multiple attack websites and blogs, where he expounded authoritatively to the world just how we faked the whole thing. And why? Because he claimed he was innocent. Well he was not.

He always knew the lawsuit was perfectly legal and he knew the evidence we collected was about as bad as it could be. The disgusting archive of yes thousands of images and posts included files with titles such as “Attacks on My Body”, “My Father”, “My Death”, “Stalking Me”... etc. with the files chock full of death wishes (he prefers to call his death threats,“witty death wishes”), the files are full of sexual obscenity, unthinkable levels of personal invasion and traumatizing images... so I can say he knew it was a real lawsuit from day one. But his entire response to the lawsuit was that; to claim as loudly as possible, as many times as possible that he was an innocent and the lawsuit, our lawyers and us... were all crooks out to do him in.

It is now six years later and our fine lawyers are working in two countries coordinating efforts in accordance with international agreements in place, to collect the damages awarded to us in that lawsuit we won against David Spurr Bret. The Court of Asti verdict found him guilty of defamation and has ordered him to pay us a great deal of money which he has yet to do. Meanwhile he continues to defame us and our work under his name and under a slew of aliases.

This all may not be the loveliest of Valentino's stories, but it is our reality every day because they make it so. Their malicious attacks over all these years have consumed days and months of our time when we could have spent that valuable time on more positive projects.

We fight to defend our right to publish our books which are the culmination of a great deal of hard work and dedication. We fight to expose the many, many lies they spread about us and we fight to have our truth known.

Today someone remarked how Renato and I have such “boundless energy”. I was taken aback by that actually. Because over the years we have woken up so many mornings to be kicked hard by the “bastards” as Renato calls them... those who never stop in their “campaign to ruin Evelyn”.. as it is called by them.

But despite, Renato and I are not sorry folks moping about, lost and defeated. We are fighters and always have been and when a few notable people are publicly doing all they can to prevent us from selling our books...we will fight to keep that from happening.

In my opinion they all belong in jail. You can not just stand in front of a restaurant and tell people maliciously the food inside is poison and will kill them when that is not true at all. And then you can not brag to the world online how you managed to ruin business for the restaurant and laugh how you put them out of business. And you can not then go home and open up a blog under the name of that restaurant where nothing but heavy defamation is posted about the owners of that restaurant. I think you get my point.

“Boundless energy” sounds thrilling. New mantra for me.

#victory

To read the evidence I submitted in the lawsuit v. David Bret and the verdict,  you can find the files uploaded here:

https://www.zumayawinslawsuit.com/

Pick a Team or The Invisible Line

 Well you can not have it both ways. Belonging to both “teams” is an impossibility as far as I am concerned. It is not so much a question of belonging to a club (such as a Facebook Valentino group) but it is a question of the level of one's actively participating and contributing as a prominent member of that club which gives them their distinction.

Those individuals who have gained distinction on the groups,  'Mad About the Boy' and 'We Never Forget' can scarcely appear credible also belonging to Renato's group, 'La Bomba Atomica Dell' Amore'. Because we know the following about those two groups from Ms. Cindy Martin who wrote Renato and I excerpt under Fair Use guidelines:

On May 15, 2019, she wrote: “Those two... (referring to Terhune and Constable) .. are now thick as thieves along with Donna Hill, and they are working against Evelyn.”

On May 19, 2019: “The 'We Never Forget' group is actually Donna Hill's group, and I have been on that group for several years, as a member and Tracy is a moderator.”

On May 20, 2019: “Tracy has always been the puppetmaster. No one else has ever pulled the strings. Even David (Bret) would read his entire statement for his blog to him before posting it.”

“I told him (Tracy Terhune) a while ago that I refused to be his “bully-machine” against you and Evelyn.”

“Tracy is calling the shots and he is also controlling what Simon and Eleanor from 'Mad About the Boy' puts out there.”

I ask followers in those two groups to call these people out and ask them why they think it is ok to run campaigns against us and why it is ok to be doing the following to us?

A short list:

Calling me “Fool Zumaya” and referring to me as the “Mad Woman of Turin” and referring to Renato as “Child Star 72” and “The Man Who Wears Dresses”, etc. Mocking our ages with countdowns to our deaths.

Running a hate blog under the same title as my book, Affairs Valentino for eight years and counting to deceive my web traffic and post images of Satan, pigs and toilets, etc.

Spreading lies about both of us such as my having a drug history, that I abandoned family, and worse.

Making completely false claims about me repeatedly.

Permitting David Spurr Bret to post his defamation about us despite being under a court order not to do so.

Blocking us completely from even seeing what is said in their groups, etc.

Bragging how they have had our books removed from sale, etc.

Working to ruin me and while boasting how I am so ruined no one can save me?

It is my opinion that anyone believing this to be excusable behavior has already chosen their team.

And with Cindy Martin explaining the control of those two Facebook groups, I ask why in god's name would we ever want to have anything to do with the acolytes of someone (Tracy Terhune) who recently wrote about me:

If people find it excusable that these people actively conspire and recruit to block us, ruin us, lie about us and mock, demean and bully us... then I want no part of them either.

What is that expression? If you don't get the problem, then you are part of the problem.

So I say to those people who still seem confused over why I am responding as I am...consider this: there are not two sides to a story when one side quite publicly behaves as they do... and might I also suggest to read some of my previous posts and check out:

https://www.zumayawinslawsuit.com/

No one should have to live under the daily threat these people (and I use that term loosely there) pose to us and have for many, many, many years for writing about Rudolph Valentino.

Renato adds... that as he does not like to delete followers from his group, he asks that everyone choose to stay only if they are genuinely friendly and supportive of us.

As they say in Italy: “It is better to be alone than in bad company.”

Thank you for reading.

#donefortoday #relax #valentinocultistthreat

Affairs Valentino - And that Fairness Lien

For me the most glaring travesty in the story of S. George Ullman was revealed in this excerpt from the California Court of Appeals (see below). Although George Ullman was exonerated on all of Alberto Valentino's frivolous charges of fraud and mismanagement of his brother Rudolph's estate, the California Court of Appeals issued a unique solution to the issue of the estate funds George disbursed to those he believed to be the rightful heirs. 

The Court of Appeals recognized Ullman acted in good faith in disbursing the funds as he did not have access to the entire will and that sheet of instructions, Paragraph Fourth. In regards to the money George advanced before the discovery of Paragraph Fourth, the Court ruled that those people who did benefit from those advances made by Ullman, being Alberto, his sister Maria and Teresa Werner.. that they establish a “Fairness or Appropriate Lien” and settle the issue among themselves at the time Jean Valentino inherited the estate when he turned twenty-five. The final verdict stated they should logically not hold Ullman responsible to repay the estate money to the very people who benefited from it. 

Well the “Fairness Lien” no doubt sounded like a “fair” solution to the appeals court judges. But how naive of the court to assume this would happen. Neither Valentino's sister Maria Strada or Teresa Werner pursued Ullman in any collection process and respected the Appeals Court decision. It was Alberto Valentino, who at the time was making the decisions for the estate, who refused to establish the “Fairness Lien”. In a twisted act of legal loop hole, he instead pursued Ullman for thirty years trying to collect the money he already spent years earlier. Why? I guess because he could. 

And while he was harassing Ullman with wage garnishment orders and property seizure, Alberto was crying on the shoulders of anyone who would listen, telling them he received only pennies from his brother's estate and every other penny went to lawyers. According to the final will, which included Paragraph Fourth, Alberto had no right to even those pennies as he was not a rightful heir and was to only receive a weekly stipend or allowance until Jean inherited the estate. Alberto hired those lawyers, initiated the litigation, squandered what Ullman made of Valentino's estate and it was Alberto who hired more lawyers throughout the ensuing thirty years to try and force Ullman to pay him money he received and spent. 

Alberto's refusal to establish a fairness lien and settle the problem when Jean turned twenty-five, crushed Ullman financially for the rest of his life. This is all well-documented. It is especially offensive to me to read Alberto's interviews where he casts Ullman as the villain, erroneously stating as fact that Ullman was found guilty by the court while never stating all of that was overturned on appeal. The brazen lie about the reason why Ullman owed the Valentino estate is still perpetuated. And Ullman is defamed with ridiculous, cruel and yet all too familiar innuendo. 

Acting in good faith, Ullman accommodated Alberto's requests for advances, before the appearance of Paragraph Fourth... only to have Alberto demand Ullman personally pay him those advances a second time. And the total of those advances in 1934 was just over $70,000 for Alberto alone and with interest the amount of all of the advances accrued by the 1950's to $160,000. By today's exchange rate this would be over two million dollars with the advances made to the “penniless” Alberto valued today at just over $900,000.

I know why those probate records turned up missing and why the Valentino family had such a burning interest in having them in their possession. Because Alberto did not tell the truth, wrongfully portrayed himself as having received nothing from his brother's executor and cast the executor as a villain.

For years, “they” the team and the Valentino family's silence, nurtures the lie that I forged the court records I sourced in Affairs Valentino. What a genius I would have to be to do something like that. But they know these records and this story exists in the documentation and have admitted having had access to them. Instead of issuing some amends for the injustice done to Ullman, they continue to call me a mad woman and disgrace Affairs Valentino by repeating the same old tired lies which Alberto initiated in his attempt to generate sympathy for himself and perpetuate a vendetta against S. George Ullman.

I became the one to find this story buried in those court records. I guess they all felt smug and safe knowing no one could access the records and thereby Alberto's bullshit could stand. But when I did tell the story, share the documents and reveal the facts of the sad tale... their response was to kill the messenger with lies and defamation. I am sure it was not a great moment for them to realize that in their heist of the truth, they neglected to steal the appeals court copies of those records. I guess there is no such thing as the perfect crime. 

In 2011, (I believe it was December) Michael Morris told me, via e-mail, that Jeanine Villalobos asked him for Bunny Ullman's home address. As I promised both Bunny and Bob I would never divulge their locations, I told Michael I could not give this to him. If I recall properly, he told me Villalobos had a private investigator try to locate Bunny and gave me the name of a city where she believed Bunny lived. I told him that was not where she lived and he then told me Villalobos wanted Bunny's home address so she could apologize to her for all that happened to her father. I told Michael Morris that if the family was sincere in this, they had many other venues with which to issue an apology publicly. 

It is sad this never took place before both Bob and Bunny Ullman died. For more on this story read Affairs Valentino and the Affairs Valentino Companion Guide.