Responding to More Delirium

A quick response to the forum's (Mad About the Boy) delirium by the account "B. Mason", Simon Constable and Bret (Edel Man) as they all attempt to make some sense out of the subject of Marion Benda and Rudy.

First of all I say to B. Mason, the Schulman archives are in Los Angeles and not New York.

Secondly, to Constable, you might want to save a bit of face and stop running around screaming “fabrication, no evidence” because there is plenty of it. Your version of events, i.e. the poisoning, etc. which you so carefully constructed to uphold your “fabrications” ...has been proven wrong a million times over and that “witness” you question was the actual cab driver who might know more about the events of that fateful night than you.

It is scarcely worth commenting on this hyped-up and tired old argument that Benda and Rudy were playing canasta or talking politics during those two hours in her hotel room. I comment here in passing on this by telling Constable that phrases like “dropping his pants”, “stripping” and sniggering about Valentino being “firm”...are straight up denigrating to Valentino... yet not surprising coming from the corner of the Valentino flat world where every single mention has to play into the sex obsessed fabrication that Valentino was repulsed by women.

How much evidence can Constable and Bret (Edel Man) and their censor, Terhune ignore? All of it actually. And simply declaring something a “fabrication” does not make that true. Remember when Tracy Ryan Terhune declared all of our first hand proof that Valentino arrived in New York with a great deal of money and to be welcomed by two wealthy benefactors as, “pure fabrication”? He has been tossing this “pure fiction” phrase around for years and it is a favorite ploy of his to just say that. I think he and Constable now sorely underestimate people's ability to be critical thinkers. It is no longer that easy.

I suggest they all go back and read the Cue book, read Affairs Valentino... the most documented book on Valentino... and read again the articles and interviews given at the time by those who certainly know more than a few so-called experts who are hell-bent on not letting their “Valentino was Gay” hoax fall apart. Let me be the first to tell them... it has.

How laughable to see Bret (Edel Man) chiming in lamenting how Valentino's life can not be “broken down” after 100 years. Boy... he sure thinks he is able to do that with his high degree of hysterical fiction about the man. And “Edel Man Bret” announces his latest innuendo based “book” as part of this failed campaign...Perhaps he will finally make one dime so he can pay us the damages awarded to us in the defamation lawsuit we won against him. I will make sure the authorities are well aware of his latest effort.

In closing...Constable says he needs 2-3 sources to believe something? What a joke. He believes Bret's books and I am still waiting for one single source proving their grand theory that Valentino was gay and/ or bisexual. (And no... Leider saying “Bisexuality is always an option” is not proof) If he is such a stickler for proof... why does he not require this at all about that subject? If ever there was a complete fabrication based on zero sources, the mere idea Valentino was gay would be it.

Constable barks how there is no “proof”.... while his entire platform is based on nothing but innuendo and his blithering, pompous and quite failed attempts to convince people he is informed.

Meanwhile, a young Rudolph Valentino at 15 years old, who frequented brothels and got syphilis from having sex with female prostitutes, historically confirms he had no credentials as a homosexual...(as confirmed by Valentino's great-niece, Valentino himself and a letter Valentino wrote to his sister-in-law). To contribute to this “proof” I add a fourth source which would be Valentino's brother Alberto telling Bill Self this was fact. Subject closed. 

Boggles the Mind

It still boggles my mind that Edel Man is still included in groups and in friends lists. We all know who it is so either people somehow still don't know or they know and don't care. I think this bears repeating. 

https://evelynzumaya.blogspot.com/2021/01/home-sweet-crematorium.html

https://evelynzumaya.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-value-of-truthfulness.html

https://evelynzumaya.blogspot.com/2021/02/those-poisonous-aliases.html

I think it is obvious I would not accept friend requests from people in affiliation with that account and will block them also. On that I hold a hard line. 

Capturing the Spirit

Without a doubt, today these iconic images (below) of Valentino would be considered cultural appropriation. I would no doubt be considered culturally inappropriate for even posting them. However I feel strongly such images must be appreciated and within the historical context of when they were taken.

When Valentino posed for this series, he did so out of respect for the warrior and this was during the time in his life when he was focused not only on Black Feather being his spirit guide but on securing a role as an American Indian on screen.

I found it interesting when I was writing Astral Affairs Rambova to learn how the medium, George Wehner also consulted an American Indian spirit guide, White Cloud. Wehner's father was a sculptor of renown and traveled the country sculpting busts of famous Indian chiefs. It must have left the impression on his son George.

Costume tests? Valentino working out a new role? I think at the time these images were taken the American Indian warrior was a great symbol for Americans; the brave, the wise and the long-suffering. Granted, as a people they were being persecuted, obliterated by a bloody diaspora and relegated to remote reservations like the refugees they were.

If Valentino had lived would he have been an advocate for Indian rights such as Marlon Brando? Would he have used his fame to draw attention to the grievances? I like to think this would have been the case, yes.

Nevertheless, I also think in these poses, considering the historical context of when they were taken... he captured the spirit with great respect.

...the lilt of her proud grace..."

A sonnet written by Doris Kenyon in tribute to Rudolph Valentino's great love and queen, Natacha Rambova. Did Natacha know when she fell in love with Valentino and married him that her own career in Hollywood would be destroyed? Did she know she would be the recipient of a world of abusive accusations? Could she have known that this abuse would continue on for decades?

For those who find their Valentino more lovable as a victim, I guess she is the perfect foil. I never have seen Valentino as anyone's victim and find the Natacha bashing sexist and offensive.

#rudolphvalentinosqueen #goddess #natacharambova

Chauvinistic Things

I personally feel strongly that anyone not in total awe of Natacha Rambova is a misogynist pig. Look at this image of her (see below). I do not need to restate all she had accomplished by this point in her very young career but it was exceptional. She was on the top of her field in set and costume design.

I believe after all the research I have done on her life and career that she was run out of Hollywood by a misogynist system and by Valentino's handlers. And Ullman was not a “handler” because Valentino was paying Ullman. Valentino's handlers were those people paying him... Joe Schenck for one.

To those who feel they still have some beef with Natacha with their stock laments, “Oh she didn't want to have Rudy's babies”, “She was a harpie”, “She was the worst thing to ever happen to Valentino”... well you are all, in my opinion, misogynist pigs.

I remind them how women have been free for a while now. I feel extremely defensive of my rights as a woman when chauvinistic things like that are said about anyone. I realize Natacha Rambova is an historical point now but she stands as a litmus test for me to know real quickly just what kind person I am dealing with.

"...to Answer is Courtesy..."

There were occasions during my research process for Affairs Valentino when things went horribly wrong and horribly fast. I would say that one of the more exceptional examples of that was when Donna Hill blurted out to me how the court records I was looking for were in the hands of the Valentino family and Jeanine Villalobos bartered for their return with the exchange of one of Rudy's shirts.

Now at that time Donna Hill knew I was writing a book on the “Affairs Valentino” and what did she think? Anyone in my position would have done exactly the same. For her it was surely a slip of the tongue and some juicy dish. For me it was “breaking news”. I would have had to have been in a coma to not report that and I did.

But it all went horribly wrong. She was betrayed, even though she never asked me not to report on that. For some reason she was furious with me even though I did not name her in the book as being the source. But for the past ten years and counting she has boycotted all our books and according to Cindy Martin, she ghost writes everything for Terhune. And according to Cousin Cindy Martin, Donna Hill is heavily involved in Terhune's, “Campaign to Ruin Evelyn”. Nice people.

My crime? Well let's put it this way. Never tell a writer anything you don't want to see in print. Especially if it constitutes a huge part of their story. For god's sake what did she think I would do?

She tries hard to shoo us and our work under the carpet and reign as Rudy fan. But I think someone so hell bent on shunning all of our new work and discoveries is not going to fair so well in the long run. What will this endless shunning gain? Donna Hill knew I was looking for those records, knew I was writing about Ullman and working with his children. Of course I wanted to know what happened to that stolen case file which would vindicate Ullman as Valentino's executor.

I write this to report the obvious I guess. Renato once sent Ms. Hill a polite query as to why she omitted all of our books from her lavish list of Valentino publications. She did not answer him but her response was made the following day by Terhune and Bret on that hit blog. She just passed it on to the pit bulls for their ravaging. As the Italian expression goes, “To ask a question is reasonable and to answer is courtesy.”

What a scam they all run... feigning expertise when they burn the ground-breaking books and conspire to suppress all that we contribute.

"Pleased You Asked..."

 

It Bears Reasserting

Today while looking through some old files, I found the following list. I wrote this sometime in 2004 or 2005. Although I could certainly add a great deal to this account of my discoveries now, it still bears reasserting I think. I titled the list:

Documents I uncovered and referenced for Affairs Valentino:

1) Extracts and Schedules from the Baskerville Audit- This audit was ordered by the court in 1930 and was an extensive review of Ullman’s estate records, the books of Rudolph Valentino Production Company and Valentino’s personal financial records going back to February of 1926.

2) The missing second page of Valentino’s will designated as Paragraph Fourth

3) Valentino’s household ledgers from January 1926- August 1926, which include records of: club dues, payroll, tax payments, legal fees, publicity fees, bootlegger bills, jewelry, overhead for his New York office, etc.

4) Business records regarding the financial management of Rudolph Valentino Production Company

5) Entire copy of Valentino’s contract with United Artists signed on March 20, 1925

6) Business records and story of Valentino’s corporate alter ego, Cosmic Arts, Inc., including the contract which transferred ownership of Valentino’s UA contract to Cosmic Arts.

7) Records of royalties from his last two films, income from rental property and his personal bank accounts.

8) Listings of all assets and debts at the time of this death, bills paid after his death and his continued income.

9) Probate court actions including payments and disbursement records

10) Itemized listing of his estate worth as submitted to the court by the appraisers.

11) Details of his real estate holdings.

12) Details of Natacha Rambova’s role in Valentino’s business/Cosmic Arts.

13) Income reports on money made from his last two films.

14) Details of two life insurance policies held on Valentino at the time of his death by Joe Schenk and Cinema Finance.

15) Court transcripts from the estate battle.

16) All court exhibit documents.

***17) George Ullman manuscript including letter from Valentino’s attending physician and copy of original managerial contract with Valentino.

***18) Campbell’s Funeral Home invoice and records.

****19) Frank Mennillo story and photographs.

How is it Possible?

How can a person like Tracy Terhune even be allowed to walk into Valentino's crypt at this point? Has no one read this blog and seen the evidence I have presented about his behavior, his affiliation with David Bret, his public bullying of us and his “Campaign to Ruin” me? Is it “ok” with Hollywood Heritage and Hollywood Forever to affiliate these days with someone like Tracy Terhune who is so openly homophobic as to call my husband “the man who wears a dress” to insult him? Are they complicit with him when he sniggers and allows the likes of David Bret to violate a court order to write his defamatory comments about us and on a blog Terhune solely set up to ruin me? And us? In 2011, Terhune's “buddy” David Bret threatened to open hit blogs about my family.

I panicked and closed the blog hoping to avoid this. Terhune seized the moment and has run my blog URL ever since maliciously to impede our right to do business.

Here... when he first opened the blog in August 2012 to divert my web traffic he poses as me which constitutes identity theft. His first post:

How is this possible? Do those two organizations support Terhune's cruelty? How much is that Valentino memorabilia he hoards away worth anyway? Worth enough to sell your own organization's integrity out for a whiff of Rudy things? They back someone like him who runs count downs to our deaths with a tick tock tick tock? And this is all posted on a blog under the title of my book, Affairs Valentino. (To share but a few) 

How is it possible that Hollywood Forever and Hollywood Heritage support someone who insults us by making sick ageist jokes... implying we are demented and asking if we are “sipping our Ensure”

Is this the kind of person Hollywood Forever and Hollywood Heritage endorse?

Is this to be accepted as business as usual in the Valentino World? I think eight years and counting is more than enough of his bullying behavior. 

*The excerpts in this post are used to illustrate my point and used under the guidelines of Fair Use. Anyone needing further proof of my statements made in this post may request screenshots which I would be more than happy to forward. 

"Valentino Was the Least Vain"

 

Rudolph Valentino's Moment Of Opportunity

Snippets From Variety & Picture Play

From Picture Play, September 28, 1929

From Variety, December 1925

From Variety, October 1925

From Headquarters...

I Respond Again to Tracy Ryan Terhune

I guess it is again time to respond to Tracy Ryan Terhune's continued trashing of our names and our life's works because he has not stopped doing that and I will never let it go unaddressed. He does not get a free pass at abusing us for so very long and in such a cruel way. I will respond.

To the man who continues to run a designated hate blog targeting us, who there exploits every opportunity to tear us and our work down... to the man who routinely calls all of our documented discoveries... “fiction” and “trash”... to the man who seems unable to stop his public, "hate Evelyn and Renato and stop Affairs Valentino campaign"... I say the following:

Mr. Tracy Ryan Terhune,

I will thank you to cease and desist impeding our right to do business by yelling “fire” every time anyone mentions us or our work and sending them all running for the exits. I will thank you to not permit David Bret to use you to violate a court order. And you know all about that court order because it has been online for years here @ www.zumayawinslawsuit.com .

Every single day you operate that designated hate blog to destroy our Google searches online...a blog you have run for eight years and counting under the title of my book Affairs Valentino... every single day it is online...you are bullying us and impeding our right to do a fair business.

You do not seem so eager to brag about the content you post about us on that blog you run under the cheesy disguise of its being a literary critique... what a total joke. The long and malicious history of your ever-changing blog themes fools no one and it is the title sitting there with my previous URL which stand as hard, cold evidence of what you are doing there. I think you are not so proud of that blog because what kind of person would do something like that anyway?

I think most people have stayed in tune with the times and by now recognize online bullying and such levels of defamation. But somehow you appear to feel justified in your continued ravaging of our work and our integrity... whether you post everyday or not. And I am sure you know well that establishing blogs under the titles of someone's business, products or book title to specifically ruin and impede their business and defame them is not only bullying but a criminal action.

So why don't you promote your bully blog on your two Facebook groups, Mad About the Boy and We Never Forget which you control? Are you not so proud of your eight years of bully effort diverting my web traffic and providing a platform for your partner David Bret to violate a court order by posting as comments his signature litany of lies about us? And yes, you have many times bragged on the blog how successful you are in diverting my web traffic. One example:

Who would ever be proud of doing something as cruel as that and for such a long, long time?

Are you not so proud of your eight years of disturbing images of pigs, bibles, satan and mocking jibes about toilets and our deaths? (see previous posts) If you are so proud of yourself, why do you delete most of your posts in your, “throw the stone and hide the hand” behavior?

Until you do close that utterly negative, mean spirited and vicious blog and return my URL to me, I will continue to respond to defend us and our work.

I post again:

I will gladly forward screenshots to anyone wishing to have proof of my statements made in this post. 

In The Midst of Life...

 

A Tribute to Dan Ullman

While researching and writing Affairs Valentino, I worked with S. George Ullman's two surviving children, Bob and Bunny. Lamentably I never met George Ullman's oldest son Dan, because he passed away in 1979 at sixty-one and only four years after his father. 

Dan was a well-known and prolific screenplay writer in Hollywood with a long list of credits to his name. I share a few links to his work to grant insight into the iconic little boy in the pictures. Dan remembered “Uncle Rudy” well and was eight years old at the time of Valentino's death. The images I share are the property of the Ullman family and the image of Dan on strike was taken in 1973 and more can be learned about that strike here:

https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/tvwriters_4/

Dan Ullman's credits include: The Waltons, The Incredible Hulk, Fantasy Island, Baretta, Mannix and many more:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0880489/

https://fiftieswesterns.wordpress.com/category/daniel-b-ullman/

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/1488474%7C35495/Daniel-Ullman#overview

Dan Ullman on the right. I would work with the baby on Rudolph Valentino's lap, Bob Ullman who would vindicate his father's memory in the weeks before his death. 

                                                        Dan with "Uncle Rudy".

"Sleek-hair Son of Satan..." ?

 

                                              A great victory image.... 

Rudolph Valentino's Last Picture & More

I think the most haunting scenario from the book by Frank Mallen, which I reference in this episode, had to be the image of reporters bellying up to the coffin in Frank E. Campbell's basement. According to Mallen, who was there, Campbell's set up a bar using a coffin to serve drinks to reporters covering the chaos out in the street during Rudolph Valentino's stay in the Gold Room. I visited Campbell's sometime around 2003 and can say the air of the macabre was still heavy there. 

A Few Words about “My Private Diary” from Renato Floris

 “My Private Diary", was published in 1929, thanks to an idea of Michael A. Romano, friend of Rudolph Valentino and his honorary pallbearer at the funeral. He has been mistakenly identified as André Daven who, at the time of Rodolfo's death, was in France.

What did Michael A. Romano really publish? Is this the authentic and autographed diary of Rodolfo Valentino?

It is my well-founded opinion that Valentino, personally, did not write a word contained in Romano's diary. The diary was published in 1929, during a difficult historical period of great economic depression and seemed a powerful inspiration for the community of Italian immigrants in the United States. It served as an example of success, both in the economic and social sectors, presenting an example of a "poor" and "lost" immigrant who, thanks to self-confidence, determination and his own talent, was able to reach unattainable heights. From that moment, “My Private Diary” became a sort of sacred book for the followers of the Valentinian cult, a book they would swear on as being the, “true word of Rudolph Valentino”.

Romano based his book on two then existing and ghost-written versions of Valentino's life; one being “My Life Story”. In 1923, this alleged autobiography of Rodolfo was published in three installments in the February, March and April issues of Photoplay Magazine. I say alleged autobiography, because Rodolfo himself confided to his friend Baltasar Fernández Cué, that the autobiography titled,”My Life Story”, had very little to do with his "real" life. Additionally, I can say that this fresco of words was written by Herb Howe, who confessed to having written it in an article he wrote about an interview he conducted with Natacha Rambova. This was published in The New Movie Magazine, December 1929-May 1930. His confession reads:

“I recalled the days I spent in her apartment collaborating with Rudie on his life story. Because of some legal technicality pertaining to his divorce from Jean Acker, he and Natacha were forced to maintain separate apartments for several months after their marriage in Mexico, but of course Rudie spent most of the time in Natacha's....

There was a moment of constraint as Natacha and I set down on the divan. To break it, I referred to the hours spent on his life story. 'Now we ought to do your life,' I said.”

It is therefore legitimate to deduce; Valentino provided Herb Howe with basic information and the journalist created his fresco of words to tell the alleged, "real" life of Rodolfo.

Romano's, “My Private Diary” was a broad reworking and embellishment also of a travel diary based on, “My Life Story”. This travel diary, published in 1924 in two cinema magazines after Rodolfo and Natacha returned to the United States from their trip to Europe, revealed another pen giving some additional brushstrokes and I think with very high probability it was Adela Saint Johns. She was an editor of Valentino's book of poetry titled, "Day Dreams" as revealed by Natacha herself in a letter sent to Valentino during her marital exile; a letter which Rodolfo himself gave to his friend Baltasar Fernández Cué.

I will not digress here with an analysis of the many trademark errors contained in Romano's, "My Private Diary" but I intend in the near future to share my in-depth analysis which I believe no one, with intelligence and intellectual honesty, will be able to contradict.

To share just one example, I refer to the most easily verifiable errors, this because there are documents available on line referring to the actual dates of Rodolfo and Natacha's trip to Europe.

I want to add I read with great dismay the Italian translation of My Private Diary, made by an "expert" in the history of cinema who in the introduction cites as gospel truth, a biography written by an unscrupulous British "biographer".

It is painful to see a life, that of Rudolph Valentino, misrepresented both for obvious commercial reasons and for cultist perverted proposals based on nothing more than innuendo. The Romano publication, created to give hope to the poor Italian community, can not and must not be considered actual truth.

I, very humbly, urge readers to read our books and may intellectual honesty triumph! In this regard, I paraphrase a sentence from Augustine of Hippo when he was sure he heard a child's voice saying, "Tolle, lege, tolle, lege" (Pickup the book, read it, pick it up, read it) Augustine took the advice, picked up the book and it's importance changed his life forever.

People Know

I noticed Tracy Terhune joined the Facebook group, Mad About the Boy recently to much fanfare. How is that news? When Cindy Martin told us in 2019 and I quote,

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

So there you have it...that group is under Terhune's control and always has been. They fool no one. And Cindy Martin told us this two years ago.

Tracy Terhune, as censor on Mad About the Boy and We Never Forget, through the likes of Eleanor Gribbin controls his now severely outdated Valentino narrative by scrutinizing the edits and deletions of follower's commentary to protect the Alberto Valentino family's false narrative about Rudolph. He controls by issuing a total ban on any mention of our work or even my name. He bans us by default because he fears the truth and in this refuses us any dialogue. Is this intellectual honestly?  Case in point being this clip from a longer post on Mad About the Boy by Simon Constable and Gribbin:

I bothered to read some of their posts and website material and in my opinion it is woefully antiquated. They present a stale narrative which was proven false years ago and in their alleged effort to “respect” the Alberto Valentino family, they police their groups to prevent a lick of progress from occurring.

I guess that is what happens when you live with your heads deep in the sand, as the expression goes, ignoring new legitimate research and discoveries; not a real effective way to stay current. To me this renders their self-serving “Terhune controlled” Facebook groups somewhat prison yards.

Why do I call them “prison yards”? Because the walls are very thick and have ears...the wardens/administrators patrol with the watchfulness of prison guards; ruthlessly and paranoid. They establish and monitor their steel bars to prevent any new information from sneaking in while fooling unknowing followers into thinking they are the final word on one Rudolph Valentino and that all censoring/deletions are done to “protect Rudy”. I do not buy that for one second.

Behind the guarded walls of We Never Forget and Mad About the Boy, Tracy Terhune controls and it is there in my expert opinion that all the lies and half truths about Valentino... and us... fester. The false narrative launched by greedy studios and Alberto Valentino are alive and well behind those locked gates and the truth about Valentino must be kept out at all cost.

Well in not extending my hearty congratulations to Terhune for joining his own group... finally... I say how stupid does he think people are? Let me inform him people know.

For the Attention of Eleanor Gribbin: "Rudolph Valentino, My Private Diary & More"

Art Interlude

 

A Strange Miscalculation

A Valentino mention from, The Movies, Mr. Griffith & Me, by Lillian Gish; when D.W. Griffith was wrong.

Those Dirty Hands & The Praise Thereof

Oh imagine our reaction to seeing the pictures of Tracy Ryan Terhune preening before Rudolph Valentino's crypt and with a comment of praise tagged on by Ms. Huber as representative of the Alberto Valentino family. I respond.

For the past decade and counting of our lives, Terhune has mercilessly attacked us on a blog he runs under the title of my Valentino biography, Affairs Valentino. I was forced to close that blog in 2011 when Terhune's accomplice, David Bret threatened to open blogs defaming my family members. Yes, I panicked... but Terhune seized the moment and has since then wielded the blog to divert my legitimate traffic to find his sick bullying of us with images of pigs, satan, bibles and toilets (which he says is my husband Renato's office – see below). He has changed the theme of that hate blog many times over the years and has most recently disguised his irrational hatred of us with a fake, “Literary Critique”. It is there he provides a platform for David Bret to violate a court order which we won in a defamation lawsuit against Bret in Italy.

Even if Terhune knows (as he has been notified by our attorneys – see below) that this is illegal, he permits Bret to go on with his defamation of us on that awful blog. In this Terhune is an accomplice in Bret's violation of a verdict.

Terhune has engaged in heavy bullying of us with ageist name-calling: calling my husband “Child Star 72”, and suggesting we are demented, sipping our, “Ensure” and even finding a count down to our deaths hilarious fun, as he chimes in with, “tick tock tick tock.” Mocking people's age and references to their deaths stands as the meanest way to offend and insult.

Terhune has posted that all of our work will end up in the, “trash bin of Valentino history” and mocked Renato's wearing a robe in Africa as his being, “the man who wears a dress”. It goes on and on. There has been no end to what Cindy Martin referred to as Terhune's, “Campaign to Ruin Evelyn.”

Well I respond today by saying that even though Terhune feels like a tiny saint now... because he has not posted his signature bullying name-calling and lies about us in a while... as long as his hate blog attacking us is online, he is still every single day slinging his mud on us. He is one to consistently, “throw the stone/mud and hide the hand”... but as long as that hatred about us remains online he has mud on his hands.

When I look at those grinning images of him today holding the picture of Valentino.... I see the mud. In my opinion he is covered in it. Yet the mud-slinging has not gone unnoticed and I am happy to say so many people are discovering Rudolph Valentino who recognize the bullying of Terhune and his sycophants. If he is as he claims to be... a true Valentino lover, why does he assault us to such a high degree and why does he not accept our exciting and ground-breaking Valentino discoveries and why does he call them all, “fabrications” despite our documentation? Which brings me to the worst aspect of this charade... the endorsement (the "praise thereof")  of Terhune's show-and-tell by the Alberto Valentino family.

Why does the Alberto Valentino family so appreciate his holding up a picture of Valentino as a praise-worthy action, while in their endless silence support his years of defamation of the discoveries we make about their relative? This is absurd. In my expert opinion after being tortured for years by Terhune, I believe it is precisely because Terhune dutifully censors our work, suppresses the new discoveries we made and continue to make with all intellectual honesty... and in doing so he upholds the Alberto Valentino family's legacy of false narrative. In my opinion, Terhune presents nothing besides the ownership of his collection which he could afford to buy. Just because he owns some historical pieces does not mean he owns the history and he has certainly proven it does not make him the expert he claims to be.

Let us remember Terhune stated that it was, “fabrication” when we proved Valentino arrived in America to be welcomed by wealthy benefactors. He upheld his incorrect statement in the face of the documentation of Ernesto Filomarino's and Frank Mennillo's family archives and accounts and in face of the testimonies of actual witnesses who were there when Valentino arrived.

Terhune is a man who claimed Valentino did not have, “two nickels to rub together” when he arrived in New York... when in actuality Valentino arrived with 4000$ in hand... which today would be $52,754 U.S. dollars.

Let us remember Terhune continues to portray George Ullman as a villain when Ullman was in fact completely exonerated and praised by the Appeals Court judge.

Lest we forget Terhune has called my book Affairs Valentino, “trash” and “pure fiction” and claimed for years I had criminal warrants out on me and a drug past... all 100% false. Lets just say that owning something does not automatically make one the historian, or the nice guy, they claim to be.

As the Alberto Valentino family grasps at anything to maintain their false narrative, (while knowing it is false) about their relative, they support Tracy Terhune, who has called us vicious names for a decade, lied about the integrity of our books and who has boasted openly how he has gained top place in my Google search with his hateful mud slinging. This is a shocking admission today of the Alberto Valentino family's support of his behavior. I used to think they did not know about it but I now allege they sure do. Anyone remaining silent in this situation is an accomplice at this point. Terhune eagerly parrots Alberto Valentino's lies, gaining their favor...he repeats as fact... the utter falsehoods how Ullman was a villain, how Natacha was the, “worst thing to happen to Rudy” and how Alberto himself was a long suffering saint who never got a penny from the estate... etc.

Until Terhune takes that designated hate blog targeting us off line, until he issues a sincere and public apology for the ten years and more of our suffering from his malicious and cruel bullying... and until he resigns as emcee of the service at the crypt out of respect for the memory of Rudolph Valentino... in my opinion he is covered in mud and his dirty hands hold that photo of Valentino.. dirty hands that let day after day go by as he slings the mud of defamatory lies and treachery our way. And to the Alberto Valentino family... I can only say, “My god...shame on you.”

Just a few of the images, from the years of screenshots we have captured as samples of the images Tracy Terhune uses on his hate Affairs Valentino blog he has run against us for eight years and counting:

And our notification to Terhune from our attorney which has to date been completely ignored:

We fight on to defend our good names and the integrity of our work by responding to this continuing abuse. We will not be bullied into silence. 

Art Interlude

Our puppy Leeloo appreciates great art; here she is at the Villa Farnesina in Rome enjoying "The Triumph of Galatea" by Rafael painted in 1512 . 

 

Romeo?

A few more snippets and these pertaining to opportunities Valentino rejected, or roles which did not realize. I would add that in regards to the last clipping, it was probably not so much the fear of losing "prestige" which had Valentino rejecting the offer but fear of many angry creditors. George Ullman writes in his 1975 memoir how one of the first things Valentino said to him when they met... was to express his concern over all his unpaid bills in Los Angeles. He told Ullman he would not step foot in Los Angeles until some of the problems were resolved, i.e. bills paid. 

Rampova, Rambova & More

When Michael Morris passed away, he was negotiating permission to reproduce photographs from Natacha Rambova's life on Mallorca. Through a British scholar living in Palma, Michael located the god daughter of Natacha and her second husband, Alvaro de Ursaiz. This elderly lady, Maria Salome, owned an extensive collection of items Natacha left behind after her hurried exile from Mallorca. This woman's parents worked for Alvaro and this was how she assumed ownership of the following:

Ms. Salome granted me permission to reproduce the images and tell her story in Beyond Valentino. However the story of her collection complicated. As is the case with everything discovered, collectors appeared to make their offers and in this case they deeply offended the kind lady in Mallorca.

The Natacha Rambova documentary, which recently made its appearance, was then being filmed in Mallorca and I was interviewed and asked to appear. It was then I learned what happened between Maria Salome and the producers of said documentary. According to the British scholar and Ms. Salome... the producers of the film organized an interview and knowing about her collection they arrived with a fistful of money and told her they would buy it all on the spot.

Ms. Salome was offended and there was no interview. I was then caught in a precarious situation. Did I appear in the documentary with these people and further offend Ms. Salome? Or did I respect her wishes and bow out so I could have her fascinating story and those images which Michael so dearly wanted to include? I feel I found some point of reasonable compromise.

Curiously I learned another film crew contacted Ms. Salome and she did allow them to visit her and record an interview. This crew, which I felt was the same crew she sent away... included a Rambova impersonator, Diego Rambova. I was not terribly pleased to see some of Rambova's objects from Ms. Salome's collection on his website; i.e. Rambova's passport in one photo placed over his genitals. So it went. Apparently the “second” film crew convinced Ms. Salome to loan them some of her collection to photograph the objects in a nearby studio. I feel she was wildly taken advantage of. She has since passed away and I have no idea what happened to her collection. When I suggested she bequeath her collection to the Phoenix Art Museum, which houses a great deal of Rambova's design work, she told me it would all be passed on to her children.

I also learned there are several Spanish Natacha impersonators.... most notably:

                                             cabaret performer...Natacha Rampova

https://semiramisgonzalez.com/las-ahijadas-un-trabajo-en-proceso-sobre-natacha-rambova-y-natacha-rampova/

                                                      and...Diego Rambova

Rampova, Rambova...more about that incredible phenomena in another post...just saying the challenges of negotiating those images and Natacha Rambova's Mallorcan story with Ms. Salome were many. Read the entire saga in Beyond Valentino!

More Valentino & Rambova Press Tidbits