Rudy & Lady Sheila - 3

A last page to share from the Lady Sheila account.

 (See previous posts)

 

On Not Being Silent Forever

The other day I happened to catch a piece of video of David Bret being interviewed about Jimmy Savile. Now I had to get past the fact that this was the very monster who tortures his victims every day, no matter how young or how old they are... who wakes up every day feeling they deserve to be persecuted. There he was... the man who calls women “widows”, who talks about cobwebs growing on Renato and I, who mocks how old we are and there he was.... very old. C'mon.

I add that in the courtroom appearances regarding my lawsuit against him...which Bret was required to attend, he did appear in person. I did not and was always represented by my attorneys. They never wasted my money giving me descriptions of the man so I was surprised.

But when I heard Bret going on about his knowing Savile and how he was involved personally in that whole scandal, that caught my attention. Some years ago, when the Savile story broke, there was some mention by someone that he was involved somehow. I do not remember the specifics of that but he flipped out. So now he has convinced a production company that he was indeed involved in the story of Savile because he worked as a nurse in a hospital and claims he knows the inside story of Savile abusing young girls and the cover-up.

How many things are wrong with that? My head was spinning. Bret has a long, long history of lying about celebrities and claiming he has a secret inside source/scoop about them. He claimed ridiculously he knew them all... from Chaw Mank, to Andre Daven  to Greta Garbo. He makes his claims with such authority and peppered with so much useless data, that many people believe him. But he is lying and has been throughout the years on many, if not all of his major claims.

If he had tapes of himself speaking with Marlene Dietrich oh brother we would have heard those non stop for years. Crickets. If he had a private diary written by Valentino in which Valentino writes about his gay love life... oh brother again we would have had that in our hands in a second. Again crickets.

So as I watched his ancient face with his mountain of long grey hair standing on end, I felt, because of past history... that he was lying again. If I were that production company I would really vet his claims. I wish them well and thought about contacting them to let them know about Bret's history and who he was truly. Maybe send them a link to the verdict I won in the defamation lawsuit I filed v. him. (see below)

Bret's history screams... this is more bullshit. Cause to pause and think though... because fact is anyone contesting Bret's brazen lies and fraudulent claims becomes an instant target for his special brand of sadism. Something he does every single day to us.

It was a weird moment to be listening to and watching Bret, yet again associate himself with some celebrity in order to write another cheesy book about them and claim it is based on some sensational source only he is privy to. Yawn....

I say it was weird to hear him going on about it for two reasons. One because I just felt he was lying because he can nothing else and two because he was so old. I do not say that to bully or mock, but to point it out as fact because this is a man who has made us the targets of years of heavy ageist brutality and death watching. Is he kidding... he is as ancient as the rest of us.

So his fab inside scoop on Mr. Savile? IMO, please...the beat goes on.... once a cheater, always a cheater. Do I grant him relevance in posting this Op Ed? No. He has none but I intend to not let him erase or hide what he continues to do to people online. It is just too awful to not speak up about. I will not be silenced.

To read some of my victorious case v. Bret in both the court-translated Italian and English; the case as filed, the verdict handed down and some of the evidence filed...link here:

https://www.zumayawinslawsuit.com/

My book Affairs Valentino standing proud outside the Court of Asti. #victoryread

Update on "Rudy & Lady Sheila"

https://womenwhomeantbusiness.com/2021/06/24/kate-meyrick-1875-1933/

https://www.theministryofhistory.co.uk/historical-biographies/katemeyrick

The above links were forwarded to me by a reader who wished to share these two sites about Kate Meyrick, May Meyrick's mother. (see previous post “Rudy & Lady Sheila”) Thank you for this added insight into,“Women Who Mean Business”, London's night club history and Rudolph Valentino's London nightlife.

The contributor added that there is no official record of Jade's Club and that Meyrick's own life story is a riveting one, saying her book, Secrets of the 43 Club, is a good source. They also believe the story told of Sheila's visit with Valentino took place in the 43 Club which was located on Gerrard Street.

The 43 Club Exterior:

The 43 Club Interior:

Renato Weighs In

In response to the many brilliant and insightful comments left on the previous post, I asked Renato to weigh in. What did he think of Rudy's behavior that night when Pola slapped his face, when Rudy slipped up and had one too many girlfriends in the same place at the same time? Etc.?

Renato writes:

“ When considering the sexual customs of about a century ago, in Italy one must be very careful not to use current morality as a term of comparison.

In Italy, as indeed in much of the Western world, the image of the woman had a double connotation. This is why the mother, sister and wife were automatically considered saints, women similar to angelic women as described since the end of the 13th century by the poets of the Dolce Stil Novo.

These descriptions of women contrasted with those of others, who were considered available prey for sexual relations both as complacent lovers and as prostitutes.

The wives, mothers and sisters silently endured the ill-concealed adventures of their husbands, sons and brothers as the woman was considered the exclusive sexual property of the husband to whom she had to obey. This was while the husband allowed himself ample freedom to flutter from flower to flower.

Valentino certainly had no qualms about having extra marital sexual relations because as a male he had appropriated total sexual freedom.

To all this we must add that Valentino had an undisguised passion for the representatives of the fair sex, so much so that we have proof of it above all in reading two letters which in 1910, at the age of fifteen, he sent to a former friend in the boarding school in Perugia.

In the first letter of June 22, 1910, he writes: "Now I'm at home, sick with a disease that I caught from prostitutes, and I'm suffering so much that I don't want to continue the kind of idle and useless life that I've led up till now."

While in the second letter his ailments from the brothel seem forgotten and on August 29, 1910, he wrote to his friend: “A little while ago there was a singer seventeen years old, here in Taranto, and I had great time with her. So now I'm going out with these singers and, at the same time, I make love with prostitutes, leaving one and then taking up with another."

There is no doubt that what is written in the aforementioned letters is a mirror of Rodolfo's reality as they are handwritten letters actually sent to his friend Bruno. They have nothing to do with the subsequent imaginative reality invented by the copywriters of the studios and by the delusions of scandals mongers.

Valentino felt free, like most Italians of the time, to have purely sexual relationships and for this he did not feel guilty. Frequenting brothels or having extramarital affairs was very common in Italy at that time, while the wives consoled themselves saying: "Yes, yes, he can go ahead but, really, he only loves me!"

The same logic also applied to Natacha when she wrote to Douglas Gerrard, “ One woman or a hundred it makes no difference anymore!”

Rudy & Lady Sheila

Continuing in the theme of first-hand accounts of Rudolph Valentino's lovers, a reader forwarded excerpts from Robert Wainwright's Sheila: The Australian Beauty Who Bewitched British Society. I think it is a fitting inclusion, thank the reader for their contribution and post a few pages from a longer passage on the Lady Loughborough and Valentino affair.

The first pages are from the account which took place on New Year's Eve 1925 in “Jade's”, a club in London... we pick up the action with Sheila entering the club after some issues with the club's owner, May Meyrick.... Sheila makes her entrance accompanied by Valentino:

And an account of the infamous party in Falcon Lair:

The Lady Sheila Loughborough:

Miss Fely

Then there is this account from Felicita Sessarego from the La Stampa article Renato found; Valentino's, "Miss Fely". We included the story in The Rudolph Valentino Case Files. 

 

Truth to the Narrative

In the continuing correction of Rudolph Valentino's history, I add to the already enormous body of credible sources and testimony which establishes his true sexual orientation. I have written about how I came to have any role in this aspect of Valentino and will only reiterate today that I went into researching it with no preconceived notion of what the truth was.

It was not long at all that I discovered that the entire premise Valentino was gay was a really shabby and obvious fictionalization. On one side of this long tale, a mountain a mile high of first hand highly credible testimony has accumulated, i.e. evidence of his sexual affairs with women from whom he contracted syphilis and first hand accounts by his female lovers.

Such as this one from Pola Negri (see below)

Granted Pola waxed poetic in her Memoirs of a Star.. but even as she did so in her account of Alberto working her for money.... there is some truth to the narrative. Pola did not make all of that up. Maybe she remembered having sex with Valentino through a rose colored glass who knows. But she was not some insane person who grew old and demented to waste any time publishing complete lies about herself or Valentino.

I think it is stunning she left this account for posterity. Kudos to her. See Memoirs of a Star from which this is excerpted... for more.

Pola Negri Spins the Tale

The other day I was looking for a reference in Pola Negri's autobiography, Memoirs of a Star and I came across this passage:

Something was very off about this version of the story for me. I referred to the Registry of Actions which stands as the official account of all transactions of the Valentino estate. There I found the entry of Pola filing her claim for $15,000 made on January 7, 1927.

Going back to read her account of Alberto Guglielmi claiming he had no money, “Until then, what do I live on?” and referring to “Alberto's predicament” and how she writes the money “enabled Alberto to send for his family”, I had to question the account. And this because this conversation took place obviously before she filed for the $15,000 on January 7, 1927.

Taking into consideration that Alberto's “family”... being Jean.... did not come to America for another two years, arriving July 8, 1929... this was not the reason for the “loan”.

When this conversation occurred between Alberto and Pola Negri, Alberto had just two weeks before received $10,000 from Ullman and in June would receive another $10,000. (document below taken from Valentino's probate court records I discovered as filed in the “Reporter's Transcripts” where Alberto as "A." testifies he received these advances.)

Bear in mind Alberto was also receiving the $100 a week stipend. Putting this into perspective by today's exchange, the value of each of those $10,000 advances from Ullman, (in December 1926 and then again in June 1927) would be x 15 or $150,000. When Alberto was crying poor to Pola Negri, just two weeks after he received that first $10,000, he had some $150,000 at his disposal and this without her loan.

We add to this the $15,000 Pola received from the Valentino estate which she claims she gave to Alberto which today would be, $225,000. Alberto was burning through money at an astounding rate if he was indeed broke just two weeks after he received that first advance from Ullman.

I file this under complete BS and think it is worth pointing out the facts as they appear in court records. Was Pola conned? Could be. But she does admit she never considered the money a loan to Valentino? On this one point the documents tell a very different story. 

And this is not speculation or fiction, but the facts.

Rudolph Valentino, That Left Eye & More

And Now For Something Completely Different

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Courbet

Gustave Courbet 

The Portrait of Countess Therese Burnswick

1830

 The artist's self-portraits...

My Life by Renato Floris

* Renato has every right to defend himself as follows (see below). I would add that despite well-meaning folks advising us to ignore this lunacy, which we attempt to do as much as possible... unfortunately Cindy Martin contacts people who do not know who she is and tells them lies about us claiming she has “proof” to support her heavy defamation. She does not have proof I forged a document because I never did and she has no proof Renato has been dishonest with me and all of this is false and malicious.

Renato responds:

“Dom Caruso never once spoke to me about Cindy as she claims. Cindy suddenly appeared in 2016 as the administrator of Dom's blog, before then both her existence and her name were unknown to me.

There could be no description of me further away from the truth than to call me a bully.

I have no “refined tactics” and would never use anything like that against anyone. Why would I? No reason.

Rather I had to tenaciously defend myself against the sinister bullying of Tracy Ryan Terhune, who Cindy identifies as the administrator of the “CB” blog as she calls it the “Critique Blog”.

This is not the Critique Blog as she calls it but the blog which belonged to Evelyn and which is used as a weapon of destruction against us by both the administrator of the blog (Tracy) and he who Cindy calls “Porn Fiction Writer” (David Bret).

I invite Cindy Martin to use the names of those who she redacts. On this point I agree and for the first and only time, with David Bret when in a comment he writes verbatim to Cindy: “Why don't you have the guts to publish all the names you have blacked out? You come across as absolutely insane!”

I had some meager exchanges with Cindy from August 2016 until December of that year or when I decided to leave the den of blind vipers which had become Dom Caruso's group.

As far as my communication with her, she reappeared on 5-15-2019 with a heartfelt post in which she declared she regretted having spread so many lies about Evelyn and that she had been literally brainwashed by Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret. She apologized and wanted to help wash the shame away which afflicted her. I kept her talking because she was revealing a great deal about Tracy Terhune, David Bret and the others which of course was of interest to us in our awful situation. Now she posts all of my messages online as if there is one word in there that is inappropriate. There is not.

If Cindy says she lost friendships she fostered for 20 years, it is not because of Evelyn, it's because of herself and her terrible attitude.

I add that Cindy, with her conspiracy mentality, believes we have minions we educate as monkeys. Nothing could be more wrong, we do not give instructions to anyone, everyone acts according to their own good or bad sense. That's all.

Just to close this pathetic matter I wonder how it came to Cindy's mind that I have and I quote verbatim: “for the dirt he (Renato) has heaped upon their marriage by being dishonest with her (Evelyn)”. This is a defamatory statement as never, ever have I been unfaithful to the person I love more than anything. I confirm that I have never, ever shared any kind of personal confidence about anything, especially about our marriage with the likes of Cindy Martin and also because there is nothing to confide or to confess.

All of Cindy's tremendous hate and fury towards me reminds me of an act of shameful revenge from a disappointed lover, in which case I tell her to put her heart and brain, if she has such things to better use, because Evelyn is and will be, up to my very last breath, My Life!”

The Handshake - Looking for Valentino by Leonard de Fonte

Not Rudy

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epINwO7hNmg

The question regarding the "Rudy or Not Rudy?" post...has been answered and I am informed this (see link above) is the original footage and you can see more of the man in question. The film was made in the 1930's and the clip begins at 7.49. The gent is not Rudolph Valentino. 

Thank you all! 

More to Come

Although our cattos do not speak French, they worked hard on the translation of the Jeanne De Recqueville book with Renato. Renato is working on a new translation currently.... this time into Italiano. I will not spoil his surprise. 

 

Rudy or Not?

Someone sent me this link (see below) to a documentary on Chaplin...saying they think they spotted Rudolph Valentino, eating a sandwich. It is a one second (or two) capture from behind in a Marion Davies home movie. The sighting occurs at @ 46.01 seconds in. 

They also commented how it appeared to them that Valentino had Stahl's ears; a deformity caused by extra cartilage in the upper ear. They also commented they felt Jean Valentino had the same characteristic. It is also called "Elf Ear". I have never heard of this and thought I would share it to see what you all know about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w40e_PFTsUY

Mack Sennett Part II

Since I was asked whether there was more to this story... past this you will have to find the book but that is where the story ends. 

 

A Note from Renato Floris

"Nothing has given me more satisfaction and pride for all of the past years of our serious work, than hearing the positive response from readers of our new books. Thank you for all the generous praise for The Rudolph Valentino Case Files and Looking for Valentino by Leonard De Fonte. Leonard entrusted me with his manuscript and he was one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life.

Your positive response is an inspiration to go on with our work as long as we can.

Thank you everyone once more!"

A Few Rudy Quips

From King of Comedy, by Mack Sennett:

Cindy Martin Provides the Evidence

I respond to a message which Cindy Martin sent to a blogger who wrote a glowing review of our new book, The Rudolph Valentino Case Files. This blogger heroically and bravely sent a screen capture of the message to me because they knew it was wrong and disturbing and that I should do something about it. I am. I did ask them if I could except the message and received permission.

This message stands as evidence of exactly what Terhune, Bret, Martin, Constable, Gribbin, Donna Hill and Jeanine Villalobos have been saying and obviously continue to say to people in order to attempt to bury our work, impede our right to do business and deter people curious about our books by telling them lies. Martin's message is proof they are hiding the truth about us, our work and about Valentino.

What Martin wrote to this hero, was nothing but grade A defamation and 100% harassing in a menacing way. Martin went out of her way to let this person know they were not pleased with the positive review of our work.

I excerpt Martin's message where she tells the blogger about me:

“ Her sources are her own speculation.”

“She writes a good fiction story.”

“She has no way of proving what she says.”

“What she has published are forgeries and I do have proof of this.”

“She (Martin) formed her opinion about us after taking into consideration Evelyn's character and that of her publisher Renato Floris.”

“Do not take Evelyn's work as gospel truth”

I respond to this savaging of our hard work, the disgraceful attack on our credible and factual sources, on Renato and my personal integrity and our honesty.

Our sources are not speculation, not fiction... but based and sourced on publicly archived court records, archival records still on file in two countries, the first hand testimonies of people who were there and their honest family's histories, etc. Anyone can look and see where we found what we did.

I would ask Cindy Martin what she has written, published or contributed to the world of Valentino other than hatred, sick divisiveness and an obsession with pleasing Tracy Terhune.

I say directly to Cindy Martin so she can know what is not speculation:

Referencing 1000 pages of court records which are on file in a public archive is not speculation and fiction. It is FACT. Remember I found those copies because your buddies, the collectors stole them from their lawful housing and hid them away? I also recall when Renato once told you to stop telling people we forged the records, you said you would rather consult a family's chest of personal things in an attic than go fact check the public records. It is further unforgivable you would insert the word “forged”gratuitously in the message because you admitted Terhune “brainwashed” you and told you the records were forged... when later he admitted he had seen them. And as far as you having proof I forged a record that is a lie because I never did.

It is not speculation to source the actual United Artists' contract which I found. Remember the discovery I made which you tried to pass off as being your discovery? Remember when Simon Constable posted pages from our book Astral Affairs Rambova as if he discovered her lost film with Cassio? This is one reason we published The Case Files because while you and your fellow obnoxious liars are doing all you can to ruin us, you steal our discoveries.

My sources are not “speculation” and you know that. If they were... you and your handlers would not be so vicious trying to bury those sources because let's face it...they reveal THE TRUTH.

I share my sources and always have. Anyone can go and find them. And to smear Ullman and demean the testimony of his children one more time in that message is proof you are but a sad shill for Terhune.

Court records, public documents, twenty years of work, fact checking, careful debate and thoughtful analysis forms the foundation of our work which we are so very proud of.

And we have accomplished all of this despite the abject bullying we are subjected to from the likes of you.

I applaud the hero who sent me the message you wrote because they provided us with the living proof of what is being said and done. And harassing people who stand up for us says way more about you than us. And it proves hands down that everything I have ever said about you... is the GOSPEL TRUTH.

New Review

A new review of The Case Files from Magda Hamilton and thank you!

https://nouw.com/magdahamilton

The Verdict in Our Favor

I wanted to make sure this link was shared here. (see below) I know it looks daunting and there is Italian strewn about in the file. But if you scroll down through you will find the official court English translations of the lawsuit we filed and won....against David Bret, the verdict in our favor, and some of the evidence we submitted. All of these documents are public record filed in the Court of Asti and are in the public domain.

I am very proud of this case as it is a landmark anti-bullying victory. At some point I will revamp a website and make the file easier to navigate but this is it for now and it is extremely important to me to have this out there. Find it here:

https://www.zumayawinslawsuit.com/

A Notable Date

Today is a notable date in Valentino history as it is both the date of the death of Valentino's sister Bice and Jean Valentino's recorded birth date. In light of the story which unfolded, I do not believe Jean's birth date was an incredible coincidence but a date decided upon by Valentino's mother Gabrielle.

And contrary to the smut peddler Bret's insistence on smearing all of these people, Valentino did not have an affair with his sister-in-law. Alberto rose to the occasion and in this he heroically acted to save the family and the lady's reputation. And she lived long enough to be healthy and cured and live a long life as Alberto's wife. I have nothing but respect for all of them as to how they handled this situation.

As Renato wrote in The Case Files, the subject of Ada haunted us for years because of a question Ms. Villalobos posed to Michael Morris. Because this is now public I share one of Michael's e-mails with me on the subject which was written long before it made any sense. (see below)

I want to thank everyone for reading and sending in such insightful and intelligent comments. I will be taking a hiatus from the blog for a while as life presents its challenges. I think I have loaded this blog with enough content to inspire some thoughts and discussions. I will not close the blog as I learned that lesson many years ago and will post as I can.

In Witness Whereof

At one point in time, I gave some of these pages from the court records I discovered due respect artistically. Here Rudolph Valentino signs his United Artists' contract over to the ownership of Cosmic Arts, Inc. and the sole stock holder, Natacha Rambova. I think we all know how that worked out. I guess it all sounded like a good thing at the time. 

 

Tough Times

I never set out to make problems for any one. I used to read the chapter in Affairs Valentino I titled, “Warning, You Could Go To Prison” or some such thing. And when I read it, I would feel fear. This said, I never once, not for one second contemplated telling anything but the whole truth as I uncovered it. I knew from almost day one that these were highly-inconvenient truths for some people. So I took a deep breath and carried on.

I have been the most cynical when it comes to the love child theory. Michael Morris pushed it as a devotion, Renato has done and is now conducting brilliant research on the subject but I was always... hmmmmm maybe and more out of sheer disbelief. This was until I wrote the piece on the Love Child Theory for the new book The Case Files. I read the entire saga and thought, how long could I question the obvious? Why? How many more big red arrows need to be pointed here and there for me to accept Jean was Rudy's son?

I do now 100% and can say that the story of what we now accept as how the events came down way back then defies belief.

In my opinion, no one was wrong and within the circumstances and the historical time frame... everyone was right.

The Raid Foiled

I share more of the endless revelations I found in the court records I recovered. This one was truly heavy for many reasons. First of all because of the nature of the money Ullman owed Alberto and Jean/the estate and also because Ullman's children told me how their father's business was never very profitable and he had to work hard to make a living from the stars he represented. When Ullman's daughter Bunny was in high school she worked in her father's office at times as secretary. And Jean accusing Ullman of making money from the business is absurd. Of course he did. The question was whether Jean had a right to one penny of that money. The money George Ullman owed was money he advanced to the estate in good faith before he had access to the entire Valentino will. (see previous posts and read Affairs Valentino and The Case Files for that).

This document is also jarring in that we find Jean demanding to have access to all of George's client's personal contracts and financial records.

Both Ullman children told me that when their father received this order, he took a huge box of papers out in their back yard and burned them all. Records of celebrities personal business?

The court rejected Jean's demand and George's business was safe from the pillaging. It is also worth pointing out that Jean's attorney, Morton E. Feiler worked for United Artists. 

Renato Floris Wonders Why

 From Renato Floris:

"I wonder what war Tracy Ryan Terhune is fighting with his operatives and why!

I clarify that statement. Everything stems from the fact that Evelyn, now many, too many years ago, discovered important documentation which revolutionized everything said and confirmed about Rudolph Valentino. For this reason she was banned, mocked, insulted, defamed, terrified and boycotted with a perfidy and cruelty of the highest level.

Then add to that, the fact that she, having received a request from a university, researched the sexuality of Rudolph Valentino. The research was done with adamant honesty and, as a result, she discovered that no single piece of evidence exists proving Valentino was homosexual. She found and reported that this was nothing more than an invention of pseudo authors who propagated, without a fragment of proof, the legend of Valentino as a promiscuous homosexual.

The "normal" reaction of an author, endowed with intellectual honesty, would have been to provide certain proof of what he claims on this subject. But since there is no proof, one of these authors, of the lowest moral and intellectual value, has instead spit poison and defamation our way.

Even today he delights in veiled hints of ridicule and offensiveness as he cannot name the people he scoffs.

Now, Tracy Ryan Terhune has decided to fight his war against Evelyn and also against me, beyond all logic. His actions against us do nothing but feed the excesses of some people who have nothing else to do but propagate further reasons for disagreement. Since he has no serious arguments to propose, he resorts to using defamatory and ridiculous means to defend the indefensible.

In a few days the trite and coy farce will take place a few meters from Valentino's last home. The officiant, Tracy Terhune, in my opinion, has turned what was an honest celebration into a self-celebration of his position as being a collector of Valentinian relics. I only say to Terhune:

You can own everything that belonged to Rudolph Valentino but you will never, ever be able to own his true story, which you attempt to cover up like cats burying their dirt in sand. I have done and will do everything until my last day to defend our integrity and the intellectual honesty of our research and work."

I Do What I Can

I write the truth about what happens to us at the hands of these people and it is somehow surprising and appalling. I did not create the situation and it began long ago and pretty much from the moment I discovered the Ullmans and his archive.

How very hard Renato and I have had to work to have anything in print, to have the spirit to carry on with the work at hand. How discouraging it has been to learn so many people believe what these people post everywhere online. And it is a difficult thing to have the garbage they post about us and our books removed.

It is not a small thing.

There is much more than meets the eye on their activities which I am not at liberty to divulge. Believe me it is very much a problem.

I first published Affairs Valentino in 2011, they had pretty much destroyed it a year prior. But I went ahead anyway. They had it removed from sale on Amazon. Renato found a way to publish it himself.

Still the information I included in the book is new to most people. After a decade. As I stated in a comment I left, they have every right to an opinion and can hate us and all our work. But they can not stand outside the door, i.e. the internet and yell everywhere, “Fraud! Forger! Fiction!” while they position themselves as ultimate personalities in the Valentino World.

And they can not run a blog under our book's title which has been since day one a vicious and very ugly greeting for many people googling our names and the books. Until that blog is gone I will expose it and them.

I realize they are upset because according to them I am supposed to be silent and take it day after day. A bully always accuses their victim of bullying if they stand up to the abuse. I am not wasting my time and wish I had more energy to devote to this deplorable situation. I do what I can. 

Tracy Terhune, "You Did Everything!"

I guess Renato and I are the rare folks for going on record to call Tracy Terhune out for what he does to us. This said, I do not see the silence from the Valentino world as support for him in a friendly way... but more a fear of him. Many people express this to me and after what this man has and does do to us, I can scarcely blame anyone for not wanting to take on Tracy Terhune.

Still, there is a silence which surrounds him, a silence his awfulness created and sustains. As he dares to take the podium once again a few feet from Valentino's final resting place. Tracy Terhune who has tick-tocked mockingly and publicly to our deaths, who calls our work, “trash fiction”, who recruits others to bully us as in his “team”, who permits the likes of David Bret to post his worst lies about us. Tracy Terhune, the man who runs a damn hit blog targeting us (for 8 years) and our work while daring to claim it is a “Rudolph Valentino Critique”. No one believes that Cindy Martin. How ridiculous. Did Tracy make you write that?

Tracy Terhune who wheels and deals his Valentino world by being, imo, the greediest collector of them all. Selling, under aliases and into oblivion... the precious history of Valentino. He who knows little about the real Valentino and in light of his refusal to learn anything new we bring forth, demonstrates he has no interest in knowing Valentino's true history. He knows enough to slide by while the cash is exchanged.

I have been a sad, sad witness to twenty years of this man's awful behavior in the name of Valentino. He hides his cruel side and rides into his two Facebook groups as supreme leader, waving a new piece of Rudy as a banner to his own glory. What glory I say? The fact he is a dealer in all things dead Valentino... all the way to the grave!... means less than nothing to me. After all I know and have personally witnessed, I can honestly say I have no respect for Tracy Terhune and he would have to work long and hard to gain my trust and favor at all ever.

What he has done and does to us, in censoring our work with lies and aggressive bullying, is so awful I will not let him get away with it. As Renato wrote to one of his more brainwashed operatives, Cindy Martin... “To you, we did nothing! You did everything!”

Why does this matter? Because Terhune goes the extra mile, every single day that defamatory blog is online.... to impede our right to do business by stating as fact complete lies about us and our work and deterring people who ask him about our work, or who Google Affairs Valentino and find his hit blog... from buying our books by saying it is fiction and trash and demeaning us in a heavy and thorough way.

That blog matters because he maliciously runs it under the Google search of my book, Affairs Valentino; a book he has spent a decade of his life trying to bury.

As the old expression goes... "Bouquets or Brickbats" for Terhune? Brickbats thank you from me. 

I really have to think that if Rudolph Valentino were here today he would be flinging a few brickbats because I can not for one second believe he would give Tracy Terhune a pat on the back for what he does to us... for the good job he does hiding what he really does in the name of Valentino.  IMO...it would be,

Brickbats from Valentino!

Two Valentinos?

A conversation today sparked the question, “Were there two Rudolph Valentinos?” One person cited the reports that Valentino was “boyish”, “immature” and “irresponsible”. The other presenting the reports by many how Valentino was serious, stern and focused on his work at hand.... and temperamental.

George Ullman wrote (from p. 52 of The Rudolph Valentino Case Files) :

“He seldom laughed, rarely smiled, had a volcanic temper, quick and intense. He was often profane, even foul before men; never with women.”

Adolph Zukor, in his autobiography, The Public is Never Wrong wrote on p. 152:

“Valentino rarely smiled on the screen or off, and I cannot recall every having seen him laugh... he was temperamental.”

Michael Romano writes in his introduction to My Private Diary:

“In discussing his work he was entirely without egotism, and his conversations were remarkably devoid of the personal pronoun "I". He could discuss his portrayals with complete submergence of self- impersonally, detached, and always critically. At times his humor became introspective, and-more rarely-his tone confidential. It was then that he would pour out the aspirations he had for his complete development as a great dramatic artist.”

Although this appears to contradict, and drastically, the reports of his boyishness....I would not say Valentino was two people but one person who knew how to act appropriately. He could be flirtatious and giddy around women and delegated a lot to his wife Natacha and manager George Ullman in order to have plenty of time to do so. But behind his scenes he was more grim I think, more forceful and seriously dedicated to running his empire. And that was what it was by the time he died. His paper trail at the time of his death was staggering in its scope.

He barked orders to Florey, was furious with Andre Daven and wrote Hebertot telling him so. Was Valentino a driven and serious man who just lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree around women? And cameras? I do not think it is necessarily one or the other.

"Devotion Lives..."

Poor Benjamin Platt, "slim and bespectacled" who went the extra mile to please his love Marian. (see below from The Wisconsin State Journal, October 20, 1939) We just take it for granted we can watch Valentino online without waiting for one of his movies to be shown anywhere. It was not always so easy. Platt received a "smile" from the judge and probation so he did ok in this Valentino caper but poor Marian "remained under treatment for painful burns" and she paid the price. In the continuing coverage of Valentino after effect:

Mae Weighs In

Here below, a couple of interesting quips from a lengthy article in The American Weekly, July 1942 titled, "My Memories - by Mae Murray". So Valentino confided in her about Blanca?

And a moment similar to the one George Ullman wrote about when Valentino saw Mae in The American Legion parking lot and "caught her up in his arms".  

More On Pola or Not Pola

Today a reader of this blog sent me photos @1933 of Pola Negri (see below) to use as comparison. (Refer to previous post, "Is This Pola?") They pointed out the earlobes and did not feel the woman on Natacha's terrace was Negri. Perhaps the photo on the terrace was a candid photo and she was caught off guard and not posed in her best angle or perhaps it is someone else altogether.  Top left: Pola on board the Lloyd-Liner, "Europe".

Lo Sguardo di Valentino

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg0vRjPFkuM

Above, the link to the entire Italian documentary. Renato worked on this documentary and I think he should subtitle it all!

It is a shame they gave Kenneth Anger play with his absurdities and maybe you all caught the cameo in the De Fonte clip of Tracy Terhune in the crowd at the birthday celebration. 

The Landmark of Romance

As  much as Valentino's childish nature has been written about, whether believed to be charming or problematic... I have to add that when it came to running his business he was a genius. At every turn in the court records, in personal correspondence... he is revealed as being in complete control; dispatching the orders to launch a new production company, purchasing a scientific laboratory, setting up a corporate alter ego, terminating Natacha's holdings in his business before he sent her away, purchasing land with the intention of building an air strip, sending detailed orders to advance man Robert Florey outlining plans for publicity. I could go on. According to the documented facts, his boyishness did not extend into his business involvements. For his age, I found him to be remarkably savvy from a business standpoint and he was epically involved. The leitmotif that he was a passive child/victim surrounded by opportunistic villains is as false as saying he arrived in America poor and alone. What bunk all of it. 

When people speak about him as being childish I have to think, he was still a child. Someone told me once that until you are thirty you are still basically a "runny egg". 

Rudolph Valentino could afford to be frivolous and boyish because he had trusted, extremely competent people handling the business side of is life. For me the very best insight into the Valentino marriage is the article Natacha wrote with journalist Herb Howe. I feel it is so forthright that I have made sure it is in every book we publish as an addendum. It is included in Astral Affairs Rambova and in The Case Files. "Her Years as Valentino's Wife", and subtitled, "Why Natacha Rambova's Marriage to the Greatest of Screen Idols Came to Such a Tragic End". 

Speaking of:

From The Jackson Sun (Jackson, Tennessee) January 2, 1950

Looking for Valentino

True Love

In my opinion, my previous Natacha article post was somewhat ghostwritten fluff. But I can not go so far as to think she did not know about it. She would never have allowed someone to just hijack her identity. Perhaps she did call a lawyer but back then the circulation of something like that was not so long lasting. Now an article like that is world wide instantly and there forever.

Her maternal instincts being the reason she fell in love with Rudy? I go both ways because she did worry about him. But that is not “mothering” it is being in love with someone.

I think the mothering claim is sexist in that it over simplifies their relationship. Good lord I almost find it offensive. Perhaps this truly gave birth to the current cackling mother hens who fantasize mothering the man.

The value of that piece I posted was, for me, in the image. The person who sent it to me mentioned the “placement” of the image. And that is, indeed, fabulous. The actual article for me read as 1920's pandering to love nurses. And that is a rather disturbing fantasy to me... someone who wants to baby a man forever. Not Natacha Rambova at all in my opinion.

I think the opposite was true of Rambova and Valentino. That was not a “mother/son” relationship. They fought, they fought hard and made up. It was sexual, complicated and I think the night Ullman writes about explains the actual dynamic. She was out late, came home to Rudy who was in a jealous and violent rage... Ullman is sent home to draft a divorce and when he came back in the morning they had spent the night in bed together. Probably safe to presume they were not playing canasta.

Relationships like theirs were not the “norm” then and even when I grew up women were imprinted very early on...and taught to shut up and worship the men in their lives. Natacha was way ahead of her time. She did mother those tiny dogs she carried everywhere but I for one do not think she mothered any of the men she loved. (below some of my Instagram art)

"Congeniality the Reason"

A sweet contribution from a friend. Lovely photo of #rudolphvalentinosqueen I think. It might have to be enlarged to read. But worth it. 

 

Nothing to Hide

In my opinion, the entire blog set out right now by Cindy Martin is the work and under the direction or order of Tracy Terhune. He is the one so concerned about his death fest and that stolen blog which he continues to run under the title of my book. Disgraceful behavior to treat anyone in this way. Tracy Terhune and Cindy Martin can cobble together a million words and they can never nick Renato's class and integrity in the slightest. 

Renato shares the following statement to Cindy Martin:

“When I wrote Evelyn “...has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome as a result.” I wasn't making any consideration about mental issues but about the consequences of her being bullied by all of you and for so long a time. There is nothing to hide and Cindy Martin, you have no permission to report my words out of context, redacted and far outside the Fair Use guidelines. I have nothing to hide!

If I expressed my feelings about the Valentino death fest, this was not against any celebration about Valentino but about the current burlesque of that celebration. I have a right to my opinion.

I am sure rational people will recognize you are censoring my words which you have no authority to publish in such an extensive way. And you do so only to deceive and try to impugn me with innuendo.”

Looking for Valentino by Leonard De Fonte!

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998709840/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Looking+for+Valentino+De+Fonte&qid=1628086138&sr=8-1

Today is the 20th anniversary of the passing of a great Valentino afficiando, Leonard De Fonte. Shortly before his death he gave Renato a manuscript, the story of his life and told him, "Maybe some day you can do something with it." 

In commemoration of the 95th year since Rudolph Valentino's passing we present Leonard's book! Very happy about this. 

"He Was A Pretty Good Fellow..."

Apology

***I apologize as I just discovered for that past few days it seems the comments sent to my blog were ending up in my Spam file. I have fixed that but am sorry if anyone thought I was not approving their comments!!