Rudolph Valentino's First Flight

Renato discovered the following article (see below) in a French newspaper The Hard-Liner. It presents a question about the claim Valentino took flying lessons in Mineola, Long Island before he left for the West Coast in "The Masked Model". Perhaps he took some classes in flying at the Mineola air field but seems he never flew in an airplane at all until 1923. This is a fascinating account of Valentino's actual first flight and his impressions. Thank you Renato ! The author is a journalist and actor. Here follows the English translation:

L'Intransigeant, 08/18/1923

Published in the "Sports Life" column

“The Star's First Flight”

It was Port wine time last night in a palace near the Champs-Élysées. People were curious and eager to see a young man and his wife, who peacefully sip their aperitif in a small group; in the group, Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova, Jacques Hébertot, André L. Daven, Oscar M. Sheridan and myself. Valentino tells us amazingly interesting things about his life, about his profession, about sport. This man who, as we know, is an athlete and a trained boxer is, moreover, a remarkable motorist. Besides, isn't it true that the “stars” of the cinema all have many different arrows to place in their bows? But there is one thing Valentino related to me, about something I have wanted to try for a long time; traveling by plane. I am now satisfied. 

“Was your trip by plane the day before yesterday your first one?” I asked.

“Yes,” Valentino replied, “and I chose the wrong day for a first flight! What a storm and finally, it turned out beautifully and neither my wife nor I were indisposed. We rode with the wind at our back and only took two hours to make the crossing.”

“What was your impression of this first flight?”

“Not bad at all! As we took off, I had the impression of being in a car, on a hill, then, once in the air, nothing more, nothing moved. It was absolutely wonderful. The landing gave me a chill in the back. When the throttles were cut, I thought the plane had fallen into an air hole. But the contact with the ground was made as if on velvet … In short, I had a good impression. Excellent! I will do it again and when we will return to London we will go by the same route. Besides, it is not impossible that I will shoot a film on aviation before next year. Because that interests me enormously!”

Rudolph Valentino is an eclectic sportsman.

Signed,

Paul Olivier

Croydon Airport 

First Flight in 1923

                                           

"I'm Just Sayin' ..."

There has never been one minute, one single second when Tracy Ryan Terhune was the victim. How he howls that he is. He launched the attacks on me, my work and after 2011 against Renato because he did not like Affairs Valentino. By the time I published the book in 2011, Terhune and Bret had all but destroyed me already. I had little left to lose at that point.

In 2011, as I have mentioned many times, I was terrorized into closing my Affairs Valentino blog by David Bret's threats to open hit blogs on my family. Terhune seized that tragic moment for me and opened my blog and has run it as a bully weapon ever since.

He does not seem so proud of his actions there now and I don't see him linking it anywhere on his Facebook groups...Its kind of like a cat covering its poop with litter. ... but in the past he linked it to the other members of the teams sites; mostly those being run by David Bret. For all these years, Terhune has cried he is being abused when I believe no one but his sorry self believes that.

He likes to show a picture of some fat folders containing all of my defenses written against him... I say wow. Publish all the contents. I have been defending myself for a decade and do so now. Those folders are full of the same things I say today. I stand proudly behind my efforts, Renato's too and our restraint and demeanor throughout this ordeal. 

Terhune likes to find a little hook to grab onto and twist it into his hysterical ravings. One of his most insidious tactics was to meld me with the woman who published the first edition of Affairs Valentino, Ms. Hala Pickford. She would say something and the next day Terhune was saying I said it. I corrected him but he took this tactic even further. Thrilled with his capture of my web traffic, he posted headlines like this on my blog. I excerpt a small sample of his hatred under Fair Use Guidelines to illustrate my point.

I never had a single arrest warrant out on me, was never a fraud and never stole anyone's identity. Actually he did on that very blog by writing in the first person pretending to be me.

Although he says now it is a general “Literary Critique”, I ask him why then has he gloated over the years that he is getting all of my traffic? Again an excerpt under Fair Use Guidelines:

His hatred is and always has been palpable. (Below) He expresses outrage that I wanted to disrupt his bully service at the crypt? Who wouldn't after being subjected to such abuse by him? I think I said I felt like showing up with a stack of Affairs Valentino to pass out. Again excerpts from Terhune's Affairs Valentino blog reproduced under Fair Use Guidelines posted back in 2014:

Tracy Terhune often writes in CAPS because he is YELLING I guess. I find it the very definition of projection that he would be issuing an "untruthful blistering attack" in CAPS while accusing me of doing so. (And my book was being sold in that Turin bookstore after we provided the copies.)

One of his favorite tactics on that blog was to interject his quest to bury Affairs Valentino into his legal case against Ms. Pickford. In one deposition which is on file in the Burbank Courthouse, dated May 22, 2012 under the heading of “Declaration of Tracy Terhune”, he swears as truth that Ms. Pickford “self-published” Affairs Valentino. From the document which is public record:

What a complete falsehood, what an insinuation. She never owned my book and there would be no way for her to "self-publish" my book. The book was always mine and this is a prime example of how he melded Ms. Pickford and my identities as one.

Terhune and Bret used the identity and words of someone else as a weapon against me and I believe attempted to use Ms. Pickford to secure a court order for me to stop publishing Affairs Valentino. It did not work! 

Ms. Pickford and I parted ways professionally in December of 2011 and Terhune knew that. It was then I took the book out of print hoping he and Bret would stop. They got way worse and are still at it.

I have several hard drives of his rantings on that sick blog and again every single post he makes there is bullying because of that URL... his motivation from day one has been to post his lies and defamation there, along with David Bret, to bury the book he hates so dearly. He was never a victim in this, how absurd... he was and is the censor, the aggressor and as Ms. Cindy Martin told us, “It has always been Tracy's show”.

The blog he runs under Affairs Valentino is a living monument to his cruelty and duplicity. And it represents a decade of lies, falsehoods, brutal assaults on our truth and he has never been anyone's victim but his own.

#VICTORYFORAFFAIRSVALENTINO

Rudy with a "Y"

For the past three years, I diligently kept two Instagram accounts going. One is under Beyond Valentino and the other account under Affairs Valentino. I have somewhat them go because at some point (a few thousand posts) enough is enough. Some Rudy with a "Y" Instagram creations. #goodenergy

Fur, Frocks & Frohman

Rudolph and Natacha attend an “Actor's Fund Benefit” planning meeting, (see below) on Staten Island in January 1923. Natacha is really pushing the envelope with that outfit and what a wall of fur coat. 

The gentleman is Daniel Frohman, who was a partner of Adolph Zukor and would produce some 70 films with Famous-Players.

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

The two ladies are:

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

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

Left to right (above): Frohman, Natacha Rambova, Nora Bayes, Blanche Bates and Valentino. (Below)...the fabulous frocks underneath those coats.

More of Rambova's Art In Situ

Natacha Rambova's bedroom in the Chateau Juan le Pins. Notice the artwork over the lamp on the far table. It is one of Natacha's costume design sketches. I also like the framed pictures of her on the table in the forefront...from her Aztec Dance days. 

More From "Page Z"

 There is a minimizing of the abuse inflicted on Renato and I from some in the Valentino world, i.e. those administrators on Mad About the Boy and We Never Forget. I say this because the word “adversary” is creeping in and I have to respond. It is insidious. It is not a tit-for-tat thing. They are predators of the worst kind and I am no adversary who would frivolously play the situation in some simplistic social media way.

Bret lies as he breathes, concocting impossible scenarios which do not merit the dignity of a tiny response. Yet fact is he spent the past 12 years attacking me and Renato...with sick posts about my father within hours of his death, he published my actual obituary with accompanying articles about my death, he explained how any one who would, “Slit my worthless throat” would be “rewarded by him forever”, he posted my personal information (doxing) with an enticement of “We are Almost There Folks!", and he posted how one day we will meet face to face and “only one of us will walk away” and added it "would not be you Evelyn".

Some people say to ignore it, that he is nothing to think about...but if someone is walking down the street and they see two big goons beating up an old lady... would they laugh at it, cheer the goons on and call the goons her adversaries? I would hope no one would.

It kind of sickens me when people minimize what they do to us and other people, their perceived “adversaries” who quickly become their prey.

It has never been an authors war and I am not and never have been in competition with them. It is abuse that can not be tolerated, not made fun of and they are not my “adversaries”.

The alliance in this between Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret has been a "thing"...as in the "team",  since about 2010. Bret pining for Terhune and Terhune, for a long while hiding his relationship with Bret. But not anymore. Now they openly preen on that blog Terhune runs to bully us under the title of my book Affairs Valentino.

Here as far back as 2010:

And Bret pining for Terhune about the same time:

FYI about Bret's claim to Michael Morris' e-mails to me: I never forwarded Michael Morris' e-mails to anyone. I once posted the entire emails on my Tumblr account and he downloaded those. 

Terhune and Bret have been running the show against us in tight formation for eleven straight years and counting. And I add there is a long, long trail of documentation of that statement. 

Natacha's Favorite Painting?

Over the years I began to notice the art in many of Natacha Rambova's images.  This one painting, as one of a set, appeared in several of her homes. Did it travel with her?

It appears to be one of a set of Chinese 19^th century reverse paintings on glass called Églomisé.

The painting first appears on the right side of the door at the Valentino's Whitley Heights living room:

Here it is installed, as the set, in the library at the Hudnut Chateau at Juan les Pins:

Natacha poses in yet another setting with her favorite painting:

*The two ceramic heads on pedestals in the Whitley Heights image also appear in her home in Mallorca.

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

Some Words On It All From Michael Morris

I thought I would let my friend and mentor Michael Morris weigh in on some things being discussed and commented on recently. (see below) 

Here he refers to Bill Self and the letters written by Natacha Rambova to Rudolph Valentino. As the mention was ambiguous whether they came from Ullman or Alberto, I found this reference relevant:

Further commentary:

Here (below) Michael refers to his editing Affairs Valentino. He made editorial notes and a few brilliant suggestions. For a while Terhune and Bret tried to claim he wrote the Forward to the book. He did not but he sure read it and supported my every word.... and added four words: "Magus of the Cult". 

More:

The "43 Club" Today

This photo below was sent to me from London a few sunny days ago. They snapped the image as they passed "40 Gerrard" Street, which once housed the "43 Club" where Rudolph Valentino partied whenever he was in town. The photographer said the top of the building remains the same. Thanks for sharing this!

 

"What Books?"

*(see update below) In a discussion on this blog about Andre Daven, I left a comment expressing my opinion that David Bret did not have personal godfather connections to Daven. He wrote the following to me today requesting it be published so here it is:

I was informed he was telling people Andre Daven was his “godfather's godfather” and here is my source from Cindy Martin as she told Renato about this, extracted:

I add that the reason Bret has not given me a “penny” on the court awarded damages is that he told the court he had zero assets. I told the court he had many books in print and they asked, “What books?” So logically I sent them a listing and the links for over one hundred titles he has in print. I guess one must presume he never sold a copy of any of them if he can not declare a single one as an asset.

And I did get much more than a penny from him... the judge awarded me some 30,000$ which by now with all the added legal fees and interest has nearly doubled. This is his court-awarded debt to me.

I have received several comments for this blog from David Bret which I have not published because they are open threats in which he always mentions, and wishes for, my death. 

*** David Bret sent another comment (see below)  I do not lie, post his latest comment submitted for this blog and say "Yay" to his comment we will not hear from him again... and I intended to post the verdict link: https://www.zumayawinslawsuit.com/

The Chicca Guglielmi Morone Interview

New Document Regarding Maria Guglielmi Strada

*I have added information from Renato (see images below)

Renato filed a request with the City of Turin Historical Archive to see what information was still on file about Rudolph Valentino's sister Maria Strada. This is the e-mail response he received with translation below. This is a typical "Family Form" which to date we have found missing, in several archives, for Alberto, Ada and Jean Valentino. However we have not surrendered the search.

I think Maria Strada deserves more focus than she has been given in the Valentino story and hopefully this is a beginning.

Dear Mr. Floris,

As a result of the search carried out in the Individual Registry Cards housed in the Historical Archive of the City of Turin, we inform you that no Card relating to Strada, Maria born Guglielmi, nor any Card relating to the daughter Gabriella, has been found, while there is a Card relating to the husband:

Strada, Eugenio, freelance engineer, who was born in Turin on July 1, 1887, (act no. 2032) was son of the late Ernesto, engineer and Rocca Cesnola Eugenia; marital status, husband of Guglielmi, Maria; Marriage recorded in Turin October 18, 1926 (act no. 1524);

Strada, Eugenio deleted from the Register on July 25, 1903 due to emigration to Volvera; reentered on September 29, 1905; eliminated by death in Turin in the Mauriziano hospital on July 12, 1947, record no. 1874.

Residence: Via C. Giordana 5, then on August 1, 1935, Corso G. Ferraris 99.

The family record of the 1921 Census n. 1926/104242 reads:

Strada:

Eugenio, son of the late Ernesto, residence at Via C. Giordana 5, Gallo Abello villa. (from page 6231 O)

Strada, Eugenio, engineer, was son of the late Ernesto and Eugenia Rocca Ceresola, was head of the family, born in Turin, July 1, 1887, married Maria Guglielmi, previously residing in Milan

Strada, Maria Grazia, was Guglielmi, daughter of the late Giovanni and the late Barbin, Maria, wife, Castellaneta September 1, 1897, married, housewife.

Strada, Gabriella Eugenia, daughter of Eugenio and Guglielmi, Maria, daughter born in Turin July 19, 1927.

On the family record of the 1936 Census section, page 1126, line 29, the same components are recorded without variations.

From the Ten-Year Books of Births, it is noted that the birth certificate of Strada, Gabriella di Eugenio bears the n. 2345 of the year 1927.

If interested, you can request a copy from: archiyiostatocivile @ comune torino.it

In the Ten-Year Books of Deaths, which the Historical Archive maintains recorded until 1965, the name of Guglielmi Maria, widow Strada, has not been found.

With best regards

XXXXX

Historical Archive of the City of Turin

**Further information from Renato regarding Maria Strada's famous sister-in-law:

"Emma Strada, sister-in-law of Maria Guglielmi, graduated from the Royal Polytechnic of Turin in 1908.

She was the first female engineer in Italy and was 24 years old when she graduated with full marks, coming third out of 62 enrolled.

The world in which she was raised and educated also contributes to Emma Strada's choice to be an engineer: an open and liberal family environment, in which her father Ernesto, a civil engineer with his own studio, had always encouraged her to pursue her own interests.

Emma received strong stimuli from her father who was certainly an 'example' to be emulated by the young Emma, also her brother Eugenio, husband of Maria Guglielmi, was a professional civil engineer.

Ernesto Strada was very dedicated to his family, certainly with a progressive spirit, he was to stimulate the young woman, and to support her daughter's decision to undertake the course of studies in Engineering.

Before the Polytechnic, Emma attended the Liceo Classico D'Azeglio, an unusual choice for a girl of that time, because it was usual that the university would follow her high school diploma.

Her first work was the design of a tunnel to drain the water from a mine, in Ollomont, in the Aosta Valley; then she went to Calabria, where, between 1909 and 1910, she planned the construction of the car-moto-funicular railway of Catanzaro and the construction of the Calabrian branch of the Apulian aqueduct. In the years 1909-1915 she was the extraordinary assistant of prof. Luigi Pagliani, professor and director of the Industrial Hygiene Cabinet at the University of Turin. In 1925 she was entrusted with the task of designing and directing the excavation operations of a gold mine near Macugnaga, near Monte Rosa.

To promote the work of women in the field of science and technology, in 1957, together with other architect and engineer women, she founded the Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architect ( AIDIA), of which she became the first president."

A few photos of Emma Strada (with her father below):

The Andre Daven Hoax

 https://andredaven.blogspot.com/

I just wanted to make sure this material does not get buried. 

Terhune and Bret Bullying Together Again

Tracy Ryan Terhune and his partner in bullying, David Spurr Bret again bully today by doing exactly the same thing to Rudolph Valentino's fine godfather and sponsor Frank Mennillo that they have been doing to Ullman. D.e.s.p.e.r.a.t.e

Terhune and Bret, together again attempting to claim with feigned authority that Mennillo was not at Valentino's death bed. So very much documentation exists that he certainly was. He held Valentino in his arms and heard his last words which Mennillo shared only with Alberto. That is a sacred fact. Terhune and Bret's latest hate mash?.. is absurdity. 

They cobbled together frantically, material which I presented from the court records and Ullman's testimony to smear his good name and Mennillo's as well. Again what damage they try to do as a team to spend another day ruining the people who were loyal to Valentino and who he loved the most. 

Terhune and Bret have been allied in their bullying for years and I have a hard drive of proof of this statement. But by far the most compelling is the proof Terhune provided himself. The following excerpt is taken from a document submitted to the court by Tracy Ryan Terhune and it is consequently public record. Here he passes information on to David Spurr Bret to use on his killing blogs and advises him not to reveal he was the one passing it on. The next day Bret did post the information and cited a false source in the court. The source was none other than Terhune. (see below) "David (Bret) you can use the facts contained within this email to let everyone know...but please do not use my name or that you heard it from me.." 

Further proof of their undying partnership... here (see below) Bret dedicates his book to his best friend Tracy Terhune... and I have to say to his thanking... "Jacques Hebertot for sharing"??? hahahahaha to that. 

Somewhat of a forced BFF mode with these two partners in bullying...because Cindy Martin told us how Terhune fears Bret would ever be on U.S. soil. Go figure.  

Stop Bullying Us - By Renato & Evelyn

From Renato Floris: 

The constant attacks on the memory of George Ullman remind me of a famous sentence by Joseph Fouché, (Nantes, May 31, 1759 - Trieste, December 26, 1820) who was an important French politician, deputy to the Convention, later minister of police during the second restoration and considered the founder of the modern political police.

The emblematic sentence of Fouché says:

"Give me anyone's writing and I assure you that, by isolating a sentence from the context, I will be able to send him/her to the guillotine."

This is what, in a decidedly amateurish way, is happening thanks to a blog run under the title of Evelyn's book “Affairs Valentino”.

In the case of Evelyn, following the logic of Fouché, a single sentence was not isolated, but a character, a fundamental character in the history of Valentino: George Ullman. He is being isolated as an excuse to hit Evelyn with real techniques defining the worst possible bullying. The dream of our accusers is to be able to witness the cultural beheading of Evelyn and myself in a contemporary cybernetic Place de la Concorde.

On the blog with the same title as the book by Evelyn, “Affairs Valentino”, the bullies desperately try to discredit Evelyn and her documented discoveries because those revelations disturb the smooth flow of what has so far been passed off as the orthodox truth of Valentino.

One of Evelyn's most important discoveries was to find an entire judicial file, the original of which was stolen from its legal and unique headquarters, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles’s Archives and Records Center.

Until Evelyn made this discovery of Ullman's appeals filing, George Ullman was considered a sort of sly man who tried to enrich himself on Rudolph Valentino. What Evelyn unconcealed is extensively described in her book, "Affairs Valentino, A Special Edition" and has provoked powerful repercussions on the part of those who want to maintain the pre-court records status quo.

They immediately raised rumors against Evelyn, even accusing her of having falsified about a thousand pages of judicial documents, whose existence, those who accused her of having done the falsifying, were perfectly aware.

Now let's see what is said in the past few hours about Ullman. Our accusers say that he illegally appropriated effects belonging to Rudolph Valentino, effects which were legitimate property of the heirs of Valentino. Sorry, I meant the property of the only legitimate heir or the "nephew" Jean.

In addition to that, they claim Ullman would have acted on the “Black Market”. Let's see the true meaning of "Black Market":

“A Black Market, Underground Economy or Shadow Economy, is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by some form of non compliant behavior with an institutional set of rules.

If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distribution is prohibited by law, non-compliance with the rule constitutes a black market trade since the transaction itself is illegal. Parties engaging in the production or distribution of prohibited goods and services are members of the illegal economy. Examples include the drug trade, prostitution (where prohibited), illegal currency transactions and human trafficking. Violations of the tax code involving income tax evasion constitute membership in the unreported economy.”

Nothing of the above definition has anything to do with George Ullman. That accusation of “Black Market” is just a crude strategy to criminalize something that has nothing criminal about it.

Ullman, like many others, had some documents, without legal value and even some letters, and he thought well of making a few dollars and selling them to Valentino enthusiasts. I wonder what is criminal about this, perhaps because this is still a widespread practice. Anyone can freely buy and sell letters and more of what once belonged to Valentino, but if that "anyone" is George Ullman, his transaction becomes the Black Market?

And if, with hindsight, we wanted to give an opinion on the sales made, perhaps in a discreet way, by George Ullman, we have to put this in historical context because he was financially crippled by Alberto Valentino at the height of the U.S. depression and condemned to repay money, a lot of money, which he gave Alberto in good faith. For this act, in Ullman's situation, he certainly cannot be scandalized.

I know that recently a letter from Rudolph written to his friend Bruno Pozzan, another who speculated on Valentino for sure, was sold by a collector to a Valentino fan for $ 3,500.00. Compare this: Ullman sold 11 letters, copies of the contract with United Artists and five checks for the sum of $25.00 which in 1955 was equal to the current $ 258.00. This picture is rather tragic and certainly does not spotlight a terrible criminal but someone who still had to make some cash to satisfy his three children's hunger. He was not out for the greenbacks as Alberto was.

If there is one thing I regret is that these historical materials are owned by and kept hidden, and censored by those isolating Ullman in order to bully us. Bullying Evelyn and myself is the only reason they attack Mr. Ullman. I'm very sorry for him, for his memory, for all the good he did for Valentino and for all the good Ullman did for Valentino's unworthy heirs.

From Evelyn:

In regards to the current unibomber length manifestos, nit picking Ullman's every move... I say it is bullying behavior. And it is being done shamefully by someone who preens on that bully blog with all Christian self-righteousness. Righteous what, I ask?

I wonder if Tracy Terhune, the accuser, is now going to hack out more manifestos... maybe one about how Ullman tried to save money and buy day old bread? 

He is bullying us by Ullman! This is really the bottom line about Terhune's lack of integrity imo when it comes to Valentino. He is using the most maligned and heroic man in the entire Valentino saga, George Ullman as a weapon to bully us.

The bandito in this bullying is not Ullman but Terhune. Anything he writes on that blog is bullying. Anything. He opened it to bully us in 2012 and has run it through so many wicked incarnations it is mind-boggling. But it has always been and is today his weapon to bully us; constantly reminding us that he has it and I don't. Taunting me in particular.

IMO Terhune is 100% disingenuous about his motivations in trashing Ullman. I cite a footnote from Die Evelyn Zumaya Die... p. 51.

”Terhune comments on Valentino family and Ullman relationship, chat room transcript, November 3, 2003 saying: 'I don't deny that the Valentino families never-ending greed played a major part in this suit, setting Ullman up for a fall, in a no-win situation.' ”

Maybe he could get his stories straight... in the least... as he heads over to that bully blog war room he runs to just do his best to torture us.

A Heart of Gold

Luigi Marsano was a shepard, custodian of the stables and a teacher at the “State Practical School of Agriculture B. Marsano at Sant'Ilario during the time Rudolph Valentino was a boarded student. Renato discovered a fascinating article with Luigi (or Luigino) which was conducted by a reporter from La Nuova Stampa Sera in 1950.

Luigi was then 78 years old and we included the entire article in The Rudolph Valentino Case Files.

Renato translated the article which was titled, “Revelation on the Beautiful Valentino as a Boarder at Sant'Ilario”. The article appears in Nuova Stampa Sera, in Turin on December 8 and 9, 1950.

In 1923, Valentino returned to visit with Luigi, who also tells a sweet story of that reunion. I think the article is important because it contributes more first-hand insight into this time in Valentino's young life as a, “naughty boy but with a heart of gold.”  (Here follows)

But a Heart of Gold-

“And what was he like at school, did he study?”

“Eh,” Marsano says quickly, winking, “he didn't waste much time with books but he was talented, he was ingenious, he was intelligent. One morning a professor calls him and says, 'You, Guglielmi don't study and I'll miss you'. And then Rodolfo stood up and replied: 'Dear professor, I know more when I sleep than you when you are awake!' He said precisely these words and I remember them as if it were said now.”

Then Luigi pauses for a moment and says, shaking his head, that Guglielmi was very active with the girls. He watched and pursued them all and escaped from the dormitory by sliding down the pipes. His comrades sometimes wanted to isolate him, stay away from him. But they needed him too much because he was the only one who passed the completed homework on to everyone.

“He was a naughty boy,” Luigi concludes, ”but with a heart of gold. He would give the world. And he had courage. One time there was a cow in love which was stomping up and down like mad, and it was frightening. And well, Guglielmi without even thinking about it, rushes to take hold of the beast and guide it into the stable. On my return he says to me, “See, Luigino? when there is a danger we must not waste time ”.

And Marsano does not suspect that with this rudimentary language, a mixture of Italian and Genoese dialect, he is painting the portrait and the character of the future star of Blood and Sand and of The Son of the Sheik."

Rudolph Valentino at Sant'Ilario.

Kay Meyrick Anecdotes

 A few Rudolph Valentino anecdotes from "Secrets of the 43 Club" by Kay Meyrick. 

Guest Post From Renato Floris

ERRARE HUMANUM EST, PERSEVERARE AUTEM DIABOLICUM!

(Making mistakes is human, but persevering them is diabolical!) said the ancient sages.

Tracy Ryan Terhune and David Bret, now with the claims of a self-styled Dr. Christina, never miss an opportunity to persevere in their errors. Let's see what's new today:

Tracy Ryan Terhune claims Evelyn has to apologize to the deceased William Self and for what reason? Because Evelyn reported something Self himself said to her, namely that two baskets, containing documents relating to Valentino, were stolen from George Ullman's garage? It should be noted that Evelyn never confronted Self with the hypothesis that this removal was carried out on his behalf. Self's statement came suddenly without any prompting from Evelyn. She also had confirmation of that theft from Ullman's children. It should be Self who should apologize to himself.

However what was left in Ullman's possession was material considered, at the time, of little interest and of more emotional value to Ullman. When he sold something that once belonged to Valentino, he certainly did not become wealthy for those meager financial exchanges. 

Valentino's pseudo heir, Alberto Guglielmi, who later renamed himself Valentino in order not to fall into anonymity, preferred different types of paper, green paper called dollars and in large quantities! Even though he had no right.

Then David Bret continues to boast two champions of disloyalty to Valentino namely Luther Mahoney and André Daven. The first, a handyman, who signed as a witness on the codicil modifying Valentino's will, which then mysteriously disappeared. Mahoney took great care never to mention the existence of this document to the court during the years of the massacre trial against Ullman. Why?

André Daven, at the time, as well as having a modest role in the film Monsieur Beaucaire, was hired by the Valentinos as an employee with functions such as secretary; ergo Valentino told two of his employees, on different occasions, to act as witnesses on documents. This was not because they were special to him, but only because, given their occupations, they were conveniently available. Daven, however, escaped back to France leaving a huge debt in the tens of thousands, to be paid by Valentino, a debt which Valentino himself speaks about in a letter to Jacques Hébertot.

Just to spice up his nefarious posts, David Bret accuses Evelyn of being obsessed with Valentino's sexuality which is absolutely false. It is obvious that if anyone on earth is obsessed with Valentino's sexuality, it is David Bret.

He openly spends his life inventing imaginary gay lovers of a heterosexual character. Bret consistently makes Valentino's sexuality his foremost thought. What matters most to us is the search for truth in all aspects about a subject clouded by interests which have nothing to do with true biography.

Tracy Ryan Terhune, David Bret and the self-styled Doctor Christina, have missed an excellent opportunity not to be petty.

I say to them: “The more you speak your nonsense, the less credible you are!”

I Respond Again to Tracy Terhune

*Update in response to Tracy Terhune saying I make assumptions and my research is "guess work." How idiotic. If you walk into a room and your fish bowl is on the floor, water spilt and the fish gone and your cat is sitting there licking its paws, a deduction based on DATA can be made. People are sent to prison for life on circumstantial cases which are built on credible data and evidence. A basket of George Ullman which both Self and the Ullman children told me contained his business papers? Well I think a contract would logically be included in something like that. How many purchases of Valentino memorabilia has Terhune made based on an "assumption" about the provenance? 

....Bill Self, Bob and Bunny Ullman all told me about the theft of the wicker baskets from George Ullman's garage. I never specifically mentioned that the United Artists' contract was in fact in those baskets. I did not know the exact content of the baskets but assumed they contained his business archive including such documents. 

Tracy Terhune thinks I owe an apology to Bill Self for implying he had something to do with the heist. I wrote the story as he handed it to me and boy he would have told me more if they had not shut him up. And before he was shut up he did warn me about Tracy Terhune. I had not heard of him... yet. So how self-important does Terhune think he was in Self's life when Self felt I should be wary of him? That's confusing.

And it would not matter if Terhune posted compliments to me on his hit blog... because when he posts anything... even a single comma there... he is bullying us straight up. The nerve to rub our faces in that again and again. Sadist.

He fiendishly seized upon my closing that blog years ago as I did so because David Bret was threatening my family and I felt this would stop him. It did not. When Terhune realized the Affairs Valentino blogspot was available, he grabbed it and has used it as a weapon against us for nine years and counting. He feigns it has some other purpose but it never has. (see below for some previous posts he has made there in the past)

And its kind of ironic that Tracy Terhune is attempting in any way to impugn anyone for selling Valentino memorabilia. Isn't that was he does primarily? Every day? Selling Rudolph Valentino's earthly belongings to the highest bidder? Ca-ching.

If Terhune believes the documents were the legitimate property of the Valentino estate, what the hell is he doing with them all? Why does he not return it all to the Valentino family? And who are the collectors who had those stolen court records in their sweaty little hands? Where are the records now? Why does Terhune not name their names?

I truly wonder what Mr. Self would say if he were here today. It was not such a complicated story to figure out. But both Bret and Terhune delight in saying whatever they feel like saying about people after they die.

I am sick to death of defending us in response to Tracy Terhune and his decade now of bullying, his bully blog, his ridiculous and pompous statements and his feeling he has a right to continue posting under the title of a book he has tried so very hard to bury in his lies. He is still freaking out over my Affairs Valentino. I must have done something right there.

And no Mr. Terhune our research is not “lunatic guess work” but solid documentation. I think you know well it is solid because if it was actually “lunatic guess work” you would not have spent the past decade of your life obsessing over it and trying to ruin us. 

I have yet to be impressed by you. You are consistently awful. Some (below) from your file of home page posts in our honor. I begin with you pretending to be me on my blog you stole... as posted by you, "trt96". 

More from Tracy Terhune's "Literary Critique" which he posts under my book's title...

A Response to Tracy Ryan Terhune's Black Market Innuendo

Tracy Terhune has posted a header with a picture of the most abused character in Valentino's story, George Ullman with a bold, black title screaming across the image saying: “Black Market”.

This says much more about Terhune than Ullman and reeks of desperation as he tries to isolate a point in time to make Ullman look like a villain. Did anyone ever call the police on George Ullman, was he ever arrested or charged with a crime? No he was not.

So this begs the question...what is the black market to Terhune anyway? Terhune should know I guess, as he wheels and deals  and seems to know all about it. “Black market” is just another of his hit tag lines he hangs on to...such as calling all of my work, “fan girl fiction” or “trash fiction”, calling Renato "Child Star 72" and calling Rambova “the worst thing to ever happen to Valentino.” He parrots these lines and has for years.

The market of Valentino collectibles is a disgusting state of affairs and now primarily because Tracy Terhune is running the shit show. I have made no secret of my feelings on this. With Terhune's long history of factual blunders about Valentino...anyone who takes his word as truth, imo is very gullible indeed.

This is a man with malice in his blood imo. I cite as personal proof of this statement...the cruel and spiteful hit blog he runs (and has run for nine years and counting) under the title of my book, Affairs Valentino. There he hosts the likes of David Bret (someone who was defeated by me in a landmark defamation lawsuit) and together they have spent years on end writing malicious lies defaming us.

Tracy Ryan Terhune has no interest in historical context, in being respectful, no interest in the truth about Valentino as we discovered it. He wants to destroy our work and that is obvious today. Terhune never made a tiny move to contact Bob and Bunny Ullman to ask them a single question and just handed over the piles of cash, “ca-ching!”... to buy all the merchandise he could to build a shred of credibility for himself. Imo without that he would have zero presence.

Did Terhune wake up today thinking... what more can I do to ruin Valentino's legacy and those who Valentino trusted and loved most? Seems that way to me. His schemes to destroy have gone on for years and years and I am living testimony to his behavior... from Hala Pickford to George Ullman, to Natacha Rambova, Renato Floris, Me... oh, its a long list.

Quite simply, after all this time being hit by this man, imo Tracy Terhune is the worst thing to ever happen to Valentino. I think he and his obedient sycophants are only savaging Ullman to hit back at me as he knows we present truth with documentation. And he is acting desperately now that this blog has such an intelligent following! Thank you everyone for commenting and being so savvy and historically interested!!

If Terhune is so invested in truthiness then why does he hide those court records he says he has seen three times? Who is he protecting.. name the names of those true black market dealers and actual thieves.

Frankly, Terhune's daily hit pieces on Ullman should send his followers for the door because they are so cruel and absurd in light of what happened to this man; the actual history not Terhune's innuendo. Terhune implies Ullman came to have those relics by stealing them. He did not... he had an archive of Rudy papers in his garage (which was stolen by collectors) and had these papers legally as he was the business manager when Valentino died. He was not just some vicious collector who went out frantically dealing on the actual black market to feed his Rudy obsession. He was the business manager and executor.

Has Terhune ever mentioned how Ullman was held responsible for repaying Alberto all the money he advanced to him in good faith? To my knowledge he has not. I could make a mile long list of things we have discovered which Terhune will not touch. Contrived is the word I would use on his latest piece of butchery.

As pointed out to me, Terhune likes to imply Ullman was dealing in some darkened alley when in fact there were invoices, with his name and address on them. How is that nefarious?

George Ullman was and remains the ultimate hero of Rudolph Valentino's story. Tracy Terhune, sitting atop his “stockpiles” of Rudy relics.. imo is the ultimate villain of the story. I would suggest he look in the mirror for that Rudolph Valentino black market character he is so eager to expose.

I really wonder if Terhune would dare say any of this to George Ullman's face or Rudy's for that matter. And I wonder if he would have said any of this while Bob and Bunny Ullman were alive.  How very convenient for him that they are all dead and can not defend themselves.

In light of all the people I have seen Terhune attack over nearly two decades of my life, of all the horrendous abuse we have had to take from him, in light of the public attempts he has made to impede our right to do business and in light of his open censorship and his “Campaign to Ruin Evelyn”... I say he should not to have any voice in this subject all. I say call Tracy Ryan Terhune out on everything. Ask him all the questions.

So here (see below) the last photo taken of the honorable and just George Ullman and I say to Terhune, “Say it to George's face.” After all this man was subjected to for his loyalty to Valentino are you just going to smear mud in this face?

"Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies"

How easy it is for certain people to continue to spread lies about Valentino when there seems no one to defend him among his own blood relatives. Crickets... They have, in the past, come out to say he was heterosexual, yet it is somehow ok for the completely unfounded myth to perpetuate that he was gay or bisexual. There is not a shred of evidence to prove that other than tall tales, told by tired people hoping to add some glitter to their own meager legacies. Rudolph Valentino admitted he contracted syphilis from having sex with prostitutes as a teenager and they were women.

How easy it is for people to continue to spread lies about Natacha and Valentino's tumultuous love, to spread lies about who she really was... portraying her as a cold-hearted bitch when her friends recall her “easy laugh” and great sense of humor. There seems no one to defend her memory and testify to her importance to Rudolph Valentino especially when Tracy Ryan Terhune takes his little center stage to trash this iconic woman with his tired old mantra that she was the worst thing that ever happened to Valentino. Can I just say that imo I think he is?

How easy it is for these willful liars to ignore the mountain of evidence because who holds them accountable? We try... we build books including our sources, record podcasts and share an archive of proof... yet one tiny mention in a book somewhere by someone of nearly no importance or relevance is held as gospel by the liars.

Why I ask is Valentino's legacy still a slurry of lies? Why has so little changed despite the evidence to their contrary pouring out from books like Jeanne De Recqueville's Rudolph Valentino, The True Rudolph Valentino by Baltasar Cue, The Ullman memoir... or what was left of it.

I have never been a huge fan of Ron Paul but I found a quote by him which I felt held some relevance here:

“Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies”

Indeed.