For the past few days we have been without internet. It was an interesting situation and one which inspired some thoughts on the subject of one Rudolph Valentino. The true advent of the ruin of Valentino's truth began with the internet. I watched it happen.
Those early chat rooms where people began to jockey for power over the subject of Valentino's life, the drama between those who rejected the hoax that Valentino was a closeted homosexual and those who had a heavy agenda to push saying he was. I have some transcripts of early Valentino chat rooms where this is the one hot topic. Amazing how it still is.
There were silent film groups then which I never joined. It was all too antagonistic for me. Just as the internet took off on social media, I began writing Affairs Valentino. I had many secrets to keep and as hard as it is to believe, Tracy Terhune was already at my throat with statements about Ullman et al.
Way back when; when social media was in diapers, I began to get the picture of how Valentino was playing out online and it was not so pretty. Nasty people were pretending to be in charge and throwing their weight around on their various groups. Not much has changed.
Michael Morris once declared that with Affairs Valentino, “their hegemony was over”. I actually think it is over. Not so many informed people respect what is going on with those throwing their weight around.
A few days without social media? To contemplate Rudolph Valentino and think about the hijacking of his legacy? The story was told in Affairs Valentino, Hollywood's tale of the Great Lover, the Sheik who, for a little while, enjoyed the lights of Los Angeles below his Falcon Lair.
Could he have ever imagined the travesty? The contorted usurping of his mighty story?
I would hope such an awful thing never crossed his mind.
Glad to be back online though. Very much so.
