Some have said that Valentino draws” negativity”. I beg to differ and say before Tracy Terhune, there was a congeniality with one of the best examples being found in the memoir of Leonard De Fonte which we published. There still is a great deal of genuine interest, intellect, Valentino scholarship and positive spirit by many who I am privileged to hear from, engage in discussions with.
I think Tracy Terhune's presence has created, and sustains, that loathsome element of negativity... not Rudolph Valentino. Valentino attracts affection, respect and camaraderie. But since the reign of Terhune, a lot changed.
Even in my own experience, I was so excited to share news of my discovering the Ullmans and George's 1975 memoir back in 2003. When I presented this on a chat room, Tracy Terhune aggressively challenged me and my discovery in my first enthusiastic foray, and was so antagonistic I was left traumatized. I soon learned I was not alone.
I have files in my computer of communications since sent to me from people as far back as 2003 telling me how Terhune kicked them out of chat rooms and then Facebook Groups for daring to disagree and question him. One message reads how a woman claimed she had “never met such a thin-skinned and mean-spirited individual”. Her opinion obviously, but after being his target for more than a decade, I can sure agree to that.
Terhune introduced his dogmatic party line, a strict and mostly false narrative..."Valentino according to him".... and as he bought up all he could of Rudy's relics, he gained power in enforcing that party line. I have watched for years on end as he drives people away from the subject of Valentino, people he personally discouraged, demeaned, insulted and in my case ran a full “campaign” to ruin me.
This is not Valentino attracting negativity, it is one person's drive to control it all in a way that inflicts a great deal of negativity on the subject lamentably. Cindy Martin wrote the following in this regard to Renato in an exchange she initiated with him in 2019.
