Renato writes:
"The fundamental difference between what Tracy says and what we offer for the attention of sincere fans of Valentino, is that our research is based solely on documents, first hand testimony and presented without being clouded by “I wish Valentino were a superior, perfect being. A kind of divinity,” or nonsense of that kind.
We are not interested in the stereotypical image invented by press offices or movie studios or the fictional image as proposed by Terhune and Bret.
Rodolfo Guglielmi was a human being and like all others had his weaknesses and his strengths. Tracy Terhune wants to reiterate a stereotypical image of Valentino, creating Valentino as he would like him to be but, as we know through documents, he was not.
Terhune accuses Evelyn of inventing the fact Valentino suffered from syphilis. It has been proven he did since adolescence and it is not a theory as Tracy Terhune claims. Valentino himself speaks of the disease contracted from the female prostitutes of Taranto. To this declaration the significant admission is also made by Rodolfo's great-granddaughter, Jeanine Villalobos, in her doctoral dissertation.
She also declares that Valentino was blind in the left eye as a consequence of syphilis. Ms. Villalobos did not present this as a theory. It is a shot of sincerity and a breath of fresh air; kudos Jeanine.
And regarding the question of Rodolfo's being sent into exile; this is certain. Valentino too talks about this when he confesses, in the interview with news reporter Alma Whitaker, granted on the set of Cobra, that he caused immense pain to his mother.
With regard to birth dates and documents we share, these only become reality as they are reported in the civil archives which I do not believe Mr. Terhune has ever accessed himself. These are what we reference. I ask why is there a note in the Santeramo in Colle birth registry, with the address of Jean's birth/residency as his maternal grandparents at via Nizza 9 in Turin?
For some it may be normal to imagine that a mother and her new born faced an uncomfortable train journey of over twelve hours on the day of the birth. I do not think that happened. Ask yourself some serious questions Tracy Terhune and stop defending your indefensible theses by accusing us of perverse manias. It is defamatory that Terhune's absurd and false conclusions are made about us and our work at all but he does this on the blog he runs under the title of the book he so hates.
Evelyn and I do not invent anything, we do not write fiction nor mistake prejudice and innuendo for fact. It is obvious we only report the results of our honest research and in every instance we share our sources. We never lie, have no reason to do so and do not hide behind unlikely pseudonyms having conversations with ourselves as we are accused. We live our lives, personally and professionally in the daylight. We do not hate anyone, but we do pity he who insists on denying the documented facts.
To the purists of the English language, I apologize for my artisan but sincere language."
