Exactly one hundred years ago today, on August 13, 1925 at two o’clock in the afternoon, Natacha Rambova met with George Ullman to sign away any further role in her husband Rudolph Valentino’s business. In effect, the divorce happened then.
I was the first to bring out the story of that parting — the scene at the train station, her ouster from Cosmic Arts, Inc., her control over the contracts — all revealed in the records I discovered.
That complete file of records still exists… somewhere. In a collector’s vault? In the Valentino family’s possession? Only weeks ago, Tracy Terhune posted a single document from that file in a YouTube video. Was I the only person who asked where he got it?
This anniversary matters. It is true history. The fact that this meeting between Ullman and Rambova — and what it meant for Valentino — is still being buried is no accident.
Am I bitter that the research Renato and I fought to uncover is mocked and demeaned? No. I’m furious. Furious that so few rise to defend Valentino’s real history. Furious at the censorship and the calculated rewriting.
There’s another layer to August 13th — it was also George Ullman’s son Bob’s second birthday. Decades later, Bob would be the one urging me to find those records and tell the truth at last.
The charlatans carry on, polishing their egos and playing gatekeeper with Valentino’s legacy. One hundred years later, the same games continue — but the facts remain.
