Sovereign Act Catalog

 Please visit the catalog of the reissues of our books here:

https://sovereignactpublishing.blogspot.com/

A Meaningful Event

A note of thanks to Aurelio Miccoli, who recently shared an image from an event in Castellaneta in which actor Lino Guanciale, receiving a Valentino-related honor, concluded the evening with a reading from Il Mio Diario Privato, excerpted from the opening passage describing a journey back to his roots.

It is always meaningful to see this material continue to find a voice and an audience, particularly in Italy, where so much of this history still resonates and where Renato Floris' work in translating and preserving the integrity of these texts remains part of that ongoing record. 

My thanks to Aurelio for passing this along. 

The article maybe be read here: https://www.viviwebtv.it/articolo/aracnea-film-e-book-festival-lino-guanciale-incanta-la-platea-sotto-il-segno-di-rudy_107848

The Image via Facebook here: 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=910085498511168&set=a.255542903965434

Reading Rudolph Valentino's Final World

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

New Substack Online

The book is available:

https://bit.ly/4rwQtkg

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

 

New Substack Online

 https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

New Substack Post

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

New Substack Online

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

 

On "The Controversy"

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

 

Ignoring the Gold - New Substack Post

 https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

Open letter to Tracy Ryan Terhune from Renato Floris -Repost

The following is a repost which stands as an open letter my late husband Renato Floris wrote to Tracy Ryan Terhune. Renato writes:

"With the great Roman statesman Cicero, I want to say; “Quousque tandem abutere, Tracy, patientia nostra?”

Translated for you, “For how much longer, Tracy, do you intend to try our patience?”

I have always wanted to avoid direct dialogues with you; you who insult me, mock me for my age and make fun of me. You who make fun of me, calling me “Childstar72”, because as a boy I was lucky, yes lucky, to participate as a child actor in the first Italian television studios. I was a real little pioneer, a past that I'm really proud of!

Tracy, as is your habit, after having hidden a post you were certainly not proud of, or maybe because of the presence of the fastidious post I wrote, you reverted to attack by saying you have nothing against Evelyn's book and, in general, against my publications. Nothing could be more ridiculous and foolish; nothing more false and hypocritical!

And you say this on a blog you run under the title of the book, Affairs Valentino, which you claimed you "loved" so much; a book upon which you, along with your intellectually dishonest buddy David Bret, spit out your poisons.

You tell us that you "appreciate" our books and display them wrapped in protective plastic cases. This is because for you they are not books to read but pieces in a collection of objects related to Rudolph Valentino. While you display them as objects of value, you tell people they are “trash fiction”. Which is it?

You are well aware our books, all of them, possess great value. This is because our books are printed, also thanks to your malicious interventions, in limited numbers and it is for this reason you well know they are more precious.

You try to act like the little angel, saying you don't want anyone harmed. This you have oddly repeated and once notably in a Facebook message to Bret (see link below) which you submitted to the court some years ago. And in this same message to Bret, now public record, you tell Bret how you get a good laugh reading his scurrilous and poisonous, death obsessed comments about Evelyn. To this you assure Bret you don't want anyone harmed?

In that publicly available document you go on to give Bret instructions on how to lie in his posts; on this occasion you are telling him about the trial of a young woman who fell, to her great misfortune, under your claws.

In this document you tell Bret all the details of her legal case and tell him he should report the developments of the case but not to say that you were the one who sent him the information. 

You go on to tell Bret he should say that it was the court clerk who, kindly, told him about the legal proceedings. Anyone who believes that any court clerk would report such information to Bret is probably someone who believes in the existence of elves and unicorns.

To see that document and read more about this, I refer you to the post https://bit.ly/2ZO9aoh in this same blog.

Well, then what is it now Tracy, that you are complaining about? The mythical Forewarning of the first edition of Affairs Valentino and again and again and again. Regarding the Forewarning, I will repeat this fact until the end of my days; this was a report of exactly what happened in the year 2010, when Bret was posting every day that Evelyn was involved in drugs and that she was having sex with her deceased father and so on. Is this what you found so funny, you laughed?

Of course Evelyn was angry, who wouldn't be. Take any of those wicked posts, insert your name instead of Evelyn's, that of your father instead of that of Evelyn's father and you certainly won't be smiling.

And for how long was that notorious Forewarning available; only 10 maybe 15 days in the spring of 2011.

I will not repeat what I have previously said about the forewarning because I have already done so in a previous post. 

A final consideration for you, from the date of the release of the forewarning to today, almost 10 years have passed. How long will it take you, Tracy Ryan Terhune to stop whining about something that perhaps irritated you because you recognized yourself in the albeit anonymous descriptions.

Do you not realize how ridiculous you appear in continuing, like a capricious child, to stomp your feet on the ground because you believe someone has offended you? The best thing you could do is to close the blog you use to insult and defame Evelyn and myself, give it back to who created it and go and live your life and let us escape from this Twilight Zone scenario.

Quousque tandem, Tracy? How long?

Thank You For Your Patience

 

A Memory

A slide show memory of our trip to Castellaneta, 

the birthplace of Rudolph Valentino some years ago. 

 

One Hundred Years Ago Today

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.

Renato's Quiet Archive of Truth

 My beloved Renato spent years shielding me from the worst of the poison hurled our way — especially the bile spewed on a blog which brazenly uses my book’s title, Affairs Valentino, and is run by Tracy Ryan Terhune. I still remember his opening post, posing as me writing, “My Book, Affairs Valentino is Pure Fiction.”

Today, I opened an oddly titled folder on Renato’s hard drive — catture schermo (“screen captures” in Italian) — and found it overflowing with screenshots from Terhune's Affairs Valentino blog which I had never seen. Every one of them documented Terhune’s smear posts, meticulously saved.

I’ve long ago told the story of how David Bret extorted me into closing my original Affairs Valentino blog in 2011, threatening to open blogs in my family members’ names. Terhune seized that moment, promising to run a blog under the title of my book, “for the good” — but these screenshots show what he was really doing: running a dedicated hit site for his campaign to destroy me.

The flood of insults and lies upon lies number in the hundreds. In his comment section, he provides a platform for David Bret to violate a court order and run rampant. I scrolled through Renato's, “catture schermo” file, in slideshow mode, barely able to keep up with the sheer volume of attacks. And there, in living color I found the ultimate proof of their obsession with my book and with me personally.

Renato quietly collected it all, sharing some but never telling me the full scope. I realize now what a testament that was to his love for me — protecting me from the worst of it. But now I have it, every word, every fabrication, every grotesque twist of the actual truth.

Terhune has spent years gaslighting his audience into believing my responses were “unprovoked.” These screenshots prove otherwise. My god — they were provoked. Over and over and over.

In my opinion, after witnessing years of his documented malice conducted under my book’s title, it is a disgrace that this man plays any role in the public remembrance of Rudolph Valentino. He went too far. We had every right to defend ourselves. We courageously did. I still do. And now, thanks to Renato, the record will remain.

Below: Renato, preserving the record with steadfast love and vigilance.

New Substack Online

https://evelynfloris.substack.com/

Parole Sagge

 

On the Censorship of Our Work

The truth is not subjective when supported by documentation and facts. For fourteen years Renato and I shared a treasure trove of documentation to prove facts about the subject of Rudolph Valentino, Natacha Rambova, S. George Ullman, Frank Mennillo, Robert Florey, etc.

But the Valentino “mainstream” as they like to call themselves plugged their ears. And they went even farther to deny the truth be told. (banning even the mention of us on their two Facebook groups, Mad About the Boy and We Never Forget)

They censored, they lied and basically they panicked. In their continued efforts to silence us, we were portrayed as lunatics, criminals who forged documents, dottering senior citizens and described precisely how this hysterical “mainstream” behaved and behaves themselves. Renato and I were anything but. We were working hard every day, sharp as tacks, full of energy and inspired to find honest answers to our many questions... which we did!

Fortunately there are many in the world of Valentino who have questioning minds, who read our books for themselves, checked our citations, listened to our podcasts and learned some truth along the way. To them I say bravo, you are heroes!....again and again.

To those who decided it was not such a big deal and better to suck up to the “mainstreamers”? I say wake up. Your complicity is sad and embarassing. By supporting them, you support their behavior which has been proven by them year after year to be deplorable.

To censor, to shun, to taunt and harass is to bully. This is what they do. They are bullies by definition despite their ridiculous shrieking to the contrary. Their peep, peep, peepings that they are the victims is pathetic. "Mainstreamers"? I call them bullies, censors and liars. 

I assure them no matter how distraught I am now as I grieve the loss of my great love, it will be for him that I will seek and have justice... “Fiat, Justitia Ruat Caelum” ! Below, Renato in 2014 when we visited Matera. 

Renato Muses on He Who, "Throws the Stone and Hides the Hand"

Well I guess I could construct a transcript of this little banter with Renato. But if you listen to it a couple of times you will understand his lovable English. Love, love, love....

 

Correcting the Record

Correcting the Record: On the Translation of Jeanne de Recqueville’s Biography

Once again, I feel compelled to respond to defamatory and baseless accusations being circulated online about my work—and about Jeanne de Recqueville.

My husband Renato Floris translated Jeanne de Recqueville’s rare French biography of Rudolph Valentino into English. This book, long out of print and almost impossible to find, was treated with the utmost scholarly respect. The translation was done meticulously, and the edition we published was intended to honor de Recqueville’s work and make it accessible to a wider audience for the first time.

We did not “appropriate” the book. We cited the original author. We did not “steal” the cover. The image used on the cover was fully licensed and paid for. The fact that we chose the same pose of Valentino as de Recqueville’s original edition was a deliberate tribute—an homage to her contribution to Valentino scholarship, not an act of theft.

To those falsely claiming otherwise: the facts are available. And I stand by our work. That a group moderator would threaten removal of anyone who mentions our edition is not only petty—it’s a troubling act of censorship in what should be a community interested in historical truth.

The only “appropriation” here is the hijacking of a legacy—Jeanne de Recqueville’s, Renato’s, and mine—by those who seek to control the narrative through lies, threats, and silencing tactics.

Let the record stand corrected.