Recognize the Signatures

The tragedy which befell George Ullman as a result of his executorship of the Valentino estate, was still a reality during my interviews with his daughter Brenda, “Bunny” and his son Robert, “Bob” in 2003-2005. Both were bitter about what happened to their family at the hands of Alberto and Jean Valentino. From Bob's disdain for all things Hollywood to Bunny's guarding her privacy from all things Valentino, their anguish of a lifetime was palpable. George Ullman once wrote he should never have tried to settle his friend Rudy's affairs, but he made the decision to do so because he was too idealistic.

There are still those who carry Alberto's torch of irrational hatred for George Ullman; running through the streets of their corner of Valentino-landia, screaming their trivial newsbits and "fabrications" to the villagers in an effort to portray him as the ultimate villain.

In fact, the documentation proves otherwise and George Ullman was beyond a doubt the hero of Rudolph Valentino's story. Recognize the signatures of those who go to extreme lengths to say otherwise.

                                                           George, Aunt Teresa Werner, Rudolph & Natacha

The Rest of the Story

 On page 408 of Emily Leider's Valentino biography Dark Lover, she writes:

“A final settlement was reached two years later, (she refers to 1934) reducing Ullman's debt to the estate to about $26,000 and exonerating him of charges of mismanagement.”

This is in error because she has neglected to tell the rest of the story. This was not the final settlement (1934) and not at all what Ullman was finally held responsible for by Jean and Alberto Valentino. In 1934, at the time of Ullman's Appeals Court exoneration, the final settlement of the issue of those advances was postponed until Jean Valentino inherited the estate in 1939. This was the final settlement of the estate. Ullman would owe far, far more than $26,000 ( $338,000.00 by today's currency exchange). He would ultimately owe the estate $118,000.00 ($1,534,000.00) and I guess you can see why I feel it important to explain here why this difference.

As a conclusion to the past posts about Alberto's false narrative and this precise subject of Ullman's cruel fate... I share a few more documents from my archive today. The story of that final settlement against Ullman goes like this:

From Affairs Valentino p. 224:

*This is where Leider leaves the story...But in fact Ullman is left waiting for the Final Settlement which would not occur until 1937. From Affairs Valentino: 

The total by today's exchange would be $1, 202,415.89. How did this judgment grow so exponentially? One word – Interest! The following documents reveal Ullman's hopelessness in this regard.

             The interest on the amount grew by @$5000.00 a year ( $65,000.00 today). 

                            Jean Valentino attempts to seize Ullman's business and failed. 

The Valentino estate pursued Ullman for 30 years with the interest accruing for the money he advanced to them in good faith believing they were heirs. I believe Jean should have brought all of these collection processes against Alberto; the person who truly owed him the money. 

Leider's neglecting to complete the telling of the story leaves a wrong impression as to what Ullman faced and the the judgment against him. I do not wonder who told Emily Leider this tall tale. I would be more than a little upset in her position...due to the fact that the family had access to the court records and they could have given her access to them also.

Adding to the Outrageous

Expanding on the past couple of posts about the false narrative issued by Alberto Valentino over the years as to his claiming he received only “pennies”, “worthless real estate”, “a few sentimental items”, etc. from Rudolph's estate, I add the following.

In 1928, Alberto granted an interview to Ms. Elsie Madden who wrote an article titled, “Are They Making Valentino a Saint?” which was published in Motion Picture Magazine that February. After telling Elsie Madden that he intended to go into movies only to keep the name Valentino alive, Alberto explains it this way,

“Someday my brother's pictures will no longer be shown. Then, if they see me, they will say, 'That one is Rudy's brother' and they will not so soon forget the name Valentino”.

Ms. Madden then adds the outrageous...writing how Alberto says he has, “not received a penny yet from Valentino's estate”.

This was 1928 and two years had passed during which time Alberto lived in luxury and entirely on advances from his brother's estate. I posted some of the totals of the money and funding he received cited from the court records in my previous post titled, “On The Subject of Fabrication”. Suffice to say that by today's exchange rate the advances Alberto received ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. (his cash advances of @$39,000. today x 13 would be the equivalent of $507,000).

In February 1935, Alberto poses with his wife Ada and Jean for press telling them he is “broke” and in “Dire Straits”. He does not explain the actual situation as to how the money vanished.

And later in that same year, another article titled, ”Nephew of Valentino, Living in Faded Glory, Wants to Be Actor”, appears in which Alberto shares more of his false narrative, “Alberto, once business manager and expectant heir to his brother's fortune, was unable to get any of the money and only small bits of almost worthless real estate.”

I find this incredible that no clarification was brought forth about this until I found those copies of the stolen probate court records. This story was finally told within the court records and considering how mightily Alberto spun the tale in his favor, I am not surprised those original court records have been missing for decades.

I share one more tidbit which I did cover in Affairs Valentino in the “What Ever Happened” section under “Pola Negri”. I think the article (below) explains the situation but the last line could well be re-written for Ullman. Instead of saying, “The actress having then loaned the money, ended up owing it!”, we could make this, “The executor having advanced the money, ended up owing it!”

      Alberto Valentino with George Ullman in New York in September 1926. 

A Lifetstyle Advanced in Good Faith

As an addition to my previous post titled, “On the Subject of Fabrication“, I share the following:

In a letter Alberto Valentino wrote to Jeanne De Recqueville dated November 17, 1977, he writes,

“...my brother left a legacy of over a million dollars but we ( he and his sister) only got a few personal items of sentimental value.” (cite p. 147, Rudolph Valentino in English by Jeanne De Recqueville, translated by Renato Floris)

Stunning really at that point I think...that in the fifty-one years since Rudolph's death, Alberto is still making such a claim. He neglects to mention the money Ullman owed the Valentino estate was money Alberto and his sister had already spent plus decades of interest. He neglects to mention a lot actually which should have been shared at least once by this man over the years. I found this little article today (with a transcription below) and thought it an odd commentary on his “few sentimental items”. What a life style he enjoyed for years while he squandered his deceased brother's estate which was 100% bequeathed to Jean Valentino and not Alberto.

So after falling and breaking two small bones in his hand, Alberto faints from shock and is taken back to the luxury of his bungalow at the Ambassador which then cost $750.00 a month (by today's exchange this would be $9750.00) to be “attended to” by not one... but apparently several, “attending physicians” and Pola Negri. The problem with this is not that he found a way to live this extravagant lifestyle... but that when he'd spent all there was to spend, he lied so tremendously at Ullman's expense.

It was Ullman who, in good faith, advanced that life style, those attending physicians and the Ambassador bungalow to Alberto and we all know how that turned how for him.

                                          Los Angeles Times, November 25, 1926

Transcribed:

“Alberto Guglielmi Valentino, brother of the late screen star, was a victim of the rain yesterday. Stepping from his machine at the Ambassador garage, in the rear of the hotel, he slipped and fell to the pavement and sustained a fractured hand. He was taken to a hospital, where it was found two small bones had been broken.

The actor's brother, after fainting from shock was returned to his cottage at the Ambassador, where he is being cared for by private physicians and Pola Negri, screen actress and fiancee of the late Rudolph Valentino. His injuries are not serious, his attending physicians said.”

The Words of a True Friend and Admirer

Well the project has begun. (see below) After finding excuses for the past twenty years, I am finally organizing the Affairs Valentino materials. Hopefully I will find things to share here. I have no doubt I will. Most of my archive is housed on various hard drives but I began work on this when paper was still a thing. 

                                     Michael Morris referred to files as the "raw data". 

     I just found this little quote (below) which I found such sweet words of a true friend and admirer.  

On the Subject of Fabrication

All too often I run across something that really bothers me. Consequently, I will leave my grievance here for posterity. I am eternally blown away with the tremendous lie/fabrication told by Alberto Valentino when he said he only got pennies and a few sentimental items from Rudolph's estate. (one example being p. 147 in the Jeanne De Recqueville book, Rudolph Valentino In English)  Now bear in mind he did not say this once or twice... he repeated it his entire life right down to one of his final interviews in 1977. 

In every interview he seized the opportunity to advance his self-promotion taglines and schemes; i.e. telling the same story of how he never got anything but pennies and a few sentimental items from the estate. On some occasions he furthered his promoting himself in Hollywood by telling more lies; i.e. claiming falsely Ullman was found guilty of embezzling estate money and that he was the reason the settlement of the estate took so long and why all of the money disappeared into lawyers. If ever a red herring... it would be George Ullman.

The problem I have with Alberto's decades of “fabrications”... is that according to the court records, and every bit of evidence I discovered, he was telling absolute lies. His entire, “woe is me all the money was spent on lawyers” is utter bullshit. I will not dispute he spent a fortune on frivolous attorneys who were wildly exploiting the situation. But Alberto claims to have been an accountant, a book-keeper so I think he always knew exactly and down to that precious penny... how much money he did receive from his successful and rich brother Rudolph.

Alberto decided to stay in Los Angeles...as he told Ullman upon first arrival after Rudolph's death... to “take Rudy's place”. Alberto did not just take care of the funerals, etc. and return to his family in Italy... he stayed on for years. During those years 1926-1930, he lived large on advances given to him by George Ullman which forms the crux of this awful story and can be read about in detail in Affairs Valentino.

Until that second page of Valentino's will, Paragraph Fourth appeared in 1930, informing Ullman and the world that Alberto was not an heir to his brother Rudy's estate and entitled to no more than a weekly allowance... Alberto was living like a king in Hollywood and had been for four years. The numbers are staggering when you break it down as far as what he was paying for rent, etc. The income he received from Ullman was far more than a few pennies. And the items Ullman let Alberto and his sister Maria take from Falcon Lair after their brother's death were itemized by the court and let me say they did well. So how could he have ended up broke by 1935? Was he? And what about those pennies?

I have frankly grown sick and tired of reading the same old story where Alberto carries on with his lies about his tiny pennies jingling in his thread bare pocket.... I believe he did this only to garner sympathy and portray himself as the hero of the story. This when the facts tell a very different account. 

Before Valentino's death, as itemized under the “Baskerville Audits”, subtitle, 1926 “Gray Book” Household Expenses #3, Alberto receives a total of $6050.00 in cash in more or less weekly payments of $500. from his brother Rudolph between April 7 until July 6, 1926. (today's value calculated x 13 in 2020 = $78,650.) Not a bad income for Alberto as he was enjoying three months of vacation in Los Angeles. 

After Rudolph's death... as itemized in the court records under the heading of “The Matter of Heirship and Distribution”: 

Maria Guglielmi Strada receives, in cash and personal property, $21,616.33. (today's value, $281,012.29), with the personal property Ullman advanced to her totaling $3,428.00 (today's value, $44,564) 

Alberto received in cash advances from Ullman, $36,949.71 (today's value, $480,366.33.

Contrary to Alberto saying throughout his entire life that he and his sister only received a “few items of sentimental value and pennies”, Rudolph Valentino's siblings received a total of $59,027.33 (today's value, $767,355.29) 

This total reflects only the data entered in the extracts which I had access to in the court of appeals records and only funds received by Alberto and Maria by 1930.

Alberto's “fabrications” did not solely pertain to his marketing himself as a sympathetic soldier on some battlefield, he lied about his even being an heir, neglected to once mention Ullman was exonerated on all charges on appeal and never revealed the accounting of his true income and lifestyle on behalf of his dead brother for those four years 1926-1930.

By the time Jean Valentino turned 25 and inherited the estate, Alberto had poured most of the fortune down the drain on lawyers trying to get rid of Ullman while living large in his Ambassador Hotel bungalow and his suite at the Gaylord Apartments.. all while spending money which rightfully all belonged to Jean.

Alberto borrowed against the final settlement of the estate which he was preventing from happening. When that second page of the will designating Jean as sole heir surfaced, it was then Alberto finally brought Jean to LA with great fanfare declaring he could become the next Valentino, etc.

Did Jean ever know it was Alberto who stole his rightful inheritance and not Ullman? And when Jean, in that Thames Television video clip, says Alberto was in Los Angeles settling up the estate which took much longer than they thought it would... I hope he believed that and did not know the truth. What would Jean have thought to know Alberto was living large on his inheritance and preventing the settlement of the estate.

The totals, tallies and testimony reveal conclusively Alberto received the equivalent today of nearly a half a million dollars which would be one hundred million pennies mind you.

“Fabrications”? For Alberto Valentino... it was a lifetime and more of them on this subject.

"An Enviable Possession"

A tiny ad from Motion Picture Magazine, 1927. When a loaf of bread cost 10 cents.. would you buy a "Big Lifelike Photo" of Rudolph Valentino for 50 cents... the price of five loaves of bread? I think so. When I first read this microscopic one column inch classified ad, I thought it said "Dealers Insulted"...Freudian slip? Anyway the people at S. Bram Studios at 729 Seventh Avenue were enterprising folks. I wonder if I could still request that "free list"? 

The Li Calzi Article

These two images (below)are scans from the originals housed in the Special Collections Department at USC in Los Angeles in the archive of Valentino biographer Irving Schulman. This is the text accompanying the image I posted on this blog on October 4th, "Mike Li Calzi Tells His Story". Li Calzi drove Valentino and Marion Benda from her apartment at 3 a.m. to the party at Barclay Warburton's on the night Valentino fell mortally ill. 

I have a few more scans, including the account of the elevator operator.. from the Schulman file and will find them and share. 

No Dinner for Us?

Well, well, well... so Tracy Ryan Terhune, the man who once said there was room for everyone at the "Table of Valentino"... blah, blah, blah... today deletes a link to our podcast episode on Jean Acker which someone posted on his We Never Forget Facebook group. Well, I guess so much for our seats at that “table”. 

I think people can surely judge for themselves as to the value of our podcasts and I hope they do. They do not need censor Terhune to make that call for them. We are very happy to see people are listening to our podcast episodes and I am sure many folks noticed when Tracy Ryan Terhune cut the lights on our Acker episode. 

We have been moving some of our Soundcloud episodes to our Youtube Channel and hope to do more soon.

Meanwhile thanks for listening and pay no attention I say to the book burners! 

In case you missed it, our Jean Acker episode: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRKhcxJoRgg

Mike LiCalzi Tells His Story

Mike LiCalzi's fifteen minutes of fame. Mike LiCalzi was a New York City cab driver who probably had no idea he would be the subject of a blog post in the year 2020...but he is. What a valuable contribution Mike LiCalzi made to the story of Valentino's last night on the town, I guess you could call it.

I found the cabbie's story in the archive of Irving Schulman, Valentino biographer. Schulman's archive in 2004, was housed in the Special Collections Department of the University of Southern California. I was surprised on my arrival to see his entire Valentino archive in the Rare Book room, consisting of only a couple of boxes. Other than his notes and drafts of the book, those boxes contained copies of many newspaper articles and a sizable scrapbook.

The scrapbook was meticulously kept and contained Valentino articles which primarily referred to his death and funerals. It was in this scrapbook I found the article and this image of cabbie LiCalzi.

Mike LiCalzi picked up Valentino and his date on that fateful evening, Marion Benda outside her apartment at about 3 a.m. LiCalzi then drove Valentino and Marion Benda to Barclay Warburton's apartment. The cabbie tells the story of Valentino not being able to rouse anyone to let them him as he whistled up at Warburton's apartment windows. The cabbie recalls in detail how Valentino left Marion in the cab to enter the building through a side door to reappear in a few minutes through the front door, pay the one dollar and sixty cent fare and escort Marion to Warburton's apartment.

The elevator operator would also deliver his statement attesting to the timing. He recalls taking Valentino and Marion down to the hotel lobby from Marion's apartment about 3 a.m...and seeing Valentino hailing LiCalzi's cab. (Affairs Valentino, p. 330)

Schulman's citation to the source of the article is simply, The Graphic.