"Ring of Death" or Just a Good Story?

I am not so convinced of this famous legend of the "Curse of the Ring" but wonder about that "Museum of Valentino relics"? What happened to that? Maybe they were referring to Bill Self's home. From The Pittsburgh Press on March 24, 1962. 

The Valentino & Marilyn Monroe Connection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Schenck

Although the consensus in the comments on a previous post seems to be that Rudolph Valentino would have had nothing to do romantically with Marilyn Monroe, a connection does exist between the two. In Affairs Valentino I wrote about Joseph Schenck's stint in prison and his presidential pardon. But it was Schenck who, after his pardon, promoted Marilyn and gave her the first breaks in film. It is still rumored they were lovers.

Schenck and his United Artists, produced Valentino's finest films, The Eagle, The Son of the Sheik. Schenck certainly did not discover Valentino but he elevated his films, imo to a higher degree and also made him a very wealthy man. The story of George Ullman v. Joe Schenck after Valentino's death is a gripping one which I also covered and analyzed in Affairs Valentino.

Schenck was said to have also discovered Marlon Brando and there is no doubt his long history in Hollywood connected some of the greatest stars; including Valentino.

And in the “what if” musing/discussion, I think Valentino might have been interested in Marilyn because she was such a huge star. If only for a fling. But the powerful Mr. Schenck played a major role in both Valentino and Monroe's life. Monroe and Schenck as a couple... oh dear I think not. (see below)

Valentino, The Noble Victor

It looks like Valentino began production on a movie in Spain titled, The Great Captain, based on the life of the Spanish General, Gonzolo Hernandez De Cordova, known in Spanish history as “El Grand Capitan”. Cordova fought in the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars and was the first military leader to use hand guns in battle. As excerpted from Variety, October 1925.

Of course in 1925, Rudolph Valentino felt very alive and was not thinking about his death or even old age. He was then vital and rich with prospective projects.

His interest in filming in Europe is well-known but this production does not appear to have been pursued much further than his gaining permission of King Alfonso. I can not imagine the King saying no to Rudolph Valentino in 1925.

How poignant though imo that Valentino dreamed of playing a heroic soldier, the noble victor, swashbuckling and colorful historical characters. In light of the conversation in the comments on my last post, I find it all the more tragic this man of heroic intent should be so demeaned and debased by lunatics with mental disorders. There is nothing so honorable in that for the young man who was cut down in the prime of his incredible youth and just while beginning production on a film about The Great Captain.

His movie Cellini was barely underway when he died and I wrote in Affairs Valentino how the logistics of that film were resolved by Ullman after Valentino's death. The 15^th and 16^th century held its allure for Valentino and maybe he should not be slung hither and thither between the sick and selfish fantasies of the cultists.

The Spanish General, Gonzolo Hernandez De Cordova's memoirs were published in 1851, and more can be found about this character Valentino hoped to play here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Fern%C3%A1ndez_de_C%C3%B3rdoba

https://www.martoswordstoledo.com/medieval-swords/603-sword-of-the-great-captain.html

Artist's interpretation of Spanish General Cordova

Under the Hollywood Sign

For the past few days we have been without internet. It was an interesting situation and one which inspired some thoughts on the subject of one Rudolph Valentino. The true advent of the ruin of Valentino's truth began with the internet. I watched it happen.

Those early chat rooms where people began to jockey for power over the subject of Valentino's life, the drama between those who rejected the hoax that Valentino was a closeted homosexual and those who had a heavy agenda to push saying he was. I have some transcripts of early Valentino chat rooms where this is the one hot topic. Amazing how it still is.

There were silent film groups then which I never joined. It was all too antagonistic for me. Just as the internet took off on social media, I began writing Affairs Valentino. I had many secrets to keep and as hard as it is to believe, Tracy Terhune was already at my throat with statements about Ullman et al.

Way back when; when social media was in diapers, I began to get the picture of how Valentino was playing out online and it was not so pretty. Nasty people were pretending to be in charge and throwing their weight around on their various groups. Not much has changed.

Michael Morris once declared that with Affairs Valentino, “their hegemony was over”. I actually think it is over. Not so many informed people respect what is going on with those throwing their weight around.

A few days without social media? To contemplate Rudolph Valentino and think about the hijacking of his legacy? The story was told in Affairs Valentino, Hollywood's tale of the Great Lover, the Sheik who, for a little while, enjoyed the lights of Los Angeles below his Falcon Lair.

Could he have ever imagined the travesty? The contorted usurping of his mighty story?

I would hope such an awful thing never crossed his mind.

Glad to be back online though. Very much so.

Thoughts on the Guglielmis by Renato Floris

It appears that a well-known Valentino fiction writer is claiming he has uncovered a new relative of Rudolph Valentino. He presents no other proof than the surname, Guglielmi. I would say this about that.

The "Guglielmi" he refers to is a gentleman whose father was a bass player in the orchestra of the very famous Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini.

I'm talking about Louis Guglielmi better known by his stage name of Louiguy, a nice combination of Louis and Guglielmi, even if, in some cases, he used the pseudonym Roger Luiguy.

He was born in Barcelona but since he was seven years old, he lived in Paris were he became a talented musician. He became the accompanying pianist of Édith Piaf and composed the music of songs which soon became popular hits, including Le Vagabond (words by Édith Piaf, 1941), Ça Sent si Bon la France (1942), Marjolaine (1944), La Danseuse est Créole (1946), Mademoiselle Hortensia (1946), La Vie en Rose (on a musical theme by Marguerite Monnot and words by Édith Piaf, 1947), Le destin s'amuse (1947), Cerisier Rose et Pommier Blanc (1950), before turning to film music, in particular with Sacha Guitry.

But again there is no proof presented Louiguy has any remote relationship to Valentino.

In Italy there are about 2,836 family units with the family name of Guglielmi, distributed as follows: the Guglielmis are widespread in northern Italy (49%), then in the south and islands (27.4%) and in central Italy (23.6%).

Of the Guglielmis of northern Italy, I know Chicca Guglielmi who is certainly a relative of Valentino, albeit distant. This is proven by Valentino's sister Maria Guglielmi Strada who declared, on the occasion of her trip from Genoa to New York, between 12 and 22 January 1927, that her contact in Italy was none other than Chicca's grandfather, Guglielmo Guglielmi, at the time residing in Turin in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

Maria names Guglielmo Guglielmi as her uncle. Yet Guglielmo Guglielmi was not a brother of Giovanni, Maria's father. But at the time it was customary, especially in southern Italy, to give the appellation “uncle” to older second or even third degree cousins. Therefore, Maria calling Chicca's grandfather, “uncle” is not out of place.

Another detail relating to the Turin Guglielmis, can be found in a letter Valentino sent to his friend Bruno Pozzan in February 1911. He tells of having spent the Christmas holidays of 1910 in Turin, he does not say who he spent them with, although it is almost certain that he was a guest of the Turin Guglielmis.

Christmas is a sacred feast for young Italians and, above all, a feast to be spent with the family. In Italy it is customary to say: Christmas with your parents and Easter with whoever you want.

Rodolfo, at the time, was attending agriculture school in Sant'Ilario Ligure, a suburb of Genoa and it was certainly much easier for him to get on a train from Genoa to Turin for a journey of about two hours than to spend a dozen hours in uncomfortable train cars to reach Taranto.

I have other friends with the surname Guglielmi, such as Augusto Guglielmi, a.k.a. Marco Guglielmi, a good actor who was my mentor during the years I lived in Rome to attend the Academy of Dramatic Art; no relation to Valentino. 

Having the name Guglielmi does not automatically make someone a relative of Rudolph Guglielmi Valentino. And the name seemed to be one the family, Alberto, could not not get rid of soon enough. I suggest to the fiction writer that he present some proof before making his claims. 

Really Surprised

Every once in a while in this twenty-year Valentino saga, I have been thrilled to feel a little smart ass. Sorry for a moment of gloating, but once upon a time Bill Self brought out the picture below to ask me if I knew who the man was with Natacha Rambova and Teresa Werner.

I was surprised he did not know. Really surprised. "Bill... that is Manuel Reachi," I told him. He asked, "Who?" The man who owned it all, knew them all and made it his point to think he knew all... did not know who Manuel Reachi was. 

Well one moment for me I guess, but I found Mr. Reachi an interesting character and wrote about him and his bid to unseat Ullman as Valentino's manager in Affairs Valentino. Not a nice guy really as far as Agnes Ayres was concerned. But he assumed some fictional role when Bret launched his, "every man in Valentino's life was a secret gay lover" hoax. 

Reachi was a playboy, a womanizer and an extravagant hanger-on I allege. Maybe you all know more you can share on this. 

A Notice

A notice regarding David Bret as I know he is reading this blog: No matter how many comments he fires at me, I will not open them. I remind him that he is not to contact me in a manner where I am forced to receive and read it. (see below) I have several other legal orders forbidding his constant harassment; including the verdict which was handed down in my favor in the Court of Asti. See www.zumayawinslawsuit.com

Milder Climate?

This really makes one wonder if Rudy and Blanca ever saw each other again.  This article appeared in The Syracuse Herald on January 13, 1918. I think it is readable but was buried in the back pages of the newspaper, so not headlines news. 

 

Doing Some Gardening

I confess. For the past six years I had a copy of David Bret's book, Dream of Desire buried in my garden. I knew it was there and it felt comforting to know it was no doubt decaying by the day, all sorts of dirt life creatures enjoying the awful content. Maybe a mouse found it and made a nest.

Today I dug it up and was amazed Dream of Desire had not turned to dirt. Some of it had and the edges of the book were definitely gone thank God.

The cover fared the worst, bubbled and moldy and the pages had to be peeled to turn.

I took pictures of the relic and Renato suggested we burn it page by page.

I opted for an immediate resolution and unceremoniously heaved the mess into the kitchen trash .

It is not in my nature to show disrespect to books. But the author of that book pushed me to do something I have never and would never do to any other book. 

That feral book needed to be done away with. 

I thought about posting the picture of the damage of six years in the garden but thought it might be bullying. But compared to the epic amount of unquestionable bullying he has done to us and still does, those pictures would be a silly thing all in all.

Besides he might be interested in knowing his publisher used some quality paper. What was that? Some kind of plastic? It barely degraded.

To post those pictures or not to post?

The Case of the Missing Icon

I wrote the following piece a long time ago, maybe about 2005. I share it because I think the question I posed is still valid sixteen years later. Maybe it explains some people's resistance to "more truth" about Valentino. Who knows? Here follows a small piece I wrote which I titled, "The Case of the Missing Icon". Excuse some dated references.  

"I was vaguely aware of the Howdy Doody Show. As children my little sister and I did watch a few episodes on a neighbor’s television set. This was our only access to the show because our parents were nervous that television might have a negative influence upon their young offspring. Their refusal to allow a TV in the house ensured that the only media streaming into our developing brains emanated from our trusty radio. On Sunday nights we were permitted to sit before the oversized radio cabinet and listen to The Jack Benny Show. To listen was to imagine and in the process we forever bonded with Jack Benny and every member of his show’s cast of characters. Our minds happily filled in any blanks resulting from the solely auditory experience and we created our own individualized interpretation of each hilarious scene.

For the past few years, silent film icon Rudolph Valentino has been the subject of my intensive research. At some point during this research, I came to the conclusion that Valentino’s current mythical status is due in great measure to precisely the same mental process that I experienced as a child listening to the Jack Benny Show. For when Valentino became box-office gold in the 1920’s, there were few media venues available to his fans. The media then consisted of a relatively primitive radio technology, a few nationally distributed newspapers and movie fan magazines. Fan magazines were the primary source of information about Hollywood celebrities but these publication’s articles were highly-fictionalized and censored by movie studios and savvy business managers. Valentino’s business manager, George Ullman worked diligently in this regard to prevent the details of the movie star’s most personal affairs from ever going public. Consequently the many blank areas in Valentino’s life story were wide open to wild interpretation and speculation and his legacy was formed by his fan’s active imaginations.

I am continually amazed to be contacted through my website by people from around the world who share a deep admiration for Valentino while knowing very little about him. And often those who are knowledgeable express a highly individualized version of his life as a result of their own personal temperament and agenda. Since Valentino’s death eighty one years ago this August 23, he has been reinvented countless times by a remarkably diverse demographic of fans. I am able to say with certain authority that this phenomenon is not past history. Today there are Valentino chat rooms that have been founded solely upon the disparate versions of his life.

In recalling the scant media exposure of my childhood, I began to wonder if this penchant for personalizing Valentino might be due to the initial dearth of credible information about his life. Over the years, his fan’s excessive romanticizing and imagining has culminated in his being revered as nothing short of mythical. The logical assumption follows that if we have too much access to information about a celebrity, we risk losing interest in them entirely. Indeed, the live coverage today streams endlessly into our breaking news brains leaving us little to imagine, few mysteries to ponder and nary a single blank to fill in. We are duly informed, we are shown, we hear the contrived analysis and then we see and hear it again one thousand times. How could we possibly romanticize or mythologize Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton or Britney Spears when we know every last thing about them?

Before Valentino’s manager George Ullman died in 1975, he wrote a memoir in which he divulged details of Valentino’s behind-the-scenes life story. I discovered Ullman’s memoir during my research and this revelatory document became the focal point of my work. I sincerely hope that the publication of this new information will not serve to demystify Valentino and diminish his appeal as a true icon. For in knowing too much about our celebrities we jeopardize the very process that makes them icons. Familiarity breeds contempt and the more we know, the less we seem to care. Conversely, the less we know, the sweeter the fantasy.