Sixteen years ago today, I arrived in Turin to deliver a speech on Rudolph Valentino. I was invited to the Convegno Valentino, or Valentino Conference by the University of Turin with the University giving my speech the auspicious title of, “Gay, Bi or Straight: A Comprehensive and Ground-Breaking Historical Analysis of Rudolph Valentino’s Sexual Orientation Based Upon Newly Discovered Documents”.
At the time I had no idea that my speech, the final speech presented at the week long international event, would change my life forever. From the moment I began my power point that day...I would be brutally targeted for sharing my research and still am.
Sixteen years ago today I met Renato Floris at the Convegno Valentino opening reception. It was love at first sight. We were introduced by our mutual friend, Father Micheal Morris, the author of the iconic biography of Valentino's wife Natacha Rambova, titled Madam Valentino.
During our entire marriage we were relentlessly pursued by a Valentino Death Cult who did all they could to terrorize and stalk us, trying desperately to ruin our reputations, prevent our books on Valentino and Rambova from being sold and censoring our every word.
Renato passed away some time ago and I now realize the staggering contrast between our deep love and rich life and the constant darkness threatening us because we were the focus of unstable and dangerous minds out to get us.
Renato and I always celebrated the anniversary of our fateful meeting on that cold February night in Turin. Today I celebrate our love and mention but a few of his mighty contributions to the Valentino history.
When the cult had all but ruined my Valentino biography Affairs Valentino, by defaming me and my work mercilessly online, Renato formed a publishing company to publish not only Affairs Valentino but all of the subsequent books we produced together.
Over the years Renato contributed enormously to the factual history of Rudolph Valentino with his unique abilities as a linguist and by researching in European archives which had yet to be sourced and studied. The archives he frequented were the following but not exclusive to:
Gallica, National Digital Library of France
Bibliotèque Nationale de France
Cinémathèque Française
The Instituto San Giuseppe, Torino
Besancon, France Archives
Campobasso State Archive
Cineteca Di Bologna Archive
La Stampa archive
Renato was a gifted linguist and spoke not only his native Italian but French, English, Spanish and German. He was also an expert in Latin. He spent years translating and sharing the fascinating pieces of history he recovered and was excited to do so. This under the constant and juvenile attacks from the cult leader and his minions.
Of course Renato, as a proud old school Italian gentleman responded with his articulate and tough manner. He always closed each episode of our podcast with a Latin phrase, “Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum” meaning justice at all cost.
Sixteen years have passed and I exact a bit of justice here by shining a light of gratitude on his major translations of three works:
The biography of Rudolph Valentino by Jeanne DeRecqueville which was originally published in French, the serialized biography of Valentino published in Spanish by Baltazar Cué and a serialized memoir in French by Valentino's once friend and secretary, Robert Florey.
To the best of my memory Renato worked for about one year on the Jeanne DeRecqueville biography, a book which has been cited and sourced by every credible Valentino biography since its publication in 1978. I read the book in French, with a French dictionary in hand when I was researching Affairs Valentino.
Renato liked to say Jeanne DeRecqueville was more of a witness than a biographer. She contacted many people who knew Valentino who were still alive and the book presents a unique insight from those who were acquaintances of Valentino; i.e. the head of the Champs Elysee theater in Paris Jacques Hebertot, director Rene Clair, the surgeon who operated on Valentino and more.
One of the other reasons Renato and I felt it important to have DeRecqueville's book available in English was the fact that it was being claimed by the cult that this was the source of homosexual anecdotes about Valentino. As we knew, this was a ploy utilized; to cite a book in a foreign language knowing most people would not be able to check the source for accuracy.
This was the opposite case with DeRecqueville as she was the first biographer to delve into the subject of Valentino's sexual orientation by interviewing those who knew him. Renato made the book available in English so fact checking was possible.
The cult then shifted course to begin citing a serialized memoir written in French by Robert Florey. Renato located all of the installments through an archive in Paris, no small task, and translated the French to English.
His translation of the Baltasar Cué biography was a longer project because initially several pages were missing from one of the installments. Cué began working on the book with Rudolph Valentino in the last months of Valentino's life with the intention being this would be the first true story. Valentino intended to have this his authorized biography but would die a few months into the project. Again Renato believed the witness aspect of the work to be of high value.
Cué was a permanent visitor in Valentino's home during the star's last weeks in Los Angeles and the first hand account is riveting. Both Renato's DeRecqueville and the Cué translations are available online
The Robert Florey translation is included in our book titled, The Rudolph Valentino Case Files.
Renato also translated and discovered a treasure trove of articles to mention but a few:
The interview with Valentino's sister-in-law Ada which was conducted in Turin a few days after Valentino's death.
The interview with a woman who was Valentino's first love when they were both teenage students in Genoa.
Letters written by Andre Daven, Rene Clair and other French notables who rose to Valentino's defense during a public relations disaster in France in 1923.
The entire story of the French businessman, Henri Letellier's friendship with Valentino was 100% Renato's find. More about that in the French Connection podcasts on our Affairs Valentino YouTube channel.
I could go on literally for hours listing Renato's accomplishments but all in all the efforts to destroy his work by the cult were but tiny pebbles thrown by jealous school yard bullies. The childish and anguished posts of toilets with headlines saying this was Renato's office, a pig wearing pearls, images of Satan with a boot to his throat and the relentless name calling only revealed the desperation of the disturbed members of the cult as they fought to maintain control over their base, false narratives about Valentino.
Renato's standard of excellence and work ethic was so far beyond anything they could even imagine. He was a scholar working long into the night, a classically patient man who elevated Rudolph Valentino in great measure and saved his memory from the dank depths of a cult's drooling.
Valentino, as Renato expanded the history...became much more than Hollywood cheesecake and took the stage as a world class event. Thank you Renato for making this possible by opening the doors to the European Valentino archives. And thank you for working hundreds of long hours on your translations and for capturing and cataloging thousands of screenshots of the attacks on our work which now compile a conclusive, massive body of evidence. Above all Renato was fearless as he defended us against the cult's absurd allegations and attacks.
Sixteen years ago today our paths crossed in the most divinely romantic way. On a frosty, snow covered night in Italy, the author from sunny California met the love of her life; a love which is only dreamed about by most people and is dreamed about by me today. I like to imagine Renato being greeted by Valentino as he passed onto the astral plane. A handshake perhaps and a great Italian pat on the back and hug for “Job well done, Renato!”
For all Renato accomplished, such gratitude might just supersede this mortal reality. Who knows?
The name Renato Floris will forever be associated with his favored and stellar phrase, “Intellectual Honesty” and he will forever be appreciated for incorporating this phrase and concept into the history of one Rudolph Valentino.
Happy Anniversary to my beloved and Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum!
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