It didn't take long for George Ullman to publish his 1926 memoir, 'Valentino, As I Knew Him.' Within a few months of Rudy's death, the book was ready for sale. It had been hurriedly penned and embraced many of that current era's rumors and themes, while debunking a few. It did come out with the 'blockbuster' information about the controversial 'slave bracelet,' and a few other tidbits that seemed to be enough for other authors of the day to take from and combine with simple rumors to write their own books.
George also organized some of the Valentino Memorial Guilds, the forerunners to the current Rudolph Valentino online groups and forums. There was a plea sent out by George far and wide for these guilds to be set up, and any funds raised were to be sent back to Ullman which he and Joseph Schenck would put into a fund that Ullman claimed would be used to construct a memorial to Rudy.
I have to wonder what became of those funds, since there was no memorial erected using that money ... I'll get into the events surrounding the Hollywood memorial statues that did come to be later on ...
It seems that Rudy had some very powerful personal fluids, since there were women claiming for years after his death that they were pregnant by him. I mean ... artificial insemination definitely had been practiced since the 1700s, and was happening around that time, but it was a procedure performed rarely.. I'm pretty sure that Rudy did not leave his stuff for anyone to play around with. It always amuses me when I read of these claims. I guess the power of marble and granite could not stop the Great Lover, according to some!
I think I'll let George guide us in his own words from his 1975 memoir to see just what his memories of this time are:
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"The day following Rudy's internment, I went to my office in the United Artists Studio to begin the arduous task of settling Rudy's affairs. A lawyer named Raymond Stewart had drawn up Valentino's will probably at a time shortly following his divorce from Natacha. Mr. Stewart brought the will to me and I, believing that Rudy's friend and lawyer should file it, arranged it meet with W.I. Gilbert to attend this function.
By the terms of the will, which I had not seen before, Rudy's brother Alberto was to receive one-third, his sister one-third and the other third was bequested to Mrs. Teresa Werner, Natacha's aunt. It specifically cut off Natacha with a bequest of one dollar. I do believe that Rudy left the one-third to Natacha's aunt knowing that, if there was any estate, she would give her share to Natacha."
"I was named executor and general manager, I presumed, because Rudy knew I was aware of the heap of debt he had accumulated and didn't want to worry about these things, even after death. I am sure that the will was not drawn with any anticipation of death. He simply followed Mr. Stewart's suggestion to have his will made out.
Alberto began to become annoying almost at once. He wanted to be the executor of the will and resented my appointment. He rented a bungalow on the grounds of the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd. in Hollywood at a monthly rental of $750. He installed himself in 'star' fashion, with Rudy's dog Kabar and, eventually, female companionship. He had meals from the hotel kitchen brought in and ordered quantities of wines and liquors. He didn't have any money of his own and every purchase was on credit which he obtained because of his anticipated inheritance.
I explained to him in the simplest words I could think of that at the moment, there wasn't any money in the estate and told him the plan I had for increasing the grosses of Rudy's last two pictures, 'The Eagle,' and 'The Son of the Sheik,' but that the initial cost of the plan had to be born by myself. The idea was simply to select a list of fans who had written intelligent letters to Rudy during the past years and address them in letters from me suggesting that they could keep Valentino's name alive by forming groups who would insist that their local exhibitors run these pictures periodically and that they would attend these showings in groups. I mailed 50,000 letters all personally signed by myself.
The result was better than I anticipated, for all over the United States, Canada and Europe, Valentino Memorial Clubs were formed for the purpose I suggested. Some of these clubs are still in existence, but the origin of the idea has been forgotten. At any rate, these activities were quite productive and United Artists had to send out a great number of new motion picture prints to the theaters.
I asked Alberto to change his manner of living until some of Rudy's assets could be liquidated. He took offense at that and went to a Los Angeles attorney, apparently at Pola's suggestion, and Milton Cohen became his legal representative.
The terms of Rudy's will were published soon after it was filed. It was brief and simple."
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I first decided to explore this claim of leaving a person only one dollar and the reasoning behind this action. I have long heard of this, and it never quite made sense to me. I am not a para-legal, nor am I particularly well-versed in the legal profession (other than having been called to court more than I wish) but I know a few things.
Leaving someone one dollar in a will sounds insulting, and perhaps that is the entire point. If this is what Rudy intended to do in the case of Natacha and any others who may challenge his will, I think the message was received and is still seen that way by the Natacha-haters of the Valentino-community. It gives them a good reason to 'prove' that Rudy really 'hated' his ex-wife.
The reality is that usually people do it because they intend to disinherit that particular heir - but they want to make certain their estate doesn't end up in litigation. Others think that giving someone a dollar means they can't contest the estate plan, which they could anyway. After all, the person who had the estate would be dead, and if one did not care about public opinion it would not matter. In Natacha's case, it is not as if she needed the money.
This is inaccurate on all fronts. For one thing, you can disinherit someone by making it clear in your will that you want them to get nothing. You don't have to leave them a dollar. The only issue your estate could run into is if you don't mention that heir at all in your will and they contest your will on the basis that you must have simply forgotten them. A dollar does show that you didn't forget, but you can also just add a line about how you don't want to leave them anything.
In addition, no matter what you do, there is a chance that an angry heir will contest your will. A dollar doesn't prevent that. They may argue that you lacked the mental capacity to make such a plan for instance, or that someone else influenced your decisions.
I know that Rudy was in a hurry to prove to Natacha and others that he was determined to have his estate all planned out his own way, even though he and Natacha would have been legally divorced in a matter of a few months, but he certainly could have forgone the drama of the one dollar thing.
I have read as much of the court records as I could get my hands on, and George Ullman's version of their contents is not exactly what I saw when I viewed them. Like all the others who testified, Ullman seemed to change his story as it all went on, and seemed to forget some pretty key facts at some pretty convenient times during the various court hearings.
I am not surprised at the number of petitions for hearings filed, but I am surprised that the whole lot of the people who did testify were not brought up on charges of perjury. And I have to also wonder if the attorneys were not fined. They acted pretty irresponsibly. The judges seemed OK, but it all got very confusing.
I have heard stories of Alberto's high life-style from various people. It sounds like he was bitten by the same Hollywood bug that gets to so many others who end up in that area. He wanted to live a champagne lifestyle, but really had a beer budget. Ullman was right to try to tell him that, but from what I read, Ullman also outright misrepresented where he (meaning Ullman) was getting the money from to continue promoting Rudy's last two films and to keep on with the instituting of the Memorial Guilds.
I find that it was especially untruthful of George Ullman to state that Pola Negri was advising Alberto on legal matters, well, not Pola exactly ... but that she had referred him to her own personal attorney. The person behind all that was Joseph Schenck. He financed Alberto's little vendetta toward Alberto from the day Alberto came back to New York going forward, and this will become even more clear as we get to the end of the series.
Even though Ullman tried his best to outsmart Schenck, and Ullman even did so for a while, Schenck was simply more ruthless and actually smarter when it came to screwing his fellow man over. Ullman just was not quite like that, even though he was no angel!
Back to Ullman's 1975 memoir:
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"Soon after he had become Alberto's lawyer, Mr. Cohen asked me to advance $5000 to Alberto because some creditors were demanding payment of their long overdue bills. Reluctantly, I did advance this sum to Alberto through his lawyer, taking the sum from the money I had set aside to pay some of Rudy's old obligations.
I should have then realized that I would only have trouble and aggravations in the handling of the estate and immediately turned everything over to the court to administer, but I was too idealistic to let the world know that Rudy had no real assets but actually owed over $235,000 for money borrowed from the Cinema Finance Corporation, $100,000 and interest, second mortgages on two homes and dozens of debts both here and in New York and London. He had ordered some forty suits in London, shoes in dozen lots, several dozen shirts and other wearing apparel, none of which he got to wear. These were taken by his brother after Rudy died.
As soon as I could, I repaid the Cinema Finance Corporation because they held a trust deed as collateral under which they could, if they wished to, foreclose on every single asset Rudy had when he died. The amount paid to them was $108,750.
I had, during the years of management of Rudy's affairs paid all accounts and transacted all business within the framework of a corporation called Rudolph Valentino Productions, Inc. After discussing the matter with Mr. Gilbert, the estate lawyer, he definitely agreed that it was proper to continue to do so. I continued to process all transactions in this manner. For this reason I did not ask for the court's permission to invest some of the revenue in loans to banks and others at legal interest, all of which were repaid, including a loan of $22,000 I had made to Mae Murray.
Rudy's sister, Maria, wrote to me and asked me to advance money against her share for Frank Menillo (sic) to invest for her in his tomato packing plant. Later, the court, upon Alberto's legal representatives' arguments, held me responsible for all advances made without the court's approval, including the money I had advanced to Alberto himself, the salary I drew as treasurer and secretary of the corporation and for the payments I had made to creditors.
Since the premium paid for the Schenck policy was charged as a production cost, I felt justified in claiming 25% of the payment Schenck received after Rudy's death as part of the profits due the Valentino estate and it was in need of money to meet obligations.
Mr. Schenck and his lawyers strongly objected to the claim and there were many meetings between these people and myself. In the end, I was successful in acquiring the estate's share but it practically alienated Joseph Schenck's friendship as I discovered a year later.
Schenck had made a verbal contract with me to join his company when I had settled Rudy's complex estate. He made that commitment directly after Rudy's death, actually on the steps of the hospital. I accepted Schenck's offer and rejected at least a dozen other firms who sought my services. But a year later when I notified Schenck that I was free, he asked me to see him in New York for conferences. When I did go to his New York offices, Schenck protested that his business was in Hollywood and that he would meet me there. He never did, and now, looking backsword, I can partially understand his attitude although I told him candidly that my allegiance was to Rudy until I completed what I thought to be my duty.
More than this, I know that Schenck advised and partially financed Rudy's brother in Alberto's attempts to discredit me and my handling of Rudy's estate."
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The first thing that pops out at me in this last bit that George writes in his memoir in this section is that his excuse for advancing Alberto $5000 through Alberto's lawyer was so Alberto could pay some of Rudy's debts. In no way did this happen. Alberto was paying Alberto's debts, and George knew it. George then admits he was 'too idealistic' to accept what was really happening. George always seemed to pride himself on being a realist rather than an idealist, when Rudy was quite the opposite.
So, we have to now ask ourselves ... what is the difference between an idealist and a realist? In order for us to be able to differentiate between idealism and realism, we must first have a thorough understanding of the two terms. Idealism is when one envisions or sees things in an ideal of perfect manner. Realism, on the other hand, tends toward a more practical and actual view of a situation. I think that no further explanation is needed on this front.
George was very wise to pay off the Cinema Finance Corporation. That was the most urgent entity at the time that needed to be addressed, in my opinion. However, he continued taking a salary on the advice of Mr. Stewart, the estate attorney he consulted with at the time. Then, Mr. Stewart later claimed he did not tell Ullman that it was in his best interest to take a salary, so either Stewart was lying under oath, or Ullman was.
Again, everyone had a lie to tell. There are too many lies to mention here, but I can tell you one thing, I believe I have figured out how the mysterious final page of instructions came to be, and it was not through the nefarious dealings of either Lew Mahoney or George Ullman. I shall explain it a bit later at the end of this blog entry. It is the only true explanation that makes sense and is not the result of a 'cloak-and-dagger' routine as has been presented by some individuals who should have known better.
Ullman blatantly lied about having paid all transactions through Rudolph Valentino Productions for years. This was not formed until Rudy and Natacha separated in 1925. Until then, Cosmic Arts, Inc. was the company that Rudy used for the same purpose.
In addition, the reason Ullman did not consult the courts to monitor his spending of the estate money had nothing to do with Rudolph Valentino Productions giving him a pass to handle the money as he saw fit ... it as more about Ullman's ego and refusal to relinquish control. This accounts for the reason Ullman got nicked for repayment of some of the funds he had already given to Alberto, Maria and Teresa Werner. This was the court's way of reprimanding Ullman, IMO.
Teresa Werner (Natacha's aunt 'Tessie')
George Ullman claims in his memoir above that he advanced Frank Mennillo some funds on the request of Maria Strada against her share for the purpose of helping him with his tomato packing business. This may have been what she verbally told him, but it was not part of her testimony in court, and it was not written as a reason. Maria kept changing her story, as did Alberto when they testified. In fact, so did Ullman.
To understand all this, I would suggest you read the court transcripts for yourself. I am not going to print the over 1000 pages of documents here, but they can be viewed by the public. There is a small portion of them available in the book called "The Affairs Valentino Companion Guide," although I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the documents as they appear in that book. I suspect they may also be available somewhere online in their entirety or they can be obtained by contacting the Hall of Records in Los Angeles. I could help you with the contact information if you need it.
It appears that Joseph Schenck finally showed his true colors to George Ullman, although it was clear to me that Schenck had been undermining Rudy and George's efforts for years, as well as Natacha's. Who did they think was behind all the escapades that occurred with United Artists? Talk about keeping those blinders on. But, sometimes we only see what we hope to be true.
I find it of interest and of some amusement that George claimed when Rudy died that he had thirty-three offers of employment he was fielding when Schenck asked him on the steps of the Polyclinic Hospital to come to work for him. In the above later portion of the same memoir, George seems to only remember 'a dozen other firms.' How things change when our egos take a blow or two!
This proves to me that George Ullman was not the hero nor the villain of this story, but that there was NO hero (everyone had their own agenda, including Rudy, and Rudy was the only one who actually had a right to have an agenda) and Joseph Schenck was the true villain, NOT Alberto. Alberto was being manipulated all along by Schenck, as was Maria.
Alberto Guglielmi & Maria Strada (Rudy's brother and sister)
Alberto was also able to learn quickly enough to trust the attorneys (who were paid ultimately by Schenck) to guide Jean Guglielmi, Rudy's nephew as he became a young man and grew into adulthood.
We now have it in George Ullman's own words ... that Alberto was being controlled by Joseph Schenck as we shall now see ...
Continuing with George's 1975 memoir:
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"No one can possibly understand the persistent attacks upon my integrity and judgment in the handling of Rudy's estate brought by Rudy's brother, Alberto. As I stated elsewhere, I suspected that Joe Schenck, in retaliation for my insistence that he pay to the estate certain moneys he had acquired through his contractual relations with Valentino, actually financed Alberto's legal fees in his efforts to discover anything amiss in my administration. There were charges of various kinds brought by prominent Hollywood attorneys, but none were successful excepting for abstract claims that were only temporarily assessed by a judge here. Upon appeal the California Supreme Court reversed all assessments and in their decision, which was printed in 'The Hollywood Reporter,' this court actually complimented me upon my efforts, one judge adding that he hoped to find someone like me to administer his estate when he died!
All of these court actions had to be defended and the legal fees I had to pay were considerable. Not only the cost of the trials but the time and effort I had to waste during these years was so great that it very seriously interfered with the development of my future career.
Actually all of Alberto's attacks upon me netted him nothing at all, for when I resigned as executor, the remainder of Rudy's estate was assigned by the court to 'The Bank of America,' who literally gave the remaining properties away to anyone wanting these things. Once such 'sale' I recall .... the bank 'sold' all of the remaining armor to a man for one thousand dollars. The actual cost and value was more than $20,000.
At the time of the signing of the contract between Valentino and Joseph Schenck, a life insurance policy on Rudy's life was written with the corporation as beneficiary. The amount was $150,000. A most complete test of Rudy's physical condition was made at this time by the physicians from the insurance company. I remember that at this time the broker suggested that I also should insure Rudy with myself as beneficiary, but I didn't take his advice.
The decision against me was an incredible miscarriage of the law and the court of appeals in San Francisco reversed the probate court ruling and the presiding judge criticized the probate judge and complimented me upon creating something out of nothing.
But Alberto, through new lawyers, brought another suit which resulted in a judgment against me for an enormous amount. I never did find out how Alberto got prominent attorneys to represent him during the years of the attacks upon me. The judgment was later settled by a payment of $2500 to Alberto's son, Jean."
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George Ullman seems to be so focused on the idea that Joseph Schenck only hired big-time attorneys to 'get back' at him for his whole refusal to participate in sale of the rights to the 'United Artists' contract that he misses the true point. The truth is staring us all in the face and I, for one, cannot understand how it has been missed.
It is obvious, to me, that Joseph Schenck was behind Alberto's ability to hire these prominent attorneys who made Ullman's life miserable right from the get-go. Schenck was the one who made Ullman's life miserable, not Alberto.
ABOUT THAT MISSING PAGE OF THE WILL
The 'missing' page of the will
There was a page of instructions which was attached to Rudy's will that came up missing when the copy of the will was found and entered into the court records. About four years later, Rudy's attorney found a crumpled carbon copy on what we used to call an 'onionskin' page in his file, which was accepted as the page of the will which gave Ullman his instructions as executor and also named Jean Guglielmi (later aka Jean Guglielmi Valentino) as the true beneficiary of the estate when he turned 25.
Somehow, everyone has the impression that only three people had the combination to the safe at Falcon Lair, Rudy's home, that the will was kept in. I still have not figured out who gave this information to the court. I suspect it was George Ullman who started this information flying about, but I do not really know. The three people were supposedly, Rudy, Ullman and Lew Mahoney, the caretaker of Falcon Lair/Rudy's close confident.
Since Rudy was dead and Ullman was in New York, Mahoney has been accused for decades of removing the page of instructions from the safe before they all arrived with Rudy's body back in Los Angeles. I do not believe Mahoney did this. I believe Rudy, himself, removed this when he found that his petition to adopt Jean had been denied. Why should he leave his entire estate to Jean, now?
I believe this was his line of thinking in his mind-set, which was not right considering the amount of alcohol he was consuming and the opioids he was taking along with the hormone replacement therapy, the opo-orchitine he was getting from Spain via Federico Beltran-Masses. Also, Rudy was in a great deal of pain and I do not believe he was thinking straight a great deal of the time.
Lew Mahoney knew that Rudy had taken this page of instructions out of the safe, and he testified to this in court, but Lew thought Rudy had taken it out the morning before he and George left for their trip back East in 1926. No one believed him because he was not well-spoken. Alberto was not well-spoken, either, but he got a pass because of his foreign ethnicity, as did Maria. Lew had no such pass given to him.
So, this is the answer I have come up with to the big mystery about the missing page of instructions to Ullman. It was Rudy who was responsible for destroying the original.
Also, this 'onion-skin' copy of the page of instructions could very well have been a creation of the attorney made up from Ullman and the attorney's memory. Ullman remembered that Rudy had told him about it, and I believe the attorney knew exactly what that letter said. Or, it could have been from the original which Rudy had destroyed ...
Lew Mahoney's family has informed me that Lew would not have signed it 'Leo Mahoney.' His name was NOT Leo, as was on the document. He would have signed it 'Luther' since that was his legal name. It is possible that it was created long ago by Ullman and Mr. Stewart, the estate attorney. We can never know, but in any case I do not believe it is legitimate.
It is also possible that Rudy initially was going to leave his estate to Jean, IF the adoption went through ... and he may have thought it would at the time he made out the new will, but when he discovered the adoption was denied, he destroyed the last page, and it very well may have been long before he left for the East coast in 1926.
In fact, I strongly believe it was long before that time. Rudy had months in which he could have removed this page from his combination safe. Think about it. It really does make sense.
Darkmum
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