Rudy's 35th birthday was on May 5, 1930. It was on that day at 12:00 noon in DeLongpre Park (south side of De Longpre Avenue between Cherokee Avenue and June Street in Hollywood, California) that Dolores del Rio drew back a velvet curtain to reveal the bronze figure of a man with face uplifted. There was a large crowd gathered to observe this dedication to Rudolph Valentino, and she was accompanied by the sculptor of 'Aspiration,' Roger Nobel Burnham.
The inscription on the base of 'Aspiration' reads as follows:
'Erected in the Memory of Rudolph Valentino 1895-1926. Presented by his friends and admirers from every walk of life -- in all parts of the world, in appreciation of the happiness brought to them by his cinema portrayals.'
There was, as is usual for Rudy, some controversy attached to this statue, though ... it was about a week after the public dedication that a group of neighbors, who insisted that they were not consulted on the matter (and that the only statue in the park should be of De Longpre himself), made an official protest. Regardless, nothing came of the matter and the statue remained.
No more was heard of the statue until a few years later when a woman named Zunilda Mancini came forward, claiming to have donated $6,900 toward the statue, which actually cost only $1,500. She sued Valentino's former manager, George Ullman, in court and was awarded the difference of $5,400.
In July of 1979 a bronze bust of Rudy was added to the park. It was sculpted by Richard Ellis and paid for from the estate of one of his fans. It was mounted on a tall, white pedestal and placed several feet from 'Aspiration.'
Jean Guglielmi was away at boarding school in the early days of Alberto and George's troubles, but he did finally come to America to live. When he arrived, Alberto made sure that the media knew of Jean's impending trip for them all to be at the train station to greet his son.
Alberto, Jean & Ada Guglielmi
The plan was for Jean to attend a local drama school, but Jean had other plans. Although there were some who felt that since the boy shared his uncle's looks he should go into acting, Jean wanted to be a sound engineer, and that's exactly what he ended up doing.
Jean's work can be enjoyed today in shows such as 'The Twilight Zone,' 'Petticoat Junction,' 'Peyton Place,' 'Quincy,' 'Rawhide, and many other television shows ... perhaps even a movie or so. Jean Guglielmi Valentino has a nice IMDB listing that spells it all out. He most definitely did NOT depend on Rudy's reputation to earn his way, and I feel that Rudy would be proud of his nephew for his career.
I'm not so sure that Rudy would have approved of the way the lawsuit turned out regarding his estate, but then again, Rudy was used to having the courts rule against him ... at any rate, let's start with the year 1932 ... when George Ullman finally began to realize just how badly he had screwed up in 'managing' Rudy's estate ... or MISmanaging, depending on your opinion of George Ullman's actions.
In my opinion, Ullman had no right to give Alberto, Maria or Teresa Werner any money in advance of any instructions being found, no matter what his memory may have been of Rudy's words. He should have used his common sense and waited for court instructions, rather than assume he knew more than any court would know and give them one single dime, but as we shall see, Ullman may have actually done this all accidentally/on purpose.
As usual, no one was going to tell Ullman what to do, especially now that Rudy was gone and Ullman could basically do what he wanted. He had been waiting for this chance, and his ego soared. This was his chance to show Joseph Schenck who the big dog in the game of the Rudolph Valentino world really was. That is my opinion.
The court, in 1932, ruled that although there was no evidence of fraud or mismanagement in George's records, George would have to reimburse the estate over $183,000.00 with 7% interest tacked on. He was also ordered to reimburse the estate funds that were lost from bad investments, and even from his own salary that he was paid during the time he thought he was serving as executor, but had no official appointment. He was ordered to reimburse the funds he had paid out to Alberto, Maria and Teresa Werner to the estate. Of course, Ullman appealed this ruling.
In 1934, he and his family had been forced to leave their home and were living in a rented house and money was tight for the Ullmans. Jean Guglielmi (who changed his last name to Valentino, at some point) was now older and had been watching the entire situation. I cannot say that he was 'groomed' by Alberto to take over the fight against Ullman, but it does make sense that he was influenced, given that he continued this fight until he and Ullman finally settled up years later at which time Rudolph Valentino's estate was worthless having been either stolen or eaten up in court fees.
In 1934, George's appeal paid off, somewhat. The appeals court made the decision that Ullman had correctly done his duty as executor of the estate. Of course, they had quite a bit more information by this time to consider. However, they still held that Ullman was responsible for the money paid to Alberto, Maria and Teresa Werner. So this was $70,000 that Ullman did not have available to pay to Jean Valentino and he had to make payments. There was an article published on April 18, 1934 (April 18 being my son's birthday, different year, of course) in 'The Hollywood Reporter' as follows:
The appeals court then recommended that a lien be established against the estate to recover the funds which were advanced. It was when Jean turned 25 that he delivered what would be the final devastating blow to Ullman, but it was his right to handle it this way. I may have done the same thing, given how Ullman had treated my father and uncle.
Jean decided to place the $70,0000 judgment due back onto Ullman, personally. He then dogged Ullman for years, seizing Ullman's assets through garnishments and other means ... including 'The S. George Ullman Agency.' I suppose one could look at it that Jean was going after the same money his father, aunt and Teresa Werner had already spent, but it was what it was. George Ullman screwed up, and he was now paying for his hubris.
Here is something else of interest I uncovered in researching George Ullman's activities during this stressful time in his life:
In 1947, Jean Guglielmi decided that he had a right to the proceeds, and indeed the business records, of the 'S. George Ullman Agency.' So, he had his lawyers issue subpoenas for the records. George Ullman gathered up many boxes full of records in a rush and took them to his home. He made a large bonfire and burned them all.
Who is to say that HE did not 'accidentally' burn some of Rudy's records? Perhaps that fire destroyed that 'missing' last page of George's copy of Rudy's will, which would make no sense ... or would it? Perhaps George had his own reasons for not wanting Jean to be named as a legitimate heir?? We cannot ever know exactly what Ullman was hiding and what was burned that day, but we do know that Ullman had no problem committing perjury, and we know that there had to be some reason that he resented Jean and vice versa.
Perhaps the B.S. George knew he would possibly face in not having the page of instructions was minor compared to Jean's having control over what George predicted would be a huge estate and could ultimately result in a big payday and big legacy for the Ullman family. Jean, in turn, made sure that the estate was spent down to practically nothing, and that George ended up with nothing.
Jean certainly did not need the money. He was a successful sound engineer and his progeny is safe and happy today, as he knew they would be. But revenge is different. What about the Ullman family? Their ancestor is largely remembered as a con man and a fraud. So, who really won in the area of Rudy's estate? You be the judge.
Alberto & Ada Guglielmi at Rudy's tomb, probably mid-1930s
It was in December of 1956 that Jean Valentino settled the judgment against Ullman by accepting a payment of $2500. Such a waste of time, not to mention Rudy's hard-earned money, and the only ones who really made out (as usual) were the lawyers.
There was one other person of note who did his share of damage in this tale, and that was a man by the name of Bill Self. I have written about this man in past blogs and on various Facebook forums and been met with blowback, because among collectors Self is very much revered.
Bill Self first approached George Ullman at his talent agency office when he stopped in claiming to be looking for work as an actor. George Ullman would soon find out that Self had another interest, though, and it had a great deal to do with Rudolph Valentino.
Self was an avid collector of Valentino memorabilia and he had learned that Ullman was Rudy's former business manager. He recognized a good deal when it came before him.
Self ingratiating himself with Ullman, began hanging around Rudy's old haunts in Los Angeles, and eventually became a regular guest at the Ullman residence. He became very friendly with Alberto and Jean Valentino, along with Rudy's first wife, Jean Acker, Paul Ivano, Robert Florey as well as many of Rudy's other friends. Self had to do more than a little talking out of both sides of his mouth to keep the friendships going when it came to Alberto, Jean and George, though, because he met them all during the time when the lawsuit was still in full swing.
The claim from Bill Self is that George Ullman gave him many gifts of Rudy memorabilia, but it was also during this time that some letters between Natacha and Rudy were stolen from George's office, as well as some wicker baskets in George Ullman's garage which went missing. Of course, George's talent agent partner (I do not know his name) got the blame for the missing letters and Lew Mahoney got the blame for the wicker baskets. I think Self stole all of it, but that is just my gut feeling.
Bill Self decided to get into producing, as some actors do, and he continued to amass his Valentino collection. Bill Self began to do whatever he had to; and that included lying to whomever he had to and coddling whomever he had to in order to gain more Valentino stuff.
There are collectors today who are exactly the same way. While I do not begrudge them their past-times, I do wish they looked differently on their passion and would be more forthcoming with their good fortune in acquiring some of these items. Most of us will never get to actually see or hold any Valentino memorabilia, but we have many photos of Rudy and his things. We have resorted to snapping photos of everything up online as we can, and it is largely due to the greed of collectors who prevent us 'common folk' from having access to these things. By that I mean in a museum. The collectors could still have the recognition and be the owners, but I feel that having their precious collections gathering dust in some condo or house is just ridiculous.
This is what people like Bill Self have and still do contributed to the Valentino community.
Bill Self
I compare Bill Self to a spider sitting at the center of a large web. He was sitting there, fat and happy, waiting for the Valentino stuff to come across his web of deceit (remember, he stopped at nothing to get his Valentino fix) and then would wrap it all up for future use.
That is what a spider does and that is what Bill Self did. Of interest, that is not all the man was. He was also an excellent movie producer and sounds like he could be a pleasant guy to know on a casual basis ... until he saw a piece of Valentino memorabilia he wanted. Then, one would be smart to simply step aside, because he would roll over anyone.
It seems that only Pola Negri saw through this, and I do not know if it was because she just didn't like the guy or if it was because he only wanted to know her because he only really wanted to talk to her about Rudy and not about her own career. Pola may have seen that and decided Self was not worth her time.
George Ullman really did not write anything of interest in his 1975 memoir past what I've already put into this series. He put in some other little tidbits, kind of little memories he had about Rudy ... some comments Rudy made to him. I could tell that, as it wound down, George was getting forgetful and I think it is obvious that he passed away before he finished this memoir.
George and Bee Ullman were married for 59 years. They lived in Hollywood until Ullman died in 1975; his body was donated to medical research. Bee Ullman asked Bill Self to sponsor her so she could move into an assisted living home and Bill Self flatly refused. Bee ended up living with her daughter, Bunny, until she died at the age of 89. Dan Ullman died in 1979. Bob Ullman, Rudy's godson, died in 2005. Bunny Ullman died in 2016.
George & Bee Ullman, 1970s
Bob & Bee, 1976
I shall have one more post to add to this series which will be a synopsis of what I discovered about George Ullman, and his influence on the life of Rudolph Valentino and the Valentino estate. I shall also post some final examples of George Ullman's deceptive nature ... and let it all gel as it may.
Darkmum
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