Dear Readers,
A March Minestrone of Italian Connections follow:Frankie Laine, born Francesco Lo Vecchio, March 30, 1913, the eldest of eight children of Sicilian immigrants who settled in Chicago’s “Little Italy”, left us recently (Feb. 6, 2007) at age 93, in San Diego, California.
Frankie Laine became an “overnight” sensation (after 10 years or more of trying to break in) when his recording of “That's My Desire” was released in 1946. It was the beginning of the "big voice," “new sound” trend, and Laine's first royalty check amounted to $36,000. That record alone has sold over two million copies, and is still selling.
Born in Chicago, Frank seemed to have the proper background for a popular singer. He was Italian, and there was a barber in the family (his father). He was a choir singer at six, and at 17 he had his first professional engagement, he sang a song at a dance marathon at the Merry Garden.
Ten years later, at Billy Berg's in Hollywood, Laine sang his version of Rockin' Chair. One member of the audience (Hoagy Carmichael, author of the song) applauded wildly, and persuaded the club owner to hire Frankie on a paying basis.
One of his numbers was a song called “That's My Desire” which he sang one night when a record executive was present, who suggested that he record it for Mercury records. He did, and his fortune was made. Since then, more than 45 million Frankie Laine platters have passed over the counter.
His hits include: “Mule Train,” “Lucky Ol’ Sun,” “The Wild Goose,” “Music Maestro,” “Please” and “Sunny Side of the Street.”
After rock’ n’ roll hit big, Laine was considered old hat. He remained popular in Europe and Australia, and he caught a second wind recording the theme songs for “Rawhide,” Mel Brooke’s movie “Blazing Saddles” and many commercials, including one for Campbell’s Manhandler soups.
He also kept performing, traveling widely with his wife, whom he married in 1950, actress Nan Grey. After her death in 1993, he stayed closer to his home in San Diego, where the couple had lived since 1968. He was remarried in 1999, to Marcia Ann Kline.
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Boston Italian-Americans seeking dual citizenship or Massachusetts residents having to do business with the Italian Consulate there, continue to give the “new” Italian Consul General, Liborio Stellino, who arrived, Fall 2006, informal but enthusiastic job approval ratings.
If, like me, you have friends or relatives in Massachusetts, you will enjoy “meeting” Signor Stellino, born October 5, 1965 in Alcamo, Trapani on the Italian island of Sicily.
Liborio Stellino has been involved in Italian diplomacy since graduating from LUISS University in Rome with a degree in Political Science. Console Stellino has held several impressive positions which have well prepared him for his appointment of Consul General.
He and his wife, Teresa, who has also made a career as an official in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have traveled the world, while also managing to raise a family. Their daughter, Chiara, 14 years old, was born in Rome right before his first assignment abroad in Cyprus. Francesca, 9 years old, was born in Morocco. When asked where they are from, the children proudly respond, “We are Italian, but citizen of the world.”
He went back to Rome in 2000 and was appointed Counselor for International Affairs of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific and Technological Research.
Stellino's work with scientists and academics in Rome opened his eyes to MIT and other universities and technological institutes in Boston. His goal is to find unique ways to improve trade relations between Italy and the United States.
In 2002 his assignment was Chief of the Press Office at the Embassy of Italy in Moscow. While he was positioned in Moscow, President Berlusconi visited ten times to encourage the Italian and Russian governments to work together.
Stellino also pointed out that the first capitalistic factory in Russia was a Fiat.
Console Stellino's desire is to create more solid links between the traditional Italian community, Italian Americans and Italian scientists, scholars and students in Boston and the U.S. both technologically and culturally....
Carlo Ponti, lawyer, Italian film producer and longtime husband of oscar-winning actress Sophia Loren, died earlier this year (Jan. 9, 2007) at age 94. His film work such as “La Strada,” “Doctor Zhivago” and dozens more are well known, however, it was his romance with Sophia Loren that made headlines for over a decade.
They met in 1951 when he was one of the judges for the finals of the Miss Rome beauty contest at an outdoor restaurant-nightclub overlooking the Coliseum. Seated on the judges’ platform, Mr. Ponti spotted the 16 year-old Loren in the front row with friends.
Mr. Ponti was so impressed with the teenager that he sent a contest official over to ask if she wanted to enter the contest. She said yes and came in second.
After she met Mr. Ponti, Loren's career slowly began to build.By the time Loren was making “Woman of the River,” the 1955 drama produced by Mr. Ponti, he had given her a ring with a small diamond.
There was one problem: Mr. Ponti was already married and the father of two children. He had married Giuliana Fiastri, the daughter of an Italian general, in 1946.
Although his wife reportedly accepted that their marriage was over and was willing to cooperate, Italy did not recognize divorce.
If ever the romantic history of the 1960s is written, the prize for the wooer who unraveled the most complex legal tangles in the course of winning his beloved may well go to Milanese movie maker Carlo Ponti.
His extended uphill struggle to take actress Sophia Loren his wife led him in and out of the criminal and civil courts of Italy, the nation's parliament, the Vatican, and the front pages of newspapers all over the globe.
It wasn't until he hit upon the solution of changing his first name to Charles and his citizenship to French that his longtime liaison with the Neapolitan beauty was finally made legal.
Before his headlined proxy marriage in Mexico to Sophia Loren in 1957 (later dissolved for complicated legal reasons), the name of Carlo Ponti was known in America only to dedicated foreign film buffs.
Ponti once said he'd be willing to take up residence anywhere in order to make Sophia Loren his wife. Before resolving his legal problems with “La soluzione Francese,” Ponti gallantly declared, "I'll become an Eskimo, if I have to, to stay married to Sophia."
Mr. Ponti and Loren had two children, Carlo Jr., the music director of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, and Edoardo, a filmmaker.
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