Dear Readers,
November notes with an Italian connection:Accept the fact that when you travel in life, some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
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Boston Red Sox’s President, Larry Luchino, is not a fan of the slow pace of the game that pushes the final World Series innings past midnight in the East and has promised to address the issue with the Major League Baseball commissioner in the off season. One small improvement would be to play the World Series Saturday game in the daytime.
I have a question today for you baseball buffs: What baseball Hall of Famer (1971) had 45,000 pounds of potatoes dumped in the front yard of his home on Highland Ave. in Montclair, New Jersey on November 26, 1985 (courtesy of the Red River Valley Potato Growers Assn.) after he had joked during a celebrity golf tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, “You don’t grow enough potatoes to fill my front yard”. If your guess is baseball legend Yogi Berra, you’re right!
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Carlo Buti, the “Golden Voice” (la Voce d’Oro) who thrilled his mostly Italian fans on both sides of the Atlantic via records, radio and personal appearances for over two decades, was born November 14, 1902 in San Frediano (Oltrarno), Florence.
None of his immediate family were professional musicians, but since his father worked for the local telegraph office delivering telegrams, Carlo and his brother Ezio were often pressed into service when a singing telegram or “serenata” was requested. In his youth both he and his brother Ezio mastered the Tuscan folk song (stornello) and followed the local custom of serenading to order girlfriends of their less vocally-talented peers.
Leaving school as a teenager, with few qualifications, Carlo earned his living as a milk-boy, a baker’s assistant and even aspired briefly to become a boxer. He also mined sand from the banks of the Arno (an occupation which required the occasional dual capacity of ferryman) and worked as a silversmith in his uncle’s jewelry business.
Although Carlo Buti had received some classical training, he was by background and orientation a populist and in this respect he resembled Gigli, who also sang to the masses. After an auspicious debut at the Florence Apollo in 1928, Carlo was contracted by the impresario Pittaluga to appear in variety on his cinema-theater circuit where, billed “L’artista del bel canto”, he would regale audiences with his repertoire of Italian, Neapolitan and Spanish numbers, delivered “allo stornello” as background accompaniment to the latest silent movies.
Buti absorbed virtually any popular song that came his way. Many of these he featured on radio and recorded, for Edison Bell, from 1930 onwards.
By the following year his discs had become a strong reflection of the popular song repertoire promoted by the recently established Festival of Piedigrotta, near Naples. In 1934, he transferred to Columbia, a concern with larger international distribution. Even in demand as a “one-taker” in the studio, he began a series of several hundred more titles which extended until his retirement in 1956.
By the time Buti disembarked in New York, to begin his first American tour, in late 1937, his fame had preceded him. Hailed as a star in the United States and dubbed “The Golden Voice of Italy” during a six-month stay, he made clamorous appearances in theaters, gave radio broadcasts and was hailed as a star, fulfilling the promise of his imported recordings.
In 1938, in Italy, he appeared in the quasi-autobiographical film “Per uomini soli” (For Men Only) before returning to the States for further West Coast tours in February 1939. After the war, in 1946, he made his first transatlantic crossing to South America where he sang (principally in Brazil and Argentina), again to audiences of thousands, and would give further concert tours and radio broadcasts in South America (1947) and the USA (1948). His schedule included Carnegie Hall and Manhattan Center concerts and appearances in Canada (1949) and South America (1953).
He continued during the early 1950s to make regular appearances at the San Remo and other noted Italian Festivals to ensure his repertoire of “canzonette” was up to the minute. But by the mid-1950s Rock-‘n-Roll, Buti’s more intimate style was falling out of fashion. As Domenico Modugno and “Volare” flew in, Carlo Buti flew out. He made his last recordings in 1956 and gradually retreated into retirement. He died, following a short illness, at his home in Montelupo Fiorentino, in Tuscany, on November 16, 1963, aged 61 years.
In his day Carlo Buti was a major figure in European cabaret. Within the confines of his own individual style, this master-singer won the admiration of Beniamino Gigli and Tito Schipa and became an idol to his younger cabaret colleagues. By replacing the full vocal cord engagement of the average tenor with a phonically more inviting falsetto, Buti became a pioneer of the Italian light-music record industry.
In him the classical and pop found a ready confluence and, via the airwaves and some internationally distributed recordings, he brought the new Italian brand of cabaret initiated by Daniele Serra, Gennaro Pasquariello and others to its first full flowering. Always polished and stylish, Buti was in his own way unique, the sort of artistic phenomenon which could only have come to light in the early days of radio and commercial recording.
Readers with any dwindling but dedicated Carlo Buti fans on their Holiday gift lists will be happy to learn that E. Rossi Company (193 Grand St., New York, NY 10013) has Carlo Buti CDs available ($15.00 plus $5.00 postage and handling.)
My favorite is the Carlo Buti “Bella Ragazza” CD, which has technically re-mastered and audio restored 23 of Carlo Buti’s original 78s recorded between 1934 and 1945. Among the 23 songs are: “Bella Ragazza dalle Trecce Bionde” (Pretty blond-haired girl), “Sul Lungarno” (On the Lungarno), “ ‘O Balcone ‘e Napule” (On a balcony in Naples), “Fantasia d’ ‘e vase” (Fanciful kisses), “Dove sta’ Zaza’?” (Where’s Zaza?), “Core ‘ngrato” (Ungrateful heart), “Reginella Campagnola” (The Woodpecker Song), “Ritorna Amor” (Come back, my love), “Questa è la vita” (That’s life), “Comm’’a ‘na vota” (Like once upon a time).
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Disney “Magic” and Disney “Wonder” are two of America’s most famous and popular cruise ships and they are the vacation choice of thousands of families each year. The Italian connection is that both of these ships were designed and built in Italy by the Fincantieri Shipbuilding Company.
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Elders declare wars, but it is youth that must fight them. In time of war, the first casualty is truth.
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Family get-togethers during the Holiday season may be a good time to impart a few words of Italian to the “bambini” who come to visit. If you can obtain a copy of “The First Thousand Words in Italian” by Amery, Di Bello and Cartwright, published by Usborne Ltd., it will be fun looking at the pictures and learning the words underneath them. If no book is handy, just point to objects in the room, have the child say the name in English, then you can respond in Italian.
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Grazie, thanks for our blessings is what Thanksgiving Day (November 22, this year) was originally all about. It was President Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, who fixed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. The custom dated from the day of thanksgiving set aside by the Mayflower Pilgrims after their first harvest in 1621 and was later adopted by the various colonies and States.
Although the devotional observance of early days has given way largely to sports, recreation, family reunions and feasting on roast turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, we can all pause and think of the “Mille Grazie” that come our way throughout the year.
God Bless L’America…
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