SILVANA MANGANO: HER FILMS AND FAMILY

Our November/December 2009 cover feature article on Silvana Mangano was inspired in part by Stephen Apolito’s Readers’ Corner submission in the August/September 2008 edition of PRIMO.

Apolito’s short article titled “A Grave Inquiry” recounts his discovery of Mangano’s gravesite while walking through a cemetery in his hometown of Pawling in Upstate New York. The actress was buried there in 1989 in a plot adjacent to her son Federico and her brother Roy. Mangano relocated from Rome to Manhattan in the 1970s. Like so many New Yorkers, she chose a quiet second home in the country to escape the busy environs of the city. Fond of the small town of less than 2,500 people, she chose Pawling for her final rest.

Mangano is survived today by her husband Dino De Laurentiis, 91, whom she divorced, and three daughters. Her oldest Veronica is mother of Food Network star and host of “Everyday Italian” Giada De Laurentiis.

Starring in almost 40 movies, Mangano’s work is worthy of review. She was a fine actress of exceptional beauty. My favorite Mangano films are “Riso Amaro,” “Anna,” and “L’oro di Napoli.”

If you have never seen Mangano’s work, then by all means do now. A list of Mangano’s films follows, many of which are still available in DVD or video.

Le judgement dernier (1945)
L’elisir d’amore (1946)
Il delitto di Giovanni Episopo (1947)
Gli uomini sono nemici (1948)
Riso amaro (1949)
Il lupo della of Sila (1949)
Black Magic (1949)
Il Brigante Musolino (1950)
Anna (1951)
Il piu comico spettacolo del mondo (1953)
Mambo (1954)
L’oro di Napoli (1954)
Ulysses (1954)
Uomini e lupi (1956)
La tempesta (1958)
This Angry Age (1958)
La grande guerra (1959)
Crimen (1960)
Five Branded Women (1960)
Il giudizio universale (1961)
Barabbas (1962)
Il processo di Verona (1963)
La mia signora (1964)
Il disco volante (1964)
Io, io, io…e gli altri (1965)
Scusi, lei e favorevole o contrario? (1966)
Le streghe (1967)
Edipo Re (1967)
Capriccio all’italiana (1968)
Teorema (1968)
Scipione detto anche l’africano (1971)
Morte a Venezia (1971)
Il Decameron (1971)
D’amore si muore (1972)
Lo scopone scientifico (1972)
Ludwig (1972)
Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974)
Dune (1984)
Oci ciornie (1987)


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RICHARD TRUMKA
Another milestone was reached when Richard Trumka was elected the first Italian American president of the AFL-CIO; one of the most powerful and influential positions in the country, if not the world.

It was wholly appropriate to feature Trumka in PRIMO’s current coal mining special edition. Trumka is a third generation coal miner who worked his way through college and law school. In 1982, he became the youngest president of the United Mine Workers. In this edition he shares with PRIMO readers what he learned from his grandfather Attilio, a role model who inspired him to work in organized labor.

As secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO in 2008, Trumka made history with his speech to members of the United Steelworkers union on racism in the labor movement. Many political observers thought Barack Obama’s skin color might dissuade union members from voting for him for president. Trumka’s speech helped unify workers to look beyond race.

Trumka’s was in the tradition of great labor speeches (a sad rarity nowadays), full of rhetorical embellishments and personal experiences in tune with a worker’s view of history. You can view and read his speech by logging on to the United Steelworkers’ web site, www.usw.org. To learn more about Trumka and efforts underway by the AFL-CIO, please log on to www.aflcio.org.

Here is an excerpt of Trumka’s historic speech.

…there’s not a single good reason for any worker – especially any union member – to vote against Barack Obama.

There’s only one really bad reason to vote against him: because he’s not white…
Brothers and sisters we can’t tap dance around the fact that there a lot of folks out there…a lot of them are good union people; they just can’t get past this idea that there’s something wrong with voting for a black man…

It’s our special responsibility because we know, better than anyone else how racism is used to divide working people.

We’ve seen how companies set worker against worker – how they throw whites a few extra crumbs off the table – and how we all end up losing.

But we’ve seen something else, too.
We’ve seen that when we cross that color line and stand together no one can keep us down.


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COAL MINERS
There is a lot to like in the November/December 2009 issue of PRIMO and our special tribute to Italian American coal miners is one of them.

Besides our exclusive interview with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, we feature a riveting story of one of the worst workplace catastrophes in American history, the Cherry Mine Disaster. Italian Americans were both victims and heroes of a fire that scorched an entire mine. It is an amazing story by Karen Tintori full of suspense and action, all the more resonating because it is true.

Moreover, you will find our montage of Italian American coal miners informative and heartwarming. It is true history, more balanced and engaging than the one-sided kind too often touted by teachers and professors with political agendas. In the words of children and grandchildren of Italian American coal miners, we find that they were not exclusively sufferers of economic injustice. Indeed, many were self-reliant and savvy entrepreneurs. From money saved digging coal, many started small businesses, bought homes and farms, even whole mountains where they themselves owned and managed profitable mining operations.


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TUSCAN AUTHOR
In PRIMO’s November/December 2009 Publisher’s Note, I recommend all subscribers to to read “The Wisdom of Tuscany,” by Ferenc Máté.

It is a wonderful book that captures the good life as only Italians can live it. Máté believes Tuscans serve as models for Americans in adopting a simpler and more direct lifestyle relying on self-employment, traditional crafts, agriculture, limited possessions, fine food and wine.

Like most Tuscans, Máté is a true Renaissance Man. Besides a celebrated author, he is a shipbuilder and experienced sailor, a talented landscape photographer, homebuilder and restorer, and an award-winning winemaker.

To learn more about this magnanimous Tuscan, please log on to his web site www.ferencmate.com. Better yet, pick up and read one of his excellent books listed, almost all of which are still in print and available for purchase from online and offline booksellers.

Seven Seas Sailors’ Calendar (published annually)
From a Bare Hull: How to Build a Sailboat
The Finely Fitted Yacht: The Boat Improvement Manual, Volumes 1 and 2
Shipshape: Art of Sailboat Maintenance
The World’s Best Sailboats
Best Boats
A Reasonable Life
The Hills of Tuscany
Autumn: A New England Journey
Ghost Sea: A Novel
A New England Autumn
A Vineyard in Tuscany
The Wisdom of Tuscany