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THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, June jottings with an Italian Connection: A s t r o n a u t M i c h a e l Collins (1930-2021), pilot of the Apollo 11 spacecraft Columbia who, along with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic first steps on July 2 0 , 1 9 6 9 p a s s e d a w a y r e c e n t l y . H e w a s b o r n i n Rome, where his father, a major general in the Army, was the military attaché to the US Embassy. After grad- u a t i n g f r o m W e s t P o i n t , Michael Collins had joined the Air Force to avoid sug- g e s t i o n s o f n e p o t i s m i n future assignments. *** June is the month we cel- ebrate Father's Day. On t h a t d a y w e h o n o r t h e "father" figures in our lives, whether it was our grandfa- ther, uncle or older brother, who was there to smooth out the bumps of life or as a mentor. "Father" earned a treasured place in our heart and although he may have left us years ago his memo- ry will be very much alive on June 20th, Father's Day. As I have said before, I t h i n k t h a t m y f a t h e r , Vincenzo, and all the other young men who left their small villages in Italy to sail across the Atlantic were the "astronauts" of their day. Modern day astronauts and their trip to the moon is worthy of our admiration, but their voyage was under- taken with the back-up of thousands, both in person- n e l , t e c h n o l o g y , a n d money. To me, the real pioneers of travel were our fathers and our grandparents who l e f t t h e i r i s o l a t e d a n d obscure villages to begin a j o u r n e y t o w h a t w a s , f o r them, like another planet. To a world thousands of m i l e s a w a y , t h e y s e t o u t w i t h n o m o n e y a n d t h e added burden of not being able to read or speak one of the world's most difficult languages... *** Blue Moon or "Ce Na L u n a M e z z o M a r e : " t h e m o o n , a l w a y s a f a m i l i a r sight in the nighttime sky, put on a new show for us e a r t h l i n g s i n 1 9 6 9 w h e n A p o l l o 1 1 a s t r o n a u t N e i l Armstrong stepped onto its surface, saying "That's one s m a l l s t e p f o r m a n , o n e g i a n t l e a p f o r m a n k i n d . " The Apollo 11 mission was the fifth space flight to carry m e n i n t o s p a c e , a n d t h e third to orbit around the m o o n . B u t i t b e c a m e famous as the first one to land a man on the satellite. Almost 600 million people worldwide watched or lis- tened as Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. A tele- vision camera transmitted g h o s t l y b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e images back to the Earth. Armstrong was followed 15 m i n u t e s l a t e r b y B u z z Aldrin. A third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained i n t h e c o m m a n d m o d u l e . Aldrin and Armstrong col- lected soil and rock samples, tested their ability to walk on the moon's surface, and took photographs. Finally, they left an American flag, an Apollo 11 mission patch, a disk with messages from more than 70 world leaders, and a plaque that read, Here Men from the Planet Earth F i r s t S e t F o o t U p o n t h e M o o n , J u l y 1 9 6 9 A D . W e C a m e i n P e a c e f o r A l l Mankind... *** Detroit, Michigan was c o - f o u n d e d i n 1 7 0 0 b y A l f o n s o T o n t i , (younger brother of Enrico Tonti, explorer and Italian " F a t h e r o f A r k a n s a s " ) . AlfonsoTonti, co-founded D e t r o i t w i t h A n t o i n e C a d i l l a c . A l f o n s o T o n t i ' s daughter Teresa, was the f i r s t w h i t e c h i l d b o r n i n Detroit. *** F i l m s w e r e s l o w t o b e recognized by the Fascist regime (1922-1943) for their propagandist potential. But by 1934 Mussolini did and began to support the cinema financially. He also limited t h e n u m b e r o f f o r e i g n imports, had films added to the arts festival in Venice, a n d i n 1 9 3 7 i n a u g u r a t e d Cinecittà, the film studio complex just outside Rome. From 1938 to 1944 the pro- portion of Italian produc- tions against imports rose rapidly. Films made during the Fascist period featured Advancing our Legacy: Italian Community Services CASA FUGAZI If you know of any senior of Italian descent in San Francisco needing assistance, please contact: ItalianCS.org | (415) 362-6423 | info@italiancs.com Italian Community Services continues to assist Bay Area Italian-American seniors and their families navigate and manage the resources needed to live healthy, independent and productive lives. Since Shelter-in-Place began in San Francisco, Italian Community Services has delivered over 240 meals, over 900 care packages and made over 2000 phone wellness checks for our seniors. glorious victories from the past (the Romans again), and from the present - the war in Ethiopia, for exam- ple. During this time, not all m o v i e s w e r e v e h i c l e s f o r p r o p a g a n d a , t h o u g h n o f i l m s c o u l d b e m a d e t h a t were overtly critical of the regime. Most popular at the time were escapist, senti- m e n t a l , " w h i t e t e l e - p h o n e " f i l m s , s o - c a l l e d because the heroine would have a gleaming white tele- p h o n e i n h e r b o u d o i r , Hollywood-style -- a touch of the exotic for the average I t a l i a n a t t h e t i m e , w h o never even saw such a thing, let alone owned one, in real life. *** J u n e 1 1 , 2 0 0 2 , t h e U S C o n g r e s s a c k n o w l e d g e d Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci as the true inventor o f t h e t e l e p h o n e ! M e u c c i began developing a talking telegraph in 1849. He filed a patent caveat but could not renew it when it expired. Adding some scandal, the functioning models of his invention were lost by the Western Union affiliate lab- oratory. Alexander Graham Bell was not the inventor of the telephone even though h e r e c e i v e d a p a t e n t . I n January 1887, Bell's patent came into question in court a n d a m o v e t o a n n u l t h e p a t e n t w a s i s s u e d o n t h e grounds of fraud and mis- representation. Meucci died in October 1889, the case was discontinued as moot. This is a case where a per- son who received the credit for the invention of the tele- phone was the wrong per- son. While few people know t h a t M e u c c i i s t h e t r u e inventor, the declaration by C o n g r e s s c o r r e c t s t h e record. *** Selling Homes Throughout The Bay Area Adele Della Santina "The Right Realtor makes all the di昀erence." 650.400.4747 Adele.DellaSantina@compass.com www.AdeleDS.com DRE# 00911740 Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation!