L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 22 Dear Readers, January dates with an Italian connection: Abruzzesi e Molisani Club officers and members through- out the U.S.A. should note that a great activity for their January calendar would be a Mario Lanza themed event because both of Mario Lanza's parents had "roots" in Abruzzi and Mario had a January birthdate. At your meeting, lunch or dinner you could show a DVD of his films, plan a lecture on his career or play some of his music. Mario's father, Antonio Cocozza, came to America at the age of 12, from Filignano, Italy. He served in the U.S. Army in World War I and received a medical discharge after being wounded in Argonne forest. He married Maria Lanza (ten years his junior), whose father Salvatore Lanza had come to Philadelphia from Tocco da Casdauria, in the Abruzzi region of Italy, to open a family grocery store, imported food business. Their only child Alfredo (later Mario) was born in 1921, the year that legendary tenor Enrico Caruso died. Mario Lanza was born January 31, 1921, and left us at the young age of 38 in 1959, but his memory and music continues to live on in the heart of fans, in over 20 countries throughout the world. American fans are number one, followed by England, New Zealand and Australia. Other countries include Italy, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Holland, Croatia, Peru, Russia, Slovenia, Germany, France, Mexico, Canada and Chile. M.G.M. starred him in his first film "That Midnight Kiss". The handsome singer's voice was belittled by snob and music critics, but the public knew what they liked and Lanza was it! In addition to "The Great Caruso" (1937) where he recre- ated the voice of Caruso, his films included "Toast of New Orleans", "Because You're Mine", "Student Prince", "Serenade" and "Seven Hills of Rome" (1950), a product of his comeback Roman Holiday peri- od. While in Rome, the Lanza's, Mario, wife and their four chil- dren Colleen, Elisa, Damon and Mark, lived in a palatial villa which had once been presented by Mussolini to Marshall Badaglio. "I'm a movie star and I think I should live like one" said Mario when in a press inter- view about problems in his Hollywood years. He said it wasn't true he never showed up on schedule. "That happened three times in my career. Once when I had business trouble with MGM on the Student Prince when they flattered me by suing me for $15,000,000...another time when I got sick in Las Vegas...and the Hamburg thing. Does Time think a Dead End Kid from North Philadelphia, not yet 33, could have grossed more than $5,250,000 in 5 years and paid Uncle Sam more than $4,000,000 on taxes-clean up to date if he didn't sing? What do they think, that I am a ventrilo- quist?" Mario took the masculine form of his mother's maiden name Maria Lanza when his career zoomed, but was born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, January 31, 1921. Maria Lanza Cocozza never forgot the day in 1959 when her young son died of a heart attack in Rome. *** A Reader once inquired "Are today's Italians who are born in Rome, with great-grandparents also born in Rome, the direct descendants of the citizens of the early Roman Empire? If so, what has become of the Latin- type names like Brutus, Tullius, Janus, and how were they modi- fied so that most Latin names now end with a vowel?"
 To which I replied:
 Caro Signor J.D.,
 Based on my limited knowledge of the birds and bees, I would say Yes, they are. Aristaeus was the protector of the beekeepers according to mythology, and I am sure he did his job well. However, as to how the names were modified, I think that when the descendants of the early Romans moved to other parts of what is now Italy, and even to foreign shores, they adapted quickly, having been taught "When in Rome, do as the Romans". 
 As in the U.S., centuries later, many Giuseppe became Joe, Maria became Mary and Salus (the Roman goddess of health) became the toast of towns all over the world, as "Salute!" *** Speaking of Roman names, here is a timely one- Janus, after whom the month of January is named. Janus was an actual ancient king rather than a god in Roman mythology. After his death, Janus became the Roman god of beginnings and endings. Son of Apollo and Creusa, hus- band of Jana and father of Tiberinus by Camasena.
 Janus was also the god of doors, as in "the door swings both ways". His name was always invoked in pagan religious ceremonies, and his festival date was January 9th. *** Sylvester Stallone fans might like to know that there was a St. Sylvester. San Silvestro is cele- brated in Italy on New Year's eve. Traditionally, dinners held to celebrate San Silvestro have a fish course and pig's feet served with lentils, which are said to symbolize coins, and said to bring wealth if eaten on this day. *** St. Sylvester, to whom the last day of the year is dedicated, was a Pope in the fourth century, dur- ing the reign of Constantine, and contributed to making Christianity a recognized faith legalized by the emperor. St. Sylvester died on December 31, 335 A.D. It is the anniversary of his death that is remembered. He was a native Roman, chosen by God to govern his Holy church, and to triumph over enemies. He governed the church for over twenty years. During his pontifi- cate, great churches were built. He also established the Roman school of singing. He is buried on Via Salaria. *** Arturo Toscanini began his conducting with the New York Symphony on January 14, 1926. *** Angelo Rossi, San Francisco's first Italian-American mayor, was elected on January 18, 1931. *** If someone says something unkind about you, try to behave so that no one will believe it. *** Education, experience and memories are three things no one can take away from you. *** Alberto Ascari, sitting behind the wheel of his Ferrari racer, won the first edition of the Argentine Formula I Grand Prix Competition. *** Author Pietro di Donato's novel, Christ in Concrete, was first published in 1937, but the Bobbs-Merrill Company then reprinted it in 1939, thanks to popular demand and critical acclaim. One reviewer wrote "One of the most amazing expe- riences of my life as a reader of books. Christ in Concrete is real- ly a first-rate work of art and life. It breathes authenticity from all its words.
 With the first words we are transported into the midst of a strong, lusty group of rugged, powerful natural men, who enjoy and are loyal to each other, to their women, to life. They are Italian-American masons on the job, pushing bar- rows, mixing concrete, putting up scaffolding-building America." 
 Those old "paesani" are long gone but at the time, the book reinforced for us young Italian-American "studenti", the notion of America- we discov- ered it, we named it, we built it. The Italo-American author died on January 19, 1992, in Stony Brook, New York. *** Angelo D'Agostino, a friend of mine (and as many long-time Readers), had worn many hats during a lifetime that began January 26, 1926 in Providence, Rhode Island and ended on November 22, 2006 at the Karen Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya at age 80, after being hos- pitalized following a heart attack. In between, he had served in the Military (U.S. Air Force), studied medicine (urologist), was a psychiatrist (for Washington D.C. Diplomatic Corps and Police Dept), teacher (at Georgetown University), and Jesuit priest of the Maryland Province.
 Fr. D'Agostino was also active with N.I.A.F., based in Washington, D.C., which is where we first met at a luncheon back in 1979, after he admired some Italian slogan buttons I had "ideato" and was wearing. To my surprise he pulled out his wallet and out came a clipping of some button titles I had shared with Joe Fuoco, then Editor of the now defunct "Echo" based in Providence, R.I., Fr. D'Agostino's home- town. We became friends and I created a button especially for him, a nod to his medical and priest profession as a Jesuit: "DIO guarisce L'AMMALATO e il DOTTORE riceve la MO- NETA". *** I also wrote:
 Dr. D'Agostino was born in Providence, Rhode Island of working parents with five siblings. He attended local schools and achieved above- average academically. He attended college in Vt. and entered Tufts Medical School in 1945. After graduating Dr. Agostino did his internship at Rhode Island Hospital, fol- lowed by a surgical residency at the New England Center Hospital in Boston. After com- pletion of surgical training in Urology, he was drafted into the U.S. Air Force.
 In 1955, he decided to change his Medical Specialty and took Psychiatric training at Georgetown University.
 By 1991, in addi- tion to being a psychiatrist in private practice, Dr D'Agostino was on the staff of The George Washington University Medical School as a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry. He was a member of many local and national organizations which included: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Arbitration Association, American-Italian Historical Association, American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C. Dr. D'Agostino held numerous offices in professional and civic associations and organizations. He was past-President of the Italian Executives of America, past-President of the Italian Cultural Society of Washington, D.C. and served as President of the D.C. Chapter of the Washington Psychiatric Society as well as the Section of Psychiatry of the Medical Society of D.D. In January 1979, he was appointed Chairman of the APA Committee on Religion and Psychiatry. Dr. D'Agostino also published many books and arti- cles; among them were Family, Church and Community and Studies on Alcohol At that time, I suggested to him that his next project should be the "Uses of Wine and Medical Practice" an update of earlier research done on the subject by Salvatore P. Lucia M.D., a San Francisco native and a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at the University of California, School of Medicine, who in 1971, authored "Wine and Your Well-Being". Salvatore Lucia M.D. was another Italian American pioneer a little ahead of his time. *** Father Angelo D'Agostino Mario Lanza

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