L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 22 Dear Readers, More February Italian Connections for you: That's Amore composer, Salvatore Guaragna a.k.a. Harry Warren is in my "spot- light" this romantic month of February. The late composer Salvatore Guaragna a.k.a. Harry Warren, a name he adopted in his younger days as there undoubtedly would have been little opportunity for a Broadway composer with an Italian surname, won three Academy Awards, had more songs on the radio program "Your Hit Parade", than Irving Berlin, and from 1932 to 1957 wrote the scores for more musi- cal films than almost any other composer, yet few people knew of his Italian connection. *** "Harry Warren" was the youngest of eleven kids, born of Calabrian parents, baptized Salvatore Guaragna shortly after his birth on Christmas Eve, December 1893 and raised in New York. Like the better known Irving Berlin, both were self-taught pianists who began their music careers by plugging songs on Tin Pan Alley. Warren published his first song "Rose of the Rio Grande" in 1922. He spent the rest of the decade working as a successful New York song plugger, building his reputation as his own songs gained in popularity. In Hollywood, a new industry was being forged- talking pictures, and musicals grew increasingly popular in Depression-scarred America. Many songsmiths, including "Harry Warren", were recruited from Tin Pan Alley. Warren's call came from Darryl E. Zanuck, head of production at Warner Bros. Enticed by a lucrative $1,500 a week contract, Warren abandoned any thoughts of becoming a composer for the theater, and along with lyricist Al Dubin and director/choreog- rapher Busby Berkeley who popularized the "backstage musical", their hit film "42nd Street" saved Warner Bros. from financial ruin. "Harry Warren" used to refer to himself as "Harry Who?" after years of hearing that response when peo- ple were told Warren wrote the music for standards such as "42nd Street", "Lullaby of Broadway", "I Only Have Eyes For You", "The More I See You", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Jeepers Creepers", "An Affair to Remember", "You'll Never Know", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "That's Amore", "You're My Everything" and scores of other perennials for four Broadway shows and an astounding 81 motion pictures. "Harry Warren" died in 1981 at the age of 87. Even after an eight-year run of David Merrick's stage version of the 1932 landmark musical film "42nd Street" audiences quickly recognized Warren's music, but not his name. In his last years, "Harry" preferred the company of his old Italian American buddies like Nick Perito, Perry Como's longtime conductor and arranger, pianist Joe Marino, and composer Gene De Paul, and liked to reminisce about his childhood in Brooklyn Heights. He was proud of his Italian background, and said his family instilled in him his love for Italian opera, especially Puccini. He also recalled his years of singing in the boys' choir at a local church. *** The songs of Salvatore Guaragna, a.k.a. "Harry Warren" still generate royalties and have been recorded by con- temporary artists as diverse as Barbara Streisand, Harry Connick Jr., Willie Nelson, George Benson and Art Garfunkel. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's climactic meeting on top of the Empire State Building in "Sleepless in Seattle" is played out against Warren's melodic "An Affair to Remember". His last major hit, "That's Amore" written for the Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis film "The Caddy" was featured prominently in 1987's "Moonstruck". *** Galilei, Galileo (1564-1642), Italian astronomer and physicist was born in Pisa, the son of Vincenzo Galilei, a mathemati- cian. He studied at University of Pisa for a medical career but changed to science, at the age of 18. One day Galileo won- dered, "Suppose I dropped a bag of potatoes and a bag of feath- ers off a roof at the same time. Which bag would fall the faster of the two?" Galileo decided to find out. Many years ago, the famous scientist Galileo (born February 15, 1564) tried an experiment like this by dropping two things of different weights off the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. To everyone's surprise, both bags dropped at the same speed! Attempts to stabilize the over 800-year-old tower where Galileo performed his experi- ments involved steel rings clamped around the Tower of Pisa to prevent it from toppling. Unfortunately, these measures provedunsuccessful. So workers then placed a 600-ton counter- weight at the north base of the structure. The tower was closed to tourists years ago because of its precarious position, and then its bells were silenced for fear the vibrations could cause prob- lems during installation of the lead counterweights. *** Then in 1989, a similarly con- structed bell tower in Pavia, Lombardia, collapsed suddenly. Officials became worried that the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" would suffer the same fate and closed the monument to the pub- lic. A year later, they assembled an International Team to see if the tower could be brought back from the brink. By 2001, the team had decreased the tower's lean by 17 inches, and then it slowly continued to straighten a few more inches. By mid 2008, sensors no longer detected any motion and the tower seemed to be in no immediate peril. Engineers and soil experts now expect the famous structure to remainstable for another hun- dred years, provided an earth- quake in the region does not make itself felt. *** "Grazie" to Richard Vannucci, Financial Secretary of the Italian American Federation of the East Bay (I.A.F.), I can share with you the great news that the book Italian Oakland is available again! The city of Oakland, California is known far and wide as the birthplace of the Black Panther Party, "Occupy Oakland", "Fruitvale Station" and former quixotic mayor, Jerry Brown; However, little is known of "Italian Oakland". To remedy this oversight, Colombo Club member and former San Francisco Examiner and Oakland Tribune reporter, Rick Malaspina, has written an engaging book on the Italian presence on the other side of the Bay. With a plethora of candid photographs and a trenchant text Malaspina charts OUR saga in Oakland, California, a city where many of us have Italian "roots". Many of the pho- tographs and reflections were provided by IAF members and our Italian American East Bay Clubs get deep coverage. Of special significance is the sec- tion devoted to Service to our Country (Italian Americans were the largest ethnic group to serve in WWII!). The Italian American Federation, in con- cert with the Ligure Club, has obtained a limited supply of the Book and for $20.00 (postage and handling included) it can be yours. This is an ideal gift for those who lived "the times" and those among us seeing our past AND future. Contact Richard Vannucci, of the IAF at 5072 Elrod Drive, Castro Valley, CA 94546, (510) 581-9139. Make checks payable to I.A.F. As for me, although the text by Rick Malaspina is outstanding, it is the "abbondanza" of photos seemingly taken out of my own family album, that brings me instant nostalgic joy every time. Composer Harry Warren (1893-1981) With Lyricist Al Dubin Galileo Galilei

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