L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, A September selection of Italian connections: Andrews Sisters Patty, Maxene and LaVerne were in Naples, Italy, on a U.S.O. tour in August 1945. The Andrews Sisters were about to perform for some 5,000 weary GI's, gathered in the port city of Naples, en route toJapan to join the fight. As you may recall, fighting had begun to subside in Italy after the April 28, 1945 partisan exe- cution of Mussolini, the April 30th suicide of Hitler, and the May 2nd surrender of some 1 million German troops in Italy. The mood of the war weary G.I.'s was glum and the men were in no mood to celebrate. But, a simple note passed from the troops' commander to Patty prompted an about face in atti- tude. "Fellows, you don't have to go to Japan. The war is over!" she said, recalling the moment for John Sforza in his book, Swing It! The Andrews Sisters Story. According to her account, there was complete silence, until she assured the men the announcement was real. Then, silence turned to a deafening roar (Pres. Harry Truman, sworn in after F.D.R. died April 12, 1945, had ordered the A-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered to Allies on Aug. 14). Known as "Sweethearts of the Armed Forces Radio Service", the girls not only per- formed extensively at War Bondrallies, but took their show to the troops. Only Bob Hope did more USO tours than the Andrews Sisters. A Yiddish song taught them by their manager, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen sold over a million copies in 1937. They went on to popularize such authentic period pieces as The Hut Sut Song, Rum and Coca Cola, and the 1940's home front songs for troops who yearned to be back with their sweethearts, like the sisters' hit I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Timepromised. Their Beer Barrel Polka was adopted by Allied Troops as a marching song in World War II. Patty, lead singer and last sur- viving member of the group, died January 30, 2013, in her California home. She was 94. *** Apples, not gold, was at the core of Luigi Martinelli's fami- ly fortune. Martinelli emigrat- ed from Switzerland in 1849, to make his fortune in California's gold fields. But the agricultural fields surrounding Watsonville proved more attractive than the miners' camps, so instead of dig- ging for gold, Martinelli began planting apple trees. The Pajaro Valley soon became famous for apples, especially its Newtown Pippins, a homely but delectable fruit that tastes good even after months in storage. The land around Watsonville sprouted some of the first com- mercial orchards in the state, and the city's downtown pros- pered with a boom of apple- related businesses. Luigi's brother, Stefano, who followed his elder sibling to Watsonville after a couple of seasons work- ing for a French Champagne maker, used his brother's apples to create a signature sparkling version of traditional hard cider. The cider was an immediate hit, and S. Martinelli and Co. soon became a pillar of the local business community. By 1908, the Pajaro Valley was the biggest apple producer on Earth, boasting a million trees and shipping apples as far afield as Europe and Asia. Watsonville had dozens of pack- ing sheds, as well as apple dryers and vinegar plants and, in the Spring, the view of pink-and- white apple blossoms stretched for miles. Today, the 15,000 acres of apple orchards that once filled the Pajaro Valley have dwindled to just 2,000 acres, most of them replaced by straw- berry or raspberry fields, and by housing. Berrieshave replaced apples as the region's signature crop, occupying approximately 7,400 acres now. But berries use far more water and chemi- cals than the trees they've replaced. The shrinking apple crop is posing a problem for Martinelli's, a still-growing business, which has been head- quartered in Watsonville since 1868. The company buys about 95 percent of all the apples grown in the Pajaro Valley, but is increasingly forced to bring in apples from elsewhere to meet demand. John Martinelli, Stefano Martinelli's great-grand- son is presidentof the company. For more info: http:// www.mar- tinellis.com/ *** Contessa Angela Desideri Dandini was born in Italy. Countess Lillian Remillard Dandini, "the Brickyard" heiress, was born in Oakland, California. Countess Angela Dandini, died in Reno, Nevada at age 88 in 2004. In 1997, Michael Sion authored "Staying Power-Eight Nevadans Over 80 Share Secrets for a Life of Health, Happiness and Fulfillment", published by Countess Angela Dandini. Among the eight Nevadans pro- filed were four men and four women. The Countess shared her "secrets", too, and this being September, the month we cele- brate Labor Day, I will share with you the fact that prior to marrying Count Alessandro Olioli di Cesena (the three-way light bulb inventor and holder of 22 patents) in 1978, Angela had spent many years running her own clothing boutiques in New York, Reno and San Francisco, which she called, what else, but Countess Angela. *** While living in San Francisco, the Countess joined the cultural Italian women's club Vittoria Colonna, where my friend Clara's mother, Ercelia Palladini Mossi was also a mem- ber. The club, dating from 1909, provided aid to the Italian com- munity and local causes. Its early actions included the estab- lishment of a kindergarten at the Washington Irving School in North Beach and donation of a Carrara marble bust of Galileo to Galileo High School. In the Forties and Fifties, the club's choral section sang traditional Italian songs in Italian and English. By 1980, the club was primarily social and philanthrop- ic, holding fundraising events in order to sponsor the annual San Giuseppe party for elderly patients at Laguna Honda. *** The Countess was the sec- ond of six children, born to Alfredo and Cleonice Desideri of Borrello, a small town near Rome. Their mother succumbed to cancer at a young age, but Alfredo lived to 89. Angela went to school in Florence to learn from nuns in a convent. The curriculum included sewing lessons, which may have spurred her lifelong interest in fash- ion. She later graduated from the Fashion Academy in New York. Her father had moved to the United States in the 1920s after Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy. A friend at the Fashion Academy suggested she worked as a fashion model. Though not tall at 5-foot-4, she worked often and appeared on the cover of prominent maga- zines. She also continued to design clothes and eventually opened a Manhattan boutique, Countess Angela, on Fifth Avenue. Moving in 1955 to Reno, then known as the divorce capital of the world, the Countess opened a store down- town and raised her son, Denis. Shortly after, she moved the business to San Francisco, but returned to Reno in 1978 after marrying the Count, but retained a small residence in San Francisco. In Reno, the count served many years as the University of Nevada Marshal, hosting academic and govern- ment dignitaries from around the world at his self-designed white marble palazzo. He also estab- lished the Angela Dandini Garden between the Desert Research Institute and Truckee Meadows Community College campuses. *** For "Staying Power": "After getting up, have one glass of hot water with lemon juice, then walk around for 35 minutes. Then do exercises. I raise my hands over my head and touch my toes, 20 times. That's my regimen every day. Same exact routines since I was a girl. It works!" *** The Andrews Sisters

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