L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2015 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, April – Aprile comes from the Latin word aperire which means to open. 1. April Fool's Day is a day people usually play silly pranks, so be alert. The United States orbited the first weather satel- lite April 1, 1960. 2. St. Francis of Paola was born in Paola (Calabria), Italy circa 1416. He cured the sick, prophesied the future and was a major influence on five kings and seven popes. H e w a s e d u c a t e d b y t h e Franciscans at San Marco and at the age of 15 went to live as a hermit in a cave. He eventually founded nearly 500 monasteries and was canonized just twelve years after his death at age nine- ty-one. 3 . H e r b C a e n , l o n g t i m e columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (he began in 1935), was born on April 3, 1916. He wrote thousands of words week- ly and was very witty. 4 . P a l m i r o T o g l i a t t i w a s born in Genoa, Italy on Palm Sunday 1893 accounting for his Christian name, but he began in 1 9 4 4 , l e a d i n g t h e I t a l i a n Communist Party for nearly two decades from la Camera dei D e p u t a t i , P a l a z z o d i Montecitorio in Rome. 5. Easter Sunday. BUONA P A S Q U A ! H e r e a r e s o m e lessons for living, you can learn from the Easter Bunny: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Everyone needs a friend who is all ears. Keep your paws off other people's jelly beans. All work and no play can make you a basket case. Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits. 6. Umberto Nobile, pioneer in Arctic aviation, born at Lauro (near Salerno), with Amundsen of Norway and Ellsworth of U.S.A. was in 1926 first to fly over the North Pole in the dirigi- ble "Norge" from the North of N o r w a y ( S p i t z b e r g e n ) t o Alaska. 7. St. John the Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719) founder of the Christian Brothers. Over three hundred years ago, this priest had a lot of "new ideas" about teaching children. Instead of teaching one child at a time, he thought it would be a good i d e a t o p u t s e v e r a l s t u d e n t s together in a classroom and his methods of education revolu- tionized the education system of the time. He gave all his wealth to the poor and spent much of his effort training teachers. The Christian Brothers have become one of the largest teach- ing orders in the Church, based o n h i s m e t h o d s , w h i c h f i r s t became popular in France and Italy. 8. Charles J. Margiotti was b o r n i n A p r i l 1 8 9 1 . O n e o f A m e r i c a ' s l e a d i n g c r i m i n a l lawyers, he was attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania, serving three different gover- nors, until his death in 1956. 9. Alessandro Malaspina, who led the expedition of scien- tific exploration and geographic d r a w i n g s o f S o u t h e r n California, Vancouver Island and Alaska, died April 9, 1810 at age fifty-six. 10. Arbor Day celebrations are marked by tree planting to foster general interest in refor- estation. Many states set arbor day dates according to their sev- eral climates, but many states, with mild climates celebrate A r b o r D a y t o d a y . B e g u n i n 1872, Arbor Day is the botanical name for tree. When I was a child, if you saw a fig tree grow- ing in a yard, it was a tip-off that the property owner was probably Italian. 11. Angelo Joseph Rossi, former Mayor and pride of San Francisco's Italian community in years prior to WWII died in San Francisco in April 1948. H e w a s b o r n J a n u a r y 2 2 , 1 8 7 8 i n V o l c a n o , A m a d o r County, California. 1 2 . T o p o G i g i o m a d e h i s d e b u t i n A m e r i c a o n t h e E d Sullivan Show in April 1963 and literally lit up the switch- boards. Topo Gigio made 17 appearances in only 12 months. He never appeared anywhere else in this country except on t h e S u l l i v a n p r o g r a m w h i c h signed him to an exclusive con- tract. T o p o G i g i o , t h e I t a l i a n mouse was Ed Sullivan's dis- covery. He had blond hair, blue eyes, a high pitched voice with a heavy Italian accent; 10 inches tall and was made of foam rub- ber. The lovable little puppet appeared regularly on the "Ed Sullivan Show". S u l l i v a n d i s c o v e r e d T o p o Gigio (which means Little Louis Mouse in Italian) in London. He was preparing a program which starred Judy Garland and when British talent agent Lew Grade showed him a tape of the little mouse, Ed immediately added him. The show was broadcast on April 14, 1963 and marked Topo G i g i o ' s A m e r i c a n t e l e v i s i o n debut. Topo Gigio was the brain- child of Maria Perego of Italy who operated her creation with the assistance of two other peo- ple. A third supplied the voice. T h e q u a r t e t d i d n o t s p e a k English and communicated with the program staff through an interpreter. The man who pro- v i d e d T o p o G i g i o ' s v o i c e learned his lines phonetically. 13. Sicily declares itself inde- p e n d e n t o f N a p l e s A p r i l 1 3 , 1 8 4 8 , b u t i n M a y 1 8 4 9 , Neapolitan troops enter Palermo completing their re-conquest of Sicily. 14. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. If not for the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, there w o u l d n o t b e a P u l l m a n Company. I n 1 8 6 5 , M r . G e o r g e Mortimer Pullman was building railroad cars in Detroit, but his b u s i n e s s w a s n o t successful. When President L i n c o l n ' s b o d y a r r i v e d i n Chicago, Colonel James Bowen, a p e r s o n a l f r i e n d o f Mr. Pullman, was put in charge of the funeral arrangements. Colonel Bowen wanted a rail- road car worthy of carrying the body of President Lincoln to his final resting place, Springfield. He could not find a car suitable to be part of the funeral train for P r e s i d e n t L i n c o l n . T h e n h e r e m e m b e r e d t h a t G e o r g e M . Pullman had a car in Chicago named the Pioneer. He asked Mr. Pullman if he could use his c a r f o r P r e s i d e n t L i n c o l n ' s funeral train. Mr. Pullman said yes and on May 2, 1865, the funeral train containing the body in Mr. Pullman's car, Pioneer, left Chicago for Springfield, Illinois only 200 miles away. The train took two days to reach Springfield because the t r a i n s t o p p e d a t e v e r y s m a l l t o w n b e t w e e n C h i c a g o a n d Springfield to permit the people to pay their final homage to the late president. When the people saw what a beautiful railroad car L i n c o l n ' s b o d y w a s i n t h e y wrote letters to their relatives a n d f r i e n d s t e l l i n g t h e m about Lincoln's funeral and Mr. Pullman's car, the Pioneer. Covering the funeral were many newspaper reporters from all over the country as well as around the world. In their story a b o u t P r e s i d e n t L i n c o l n ' s Funeral they gave a glowing r e p o r t o n t h e G e o r g e M . Pullman's luxurious railroad car, The Pioneer. All the publicity then began to make Pullman famous as a t r a i n c a r m a n u f a c t u r e r a n d orders then began to come into Pullman Car Factory in Detroit. Mr. Pullman also received a w a r d s f r o m t h e U . S . a n d Italian governments for pro- viding employment to Italians and Italian-Americans on both sides of the Atlantic. 15. S.S. Titanic sank on yesterday's date in 1912. The Titanic sank after hitting an ice- berg in the North Atlantic and cost 1,517 passengers their lives. Guglielmo Marconi's invention ship to shore radio helped save l i v e s a f t e r t h e s u p p o s e d l y "unsinkable" luxury liner sank after hitting an iceberg. Of the 2,340 passengers and crew, more than 1,500 perished. Many were women and children immigrants on cheap "steerage" passages. Especially heroic was the ship's band, which played hymns as the ship sank under it. More April dates soon... *** Angelo Joseph Rossi

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