Daniela & More

Movies!, channel 5–2 on over the air antennas in NYC, continues to show titles I haven’t seen. Last night it aired Behold a Pale Horse (1964), directed by Fred Zinneman and starring Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn as deadly rivals despite 20 years having passed since the end of the Spanish Civil War. It was okay, nothing more. In researching the work, I found an interesting cast member who had a brief role as the mistress of Quinn’s character. Born in Sicily in 1937, Daniela Rocca was elected Miss Catania in 1953, which opened doors for her in Italian cinema. Most of the 26 titles under her name at IMDb are in the péplum genre, a term heretofore new to me, one used in reference to historical or biblical epics. She received international recognition for her work opposite Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style (1961). Unfortunately, her unrequited love for the director, twice her age, led to a breakdown and attempted suicide. At 35 she was institutionalized, which in effect ended her screen career. She spent the last years of her life at a retirement home in Catania, writing three novels: Secret Agent with License to Live, Lawyer for Rent, Condemned to Death; and a work of non-fiction: Psychoanalysis, Dreams, and Fantasies Hidden in the Mind; and poetry collection Ara. To my chagrin, neither google or Amazon recognized any of the titles. Rocca succumbed to a heart attack at 57 in 1995. She was not forgotten. Argentine poet Juan Gelman dedicated Theory About Daniela Rocca to her, and Domenico Trischitta based his 2016 two-act play, Quick Sands, on her life. Here’s the brainy beauty:

Here’s an interesting headline from foxnews.com: “NBA, Nike, Lebron accused of profiting off slave labor in China, one Republican’s challenge to corporate leaders.” And here’s one that shows the tide may finally be turning against a liberal icon: “Planned Parenthood’s New York chapter disavows founder Margaret Sanger over racist eugenics.” And here’s one that arouses temporary jubilation and then despair at the realization that much of the people of planet Earth are perpetually at war and no end is in sight: “Afghan teen wielding an AK-47 kills two Taliban fighters after parents were murdered.” Here she is:

It was another quiet session of the floating book shop. My thanks to the young woman who bought On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and to the folks who stopped to chat.

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