Silvana & More
Born in Rome in 1930 to an Italian father and an English mother, Silvana Mangano lived in poverty during WWII. Training seven years as a dancer, she supported herself by modeling. At 16 she won the Miss Rome pageant. That and other beauty contests led to work in films. There are 41 titles under her name at IMDb. Her most notable is the gut-wrenching crime/romance Bitter Rice (1949), directed by Giuseppe de Santis in the neo-realism style that was the rage in Italy back then. She also starred in roles in which her beauty was fitting, Ulysses (1954), in the dual role of the sorceress Circe and the hero’s wife, Penelope; in Oedipus Rex (1967), as the luckless mother/wife of the protagonist; as The Madonna in The Decameron (1971); as Reverend Mother Ramallo in the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune (1984). What reminded me of her was a song I heard last night on the Calm Radio stream, Anna or El Negro Zumbón, which translates to The Negro Merrymaker. I was shocked that she sang, which compelled me to research it. It’s from Mambo (1954), directed by Robert Rossen. She performs it in a night club. Although she is credited on the record, her voice was dubbed by Flo Sandon’s, who was popular in post war Italy. The catchy tune has been covered by many artists, including Connie Francis and Chet Atkins. I tried to find the first nine notes of its infectious riff on my guitar, and was unsuccessful, at least so far. Mangano married legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis, with whom she had four children. She died of lung cancer at 59 in 1989. Here’s a link to the aforementioned clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZqB2CczTes
And here’s a still from Bitter Rice:
Those who travel by MTA buses may want to skip the following bit of info, which was in an article at nypost.com: from 2015-’17 city buses averaged 23 accidents a day, many involving injuries. From 2014 to 2017, a total of 4330 drivers were suspended for various violations. Just 60 were fired.
My thanks to the woman who kicked off the proceedings on this beautiful but blustery day by buying the massive NY Times Cook Book; and to the gentleman who purchased Rock Breaks Scissors: A Practical Guide to Outguessing and Outwitting Almost Everybody by William Poundstone; and to the woman who selected James Patterson’s Double Cross; and to Michael, who opted for a romance by Mary Balogh; and to the woman who chose a novel in Russian; and to the quiet man, who went home with three CD’s of Bruce Springsteen live performances.
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