Rare Lanza photos and documentary footage

[Derek McGovern]

Armando recently discovered a fascinating Italian archival site
containing a large number of rare photos of Lanza in Rome, together
with several documentary film clips:

http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/

(When you click on this, you'll immediately be greeted by a photo of
our old friend Edmund Purdom riding a scooter through Rome!)

To download the Lanza clips and/or see the photos, you'll first have
to register. It's a simple enough process as long as you either
understand Italian or have a good imagination! Once you've registered,
simply type in "Mario Lanza" and you'll be offered a series of links
to film clips and photos -- in that order.

Among the highlights are lots of photos of a very happy Lanza arriving
at Roma Termini in May 1957, pics of location filming in St. Peter's
Square a month later for Seven Hills of Rome, and film footage of
Mario walking around with For the First Time director Rudy Maté. On
the last of these, Lanza looks surprisingly well and vital (he's
wearing the same clothes as in the film's courtroom scene) -- so much
so, in fact, that, as Armando and I were just discussing, it's
extraordinary to think that a mere 12 months later he would be gone.

Well worth a visit!! Grazie, Armando!

[Den]

Hi Derek
I managed to register, although my Italian is not much than more o
sole mio
I was good to see photo's and newsreel clips that I had not seen
before
Knowing of Mario's fear of flying I often wondered how they got him
into an helicopter
Now I know
Thanks to Armando for passing this on, really fascinating
Den

[Derek McGovern]

Glad you were able to access that site, Den. I've just been looking at
more documentary footage there of Lanza, Rascel and Allasio with
director Roy Rowland on the 21-minute documentary "Cinema d'oggi:
Panorama del cinema italiano realizzato per il comitato d'intesa da
Giorgio Baldaccini". Mario's segment turns up about seven minutes into
the documentary, and is followed by a clip from another film featuring
Marisa Allasio (La Civetta: The Flirt).

> > Well worth a visit!! Grazie, Armando!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Muriel]

Well, I managed to get into the site and register. I saw the photos
and one film clip of Mario, Renato, and Marisa getting out of the
helicopter, but how do I find the documentary of the three with Roy
Rowland? Does the title come up under the Mario Lanza prompt?

Ahime!! This is taxing my brain!!

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Muriel]

Ahhhhh, I found it! What fun! Even though Seven Hills was not a film
to rave about, it looks like Mario had a little bit of fun filming it.
Well, who wouldn't love being in Bella Roma....sigh. Grazie, Armando
and Derek!

[Derek McGovern]

Glad you found those items, Muriella! Tell me, did you manage to find
the 1958 clip of Mario walking with For the First Time director Rudy
Mate? As I wrote earlier, he looks happy and remarkably vibrant.

[Muriel]

Okay, I found it. I was looking under documentaries so that's why I
didn't see it. These clips remind me of the newsreels they used to
play with the movies here. Actually they run so quickly and the
narrator talks too fast, it makes me dizzy! I see Zsa Zsa Gabor and
her daughter Francesca Hilton arriving to make FTFT as well.

Mario does look quite fit and happy here. How cruel that he couldn't
be around to make that next film and prepare for his debut at the Roma
opera. How I'd love to edit the film and hold this visage forever! My
heart is in my throat at the moment, but I'm glad he had these happy
moments....

[Sam]

Derek:
Could you walk us through the steps of registering? I can't make
heads or tails out of it and tried several times!
Thanks.

> > Mate? As I wrote earlier, he looks happy and remarkably vibrant.- Hide quoted text -

[Maria Luísa]

Derek, please, how am I to reach to the documentary? Which title
should I look for? As Muriel before said I did not see it yet, did not
even know there was a documentary in those archives. It was all day
yesterday before I got to see the photos, but finally I did! Really
beautiful, wonderful photos, an absolute pleasure to the eye. Thank
you so much for bringing them to our knowledge.

[Derek McGovern]

On Jun 20, 1:18 am, Maria Luísa <Maria.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Derek, please, how am I to reach to the documentary? Which title
> should I look for? As Muriel before said I did not see it yet, did not
> even know there was a documentary in those archives. It was all day
> yesterday before I got to see the photos, but finally I did! Really
> beautiful, wonderful photos, an absolute pleasure to the eye. Thank
> you so much for bringing them to our knowledge.

Luísa: When you do the search on "Mario Lanza", make sure you select
both "archivio fotografico" and "archivio cinematografico". The
newsreel clips will then be the first three items that come up. The
dates on these are 9/10/1958 (which has the For the First Time
location filming clip), 08/1957, and 1957. These last two show Mario
on location for Seven Hills of Rome.

The clips are frustratingly brief, but well worth downloading.

The photos are listed below the newsreel items under "Fondo Dial" and
"Fondo Vedo". Make sure you click on the thumbnails to see the
enlargements. One of the most interesting photos can be found under
"Cerimonia per la Consegna dei Nastri d'Argento alla Casina delle
Rose", which shows Lanza being awarded the Golden Mask by the mayor of
Rome for his services to Italian music. Strangely, this prestigious
event in Mario's life has only ever been noted by one of his
biographers (Armando Cesari, naturally!).

Enjoy!

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

On Jun 20, 12:44 am, Sam <s...@bee.net> wrote:

> Derek:
>      Could you walk us through the steps of registering? I can't make
> heads or tails out of it and tried several times!
>               Thanks.

Sam: Here's what you do:

Go to the bottom right of the screen (below the photo of Edmund
Purdom) and click on "Registrati". You will then be asked to supply
your e-mail address. Then click on the > symbol. A message will then
be sent your e-mail account. Find this message in your inbox and click
on "accedere all'indirizzo". This will then show your e-mail address
and a temporary password ("codice temporaneo"). Click on the > again.

You will now be asked to choose a password, and then confirm it
("Conferma Password"). The other required fields here are your name
("Nome"), ie, Sam, and surname ("Cognome"), ie, Samuelian. then click
on "Accetto" (I accept), followed by "invia" (send). And that should
be it. You will need to sign in every time you visit the site, using
your full e-mail address as your ID and whatever password you've
chosen. To find the photos and newsreels of Mario, be sure to type in
"Mario Lanza".

Good luck!

[Maria Luísa]

Thank you very much for the information Derek. I hope I can get there.
The photos I saw are wonderful and a delight to see how Mario looked
like during that time. I would say not bad at all considering how bad
his health was already by then. There should be many more photos of
those years, shouldn't they? I wish they will appear someday. Thanks
again Derek.

[Heidi]

Hi Derek
I too have some troubles with this site. On the site where I have to
create a password and give my name there is no Accetto or invia to
click on, only to chose Tipologia e-mail yes or no and Rendi
visibiliti le mie cartelle yes or no. I don`t know what this means, I
guess there is a mistake from the site. I tried it for a
second time to sign in, but now they told me my e-mail adress is
already used. maybe you have an idea what to do???Cheers Heidi

On 19 Jun., 22:07, Derek McGovern <derek.mcgov...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 20, 12:44 am, Sam <s...@bee.net> wrote:
>
> > Derek:

> >      Could you walk us through the steps of registering? I cand't make

[Derek McGovern]

On Jun 21, 8:26 am, Heidi <neig...@t-online.de> wrote:

> Hi Derek
> I too have some troubles with this site. On the site where I have to
> create a password and give my name there is no Accetto or invia to
> click on, only to chose Tipologia e-mail yes or no and  Rendi
> visibiliti le mie cartelle yes or no. I don`t know what this means, I
> guess there is a mistake from  the site. I tried         it for a
> second time to sign in, but now they told  me my e-mail adress is
> already used. maybe you have an idea what to do???Cheers Heidi

Hello Heidi: All I can suggest is that you try again, as there have
been at least two occasions when I haven't been able to access the
site either. The only other thing I can think of is that if you're
using an older version of, say, Internet Explorer, then you may need
to install an update. (I know I can't access the site at all on my
antiquated Apple Mac work computer.)

Good luck!

Best
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

PS Heidi: Armando has generously sent me an Italian newspaper article
that includes a photo of a bouyant Lanza receiving the Golden Mask
from the Mayor of Rome. It's a different photo from the one featured
on the Luce Italian website. I've just added it to our Files, and you
can read more about this event on page 232 of Armando's book.

[Heidi]

Dear Derek
Thank you for your replay, I will update the internet explorer and
than I`ll try it again.
Heidi

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Luísa and Heidi: I haven't been able to access the Luce site for
some time. This morning, for the first time in days, I was able to log
in successfully, but on searching under "Mario Lanza", nothing
happened. So please be patient, and hopefully the problem will be
sorted out soon.

Perhaps it was the unexpected avalanche of Lanza fans visiting the
site that caused it to crash?! :-)

[Derek McGovern]

The Luce site is now working properly again:

http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/

[Heidi]

Dear Derek
Thank you very much ,the tip-off was great! I have been too fast with
the mouse and so I did not notice the `hand`,I only saw :real player
and media player.... Today I saw a black screen and have been waiting
for nearly10 minutes: Die Verbindung wird hergestellt... But nothing
else happend, I think the site has some difficulties, yesterday it
was not possible to reach the homepage.
I`ll try it again,and once more many thanks to you, you are a gem and
my English is very bad, sorry for this.
Cheers Heidi

[Derek McGovern]

Hello Heidi: Yes, it's obvious that the Luce site has technical
problems, but if you can strike it on a day when everything is
working, then the brief documentary clips and rare photos are well
worth a look. I just wish it were possible to download these items!
The photos of Lanza arriving in Rome in May 1957 are great, and I'd
love the pic of him receiving the Golden Mask Award in September 1957.
(He looks in very good shape there, by the way.)

Incidentally, I wonder if Damon and Ellisa Lanza are aware that there
are also photos of them on the Luce site in (I think) the Piazza
Navona?

I still can't get over how well and vital Lanza looks in the brief
clip of him on location with Rudy Mate. It's a great shame there's no
sound on these things, as it would have been fascinating to know what
he was saying.

Cheers
Derek

[Heidi]

Hello Derek, at least I could watch at the clip with the heli and some
photos and than the line is broken again.Now I am happy , thanks to
you and Armando.
Cheers Heidi

[Derek McGovern]

On 7/3/08, Heidi <nei...@t-online.de> wrote:
>
> Hello Derek, at least I could watch at the clip with the heli and some
> photos and than the line is broken again.Now I am happy , thanks to
> you and Armando.
> Cheers Heidi

I'm pleased to hear that you experienced at least partial success,
Heidi! When that site's finally working properly again, I must check
to see if there's any other Lanza material stored on it. (There's an
option that you can click on for Luce's archival partners that I
haven't explored yet.) And while I imagine that there wouldn't be many
more photos available of Lanza in Rome (since he made so few public
appearances there), it'd be interesting to find out if there are any
additional pics floating around of him singing in Naples during that
one-off appearance that he made there. No doubt there would have been
photos published in the local newspapers at the time.