WTI Magazine #3 2013 Nov, 1
Author : Paolo Battaglia Translation by:
October 22, 1897 - Birth of Chef Boyardee
Ettore "Hector" Boiardi was an Italian-born American chef, famous for his brand of food products, named Chef Boyardee. During World War II, Chef Boyardee provided more rations to the American and allied forces than any other supplier and this is why the U.S. War Department awarded him a gold star for excellence.
October 23, 1799 - Death of William Paca
William Paca was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland, and later Governor of Maryland and a United States federal judge. He was born in Abingdon, Harford County, Maryland, from ancestors who came from Italy via England in the middle of the 17th century.
October 24, 1930 - Birth of Monsignor Geno Baroni
Msgr. Geno Baroni, American Roman Catholic priest and social activist, was born on October 24, 1930, in Acosta, Pennsylvania, the son of Italian immigrants. He was assigned as pastor from 1960 to 1965 to the Washington, D.C., parish of Sts. Paul and Augustine, a merger of white and black parishes, applying Catholic social doctrine in ministering to the urban poor. His dedication to civil rights propelled him into a national leadership role. In March 1963 he was coordinator for Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington; and in 1964 he went to Mississippi and marched in the 1965 Selma civil rights demonstration.
October 25, 1883 - Italian pupil in Logan Co., Colorado
This is the total attendance (2 pupils) at Sanders School, #30, near Sterling, Logan Co., Colo., in a picture taken on October 25, 1915, seven weeks after school opened. The 2 pupils are, Harold, a 9 yr. old American boy whose family hires beet-workers, and 6 yr. old Lena, who belongs to an Italian family with 9 children, Padroni.
October 26, 1968 - First conference of the American Italian Historic Association
The creation of the American Italian Historical Association (AIHA) in 1966 to systematically and scientifically assess Italian American experience and to launch Italian American Studies pulled together a network of dedicated scholars from various disciplines. Its first multidisciplinary conference, held in New York City at the Casa Italiana of Columbia University on October 26, 1968, put into motion a process that through the years has constructed the history and the story of the Italian American experience in a deeper and broader way than that presented by Hollywood.
October 27, 1975 - Covers of both Time & Newsweek picture rock singer Bruce Springsteen
Among the heirs of the first generation of Italian American rockers like Frankie Avalon and Bobby Darin, are some of the biggest names in New Jersey rock, from Little Steven (born Steven Lento) to Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bongiovi). Perhaps the most famous of them all is Bruce Springsteen: on this rare cover of the bootleg recording made on the occasion of his first Italian concert in 1986, he is presented with the last name of his mother, Adele Ann Zirilli.
October 28, 1961 - "Fiorello!" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 796 performances
Fiorello LaGuardia was certainly one of the most well-known Italian politicians of the 20th century. Nicknamed "the Little Flower," and started as an interpreter at Ellis Island where he looked on the procession of thousands of compatriots that came to seek their fortunes in America. In 1916, at the age of thirty-four, he was elected for the first time to Congress as a Republican. He served as a congressman until 1933, when he initiated the tradition of Italian American mayors in New York City.
LaGuardia enjoyed an immense popularity, confirmed by this caricature and even Broadway dedicated the musical "Fiorello!" to him. In the musical poster he was represented with his trademark hat.
