Miceli’s opened in 1949 when Carmen and Sylvia Miceli, with the help of their brothers Tony and Sammie, and sisters Angie and Millie, put their funds together to start a restaurant. Carmen, a Chicago native, came to Los Angeles shortly after serving in World War II. He earned four Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, and went from being a singing shoes...

When Annette Funicello’s daughter, Gina Gilardi Bleifer, and a friend came home from a high school dance one night in the ’80s, she was surprised to hear loud music blasting from her bedroom. “We opened the door to find my mom sitting at my desk, fake microphone in hand, singing ‘The Best of Times’ by Styx at the top of her lungs,” Gina tells Close...

Marco Bellocchio’s latest film The Traitor is set to receive the first major prize at the 2019 Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival. The mafia story will be honored with the best international feature film award at the fest, which takes place annually off the coast of Naples.  The Traitor, which debuted in Cannes this year, tells the true-l...

The Bank of America. Planter’s Peanuts. Tropicana Orange Juice. Barnes & Noble bookstores. The Radio Flyer Red Wagon. The Securities and Exchange Commission. The Jacuzzi. The pilot ejector seat. The first computer microprocessor. The shopping mall. Multicultural education. And even the McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger. What do all of these long-accepte...

Si sono conclusi oggi, 28 ottobre, i festeggiamenti in onore della prima donna regista Lina Wertmuller con la posa in opera della stella sulla "walk of fame " di Hollywood accanto a quella di Ennio Morricone, che per l'occasione ha inviato in diretta un messaggio augurale.  Alla cerimonia hanno partecipato  autorità locali, la Console Generale Silv...

Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller hardly remembers making history as the first Oscar-nominated female director for her work on the 1970s film “Seven Beauties.” But she does proudly recall trolling the ceremony by swapping seats with the wife of a famous Italian movie critic when her name was announced — much to the confusion of the reaction-camera...

The promotional campaign launched by the Abruzzo region to bring its audiovisual talents back to the region has begun, and Hollywood is its main target. The campaign to reach the Mecca of show business began in Cannes in mid-October at MIPCOM, the world's leading audiovisual trade fair. The Abruzzo region arrived on the Côte d'Azur with a promotion...

Italian director Lina Wertmuller, the first female director nominated for an Academy Award, will be feted at numerous celebrations during an upcoming trip to Los Angeles, where she is scheduled to receive an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards on Oct. 27 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the following day. In 1976, Wertmuller beca...

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced a partnership with Italy’s Istituto Luce – Cinecittà under which the state film entity will become a “founding supporter” of the museum as part of a five-year agreement that will involve a series of annual events celebrating Italian cinema. The Italian cinema series will kick off with a centennial...

Lina Wertmüller, the director and writer of films including The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy and Swept Away, is finally being celebrated stateside for her landmark career, beginning with a series of events this month in Los Angeles. The Italian filmmaker was the first woman to ever receive an Academy Award nomination for best director in 197...