Italian-American theatre sprang to life in New York City shortly after waves of Italian immigrants poured into this country in the 1870's. The mass migration brought both the performers and the audiences necessary for theatrical entertainment. Hungry for recognition, support, and social exchange, the men and women from Italy formed amateur theatrical clubs as one way of satisfying emotional needs. By 1900, the community had produced the major forces that created the Italian-American theatre of the ensuing decades. In The Italian-American Immigrant Theatre of New York City, author Emelise Aleandri regenerates the excitement of the stage through striking photographs, programs, and other memorabilia generously loaned by families of the theatre community. She follows the fortunes of the earliest nineteenth-century companies and introduces those that arose in the twentieth-century. Within these pages are scenes of comedy, tragedy, vaudeville, and radio, featuring stars such as Mimi Cecchini, Guglielmo Ricciardi, Concetta Arcamone, Antonio Maiori, Rita Berti, Farfariello, and Olga Barbato.

Often separated from other immigrants because of their language, Italian immigrants to New York City in the 1880s formed communities apart from their new neighbors. They tended to think of themselves collectively as a small Italian colony, La Colonia, that made up part of the demographics of the city. In each of the five boroughs, Italians set up many colonie. Several of them dotted Manhattan in East Harlem, the West Village, what is now SoHo, and the downtown area of the Lower East Side, straddling Canal Street, which still identifies Manhattan's Little Italy, the best-known Italian neighborhood in America. Little Italy is made up of stunning photographs culled from numerous private and public collections. It begins with the first phase of immigrants to Lower Manhattan in the early 1800s, including political and religious refugees such as Lorenzo Da Ponte and Giuseppe Garibaldi. In the 1870s, more and more Italian immigrants settled in Little Italy. As the neighborhood grew up around the former Anthony and Orange Streets, New York's first "Little Italy" emerged. The tumultuous history of the Five Points area, the "Bloody Ole Sixth Ward," and many faces and memories from the Italian newspapers L'Eco d'Italia and Il Progresso Italo-Americano are also included in this long-awaited pictorial history.

Continuing Series on Italian-American Immigrants and NYC Theatre

This book reviews the period from the unification of Italy to the fascist era through significant Neapolitan performers such as Gilda Mignonette and Enrico Caruso. It traces the transformation of a popular tradition written in dialect into a popular tradition, written in Italian, that contributed to the production of "American" identity.

A comprehensive guide to European actors in American film, this book brings together 15 chapters with A-Z entries on over 900 individuals. It includes case studies of prominent individuals and phenomena associated with the emigres, such as the stereotyping of European actresses in 'bad women' roles, and the irony of Jewish actors playing Nazis.

A history -- the first ever -- of the abundant traditions of German-American musical theater in New York, and a treasure trove of songs and information.

Tells of the story of how Italians integrated into America in the 1950s in part through the music of such singers as Enrico Caruso, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and others.