A: Allegria! Mike Bongiorno, Corrado, and Italian variety television

When Italian television launched with regular national broadcasts in 1954, what was it like? What was RAI and what was its mission? And who were the famous faces and voices that Italians were watching and listening to?

In this episode, we'll think about the aim of Italian television between 1954 and 1976, when there was one national broadcaster, RAI, and strong pressure from the State and the Vatican that would shape programming and content throughout this period. And then we'll meet two virtual guest stars who are considered two of the founding fathers of Italian television: Mike Bongiorno and Corrado. 

With grateful thanks to Vincenzo Alfano for providing the voice for much of the Italian content.

Transcript

CLIP 1 Speaker 1: [00:00:00] La RAI, Radiotelevisione Italiana, inizia oggi il suo regolare servizio di trasmissione televisiva. Signore e Signori, buon divertimento.

Rachel Haworth: [00:00:13] Signore, Signori. Welcome to the TV Italian Style podcast that celebrates the golden age of Italian television of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. I'm Rachel Haworth, historian of 20th Century Italy, and I'm also a massive fan of [00:00:30] glorious black and white television shows from pretty much anywhere. Over this series, I want to take you on a journey of exploration through the Italian TV archives in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the start of regular TV broadcasting in Italy. This began on January 3rd, 1954, with the television announcer Fulvio Colombo explaining to viewers that regular broadcasts had begun and wishing them [00:01:00] an enjoyable viewing experience. You just heard a partial recreation of that first announcement. The musical excerpt from Rossini's William Tell was then played to mark the start of daily broadcasts, and this would continue right the way through until 1984. The period 1954 to 1976 is going to be the focus of our podcast. These are the years that have been referred to as the golden age of Italian TV. But [00:01:30] it's important to remember that, in fact, Radiotelevisione Italiana, or RAI, was the only broadcaster. RAI was also closely linked to the state, and was subject to top down political control by the different Christian Democrat governments of the period, as well as pressure from the Vatican. The government's interventions in TV focused in particular on the moral and pedagogical duties of the broadcaster in this period. [00:02:00] Politicians felt that TV in Italy should inform and educate as well as entertain the audience. And yes, they were definitely inspired by the BBC model and motto there. As a result of this government pressure, the programmes produced and aired all featured content that was in line with strict political, ideological, religious and gender beliefs and values, which were all approved by the government. [00:02:30] These values were then broadcast to larger and larger audiences through the 50s, 60s and 70s, as television viewing rose sharply in this period. We're talking from just under 370,000 subscriptions in 1956 to over 1.5 million in 1959, to over 5,000,000 in 1964, and finally to 12 million by the middle of the 70s. Subscriptions is a kind of equivalent [00:03:00] to being a licence holder in the UK. So television was a perfect vehicle for getting a set of government approved cultural and political values and ideals across to a large proportion of Italians. And it makes the 1950s, 60s and 70s a really interesting moment to focus on. One particularly useful tool that the state could use to get its values across to large audiences was the variety or variety show. Television [00:03:30] historian and analyst Franco Monteleone has explained that as far as television was concerned, in the 50s and 60s, ‘l'obiettivo di fondo era unificare e rendere homogeneo attraverso il rito del consumo di massa, un pubblico heterogeneo per cultura lingua e classi sociali’. This kind of homogenizing mission we can perhaps think about in terms [00:04:00] of a desire to create a national audience that shared one culture and appreciated one set of values.

Rachel Haworth: [00:04:07] To achieve this goal, it was necessary to establish a regular viewing public first and then showcase all of the ideals and values in programming that would be accepted by the audience as they watched the TV shows. The result would be the creation of a community of Italian viewers who [00:04:30] had a shared set of political, ideological, religious and gender beliefs and values that were all government approved, and according to Monteleone's analysis at least, variety shows helped to do this. How? Well, they had similar formats and so quickly became familiar to audiences who knew what to expect. And the shows also used a particular set of presenters, acts and guest stars who would return time [00:05:00] and again to the screen. These figures became the embodiment of some of the state approved values and helped to transmit them to audiences. As audiences grew to like and identify with these figures, they were also encouraged to identify with and accept the values that were being represented on screen. In a way, these presenters, acts, and guest stars informed and educated the audience whilst they entertained them, helping [00:05:30] to spread these government-approved ideas about culture and politics and religion and gender all throughout Italy. So it's important when thinking about Italian TV of the 50s and 60s and 70s, to think also about the famous faces of the moment. And there are two famous faces in particular who are excellent virtual guest stars for this first episode. So let me introduce you to our first guest.

CLIP 2 Speaker 1: [00:06:01] E naturalmente abbiamo [00:06:00] con noi un ospite d’eccezione, l'imperatore di tutti i quiz: Mike Bongiorno.

CLIP 2 Speaker 2 [00:06:20] Allegria! 

CLIP 2 Speaker 1 [00:06:21] Allegria! Ciao Mike, allegria, allegria!

CLIP 2 Speaker 2: [00:06:23] Dunque, Lelio, da quanto tempo è che non ci vediamo?

Rachel Haworth: [00:06:29] That, of [00:06:30] course, is Mike Bongiorno, one of the founding fathers of Italian TV, alongside Corrado, who is our second virtual guest star for this episode, as well as one or two others who we'll talk about later in the series. Now, I know that Mike Bongiorno is perhaps most well known for being the king of the quiz show, but his many guest appearances on variety shows throughout the 60s and 70s, together with his place in television history, mean we really have [00:07:00] to talk about him here. In fact, the clip you just heard was Mike's appearance on the variety show Teatro 10 in 1964. And you also heard his famous greeting, Amici telespettatori allegria! Now you've perhaps guessed from his surname, Bongiorno, Mike wasn't born in Italy. He was in fact born in the USA and came to Italy in 1929. He was pursuing a career in journalism when his studies were interrupted [00:07:30] by the war, during which he joined a partisan resistance group. Following the war, he returned to the USA, where he worked for two different radio stations before coming back to Italy in 1952 to work as a foreign correspondent for an Italian American radio station based in New York. It was in 1954 that he would move to work for RAI, the national broadcaster. He was invited to host the radio show Il motivo [00:08:00] in maschera, which was a light entertainment show that involved a live orchestra and singers, where listeners were tasked with identifying the programme's hidden musical motif. The show aired on Secondo Programma, which was the second national public radio network run by Rai, and it specialized in light entertainment. The programme helped to make Mike a household name. But perhaps more significantly for Mike's contribution to television, [00:08:30] he would be the first presenter that viewers would see in 1954. Following the official launch of the national TV broadcast in January, the first programme that viewers would watch was Arrivi e partenze. This was a 15-minute programme where Mike would interview Italian and international stars arriving in Italy at the port or at the airport. Here's Mike speaking about the show in 1964 and remembering some of the challenges [00:09:00] that he faced:

CLIP 3 Speaker 1: [00:09:02] Pensavano che siccome io arrivavo dall’America, parlavo inglese correntemente, avrei potuto districarmi con i vari personaggi di passaggio per Roma e iniziai questa rubrica mi pare verso la meta di dicembre del 1953. Beh, oggi sono passati dieci anni e forse posso cominciare anche a confessare le mie paure, le mie emozioni di quell’epoca. Naturalmente, abituato con mio lavoro giornalistico ad avere sempre un po’ di faccia [00:09:30] tosta, sembrava forse ai nostri ascoltatori di allora che tutto andasse liscia. Beh, vi devo dire che non era assolutamente così. Un grosso problema per me era riconoscere i personaggi che dovevo intervistare. Siccome allora era molto difficile trovare attori o personalità disposti di venire a questa rubrica, e più delle volte si partiva con due o tre persone da intervistare ma nel corso del programma amici miei mi portavano altre persone che riuscivano a incontrare per la strada magari mentre il programma era in [00:10:00] corso. E più di una volta io mi sono trovato ad affrontare dei personaggi molto noti in Italia ma che io purtroppo siccome io arrivavo dagli Stati Uniti, non conoscevo assolutamente. Ora, io non so se fosse in ascolto in questo momento il Ministro Andreotti. Beh, gli devo dire che il giorno in cui è entrato nel auditorio dove io facevo le interviste, per tutti era normale che io lo riconoscessi. Beh, io lo avevo mai visto e iniziai l’intervista con lui senza sapere assolutamente chi era questo signore davanti a me. Comunque [00:10:30] me la cavai abbastanza bene. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:10:33] From the point of view of the quiz show, we can't not mention Lascia o raddoppia? as this was the programme that would catapult Mike to national fame in the 1950s and establish his status as one of Italy's best loved TV stars. The quiz used the same format as the US show The $64,000 question, and was first broadcast live on the evening of Saturday the 26th of November, 1955. [00:11:00] Its success was immediate.

CLIP 4 Speaker 1: [00:11:04] Tempo tre mesi, e l’intera communità italian di gestori di cinema e sale da ballo e divertimenti simili lancia una protesta che non può essere ignorata: da quando c’è il quiz in telvisione gli affari languono e proprio nella serata migliore della settimana. A febbraio 1956 Lascia o raddoppia? si sposta al giovedì e il giovedì medesimo diventa la serata classica, anche nei decenni a venire [00:11:30], per l’oggetto quiz in tv. Il successo è immediato e sbalorditivo, ricordato oggi con un’aneddottica classica: le case già provviste di televisore diventano punto di raccola di parenti e amici per quella speciale serata, i bar idem e anche molte sale cinematografiche. Dopo poche settimane, i quotidiani iniziano la progressiva quanto lenta resa alla televisione [00:12:00] e al suo strapotere incontestabile: vengono pubblicati anche i resoconti stenografici dell’intera puntata, dalla prima riga all’ultima, mentre le vendite dei televisori vanno alle stelle.

Rachel Haworth: [00:12:16] Here is Mike talking about the popularity of the quiz during a broadcast in 1955.

CLIP 5 Speaker 1: [00:12:23] Allora, signore, signori, siamo giunti al momento che voi tutti certamente attendete con grande ansia. Soprattutto sappiamo che c’è grande ansietà in [00:12:30] un paese a Carpi dove avevamo letto sui giornali di oggi addirittura gli impresari teatrali che questa sera dovevano presentare l’opera Madama Butterfly che doveva andare in onda alle nove l’avevano rimandato niente meno che alle dieci perché tanto sapevano che il teatro sarebbe rimasto vuoto. Si dicono che in questo momento a Carpi sono tutti nei bar, nei ristoranti, e sono tutti in attesa per vedere il loro eroe: il professore Degoli. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:12:56] After his success hosting Lascia o raddoppia?, Mike would go on [00:13:00] to host Campanile sera. This was another quiz show where contestants from a small village in the north of Italy would compete against contestants from another small village in the south of Italy. The program helped to educate viewers about their own country, and the format was so successful that it was sold in France. Such was Mike's fame and success that in 1961, the author Umberto Eco would write a famous essay about him entitled [00:13:30] ‘Fenomenologia di Mike Bongiorno’. The essay analysed Mike's fame and tried to explain his popularity. Eco argues that unlike cinema, which offers idealized and extraordinary figures as role models, ‘la TV non offre, come ideale in cui immedesimarsi, il superman ma l'everyman. La TV presenta come ideale l'uomo assolutamente [00:14:00] medio’. Mike is precisely that, Eco says, and he goes on to conclude that ‘Mike Bongiorno convince dunque il pubblico, con un esempio vivente e trionfante, del valore della mediocrità. Non provoca complessi di inferiorità pur offrendosi come idolo, e il pubblico lo ripaga, grato, amandolo. [00:14:30] Egli rappresenta un ideale che nessuno deve sforzarsi di raggiungere perché chiunque si trova già al suo livello’. However harsh that criticism might appear, one thing is clear: Mike was the kind of TV star that Italians could identify with, and Emma Baron's research into how audiences responded to Lascia o raddoppia suggests that actually the potential [00:15:00] to be successful, even as an everyman, was one of the things they liked about the show, and perhaps one of the things they liked about Mike as well. His well-known gaffes, for example, underlined how ordinary and everyday he was, but he had managed to build a successful career in television that many viewers dreamt of.

Rachel Haworth: [00:15:23] Mike would continue to be a permanent fixture of TV in the 60s in Italy too. He [00:15:30] would be invited to host the Sanremo Festival, that prestigious and popular music festival that takes place every year in Italy. He would host the TV coverage of the festival between 1963 and 1967, and again in 1972, 73 and 75. He would also host the game show La fiera dei sogni between 63 and 66. Contestants would answer questions on their chosen topics, which [00:16:00] could include current affairs or history of the radio and television. The program featured a valetta parlante, female co-host Paola Penni, who sang, danced and performed sketches on the series. There were also lots of special musical guests of honour that included the popular stars of the moment like Mina, Adriano Celentano, Rita Pavone and Caterina Caselli. There's one more quiz that I want to mention [00:16:30] in the context of Mike Bongiorno and his popularity on Italian TV in this period, and that is Rischiatutto. The series premiered in the February of 1970, and would run all the way through until May 1974. The idea was that contestants would answer an initial ten questions to build up a pot of money, which they would then risk in the next part of the game by answering questions on different topics that were worth different amounts of money. [00:17:00] Get the question right and that amount would be added to their pot. Get the question wrong and the amount would get deducted. Here is Mike introducing the very first episode.

CLIP 6 Speaker 1: [00:17:13] Allora, che cos’è questo Rischiatutto? È una partita quiz che verrà disputata da tre concorrenti e lo scopo è quello di arrivare alla fine della trasmissione con la cifra più alta. La persona che avrà guadagnato più di tutti nel corso di questo scontro del Rischiatutto verrà dichiarata [00:17:30] campione e ritornerà la settimana seguente per essere sfidata da altri due contendenti. Il gioco si divide in tre fasi. Una fase preliminare, durante la quale rivolgeremo a ognuno dei tre concorrenti dieci domande sulla loro materia favorita. Una fase centrale che sarà lo scontro a tre davanti al tabellone elettronico. E la fase di chiusura, che sarà quella più dramatica, durante la quale ognuno dei tre concorrenti verrà sottoposto a una domanda piuttosto [00:18:00] difficile e se risponderà esattamente, raddoppierà tutto quello che ha guadagnato fino a quel momento. Se purtroppo per lui non saprà rispondere, perderà tutto e ritornerà a casa con un piccolo premio di consolazione, 100 mila lire, un gettone di 100 mila lire. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:18:15] Mike would continue to host popular programmes through to the 2000, but we don't really have time to talk about these now. What is worth pointing out, though, is how he was talked about when he died in 2009 because that [00:18:30] shows us what Mike had come to represent during his career. The newspapers said.

CLIP 7 Speaker 1: [00:18:37] E' morto un immortale. Una contraddizione logica forse retorica, magari scontata se non addirittura banale, ma vera: Mike Bongiorno ha fatto la storia di questo Paese, per oltre mezzo secolo è come se avesse tenuto per mano intere generazioni di italiani. Era uno di casa, Mike, uno [00:19:00] di noi. Se la tv ha unito l'Italia, i quiz di Bongiorno ne sono stati un collante. Perfetto nella sua imperfezione, il nostro Mike rimarrà l'icona della vera tv popolare, magari superata nei tempi ma viva nella memoria. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:19:18] Now, I did promise that Mike Bongiorno would not be the only famous face that I would talk about in this episode, so it's time to introduce our next virtual guest [00:19:30] star.

CLIP 8 Speaker 1: [00:19:34] A questo punto, non poteva mancare Corrado.

CLIP 8 Speaker 2: [00:19:45] Se la radio avesse una faccia, avrebbe la faccia di Corrado. Non è chiaro?

CLIP 8 Speaker 3: [00:19:50] E beh, per forza, la televisione proprio me l’ha fatta dimenticare la mia faccia.

CLIP 8 Speaker 2: [00:19:55] No, dimenticare che vuol dire? Perdere la faccia proprio? No, non ti devi denigrare! [00:20:00] Ma vuol dire che preferisci la radio questo?

CLIP 8 Speaker 3: [00:20:02] Io per dir la verità sono nato alla radio eh, non molti anni fa sia chiaro.

CLIP 8 Speaker 1: [00:20:06] Ma insomma!

CLIP 8 Speaker 3: [00:20:07] Comunque, sono nato alla radio e naturalmente mi sono affezionato alla mia mamma. Mamma Rai. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:20:17] As this introduction suggests, Corrado Mantoni, or Corrado, as he was known, is one of Italy's famous and most popular media personalities, thanks firstly to his work [00:20:30] on radio and then on television. Corrado began to work on the radio for the Public Work Bureau, the American radio service in Italy during the Second World War. In 1944, he would be hired to be an announcer on RAI, RAI standing at that point for the Radio Audizioni Italiana. He would work as an announcer for the next seven years, taking the morning slot and later reading the news. In [00:21:00] his autobiography, Corrado reflects that ‘Per gli ascoltatori diventai, come dire?, una voce familiare, la voce del mattino, e quindi ero ascoltatissimo’. His was not only a familiar voice, but also a trusted one, given that it had also announced important events like the end of the war.

CLIP 9 Speaker 1: [00:21:27] Interrompiamo le trasmissioni per [00:21:30] comunicarvi una notizia straordinaria. Le forze armate tedeschi si sono arrese agli Anglo-Americani. La guerra è finita. Ripeto. La guerra è finita.

Rachel Haworth: [00:21:49] This familiarity to audiences was also helped by the format of his first successful radio programme, Rosso e nero. This [00:22:00] variety programme aired on Thursday evenings and featured a live orchestra and performances from popular singers like Claudio Villa and Domenico Modugno, alongside comedy sketches and a quiz for listeners. Corrado explains the programme's success.

CLIP 10 Speaker 1: [00:22:18] Un successo, lo devo dire, senza precedenti. Per la prima volta cominciai a far intervenire gli ascoltatori in trasmissione. Ruotava tutto attorno a un gioco. La trasmissione iniziò [00:22:30] a richiamare pubblico. I giochetti [...] si può dire che siano nati con il “Rosso e nero”. La trasmissione ebbe tanto successo che arrivò una circolare dalla direzione che vietò l’intervento del pubblico perché ormai la gente faceva letteralmente a pugni per partecipare. [...] Se tu mi dovessi chiedere dove è nata la mia notorietà e dove si è formato il mio successo, dovrei senz’altro ricordare il “Rosso e nero”. Quando lo stesso spettacolo fu portato in televisione, i telespettatori si meravigliarono. Era [00:23:00] il 1960, avevo trentasei anni ma ne dimostravo molti meno, mentre la gente, sentendo la mia voce alla radio, era convinta che ne avessi cinquanta o cinquantacinque. Fu veramente un gran successo

Rachel Haworth: [00:23:14] Corrado had in fact made the transition to TV during the 1950s, as Rosso e nero appeared on TV screens in 1954. He also hosted the Gran festival del varietà that year, episodes [00:23:30] of the popular variety and comedy programme Un, due, tre in 1955 and the programme Music hall in 1956. This variety show recreated the venue of the music hall. The audience would sit at tables around the stage and watch different performances from invited comedians and singers, acrobats, musicians, all expertly compared by Corrado. He would also host many one-off events, [00:24:00] concerts, award ceremonies, festivals, and even the Miss Italia competition. Through the 1960s, Corrado continued to host popular varieties, including Controcanale, that was 1960 to 61, and L’amico del giaguaro from 1961 to 64. The former featured Abbey Lane and Xavier Cugat, and proved popular with audiences, even if there was an episode that did test Corrado's [00:24:30] popularity.

CLIP 11 Speaker 1: [00:24:32] Il programma andò molto bene. Ti dirò che nella prima trasmissione ero talmente emozionato che mi capitò questo piccolo, piccolissimo dramma: dovevo mettere un cubetto di ghiaccio dentro un bicchiere di whisky. Mi tremavano le mani e si udiva benissimo il tintinnio che faceva il cubetto sul vetro del bicchiere. E andò liscia fino alla quarta puntata, quella rimasta famosa, perché dissi che l’Italia era una Repubblica fondata sulle cambiali. [00:25:00]  Non fu colpa mia. Era scritto sul copione. Fu una grossa grana. Success l’iraddidio. Titoli sui giornali, interpellanze in Parlamento. Si misero in mezzo tutti: democristiani, socialisiti, comunisti, repubblicani. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:25:17] Given the strict censorship in place at Rai in the 1960s, this parody of the first article of the constitution was not well received. As Corrado himself remembered [00:25:30] in his autobiography, it was not for ordinary citizens to make comments about the government without serious consequences. He expected to lose his job, and perhaps would have done so had it not been for an article that would appear in the Corriere della sera newspaper on the 22nd of January 1961. After the offending episode had been aired. Penned by well-known journalist and critic Indro Montanelli, the [00:26:00] article explained how the joke was based at some level on the truth that Italy was a country built on promissory notes and IOUs, and that the viewers watching the programme would know that only too well, given that most of them were paying in instalments for the TV sets they were watching. Corrado kept his job, and in May 1961 would host L’amico del giaguaro alongside actor and comedian Gino Bramieri, singer and actress Marisa De [00:26:30] Frate and comedy actor Raffaele Pisu. The musical variety and quiz would prove extremely popular, as TV critic Aldo Grasso explains.

CLIP 12 Speaker 1: [00:26:43] A un livello superficiale, si tratta di “una tombola fatta per un pubblico che conosce il significato della parola ‘quiz’”, secondo la dicitura della presentazione ufficiale del programme: tre concorrenti, prescelti e invitati negli studi della Fiera di Milano, devono [00:27:00]  infatti indovinare dei quiz abbinati ai numeri che a mano a mano (è proprio il caso di dirlo) vengono estratti. Tutto qui? Una riedizione del più classico gioco della nonna? Si trepida ancora per teme e quaterne? L’innocente gioco si trasforma in realtà nella trasmissione che dà finalemente alla televisione piena coscienza di sé. Il gioco, una macchinosa tombola con tanto di fagioloni d’oro, presentata da Corrado, diventa, [00:27:30] nella più originale tradizione italiana, un pretesto per cucire insieme i “filmati” del tro Bramieri-Del Frate-Pisu. Abbandonando i classici modi teatrali della messa in scena, la televisione dà allora vita a parodistiche escursioni nell’universo cinematografico per trattare l’argomento a lei più congeniale: se stessa. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:27:54] It's perhaps no surprise that the series is often described today as a cult classic. [00:28:00] Corrado’s TV career would go from strength to strength during the 1960s. In 1965, he would host La prova del nove, the traditional song competition linked to the New Year lottery that in other years had been called Canzonissima. In 1967 there was Il tappabuchi with Raimondo Vianello as co-host. Su e giù would follow in 68. Then A che gioco giochiamo? [00:28:30] in 1969. I just want to give a special mention to Il tappabuchi, as it featured Corrado as the straight man host, with Raimondo Vianello acting more as a comedy sidekick who would provide the humorous distractions. Raimondo was well known to audiences by this point as well, and we'll talk about him a little bit more in a later episode on the podcast. But this programme allowed both co-hosts to excel at what they did best. [00:29:00] The show was a mixture of quiz games, sketches, dance routines, and songs with guest performers and vallette. I don't think female TV presenter quite captures what that word means. All of that was alongside the involvement of the audience in the studio and even at home. Here's a clip from the first episode to give you a taste of how Corrado and Raimondo worked together on the series. [00:29:30]

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:29:35] Adesso bisogna parlare anche di denari nel vero senso della parola, no? 

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:29:35] Esatto.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:29:35] Eh, sì, sì, sì, di denari, sì. Perché ogni settimana Il tappabuchi farà contenti, farà contenti tre telespettatori attraverso un gioco che porterà dei ricchi, ricchissimi premi a questi tre signori. 

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:29:54] Ecco, per lo meno a quelli, la trasmissione piacerà.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:29:57] Ecco, sì. Per partecipare a questo gioco, è facilissimo perché noi pregheremo come [00:30:00] sempre avviene di inviarci le domande. Noi chiameremo i telespettatori che ci avranno fatto la domanda e gli sottoporremo a un piccolo esamino e poi li inviteremo presso le nostre sedie...

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:13] Ps, Ps, un po’ di luce.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:14] E poi successivamente anche al nostro gioco. Un gioco che si chiama La chiave nel cassetto. È un gioco...

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:17] Ps, Ps, un po’ di luce per me, per favore.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:22] Raimondo?

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:22] Sì?

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:25] Scusami, eh?

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:29:26] Prego.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:27] Dicevo: è un gioco molto semplice... 

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:30] Ps, Ps, un po’ di luce [00:30:30]

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:31] per il quale non sono assolutamente necessarie delle doni così, non necessario conoscere né questo, né quello ma un gioco alla portata di tutti quanti, un gioco famigliare. Raimondo, per piacere! Scusa, vedi che sto parlando del gioco!

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:44] Vedi che sono al buio!

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:45] Vabbene, per forza, sei l’aiuto presentatore. Poi sono io, sto parlando del gioco. Eh...

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:49] Sì ma un pochino di luce, tanto per... 

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:51] E, ma non ha importanza. Chiedila discretamente.

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:53] Discretamente.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:55] Dove ho rimasto? 

CLIP 13 Speaker 2: [00:30:56] Ps, Ps, un po’ di luce.

CLIP 13 Speaker 1: [00:30:57] Dicevo: dunque, per partecipare a questo gioco, [00:31:00] non è assolutamente necessario che ci siano...

Rachel Haworth: [00:31:07] In the 1970s, Corrado continued to be a fixture of variety TV. In 1970 and 1971, he would host Canzonissima, that song competition linked to the New Year National Lottery in Italy. His co-host for both series was Raffaella Carrà, a move that would launch her career as a famous face of TV in [00:31:30] her own right, as we'll find out later in the series. And as television would move into a new phase of privatization with the multiplication of channels and then platforms that viewers could watch, Corrado was responsible for the creation of one of the longest running shows on Italian television, Domenica in. The variety cum talk show is now in its 48th series [00:32:00] and airs, as the title would suggest, on Sundays, still on RAI. Corrado was the brains behind the programme and would host the first series in 1976. The idea was that the show would provide a frame for lots of other programming, including concerts, telefilms, and sporting events. Each episode ran for six hours and was broadcast live. It and Corrado proved [00:32:30] so popular that a second and then third series were produced again, with Corrado as the host and face of Sunday afternoon television. But I think that for Corrado, it's important to point out that the overriding image of the host is actually one of a television star who didn't really seem like a television star. When he died, newspapers quoted him as saying, ‘io mio trionfo mi sorprende da cinquant’anni; [00:33:00] sono fuori moda’. And yet he was very much in fashion. According to journalists and critics, what made Corrado most appealing was his gentle humour and his humanity, aspects that made him appear more down to earth and less like a celebrity. As the critic Aldo Grasso observed.

CLIP 14 Speaker 1: [00:33:24] nonostante 50 anni di ininterotto successo, Corrado si portava dietro l’aura del bravo presentatore [00:33:30] e dell’anti-divo: gran professionista, coscienzioso, amichevole. Una garanzia, uno che non dà grattacapi. [...] Pur avendo attraversato tutti i generi della Tv [...], pareva non togliersi di dosso lo smoking, il sorriso bonario, l’impeccabilità. “Più impiegato che artista”, come lui stesso ebbe a dire. 

Rachel Haworth: [00:33:50] Despite having to hide his Roman accent at the start of his career on radio in order to read the announcements and the news with excellent diction and clear [00:34:00] pronunciation, Corrado nevertheless maintained a sense of the ordinary and the everyday. He was a professional whose friendliness and warmth audiences identified with the hard worker who had established a certain way of presenting and being on TV that would shape audience expectations of what a TV host should be. E non finisce qui. So [00:34:30] Corrado would say, and it's true. Mike Bongiorno and Corrado are only two of the many famous faces of Italian television of the 50s, 60s and 70s, the period that is our focus for this podcast series. To find out more about this golden age of Italian TV, its shows and its presenters, I invite you to listen to the next episode of the TV Italian Style podcast. You can also subscribe [00:35:00] to the series to make sure you don't miss an episode. I'm Rachel Haworth. Thank you very much for listening.