TV Italian Style
The ‘TV Italian Style’ podcast is an A-Z of the golden age of Italian television of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s from the perspective of the ever popular varietà and the famous faces who would host and guest star on these shows. It’s a bilingual podcast, in English and Italian, with conversations with experts on Italian TV and culture alongside clips from all the best shows and performances. Visit the accompanying website https://tvitalianstyle.wordpress.com/ to download translated transcriptions for each episode to support your listening.
Episodes
26 episodes
Z: ‘Zum zum zum’ and other theme songs of the varietà
Sarà capitato anche a voidi avere una musica in testa,sentire una specie di orchestrasuonare suonare suonare suonareZum zum zum zum zum,Zum zum zum zum...Well, has it ever happened to you? Have you found you...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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51:05
Y: Young people and Italian variety television
In this penultimate episode of the podcast, we're talking about young people and Italian variety television. How were young people portrayed on Italian television screens? Were there variety television shows that were aimed specifically at an a...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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59:20
X: Xavier Cugat, Abbe Lane, Romina Power and more: international hosts and guest stars of the varietà
Across the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Italian television played host to a series of popular and well-loved stars that hailed from outside of Italy. On the podcast, we've already talked about how stars like the Kessler twins, Henri Salvador, and L...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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53:53
W: Walter Chiari, il bravo ragazzo del varietà
Signore, signori, today's episode focuses on 'il primo ragazzo della porta accanto dello spettacolo italiano [che] irruppe con quel ciuffo un po’ malandrino, con quell’aria gioviale, simpatico, di amico con cui tirar mattina, nel cinema...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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44:33
V: Vianello and Mondaini - ridere sempre per stare bene insieme
In this episode, we're talking about ‘la coppia piu amata della tv’. Ten years after their deaths, the Corriere della sera newspaper ran a feature article to mark the fifty years our two stars were together and the impact they had on t...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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56:55
U: Un, due, tre with Ugo Tognazzi and Raimondo Vianello
In this episode, we're going back to the 1950s and to a series that played an important role in establishing the nature of variety television in this period, and the expectations of Italian television more broadly. That series is Un, due, t...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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40:50
T: Telematch, Giochi senza frontiere, and La Domenica Sportiva: Enzo Tortora
In this episode, my virtual guest star is one of the four so-called founding fathers of Italian entertainment television: Enzo Tortora. He was an important star right from the start of the varietà, hosting series like Primo applaus...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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36:18
S: Studio Uno, un ‘varietà musicale di classe’
In this episode, we’re celebrating a show that, in the words of television critic G in the Corriere della sera newspaper, ‘mostra uno standard superiore alla media della trasmissioni del genere’. It’s another one of my favourites but i...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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52:02
R: Race and Italian variety television
On this episode of the podcast, I'm really pleased to be joined by researcher and historian Jessica L. Harris to talk about a really interesting aspect of Italian variety ...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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54:25
Q: Quel Quartetto Cetra - humour in four-part harmony on Italian television
Lucia Mannucci. Virgilio Savona. Giovanni "Tata" Giacobetti. Felice Chiusano. The Quartetto Cetra, so much more than just an 'Italian jazz vocal quartet' as they're often described online. The Quartetto's success covers the 1940s, the 1950s, th...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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35:59
P: Pippo Baudo, un grande della televisione italiana
On 7 June 2024, the television presenter and host Pippo Baudo celebrated his 88th birthday. Here's how the Italian media marked the occasion:Tanti auguri a Pippo Baudo, che il 7 giugno compie 88 anni. Una colonna della Rai e della nostra...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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40:30
O: O heart I hear you beating - Introducing Rita Pavone
In this episode, we're focusing on one particular star who burst onto Italian television screens in 1962 and who was introduced to television viewers by Radiocorriere in a rather particular way:Ha cominciato presto a «far notizi...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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59:50
N: Non vi facciamo ridere? The comedians of the varietà
Raimondo Vianello and Sandra Mondaini. Raffaele Pisu. Gino Bramieri. Walter Chiari. Ave Ninchi. Paolo Panelli. Bice Valori. Aldo Fabrizi. Alighiero Noschese. Cochi e Renato. Just some of the famous faces of the varietà televisivo of th...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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59:40
M: Mina, volto e voce della televisione italiana
In this episode, we're focusing on one particular star of varietà who has been described as the queen of Saturday night variety television and as the face and voice of Italian TV. That star is Mina. According to her online biograp...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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48:44
L: Lelio Luttazzi and Alberto Lupo at Teatro 10
In this episode, we're focusing on one particular varietà and on its two hosts: musician and composer Lelio Luttazzi and actor Alberto Lupo. The variety series in question is Teatro 10, directed by Antonello Falqui and broadca...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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45:36
K: Kessler twins, ‘two pairs of legs with one head’
In January 1961, the cover of television and radio listings Radiocorriere featured two stars who would during the decade become important figures for variety television in Italy, coming to represent the golden age of television from th...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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57:42
J: Johnny Dorelli - Love in Portofino and beyond
Johnny Dorelli, "il Frank Sinatra d'Italia" according to the press on the occasion of Johnny's 80th birthday in February 2017. The newspaper L'Avvenire explained: "ancor oggi il suo è l’unico nome da farsi in risposta al quesito ...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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36:33
I: Io, Agata e tu... Introducing Raffaella Carrà
On 5 July 2021, Raffaella Carrà passed away at the age of 78 after an unspecified illness. The story was front page news, given Raffaella's status in contemporary Italy. RAI explained ‘È morta all’età di 78 anni Raffaella Carrà, definita la Reg...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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45:29
H: Hai visto come ballano? Dancing and the dance troupe in variety television
In this episode, we're talking about dancing and the varietà, focusing in particular on the balletto, the dance troupe, but also on the hosts and guest stars who dance as part of their performances on variety shows. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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38:41
G: Gran Festival del varietà and others - variety shows of the 1950s
In this episode, we're focusing on where it all began for the varietà televisivo and looking in particular at the series from the 1950s that helped establish the genre and its primary characteristics. With the help of the listings...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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46:27
F: Franca Valeri - more than just La Signorina Snob
'Con un lampo unico di creatività, è stata proprio lei ad aver letteralmente rivoluzionato la comicità e l'immagine femminile dal secondo dopoguerra con l'invenzione di personaggi simbolo come La Signorina Snob, la sora Cecioni, Cesira la man...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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38:54
E: E che cosa guardavamo alle 9?
In this episode, we're exploring the impact of all of the popular variety shows that audiences were watching on television at (approximately) 9pm in the evenings in Italy. With help from the novels of Elena Ferrante, Francesca Melandri, and Mar...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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29:51
D: Directors - going behind the camera of the varietà
Antonello Falqui and Vito Molinari are the two directors who are main focus of this episode that goes behind the camera of the varietà. We find out more about Falqui's inspiration and influences, looking at how his work in television d...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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40:14
C: Canzonissima
Today's episode focuses on just one varietà but it's an important one: Canzonissima. This series featured on Italian television screens throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s (even if it did undergo occasional changes in title) an...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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44:38
B: Buone vacanze - Pop music and the varietà
Music is such a fundamental element of the varietà and this episode explores some of the most popular types of songs and most successful singers and programmes in Italy during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. We'll think about the canzone al...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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39:07
