MILAN – Rita Pavone, on Canale 5 the latest tip of All together now is broadcast with children as protagonists. “One thinks of the children of the Zecchino d’oro, and instead they slapped us. What voices, what a stage presence”. On the other hand, she too started as a child. “I was 6-7 years old and I was performing at home. My father said it was difficult to get me on the table but then I didn’t want to get off. At 9 I had my debut at the Alfieri theater in Turin, I did two interventions. In the first act I imitated Al Jolson, in the second I played an American girl singing Goodbye Rome. It was such a shock that I had a fever for seven days. There I realized that I liked the stage too much. square…”. Can you tell me an anecdote? “My dad was my manager, and he sent around photos where I looked older. When the organizers saw me in person, they looked at me up and down – it didn’t take long – and they were amazed:” But this is the singer ? “. It seemed to me to be one of those horses that you look in the mouth to evaluate its age. Do you know how many times I have been called a dwarf?” AND…
MILAN – Rita Pavone, on Canale 5 the latest tip of All together now is broadcast with children as protagonists. “One thinks of the children of the Zecchino d’oro, and instead they slapped us. What voices, what a stage presence”.
On the other hand, she too started as a child.
“I was 6-7 years old and I was performing at home. My father said it was difficult to get me on the table but then I didn’t want to get off. At 9 I had my debut at the Alfieri theater in Turin, I did two interventions. In the first act I imitated Al Jolson, in the second I played an American girl singing Goodbye Rome. It was such a shock that I had a fever for seven days. There I realized that I liked the stage too much. square…”.
Can you tell me an anecdote?
“My dad was my manager, and he sent around photos where I looked older. When the organizers saw me in person, they looked at me up and down – it didn’t take long – and they were amazed:” But this is the singer ? “. It seemed to me to be one of those horses that you look in the mouth to evaluate its age. Do you know how many times I have been called a dwarf?”
How did she respond?
“I replied like this:” If, with my meter and 53, I sold 50 million records, who knows how many I would have sold if I had been 1.74 high! “What suffering in elementary school: the teacher ordered: get in line. then he would say: fill that hole. But I was in the hole! “
Let’s move on to Gian Gale , milestone of Italian TV: how did they choose you as the protagonist?
“Lina Wertmüller had been one of the authors of Studio Uno, in which I had participated for 12 episodes. To be respected by the workers who were not used to taking commands from a woman, she used very raw language. She was working on the TV version of Gian Burrasca. and he told me about it. I, who hadn’t read the book, picked it up and discovered that the protagonist was a boy. I already had my problems, being flat as an ironing board, but at 12 I had fallen in love with William Holden . I had seen the film Picnic with Kim Novak and in one scene in Holden they tear his shirt. The naked torso of that actor confirmed to me that my hormones were working perfectly. “
So, did he make his grievances to the director?
“I made my objections to Lina who quoted me The devil is female with Cary Grant, where Katherine Hepburn plays the part of a boy. So I began to study my three male brothers, their attitudes, especially that continuous scratching from all you leave, and when I say all I mean all of them. I became such a believable male that the little girls fell in love with me! “
She had the opportunity to work permanently in America but her father blocked her way …
“I worked for two years in the United States, learning a way of working completely different from ours. There, if the time is set for nine, it starts at nine in absolute silence, there is no one who shouts:” Aho ‘, do’ sta er cable? “. I sold out at Carnegie Hall, I was 5 times on the Ed Sullivan Show, I was next to Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. But when they offered me a contract I was only 19 years old , and the majority then was 21. My dad refused to entrust me to a housekeeper, and I never forgave him. I had an incredible chance and I threw it overboard, otherwise today, who knows, I would be singing at Las Vegas. “
Why did her father refuse to allow her to stay in the US?
“He had a story, and the longer I was in Italy the more I was with my mother”.
In the US you also met Elvis Presley, can you tell us about it?
“I went to Nashville while he was making a record. His manager, the famous Colonel Parker, didn’t want me to meet him. But when he came out of the studio he saw me and said,” But I know you! You went to the Ed Sullivan show. ” It was Elvis who recognized me. I asked him for a photo, but he even gave me one of his paintings. “
Today you, with Iva Zanicchi and Orietta Berti, represent the ‘silver generation’ that the public has rediscovered. In your opinion, what is the reason for this renewed success?
“Because we sing. Today we no longer sing. Mr. time has passed over me and left its marks on me, but he has forgotten about his voice. Every artist knows when it’s time to hang up his shoes, but I At the age of 76, I think that moment has not yet come. Next year I would like to record a new album. At the same time I take care of the house, I take care of the garden, occasionally ironing. As a young man I was a helper in a shirt shop. me there are two twins, Pavone the singer and Rita, the other “.
In 2022 it will be 60 years of career and 54 of marriage …
“Nobody gave us a penny, and yet. A good couple does not necessarily work. Even skewed couples, so to speak, can last”. And hers is askew: her husband, Teddy Reno, is twenty years her senior …
“Of course, now at 96 he is starting to have his difficulties, but if he heard him sing! The others didn’t like it, but I did. I understood that if I didn’t take that train I would lose a piece of my life”.
Yet his dad was against his marriage …
“He opposed him for a long time. But one day, here in my house in Switzerland, he said to me: I think I messed up with you.” Eh, it took you a while to understand “, I replied”.
Why do you live in Switzerland?
“Out of gratitude to a country that allowed me to marry. My husband had already been married in Mexico by proxy, then he had divorced. Since there was no divorce in Italy yet, if he had married me he could have been bigamous. We asked for advice. to a lawyer, who suggested we go abroad. So we became husband and wife in a small chapel in Lugano, and we came to live here, which is so quiet. 30% at the source. I pay all taxes “
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