A New Life Begins

Yes, yes, grandfather had a girlfriend. He was a devilishly handsome man. Even though he was rather short, he had red hair, classic high cheeck bones and most desireable, for the times, he had a trade. He was a mason. He worked on the beautiful Lowes Theatre in Queens, Astoria, where I saw most all the movies of the times. It was fashioned after an Italian Palace with beautiful marble pillars, gorgeous wide, winding staircases leading to the "Lodge", as it was called where all the boxes were carved into the second story draped in Greek and Roman marble gods. The stage was emense and set across the whole length of the theatre with bright red velvet curtains with gold fringe across the bottom of the valance on top and curtain below.

Unfortunately, the teatre was pulled down in the early 1970's even though residents petitioned for it to become a landmark, the developers won the fight and built 2 family houses on the site. What a travesty.

Getting back to grandmother........Isabella Rondonella! Is that poetically beautiful or what?!
Marriages were arranged in Italy by the parents. Isabella was considered a beauty, with thick black hair and alabaster skin, high cheeck bones and amply full lips. At 16 years old, she was educated and even played the piano. Mom told me she had a lovely high voice also. At that young age bearing her first child, a boy, and grandfather traveling to find work in Italy as a mason. At 6 months, the child became ill and all the home remedies failed so a doctor was summoned. He advised my grandmother to open the window and let the child breathe. It was cold months and the child died a few days later. Every time grandmother saw this doctor she would scream "Murderer" at him. How awful she must have felt. She probably had more of an education than the doctor.

Several more years passed and grandmother had more children, six to be exact. Aunt's Mickie, Ida, Uncle Nini, Irma, (mom), Uncle Pipi and Aunt Lala, the youngest. Grandmother worked at what ever she could find, doing wash, sewing, and working for a wealthy baroness in her castle. I do think that is why my mother had such aristocratic taste. She was around very beautiful furnishings as a small child and it was familiar and comfortable to her. It came time for grandmother to book passage for herself and children to go to America. She was thrilled at the thought of a better life. Still a young and beautiful woman, she anticipated being reunited with her husband and being together as a family again. I know she was so dissapointed and hurt. But the courage and tenacity she demonstrated was truly admirable.

More tomorrow.........

1900/A Poverty Stricken Italy/The Pope/Mussolini

In 1900 Italy, the country was divided into states, ravaged by war, coped with a greedy king and a Pope that tried desperately to control the population, therefore the politics. The southern regions of Italy were extremely poor, consisting of Scicilian states. The northern regions were not as desperate because of farming, but non-the-less, very poor.

Then, somewhere in 1918, Moussolini came into power. He was a facist, uneducated, and dealt harshly with those who opposed him, by killing, tortoring, killing their whole family, etc. His politcia were, I believe, called the Brown Hands. Later that century, 1938, a young german chancellor fashioned his regime after Mussolini's. His name was Adolf Hitler. He even fashioned his police after the Brown Hands. Absolute power, absolutely corrupt.

There was an exodus in Italy of over 12.5 million people. The most desireable destination was America. 7.5 million Italians transplanted themselves, went through Ellics Island, with family and jobs waiting for them. You had to have a place to live and a job to come to America. The other 5 million were spread over Canada and western Europe.

Given these grave conditions, in the early 1920's my mother and father's family fled from Italy, pretty sure it was after the 1st World War. There families knew each other in Italy and settled in Queens after they came here. An interesting story about my grandfather, mother's, father.
He had come the US before my grandmother, Isabella Rondonella DiMasi, set up an apartment while my grandmother traveled by herself with four small children. Well grandmother Isabella waited at Ellis Island for 10 days until grandfather came to get her. They almost sent her back with all the children. It seems my grandfather had a girlfriend, and took his sweet time until grandmother's brother found him and knocked the ever lovin' out of him and dragged him literally to Ellis Island. And that is how it started. My parents lives, intertwined all those years ago. More to come................