Chapter Sixteen
This is the chapter where I explore the period between the release of Summertime and South Pacific. Rossano had been catapulted to international stardom and here we take a look at some of his films, where he was on location and several behind-the-scenes anecdotes. I've set this chapter in a trattoria in Rome and based it on the one I dined at on my last night in Rome during my first visit.
It is situated at the end of Via Veneto, not too far from Rossano and Lydia's old flat in Via Sistina. It had that 'La Dolce Vita' feel to it, hence my reason for being drawn to it.
As explained in the book's intro and in my intro on this website, my focus was very much on the English-speaking films as i simply couldn't retrieve much information on his global appearances. I hope that, one day, someone may pick up that challenge and cover that area of his life.
The first English-speaking film released after Summertime was Loser Takes All with Glynis Johns. This film is widely available and is a great Sunday afternoon watch. The book is also available. It's written by Graham Greene and he also wrote the screenplay. Greene stepped away from putting any sort of angle to this novel, he simply wanted to write a fun romantic comedy.
I'd liked to have popped over to Monte Carlo to visit some of the locations but my budget was against me.
Here's a shot of Rossano and Glynis Johns having lunch on the set of Loser Takes All.
After Summertime, Rossano and Lydia were able to afford to move from their pokey via Sistina flat to a brand-new luxury penthouse apartment in the Parioli area of Rome. It's just adjacent to the Villa Borghese gardens. The left-hand photo shows the massive rooftop terrace. The right-hand photo shows the terracotta coloured building from the outside. The cream coloured building on the right is their local church, S. Teresa di Gesù.
Legend of the Lost, starring Rossano, Sophia Loren and John Wayne is available on YouTube. There are some amazing anecdotes in the book about this film including a life-threatening scare for Sophia Loren. She did, literally, nearly die. There's also a hilarious story about Sophia kicking Rossano in the balls. Someone quick on the uptake kept the camera rolling.
Legend of the Lost is widely available to stream and I am absolutely certain that the kick Sophia delivered to floor Rossano was kept in. He yelps and drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes. It then immediately cuts to a different angle.
These photos show a) Rossano doubled up after the kick b) being helped up and c) going for a lie-down while holding on to his crown jewels. Ha! Ha!
Photos attributed to I.P.R.A., Roma, dall'archivio di Kaufman e Lerner.
Interlude is widely available and on YouTube. June Allyson was, of course, Rossano's love interest in Little Women back in 1948. Rossano also appeared on June Allyson's TV series where she introduces a 20-minute short film starring Rossano. You can find this on YouTube under the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqi70UTCeM.
If you struggle, just type in The June Allyson Show starring Rossano Brazzi and it should come up.
The Story of Esther Costello had some great anecdotes. Joan Crawford was keen to work with Rossano and, on meeting him, declared that he was the most beautiful man God ever put on this earth! Read about how Lydia completely upstaged Joan.
This film took some tracking down. I found this on Ebay. I'm sure it's probably on streaming services now.
Joan Crawford, who starred in The Story of Esther Costello with Rossano, became good friends with him and Lydia. Apparently, she spent quite a bit of time with Lydia in the kitchen getting tips for cooking!
Rossano has some wonderful memories of his time with Lydia who, herself, was a larger than life personality. He goes through a couple of anecdotes here where we get a glimpse of her character. One of those anecdotes concerns an interview she did when Rossano was not well. They were in London and he was in bed with a fever. He claims she insulted the Queen! Above we see Rossano being presented to Queen Elizabeth II.
Something that both Rossano and Lydia loved to do was walk around Rome at night. I did my best to immerse myself as much as possible in Rossano and Lydia's world to understand them. This simple act of walking around Rome at night was an absolute joy and....yes, Rossano was right, it is special. The city is transformed. It truly is very magical.
The decade this chapter covers is Rossano's decade in respect of fan worship. He had, apparently, seen a number of photo shoots with actresses covered in bubble bath so decided he would do it himself. The bubble bath he had for the mission was not very good so he ended up putting a load of detergent in the bath to get the right amount of bubbles. He said that his skin felt like sandpaper after this stunt and he never did it again.
In November 2024, I visit Gaetano Autiero who played the orphan boy, Mauro, in Summertime. He kindly invited me over to his house in Naples and I met his wife and son, Rita and Ciro. He had a stack of film memorabilia about Summertime and a scrapbook full of photos to do with that film and the film he did around the same time with Sophia Loren. A lovely family and a delight to be able to give him a copy of the biography.
The photos show me and Gaetano, an original film poster with the name of the film for British Audiences, a section of press release about Gaetano and, lastly, a shot from high up of filming in St Mark's Square.