Italian postcard by Edizone Bettini, no. 210. Photo: Bettini, Roma.
Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 22. Photo: Badodi, Milano.
Comedies, written for him by Luigi Pirandello
Angelo Musco was born in 1872 in Catania, Sicily to a Maltese father and a Sicilian mother. In his youth, he worked at a number of menial, odd jobs, spending time as a barber, a shoemaker, and a mason.
He broke into theatrical work by finding employment with the Opera dei Pupi, the local marionette theatre. In 1899 he joined the theatrical company of Giovanni Grasso, whose actors performed only in the Sicilian language.
In 1902 Musco began a collaboration with Nino Martoglio, who had seen him in Rome in 'Malia' by Luigi Capuana and 'I Mafiusi' by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaetano Mosca. Martoglio became director of Musco's company in 1907 and wrote for him the plays 'San Giovanni decollatu' and 'L'aria del continente' In 1917 he would act in a film adaptation of the play, San Giovanni decollato, directed by Telemaco Ruggeri.
Musco also collaborated with Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo, author of the play 'Madre', and he worked with Marinella Bragaglia and Rosina Anselmi. He also founded his own theatre company, supported by the critic Renato Simoni and by Luigi Pirandello. The latter wrote a number of comedies for him to play, including 'Il berretto a sonagli' (which he played in Rome), 'Liolà', and 'Pensaci, Giacomino!'. This last was filmed in 1936 by Gennaro Righelli with Musco in the lead role.
Apart from the 1917 film, Musco's cinematic career began in 1932 and was a great success. All in all, he acted in 11 films. Musco toured internationally in the 1920s and 1930s, starting in 1927 on the stage of the Manhattan Opera House in New York with 'L'aria del continente' by Martoglio. Musco died suddenly in Milan in 1937, immediately after a performance. He was the subject of a documentary directed by Giorgio Walter Chili in 1953, C'era una volta Angelo Musco.
Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Angelo Musco in San Giovanni Decollato (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1917).
Italian postcard. This could be a postcard for either the film San Giovanni Decollato (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1917) or the play by Nino Martoglio on which it was based and which he had written for Musco. Musco played in both film and stageplay. If the film, then the woman on this card could be Rosina Anselmi, playing Musco's wife. All the actors in the play repeated their roles in Ruggeri's film. Martoglio scripted the film too.
The miracle of Lona's mutism
Angelo Musco's film San Giovanni Decollato (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1917) was based on a play by Nino Martoglio which Martoglio had specially written for Musco. All the actors in the play repeated their roles in Ruggeri's film. Martoglio scripted the film too.
In San Giovanni Decollato (1917), the misogynist cobbler master Austino (Agostino - Angelo Musco) continually asks for a miracle to St. John the Baptist, for whom he has a great veneration: to make sure that his wife Lona (Rosina Anselmi), a washerwoman who torments him by opposing every minimal decision, becomes silent.
Their daughter Serafina, betrothed by her father to a lamplighter, is in love with the young Ciccino, who tells his peasant grandparents that the girl's father is a university professor at rest, in order to increase their affectionate consent towards the relationship.
Soon the truth comes to the surface, and the two lovers resort to the classic Sicilian "fuitina", which must necessarily be followed by a repairing wedding. At the wedding, the miracle of Lona's mutism takes place, establishing the balance between the spouses and increasing the faith of Austino towards St. John the Baptist.
Italian postcard. Photo: Badodi.
Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: Trevisani.
Source: Wikipedia (Italian and English) and IMDb.
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