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Saltarello in Italia |
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CALLING ALL ITALIANS!
Are any of you in Italy?
Would you enjoy doing some research?
Here’s my quest.
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When did Roscoe Arbuckle’s movies reach Italy?
A week after they opened in the US?
A year after they opened in the US?
Three years after they opened in the US?
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A Word about US Release Dates: They need to be taken with a bucket of salt.
The labs made a handful of prints that the distributors shipped out to the exchanges,
and cinemas with contracts got them whenever they got them.
If the current show was losing money, the cinemas would jump ahead to the following day’s attraction,
or the following week’s attraction.
If a cinema owner was convinced that a film would run at a loss,
he (almost always he) wouldn’t even take it out of the cans,
but would ship it to the next cinema in queue.
The movies then floated about, hither, thither, and yon.
The studios and distributors and exchanges and cinemas kept records
of what was shown where and when and under what contract, but those records have all vanished.
The “official” release dates seem to be what modern researchers
happened to catch when reeling through old newspapers on microfilm.
With rare exceptions, we can take them as approximate at best.
For instance, The Rough House allegedly premièred on 20 June 1917.
Yet it opened at the 12th Street Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, on
17 June 1917.
His Wedding Night allegedly opened on 20 August 1917,
yet I see that it opened at the Imperial in San Francisco a day earlier,
19 August 1917.
And on and on and on it goes.
Then, of course, we all know about The General by now.
The official release dates are 31 December 1927 in Tokyo and 5 February 1927 in Manhattan;
yet we all have learned that its première was actually on 11 December 1926 at James’ Grand in Columbus, Ohio,
after which it immediately spread throughout the US.
We cannot take these official release dates seriously, really, we can’t.
They’re not terribly far off, but I doubt that most of them are exact.
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Here are the Italian titles I can find for the various Roscoe/Buster movies,
but I am unable to find any dates for the Italian releases.
I assume that only two or three prints were shipped to Italy, and that they slowly wended their way
up and down the boot, onto and off of the little islands, and the big islands, too,
over the course of about two years each,
and by the time they finished all their bookings, they were little more than confetti.
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| ITALIAN TITLE | US TITLE | ALLEGED US PREMIÈRE | ITALIAN RELEASE |
| Il garzone di macelleria | The Butcher Boy | 12 Apr 1917 | |
| La casa tempestosa | The Rough House | 20 Jun 1917 | |
| La sua notte di nozze | His Wedding Night | 20 Aug 1917 | |
| Oh, Dottore! | Oh Doctor! | 19 Sep 1917 | |
| (Not released?) | Fatty at Coney Island | 11 Oct 1917 | |
| (Not released?) | A Country Hero | 10 Dec 1917 | |
| Nel West! | Out West | 20 Feb 1918 | |
| Il fattorino | The Bell Boy | 07 Mar 1918 | |
| Chiaro di luna | Moonshine | 06 May 1918 | |
| Buone notte, infermiere | Good Night, Nurse! | 22 Jun 1918 | |
| Il cuoco | The Cook | 20 Aug 1918 | |
| Retroscena | Back Stage | 20 Aug 1919 | |
| Il rustico | The Hayseed | 13 Oct 1919 | |
| Il garage | The Garage | 15 Dec 1919 |
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If you’re in Italy and if you enjoy hanging out at libraries and archives,
could you do the world the kindness of determining when these movies played in the various towns and villages
throughout the peninsula? Pretty please?
Who were the local distributors?
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“Buster” was “a dialectal variant of burster.”
As Buster claimed, “buster” meant “fall.”
Yes, that was one of many definitions: “a bad fall.”
It also meant “an unusually sturdy child.”
As an expansion upon “bust,” it could mean “a frolic” or “a spree.”
In its 1838 sense of
“anything large or exceptional; a man of great strength,”
it could by extension mean
“a roistering blade,” a phrase I need to begin using around the office.
Failing to find even an approximate equivalent, the Italian publicity personnel settled upon “Saltarello,”
which, as you all know, is the name of a medieval dance, and means, literally, “hop” or “skip.”
Here is a saltarello, as danced in Lithuania:
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Buster was Saltarello only for the short films.
As far as I know, these are the Saltarello films that were issued in Italy in the 1920’s.
The releases were inevitably delayed, but the early ones were delayed by up to about four years!
Worse, note how they were not spaced out.
They were dumped onto the market in several gigantic clumps,
which is absolutely the wrong way to nurture an audience.
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| ITALIAN TITLE | US TITLE | ALLEGED US PREMIÈRE | ITALIAN CENSOR VISA | ITALIAN RELEASE |
| Saltarello e la casa smontabile | One Week | 01 Sep 1920 | 20 Nov 1923 | 16 May 1924 |
| (Not released?) | The Saphead | 11 Oct 1920 | 18 Dec 1923 | |
| Saltarello e la forca elastica! | Convict 13 | 27 Oct 1920 | 17 Nov 1924 | |
| Saltarello e le sue trovate | The Scarecrow | 22 Dec 1920 | 13 Oct 1924 | |
| Saltarello e la sua vicina | Neighbors | 03 Jan 1921 | 02 Mar 1925 | |
| Saltarello e la casa incantata (a/k/a Saltarello e i fantasmi) | The Haunted House | 10 Feb 1921 | 06 Dec 1923 | 25 Mar 1925 |
| Saltarello sfortunato | Hard Luck | 16 Mar 1921 | 18 Dec 1923 | 11 May 1925 |
| Saltarello ed il tiro a segno | The High Sign | 12 Apr 1921 | 01 Dec 1924 | |
| Saltarello e il suo delitto (a/k/a Il capro espiatorio) | The Goat | 18 May 1921 | 17 Nov 1924 | |
| Saltarello a teatro | The Playhouse | 06 Oct 1921 | ||
| Saltarello, capitano di lungo corso[???] (a/k/a La barca) | The Boat | 10 Nov 1921 | ||
| Il viso pallido | The Paleface | 17 Dec 1921 | ||
| Poliziotti | Cops | 15 Feb 1922 | ||
| I parenti di mia moglie | My Wife’s Relations | 12 Jun 1922 | ||
| Saltarello fabbro | The Blacksmith | 21 Jul 1922 | ||
| Saltarello esquimese | The Frozen North | 03 Aug 1922 | ||
| Sogni a occhi aperti | Day Dreams | 28 Sep 1922 | ||
| Saltarello e l’ Electric-Hotel | The Electric House | 19 Oct 1922 | ||
| Il matto sul pallone | The Balloonatic | 22 Jan 1923 | ||
| Il nido d’ amore (Saltarello, capitano di lungo corso[???]) | The Love Nest | 06 Mar 1923 | ||
| Senti, amore mio (a/k/a L’ amore attraverso i secoli) | Three Ages | 24 Sep 1923 | 29 Sep 1925 | |
| Accidenti...che ospitalità! | Our Hospitality | 03 Nov 1923 | 22 Aug 1925 | 27 Nov 1925 |
| La palla n° 13 (a/k/a Calma, signori miei!) | Sherlock Jr. | 21 Apr 1924 | 05 Sep 1925 | |
| Il Navigatore | The Navigator | 13 Oct 1924 | 31 Jul 1925 | 07 Aug 1925 |
| Le sette probabilità | Seven Chances | 16 Mar 1925 | 21 Sep 1925 | 27 May 1926 |
| Io...e la vacca | Go West | 25 Oct 1925 | 13 Sep 1926 | 07 Feb 1927 |
| Se perdo la pazienza... (a/k/a Io e la boxe) | Battling Butler | 22 Aug 1926 | 04 Jan 1927 | 30 Mar 1927 |
| Come vinsi la guerra | The General | 11 Dec 1926 | 10 Mar 1927 | 30 Mar 1927 |
| Ti voglio... così (a/k/a Tuo per sempre) | College | 10 Sep 1927 | ||
| Io...e il ciclone | Steamboat Bill, Jr. | 12 May 1928 | 17 Sep 1928 | |
| Io...e la scimmia (a/k/a Il cameraman) | The Cameraman | 22 Sep 1928 | ||
| Io...e l’ amore | Spite Marriage | 06 Apr 1929 |
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You surely noticed that Saltarello capitano di lungo corso is provided as the Italian title
for both The Boat and The Love Nest.
One of those attributions is surely wrong.
I suspect — I strongly suspect — that it was the title of The Boat.
The Rough House was La casa tempestosa at first,
but, surely after Saltarello developed his own following,
some cinemas must have advertised this as La casa di Saltarello.
Other instances of alternative titles surely derive from screenings in the 1960’s and later.
So, I really doubt that Saltarello e i fantasmi, Il capro espiatorio,
La barca, L’ amore attraverso i secoli,
and Il cameraman were used in the 1920’s.
On the other hand, it seems that La palla n° 13 and Io e la boxe were used interchangeably with the official titles.
As for Our Hospitality, the 1924 title was certainly Accidenti...che ospitalità!,
but when Rohauer reissued it in 1973, it became La legge dell’ ospitalità.
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When Fellini recalled that Buster was his favorite at the Cinema Fulgor in Rimini,
he was referring to the releases of 1924 through 1931,
after which the movies completely disappeared until Rohauer showed them at the 1963 Venice Film Festival.
When Pasolini told of his admiration for Buster because of “the perfection of The General,”
he was referring to his one and only viewing at the Venice Festival.
Then the movies were completely gone again until Rohauer began reissuing them in about 1973.
I don’t think they got any noticeable publicity and hence did not get any noticeable income.
I could be wrong about that.
I know for certain that he released La legge dell’ ospitalità in 1973,
and I know that only because I have the poster in my collection.
The other films?
Who knows?
Anyway, Italian cinemas would have cropped them all at 1:1.85 (.446"×.826").
Not worth seeing when they’re butchered like that.
If you know more than I do, please write to me.
Thanks!
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As mentioned above, there were no movie posters in Italy in those days.
There were
broadsides, custom ordered by each individual cinema, and rarely did they include any illustrations.
(Here is a rare exception.)
They were printed on the cheapest paper possible,
and they were specific to particular bookings and thus could never be reused.
That is why frightfully few have survived.
Here are the few I found on the Internet:
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 Fri, 28 March 1924 |
 Tue/Wed, 7/8 May 1924 |
 Fri, 16 May 1924 |
 Wed/Thu, 21/22 May 1924 |
 Sat/Sun, 30/31 Aug 1924 |
 Sat/Sun, 20/21 Sep 1924 |
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Fridolin, or Fridolen, whichever, was Jimmy Aubrey. | |
 Thu/Fri, 7/8 Nov 1924 |
 Thu, 13 Nov 1924 |
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“Saltarello, the Rival of Ridolini.” And who, pray tell, was Ridolini? Larry Semon! | |
 Wed/Thu, 26/27 Nov 1924 |
 Sat/Sun, 6/7 Dec 1924 |
 UNDATED, 1924 |
 Fri, 16 Jan 1925 |
 UNDATED, 1931 |
 Fri, 16 Nov 1934 |
 UNDATED, 1932 This is that gawdawful Parlor, Bedroom and Bath. Ugh. |
 UNDATED, 1933 This is that gawdawful Passionate Plumber. |
Okay. Make a liar outta me.
An illustrated locandina, printed not by the distributor, but on behalf of the cinema.
It is apparent that the distributor supplied the cinema with the necessary graphics.
For a paltry $2,256.59+$15.88 shipping, you can have this for your very own.
I’m too much of a skinflint to pay that sorta dough.
The item is from
BENITO ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTER in Sitges, Spain,
who lists it thus:
IO E LA SCIMMIA - 1928 Dir EDWARD SEDGWICK Cast: BUSTER KEATON MARCELINE DAY HAROLD GOODWIN ITALIA - LOCANDINA-INSERT-33X70-CM.-13X27-IN. LOCANDINA Most are in excellent condition but may have normal wear such as edge wear or a slight hole. I try photograph any flaw but examining the photos closely is your best bet! Please see bigger picture for details. La mayoría est en excelentes condiciones, pero puede tener desgaste del borde o algun agujero pequeño. Intento fotografiar cualquier defecto, pero el examen de las fotos de cerca es su mejor opción! Por favor ver la foto en grande para más detalles SHIPPING COSTS: Fold posters SPAIN 5€ = $7- -Correo certificado EUROPE 15€ = $20 WORLDWIDE 20€ = $25 posters on linen small format $60 big format $90 All POSTERS GOES BY FEDEX. ITEMS PURCHASED CAN BE COMBINED TO SAVE ON SHIPPING Seller Inventory # 37430 | |
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Here is a fascinating article by Andrea Ciaffaroni,
“Buster Keaton parla italiano,”
Comedy, il blog la comicità è un serio affare, dossier e memorie di grandi comici,
Tuesday, 6 November 2018.
Read it!
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 Our Hospitality The locandina from the 1973 reissue by DAE, Distribuzione Art Essai, without so much as a hint about Rohauer. |
