Flashbulbs and Film Stars: The Paparazzi Revolution in Rome's Golden Era
So here's the story about the celebrity it starts in Italy in the years before World War 2 when the country was controlled by Benito Mussolini aside from being a murderous fascist and dictator Mussolini was an avid movie fan and fanboy of film star so far as to write more than a hundred fawning letters to American actress Anita page including several marriage proposals.
Yeah, the guy Mussolini knew the emotional power of cinema as a tool for propaganda and building cultural prestige so when the Roman production facility Cine Studios burned down in 1935 Mussolini used it as an opportunity to build the largest film studio in Europe called Chinechita a sprawling 4.3 million square foot complex on the southeast edge of Rome for its first few years.
Chinechita turned out several mediocre nationalist films until there lies the eternal city poorly defended and helpless to stop the attack just six years after it opened chinchilla was partly destroyed in the Allied bombing of Rome in 43 and 44 after the war the Allies requisitioned the studio and turned it into a displaced persons camp where thousands of refugees lived on the massive sound stages of a defunct dream and propaganda factory at the studio space being used and Mussolini's thumb removed a new wave of filmmakers took to the streets of Rome to make movies about real life in post-war Italy.
These neo-realist films they were dubbed as Rome Open City by Roberto Rossellini and bicycle thieves by Vittorio de Sica were internationally successful critically and commercially situating Rome as a capital of world cinema something Mussolini wanted but could never achieve this in turn helped to reopen Chinechita and bring in big-budget productions like quotations from 1949 in which some of the last refugees are likely mixed in with the waves of extras and coitus were the first of many movies Hollywood would produce inrome thanks to cheap labor costs the sheer size of chinechita and the romantic allure of the enternal city sword and sandal epics.
Ben Hur and Cleopatra that was massively successful and provided a great return on investment the only problem was recently passed Italian law stated that earnings made from productions in Italy had to stay in Italy, so what did Hollywood studios do with all that cash-stranded overseas they reinvested it in more movies began a legendary period in movie history called by one-time magazine reporter Hollywood on the Tiber the set of circumstances I described above-brought film star after film star to the cobbled streets of Rome merging their glamour.
With the mystique of a city that was rapidly recovering from fascism and war for a few years, the Veneto was the coolest place in the world of course this was only one side of Rome in the 50s while the glitterati cavorted in chic bars and clubs thousands of others struggled to find their place in the post-war economy a few of these unable to land steady work picked up a camera and began taking freelance pictures for tourists but soon found they could make even more money snapping photos of celebrities.
One of these photographers was Tatio Sequiaroli known as the Fox of via Veneto one November night in 1958 tatsoi found his way into Rugentino a restaurant in Trastevere where a high-profile party was in full swing the actress Anita Ekberg was there drinking and having a good time she kicked off her shoes and began to dance barefoot in front of a jazz band then out of nowhere an uninvited guest took to the floor and proceeded to strip in front of a shocked but enthusiastic crowd of elites tatsoi snapped a photo.
The next day all the biggest tabloids ran with the story even the New York Times reported on it it became clear to Tatsio and his compatriots that scandal pays so they sought it out hiding in corners sneaking into parties backlots and if they couldn't find bad behavior they created it provoking celebrities to attack them and it worked then something interesting happened the italian filmmaker federico fellini reached out to tatsio and asked him four stories of his trade.
So Tatsio obliged and a year later Fellini made Le Dolce Vita the Sweet Life one of the best movies of all time which immortalized Hollywood in the Tiber era and the ravenous photographers who captured it Fellini based the main photographer of Tatsio himself and called him the name as we all know stuck, so did the profession this period in Rome was a hinge point in the history of celebrity paparazzi disrupted the highly manicured image movie stars had enjoyed since the golden age of Hollywood. We saw ourselves in those flaws and it allowed us to form deeper bonds with them one - way bonds that is whatever the reason we're all fanboys now living in a world created 60 years ago on the streets of an ancient city.
This is my participation post for Initiative:APRILINLEO
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