1959 in Italian television

This is a list of Italian television related events from 1959.

List of years in Italian television

Events
  • 1 January – For the first time, RAI celebrates the new year broadcasting the Vienna Concert, in Eurovision. The event becomes a New Year tradition for the Italian Television till 2004, when the Venice Concert takes its place.[1]
  • 29 January – 26 February. John Cage participates to the quiz Lascia o raddoppia? as contestant. The American composer wins five million liras, answering to questions about mushrooms, and performs in studio his pieces of "concrete music".[2]
  • 19 March - The PCI presents a proposal for the RAI reform, aimed to transfer the control of the company from the government to the parliament;[3] in February, an analogue proposal had been presented by radicals and PRI.[1]
  • 4 April: Adriano Celentano, Mina and Giorgio Gaber debut in television. In an episode of Il musichiere, the three singers, together with other young Italian rockers, make a surprise apparition, in presence of Luciano Tajoli, exponent of the traditional melodic song. Celentano performs Jailhouse rock and is called "the Italian Elvis".[4]
  • 21 May – The inauguration, by 1962, of a second RAI TV channel, is decided; the year sees also the opening of several new RAI regional offices.[1]
  • 9 June – The broadcast of a pseudo-Greek tragedy (The Medea’s sons, by Vladimiro Cajoli), with Alida Valli, is suddenly interrupted because the actress’ son has been abducted by Enrico Maria Salerno; the kidnapper is captured in the bar of the RAI, after a raving monologue live. The whole thing is clearly a joke but, as for Orson Welles’ The war of the worlds twenty years before, many viewers take it seriously and the fake phone number given by the actor playing a police officer is tempested by the calls. The episode causes an harsh debate about the new media's dangers.[5]
  • 28 June - At the show Un, due, tre the comedian Ugo Tognazzi simulates a fall from the chair. At the remarks of his partner Raimondo Vianello, he answers: "Everybody can fall", alluding to a similar accident, shot by the cameras, recently occurred to Italian President Giovanni Gronchi. The harmless gag, improvised live, arouses the ire of the RAI executives: Renzo Puntoni, producer of "Un, due, tre", is fired, while Tognazzi and Vianello are forced to prerecord their performances. At the end of the season, the show is deleted, notwithstanding its popularity, and, for some years, the two actors are turned away from public television.[6]
  • 26 August - The literary critic Leone Piccioni, son of the Minister Attilio, becomes director of the television news. He takes the place of Massimo Rendina, judged too leftist by the government.[1]
  • 7 September - During the show Serata di gala (Gala soirée) Renato Carosone, the most popular Italian band-leader announces, unexpectedly, his retirement from the scenes; he will explain later to have wanted to go out on a high, foreboding a change in the public’s tastes for the arrival of rock and roll.[7]
  • 3 December - Institution of Rai Corporation, Italian Radio TV System, a society, based in New York, for the production and sale of Italian programs in the United States.[1]

Debuts

Serials
  • Giallo club-invito al poliziesco (Crime club- Invite to the detective story),four seasons - mix of detective serial and quiz. The host (Paolo Ferrari) introduces the enquiries of Lieutenant Ezechiele Sheridan (Ubaldo Lay), of the San Francisco police department ; towards the end, the story is interrupted and three competitors have to guess the solution of the mystery.[8] The movies are naive and homemade for the today's standards, but, at the time, get a massive success. The Sheridan character, with his characteristic white trench, will be later reprised in several TV-movie, miniseries and spots.[9]
  • Alfred Hitchcock presents

Variety
  • Campanile sera (Bell tower at the evening) – 3 seasons, hosted by Mike Bongiorno and Enzo Tortora. Two villages (one from the North and one from the South Italy) challenge each other in quizzes and athletic tests.
  • Pesaro festival of light music – 16 seasons.
  • Zecchino d’oro – international children's song festival, ideated and, for fifty years, hosted by Cino Tortorella. It’ is again regularly and successfully broadcast every year by Rai Uno.

News
  • Sette giorni al parlamento (Seven days at the Parliament) – by Jader Jacobelli.

Television shows

Drama
  • I figli di Medea (The Medea's sons) – by Vladimiro Cajoli, directed by Anton Giulio Majano, with Alida Valli (at her debut on the little screen) and Enrico Maria Salerno, controversial experiment of fake "reality-show" (see Events).
  • Monetine da cinque lire (Five liras nickels)– by Paolo Emilio d’Emilio, with Dario Fo.

The popular success of the plays with Gilberto Govi goes on; between January and February, the National Channel broadcasts four new titles, included the actor's signature play I maneggi per maritare una figlia (The schemes to marry a daughter).[10]

Miniseries

Variety
  • Canzonissima 1959. It was the edition of the shows most appreciated by public and critics, thanks to the talent of authors (Garinei and Giovannini), director (Antonello Falqui) and hosts (Delia Scala, Nino Manfredi and Paolo Panelli). Nino Manfredi gets a huge success playing the barman of Ceccano, a caricature of the rough Ciociaria people, and his catchphrase "Fusse che fusse la volta bona" (Maybe it's the right time) becomes proverbial; but the true star is Delia Scala, who proves to be a complete show-girl. The contest is won by Joe Sentieri with Piove (the song had already triumphed at the Sanremo festival), while Mina is known by the general public singing Nessuno.
  • Il mattatore (The spotlight chaser) – "mixed show" directed by Daniele D’Anza, script by Federico Zardi. It's virtually a Vittorio Gassman’s one-man show (also if, technically, sometimes he shares the scene with other actors). The star of the Italian stage and cinema exhibits the whole extensions of his talent, passing from the classic theatre to the cabaret, often parodying himself and trying also the political satire (a taboo argument, till then, for the Italian television). The show, following its public and critical success, the next year is adapted into a movie.[13]
  • Le divine (The divine women) – by Mario Ferrero, with Franca Valeri, Vittorio Caprioli and Monica Vitti, in six episodes; a parody of the history of the show business, from the belle èpoque to the television age, through the history of six imaginaries female stars, played by Franca Valeri.[14]

News and documentaries
  • L’India vista da Rossellini (India seen by Rossellini). The famous director shows and comments the filmed material gathered in the processing of the film India.[15]
  • La donna che lavora (The working woman) - first example of Italian TV investigative journalism, by Ugo Zatterin. The reporter travels all over Italy to interview women working in every field of the economy (agriculture, industry, tertiary). The enquiry has a great impact on public opinion and is now again a precious source of information about the female condition of the time; in 1993 another edition, with new interviews to the same women, had been realized by Raffaella Spaccarelli.[16]
  • Incontri di Indro Montanelli (Indro Montanelli’s encounters). The famous journalist meets important figures of the Italian culture, as Moravia, Guttuso, Carlo Levi, Guareschi and De Laurentis; the interviews often become, willingly, almost humorous sketches. It was the first (and long time the only) Montanelli's experience as a television journalist.[17]

Ending this year
  • Lascia o raddoppia
  • Un, due e tre (see Events)
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References
  1. Somalvico, Bruno Maria (25 October 2012). "Cronologia radiotelevisiva II: 1945-1975: 1954-1960". Cronologia radiotelevisiva II. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  2. "Cage in Italia | Lascia o raddoppia?". www.johncage.it. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  3. "Storia della TV (1910-1990)" (PDF). www.radiomarconi.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  4. "Celentano in bianco e nero - S1959 - La prima apparizione a "Il Musichiere" - Video". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  5. "I figli di Medea". Centro Studi Abastoriani (in Italian). 2012-11-22. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  6. Palattella, Assoladolcevita/Domenico (2017-04-04). "Le coppie storiche del cinema italiano: Tognazzi-Vianello". Associazione Cinematografica "La Dolce Vita" (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  7. "Serata Carosone". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  8. "Giallo club - Il tenente Sheridan - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  9. "Giallo club. Invito al poliziesco", Wikipedia (in Italian), 2018-11-25, retrieved 2019-01-15
  10. "Teatro 1959 - 1959". Rai Teche (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  11. "L'isola del tesoro - Lo sceneggiato - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  12. "Sceneggiati e Fiction 1954 - 1965 -". Rai Teche (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  13. "Il mattatore - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  14. "Le Divine - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  15. "L'India vista da Rossellini - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  16. "La donna che lavora - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  17. "Indro Montanelli - Gli incontri - RaiPlay". www.raiplay.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
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