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| OYMPIC CINEMA |
Memory, again. We have been listening recently
to an audio book of Swans Way narrated by Neville Jason. A great read, although
Marcel comes off as a bit of a whimp. We had some friends round for supper and
mention was made of the Olympic Cinema in Barnes which boasts extremely
comfortable armchairs, with an adjacent table on which to place ones food and
drink, in order to enjoy the film in great style. The idea of the Café Cinema
is, of course, not new, but the current version is clearly more comfortable. The
story, like Proust’s Madeleine prompted
me to recall an incident from 1950’s Vienna. My family had been staying in a
demi-pension by the Julius-Raab Platz. Across the way was the Urania Cinema and
from the corner window of our flat on the top floor one had a good view of the
city toward the Prater and the big wheel as well as the banks of the Donau
Kanal. The current was quite swift near the bridge and I would watch some kids
jumping in the canal and surfing along with the stream. It seemed like a lot of
fun, although the water was an uninviting dark brown colour. My mother’s view
was that it was loaded with polio bacteria as well as any number of other
disabling and deadly diseases. We were forbidden to go near the banks or the
lads. Staying at the pension was an Italian family by the name of Novarese. The
father was Vittorio Nino Novarese, a costume designer and his daughter was
called Letizia. At the time, 1954 or 1955 I thought Letizia
was years older than me, however I discover that she was only a year older. Her
mother was Giuliana Gianni. For some reason they took a shine to me and I was
invited out to go to the cinema with Letizia to see The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. Giuliana drove us to the place which turned
out to be an old Viennese café with had probably once been a nightclub. There
was a stage and a screen. We sat on wrought iron chairs with matching tables.
We were joined by one of the actors working on the same film as Nino, Marina
Vlady and someone who I believe was Marina’s boyfriend. They all seemed very
sophisticated and much older. At the time, I was 12, I now find that Letizia
just going on 14, and Marina was 17. The film they were working on at the time
was Sinfonia d’Amore, directed by
Glauco Pelegrini, staring Claude Laydu and Marina Vlady. She was a very pretty
girl, as was Letitzia. I now see on the Internet Movie Database, Letizia
became an actor
as well although appears to have ended up in Real Estate. This is her entry:
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| Letizia Novarese |
Letícia
Román was born on August 12, 1941 in Rome, Lazio, Italy as Letizia Novarese.
She is an actress, known for The Evil Eye
(1963), G.I. Blues
(1960) and Fanny Hill:
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1964).
Daughter
of costume designer Vittorio Nino
Novarese and actress Giuliana
Gianni.
Was engaged to Aaron
Spelling. The two broke it off when Aaron met Carol Candy
Spelling.
A friend of Sally Field.
Studied drama under famed acting coach Sanford
Meisner for about four months.
Her parents did not want her to become an actress.
Speaks 5 languages: her native Italian, French,
Spanish, German, and English. She learned English when she came to the U.S.
Came to the U.S. (Hollywood) in late 1958 with her
father Vittorio Nino
Novarese, when he was was hired to design costumes for Spartacus
(1960) and stayed on to do The Story of
Ruth (1960), Cleopatra
(1963), and other films.
(As of 1986) As a Beverly Hills real estate broker,
she exclusively represented the Ten Five Sixty Wilshire building since October
1985. Since 1982, she took over sales at the 82-unit Westford at 10750 Wilshire
Blvd., and subsequently sold its 67 remaining units.
As a West Hollywood landlord, she filed a lawsuit in
Los Angeles Superior Court to exempt her 15-unit apartment building from the
city's freeze on rents because she was suffering a net loss of $1,600 a month.
It was the first legal action taken against West Hollywood's rent control law.
[April 1985]
As of 2011) Her son, Oliver John Gelles, is a director
of global marketing for Ormco Corp (since 2003). He is married to Jennifer
Gelles, a real estate negotiator in short sales and foreclosure properties.
They live in Orange County, California.
Former actress. Has a career as a prominent real
estate broker in Beverly Hills, California (c. 1969) under the name Letizia
Gelles.
(As of 2012) Retired from being a successful, long-time
California real estate agent and living in Italy.
Former president of Italy-America Chamber of Commerce
West (IACCW) in Los Angeles, California.
Longtime real estate broker in Beverly Hills,
California
Italy: Living and retired.
Career in real estate in California.
Italy: Living and retired.
For Marina Vlady go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0900557/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
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| Marina Vlady |
So what does a madeleine do for you?
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