Sicilian Culture: News & Views

CBS-TVs First Monday Breaking New Ground for Italian-Americans
By Paul Rosetti, Italian Tribune

February 28, 2002 - - First Monday’s Joseph Novelli will not be visiting Bada Bing’s for a night of illicit sex and binge drinking. Nor is he likely to physically abuse his wife, verbally abuse his mother, or terrorize his children. I doubt highly that Joseph Novelli will slander different segments of our society with a never-ending stream of monosyllabic slurs. Nor are you likely to hear him refer to his wife’s friends as “dem broads” or his work colleagues as “yous guys.”

Instead, you will learn that Joseph Novelli is a United States Supreme Court Justice. He speaks intelligently on a variety of subjects...with proper enunciation...in complete sentences. When he talks of “family,” he is referring to his wife and children. When he meets his friends and colleagues in a social situation, he will leave the tip for the waitress on the table, not in the silicone-enhanced cleavage of a “dancer” who is old enough to be his daughter and wearing only a couple of strategically placed tassels.

You will learn that Joseph Novelli is an Italian American. More importantly, you will learn that Joseph Novelli is an Italian American who, thanks to a personal sense of morality and a work ethic instilled by his upbringing, has risen to the top of his chosen profession. He is the embodiment of the American ideology. While extraordinary in his accomplishments, his story is not unusual, which, in the grand scheme of things, is really the point.

Italian Americans do not deny the existence of, nor our community’s involvement with, organized crime. What we protest vehemently is the widely-held perception that all Italian Americans are criminals or buffoons.

Anyone reading this paper should be well aware of the accomplishments of Italian Americans; a recap is unnecessary. But there are many of our fellow Americans who have been subconsciously programmed by a seemingly unending barrage of negative stereotypes implicating Italian Americans.

Joseph Novelli may be a fictional character on a television show, but his existence - even in an imaginary sense - will help undo some of the damage done by equally fictitious characters such as Michael Corleone, Vincent Gambino, and, more recently, Tony Soprano.

This ground-breaking character is the lead on First Monday, a legal drama airing on CBS-TV’s Friday night lineup. Created and produced by Italian American Donald P. Bellasario, the show stars another Italian American, Joe Mantegna, as Justice Joseph Novelli.

While Mr. Mantegna has portrayed a variety of stereotypical Italian American characters during the course of his career, he is the driving force behind the creation of Joseph Novelli as a role model. The character was originally written without any specific regard to ethnicity, but Mr. Mantegna, recognizing the dearth of positive Italian American characters, insisted that he be allowed to infuse Justice Novelli with his own Italian heritage.

Thanks to shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond, That’s Life, and First Monday, CBS-TV provides its millions of viewers with a more accurate cross-section of the Italian American community than has ever been offered by major media. Whether the recent run of Italian-themed programming is coincidental or motivated merely by profit, CBS has figured out what HBO and the other networks have not. Namely, that there is more to “Italian” America than gangsters and buffoons. There are teachers, contractors, college professors, florists, bank presidents, newspaper editors, and United States Supreme Court Justices.

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MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER - ITALIAN TRIBUNE 28 February 2002
by A.J. Buddy Fortunato

As Italian Americans, especially as Italian Americans interested in our shared heritage, we must accept certain responsibilities when it comes time to promote, preserve, and protect our common interests.

First, and most importantly, we must present a united front. If we were united in the same way as other ethnic groups, our goals would be much easier to attain. Programs like The Sopranos and the countless “Mafioso-style” advertisements would not exist.

There are some who feel we should not complain about these negative stereotypes. These people are either seriously misinformed or simply naive.

Like some Pavlovian pooch trained by a Hollywood marketing agent, every time the general public hears “Italian” they think “mob” or “buffoon.”

And now, even our children cannot escape the constant slander of the Italian American community. Edie Falco, who has had an unremarkable career as an actress, has been invited to appear on Sesame Street thanks to her role as Tony Soprano’s wife. What could she possibly teach the children of America? Perhaps she has tips on how to prepare dinner for her mobster husband.

Judging by her language as an Italian American wife on The Sopranos, she could certainly teach our children some new vocabulary words. I wonder if we’ll find any of her favorite words on our children’s spelling tests. I imagine not.

We have a responsibility to re-condition and re-educate society as a whole, but especially the younger generations. Bigotry and racism too easily become habits. It is our responsibility as adults that our children recognize the myriad contributions made to not only the American mosaic, but also to the whole of Western Civilization.

Staying on the idea of responsibility, we must insist that members of the press do not conduct witchhunts every time a person with a vowel in their name is involved in some sort of incident.

We saw the result of the “guilty by innuendo” modus operandi when Senator Torricelli was raked through the media on what turned out to be unsubstantiated charges. His alleged guilt was front page news for weeks. His absolvement earned a page 23 spot between the Rosary Society’s next luncheon and an in-depth piece on navel lint.

To my delight, there are signs that our society is starting to “get it.” Just the other day as I read a book about an Italian man who had dedicated his life to fighting the Mafia in his hometown, I glanced at the television and saw a new show - First Monday - on which lead actor Joe Mantegna, speaking as an Italian American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, defended his Italian heritage with a fervor and eloquence rarely, if ever, heard before on network programming. Although fictional, he spoke of the only “family” that mattered to him - his grandparents, parents, wife, and children. He spoke of sacrifice and he spoke of responsibility.

Too often, members of our community express outrage only when the bigotry directly affects them. Our Italian American community will reach its full potential only when each of us follows a simple creed: As you do unto my brother, so too do you do unto me. Let us, together, earn for our people the respect we so richly deserve and leave for our children a legacy of which they can be proud. Only then will we have repaid the sacrifices of our ancestors and secured the future our Italian blood.

Italian Tribune
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