Nello-John Pesci Oral History Project
Interview with Nello-John Pesci
Date of Interview: November 15, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Interviewer: Rosanna Hicken
Transcriber: Rosanna Hicken
Hicken: This is the Nello-John Pesci Oral History Project. We’re here in his home in Pleasant Grove, Utah. The interviewer is Rosanna Hicken, Brigham Young University.
Hicken: Can you describe your childhood background for me?
Pesci: Ok I was born in 1936, July 11th in New York City. I was born the son of Italian immigrants from Northern Italy, they were share crop farmers in the city of Parma right inside the Genoa Mountains. But I was born in NYC. I lived in Manhattan. 97th Street and 3rd avenue. When I was a little boy, they were just bringing out trolley cars can you believe it? The elevated subway went by our windows. My window, I could look out my window and count the subway trains at night. I could count myself to sleep. One of my first recollections, was when the war broke out. I remember my father taking me to the rooftop and watching the city black out because we might be attacked by the Germans. My parents were immigrants. Good hard working people. My father began as a salad boy,
Hicken: A salad boy?
Pesci:Yes cutting up salad, and chickens. He became a chef. He knew English, Italian and French. French is always last. The French are always last. Italian, Russian and some French. My mother was a cleaning lady. She cleaned private homes. Then later on she got a job cleaning offices in Manhattan. She would take a train at 3pm and go down to 45th street and Madison and clean the offices. Along with Greek and Polish immigrant women. So she knew Italian English Greek and polish. Then we moved from Manhattan to the “country”.
Hicken: The Bronx was country?
Pesci: Yes I’m being factious. But there was a lot more space back then that became farms. Squatters in the Bronx. Can you believe it? Well what happened was after World War II when the GI’s came home, that’s when the rest of New York City began to expand. The empty lots began to fill in. And that was an interesting situation because where we lived, I attended PS78. Kindgarden through 8th grade. I lived right where we had ethnic pockets, we had some Italians. We had Irish, Polish, Armenian and Jewish. Most of my classmates were Italians and Jewish. The majority. I had one wasp friend.
Hicken: Do you remember the first time you listen to a radio?
Pesci: Absolutely here’s a story. Because when I started school I didn’t speak a word of English. Why? Cause the barber, and the grocer were Italian. The catholic masses were in Italian. When I started school I didn’t speak a word of English. Fortunately my teacher was an Italian American woman, so she took me by the hand and walked me home and talked to my mother in Italian and English. My parents were becoming more Americanized. My teacher said, “stop speaking Italian to him. He’s got to learn English.” I still remember cause we had no phone. My mother thought something great had happened. My teacher explained I needed to be fluent in English. We had a radio and I can remember walking into the apartment. My mother had a chair by a little light by the wall. She was listening to the radio. But it was in Italian. My dad had a Italian American newspaper. My mother was sitting sewing listening to the radio “La Statizione WOV la voce Italiano Americano da New York” from that point on the radio was mine. I heard all the radio stations when I was a little boy, the green hornet, Innersactum, Red Rider, there were others also. That was the first time I began to listen to baseball. That was interesting too because I’m a Yankees fan in the American league but when I was a boy, the New York Giants were in the Bronx too. Two teams in the Bronx about a mile apart. You could go from one to the other over the bridge. So when the Yankees were out of town we went to the giants. And we all hated the dodgers. So we rooted for the giants. The radio became the vehicle for an introduction in the mainstream culture.
Hicken: What was the first major news event you head on the radio
Pesci:When the war was over. When World War II was over. I didn’t have an understanding of it. The war started with the Japs sneak attack. Write that down. Sneak attack. They did that forty years before with the Russians. I didn’t understand, when the war broke I was only 5, but I remember my father and family all speaking hush hush. Now in addition, now when the war was over, people were blaring the radio in the streets. I do recall the big to do with the radio when the war was over, because it was 1945. I remember collecting scrap newspapers for the victory drives and my father had a victory garden to help contribute to the war.
Hicken: When did you first see a television? Did you have one in your house first?
Pesci: No, we were poor. We were never dirt poor but we were poor. We didn’t have much money. My Jewish friends, one of the kids had a television set and that became the big thing. They came out huge in 1947,48,49. The first tv I saw was in a friends house, we were all huddled around it. It was a status symbol. My dad had the old belief you paid with cash, there was no such thing as credit. We had to pay with cash. Eventually I think it was 1949 we got our own tv. Boy was that fantastic. Now my father loved it more than we did. He loved to watch the wrestling on television. The tv became the focus for all of us. My family was so excited when poppa came home with a tv that he bought with cash. No debt. No debt.
Hicken: What was the big thing to watch on tv?
Pesci: Poppa would watch his wrestling. Momma would watch whatever caught her fancy. We loved to watch Sid Caesar, Milton Berl and his comedies, Uncle Milty. These were the shows we enjoyed watching. Besides the television, the 2nd big thing was the telephone. We had our own telephone. It’s not ancient history I’m saying here darling but its old. But from that point on, it became big.
Hicken: Did you ever get to Times Square with the ticker?
Pesci: Absolutely, New York City is a playground. I’m in high school and I’m driving on a Friday night, in 1950’s, that played Dixie land music. Saturday night go downtown and listen to progressive jazz. Pick up your date and go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Times square, absolutely go to Times Square and see what was going on in the rest of the world.
Hicken: What was the greatest thing you ever saw on television?
Pesci: Landing on the moon. On television they showed it. Neil Armstrong and his famous comment. And you know it was interesting besides the fact it was the moon, you know what was interesting, when he actually stepped down we said we beat the lousy communists beep beep to the moon. So it wasn’t so much the technology, we knew it was awesome but it was about beating those communists to the moon. It was patriotism. It was the most awesome thing I remember about tv. I remember my father watching tv and tears running down his face as the Andrea Endoria, pride of the Italian fleet, sank because it collided with a Swedish ship, he watched it on television.
Hicken: How did newspapers fit into your life?
Pesci: Not big readers. When poppa stopped reading Italian newspapers, they didn’t read them at all. No no.
Hicken: Why?
Pesci: I guess passage of time and stuff they thought was interesting was no long interesting for immigrants. The primary means of communicating was tv, it was far more in our lives than the radio except for in the car. The other fascinating thing, was I never forgot the first time I went to get a library card. I didn’t know about Shakespeare. Poppa talked about Dante, Michelangelo, Vispucci, Donatello. But Shakespeare? Come on? Voltaire? I had to be 12-13 to get a card. I had more of a spiritual reaction walking into a library than a church. It hasn’t stopped since. Books the library, oh my gosh… my heaven is a library with an eternity to read.
Hicken: Give me your thoughts on the Internet.
Pesci: The Internet belongs to your generation, I enjoy it but it doesn’t plug me in. I do use it. I use it for learning and look up historical situations wiki—I can’t say it properly. Wikipedia. My number one love is civil war, you know why. Cause it always turns out the same. We win and they lose. The south always loses. I love roman history, theology.
I recognize its power, its just not for me, it just doesn’t turn me on. I enjoy it and I use it more as a resource tool.
Hicken: How had media helped you in your life growing up?
Pesci: I’ll never forget the day my scholarships to Notre Dame and Marquette came in the mail. Poppa was sitting at the table crying. Radio, tv, newspapers were important in helping that. I really was blessed. Today it’s instant. I mean literally. You have to be creative today but you may not be as tenacious to seek out the info and I’m not degrading it. Once you know the system, you got it. When there was no Internet you had to really dig and find it. The computer has a brain but you had to do it with your own brain back then. I love computers, the Internet. Helps me learn my German. There’s a difference. Today socializing is easy all over the world, when I was little it was just going across the street. Its not ancient history but its old…look at what I’ve seen since I was a boy. I have seen the tail end of depression. Saw World War II, saw the atomic age, the space age, the moon shot. I can clearly understand what’s happening today is all intellectual. If you can’t run the Internet you will be obsolete. You’re through. It’s a whole different generation. “SEMPRE AVANTI” always forward. That’s our family motto. Now look at my legacy. 7 kids, fantastic in-laws, and 19 grandkids. But it’s all communication. I just belong to a different era.
