NYTimes on wonderful tradition comes back to Little Italy:
Photo: Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
“The Marionettes are back on Mulberry Street,” yelled Tony De Nonno, 70, an aficionado of a specific style of Sicilian puppet theater of which the hand-carved knight was an example.
Nearly a century ago, homesick Italian immigrants flocked to small theaters in Little Italy for operatic renditions of medieval tales by such puppets.
“Back then, every Italian neighborhood had marionettes and a theater,” said Susie Bruno, 78, whose family, the Manteos, were the longest lasting of New York City’s puppet troupes.”
“…Mr. De Nonno, a filmmaker, educator and friend of the Manteo family, gathered a few Manteo puppets donated to the Italian American Museum in Little Italy and prepared to stage a lively presentation on Wednesday night right after Mass in the Shrine church.”
From the Smithsonian “…Orlando Furioso is based on the eighth-century tale of Roland, a Frankish knight who served as a commander on the Breton border of Charlemagne’s great empire. In 778 A.D., as Charlemagne’s army returned from fighting the Saracens in Spain, the rear guard was cut off by hostile Basques at a pass in the Pyrenees and Roland was killed. A French legend was born and the epic tale “”The Song of Roland” is thought to have first appeared sometime in the 11th or 12th Centuries. Embellished over the years, the story of Roland moved into Italy during the Renaissance and Roland became Orlando Furioso. A story of medieval chivalry , Orlando Furioso became a stock character in marionette theaters throughout Europe and by the sixteenth century he was most popular in Sicily.”
Originally from Sicily, Manteo’s father, Agrippino, son of a puppeteer, emigrated with his family to the United States in 1919 established a the Manteo Family Sicilian Marionette Theatre on the lower east side in Little Italy. It was a family business and everyone played a role in the puppet productions. …Miguel generally played the part of Orlando. …
In 1928, Manteo moved his theater to a larger space on Mulberry Street where the entire family spent their days in an attic workroom repairing the marionettes, mending torn costumes and polishing armor. …Originally, the dialogue was in a Sicilian dialect, but was translated into Italian and English. … Miguel, who considered the puppets “works of art” ,donated this puppet in 1980 and was awarded the National Heritage Award in 1986 for his contribution to American culture.”
Read more it’s a great history.