There is a movie from 1996 called Big Night, you may have missed it - but it is a gem. The story is of two restaurants in NJ, one has great food but no customers, the other has "Americanized" Italian food and is popular, the kind of place with signed photos on the wall from famous people. So in a devious plot to shut down the place with the great food, the owner of the popular restaurant convinces them to spend all their money to make the best dinner they can and for his part he will invite Louis Prima to the "Big Night". With a celebrity of Louis Prima level at their restaurant they hoped it would help establish them and save their business.
So younger people may say "Who is Louis Prima?" He was an Italian band leader famous from the 1940's through the 1960's. He sings a couple of classics like "Che le Luna", "Just a Gigolo", and the song from Disney Jungle Book "I Wanna Be Like You" (as well as playing the orangutan character).
So why does this matter?
Carbone's Restaurant had a REAL BIG NIGHT!
Carbone's restaurant from my previous post was located near Whalom Park which also had the Whalom Playhouse which hosted plays and bands. In May 1950, Louis Prima's Orchestra was playing in town and where did they eat?
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| Monday May 15, 1950 Fitchburg Sentinel Ad |
Carbone's Restaurant. Now at this point, the restaurant was only open for about a month and I am not sure if they already had a guest book - or if they ran out and got one when Louis Prima arrived - but it holds the proof to his visit.
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| Very first signature in the Guest Book for Carbone's May 15, 1950: Louis Prima - New York City |
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| Female vocalist and later wife of Louis Prima, "Keeley" Smith |
So an amazing parallel to movie Big Night - Carbone's did host Louis Prima for dinner!
But there is MORE to the story.
There was some type of mix up and there were not enough rooms booked for the band to sleep that night - not sure how that discussion came up at the restaurant - but Palma (Imprescia) Russo had a solution. She and her husband's family owned an apartment building on Daniels Street in Fitchburg with a vacant room, so she offered it to the displaced band members. And supposedly - Louis Prima and three band members took her up on the offer!
The next morning Palma even made them breakfast before they left. And as the story goes - the room was free of charge.
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| Free night in "Cleghorn" section of Fitchburg |
