Mary Perkins/on Stage è stata pubblicata per anni in Italia sulle pagine del quotidiano Il Giorno. Forse pochi ricordano che il nome della protagonista – e di conseguenza della strip – fu mutato in Mary Atkins. L’unica spiegazione si può cercare con la paralella presenza della strip Perkins di John Miles pubblicata sulla stessa pagina di comics.
… whoever has read the comics of Mary Atkins (1) published on “Il Giorno,” will note how the drawings are laid out through varied frame solutions with a highly technical assembly (the artist belongs to the great Alex Raymond school) with very unusual and daring angles and perspectives inspired by cinematographic language, contrasts (frame after frame) with views from a distance, from above, to settings in which the “lens” (ideally speaking) focuses on the characters through the gap of another character’s arms, drawn in a foreground close-up etc.
(1) The name of the protagonist – and consequently the strip, was changed to Mary Atkins. The only explanation can be found in the parallel presence of the strip Perkins by John Miles published on the same comics page
Known as Grissino (‘Breadstick’), became a very popular character in Italy, starring in a back-up feature in Popeye comic books produced there. Due to his popularity, he also received his own title in 1974.
Nel nostro piccolo anche noi abbiamo celebrato il tessiragnatele. SuperGulp! Fumetti in TV è stato un programma televisivo dedicato al mondo dei fumetti trasmesso dalla RAI e creato da Guido De Maria e Giancarlo Governi, con le musiche di Franco Godi nel 1972. Alla ripresa del programma nel 1977 la Mondadori mandò in edicola un settimanale a fumetti con lo stesso titolo SuperGulp che riprendeva (in parte) i personaggi della trasmissione. Furono realizzati episodi dei maggiori supereroi dell’epoca, quali i Fantastici Quattro e L’Uomoragno. Qui uno degli episodi realizzati da Giancarlo Malagutti e Giorgio Montorio.
Ferragosto is a public holiday celebrated on 15 August in all of Italy. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of emperor Augustus, who made the 1st of August a day of rest after weeks of hard work on the agricultural sector. It became a custom for the workers to wish their employers “buon ferragosto” and receive a monetary bonus in return. This became law during the Renaissance throughout the papal states. As the festivity was created for political reasons, the Catholic Church decided to move the festivity to the 15th of August which is the Assumption of Mary allowing them to include this in the festivity. Food and board was not included, this is why even today Italians associate packed lunches and barbecues with this day. By metonymy, it is also the summer vacation period around mid-August, which may be a long weekend (ponte di ferragosto) or most of August. Up until 2010, 90% of companies, shops and industries closed but, with the growing influence from other non-Catholic countries, and the fact that closing an entire country’s industry for a whole month meant an incredible loss of money and backlog of work, most companies now close for about two weeks, forcing all workers to take imposed vacation, similarly to the 25th of December.
History
The Feriae Augusti (“Festivals [Holidays] of the Emperor Augustus”) were introduced by the emperor Augustus in 18 BCE. This was an addition to earlier ancient Roman festivals which fell in the same month, such as the Vinalia rustica or the Consualia, which celebrated the harvest and the end of a long period of intense agricultural labor. The Feriae Augusti, in addition to its propaganda function, linked the various August festivals to provide a longer period of rest, called Augustali, which was felt necessary after the hard labour of the previous weeks.
During these celebrations, horse races were organised across the Empire, and beasts of burden (including oxen, donkeys and mules), were released from their work duties and decorated with flowers. Such ancient traditions are still alive today, virtually unchanged in their form and level of participation during the Palio dell’Assunta which takes place on 16 August in Siena. Indeed, the name “Palio” comes from the pallium, a piece of precious fabric which was the usual prize given to winners of the horse races in ancient Rome.
During the festival, workers greeted their masters, who in return would give them a tip. The custom became so strongly rooted that in the Renaissance it was made compulsory in the Papal States.
The modern Italian name of the holiday comes directly from the Latin name.
According to Richard Overy, author of A History of War in 100 Battles, the Ferragosto Holiday was introduced by C. Caesar Octavian, the future Augustus, after his victory over Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium on 2 September, 31 BCE.
Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. They decided to build a city, but after an argument, Romulus killed his brother and the city took his name. According to the Roman annalists, this happened on 21 April 753 BC. This legend had to be reconciled with a dual tradition, set earlier in time, that had the Trojan refugee Aeneas escape to Italy and found the line of Romans through his son Iulus, the namesake of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. This was accomplished by the Roman poet Virgil in the first century BC. In addition, Strabo mentions an older story, that the city was an Arcadian colony founded by Evander. Strabo also writes that Lucius Coelius Antipater believed that Rome was founded by Greeks.
I remember that, at the age of 7 or 8 years old, we were living in a friend’s house in Burbank. I can still recall the nice house on a hill with a park just down the road. Dad, who noticed how easily I got bored would bring me along to visit the spots in the district, in search of a location for the strips he was preparing. We would often stop for breakfast at his friend H’s place, who also had a huge collection of original comics and strips. It was during one of these visits that I met Prince Valiant of Harold Foster. Dad’s friend did not have – strange to say – a fetishistic rapport with his collections. He did keep the originals in transparent envelopes, (acid-free for sure) but allowed me to take a look, leaf through them without manifesting any anxiety. I recall those tables, that were just my height. Sprawled on the carpet of the study and with the pages strewn all over the place, I would practically immerse myself in those gigantic pages.
