Life With Luigi: J. Carrol Naish - Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries

This sitcom aired on CBS from September 1952 until June 1953. It originally aired after I Love Lucy on CBS's Monday night lineup.

Irish-American actor J. Carrol Naish became typecast as an Italian after playing the role of Luigi Basco for several years, first on CBS Radio starting in 1948, and for a short period on a live tv series in 1952.

Set in Chicago, Luigi was a newly arrived Italian immigrant who was learning to love his new homeland. He did not always understand what everything meant, and often took things too literally, but his sweet, gentle nature won everyone over. The setting alternated between Luigi's antique shop and his friend Pasquale's restaurant " The Spaghetti Palace." Pasquale ( Alan Reed), a fellow immigrant who had been in this country for several years , had paid Luigi's boat fare to America in hopes that he might marry off his fat daughter Rosa ( Jody Gilbert) to his impressionable countryman.

Others in the cast included Mary Shipp as Miss Spauding, Luigi's nightschool teacher; Ken Peters as Olson, one of Luigi's classmates; Joe Forte as Horowitz, another classmate; and Sig Ruman as Schultz , another classmate. Except for Sig Ruman, all the cast members had played the roles on Radio.

When Life With Luigi returned for a brief second run in the spring of 1953 ( the show had been taken off the air in December 1952), all 3 principal parts were being played by different actors. Vitto Scotti took over the role of Luigi; Thomas Gomez played Pasquale; and Muriel Landers was now playing Rosa.

Despite it's popularity on Radio, Life With Luigi had only a short career on tv. It's extreme ethnic stereo-typing was found offensive by some, and sponsor troubles provided the coup de grace.

Here's an article from Time Magazine about The Radio Version of Life With Luigi from April 24, 1950.

Simply Amazing

"Everybody said there wasn't enough dramatic appeal in it," says Producer-Director-Writer Cy Howard of his Life with Luigi (Tues. 9 p.m., CBS). "Everybody told me no sponsor would buy it. And now look! It has knocked over Bob Hope,* and cut into the rating of Fibber McGee & Molly. It has made Tuesday night. It's got a wonderful sponsor [Win. Wrigley Jr. Co.]. It's got everybody amazed, it's got me amazed."

Five years ago, radio had still to hear of Cy Howard. After modest success as an actor in New York and a $70-a-week selling job in Chicago, Howard decided to drop his inhibitions and change his personality. The result? "Last year I made more than $300,000. I'll go over $500,000 this year."

In Hollywood, where he produces his My Friend Irma (Mon. 10 p.m., CBS) as well as Luigi, the new, extraverted Howard wears tasseled shoes, owns a pedigreed Airedale and lives in a penthouse. He drives a Cadillac convertible with the top down, even though it's bad for his sinus, smokes a pipe though he prefers cigarettes, goes to Palm Springs for his sun tan though he would rather go to San Francisco, stay indoors and read. During rehearsals he regularly throws calculated tantrums, thumps the table, bites his necktie and otherwise acts as an uninhibited genius is expected to act. His actors view these antics with mixed emotions, but one of them has conceded: "Everything he touches is so successful you have to respect him."

Last week the calendar of triumphs for jumpy, hot-eyed, 33-year-old Cy Howard was climaxed in his home town of Milwaukee, Wis. In celebration of "Nationality Night," Life with Luigi was broadcast before a packed audience of 12,500 in Milwaukee's Arena, which included Cy's proud parents, Mr. & Mrs. Sam Horwitz. Said Cy: "This thing's in my heart. I'm a guy who was born and lived on the wrong side of the tracks in Milwaukee. So look what I am now and what I've got. Nobody ever told me I couldn't do it. Nobody ever oppressed me. And look at the story itself—an Italian immigrant, created by a Jew and played by an Irisher [J. Carrol Naish]. It's wonderful—amazing!"

* Though Luigi led Hope for the previous three months, the latest Nielsen ratings show: Bob Hope, 15.9; Life With Luigi, 13.2.

Another Article From Time Magazine, this from the early days of television.

The Troubled Air
Monday, Jan. 12, 1953 Article

On the air four days before Christmas, Playwright George S. Kaufman said: "Let's make this one program on which nobody sings Silent Night." Most of the estimated 18 million viewers of This Is Show Business (Sun. 7:30 p.m., CBS-TV) were used to Panelist Kaufman's curmudgeon voice and comments. Many even agreed with him. But some disagreed violently. The CBS switchboard lit up with more than 200 phone calls protesting Kaufman's "irreligious remark." Next morning several hundred more complaints hit CBS and Sponsor American Tobacco Co. Even though Show Business had but three weeks to run before the sponsor replaced it with a comedy show, Kaufman was publicly fired.

Stunned, Kaufman tried to explain that he had not been "wittingly antireligious. I was merely speaking out against the use and overuse of this Christmas carol in connection with the sale of commercial products." He soon got impressive religious support: the Rev. Dr. Truman B. Douglass, chairman of the broadcasting and film department of the National Council of Churches, declared that Kaufman's remark was "more expressive of religious sensitiveness than of any spirit of derision." Furthermore, said Dr. Douglass, "the real sacrilege is the merciless repetition of Silent Night and similar Christmas hymns by crooners, hillbillies, dance bands and other musical barbarians." The New York Herald Tribune editorialized: "If a vocal few hundred from an audience that may reach into the millions can bar a performer, no one on the air will venture an opinion ... In such an atmosphere there can be neither philosophy nor wit, and truth itself soon becomes a victim."

CBS, searching for a substitute to take Kaufman's place, was turned down by Newsman John Daly ("I think Kaufman's dismissal was both unnecessary and absurd"), Comic Garry Moore ("Responsible people shouldn't give way to the small segment of the public who are all too anxious to hunt for things to condemn"), and Veteran Fred Allen, who snapped: "This thing is ridiculous. There are only two good wits on television, Groucho Marx and George S. Kaufman. With Kaufman gone, TV is half-witted." Finally, CBS found a substitute in Steve (Songs for Sale) Allen.

At week's end, after a series of top-level conferences, CBS executives, recovering from their panic, took a deep breath and announced a decision: George Kaufman will be banned from the panel only until the contract with American Tobacco Co. runs out this month. Then Show Business will return to the air at a new time (Sat. 9 p.m.), without a sponsor, but with George S. Kaufman back in his familiar place. Said Kaufman: "It constitutes some kind of vindication, I suppose."

In Los Angeles, another TV performer was charging a sponsor with excessive timidity. J. Carrol Naish, star of Life with Luigi, complained that Sponsor General Foods last week dropped the high-rated (39.7%) show largely because two scripts had offended 1) utility companies and 2) stockbrokers. One show had Luigi pitted against a power company that wanted to cut down a tree in his backyard; the other depicted Luigi as the troublesome owner of one share of stock in a big corporation. Snorted Naish, a Taft Republican: "The idea that I would countenance any subversive ideology on my show is ridiculous. I just don't understand it. After the stock-shares show, we got a letter of praise from the head of the stock exchange."

Here is Vito Scotti's Obituary

Vito Scotti, 78; Acted in Television

REUTERS
Published: June 16, 1996

Vito Scotti, a character actor in films and television, died on June 5 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 78.

Mr. Scotti first delighted television audiences in 1953 as Luigi Basco, an Italian immigrant who ran a Chicago antiques store in the hit series "Life With Luigi." Five years later, he took on the role of Rama the Indian in a recurring segment, "Gunga Ram," on the children's television show "Andy's Gang."

He made many guest appearances on television during the 1960's and 70's.

He also appeared in films, including "How Sweet It Is," "The Godfather," "Where the Boys Are," "Von Ryan's Express" and "Herbie Rides Again."

He is survived by his wife, Beverly, a daughter and a son.

For more on Life with Luigi go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_with_Luigi

For a Page dedicated to J. Carrol Naish go to http://www.horror-wood.com/naish.htm

For a Page dedicated to Vito Scotti go to http://www.angelfire.com/ny/nyuk/vito.html

To see J. Carrol Naish's grave go to http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5169

To see Vito Scotti's grave go to http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6039