Linea by Louis Dell'Olio

......................My Uncle Paul was a huge influence in my life.....He was my mother's oldest brother. Her sister Mary was the first born, and then Paul came second.....I LOVE the photo at the far left. That's my Uncle Paul holding the hand of his baby brother, the youngest in the family.....my Uncle Danny. They look more like father and son instead of brothers....My Uncle Paul was very handsome, and had wonderful style.....My Uncle Danny looked like he could have been a child actor....one of the "East Side Kids" or "Our Gang"....He definitely had that Jackie Coogan, Jackie Cooper look.....He grew up to have a top secret job with NASA.....The picture next to that at the top shows my Uncle Paul in the center of a group of people...none of which I know.....The picture below features my uncle in knickers, and a Fair Isle sweater, with a dress shirt under it....VERY BRAVE!......The top picture, second in from the right, shows my uncle with my grandmother in the white apron, and next to her my Aunt Mary, her oldest child. Kneeling in front is my Aunt Millie. I don't know who the baby is. It could be one of my Aunt Mary's children?....., Below standing on the front stoop of a building I don't recognize, is my Uncle Paul and his wife Marie in the center wearing a white dress....I don't know who the other people are.....My uncle is sitting on the grass with his wife, or maybe his girlfriend at the time, Marie. That's also my uncle sitting by himself on the roof.....another of my favorite pictures!.....My Uncle Paul was the first to recognize my talent at a very young age, when my mom brought him some of the fashion sketches I had done. He told her he thought I was very talented......He was a mediator in the NYC Ladies Garment Union., and he knew every single designer in the city. They all respected him, because he was always fair, and the fact that he was very elegant, and handsome didn't hurt!....I remember he had an incredible seductive low voice, that just drew you in.....He got me my very first job as a summer intern at Norman Norell, who was considered the King of American fashion. I had no idea who he was as a young 18 year old high school graduate from Long Island....on my way to Parsons School of design that coming fall.....In my second year at Parsons I won a full scholarship given by Mr. Norell....The wheel is round!.....I will always be grateful to my Uncle Paul for starting me on my path, and opening my eyes to the wonder of the fashion world!

I love going through old photos my mother saved.......This one has special meaning as it is a picture of my mom and dad and her siblings and their spouses.....The picture was taken at the Statler Hotel in Nov of 1950....I was two years old.....From left to right.....My Aunt Marie and my mom's brother my Uncle Tom....who was a real scoundrel!....in the best sense of the word! He was very handsome in his youth as all of my mother's brothers were....He had blue eyes and light brown wavy hair. My mother adored him. In their early 20s [he was two years older], they would enter many dance contests that were popular at the time. My mom told me he was a terrific dancer. They won many contests together. He would give my mother the trophy, and he KEPT the money!!!! As I said a loveable scoundrel......He's sitting next to my Aunt Marie, who I thought was so beautiful and exotic. She reminded me of Maria Montez and Carmen Miranda. I always called her Aunt Marie, but it was many years later, when i was an adult, that my mother told me the true story.....They were never married! They just lived together. He was already married to a woman named Yolanda. They never divorced, because she refused to give him one.....I think out of spite. She moved to California, and took their only son John....who i finally met many years later.....My Uncle Tom suddenly died of a heart attack I think in his early 50s. My Aunt Marie eventually disappeared from the family. She had no legal standing.....It was very sad......They lived "in sin", but things changed with the times.....It wasn't such a scandal anymore.....Next to them is my Aunt Tessie, and my Uncle Vito, my mother's older brother.....Talk about a RAKE......He was very charming, and was movie star handsome. My Aunt Tessie was the sweetest woman with a heart of gold, but I never understood them as a couple. Though it was NEVER said, I always suspected , when I was older, that they had to get married, She had TWENTY PREGENCIES!!!.....Fourteen of them were full term, and two died as infants.....so it was a family of twelve.....When my parents bought their new home on Long Island when it was still in development....my Uncle Vito bought the house directly in back of us. He had an extra bed room added, but there was still three or four kids to a room....Eventually some went to college and moved on. I was very close to the three youngest girls who were still older than me....Angela, Emelia and Florence. I remember going over to their house to SMOKE! My Aunt smoked like a chimney, and I always blamed her for the reason my clothes smelled like smoke! They were a terrific close loving family, and Holidays at their house were wild....especially when they got married and started having children of their own! Most of them are gone now, but Angela, Emilia, Florence, Rose, and their oldest living sister, Rita, are still with us. My cousin Sal, who was the spitting image of my Uncle Vito, and a rake like his dad, just died this year of cancer. He was the last of the boys. He was divorced for many years and has three grown sons and a daughter......Next is my Aunt Millie and my Uncle Joe Dell'Olio....My Uncle Joe and my father were first cousins hence the same last names. Out of all of my mom's siblings she was closest to my Aunt Millie.....We spent a lot of time together, and often vacationed together...They had two children...my cousin Mauro [same name as my brother] and his older sister Josephine....My Aunt was a flaming RED HEAD, like my mother....except my mom let hers go gray and then white, while my Aunt Millie dyed hers until she died when she was 103 or 104. She and her unmarried son, a Vietnam vet, used to take a bus to Atlantic City and go gambling. The casinos knew her so well that they used to give her a free room.....Unfortunately there was a falling out between the families that I never understood, and they stopped speaking. I loved them all very much, and this rift made me very sad....My Uncle Joe died early on, so my Aunt was a widow for many years. They lived in the same house in Brooklyn as long as I can remember. and I assume my cousin Mauro is still living there. I would really like him to know I love him.......Next to them is my Aunt Marie any my mother's oldest brother Paul. He was an extraordinary, very handsome man, again with blue eyes. In his youth he had a full head of incredible wavy hair....I have pictures. However, I only knew him bald!. They had two very good looking sons....John and Louis....They both went to college, married and moved far away from their parents. From what I recall it wasn't a happy marriage, and I always suspected he had girlfriends on the side, though no one ever told me he did. It was just a feeling I had..... He was an officer, and mediator in the NYC Ladies Garment Union. Whenever there was a problem he was called in to mediate.....My mother had shown him sketches I did when I was 11 or 12, and he told her I was very talented. He got me my first job as a summer intern at the house of Norman Norell, after I graduated high school in 1966.....I knew nothing about the fashion business or the designers. I remember working at the House of Norell vividly. I remember getting off the elevator on the 14th or 15th floor of 550 7th Ave to see the black and white tile floors. I remember the smell of the Norell perfume being pumped in the air. I remember sitting and waiting in the small mirrored vestibule on a small ivory satin bench with a crystal vase of cally lilies in front of me on a mirrored table. I remember seeing the beautiful clothes on gold racks, and meeting the head sales woman.....I remember meeting all of the people who worked there. I remember meeting the models and clients, but most of all I remember meeting Mr. Norell!...He was very nice to me....One evening I had to stay very late waiting for the sample room to finish a sequin dress for Lynn Revson that I would have to deliver to her town house. I was sitting in the empty show room looking at the limos below pulling up in front of the old Metropolitan Opera House. The one featured in the series "The Gilded Age". I found out later a special performance was being held to make money for the new Met at Lincoln Center. I unknowingly was watching history being made. The Met was torn down that fall. It really should have been designated an Historical site, but an office building took it's place........Next is my mother and father. They were both wonderful dressers, and had beautiful clothes. My father was always a peacock! and my mother had exquisite taste. I guess I inherited it from them!.....My mother also had two other sisters, Marie the oldest and Angie the second youngest. She also had two other brothers. My Uncle Lou and the baby of the family....my Uncle Danny. My Uncle Danny had a top secret job at NASA and could never speak of it....all very mysterious. I have a photo of my Uncle Paul holding the hand of his baby brother. They look more like father and son than brothers......They are all gone now with only the memories I have of them and the many photo my mother saved....They were a beautiful family.

..................If you have never seen the Christmas show at RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL it must be on your bucket list!!!...The last time I saw it was two years ago just before it was shut down due to COVID....This is so much more than a show.....it's a SPECTACLE....an EXPERIENCE you must have..... For those who poh poh it or think it's corny...they obviously haven't seen it, or have lost the spirit of wonder....It always amazes me the precision, not only of the Rockettes who are always perfection, but the entire production, the lighting and the special effects that take place all over the entire theater! You are totally surrounded with incredible effects....The timing is that of an air traffic controller!!....I'm sure much of it is programmed on a computer, but the timing still had to be worked out and rehearsed and choreographed for days and days and probably weeks!!!....You even get three D glasses for a segment of the show when Santa is flying through the air in his sled from the North Pole to Radio City....There is snow that falls from the ceiling, and streams that are shot through the air. Little "Ice Fairies" that literally fly overhead sometimes crash and fall into the audience, but there is an announcement at the beginning of the show that this may happen! They must be tiny drones that sometimes collide. I saw two fall into the audience!.......The nativity scene with the live animals always touches the heart. At this performance one of the camels didn't quite want to cooperate!....I thought it was actually going to bolt across the stage....now that would have been a spectacle!!!....The dance of the wooden soldiers, a perennial favorite, never gets old....Robyn knows a Rockette who told her it was very difficult to see with those tall hats, and they are a little afraid of the girl in front falling on them....The last few girls actually do have a pretty hard landing!....I would have taken many more pictures....but...I was told very nicely by an usher "no cameras or cell phones allowed".....I was a bad boy!.....Well, you will just have to go and see it for yourselves......I guess I've seen it maybe 7 or 8 times, or maybe more over my life.....Jac loved the show!....You will too!!!