1956 in Italian television

This is a list of Italian television related events from 1956.

Events

• 26 January-5 February. The 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo are the first major sport event covered by the RAI. ^{[1] [2] [3]}
• 10 March - Franca Raimondi wins the 1956 Sanremo festival, hosted by Fausto Tommei, with Aprite le finestre ; Tonina Torrielli is runner up with Amami se vuoi . The two female singers, both rookies, are selected to represent Italy at the 1956 Eurovision Song Contest. ^{[4] [5]}
• 18-19 Aprile: RAI broadcasts live, in Eurovision, the wedding of Rainier III and Grace Kelly.
• 24 May - Italy enters the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time with "Aprite le finestre", performed by Franca Raimondi and "Amami se vuoi", performed by Tonina Torrielli. ^[6]
• 20 June - Resignation of Filiberto Guala, CEO of RAI since 1954. He was a skilled administrator, but considered controversial for the bigoted decency codes which he imposed on television. He was replaced by Marcello Rodinò. ^[7] Guala was a fervent Catholic, and would later become a Trappist monk. ^[8]
• 19 December - Birth of the company Il tempo TV , aiming to create of the first Italian commercial network. Its president is Renato Angiolillo, owner and director of the Roman right-wing newspaper Il Tempo . ^[9] After a four-years-long legal battle, the project is definitively stopped by a sentence of the Constitutional Court. ^[10]
• 31 December - The covering of the Italian territory by the TV signal is completed.

Debuts

• L'amico degli animali (The animals' friend), hosted by Angelo Lombardi, educational show about zoology. ^[11] The Lombardi's phrases "Hello, friends of my friends" and "Andalù, take it away", said to his African helper, become proverbial.

Television shows

Drama

• Il sogno dello zio (Uncle's dream) by Gugliemo Morandi, adapted by Corrado Alvaro from Fyodor Dostoevskij's novella, with Margherita Bagni and Antonio Battistella.
• Charley’s aunt by Brandon Thomas, directed by Claudio Fino, with Ugo Tognazzi and Raffaele Pisu.
• Romance by Edward Sheldon, directed by Daniele D'Anza, with Lea Padovani and Paolo Carlini.
• The Bouligrin, satirical farce about the bourgeois marriage by Georges Courteline, directed by Antonello Falqui, with Bice Valori, Giarico Tedeschi and Alberto Bonucci
• I nostri figli (Our sons) by Ginetta Ortona, directed by Piero Turchetti, with Evi Maltagliati and Ivo Garrani; an happy middlec-class couple must face the unexpected death of the daughter's boyfriend. The play had won a RAI contest for the best TV script.

Miniseries

• L'alfiere (The ensign), by Anton Giulio Majano, from Carlo Alianello, historical novel about the Italian unification, seen on the side of the army of the Two Sicilies; to notice the presence, in small roles, of some future stars, as Domenico Modugno, Monica Vitti and Nino Manfredi.
• Cime tempestose (Wuthering Heights), by Mario Landi, from Emily Brontë, with Massimo Girotti as Heathcliff and Anna Maria Ferrero as Catherine Earnshaw.
• Il marziano Filippo (Filippo the Martian), by Cesare Emilio Gaslini, with Oreste Lionello, science-fiction miniserie for children; the plot is strangely similar to the E. T.’s one.

Variety

• Primo applauso (First applause), talent show, hosted by Enzo Tortora, who begins his long career as TV showman. ^[12]
• Lui e lei (He and she) and Lui, lei e gli altri (He, she and the others), good-naturedly ironic varieties about the family life by Vito Molinari, with Nino Taranto (sided, respectively, by Delia Scala and Tina De Mola), written by Marcello Marchesi. and Vittorio Metz.
• Rascel la nuit by Romolo Siena, with Renato Rascel. ^[13]
• La piazzetta (The little square), variety show, hosted by Riccardo Billi and Mario Riva. After three episodes, an exhibition of the dancer Alba Arnova with apparently bare legs (she wore a tight leotard) arouses L'Osservatore romano's protests and the show is deleted. ^[14]

News and educational

• La strada è di tutti (The road is for everybody) educational show about road safety by Giuliano Tomei. ^[15]

Births

• 30 May – Piero Chiambretti, television presenter
• 7 August - Gerry Scotti, television presenter

See also

• List of Italian films of 1956

References

1. Rainews, Redazione di (2019-06-23), Quei magnifici atleti del '56. Scatti e ricordi delle Olimpiadi a Cortina (in Italian), retrieved 2023-12-24
2. "La storia delle Olimpiadi invernali - Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956, i Giochi di Toni Sailer e dell'Urss". NEVEITALIA.IT (in Italian). 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
3. "Cortina celebra l'Olimpiade del '56 - Altri sport". raisport. 2016-01-23. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
4. Manfrin, Edoardo (2022-08-08). "La RAI ha pubblicato un filmato inedito dietro le quinte dell'Eurovision 1956" (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-12-24.
5. ""Io, la prima cantante italiana all'Eurovision ma non lo sapevo"". La Stampa (in Italian). 2018-05-12. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
6. "Eurovision Song Contest, tutti i piazzamenti sul podio dell'Italia". tg24.sky.it (in Italian). 2021-05-23. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
7. Monteleone, Franco (2013-11-26). Storia della radio e della televisione in Italia: Costume, società e politica (in Italian). Marsilio. ISBN   978-88-317-3616-9.
8. ""No abiti sexy e tacchi": Daria Bignardi "vela" Rai3". ilGiornale.it (in Italian). 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
9. "Cinquanta anni fa moriva il Senatore Renato Angiolillo, precursore della televisione privata". CBlive (in Italian). 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
10. "Storia della radiotelevisione italiana. Anni '50, Tempo Tv: si tenta di scardinare il monopolio tv RAI". Newslinet (in Italian). 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
11. Marchesini, Roberto (2022-04-28). L'amore per gli animali: Come la relazione con le altre specie ci ha cambiato (in Italian). Lindau. ISBN   978-88-3353-851-8.
12. Caselli, Roberto; Gilardino, Stefano (2019-11-12). Storia del rock in Italia: Protagonisti, album, concerti, luoghi: tutto quanto è stato rock dagli anni '50 a oggi (in Italian). HOEPLI EDITORE. ISBN   978-88-203-9445-5.
13. "Rascel la nuit - 1956". Renato Rascel (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-03-28.
14. Grasso, Aldo (2018-03-21). "Quel balletto di Alba Arnova, primo dei grandi «scandali» Rai". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-12-24.
15. "La strada è di tutti, 1956 -". Rai Teche (in Italian). 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2024-03-28.