Monday, December 2, 2013

Marini History

The blog was created to highlight through films & photos the more than 60 years Clara & Dan Marini spent in NY & Quincy with daughters Linda & Janet.
The images & home movies were those made available from Dan's 8mm films & their photos including current videos I took when visiting.
The blog also traces Clara's "Cedrone," family & Dan's 1930 voyage with his Marini family to the US.





The blog is not a history of all the Marini's. That is up to Dan's family to create online as I did for my own family:
I did not include images of grandchildren (excluding those featured in videos) because to be fair I would have to include all of them multiple times over the years & the only photos available would've been those from Clara & Dan's library.
If you're a "Marini,"grandchild, cousin, even a friend of the family & would like to contribute more images/videos linked to this blog email me:
yourbestdj@aol.com
Video quality: In the 80's Clara had Dan's films transferred to VHS. Unfortunately the quality was fair to sometimes bad. Assuming she no longer needed the original film they were discarded.  I salvaged the data from those tapes converting them so they could be made available to view online. At times the quality is not the best. But it is better than the alternative...nothing. 



 

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Sunday, November 24, 2013

The End Of An Era



Pictured at the top of the photo are Loreto & Maria Cedrone with their seven children. 
A poor blue collar Italian immigrant  family, who like many came off the boat (Loreto, Maria & oldest daughter Annunziata aka Nancy seated to your right, came from the "old country,") to make a better life for themselves.
Clara (in wedding dress), was the last of the Cedrone siblings to pass away. Clara died this afternoon three months shy of her 96th birthday. 
 Her passing also brings to an end many family traditions. 
That generation stood for family. Family values. Family was everything. The good. The bad. The happy. The sad. All of it evolved around family and being Italian...FOOD!
On any given Sunday Clara pictured below was in the kitchen like her mother & sisters before her filled with family & food.  
 




Notice the small photo pulled from a 1960s 8mm movie. I swear it's the same pot she was using some 40 years later.
The links to the videos below will more than wet your appetite.
Beyond tables filled with food, the home was filled with laughter.
Laughing!
Everyone talking if not YELLING all at the same time. Often times they were the same old stories you heard 100 times before but enjoyed hearing once again. Clara loved to cook & we loved eating what she made. Pasta to cookies, string beans to salad,  chicken to rabe'. You couldn't have enough of it & if you were lucky (as I was) you didn't leave without leftovers. 
Clara's Sunday Leftovers 1080p (p for Pasta)
But you also left with memories. Memories of a family that started from nothing. That endured hard ships. A family that stood tall. Proud of who they were & what they became.


The first photo at the top of this post does not exist. There are no photos of the family together. The image was created from several photos to create a family group shot. 
Today they are once again reunited.
My mother died in 1988 when I was 32. 
Today, November 24th 2013 I am 57. 
Clara having two daughters often referred to me as the son she never had.You don't often get a chance at a second mother. She was much like one to me & a grandmother to our kids who never really had an (Italian) grandma. 
The memorial video linked below has about 30 seconds of dark screen. There is a dialogue box detailing how she & Dan met.
However, some devices/browsers don't see the dialogue. If you don't, just cue past that to about 7:00.

She & Dan also became our youngest child's Godparents seen here the day of his baptism:
Dan Marini
Clara often said she was too old. She said she'd never see him graduate high school. But she did. 
It was this time of year, Thanksgiving 2009 where she & Dan (who passed away 3 years prior) were featured in the local paper after I discovered Dan's local Quincy Christmas Parade footage:
http://marinisofquincy.blogspot.com/2009/11/parade-memories.html

I had 32 years with my mother with almost as many with Aunt Clara who was as close to a second mother as you could be lucky to have. She, my mother & the rest are now reunited. 
Something tells me there's plenty of sauce on the stove, more meatballs than you can count, with endless bowls of spaghetti. That would truly be heaven!
Clara The Movie 1080p
Clara Marini's Fresh Gnocchi's!
Clara's Sunday Leftovers 1080p (p for Pasta)
Italian Sunday Dinner 1080p (Pasta Vision)
Italian Sunday Dinner HD
Italiano!
Food, Wine, Song. Italian!
Italian Christmas
Italians!
Abudanza Marini Style, 8mm Home Movie
Aunt Clara's
Clara Marini Making Pasta at 93
Clara Marini 8mm Pasta
Clara Marini Cooking Pasta 8/23/09
Clara Marini's Macaroni
Claras stories...live on:
Clara Meets Dan 1080p (Paisan Vision)
Clara's Punch 1080p (Punch Vision)
Aunt Millies 1080p (Pasta Vision)
Dan Burns His Backside (HD)
Clara's Horse Story
I found just weeks after Clara died an early/mid 1980's audio cassette. No one knew they existed. They were never heard by anyone. We assume Clara may have listened to them, but they could've been recorded then stored away & forgotten.
I wish I'd found them before she passed away.
Enjoy:
Thanksgiving. Listen to all the food coming out of the kitchen & that's just the "little something," to hold you over:
https://app.box.com/s/tuvny9ka2l0etcxxq2gx 
Dan singing the songs he sang to Clara when they were courting:
https://app.box.com/s/ma83g22uub0f9tys8769 
 
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

How To Use Or Read This Blog

I am not a Marini. My parents were Frank Tocci & Christine (Cedrone). Clara is my mother's sister. That's why there are so many " Tocci -Cedrone," links. I created this blog as a "sister," to my family blog. The images/videos represented here reflect  Clara, Dan, Janet & Linda as well as "my side," including Dan's 8mm home movies which also feature the Marini's.
If you're a Marini & would like to contribute to the blog  please contact me, (there is no charge) so I can help you link your photos & videos.To use this blog...
Scroll this page. This will lead you to & through  various posts.
You can also view past posts by scrolling all the way down past the last post & click on "older posts," or just scroll down the right column  to the Blog Archives. Click a month & then any of the posts within that month. 
The slideshows to your right will take you to the web sites where all the images & mp3's are available to download for FREE.
The one question I'm often asked, "Why so many versions of the same video, or content."
When I first began I had limited video quality available. I was pulling clips from videotapes, sometimes not the best. As I restored video, I didn't delete the older versions because of the work involved. Instead I created a link within the older version which would direct you to the newer version(s).
However as explained throughout this blog, back in the 80's Clara had her home movies transferred to VHS. Assuming she no longer needed the original films she threw them away! I had no knowledge of this at that time. (ALWAYS keep your originals). The transfer quality was only fair. By today's standards they would be poor. The tapes are worn, further diminishing quality. I converted the data of those tapes into  digital files so they could be made available online. While the quality is lacking, it's all that's left. View them below.
This one page contains everything:
https://sites.google.com/site/loretosfamily/
Comments? Email: yourbestdj@aol.com
Marini 8mm Home Movie History Twelve
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