28 June 1964 - OESP columnist sums up Rita Pavone's performances at Teatro Record and Channel 7 in this note. It says: 'It is amazing to see a young person with such an original style...'
'Hello, Brazil!' Rita followed by her manager and her mother Maria arrive in São Paulo.
a crowd of journalists & fans rush towards Rita at Viracopos' tarmac.
# 85, August 1964 - monthly lyrics magazine 'Melodias' followed Rita Pavone's each and every step she took during her São Paulo, Brazil tour. Text written by Melodias columnist Ademarzinho Dutra.
Rita arrived at Viracopos Airport, Campinas on a Luftansa jet from Buenos Aires on Friday, 20 June 1964. She was accompanied by her manager Teddy Reno and her mother Maria.
On the 21st, Saturday afternoon, Rita appeared at 'Reino da Juventude' (Youth's Kingdom), Antonio Aguilar's rock-show to be video-taped and be shown on TV Record on Sunday, the 22nd at 1:00 pm.
As Teddy Reno (Rita's impresario) knew well - since he first visited Argentina in 1950 & 1952 during Domingo & Evita Perón's heydays - it is wise to nurture good neighbours-policy. He managed to have Rita and himself to be received officially by Ademar de Barros (63), governor of São Paulo and his charismatic wife dona Leonor Mendes de Barros (59).
Portly Leonor (in another photo on the right) was no Evita Perón but had charms of her own. One should bear in mind Brazil had been under a military dictatorship for 2 months since a coup d'ètat on 1st April 1964 sent President João Goulart and many other citizens into exile.
See that Rita & Teddy are accompanied by Miss Interior (Brazil had been addicted to beauty pageant contests since 1954) and Ronnie Cord (21) who had hit Number One in the charts with 'Rua Augusta' a few weeks before Rita hit with 'Datemi un martello'.
Rita signs autographs at the governor's Palace at Campos Elíseos, named after Champs-Élysées, its French counterpart . RCA Victor executive José Mojica, Ronnie Cord (also signed by RCA), Moacyr Gomes and Alceu Maynard Araújo look on.
Stelvio Cipriani at the white piano, Netinho on the drums, Rita holding a mic, Mingo on rhythm guitar, Manito blowing a saxophone, Neno on bass, Risonho on lead guitar (hidden behind Teddy) and Teddy Reno on the stage of Teatro Record.
same formation, different night...at Teatro Record, in São Paulo. Stelvio Cipriani took a few lessons from Little Richard and decided to play his piano standing up...
the back-drop at Teatro Record tells us it's yet a different night from the previous two.
'Melodias' follow Rita up to the last minute in Brazil. Here, she waves goodbye while boarding an Aerolines Argentinas jet.
The supposed romance between Rita Pavone and Netinho (Luiz Franco) started as a joke and developed into something Teddy Reno had not expected. According to Antonio Aguilar's own words, when Rita appeared at 'Reino da Juventude', his Saturday rock-show at Teatro Record, the same venue Pavone would open 3 days later, she wasn't suppose to sing any songs...it was written on her contract with TV Record she could appear anywhere but she was forbidden to sing... but as soon as Rita Pavone entered the stage of the theatre, the teen-age audience went wild and The Clevers who were plugged in started playing the initial chords of 'Datemi un martello' (If I had a hammer) which had reached Number One in the country just the week before... When Rita was given the microphone to salute the audience and not being able to speak Portuguese she probably thought it would be easier to sing just a strain of her smash-hit... and that's how Rita broke the contract and The Clevers were invited by Teddy Reno to accompany her on her nightly recitals at the theatre.
As all the papers had already been signed, Teddy Reno said he could not pay band. Aguilar acted shrewdly and said he, as the band manager, would accept no pay as long as he could use Rita Pavone's image to enhance the band's position and asked if he could invent that Rita was smitten by the tall and handsome drummer. Teddy saw no problem in that and agreed. That's how the whole thing started...
Rita rocks while Netinho swings at the drums.
Brancato Junior, a TV Record executive signs a contract with Teddy Reno in which he would act as The Clevers' manager while working in Italy. See how circumspect Antonio Aguilar, the actual manager of the band looks on. After spending 8 weeks in Italy with The Clevers, Brancato convinced the band they would be better off with himself being their manager...which they eventually did to the chagrin of Aguilar who was bitter till the end.
# 85 - 'Melodias Italianas' had a field day with its columnist Salvador Buonaerba having a photo opportunity next to the Girl Wonder at her press conference at Terrazza Martini on Monday.
# 85, August 1964 - 'Melodias' shows June's best selling single: 'Datemi un martello' (Rita Pavone); best selling extended-play: 'Adorabile' (Rita Pavone); best album: 'Meus 18 anos' (Rita Pavone).
Rita Pavone's June 1964 Brazilian tour was one of those events made of dreams. Pavone was at the right place at the right time. Tournées by foreign acts in Brazil seldom had this perfect timing except maybe for Nat King Cole who was at the peak of his popularity when he visited Brazil in 1959 and Paul Anka who stopped traffic at Rua da Consolação in September 1960.
Rita had everything going for her: 'Datemi un martello' reached Number One in the charts on the week she stepped out of the Luftansa jet at Viracopos Airport. It was the most played song in the whole country for at least 5 weeks. She also had a #1 extended-play ('Adorabile') and a #1 album ('Meus 18 anos') to boot. Pavone was invincible on all fronts. A perfect storm.
'Melodias' # 85, August 1964.
## 85, August 1964 - These many pages about Rita Pavone's tour to São Paulo, Brazil in June 1964, were published by monthly 'Melodias' for its August issue released 6 weeks after Pavone had left for Europe. It was surely the most comprehensive article about the Italian Volcano's stay in São Paulo. I bought the magazine when it came out but have not seen it for over 50 years.
After a long and winding road we finally spotted issue # 85 of 'Melodias' 'for sale' at an Internet site and through the prompt action of Marta Mendes aided closely by Doris Castro we finally got hold of it again. The following are some words I've written Marta & Doris thanking them both for being instrumental in giving me the chance to re-live those heady July 1964 days.
Dear Doris, Gostaria novamente de agradecer sua generosidade, junto com a da Marta, em proporcionar a realização de um sonho meu. Realmente, agora vejo que minha (vaga) lembrança dessa publicação não era exagerada. Quando vi o Hit Parade com Rita no topo das 3 modalidades, eu percebi que ali estava a genesis do meu "fanatismo" pela RP. Foi estimulado por essa reportagem que Rita Pavone se tornou uma "religião" para mim. Nessa única edição de 'Melodias' haviam todos os elementos que fizeram da minha pessoa um grande "advogado" da "causa Pavonis". Descobri hoje, que aprendi meu "jornalismo básico" - de procurar obter datas precisas de eventos - nessa reportagem de 4 páginas, escrita pelo Ademarzinho Dutra, que comandava programas de auditório para a juventude na Radio Nacional paulista e Canal 5,TV Paulista, depois transferindo-se para o Canal 9, TV Excelsior.
Vai aqui uma homenagem póstuma ao Ademarzinho. Revendo essa edição eu percebi que tudo aquilo que o Fábio admirava no meu "ativismo pavonico" teve sua principal inspiração nessa reportagem seminal.
28 June 1964 - This was what was on offer in São Paulo's entertainment sector on the Sunday Rita Pavone sang for the last time at Teatro Record. Dostoievski's 'White nights' with Berta Zemmel was on Teatro Maria Della Costa; 'Boeing, Boeing' was at its 2nd year at Teatro Bela Vista; at Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia, a recital with Alaíde Costa, Pery Ribeiro, Ana Lúcia, Pedrinho Mattar Trio, Marcia, Theo and São Bossa 5; at Teatro Oficina Tarcisio Meira starred in 'Todo donzela tem um pai que é uma fera'.
Rita at the front page of 'Correio do Paraná'.
Rita arrives back at Rome's Fiumicino, on 30 June 1964, with Teddy Reno and Stelvio Cipriani, her pianist.
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