Sophia Loren Archives - Chronicles 1956

"What I've got came from eating spaghetti." – Sophia Loren

Winter Olympics
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Photo: Giancolombo
30/01/56

Lux Soaps
Italian publicity

Winter Olympics / Brenden
Cortina d'Ampezzo
30/01/56

Un giorno in pretura
German poster

Town-Twinning Ceremony
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Photo: Boris Lipnitzki
14/03/56

Negulesco Exhibit
Rome
28/12/56

La bella mugnaia
German poster

Pane, amore e... Premiere
Paris
Photo: Teddy Piaz
13/03/56

Singing new song in a restaurant
Rome
09/56

Boy on a Dolphin
Photo: John Springer
10/56

Bullfighting lessons
Madrid
10/02/56

Associated Press
Bullfight in El Escorial
15/06/56

Miguel Bosé's Baptism
Villa Paz, Saelices
Photo: Giancolombo
12/07/56

She (USA)
09/56

Colosseum
Rome
Photo: Ken Danvers
04/56

Eiffel Tower
Paris
Photo: Boris Lipnitzki
14/03/56

Barajas airport (Madrid)
08/02/56

Schuberth's Atelier
Rome
Photo: Sam Shaw
03/56

Cine Mundo Awards
Madrid
Photo: Vicente Ibañez
24/04/56

FILMS AND FILMING

The Pride and the Passion
Spain, April - July

Boy on the Dolphin
Greece, Rome, September - December

FILM PROJECTS

Bandoola
Based on the novel Elephant Bill by J. H. Williams, the project is sponsored by Hecht-Lancaster and United Artists. Sophia's co-star is Ernest Borgnine and the filming is scheduled to start in Ceylon in November.

Blaze in the Sun
This second Hecht-Lancaster film project, based on a Jean Houron book, is announced as early as January after Ponti sold the rights to the American production company. Filming is expected for 1957.

Girls in Love
Movie project to be produced by Carlo Ponti is announced in June.

MOVIE PREMIERES

WEST GERMANY
Un giorno in pretura
January 27 (Drei Sunderinnen)
La bella mugnaia
March 31 (Eine Frau für schwache Stunden)
La fortuna di essere donna
April 4 (Wie herrlich, eine Frau zu sein)
Aida
May 22 (Aida)
Due notti con Cleopatra
October 14 (Zwei Nächte mit Cleopatra)
Pane, amore e...
September 28 (Liebe, Brot und 100 Küsse)

FRANCE
Pane, amore e...
Paris, March 14 (Pain, amour, ainsi soit-il)
La bella mugnaia
Paris, May 30 (Par dessus les moulins)
La fortuna di essere donna
Marseille, June 20 (La chance d'être femme)
Il segno di Venere
Marseille, August 13 (Le signe de Vénus)
Un giorno in pretura
Paris, August 15 (Les gaîtés de la correctionnelle)
Luci del varietà
Paris, December 7 (Les feux du music-hall)

SPAIN
Il segno di Venere
Madrid - avenida February 6 (El signo de Venus)
Pane, amore e...
Madrid - lope de Vega April 1 (Pan, amor y...)
La domenica della buona gente
Madrid - carlos III & roxy April 23 (Sucedió en Roma)
Africa sotto i mari
Madrid - August (Africa bajo el mar)
La donna del fiume
Madrid - capitol November 14 (La chica del río)
La fortuna di essere donna
Madrid - palacio de la música December 17 (La suerte de ser mujer)

BELGIUM
Pane, amore e...
Brussels (Palais des Beaux Arts), March 11
(Pain, amour... ainsi soit-il / Broode, liefde en eindelijk geluk)

ENDORSEMENTS

Lux

NSU Quickly
Publicity for German manufacturer which makes the most popular moped of its time.

PUBLIC APPEARANCES

Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo - January 30
Dazzlingly attired in a ski outfit of mustard yellow and a white knitted swagger coat, Sophia attracts a crowd of photographers and spectators as she is watching the ski competition at the finish line of the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Olympic Games dates: January 26 - February 5.

Norwegian Reconciliation - January 30
Sophia shows up at the Norwegian team hotel, shakes hands all around and plants a kiss on the cheek of Hallgeir Brenden who won the 15-km cross-country ski race. The previous month, in Oslo, Sophia was supposed to have attended a benefit to send the Norwegian team to the Olympics but stood everybody up which developed into a storm both in Norway and at the Italian Parliament.

Dinner Gala of the Stars - January 30
Sophia is a special guest at a Hotel Miramonti gala dinner for the Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympics along with other movie stars, including Raf Vallone.

Trip to Spain - February 8
Sophia travels to Madrid in order to get ready for her next movie, The Pride and the Passion. Press conference on the 9. She has a taste of bullfighting when she is taught the rudiments of the trade by famed toreador Luis Dominguín. Photo session of Sophia dressed in matador. Costume fitting session for her first American film. Sophia also receives the sword used by Spain's great bullfighter, Manolete.

Gare du Midi - March 11
Sophia travels to Brussels for the premiere of Pane, amore e... at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Upon her arrival at the Gare du Midi more than 4,000 fans and 150 photographers are present. She leaves almost immediately for the Italian Embassy, where she is officially greeted by Italian Ambassador Baron Michele Scammacca del Murgo.

Pane, amore e... in Paris - March 13
Sophia travels from Brussels to Paris by train and stays in the City of Light for a few days. She attends the Paris premiere of Pane, amore e... followed by a night on the town. As a typical tourist she also climbs the Eiffel Tower and visits several boutiques, including Cartier.

Town-Twinning Ceremony - March 21
Many pictures to promote upcoming film The Pride and the Passion are taken in the surroundings of the medieval town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye which has been twinned with Italian town Sorrento.

Rome-San Remo Motor Rally of the Stars - April 4

An estimated 10,000 fans mill around Sophia who perches on the hood of her silver-gray Mercedes 300 at the starting point in Rome. More than 100 police are used to hold the crowd in check as it surges toward Sophia who wears a revealing orange dress. At the end of the first stage of the trip her car is mobbed by the crowds. The car is pushed off the road, the windscreen shattered. Her wrist is cut by the broken glass. Trembling but smiling she is helped out of the car by police. Italian actor Alberto Sordi is the race winner. The race is followed by a party at the San Remo casino.

Brassiere Scandal - April
Mario Natale, the press agent hired by Ponti, lets it be known that Sophia is going shopping for a brassiere on Via Condotti in Rome. Three fire brigades are summoned to break up a mob of men who storm into the place and trap Sophia in one of the try-on cubicles.

The Pride Cocktail Party - April 12
Inaugural cocktail party for The Pride and the Passion in Madrid. It is a big affair, crowded with paparazzi and attended by many of the society figures of Madrid. Grant unexpectedly arrives an hour late and greets Sophia by teasing her with "How do you do, Miss Lolloloren, or is it Lorenigida? Sinatra upstages Grant by turning up after an hour and a half.

Attending Bullfights at El Escorial - June 15
After taking bullfighting lessons in February with Luís Miguel Dominguín, Sophia sees the real thing for the first time in San Lorenzo del Escorial. California-born matador Harry Whitney dedicates the killing of one bull to Sophia.

El oro de Napoles - June 19
Sophia is at Madrid's Amaya theater for benefit presentation of L'oro di Napoli sponsored by the Italian embassy and Cineclub Madrid.

Miguel Bosé's Baptism - July 12
Sophia takes one day off from the filming of The Pride and the Passion and goes to matador Luís Miguel Dominguín and actress Lucia Bosé's ranch in Villa Paz, near Saelices, for the baptism of their first child who is known today as Miguel Bosé, a famous Spanish singer. Also present is Luchino Visconti who is in fact the child's godfather.

Jean Negulesco Exhibit - December 28
Sophia is on hand at the exhibition in a Roman gallery of the drawings and sketches made by director Jean Negulesco during the shooting of Boy on a Dolphin. Proceeds from the sales of the Sophia Lorens go to Hungarian relief after the Revolution which took place a few weeks before.

MAGAZINE COVERS

Italy
Alta Tensione, Bolero Film, Il Campione, Cinema Nuovo, Detective Crimen, Epoca, L'Europeo, I Grandi Successi dello Schermo, Mascotte, Realtà Illustrata, La Settimana Incom Illustrata, Settimana Radio TV, Settimo Giorno, Stars Parade, Tempo, Victory, Visto
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West Germany
Bella, Deutsche Illustrierte, Film und Frau, Film-Echo, Frau im Spiegel, Münchner Illustrierte, Neue Berliner Illustrierte, Neue Illustrierte, Quick, Radio Revue, Revue
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France
Ciné-Révélation, Cinémonde, Le Film Complet, Folies de Paris et de Hollywood, France Dimanche, Jours de France, Mon Film, Paris Frou-Frou, Point de Vue / Images du Monde, La Semaine du Monde

Spain
La actualidad española, Fotogramas, Garbo, Hola, Mundo Híspanico
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UK
Illustrated, Picture Post
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USA
Art Photography, Chicago Tribune Magazine, On the QT, Rave, She, Tab, Tempo, This Week Magazine
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LATIN AMERICA
O Cruzeiro, Damas y Damitas, Dinamita, Ecran, Estrellas, Mundial

SONGS & RECORDS

Recording Sessions - August
Recording of two songs prior to departure for Greece.
Che m'è 'mparato a fa'
(Verde - Trovajoli - directed by A. Trovajoli)
Cerco un ragazzo / I Wanna a Guy
(Trovajoli, Verdi, Fange)

Recording Sessions - December
Recording of three songs in Rome prior to departure for Libya.
Felicità
(De Crescenzo - Oliviero)
Perché domani / You'll Say Tomorrow
(Amurri - Broady - Luttazzi)

TV SHOWS

Trente-six Chandelles - March 13
Arlene Francis visits Sophi

Home - April 12
Arlene Francis visits Sophia's Roman house on NBC network show.

EDITOR' NOTES

Sophia's English Coach

Because Sophia's English is very lousy, Ponti hires Rome-based Irish interpreter and teacher Sarah Spain after signing the contract for The Pride and the Passion. "She was not a teacher, Sophia commented later, she was a persecutor; but I am grateful to her."

Count Lelio Galateri vs. Loren - February 22
Lowly Neapolitan couturier Lelio Galateri, who designed dresses for Sophia in 1953 and 1954, - including a wedding dress Sophia would have ordered for her wedding with Achille Togliani - sues Sophia on the ground that he got small thanks for converting her into a lady. He is quoted as saying: "In 1953 Sophia was not yet refined and spoke an incomprehensible Neapolitan dialect. She didn't even know how to walk. She had to be educated, taught to walk and not to talk. I redressed her from head to toe and civilized her." He does not win his case.

Cary Grant's Crush - June

Although he was reticent to play opposite an unknown Italian starlet, Cary Grant falls for Sophia starting on inaugural cocktail party night for The Pride and the Passion. Sophia, despite the fact that she is dating Carlo Ponti and is closed to becoming engaged to him, can't resist Grant. They visit romantic restaurants in the hills, visit historic places and listen to the sounds of flamenco singers. By the time the film is completed, Grant has asked Sophia to marry him. Sophia is hesitant because she truly loves Carlo but he is a married man with children and has yet to make such a concrete proposal to her. Grant assures Sophia that he will obtain a divorce from her wife Betsy Drake and marry her immediately if she is ready.

Sophia Signs an Article in US newspapers - July 16

Pinch-hitting for columnist Dorothy Kilgallen Sophia writes an article on men and confesses that "everything I've got I got from eating spaghetti".

Desire under the Elms - August 5

Anthony Perkins is signed to co-star with Sophia in her first movie to be shot in Hollywood. The producers tried to get Marlon Brando and then Spencer Tracy before the announcement.

La ruota della fortuna - August 26

Italian magazine La domenica del Corriere publishes a short novel by Sophia titled La ruota della fortuna (The Wheel of Fortune).

Legend of the Lost - September 15

John Wayne's participation - both as an actor and producer - in Sophia's third Hollywood movie, is confirmed.

The Athens Incident - September 27
Arrived in Athens on September 11, for the shooting of Boy on a Dolphin and accompanied by Ines Bruscia and Basilio Franchina, Sophia convinces Carlo to come over and visit her in Greece. She greets him at the Athens airport on September 27, one week after her birthday celebrated with crew members in an Athens restaurant, and does not hide her affection for the man she loves. Journalists and photographers then witness a relationship that was kept secret until that day. Sophia asks Carlo for a long-term commitment during his stay in Greece. "I want to marry you", she says, "I can't go on forever this way."

Count Lelio Galateri vs. Loren - December 15
The case opens in a Roman court before judge Vittore Rapone. Sophia is present to testify against designer Galateri who is suing her for breach of contract. The case is postponed until January 28, 1957.

John Wayne's Party - December 25
Once Boy on a Dolphin is completed, Sophia flies back to Rome where she joins Carlo at their Palazzo Colonna home. They attend a welcome party in John Wayne's suite on Christmas Day, a few days prior to their departure, on January 2 1957, for Libya where they are to shoot Legend of the Lost.

Sophia's Income in 1956
Sophia's earnings for 1956 are officially estimated at $25,600 while Lollobrigida will pay taxes on an income estimated at $43,000.