Word: italian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish...
...Sometimes Pavarotti will make the supreme sacrifice, receiving fans for hours even when he knows the last restaurant in town is closing. In San Francisco, he knew that a giant steak awaited him at the postperformance ball, so he volubly welcomed everyone in sight. Especially the women. A true Italian male, he makes it a point of honor to kiss every female in the same room with him. Cheerful propositions are the staple of ins small talk ("Just kidding," he reassures husbands and boyfriends, then adds quickly to the women: "See you later...
...Francisco Opera an Italian tenor named Luciano Pavarotti was singing the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème, Suddenly, midway through the third act, the entire theater seemed to rumble and shudder. Chandeliers began swaying. Members of the audience stood up in confusion; some bolted for the exits. "What is happening?" Pavarotti hissed to the prompter between phrases. "Terremoto?earthquake!" the prompter breathed back. Pavarotti gripped the hand of his Mimi, Soprano Dorothy Kirsten, a little more tightly, but kept on singing at full voice and never missed a beat. The earthquake drew to a peaceful conclusion...
...with real characters and animates them with genuine humor. Dave Stoler, All-American son, is just out of high school, committed to not getting a job and hanging out with his friends. Not unusual. But this kid also wants to race bicycles. In anticipation of the arrival of the Italian national team, he learns Italian and trains with his ten-speed. Which is to say he rides his bike down the street singing arias, renames the family cat Fellini, and chases coeds as Enrique, the Italian Exchange Student...
Aside from Dave and his friend's antics, the plot is fairly straightforward--Yates builds up to two big races, both rousing enough to get audience cheering. The first brings down Dave's illusions about the Italian racers he's been imitating--one of them sticks his hand pump in Dave's pedals to make him crash because he's starting to pull ahead. The second race is a grudge match for Dave and his friends. They are, for the first time, invited to enter a team in the local college's invitational "Little 500." A long-standing rivalry between...