Comfortable and Uncomfortable Fictions: Italian Americans in the First Decades of Television

This chapter investigates how Italian Americans are portrayed during the first decades of American television. Starting with the consideration that television did not reject Italian or Italian American actors as cinema did at the beginning of its existence, the author examines some examples of ‘ethnic comedies’ from the early 1950s, namely Papa Cellini (1952), Bonino (1953), and The Continental (1952–1953), noting how ethnic traits were often exploited for questionable comedic purposes—another example discussed is Life with Luigi (1952–1953). The chapter then examines the nationally televised New York City hearings led by Senator Kefauver’s Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, a.k.a. the Kefauver hearings (which focused on narcotics and their connection to the Mafia), and the success of shows like The Untouchables (1959–1963), which commercialized the stereotypical connection between Italian Americans and organized crime. Despite the renewed ethnic sensitivity that emerged in the mid-to-late 1960s (due primarily to the Civil Rights movement), the author concludes by remarking on how Italians and Italian Americans continued to appear on a fairly regular basis in negative roles during this period.