From Louis

…………………….I would love to travel back to these times just to watch and observe…….like the invisible man or a fly on the wall…….My mother always told me her brothers were always into something. My dad grew up with them and they were all good friends……I also think my father thought this would enable him to be around my mother more, but she wasn’t that interested early on…..she was having too good a time being single and dating….The top three pictures from left to right, and the bottom three from left to right are of my uncle Paul. Love his knickers and sweater! It was my Uncle who later was an arbiter in the Ladies Garment Union, and told my parents he thought I was very talented. He also got me my summer job at Norman Norell. He had thick wavy hair, blue eyes and a very deep commanding voice. The woman he is with is Marie, who would become his wife. The bottom center picture is one of my favorites. It’s of my Uncle Paul holding his little brother Danny’s hand. My Uncle Danny could have been part of the “Our Gang” movies. There was, as you can see, a big age difference. My Uncle Paul was the second oldest and my Uncle Danny was the baby of the Rutigliano family. The inset picture is of my Uncle Tom in the vest, and my mother peeking over his shoulder…..not sure who the others are. The picture at the top right is of my father, second in from the left and next to him on his right, my Uncle Tom. The bottom right picture has my Uncle Tom knelling, my Uncle Paul directly above him and his girlfriend Marie in the dark sweater, print skirt and bobbed hair!…Yolanda is to the left of my Uncle Tom and my Uncle Paul. She was my Uncle Tom’s girlfriend who he latter married….My Mom told me my Uncle Tom was a terrific dancer and she and him used to enter dance contests. They often won. My Uncle Tom would give my mother the trophy and he would keep the MONEY!!!!…..typical…..He was sort of the black sheep of the family. He had married Yolanda, and they had a son, my cousin John. They separated, but never got divorced. She took her son and moved to California. This all happened before I was even born, or when I was very young. I never heard of Yolanda until I was much older when my Mom and I went through her pictures. That was one of the stories my Mom told me. She did tell me she liked Yolanda a lot. I always knew my Uncle Tom to be with my Aunt Marie [lots of Maries in my family], but I found out later they were never married. She was a lovely woman, and they were together many years until my Uncle Tom died suddenly of a heart attach. Yolanda would never give him a divorce…………..I love old pictures.

………………….This is a picture of the Rutigliano Clan, my mother’s family. I believe it was at a picnic in NJ. Almost everyone is there except my Uncle Tom, who always seems to be missing in action at these family gatherings, and my Uncle Paul and his family. My Dad took the picture.  Almost all of my mom’s sisters and brothers and their husbands and wives are here, and most of my cousins except the very last ones to be born…..myself amongst the missing. My grandfather is at the extreme left with the handle bar mustache [he was 85 when I was born!], and my grandmother is in the center with the grim face and the polka dot dress. My mother is knelling below her with my brother Mauro on her lap, and my brother John, below them, is examining the bottom of his shoe? I recognize almost all of them except the little boy who’s back is to us at the lower right. All of the adults are all gone now, and there is a handful of cousins who are still here, but the Rutigliano name carries on through my male cousins and their sons and grandsons. Mine was a very tight knit Italian family. It was big, and may have even been crazy and chaotic at times, but there was a lot of love, and we all had a wonderful time!

…………………….My mother’s father, Giovanni and her mother Chiara had nine children, four girls and five boys….I think my grandfather, in his younger days, was something of a rake!….All but my Uncle Tom are pictured here. Starting at the left….my Aunt Angie , Aunt Lillie, my Mom, my grandfather Giovanni, my Uncle Paul, my grandmother Chiara, my Uncle Vito, my Aunt Marie, my Uncle Lou and the baby of the family, my Uncle Daniel who passed away last year. They are all gone now, but have left a legacy behind of many children, grand children and great great grand children…….There may be a few great, great, great grand children too! My mother looked like her father, and she and my Aunt Millie had red hair. Three of the boys had blue eyes, and from stories I was told, were real ladies men. My Uncle Dan and Uncle Lou served in WW11. My Aunt Millie, and my Uncle Paul had two children. My mother, my Aunt Angie, and my Uncle Lou had three children. My Uncle Tom had one son, and my Uncle Dan had one stepson. The only one who took after his parents producing a large family of 12 was my Uncle Vito. When the whole family got together at my grandparents house in Brooklyn for the Holidays…..it was something out of a movie. They owned a brown stone on 11th Street and Avenue U. We would all gather in their finished basement. The kids, and there were a lot of us, used to run up and down the stairs of the three story house playing games….We had a great time…..something children today know nothing about. I wouldn’t trade those wonderful times for anything. When my grandparents passed away, first my grandfather at 97 and then my grandmother a few years later at 87, the gatherings ended. The same thing happened with my father’s family. The grandparents were the glue that held us all together. With each new generation the families get more and more distant until only the immediately families get together. Today there are families where even that is disintegrating……sad but true. For many “family” is becoming a thing of the past. I still have many cousins mostly from my Uncle Vito and his wife Aunt Tessie. They are all older than I am. It seems we only see each other at wakes. The family is getting smaller and smaller, and soon will only be remembered, as so many are, in the photos we pass along.

…………………..I love watching the show “FINDING YOUR ROOTS”. I find it fascinating how your family history can be discovered layer by layer. Unfortunately, I only know of my grandparents, and that’s where it stops. However, I know very little about them. I was told my father’s father was a fisherman in Italy. I know nothing about my mother’s parents. They didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak any Italian, so our communication was a kiss, a hug, an hello and a goodbye…..My brother Mauro has this old document listing the Rutigliano family as it existed in 1910……..My Grandfather, Giovanni was born on Nov. 13th, 1867, my Grandmother Chiara was born Jan. 3rd 1880. My Aunt Maria was born Nov. 16th 1899. My Uncle Paul was born Feb. 12th 1903, my Uncle Vito was born Sept 13th 1905, My Uncle Tommaso was born Jan 5th, 1908, and my mother, Lorita was born Sept 9th 1910. They were all born in Italy. There were still three more children to come Luigi, Angie, and Daniel all born in the USA.. My Grand father Rutigliano and my Grandfather Dell’Olio were friends and came from the same village in Italy, Bari. The two men came over on the boat together and started a new life in America. When they had enough money they sent for the families to come over too. I know my mother’s family settled first on Thompson Street in the Village of NYC. My mother recalls swimming in the fountain in the park. I have often wondered who my grandparents families were and theirs and theirs again, but my family tree only goes as far back as my grand parents on both sides. I never heard stories about who their parents were and their grandparents. Both of my grandfathers came to America when they were relatively young men. If my grandfather was born in 1867 and my mother in 1910 than he would have been in his early 40s when he made the trip to the USA. Both of my grandfathers must have done well to afford  town houses in Brooklyn right around the corner from each other. I don’t know why there are two different sons named Paolo listed with two different date of births? My brother had no answer for that, and unfortunately there isn’t anyone alive who can answer this mystery……………Where’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. when you need him?????

………………..This interview with WWD was the fall of 1991. It was a fall preview just before the shows took place. I’m sitting at my desk with one of the jackets that was to be presented behind me. The rows of sketches behind me are for the show line. That was the order that the clothes were to be presented in, and each sketch had a models name on it. I look rather relaxed for what was to come ahead…….always a nerve racking time just before a show. So much work went into not only designing the clothes, and constant fittings, but putting on a show was another whole kettle of fish with all different kinds of pressures…..Jac always said if I weren’t a designer I should have been a movie director…………..I think she was right.