That Old Black Magic: Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and the Golden Age of Las Vegas Read Online Free

that they both came from New Orleans.

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    During the 1870s, members of the Prima and Caravella families came to the United States from Sicily and settled in the section of the French Quarter known as Little Palermo. The early Primas and their children worked as laborers and operated fruit and vegetable stands. Anthony Prima was born in 1887 and became a big man in the community (literally, at close to three hundred pounds).
    He was a gentle giant, a quiet man who was comfortable remaining in the background at social and family gatherings. He went to work every day—when he was twenty-six he became a distributor for Jumbo Soda Pop—and came home to his family. He was known as a soft touch for people in need and appeared not to have a temper.
    Louis Caravella was a barber. In his extended family were oyster openers and sellers. His daughter Angelina met and married Anthony Prima while both were still teenagers. They moved into a house on St. Peter Street that over time became one of the more popular gathering spots in the neighborhood of Italians, African Americans, and Jews because of the food and the entertainment. Their first child was Leon, born in 1907.
    “My mother-in-law was Angelina, but I called my father-in-law Pop,” said Leon’s wife, Madeline Prima, in an interview many years later. “He was big, like a Santa Claus, and very quiet. Leon took after his daddy. And Louis took after his mother. She did minstrel shows down at St. Mary’s Church, in the Quarter. She sang well. She did a lot of songs, and she loved doing it.”
    In 1910, over 150,000 people living in the city could trace their family’s roots back to Italy. It was a good place to be for Italian American families. The mass lynchings were twenty years in the past, and the families were forming more organizations and making inroads into businesses. In the tight-knit communities much of the socializing revolved around the nearest church. In the Primas’ case, this was St. Ann’s, four blocks away.
    Tony and Angelina’s second child, Louis Leo Prima, was born on December 7 of that year. Like Leon, he was baptized at St. Ann’s. Within the next few years he would have two sisters, Elizabeth and Marguerite.
    The Prima household attracted a lot of visitors, especially on the one day of the week when, after church, neighbors looked for music and laughter. “On Sunday in an Italian home you listen to a lot of Enrico Caruso and a great deal of opera,” according to Joe Segreto, who grew up in New Orleans and became Louis Prima’s manager in 1961. “It goes well with the pasta and the wine.”
    The soft-spoken Papa Anthony presided over what his wife provided to family and friends. She was a marvelous and enthusiastic cook, and relatives and friends appeared often at the dinner table. She also liked to sing and tell jokes, so visitors received the complete package.
    Louis initially took after his father in being quiet and reserved, but he adored his mother and was fascinated by her showmanship. Though a thin woman, she seemed larger than life. Her opinions and directions were not to be challenged. She handled the family finances and doled out the allowances, even to her husband. Her energy and displays of emotion went beyond the house on St. Peter Street.
    Her three children—Marguerite died at age three—were often part of her audience at shows she performed at St. Ann’s. Angelina sang and danced in minor productions that she created herself, among them a somewhat risqué one titled “Sadie Green: Vamp of New Orleans.” Her motto was “Always smile—people want to see you having a good time.” Louis soaked in every moment of her shows that he was allowed to watch.
    Angelina had a serious side, too. She insisted that her children continue to attend school as they grew older, and not go to work full-time to help support their families as many Little Palermo children did. As someone who had taught herself to read