variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a com ...
broadcast by Rai 1
Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and ge ...
from 1958 to 1974, aired on Saturday evening except for the last two editions in which it was aired on Sunday afternoon. The program was referred to as "the synthesis and the model of comparison of the Italian television variety".Aldo Grasso – Massimo Scaglioni, ''Enciclopedia della Televisione'', Garzanti, Milano, 1996 – 2003.
History
It was born in radio as a song tournament in 1956, with the title ''Le canzoni della fortuna ''and gained great public success. The following year it was brought on television titled ''Voci e volti della fortuna'' and turned into a competition between amateurs from the various regions of Italy, with the participation of some professional singers, who competed in a separate group.
In 1958, the variety took the name ''Canzonissima'' that remained until the end, with an exception from 1963 to 1967 when the transmission continued with new formats and new titles; ''Gran Premio'', ''Napoli contro tutti'', ''La prova del nove'', ''Scala reale'' e ''Partitissima''.
The show consisted of a musical contest (with singers combined with some state lottery numbers) from the elaborate rules which were generally different from one edition to another; the competition was interspersed with dances and comedy sketches involving special guests.
The 1959 edition contributed to the launch Nino Manfredi's career, and the 1970 edition launched the career of Raffaella Carrà.
The 1962 edition, hosted by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, generated large political controversities due to use of censorship to cut some satirical sketches of Fo; the couple Fo-Rame was eventually fired, and the scandal lead to a long interruption of five years.
Editions
References
External links
* 1958 Italian television series debuts 1974 Italian television series endings Italian music television series RAI original programming Black-and-white television shows 1950s Italian television series 1960s Italian television series 1970s Italian television series Variety television series Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest selection events {{Italy-tv-prog-stub