On the screen behind them, the black and white images of the other Italian TV tenors, Mike Bongiorno, Enzo Tortora and Corrado, in a photo taken in 1967 during a historic episode of the “Sabato sera” variety show, hosted by Mina. «Looking at these images, I realized that the two of us are alive. Do we want to make incantations? Tie, tie, tie. Just to be safe,” he jokes Maurice Costanzo con Goofy Baudo. The scene is one of the most tender of one of the last television meetings between the two pillars of Italian TV, that of 2018 on the occasion of an episode of the talk show “L’Interview”, one of Costanzo’s latest creatures, entirely dedicated to the national Goofy .
On the other side of the phone, the 86-year-old Sicilian conductor – who only a few days ago found himself having to personally deny the news about his worrying health conditions circulated on social media and on the net, after the tears of the historic director on TV on stage at the Sanremo Festival, Pippo Balistreri, to “Italia Sì” by Marco Liorni – speaks with a voice broken by emotion, remembering his friend who passed away yesterday.
Maurizio Costanzo, that unmistakable voice (changed over time) that made him iconic. Expert opinion
What do you remember of that epochal encounter?
«The great emotion we both felt when we met face to face, so many years after the last meeting. And Maurizio’s irony too, when he said that to me. We burst out laughing. He was generous, as usual: we went over all the stages of my career and my life together. He also found a document in which two great directors, Antonello Falqui and Lino Procacci, related their feelings after the audition I did on Rai: ‘Good presence, good video, discreet singing, discreet piano. It can be used in minor programs’. It wasn’t a rejection, but it wasn’t a big promotion either.”
Instead, he immediately succeeded in establishing himself.
«And do you know who gave me the first important interview, at the time of ‘Guida degli emigrants’ and ‘Closeup’? Just him, Maurice. It was 1960, the year of the Rome Olympics. Maurizio wrote in the weekly Grazia. He was the first big character I met: our friendship was born this way ».
Was there ever really a rivalry between you two?
“Never. We were bound by a relationship of mutual respect. We respected each other. And for me Maurizio has always been a stimulus. He was intelligent, sharp, as well as very generous. I must have been at the Costanzo Show at least twenty, thirty times. On every occasion he gave everyone a gadget, a lucky shell: I have a collection. Parioli was a world unto itself: there were intertwined stories, sui generis characters that fascinated the spectators. We all owe him something: he was a revolutionary ».
To what extent?
«His professional history speaks for him. With programs such as ‘Alle sette della sera’, ‘Bontà loro’ and the ‘Costanzo Show’ itself, just to mention some of his most famous programmes, he has written some of the most important pages of Italian TV, describing Italy with his different way of understanding television communication. He spoke to everyone and made himself understood by everyone. And let’s not forget that he had a very difficult life, lived at 360 degrees and with many dangers, as demonstrated by the attack suffered by the mafia ».
How did you find out about her disappearance?
“From a colleague whose name I prefer not to name. He called me. I was speechless. I didn’t expect that. I immediately thought of Maria. No one would have bet on their love because of their so different personalities, instead it was a lasting, very strong bond ».
What will remain of Maurizio Costanzo?
“Everything he gave to the show: the songs, the scripts, the movies. Not only a TV giant is leaving, but Italian culture. And then his attachment to work, understood as a service for the whole country, will remain”.
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