The Guide

Thursday, January 4, 1962, page 13 (of 15)

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Mike Wants to 'Fill a Place on the Wall'

By JOE C. MORRIS Correspondent On Oct. 23, 1944 a German ambush pinned down a large group of retreating American infantrymen after they had crossed the Moselle River in northern France. A German sniper, sighting down his rifle barrel, squeezed the trigger. And 20-year-old Michael Angelo Commini, who had just raised his head to "see how far ahead the others were, caught the bullet just below the temple on the left side of his head. It blinded him...for life. Today, 17 years after 'it happened' Mike, who operates the newsstand in the Gables postoffice, has only one ambition in life. He wants to be "discovered." "I want to become famous as an Italian tenor," he says, "and all I need is the right break." When he was shipped to the Army School for the Blind in Avon, Conn., in '44 he spent 14 weeks studying Braille, journalism and music. "That was the turning point in my life," Mike said as he talked about his past. "The music room, at the school, was directly below my shower room. And naturally when I take a shower, I sing. "Grace Laughton, the music teacher and a real peach, sent someone up to find out who belonged to the voice. She and I soon became good friends and she started me studying music seriously. "One night a few years later Mr. Sabatini, conductor of the Trenton, N. J. Symphony heard me sing at a benefit. He came back stage and asked me to permit him to arrange an audition with Enriquo Rozati. Imagine! asking me to 'permit him' to arrange an audition with the greatest voice teacher in America. "Well, I studied under Rozati for three and a half years. And everytime I walked out of his studio I knew I'd had a lesson. He was 73 years old when I started but he knew his stuff. "The maestro was a teacher of many great singers," Mike said, fingering the pile of pennies in his open cash drawer. "He had pictures of all of them on his walls. Lawrence Melchoir — Mario Lanza and many, many others were there. "One time he said to me, 'Ach! you tink somebody you are Mike. But nobody you are until you fill — a place on the wall.' "He's 87 now. He has my picture and the frame. And it's always been my goal to fill 'a place on the wall'. But now...I don't know. Although selected by the Miami Conservatory of Music, in 1960, as Singer of the Year, (classical division all-Florida contest) Mike at 37, is beginning to feel that his chances for the big time are running out. "Someone better come along soon if I'm going to be...discovered," he says. Standing behind his candy counter, waiting for customers to purchase postal cards, envelopes or cigarets, Mike hums Italian Arias, runs a scale or — unable to contain himself — bursts out with snatches of songs that sometimes startle the stamp-window sellers. "I rehearse an hour and a half every week with an accompanist," he said, ... "just in case."

Do We Need to Think More and Act Less?

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent One of our uncomfortable American habits is the tendency to pick out a good idea and ride it so hard that everybody becomes sick of it. An example is city planning. A few years ago any town that didn't have city planners on its payroll was outmoded and subject to scorn. Now a reaction is setting in, and first thing you know the city planners will be on the defensive or definitely hiding in bomb shelters. The charge is that city planning in some cases is taking the life and vitality out of certain streets and areas and turning them into dark, dull and forbidding "residential districts" where people are no longer heedless and happy. This accusation is aired in a book by an editor of the Architectural Forum, Jane Jacobs, called "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," quoted in a prominent periodical. She cites the North End of Boston and Hudson Street, New York, as examples of a stirring life that should not be interfered with, meanwhile citing Morningside Heights, New York, as a dismal case of too much surgery by planning experts. Can't we have a happy medium? It stands to reason that communities cannot be allowed to grow, expand, and engulf vast acreage in a haphazard way or be helpless victims of commercial exploitation. There must be an aim, a goal, and a limitation somewhere; in brief, a plan. But a city plan need not be cold-blooded, iron-clad, or indifferent to human needs and cravings. People—not streets or areas or buildings or pavements—come first in any healthy and hopeful city. In the USA, we continually fret about our cities and keep picking at them. In Europe these problems are relatively unknown. Over here do we need to think more and act less?

West of The City Limits

Continued from Page 1 State, the Kennedy for President Club offered trading stamps in return for donations to the Democratic Party and got more in contributions than they had ever received before. In addition to the community stamp projects, housewives have managed to get new furniture, new dishes, Christmas gifts for, the children, tools for father...and a thousand other items. So, it seems the stamp collecting days are going to continue. I don't know whether or not (or just how much) these stamps cost the buyer when they purchase their groceries, gasoline, or what-have-you. But they do seem to like these stamps! A recent national survey estimated that 8 out of 10 American families are saving trading stamps. With that much response, I imagine they are here to stay for awhile. You might call it the Great American Stamp-ede!!

The Germans To Visit Us

Many more Germans will be visiting America, thanks to the introduction of "Go Now, Pay Later" financing by major German banks. A novelty in Germany, credit financing for travel is a service now available at the Deutsche, Dresdner and Commerce banks, three of Germany's biggest. Similar facilities are provided by savings and union banks, reports the German Tourist Office. Loans, repayable in periods ranging up to two years, are discounted at two per cent. Interest amounts to .04 percent of the loan monthly.

Charles Sharp Named by Y

Charles F. Sharp, 1866 Tigertail Ave., Coconut Grove, is membership enrollment chairman for 1962 for the SW YMCA. The enrollment effort is slated for Feb. 19 through March 16. Sharp recently was elected to a three-year term on the board, and has served as a director previously.

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