Who Do You Think You Are?
on NBC
By Ally Matteodo
Figuring out family roots turns
into an exciting journey in the six-part NBC series Who Do You Think You Are?
(Fridays, 8:00 p.m. ET), our choice for the Best TV Show of the Week.
The April 23rd episode focused on Oscar-winning actress Susan
Sarandon’s heritage. Susan was always fascinated by her maternal grandmother,
Anita. Anita disappeared when Susan’s mother was only two years old, so her
life and prior family history were a mystery. In Virginia, at the house of her
mother, Leonora Criscione, Susan learns that her mom met Anita only once, at the
1939 World’s Fair, then never saw her again. In New York City, genealogist
Megan Smolenyak reveals some fascinating information to Susan. Anita’s maiden
name was Rigali, and her mother and father were Angelina and Mansueto. Angelina
passed away when Anita was twelve, leaving Anita with two siblings, a younger
brother named Joseph and an older sister named Rita. A marriage certificate
reveals that Anita married at 15, even though the date (February 1, 1921),
reveals that Anita was really only 13 at the time, and she was pregnant.
Italian immigration historian Dr. Mary Brown fleshes out what life must have
been like for Anita and her parents, Angelina and Mansueto: they were married at
St. Joseph’s church, and Anita grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in
tenement housing, a breeding ground for illness and disease. It’s no wonder
that Angelina and six of Anita’s siblings died in these crowded, poorly
ventilated conditions. Enlisting the help of her son, Miles Robbins, Susan
performs a surname search at the New York Public Library and learns Anita’s
parents came from Tuscany, Italy.
Susan journeys to Florence, and
then to a small town called Coreglia where her great-grandfather Mansueto was
born. The Loppia Church in Coreglia shows Mansueto’s and many other Rigali
baptism records. Susan’s family dates back ten generations to Michele Rigali,
born in 1640. Mansueto worked as a statue-maker. In 1888, sculptors faced a
tough life in Coreglia, with dwindling demand for their work. Mansueto was part
of one of the first large waves of figurine makers to make his way to America,
where he lived until age 72. Susan visits the Rigali family plot back in New
York, determined to find out what happened to Anita. Professor Burton Peretti,
an expert on New York night life, discloses that Anita married a Jewish
salesman, Ben Kahn, in 1932. Yet Anita would still have been married to Susan’s
grandfather at the time, since they weren’t divorced before 1939. Susan and her
son Miles search for the name Anita Kahn, and discover that Anita and Ben were
living separately only a year after their marriage. Using Anita’s birth date to
locate her death certificate, the closest match Miles and Susan uncover is Anita
Fiorentino, who died in 1984 in Rockland County, New York. At the New City
Library in Rockland Susan learns from her obituary that Anita Fiorentino was in
fact her grandmother, and was survived by her third and final husband Dominic
Fiorentino. They were married for 35 years. In addition, two of Dom’s nieces
live in the same neighborhood where Dom and Anita lived, and Susan seeks them
out. Sharon and Sandra reveal that Uncle Dominic met Anita in one of the clubs
in the city, and show her a sketch of Anita that looks just like Susan!
It’s easy to condemn someone
you’ve never known and judge their life through limited facts. Susan’s
grandmother abandoned her children at a young age, a reprehensible act to many.
However, Susan Sarandon, an inquisitive, fair-minded individual, realizes
through this journey of self-discovery that all events cannot be painted in
black and white. Her research reveals a painful early life for Anita Rigali,
someone who became pregnant with her first child at the age of twelve, a child
herself, and who lost her mother at the same age, in addition to six siblings.
These revelations paint a far more sympathetic and complete picture. Later on,
in Rockland, Susan learned that her grandmother did not reveal much information
about her earlier life. In one life, it seems that people can experience what
feels like multiple lifetimes. Yet finding out these hidden details from the
past help individuals feel more connected to their families and their legacy.
Best TV Show
of the Week
The Parents
Television Council -
www.parentstv.org
