MANGANARO, Ann (nee Angelina) Marsala
EI-1369
EI- 1369
ANGELINA MARSALA MANGANARO (WITH SISTER, HELEN MARSALA)
BIRTHDATE: AUGUST 12, 1920
INTERVIEW DATE: JANUARY 6, 2005
AGE AT TIME OF INTERVIEW: 84
RUNNING TIME: 1:03:05
INTERVIEWER: JANET LEVINE, PH.D.
RECORDING ENGINEER: JANET LEVINE
INTERVIEW LOCATION:
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED BY: AMY TORRES
TRANSCRIPT REVIEWED BY:
COUNTRY: USA
AGE: BORN ONE MONTH AFTER MOTHER'S ARRIVAL
SHIP: GUISSEPPE VERDE
PORT: PALERMO
RESIDENCES: WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK CITY
ORAL HISTORIAN'S NOTE: Today is January 6 th , 2005 and I'm here with Ann Manganaro who came here in 1920 from Italy, from Sicily actually, that her mother and father left. And she came here under quite unusual circumstances and is unique in this collection for that reason. This is Janet Levine for the National Park Service and if we could start at the beginning and you say your birthdate.
(laughing) nine -- eight, twelve, twenty! (laughing)
LEVINE:Ok, and tell when you came to this country.
MANGANARO:Well my mother was on the ship and it took a whole month for her to come to America because she came on Guisseppe Verde, that was the ship, and they go very slow. My poor dear mother was pregnant of me for eight months! (laughs) So therefore, when she reached this beautiful land of mine, at one month after I was born – in my aunt's house. I had to have a place to stay. So I had three cousins, an aunt and an uncle that adored me. And I had my mother, my father, that adored me. So I was surrounded by love of family. That is very important, my whole life has been love of family.
LEVINE:Why don't we start with your mother's name? Her name and maiden name.
MANGANARO:Her marriage name was Marie Antoinette Marsala. Her maiden name is French, Marie Antoinette Debid-e. D-E-Bi-D hyphen E.
LEVINE:Ok. And your father's name?
MANGANARO:Anthony Marsala.
LEVINE:And did they ever tell you how they met?
MANGANARO:Yes. They met at a dance and she used to go dancing with her brothers and — in Austria. So he saw her and he fell in love with her. He said, "That's the woman of my life."
LEVINE:Now how did he happen to be in Austria?
MANGANARO:He was in the Calvary for Italy. So therefore he was enjoying himself at the dance. And when he saw my mother, says, "Oh, she's beautiful, I love her." He says, so he went over to her and he asked her out but her brother was there he says, "No," he says. You know they were escorted by the brothers.
LEVINE:So why did the brothers say no?
MANGANARO:Because that was the — the way the, they were. He was an enemy so they don't — no! You know? So that's why they had to wait until the war was over. My father went to the father again and he says, "I want to marry your daughter and I'm a sincere person. You can see what my parents are and everything." So the father says, "No, no." So he says, "My daughter marries you, I disown her." So he disowned her.
LEVINE:Oh.
MANGANARO:Because they had plenty of land, they used to make marmalade, they used to sell it. But she came from a good family that, you know. So therefore she married my father and they left for Terrine [spelling?] where they speak Italian-French there – Terrineze. So they lived there for a few years or months. So then his brother, being in America, wrote him a letter and says, "Come to America," and "We have so many things here that you maybe – " because my father was an excellent barber, excellent. So they migrated back to Sicily and introduced her to his family and they stayed there for a little while or something and then they started to come to America to meet the brother.
LEVINE:And where was the brother?
MANGANARO:In Brooklyn New York (laughing).
LEVINE:Ok, yeah.
MANGANARO:And I was surrounded by love because I was the only girl. My aunt had three boys (laughing)!
LEVINE:Ok, now let's say, do you know where they left from? Where Guisseppe Verde left?
MANGANARO:Yeah, from Sicily, yeah. From Palermo.
LEVINE:Sicily? Palermo. Ok, and, let's see, and they, did your mother ever tell you anything about, you know, coming into the New York Harbor, going to Ellis Island, anything?
MANGANARO:She was crying when she saw the Lady. She cried and she says, "This is really a new land away from — " of course she lived in mountains and, you know, it was all together different. So she came over here and my father says, "She was crying because she got very emotional." And then after a month, I was born.
MARSALA:Papa kissed the ground!
MANGANARO:Oh yeah, my mother kissed the ground, my father too. You know, my uncle took care of everything, he took care.
LEVINE:(Aside) Now, if you want to talk, it's ok but you've got to talk when she's not talking otherwise it's going to blur on the –
MANGANARO:So he's the question. My mother's background was really historic. You want to hear the--?
LEVINE:Yeah.
MANGANARO:Well her grandfather fought with Napoleon Bonaparte in France. So when they exiled Napoleon Bonaparte, he had to leave France because he was very close to Napoleon. And he migrated and he went to Venice, Italy. There he met his lady love, and then he migrated to Austria [not understood]. So there he started his family and his first son was my mother's father. My mother's father. So they all love their surroundings, you know? So one day the emperor of Austria, his name was (laughing), Maximillian, so he was an emperor, he used to go through his land to see if the people were happy with his way of ruling. So he came to her grandfather and he started talking and my mother was about four or five years old so he goes, "Your majesty, may I present my granddaughter, she was named after your daughter Marie Antoinette." And the emperor put his hand on her head and he says, "Beautiful child I am proud, I hope God will lead you." So, I mean, very historic, you know, that my mother says that, "I never forgot that the way he patted me," and he was very proud that she was named after his daughter, Marie Antoinette. So when they came to America, then my father open up his own business as a barber, very, he always was very particular and very meticulous. And my mother then got my brother and then my sister.
LEVINE:Uh huh. What was your mother like? Say her personality or –
MANGANARO:Very congenial. Very congenial, a sense of humor! She was a Leo like me (laughing) -- always laughing, always trying to make people happy. People used to come over the house, "Come on!" She used to make a big dinner and everything. One time, her cousins, they built a ship in [not understood] that means the place where they built the ship and they had to go on a maiden voyage with the ship. So they stopped in by my mother and they were singing. One night we had a party without wanting, people heard my father sang on the radio and these two singers, boy, everybody was coming up! They were bringing their own beers, wine —
LEVINE:This was in Brooklyn?
MANGANARO:Yeah, yeah because in those days everybody mingled with one another because they came to this country and they forget, "Let's bring whatever we feel." Not today, it's a different story. So they had a big party, this is, they never forgot it because everybody was congenial, embracing one another and having good food. So —
LEVINE:Was it an Italian community in Brooklyn?
MANGANARO:And Jewish. And we — I have a Jewish doctor, he goes, "You know every time you come in I remember Brooklyn." Because they intermingle with one another, they didn't have that hate that they have —
LEVINE:They came at the same time often, too.
MANGANARO:That's right. They came to this country all looking for a new future to better themselves and to give their children a better future.
LEVINE:So you said your father sang on the radio?
MANGANARO:Yes. WMVQ on [not understood] Street. Beautiful voice. He played the guitar, the piano.
LEVINE:Did he sing, like, Italian songs?
MANGANARO:Oh yeah and pieces of opera. My mother's cousins came, nobody wanted to leave! Everybody was singing there was that camaraderie that you feel close, beautiful! And we always had that in my family. My father on Sunday morning for two hours he'd give us lessons in opera. We know all about opera. My mother used to empty out libraries -- she used to read and read, we all, you see we all have a certain something that we like to do and that we put our heart to it. And that's the best way to do it. Like what you're doing, I mean not everybody could do what you do. No! Not every body, and you enjoy, you meet different people, you go to different lands, and you get a different way of living, not just –
MARSALA:And you know what? My mother was more Americanized than her parents. She loved the ball games, she loved wrestling, fighting, she became American, American.
LEVINE:And is that what she wanted for you, for her children? She wanted you to be American?
MANGANARO:Oh yes.
MARSALA:Oh she says," I want to see that my children are treated like American children not like the children on the other side." She made sure we had two pairs of shoes, dresses and everything. This is God's truth, she said, "My children are not going to look like beggars," she says. And she made sure we had Sunday shoes, shoes for school, dresses, and we couldn't go out of the house until my father saw us –
MANGANARO:We had to line up.
MARSALA:And our hair was combed nice, you know? So then we just looked at him it was alright and then we could go, "I don't want nobody to say my children don't look nice. They are Americanized children." And I tell you the God's truth, they respect America. As soon as they landed my father said, "I kissed the ground," my mother says, "Me too," she had, she was going to give birth soon —
MANGANARO:So I was swimming (laughing)!
MARSALA:She loved the ball game, wrestling, fights. Her and my brother, I thought they were two guys all the time; they used to watch the games and everything. That was beautiful -- very Americanized woman. She like hotdogs, Chinese food, my father says, "Where did you learn to go like this?" She says, "I'm an American now." But she cooked good Austrian food and my father was a good cook. This is no lie, this is the God's truth. My father was a good cook and so was my mother.
MANGANARO:Monday he used to take her to the opera when the opera was the season and he used to buy her a corsage, "Oh, let's go [not understood]!" You know? And they used to go by subway, my mother says she used to enjoy it. I mean, they had so much in common that they enjoyed life. My mother was full of fun.
MARSALA:And you know my mother always spoke about Franz [not understood] and she used to read about his story. All of what they did to him [not understood] and I remember my grandfather and that story, and on and on, and I said, "Mama," I says, "don't you get tired?" "No," she says, "that was my life," she says. And she loved it.
MANGANARO:Beautiful country.
MARSALA:[not understood] My brother Walt, Walt in the same category. Thank god, it isn't enough, one brother likes on thing and we all like the same music like my mother and my father too.
LEVINE:Why don't you say something about the music that you heard as children growing up. Did, were there, I know there were songs like immigrant favorites, records. Did you remember anything --
MARSALA:He had a song for me when I was little about five years old and he went on the radio and he called the song, "Castellano [not understood]." That's Castellan Eyes —
MANGANARO:Of a Fairy.
MARSALA:Huh? Of a Fairy. And he says, I made a bed made of flowers. Then he used to sing [not understood]. The Italian songs like Pavarotti sings, all those songs.
MANGANARO:Yeah. We always had music, always.
MARSALA:My mother always [not understood] Marie Antoinette, my grandfather, "And my grandfather used to tell me such beautiful stories," she says, "I love my grandfather". He used to have little earrings, the [not understood], the little, like the French people. And then she says for Christmas, she used to go out in the forest and they used to get a big pine tree, they had to get a tree, like you know a trunk, and put it in the big fire place. A big [not understood] fireplace and the aroma of pine all over the house and they used wait for January the sixth and Saint Nicolas would come with the, what do you call it?
LEVINE:Sleigh? MARSALA The sleigh and the reindeer and the horse there and leave little things in front of the door. She says, oh that was so nice, she never forgot that. And she would tell me all the time, I says, "Yeah Mama?" She says, "yeah, would I lie to you? I says, "No Mama." (laughing)
MANGANARO:She came from a beautiful country.
LEVINE:Now did you grow up speaking Italian?
MANGANARO:I speak Italian, I even wrote a poem in Italian.
LEVINE:When you were growing up did you speak Italian at home?
MANGANARO:Yes, Italian. Yes.
LEVINE:And then when you went to school did you know English?
MANGANARO:Yes, I learned English, my father learned English, my mother too. Broken English for Mama.
LEVINE:How did they learn, did they take classes did they become--?
MANGANARO:No, we used to go to school and we'd talk to them. And they used to hear people talk and they learned.
LEVINE:Did they become citizens?
MANGANARO:Oh yes. Yes. MARSALA My father used to read the American newspaper to my mother and then they used to have the Italian and American newspaper and we used to tell them — she'd say, "What is this word, what does this word mean?" And we used to tell them the English word, she couldn't understand what the meaning was, we says, "Mama you know what that means?" And we used to tell her, "Oh," she says, "That's what it means." But my father, one time we went to school and I couldn't spell a word, so I says, "Papa do you know how to spell – " I can't remember the word. He says, "You should be ashamed of yourself, you're an American you don't know how to spell the word." He spelled it, I says, "Papa I got an A." He says, "You should be ashamed of yourself." So I was proud of that. He didn't go to school in America and yet he knew the word.
MANGANARO:So he was in business. He was in business.
LEVINE:So was his barbershop in Brooklyn?
MANGANARO:Yes. Yeah. And he had all professional people that went there. They used to have good communication, speak of their native land, and yet, love America. They all came from, and they came from around Sicily where my father was. And they had so much to talk about, I mean, it was a close thing, it was like we coming on a vacation to America, you know?
MARSALA:What was good was they all came here and they all met but they all became well to do, well educated. He had a doctor Maraco, Professor Maraco, the sister was a school teacher [not understood]. The doctors, and they all came from this same town my father came, they open up a business of clothing. I mean there was respect, it's none –
MANGANARO:No, not today.
LEVINE:What section of Brooklyn were –
MARSALA:Williamsburg section.
LEVINE:Oh, Williamsburg.
MARSALA:[not understood], Bushwick Avenue, Humboldt Street.
MANGANARO:But it was different, it was different.
LEVINE:Yeah, describe Brooklyn in those days and when you were growing up.
MARSALA:Oh in those days they were all together, they used to help eachother and they used to respect a lady and a man used to respect the children and you know, it was well, not nothing like today.
MANGANARO:We didn't a radio, we had our piano because the band used to come and they used to see what song they were going to sing. So the guy would get on them, "Mr. Marsala's gonna sing!" And he'd make that loud that the whole neighborhood would hear it because they didn't have no radio. "Mr. Marsala's gonna sing!" (laughing)
MARSALA:You remember, there was the Brooklyn tree right in the middle of the block and you know who used to come? A wagon with the Indian in it. Oh, that was our, that was like a Sunday going to the movies. He would come [not understood] and he would have all the feathers there and we would just look at him and he would [not understood] My mother would say, "Don't take, you don't know what's in that bottle." But I remember the bottle was brown and they had a cork and he'd just go, "Ohhh" and you know do like the Indians. But White Eagle, whatever the — and then the Brooklyn tree, when they knocked down the Brooklyn tree because they were starting to change the whole neighborhood different after. The Brooklyn tree went down, the Indian didn't come back no more and that was — that lived in yoru mind. That was beautiful
LEVINE:What was supposed to be in the bottle?
MANGANARO:Medicine. They come then we all kids used to hang around--
MARSALA:This is good for rheumatism, this is good for headaches, so my mom says, "Don't take nothing you don't know what he's got in that bottle," you know.
MANGANARO:But he was a real Indian!
LEVINE:So tell about other things. Did you have iceboxes?
MARSALA:Oh yes, icebox we had, what did we have. And we had a bathroom in our house, thank God because some people didn't have that. They had to go outside. So we had it, there was like in between the wall, the neighbor would use that side and we would use this side. So thank God we had, and we had a tub. Now we had a good apartment, now being honest here because a lot of people didn't have a nice — but when my Mother came they had electricity. No, when my mother came they had the gas and as time went by, oh yeah, and then all of the sudden they got electricity. Yeah Mama says that with the [not understood]
LEVINE:So did you have chores that you had to do growing up? Like what did you have to do?
MARSALA:Oh yeah.
MANGANARO:I had to have whatever was needed, she had to do hers and my brother had to do his. And then at the end of the week, we would get a quarter. That was a lot of money. Then it was up to you to know how to use that quarter. So my father used to go, here's a quarter, either you like to go show with ten cents or you buy your silk stockings that I like. It's up to you. Boy what a lesson that was! What a lesson! We didn't do something and my father had a look at us, "Very good, very good."
MARSALA:Teach us something.
MANGANARO:Yeah, he used to teach us music.
MARSALA:A dollar, a nickel, a penny!
LEVINE:Were there any other things, any attitudes or any other sayings they tried to teach you, ways that you should be?
MANGANARO:There was poetry. My mother used to write poetry too. And we learned all the things that were interesting and knowledgeable. They used to make us feel that we were people.
MARSALA:And people respect you because —
MANGANARO:Because my father associated with people like that. All doctors and lawyers and professors.
MARSALA:All business.
LEVINE:I'm going to move this because I – now I know you write poetry and we're going to put this poem called "The Statue of Liberty" right? We're going to put that in your file. And I'm wondering if you would want to read it on tape?
MANGANARO:Alright.
LEVINE:Or recite it or read it? Let me get you some –
MANGANARO:I could –
LEVINE:Or maybe I, could you get it, it's right there.
MANGANARO:At thirteen years old, I wrote an Italian poem.
LEVINE:Oh, do you have it?
MANGANARO:Yes!
LEVINE:Well maybe we could copy that too.
MANGANARO:Alright
LEVINE:Yeah.
MANGANARO:Because you know what, these are all copyrighted for fifty years.
LEVINE:Oh good.
MANGANARO:They don't give me no money but they have, they're in all the books there.
LEVINE:Good, ok. So this is your poem called "Statue of Liberty."
MANGANARO:That's right. By Anne Manganaro (laughing). Oh you're really a nice person. "As the ship enters this distant shore Far from the land where I was born This beautiful lady is there to greet me Her hand holds the light of liberty Softly she speaks to me, Beckons me to her: Come my child, trust in me, Fear not, for here you can find your dreams My book holds the aspirations of life In it you will find the blessings of God And now, why do tears stain my face? Are they tears of joy or sorrow? Sorrow to have left my native land? Or the joy to find the promises of tomorrow? And now I start anew, beginnings in this blessed land Symbol of faith and hope I will try to be worthy to be an American My home sweet home God bless America, I love you" Eh?
LEVINE:Lovely, ok. So we're going to have that on file.
MANGANARO:Alright, it's all, nobody could copy it and like make money off of it.
LEVINE:Well it's a copyright so —
MANGANARO:So this is "Man". This is nice too. "Here is this perfect creation of God: Man As he goes on life's road to imperfect that creation Destroying the beauty and talent that it is With all his turbulent emotions and desires Passions, hatred, envy and greed Oh! If only we could stay as babes In a state of innocence and purity But, alas, the age of innocence and purity is short lived For we have destroyed the pure thought a As the final end comes we gasp Trying to hold on but in vain It's all over and now we must travel to the MARSALA" Eh?
LEVINE:Hmm!
MANGANARO:Oh and this here, I got a medal – I got a golden medal. "Yesterday." "In my youth the world held beauty, dignity, and good morals Today I'm lost in a rushing pace Where can I find my yesterdays? I escape to the forest primeval Surrounded by folds of green mountains Along the way, I find a path to follow With no question or thought I follow it to the top of the mountain Just to sit in the presence of God His peace surrounded all things There I sit in muted silence And yes, He spoke to me: My Peace I give you Rest and look at my world Look at all my creatures and rushing streams Hear the wind speak through the pines Feel the warmth of the golden sun Feel the peace I give If you search you will find it here beneath the sky A mist of grandeur of my vast garden It's all free If your soul yearns for me Call for me, I'm here Within you and around you" Eh? That's beautiful.
LEVINE:So the one in Italian you wrote as a young girl?
MANGANARO:Yeah! I wrote "Clear Blue Sky," you want it?
LEVINE:Yeah.
MANGANARO:[recites poem in Italian]
LEVINE:Beautiful! Now what does —
MANGANARO:It's about a little baby.
MARSALA:Have you tried it?
LEVINE:No. My next life.
MANGANARO:(laughing) I like this lady!
LEVINE:What was it? What is the name of it?
MANGANARO:"Piccolo Bimbo."
LEVINE:Which means?
MANGANARO:Small child.
LEVINE:And you wrote it when you were thirteen?
MANGANARO:I was coming home from high school and all of a sudden I saw a lady come in with this beautiful child, he must have been about a year and maybe two months. And I'm looking at every little thing he was doing. You see my poetry has to have a feeling. You, I'll read it. Because if it hasn't, I can't write it. I can't say, "I looked at this, buh-buh-buh," I can't, I have to feel it. Like my dream, I was really in heaven. This is, now I'm in three books and I have to have the, my background too. But I don't want to give too much of my background, you don't know what kind of nuts there are in this world. So this is what I wrote. This, the title of this poem is "Distant Love." But this is the biography of my -- whatever I think. "In writing poetry I have to feel and truly get inspired by what I am writing about There are times when feelings and words come to me in a different language: Italian Some come to me in the middle of the night So therefore my poems are living moments of inspiration My parents were philosophical They taught us the meaning and principle of character (Aside: that's true) I was a teacher and I enjoyed building good character in young children I had great satisfaction with my young children, first and second grade Their parents were so happy to see the change of their behavior to other children and to themselves I hope they remember the happy hours we had in learning I now live in Florida and enjoy the beauty of nature And everyday that the Creator gives me Eh? See, you don't give too much of yours because you don't know what people are, jealous.
LEVINE:Ok
MANGANARO:So this here is going to be written in the new book they're sending. I'm expecting it every few years. See? I have to write International Library of Poetry, and these are all copyrighted, name and you know, city and state. And this is my number (laughing).
LEVINE:Oh, your copyright number you mean? Good for you. Ok.
MANGANARO:Let's see what else is in here. Oh here's another one I wrote, "Music of Life," you want to hear it?
LEVINE:Sure.
MANGANARO:Oh what did you want to ask?
LEVINE:No read that one and then we'll go.
MANGANARO:Music of Life Music vibrating through endless time Echoing its message down to me A symphony of melodious songs Recapturing the memories of life As loves lullaby sung with tender tones The nearness of the heart that beats Next to the heart of a mother Has a melody all its own As a child nursery rhymes that brought laughter Growing up the guiding hand to lead me on the right path Adult, remembering the love and caring that parents gave Family, the beauty of family belonging to one another The Golden Years, living one day at a time To love God in his infinite love and mercy for all his creation" Eh?
LEVINE:Nice
MANGANARO:See I write that I feel.
LEVINE:Would you say that your mother and father found the American dream?
MANGANARO:Oh yes, yes.
LEVINE:In what way would you say that they did?
MANGANARO:My people weren't people that, "Oh I got to be rich, I got to be — " Never. They took life as it comes. Like I do, like she does.
MARSALA:Appreciate whatever there was around them. They had everything you dream of.
MANGANARO:I mean in order to come to America doesn't mean they have to be rich, as long as you got your health, you're happy. You're happy. When you're sick you cannot be happy, truly happy.
MARSALA:Thank God they came to America and they loved what was around them. And they made very good of what it was. And that's what the story was.
MANGANARO:That's what America really means!
MARSALA:[not understood] respect America, and he says, "You should be ashamed of yourself." Always telling me, "You don't like it here," my father says, "go back where you came from!" And my father was that way. And he had business. [not understood]
MANGANARO:And you couldn't fool around with my father. You couldn't fool around, not the type. My mother, yes, sometimes he used to go, "Maria, don't do that." You know?
MARSALA:He liked to kid around.
MANGANARO:No, we had beautiful parents that I thank God. Thank God with all my heart.
MARSALA:When I went work I used to find a lot of people from the other side. Oh, you know, in my country. What are you doing here? You come to take our money then you go back? END SIDE A, TAPE ONE. BEGIN SIDE B, TAPE ONE.
MANGANARO:I played this trick on my father; you want to hear (laughing)? You know, when his parents died he had like a grocery store. They have fresh salami, provolone, olives from all over.
MARSALA:They used to make bread and cookies and everything.
MANGANARO:Everything! So they used to send every month, they used to send wine or provolone or salami, olives, a little barrel like that. I loved olives, that was my weakness. So when they used to send us we used to sit in the corner and eat. So all of the sudden I got a funny feeling, I says, "Gee," I says, "What am I going to do with all these pits? They're going to know how many olives I eat." I says, "I'm going to put it back in the (laughing) –
MARSALA:The jar.
MANGANARO:I was like that! So I put them back. So one day my father goes to my mother, "Maria, shall we make a nice olive salad?" She goes, "Alright Nino." So then you put celery you put all the different things. So all of the sudden he takes out the pits. He says, "Maria, I'm going to write to my Aunt." -- Because he gave the property to his aunt. He says, "I'm going to tell her she must of got the wrong barrel and send it to us." She says, "Alright, but Nino, don't be hard on her, remember she made a mistake." "Alright, Maria." (laughing) So there's another barrel (laughing)! "Alright Maria, let's make the salad," "Alright Darling," "Oh! What is this! I'm going to write to my aunt, what is she paying money for pits? Sending them pits?" So I'm in the corner and I'm going (laughing), so my mom turns over and she says, "What are you laughing at?" I go (pause). She says, "Nino, look over here in the corner!" (laughing) "Oh I'm going to break your legs!" But that was, I used to love to do those little things and he didn't like it. He goes, "And here I was going to write to my beautiful aunt to tell her!" (laughing)
MARSALA:You know what, people would come and say [not understood] six thirty, go to the house and cut their hair or shave them. We ask, "Papa, do you take money?" "Are you stupid, are we taking money from a sick person? No no no, so I went there and I cut his hair." I mean, you know.
MANGANARO:It was a different world. Different world.
LEVINE:It was a different world. I think we'll stop with different world because it was a different world.
MANGANARO:Yes, God bless America!
MARSALA:God bless America.
MANGANARO:I love my country. And I told that to my –
MARSALA:And don't do nothing to that Statue of Liberty because every time I see that Statue of Liberty my heart pounds. Of course you don't know what crazy people are around.
MANGANARO:Yep.
LEVINE:Ok well I want to thank — I've been speaking with Anne Manganaro and Helen Marsala, sisters. And this has been a wonderful interview, I thank you very much.
MANGANARO:It's a great pleasure having you. Good, beautiful afternoon with a lovely lovely lady.
LEVINE:Ah, thanks.
MANGANARO:And that's very rare today.
MARSALA:Do you want me to make some coffee for you?
LEVINE:Oh, wait. This is Janet Levine with the National Park Service. END INTERVIEW
Cite this interview
Ann (nee Angelina) Marsala Manganaro, 1/6/2005, interviewer Janet Levine, PhD, Ellis Island Oral History Collection, Statue of Liberty National Monument, U.S. National Park Service, EI-1369.