Capri, Capricious, Capris, Capra

Everything beautiful can be related back to Italy. If it's art, earth, fashion, literature or culture you mark my words, there's a boot behind it. It if we weren't directly responsible, we will at least take credit for the inspiration. Please, how can we not inspire?

Capri is an italian island off of the Sorrentine Peninsula. It sits on the south side of the Gulf of Naples. Capri has been a celebrated destination since the time of the Roman Republic. The island was a favorite for Emporer Tiberias. Caesars would travel to Capri to enjoy it's beauty and sea air. In the 2nd half of the 19th Century Capri became popular for european artists, writers and other celeberities. An entity unto itself the city of Capri shares the island with Annacapris, the other populace found in the hills to the west. In the fifties many of the international jetset found Capri to be a popular sight to own a villa in. With many natural vistas, such as Grotto Azurre, the many shops, boutiques, and cafes, the glitterati found a spot to party and lure the papparzzi around. The smell of the lemontrees blossoming on the island has been likened to a hallucinogen.

Capricious is a greatly underused vocab word. It means apt to change suddenly. Whimsical or changeagle. "She was a capricious girl from the island; at once cool, and soon a vixen."

Capris are a style of trousers usually worn in the summertime. The leg of the pant was designed to fall to the mid calf but some designs have it fall just past the knee. They were first noted in the mid fifties in italy, reflecting the chic nature of fashion, primarily in Capri where many of the jetset were wearing them. They embraced the sillouhette of the female figure were and considered a bold statement. The Capri pants found a home in american culture when they were made enormously popular on the television program, The Dick Van Dyke Show. Laura, played my Mary Tyler Moore, starred as Rob's spunky wife and wore capris regularly to viewers delights. Capris disappeared from popularity in the seventies only to reappear in popularity in the nineties some credit to Uma Thurman sporting them in 'Pulp Fiction'. Most popular in women's fashion, around the late 20th century/early 21st Capris became popular with young men.

Frank Capra was born May 18, 1897 in Bisacquino, Sicily. The anniversary of his death was just recently, September 3, 1991. He emmigrated to the United States on The Germania with his family. They made their way to Los Angeles where his first professional job was as a paperboy. He longed to write and fell in love with the cinema. Ambitious beyond years he put himself thru school to take a job as a gag writer for scripts. His work was always unique which rubbed many a producer the wrong way. He firmly believed that there were two camps in Hollywood; The Mr. Up-Beats, and The Mr Down-Beats". The being part of the former was also regarded as a "Gee Whiz" kind of man, taking the time in viewing what an untypical type actor could bring to a role. Barbara Stanwyck, Jimmy Stewart even Frank Sinatra all held something in Capra's view that not many other directors would have given breaks to. Capra even tried to convince Sinatra that he could be the greatest actor of his time if he devoted his incredible focus on acting and forgoe music. Who knows where Frank would have been, but we certainly knew where he ended up. Capra's legacy is that of forging films that are regarded as americana, telling of the time and the place where this immigrant from italy found success. Films like 'The Bitter Tea of General Yen', 'You Can't Take It With You', 'American Madness', 'Mister Smith Goes To Washington', and 'It's A Wonderful Life' all take on dark topics with suprisingly human outcomes. Frank Capra was the most unique, highly honored and successful director of his time.