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ent001379-033
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I agree.Page No. 2 then reputed No. I in the country. Eight years passed by and Prima hit again, this time with his 22-piece orchestra on a million-plus record seller - "Angelina. " It started people talking about pizza, veal cutlet parmesan, pasta fazole and antipasto - words never used before in the American language, unless you happened to be a descendant from Italy. It picked up momentum with one smash after another like: "Josephina, Please No Leana On Da Bell" and "Please No Squeeze Da Banana. " It was 1944 and the trends started picking up in momentum through the next four years of the song stylings of Prima. Everything was going Italian: hairdos, dresses, suits, stockings, shoes, hats, etc., Italian singers, because the door had been opened by Prima, started to hit it big. Some of these included: Perry Como, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett, Buddy Greco, Buddy Devito, Phil Brito and Dean Martin. Prima's orchestra Started to gain such fantastic, universal popularity, it became number one during this period. The leading ddejay at this time, Martin Block, so crowned Prima the King over the Dorsey's, Charlie Barnett, Woody Herman and others. He started to make history in the theatres, breaking house records whereever he appeared - Palace Theatre, Cleveland; Metropolitan, Providence; Earl, Philadelphia; Adams,Newark; Downtown, Detroit; Oriental, Chicago. And in one year appearing an unprecedented three times at the biggest theatre of them all - the Paramount in New York - he broke all attendance and receipt records that still stand today in the annals of band history. Prima even i nvaded the negro theatres throughout the country, and was just as big a smash in the Apollo, in New York's Harlem; Royal, Baltimore; Howard, Washington; Regal, Chicago; Paradise, Detroit, At the Howard, his success was so overwhelming, it came 7>