America’s favorite godson on Frank, Marlon & music

JEFF GRANIT After a musical career that has spanned more than 50 years, singer Al Martino continues to perform around the world. Here Martino treats his audience to a free show as part of the Brick Township SummerFest Concert Series July 17. Mayor Joseph Scarpelli designated the event Italian-American Night.

The tour continues

for veteran singer,

Godfather star Al Martino

By karl vilacoba

JEFF GRANIT Joe Valuri, Brick, applauds Al Martino and his 15-piece orchestra on July 17 at SummerFest in Brick Township.

Staff Writer

BRICK –– In a scene familiar to millions of movie fans, Al Martino softly purred the lyrics to "I Have But One Heart" through a microphone to his heavily Italian-American audience. Some gently swayed to the melody, and many more cheered as he began singing verses in Italian.

This was not the wedding of Connie Corleone, but Brick Township’s SummerFest concert series at Windward Beach Park, Princeton Avenue. It was another of countless stops on a singing tour that has lasted over 50 years.

Yet, before the show, Martino, 75, still showed a hint of the pre-concert anticipation you might associate with younger, greener performers.

"Are there a lot of people out there?" Martino asked a visitor in his trailer a half hour before showtime. When assured there were, a satisfied smile flushed over his face.

"I’ve got all the songs laid out. I know what I’m going to say. I’ve done many festivals in my life," Martino said.

On stage, Martino brought a cool confidence that comes along with more than 30 hit singles. "Here in My Heart" was his first song to chart in 1952, selling more than 1 million copies, but his most famous is arguably "Spanish Eyes."

His voice remains as strong as the one on those old records, as he showed with a jumping "Dancing in the Dark," the gentle ballad "It Had to Be You" and the operatic "The Sound of Music." Like other singers of Martino’s genre, his stage act intermixed anecdotes about the songs with hammy jokes.

"Let me tell you something," Martino told audience. "Did you know at one time, my mother and father owned a home in Philadelphia that cost less than this tuxedo?"

Born Alfred Cini, Martino worked as a bricklayer in South Philadelphia while singing nights in the city’s saloons as a teen. His break came in 1950 when he won first prize in the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout Show, which scored him a recording contract.

Decades later, Martino continues to tour the world and is a frequent performer in the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

Popular music has changed drastically over Martino’s career, and in his opinion, not for the better. He finds no enjoyment in today’s acts, with the exception of the modern tenors.

"I like melodies. I like good lyrics and nostalgia. Let’s put it this way: nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, you know what I mean?" Martino said with a hearty laugh.

As he well knows, much of America’s nostalgia for Martino is due not to his singing talents, but his recurring role in the first and third installments of The Godfather movie trilogy. Martino played Johnny Fontane, a worldwide recording phenom who found his career on the verge of ruin.

Fontane sees a way to get back on top in a role in an upcoming war movie that’s so perfect for him, he’d barely have to act. But its producer, Jack Woltz, has a vendetta against Fontane and won’t even let him audition.

Fontane travels to New York and tells his Mafia chieftain godfather, Don Vito Corleone, who makes Woltz "an offer he can’t refuse." After resisting Corleone’s initial request to cast Fontane, Woltz wakes up with his thoroughbred horse Khartoum’s head beneath his bed sheets.

Many believed the character, a singer with Mafia connections, was based on Frank Sinatra.

"I never thought of it, and the people who worked on the movie never thought of it. And (Godfather author) Mario Puzo denies it, too," Martino said. "So it was all a figment in the imagination of Frank, I think."

Still, it was a source of discomfort between Sinatra and those involved with the film.

"Frank, being that he thought it was him, he gave the picture a lot of problems. But we overcame it," Martino said. "It was between us, between Paramount, between the chief of the studio. There was a lot of friction, but we resolved it in the end."

Many consider the movie the best ever made, and Martino knew early on that it would become something special.

"I had many talks with Mario, and so when we were making the film, sometimes we had breakfast together. Because of all the activity and all the mystique in making this movie, we had a pretty good idea we were making a big hit," Martino said.

The film’s cast was a combination of established stars and actors whose careers were propelled by the movie. Starring as Vito Corleone was Marlon Brando, a man who gained a reputation as difficult and uncooperative to work with. Brando is also known to improvise while the tape is rolling, as Martino said he did when he gave Fontane a hard slap across the face.

"Marlon Brando was an ace. He’s a great guy. (Al) Pacino I just met; he was kind of an unknown then, and so was (James) Caan," Martino said. "Brando was the only guy that was very cooperative. Don’t believe any of that stuff. He was a gem. Everybody looked up to him."

With showtime approaching, Martino gave his visitor a firm handshake and clasped his shoulder with his other hand. Dressed in a casual denim blue, button-down shirt and pants, he would emerge moments later prim in a black tuxedo to front his 15-piece orchestra.

A crowd of thousands packed the park. Couples in the audience stood up and slow danced to his songs, and he told them how much that meant to him. Boats anchored off the park in the Metedeconk River to listen. For the first time this rainy summer, the sun shone perfectly on a SummerFest Thursday night.

Things always had a way of working out for the godson of Don Corleone.