Musical Offerings ⦁ 2026 ⦁ Volume 17 ⦁ Number 1 49 Conclusion Louis Prima’s Italian novelties created long-lasting effects on the American perception of Italian culture. He was successful in diverting his American audience’s vision away from violence and hate, instead redirecting it toward more joyous perceptions. In the years following the popularity of Prima’s Italian novelties, other Italian American artists followed suit with humorous takes on their culture. Due in part to these efforts, the concept of an Italian American identity—one which is neither fully Italian nor American—developed, merging the American lifestyle with an idolized and appropriated Italian culture. Such a viewpoint on the Italian American experience persists in American popular culture in the twenty-first century, and the “primitive” tarantella folk dance remains at the forefront of the Italian American sound. Bibliography Allured, Janet and Michael S. Martin, eds. Louisiana Legacies: Readings in the History of the Pelican State. John Wiley and Sons, 2013. Boulard, Garry. “Just a Gigolo:” The Life and Times of Louis Prima. University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1989. Cinotto, Simone. Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and the Production of Ethnic Identities. Fordham University Press, 2014. Clavin, Thomas. That Old Black Magic: Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and the Golden Age of Las Vegas. Chicago Review Press, 2010. Hobson, Vic. Creating Jazz Counterpoint: New Orleans, Barbershop Harmony, and the Blues. University Press of Mississippi, 2014. LaGumina, Salvatore J. WOP! A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Discrimination in the United States. Straight Arrow Books, 1973. Mendelssohn, Felix. Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, “Italian.” Edited by Julius Rietz. Breitkopf & Härtel, 1877. https://ks15.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/b/b8/IMSLP20286PMLP18979-Mendelssohn_-_090_- _Symphony_n.4_A_(score).pdf. Nystrom, Justin A. Creole Italian: Sicilian Immigrants and the Shaping of New Orleans Food Culture. The University of Georgia Press, 2018. Rotella, Mark. Amore: The Story of Italian American Song. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.
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