Joseph Petracca
Encyclopedia
Joseph Petracca was an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and television writer of Italian descent. Born and raised in Brooklyn
, New York
, Petracca moved to Los Angeles after the end of World War II (during which time he worked as a machinist in the Brooklyn Navy Yard
) and worked a series of full-time jobs, mainly as a steam press operator for a laundry and linen rental service, while he pursued his writing in the evenings and began raising a family with his wife Lena. In the early fifties Petracca began publishing fiction in the popular magazines of the day. Throughout the fifties Petracca wrote and collaborated on numerous films for such studios as 20th Century Fox
and Paramount Pictures
and in the sixties wrote episodes for such television shows as The Untouchables
, Rawhide
and Route 66 (TV series)
. Petracca is survived by a daughter, Frances Petracca, a neuroscientist
and AIDS
researcher, and a son, novelist and university Lecturer Michael Petracca
.
and The Saturday Evening Post
. Many of his stories featured a fictional Italian-American family, the Espositos, loosely based upon Petracca’s own family. Narrated by one of the Esposito children, Joey, these stories centered on themes of poverty, cultural alienation, and the joyful resiliency of family. Petracca used this same fictional family as the centerpiece for his first novel, Come Back to Sorrento
, published by Little, Brown and Company
in the United States, and Victor Gollancz
in London, in 1953.
- was purchased by 20th Century Fox
studios in the same year as the release of Come Back to Sorrento, and Petracca co-authored the screenplay with Alvin M. Josephy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0430770/. The film version of "Something for the Birds" was directed by Robert Wise
. Petracca was subsequently hired by Fox studios as a contract writer and for the next several years wrote and collaborated on numerous screenplays, including Seven Cities of Gold http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048603/maindetails (1955) and The Proud Ones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049639/ (1956). Subsequent to his tenure at Fox, Petracca continued writing and collaborating on screenplays through the end of the fifties, with such titles as The Jayhawkers!
(1959) and The Proud Rebel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052097/ (1958), starring Alan Ladd
, Olivia de Havilland
, Dean Jagger
and John Carradine
, and directed by Michael Curtiz
.
In the sixties, Petracca turned mainly to writing for television, although he did collaborate with novelist and long-time friend John Fante
on a motion picture, The Reluctant Saint
(1962), based upon the story of 17th century Saint Joseph of Cupertino, who, according to legend, had the gift of levitation (paranormal). That film starred Maximilian Schell
in the title role and was directed by Edward Dmytryk
.
, (1959-1961), The Asphalt Jungle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054517/ (1961), Route 66 (TV series)
, Sam Benedict http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055703/ (1962), Rawhide
(1962-1963), and The Richard Boone Show
(1963).
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Petracca moved to Los Angeles after the end of World War II (during which time he worked as a machinist in the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...
) and worked a series of full-time jobs, mainly as a steam press operator for a laundry and linen rental service, while he pursued his writing in the evenings and began raising a family with his wife Lena. In the early fifties Petracca began publishing fiction in the popular magazines of the day. Throughout the fifties Petracca wrote and collaborated on numerous films for such studios as 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and in the sixties wrote episodes for such television shows as The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
and Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
. Petracca is survived by a daughter, Frances Petracca, a neuroscientist
Neuroscientist
A neuroscientist is an individual who studies the scientific field of neuroscience or any of its related sub-fields...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
researcher, and a son, novelist and university Lecturer Michael Petracca
Michael Petracca
Michael Petracca is an American novelist who teaches research writing and creative nonfiction and has served as Acting Co-Director of the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Petracca's two novels, Doctor Syntax and Captain Zzyzx, published by Capra Press, feature Harmon...
.
Fiction
Petracca had early success as a writer of short stories for magazines such as Collier's WeeklyCollier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
and The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
. Many of his stories featured a fictional Italian-American family, the Espositos, loosely based upon Petracca’s own family. Narrated by one of the Esposito children, Joey, these stories centered on themes of poverty, cultural alienation, and the joyful resiliency of family. Petracca used this same fictional family as the centerpiece for his first novel, Come Back to Sorrento
Sorrento
Sorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
, published by Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
in the United States, and Victor Gollancz
Victor Gollancz
Sir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian.-Early life:Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking...
in London, in 1953.
Film
One of Petracca’s short prose pieces, "Something For the Birds,"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045173/ - a proto-environmentalist comedy focusing on the plight of the California CondorCalifornia Condor
The California Condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and coastal mountains of central and southern California and northern Baja California...
- was purchased by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
studios in the same year as the release of Come Back to Sorrento, and Petracca co-authored the screenplay with Alvin M. Josephy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0430770/. The film version of "Something for the Birds" was directed by Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
. Petracca was subsequently hired by Fox studios as a contract writer and for the next several years wrote and collaborated on numerous screenplays, including Seven Cities of Gold http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048603/maindetails (1955) and The Proud Ones http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049639/ (1956). Subsequent to his tenure at Fox, Petracca continued writing and collaborating on screenplays through the end of the fifties, with such titles as The Jayhawkers!
The Jayhawkers!
The Jayhawkers! is a movie set in pre-Civil War Kansas starring Jeff Chandler and Fess Parker, and directed by Melvin Frank.-Cast:Jeff Chandler ... Luke Darcy Fess Parker ... Cam Bleeker Nicole Maurey ... Jeanne Dubois Henry Silva ... Lordan...
(1959) and The Proud Rebel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052097/ (1958), starring Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
, Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
and John Carradine
John Carradine
John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
, and directed by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
.
In the sixties, Petracca turned mainly to writing for television, although he did collaborate with novelist and long-time friend John Fante
John Fante
John Fante was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Italian descent. He is perhaps best known for his work, Ask the Dust, a semi-autobiograpical novel about life in and around Los Angeles, California, which was the third in a series of four novels, published between 1938...
on a motion picture, The Reluctant Saint
The Reluctant Saint
The Reluctant Saint is a 1962 film which tells a somewhat fictionalized version of the story of Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th Century Italian saint. It stars Maximilian Schell as Joseph, as well as Ricardo Montalban, Lea Padovani, Akim Tamiroff, and Harold Goldblatt...
(1962), based upon the story of 17th century Saint Joseph of Cupertino, who, according to legend, had the gift of levitation (paranormal). That film starred Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
in the title role and was directed by Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy-era 'red scare'.-Early life:Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada,...
.
Television
Prior to his death from cancer in 1963, Petracca wrote or collaborated on such television projects as Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1960), seven episodes of The UntouchablesThe Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, (1959-1961), The Asphalt Jungle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054517/ (1961), Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, Sam Benedict http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055703/ (1962), Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
(1962-1963), and The Richard Boone Show
The Richard Boone Show
The Richard Boone Show is a short-lived, award-winning anthology television series. It aired on NBC during the 1963-64 season.-Synopsis:Richard Boone hosted the series and starred in about half of the episodes, garnering an Emmy nomination for himself and a Golden Globe award for the show...
(1963).