Luigi, Mount Rushmore and me

It all started last year. My husband Lou Del Bianco and I had just returned from a trip to Mount Rushmore where he presented his grandfather Luigi’s story to visitors to the mountain on the busiest days for tourism, July third-fourth.

Lou’s grandfather Luigi, an Italian immigrant, was the chief carver on the mountain from 1933-1940 and served as the sculptor who made designer Gutson Borglum’s faces “come to life”.

The staff, administrators and audiences who heard Luigi’s story for the first time were fascinated and moved.

“Why haven’t we heard of Luigi Del Bianco and his contribution to the making of Rushmore?” they all asked.

The whole experience was invigorating and Lou and I left determined to spread the Luigi “gospel”. First Lou wrote a screenplay, then we collaborated on an historic novel.

While awaiting feedback from production companies, publishers, we decided to self-publish In The Shadow of the Mountain on amazon.com. Then we tried it out on my adult ESL students  and in local fifth and eighth grades with the help of teaching colleagues,.

Just before Christmas 2011 came a wonderful breakthrough. The popular reality show CakeBoss wanted to feature Luigi’s story and make a Mount Rushmore cake to celebrate Luigi Del Bianco Day in his adopted hometown Port Chester, N.Y. You can check out the episode on YouTube; it’s called Presidents, Peanut Butter and Pop-ins.

That’s not all, this summer we wrote a children’s book I Want to Tell You About My Grandfather and a reader’s theater version of In the Shadow of the Mountain which we will test in classrooms this school year….

Are those enough excuses for not keeping up with my blog???