VERO BEACH — Members and guests of the Italian-American Civic Association found a great way to escape news about the tropics Saturday night as they ducked into the The Godfather’s Entertainment Extravaganza.
The variety show and dinner event designed to celebrate Mario Puzo’s the Godfather trilogy of movies following the trials and triumphs of the Corleone organized crime family.
Forty years after the release of the original, classic masterpiece film, The Godfather, local residents got an inside peek into the motion picture business and into the Godfather mystique from actor John Martino, who played Paulie Gatto in the original cast.
After a cocktail party in the club’s headquarters, which was transformed for the evening into a quintessentially Italian setting, Martino shared his memories of being a part of The Godfather and fielded questions from the audience.
The evening then took on a lighter tone with a stand-up comedy show by Nick Pupo and Carmen Vallone. The Italian-American Civic Club prepared dinner and the music of Mike Risco playing the standards of Frank Sinatra and other Italian crooners.
To round out the nostalgic experience after guests were fully in the spirit, disc jockey Edmund Nalzaro got busy spinning great tunes for dancing the night away.
