PS Magazine: You grew up in an Italian-American household, with your childhood spent between Sicily and Brooklyn. Tell us a little about growing up in that environment. Johnny Martino: I come from way back when; there wasn’t even a jet plane when I started. Let me go a little further back...my father came to America from Italy as a stowaway on a ship at 13, and he worked unloading trucks for 50 cents a day. He eventually fought for this country and then went back to Sicily to find a wife; they had a baby girl, and then moved back to New York. Growing up in my family, we only spoke Italian. As a boy, my father took me to Italy to see my mother’s family, and I spent a whole year with “Uncle Charlie”, who was [notorious mobster Charles] “Lucky” Luciano. Later, my oldest brother would let me listen to the radio and Frank Sinatra and that’s when I got to love Sinatra. As a teenager, Brando was my acting idol, Sinatra was my singing idol, and that’s when I decided I wanted to go into show business. PS: How did you get your first big break in Hollywood?
Above: Johnny Martino as Paulie Gatto in The Godfather COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Opposite Left: Johnny Martino in 1958 COURTESY OF JOHNNY MARTINO
JM: As a teenager, I went into New York City to find a vocal coach and also found an acting coach. Someone gave me the song, “Baby Sitting Baby”, which I recorded and I was on the radio a week later. I was on WABC and then the Joe Franklin show. When I was 21 years old, I was on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. After that, I wanted to continue my singing and acting career. I had $100 to my name, and found an ad to deliver a 1958 Ford convertible to Hollywood. When I first moved to Hollywood, I worked as a busboy at La Scala. On my first night, Fernando Lamas, Esther 47