Page 23 - Italian American Herald - July 2022

ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
JULY2022 | ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM 23
Barbara Ann Zippi-Och, Executive Producer Text/Cell/WhatsAp 610 566 4883 CiaoBellaLivingItalianStyle@gmail.com
! ! Sharing * Heritage * Culture * Traditions * Foods * Connecting * Family * Friends * People * Firms * Non Profits !
James May, A Philadelphia Legend ! The Man, The Gowns, The Mummers & The Championship Hat
James May & Barbara Zippi
I Do ! I Do ! A Bridal Extravagamza
Eagles Super Bowl Champion Jason Kelce and James May
Eagles Invincible Vince Papale & wife Janet
Fox TV29 Sue Serio’s hat in Italian colors
I’m familiar w/Legends, my uncle, Al Alberts, was one. You might know him as James, Jimmy or Junior May, he’s a Legend too. I met him & wife BetteLou in the 70’s when they provided Al Alberts Showcase at WPVI-TV 6 studios String Band performances. Showcase strategy at the time was simple, ‘every performer in the studio had hundreds of friends & families watching’” & James May String Bands always placed as award winners among the Top 5. They included: Ferko, South Philly, Quaker City, Kensing- ton, Avalon & Fralinger. May was well known as “The Costumer of Champions” long before The Championship Hat was made famous by Jason Kelce in full Mummers regalia. During his career creating almost 100,000 Mummers & Brigade costumes, sometimes up to 1500 costumes a year, servicing 10 to 15 groups per year, his wife is known to say, ‘Junior, of all the costumes you created that went down Broad Street in Philadelphia, you’re going to be remembered for the one made famous by a guy riding a bicycle down Broad Street.”
Chester’s Italian immigrants. Born in
the late 1800’s, at 16, James Salvatore May, Sr. came to America from Calabria. Like many at immigration, they changed
his name from Mayo to May. His mother, Phyllis Cartella, born in the early 1900’s, barely a month old, made the journey to America from Latina near Rome. “Junior”, the youngest (1942) of 5 brothers & 2 sisters all worked in the family business that progressed from a grocery store during the depression to May’s Water Ice recently closing (2018) after almost 70 years in Chester. Graduating St. James High, he went to the Modern School of Fashion
& Design in Boston before going to work for Alfred Angelo Bridal Gowns as a designer in Philadelphia with a showroom in New York.
Philadelphia’s secret weapon. Similar to a story heard at Delco Press Club when famous attorney, F. Lee Bailey was a speaker, Bailey recounted how he came to defend Patty Hearst: ‘sharing a property line with her grandfather, William Randolph Hearst, his neighbor asked him to help his granddaughter.’ Shortly after the Phillies won the 1993 Pennant, doing a neighbor
a favor, May dressed Tug McGraw for
his appearance reciting ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ for a benefit concert at the Academy of Music. In 1995, featuring his creations, I produced I DO ! I DO ! A Bridal Extravaganza at the newly opened Media Theater w/Channel 3 News Anchor Pat Ciarrocchi & WOGL’s Don Cannon.
Does a legend ever retire, think Giorgio Armani (1934) or Ralph Lauren (1939). Starting the process in 2017, since he’s the landlord, he never emptied his design studio of fabric, feathers, crystals & sequins, then The Eagles Won The Super Bowl and the Championship Hat was born. All hand- made by James May, they were never mass produced for sale. Feeling blessed in life, the May’s have gifted The Championship Hat, some signed by Jason Kelce, to local charities for their fundraisers resulting in over $100,000 in donations. They include: Philadelphia Police Centurions, Mummers Against Cancer, The Shriners, Abington Police Department, The Leathernecks Motorcycle Club, American Heart Association. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Cape Regional Foundation, Autism Speaks, Diabetes of Delaware County and Nick’s House Headstrong Foundation.
Gifting his ‘last signed’ Jason Kelce hat to life-long friend Tony Luke, Jr.’s non-profit, SoundMind Network, founded in memory of Luke’s son’s unsuccessful battle with addiction, their 1st Music Festival, Healing Through The Arts, held at Bally’s new beer-garden, The Yard, in Atlantic City w/MC Fox TV29 Bob Kelly, featured The Bacon Brothers as headline entertainers & raised $30,000. During COVID, alone
at their shop, w/contactless pick-ups, they made over 5,000 masks & gave them to police & emergency workers, senior citizens & families without charge, stating only to make a donation to St. Jude’s Hospital.
I’m blessed with Jimmy & BetteLou
as friends. He recently asked me about advertising custom-made bridal gowns in the Italian American Herald newspaper in support of my new position as Associate Publisher. Retired? You never know with Mr. May, a favorite guest of The Press Club. As Sid Mark was known to say about Sinatra, “And the Legend Continues” stay-tuned.
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Arrivederci
Ciao Bella! Lady Z
BetteLou (Elizabeth Wright), the woman behind the legend keeping family & business flowing, graduated from Notre Dame. Their ‘Love Story’ started as high school sweet- hearts, he designed & made her prom gown, married in 1963, & made her bridal
& 8 attendants gowns too. Her father, then Chester Police Detective Herbert Wright, walked her down the aisle, now known as St. Katharine Drexel. Wright would pass away during his tenure as Chester’s Chief of Police.
Jim Donavan Channel 3 News Anchor
Philly Born, Michael & Kevin Bacon, Musicians & Actors
Tony Luke, Jr.
In 1964, with his wife by his side, they opened James May Bridal on MacDade Blvd in Milmont designing & producing thousands of gowns. In 1972 through a friend, Durning String Band needed a costumer at the last minute. W/ the theme, “Stars In Your Eyes”, the band, always placing in the mid-teens for awards, made First Place Captain & 4th Place overall. The next year they added Harrowgate String Band, both bands award winners & others followed. May’s exclusive costume ‘pant’ design created a fabric movement nicknamed The Jimmy May Sway when marching down Broad Street. It’s still used today. They grew to 2 locations, one for Bridal, one for costume production, all while raising 4 children with the last born in 1975. From hats to shoes, eventually daughter Maria joined as Millener. He designed & made her bridal & 11 attendants gowns too. ‘Living Italian Style’, adult sons James, Frank & John still kiss him hello & goodbye & he’s the proud grandfather of Travis & Connor Gray, Elizabeth & John, Jr.
Bacon Brothers at Bally’s Fundraiser for Sound Mind Network
Tweens to Seniors: “Building Bridges, Connecting People: Tales on Culture, Heritage & Traditions of all Nationalities”and “2022 Adventures In Abruzzo: An Exhibit & Video Presentation” Bookings accepted * Local to International Public Relations, Television, Social Media, Newspapers & Events Contact CiaoBellaLivingItalianStyle@gmail.com