If you have been fortunate enough to have met Robert Rietti on or off stage, you will never forget the impact such a meeting has left on you of a perfect gentleman with a beautiful voice, with a wonderful sense of humour, with warmth, kindness and with the ability to grasp life when things work well or when events are hurtful and disappointing. A man of the world, yet being able to submit to gain strength from his love to his family, loyalty to his friends and deep belief in his Creator and in his Jewish Heritage. If the term, an aristocrat is no longer applying to most, getting to know Robert is an encounter which would conger up an exact such image.
Robert Rietti started to write his life story at the age of fifteen on torn sheets of toilet paper - it was a therapeutic occupation doing so while incarcerated as a enemy alien. Despite the fact that he was born and raised in England, the fact that his father came from Italy marked him in that category.
The puzzling title of his autobiography becomes clear while reading the often contrast expressions between the wish to do great things but not being able to achieve them in a metaphorical way to look at what happens from the outside not being able to effect anything, just standing with a forehead pressed against the window.
Robert is the son of Vittorio, an Italian actor and director from Ferrara who translated plays from Italian to English. It was his adored father who carved the professional track for Robert from a very early age and had the most lasting impact on his personality and career.
As a young child, Robert was already reported to the press as an infant prodigy. So set in his desire to become an actor from as early as he can recall, Robert created his own theatre in his parent's garage, entertaining his friends, including his soul mate, his dog Flossy. His brother, Richard, who became a Violinist, had Paganini as a role model whereas Robert always stuck with his father as his idol.
Robert's acting career is pebbled with some successes and many disappointments which were caused by the historical circumstances of World War I and II. Very early on, Robert realized that his chosen professional path is going to be littered with heartbreaks and that the only way to cope with them would be to keep a spirit of optimism.
At times he had support and admiration for his talent. Famous stage people at the time commented on his acting ability: "My child, you have one of the greatest talents I have ever seen. One day I would like you to act with me.' This was a comment after his appearing in Emil and the Detectives in the role of the Professor. For Dickens centenary, the plans were for celebrations at the London Palladium. Robert was given a role which was a real breakthrough in this child's aspiring career. When he was introduced to Ben Green, the producer of the show, the latter remarked: "Is it wise to engage....I mean one with the name Rietti? Foreign....after all, we are acting Dickens and what could be more English than that - but with the name Rietti?!..."
Yet the critics loved him and the Press was full of praise; "Bobby Rietti, you are the greatest exhibition of Pathos I have seen in the theatre..." or "Bobby Rietti was heart rendering, speaking in perfect somberness. I do not know any actor....who has one quarter of Rietti's pathos. If any actor over twenty can play Jo and make me cry as Bobby Rietti did, I will pay for him to rent the Palladium for one afternoon." Or: "Bobby Rietti's acting was amazingly good. If I had not seen it, I would not have believed that this part could have been played with such convincing pathos. Never have I seen Dickens character on stage that more completely satisfied me."
On the other hand, he encountered derogatory comments and rejection about having a 'foreign accent' or 'Italian or perhaps Kilburn accent'. In his thirties, Robert and his father decided to go to Italy and try their luck in acting over there, away from the comments that they had received here. Unfortunately, with the rise of fascism during some of the shows, there were anti-Semitic calls thrown at them from the public: 'Dirty Jews, go back to Palestine.' Their involvement in the show had to stop.
During the same period in Italy, Robert was offered a scholarship and maintenance grant at the Italian Academy. This scholarship was withdrawn when it became known to the Ministry of Culture that Rietti was Jewish. One of the most interesting and moving chapters in the book deals with Robert, his brother and father being interned as enemy Aliens of Italian Nationality despite the fact that Robert was actually born in England. His incarceration took place in a traumatic way when he was dragged out of the Colchester Wrap during a rehearsal. He was only a young youth at the time who was first interned in Liverpool, which was a proper prison with closed cell doors, always being watched through the peep whole on the door. His incoming and outgoing mail was subject to censorship with only exercise twice a day outside the cell, suspected of being a fifth columnist.
For five months he was occupied in sewing mail bags for one and a half pennies per sack. Five months imprisonment, of course, felt like eternity. Within this camp were some anti-Semitic incidents towards the Jewish inmates which Robert describes vividly. He was then moved to another camp at Ascot surrounded by barbed wired from which he was liberated.
