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The subject of FREAKS was very much on my mind as we sat and talked about his early career in films. I asked him what sort of impact that film has had on his life and he responded by telling me the impact is far greater now than when the film was made in 1932. “When the film came out it was like a serious crime had been committed by Tod Browning, and MGM instantly regretted the whole thing. Mr. Browning was a fine man and kind of a genius as a picture maker. Some felt he was overshadowed by the legend of Lon Chaney and could not be successful without having him in his corner. Chaney had died just a year or so before we did FREAKS. The whole experience was unforgettable and very sad at the same time because many of the cast would only make that one film, and sometimes to have all that attention, being in the spotlight for weeks, and then have it taken away all at once, especially when we are told audiences ran screaming out of the theater and threw up!” Angelo especially remembered the leading lady of FREAKS, the Russian prima donna Olga Baclanova. “She was introduced to us by Mr. Browning before the film started shooting and you could see the fear in her eyes at first, and then something changed in her because during the filming she became like a protector to all of us and the fear was changed into a kind of love. She really became fond of Prince Randian, she thought he had a beautiful face and never regarded him as a man with no arms or legs. He could do almost anything by using his mouth, like roll cigarettes or make small gifts out of matches. We all fell in love with her by the time filming was over. All this media attention I have been getting recently as the “Master Blaster” (in MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME) kind of reminded me of those days way back then, and in almost every interview I give nowadays the subject of FREAKS comes up, as it is now some kind of cinema masterpiece. I am just glad I’ve lived long enough to see it happen. All this praise would have made Mr. Browning so proud maybe somehow, in the great beyond, he knows.”

I asked him about working with De Mille on SIGN OF THE CROSS. His response was one of genuine admiration. “De Mille was a no-nonsense director; he never treated anyone better than anyone else. He demanded respect on his sets at all times. De Mille loved to give speeches at the beginning of takes and sometimes played music to get the action going”

Angelo also recalled the most famous sequence where the Christians were thrown to the lions. “I was made up to look like a pygmy. The whole set was wild with real lions and tigers. De Mille was always good to little people. We admired him, and he never talked down to any of us.” The big wigs at Paramount treated De Mille like a God; his word was law.”

There was an abundance of memorabilia on display in my apartment featuring both Karloff and Lugosi, so it didn’t take much effort to steer Angelo onto the subject of his relationship with these two icons of the Horror film. “Lugosi was my mentor, you know. We worked at Monogram several times and I kind of became his mascot. I even did a magic show with him as his assistant… Bela always called me his ‘lucky charm.’ He told me in his early days as an actor in Hungary it was a sign of the mystic for an actor to have a dwarf for a valet; it was supposed to bring luck. During our days at Monogram Bela would always have a bottle or two of red wine imported from his native land at his disposal after a days work, and we would toast each other as comrades. Bela was a very generous, thoughtful and kind man. Karloff on the other hand was a cold fish and a real snob. I never felt anything from him other than he was a STAR and never let anyone forget it. Karloff would do a take and then disappear into his dressing room as if he was just too grand to be over there at Monogram… I would take Bela Lugosi any day over Karloff, a very overrated performer in my opinion.”

At the time we were working on THE OFFSPRING Angelo was enjoying his new found celebrity from a recent appearance in the Mel Gibson blockbuster Mad Max film BEYOND THUNDERDOME which he told me was a rough, grueling shoot, working in almost unbearable heat, especially for a little person over 75 and nearly blind. Angelo loved working with Tina Turner, “a great lady with more talent than she knows what to do with” and got on well with cast and crew including THUDERDOME star Mel Gibson. It is interesting to recall in lieu of current events the way Angelo discussed Mel’s alcohol intake on that picture as he told me “Mel liked his booze perhaps a little too much for his own good, and the beer down there was very strong. I tried a couple of bottles of the stuff and it put me out cold. Gibson would drink all night and it began to show the next day. That stuff gave me such a hangover, and to spend the next day in that helmet on top of a giant’s shoulders was so painful I never touched the stuff again the whole time I was down there. After a time I had to call my agent to get out of there because the heat was killing me and I knew I would die on that picture if I had to remain any longer.”

I could have spent hours more talking to Angelo about his life and especially the people he knew but it was getting obvious that he had an appointment to keep so I offered to drive him home. Now I had been told by people that knew him well that his apartment off of Sixth Street near the County Museum was “scaled down” to accommodate his 2 foot 9 inch frame, and I became obsessed with the prospect of actually seeing it for myself. When I asked Angelo if I could see his place he was very clear that that was not going to happen because he could not be sure if I wanted to make light of his living situation or not. His experience with outsiders had not been positive, so I had to respect his decision to keep his privacy. The drive over was a hoot because we talked all the way across town and I guess it seemed to anyone driving along side my car that I was quite mad talking to myself as no one could imagine I had “little Angie” seated across from me.

Once our film had come and gone I would see Angelo from time to time at Junior’s Deli in Westwood, as he loved potato pancakes and Deli food in general. Angelo was also one of the co-founders of “Little People of America” along with Billy Barty, whom Angie could not stand and made no bones about it. “Billy Barty is so full of himself and thinks he is the greatest of all little people working in films. Well is he in for a surprise.” Angelo was a real trouper and it was sad to see him lose more and more freedom as his eyesight failed, and going out in public became less and less an option for him. Angelo Rossitto spent his last days off Fairfax Ave in the Shalom nursing home, and it was there, in 1991, that he passed away. He was survived by two children that I know of, both daughters, one normal in size, and the other worked as a stand–in for Herve Villichaize on FANTASY ISLAND. As for me, I would like to think he died with the knowledge he had lived a remarkable life and would be remembered by a new generation of admiring fans, thanks to a film whose legend will not die – Tod Browning’s masterpiece FREAKS.

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