Frank's Pizzeria started with a Mastro
pizza oven. In
1958, Frank purchased the Italian newspaper Il
Progresso at Karolewski’s.
In the newspaper, Frank saw an advertisement for a pizza making
school located in New York. The program was sponsored by the Mastro
Equipment Company. For only $600, the company would train you and
provide you with a pizza oven, a work table, and a dozen pizza trays.
Soon after, Frank left for New York and learned how to make his
famous “cheese-under-the-sauce” pizza.
Another article that Says Pizza Pie
Craze Capturing the Nation in the Victoria Advocate, dated October
17, 1957. I thought there was interesting things in the article.
One of the things that caught my eye was it says stewed tomatoes were
used.
This is another article dated October
17, 1957, in the Milwaukee Journal about Pizza Threatening Hamburger
and Hot Dog with a photo of a pizza back then. I liked how they used
to call a pizza “a big sloppy round one”. I wonder why the
pizzas were 15” in diameter. In this article it says that Frank
Mastro devised a pizza oven capable of making pizza at 600 degrees F
needed for pizza.
On page 5 there is more about Pizza,
but I think you have to click to page five in the upper right hand
corner to see the page. Some things that stood out to me was the
article says B. C. Cohen whose Times square pizzatorium rolls out
9,000 pies a week. A pizza chef commanded 100.00 to 125.00 a week
back then. Vincent S. Larosa of the Larosa Macaroni Co. did 2 ½
million dollars in home pizza mixes. There are more interesting
things on page 5.
A article about how New York became a
pizza capital by Michael German of Pizzacentric.com. In this article
Michael says.
In
1958, the first year in which the phone book listed “pizza” as
its own category, there were only 117 such eateries in the five
boroughs — and just 10 in Manhattan, according to Berman’s
research. Fast forward 12 years to 1970, and pizzerias listed in the
phone book increase by 636%, to 861. By 2000, that number doubles to
more than 1,600 listings for pizza in the Yellow Pages.
This article in the New York times says
1944: The Times discovers Pizza.
It
has been a staple of New York (not to mention newsrooms) for so long
that it is hard to imagine a time when pizza needed an introduction.
But that’s what it got on Sept. 20, 1944 — at a time when Italy
was full of American troops who were acquiring a taste for the pies.
Note the rare use of the plural “pizze”:
Three years later, on May 25,
1947, The Times noted the potential of this seemingly newfangled
concoction. “The pizza could be as popular a snack as the hamburger
if Americans only knew more about it”:
Credit
While The Times introduced pizza to readers on Sept. 20, 1944, the wordfirst appeared in the newspaper four years earlier, a passing mention in the last paragraph of a June 2, 1940 story headlined “Mrs. Belardi Regrets.” An earlier version of this item omitted the 1940 mention
I wonder why the 1944 article
states that the order was dough, mozzarella, then sauce and Parmesan
if the comments are looked at. It reminds me of a tomato pie.
From
one of the commentators Jimbo he says this: New
York City readers were introduced to pizza through a widely published
press release in the thirties from the Radio City Music Hall. It was
a captioned photo of four Rockettes chowing down on the new delicacy
and can be easily found in a web search.
I can't find that photo.
By
Steph: Steph
I am curious
as to where the recipe for the dough came from, because it includes
shortening, which would be heresy in today's world of artisanal
wood-fired pizzas. Now I want pizza...
Norma
