On the right is Italian cartoonist Enrico De Seta. On the
left is Italian cartoonist Federico Fellini.
That’s a storefront on the via Nazionale in Rome, circa
1944.
According to the book Federico
Fellini, His Life and Work by Tullio Kezich, “This enterprise, with its
eccentric name, is a rebirth of the store Fellini had in Rimini…and an attempt
to survive the recession in postwar Rome. Newspapers have stopped paying [him] for
articles; there is no cinema, and no way to make ends meet… At the Funny-Face
Shop, you can have your portrait ‘executed in ten minutes’ for three dollars.
The take is divvied up at the end of the day: one part goes to the backer…another
part to the bookkeeper; and the rest goes to the artists….All of the stores
adopted the same signage, done in the quintessential Fellini style: THE MOST
FEROCIOUS AND AMUSING CARICATURISTS ARE EYEING YOU! SIT DOWN AND TREMBLE!”
The book describes film director Roberto Rossellini peering
into the shop to see “Fellini…drawing a portrait of an American soldier.” Rossellini
is there seeking Fellini to suggest working on a screenplay with him.
Soon, Fellini would depart this enterprise which combined
the fun of getting a likeness in front of a potentially hostile subject with
the sweet, sweet bliss of working in retail.
