Carmine Capobianco

Waterbury lost one of its greats this weekend. Carmine Capobianco lived his live to its fullest and left behind creative work that will help future historians understand Waterbury in 20th century. I consider myself very fortunate to have known him. He was a genuinely kind, warm-hearted person with a sense of humor that made the world a little brighter.

Carmine Capobianco
Photo from his Facebook page

 

The first time I met him in person, in 2012, I was a little star struck. I had watched two of his movies back in the 1980s, when I was a teenager, and I couldn't believe that someone who had starred in such awesome, goofy, independent films could be just an ordinary Joe hanging out in Waterbury. We had connected earlier thanks to Facebook. We've been "friends" there since January 2011, but I no longer remember why we friended each other. We bonded over our love of Waterbury and maybe over our creative urges -- I love that he was able to star in indie films and publish his writing while also working a full-time job and spending quality time with his family and battling cancer. Carmine was a role model for doing what you love despite the obstacles in your way.

 

Facebook post from 2014 -- that's my photo on the newspaper.

 

Movies

In 1987 and 1988, Carmine starred in a pair of locally-made independent films directed by Gorman Bechard, also from Waterbury. My dad loved camp humor, which is how I wound up seeing them when they came out on VHS (I was in high school at the time). The two movies, Psychos in Love and Galactic Gigolo, are now available on DVD and sometimes on streaming services. Psychos is also available on Blu-ray. 

 

Carmine in a Psychos in Love promo still

Psychos in Love has become a cult classic, with Carmine's monologue about grapes being frequently quoted by fans. The movie combines humor with horror, as two serial killers with a shared hatred of grapes fall in love and go on a killing spree. Carmine's character, Joe, runs a strip club while his love interest, Kate (Debi Thibeault), is a manicurist. Their movie follows their exploits as they try to satisfy their blood lust, build a healthy relationship, and get the sink drain unclogged (body parts mess up the plumbing).

Psychos in Love - Wedding Scene at Waterbury's City Hall

Psychos in Love - Scene on Grand Street in Waterbury

 

Galactic Gigolo is much goofier, sharing the escapades of a giant broccoli alien named Eoj who wins the grand prize on a game show: a two-week, all expenses paid vacation to "the horniest place in the galaxy" -- Prospect, Connecticut. Fortunately for Eoj the sentient broccoli, he is able to transform into a earthling "sleazoid" man (Carmine) before he starts visiting the sex-crazed women of Prospect. The story becomes increasingly absurd (no, really -- more absurd than sentient alien broccoli) with the introduction of Jewish rednecks, bumbling mobsters, a lusty reporter, and Three Stooges style fighting. Some of the jokes, all very typical for their time, cross over the edge of being offensive, but the good-natured intentions shine through.

Galactic Gigolo - hot tub scene

 

The Town of Prospect did not take kindly to its depiction in Galactic Gigolo. The mayor asked the local video store to pull it from their shelves, leading to the promotional tagline, "Banned in Prospect!"

As with Psychos, a small portion of the movie was filmed in Waterbury's City Hall. After Prospect's mayor decided that the movie was offensive, he called Waterbury's mayor to complain about the city's participation in its filming. The mayor (Santopietro) and the city's attorney asked to view the film with Carmine before reaching a decision about it. Carmine recounted the incident as follows:

"They asked if I had a copy of the movie so they can view it in case there was a lawsuit. I ran home, retrieved my VHS copy and sat uncomfortably in the mayor's office while they watched bits and pieces of the movie. Then they began to chuckle. When it was over, they handed the tape back to me and the lawyer told me there cannot be any lawsuits and nobody had anything to worry about. The next day, it was front page news and we got a crap-load of great publicity."  

(Carmine Capobianco, "A Chat with Galactic Gigolo's Star and Co-Writer," in Nick Cato, Suburban Grindhouse: From Staten Island to Times Square and all the Sleaze Between, SCB Distributors, 2020)

 

Galactic Gigolo - Scene in City Hall

Galactic Gigolo - Scene on City Hall stairs

 

After a hiatus during the 1990s, Carmine returned to the movies in 2000. Some of his more recent movies include The Sins of Dracula (2014) and Model Hunger (2016). See his full filmography on IMDB.

Cable Access Show

I wish I had more information about his cable access show. I've seen references to it, but very little else. Carmine once casually mentioned to me that he produced a Halloween mockumentary in 1999 about a fictional Waterbury horror story (Boogeyman: Scary Halloween Child-Killer). He posted in online in 2009 and it can still be seen on YouTube (in three parts).

Funstuff Video

In 1993, Carmine opened Funstuff Video on Grandview Avenue in Waterbury. The business would later expand to multiple locations including Prospect and opened a new Waterbury location on Watertown Avenue. 

His stores survived the arrival of Blockbuster because he carried the "quirky movies" and obscure films that weren't offered by the generic national chain. The business finally succumbed to the competition from Netflix. ("Somehow They Survive," Republican-American, 11 Sep 2012)

Funstuff Video, Waterbury, 1996
Photo from Carmine's Facebook page

 

Essays

Carmine started publishing stories about growing up in Waterbury a few years ago. You can read a recent essay about battling cancer during the pandemic on The Waterbury Observer website. The essay is classic Carmine -- humor in the face of horror, warmth and love for others.

Other essays can be read online via The Waterbury Observer's PDFs. 

A partial list of essays in The Waterbury Observer:

• "First Talking Picture," Autumn 2020, p. 38
• "Banned!," City Guide 2020, p. 89-91
• "Adventures in Holy Land USA," Summer 2019, p. 28-29
• "Scary Places Around Here," City Guide 2019, p. 96-97, 105-106.
• "Bombshell in Connecticut," Summer 2018, p. 66-67.
• "Waterbury: An Inspiration," City Guide 2018, p. 82-89.

Books

Carmine published two books of essays in 2019. Both can be purchased from Amazon.

 

Tall and Short Tales of My Hometown includes second draft versions of essays originally published in The Waterbury Observer, recounting his experiences growing up in Waterbury.

The Rude Pen is a collection of humorous short stories and a one-act play "forty years in the making."

Book signing at the Silas Bronson Library, 2019

 

For the Fans

Carmine has participated in countless conventions, film screenings, and book signings, always ready to warmly greet any of his fans. I asked him to do a screening of Psychos in Love and Galactic Gigolo at the Silas Bronson Library in 2017. One of his fans, Dwayne Brantley, drove up from South Carolina just for the event, a 32-hour round trip. 

Another audience member was a 94-year-old woman who lives locally. She had never seen either movie before, so we were all a little worried that she would be shocked by them. Carmine warned her that she might not like Galactic Gigolo, to which she cheerfully replied "If I don't like the movie, oh well!" It turned out that both movies were right up her alley -- she also loves Sharknado. Carmine was thrilled that a seemingly prim and proper elderly woman would enjoy his films. 

I scored two signed copies of his DVDs before the night was over.

 

Me and Carmine at the library after the film screening at the library

No Grapes! and cut the frabba jabba.

Social Media

I can't talk about Carmine without mentioning his bathroom selfies. They became somewhat legendary on his Facebook page, garnering their own fan base. Sometimes they were straightforward. Other times, he added a few details with Photoshop....

Carmine Capobianco bathroom selfie, 2016

 

Carmine shared so much of his life on Facebook. A scroll through his photos shows what he loved in life: his family, laughter, movies, pizza, and donuts. 

Close to 20 months ago, Carmine posted about his cancer status, noting that all the websites said he had at most six months to live. At a book signing six months later, the neuropathy in his hands made it difficult to hold a pen, but he was still doing his best to be upbeat, commenting that he had outlived the internet's prediction.

I wish he'd had more time, but I hope he was able to take comfort in knowing how much he'd done, and how many lives he'd touched. He has fans of his movies all over the world, and his essays about life in Waterbury will be of local importance forever.