The Soprano Files (Vol One)
“You Sopranos, you go too far…”
The Case for Bobby Bacala…
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a fan of The Sopranos and, as such, you’ll have your favourite character(s). I often cite Johnny Sack as mine. However, that can switch to Uncle Junior and Tony’s mum, Livia. Then, it can switch to Adriana… To Christopher, to Tony himself, to Rosalie Aprille, to AJ. Look, you get it, I love them all.
For me, the character Bobby Bacala and Steve Schirripa, the actor who plays him. often fly under the radar. Well, at least as far as a regular on possibly the greatest show ever screened can ‘fly under the radar’. Bobby’s first appearance came in ‘Do Not Resuscitate’, the second episode of the second season, and I liked him from the get-go. I thought the writers had been clever in having him misquote ‘To the victor the spoils ‘ with ‘To the victor belongs the spoils’, but it appears that this bastardisation was legitimised by an American politician years back. This means I’ve been giving them credit that they didn’t deserve. Is it possible to take that back? I suppose that I am, sort of, with this…
Either way, the line indicates that the character has at least an air of learning above and beyond most of his fellows, who rely exclusively on low cunning. In many ways, Bobby is a victim of circumstance and, along with Adriana, is the show’s most tragic character. At least, they’re the most tragic amongst the cast’s regulars. The most tragic of all, for me, was Tracee, the girl murdered outside The Bing, by Ralphy. May he rot in internal damnation for that one, and yes, I do know that it’s only a TV show…
The impression one gets is that, had Bobby not been born into it, there’s no way such a a gentle soul would become a mob guy; that might be a miscalculation, as Bacala has more than a hint of the ‘I Claudius’ about him. A trait that suggests Bobby would have been as suited to the corporate world as the gangster one, and the big advantage to the former is that when you get the bullet, you don’t get the bullet…
Bobby irons out Tony…
However, Bobby suffers from a trait that affects most of us: he’s lazy. A life of crime, especially one in which he has no desire to become a boss, suits him. Then again, for those not overly interested in working in school, it suits most people. Especially if all you’ve got to do is run around collecting money for Carado’s ‘loan-sharking’ operation. They borrowed the money, they pay the VIG. It’s not a dangerous occupation. I mean, it could turn out to be, but crossing the road could be dangerous. No, Bobby had a nice little number until Junior’s house arrest, and he got ‘upped’ into a role with more responsibility. Like all else, Bobby took it in his stride. Throughout the show, Bobby’s career continues on an upward trajectory. Given that he’s reliable, this makes a lot of sense. Reliability is a fairly rare trait amongst Tony’s workforce, who are flaky, at best. For every Furio, there are a couple of deadbeats. Plus, we have to consider that even the ultra-loyal Furio contemplated murdering Tony to conduct an affair with Carmela.
Bobby, despite his initial bumbling, is in many respects far more of the archetypal gangster than most of his colleagues. More archetypal, at least, than the fictional version of a gangster. He loves his family, and he’s loyal to (whoever is) his boss. Had the show continued, there’s every chance he’d have been installed by Tony as the (official) head of the family. A move that would have made a lot more sense than the one of installing Christopher. It’s said by conassureurs of the show that Bobby changes, that he becomes harder, more selfish and generally a worse person. Yet, at the time of his demise, he’s in a toy shop, buying a train. Whether it’s for his son, as he states, or himself. Speaking of Bobby’s trains…“Oh, but it’s OK for Neil Young?”
Are those changes chosen or necessitated by circumstance? The biggest was the death of his wife Karen, which was enforced. The second was marrying Janice, which wasn’t. Janice is poison, and Bobby knows it. One can make the excuse that he’s still in a state of grief when she gets her hooks into him, and that’s true. Anyone who’s been in a state of deep grief knows that, at such times, your defences are weakened. People you’d not let within a million miles can get close, and people, like Janice, will. Once they have, all that initially attracted them are the first things they set about eradicating. It’s fair to say that women, at least this variety, are no different to men in this regard. It’s a certain type of man I’m talking about, they’re often with much younger women…
Bobby knows becoming Tony’s brother-in-law is going to be good for his career. The character never says as much and, generally speaking, doesn’t play on his newfound status, but he doesn’t have to; he’s got Jancie to do all that. All he’s got to do is keep turning up for work on time. Bobby Bacala plays each hand he’s dealt… very shrewdly.
The case for Steve Schirripa…
I often listen to the podcast ‘Talking Sopranos’. A show presented by Steve Schirripa and Michael Imperioli. They make a fantastic team, as Steve (at least appeared) to view acting as money for nothing, while Michael… Well, Michael Imperioli truly valued ‘the craft’. I accidentally met Michael once. Many years ago, my kids and I went to NYC. This meant that we got to go to the Seinfeld diner, ‘Tom’s Restaurant’, which is up there on 112th Street. Due to Bobby Womack’s ‘110th Street’, I thought we were venturing into Harlem. Maybe we did? There were a lot of caucasians knocking about though… Anyway, we got the ‘subway’ back into ‘mid-town’. I forget what the station was, but it was different from the one we’d come out of. This one was above ground and thus, not a ‘subway’ at all… Americans are full of it regarding NYC, but I mean, come on…
There’s a fantastic scene in Succession, which, for my part, is the best TV show ever, where Kendall offhandedly refers to NYC as the greatest city in the world and the weird Scandi guy they’re supposed to be selling the Roy empire to, instantly begins listing better cities. Unfortunately, I don’t think London was included. Nonetheless, it was an extremely gratifying moment. Anyway, we’re up on the platform and I see a guy I know from Hatton Garden. I call out, and he doesn’t so much blank me as fail to respond to his name. I call again, same thing. Has he gone deaf? Is that why he’s over here, for a state-of-the-art operation at the Mount Sinai? I bowled over and, on reaching him, realised it’s not the guy I know but Christopher Multisanti AKA Michael Imperioli. In my defence, he and the guy from Hatton Garden are similar-looking. I walked off having blown Michael’s cover… The crowd around him became frenzied.
I enjoyed the Talking Sopranos podcast and, through listening to it, grew to dig Steve Schirripa. There appears to be part of him that still doesn’t consider himself an actor, and that part is glorious. If he doesn’t like somebody, Steve just comes right out and says so. This is almost unheard of in the world of acting, as they’re all scared that saying anything negative about anyone might impact on future work opportunities.
Steve was working in Vegas before getting the gig as Bobby, and his career there kind of mirrored Bobby’s in The Sopranos. He began as a bouncer, became a maître d' at the Riviera Hotel and wound up as the Entertainment Director. I think, though I’m not certain, Steve earned a college education via a basketball scholarship. All in all, he comes across as a decent guy and an excellent foil for the great Michael Imperioli …
