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Frank V. de Bellis (November 20, 1898 – February 13, 1968) promoted Italian-American cultural exchange in San Francisco, California. Self-educated, he collected Italian cultural materials that were later donated to institutions of higher education.

Frank V. de Bellis was born in Rutigliano, Italy in 1898. He was a son of Vincenzo de Bellis, a skilled carpenter and maker of church, and Maria Teresa de Bellis.

Frank's parents chose him at the age of sixteen years to return to Italy to represent the family in the Italian Campaign during World War I. Frank dropped out of high school to volunteer with the Arditi assault troupes of the Italian Army where he fought and was captured during the Battle of the Piave River. After the war, with his education deferred, Frank returned to Boston. In 1923, he traveled to the West Coast and lived in Seattle, Washington before settling in San Francisco where he became successful in commercial real estate.

His name was legally changed from Francesco Vittorio de Bellis to Francis Victor de Bellis on January 2, 1927.^[1]

He retired from a successful career in construction and commercial real estate in 1941 to devote time to the study of Italian culture and collecting Italian music recordings. He amassed a large personal library, and although he was not a musician or musicologist, his focus on Italian music lead to a second part-time career in radio broadcasting.

De Bellis launched a weekly radio program called Records from Italy playing records from his own collection on KPFA on November 4,1948. He developed a polished program of Italian music recordings interspersed with commentary in English that concentrated on little known works and composers. (Serena de Bellis 1968: 9).

On May 7, 1950, de Bellis premiered weekly two-hour program Music of the Italian Masters on KSMO (later KEAR). The program’s theme song was the ‘Intermezzo’ from I Quattro Rusteghi by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. On October 25, 1966, the National Education Radio Network (NAEB) selected the Frank V. de Bellis Collection/”Music of the Italian Masters” for distribution. By the time of his death in 1968, over 100 public radio stations carried the program.

Frank's third wife Serena de Bellis served as curator for the Frank V. de Bellis Collection at San Francisco State University until her retirement in 1989. Serena continued to produce “Music of the Italian Masters” until June 1986 as a production of the Collection in cooperation with KQED FM in San Francisco and KUSC in Los Angeles. Dr. Thomas Griffin wrote the scripts and Gene Parrish was the host; the Broadcast Communication Arts Department at San Francisco State University provided the engineering.

In 1947, The San Mateo Times established radio station KSMO as a station that played classical music. Four years later, KSMO was sold to Stephen A. Cisler and the station’s call letters were changed to KEAR. The station applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to increase power in early 1952. The station was in need of additional capital a year later. In “one of the most dramatic demonstrations of audience loyalty in the history of American radio (Monitor, May 21, 1954),” KEAR offered listeners preferred stock at $50.00 per share and the response was immediate. Within four days, over 2,500 listeners responded with 1155 shares sold to 680 individuals, raising $57,751 in cash.

Cisler sold KEAR to Mid-America Broadcasters, Inc. in 1956. The name was changed again to KOBY and the programming changed from classical to rock and roll music. Frank de Bellis, as a stockholder in KEAR-FM launched a fight to restore the station’s “good music” policy and the case was taken to the FCC who dismissed the stockholder action. KEAR and KSMO were the only local “good music” stations on AM radio. By May 1956, KEAR was heavily in debt for back taxes, and de Bellis held the second mortgage for $25,000 (“KEAR Deal Collapses,” San Francisco Examiner, May 17, 1956). On May 31, 1956, U.S. government paddle locked station for not paying back taxes and other debts. Then future mayor of San Francisco Joseph Alioto and de Bellis tried to gain controlling interest of the station and offered Cisler $60,000 to pay off debts in June 1956. Soon after, Mid-America Broadcasters, Inc., who operated KEAR, sold the station to KOBY music.

Cisler challenged the notion of profitability for classical or “good music” programing on AM radio. Attorney Milton Stern and de Bellis vowed to take KEAR to federal court. (“Old KEAR Fans War on KOBY Music, San Francisco Examiner, February 5, 1957). The listener’s lobby offered to supply $90,000 for controlling interest if KEAR promised to continue the classical music format. Cisler responded, saying, “There is now law in the world that will force a man to continue loosing business... Classical music never did pay around here.” De Bellis asked Cisler for a day to raise the needed cash to meet the amount offered by Mid-American Broadcasters, Inc., but Cisler refused. De Bellis and Stern stated in a letter to the San Francisco Examiner dated April 2, 1957, “We good music lovers are a numerically strong group and could with proper station management, demonstrate that good music can not only be popular, but profitable.” With a music format change in 1957, local classical music lovers listened to KDFC on FM radio. In December 1957, Cisler sold KEAR-FM to Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Nasburg for $100,000.

In 1962, de Bellis donated two hundred incunabula to the Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University. He donated personal library of 15,000 rare books and manuscripts and 22,000 recordings to California State University at San Francisco State College on February 8, 1963. Upon accepting the collection, California State College Trustee Dan Ridder described the Frank V. de Bellis Collection as “the best private library of this sort of material in the country (“Gift of a Library,” San Francisco Examiner, February 9, 1963).”

City of San Francisco awarded de Bellis with Commendation (Resolution #17972) on September 25, 1957.

De Bellis received the “Sigillo Aureo” from the University of Bari in June of 1965, given only twice before.

Nominated and elected a member (one of the few non-Italian citizens) as “Accademico Corrispondente” at the Academia Tiberina of Rome (established in 1813) on May 3, 1965.

Awarded honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the California State Colleges in 1965.

Awarded Gold Cultural Medal by President of Italy on March 21, 1967 (SFSC Footnotes, 26:23 (March 27, 1967), 2).

• Vincent Francis de Bellis
• Teresa Roberta de Bellis
• Anthony Benedict de Bellis

The Bridwell-DeBellis Collection of Fifteenth Century Printing, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 25 August 1962. Dallas: Southern Methodist University, 1962.

Carter, Tom, “Portrait of a Patron,” Golden Gater Insert, 1 (January 1964), 7 and 24.

de Bellis, Frank V. “Music of the Italian Masters” KSMO Radio transcript for May 7, 1950, 1, Frank V. de Bellis Collection, J. Paul Leonard Library, San Francisco, California.

“de Bellis Library to Open,” Golden Gater 87: 11 (February 21, 1964) 5.

de Bellis, Serena. “Portrait of a Collector,” The Triangle 63: 1 (October 1968), 5-11.

The Frank V. de Bellis Collection in the Library of San Francisco State College, February 1964, San Francisco: San Francisco State College, 1964.

“Gift of a Library,” San Francisco Examiner, February 9, 1963

“KEAR Deal Collapses,” San Francisco Examiner, May 17, 1956.

“Old KEAR Fans War on KOBY Music, San Francisco Examiner, February 5, 1957.

“Our Music Station: KEAR Moves to San Francisco,” The Monitor (May 24, 1954), 16.

San Francisco State College Footnotes, 26:23 (March 27, 1967), 2.

• "Petition no. 8105: Declaration of Intention, no. 118643 filed in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on May 3, 1921" (Document). 1927. {{cite document}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Text "U.S. District Court, San Francisco, California" ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

• Frank V. de Bellis Collection
• THE BRIDWELL-DeBELLIS COLLECTION OF FIFTEENTH-CENTURY PRINTING
• Full text of "KPFA Folio, March 1-14, 1959"
• Voices out of the Fog

Category:1898 births Category:1968 deaths Category:Italian immigrants Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Culture of Italy Category:Frank V. de Bellis Collection, San Francisco, California Category:Music of the Italian Masters Category:San Francisco State University Category:J. Paul Leonard Library