Original subtitles

(unzips)

(instrumental music)

(soft music)

(instrumental music)

- [Maddalena] The good stuff.

- [Franco] Very good stuff.

(instrumental music)

(Franco coughs)

This every morning.

Then, we've got the gift.

Inside here, look.

This is good too, smell it.

- [Maddalena] Good.

(instrumental music)

Beautiful.

(instrumental music)

With the custom, you've got to be always ready, pronto

and full of perfume.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(instrumental music)

- [Narrator] In 1956, Franco Cozzo arrived in Australia

from Italy.

He spoke no English, he had two quid in his pocket

and he was virtually on his own.

He's your real Aussie success story.

He married here, he raised his family here

and he made his fortune here.

His furniture business grows and expands at a rapid rate.

And he's become a household word here in Victoria

because of his commercials on morning and late night TV.

(soft music)

- Say hello to Franco Cozzo.

(audience applauds)

(whimsical music)

- Hi.

(whimsical music)

(audience applauds)

- How are you?

- Very well Don.

Molto bene. - Molto bene, yes.

I'm not too concerned about you being on the show

because I know that you relax quite easily on television.

You've had your own television show as a matter of fact.

Well, I don't really think you look very comfortable here.

Let me just fix something up for you, all right.

Stand up just for a second.

Fellas.

(audience exclaims)

You can just bring that out here.

(audience applauds)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- I hate plain, that's why I searched Franco Cozzo.

- I remember watching his commercials 50 years ago.

- Maybe one of them is here to see me, I'm not sure.

- I'm here to see you.

- No, you're coming to see the furniture.

(ladies laugh)

(instrumental music)

- [Woman] What furniture have you bought?

- I bought a table and some chairs from Venice.

I can't believe how beautiful.

- Yes, yes, beautiful.

- Just passed.

By the time Franco Cozzo gets here

it will already be secondhand.

(instrumental music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Ellen, come here darling.

You are the best woman in the world.

- I know, I tell myself that every day,

but I just don't believe it yet.

- This is mine.

- Yes, yes.

You love the cake.

That is the friend I invite because she bake.

- Magnifica.

- [Woman 2] I can't believe we're seeing you in real life.

- [Ellen] And he's eating your cake.

- Whoa.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Yeah it's beautiful.

- I like the gold.

- Yes, it's beautiful.

- I might ask for more gold over there.

- Yeah.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Franco, it's not your chair, so.

- She's got you trained to the perfection, hasn't she?

- What I can do.

- Yes.

- I gotta do what they want me to do.

(instrumental music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

I want to be artist to myself, I want to be singer

I want to be everything, but I have very tough daddy.

I cannot do that.

I want to be someone.

I gotta be, must.

Talk with myself.

You have no future with the other people there in Italy,

go to Australia.

(instrumental music)

I leave Italy, 22nd of December, 1955, 55.

(instrumental music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(instrumental music)

But we arrived 26 January '56.

(bright music)

When I arrived in Australia at the port of Melbourne

nobody come and pick me up.

She took me taxi (Franco whistles)

(bright music)

The life is outstanding, beautiful Melbourne.

(bright music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(bright music)

- [Gerardo] So in the postwar period,

around 370,000 Italians arrived in Australia.

The official policy back then was assimilation.

It meant that anyone who came to Australia

had to adapt to Australian culture.

The story that strikes me the most about the 1950s,

about being a migrant in Australia

was one told to me by my uncle, who said that,

as soon as you got up in the morning,

the first thing you could smell was bacon and eggs

because the streets were full

of the smell of bacon and eggs.

You couldn't get a coffee if your life depended on it.

Because coffee drinking was viewed with suspicion.

If you spoke Italian in the street

with someone from your own and village or whatever

people would look at you and maybe even accost you and say,

you shouldn't be speaking Italian.

I mean, there was hostility to people

speaking another language.

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Happy, happy, happy man.

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Don] You didn't speak any English when you came here.

- Not even today I speak English.

I move my hands to speak English.

- [Don] But you were a door to door salesman.

- Yes.

Well, when I arrived in Australia Don

I did salesman door by door

and I'll show you the way I did it, if you want.

- [Don] Sure. - If you let me do it,

I'll do it.

See, I was young and nice looking, not like today.

And I was in west Melbourne.

- [Don] Yeah.

- I knock on the door, nick, nick.

And ladies come up and open the door

and say "what you want?"

I said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak English."

Blot, she closes the door.

And then I ask myself,

what I have to do, who is Italian?

Maltese, Greek, 10 people.

Which you know, Don.

- How do you tell the difference you mean?

- How do you tell the difference of new Australians

when they're arriving in Australia.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Italians, the first time they buy their own house

single front house, they paint white inside

inside of the house.

Maltese, blue. Greek, I think is pink.

(audience laughs)

And I say to myself, this must be the gear.

Then, you know, on the front of a single front,

they got a piece of land there.

- Yeah, little, garden like.

- You know what they're doing?

- [Don] What?

- They put a tomato, basil, broccoli.

You cannot miss that.

And you know, when I see house like that,

I knock on the door and say "Are you Italian?"

Oh yes, I'm Italian.

So do you want to buy a refrigerator?

(instrumental music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(dog barks in distance)

(instrumental music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(woman speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

It is wonderful.

I'm very proud to introduce this in Melbourne.

Some might think, the best of the best.

I love it.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Maddalena] Why did you buy so much?

(soft music)

- [Gianna] Our parents, they had really good taste.

- [Serge] Well, they were all tailors.

My dad was a tailor. My mum was a seamstress.

My grandfather was a tailor.

They had an appreciation for style.

When they got here, of course they couldn't speak English.

And it was hard to communicate and hard to assimilate.

Franco Cozzo would speak Italian.

Yeah, they could relate to him.

(soft music)

- Our parents came from Ragusa, Sicily and migrated in 1952.

They had cousins here that moved over here and said,

you know like, there's so much opportunity.

We've already bought a house, we bought a car.

Yeah, they got lured here.

And on the pretext that they could make more money quickly,

more quicker than they were.

- [Serge] And they went through the war,

the war times and so on and things were really bleak.

And I remember my dad was always complaining

that they sometimes struggled to have enough food to eat.

- They were a typical family that would buy Franco Cozzo

your average working class family,

I think that's like saved and saved.

So yeah, so we were emptying up the house

and my mum saved everything.

So she didn't really throw anything away

and I found these receipts.

And so it's dated the third of the third '76

for a total of 17,000.

- Well, I remember a new car,

would've been about $3,000 back then.

So yeah, that was quite a bit.

- It actually kind of made me feel really emotional

because to know that my parents were working class parents

and had saved so much money to buy this furniture.

It just like really breaks my heart.

(instrumental music)

I know in Sicily, the rogue architecture's really prevalent.

So I think that's probably what carried over.

- I remember mom mentioning some like palaces and so on

in the area.

They would've seen those

and got that appreciation for that type of design.

- Here, they probably wanted to create.

Sorry.

Yeah, like a sense of home.

It's amazing. I mean, it's just,

you can't see that as just furniture,

but it kind of holds all these memories.

(soft music)

- [Gisella] My dad's business was Italian culture.

It actually enhanced Italian families

because they could actually put an Italian couch

in their household

and they could actually say (Gisella speaks in Italian)

It comes from Italy, it's made in Italy

and we're in Australia.

(bright music)

Italian culture was represented by the furniture,

by the food, by the way we dress, by the way we spoke.

I'm number four, sister number four.

I've got two little ones after me.

And I've got two elder sisters and an elder brother.

We always used to do our homework on our own

'cause mom and dad were so busy.

Even on a Sunday, we were open in North Melbourne.

It was talk of the block, it was 24/7, really.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Franco Cozzo is what I would think of

as a migrant entrepreneur.

Who's bringing together the new technology of television

to showcase what is a developing commercial enterprise.

- [Announcer] Stand by for the opening night

of the national television service.

(upbeat music)

- Hello there and good evening,

ladies and gentlemen and children.

I'm here to welcome you in that small, bright screen

in your living room that you are watching now,

or perhaps as many of you are doing,

looking through shop windows of television screens

in the streets.

- Two really big things are happening

in the mid to late 1950s.

There's a revolution in the way in which,

Australians see their world through television.

And at the same time, there's a huge influx of migrants

coming from a range of countries and transforming society.

- Carosello, show number eight,

recorded on the eighth of the second in '68.

Welcome to Carosello presented by Franco Cozzo.

- [Announcer] Live from Melbourne

it's Carosello presented by Franco Cozzo

and produced by Sergio G and the Flippers.

(drums music)

(Italian music)

- [Franco] Every week, Sunday 12 o'clock

when the people are having dinner

Franco Cozzo presenting Carosello

and that was beautiful, and that was our very prayer.

(Italian music)

- It was the very first non-English show

on Australian television.

So it was a really major benchmark

showcasing all Italian, local artists.

(vibrant music)

Sergio G and the Flippers,

they were a very popular band in the Italian music scene.

- They had to choose the artist

who they thought would be good,

but Franco Cozzo had the last say.

- [Aline] It was his show.

He conceived it and it was obviously a medium for him

to advertise his furniture.

- [John] He wanted music that was simple and popular

that everybody would love.

By memory come through, actually watching the show.

And for me as an anglo-Australian,

it was like something from another planet.

You'd stare and listen, this is weird.

This is weird, but it was fascinating.

(vibrant music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(vibrant music)

- [Aline] Carosello helped to find a space

in the broader mainstream

and for the broader Australian public for Italian culture

and the community.

(vibrant music)

- What migrant cultures tend to do

in the country they land in

is that they transform the reality,

such that the local population feels that there's a change.

These people are doing things differently

they don't behave like we do.

So rather than assimilating to the point

where everything's exactly the same

suddenly things, people start doing things differently

and the streets scapes changing.

Having experienced Italian culture in Australia,

and then seeing it on television in a sense,

there was no going back after that,

you could only go forward.

You couldn't go back to an old way of thinking.

- Grand sale, grand sale, grand sale.

Where?

In Brunswick and Footscray.

Franco Cozzo, I have the pleasure to present to you

(Franco speaks in Italian)

bedroom set, dining room and wonderful land.

Why don't you come for yourself and

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- I think it's through the ads

that Franco Cozzo really starts to bring together his status

as a personality.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- They're going crazy with this commercial.

(Franco speaks in Greek)

Australia, I'm very proud to bring to you this

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Yes, only can buy from Franco Cozzo.

- The viewers, they were shocked to hear

the Greek and the Italian, what the hell is this?

Who is this guy entering our homes?

Who is he?

- For him to go on television speaking Italian, my God,

it'll blow you away.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- It's almost like saying someone get off

get off the Luna module and walk on the moon.

It was on that level.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- If you have the stuff, the material to be someone, do it,

but you gotta have something.

Why don't you come for yourself

and look at this magnificent couch.

Only can be found from Franco Cozzo, buy from Franco Cozzo.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- The formula for a Franco Cozzo ad, and there is a formula.

He could take on Coke in terms of branding in consistency.

Now I know it wasn't by design.

It'S almost by accident, but if you unpack his ads,

he ticks all the boxes in terms of communications theory

and what you need to do to encode in memory.

- The best furniture you want to buy,

Franco Cozzo is not far away

North Melbourne and Footscray.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- He uses either the same language or the same rhyme,

and it even rhymes in another language

which is very powerful.

- [Announcer] The expert in imported furniture.

If the best of furniture you want to buy,

Franco Cozzo is not far away.

- And I love the genius of

if it's the best furniture you want to buy,

then Franco Cozzo isn't far away.

Like this is the stuff that could only be unlocked

because of his Italian quirks.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Announcer] Buy from Franco Cozzo.

- There was very clever marketing going around this too.

They were placed on Sunday television

around the time of world championship wrestling,

which was universally liked by Italian migrants.

- [Announcer] People in our studio, a capacity crowd,

Mario Milano from Trieste, Italy.

- [Gerardo] Because there's Mario Milano, the golden Greek,

of course, because everyone was involved.

- [Announcer] Horah, Milano nearly had Tiger Singh.

Only the gouging of the eyes by Tiger Singh.

Now Milano's not worried about Singh

he's turned on big bad John.

- And then there was at peak theatre,

which was the Sword and Sandal,

new films that they have on a Sunday afternoon,

which I used to watch religiously.

Why?

Because they were about when Italy was a great country.

They were about our heritage.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Gerardo] And who should turn up the ads?

Franco Cozzo.

(Franco Cozzo speaks in Italian)

So, it was like, he inherited the Roman Empire.

(dramatic classical music)

(soft classical music)

- [Angela] I was born in a little town in Pago Veiano, Italy

We lived off whatever we grew.

My mother had nine children, five boys and four girls.

Five boys and two girls died

because we didn't have a doctor in town.

The nearest doctor was about 12 kilometres away.

My father and Franco Cozzo were on the same ship from Italy.

They both became friends on the boat.

When Franco Cozzo opened his first shop in north Melbourne

dad and I went there and they hugged.

And how are you and all that

and yeah, but then they lost touch.

- [Announcer] And furniture means Franco Cozzo.

- [Angela] We used to love his ads.

There's Franco again.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Angela speaks in Italian)

(soft music)

Probably 90% of my furniture is from Franco Cozzo.

It was a gradual collection over many, many, many years.

Oh, I've always loved baroque furniture, always.

This is very sort of Italian to me.

I buy this furniture because like it

not to show off or you have to like it

it's because I like it.

That simple.

I think I like the gaudiness of it and the artwork.

They're all handmade and all hand painted.

So no two pieces are the same.

Sometimes when people come here, they just go,

where'd you get that?

It's not everybody's taste,

but it's people that have good tastes.

(classical music)

- Well, the baroque is quite a beautiful concept.

There's a bit of dispute over the origin of the word,

but apparently it means an imperfect Pearl.

(classical music)

In Italy,

the baroque style was the dominant style of wealth

that shows status, prestige, was in the churches.

The aristocrats would've had baroque furniture.

We're talking about the 17th

through to the mid 18th century.

(upbeat music)

And we shouldn't discount the importance of the baroque

even today with people like Versace,

Dolce&Gabbana who thrive in the baroque style.

(upbeat music)

Just to get an idea of what baroque means,

it's the raw, the flesh that expresses strong emotions,

death, life, ectasy.

The other aspect is that baroque takes craftsmanship.

It's artisanal.

It takes a lot of skill.

There aren't straight lines. So it's quite sensual.

Textiles are very rich or embroidered.

And a lot of Italians came from backgrounds

where these were very much rooted in the society

and the culture.

Certainly if you like the human

and you put the human above the machine,

you're gonna want Baroque because the Baroque

has human hands all over it.

Papa Francesco.

No difference. Franco Cozzo and papa Francesco.

Franco Cozzo.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Maddalena] So why don't you just retire?

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- This one here, I'll have to let you know

because I'm not sure if they still stock it.

- [Client] Okay.

- And then this is these.

- So you want a three, a two plus two single arm chairs.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, I'll let you know.

- All right, thank you.

- Okay. Thank you so much.

- No worries. - Thank you.

- See you. - See you later love.

Okay.

Done.

I started working there in 1981.

I worked in Footscray,

Franco advertised in the Globo la Fiamma

and that's where I saw Franco Cozzo.

They were advertising the position for a secretary

who spoke and wrote Italian

and that's how I got the job.

I really didn't get to meet him 'til the following year.

So and nothing. I met him, hi, how are you?

Nothing.

It wasn't until later on that we hooked up together.

If it's a thing you say.

Yeah, it wasn't until quite later.

Yeah.

We just clicked, it was easy.

You know, easy to fall in love.

We have four lovely daughters.

They grew up with a famous dad.

Most people don't get to see Franco playing around.

When we are all together, all we do is laugh.

Let's water you dear.

There you go.

- There you go.

- [Maddalena] Yeah.

- [Maddalena] Just for generation, that's all.

Different generation.

- Is it okay?

- Good.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Beautiful.

- There we go.

Off you go.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- We make a deal.

- Yeah, okay.

- [Maddalena] Tell me about your children.

- How many children I got?

(Franco clears throat)

And the first marriage,

61, 54, 51, 49, 47 and 44.

Second marriage, 33, 30, 27, 14, the best.

A lot of children, you know why?

Because I was alone in my family.

I have one sister I lost her when she was 12 years old.

And I said to myself when I eat at home with my mom

if one day I'm married, I want a soccer team.

And I'll have 10.

(soft music)

- [Maddalena] What happened to your sister?

40 years, 45, 50 years ago.

Vincenzina Cozzo.

Bellissimo.

- [Maddalena] So when you left Sicily.

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(soft instrumental music)

- [Announcer] It's that style that's made Franco Cozzo

one of a Melbourne's latest and most unusual cult figures

Today, the Footscray council put on a special show

for Franco.

He was awarded with a plaque

for his contribution to the city.

- [Announcer] It's what the Sicilian born Franco

does to the word Footscray or is that Footscray

that seems to appeal.

- There's only one way I can say otherwise

North Melbourne Footscray, nothing else.

I cannot say the way you say.

- [Gerardo] His accent was typically an accent

that was hybridised between English and Italian.

He leveraged his lack of knowledge of English.

The fact that he was learning the language

into an advantage.

- I knock on the door, nick, nick.

- [Gerardo] And he's not phased by how much laughter

and how much ridicule you gonna heap on him.

There's something else happening there.

He's selling his furniture. He's making money.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Tell me, are you friend of Franco Cozzo?

Why you like Franco Cozzo? Tell me.

- Because.

- Oh my God, my dad was a superstar, like a Hollywood actor.

That's why I think maybe, you know,

he wanted to become an artist.

He was such a good looker.

- Franco Cozzo is a born artist

that perhaps never had a chance to become an artist.

I think that Franco Cozzo could have been on TV.

He could have been in the show business

because he's got the knack.

(romantic music)

I was doing a lot of floor shows around Melbourne

and here I am singing and the microphone stops working.

So I thought, oh my God, now what?

The guys are trying to sort this out for me.

In the meantime, what do I do?

I'm standing there with all these people.

There are 4-500 people in the room and I had nothing to do.

And I start screaming (Tony speaks in Italian)

and everybody start to laugh so broke the ice, right?

Within a few minutes,

everybody will start screaming because nothing was happening

And I thought, wow, this is an amazing reaction.

Maybe we should think about a song.

So we finalised the arrangements of the song.

And then of course we had to get Mr. Cozzo in

to do his introduction and finale.

(instrumental music)

This is the vinyl Franco Cozzo on TV.

And this is Tony Cursio from yours truly.

- [Franco] Start.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(upbeat instrumental music)

(Tony sings in Italian)

- [Tony] And then the radio stations of course

they started playing it straight away

and it went berserk and I thought geez,

we're onto something here.

(upbeat instrumental music)

♪ He talks in Italian, he's Italian, everybody on the telly ♪

♪ Come and see me, I'll make you rich ♪

♪ You try to watch a movie very soon he comes on smiling ♪

♪ Very nicely, blah, blah, blah ♪

(Tony sings in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- The song then of course created a platform Franco Cozzo,

which enhanced his exposure.

- To most television viewers. They're just plain terrible.

But to their accountants, they can be terribly successful.

We're talking about those businessmen

who take it upon themselves

to star in their own television commercials,

selling anything from furniture to used cars.

Now, usually these people start out

just trying to save money on their advertising budget,

but some have become so successful

that they're now stars in their own right.

♪ Every day, he's on the television ♪

- [Reporter] For Franco Cozzo,

TV appearances, records and so on

are just stepping stones to even dizzier heights.

All this self-promotion could be leading

to a political career.

- I've not been asked yet but if the right party

will moving, I'll be ready.

I'm ready to go into the politics now.

- [Reporter] Yes.

You don't think that people would have trouble

taking you seriously as a politician

after they've seen you on television in the advertisements?

- I don't think so. They will be very pleased.

- When I wrote the song, there was a little bit of push back

from some parts of the community

as "what are you do in promoting,

this clown or this character?"

- Grand sale, grand sale, grand sale.

- [Tony] The real Franco Cozzo or the Frank Franco Cozzo.

A lot of people think that Franco Cozzo is just an actor.

- He's so good, believe me.

I wish he come and work for me.

- I can understand very deeply why people

were uncomfortable with anything to do

any sort of celebration or iconization of Franco Cozzo.

Franco Cozzo was popular among people of non

inflicted backgrounds because he fits this stereotype.

The flamboyant Italian.

- Welcome to Franco Cozzo.

I'll be here in a hooters cry.

We have the biggest, the boldest, the best.

- [Gerardo] The suspicion would be

who's made him into an icon?

Is it the Anglos?

Are you making fun of us?

Why pick on him?

Why don't you find someone else who is more prominent,

an intellectual or someone else, an Italian- Australian

who's done great things.

Why him?

A furniture salesman.

- Grand sale, grand sale, grand sale

for the first time ever, I give you 30% off

everything you come and buy from my store.

- That's right, dad. 30% off everything in the store.

- There's 30% off everything in both our stores.

(kids speak in Italian)

- I think advertising was in the blood of our family.

It was in our blood and it was meant to be.

That overseas, I was creating jingles.

(instrumental music)

♪ I feel good, I feel fine, because I know my loving heart ♪

I did like many, many years of advertising

and writing jingles in Milan.

(soft music)

(soft music)

We were stars too in such a superstar family.

♪ Somehow, even now

(audience applauds)

- Does this young lady, Gisella, hi Gisella.

I haven't even met you before.

- No.

- Is the daughter of a very, very famous person

here at network 10 and I'm sure everybody around Australia

would like to say hello to the one and only

inimitable Mr. Franco Cozzo, Gisella's dad

and here's Franco.

(audience applauds)

Very lovely to have you with us Franco.

- Thank you Johnny.

- And Franco, just before we take a little break,

would you please say those very famous words

through all the community throughout Australia,

away you go.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- He loved being in front of the camera.

He loves that, you know, being out there,

but he did have a wife.

He did have a person behind him and a family

and lots of daughters and son

and people that believed in him.

You can't do anything on your own.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- The county court today sentenced the son of flamboyant

furniture king, Franco Cozzo to four years jail

for drug trafficking.

- [Reporter] Legal counsel for Cozzo

claimed he had been devastated after his father Franco Cozzo

married another woman, 20 years his junior.

Counsel also claimed that Cozzo

who has been addicted to cocaine

felt pressure from his father,

known for his flamboyant furniture advertisements.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Cozzo admitted selling heroin kept in furniture

at his father's Footscray store on two occasions.

In the first, he sold an ounce of the drug for $10,000.

In the second, half an ounce for $5,000.

- [Man] Do you hear about Frank Cozzo's son?

I knew that shop was a drug front.

(suspenseful music)

- Hello.

- [Woman On Phone] I doubt it was just his son.

Guy is Sicilian after all.

- I mean, who would ever buy that furniture?

- As if he made all that money selling baroque lounges.

(quirky music)

- They were selling drugs at the shop.

- He put it in the furniture, in the legs of the lounges.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(ambient music)

Grand opening in Footscray.

Grand apertura.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(upbeat ambient music)

- [Reporter 2] Local furniture salesman, Franco Cozzo's

Brunswick store was attacked by vandals late last night.

A soft drink bottle filled with kerosene

was placed against one of the shop's plate glass windows

at about 3:00 AM causing about $500 damage

to the Sydney road building.

Franco Cozzo has never had anything like this

happen to him in his 30 year business career.

He finds it difficult to explain the attack.

Could it have been a customer?

- No, for sure.

My customers, they're all happy and all my friends.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(upbeat music)

- [Kathryn] I love Franco Cozzo furniture.

There's an opulence to it that I just absolutely love.

I feel so special in my bed.

I know it. I just love it.

(upbeat music)

I wanted it for so long,

but then when I was set to buy some,

I was sharing a studio with some boys and they said,

you'll never get laid if you get that stuff.

(Kathryn laughs hysterically)

Yeah, they said I needed to go for the more sleek

and if I brought a boy home with that, it'll be fine.

But if I brought a boy home to the,

the really over the top Barbie stuff

that they'd run a mile.

(Kathryn laughs)

(retro music)

You never just walk past Franco Cozzo.

You stop, you look in the window.

You hope to see Franco 'cause it's like,

I saw Franco in the shop.

(retro music)

You know, there's been a few sagas

and things that have happened,

which only meant that people loved him more.

In my circle, everyone loves Franco Cozzo.

They just love the aesthetic.

It's got such a cult following.

(upbeat music)

- I love you people.

- We love you too Franco.

- Grand final, grand final, grand final.

- [Announcer] Got more for Twitter for Franco Cozzo

I'll tell you that.

How good is that?

(upbeat ambient music)

- Franco's murals,

is probably like one of my more recognised works.

They're like, oh, you're the guy who painted Franco.

The mural depicts young Franco.

And he's got like cherubs, like angels around his head.

And he's releasing this furniture with wings.

It's like part of a local identity.

And and recognition of the migrant generations.

(train dings)

Franco represents that generation of the Greek and Italian

migrants who were the main population around Footscray area.

That generation of migrants like well and truly accepted

and part of the fabric of the area, you know?

But now you have the Vietnamese and the Africans,

or the Eastern Europeans or like whatever, Mongolian.

it's a migrant dream and Franco's image is that.

(man speaks in foreign language)

(indistinct chatter)

(both chuckle)

- I wish I can speak your language.

Tell him.

(man speaks in foreign language)

(customer speaks in foreign language)

Okay.

(customer speaks in foreign language)

- Okay? - No.

(both laugh)

(customer coughs)

Impossible.

- Okay.

♪ I love you, I love you

Okay.

Then.

(customer speaks in foreign language)

(customer speaks in foreign language)

- Please yourself?

- (customer speaks in foreign language)

- Okay.

- Ciao.

Goodbye.

- See you.

- [Franco] I'll see you tomorrow.

Bye bye. - Bye.

- [Franco] Thank you.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Franco hums)

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(soft music)

- [Maddalena] Why are you still here Franco?

- First, I like it because I like to stay

in the middle of the public.

What I will do if I'm not being, inside here?

I'll go crazy.

Where do I go?

To Cafe espresso, to the club, to play cards.

I'm not that man there, I never play cards.

I'm a businessman.

- Work is his whole life.

It's his whole life.

You know, it's like a habit. You can't break your habits.

It took him a long time to decide

to sell or not to sell Footscray.

Every day, every day.

Oh, I don't know what I should do.

Whether to sell it or not.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Another Melbourne institution could be about to disappear

with furniture King Franco Cozzo,

putting his landmark Footscray store on the market.

It's been home to his iconic business since 1968.

And Franco says,

he'll take as much as he can get for the building

in a grand sale.

- How are you? Nice meet you.

Ed.

- Edward.

Sit down please. - Thank you.

- Now, what I can do?

Tell me, Paul.

Put the paper on the table.

Will Franco get to strike or nothing?

- Is there a lease in place at the moment?

- No lease.

- [Edward] No lease?

- Yesterday, I can give you the building.

- [Edward] Okay.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Edward] Perfect.

- No worries. Clean title, clean everything

like Franco Cozzo.

- [Edward] Fantastic, excellent.

- [Franco] You have a customer for it?

- Maybe.

- [Franco] Okay, when you have a customer,

we'll talk about it.

- Okay.

- Money, I give you the key.

- Please sit down.

- Don't worry, sit down, don't worry.

- He's got a few chairs here.

- Lucky, got a fair bit of chairs.

(instrumental music)

- This area is maturing. The station is now finished.

This is a great position, you know?

- We've got a whole.

- So you would get, I said to Eugene 10 levels, yeah?

(whimsical music)

- All the furniture will be removed.

So it's vacant possession.

It's approximately 1,000 square metres.

So in total it's about 2,000.

- And permits are as a showroom?

- Yes, yes.

It's a showroom. It has been that way.

- Okay.

- So yeah, you got permits.

- So this was used as a showroom back in the day?

- Oh yeah but now its just been converted to storage

as the business has gone on.

- Okay.

- So, it's gonna take him a little time,

but he'll get rid of all the stuff.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- It's a location that everybody will remember.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Yeah and my goal is to keep the name

somehow within the development.

- That's something we can talk about.

- Hopefully we can come up with a number that's compelling

that your family's gonna be happy with.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Thank you. - No worries.

- We'll walk in the next couple weeks.

Franco.

- Furniture king Franco Cozzo is determined to stay put

despite his Footscray store catching the eye of developers.

- The 82 year old announced plans

to sell the Footscray store earlier this year,

but changed his mind after a wave of public support.

♪ Footscray, Footscray, buy from Franco Cozzo ♪

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Is this showroom actually open?

- [Maddalena] Six days a week.

- Six days a week.

That would be the old Senor Cozzo, would it?

- [Maddalena] It is.

- My God, a living legend.

Senor Cozzo.

- Prego!

- The pleasure to meet you. I was just passing by

walking past, have grown up watching your lovely...

- Commercial.

- The commercials, the store.

- Grand sale, grand sale, grand sale.

I assume you don't speak Italian.

- What I'm curious about is,

so have you passed on the business your family?

- [Franco] To nobody.

- So you're still the man?

- [Franco] I'm still at number one.

- Fantastic.

Franco Cozzo.

- [Franco] Thank you very much.

Only one.

I gotta finish the business, but when it might be,

if one or two of them, my kids carry on, okay

but I don't think so. I can't press my kids.

I'm not terror father. I'm peaceful father.

Wonderful father.

We have discussion last night.

Daddy, might be, might be, might be, might be.

I don't like might be.

They're supposed to say, yes we do.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Maddalena] Did he want you?

- He wanted me to stay near him and carry on the company,

but it was too light because he'd been very tough.

Tough, tough, tough.

And I say to myself, I gotta go

(soft ambient music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

He was a very tough man.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- Guys, are we gonna the bride a clap?

(people cheer and clap)

(retro music)

Don't worry about the bill. It's all been paid for.

It's all done.

- Here we go.

One last one.

(photographer speaks in Italian)

- I have got no mother, no father, no sister, no brother.

Nobody.

If I not be happy with my kids who am I to be happy?

(wedding music)

(bell chimes)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Good afternoon, good evening.

It is my privilege, my pleasure to see you tonight

and be here.

Angelina.

(attendees cheers)

Okay.

Okay.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Thank you.

(attendees applaud)

(soft music)

(upbeat music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Ross speaks in Italian)

(Ross speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Ross speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- [Tony] I don't think Franco Cozzo has evolved

with the styles, with the changing of the times.

I mean, if you are an actor or if you're a musician,

your greatest hits is gonna determine

what type of artist you are.

So if you are country Western,

and then you're trying to get into rap,

I don't think it's gonna work.

So for Franco Cozzo, he remained true to what he is.

And obviously times has changed

and he's decided to keep going with what he's started with.

- For Franco, he was so much the brand.

And if he didn't change, nothing needed to change.

And maybe a bit of an ego

got in the way of really understanding his audience

and how he should pivot.

- I like your hair.

Beautiful hair you have.

- That's my mother right there.

- Thank you.

- [Franco] Hey. - That's my mother.

She's interested. - [Franco] Your mom?

- Yeah.

- [Franco] She look very young.

- Yeah, she looks young.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(soft music)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

- What is arguably one of Melbourne's

most famous furniture Showrooms has been sold.

Furniture king Franco Cozzo has sold his Footscray

headquarters for $6 million.

(phone rings)

- Hello my friend, I'm Franco Cozzo

from Brunwicks and Footscray.

Not listen to anybody.

I'm staying in Footscray, I am in Footscray.

I'll tell you when I go from Footscray.

- [Secretary] Franco Cozzo, may I help you?

That we're selling?

Well, they all seem to think it's true.

I haven't seen any money, so.

(phone rings)

- Franco Cozzo.

Hey Cal, my boy.

- We've been here for a while. Yes, we still sell furniture.

- You saw me, where?

Not yet.

No.

(phone rings)

- No, soon it will be sold, soon.

- David, how you doing love?

Not too, too badly, thank you.

I'll put him on. Just hold on please David.

- Let me know when you see Franco Cozzo on TV again.

Okay.

Thank you Josh.

I'll say ciao Josh.

Not yet goddammit.

For that money is a peanut.

They gotta come up and up and up.

- [Maddalena] No.

- Yes.

- [Maddalena] That's big news.

(tense music)

- How are you my boy?

- Have you been well?

- Okay.

(Franco sings in Italian)

(Maddalena speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(Franco speaks in Italian)

Ciao.

(soft instrumental music)

Grand sale, grand sale, grand sale.

(Franco speaks in Italian)

(vibrant music)

(upbeat music)

♪ I wanna die in a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die in a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die in a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ Wanna be below silken sheets

♪ Soft and white beneath my cheeks ♪

♪ All classic style

♪ That's where I'll be when I'm gonna die ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ Chandelier above my bed

♪ Shining brightly on the bed.

♪ Exquisite look can only touch ♪

♪ That's where I'll be when I bite the dust ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

(upbeat music)

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

(upbeat music)

♪ I wanna die, I wanna die, I wanna die, I wanna die ♪

♪ I wanna die, I wanna die, I wanna die, I wanna die ♪

♪ Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

♪ I wanna die on a Franco Cozzo bed ♪

(upbeat music)