Former Bruin recounts campus life in memoirs

“Va, fa, sa” ““ Italian for “you go, you
do, you know” ““ are three words that have been
inspiring 92-year-old Hugo Cipriani since his very first days as a
UCLA student in 1938.

A native of Bedford, Ohio, Cipriani refers to the day he decided
to abruptly leave home and hitchhike to California in pursuit of
his passion for the cinema as one of his most pivotal life
decisions.

First wanting to attend the University of Southern California
for its film program, UCLA seemed more appealing due to its
reasonable tuition of $27.

With $3.50 in his pocket, Cipriani calls the day he sacrificed
$3 for registration at UCLA as his “most memorable
day.”

Though Cipriani would only have 50 cents to survive on, Cipriani
recalls thinking, “What have I got to lose?”

Working in Kerckhoff, which at the time housed the co-op
cafeteria, coffee shop and bookstore, Cipriani bussed tables in
exchange for meals.

There he met co-worker and soon-to-be friend, Peter Plotkin, who
lent Cipriani $5 for tuition.

Sixty-seven years later the two friends were reunited via the
Internet through an unintentional search. In his online memoirs,
Cipriani mentions Plotkin lending him $5 for tuition in one of his
19 chapters. Plotkin, now an art gallery owner, did a random
Internet search one day and stumbled across Cipriani’s
writings.

“I just remember him working hard and seeing the beads of
perspiration on his forehead,” Plotkin said, who at the time
was five or six years younger than Cipriani. “He always had a
big smile on his face. He was thrilled to be (at UCLA).”

Visiting UCLA together a month ago after many years, Cipriani
was amazed by the slew of students, construction and new
buildings.

“I couldn’t believe it. I loved the quad ““
that’s my UCLA and the coffee shop,” Cipriani said with
awe. “I just love being here and looking around ““ the
rest of it is way beyond me … so massive, we only had 9,000
students.”

Cipriani’s diagnosis with congestive heart failure and
recovery from open-heart surgery at age 88 prompted him to utilize
his love for words and write down his memoirs, which his grandsons
eventually transferred online.

“My days are numbered and I’m ready to leave and I
should really put down the two most important days of my
life,” Cipriani said referring to the first time he left home
and the day he permanently left Ohio.

At 25, Cipriani knew that he had to leave Ohio to find himself.
“A person can’t be aggressive in his hometown. … I
was a failure,” Cipriani said. “Everyone knows you, you
fit a group, you don’t have confidence to do anything else
than what you have been doing.”

Though struggling with classes at UCLA while juggling a variety
of jobs ““ from grooming golf courses to watering lawns in Bel
Air ““ Cipriani loved to study, going to the library every
night until 10 p.m. after work.

“It was the best years of my life, I was learning, I was
on fire, I was transformed and it never left me,” Cipriani
said.

Though Cipriani attended UCLA from 1938 to 1941 and never
graduated, he said he learned more from his experiences at school
than from professors or textbooks.

“I found myself, and I learned more from my experiences
than from the books. … I found out for myself,” he
said.

Leaving home abruptly at a young age with no definite plans,
Cipriani said he quickly learned that he is fearless, and more
importantly, capable of attacking any kind of situation.

Staying true to his “Va, fa, sa,” motto, Cipriani
found the key to personal success and knowledge.

“You gotta go, to do, to know,” he said with a
slight Italian accent. “Action is what counts. People who
think just talk and debate but when you move, you act.”

Cipriani left his studies at UCLA in 1941 and joined the Navy in
anticipation of the draft. After sinking a Japanese fleet and
surviving a kamikaze attack, Cipriani said he returned to Los
Angeles and attended USC in pursuit of a career of the movie
industry.

But his stint at USC did not last very long.

“I had the GI bill, but I didn’t like (USC), I
didn’t care for it ““ too many students, and everything
had changed,” Cipriani said.

Continuing to follow his hobby for the movies, which he refers
to as “the best teachers,” Cipriani bought a movie
theatre in Inglewood upon returning from the war and brought it to
success ““ only to be bought out by 20th Century Fox.

“I never went in the business again,” Cipriani
said.

Still an avid fan of old movies from the 1930s and 1940s,
Cipriani said he stopped watching new films after 1950 for their
lack of inspiration and life experience.

“They stink, all of them,” he said with
disappointment. “The world isn’t as good as it was in
all respects ““ it’s going downhill.”

Cipriani now lives in Alhambra with his wife of 57 years,
Elizabeth Cipriani, and his four children and seven grandchildren
visit frequently.

“I may get mad at him but I never get bored with
him,” Elizabeth said.

Inspired by Cipriani, what Elizabeth admires most about her
husband is his ability to rise above all odds.

When Elizabeth fell ill with tuberculosis, they had three
children under the age of four at the time. Bed-ridden in the
hospital for a year and enduring a slow recovery, Elizabeth was
grateful for Cipriani’s willingness to take over.

Explaining that many of the women’s husbands could not
wait out the long recovery periods, she said Cipriani was always by
her side.

“He rose to the occasion, throughout all that time he came
to see me, he encouraged me,” she said.

Cipriani’s stories of his experiences at UCLA and his time
in the war came to play an integral part in his
grandchildren’s lives.

“People have always been captivated by his stories,”
said Daniel Lowe, Cipriani’s grandson, who is a software
engineer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Lowe remembers his grandfather would drive by his kindergarten
and honk every day.

“He inspires people to make decisions in their lives to
move forward,” he said. “He gave me the attitude of
being more adventurous ““ how to take on
uncertainties.”

Cipriani, who writes as a hobby to express his feelings,
continues to work on his memoirs in addition to closely following
politics and baseball.

Cipriani’s grandsons took the initiative to place his
memoirs online so he could share his inspirational stories with a
larger audience.

“I would love to see it (get published), but who knows? I
am surprised that I am getting comments from strangers,”
Cipriani said.

Living through the Great Depression, attending UCLA and
participating in the war, Cipriani lends students of today some
valuable advice.

“The most certain truth in the world does not come from
books ““ it comes from self-evident faith. The second-most
certain knowledge comes from life experience.”

Cipriani’s memoirs can be found online at
www.pedin.com.

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