He took the E of his assumed name from the initial letter of the pseudonym Ermes under which he wrote for the newspaper Il Ventesimo; the A came from Alessandro, the paper's chief editor; and Mario was the name of its Polish director.

His other famous works include Santa Lucia luntana, Balocchi e profumi, Vipera, Rose rosse, and O' Paese dò sole.

[4] In Gaeta's youth he admired the performances of the great Neapolitan actor, poet and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta.

Gaeta collaborated greatly with the leading Neapolitan publisher, Ferdinand Bideri, who also produced the works of Gabriele d'Annunzio.

[5] Gaeta was destined never to become wealthy, forced by his wife's serious illness to sell the rights to all of his songs to a publishing house in Milan, from which he was to receive only a small percentage.