When this spot aired on TV you could actually hear Anthony exhale after he scoots in the door. That was me! I was the traffic manager at Venet Advertising that produced this ad and after several VO failures, the creative director dragged me over to Manhattan West and the voice over was a success! My claim to TV fame at 22!!
My favorite thing about this commercial is that the entire extended family is having dinner together. It wasn’t a Sunday or a holiday, just a regular Wednesday night, and they’re all together for dinner.
I grew up on the Upper West Side when it wasn't a "desirable" place to live. Our parents would let us play outside, unattended, the whole day. Around dinnertime you could hear the mothers in the neighborhood calling the neighborhood kids. Come 6pm you would here, "Anthony!"...."Michael!"... "Jonathan!".. etc... There were no cellphones then and most kids didn't have watches... it was a simpler world. This commercial captured the feeling of the time so well!
Lately I've been making spaghetti for the family on Wednesdays and when my wife asked me what I meant by, "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day"--she looked befuddled. Thank you for putting this up. Now I shared it with her. I remember this commercial very vividly.
I knew Anthony and ate at his mom's home several times. She was the best Italian cook I knew. She always wanted to make sure you ate more than you could eat.
some ask why i have more good past memories? i say because i was blessed to have lived through such an amazing time filled with great memories to have 📻📺🍝🏠 i remember 1960's sitting on the stoop in brooklyn. hearing the busses smelling the bakery.
I am from Chicago and across the alley from me. This woman in the 70's, use to scream out the window. Anthony anthony, just like this commercial. Oh my goodness so funny.
I remember this commercial very well, and I have to laugh every time I see it, the writers didn't put too much thought into the reality of it. In Boston's Italian North End, someone yelling the name Anthony and only one kid comes running. It's just like West Side Story, a guy runs through Spanish Harlem yelling for Maria and only one girl answers. I think it's hilarious.
It's true! At my sister's wedding my cousin Anthony went to the band microphone and requested all the Anthony's to come to the dance floor for a picture. Out of 200 people were 25 Anthony's.
great commercial…i was just got back to nyc from…where else..the north end.. caught the soccer match at fiore's restaurant ..roof deck…the energy was awesome.. go italia…
Ah, the North End. How I miss Boston. If Anthony's really lucky, Mama picked up a box of pistachio macaroons around the corner at Mike's Pastry for dessert. Well -- gotta go. It's Wednesday, and we ARE having spaghetti tonight.
I grew up in Illinois and I remember this commercial in the 70's when I was a kid... and my mom would buy Prince pasta! I don't see it here in Northern CA though...
Some years ago a Boston sports station WEEI ? got on Prince Spaghetti day, they come back from commercial and producer cuts in Anthony's on the phone! What a wonderful interview! Prince was scouting to shoot the ad, gave a random kid $5 to show them around the North End. And he introduced his Grandmother. Prince and the ad agency have a pow wow, we need to find an actor like that kid yesterday. How about the kid? They went back the Grandmothers and hired Anthony. I don't think that was his family, but that was his Grandmother. He was famous at school for a while. And went back to being a kid. He never left the Boston area. Sadly this was a few months before he passed.
CLASSIC. There was this kid Anthony who used to be in my elementary school and we used to imitate this commercial all the time and it would drive him nuts! ANTHONY! I don't even know if he was Italian! Poor kid... LOL
when living in the bronx, my mother would yell for me to come in from the apartment window, and because of this commercial, anyone within earshot would start yelling my name...which is anthony by the way. if it wasn't, this would be a stupid story rather than a boring story
LOL! I love that commercial! Funny thing is my name is Anthony I'm Italian and I'm from Boston.. And my mom did this same thing as this lady in the window did...Anthony.... Anthony ..... But I'm from Southie (South Boston)
Growing up in an Irish/Italian suburb of Boston, there must have been a dozen kids in my high school named Anthony. Poor kids were greeted up and down the halls all day with Annn---thon-eeee!! That's still the way I call to someone named Anthony.
I grew up in an Italian section of Brooklyn in the 60's and 70's. I actually heard mothers calling their kids from the windows, and there were a few "ANN-TO-NEEEEEE"s too. And you came running to Mamma or you got the baccala on the culo! :)
Back in the 70s and 80s kids played outside all day until sundown and most of the time their parents had no idea where they were and it WAS NORMAL. Nowadays in 2019 that would never happen. Kids today are attached to their parents' hip via phones, soccer mom's, etc. You never see kids outside just playing and hanging around anymore. It's a thing of the past.
I moved to Boston in the 80s, and there was a television ad for an Italian restaurant. I don't remember any details except that the dialog makes a point of it being Wednesday. As the ad ends, there'a voice that says, "Hey, where's Anthony." A Boston-native friend had to explain it to me...
What ever you make of these old commercials, I really miss them. I'll tell you why----- 99 percent of the commercials today seem to center around sickness and disease. If it weren't true,it would be material for comedy. I know I watch tv to relax and forget about my problems, but with commercials every 12 minutes telling you to talk to your doctor about this or that medication,or asking you to donate to a hospital,as if I'm not poor and have a lot of money. Don't forget the lawyer commercials who want your business cause the ads that told you to take this or that pill caused some other terrible disease. To top it all off, I don't even have a comfortable bed to sleep in,and have struggled with sleeping for many years and it will be likely several years before I can buy one,and no---- there is no funding available for a bed due to being poor.
This world may be smaller, I once lived in Middletown. My parents are still there. I swam in Crystal lake. We use to live in the Carabetta apartments. wow.
Anthony is still alive. He's 58 now. It was Mary Fiumara (the mom) who passed away earlier this year at 88 . . . www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/business/media/mary-fiumara-mother-in-indelible-prince-spaghetti-ad-dies-at-88.html
As an impressionable youngster, I'd see this ad and channel my inner Anthony by badgering Mom to buy us some Prince spaghetti. It never worked, though; she always favored Mueller's for some reason.
But why Wednesday, in particular? My school district is nowhere near Boston, yet when I was growing up, the lunchrooms always ONLY served spaghetti on Wednesdays. I understood that the fish on Friday was a religious thing. But no one's ever given me a straight answer about the connection between spaghetti & Wednesdays.
My school was the same way with meals. Soup was Tuesday, fish was Friday, and Wednesday was just about always either spaghetti or chili-mac or another pasta-based dish.
This commercial was first shown in 1971, and endlessly repeated over the years, with "updated" tags involving the Prince spaghetti box and slogan [the original tag line was, "Share it with your family."].
I forget to mention I just found out last night that my cable bill went up$50, which I can't afford and there doesn't seem to be another decent option without spending 4 times more money which I definitely don't have. I don't even get my favorite teams usually on my set. When I was a kid,they were on free tv!
Interesting, in Philly the great-aunties always insisted Sunday was pasta day. I mean, I wasn't even born when this came out but I wonder if that was a Boston thing--spaghetti on Wednesdays.
I am certain this ad didn't even run on TV in Philly until about 1980. I was a teen by that time and don't remember this brand on store shelves until then. The TV commercial was ten years old by the time we started seeing it, and I definitely recall seeing big tractor-trailers with "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day" posted on the sides, heading down busy roads in the 1980s.
From Shrewsbury Street in Massachusetts Italian neighborhood and believe me Prince spaghetti day wasn’t only on damn Wednesday’s how about Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday Saturday and damn Sunday! 🍝
I live in Rochester NY and there was a billboard heading into downtown about a block from Kodak headquarters that said Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day featuring a box of spaghetti. Anytime someone said tomorrow is Wednesday you said Prince spaghetti day
true.... Becuase i am part of italian. My father was pure Italian, he told me all about it. Also my dad's name was Anthony. LOLOLOL I still remember watch that Tv commerical
This guy comes into my restaurant in Hampton, NH. He sits in the lounge with his friend Paul about twice a week. He's actually downstairs right now. That's pretty funny. Someone just told me a minute ago that he was in this commercial. His real name actually is Tony (Anthony).
Years later as people would see he'd get to a Polcari's Commercial being called and when he'd arrive Mr.Polcari would say "Hey Anthony where you on Wednesday?"
Anthony knows a lot about Prince Spaghetti, because the Prince mob family who runs the company kills anyone who doesn't eat Prince Spaghetti on Wednesday.
Does anyone know the exact location of this house in the North End of Boston? My husband and I were in the North End today and we walked on Prince Street. We were told this was the street where the commerical was filmed. We were just wondering if anyone knew the exact address?
When this spot aired on TV you could actually hear Anthony exhale after he scoots in the door. That was me! I was the traffic manager at Venet Advertising that produced this ad and after several VO failures, the creative director dragged me over to Manhattan West and the voice over was a success! My claim to TV fame at 22!!
Very cool!
Cool similar story was the secretary who was called in to whisper " big boys dont cry" in that 70s song by 10 cc called im not in love
Love that old tune!
They didn't just have "Anthony" do it?
Yep, I heard Anthony breathing @ :50-:55 ruclips.net/video/P8ti1hnLiLw/видео.html
The woman who played the mom in this commercial passed away today. She really did live in the North End of Boston. She was 88 years old.
+RIoutofhere RIP, Mary Fiumara
And today, Anthony Martignetti passed at 63.
@@dorianphilotheates3769 She died at 88, top comment.
Anthony DiMarco - Somehow missed that; thanks.
R.I.P. Anthony Martignetti & Mary Fiumara.🌹🌹
My favorite thing about this commercial is that the entire extended family is having dinner together. It wasn’t a Sunday or a holiday, just a regular Wednesday night, and they’re all together for dinner.
That is an awesome observation!
I grew up on the Upper West Side when it wasn't a "desirable" place to live. Our parents would let us play outside, unattended, the whole day. Around dinnertime you could hear the mothers in the neighborhood calling the neighborhood kids. Come 6pm you would here, "Anthony!"...."Michael!"... "Jonathan!".. etc... There were no cellphones then and most kids didn't have watches... it was a simpler world. This commercial captured the feeling of the time so well!
Lately I've been making spaghetti for the family on Wednesdays and when my wife asked me what I meant by, "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day"--she looked befuddled. Thank you for putting this up. Now I shared it with her. I remember this commercial very vividly.
Me too ,told her today !
Loved this commercial, it was sweet, Italian and really tugged at your heart strings! LOVE IT!
My mother use to love the mother's expression when Anthony came in the door....like NOW i can serve dinner now my boy is home!😊
I grew up in an Italian family and was a kid in the 70's. This brings back a lot of memories.
That's actually really cool. Part of an iconic moment in the 70's!
Mary Fiumara R I P 'On Top of Spaghetti'. I grew up in MA,one of the few classic ads of my generation.
Our family friend, Larry Keith, did the voice over. He passed away a few years ago.
Funny....I'm a voice-over artist and the 1st thing I thought when I watched this was that I like the voice-over guy !
Watching this ad always brings back many memories of my childhood.
I'm not Italian but my mother served prince spaghetti every Wednesday we loved it.
Probably a lot of young boys in the Italian North End of Boston named Anthony at that time. Surprised only one ran up instead of a dozen. :)
Correct. My father is Anthony, my brother is Anthony, and his son is Anthony! LOL
I always thought she yelled
ANGELO!!!!
@@ralphtom3431 lmfao where?
Listen to how cool and calm the narrators voice is....true...omniscient administrator voice..nice..
RIP Prince: Musician and Pasta Chef
Loved him and always will 💜💜💜
I was the Assistant Cameraman and Camera Operator on the commercial. The Director was Lear Levin.
Nice work!
Back when kids were allowed to and actually did go outside to play unsupervised. The ads right up there with, "Ancient Chinese Secret."
Yeah you let them do that now, cops and CPS on your butt faster than you can say Jack Robinson!
I knew Anthony and ate at his mom's home several times. She was the best Italian cook I knew. She always wanted to make sure you ate more than you could eat.
How did he get to be on the commercial?
@@ralphtom3431 Yeah probably
@@kilgoretrout4491 guess i was wrong ruclips.net/video/EX1eBviGRKs/видео.html
some ask why i have more good past memories? i say because i was blessed to have lived through such an amazing time filled with great memories to have 📻📺🍝🏠 i remember 1960's sitting on the stoop in brooklyn. hearing the busses smelling the bakery.
I am from Chicago and across the alley from me. This woman in the 70's, use to scream out the window. Anthony anthony, just like this commercial. Oh my goodness so funny.
I remember this commercial very well, and I have to laugh every time I see it, the writers didn't put too much thought into the reality of it.
In Boston's Italian North End, someone yelling the name Anthony and only one kid comes running.
It's just like West Side Story, a guy runs through Spanish Harlem yelling for Maria and only one girl answers.
I think it's hilarious.
LOL
It's true! At my sister's wedding my cousin Anthony went to the band microphone and requested all the Anthony's to come to the dance floor for a picture. Out of 200 people were 25 Anthony's.
or goes to a bar in Boston and yells, "Hey Sully!
A comedian remarked that if you yelled Anthony, just about every kid would come running
if they were going for realism, anthony wouldn't live in north boston... he'd live in Reveah.
great commercial…i was just got back to nyc from…where else..the north end..
caught the soccer match at fiore's restaurant ..roof deck…the energy was awesome..
go italia…
Wow! I remember tis commercial. I'm from CT and this came on a lot during the 1970s, early 80's I think.
+thinprincess87 I am from Westport and moved to PA 10 years ago How about you? I see you live in NH now, my dad lives in Sunapee!
I was born in Bridgeport. Do you remember The Arrow restaurant in Westport?
@@spacemanfla Yes I do!
It's feels nice to finally understand what the MST3K crew were referencing when they brought up 'prince spaghetti day'. Thanks for uploading this!
I remeber this ad from my childhood-always made me hungry!
i remember this commercial and still love it!!
Ah, the North End. How I miss Boston. If Anthony's really lucky, Mama picked up a box of pistachio macaroons around the corner at Mike's Pastry for dessert. Well -- gotta go. It's Wednesday, and we ARE having spaghetti tonight.
Ha! fellow Bostonian...God loves Mike's Pastry and Sox... well at least he loves Mike's.
RIP Ms Fiumara.
RIP Anthony, may everyday be Wednesday in heaven ❤️
My Sicilian family used Butoni as my uncle worked there. Ronzoni sometimes too, but this commercial is wonderful.
I loved that commercial i was 13 going on 14 in 1969 its a classic. RIP Anthony
I grew up in Illinois and I remember this commercial in the 70's when I was a kid... and my mom would buy Prince pasta! I don't see it here in Northern CA though...
Some years ago a Boston sports station WEEI ? got on Prince Spaghetti day, they come back from commercial and producer cuts in Anthony's on the phone! What a wonderful interview! Prince was scouting to shoot the ad, gave a random kid $5 to show them around the North End. And he introduced his Grandmother. Prince and the ad agency have a pow wow, we need to find an actor like that kid yesterday. How about the kid? They went back the Grandmothers and hired Anthony. I don't think that was his family, but that was his Grandmother. He was famous at school for a while. And went back to being a kid. He never left the Boston area. Sadly this was a few months before he passed.
My mother's voice
CLASSIC. There was this kid Anthony who used to be in my elementary school and we used to imitate this commercial all the time and it would drive him nuts!
ANTHONY!
I don't even know if he was Italian! Poor kid... LOL
when living in the bronx, my mother would yell for me to come in from the apartment window, and because of this commercial, anyone within earshot would start yelling my name...which is anthony by the way. if it wasn't, this would be a stupid story rather than a boring story
LOL! I love that commercial! Funny thing is my name is Anthony I'm Italian and I'm from Boston.. And my mom did this same thing as this lady in the window did...Anthony.... Anthony ..... But I'm from Southie (South Boston)
Just as I remember it! Thanks for finding this!
Thank you for info on Anthony. I will have to look him up in Denham.
Every Wednesday is now Spaghetti Tuesday.
Growing up in an Irish/Italian suburb of Boston, there must have been a dozen kids in my high school named Anthony. Poor kids were greeted up and down the halls all day with Annn---thon-eeee!! That's still the way I call to someone named Anthony.
Look what Haymarket looked like back in the day...what a memory.
I grew up in an Italian section of Brooklyn in the 60's and 70's. I actually heard mothers calling their kids from the windows, and there were a few "ANN-TO-NEEEEEE"s too. And you came running to Mamma or you got the baccala on the culo! :)
Same here, I'm 43 and they still do it.
Back in the 70s and 80s kids played outside all day until sundown and most of the time their parents had no idea where they were and it WAS NORMAL. Nowadays in 2019 that would never happen. Kids today are attached to their parents' hip via phones, soccer mom's, etc. You never see kids outside just playing and hanging around anymore. It's a thing of the past.
GOD! They used to play this commercial over and over back in the day!! O_o
It's funny because Prince's actual favorite meal was spaghetti and orange juice.
I would love to cook that all the time for him lol 💜
I thought it was pancakes? o_O
Jordan Rios Didn't Know that. Orange is his actually his favorite color. So by that rational, does Prince prefer Orange juice to Grape Juice?
I moved to Boston in the 80s, and there was a television ad for an Italian restaurant. I don't remember any details except that the dialog makes a point of it being Wednesday. As the ad ends, there'a voice that says, "Hey, where's Anthony." A Boston-native friend had to explain it to me...
Great info. That is a great story
What ever you make of these old commercials, I really miss them. I'll tell you why----- 99 percent of the commercials today seem to center around sickness and disease. If it weren't true,it would be material for comedy. I know I watch tv to relax and forget about my problems, but with commercials every 12 minutes telling you to talk to your doctor about this or that medication,or asking you to donate to a hospital,as if I'm not poor and have a lot of money. Don't forget the lawyer commercials who want your business cause the ads that told you to take this or that pill caused some other terrible disease. To top it all off, I don't even have a comfortable bed to sleep in,and have struggled with sleeping for many years and it will be likely several years before I can buy one,and no---- there is no funding available for a bed due to being poor.
Classic. Commercials like these bring back my childhood. Wonder what year it was exactly. Thanks for sharing !!!
69
This world may be smaller, I once lived in Middletown. My parents are still there. I swam in Crystal lake. We use to live in the Carabetta apartments. wow.
The mom passed away on a Wednesday which as we now is prince spaghetti day
I thought Wednesday was Sundae at Carvel!!!
If you finish your spaghetti!
@@quad5186If you don't, you'll get stuck with Cookie Puss.
RIP Anthony Martignetti!
Anthony is still alive. He's 58 now. It was Mary Fiumara (the mom) who passed away earlier this year at 88 . . .
www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/business/media/mary-fiumara-mother-in-indelible-prince-spaghetti-ad-dies-at-88.html
As an impressionable youngster, I'd see this ad and channel my inner Anthony by badgering Mom to buy us some Prince spaghetti. It never worked, though; she always favored Mueller's for some reason.
Never forget THAT TV commerical of prince spaghetti, when i was little. Of course I am part of Italian........
my dad loved this commercial. haha and i like it too.
HEY! TODAY IS SPAGHETTI DAY!
I remember this well😊
What great memories!!!! Pass the parmesan!
One of my teachers told me about this commercial. The kids name was Anthony! :)
BOB HEATLIE
I love this ♥️
But why Wednesday, in particular?
My school district is nowhere near Boston, yet when I was growing up, the lunchrooms always ONLY served spaghetti on Wednesdays. I understood that the fish on Friday was a religious thing. But no one's ever given me a straight answer about the connection between spaghetti & Wednesdays.
My school was the same way with meals. Soup was Tuesday, fish was Friday, and Wednesday was just about always either spaghetti or chili-mac or another pasta-based dish.
still remember this commercial from when i was in grade school
This commercial was first shown in 1971, and endlessly repeated over the years, with "updated" tags involving the Prince spaghetti box and slogan [the original tag line was, "Share it with your family."].
Rest in Pea ce, I loved this commercial, in ABC, growing up! I thought it was recent
Brings back the day my friend and I were lost in Boston and yelling out the windows Anthonyyyyyy
I don't need to be called for spaghetti.
I forget to mention I just found out last night that my cable bill went up$50, which I can't afford and there doesn't seem to be another decent option without spending 4 times more money which I definitely don't have. I don't even get my favorite teams usually on my set. When I was a kid,they were on free tv!
Interesting, in Philly the great-aunties always insisted Sunday was pasta day. I mean, I wasn't even born when this came out but I wonder if that was a Boston thing--spaghetti on Wednesdays.
I am certain this ad didn't even run on TV in Philly until about 1980. I was a teen by that time and don't remember this brand on store shelves until then. The TV commercial was ten years old by the time we started seeing it, and I definitely recall seeing big tractor-trailers with "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day" posted on the sides, heading down busy roads in the 1980s.
Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day.
everyone says this to me every wednesday.
anthony its prince spaghetti day
RIP Anthony. God, I loved this commercial.
Wait! What?
@@jk11463 Yeah, he passed away in 2020 in his sleep.
@@augustgirl didn’t know. Thanks
From Shrewsbury Street in Massachusetts Italian neighborhood and believe me Prince spaghetti day wasn’t only on damn Wednesday’s how about Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday Saturday and damn Sunday! 🍝
I live in Rochester NY and there was a billboard heading into downtown about a block from Kodak headquarters that said Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day featuring a box of spaghetti. Anytime someone said tomorrow is Wednesday you said Prince spaghetti day
old people do tht everytime i meet them. my name is anthony fml lol
"ANTHONYYYYYYYYYYYYYY"
Hi Anthony,
My last name is Carita. We have relatives in Middletown Connecticut,Crystal Lake area. Its' a small world!
I heard ppl yelling my name like that when I grew up lol Anthony , Anthony
Ahem - here in RI it was Sunday, not Wednesday.
And Parmagiano Regiano.... good stuff.
In Italian American communities, mothers yelled out the window their kids names to come to dinner for night.
Rest in peace Anthony
RIP Anthony!
@gottaloveritchie, wow.. what are the chances that you'd know him today, or even recognize him as an adult?.. great!
true.... Becuase i am part of italian. My father was pure Italian, he told me all about it. Also my dad's name was Anthony. LOLOLOL I still remember watch that Tv commerical
Luv dis
LOLOL I am part of italian. the fact my mother always cook spaghetti with REAL wood spoon all the time.
This guy comes into my restaurant in Hampton, NH. He sits in the lounge with his friend Paul about twice a week. He's actually downstairs right now. That's pretty funny. Someone just told me a minute ago that he was in this commercial. His real name actually is Tony (Anthony).
Years later as people would see he'd get to a Polcari's Commercial being called and when he'd arrive Mr.Polcari would say "Hey Anthony where you on Wednesday?"
no. I live in Maine now. But my parents are on the other end of town now. Near Washington st. This is so crazy.
Today Anthony Martignetti is a Court Officer! He's a pretty cool dude!
I'm doing a 365project and every Wednesday I post a picture of my spaghetti in honor of Prince Spaghetti Day.
THIS is why my aunt keeps yelling my name
Anthony knows a lot about Prince Spaghetti, because the Prince mob family who runs the company kills anyone who doesn't eat Prince Spaghetti on Wednesday.
brings so many memories. oh look its Wednesday got go!!!
Does anyone know the exact location of this house in the North End of Boston? My husband and I were in the North End today and we walked on Prince Street. We were told this was the street where the commerical was filmed. We were just wondering if anyone knew the exact address?
I was named after this commercial. Although in New York it was Ronzoni pasta.
This is the abbreviated version of a one minute commercial.
@Maaloxanyone, wow.. how do you know this?! great! :)