Prince Spaghetti TV Spot Writer Recalls Working With 'Anthony!'

BOSTON — Peter Whitelam was a young creative director with the New York agency that handled Prince spaghetti's advertising when he arrived in the North End in 1969 to scout locations for the pasta maker's next commercial.

Whitelam and the other ad executives stood out as obvious outsiders in the tight-knit community made up mostly of Italian immigrants and soon found themselves being followed by some neighborhood kids. While most of the kids soon grew bored, one of them continued to pester the men.

That curious kid was Anthony Martignetti, who died Saturday at the age of 63.

"We went to the North End to look for locations and we were followed by this little fellow who had recently arrived from Italy and knew little English, Anthony," Whitelam said. "The director and I felt that we could harness the boy’s obvious curiosity by building the importance of Prince spaghetti to local families around him."

The decision changed the lives of Martignetti and Whitelam. The commercial made its debut in the fall of 1968 and ran for 13 years. It won a Clio award 1970 and was later inducted into the Clio Hall of Fame.

"I read your piece on the death of Anthony and am sorry I never got to meet him as an adult," Whitelam said Friday.

The commercial defined Martignetti throughout his life. While he was only paid $2,000 that he reportedly used to buy a set of hockey goalie pads, Martignetti embraced the role and the attention it brought him.

"I always understood that it was larger than me, that I had a responsibility to preserve what that commercial meant to people," he told The Boston Globe last year. "I knew that if I got into trouble, little Anthony from the spaghetti commercial would be all over the paper."

Whitelam said none of the people who appeared in the commercial were actors, including Mary Fiumara, who played his mother. She's the woman seen yelling "Anthony!" out a window near the start of the commercial. Fiumara died in 2016.

Previously on Patch: Anthony Martignetti, Star Of Iconic Spaghetti Commercial, Dies

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).