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Woman immortalized in spaghetti commercial dies, 82

By adamg on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 2:43pm

Prince Spaghetti commercial - a classic

On this Prince Spaghetti Day in the Italian North End, observe a moment of silence for Mary Fiumara, who stuck her head out a window and yelled "Anthony! Anthony!"

Neighborhoods: 
North End


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Comments

By lbb on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 3:02pm.

I loved that commercial, and I always loved spaghetti night.

By bostnkid on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 3:24pm.

until he sued over all the Italian jokes, I think Kaz was his old boss.

By JohnAKeith on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 4:01pm.

Anthony worked at the grocery store, saving his money for some day?

By cybah on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 5:30pm.

Mama Leone left a note on the door, saying sonny move out to the country
Because working too hard can give you a heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack
You outta know by now.....

By Dave on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 4:38pm.

Either she had the world's loudest voice, or they liked their spaghetti super-al dente, since she put the spaghetti in the pot after calling him and even though he was running, it was on the table before he got home.

By Larry Dickman on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 5:08pm.

She pasta way. We cannelloni do so much. Her legacy will become a pizza history. Here today, gone tomato. How sad that she ran out of thyme. Sending olive my prayers to the family. Her sister is really upset. Cheese still not over it. You never sausage a tragic thing. It's such a shame good people have to die fusilli reasons.

By Eye Talian on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 10:46pm.

-ELLI

By Angry Dan on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 5:25pm.

When I was a kid, the mother across the street would holler like that for her kids. My mother wasn't willing to do all that yelling so she mounted a ship's bell outside the back door. We didn't have the smart phones AND WE LIKED IT.

By The Frying Pan of Reality on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 8:15pm.

Mom used to holler like that *and* she used a big cast iron ship's bell to get us to come in. We could hear her and the bell throughout the entire neighborhood.

P.S.: She's a great cook and makes great spaghetti sauce! Good times.

By Steeve on Thu, 02/04/2016 - 9:41am.

Something doesn't add up. Surely if she made a good sauce you'd refer to it as gravy...

By lbb on Thu, 02/04/2016 - 10:15am.

1. Your Italian-American community is not everybody's Italian-American community.
2. Many Italian-Americans say "spaghetti sauce" because they know that most non-Italian-Americans won't get it if they say "gravy".

By Steeve on Fri, 02/05/2016 - 1:30pm.

I wasn't being a serious person. I have no dog in that fight.

By GROVER on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 6:11pm.

Anthony is now a Court Officer at the Dedham District Court. Still a nice, congenial and helpful guy.

By perruptor on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 7:09pm.

Although it is usually identified with the North End, Prince was in fact based in Lowell for most of its existence. A sign at the city line proclaimed "Welcome to Spaghettiville."

In 1987, Borden bought Prince. After ten years of milking the business for profit and neglecting the plant, the giant cow became discontented and closed the spaghetti factory. A lot of people lost their jobs, and many in Lowell today will not buy Prince products. Last time I was by there, the railroad bridge over Gorham St. still had "Spaghettiville" painted on it in large letters.

By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 7:32pm.

Borden refused to sell the factory to Market Basket, as MB would have produced its house brands there.

By anon on Thu, 02/04/2016 - 10:26am.

What was that Italian restaurant at or near the spaghetti factory in Lowell? Maybe The Grotto? That place was a treasure!

By oddjob60 on Thu, 02/04/2016 - 11:02am.

Google Street View

By Eye Talian on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 10:48pm.

It's okay....just not as great as the commercial. Not good enough to run home for, but Anthony did that for his Mamma, not because of the spaghetti!

By perruptor on Thu, 02/04/2016 - 8:09am.

to get to the current home of Prince spaghetti. Even though the company that now makes it still plays up the North End, now the stuff is made in either Winchester, Virginia; St Louis, Missouri; Fresno, California; or Montreal, Canada. All places famous for their Italian heritage, of course.

By lbb on Thu, 02/04/2016 - 10:17am.

...how many brands of pasta (macaroni) are made in the North End now? Excluding limited-edition carefully curated free-range wheat-free artisanal "brands", that is.

By Lis Riba on Fri, 02/05/2016 - 8:09pm.

NYTimes gave her a featured obit: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/business/media/mary-fiumara-mother-in-...