Photo byforHe's 56 years old now. His roots lie deep in Dirty Old Boston's North End and in the hearts of Greater Bostonians of a certain age. Forty-four years later,"Anthony" is being born again as film crews and producers came to Margaret Street, Sheafe Street, and Cleveland Place to film a remake of the locally famous Prince Spaghetti commercial. This time, the commercial film company brought in their own actors. But that wasn't how it went down the first time around.

In 1966 when Anthony Martignetti was nine, his family immigrated to the US from Italy, coming directly to the North End and settling in. Three years went by. In 1969 when he was 12, Anthony was hanging out with some pals when they were approached by a couple of obvious outsiders.

Trying to locate Commercial Street, these 'outsiders' were escorted by Anthony to their destination. Unbeknownst to these boys, these men were working for Boston's Jerome O'Leary Advertising Agency, which represented the Prince Macaroni Company as it was known at the time. Their mission was to shoot an ad for their product. When the time came to cast it, they remembered Anthony.





They found him and made him an offer he could not refuse. Anthony sprinted home to announce his impending stardom to his mother. She immediately assumed that her little boy would be seen on the nightly news for God knows what. Contracts were signed and Anthony Martignetti cleared close to $25,000 for racing through the North End streets to Powers Court. He didn't actually run to his mother. Instead he ran to the one who played her on TV, fellow North Ender Mary Fiumara.

Anthony Today

After graduating high school, Anthony worked at Polaroid before joining the family grocery business. When his parents retired in 1987 he got a job at Stop & Shop Distribution. The company today extolls the virtues of its commitment to diversity, but Anthony Martignetti's supervisor back then often called him "spaghetti bender", "meatball", and a few more stellar cliches. After complaining to Corporate with no success, he sued Stop & Shop and a settlement was reached in 2004. Today Anthony Martignetti works as a Court Officer in Dedham District and is married with a son, Anthony Jr., who is approaching adolescence. Prince Spaghetti is on the family menu several times a week, according to an article on MentalFloss.com.

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Ciao for Now.....JB





