Sunday, March 31, 2019

Reaching Past Pasta Ads that Feature La Donna E Mobile

Every now and then, I've tried finding a TV commercial that advertised pasta and used a particularly catchy classical piece. I've long since forgotten the name of the pasta and most of the pasta words. I had never learned the name of the music until a few weeks ago. With some further effort beyond doing a playlist lookup for my local classical music radio station, I narrowed it down to "La Donna E Mobile" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto. ("La Donna e Mobile" is a 43-sec instrumental autoplay audio that loops.)

I figured it would be easy to find the TV ad on YouTube, but it wasn't so. I expanded my searches. I've wracked my brain and looked all over the web. I posted to a forum requesting help in finding the ad. My inquiry included my feeble recall of lyrics that mention pasta shapes, such as mostaccioli, vermecilli, …. It seems the singer mentioned about 20 pasta shapes.

A couple of suggestions were close, but not correct. "The Pasta Song" has loads of pasta shapes in both lyrics and images. Not the correct song, however. Be forewarned that the images are mouth-watering and maybe hunger inducing! "Leggos ad by Grey Melbourne" starts out with a charming choreography of dancing tomatoes, and ends with their total destruction into sauce. Integration with music equipment is fascinating! Right music, incorrect lyrics.

I had an interesting journey seeking the ad. Besides encountering some nice performances, the following resources helped provide some overview of the opera plot.
Deeper curiosity about the plot led me to "Rigoletto Synopsis The Story of Verdi's Rigoletto", which provides info about the composer, characters, and summary about the entire play.

My curiosity about pronunciation percolated. "How to pronounce La donna è mobile" and "'La donna è mobile' Verdi (Rigoletto)" seem sensible resources.

The following links describe the popularity of La Donna e Mobile for various products—Doritos, tomato paste, Dancing with the Stars, Nestle Choco Crossies (cookies), AXE (body spray), …
I have almost totally given up on trying to find the ad (eh, from maybe early 60s). I suppose someone's parent or older friend who worked there AND spotted this resource or my article could specify the company name. Long shot, I think.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

I AM TRYING TO FIND THE AD AND SONG AS WELL......THE ONLY LYRICS I CAN REMEMBER IS "GOOD SAUCE IS HARD TO FIND, DON'T JUST USE ANY KIND" AND THEN "VINE RIPE TOMATOES" IS IN THERE AS WELL. PLEASE FIND THIS SONG I NEED IT

Unknown said...

FOUND THE ONE I WAS THINKING ABOUT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8x6bBuiHPY HOPE IT HELPS, HAPPY TRAVELS PARTNER I WANNA MUNCH YOUR GROWLER

whilldtkwriter said...

Thanks for the link to "Leggo's Vine Ripe 2013 Ad"! Stunning visuals w/English lyrics! Heh, I think I'll never find the pasta ad from way back when I first heard "La Donna E Mobile". So long ago I don't remember the brand or whether it was TV or radio.

Unknown said...

At around 8 minutes and 20 seconds in the compilation of old commercials at the following link, there are two animated commercials for Golden Grain pasta that are parodies of opera scenes. One is based on the Triumphal March from Aida, the other is based on a ransom scene that I am not familiar with. The music for the later perhaps sounds a little bit like La Donna E Mobile. Excerpt from lyrics - "Wait cruel tyrant, I've brought ransom! Outside your prison gate, I've stacked up Golden Grain, pasta that's really great, eating joy unrestrained! Did you bring spaghetti? I list if you let me, every kind of pasta comes in Golden Grain, macaroni, ..., vermicilli, 29 types for you! https://licensing.screenocean.com/record/217967

whilldtkwriter said...

Thanks so much for the resource!!! The entire video is 60 minutes. The time start for the La Donna E Mobile music, from Rigoletto, is 21 minutes into the video (labeled 08:21:00:00). The product is Golden Grain pasta--"spaghetti, ... macaroni, mostacoli, [unrecognizable utterance], rigatoni, vermicelli, ...". Having the Golden Grain ref helped me find other info. Google hits showed some other people interested and not being really sure about the lyrics and wanting to know about YouTube vids (none that I could find).

Mystified people at the following web pages:
https://www.outsidelands.org/cgi-bin/mboard/stories2/thread.cgi?2687,54
https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-grains-verdi-advertisement/500457

Luciano Pavarotti sings: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/La-donna-e-mobile-Woman-unstable.html
Site includes English & Italian lyrics.

Anonymous said...

I think the commercial you are thinking of is from the 80s and was for Francesco Renaldi pasta sauce.
I remember the lyrics going “if you like spaghetti, just like I do” to the La Donne Mobile song. Don’t remember the rest. I can’t find it either but the same search brought me here.

whilldtkwriter said...

Hi, Anonymous. Thanks for commenting! I had sent an inquiry to Golden Grain in September requesting they upload the two opera parodies to YouTube, based on the info Unknown provided See comments on September 16 & 18. GG sent an email back to me that they'd get back to me. They hadn't yet. I just sent a followup email to nudge them. Anyway, if you haven't viewed the GG parodies, do so and see if they jog your memory.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU to you wonderful people who shared the link that features these elusive Golden Grain commercials! I have been searching for these for so long; I was beginning to think I had only imagined seeing them as a youth. Thank you for finally putting my mind at ease!

Unknown said...

The commercial I'd like to find is a pasta commercial from the 60's (I'm guessing) As I remember, a princess is locked away and singing opera..."If only my lover would rescue me.." and then it lists a bunch of pasta shapes such as spaghetti, rigatoni, macaroni. etc. I'm going crazy not finding it and I'm starting to believe it's just my imagination playing tricks on me.

whilldtkwriter said...

Hi, Unknown,

Summarizing info WRT the pasta commercial from prior comments. Visit https://licensing.screenocean.com/record/217967, do find for "08:21:20 - GOLDEN GRAIN LASAGNE (1982) ANIMATED "RANSOM" SCENE PARODY FROM FAMOUS OPERA. VILLAIN. PASTA DISHES." Be patient as the video plays; compilation video is an hour long. Let me know if it's the ad you're thinking of. BTW, I'd not been able to get Golden Grain (the pasta product manufacturer) to reply to me more than the initial auto-acknowlege emails.

Unknown said...

I'm thrilled. I was so happy to get your message. And yes, the video is long, but I was able to skip to the Golden Grain commercials. I've never seen the one with the elephants so I was happy to see it. And then came the one I was referring to. OMG. I LOVE IT. Thank you a million times for doing what I thought was impossible. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I owe you a pasta dinner!! Macaroni, rigatoni, la la la la la la. THANK YOU.

whilldtkwriter said...

Hi, Unknown,

Glad you're happy! I'd thought about that commercial for several years! I'd asked some people on an email list, and got suggestions all around, but NOT the GG ad. I searched high and low on the web. Unknown from 9/16/2020 provided the key!

I'm bugged that GG saw fit to only autoreply to my request they upload the Aida and E Donna Mobile parodies. Pretty sure the contact form was the one at https://www.goldengrainpasta.com/contact-us/. The autoreply email addr was from bayvalley_care@bayvalley.epowercenterdirect.com. If I wasn't wary of copyright issues, I'd upload the parodies myself.

Thanks go all around! BTW, the compilation video has loads of additional fun clips; gotta confess, hadn't viewed them all.

Anonymous said...

The CommerciL was a Golden Grain Commercial dubbed "THE ransom scene from Vermicelli"
I am turning 70 in August and used to listen to that commercial while riding in my Dad's car when I was a youngster.

whilldtkwriter said...

Hi, Anonymous,

I didn't remember a radio version, just the video with the music. As mentioned in an above comment:

Visit https://licensing.screenocean.com/record/217967, do find for "08:21:20 - GOLDEN GRAIN LASAGNE (1982) ANIMATED "RANSOM" SCENE PARODY FROM FAMOUS OPERA. VILLAIN. PASTA DISHES." Be patient as the video plays; compilation video is an hour long.

BTW, you might get a kick out of "Classic TV Commercials from the '60s and '70s", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L8LjQRk9w4.

Anonymous said...

The one I remember was to the Toreador Song from Carmen, and the only lyrics I remember are “I’m macaroni mad, I’m noodle nuts. . .” I grew up in San Francisco & remember hearing this on the radio as a child.

whilldtkwriter said...

Hi, Anonymous,

Thanks for mentioning Toreador Song from Carmen. Tried googling for the song along with "I’m macaroni mad, I’m noodle nuts". Haven't been able to find anything remotely as a candidate song. Found something humorous anyway. "*NOT* Another Quarantine Video (A Carmen/Toreador Song Parody)", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLZun0gxXII.