The commercial that made us swoon!

The commercial that made us swoon!

“This is the most beautiful aria in the world,” I told the sage in the produce department, as an electrifying voice swept over the lettuce, encircled the cabbage, and gobbled up my heart.

Adam, who knows more about turnips than anybody else I know, smiled knowingly.  “Yeah, somebody else just told me that, too.”  Then, another vegetable savant put down his radishes and asked me, “What’s it called —   I gotta get it.”

But I couldn’t remember the name. None of us could remember it back then, either.  Back when Tott’s flashed it on our tv screens in 1988.

Oh, that intoxicating champagne commercial that stole our hearts just days before New Year’s Eve.

I suspect that Adam and his friend were studying fractions back then and missed all the notes that mesmerized us at the Symphony.  Every one of us could hum the melody —  but not a soul could name the tune.  Puccini, that much we  knew — but which opera?  Didn’t anybody know?

It’s been hours since I put away my  celery — and more than two decades since that gorgeous commercial unhinged our hearts.

I’m bringing it back for an end of the year engagement: Puccini’s “O mio bambino caro” from “Gianni Shicchi”  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbq5CkIeMf0

How better to bring in a new year?

P.S. A  2013 update with thanks to one of my wisest friends:

Inspiration for this commercial came from a famous Meryl Streep performance.  www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/239358/French-Lieutenant-s-Woman-The-Original-Trailer-.html

 

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