That's a Spicy Meatball!
The Alka-Seltzer commercial defined a whole kind of joke that has been passed down from generation to generation. Played by Jack Somack, he was the face of the brand. Really, "That's a spicy meatball" is way up there, probably only second to "Where's the beef?" in terms of iconic lines. Somack wasn't just a gig actor though, he appeared in a ton of huge films from the early-mid 1900s.
Man of Many Roles
Somack was also in the movies The Frisco Kid, Sanford and Son, Carlton Your Doorman, Desperate Characters, Portnoy's Complaint, and a ton of other movies and shows of the cinematic history. "That's a spicy meatball" was actually one of the lower-grade gigs that he took, but one of the longest-lasting impacts. It was so inconsequential that they only paid him $10,000 for the whole thing.
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