Famous snowstorm pizza delivery commercial producer reveals new details

During Snowmageddon 2012 last month my thoughts turned to the classic Pizza Pit commerical from 1979, which The Isthmus wrote about a few years ago, that was so low rent it became almost instantly beloved. With the recent storm in mind, the snowfall depicted in the spot is not too far from the reality we all experienced.

Maybe a day after my original post about this, Richard Zillman (he was the writer and director) wrote to me and provided some very interesting details about how the spot came together in the summer of 1979 following a record winter for snowfall. 

While Richard did not have any photos from the production available, the following description paints a vivid picture of pure media production ingenuity, kind of like what happens when a city is paralyzed by snow.

I wrote and filmed this spot in August, 1979 after our (then) record snowfall year in anticipation of another winter for Pizza Pit. We shot in a gutted 3^rd floor law library at 111 South Hamilton using 80 pounds of high gluten flour, some old train set buildings and a model car.

Jack Cratty shot on 16mm, Madison artist and prop wizard Jeff Stern did the car and logos, photo journalist/artist Mickie Kienitz was the grip and kept the mood always upbeat,

My son Chandler pulled the strings and ran the sifter, my wife’s brownie troupe provided the vocals under Don Arthur Weitendorf’s sonorous voice over. The original, without the awkward type and original logo, was better.

— Richard Zillman

In viewing it on the digital portal that is YouTube its surprisingly clear, although I  think it would look better on my early 1980s TV with the Cathode Ray Tube and playback off of video tape.