Consider it a slice of delicatessen life. A grizzled deli owner talks about his professional life–and the restaurant, which is his pride and joy.
“This is it for me,” he relates as he stands behind the deli counter. “When I’m finished, I’m finished. I’m going to die here.”
Indeed there’s no takeout order for this colorful, down-to-earth character. He notes that he once got an offer to buy the place, but immediately refused. As he explains, there’s “not enough money in the world for me to sell.” He cites all the customers that have come through the place, that there are “too many people I love” here. No way he’s going to relinquish this business.
But time is catching up with him. He’s owned the deli for 40 years. We see him in his restaurant, first slicing some meat with a carving machine, then looking out his storefront window at the surrounding neighborhood of merchants.
“I love this place!” he exclaims. He then heads to the back of the restaurant to put a large container of potato salad into a refrigerator.
Upon opening the refrigerator door, he’s in store for a surprise. Standing inside the fridge is a film crewmember in hiding. He’s holding a clapboard, with information about the commercial scrawled on it.
The deli proprietor looks quizzically at the crew person, whose response is to clap down on the board as if to signal another take for the spot. Lights, camera, action!
But there’s no more action to be had. Still puzzled, the deli owner simply closes the refrigerator door, subscribing to the adage, “Out of sight, out of mind.”
At that point, a super appears against a dark backdrop. It simply reads: The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, accompanied by dates (July 21-Aug. 8) and contact info.
This offbeat spot is playing on Bay Area television and in local theaters. The ad was one of two directed by the team of Shafei/Levitz–David Shafei and Saul Levitz–of bicoastal HKM Productions for Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco. Shafei/Levitz is repped for commercials by HKM; the duo continues to be handled for music videos by Revolver Film Company, which maintains offices in Los Angeles and Toronto.
The other spot, “Brisket,” shows a crewmember unexpectedly popping out from a pot of brisket that has been uncovered. This is after a mother is nagging her daughter endlessly about finding a guy and getting married.
Carl Swan and Ned Brown executive produced for HKM, with Anne Johnson serving as producer. The DP was Jesse Green.
The Publicis & Hal Riney team consisted of executive creative directors Jon Soto and Jae Goodman, art director Mark Grundland, copywriter Jen Robinson, executive producer Sam Walsh and producer Doug Cox.
Cox also served as in-house editor for Publicis & Hal Riney. Colorist was Sean Coleman of Company 3, Santa Monica. Audio post mixer was Andy Greenberg of One Union Recording Studios, San Francisco.
The deli owner was portrayed by Hal Alpert.
