AILSA CHANG, HOST:
And now we want to take a moment to remember director Joe Sedelmaier, who has died at the age of 92.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Sedelmaier was a giant in the world of television commercials. You may not recognize his name, but if you watched any TV in the '80s and '90s, you almost certainly know his ads, especially his 1984 commercial for Wendy's hamburgers...
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) It certainly is a big bun.
PFEIFFER: ...And this iconic line.
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CLARA PELLER: (As character) Where's the beef?
CHANG: (Impersonating Clara Peller) Where's the beef?
This catchphrase became a pop culture phenomenon. It was everywhere, certainly in my childhood, even on the political stage.
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WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad. Where's the beef?
GARY HART: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
PFEIFFER: That's Vice President Walter Mondale zinging Colorado Senator Gary Hart during a 1984 televised debate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
CHANG: Joe Sedelmaier was born in 1933 in Ohio. He moved to Chicago for school and ended up working as an art director and producer at several ad agencies before starting his own business.
PFEIFFER: Throughout the '70s and '80s, he established a signature, humorous style. His ads weren't glamorous or splashy, but they were populated by people who oozed character...
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PELLER: (As character) Where's the beef?
PFEIFFER: ...Like Clara Peller, whose raspy voice made that line iconic.
CHANG: But Peller was not an actor. In a documentary about his work, Sedelmaier described meeting Peller while filming a different commercial. The production needed a manicurist, and a crew member ran across the street to a salon hoping to find one.
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JOE SEDELMAIER: Back came Clara. First thing, she looks up at me, and she gives me this, (impersonating Clara Peller) how are you doing, honey?
I thought, that big voice coming out of that little lady - what I can do with that.
CHANG: In the documentary, Sedelmaier described the way he approached making commercials.
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SEDELMAIER: Commercial's what you watch when you sit down and watch something else. And more often than not, you have to watch that same spot over and over, sometimes in just a matter of minutes. You should at least make it entertaining.
PFEIFFER: So his goal was to entertain. Although Sedelmaier said, even though he directed nearly 1,000 ads over the decades, only a fraction of them really gelled into what he called an all-around good spot.
CHANG: You can find the (impersonating Clara Peller) beef...
...And a selection of his TV ads on his personal website and across YouTube.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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