Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 08, 2009 at 10:12:30:
Joe Slattery, 1922-2009: Radio and TV voice of Jewel groceries
By Trevor Jensen
Tribune reporter
October 8, 2009
Joe Slattery made the homeliest vegetable or plainest deli meat sound like a mouthwatering treat, often just by rolling the phrase "mouthwatering treat" through his homey baritone, in three decades as the voice of Jewel groceries on radio and television.
Mr. Slattery, 87, died Friday, Oct. 2, of a massive stroke he suffered after open heart surgery at NorthShore University HealthSystem Evanston Hospital, said his wife, Marilyn. He lived in Northbrook.
A veteran announcer on both radio and TV, Mr. Slattery starting doing voice-over work for Jewel commercials in the mid-1970s. His voice, down-home and friendly, quickly became linked to the grocery chain.
"He could say three words, and you knew it was a Jewel commercial," said Larry Baldacci, who worked with Mr. Slattery as a copywriter and producer on Jewel's advertising.
"There was a period of time when I wrote 60 seconds for one item, and we'd try to just romance the living daylights out of that item," Baldacci said. "Joe would love it."
Mr. Slattery could complete a 60-second radio spot in one take, finishing a week's worth of Jewel ads in a couple of hours each Monday. He filled his week with commercial work for other companies, everything from the Galena Territory to Meister Brau, but his voice was most intimately associated with Jewel.
The son of a grocery executive, Mr. Slattery was born in Memphis but moved often as a youth, perhaps accounting for his straightforward "General American" accent that broadcasters embrace.
He ferried equipment to the Middle East and Africa as a pilot with the Army Air Forces during World War II, then graduated from Hendrix College in Arkansas with an English degree. He got his start in radio while in school and was for many years the announcer for the "Ozark Jubilee" television show out of Springfield, Mo.
Coming to Chicago in 1960 to work for ABC, he was an announcer and news anchor on radio and TV before going full time into freelance announcing work.
He was national president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union in the late 1970s.
As he got older, he dropped all of his clients but Jewel. His voice remained unchanged and strong, but macular degeneration gradually robbed him of his eyesight. He read scripts in enlarged type until about four years ago, when he could no longer do the job to his satisfaction.
Mr. Slattery's first wife, Mary, died in 1987.
He is also survived by two sons, James J. II and John; two daughters, Mary Leonard and Nancy; three stepchildren, Jerry Daus, Joanne Dimeff and Laura Seibel; six grandchildren; a great-grandchild; and eight step-grandchildren.