(Nexstar) – Most of the time, TV audiences today were not convinced that spaghetti would grow on trees. But in 1957, a lot of viewers were eating it.
The 1957 “Spaghetto Tree Hoax” is described by one Swiss outlet as “the most successful April Fools prank of all time.”
“The last two weeks of March are a time of uncertainty for spaghetti farmers,” the storyteller for the segment, which aired on the BBC program “Panorama,” told viewers. “It’s not completely ruining the crop, but there is always the possibility of late frosts that generally damage the flavor and make it difficult to get the highest price on the global market.”
The narration, played by respected journalist Richard Dimbleby, has attached video footage to show that Swiss families were stealing spaghetti chains from the tree. These farmers said they had just harvested a “very heavy” spaghetti crop before adding that recent growth conditions were particularly advantageous thanks to the “virtual disappearance of spaghetti weevils.”
The credibility of the hoax was heavily dependent on Dimblebee, a well-known presenter who had hosted “panoramas” for many years. He was also famous as the BBC’s first ever war correspondent.
“He was completely aware that he was using his authority to make the joke work,” then-show editor Michael Peacock later recalled to BBC News. “He loved the idea.”
When the broadcast ended, Dimbleby signed off with wink approval that the aforementioned segment was merely a joke. (Peacock showed Dimbleby tapping his fingers to the side of his nose.) However, many of the people watching at home did not receive the message.
Hundreds of viewers reportedly called the BBC to inquire about the segment and called the segment, according to the Associated Press. According to the BBC, “they were so intrigued that they wanted to know where they could buy their spaghetti bush.”
BBC response? They told those viewers “I want the best one with a twig of spaghetti in a can of tomato sauce,” according to Telegraph, which ranked the hoax as one of the biggest April Fool’s Day stories in history in a 2011 article.
“There were a lot of people who went to work the next day and told their colleagues, so there were a lot of things.
“They were laughed at from the courtroom and they were in fact taken and made to look stupid,” he said.
Of course, not everyone was fooled. According to Peacock, many angry viewers have called the BBC to criticize the producers for deliberately airing a fake documentary segment.
“Some people didn’t understand what was going on. Others loved it, others didn’t like misleading the country. That’s why it worked,” Peacock said.
“We all felt very pleased with ourselves.”
