Creator of McDonald’s Big Mac hailed from Uniontown
This is the fast-food jingle you know, even if you don无毛视频檛 know it.
无毛视频淭wo all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun无毛视频ξ廾悠禎
It was the musical recipe for the Big Mac, the multi-decker sandwich sensation from the McDonald无毛视频檚 ad campaign that went viral in 1974 无毛视频� or, what passed for viral 52 years ago 无毛视频� when the commercials featuring it were unleashed on TV and radio.
Kids sang the jingle on the playground at recess.
Their moms and dads did the same (tried to, anyway) at the McDonald无毛视频檚 counter, where, if they could rattle it off 无毛视频� fast, with no flubs 无毛视频� they could get a free Big Mac.
Meanwhile, Jim Delligatti无毛视频檚 birthday is Sunday.
And, if you无毛视频檙e so inclined, you might even want to consider warbling the above ditty in his honor, instead of that other tune people normally summon to celebrate the yearly trip around the sun.
Who无毛视频檚 Jim Delligatti, you ask?
In the McDonald无毛视频檚 pantheon, Delligatti, who was 98 when he died in 2016, is still a star with a light that shines like the Golden Arches.
That无毛视频檚 what the guy who was born in Uniontown, and grew up in Fairmont, W.Va., gets for inventing the Big Mac.
McDonald无毛视频檚 on Sunday is celebrating National Big Mac Day on the occasion of his birth with an arching nod to signature sandwich.
A little burger-backstory is in order.
Order up
Delligatti was born Aug. 2, 1918, in Uniontown, and spent his boyhood and teen years just down the road in Fairmont in neighboring West Virginia.
The McDonald无毛视频檚 franchisee hit the griddle in earnest with the Big Mac in 1967, when he finally convinced the burger brass that such an offering would work 无毛视频� even if it did clock in at 45 cents. That无毛视频檚 $4.50 in today无毛视频檚 dollars.
Before the Big Mac, a regular burger at McDonald无毛视频檚 rang the register at 18 cents ($1.80 in 2026 prices), and the chain feared customers wouldn无毛视频檛 pay for a sandwich costing two-and-a-half more times than anything else on the menu.
无毛视频淎ctually, I wanted to do a big sandwich a couple of years before that, but they wouldn无毛视频檛 let me,无毛视频� Delligatti told Fairmont newspaperman John Veasey during a visit to his hometown in 2007.
So, he went ahead and did it anyway, offering his own field test for his customers of the McDonald无毛视频檚 he was running in Uniontown then.
无毛视频淚 knew it was gonna be good,无毛视频� he said.
That无毛视频檚 because he knew fast food.
Adventure 无毛视频� to go
Delligatti knocked around a bit after his graduation from Fairmont Senior High School in 1936, picking up any job he could get in a town still reeling from the Depression.
In 1942, at the height of World War II, he got his draft notice and soon shipped out for the fighting in Europe.
Fairmont didn无毛视频檛 hold much for him after he got back, so he hitchhiked to Southern California, drawn by America无毛视频檚 post-war boom.
He ended up working in restaurants there, eventually opening his own on the beach. He liked the business.
He liked the food preparation, the marketing and the interaction with customers, especially.
After a while, he boomeranged back to this side of the country, where he and a buddy started their own version of a SoCal drive-in burger joint in Pittsburgh.
He stopped by the McDonald无毛视频檚 booth at a restaurant trade show in Chicago in 1955 and struck up a conversation with Ray Kroc. He ended up making a career under the arches.
Delligatti and his family would go on to operate several McDonald无毛视频檚 franchises in the Pittsburgh area.
One in North Huntingdon, around 20 miles from Pittsburgh and just off the Irwin exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, even houses, with corporate blessing, an official 无毛视频淏ig Mac Museum无毛视频� 无毛视频� complete with memorabilia and a 14-foot sculpture of the sandwich.
This particular McDonald无毛视频檚, which is owned and operated by Delligatti无毛视频檚 son, Mike, is also resplendent in the vintage architecture of the chain, with the glass-paneled entrances and arches incorporated into the structure. It无毛视频檚 a bit of a destination.
Food familiarity, beckoning from the highway, packaged as a genuine roadside attraction and its own museum 无毛视频� replete with artifacts and ephemera of which we can all identify.
Two all-beef patties (again)
The Big Mac, amazingly, after all these years, still generates big traffic all its own, even if it is sandwiched between lots of other items on the menu these days. According to national numbers, McDonald无毛视频檚 sells more than 550 million Big Macs in the U.S. alone.
Mike Delligatti sees his dad无毛视频檚 creation as an all-beef metaphor of the American Dream.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 more than a burger,无毛视频� the son said. 无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 a symbol of creativity, tradition and the power of a simple idea to bring people together.无毛视频�
People here, there and everywhere 无毛视频� as the sandwich is also sold at franchises in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Jim Delligatti went worldwide, also, following his death 10 years ago at his home in suburban Pittsburgh. His obituary appeared in media outlets from Alabama to Australia.
And, he was true to the brand.
The man who was pushing 100 still enjoyed a Big Mac a week: Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun 无毛视频� and all.