Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog) |
| Posted: 14 Oct 2012 03:47 AM PDT This is a Guest Post by Paul Taylor. If you would like to Guest Post for Baby Boomers US, check out our Guest Post for Us page. One of my best memories from childhood is being able to walk to the neighborhood corner store for candy. Being a Baby Boomer meant that you were born between 1946 and 1964. World War II was over and the men were coming home and everyone was having babies. It was, at least in my world, a happy time. I grew up in the mid-west and there were mom and pop stores in almost every neighborhood. Right as you walked in there were the buckets full of penny candy, most of them were two for a penny! If we could find a couple empty bottles of soda pop to take back to the store we would then have a dime and that meant a whole sack of candy! I've done a little research on when some of my favorite candies came on the market. You'd be surprised when many of the candies we loved came out. Many candies came out pre 1920's; some that I thought were new when I was a kid. For example did you know Butterfingers candy bars were made sometime before 1920? Tootsie Rolls, Chiclets gum, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Goo Goo Clusters, and Clark bars were also made long before we were born. I was never a fan but Good & Plenty's came out then too. Hershey bars, Juicy Fruit gum, Dentyne gum, Double Mint gum, Gum Drops, Gum Balls, and of course Cinnamon Discs and Butterscotch candy came out pre 1920. I remember the Butterscotch candies well since every time I saw my Great Grandfather he would dig one out of his itchy wool pants and give it to me. I remember sitting on his lap in my short little dresses and feeling itchy all over! I didn't know it was wool, I just thought my Great Grandpa made me itchy, but I loved him! Butter Mints were made then, you know the melt in your mouth mints that you can pick up from the cashier's desk at the restaurant? Cracker Jacks were always a favorite of mine and they also were invented pre 20's. Does anyone remember coconut slices? The Candy Canes we use at Christmas every year and the Candy Corn we eat at Halloween are both from this era. Circus Peanuts, Mary Janes, Necco Wafers, Spice Drops, Salt Water Taffy, Candy Sticks that came in every flavor, Ribbon Candy, Soft Peppermints, Lollipops, and the pretty Christmas candy we put out for the sake of nostalgia every year, all made way before us Baby Boomers were even a gleam in our parents eyes! In the 1920's there were a whole slew of new candies that came out. Did you know Almond Roca candies were that old? The advertisements make them look so modern and new! The Baby Ruth bar, Bit-O-Honey's (that could pull out every tooth in your head), Black Cows (another one not good for dental work), BB Bats, and Kits Taffy are a few others. Do you remember BB Bats? They were suckers that came in strawberry, chocolate, banana, and vanilla flavors and they were chewy like taffy; the Kits Taffy was similar only it came four squares to a package in the same flavors. They were always in the penny buckets so we got them and I'll never forget the banana flavor, it had a distinct flavor all its own. Brach's Bridge Mix came out during the 20's, Charleston Chews, Charms Lollipops, Dubble Bubble in all shapes and flavors, Dum Dum Pops, and Clove gum (of which I was not a fan) also. Some that I hadn't heard of but maybe you have were Cherry Cocktails, Chuckles, Mexican Hats, Old Faithful, Squirrel Nut Zippers, U-NO bars, and Walnettos. These are all very interesting sounding candies. Some of our favorite theater candies came out in the 20's like Goobers, Jujubes, Jucyfruits, Milk Duds (one of my favorites), Raisinets, Reeses. Sixlets, Slo Pokes, Sno Caps, Mounds, Milky Ways, Mr. Goodbar, and Oh Henry bars too. My Grandma loved Fruit Slices, especially the Orange Slices which were all part of the 20's along with Zero bars and Turtles. Oh yes, and remember the Wax Fangs and Mustache's? All thanks to the brilliant candy makers of the 20's. In the 1930's candy making was still going strong here in this great country. They just kept coming out with great variations on candies or giving the old ones a new twist. Some of the more popular were 3 Musketeers, 5th Avenues, Boston Baked Beans, Candy Buttons (remember those?), Chick-o-Sticks, Tootsie Pops, Heath bars (someone deserves a medal for this one), Hershey's Miniatures, Sugar Babies, Kit Kats (who would have thought it was this old with all the new advertising?), Nestle's Crunch bars, PayDay bars, Snickers, and Sugar Daddy's. Are you surprised yet? I was. Some of the ones I'd never heard of were Chocolate Babies, Violet Mints, Good News bars, and Sky bars. Some others I'm familiar with only because of my Mom were Mallo Cups, and Valomilks which were apparently some of her favorites. My Grandma always talked about Licorice Snaps and Cherry Licorice Bites so I knew they were older. I remember the Chunky bar which apparently is still in circulation according to my research along with Peanut Butter Kisses, Planter's Peanut bars, and Zagnut bars. I also knew that Life Savors were from days gone by, as well as Red Hots, and Milk Maid Royals, just not as far back as the 30's. The last candy that merits recognition from this era is Stuckey's Pecan Log Roll. Oh the memories of stopping on long road trips to get one of these. My Dad loved them so we all reaped the benefits when he stopped at Stuckey's! So now we are up to the 1940's which showed a decline in the confectionary world. We can all guess why. With a World War going on there wasn't a lot of people available to think up new candies. There were a few good ones however, for example, Almond Joy bars, Bazooka Bubble gum, DOTS, Smarties, Super Bubble gum, Jolly Ranchers, Rain-Blo Bubble gum, M&M's, Whoppers, Mike & Ikes, Peanut Butter Bars, Junior Mints (another theater favorite), and Red Vines. Licorice Laces and Licorice Twists were a favorite of the 40's as well. My daughter has a favorite from the era that they are still making today, the Chocolate Orange Sticks and the Chocolate Raspberry Sticks, you can get them in Walgreens. One of my all time favorites that came out in the 40's were Candy Cigarettes and Bubble Gum Cigars. We didn't know the dangers of smoking then as we did now. We loved getting a pack of Candy Cigarettes and pretend to smoke when we were young. They were tasty sugar sticks and I don't know if any of you remember but they had a hollow center and you could blow what looked like smoke out of the insides. We had great fun then but it seems so awful to think about doing that now. One more that surprised me was Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip, who knew it came from the 40's? I just remember getting a package of Kool-Aid (the sweetened package of course) and that was my Lik-M-Aid! In the 1950's they came up with some new ideas. Atomic Fireballs were one of my favorites but the challenge was to hold it in my mouth long enough to get the sweet center, I usually had to take it out several times! Candy Necklaces, Gold Coins, Hot Tamales, Jolly Rancher Sticks, Marshmallow Ice Cream Cones, Root Beer Barrels, Wax Bottles, and Pez of any kind were all my favorites. Those Pez dispensers were (and still are) so cool. I don't know if I really liked the Marshmallow Ice Cream Cones or if they were just so neat I couldn't pass them up. The Candy Necklaces were not only tasty but a fashion statement, that is until your neck got all sticky. Did anyone out there not love the Wax Bottles or Gold Coins? All such great memories from the 50's, and how about those Fizzie's Drink Tablets, did you give in and try those? Or how about Flavor Straws to drink with your milk? Chocolate Covered Santa's came out then for Christmas as well. A few others that came out then are Haviland Thin Mints, Brach's Jelly Nougets, Coconut Watermelon Slices, Peanut M&M's, Mellocreme Autumn Mix and Pumpkins, Peanut Patties, Saf-T-Pops, and Tootsie Roll Flavored Rolls. Some I don't remember but you might are Cup O Gold bars, Long Boys, Look! Candy bars, Mamba Fruit Chews (I remember seeing these but didn't try them), and Rocky Road bars. I think they were trying to get more inventive by this time because so many of the good ones were already taken. The 1960's where the last of the Baby Boomer's were born also had some interesting candy ideas. Astro Pops and Astronaut Ice Cream came from this period; I suppose it was because of our adventures in space during the 60's. Some of my favorites were the 100 Grand, Chiclets Tiny Size gum, Fruit Stripe gum, Gold Rocks Bubble gum, Hot Dog Bubble gum, Lemonheads, Pixy Sticks, Razzles (the candy that turns into gum), Starburst, and Sweet Tarts. Trident gum came out then and also Mentos, Now & Laters, Cherry Sours, and Twizzlers Strawberry Twists. Some I wasn't familiar with that came up in my research were Banana Splits, Broadway Rolls, and Flipsticks. All these candies bring back sweet memories as I think of the fun times I had eating them with my friends and family. Isn't wonderful how such a little thing can make such a big impact on your life? About the Author: Paul and his wife Julie both spend quite a bit of time coming up with ideas, blogging, and researching all things related to childcare. They take care of all the necessary information related to “babysittingjobs.com/“. He personally thinks his blog will help finding information on all things related to a babysitter. You may also want to join the Baby Boomers US Forum for conversations by Baby Boomers about topics important to Baby Boomers! 
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