Recently, we reminisced about Dippity Do, Hai Karate, Mr. Bubble and other products from our youth. That opened the floodgates. Many of you shared memories of products we rarely see today. Let’s take another trip down the aisles of A & P, Piggly Wiggly, and Shop-Rite stores we visited every Friday night.
As you know, pennies are being phased out of circulation. Let’s face it, most of us haven’t bent down to pick up a penny in years, so few tears are being shed. That said, I do have fond memories of “penny candy.” It seems like most of it stuck to my teeth. Many dentists built their fortunes on scraping off Bit O’Honey, Sugar Babies, Pixy Stix, and banana-flavored Kits. A penny could also land you a piece of Dubble Bubble or Bazooka bubble gum, with a color comic inside! Think about it. Bubble gum AND a Bazooka Joe comic, both for a penny. Someone made a pretty penny on that, for a long, long time.
Oddly, we also had a fixation on wax candy. Looking back, it was gross. But that didn’t stop us from gulping down wax bottle candy and wearing wax lips before devouring those too. I’m pretty sure my pediatrician warned my parents about all that wax in my daily diet.
The candy counter was an embarrassment of cavity-filled riches that created a lifetime of bad habits. Seriously, how many smokers out there got their start with candy cigarettes? We sure felt “Kool” imitating movie stars with our smoking pose. Without the coughing, of course.
I had a teacher who chewed on a cigar. (Yes, during class. We had high standards back then.) So when bubble gum cigars were introduced, we could imitate him. We were just damaging our teeth instead of our lungs. At least the candy companies didn’t introduce a version of Prince Albert candy. I guess they felt like kids were incapable of “rolling their own.”
Of course, we had to wash that candy down with something. If we were worried about gaining weight, a swig of Diet-Rite or Tab would surely negate those candy-licious calories. Most of the 20th century diet drinks contained ingredients like Cyclamates that were later banned due to health concerns. Now we drink Coke Zero and Pepsi Zero. Since the word “zero” is in their names, I’m sure we have absolutely nothing to worry about.
We had other liquid dessert options. I fondly remember the sweet, sweet taste of NuGrape soda, and from the ice cream freezer, orange sherbet push-ups. (Where I’m from, sherbet rhymed with Herbert.)
Most of the drinks we favored were ice-cold in the “Coke case,” but if we wanted to be adventurous and mix our own drinks, we had options. Tang was the preferred drink for astronauts, or so we were told. Open the jar, mix the orange powder with cold water, and instantly we got a boost of vitamin C and a ticket to the moon. We were doing our part to support NASA, which vigorously endorsed Tang. Well, astronaut John Glenn did anyway. His colleague Buzz Aldrin was quoted as saying, “Tang sucks, and I wouldn’t drink it!” We now know where the term “buzz kill” originated.
Am I the only one who remembers Great Shakes? This was a Saturday morning cartoon must-have. The commercials made it look easy, and it was. Everybody loved milk shakes, but not all of us lived near a Dairy Dip, and nobody’s mom wanted to make messy milk shakes in the kitchen. So the scientists at General Foods, always looking out for our best interests, concocted a chocolate powder and packaged it with a plastic container. Buy it at the store, add milk to the powder, and shake, shake, shake the container. It was delicious. It was launched in 1967, but by 1973 it was discontinued. I guess it turned out that even shaking a container for 30 seconds was too much work for American kids. Thankfully by then, I could drive to the Dairy Dip myself.
Do you have fond memories of snacks, toys, and other childhood delights? Let me know, and I’ll share it with the rest of the peanut gallery.
