So many of you wrote regarding your favorite candies that I found it necessary to continue the candy column to another edition.
Yes, of course we all remember, the Black Jacks, the Jaw Breakers, the Mallow Cups and Walnettos. The licorice, the dots (on long strips of paper) and the Dots (that came in a box).
Then there were the 4 hard green balls. These were one of my favorites, maybe because you got four of them and they lasted so long. What about Mary Janes and that tin cup with a small spoon filled with a frosting type candy? And it only cost one cent!
Do you remember the small cones with marshmallow on top? Bit o' Honey, Taffy bars, Sugar Babies, Sugar Daddies, Black Cows, Pumpkin Seeds (they came in a red box with the picture of a American Indian on it)?
The wax lips and wax pop bottles with real pop in it, Junior Mints, Sky Bars, Sweet Tarts, candy necklaces, Slow Pokes, Necco wafers, Mike and Ike, Good and Plenty, Turkish Taffy, Chicken Feed and spearmint leaves.
Some of these can still be found, but not at the corner deli when you have three or five cents to spend and a whole window full to look over.
Remember the punch cards, where it was possible to win 20 pieces? I never did, did you? There were always rumors (or were they urban legions?) of someone with 20 pieces and it was so much they could hardly fit in the brown paper bag!
There was some kind of coconut, pink, brown and white striped candy that I loved. I didn't buy it to often because you didn't get much and it didn't last. I know there is one out now, and I love it, but these were the ones in long thin strips.
The candy at Kresges, Woolworth's, or better yet the May Co. now that was "wow"! My mother would usually buy two half pounds. We would walk around that counter a dozen times trying to decide. They'd put it in a white box, (at the May Co.).
Of course it was more expensive but they had things like fudge, haystacks, silver tops, lots of chocolate. They didn't have chocolate in the window at our neighborhood store. Probably because it would cost too much and the sun would melt it.
My mother would take a piece of fudge and cut it in four and put the candy in the refrigerator. It seemed I always needed something from there when no one was around. I'd take a piece, and rearrange the candy in the box so you couldn't tell. My mother never said we couldn't help ourselves, but we didn't until it was passed. At least I don't think the rest did.
Often on Sunday after Mass and breakfast my mother would give us five cents to buy a bag of candy. We'd bring it home and we'd lay across the bed with her as she read us the funnies and we all ate candy (she loved it as much as we did).
Talking about sweets, as I have a few Jordan Almonds, how about the ice cream cones? One scoop three cents, two scoops and jimmies on top five cents. We'd stand at the counter so long trying to decide the flavor that the clerk would leave and come back later to see if we made up our minds.
The ice cream bars with the red sticks were a treasure; you could come in anytime and get another one. We always had it the same day. What if the owner died and the new one didn't know about the deal?
Occasionally in the summer my father would drive us to the Dairy where there were thirty-two flavors. By the time we decided what we wanted and which scoop should be on top (and changed our minds a few times) he would be furious and swear this was the last time (he never did let us go in with him).
Each of these candies brings back a sweet memory. I know I've missed a few, these are the ones I remember plus the ones you've been sending me. I'll keep you updated as more come in. What do you remember?
Let's Chat,
Pat
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