The Funnies Special Prohibition Edition: Columbia's Sweetheart (1920)

Columbia's Sweetheart

The Judge Magazine, July 1920

The now defunct three-mile limit refers to what used to be the limits of international waters, back in a day when how far a country's territorial claims was linked to how far a cannon could fire. Even in the 20's when this cartoon came out, military hardware had probably exceeded a range of three miles. The point, though, is that America's prohibition on liquor extended only as far as its waters and three miles out you could enjoy a cool drink without fear of arrest. So, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the House of Representatives ratifying the constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale or consumption of liquor, I give you a time when candy was, indeed, dandy.

The Years Without a Santa: Whitman Sampler (1942)

A spot of color from 1942! While pouring over ads from that year, this one practically screams at you for its use of color. No black-and-white and grim Santa Clause, just a box of chocolates and some holly. In fact the only mention of the war is the admonition not to forget those in the service. Apparently the war hadn't come home to the Whitman company. That would change when sugar rationing hit the US. But, for the moment, they still were selling their samplers in the same way they'd always sold them.

The Christmas List - One Pound of Baby Ruth Bars

1928 ad from the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago, then owner of a couple of famous candies: the Baby Ruth Bar and the Butterfinger Bar. This particular ad, along with the first coupon I've ever found, ran in Boys Life in December of that year and featured an illustration of a candy that looks a lot more like the cross-section of a brain than anything I'd want to find in my stocking on Christmas morning. But it does come in a new one pound box - one pound of candied brains...

Halloween Candy - Milky Way

Finally, Milky Way candy bars, and the whole bag.

Halloween Candy - Mars Bars Again

Family pack for the holiday.

Halloween Candy - Chiclets

Halloween Candy - Life Savers

A rare 1940's ad for Life Savers as a conversation starter at the masquerade ball. Mini Life Saver rolls were a standard in our Halloween hauls, kind of chum left until the last.

Halloween Candy - Chuckles

One of my favorites, Chuckles. I still get them from vending machines whenever I have a chance.

Halloween Candy - 5th Avenue

I don't know if I've ever had a 5th Avenue bar, probably have and just don't remember. Wasn't a common find in the Halloween bag, that's for sure.

Halloween Candy - Post Cereals?

Yeah, I'm trying to imagine the house that handed out corn flakes to trick or treaters. I'm guessing they had a lot of soaped windows and toilet paper in their trees. No wonder they're covering their faces in the ad.

Halloween Candy - Kraft Candy

I never had Kraft Fudgies, but I do remember their caramels. The main thing I remember was that the cellophane used to wrap them was nearly impossible to remove. Never got them for Halloween though, I actually always assumed they were more for cooking.

Halloween Candy - Roxbury Candies

Bargains from the killer clown at Roxbury Candies. Look into my dead lights...

Halloween Candy - Baby Ruth and Butterfinger

1961 Curtis Candy ad for Baby Ruth and Butterfinger, apparently Curtiss was stuck in the fifties with Suzy Homemaker and her wasp-waist. Interesting how we think of eras as defined, well ordered things when they actually bleed into each other.

Halloween Candy - Mounds

Mounds made with real coconut from the Philippines and bitter sweet chocolate. Peter Paul was founded in 1919 and their first candy bar was the Konabar, another combination of chocolate and coconut. Eventually they renamed their bar the Mounds Bar and thus was born the last bar left in my Halloween bag.

Halloween Candy - Chicken Bones

Sometimes you've got to read the margins to get the good stuff. Chicken Bones apparently were invented by Canadian candy maker Frank Sparhawk back in 1885, they are chocolate-filled cinnamon sticks. Apparently back in the fourties, Flavour tried to make inroads in the US market including an ad campaign in Life Magazine. I can't say how it went, just that when I first saw the ad I immediately thought of Chick-o-Sticks.

Halloween Candy - Switzer's Licorice

Switzer is still in business today. I've always had a thing for licorice, not that red vine crap, the real, hard-core, black licorice. The flavor of ouzo and sambuca, not that fake red berry-sugar whatever. Hey, a guy's got to have standards even if they're warped ones.

Halloween Candy - Baby Ruth Again

1942 Baby Ruth ad promoting the wonders of dextrose and complete with a war bond ad. The company's twitchy little mascot, N. R. G., must have gotten the boot sometime during the decade - or maybe he was caught in the draft, Either way, I don't find him showing up in many Curtiss ads.

Halloween Candy - Tootsie Roll

Another of what I like to call "confessional" ads, just you and the kid discussing grown-ups and their desire to steal your chocolatey, luscious tootsie rolls. I don't think a kid's ever uttered those words before. Hey, but they're rich in dextrose food energy!

Halloween Candy - Stacy's Marshmallows

Technically marshmallows aren't a candy, but I couldn't resist the 20's deco ad. O.T. Stacy was part of a marshmallow boom in Rochester NY back in the teens and the company presisted until the Great Depression took the air out of its stocks and its products. I did some digging and the one thing I was able to find on O.T. Stacy as a little lawsuit for violating FDA standards by adulterating their products with silica. Not exactly the kind of trick you want in your treat bag.

Halloween Candy - Limelights and Malted Milk Suckers

A recent renewal of interest in 'vintage' candies has brought the Mary Jane back from the grave, but there was a time when the Chas. N. Miller Company had a full line of candies including the Limelight and the Miller's Malted Milk Sucker. I'm not sure what happened to these two lost gems of the confectioner's world, but it'd be interesting to see them return.