I’m sure it was altered, that shade of blue was never offered on a Comet. The car was red, even the body lines and rear tire placement look strange.
Hello, One year, our dad came home with a surprise for my brother and me. His friend owned a drugstore in Los Angeles and gave some stuff for him to bring home to us. It was the first time we had ever heard of it, but here it was, in our own home. At the time, he was a Lucky Strike smoker. It was the late 40s-early 50s and for most of society, smoking was cool. It did nothing for anyone, except for… anyway, he brought those home, but in a new form. They looked like his carton(s) always present on a shelf in the dining room. There was a time you’d think nothing of seeing young kids puffing on candy cigarettes. Parents would even hand them out on Halloween. Smoking was KOOL. “Just Like Daddy!” one candy ad promised. Hershey Corporation started the trend a century ago when it began hawking chocolate smokes, and by the 1920s, companies such as World Candies and Necco were selling a chalky white version. You could also get skinny bubble gum cigs in white paper tubes. Jnaki At first, our mom thought it was funny to see her two sons walking around with cigarettes hanging out like our dad did, outside. Except, we were allowed to sit inside the house with those hanging out until we started eating them. Candy cigarettes were everywhere around in the markets, corner grocery stores and yes, drugstores. The packages looked just like those constantly bought and used by parents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and everybody in the movies. Note the clever red ends, which of course fooled nobody but which proved to be an irresistible fantasy of being grownup, suave, and ultimately cool. Were the real cigarette companies suing for trademark infringement? Probably not… “The corporate cigarette companies thought the idea was the greatest thing since bubble gum. Everybody won: the candy companies got the cash now and the cigarette companies got a free option on revenue down the road by addicting an entire generation. What could possibly go wrong?” The topper were the special brown box full of cigars that were bubble gum. Faking a smoke like the “adults” was great. Then we started biting off the ends of the cigar to chew and smoke at the same time… ha! Our dad thought it was funny and accepted it after he introduced it to us. Our mom’s laughter was always there, but something was not right. Courtesy Alan Blum/University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society Note: After the introduction of the cigar bubble gum escapades, she put a clamp on those “awful looking things” sticking out of our mouths. So, she banned them. She told our dad not to buy anymore and since she made our dad go outside to smoke real cigarettes anyway, no smoking cigars or bringing in any candy cigars inside of the house. It was a demand, not a choice. Finally, she had enough of the two boys walking around like older men with cigarettes in our mouths and eating a ton of them. So, she banned those, too. Our dad was ok with that and when he found out his doctor told him to quit smoking real cigarettes for his future health, he dropped the cigarettes like a hot potato. So, as teens, now we did not have access to a carton of cigarettes…awww… not even the candy ones… YRMV So, were the writers of the early stories of children smoking those candy cigarettes true? Did they cause kids to grow up smoking until it was deemed to be bad for everyone’s health? Well, after the 20 something days, of oddball activities, it was a no smoking ban in our house + lives. Now, our clothes, hair smelled wonderful and when we went to our folks house, the food aroma had a better taste. Plus, our El Camino and sedan delivery smelled great, everywhere we went on our extended road trips. Despite our 20 something days, we are still alive, today in a smoke free atmosphere.
The Jalopy Journal
