Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Oldtimers; remember Theater Candy from the 50's

This is topic Oldtimers; remember Theater Candy from the 50's in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 05-15-2014, 03:18 PM:

Going to Saturday Kid Matinees in the 50's and early 60's they had this Box of Candy with a prize called "GUESS WHATS" that cost a nickel. If I'm remembering correctly there was about 6 pieces of rock hard wrapped Taffy and a really neat prize(like Cracker Jacks)Nobody hardly ever ate the Candy it was practically ankle deep on the theater Floor;all you wanted was that prize which might be a Compass,Ring,Whistle,Badge of some type,etc. I remember one time getting a little miniature pocket knife key chain about an inch and a half long.Some of these Prizes are probably fetching big money today.

I always suspected that the Theater Operater back then scooped up all that candy and empty boxes after the kids left the theater and refilled them for the next Saturday; just adding some type of prize.

This was back in the Day when your Parents gave you a Silver Dollar and that's all it took to enjoy a whole afternoon of Movies and Concessions. A Ticket was a Quarter so you had 75 cents to blow on Popcorn,Pop,candybars and of course GUESS WHATS.
Everything then was a nickel or Dime and your Theater going experience then included a Cartoon,News Reel,Serial,2 Reeler and at least 2 Features and as many as four on occasions. The Perfect Parent's Babysitter for a whole afternoon. and no worries about being kidnapped or Predators or all the garbage that happens today in this World.

Now a Dollar might buy you a Pocket Comb in the Restroom type vending Machines.Kids Today probably don't have a clue how good we really had it back then concerning Movie Theaters but many of them are too caught up in Video Games,etc. to probably even care about going to Kid's Matinees if they even exist any longer.

I'm sure Glad they existed when I was Growing up... [beer]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-15-2014, 11:19 PM:

I used to buy a roll of NECCO Wafers and a bottle of Nehi Orange Soda when going to the show with my family when we saw "Absent Minded Professor" and other Disney flicks.

"WOW!" And NECCO Wafers are still being made.

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 05-16-2014, 01:34 AM:

I loved NECCO Wafers also; That name was short for "THE NEW ENGLAND CONFECTIONERS COMPANY located in Boston and started back in the late 1800's. If you ever saw the Movie "THE BRINKS JOB"(Peter Falk)there is a scene in there where Falk's Crew is inside the Brinks Building Scouting it so they can Rob it Later. One of the Guy's finds a Clipboard with all the Boston Business's that Brinks picks up their Payrolls,etc. One of the Names is NECCO but I can't remember how much money they had there(all the business's were 6 figure numbers). I also Remember Kids depositing those wafers in Vending Machine Coin Slots thinking they might work like a Quarter. Yes,there were kids back then that were short a few cards of a Full Deck for Common Sense;Even I knew a Necco Wafer wouldn't Work in a Pop Machine(maybe the ice machine though)... [puke]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-17-2014, 03:23 AM:

On that same note: I remember when pull tabs steel soda/beer cans came into being to the public back in the late '60's.

The pull tab ring was the same diameter as a nickel ... and they worked great in parking meters.

Took two years to eliminate the shape of that pull ring.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-17-2014, 07:03 AM:

Parking meters in my town all had little windows that showed the last three coins that were put in. If you slugged the meter the metermaid could tell.

Most meters had a time limit of one or two hours and it usually cost one coin for twenty minutes. You would still have to put three coins into the meter to hide the fact that you slugged it.

On a meter with a one-hour limit, you would still have to pay the full fare to avoid being caught. On a two-hour meter, the most you could get was a fifty percent discount.

Putting pull tabs in the meter wasn't worth it. The risk of getting a fifty dollar fine or, worse, getting your car towed, wasn't worth it.

Besides, the real reason for parking meters isn't to collect money. The reason for parking meters is to keep the spaces turning over so that there are more places for people to park. That is the reason why parking at a meter, even today, only costs a dollar per hour except in larger cities with more traffic congestion and/or demand for parking spaces.

So, even at today's rates, the economics of slugging a parking meter just don't pay off, even if using pull-tabs still worked.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 05-17-2014, 01:59 PM:

NECCO Waffers are a favorite of mine. Seems to be getting harder to come by.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-17-2014, 04:00 PM:

There are alot of candy dealers on the web where you can buy all sorts of candy that you'd swear wasn't made anymore. We have an Ace Hardware near us with a huge candy aisle and it's amazing how much old-school candy they have in there. (I have often wondered how long some of it sits there before selling!)

Posted by John Eickhof (Member # 323) on 05-17-2014, 11:17 PM:

how many of you remember Flicks? (chocolate wafers in a cardboard tube)Probably a west coast item as they were made by Ghirardelli in SF. They are still made by an independent company in central cal. www.flickscandy.com we sold them for .25 back in the late 60s!

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-18-2014, 02:49 AM:

True, John - I went crazy on Flicks and Banner Choc Almonds (and sometimes, Jordan Almonds) while I was Chief Projectionist at the Paramount in Idaho Falls during the 70's.

MANN Theatres had these candies on their order list from Theatre Candy in SLC.