Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Pop Goes Bubble Gum


Fleer's Dubble Bubble Gum

Who doesn't like to chew gum, it makes our mouth's feel good. and it tastes good. Kid's have always loved bubble gum and like to blow bubbles. I write this for my grand-son Drew, he is grown but still likes to chew bubble gum.

The bubble gum has gone through a lot over its long history. In the early 1900s, a man named Frank Fleer tried to come up with the perfect bubble gum recipe for his candy company. He experimented with a lot of gum recipes to find it. His first bubble gum however turned out to be too sticky and his recipes never sold.

In 1928, Walter Diemer was working as an account for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, what he was doing in his spare time was playing around with new gum recipes. His latest batch was less sticky than regular chewing gum and it stretched more easily. He took his discovery to a grocery store to test it, all the gum sold out in one day. Walter brought his invention to the Fleer Company, it was named and marketed as "Double Bubble" gum. Before long the folks at the Fleers Company was teaching salesman to blow bubbles., to demonstrate exactly what made this gum different from all other gums. The only food coloring in the factor was pink, Walter used it, that is why bubble gum today is pink and when the final cut for the gum was done it was sprinkled with powdered sugar. This is probably why it tastes good when put in your mouth. Walter Diemer stayed with the Fleer for decades, eventually becoming a senior vice president. He never received royalties for his invention, his wife told the newspapers that he did not seem to mind this, knowing what he'd created was reward enough. Sometimes he'd invite a bunch of kids to the house and tell them the story of his wonderful accidental invention and then he would hold bubble-blowing contests for them.

People have enjoyed chewing gum-like substances in many lands and from very early times. Some of these materials were thickened resin and latex from certain kinds of trees. Others were various sweet grasses, leaves, grains and waxes.

Bubblegum has come a long way from Bazooka Bubble gum, did you know the average American chews 300 sticks of gum a year. In the United States, total retail sales of chewing gum (including bubble gum) is over $2.0 billion. Over the years we all know lots of different brands of bubble gum, they are; Bazooka, Bazooka Joe, Double Bubble, Hubba Bubba, Big League Chew, Bubble Yum to name a few. There are also different flavors, baseball cards with sheet of bubble gum included and even Trident makes bubble gum. In the Guinness Book of World Records we have a person, Chad Fell, he blew a bubble gum bubble measuring 20 inches.

I have found many articles, through Google, about bubble gum, I thought I would share a little of the bubble gum history, but I enjoyed knowing more about my grand-sons favorite gum.

14 comments:

A New Beginning said...

Hey Margaret thank u so much for such a yummy and informative post...I felt like having one instantly :)Its ture that the taste buds never give up on certain things they like best..chocolates and bubble gums topping the list :)
Have a great week ahead and thanks for the visit!!!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

This must have taken alot of research and I applaud you. I never really thought about bubble gum before and how it orginated but having read this I am most impressed. Thanks for sharing.

Yvonne.

Renie Burghardt said...

Hi Margaret,

Great research on bubble gum! Amazing that Walter Diemer never received royalties off his bubble gum, and that he said it was enough to know that many would get enjoyment out of it. Not too many inventors today would settle for that.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Renie

Judy said...

I never thought about the history of bubble gum but it was very interesting. Like all kids I used to chew it a lot when I was younger. When I ran a country store I sold tons of it. I always had the bazooka in a big jar on the counter. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by my place.

Jeanette said...

Gday Margaret,thanks for the History lesson on Bubble gum , good reserch.. No I dont chem bubble gum of any variety.. Yuk. but all my grands are always chewing gum .but once they arrive here they put it in the bin..They know Nan doesnt like kids constantly chewing not a pretty sight...

Linda said...

Margaret,
You always share the most wonderful historical stories! Love it.

A happy weekend to you and yours,
Linda

Margaret Cloud said...

Thank you friends for coming by, I always enjoy reading your comments.

Patty said...

Good morning Margaret,
Interesting story on gum. I guess I'm not the average American, I don't chew gum. Gave it up years ago. Probably when I got my false teeth. LOL

But I can remember blowing bubbles as a kid, and sometimes they would get so big, when they broke, I had one heck of a mess on my face. LOL

Our granddaughter (9) has just learned how to blow bubbles, but she only chews the gum until all the flavor is gone and it goes into the trash can, she can go through a large package a day if her Mom doesn't stop her. So far, she has NO cavities.

Have a fantastic week-end.
Patty

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hi Margaret. I'm one of those weird people who have never liked bubblegum, even as a kid. Neither did I like coca cola...strange one, eh?

DeniseinVA said...

Thanks for this interesting post. I always love to hear how things got started.

Gigi Ann said...

Oh Margaret, I loved your commentary on Bubble Gum. I was afraid after I read it that I would never want to chew bubble gum again. But, what a pleasant surprise. It was a very positive post.

I am one of the millions of people who spend money on chewing gum. I have loved it all my life, and chew some almost every day. When I was young and money was scarce, I saved my gum from one day until the next and chewed it some more. Remember the old song: "Did My Chewing Gum Lose It's Favor On The Bedpost Overnight." I loved that song, I guess because I always saved it some how or another.

This is really gross, when we were kids we use to put our gum in our glass of water and when the meal was over we would drink our water and continue to chew our gum the rest of the day. Oh, the memories you brought back with this post. hahaha...

Kathleen said...

Holy smokes! I had no idea people chewed so much gum! I can't - seems like I bite the inside of my cheek every time - but WOW! Who knew?!

Katiez Furry Mewz said...

so that's why bubble gum is pink! you know lots of inventors don't get the credit they deserve...

My grandfather invented a storage system for Boeing back in the 1950's. I think he got some kind of incentive, but no credit for the invention.

Katie Kat

Unknown said...

That was awesome! I sit here chewing gum while I read this. =O You learn something new everyday!!!

Post a Comment