Dust off your ballgowns and tuxedos, friends. The Academy Awards are this weekend. I hope you have a fabulous viewing party to attend. Check out the recipe section of our Web site to find some fabulous treats you can share with your fellow viewers. In honor of the occasion, I thought I would share some of my picks for the top times candy has guest starred in hit movies.
Top Five Candy Moments in Hollywood:
1. E.T. Phone Home
In 1982, Americans fell in love with a small, brown alien and his favorite candy, Reese’s Pieces. The main human character, Elliott, uses them to lure the loveable extraterrestrial out of hiding.
DID YOU KNOW? When Hershey was approached about participating in the movie, the first idea was to use the Hershey’s Kiss. But, since that was already a well-known brand, some really savvy marketer at Hershey came up with the idea to use Pieces instead. I hope that guy got a big raise.
2. It’s No Big Deal
A Baby Ruth tossed into a swimming pool creates major havoc when it’s mistaken for something else in Caddyshack. Audiences were disgusted and delighted when Bill Murray’s character discovers it and takes a big bite.
DID YOU KNOW? The Curtiss Candy Company once sponsored a Baby Ruth airplane promotional tour. Before landing at each tour stop, the passenger would drop Baby Ruth candy bars tied to small parachutes to the crowds. Keep your eyes on the sky … you never know what might happen.
3. That’s Easy. Pez.
In Stand by Me, our coming-of-age heroes get their first taste of life and freedom when they set out to find a dead body. Around the campfire one night, Vern says to his friends, “If I could only have one food to eat for the rest of my life? That’s easy. Pez. Cherry-flavored Pez.”
DID YOU KNOW: When the movie came out in 1986, cherry-flavored Pez candies were not available in the U.S. (although they were available in 1959 when the movie took place). They were not re-introduced until around 2006.
4. We Elves Try to Stick the Four Main Food Groups
At 6-foot-3, Will Ferrell may not have had a lot of luck passing as an elf at the North Pole, but his character in Elf, Buddy, definitely embraced the lifestyle – especially concerning food. ”We elves try to stick to the four main food groups,” he says. “Candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.”
DID YOU KNOW? Buddy the Elf went through great lengths to make his way to New York City to eat sugarplums with his dad. He passed through the “seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest, through the sea of swirly gum drops and then … the Lincoln Tunnel.”
5. God, I Wish Had Your Discipline
In Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, the girls prepare to dazzle their former classmates with a fake success story. Romy also prepares by losing weight on her new fat-free diet consisting of nothing but gummi bears, jelly beans and candy corn.
DID YOU KNOW? Gummi bears also feature prominently in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. When Principal Rooney boards the school bus at the end of the movie, one of the kids offers him a gummi bear and says, ”It’s been in my pocket; they’re real warm and soft.” Euw.
There are, of course, many other great moments – The Lollipop Guild from the Wizard of Oz and both Wonka movies, for example. What’s your favorite?