The 50s was a very exciting decade for sweeties. The war ended in 1945 allowing foreign imports to gradually grace our shores again and sweet rationing came to an end in 1953. Plentiful supplies of exotic imports led to an explosion of tastes and textures in the sweetie world. Coconut, chocolate – you name it, it was back, not to mention the 2 million tons of sugar made available from Cuba. Everything was in place for a sweetie makeover and indulgence to counter the austerity of the war years.
Jelly Babies were back! When invented to celebrate the end of the Great War, they were called Peace Babies. They dissapeared during WWII and came back again in the 50s with the new name of Jelly Babies. I once mentioned to a customer how I felt it was a shame that they were no longer called Peace Babies. Without hesitation she said that it would not be possible to bite the head off a Peace Baby!
Of course, all the old favourites of the 40s kept going but the increased choice of the 50s made sweetie buying a whole new experience. However, sweetie choice was only partly responsible for the new buying experience. ‘Self service’ was born in the early 50s and this marked the beginning of a new shopping concept that would change the way we buy our groceries for ever and lead to the ‘pick & mix’ we love today. We now helped ourselves.
Eye catching packaging and jingles were employed to help sell the ever growing array of products at our disposal. Marketing had arrived! The sweet industry is not one to miss a trick and it took advantage of new technology by advertising Murray Mints during the first ever commercial TV break in 1955
Murray Mints, Murray Mints,
The too good to hurry mints.
Why make haste when you can taste,
The hint of mint in Murray Mints?
Murray Mints, Murray Mints,
The too good to hurry mints
Love Hearts were made in 1954 so all that sweet talk can be traced back to that moment of genius that Swizzles Matlow had. Today over seven million love hearts are made every day with 134 different messages. Flying saucers, although invented in the 40’s, started to gain popularity in the 50’s. Spangles, invented in 1950 and loved by many, became a member of the Sweetie Graveyard list in 1980 due to a perceived decline in sales – can’t be true!! Parma violets, the sweetie we love to hate, were first introduced in 1947 becoming readily available in the 50s.
Love Hearts were made in 1954, so all that sweet talk can be traced back to Swizzles Matlow and that moment of genius. Today over 7,000,000 Love Hearts are made daily, with 134 different messages. Flying saucers, although invented in the 40s, started to gain popularity in the 50s. Spangles, invented in 1950, became a member of the Sweetie Graveyard in 1980 due to a perceived decline in sales – can’t be true!! Parma violets, the sweetie we love to hate, were introduced in 1947 and became readily available in the 50s.
The 50s are remembered for many things as well as sweets. Children skipped and played hopscotch in the streets and sneaked on to old bomb sites to play war. Streets were safer with fewer cars and the phone boxes worked (Press Button A). Television brought the Coronation to the masses in 1953 but it did not get off the ground until the 60s so children continued to rely on toys and the wireless for entertainment. Jacks, tiddlywinks, Meccano, dolls houses, wind up toys and Dinky Toys were must-haves, and Listen With Mother was a date with the old valve radiogram.
Music was having a revolution. Elvis Presley or Chuck Berry might have been played on gramophone records or listened to under the bedclothes. Tuning a matchbox crystal set to Radio Luxembourg or the American Forces Network was the teenagers’ choice.
The diet of the 50s child included sweets bought with ‘old money’ but there was more. Bread and beef dripping, spam fritters washed down with Gold Top milk was considered good healthy eating. Home grown veg. was normal. Meals were serious affairs with no elbows on the table and you had to ask to ‘get down’.
Clothing had a makeover. Cheap jeans (“Tesco Bombers big and strong, for half a sixpence you can’t go wrong”) and itchy ‘home knits’ with leather patches on the elbows were the standard clothing until manmade drip dry fabrics appeared. Then in the late 50s American imports came, transforming teenage fashion and maybe held partly responsible for the social revolution of the 60s.
I make the claim that you can tell someone’s age by the sweets they buy. Observation has told me that people continue to buy the sweets that they were buying at the age of 10 with their pocket money and first bit of independence. Enjoy your sweets!