In late 1939, Schwartz’s successors abruptly began moving the company to Bellevue, Ohio. Schwartz at age 46 following a brief illness. The suckers were loaded into two trailers and hit the road bearing a subtle sign that read, “ONE MILLION DUM-DUMS.”Īdding to the candy craze, Shirley Temple’s 1934 hit song On the Good Ship Lollipop kept the Akron Candy Co.’s signature product on the minds of customers.īusiness continued to boom, but the company was jolted in 1937 by the unexpected death of Curt A. In 1932, the company announced a shipment of 1 million Dum-Dums to a Baltimore distributor. While most industries slowed during the Great Depression, the Akron Candy Co. Packers stacked 360 Dum-Dums (a penny apiece) and five Giant Dum-Dums (a nickel apiece) into cartons for immediate shipment. The lollipops tumbled into dryers before being whisked to wrapping machines and rolling to the packing room. The Dum-Dum machine chopped the candy mixture into lumps, pressed it into spheres and added sticks.
“The foreman then carries the batch to the batch-roller machine, where it is stretched by a turning piece of canvas until it is long and thin enough to enter the machine which actually makes the Dum-Dums.” The flavoring has given each a distinct color.
“Several batches lie on the slab at the same time, oozing slowly toward the edge, like molten lava. “A foreman starts kneading each batch, his gloved hands turning, folding, massaging, until it is too stiff to be manipulated,” Thomas Polsky reported in the Akron Times-Press. To begin the process of lollipop manufacturing, the ingredients were boiled in big cauldrons and pounded on marble slabs. More than 80 employees, about two-thirds of them women, helped make the signature product. Schwartz, took over operation of the company in the early 1930s. Schwartz, most likely a relative of co-founder John V. During peak candy season, it expanded to seven days a week and made 500,000 Dum-Dums a day.Ĭurt A. The company manufactured Dum-Dums with cane sugar, corn syrup and “pure fruity flavors.” Among the 10 earliest flavors were lemon, lime, orange, raspberry, cherry, grape, butterscotch, chocolate, anise and root beer.ĭum-Dums sold for a penny apiece, but the company made the math easier for young children, noting: “5 for 5 cents.”Īs the candy flew off store shelves across the country, the company increased production until it operated around the clock for six days a week. “Our chief business is naturally with the children, and it is a word a 2-year-old can say,” Bahr explained. The company didn’t know what to call it until Bahr suggested “Dum-Dum,” a reference to a British hollow-point bullet from World War I that had been named for a city in India. In 1924, Bader invented a round lollipop on a paper stick. “All you need is a little sugar and a stove.”Ī catchy name also helped. “The candy business is a piker’s business,” sales manager C. The company specialized in cream chocolates, caramels, nougat rolls, coconut candy, peanut brittle and taffy. More than a dozen companies were destroyed, including the new candy firm. Bachtel.Ī month later, the Hower Building collapsed in flames after a gas lantern exploded in the basement.
Its officers were President Schwartz, Vice President Bader, Secretary Jesse B. Schwartz in the formation of a new business, the Akron Candy Co., which was incorporated for $5,000 in February 1909. The partnership soured almost immediately, dissolving in 1908 and falling into receivership.īader joined rival candy maker John V. Heckman opened a candy factory in late 1907 at the brand-new Hower Building, a seven-story complex on West Market Street near the Ohio & Erie Canal. “The world’s best pop,” the manufacturer boasted.Ĭonfectioners Lloyd D. The fruit-flavored lollipop was the perfect size for little hands to unwrap and hold on Halloween night. Its signature product was the Dum-Dum, a small, spherical sucker known to trick-or-treaters everywhere. cranked out a half-million lollipops over three shifts during a 24-hour cycle. In Akron, it was more like 500,000 per day.ĭuring its prime in the 1930s, the Akron Candy Co. Do you take the risk, go the classic route, or stick to your gut? Try something new and see what happens.They say a sucker is born every minute. Dum Dums are habits, you often stick to a few and avoid the others at all costs.
You can’t judge a book by its cover, and definitely not by the Dum Dums they pull out of my bag. Yet, everyone has their preferences, everyone has their flavors, and no two people are ever the same. The front left pocket of my backpack helps me spread smiles to anyone I encounter. Dum Dums don’t just power me, but power those around me. One has been with me since Freshman year of high school and the other is used to cut stuff. Two things I always keep on me: a knife and a stash of Dum Dums.