Bit-O-Honey from the Past

Janus, the ancient Roman spirit of beginnings and transitions, is often used to represent the Old Year passing and the New Year beginning. I thought about the past when I saw a picture of Janus on New Year’s Day.

Not the past of ancient Rome, and not the past year, but my past, a happy memory of standing in front of the glass display at Shovel’s corner store, deciding whether to use my nickel on one Hershey’s chocolate bar or a bag of penny candy.

Penny candy won most of the time. You remember those from your past, don’t you? (Some of you.) Candy necklace. Squirrels or Mary Janes. Sheets of candy buttons. Jawbreakers (not to be mistaken for bubble gum). Wax lips. Candy cigarettes. Pixy Sticks. Bazooka or Dubble Bubble gum, with their comics.

Dubble Bubble (Tootsie Roll) was the first commercial bubble gum, ($1.5 million profit in first year, before 1930), and the creator, Walter Diemer, taught his salespeople how to blow bubbles.

Who taught you?

Bazooka (Topps), 1947, named after the army’s rocket-propelled weapon, featured Bazooka Joe comics after 1953.

When I was rich enough in those days, Maple Bun for me, Chunkie for my brother. “What a chunk of chocolate.” No, I was never tempted by Good & Plenty, and if I got a box at Halloween, the only solution was to bite lightly for the sugar coating and spit out the licorice.

Then and now.

Shovel’s corner store for penny candy in the Heights. Now? Dollar General, around the corner, where candy still lines the front of the checkout area, but not the old candy display that gave such pleasure for a nickel.

My brother bought comics and we both read them, including the tantalizing offers of sea monkeys at the back, or x-ray vision glasses. Superman didn’t need those, but we were convinced we’d see like him if we could get a pair. And I wondered if the sea monkey king really wore a crown. (Brine shrimp? What a disappointment.)

Then? Shorts’ dime store downtown in the Heights. Today? Walmart.

Today? Target for the higher quality items. Then? Thomas Variety.

Looking back to those magic days in the Heights is a pleasure, and I believe made a positive difference in my life. Was life better? To an adult, looking back on the best of childhood, seems like it, but here-and-now is always better.

Still, my best friend’s no longer next door or down the street.

I can’t slide down the School Hills on my sled or walk to school/work. Any Fall Festivals are high dollar affairs, and none have the magic of the white elephant room.

May this New Year bring the best of the past, as well as pleasure in your here-and-now, whether you can still blow bubbles, or not. Whether you still believe that sea monkeys are miniature pets, or not. Whether you need x-ray glasses just to see, or not.

Janus, the ancient Roman spirit, doesn’t have to look to the past and future. He can look on a happy past in the Heights and a satisfying present.

And if you can’t or don’t eat Bit-O-Honey, Mary Janes, or Squirrels, the memory is as delicious as ever.

Happy New Year, and welcome, 2022.