Chuckles memories...
Chuckles literally saved my life, or at least kept me from investing heavily in plastic surgery in my teenage years. As a junior high student, I was the smallest kid in the school and as a result the victim of much bullying by the older/bigger kids. Luckily I was able to avoid most of the gang hang-outs and stay away from the "troubled kids" most of the time. One day, in the after-school arts program, I wasn't so lucky; the teacher had left the room and one of the kids who taunted me endlessly decided it was a good time to show off to his friends what at "tough guy" he was and that he could beat up a petrified 7th grade girl who was easily 12 inches shorter, 2 years younger and 50-75 pounds lighter. After some introductory punching and slapping (warm-ups perhaps???) he told me that if I had some money to give him, he'd stop. All I had was a package of Chuckles that I had been eagerly saving for my snack on the bus ride home. I pulled it out of my pocket and with tears streaming down my face said "this is all I have." Clearly he too had a sweet tooth because he took the Chuckles and left me alone. That night when I told my father what had happened, he said "I know that kid, his father is one of my patients, I'll talk to him" In those days (the 70s) the LAST thing you want is to involve your parents, as it usually made things worse, however, it seemed to do the trick. The bully never bothered me again AND he gave me a fresh pack of Chuckles the following week. ~ Louise from California I didn't think I had ever heard of or seen Chuckles candy until today. But when I looked you up on the internet and saw the candy I do remember it now. The reason I did the search for you is because when I visited my 95 year old mother in-law at the nursing home today with a box of chocolates she wondered out loud what ever happened to Chuckles candy and Mr Amend's candy factory. She sometimes asks us to look things up on The Net. Imagine my surprise when you did pop up. She described your Chuckles candy perfectly because when she was a teenager she worked at the candy factory as "The Sample Girl". She took the candies and put them in small boxes then weighed them for postage. She was very happy to have the job. A next door neighbor man got her the job and then because my mother in law was such a good worker he asked Dorothy if she had any friends who would like a job there. So Dorothy brought two of her girlfriends to work there too. However, she said her girlfriends could only work one the line and that was much harder. Filling the boxes as the candy went by on a belt. Dorothy said they got paid by the piece and sometimes the candy wouldn't get sugared when it rolled down the belt so it would go back to the melting and then the piece girls would be very disappointed because they wouldn't get paid for those. Dorothy said too that one of her 2 supervisor ladies (the ladies both had the same name) came up with the idea of first using the clear cellophane wrapper with the word Chuckles written very nicely on the top. Dorothy and her 2 school chums worked there the whole summer and she was very glad she did. The only part she didn't like is when she went into the back to weigh the little sample boxes one boy yelled at her, "Hey sample girl, how bout a sample" my mother in law was very shy and didn't like boys. ~ Ellen from California When my sisters and I were younger, my mom would let us walk to the corner store and get candy. And my favorite was always chuckles!! I would start by putting them in order according to color. Starting with the black one. We used to save our pennys and went to grandma and grandpa's on our summer vacation to West Virginia to visit family. Well, Aunt had a penny candy store. Just a little country store. And she sold my favorite candy chuckles. All year long we would save our money so we could go to the penny candy store. My sister's had their own favorite's, but mine was always chuckles! Still is today, and when I do find them, I snatch them up. They are hard to find. ~ Kathy from Georgia |
