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It was 1920 in Youngstown, Ohio, when Harry Burt, an ice cream parlor and candy store owner, created a unique chocolate coating for his ice cream. Although her daughter liked the taste, she found it difficult to eat, so her son suggested freezing the coated ice cream and inserting a stick. Already selling lollipops, Dad modeled the treat after his Jolly Boy Suckers, and the ice cream bar was born. Much like the invention of an Iowa entrepreneur who had come up with the Eskimo Pie a year earlier, Burt raced (or rather drove) with it, executing his one-time distribution of bringing the product to his customers rather than waiting for it. will arrive at your house. shop. Apparently great minds think alike, because several years later the Popsicle was born, but made with frozen fruit flavored juices, not ice cream.
The product photos were on the outside of the truck, but we didn’t need them as we all had our favorites, and the man in good spirits always knew which little door to open, pulling out our requests in an instant. On busy city streets, pushcarts often lined the sidewalks with a limited selection, but one thing that never changed was the instantly recognizable drawing of the chocolate covered ice cream bar.
The name Good Humor obviously stems from America’s love of candy and the promising ice cream novelty business. Not much has changed since then, except for the large selection of frozen treats now available, but clearly Good Humor was a pioneer. In an effort to distribute his new creation, albeit somewhat primitive in the 1920s, Burt came up with the first vending trucks equipped with bells to alert children that there were frozen treats in the neighborhood, a clever and ingenious way to market your new creation. It was an instant hit. Push carts soon followed to capture city dwellers and not obstruct street traffic. The man of good humor in his starched white uniform was a minor celebrity on his route and became a household name in the 1950s and ’60s, often featured in movies.
Not surprisingly, the company recognized the importance of mass distribution in grocery stores, and in the mid-1970s Good Humor bars took their rightful place alongside popsicles and Eskimo pies. Merging with Popsicle and Klondike, the three now dominate the novelty ice cream market.
Although Klondike reigns as America’s most popular ice cream bar, the addition of the Oreo Ice Cream sandwich tops the Good Humor brand repertoire (not surprisingly, with the popular Oreo Cookie flavor) followed by Strawberry Shortcake in second place and Chocolate Eclair. in a close third. Sadly, some of the original classics, like Chocolate Malt, are no longer on the menu, but remain in the memory of many Boomers (including this author’s).
Although the familiar white truck of the 1940s and 1950s has disappeared, and many other options have appeared in supermarket freezers, the sight and sound of that truck will remain indelibly in the minds and hearts of Boomers, and nothing else. it never will. take their place.