1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much 3 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: for tuning in. What's that familiar jingle you might be hearing, Well, 4 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: it's the sound of our super producer, mister Max Williams. 5 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: I am the ice cream man, y'all, I am I cream? 6 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: Do you make the ice cream? It's dump a dump 7 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,599 Speaker 1: do you know? We'll probably talk about it a little bit, 8 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: but like this is normal by the way. Um, there's 9 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: like a couple of of iconic ice cream truck jingles. 10 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: There's that one that I was just humming, the Daisy days, 11 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: the bicycle built for two, you've got, um, let's see 12 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: do do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do do 13 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: DoD d dude, like the Beanie and cecil theme, I guess, 14 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: and then just the classic uh, well, what's another one? 15 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: Goodness gracious, there has to be another one that I'm 16 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: totally missing. You guys have any other iconic ice cream songs? Oh? 17 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: I'm ben um and I had I had a storied 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: history with a with an ice cream truck in our 19 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: neighborhood that was playing some very off the books kind 20 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: of ice cream jingles. It was. It was the driver's 21 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: kind of creative expression, and that's fine. He used to 22 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: play his mixtapes. Uh. He called himself the ice cream Man, 23 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: and his mixtapes were pretty good, actually awesome. My my, 24 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: my girlfriend, who is in this tiny hotel room with me, 25 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: just and pointed out that also do your ears, saying low, dude, 26 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: they wobble do. That's another iconic ice cream jingle. I 27 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: heard the version of it growing up. I heard the 28 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: version of that song with um balls. Yeah, yeah, everything 29 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: everything about the song, but without the years yet. Ice 30 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: cream trucks, though they're a um I think they're a 31 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: huge well of nostalgia for a lot of people in 32 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: the United States, and it is not uncommon for an 33 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: ice cream truck to roll through a lot of I 34 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 1: think they're associated often with suburbia nowadays, and it's weird 35 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,639 Speaker 1: because when you look at the inside of an ice 36 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: cream truck, you see that there's a lot more going 37 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 1: on beneath the surface than people might assume. We want 38 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: to give a shout out to our research associate, Max Williams, 39 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: who brought us some awesome man brought us some awesome 40 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: articles from Mental Floss Smithsonian. Even TRIPLEA dot Com gets 41 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: in the conversation here. Uh maybe yeah, Like the song 42 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: is such a great entry point. We'd love to hear 43 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: your favorite ice cream jingles or ones that you have written. 44 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: And today we wanted to talk about the history of 45 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: ice cream trucks, which means I guess we need to 46 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: start with the history of ice cream. It's so serendipitous 47 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: that we're doing this episode today. I'm actually mentioned being 48 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: in a tiny hotel room. I'm in New York for 49 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: a friend's wedding and my girlfriend day and I went 50 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: to the Museum of ice Cream in New York, which 51 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,839 Speaker 1: is a thing. It's sort of like an installation where 52 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: there's like lots of hands on fun ice cream related 53 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: sort of like you know, activities, but also some really 54 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: cool exhibits on early ice cream and like refrigeration and 55 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: all of that. And one of the things that it 56 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,839 Speaker 1: discussed was, you know, ice cream dating much further back 57 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: than we might believe, you know, much further back than 58 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: things like Klondike bars and you know, Sunday cones and 59 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: all of that stuff. This is actually a global phenomenon. 60 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: There are certainly what we would call parallel thinking kind 61 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: of moments attached to ice cream. You had, you know, 62 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: very very powerful people in countries like Turkey and India 63 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: and Arabia that were creating flavored ice desserts to really 64 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: create a sense of opulence at banquets, because as we know, 65 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: the history of ice is also something that is associated 66 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 1: with opulence. People could only have ice if they could 67 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: keep it cold, and that was something that only the 68 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: very wealthy folks could do. But these early you know, 69 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: Turkish and Indian and Arabian versions of the treat were 70 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: flavored with things like fruit, pulp and syrups and even 71 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: flowers and herbs and kind of spices that you might 72 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: associate with like maybe chai or you know, more kind 73 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: of savory spices. Yeah. Yeah, rosewater would be another great 74 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,479 Speaker 1: ice cream flavoring or ice flavoring at this point. You know, 75 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: years and years back, I heard this wonderful description of innovation. 76 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: I think it was at a commenced speech. There was 77 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: there was this speaker and I'll have to look for 78 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: the details who talked about the old business up in 79 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,719 Speaker 1: the northeast of running ice from Canada and when refrigerators 80 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: came out, these ice truck empires. They didn't get into 81 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: the new technology. They doubled down on faster trucks, on 82 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: more absorbent hay because they would drive up to Canada, 83 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: knockout chunks of ice, cover it with hay or straw, 84 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: and then drive down as fast as they could to 85 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: the you know, the well healed consumers there in New York. 86 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: And it shows us. I don't know, ice cream is 87 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: such an interesting way to look at technology and how 88 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: people deal with it. And this is nuts when we 89 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: talk about the idea of an ice cream renaissance. But 90 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: it's it's a real thing, right, oh totally. And I mean, 91 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about sort of frozen ice desserts now, 92 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: the very early versions that were kind of used to 93 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 1: wow guests of these feasts. But it wasn't until the 94 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: sixteenth century during the Mughal era in India or something 95 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: called coalfie was invented, which was which was essentially the 96 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,359 Speaker 1: first frozen dairy dessert that was flavored with some of 97 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: those things that we talked about, like rose, right, mango, cardamom, saffron, strawberry, peanut, 98 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:29,239 Speaker 1: and even avocado and u Coalfie isn't a churned ice 99 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: cream the dessert. It is not whipped, which gives it 100 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: a more solid kind of frozen custard kind of vibe. 101 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: And it is actually a frozen in molds rather than scooped, 102 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: you know, onto cone, so it looks more like kind 103 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: of a creamy popsicle. And it's very, very popular still 104 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: to this day. But it wasn't until the advent of 105 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: mixing a bucket of snow with something called saltpeter that 106 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: the real kind of like ice cream renaissance as we 107 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: know it began over in Italy in the mid sixteenth century. 108 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: M And I'm glad that you mentioned the Mughal era 109 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: and that innovation because you can see other versions of 110 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: ice cream throughout history. It makes me think of don Derma, 111 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: which is a Turkish ice cream like analog. And if 112 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: you ever want a little bit of eye bleach or 113 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: want to give yourself a giggle on a tough day, 114 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: then go to YouTube and check out Turkish ice cream vendors. 115 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: They're for the different they do. They're infamous for the 116 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: parkour that they use when they they never just give 117 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: you the ice cream if they think you're cool, and 118 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: it's it's just magic. It's almost like up close magic. 119 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: They kind of like, yeah, it's really, really really I 120 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: completely that's a really good recommendation. There's some funny videos 121 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: out there. And that is a tradition carried over from 122 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: you know, the beginning of the time that we're talking 123 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: about here, and they are these certain little outfits and 124 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: have these certain little kind of trolleys. They also, yeah, 125 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: they have carts. So let's go back to this kind 126 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: of European renaissance of ice cream. It becomes this cold 127 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: creamy treat, becomes the hottest thing amongst the elite European 128 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: courts love it. If you are a royal chef, then 129 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: some aristocrat is coming up to you and saying like, hey, 130 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: the chef at the other place makes ice cream, what 131 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: are you doing? And so they start putting ice in 132 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: everything the way that every so often restaurants in the 133 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: US will go through this phase where they put truffles 134 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: and everything. They put ice in red wine, and they 135 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: made the icy custers you mentioned earlier. They made like 136 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: nut flavored confections. Almond's creams were very popular. They loved 137 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: a sorbet. Who doesn't love a sorbet? And they just 138 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: started they were throwing everything in there to see what 139 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: would work, what would click. And while people loved this stuff, 140 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: it was thought to be food of the elite. Right like, 141 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: if you were the average person in Western Europe or 142 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: even in Italy, you're not eating ice cream for quite 143 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: some time, just because the technology to preserve it wasn't there. No, 144 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: that's right, And it wasn't until it kind of came 145 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: to America with the first colonists that the sort of 146 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,079 Speaker 1: you know, ice cream for the people movement kind of began. 147 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: A little bit didn't happen right away, but British settlers 148 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: brought these recipes with them, and you actually saw some 149 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: supporters of this in the found Among the Founding fathers. 150 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,599 Speaker 1: George Washington was a huge fan. Thomas Jefferson was a 151 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: huge fan, and he actually studied how to make the 152 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: stuff in France when he was abroad and came back 153 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: with a machine that he was able to install at 154 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: his you know, famous estate at Monticello. So you know, 155 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: it was the idea of these Founding Fathers being sort 156 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: of like the figureheads for separation from the elite, even 157 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: though of course they were really their own forging their 158 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: own new elite class. That it did become something that 159 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,559 Speaker 1: needed to be available, you know, kind of to the people. 160 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: It was like, you know, the people's treat. But it 161 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: wasn't until we started to see refrigeration kind of take 162 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: hold that the stuff could be delivered and by the stuff. 163 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: At this point, I'm literally just referring to ice, because 164 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: it wasn't until the eighteen hundreds that folks, you know, 165 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: who weren't super wealthy and could afford their own ice 166 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: houses and all of that stuff could get just plain 167 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: old ice. Yeah. Yeah, And this is the industry I 168 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: was I was referring to earlier from that commencement speech. 169 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: So this whole aggloberation of companies. Really they start harvesting 170 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: ice whatever rivers freeze, and because they reached an economy 171 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: of scale, they were able to ship enough ice to 172 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: make this kind of affordable, you know what I mean. 173 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: It's no longer just for the emperors of the world. 174 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: And then another innovation comes along, hand crank ice cream. 175 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: Hand crank ice cream. And I don't want to ruffle 176 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: any feathers here or upset any sorbet trays, but hand 177 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: crank ice cream is a fun thing to do, like 178 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: once or twice as a kid. But otherwise, you know, 179 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: I don't even I don't know anybody who regularly hand 180 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: cranks ice cream these days. But back in this era, 181 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: it was the most affordable way to create your own stuff, 182 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: and people started making Sundays at home. It became for 183 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: quite some time, starting around the eighteen thirties, it became 184 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: the like notable treat for Independence Day, kind of the 185 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 1: way turkey at Thanksgiving. Well, and again it really did. 186 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: It was I think as a result of I mean again, 187 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it makes 188 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: sense to me that what once was a treat of 189 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: only the super wealthy and like you know, the kind 190 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 1: of uh colonizers and all of that stuff, and the 191 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: folks that you know, the US were trying to separate 192 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: themselves from both both you know, governmentally and in terms 193 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: of image. You know, we have no kings and all 194 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: of that that they would want to attach this formerly 195 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: only for the super opulent treat to an average people's 196 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: you know, celebration of a holiday light July fourth. But 197 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: still there were some folks that couldn't afford to make 198 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: their own ice cream at home. So, uh, what's what's 199 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: what's what's the what's the line from Hamilton immigrants, we 200 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: get the job done or something like that. Yeah, they 201 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: came to the rescue and in the form of street vendors, 202 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,719 Speaker 1: which really, if you think about it, is the kind 203 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,680 Speaker 1: of advent of the ice cream truck. Even if they're 204 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: were motorized, yet they were portable, and that was sort 205 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: of the point. They could come to where the need was, 206 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 1: they could come to where the demand was in the 207 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: in the US, it's definitely the beginning of the ice 208 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: cream truck. And a lot of these immigrants were channeling 209 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: their earlier experience in Europe where they saw ice cream carts, right, 210 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: something like that. So this idea comes to the rescue 211 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: for what we would call the middle class and the 212 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: working class. And if you were in New York in 213 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: this time, then one of your favorite street foods is 214 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: the tragically named penny lick. This one's really gross. As 215 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: a guy who literally has physical problems touching metal, penny 216 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 1: lick sounds like a federal level punishment. Well, you're not. 217 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: You're not licking pennies, but you are licking something that's 218 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: been handled by various and sundry others. This this is 219 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,199 Speaker 1: before the advent of disposable you know, cups or waffle 220 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: cones or certainly waffle cones, and they would just kind 221 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: of have like one glass per vendor, maybe a couple. 222 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: The customer would come and like, you know, eat the 223 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: ice cream or literally lick the glass clean and then 224 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: give it back to the vendor, who would quote unquote 225 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: sanitize it. Yeah, in the form of what like they 226 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 1: swish it in a pale you know, cool super sanitary, 227 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: which led one of our favorite authors for this episode, 228 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: Laura B. Weiss, author of ice Cream of Global History, 229 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: led Laura to say the mixins were bacteria, not chocolate chips. 230 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: Unfortunately true. That is not chocolate chips on the chuck 231 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: E cheese plate right there. I mean, I gotta say, 232 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: like the worst part is together think they weren't changing 233 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: out that pale water very so you're getting people before 234 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: This is also before the advent of like disinfectants really too, right, 235 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: so there wouldn't have even been maybe there would have 236 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: been something like wet bleach. They would they would have 237 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 1: known that would have affected the taste as well, and 238 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: they didn't. They probably didn't have time to give it 239 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: a hot wash and then dry it. If you are 240 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: interested in other unsanitary street or carnival foods, check out 241 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: our two part episode on the history of lemonade pink 242 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: lemonade in particular, cut clown pants. Let us leave it 243 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: at that. Yeah, called it the Rise of clown pants 244 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: because we're adults. So here's the moment you've all been 245 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: waiting for. He says to maybe twelve people, maxt oh, 246 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: thanks man, can we get a drum roll? Perfect, We 247 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: proudly present you the ice cream sandwich, the ice cream 248 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: confection that melted social boundaries. White collar workers, blue collar workers, 249 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: the rich and the poor alike loved these sandwiches. People 250 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: just generally dig stuff in sandwich form. And there's this 251 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: great article that comes out on August nineteenth, nineteen hundred 252 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: in the Sun, and it's all about Wall Street brokers 253 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: buying ice cream sandwiches and eating them side by side 254 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: with like the couriers, the office gophers. You know, is 255 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: the ice cream set at least that's what the Sun 256 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: would have us totally. Yeah, you gotta have an angle 257 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: of the sun. Yeah. Can you imagine how sticky those 258 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: ticker tapes must have been, you know, the sticky ice 259 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: cream fingies I mean it got of course it's the US. 260 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: So things are there's a recursive cycle, right of something 261 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: becoming popular and then they're being a backlash. Ice Cream 262 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: became so popular that philosophers, authors, thinkers of the day 263 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: like Ralph Waldo Emerson said, hey, we're going too far, 264 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: like ice cream is uh is a ice cream is 265 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: a cobblestone on the road to hell sort of. They 266 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: said it it's making America more materialistic, more gluttonous. And 267 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: he was like, and you could see it on street 268 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: corners across the country. The devil smoothie. I don't know, 269 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: he didn't say that part. I don't know if he 270 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: said it. Smoothie wasn't a word, no, no, no. That 271 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: came later. That's when they started to try to rebrand 272 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 1: ice cream in a healthy light. The smoothie. No but 273 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: I but ice cream was hugely popular. You know, these 274 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:21,360 Speaker 1: vendors were dealing with, you know, unhinged crowds of folks 275 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 1: clamoring to get their hands on one of these ice 276 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: cream sandwiches or you know, one of these disgusting penny licks. 277 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: So you know, ice cream really was a street food. 278 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: It was it was walking around food, you know, it 279 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: was something that you could it was self contained, specifically 280 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: the ice cream sandwich. And again you got to think 281 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: about the what made the ice cream sandwich unique was 282 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:45,160 Speaker 1: it was its own packaging, It was its own kind 283 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: of vessel, you know, that you could also eat. And 284 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,199 Speaker 1: this is before the ice cream cone. We're gonna get 285 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:53,959 Speaker 1: into that a little bit too. Yeah, let's fast forward 286 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: to nineteen twenty, give ourselves a few decades. We'll travel 287 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: to Youngstown, Ohio. It was recently in that area. Youngstown, 288 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,719 Speaker 1: Ohio was home to a confectioner, a guy named Harry Burt. 289 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,000 Speaker 1: Just like our pal Max Williams. He's a real life 290 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: ice cream man, candy man, and he had a bit 291 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 1: of a dilemma because his daughter, like many kids, loved desserts, 292 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: loved treats. And when Harry Burt invented a chocolate coating 293 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: that could encase ice cream, his daughter loved it, but 294 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: she said, I the one His daughter, apparently sounds like 295 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 1: Larry David said, I love the taste, but I don't 296 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,159 Speaker 1: love the mess that comes with eating it. And her 297 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,159 Speaker 1: name was Ruth Burt. She says, delicious, too messy to handle, 298 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: and so her brother offers a suggestion to their dear 299 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: old dad said, why not give it a handle? Yeah, 300 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,880 Speaker 1: it's too messy to handle, give it a handle. Too 301 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,119 Speaker 1: hot to handle, too cold to hold. Ye, popsicle sticks 302 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: are in control. Stick. Everything goes on a stick. Everything 303 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: gets a stick. It's the advent of the everything shoved 304 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,400 Speaker 1: on a stick era. And actually, you know this wasn't 305 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: the first X on a stick you know thing, this, 306 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,639 Speaker 1: this had been done before. Harry Bert Senior, in fact, 307 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: had previously developed a treat called the Jolly Boy. It 308 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: just sounds delightful, essentially a lollipop, you know, the Jolly Boy. Um. 309 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: But ice cream was such a cutting edge, trendy, you know, 310 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:29,199 Speaker 1: confection that this was a big deal. And because he 311 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: was combining something old with something new, it actually earned 312 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: him two US patents, therefore also launching the ice cream empire. 313 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: That was good humor, m yeah, and a great name, 314 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: not bad holds up. It feels you know, very mister Rogers, 315 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,159 Speaker 1: very mid. It's not making crazy claims. It's not saying 316 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: great humor or the funniest thing ever. I like reasonableness 317 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: in advertising. And then these other comp editors enter the fray. 318 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: You know you've got things like the Klondike Bar, the 319 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 1: ice cream bar spelled I space Scream like the film franchise. 320 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:13,400 Speaker 1: And then Bert's contribution doesn't stop there. He is the 321 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: first guy that we know of who moved from just 322 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: a pushing cart kind of like a hot dog cart, 323 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,920 Speaker 1: to a motorized truck. So now his entire salesforce can 324 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: roam the streets. He expands his business. Other people, of course, 325 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: instantly find out about this and do the same. And 326 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: this is where the nostalgia begins from modern America. This 327 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,640 Speaker 1: is where the ice cream truck becomes a thing. You know, Ben, 328 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: I gotta ask. Another popular brand of the time was 329 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: the Eskimo pie. I kind of feel like that's fallen 330 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: out of political correctness. What would you say? Yeah, a 331 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: pejorative term, right, but the idea that like all you know, 332 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,680 Speaker 1: Inuit people they eat frozen things all the time. It's 333 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:02,200 Speaker 1: sort of like inherently, you know, stereotypical. Yeah, I believe. 334 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: Now it's called the d's pie ed y apostrophe s. 335 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:08,120 Speaker 1: I think you're damn rous. It's still the same thing, 336 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,280 Speaker 1: but they thankfully changed the name. And it's it's interesting too, 337 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: because we we were talking about the confection that that 338 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:18,959 Speaker 1: that hair that burt Um presented his daughter Ruth, that 339 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,160 Speaker 1: was like essentially an ice cream rap, you know, wrapped 340 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 1: in a presumably hard chocolate coating, but that it was 341 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,920 Speaker 1: too messy. I gotta wonder why, because the Klondike bar, 342 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: you know, and the D's Pie or whatever it's called today, 343 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 1: essentially the same thing. It doesn't have a stick. You 344 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,399 Speaker 1: just handle it, you know, on the chocolate, get the wrapper. 345 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,119 Speaker 1: Though maybe I think that's a good point. That's a 346 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: good point. You know what. This reminds me of a 347 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: while back, and it's probably still around now. I think 348 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: it was Hershey's chocolate syrup came out with the hardening syrup, 349 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: which do you get chocolate magic shell? The magic shell 350 00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: that's the name. Yeah, you're right, And I remember try 351 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: like trying that, and uh my mother at the time, 352 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 1: this was her idea of a prank. I tried it 353 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: and was hardening, and no one told me, and I 354 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: thought that was just how chocolate syrup worked, and I 355 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: had to eat it more quickly. It's like it's the 356 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: equivalent of those birthday candles that re light when you 357 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:23,200 Speaker 1: believe everybody loves those said nobody ever. I think they're fun. 358 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: I know, I feel like maybe you had a bad experience. 359 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: I don't even know who hurt me, but somebody so 360 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: good to good to know. We're celebrating our birthdays, which 361 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:35,360 Speaker 1: are I was in a few months. Oh my god, 362 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: you're right, yeah, I can't, but God, another year around 363 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: the sun. God time is weird. So we talked about 364 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: Good Humor, and it really truly was an empire. I mean, 365 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: we think of them as one of the kind of 366 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: og vintage ice cream brands um and some of their 367 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: most popular offerings are still just as popular today as 368 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: they were. Let's let's talk about what led to this 369 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:00,919 Speaker 1: this this brand, this come and he kind of taking 370 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: over the world of ice cream. Oh well, first off, distribution, right, 371 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: he's got the truck fleet. He had twelve refrigerated trucks 372 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: at this time. He equipped them with bells and they 373 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: only sold Good Humor. So next, he's got exclusivity. And 374 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: then I would say one of the big things to 375 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: our question about the container is his ice cream because 376 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: it all came with a stick. Didn't need a bowl 377 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: or a cone or god forbid, a penny licked glass. 378 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,400 Speaker 1: Somebody gave you the money, and you just gave them 379 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: the ice cream and then go with God, you know. 380 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: And people dig this because it seems like a more fancy, 381 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: more reliable solution to the street ice cream of the time. 382 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,640 Speaker 1: That stuff didn't have the best reputation. People said, look, 383 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: we're just saying the ingredients may not be the highest quality. 384 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: They're out in hot streets all day during summer, and 385 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: it's not uncommon for people to get food poisting from 386 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,360 Speaker 1: these things. It was it was a known fact. And 387 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,960 Speaker 1: if you can, dairy does turn right, right, so good 388 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: humor trucks when they first come out, they're kind of 389 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 1: like the Apple Store versus Circuit City. It's true. They 390 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: built that reputation on being unimpeachably clean and Christine these like, 391 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,360 Speaker 1: you know, shiny, brand new white trucks. The drivers wearing 392 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:35,719 Speaker 1: these like lab coats, you know, white presss, you know, 393 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,160 Speaker 1: dress whites. I guess you'd call them almost like a 394 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: military uniform, you know. Or it's veryly maybe conjuring images 395 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: of the milkman, right, or like chef whites or a doctor. 396 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,360 Speaker 1: Maybe like they knew what they were doing and this 397 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: was this is a fun thing. We found their training 398 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,640 Speaker 1: manuals from back in the day even included uh, some 399 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: kind of personal lifestyle advice. If you work for Good Humor, 400 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,679 Speaker 1: you're supposed to get a proper amount of rest. You 401 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,160 Speaker 1: are supposed to eat healthy, always be clean shaven, and 402 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: always have a nice haircut. Look like you can sell 403 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 1: bibles door to door as I say, whatever, I get 404 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: a haircut. You know, it's funny this this iconic kind 405 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: of image of the Good Humor ice cream truck man 406 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: was has been sort of not lampoo mean well maybe lampoo, 407 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: but like definitely like a sort of used in various 408 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,399 Speaker 1: pop cultural kind of you know images throughout the years. 409 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: Like if you think of the Smashing Pumpkins video for 410 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,080 Speaker 1: the song Today off of Siamese Dream, Billy Corgan is 411 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:38,160 Speaker 1: seen kind of like as this sort of wandering ice 412 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: cream man, like in a art film, and then in 413 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: the end, his his clean you know, Good Humor uniform 414 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: gets splattered in like psychedelic paint. And then there's a 415 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: really funny kind of new metal band from the early 416 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: two thousands called Coal Chamber and they had a song 417 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:58,440 Speaker 1: called Loco and in the video there's like a crazy 418 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 1: ice cream man who he's crazy and he's coming to 419 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,360 Speaker 1: get your children. And then you may also recall the 420 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: series of schlocky. Maybe only one horror movie he literally 421 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: called The ice Cream Man, starring Ron Howard's kind of 422 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,199 Speaker 1: odd looking brother. Yeah, the same I'm forgetting, and he's like, 423 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: you know, a murderous ice cream Man. Clint Howard, Clint, 424 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: I gotta jump in here because that's the Star Trek 425 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: reference right there. Clint Howard has been in Star Trek 426 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 1: basically as long as anyone. Yes, he is the Baby's Baby, 427 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: and he's in DS nine and most recently he was 428 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: in Discovery. Oh okay, I think he might have showed 429 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: up somewhere else. I can't remember, but I know he's 430 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: in Discovery as well. He's in Ariyon in Discovery. Clint. Yeah. Yeah, 431 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 1: he's got a very he's got a very memorable vibe. 432 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: Yes he does. I also want to shout out a 433 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: an amazing, quite surreal and very dark comics series called 434 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: ice Cream Man. It is an anthology that's like the 435 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: Twilight Zone when Rod Serling is having a bad day. 436 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 1: Do we check it out? It's beautiful, but again it's 437 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: very dark. I think it's because good humor had this 438 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:15,919 Speaker 1: appearance of safety and you know, very controlled delight. I 439 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:19,959 Speaker 1: think again, American culture being so reactionary and recursive, I 440 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: think it's natural that that becomes something sinister, you know, 441 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: just like clouds. Look, this guy is making so much money, 442 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 1: and terrible things that happen in history all kind of 443 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,520 Speaker 1: help good humor. And we're not saying they caused prohibition 444 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: nor the Great Depression. We're not saying they didn't though were. 445 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: We are saying they made a lot of money as 446 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: a result of those two things. Like prohibition happens people 447 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: who would have spent their money on vices like alcohol, 448 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: instead they spend their money on treats that won't get 449 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: them in jail. So ice cream consumption rises by forty 450 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,119 Speaker 1: percent during the nineteen twenties. And then let's see what 451 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,199 Speaker 1: happens when we go to the Great Depression. Well, in 452 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two and the Great Depression kicked in, Good 453 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 1: Humor bars were absolutely flying off the shelves or out 454 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: of the refrigerated bins or what have you. Fourteen million 455 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 1: of them were sold in New York and Chicago alone. 456 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: And in those days, if you had a job working 457 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: for Good Humor, you were making commission. Baby, you were 458 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: clear in bank. Oh yeah, you were making you were 459 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: making one hundred dollars a week. That would be something 460 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:47,640 Speaker 1: like two one hundred dollars per week, which kind of 461 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: makes you the richest guy in the neighborhood if you 462 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: if you just do the math on a monthly basis. 463 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: Drivers are like the earlier example you mentioned about a milkman. 464 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: They're an established neighborhood presence, similar to the mail carrier. 465 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: And because the Good Humor truck had no door on 466 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,080 Speaker 1: the passenger side, the driver could pull up to a 467 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: curb hop on the sidewalk, hand out the treats from 468 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: the freezer in the back. And then the next question 469 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,560 Speaker 1: is how how do we make sure people know we're there. 470 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: That's where Bert's idea about the bell comes in, and 471 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: this is the origin of the ice cream jingle. As 472 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: soon as people hear the bell, you know, shout out 473 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: to Pavlov, they start thinking of ice cream instantly, because 474 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: that's the main time they hear this bell. And consumers 475 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: loved that there was a bell, so people would wait 476 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: during summer, they would wait until they heard that, you know, 477 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: the ring ding ding ringing ding ding, ring ding ding 478 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 1: and they would drop everything and running catch the truck. Well, 479 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: this is before the advent of whatever technology allows those 480 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: bells to play little tunes, So at this point it 481 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 1: really was just to ding ding, But then, of course 482 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: we saw an evolution of that. But this was it 483 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:06,600 Speaker 1: really kind of became a spreading of good cheer, good 484 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: humor if you will, you know, I mean, in a 485 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: time when people were really needing something positive to glom onto, 486 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: hearing that bell put a smile on your face. The 487 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: kids came a run in, you know. It was excellent 488 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: branding on the part of the Good Humor Company. A 489 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: journalist in New York, Joan S. Lewis, had this to 490 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 1: say in a nineteen seventy nine essay, a quote new 491 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:33,600 Speaker 1: friends were made while purchasing that delicious ice cream, while sleepovers, 492 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,640 Speaker 1: birthday parties, and picnics were often planned right at the 493 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: truck's wheels. So it kind of became this like rallying points. Yeah, time, 494 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: like the town square water cooler kind of situation. One 495 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,480 Speaker 1: hundred percent. Now, the ice cream industry had its ups 496 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: and downs, and one of those downs occurred, you know, 497 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: during World War Two, because there was rationing. The rationing 498 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: included restricting the amount of dairy people and companies could 499 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: consume stuff. I had to go to the war effort. Luckily, 500 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: the industry survived, and there was this huge boom in 501 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: ice cream consumption after World War Two. Now, the post 502 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: World War two boom was huge for the United States 503 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: in general. But now all of a sudden, people could 504 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: eat as much ice cream as they wanted, and statistics 505 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: would later show that what the average American wanted was 506 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,720 Speaker 1: about twenty quarts of ice cream per person per year, 507 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: or more than that. In nineteen forty six, people were 508 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,280 Speaker 1: eating a lot of ice cream, and good Humor was 509 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:41,959 Speaker 1: right there with them. Just one on to point out 510 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: real quick. I mentioned earlier that I went to the 511 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: Museum of ice Cream in New York, very popular attraction. 512 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: You gotta kind of book your tickets in advance, but 513 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 1: with the entry fee comes unlimited free ice cream. There 514 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,080 Speaker 1: are little stops throughout the experience, I guess you call 515 00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: it where you get little ice cream treats and you 516 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 1: can go through as many times as you want. There's 517 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 1: a giant ball pit made of like sprinkles and stuff. 518 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: It's it's it's kind of fun. It's a little goofy. 519 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,960 Speaker 1: You might relate it to something like candy Topia, if 520 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: you've ever heard of that experience, Like I think that 521 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: the travels the country or maybe it's in Atlanta only, 522 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 1: But anyway, it's it's worth, it's it's worth. Look, I 523 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: enjoyed it. So ice cream consumption is absolutely booming, as 524 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 1: you said, around World War Two, especially after dairy rations 525 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: were lifted. We know, along with these kinds of conflicts 526 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: comes factories. Perhaps the ones created one thing that are 527 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: then converted into creating things for the war effort. Certain 528 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: you know, ingredients perhaps that were a staple of home 529 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: cooking get rationed. So in the nineteen fifties, the company's 530 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: fleet of ice cream trucks had hit a whopping two 531 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: thousands because of that increase in demand due to the 532 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: lifting of the rationing. So it also led to other 533 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: you know players entering the game. Yeah, of course, right, 534 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: because other people see that there is an opportunity and 535 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: they think they want to get in on it as well. 536 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: So this is where we see a new challenger entering 537 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: the field or entering the fray. It's mister Softie s 538 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: o ftee. Started by two brothers, Willie and James Conway. 539 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: I don't know if he likes to be called Willie. 540 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: He probably was a will or a William. And they're 541 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,200 Speaker 1: in Philly in the nineteen fifties and they were working 542 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 1: for an ice cream machine manufacturer and they said, hey, 543 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: you know what, Willie and James look at each other 544 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: and they say, we're getting more and more request for 545 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: ice cream machines that could be installed in trucks. Huh. 546 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: And then they said, there's a problem because our machines 547 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: are designed to be stationary, right, They're going into kitchens, 548 00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: they're going into soda pop counters and stuff like that. 549 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 1: So we have to sort of reverse engineer these injury 550 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: riggum and eventually they break down because they're not purposely 551 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 1: they're not designed to be in trucks, and they were 552 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: just being bolted to the truck and they didn't have 553 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: shock absorbers. They couldn't the machines couldn't stay cool all 554 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,440 Speaker 1: the time, right, because let's remember not all these trucks 555 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 1: had air conditioning necessarily, right. And if we're talking about 556 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,719 Speaker 1: we're talking about the crank style of ice cream creation, right, 557 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: I mean not not not the hand crank style, but 558 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:36,120 Speaker 1: they like the salt style that would make you know, 559 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,400 Speaker 1: the scupa bowl kind of ice cream. Yeah. So the 560 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:45,520 Speaker 1: machines here work just fine when they're bolted to the 561 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,720 Speaker 1: ground of say a kitchen, but when you're on something 562 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 1: that's rolling, possibly through pretty heated weather, it's going to 563 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:55,880 Speaker 1: mess up. It's taken all sorts of bumps, you know, 564 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: along the way. So they said, we need to build 565 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,279 Speaker 1: a new kind of truck. It's like that. It's like 566 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:05,160 Speaker 1: the intro to that old TV show The two thousand 567 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,120 Speaker 1: Dollars or Bionic Man. What was it called, remember fifth 568 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: the ten million dollars ten million dollars Man. They look 569 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: at this ice cream truck and they're like, we can build, 570 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: rebuild it better, faster, stronger. Think about if you ever 571 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 1: had a dryer where the drying basket or whatever it's 572 00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: called gets out of balance because of like maybe the 573 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 1: floor's not level or there's a something, it starts to 574 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: go good junk good, chunk good, junk good, chunk good. 575 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: That's probably what would have happened with these traditional ice 576 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,360 Speaker 1: cream machines. If the trucks say, we're going up a slope, 577 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: you know, or hit a bump or whatever, So they 578 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: really needed to kind of reinvent the wheel, create a 579 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 1: process that could be you know, reliably replicated while on 580 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:55,359 Speaker 1: the go. Yeah, exactly. And the Conways said they went 581 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: to their boss. They said, hey, we've got this idea, 582 00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 1: and their boss said, Ah, that's a lot of time 583 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,279 Speaker 1: and that's a lot of money. I don't know if 584 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: it's worth it for us to make these purpose built 585 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,080 Speaker 1: ice cream trucks. So the brothers said, we're going to 586 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,440 Speaker 1: do it ourselves. And their machine was designed to create 587 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:17,319 Speaker 1: perfectly soft, smooth ice cream, hence the name mister Softy 588 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: from the back of a moving truck. And they started 589 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,040 Speaker 1: adding more and more trucks to their fleet, and then 590 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,439 Speaker 1: they said, hang on, you know what we could be doing. 591 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: We could just sell these trucks as franchises. And they 592 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:35,920 Speaker 1: did it for like they were doing Gangbusters business, folks. 593 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: From nineteen fifty five to nineteen seventy, mister Softy franchises 594 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:45,640 Speaker 1: grew by three thousand, six hundred percent, which doesn't even 595 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: sound like a real number, does it. Yeah. And as 596 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:51,399 Speaker 1: many you know, New Yorkers out there might know who 597 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: grew up, you know, around here, mister Softy was kind 598 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,720 Speaker 1: of more of a regional affair. It didn't really reach 599 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:00,799 Speaker 1: the same you know, heights in terms of like expansion 600 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: that Good Humor did. They kind of stuck to sort 601 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:06,760 Speaker 1: of more of like a territory, right, Yeah, yeah, because 602 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:09,600 Speaker 1: you know, with a franchise, you want to guarantee of 603 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: some sort of exclusivity unless your mattress firm. So Good 604 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,400 Speaker 1: Humor is still doing their thing, they're doing just fine. 605 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:22,640 Speaker 1: By the nineteen sixties, they have not only expanded their 606 00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: fleet again, but they have expanded their ice cream, their treats. 607 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:31,960 Speaker 1: They have eighty five different types of ice cream based confections. 608 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: But they're starting to think we might not be able 609 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: to keep the trucks going forever because in nineteen seventy five, 610 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,320 Speaker 1: New York City authorities came calling. They charged Good Humor 611 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: with almost two hundred and fifty counts of falsifying records 612 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:57,319 Speaker 1: to cover up evidence of bacteria in their ice cream treats. Wow, yeah, 613 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,359 Speaker 1: it was. It's pretty significant too. About ten percent of 614 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:04,520 Speaker 1: all Good Humor ice cream bars sold between nineteen seventy 615 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,960 Speaker 1: two and nineteen seventy five were found to have been 616 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:13,360 Speaker 1: tainted by these these these bacteria and products from the 617 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:18,439 Speaker 1: company's Queens, New York factory, according to the authorities, were 618 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:25,680 Speaker 1: quote not securely protected from dirt, dust, insects, parts thereof you, 619 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:31,920 Speaker 1: and from all injurious contamination. Company got hit with an 620 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 1: eighty five grand fine in nineteen seventy something dollars nineteen 621 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:39,480 Speaker 1: seventy five dollars, which was you know, I would I'm 622 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,480 Speaker 1: gonna guestimate, Yeah, it would be around maybe two hundred 623 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: thousand roughly, so not insane, not like a company, you know, 624 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 1: breaking fine, but you know, not insignificant. And it forced 625 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:59,719 Speaker 1: them and their competition to modernize quality control. It is 626 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:04,920 Speaker 1: a good m of course. Yeah. And they also said, look, 627 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:08,839 Speaker 1: let's go straight to grocery stores. We don't have to 628 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: be on the trucks anymore. And you know, reminds me 629 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 1: a little bit of how the dream of a lot 630 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,239 Speaker 1: of pop up food operations is to eventually open their 631 00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:19,880 Speaker 1: own store. Right. So this seems like a good evolution 632 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 1: for everybody involved. But some of the Good Humor drivers 633 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 1: are die hards, and they say, I'm gonna keep making 634 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,760 Speaker 1: my rounds. The most famous, probably guy named Joseph Valardi 635 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,040 Speaker 1: in White Plains, New York. He got his Good Humor 636 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,440 Speaker 1: truck in nineteen seventy six, and he owned it, and 637 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,080 Speaker 1: he kept the same route he'd had since the early 638 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,800 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. And he was so consistent in the town 639 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:47,279 Speaker 1: that when he tragically passed away in twenty twelve, the 640 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:53,279 Speaker 1: town declared August six, twenty twelve, good humor, Joe Day, Oh, 641 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: good old good humor. Sounds like he was a good dude. 642 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:57,720 Speaker 1: It does sound like that. And you know it's interesting 643 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 1: now is I mean, there are probably, you know, franchised 644 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,880 Speaker 1: ice cream truck operations, but mostly you see them as 645 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 1: being kind of sole proprietors or folks that like, you know, 646 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,800 Speaker 1: buy the stuff in bulk, get themselves a truck and 647 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,839 Speaker 1: kind of refirm it and create themselves a little ice 648 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,920 Speaker 1: cream delivery business. Oh yeah, yeah, And there are some 649 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,920 Speaker 1: sketch ice cream trucks out there. You know, there is regulation, 650 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,480 Speaker 1: but people get around it sometimes. And we'll get to 651 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:30,000 Speaker 1: some of the sketchier ways that ice cream trucks have 652 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:33,239 Speaker 1: been employed in the modern day. But right now, let's 653 00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: talk about the the sad fact that ice cream trucks 654 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,360 Speaker 1: may be encountering another down period. We don't know if 655 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,200 Speaker 1: they're going to go away or if they're going to 656 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:48,880 Speaker 1: bounce back. But according to folks like Steve Christensen, the 657 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:52,600 Speaker 1: executive director of the North American ice Cream Association, the 658 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,280 Speaker 1: ice cream truck may be a thing of the past. 659 00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:59,279 Speaker 1: It costs more to operate the truck. Gas prices are 660 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: growing up, the cost of making ice cream is going up, 661 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,440 Speaker 1: and you have to have your permits from the city 662 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,959 Speaker 1: or the community to be a vendor. It's just less 663 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,560 Speaker 1: and less profitable to operate one of these ice cream 664 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,719 Speaker 1: trucks or ice cream vans as they're called in the 665 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,600 Speaker 1: United Kingdom. It's true. I mean, we we've we've really 666 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 1: probably seen them more replaced by food trucks, you know, 667 00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 1: taco trucks and stuff that often you know, they're not 668 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,760 Speaker 1: making the rounds. They're kind of posting up their mobile 669 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 1: and then. But you know that that's also true of 670 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:31,440 Speaker 1: ice cream trucks in more urban settings. You'll see them, 671 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,360 Speaker 1: mister softy trucks in New York, for example, at like 672 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:36,920 Speaker 1: street fairs. But they're not just rolling around. They're like 673 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:39,239 Speaker 1: sitting on a particular corner. They go to a lot 674 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:43,400 Speaker 1: of events now, weddings, you know, festivals, get togethers of 675 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,120 Speaker 1: any sort, block parties, and that's helpful for them because 676 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:51,480 Speaker 1: then they know they will definitely have customers. It's way 677 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,160 Speaker 1: less risky than just rolling through a suburb and hoping 678 00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:01,320 Speaker 1: people hear the song. Right. There's also this idea that 679 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,600 Speaker 1: ice cream trucks and the in the concept of the 680 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: mobile refrigeration unit really launched a thousand carts. You know, 681 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:14,600 Speaker 1: because Harry Burt with his idea of bringing the treats 682 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: to the people. Uh, he probably inspired the food truck industry, right, 683 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:22,880 Speaker 1: like to that point. You know, food trucks are carrying 684 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: all kinds of crazy stuff, some of its very very 685 00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:31,960 Speaker 1: high end as well. And the idea of combining the convenience, 686 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:36,080 Speaker 1: the mobility, the instant gratification, it's all. It's all very 687 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:42,839 Speaker 1: very American, which means there's a there's a dark side. Yeah, 688 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:45,440 Speaker 1: there's a bit of a dark side. Let's talk about 689 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,400 Speaker 1: let's talk about some of those those things, huh, because 690 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:52,400 Speaker 1: not trucks are necessarily selling ice cream, and then I know. 691 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:57,680 Speaker 1: The San Jose Mercury News on August twenty six, two eighteen, 692 00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:01,560 Speaker 1: reported story about quote, two men arrested in North Long 693 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,799 Speaker 1: Beach over the weekend on suspicion of dealing drugs out 694 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:09,560 Speaker 1: of an ice cream truck after detectives found methamphetamine, marijuana, 695 00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: and a revolver in the vehicle. Yeah, that's not your 696 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:20,400 Speaker 1: typical good humor menu. We also we also know that Max, 697 00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 1: you found this one. Earlier this year, March of twenty 698 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:28,400 Speaker 1: twenty three, New Orleans police arrested a woman and impounded 699 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:32,040 Speaker 1: her ice cream truck because it was carrying meth and 700 00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 1: ice Cream trucks have been used in the past and 701 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,640 Speaker 1: probably will be used again in the future as a 702 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:43,000 Speaker 1: drug distribution front. However, that front is becoming less and 703 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:47,799 Speaker 1: less viable because there are fewer and fewer actual ice 704 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:51,000 Speaker 1: cream trucks out there. Right, They can't really blend in anymore, 705 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:53,400 Speaker 1: can they? Right? Yeah, they stick out. You know what 706 00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: they need to do is use uber I guess I 707 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,160 Speaker 1: guess so. But but okay, So we started with the music, 708 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:05,040 Speaker 1: how about we, there, guys, the classic ice cream jingle. 709 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:09,160 Speaker 1: As you pointed out at the top, there are various 710 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,640 Speaker 1: iterations of this, various different songs, each of which has 711 00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 1: become kind of iconic. But it turns out the ice 712 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 1: cream jingle itself is influenced by some dark, dark things 713 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:25,360 Speaker 1: in America's past. You know, it's funny, of all the 714 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:26,879 Speaker 1: ones that we named at the top of the show, 715 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,640 Speaker 1: this was not the one that we came to. It 716 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 1: is because it's sort of an amalgam of different sort 717 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:36,720 Speaker 1: of popular tunes. But the classic ice cream truck jingle 718 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: really is based off a nineteenth century folk song called 719 00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,600 Speaker 1: Turkey and the Straw, which was itself based on an 720 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,520 Speaker 1: even older British folk tune called the Old Rose Tree. 721 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,840 Speaker 1: And like many things in the eighteen hundreds, it was 722 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:55,400 Speaker 1: sort of revamped to have a overtly racist message and 723 00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: incorporated into a lot of the traveling minstrel shows that 724 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:05,960 Speaker 1: we know and despise. Yeah, and this is something that 725 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:09,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't know, and they wouldn't be 726 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:13,400 Speaker 1: so excited about the song if they knew its full history. 727 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 1: And you know, we don't have any evidence that the 728 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:21,080 Speaker 1: ice cream men of ages past were super duper neo 729 00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:23,680 Speaker 1: Nazis or something. They were just going for a song 730 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:27,800 Speaker 1: that was very familiar to everyone, and Good Humor wanted 731 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,640 Speaker 1: to make this right. They wanted to change things, so 732 00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:35,440 Speaker 1: they did something that I love. Yeah. Yeah, they they 733 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:41,959 Speaker 1: talked with Rizza, the legendary Yeah, the producer behind WU 734 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:45,439 Speaker 1: Tang's most massive hits, the legendary Rapper, and they came 735 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:47,520 Speaker 1: to Rizza and they gave him a pitch that I 736 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:50,560 Speaker 1: just know Riza must have loved. They said, Hey, we 737 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:52,960 Speaker 1: found out the ice cream song is racist. Can you 738 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,880 Speaker 1: help us make a new ice cream truck jingle? And 739 00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,080 Speaker 1: he did because he's a cool guy. And now this 740 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:03,080 Speaker 1: song is available to drivers across the country for free. Boom. 741 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:05,120 Speaker 1: I want to sample it. I've not heard of this 742 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:09,040 Speaker 1: until we until Max's research on the topic, so I 743 00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:11,360 Speaker 1: want to look into that a little bit myself. Ben, 744 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:15,799 Speaker 1: thank you for taking this ice cream truck ride with 745 00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:19,160 Speaker 1: us today. Is that what you call it? Yeah? Thank 746 00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: you for riding with us the weird ice cream truck 747 00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:26,160 Speaker 1: that is our podcast Ridiculous History. Thanks also to super 748 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:30,440 Speaker 1: producer mister Max Williams. Thanks to Alex Williams, who composed 749 00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:34,480 Speaker 1: the jingle that we use every time we do this show. 750 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,920 Speaker 1: Who else? Who else? Oh Man Jonathan Strickland, the quister who, 751 00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 1: by the way, gave me a fabulous Broadway show recommendation 752 00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:43,440 Speaker 1: that I think he mentioned to you as well when 753 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,280 Speaker 1: we were playing miniature golf with him at the Peter 754 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:49,359 Speaker 1: Pan Mini Golf course in Austin day and I went 755 00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,600 Speaker 1: and saw Peter Pan Goes Wrong, which is a Monty 756 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:56,399 Speaker 1: Python esque kind of send up of the popular Peter 757 00:46:56,480 --> 00:47:00,000 Speaker 1: Pan the musical where literally everything goes wrong. So thanks, 758 00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:06,040 Speaker 1: thank you Quister for your your nefarious recommendation of a 759 00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:09,319 Speaker 1: Broadway show. Thank you also to Christop Raciotis. Thank you 760 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,400 Speaker 1: to Eaves, Jeff Coach, thanks for a pal. Gabe Louisier, 761 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,920 Speaker 1: who started as a research associate here now as his 762 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,600 Speaker 1: own show This Day in History Class. Do check it out. 763 00:47:19,640 --> 00:47:22,719 Speaker 1: And I can't wait to hear what jingle is gonna play. 764 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 1: I know Max will do something Jingle Jangle, Morning Baby. 765 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:52,320 Speaker 1: Let's see you next time. For more podcasts from my 766 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 767 00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:57,280 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.