- Toot Sweets
"Toot Sweets" is a song/musical number from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", the 1968 musical
motion picture . In the film it is sung byDick Van Dyke andSally Ann Howes . "Toot Sweets" is also featured prominently in the multi-award winning stage musical of the same name which premiered inLondon at the Palladium in 2002 and on Broadway in 2005 at the newly refurbishedHilton Theatre .The song title is a play on words, based on the late 19th century French expression "
tout de suite ", meaning all at once. In the context of the film and stage musical, "Toot Sweets" is about a candy cane that has holes in it, making the candy playable as an edible tin-whistle. The song was written byRobert B. Sherman &Richard M. Sherman (also known as the "Sherman Brothers ").Unfortunately for protagonist Caractacus, the "Toot Sweets" act like dog whistles, calling all the local canines into the candy factory (not unlike
The Pied Piper Of Hamelin ), ruining the sanitary conditions of the factory and turning love interest Truly's father against him.Origin of the expression
The English expression toot sweet derives from the French phrase "tout de suite" (which means "immediately"). It first appears in English after the First World War, when, according to Mavens' Word of the Day, "many French words and expressions were borrowed by English-speaking soldiers."
Other Meanings
In the late 1960's,
Mattel sold a toy called "Toot Sweets". It was a device that moldedTootsie Rolls into whistles.In the 1970s, candy manufacturer
Peter-Paul marketed and sold a lollipop with a built-in slide whistle, called appropriately, "Whistle Pops".External sources
*
Sherman, Robert B. "". Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.
* [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971002 Random House's Mavens' Word of the Day]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
