Junior Mints

Junior Mints are a candy consisting of small rounds of mint filling inside a dark chocolate coating. Currently produced by Tootsie Roll Industries, the product is packaged in varying amounts from the fun-size box to the much larger 12.0 oz. box.

Junior Mints were introduced in 1949 by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based James O. Welch Company, manufacturers of candies and candy bars such as Sugar Babies, Welch's Fudge, Pom Poms and Milk Duds. Born in Hertford, North Carolina, Welch attended the University of North Carolina and then founded his Cambridge candy company in 1927. His partner in the company was his brother, Robert W. Welch Jr., who retired from the confectionery business in 1956 and two years later founded the John Birch Society. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E7DA133BF932A35751C0A963948260 "James O. Welch Dies at 79; Founder of Candy Company", "The New York Times", February 1, 1985.] ]

Origin of product name

The name of the product is a pun on Sally Benson's "Junior Miss", a collection of her stories from "The New Yorker", which were adapted by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields into a successful play. Directed by Moss Hart, "Junior Miss" ran on Broadway from 1941 to 1943. According to the official company history, when James Welch developed and launched the product in 1949, he named the candy after his favorite Broadway show. Yet the candy came six years after the play had closed on Broadway.

In 1945, the play was adapted to film with George Seaton directing Peggy Ann Garner in the lead role. The "Junior Miss" radio series, starring Barbara Whiting, was being broadcast weekly on CBS at the time Junior Mints were first marketed in 1949. Thus, Welch had cleverly created a product sold at movie theater concession stands and identified with a specific movie and radio series and displaying a name that sounded almost exactly like that property--yet different enough that it avoided any fees for licensing and merchandising. Junior Mints quickly became a popular candy at movie concession stands, and one product in the line is the three oz. box marketed as the "Theater Size Junior Mints Concession Candy."

In 1963, the brand was acquired by Nabisco, who at a later time sold the brand to Warner-Lambert Company (now part of Pfizer), who in turn sold the brand to Tootsie Roll in 1993. Today, Junior Mints are still manufactured in Cambridge at Tootsie Roll Industries.

Internet, TV and films

Junior Mints were prominently featured in a well-remembered episode of "Seinfeld" titled "The Junior Mint". While observing the surgery of Elaine's boyfriend Roy, Kramer offers a Junior Mint to Jerry, who refuses the offer—to which Kramer later states, "Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint; it's delicious!"—and the two accidentally drop it into the retracted abdominal cavity below. After Roy's condition deteriorates, Jerry calls the hospital intending to confess the whole situation only to discover that Roy's condition has improved. The doctor attributes the miraculous recovery to "something beyond science – something, perhaps, from above." The association between the candy and movie-going is so pervasive that some fans of "Seinfeld" celebrate "The Junior Mint" episode by eating Junior Mints when they watch "Seinfeld".

The lifecasting personality Justine Ezarik, or iJustine, is occasionally seen purchasing, eating, discussing or dancing with Junior Mints. [ [http://blip.tv/file/549954/ iJustine's Junior Mints Gangster Remix] ] [ [http://www.viddler.com/explore/ijustine/videos/300/ iJustine's Junior Mint Gifts] ]

In "Eddie Murphy Raw", Murphy refers to Junior Mints alongside Bon Bons and Jujyfruits in a routine about an Italian challenging an African-American at a sweetshop. [ [http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/e/eddie-murphy-raw-script-transcript.html Eddie Murphy] ]

Books

The 2006 Augusten Burroughs book "Possible Side Effects" contains a chapter "Mint Threshold" about the author's experience creating an advertising campaign for Junior Mints. In the novel "I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You", when the main character debates which candy to buy during a date, her friend suggests Junior Mints, which is then declared to be the perfect movie candy. In Fannie Flagg's bestseller, "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" (1987), Evelyn brings Junior Mints to share with her friend, Mrs Threadgoode.

Junior Mints today

Over 15 million Junior Mints are produced daily. Tootsie Roll also makes Junior Caramels (caramel filling with a milk chocolate coating) and limited edition "Inside Outs" (chocolate filling with a mint coating). Other limited edition Junior Mints include Valentines Day Pastels/Valentines Day Regulars (not pastel), Easter Pastels, Senior Mints and the ever-popular Christmas edition (featuring red and green fillings). Junior Mints are sold in various amounts from the fun-size boxes to the movie theater-size boxes, since the product continues to sell well in movie theaters. Junior Mints have traveled throughout the world, including Australia's discount department store chain Big W.

Junior Mints are neither vegetarian nor vegan as they contain gelatin, a thickener made from the boiling of animal hides and bones. However, in the UK and Canada, agar is used in place of gelatin, making those Junior Mints vegetarian/vegan. [Broekel, Ray. "The Great American Candy Bar Book", Houghton Mifflin, 1982. ISBN 0-395-32502-1]

References

External links

* [http://www.tootsie.com/products.php?pid=153 Junior Mints official site]