Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. Today’s fact is extra candy-licious (not to be confused with Fergalicious).
Junior Mints got its name from Junior Miss, a collection of short stories that later became a Broadway play.
As I write this, I’m mere steps away from the big bowl of Halloween candy I have ready for this year’s trick-or-treaters.
Do I always wind up buying far more candy than is necessary? You bet!
Do my dogs get nervous about all the people coming up to the door, and I wind up proactively just leaving candy on a bench so they don’t knock? Absolutely.
Did I previously leave candy in a bowl, only for someone to steal said bowl? And then did I leave a sad note informing additional trick-or-treaters that someone stole my bowl, and I liked that bowl, so maybe they’d be kind enough to return it? And did that kid’s parents (probably) scold them to return the bowl, and it was a glorious reunion? Yes, yes, and yes.
You likely have a favorite Halloween candy. I made a ranking years ago; looking at it now, I’d certainly make some adjustments. However, having 100 Grand in the top three was spot on. What an underrated candy bar. Makes you feel like a million bucks, or at least $100,000.
Yet isn’t it strange that certain candies have their moments during Halloween, whereas other ones barely get any recognition?
For example, if you were to head to the movie theater to see, say, You Can See Everything, you’d see things like Buncha Crunch or Junior Mints. But the odds of finding them in your plastic pumpkin trick-or-treat cauldron are far lower.
And that’s a shame, because Junior Mints are tasty. And after consuming so much sugar, the mint burst feels quite refreshing.
Junior Mints are also the only candy to have an entire Seinfeld episode named after them. (We’re not counting “The Pez Dispenser,” because that’s the vessel for the candy, and I love a good semantic.)
The name makes sense logistically. These are minty-flavored chocolates, and they’re not so big that you have to unhinge your jaw. Mint + small = junior mint!
But the name is actually a reference to Junior Miss, a Broadway play that ran from 1941 to 1943. The play itself is based on a collection of short stories by Sally Benson published in The New Yorker between 1929 and 1941.
Junior Miss had quite a run during the 1940s. It became a feature film and was adapted for radio several times, including one series starring Shirley Temple (the actress and singer, not the drink).
In 1949, James O. Welch, head of the appropriately named James O. Welch Company who was producing the new candy, thought “Junior Mints” was a fun allusion to the pop culture phenomenon. By then, the play had long since stopped running and the radio shows had mostly dwindled down, but it was still a nice nod.
Junior Miss also got some TV shine. On Dec. 20, 1957, the show was adapted into a television musical as part of CBS Television’s DuPont Show of the Month. The show was directed by Ralph Nelson and starred Carol Lynley, Don Ameche, Joan Bennett, and Jill St. John.
In fact, you can watch a portion of the show right here! Perhaps while indulging in a nice junior (or large, live it up) box of Junior Mints.