Althouse: "Crunchy candy bar since 1930 – I’m a candy enthusiast and I’ve never even heard of a Zagnut bar."

August 7, 2020

"Crunchy candy bar since 1930 – I’m a candy enthusiast and I’ve never even heard of a Zagnut bar."

"But," writes CrossBoss, about today's NYT crossword, "I did enjoy watching this commercial."

45 comments:

madAsHell said...: My father owned a drug store. Zagnut, Coke, and a comic book were cheaper than a babysitter.; 8/7/20, 2:12 PM
Curious George said...: OMG my favorite candy bar as a kid. Toasted coconut over crunchy peanut butter.; 8/7/20, 2:14 PM
Stuart said...: Enjoyed the ad too, but also have never heard of zagnut, though it sounds like a local delicacy called a summer roll (coated in coconut). Really enjoyed the Roxy music song 'more than this' that also popped up after the ad.; 8/7/20, 2:21 PM
Bilwick said...: Isn't that the guy who used to say "Yeeeesssss?" and "May I help you?" playing the candy company boss? Sounds like Stan Freberg doing the voice-over at the end.; 8/7/20, 2:22 PM
wendybar said...: I don't eat nuts...and I have heard of that candy bar!! Not much of a candy enthusiast, if you ask me!!! haha!!; 8/7/20, 2:26 PM
tcrosse said...: The great Frank Nelson, and the voice of Stan Freberg at the end.; 8/7/20, 2:29 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Frank Nelson Lives!; 8/7/20, 2:29 PM
Gk1 said...: Oh yeah, I remember those. GROSS! As a kid I remember bitterly using the GDP of household allowance money buying it in a vending machine. I can still remember my kids income being squandered buying this piece of shit candy bar. It was laced with coconut and some waxy, cheap peanut butter center. I thought it was going to taste like a Butterfinger bar. Boy was I wrong!; 8/7/20, 2:34 PM
Iman said...: Zagnuts and Idaho Spuds...; 8/7/20, 2:35 PM
Roy Lofquist said...: Hot Ziggity Zagnut! You can still find them at Cracker Barrel.; 8/7/20, 2:40 PM
WPS234 said...: The great Stan Freberg.; 8/7/20, 2:43 PM
Gospace said...: Had a starring role in Seems Like Old Times when the vending machine wouldn’t dispense one to Nicholas played by Chevy Chase.

Having said that, I’ve never had one.; 8/7/20, 2:49 PM
Rory said...: Clark Candy Company of Pittsburgh, Pa.; 8/7/20, 2:54 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: He must not have been watching "Beetlejuice" very closely.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/61/84/7f/61847f8ae7352ca17ef7c5e3e0fd4ece.jpg; 8/7/20, 2:55 PM
Mark said...: Why do people need to shout from the rooftops with flashing neon lights, "HEY EVERYBODY, I'M IGNORANT"?; 8/7/20, 3:03 PM
Joe Smith said...: I have heard of Zagnut but don't think I've ever seen one. Was it a regional candy bar?; 8/7/20, 3:09 PM
rehajm said...: Zagnut's prime was my time but I knew about it. When I bite into a York Peppermint Patty I get the sensation of being in a forest and the only thing I hear honeey is the dew falling off the coool greeen leaves, ha ha ha!; 8/7/20, 3:12 PM
Unknown said...: Hi Ann,

Zagnuts seem to be available in some parts of the country and not others. You can order them from vermontcountrystore.com if they aren’t available locally & you’re curious.

As far as taste, they’re like any other crunchy peanut butter candy bar—heaven if fresh, hell if stale.; 8/7/20, 3:12 PM
MadisonMan said...: I don't recall eating zagnuts. But if they contained coconut, that's why. I would have had one at one point and discovered why they were terrible.; 8/7/20, 3:18 PM
Butkus51 said...: Heard of and have had a Zagnut. How bout "Buns". Mallo Cups. The Clark Bar. 5th Avenue.

I hated those Mary Janes. Probably the most common Halloween candy in the 60s ever.

I still ride my bike past those houses and egg them. Or play ring and run.; 8/7/20, 3:31 PM
Jim at said...: Marathon bar for a dime. Charleston Chews, too. More bang for your buck.
Really cut into my paper route earnings when they raised the price to 15 cents.; 8/7/20, 3:32 PM
DRP said...: He also never watched Beetlejuice, obviously. The Fly scene is spectacular...; 8/7/20, 3:40 PM
readering said...: The other guy in the commercial was also once a familiar face on tv: Bill Idelson.; 8/7/20, 3:54 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: I lived on Payday and Zagnut bars, briefly.; 8/7/20, 4:12 PM
Pj said...: Isn’t that Herman Glimpscher(?), Sally Rogers’s boyfriend with mother issues, from Dick Van Dyke Show?; 8/7/20, 4:17 PM
Rick.T. said...: “Frank Nelson Lives!”

"EEE-Yeeeeeeeeesssss!”; 8/7/20, 4:23 PM
Rick.T. said...: Zero bars, Paydays, and OH OH Bonomo Turkish Taffy (make mine banana).; 8/7/20, 4:27 PM
mikee said...: Payday. Just peanuts and caramel. None of that chocolate, or nougat, or strange semi-natural artifical coating. Yum.; 8/7/20, 4:28 PM
Unknown said...: Definitely a Stan Freburg. You could do a deep dive into his life and career.; 8/7/20, 4:32 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Frank Nelson was also a Tootsie-Roll inspector.; 8/7/20, 4:36 PM
Known Unknown said...: Other commenters have mentioned it, but here's the clip from Beetlejuice.; 8/7/20, 4:50 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: People think that Mel Blanc (great as he was!) was all the Warner voices, but he was just the guy with enough clout to negotiate a screen credit. (And it says "vocal characterizations by", not "all vocal characterizations by"...)

Anyway Freburg was both "Mack" & "Tosh" of the Goofy Gophers ("Oh, no, after you, I insist!"), and "Pete Puma" ("Give me a lotta lumps!").; 8/7/20, 5:03 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @GK1,

I thought it was going to taste like a Butterfinger bar. Boy was I wrong!

Yes, my experience with Zagnut in my northern Alabama boyhood --- an inferior knock-off of a Butterfinger, which was & is one of my favorite candy bars.

@Butkus51,

How bout "Buns". Mallo Cups. The Clark Bar. 5th Avenue...I hated those Mary Janes.

What are "Buns". As in the gloppy baked things you got at a 7-11 type store in cellophane, like "Honey Buns". Grew out of those by age 10. Mallo Cups had marshmallow creme, a real "yuck" for me. Clark & 5th Ave were okay, but not my preference. I like Mary Janes. But my real regional favorite, which seems to have disappeared, the large size Atkinson's Peanut Butter Logs.; 8/7/20, 5:04 PM
alanc709 said...: Zagnut and Clark bars are some of the oldest candy bars. How could you not have heard of them?; 8/7/20, 5:36 PM
Unknown said...: Buns were a round chocolate-covered maple or vanilla nougat patty with peanuts. Haven’t seen one in at least 20 years.

5th Avenue is THE best crunchy-peanut-butter candy bar.; 8/7/20, 6:57 PM
JML said...: I preferred Chick-O-Stick.; 8/7/20, 7:10 PM
Mort said...: My all time favorite candy bar. Alas, it doesn't square with my (now) low-carb lifestyle.

You can get them at Woodmen's...; 8/7/20, 8:38 PM
Mort said...: My all time favorite candy bar. Alas, it doesn't square with my (now) low-carb lifestyle.

You can get them at Woodmen's...; 8/7/20, 8:39 PM
Rory said...: "Mallo Cups. The Clark Bar."

The Mallo Cup people make Clark Bars now.; 8/7/20, 8:40 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Don't forget 'Chicken Dinner' an even worse name for a candy bar than zagnut.; 8/7/20, 8:48 PM
reader said...: During college, as a treat, I would get a Cup-O-Gold candy bar from the vending machine in the lobby of the university apartments. A few years ago my husband tried to find one at the 7-11 and struck out. Sickeningly sweet, but sometimes that’s what you need.; 8/8/20, 12:11 AM
Biff said...: Mark said...Why do people need to shout from the rooftops with flashing neon lights, "HEY EVERYBODY, I'M IGNORANT"?

Indeed.

Zagnut bars were pretty common in the New Jersey of my youth, though I never was thrilled to see them in my bag of Halloween treats. Give me a plain old Hershey's chocolate bar or a Nestle Crunch or a KitKat bar any day.; 8/8/20, 2:19 AM
stlcdr said...: Mark said...
Why do people need to shout from the rooftops with flashing neon lights, "HEY EVERYBODY, I'M IGNORANT"?

8/7/20, 3:03 PM

Apparently, this is supposed to make you ‘part of the masses’. But it seems worse - it’s a point of pride to not know/understand something.; 8/8/20, 7:19 AM
Sam L. said...: I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out here in the boonies, now, but I've been around a while, mostly west of the Mississippi, from south to north, and I've heard of ZAGNUT Bars, though I've never eaten one.; 8/8/20, 12:08 PM
gpm said...: >>Definitely a Stan Freburg.

I remember Stan Freburg commercials. A very distinct style. The first one that comes to mind was the fabulous Ann Miller/Great American Soup commercial, back when I probably didn't know who Ann Miller was. Also one that had something to do with Bic pens and bananas.

And did he do some of the Shake and Bake commercials? Some of those were hysterical, like the murder mystery/haunted house one, with the demented lady saying: "I just put it in the oven/And by and by it was done."

Vaguely knew the Zagnut name and didn't have much trouble with that part of the crossword puzzle, though it was a slow solve overall. Don't do coconut, so I would never have tried one if I had had the chance.

Haven't checked recently, but a few years ago the "Cambridge Brands" (a set of four or five candy brands bought by Tootsie Roll a while back) were still being produced at a hundred-year-old factory (with equipment pretty much of the same vintage!) at a little factory on Main Street in Cambridge. The brands I remember were Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies (the former were pretty much the same as what we called "All Day Suckers" when I was growing up in Chicago).

East Cambridge used to be a huge candy-making center. I think they were still doing Necco wafers (vile things that were only good for using as pretend communion wafers) when I came to town back in the early 70s, but everything else is now gone. Ditto with Schraffts, which was a short distance away in Charlestown.

Tootsie Roll is still headquartered on the Southwest Side of Chicago, a few miles from where I grew up.

--gpm; 8/8/20, 7:41 PM