The author was tipped off by a letter writer, referring to another trivia collection, More Misinformation, by Tom Burnam: "Burnam concluded that the candy bar was named. 288-289, brings out a new and potentially more plausible (and prosaic) explanation. The next edition, How Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch? (1996), p.
In the edition called What Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway? (1995), p.84, he reports the standard story about the bar being named for Grover Cleveland's daughter, with interesting additional information that ties it to the President: " The trademark was patterned exactly after the engraved lettering of the name used on a medallion struck for the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and picturing the President, his wife, and daughter Baby Ruth" Curtiss Candy Co, 49 F.2d 1033 (1931).Ī couple of twists to the story are referenced in the trivia book series Imponderables, by David Feldman:
Ironically, Curtiss successfully shut down a rival bar that was approved by, and named for, Ruth, on the grounds that the names were too similar in the case of George H. Moreover, the company had failed to negotiate an endorsement deal with Ruth, and many saw the company's story about the origin of the name of the bar as merely a way to avoid having to pay the baseball player any royalties. Nonetheless, the bar first appeared in 1920, as Babe Ruth's fame was on the rise and long after Cleveland had left the White House and 16 years after his daughter had died. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, the candy bar is currently produced by Nestlé.Īlthough the name of the candy bar sounds nearly identical to the name of the famous baseball player, Babe Ruth, the Curtiss Candy Company has traditionally claimed that it was named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth Cleveland. The bar was a staple of Chicago-based Curtiss Candy Company for some seven decades. No one at the old Curtiss factory remembered how to make the candy bars, and Nabisco had to develop new recipes that customers would accept.īaby Ruth is a candy bar that is made of chocolate-covered peanuts and nougat, though the nougat found in it is more like fudge than is found in many other American candy bars. When Standard Brands Company, owner of Curtiss Candy Company, was acquired by Nabisco in 1981, they realized they had somehow lost the original recipes for the Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars. There is some suspicion that the company was not entirely truthful about the real origin of the name.Īs a promotional stunt in 1923, Otto Schnering, founder of Curtiss Candy Co., had Baby Ruth candy bars dropped from airplanes in cities around the country, with tiny parachutes attached to each candy bar. (When Babe Ruth wanted to bring out a candy bar of his own, he was prevented by a court order). The Baby Ruth candy bar was named for the daughter of President Grover Cleveland, who was born while he was living in the White House.
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