Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Pez Dispenser Creator Dies


This story really hit me today. How many of us can say that we never had a Pez dispenser? They are as ubiquitous to childhood as stuffed animals or rubber balls. If I didn't collect action figures I would surely have gone the Pez collecting route. So many varieties and all the coolest characters you could imagine. It's a sign that you have achieved pop culture saturation once your characters were made into dispensers.


"This is a truly sad day. A titan of industry. A captain of candy. A Nikola Tesla-like inventor, has died. Yep, the guy that invented the miraculous PEZ dispenser is gone. Candy genius Curtis Allina died at the age of 87. It was in 1955 that Mr. Allina brought the Austrian candy to the US of A and started a pop culture phenomenon. What other candy is mentioned in Stand By Me and Seinfeld? I've owned dozens of PEZ dispensers over the years. Purchasing one as recently as 2 or 3 months ago. (An R2-D2.) So this is personal. A bummer of a day indeed. Thank God the candy coming out of Yosemite Sam's neck-hole will live on. Rest easy Mr. Allina. And thank you."

http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even I had a Pez dispenser. I think it was Popeye.
I saw a display at the check out counter yesterday and remembered them for a moment. And I was amazed that they were still going strong.
Sad day.

Unknown said...

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


i didn't know about the passing. i really DO have a great pez collection. i LOVE pez. i REALLY love pez

chunky B said...

I just bought an Iron Man Pez before the holiday, very sad day indeed.

TS Hendrik said...

WHAT!?! That sucks. Seriously. If that's how the year is starting off, than I suggest a redo.

Best Pez ever, my Snoopy dispenser I filled with everything non Pez when I ran out. I used that thing til it broke into shards.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

In honor of his contribution to humanity his remains will be processed into small rectangular shapes and buried in tiny coffins.