Oh Henry!

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Oh Henry! bar
Oh Henry! bar

Oh Henry! is a candy bar containing peanuts, caramel and nougat, coated in chocolate. It was first introduced in 1920, by the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago, Illinois. According to legend, Oh Henry! was originally named after a boy who frequented the Williamson company, flirting with the girls who made the candy. The name is also said to be an homage to American writer, O. Henry. These stories are probably apocryphal.

The candy bar was invented by a man named Tom Henry of Arkansas City, Kansas. Tom Henry ran a candy company called the Peerless candy factory, and in 1919 he started making the Tom Henry candy bar. He sold the candy bar to Curtiss Candy Company in 1920 where they later changed the name to "Oh Henry!". Henry's family now runs a candy factory in Dexter, Kansas that sells "momma henry" bars, which are near identical to the original candy bar.

In 1923, an employee of Williamson, John Glossinger, announced that he was going to make the Oh Henry! bar a national best seller. Company officials said it was impossible and denied him the funds for an advertising campaign. Glossinger went into the streets and pasted stickers saying merely "Oh Henry!" onto automobile bumpers. People became curious as to what an Oh Henry! was and sales for the bar rose quickly.

Nestlé acquired the United States rights to the brand in 1984, where it continues to produce the bar; the bar is produced by The Hershey Company in Canada.

[edit] Trivia

  • The Canadian version of Oh Henry! is the heaviest ordinary chocolate bar on sale in Canada, at 62.5 grams.
  • When Henry Rodriguez was playing for the Montreal Expos it was a tradition at Olympic Stadium to throw Oh Henry! bars on the field after a home run or when he came up to bat. This would sometimes momentarily delay games. This tradition continued when he played for the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
  • A promotional effort of the 1970s was to re-introduce the bar among consumers in honor of baseball hall of famer Henry "Hank" Aaron.

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