August 20, 2020 • 43 mins
These vehicles don’t just bring frozen desserts to their customers – they can bring neighborhoods together. Anney and Lauren explore the history and music of ice cream trucks.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, I'm welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we're
talking about ice cream trucks we are, which is a
pretty frequent listener suggestion. Yeah, yeah, well well here here
you go. Finally, yes, finally, if you ask, and you
(00:28):
shall eventually eventually. Yes, our list is quite long. But um,
I personally don't have much experience with ice cream trucks.
There was a period of time when I was the producer,
the video producer for stuff I Never told you, and
filming was constantly, like unbelievably frequently interrupted by an ice
(00:53):
cream truck and like the jingle over its loudspeakers. Yeah,
and it never stopped. And we could never figure out
why it was back there, because it's not like we
were filming in a pretty secluded area where there's mostly
artists in business. Like, there's not all kids out there,
that is for sure, there's barely a road out there. Um,
(01:14):
but it happened enough that I did a mega cut
video of outtakes of it and of the house. Christen
getting increasingly more furious. I'm gonna like confront the ice creab.
Oh wow, yeah, yeah, I wonder if that's still something
(01:35):
she deals with. I should check in. Und I don't
think I've ever actually bought something from an ice cream shuck. No,
I really didn't like a lot of the stuff they
had to offer. Like it was fine, but it wasn't
something I was super excited about. But when I was
in elementary school, I did like, Um, on Fridays we
had like ice cream Days, and every now and then
(02:00):
I would splurge and get the Snoopy Bar, which was
essentially just vanilla and chocolate ice cream on a stick.
And I'm still uncertain of how it stayed on that stick.
But it's a mystery mystery of current history. Uh yeah,
how some of those um quiescently frozen desserts are constructed
(02:24):
would definitely be a subject for another day. Um, I've
I've purchased things from ice cream trucks a small handful
of times in my life, I think, mostly um when
I it would have happened when I was staying with
my my grandparents up in East Liverpool, Ohio, which, now
(02:45):
that I've done the research for this episode, I'm like, oh,
that's like right near Youngstown. It's like a suburb of Youngstown,
so that that that's coming up in the history section later.
So maybe that's why ice cream trucks are more prevalent
up there, like more or I don't know, Like I mean,
you know, I don't know. I've lived in any number
of neighborhoods that have had ice cream trucks come through.
(03:07):
The kind of Doppler effect that you get on the
music that they play really trips me out. I really
don't like it. It's very creepy to me. Oh well,
speaking of um, the very first thing I thought of
when we were doing this is ice cream trucks also
kind of freaked me out. And I think it's primarily
(03:28):
because of the demon ice cream truck from Charmed, the
television show, the ninety nineties version, and it really really
made an impact. Like I watched the entire show multiple times,
but there's only a handful of episodes that really stand
out to me, and this one, for whatever reason, it did.
(03:50):
And so it was this ice cream truck that lured
demon children with a song called the Devil's Cord, and
inside the ice cream truck was a pocket to mention
called the Nothing, which manifested as a snowy mostly empty playground. Okay, yes,
and the nothing consumes and destroys everything it encounters, as
(04:13):
you might imagine, the ice cream Man is immortal and
he they both of these things get an entry into
the Book of Shadows, which is a big deal for
anyone who's listened to that show. Actually, it's probably not,
because I think everything gets an entry in the book
of show. It's like the setup of that show. But
I um uh so. So when we were picking this topic,
(04:36):
I was like, oh, like Annie like had like this
big list of stuff, and I was like, oh, maybe
ice cream trucks and uh and she goes, okay. But
if you think I'm not talking about that Charmed episode,
you are wrong. And and I've never watched I've watched
like an episode of that show in my entire life.
So I was like, I don't, I will, I want
(04:58):
you to, and thank you are doing so, thank you
for letting me. I tell you. I still think about this,
probably at least once a month of that ice cream
truck episode. I don't know why. I don't know. Um,
I do remember as a kid. I think I must
have grown up in like that era of you know,
Stranger Danger. I think it was weird like that you
(05:19):
would hear this music, go up to a strange van
and essentially take candy from stranger like buy it. And
I know you're essentially doing the same thing when you
buy from a story. It just felt odd to me,
like like there's a siren song uring you out. And
I think that thought just really connected that charmed episode.
It's like see oh yeah, yeah, there's something kind of
(05:42):
like goblin market e about the entire thing, isn't there. Yeah? Yeah,
another um nineties horror comedy television news. Yeah, and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer. Zander Um has a job as an
ice cream truck driver for a while. Oh, I don't
(06:02):
remember that. I think it was in season four, like
right after they graduate. Xander's picking up all of these
odd jobs, and that's one that he has for a while. Um,
I don't. I don't think Anya entirely understands it. That's
that's that's what I remember of it anyway, Yeah, yeah,
I do. I do have one very excellent memory of
(06:25):
ice cream trucks, though, and that is um, when uh,
two of my dear friends Amy and Mark were getting married,
they were having like a little like a little backyard wedding,
and it was it was kind of casual, and it
was it was you know, beautiful and nice and hydranges
in this whole thing. And but since it was you know,
in a residential backyard. UM, at one point in the
(06:45):
middle of this lovely afternoon wedding, we hear the ice
cream truck jingle and like, all of a sudden, like
the entire wedding party like stops what they're doing and
like and like runs out to the front and like
everyone gets ice cream bars and it it was really
it was really sweet. Oh that sounds lovely. Yeah. They
(07:09):
had some really good like Marvel themed bars too, and
their nerds, so it was, Yes, it was good. Yeah,
I do like those. I appreciate those. UM. And we
have done an episode on the ice Cream Sunday which
was a very goofy one, but very fun. We got
to read a lot of intense legal documents about ice
cream Sunday. UM. And we've done one on ice which
(07:32):
actually does play into a lot of this UM and milkshakes.
But correct me if I'm wrong. We haven't done ice cream,
have we? No, not that I'm personally aware of. UM,
don't anything could have happened. Um. Yeah, yeah, no, that
that's I think that's one that I keep going like
not today, Like that's too much. It is a lot,
(07:55):
It very much is one day, but one day not today.
Today we are talking about a different thing. And that
brings us to our question ice cream trucks. What are they? Well? Uh?
And ice cream truck is a motor vehicle fitted with
a refrigeration unit so that it can keep frozen treats
(08:17):
like ice cream, uh, frozen. The driver might make multiple
stops around neighborhoods or places with foot traffic to find
potential customers, or might be flagged down by pedestrians to
purchase said frozen treats. The products are often individually wrapped
and industrially produced. Um. But they can also include any
any number of things soft serve pumps or hand dipping stations.
(08:41):
You know. Any I I read some things about some
ice cream nachos. Oh, I've read ice cream nachos. Yeah, yeah,
that sounds amazing. Um. But yeah. The trucks, as we
have been saying, often project music over a loudspeaker sound
system to alert potential customers to their presence. Actual trucks
(09:05):
and vans and minibusses are all used, many specially fitted
with with windows so that the driver can serve the
treats without like leaving the truck. Slide the window open. Yeah. Um.
Sometimes the trucks are owned by a central company and
the drivers are like independent contractors who just like go
pick up a truck on days that they choose to work. Um.
Other times the truck owners are franchise ease. It all depends.
(09:27):
I bet the the truck franchisees, like if it's parked
out in your driveway, I bet some kids come around
some questions. Oh yeah, oh, I bet me a deal. Um, well, uh,
what about the nutrition? You don't eat trucks, don't I
(09:49):
feel like the second time we've told people not to
eat something that Yeah, good, good revine dirt, don't eat.
Don't eat trucks or vans or minibusses. Um, don't do it. Yeah,
I'm sure there's some sort of like Superhero. I mean,
(10:10):
did the Hulk ever take a bite out of I
mean probably at the very least he probably like like
bit one and then like shook it like a dog, yeah,
and then spare it out. Yeah. Okay, so unless you
got your gut that going on. Just I'd say even then,
I'd say even even then, Bruce Banner, if you are
(10:34):
listening to this, um Dr Banner, you know, I would
say don't, probably don't. This message is for the whole
Bruce Banner. We're just looking out for you, are you know,
dental health is really important to your overall health. Um,
(10:55):
and I'm just trying to keep those chompers, uh, you know,
whole and and clean. Um you know. Yeah, it's really
as little tire rubber as possible. Yeah, avoid Yeah, all right, Well,
we're just trying to help, just trying to help. We
(11:15):
do have some numbers for you. Mr Softie has about
seven hundred trucks in fifteen states, operated by four hundred franchisees.
And I found it hard to find other, uh to
find other numbers on how many ice cream trucks are
are out there. Um, I looked, maybe I was maybe
I was miss googling. I feel like sometimes, yeah, I've
(11:37):
I've mis googled before. Yeah. Yeah, it does sound like
some people kind of don't really report that they have them,
which we're going to talk about more in the history bit. Yeah,
but yeah, that is really interesting. You would think it
would be pretty readily available information, right, yeah, well okay,
but so anyway, Yeah, I'm According to two drivers who
(11:59):
spoke with their the'se over at Mental Floss, sales of
ice cream from ice cream trucks actually goes down when
it's super hot outside because people aren't hanging around outside.
Yeah that makes sense, that makes Yeah. They say that
the perfect temperature is seventy degrees fahrenheit. Oh that is
a lovely temperature and it well, I I agree in general. Yes,
(12:22):
there is a Guinness record for the largest parade of
ice cream trucks um. That is from in the UK,
in which eight four vans participated in an ice cream
ice cream van parade. Ice cream van parade. Yeah, ice
cream van is the term over there. That's I just
(12:45):
find that very funny. I mean, were they hanging out
where they selling ice cream? I'm not I'm not entirely sure.
I saw that it happened, and I think that they
were all in one place for like an ice cream
truck convention, um, like a stream convention to talk about like,
you know, technology and I don't know, like sure, you know,
trade secrets whatever. It is the record for the longest
(13:08):
stint as an ice cream truck driver is sixty seven
years held by one Alan Gans of Massachusetts, um and
he says that he met his wife at an ice
cream parlor back in the day. Oh so sweet. All right, well,
we have a lot of history for you, gosh, we do.
(13:30):
But first we've got a quick break for a word
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you. And I wanted to start this one with
a shout out to John Dickey's article for Smithsonian from
(13:51):
July called how the ice Cream Truck Made Summer Cool
for being just so helpful and putting together this one.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, really good piece. Go go check
it out. Great work, absolutely so. For a long time,
due to the difficulty of procuring ice, the lack of
refrigeration and expensive ingredients, ice cream was mostly relegated to
(14:14):
the rich. That began to change in the eighteen hundreds
when the ice industry really took off again. You can
see our ice episode, which I have very fond memories
of because it gave us the excuse to look up
Arnold Schwarzenegger's best slash worst puns as Mr Freeze. Remember
that we spent like twenty minutes on. Oh gosh, we
did that was that was I think that was one
of those um ad breaks that we actually took in
(14:36):
the studio and we were just looking up these designs.
Had not seen it at the time. Oh right, I've
seen it now. But everyone was like, these are your
these puns if you you need to hear them, and
I agree, I agree, Um, so you I have fond
(14:57):
memories of it. Unfortunately it didn't make into the episode.
But you can look them up yourself. They're pretty good.
You can, you can, yes, all right. So at the
same time as the ice industry is taking off, UM,
there were innovations like hand cranke ice cream makers. For
those that couldn't afford those, there was another option, buying
ice cream products from push cart vendors primarily operated by immigrants.
(15:20):
According to Mental floss Um ice Cream, these treats were
associated with Independence Day by the eighteen thirties in the
United States, so these carts um were cheaper to operate
than a brick and mortar and more able to fly
under the radar when it came to health standards. UM,
and they sold treats like Hokey Pokey, the Hokey pokey,
(15:44):
which was a bite sized Neapolitan wrapped in paper and
something else called a penny look. This was basically a
substitute for ice cream crones, which didn't exist yet. Customers
would get their ice cream in a glass, which they
then licks clean or right there, or turned to the vendor,
who dipped it in a pail of water and then
used to the same glass for the next customer. M hmm, yeah, yep,
(16:09):
the penny look. One of the most beloved and popular
treats was the ice cream sandwich, a treat that broke
down social barriers in a lot of ways. There are
a lot of articles written about this. Um the rich
and poor, people of all all classes would purchase these
treets and eat them outside alongside each other. Well yeah,
and by this point, these carts were often equipped with
(16:32):
noisemakers to get people's attention. UM chimes and bells, um
and and clockwork music boxes, sometimes coin operated, so the
kids would have a little extra thing to do. Um
and and so that that kind of plinky music box
kind of kind of simple melody like often songs from
nursery rhymes or or other tunes that kids would know.
(16:55):
UM became associated with ice cream from this very early time,
and if we look at the history of the ice
cream truck in particular, it is something of a legend um.
The story often starts with Harry Burt, Sr. Who was
a confectioner in Youngstown, Ohio. In nineteen twenty. He was
(17:16):
testing one of his new innovations, a slab of vanilla
ice cream and case in a layer of chocolate, by
having his kids taste it. The consensus from his daughter
Ruth was good, but it's too messy to eat, and
in response, his son Henry Burt Jr. Offered, why not
put it on a stick? Problem, Solf, that's all you
gotta do. I mean, so the legend goes, so it goes.
(17:41):
And this was a logical suggestion from Burt Junior because
his father had already created a hard candy lollipop on
a stick that he dubbed the Jolly Boy. Ice Cream
on a stick hadn't really been done before, though, so
when he put his ice cream on a wooden stick,
he ended up with two U S. Patents for the process,
and this led to his invention the Good Humor Bar,
(18:03):
which in turn led to a rivalry for the ages
with the previously developed, like right along the same time,
I scream bar, I scream okay, not ice cream. I
scream okay, yeah, oh oh, Halloween themed ice cream truck.
(18:27):
Oh okay, I'll think about that later senior years. Innovations
didn't stop there. After seeing the booms and fast food
and automobiles that was happening in the U S at
the time, he invested in a twelve refrigerated trucks. He
was one of the first ice cream vendors to move
from push carts to motorized vehicles. This allowed him to
(18:49):
expand his business because now his salesman could cover more
ground more quickly. And it's also spawned numerous imitators and
was very impactful on the American eating landscape. UM and
part kick starting the food truck. It was part of
that at least and in summer eating in particular. Here
how we thought about that in the United States. UM
(19:12):
so that the Good Humor truck design was a white
refrigeration capable pickup truck with the Good Humor logo on
the side, and it was equipped with bells to announce
their arrival. And this design was finalized in the late
nineteen twenties. UM and Yeah, nostalgia for very particular types
(19:33):
of bells and and chimes and music box tunes was
already firmly in place at this point. UM, So the
first trucks would have would have kept those, um, those
old familiar things going. Yes, and these trucks were a
step up from the push cart in numerous ways. One
of the big ones was safety. UM. The refrigeration technology
(19:53):
was far better than the push carts, thus allowing for
a better quality and safer product. Ice Cream sold from
push carts had been linked to several cases of food poisoning.
The Confectioner's Journal sided this concern when someone wrote that
they were products from them were apt to be adulterated
with ingredients which sacrifice health to cheapness. Yeah. All, all
(20:17):
of this was all coming up during the time when
UM refrigeration technology was improving to the point where it
could be mobile and financially accessible. UM. And also when
simultaneously all of these like like deep food safety concerns
and movements surrounding the industrialization of food, We're really coming
to a head. Yeah, and Good Humor had a strategy
(20:38):
to combat those concerns, those health and safety concerns, particularly
when it came wary parents, Um, remind people of hospital
orally that's why the drivers they wore these all white
uniforms and complete with white caps that they were required
to tip when they sold things to female customers. And yes,
(20:59):
and to ninety seven the drivers were all men. You know,
that is a I guess, I guess I never put
that together that that's totally what those uniforms look like. Yeah,
they look super crisp. If you saw that out of
context in a horror movie, you'd be like, Okay, I've
been watching too many horror movies. I'm sorry. Um, but no,
(21:23):
don't know when whenever you see like like a crisp
white shirt in a certain type of thing, you're like, oh,
there's going to be a blood peck, right right, But
hospitals in general or not horror movies, just in this
particular context, it is very super white, super crisp. Yeah, yeah,
(21:46):
I love it. I like interesting marketing move. Oh absolutely,
you want to sell ice cream remind people of hospitals?
Go what okay? Sure, so you two have worked Uh
and meanwhile, business during this time, um, not up into
the sixties, but more in the you know, twenties, might
(22:07):
have been boosted by prohibition, UM, as some former brewers
were turning to um to create ice cream during the time. Yes,
and all of this together was a very successful venture,
to the tune of fourteen million sales just out of
New York and Chicago by two and a driver could
(22:28):
make a hundred dollars in commissions a week, which is
the modern equivalent of eighteen hundred dollars. And this was
during the Great Depression. So yeah. The trucks and their
drivers often became parts of neighborhoods of their communities. There
(22:48):
was no passenger side door on these trucks, so the
drivers would often get out and open the refrigeration unit
in the back, speaking to the crowd that had gathered
excited about getting there. Their tree gets drawn out by
the bells, and neighbors would talk and laugh together, maybe
even me for the first time. UM. It was something
people looked forward to where get together as neighborhood get
(23:11):
togethers and parties and sleepovers for children were planned. UM
friendships formed. I read a lot of really, UM, I
keep saying sweet, but it's true, sweet articles about this
about people who have these memories and made these friendships
around the ice cream truck. Well, yeah, and this was
actually a part of the Good Humor strategy to deal
(23:34):
with those concerns around safety and health while also increasing
sales because by following the same route, establishing routine and
familiarity UM, and this expectation among children something to look
forward to, UM helped build their customer base. Sure, yes,
and there are a lot of stories about sort of
(23:55):
this dedication almost mythical status of the ice career man.
And again, according to mental Flasp, when a New York
Good Humor driver switched up his route, five hundred children
signed a petition for him to switch it back. What
oh my heck, yes, wow, I mean that's some power
(24:19):
right there. That that is good for those kids. They
came together for the ice cream truck. They did, Yes,
important causes. UM. A fleet of two thousand trucks roamed
the country by the nineteen fifties, and they did make
most of their sales to children under twelve. Makes sense,
and one Unilever purchased Good Humor after competitor Mr Softie
(24:45):
debut step bands that eliminated the need to get out
of the vehicle. So, like you said earlier, Lauren, the
driver could just step into the back into the freezer unit,
slide open a window and sell products from there. Um
it was easier. Good Humor did that set up soon
after and started retiring their trucks. The Mr. Softie truck
(25:06):
the step fan was the idea of William and James
Conway at Philadelphia and at the time sawcerve was really
popular and they wanted that too. They wanted to bring
that popularity to the streets, and they did on St.
Patrick's Day NFT six, handing out green colored sauce serve. However,
the trucks and machines weren't without their issues, getting overheated,
(25:30):
shutting down. Um. But through a handful of experiments, they
improved the design and functionality. It only took two years
for them to start franchising. That's how successful they were. Yeah,
only that in nineteen sixty they hired an advertising company
to write them a jingle called Mr. Softie Parentheses Jingle
and chimes. Uh. Speaking of those jingles and chimes. Um. Meanwhile,
(25:56):
the Nicols Electronics Company started up in Minnesota in nineteen
fifty seven. Um. They are, I believe to this day
in the United States anyway, the biggest makers of electronic
music boxes for ice cream checks. M Well, it turns
out that these vans weren't free of health issues, so
the company was stopped with two forty four Good humor
(26:19):
Um charges of manipulating records to cover up high levels
of cauliform bacteria in the products in New York City
in nineteen seventy five. Yeah yeah, yeah. The indictment alleged
that of the products sold between nineteen seventy two and
nineteen seventy five, ten percent of them weren't up to code,
and they specifically called out the production facility in Queens,
(26:40):
reporting that it was quote not securely protected from dirt, dust,
insects and parts thereof, and from all injurious contamination. Oh
yeah yeah. This was holded in a fine to the
company of eighty five thousand dollars and they were required
to tighten quality control and modernize all their facilities. Perhaps
(27:00):
because of this, Good Humor was out of the ice
cream truck fan business by pivoting instead to focus on
grocery store sales. However, some of the drivers didn't get
this memo are They just ignored it and continued to
go on their roots with their good humor vans. What yes, yes,
(27:24):
I'm such. Person who did this was Joseph Viardi out
of White Plains, New York. He had been doing his
roots since the fifties, and in nineteen seventy six he
purchased the trick from Good Humor. He was such an
important and adored part of the community that when he
died in twelve, the town celebrated Good Humor Joe Day
on August six. Oh yeah, um uh. Meanwhile again, um,
(27:54):
back to the music part. Um, those electronic music players
and in chime systems for ice cream trucks. Um, where
we're developing fast um. By six there was a machine
called the Harmony sixteen that offered three note harmonies, very
fancy and a choice of a hundred and fifty tunes. Right,
(28:15):
um and yeah. The creators of these kind of things,
we're just really savvy about that like nostalgic plinky music
box sound, and tried to replicate it. Yeah. Um, And
ice cream truck innovation continues. You've got trucks selling gourmet flavors.
I read about an ice cream karioke truck. Karmo. What
(28:36):
oh man, I want a popsicle and some karaoke in
a in a van outside of my house that I
feel like I neighbors don't want that. The closest I
got to that was, Oh, what an embarrassing time for me.
It was middle school and you could get a free
(28:59):
oh oh, it was just like, I don't even remember
what it is, so I shouldn't have done it. But
it was something like free prize from one of those
booths at six Flags, okay. And the way you got
it was you had to sing karaoke on the stage
in front of everybody, and I sang Vanessa Carlton's one
Thousand Miles and I butchered it, and it was yeah
(29:23):
you did that's hey, But I did get the prize.
Even if I can't remember what it was, I think
the embarrassment of that memory has blocked out anything that
came after, any any positive Yeah. Yeah, well I learned
(29:44):
from my mistakes. If you're gonna sing karaoke on a
stage in front of a lot of people, make sure
it's for a really worthwhile free prize. Yes, because was
it really free? My dignity? Oh no? Um uh but yes?
(30:06):
Ice ice cream trucks these days? Do you all all
kinds of wacky stuff? Yeah, there's I saw things about
about savory flavored ice cream from these trucks. Yeah, milkshakes,
hand dipped cones, slushes, sodas, shaved ice, shave ice difference,
vegan options, booze boozy options. Really yeah, yeah, where is
(30:30):
that ice cream? Not? Not in my face right now?
And that's very sad. Um In I discovered as I
was probably miss googling things, um uh, a horror film
called The ice Cream Truck came out um and from
(30:50):
what I understand from the trailer, it appears that the
storyline features a local neighborhood ice cream truck driver who
is a word. Are not the truck, not the truck,
the dude? Yeah, the driver. Yeah, but they make really
(31:11):
good use of that crisp white uniform. Oh see blood splatter.
Amazon Prime has been pushing this movie at me for years, really,
and I have not watched it, but and a part
of me is offended. In the other part of me like, yeah,
you're right, you know me, algorithm. Yeah, the trailer does
(31:32):
look awful and like the Google the Google play reviews
are kind of full of these people going like, how
do I get a refund? Oh no, oh no, But
I will say that the poster art is beautiful. It's
this big ice cream cone with pink ice cream, and
(31:52):
the pink ice cream is filled with these screaming faces
and the skull and like a hand with a knife,
like like made out of ice cream. It's it is
pretty spectacular. It's really I think it's really lovely. Um
and uh and I hope that all of everyone who
(32:12):
is involved with creating it is having a nice time.
Yeah yeah. Um. In twenty nineteen, Nissan debut and electric
ice cream van in collaboration with this family owned Scottish
dairy called Mackey's of Scotland. Um. Because apparently there's been
some like kerfuffle over diesel powered ice cream vans um
(32:35):
over in the UK and the pollution that they cause
in municipalities around there because uh because yeah, you know,
in order to keep those those freezer units cold, um,
the trucks often sit with the engine idling during stops
and so there's this concerned They've haven't even been banned
in a few places, so yeah, uh you know, wow
(32:57):
mhm electric vehicles. Yeah yeah, And speaking of kerfuffle there, um,
there's been uh some of that over ice cream trucks
continuing to operate during the pandemic shot shut down. Um
like Mr Softie, like Loki asked its drivers to discontinue service.
(33:18):
But since they're franchise ease like corporate, couldn't really stop them.
Like they do what they want. Yeah, they do what
they want. It's like Loki, Um for soft Day, franchisees
do what they want. I mean Mr Softy, now that
you mentioned it. Also it does sound like a villain
(33:40):
um superhero universe. So yeah, yea yeah, oh yeah, he's
like the cigarette smoking man or something. Mr soft Yeah.
I like it. I like it. Um. And and this
brings us Yeah, probably a lot of you were waiting
(34:01):
when this would come up. So warning for a lot
of historical racism here. Um okay. So, as of August,
Riza of the Wu Tang Clan partnered with Good Humor
to write a new ice cream truck jingle to replace
one of the most used jingles called Turkey and the Straw. Um.
This song goes back to and it also goes back
(34:24):
to one of the most racist songs in American history,
by some accounts, the most racist song. Um. The title,
the original title is so racist. I am not going
to say it and now horrifically offensive. It's like stomach
churning racist yep. The song's tune was almost identical to
(34:44):
a well known nineteenth century song called Turkey This Drop,
which in itself came from an older British song called
the Old Rose Tree, lyrics of which were adapted by
Scottish and Irish immigrants settling along the Appleachian Trail. However,
the song didn't really cement itself in the lines of
most Americans until they heard it as a part of
traveling blackface minstrel shows. By the twenties, the tune had
(35:07):
been co opted by these shows with super racist lyrics
um zivity doo dab eventually derived from all this as well. Uh.
These minstrel songs were frequently played in ice cream shops,
and when ice cream trucks took off, their radios played
them too. Yeah, and you've probably heard this. It all
went viral with an article written by Theodore R. Johnson
(35:30):
the third for MPR called recalled the ice cream chuck
song we have Unpleasant News for you in Yeah, that
was the first time I had heard of it, and
I was like, oh, oh no, uh, and it was
I think it was in the midst of like just
lots of other stuff going on, and I was like,
really like ice cream trucks too, Yeah yeah yeah um
(35:57):
so yeah, that um terribly tainted piece of music. Um
is now being withdrawn from the repertoire of these music
boxes that companies like Nichols Um sell to ice cream
trucks for use, which is really great. Um and uh
and I'm I'm so, I'm absolutely so delighted that Risa
(36:21):
teamed up with Good Humor to to produce a new one. Yes,
and I really dig it. I think it's great. No, yeah, No,
it's really good. It's really good. I oh man, I
was like late to this recording. I was telling Annie
and Andrew that, yeah, like because I was just watching
so many interviews with A talking about ice cream trucks. Yeah,
(36:42):
and he shared like his experiences with them growing up
and being so excited as a kid. Um yeah yeah.
So definitely check those out and check the song oh
yeah yeah yeah and it and it does incorporate that
same like music box kind of sound, so so it's
really cool. Yep. So that's about what we have to
(37:04):
say on ice cream trucks. I feel like we've gone
through a wild adventure here. Uh huh, yeah, we we do.
We do have some listener mail for you, but first
we've got one more quick break forward from our sponsor
(37:27):
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with listener man. It's hard to make plinky
music box. You're saying something yeah, and it's hard to
synchronize that um with someone over an internet delayed Skype chat,
(37:50):
but you're doing We'll live on just like my karaoke performance,
well live on perfect. I was trying to with my
fingers communicate, but it's just hard sometimes. I'm also I'm
not that musically inclined, so I don't I've like never
(38:10):
taken like direction from from you know, from a conductor. Yeah,
maybe I should incorporate. I mean, it's pretty simple. I
could teach you and then I'll incorporate that and these
will elevate even more. I'm sure elevate is exactly the word. Yes,
(38:31):
yes it is. Um Brittany wrote. I checked up when
I saw that you were doing an episode on kool
Aid because my partner was just telling me about a
conspiracy theory video he saw about the kool Aid Man.
Since the kool Aid Man is canonically part of the
Marvel universe. Someone actually went through and tallied up all
his powers based on the commercials and video games to
(38:54):
rank him in comparison to other Marvel characters. Apparently the
kool aid And is powerful. I'm a level of fanos,
I thought, and he might be interested in the kool
Aid Man's potential as an Avenger or Marvel villain. Yes,
I am. Oh my gosh, yes, oh I love this
(39:16):
and I also love um how many of you have
sent in cool fulu art? Yes, whether you found it
or made on your own, it's amazing it is You've
are so talented. Yes, all of it is so good,
so good. Um. And yeah just on just on Twitter today,
uh we got we got a D and D monster
(39:41):
that someone wrote up the Blade Man cool Yeah yeah
um and also also yeah, just just like a little
piece of art questioning whether the kool Aid Man is
the Jug or the kool Aid Know. That really threw me.
I gotta admit, um, it kind of disturbed me more
(40:04):
than I was expecting. Yeah. We just have so many
unanswered questions here we do. Um, and there's just you know,
I don't know if there's an appropriate expert in this
to to turn to. I think this is one of
those questions that you just have you have to answer
(40:25):
for yourself. Oh no, I can't go down that rabbit hole.
I'll never come out. I have to find a new host.
Well happen to Annie? She went down the kool Aid
rabbit hole? No, she's still thinking about kool Aid. I
don't know. I have like one of my conspiracy like
(40:49):
bread boards. Yeah, oh no, that is not what I
need right now. No, no, no, no, nobody I suspect
nobody needs at um. Well, well, okay, come come away
with me. Because because Brooke wrote um as a Southerner,
I had to pause the Strawberry episode to laugh and
(41:11):
wonder how the heck Lauren was able to say the
term for strawberry fragrance uh for Rannie all without hearing
in a thick Southern drawl for Rannie y'all. That's my
new cheers that I want my life for Rannie y'all.
And I'll be like, are you talking about the strawberry fragrance? All?
(41:34):
Me be a real winner every every time? Yeah yeah
uh uh. Brook also said um as one D and
D fantasy loving nerd to another. Thank you so much
for for all the hard work. Thank you for listening. Yes,
(41:58):
thank you, I'm so glad Nerdy tangents resonates with some
people at least. Yeah, well, I I strongly suspect that
anyone for whom they do not resonate has has loved,
has has either chosen to just like be amused about
them and not comment, or yes, has shown themselves the
(42:18):
podcast door. It's all good. We have wonderful listeners right
here with us. Yes, yes, um, thanks to both of
them for writing. If you'd like to write to us,
you can, and we would love to hear from you.
Our email is hello at savor pod dot com, and
we are also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram at savor pod in
(42:39):
all three places, and we would love to hear from you.
Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
to my Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagin
and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
hope that lots more good things are coming your way,
Hello, I'm welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we're
talking about ice cream trucks we are, which is a
pretty frequent listener suggestion. Yeah, yeah, well well here here
you go. Finally, yes, finally, if you ask, and you
(00:28):
shall eventually eventually. Yes, our list is quite long. But um,
I personally don't have much experience with ice cream trucks.
There was a period of time when I was the producer,
the video producer for stuff I Never told you, and
filming was constantly, like unbelievably frequently interrupted by an ice
(00:53):
cream truck and like the jingle over its loudspeakers. Yeah,
and it never stopped. And we could never figure out
why it was back there, because it's not like we
were filming in a pretty secluded area where there's mostly
artists in business. Like, there's not all kids out there,
that is for sure, there's barely a road out there. Um,
(01:14):
but it happened enough that I did a mega cut
video of outtakes of it and of the house. Christen
getting increasingly more furious. I'm gonna like confront the ice creab.
Oh wow, yeah, yeah, I wonder if that's still something
(01:35):
she deals with. I should check in. Und I don't
think I've ever actually bought something from an ice cream shuck. No,
I really didn't like a lot of the stuff they
had to offer. Like it was fine, but it wasn't
something I was super excited about. But when I was
in elementary school, I did like, Um, on Fridays we
had like ice cream Days, and every now and then
(02:00):
I would splurge and get the Snoopy Bar, which was
essentially just vanilla and chocolate ice cream on a stick.
And I'm still uncertain of how it stayed on that stick.
But it's a mystery mystery of current history. Uh yeah,
how some of those um quiescently frozen desserts are constructed
(02:24):
would definitely be a subject for another day. Um, I've
I've purchased things from ice cream trucks a small handful
of times in my life, I think, mostly um when
I it would have happened when I was staying with
my my grandparents up in East Liverpool, Ohio, which, now
(02:45):
that I've done the research for this episode, I'm like, oh,
that's like right near Youngstown. It's like a suburb of Youngstown,
so that that that's coming up in the history section later.
So maybe that's why ice cream trucks are more prevalent
up there, like more or I don't know, Like I mean,
you know, I don't know. I've lived in any number
of neighborhoods that have had ice cream trucks come through.
(03:07):
The kind of Doppler effect that you get on the
music that they play really trips me out. I really
don't like it. It's very creepy to me. Oh well,
speaking of um, the very first thing I thought of
when we were doing this is ice cream trucks also
kind of freaked me out. And I think it's primarily
(03:28):
because of the demon ice cream truck from Charmed, the
television show, the ninety nineties version, and it really really
made an impact. Like I watched the entire show multiple times,
but there's only a handful of episodes that really stand
out to me, and this one, for whatever reason, it did.
(03:50):
And so it was this ice cream truck that lured
demon children with a song called the Devil's Cord, and
inside the ice cream truck was a pocket to mention
called the Nothing, which manifested as a snowy mostly empty playground. Okay, yes,
and the nothing consumes and destroys everything it encounters, as
(04:13):
you might imagine, the ice cream Man is immortal and
he they both of these things get an entry into
the Book of Shadows, which is a big deal for
anyone who's listened to that show. Actually, it's probably not,
because I think everything gets an entry in the book
of show. It's like the setup of that show. But
I um uh so. So when we were picking this topic,
(04:36):
I was like, oh, like Annie like had like this
big list of stuff, and I was like, oh, maybe
ice cream trucks and uh and she goes, okay. But
if you think I'm not talking about that Charmed episode,
you are wrong. And and I've never watched I've watched
like an episode of that show in my entire life.
So I was like, I don't, I will, I want
(04:58):
you to, and thank you are doing so, thank you
for letting me. I tell you. I still think about this,
probably at least once a month of that ice cream
truck episode. I don't know why. I don't know. Um,
I do remember as a kid. I think I must
have grown up in like that era of you know,
Stranger Danger. I think it was weird like that you
(05:19):
would hear this music, go up to a strange van
and essentially take candy from stranger like buy it. And
I know you're essentially doing the same thing when you
buy from a story. It just felt odd to me,
like like there's a siren song uring you out. And
I think that thought just really connected that charmed episode.
It's like see oh yeah, yeah, there's something kind of
(05:42):
like goblin market e about the entire thing, isn't there. Yeah? Yeah,
another um nineties horror comedy television news. Yeah, and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer. Zander Um has a job as an
ice cream truck driver for a while. Oh, I don't
(06:02):
remember that. I think it was in season four, like
right after they graduate. Xander's picking up all of these
odd jobs, and that's one that he has for a while. Um,
I don't. I don't think Anya entirely understands it. That's
that's that's what I remember of it anyway, Yeah, yeah,
I do. I do have one very excellent memory of
(06:25):
ice cream trucks, though, and that is um, when uh,
two of my dear friends Amy and Mark were getting married,
they were having like a little like a little backyard wedding,
and it was it was kind of casual, and it
was it was you know, beautiful and nice and hydranges
in this whole thing. And but since it was you know,
in a residential backyard. UM, at one point in the
(06:45):
middle of this lovely afternoon wedding, we hear the ice
cream truck jingle and like, all of a sudden, like
the entire wedding party like stops what they're doing and
like and like runs out to the front and like
everyone gets ice cream bars and it it was really
it was really sweet. Oh that sounds lovely. Yeah. They
(07:09):
had some really good like Marvel themed bars too, and
their nerds, so it was, Yes, it was good. Yeah,
I do like those. I appreciate those. UM. And we
have done an episode on the ice Cream Sunday which
was a very goofy one, but very fun. We got
to read a lot of intense legal documents about ice
cream Sunday. UM. And we've done one on ice which
(07:32):
actually does play into a lot of this UM and milkshakes.
But correct me if I'm wrong. We haven't done ice cream,
have we? No, not that I'm personally aware of. UM,
don't anything could have happened. Um. Yeah, yeah, no, that
that's I think that's one that I keep going like
not today, Like that's too much. It is a lot,
(07:55):
It very much is one day, but one day not today.
Today we are talking about a different thing. And that
brings us to our question ice cream trucks. What are they? Well? Uh?
And ice cream truck is a motor vehicle fitted with
a refrigeration unit so that it can keep frozen treats
(08:17):
like ice cream, uh, frozen. The driver might make multiple
stops around neighborhoods or places with foot traffic to find
potential customers, or might be flagged down by pedestrians to
purchase said frozen treats. The products are often individually wrapped
and industrially produced. Um. But they can also include any
any number of things soft serve pumps or hand dipping stations.
(08:41):
You know. Any I I read some things about some
ice cream nachos. Oh, I've read ice cream nachos. Yeah, yeah,
that sounds amazing. Um. But yeah. The trucks, as we
have been saying, often project music over a loudspeaker sound
system to alert potential customers to their presence. Actual trucks
(09:05):
and vans and minibusses are all used, many specially fitted
with with windows so that the driver can serve the
treats without like leaving the truck. Slide the window open. Yeah. Um.
Sometimes the trucks are owned by a central company and
the drivers are like independent contractors who just like go
pick up a truck on days that they choose to work. Um.
Other times the truck owners are franchise ease. It all depends.
(09:27):
I bet the the truck franchisees, like if it's parked
out in your driveway, I bet some kids come around
some questions. Oh yeah, oh, I bet me a deal. Um, well, uh,
what about the nutrition? You don't eat trucks, don't I
(09:49):
feel like the second time we've told people not to
eat something that Yeah, good, good revine dirt, don't eat.
Don't eat trucks or vans or minibusses. Um, don't do it. Yeah,
I'm sure there's some sort of like Superhero. I mean,
(10:10):
did the Hulk ever take a bite out of I
mean probably at the very least he probably like like
bit one and then like shook it like a dog, yeah,
and then spare it out. Yeah. Okay, so unless you
got your gut that going on. Just I'd say even then,
I'd say even even then, Bruce Banner, if you are
(10:34):
listening to this, um Dr Banner, you know, I would
say don't, probably don't. This message is for the whole
Bruce Banner. We're just looking out for you, are you know,
dental health is really important to your overall health. Um,
(10:55):
and I'm just trying to keep those chompers, uh, you know,
whole and and clean. Um you know. Yeah, it's really
as little tire rubber as possible. Yeah, avoid Yeah, all right, Well,
we're just trying to help, just trying to help. We
(11:15):
do have some numbers for you. Mr Softie has about
seven hundred trucks in fifteen states, operated by four hundred franchisees.
And I found it hard to find other, uh to
find other numbers on how many ice cream trucks are
are out there. Um, I looked, maybe I was maybe
I was miss googling. I feel like sometimes, yeah, I've
(11:37):
I've mis googled before. Yeah. Yeah, it does sound like
some people kind of don't really report that they have them,
which we're going to talk about more in the history bit. Yeah,
but yeah, that is really interesting. You would think it
would be pretty readily available information, right, yeah, well okay,
but so anyway, Yeah, I'm According to two drivers who
(11:59):
spoke with their the'se over at Mental Floss, sales of
ice cream from ice cream trucks actually goes down when
it's super hot outside because people aren't hanging around outside.
Yeah that makes sense, that makes Yeah. They say that
the perfect temperature is seventy degrees fahrenheit. Oh that is
a lovely temperature and it well, I I agree in general. Yes,
(12:22):
there is a Guinness record for the largest parade of
ice cream trucks um. That is from in the UK,
in which eight four vans participated in an ice cream
ice cream van parade. Ice cream van parade. Yeah, ice
cream van is the term over there. That's I just
(12:45):
find that very funny. I mean, were they hanging out
where they selling ice cream? I'm not I'm not entirely sure.
I saw that it happened, and I think that they
were all in one place for like an ice cream
truck convention, um, like a stream convention to talk about like,
you know, technology and I don't know, like sure, you know,
trade secrets whatever. It is the record for the longest
(13:08):
stint as an ice cream truck driver is sixty seven
years held by one Alan Gans of Massachusetts, um and
he says that he met his wife at an ice
cream parlor back in the day. Oh so sweet. All right, well,
we have a lot of history for you, gosh, we do.
(13:30):
But first we've got a quick break for a word
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you. And I wanted to start this one with
a shout out to John Dickey's article for Smithsonian from
(13:51):
July called how the ice Cream Truck Made Summer Cool
for being just so helpful and putting together this one.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, really good piece. Go go check
it out. Great work, absolutely so. For a long time,
due to the difficulty of procuring ice, the lack of
refrigeration and expensive ingredients, ice cream was mostly relegated to
(14:14):
the rich. That began to change in the eighteen hundreds
when the ice industry really took off again. You can
see our ice episode, which I have very fond memories
of because it gave us the excuse to look up
Arnold Schwarzenegger's best slash worst puns as Mr Freeze. Remember
that we spent like twenty minutes on. Oh gosh, we
did that was that was I think that was one
of those um ad breaks that we actually took in
(14:36):
the studio and we were just looking up these designs.
Had not seen it at the time. Oh right, I've
seen it now. But everyone was like, these are your
these puns if you you need to hear them, and
I agree, I agree, Um, so you I have fond
(14:57):
memories of it. Unfortunately it didn't make into the episode.
But you can look them up yourself. They're pretty good.
You can, you can, yes, all right. So at the
same time as the ice industry is taking off, UM,
there were innovations like hand cranke ice cream makers. For
those that couldn't afford those, there was another option, buying
ice cream products from push cart vendors primarily operated by immigrants.
(15:20):
According to Mental floss Um ice Cream, these treats were
associated with Independence Day by the eighteen thirties in the
United States, so these carts um were cheaper to operate
than a brick and mortar and more able to fly
under the radar when it came to health standards. UM,
and they sold treats like Hokey Pokey, the Hokey pokey,
(15:44):
which was a bite sized Neapolitan wrapped in paper and
something else called a penny look. This was basically a
substitute for ice cream crones, which didn't exist yet. Customers
would get their ice cream in a glass, which they
then licks clean or right there, or turned to the vendor,
who dipped it in a pail of water and then
used to the same glass for the next customer. M hmm, yeah, yep,
(16:09):
the penny look. One of the most beloved and popular
treats was the ice cream sandwich, a treat that broke
down social barriers in a lot of ways. There are
a lot of articles written about this. Um the rich
and poor, people of all all classes would purchase these
treets and eat them outside alongside each other. Well yeah,
and by this point, these carts were often equipped with
(16:32):
noisemakers to get people's attention. UM chimes and bells, um
and and clockwork music boxes, sometimes coin operated, so the
kids would have a little extra thing to do. Um
and and so that that kind of plinky music box
kind of kind of simple melody like often songs from
nursery rhymes or or other tunes that kids would know.
(16:55):
UM became associated with ice cream from this very early time,
and if we look at the history of the ice
cream truck in particular, it is something of a legend um.
The story often starts with Harry Burt, Sr. Who was
a confectioner in Youngstown, Ohio. In nineteen twenty. He was
(17:16):
testing one of his new innovations, a slab of vanilla
ice cream and case in a layer of chocolate, by
having his kids taste it. The consensus from his daughter
Ruth was good, but it's too messy to eat, and
in response, his son Henry Burt Jr. Offered, why not
put it on a stick? Problem, Solf, that's all you
gotta do. I mean, so the legend goes, so it goes.
(17:41):
And this was a logical suggestion from Burt Junior because
his father had already created a hard candy lollipop on
a stick that he dubbed the Jolly Boy. Ice Cream
on a stick hadn't really been done before, though, so
when he put his ice cream on a wooden stick,
he ended up with two U S. Patents for the process,
and this led to his invention the Good Humor Bar,
(18:03):
which in turn led to a rivalry for the ages
with the previously developed, like right along the same time,
I scream bar, I scream okay, not ice cream. I
scream okay, yeah, oh oh, Halloween themed ice cream truck.
(18:27):
Oh okay, I'll think about that later senior years. Innovations
didn't stop there. After seeing the booms and fast food
and automobiles that was happening in the U S at
the time, he invested in a twelve refrigerated trucks. He
was one of the first ice cream vendors to move
from push carts to motorized vehicles. This allowed him to
(18:49):
expand his business because now his salesman could cover more
ground more quickly. And it's also spawned numerous imitators and
was very impactful on the American eating landscape. UM and
part kick starting the food truck. It was part of
that at least and in summer eating in particular. Here
how we thought about that in the United States. UM
(19:12):
so that the Good Humor truck design was a white
refrigeration capable pickup truck with the Good Humor logo on
the side, and it was equipped with bells to announce
their arrival. And this design was finalized in the late
nineteen twenties. UM and Yeah, nostalgia for very particular types
(19:33):
of bells and and chimes and music box tunes was
already firmly in place at this point. UM, So the
first trucks would have would have kept those, um, those
old familiar things going. Yes, and these trucks were a
step up from the push cart in numerous ways. One
of the big ones was safety. UM. The refrigeration technology
(19:53):
was far better than the push carts, thus allowing for
a better quality and safer product. Ice Cream sold from
push carts had been linked to several cases of food poisoning.
The Confectioner's Journal sided this concern when someone wrote that
they were products from them were apt to be adulterated
with ingredients which sacrifice health to cheapness. Yeah. All, all
(20:17):
of this was all coming up during the time when
UM refrigeration technology was improving to the point where it
could be mobile and financially accessible. UM. And also when
simultaneously all of these like like deep food safety concerns
and movements surrounding the industrialization of food, We're really coming
to a head. Yeah, and Good Humor had a strategy
(20:38):
to combat those concerns, those health and safety concerns, particularly
when it came wary parents, Um, remind people of hospital
orally that's why the drivers they wore these all white
uniforms and complete with white caps that they were required
to tip when they sold things to female customers. And yes,
(20:59):
and to ninety seven the drivers were all men. You know,
that is a I guess, I guess I never put
that together that that's totally what those uniforms look like. Yeah,
they look super crisp. If you saw that out of
context in a horror movie, you'd be like, Okay, I've
been watching too many horror movies. I'm sorry. Um, but no,
(21:23):
don't know when whenever you see like like a crisp
white shirt in a certain type of thing, you're like, oh,
there's going to be a blood peck, right right, But
hospitals in general or not horror movies, just in this
particular context, it is very super white, super crisp. Yeah, yeah,
(21:46):
I love it. I like interesting marketing move. Oh absolutely,
you want to sell ice cream remind people of hospitals?
Go what okay? Sure, so you two have worked Uh
and meanwhile, business during this time, um, not up into
the sixties, but more in the you know, twenties, might
(22:07):
have been boosted by prohibition, UM, as some former brewers
were turning to um to create ice cream during the time. Yes,
and all of this together was a very successful venture,
to the tune of fourteen million sales just out of
New York and Chicago by two and a driver could
(22:28):
make a hundred dollars in commissions a week, which is
the modern equivalent of eighteen hundred dollars. And this was
during the Great Depression. So yeah. The trucks and their
drivers often became parts of neighborhoods of their communities. There
(22:48):
was no passenger side door on these trucks, so the
drivers would often get out and open the refrigeration unit
in the back, speaking to the crowd that had gathered
excited about getting there. Their tree gets drawn out by
the bells, and neighbors would talk and laugh together, maybe
even me for the first time. UM. It was something
people looked forward to where get together as neighborhood get
(23:11):
togethers and parties and sleepovers for children were planned. UM
friendships formed. I read a lot of really, UM, I
keep saying sweet, but it's true, sweet articles about this
about people who have these memories and made these friendships
around the ice cream truck. Well, yeah, and this was
actually a part of the Good Humor strategy to deal
(23:34):
with those concerns around safety and health while also increasing
sales because by following the same route, establishing routine and
familiarity UM, and this expectation among children something to look
forward to, UM helped build their customer base. Sure, yes,
and there are a lot of stories about sort of
(23:55):
this dedication almost mythical status of the ice career man.
And again, according to mental Flasp, when a New York
Good Humor driver switched up his route, five hundred children
signed a petition for him to switch it back. What
oh my heck, yes, wow, I mean that's some power
(24:19):
right there. That that is good for those kids. They
came together for the ice cream truck. They did, Yes,
important causes. UM. A fleet of two thousand trucks roamed
the country by the nineteen fifties, and they did make
most of their sales to children under twelve. Makes sense,
and one Unilever purchased Good Humor after competitor Mr Softie
(24:45):
debut step bands that eliminated the need to get out
of the vehicle. So, like you said earlier, Lauren, the
driver could just step into the back into the freezer unit,
slide open a window and sell products from there. Um
it was easier. Good Humor did that set up soon
after and started retiring their trucks. The Mr. Softie truck
(25:06):
the step fan was the idea of William and James
Conway at Philadelphia and at the time sawcerve was really
popular and they wanted that too. They wanted to bring
that popularity to the streets, and they did on St.
Patrick's Day NFT six, handing out green colored sauce serve. However,
the trucks and machines weren't without their issues, getting overheated,
(25:30):
shutting down. Um. But through a handful of experiments, they
improved the design and functionality. It only took two years
for them to start franchising. That's how successful they were. Yeah,
only that in nineteen sixty they hired an advertising company
to write them a jingle called Mr. Softie Parentheses Jingle
and chimes. Uh. Speaking of those jingles and chimes. Um. Meanwhile,
(25:56):
the Nicols Electronics Company started up in Minnesota in nineteen
fifty seven. Um. They are, I believe to this day
in the United States anyway, the biggest makers of electronic
music boxes for ice cream checks. M Well, it turns
out that these vans weren't free of health issues, so
the company was stopped with two forty four Good humor
(26:19):
Um charges of manipulating records to cover up high levels
of cauliform bacteria in the products in New York City
in nineteen seventy five. Yeah yeah, yeah. The indictment alleged
that of the products sold between nineteen seventy two and
nineteen seventy five, ten percent of them weren't up to code,
and they specifically called out the production facility in Queens,
(26:40):
reporting that it was quote not securely protected from dirt, dust,
insects and parts thereof, and from all injurious contamination. Oh
yeah yeah. This was holded in a fine to the
company of eighty five thousand dollars and they were required
to tighten quality control and modernize all their facilities. Perhaps
(27:00):
because of this, Good Humor was out of the ice
cream truck fan business by pivoting instead to focus on
grocery store sales. However, some of the drivers didn't get
this memo are They just ignored it and continued to
go on their roots with their good humor vans. What yes, yes,
(27:24):
I'm such. Person who did this was Joseph Viardi out
of White Plains, New York. He had been doing his
roots since the fifties, and in nineteen seventy six he
purchased the trick from Good Humor. He was such an
important and adored part of the community that when he
died in twelve, the town celebrated Good Humor Joe Day
on August six. Oh yeah, um uh. Meanwhile again, um,
(27:54):
back to the music part. Um, those electronic music players
and in chime systems for ice cream trucks. Um, where
we're developing fast um. By six there was a machine
called the Harmony sixteen that offered three note harmonies, very
fancy and a choice of a hundred and fifty tunes. Right,
(28:15):
um and yeah. The creators of these kind of things,
we're just really savvy about that like nostalgic plinky music
box sound, and tried to replicate it. Yeah. Um, And
ice cream truck innovation continues. You've got trucks selling gourmet flavors.
I read about an ice cream karioke truck. Karmo. What
(28:36):
oh man, I want a popsicle and some karaoke in
a in a van outside of my house that I
feel like I neighbors don't want that. The closest I
got to that was, Oh, what an embarrassing time for me.
It was middle school and you could get a free
(28:59):
oh oh, it was just like, I don't even remember
what it is, so I shouldn't have done it. But
it was something like free prize from one of those
booths at six Flags, okay. And the way you got
it was you had to sing karaoke on the stage
in front of everybody, and I sang Vanessa Carlton's one
Thousand Miles and I butchered it, and it was yeah
(29:23):
you did that's hey, But I did get the prize.
Even if I can't remember what it was, I think
the embarrassment of that memory has blocked out anything that
came after, any any positive Yeah. Yeah, well I learned
(29:44):
from my mistakes. If you're gonna sing karaoke on a
stage in front of a lot of people, make sure
it's for a really worthwhile free prize. Yes, because was
it really free? My dignity? Oh no? Um uh but yes?
(30:06):
Ice ice cream trucks these days? Do you all all
kinds of wacky stuff? Yeah, there's I saw things about
about savory flavored ice cream from these trucks. Yeah, milkshakes,
hand dipped cones, slushes, sodas, shaved ice, shave ice difference,
vegan options, booze boozy options. Really yeah, yeah, where is
(30:30):
that ice cream? Not? Not in my face right now?
And that's very sad. Um In I discovered as I
was probably miss googling things, um uh, a horror film
called The ice Cream Truck came out um and from
(30:50):
what I understand from the trailer, it appears that the
storyline features a local neighborhood ice cream truck driver who
is a word. Are not the truck, not the truck,
the dude? Yeah, the driver. Yeah, but they make really
(31:11):
good use of that crisp white uniform. Oh see blood splatter.
Amazon Prime has been pushing this movie at me for years, really,
and I have not watched it, but and a part
of me is offended. In the other part of me like, yeah,
you're right, you know me, algorithm. Yeah, the trailer does
(31:32):
look awful and like the Google the Google play reviews
are kind of full of these people going like, how
do I get a refund? Oh no, oh no, But
I will say that the poster art is beautiful. It's
this big ice cream cone with pink ice cream, and
(31:52):
the pink ice cream is filled with these screaming faces
and the skull and like a hand with a knife,
like like made out of ice cream. It's it is
pretty spectacular. It's really I think it's really lovely. Um
and uh and I hope that all of everyone who
(32:12):
is involved with creating it is having a nice time.
Yeah yeah. Um. In twenty nineteen, Nissan debut and electric
ice cream van in collaboration with this family owned Scottish
dairy called Mackey's of Scotland. Um. Because apparently there's been
some like kerfuffle over diesel powered ice cream vans um
(32:35):
over in the UK and the pollution that they cause
in municipalities around there because uh because yeah, you know,
in order to keep those those freezer units cold, um,
the trucks often sit with the engine idling during stops
and so there's this concerned They've haven't even been banned
in a few places, so yeah, uh you know, wow
(32:57):
mhm electric vehicles. Yeah yeah, And speaking of kerfuffle there, um,
there's been uh some of that over ice cream trucks
continuing to operate during the pandemic shot shut down. Um
like Mr Softie, like Loki asked its drivers to discontinue service.
(33:18):
But since they're franchise ease like corporate, couldn't really stop them.
Like they do what they want. Yeah, they do what
they want. It's like Loki, Um for soft Day, franchisees
do what they want. I mean Mr Softy, now that
you mentioned it. Also it does sound like a villain
(33:40):
um superhero universe. So yeah, yea yeah, oh yeah, he's
like the cigarette smoking man or something. Mr soft Yeah.
I like it. I like it. Um. And and this
brings us Yeah, probably a lot of you were waiting
(34:01):
when this would come up. So warning for a lot
of historical racism here. Um okay. So, as of August,
Riza of the Wu Tang Clan partnered with Good Humor
to write a new ice cream truck jingle to replace
one of the most used jingles called Turkey and the Straw. Um.
This song goes back to and it also goes back
(34:24):
to one of the most racist songs in American history,
by some accounts, the most racist song. Um. The title,
the original title is so racist. I am not going
to say it and now horrifically offensive. It's like stomach
churning racist yep. The song's tune was almost identical to
(34:44):
a well known nineteenth century song called Turkey This Drop,
which in itself came from an older British song called
the Old Rose Tree, lyrics of which were adapted by
Scottish and Irish immigrants settling along the Appleachian Trail. However,
the song didn't really cement itself in the lines of
most Americans until they heard it as a part of
traveling blackface minstrel shows. By the twenties, the tune had
(35:07):
been co opted by these shows with super racist lyrics
um zivity doo dab eventually derived from all this as well. Uh.
These minstrel songs were frequently played in ice cream shops,
and when ice cream trucks took off, their radios played
them too. Yeah, and you've probably heard this. It all
went viral with an article written by Theodore R. Johnson
(35:30):
the third for MPR called recalled the ice cream chuck
song we have Unpleasant News for you in Yeah, that
was the first time I had heard of it, and
I was like, oh, oh no, uh, and it was
I think it was in the midst of like just
lots of other stuff going on, and I was like,
really like ice cream trucks too, Yeah yeah yeah um
(35:57):
so yeah, that um terribly tainted piece of music. Um
is now being withdrawn from the repertoire of these music
boxes that companies like Nichols Um sell to ice cream
trucks for use, which is really great. Um and uh
and I'm I'm so, I'm absolutely so delighted that Risa
(36:21):
teamed up with Good Humor to to produce a new one. Yes,
and I really dig it. I think it's great. No, yeah, No,
it's really good. It's really good. I oh man, I
was like late to this recording. I was telling Annie
and Andrew that, yeah, like because I was just watching
so many interviews with A talking about ice cream trucks. Yeah,
(36:42):
and he shared like his experiences with them growing up
and being so excited as a kid. Um yeah yeah.
So definitely check those out and check the song oh
yeah yeah yeah and it and it does incorporate that
same like music box kind of sound, so so it's
really cool. Yep. So that's about what we have to
(37:04):
say on ice cream trucks. I feel like we've gone
through a wild adventure here. Uh huh, yeah, we we do.
We do have some listener mail for you, but first
we've got one more quick break forward from our sponsor
(37:27):
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with listener man. It's hard to make plinky
music box. You're saying something yeah, and it's hard to
synchronize that um with someone over an internet delayed Skype chat,
(37:50):
but you're doing We'll live on just like my karaoke performance,
well live on perfect. I was trying to with my
fingers communicate, but it's just hard sometimes. I'm also I'm
not that musically inclined, so I don't I've like never
(38:10):
taken like direction from from you know, from a conductor. Yeah,
maybe I should incorporate. I mean, it's pretty simple. I
could teach you and then I'll incorporate that and these
will elevate even more. I'm sure elevate is exactly the word. Yes,
(38:31):
yes it is. Um Brittany wrote. I checked up when
I saw that you were doing an episode on kool
Aid because my partner was just telling me about a
conspiracy theory video he saw about the kool Aid Man.
Since the kool Aid Man is canonically part of the
Marvel universe. Someone actually went through and tallied up all
his powers based on the commercials and video games to
(38:54):
rank him in comparison to other Marvel characters. Apparently the
kool aid And is powerful. I'm a level of fanos,
I thought, and he might be interested in the kool
Aid Man's potential as an Avenger or Marvel villain. Yes,
I am. Oh my gosh, yes, oh I love this
(39:16):
and I also love um how many of you have
sent in cool fulu art? Yes, whether you found it
or made on your own, it's amazing it is You've
are so talented. Yes, all of it is so good,
so good. Um. And yeah just on just on Twitter today,
uh we got we got a D and D monster
(39:41):
that someone wrote up the Blade Man cool Yeah yeah
um and also also yeah, just just like a little
piece of art questioning whether the kool Aid Man is
the Jug or the kool Aid Know. That really threw me.
I gotta admit, um, it kind of disturbed me more
(40:04):
than I was expecting. Yeah. We just have so many
unanswered questions here we do. Um, and there's just you know,
I don't know if there's an appropriate expert in this
to to turn to. I think this is one of
those questions that you just have you have to answer
(40:25):
for yourself. Oh no, I can't go down that rabbit hole.
I'll never come out. I have to find a new host.
Well happen to Annie? She went down the kool Aid
rabbit hole? No, she's still thinking about kool Aid. I
don't know. I have like one of my conspiracy like
(40:49):
bread boards. Yeah, oh no, that is not what I
need right now. No, no, no, no, nobody I suspect
nobody needs at um. Well, well, okay, come come away
with me. Because because Brooke wrote um as a Southerner,
I had to pause the Strawberry episode to laugh and
(41:11):
wonder how the heck Lauren was able to say the
term for strawberry fragrance uh for Rannie all without hearing
in a thick Southern drawl for Rannie y'all. That's my
new cheers that I want my life for Rannie y'all.
And I'll be like, are you talking about the strawberry fragrance? All?
(41:34):
Me be a real winner every every time? Yeah yeah
uh uh. Brook also said um as one D and
D fantasy loving nerd to another. Thank you so much
for for all the hard work. Thank you for listening. Yes,
(41:58):
thank you, I'm so glad Nerdy tangents resonates with some
people at least. Yeah, well, I I strongly suspect that
anyone for whom they do not resonate has has loved,
has has either chosen to just like be amused about
them and not comment, or yes, has shown themselves the
(42:18):
podcast door. It's all good. We have wonderful listeners right
here with us. Yes, yes, um, thanks to both of
them for writing. If you'd like to write to us,
you can, and we would love to hear from you.
Our email is hello at savor pod dot com, and
we are also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram at savor pod in
(42:39):
all three places, and we would love to hear from you.
Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
to my Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagin
and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
hope that lots more good things are coming your way,
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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