![]() The fact that Curtiss successfully fought off a challenge to its candy bar's name does not demonstrate that the company was untruthful, however. Curtiss did indeed have to fight off at least one challenge to its name when a competitor (with the full approval of Babe Ruth) attempted to market a candy named the "Babe Ruth Home Run Bar." Curtiss, claiming that its candy bar was named for Ruth Cleveland, was successful in forcing the competing candy bar off the market because its rival's name too closely resembled that of its own product. If the Curtiss Candy Company did indeed appropriate Babe Ruth's name without permission, it would have had a motive for developing a fabricated yet believable explanation in case a challenge arose over the candy bar's name. Moreover, the notion that a candy bar called "Baby Ruth" should appear on the market just when a baseball player named Babe Ruth had suddenly become the most famous person in America is perceived as a rather striking coincidence. Naming a candy bar after the long-dead daughter of a former president would certainly be a curious choice. The claim that the "Baby Ruth" bar was named after Ruth Cleveland is found dubious by many because Ruth Cleveland died of diphtheria in 1904, over seventeen years before the "Baby Ruth" bar was first produced. Furthermore, the Curtiss Candy Company has never claimed this as an origin of its candy bar's name. The Williamson Candy Company, producer of the "Oh! Henry" bar, was a direct competitor of Curtiss' and would have been most unlikely to supply a product name and formula to a rival. Williamson being the wife of the president of the Williamson Candy Company and one of the developers of the "Baby Ruth" bar formula.Įxplanation #1 is the "official" explanation that has been proffered by the Curtiss Candy Company since the 1920s.Įxplanation #2 is the "obvious" explanation the one assumed by people who have not been exposed to any theories about the candy's origin.Įxplanation #3 is an alternate explanation proffered by syndicated columnist L.M. The bar was named for a granddaughter of Mrs.The bar was named after baseball slugger George Herman "Babe" Ruth.The bar was named after "Baby" Ruth Cleveland, the first-born daughter of President Grover Cleveland.Three explanations have since been offered concerning the origins of the "Baby Ruth" candy bar's name: Schnering named his new confection the "Baby Ruth" bar, priced it at five cents (half the cost of other bars), and soon had one of the hottest-selling candy bars on the market. This candy bar was only a moderate success until 1921, when Schnering reintroduced it as a log-shaped bar made of caramel and peanuts, covered with chocolate. The Curtiss Candy Company's first product was a confection known as Kandy Kake, which featured a pastry center topped with nuts and coated with chocolate. Schnering, who wanted a name more "American-sounding" than his own for the company (German surnames not being much of an asset during World War I), used his mother's maiden name instead. The Curtiss Candy Company was founded in Chicago in 1916 by Otto Schnering.
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