Candy Sticks | Beatles memorabilia

What would make your trip to the local candy store even sweeter, knowing they didn't stock any Beatles items? Why? Because you could find the lads there…with The Beatles Candy Sticks! 

World Candies, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY) manufactured candy sticks as a tie-in promotion for Beatles cartoons on television. The candy was issued in six different variations and sold in 1" x 2½" x ⅜" boxes (approx. 68 mm tall by 22mm wide).

Each box held two sugar candy sticks and featured a cartoon Beatle on the front. The 'John' container was issued (with one eye showing) in red and (with both eyes showing) in green. A 'Paul' box was released (with him looking to his left) in orange and (with him gazing to his right) in pink; George came in yellow, and Ringo in blue. The contrasting John and Paul boxes had a slightly different cartoon picture on the front.

The back of the box advertised a 'free guitar,' letting you send in the empty boxes for a chance to win in a monthly drawing. The small print on the wrapper indicated the sticks were 'Licensed by "© 1966 NEMS Enterprises, Ltd." The label read, "Put on your own puppet show. Hand puppet of your favorite Beatle. Full-color vinyl plastic autographed by each individual Beatle star. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Geo. Harrison or Ringo Starr. Collect official Beatle puppets!" The design on the candy wrappers started to change as the "Yellow Submarine" items neared release.

Printed on the boxes was, "YEAH YEAH CANDY ~ THE BEATLES ~ 2 BEATLE CANDY STICKS ~ MANUFACTURED BY WORLD CANDIES, INC., B'KLYN, N.Y." The boxes also listed the candy's primary ingredients.

The candy sticks were sold from a retail master box (8’’ x 4¼" x 2"), which contained 50 packages (25 boxes - two candy sticks per box) and a bonus plastic "Ringo hand puppet." The master box description read, "The Beatles Yeah...Yeah...Yeah, Candy, 50 Sugar Delights".

A counter display box also held 120 counts of "The Beatles Candies - 1¢," and it measured 8¼" x 7¼" x 2". It also advertised an offer: "Hey, kids! Get in on the Guitar Sweepstakes! Free Guitar every month. See the back of box for details!"

The Ringo hand puppet caricatured the musician, sitting behind a set of drums (with a cymbal to the side) and holding drumsticks. The white, thin, plastic puppet measured 7" x 8" and contained images in black, red, and blue ink. The bass drum included "The Beatles" on the face, with Ringo's facsimile signature.

"I remember my Aunt had a big bag of candy sticks for ME to hand out to the trick-or-treaters. Not only were the sweet goodies in this bag but the color trading cards that had the Beatles diary on the back. I remember reading all of them. I handed everything out, ate some of them, and threw away the empty boxes! I don't know where she got all of them from. If I'd only had the foresight way back when. Who knew? You can never go back, but I'd sure love to..." -Richard Schneiderman.

The master box of Beatles Candy Sticks was secured with a 12" x 18" colorful cellophane/plastic wrap that sealed the Ringo hand puppet and "Win A Guitar" information. The plastic wrap held about 80 packs, and a larger box contained 120 candy boxes.

"There were two different display box designs. One was printed graphics on the box (rare), and the other featured graphics printed on a thin plastic wrapper that was then wrapped around a generic white box ( a find on these surfaced about ten years ago)

Interestingly, one plastic hand puppet was included in each display box that featured Ringo. It wasn't sold typically by store owners but advertised to be included in the package! It would just be lying there inside the display box. The candies were white sticks, similar to candy cigarettes, but these didn't have a painted red tip like those. Lastly, it advertised a contest on the back of each Candy box to win a guitar, yet no one I know or have ever talked to has any idea what this guitar was or what it looked like!" - Eric Cash

The Design

In late 1965 or January 1966, freelance package designer Joe Silvia was contacted by World Candies Inc. about developing a box and display that held candy sticks. World Candies had another company, King Features, send him cartoon character images as sample poses for the renderings. What was the piece? Why, The Beatles Candy Sticks!

Silvia's daughter, Lucille DaCosta, said: "According to his handwritten notebook that listed his freelance work for 1966, he charged them $35 for the work on the small boxes (noted in his notes as 'Beatles Small with color overlay' – February 5, 1966) and $25 for the display box (noted as 'Beatles Display with color overlay' – January 10, 1966).

He did them in his studio at his house in Brooklyn - you can recognize the poses he chose for the boxes - and afterward had brought home a whole bunch for us. He also did Batman Candy, Monster Candy, and Felix the Cat candy. It was fascinating when he worked on these since he did freelance at home. And—we had a lot of boxes of free candy!"

World Candies, Inc.

The agreement was with World Candies, 185 30th Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11232. The manufacturing license agreement predates October 1966.

World Confections, Inc. started in 1952 in Brooklyn, NY, founded by brothers Sam and Leon Cohen after WWII. The company makes most of the white candy sticks on the market today, originally sold as "candy sticks" rather than cigarettes. Their products include "Victory's," "King's," and "Lucky Lights," and the factory is still operating in Sunset Park.

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