Bazooka bubble gum comics

The white envelope was pretty inconspicuous there on the auction table, because I had passed the table several times and had not noticed it.

This time, though, I was just picking up stuff – two wooden and metal needle cases, a Lionel train stoplight, a few other items I had absolutely no interest in. Anything to kill some time as I waited for the auctioneer to get to the things that mattered – to me, at least.

Then I noticed the envelope with no inscription, looking as if it had been tossed carelessly among the other hapless items. Curious, I picked it up and looked inside. At auction, I always open anything that’s closed. Who knows what someone has stashed away in a shoe box or a scrapbook or a chest – or in a plain white envelope.

Inside was a collection of Bazooka Joe bubble-gum comics. Wow! I hadn’t seen these things in years, I told my auction buddy Janet. “You could send away for the prizes,” she recalled.

Another auction-goer walked up as I pulled handfuls of the tiny comics from the envelope. He apparently had discovered them before me and was also intrigued. I pointed out very quickly that I only wanted to take photos and was not interested in buying them. What would I do with them, except reminisce?

“There’s no date on them,” he said. He was right. It was hard to tell how old they were and with that, their value.

Among the wrappers were several large comics strips in English and Spanish. I suppose it was a way to help kids learn another language.  

I remember as a child smacking on the pink wads of Bazooka bubble gum for their juicy sweetness. I can also remember stuffing two or three chunks in my mouth at a time, because the gum always tasted better by the mouthful.

I do not recall, however, ever sending off for any of the free gifts and games. Probably because I couldn’t afford the postage. But I’m sure a lot of kids did. You can still buy Bazooka gum just about anywhere, even on the web.

Bazooka has been around since after World War II, when it was first made in Brooklyn, NY, according to the website for Topps, which makes the gum. It was named after a funny-looking musical instrument called a bazooka because of the sound that it made. The Bazooka Joe and his Gang comics appeared in 1953, and there were more than 700 different comics.

The comics are known all over the world and are translated into various languages, according to wikipedia. There’s one in Hebrew in Israel, and in English and French in Canada.

Topps didn’t invent bubble gum, though. The bubble gum we know today was invented by an accountant named Walter Diemer who worked for Fleer Chewing Gum Co. in Philadelphia. In 1928, Diemer was trying out new gum recipes in search of the right mix for bubble gum. He came up with a gum that was less sticky and that stretched, mixing in pink food color because that was the only color in the factory. He had discovered bubble gum, but Diemer apparently did not get his invention patented. He took some chunks to a grocery store, it sold out and Fleer began manufacturing it as Double Bubble.

The founder of Fleer had tried to making bubble gum about 20 years earlier, but his concoction was too dense and sticky, among other things. Diemer added a natural latex to the recipe, which allowed the bubble to stretch and the gum to peel from your face once the bubble popped.

Here’s what Diemer said about his invention in his local newspaper two years before he died in 1998 at age 93: “It was an accident. I was doing something else, and ended up with something with bubbles,” he said.

Former Disney chairman Michael Eisner bought Topps in 2007, and there was talk two years later of a movie based on Bazooka Joe.

I wasn’t around when the comics came up for auction, so I’m not sure how much they sold for. They were likely mixed with some of the other small items on the table and offered as a lot. If so, they likely went for pennies.

They could’ve been worth more, however. A lot of 230-plus “vintage” comic strips sold on eBay for $41 and 240 of them sold for $32; one comic from 1955 sold for $5, and some were not selling at all (even for 99 cents). There were also other Bazooka items offered on eBay, including lunchboxes, original boxes of gum, baseball cards, box-car trains.

There apparently is a market for the comic strips, according to a 2008 article on the website auctionbytes.com. The comics are collectible, but don’t expect to make a mint off of them.

The Topps site has a Q&A for some things I would’ve love knowing as a child, like how do you get gum out of your hair (baby oil) or out of anything else (freeze it) or what to do with it when you’re finished (don’t stick it under your school desk).

Tell me about your Bazooka bubble-gum-chewing days.