THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070828
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
``HEY, WOULD you like some PEZ?''
``Oh, wow! PEZ! Don't mind if I do.''
A quick bend of the thumb and out comes a small sugar brick.
PEZ.
Ever since its American debut in the 1950s, PEZ has been booming nonstop. More than 1 billion PEZ candies are consumed each year in the United States alone, and PEZ is sold in 80 countries.
The candy has starred in television sitcoms including ``Seinfeld.'' In an episode called ``The PEZ Dispenser,'' a piano recital is ruined by Jerry, who is playing with a Tweety Bird PEZ dispenser.
PEZ has also made it to the big screen. In the summer flick, ``The Client,'' an Elvis Presley PEZ dispenser makes a cameo appearance when the bad guy offers the good kid a PEZ as a bribe for friendship.
The PEZ phenomenon has even inspired PEZ auctions at Christie's in New York. A second PEZ book for collectors is due out this fall.
``I love the candy,'' said PEZhead Libby Krimsier, 16, a senior at Tallwood. ``Grape tastes like Dimetapp, and lemon tastes like Endust.'' Libby, who has been collecting PEZ dispensers since she was 6, now owns 41.
Libby's PEZ pal, Jennifer White, 17, a freshman at Virginia Wesleyan College, said kids love PEZ for its sheer stupidity. ``It's a dumb little piece of plastic that you get candy out of. Basically it's useless. Once you eat the candy, what do you do with the dispenser?
In the beginning
1927 was a big year. Amelia Earhart was in training for her trans-Atlantic flight. The first talking picture was shown in theaters. And Eduard Haas III, the father of PEZ, created a peppermint breath mint in Vienna, Austria. He named it ``PEZ,'' short for ``pfefferminz,'' the German word for peppermint. During World War II, PEZ went out of production.
In 1948, the first PEZ dispenser was created. It was short,rectangular and plastic. But it didn't have a ``head,'' the part that tilts back to release the candy. In 1952, PEZ entered the U.S market. Soon after, cartoon character heads were added, and the peppermint candy was replaced with fruit flavors.
Today, PEZ central is located in Orange, Conn. It is a privately owned company called PEZ Candy, Inc. According to PEZ president Scott McWhinnie, currently 40 PEZ dispensers are on the market with four candy flavors - orange, lemon, strawberry and grape.
``PEZ has always been growing,'' McWhinnie said. ``You think `Gee, did it just come back?' Then you remember when you were a kid and how you forgot about it and got interested in girls or boys. Then you have your own kids, and they have PEZ and you realize it's always been there.''
McWhinnie calls PEZ a kids product and says there is 98 percent ``PEZ awareness'' among teenagers. In fact, the company does not design heads with adult collectors in mind.
``PEZ has been a staple of the candy environment,'' said Kelly Smith, 20, manager of Mr. Bulky's Treats & Gifts at Greenbrier Mall. She says children as young as 3 buy the funky dispensers and candy.
The PEZ potential
Despite the claim that PEZ is for kids, adult collectors have found plenty of things to do with PEZ dispensers.
Bill Stobo, video graphics designer at VBTV, the Virginia Beach city cable channel, has 35 PEZ Dispensers hanging upside down from the ceiling of his office. His collection includes rare PEZ dispensers such as the Smurfs and an Arab dispenser more than 20 years old.
The phone has also been ringing at PEZ president McWhinnie's office. ``I had a call from a collector who sold his whole PEZ collection for $40,000, and there was one dispenser that sold for $6,000,'' he said.
David Welch, author of ``A Pictorial Guide to Plastic Candy Dispensers,'' said about 200 different PEZ heads are in existence.
One of the most popular is the ``psychedelic eye'' from the late 1960s. The head is composed of a hand holding an eyeball. Today, it has a value of $200.
Welch also said that the most valuable and rare PEZ dispensers are worth thousands of dollars. For example, a complete PEZ ``Make A Face'' set (sort of like a Mr. Potato Head) is worth more than $1,000. So is the PEZ dispenser that looks like a cigarette lighter with a witch on either side.
``It's funny,'' Welch said. ``PEZ has been around in the U.S. for 40 years nonstop. . . . I really don't see it going out of phase. . . . There will always be someone who remembers it. It has that high recognition factor.''
PEZ is so well-known that Welch was inspired in 1991 to write a book on it. His second book, ``Collecting PEZ,'' will be out this fall. The book explores the history of PEZ and has more than 200 color photographs of dispensers as well as interviews with former PEZ Candy Inc. employees.
Mike Robertson of Dripping Springs, Texas, publishes a bimonthly PEZ newsletter called ``The Optimistic Pezzimist.''
PEZ's popularity has also spawned conventions and auctions. St. Louis has an annual National PEZ Collectors convention, and Christie's held a PEZ auction in June of 1993.
McWhinnie said that because of all this PEZ publicity, the company does not need to advertise. He said hundreds of cartoon companies try to sell PEZ the right to use their characters or heads. ``We just don't do Mickey Mouse; Disney allows us to do Mickey Mouse,'' he said.
McWhinnie said company researchers decide what head they will manufacture by watching TV, going to movies and reading publications. People even call and write in their suggestions.
``PEZ is a phenomenon, and I'm not so sure I can explain it. If you talk to anybody about PEZ they say `PEZ!. Oh, PEZ! I love PEZ!' and they do a hand motion with their thumb. Everybody knows what it is.'' MEMO: Michelle Mizal is a freshman at Tidewater Community College. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Tallwood senior Libby Krimsier, 16, left, and Virginia Wesleyan
freshman Jennifer White, 17, have collected PEZ for a year. They
have about 45 each.
Photo
MORT FRYMAN
Bill Stodo, video graphics designer at VBTV, has a PEZ collection
that hangs from his office ceiling.
Graphic
CONTEST
Win a copy of the fully illustrated PEZ bible, ``A Pictorial
Guide to Plastic Candy Dispensers.'' To enter, answer the following
questions:
1. In what decade did PEZ get feet? A) 1930 B) 1950 C) 1980
2. PEZI was: A) a PEZ dog; B) an imitation PEZ; C) a boy
detective PEZ
3. Which of the following was never a PEZ dispenser? A) Mr. Ugly;
B) a baseball glove; C) a calculator; D) Grape Ape
Mail your entry to PEZ Contest, 4565 Virginia Beach Blvd.,
Virginia Beach, Va. 23462, or drop it off at the Beacon office
across from Pembroke Mall or fax it to 490-7235.
Deadline for entries is Tuesday, Oct. 11 at noon.
by CNB