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The
Indian on the Tootsie Roll Pop
as
told by Larry Rosenblum,
Port Angeles, Washington
There
is a legend associated with the wrapper of Tootsie Pop suckers.
The story is that if you come across a wrapper with a picture
of a boy in an Indian costume shooting an arrow at a star,
and you send that wrapper to the company that makes Tootsie
Pops, you will receive either a free sucker or a case of suckers.
(It depends on who is telling the story.)
That's
the legend, and this part is for real. One day I was working
at NBC editing a show with the associate director who was
also my friend. We were clowning around, and he used his left
hand to write a letter to the company that makes Tootsie Pops
asking about the story. He was right-handed, but he used his
left hand in an attempt to make the letter look like it came
from a little kid. His name is Rick, so he signed the letter
"Ricky."
Tootsie
Roll Industries, Inc. sent back a nice letter explaining that
the rumor had surfaced over fifty years ago, but nobody knows
how or why. "Our records do not indicate that our company
ever sponsored any type of promotion surrounding the Indian,
or any other picture on the wrapper," said the letter,
and unfortunately it also said, "There has never been
anyone who ever got Tootsie Pops free for sending in wrappers
to our company." What you do get free is a fairy tale
about how an Indian chief was responsible for the invention
of Tootsie Pops.
Since
I've destroyed that legend, here's a true fact. There's a
basketball court concealed inside the top of the Matterhorn
at Disneyland. It's exactly half regulation size.
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