Saturday, January 26, 2013

BobRo Archives: Twinkies

With the bankruptcy of Hostess Bakeries and the fate of Twinkies still to be determined, I was reminded of a time when we had more of those creme-filled golden cakes than anyone could eat in a lifetime. From a column first published back in 2000...



  Back in 1976, DC, with the help of then-New York convention king and distribution guru Phil Seuling, decided to run a convention at NYC’s Commodore Hotel to celebrate Superman’s birthday. The plans were plagued with problems, the most severe being a strike by hotel workers the day before the convention, prompting a last-minute move to the Americana Hotel.
  DC President Sol Harrison convinced Hostess Bakeries, makers of Cupcakes, Fruit Pies and Twinkies and one of our major advertisers at the time, to donate some baked goods as door prizes. However, I don’t think even Sol expected that we would get quite so many Twinkies. Boxes and boxes of the creme-filled cakes, enough to fill two huge canvas mail bins, arrived at the hotel!
   At first, we were giving a Twinkie or two to each person who came through the door -- nothing like a little sugar fix to rev you up for a convention! By the second day, however, it was obvious that we had a lot more Twinkies than we had convention-goers, so we started to give out boxes of ten.
   Even that didn’t seem to make a dent in the supply! By the end of the convention, we were handing departing fans as many boxes of Twinkies as they could carry. Comics dealers were given cartons of them. DC staffers got as many as they wanted.
  The rest -- and there were still plenty -- ended up in the DC office, where anybody who could still stand to look at one could enjoy it as a snack.
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7 comments:

  1. GernotSaturday, January 26, 2013

    Did Superman, Batman, and the other DC stars use the Twinkies to help them in their fights against evil? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jen in OzSaturday, January 26, 2013

    curious to know if anyone has a scanned collection of ALL the Twinkies ads that appeared in various comics over the years? And did anyone in the actual comics ever refer to them in conversation?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GernotSunday, January 27, 2013

      Jen, I'm actually in the process of putting them in my blog, too. Mr. Rozakis, I sincerely hope I'm not stepping on your toes by posting this. :) If so, please delete it. :)

      Delete
    2. Bob RozakisSunday, January 27, 2013

      Feel free to post the link, Gernot.

      Delete
    3. GernotMonday, January 28, 2013

      Thank you VERY much, sir! :)

      Here 'tis!

      http://mycomicboardbanners.blogspot.com/

      Say, Mr. Rozakis! Did I ever tell you that I'M the buyer from Amazon who purchased your Showcase edition of DC Comics Presents? It was neat, having your address, but I decided to get rid of the envelope, 'cause what was -I- going to do with it? Stalk you? No, thanks! Neither one of US needs THAT kind'a trouble! ;)

      Delete
  3. Bob RozakisSaturday, January 26, 2013

    You can find them all at this website: http://www.tomheroes.com/Comic%20Ads/hostess%20ads/hostess_ads.htm

    As far as I know, none of the characters talked about them outside of the ad pages.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bob BuetheTuesday, January 29, 2013

    I missed that convention -- I don't remember why -- but my friend Rob went and brought me some souvenirs, including a copy of the program book and a ballot to vote for the next Legion leader. He talked for days about hanging out with Elliot Maggin, and being invited to join the Interlac APA. He never mentioned the Twinkies, though.

    ReplyDelete

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