Chocolate and Silent Movies

I love chocolate. In fact, I don't bleed, I ooze hot fudge.

So why is this important? Because thanks to the Candy Professor, I discovered a very interesting article in The Pittsburgh Press from 1913 that married candy and the movies (and not in the way you'd think).

Let me continue to digress...

The Professor was researching information on Leo Hirschfeld, creator of the Tootsie Roll (mmmm...Tootsie Rolls...). In doing so, she came across an article that mentioned Hirschfeld in connection with his immigration to the U.S.:

"In 1913, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Press sat down with Hirschfeld and three others who had shared his cabin on the Neckar in 1884. All of them were by then extremely wealthy. Each had a remarkable rags-to-riches story. One was a movie mogul, another made a fortune in fancy goods. And Hirschfeld’s story was all about the candy business."

Hmmm; movie mogul, you say? And what do you know: The mogul was none other than Carl Laemmle!

It's an interesting article in so many ways, not the least of which it's the classic coming-to-America, rags-to-riches story that could only have happened in the great migration of the early teens (which included my grandfathers, but that's another story).

You can read the article on Google News.

And many thanks to the Candy Professor!