Necco and the Little Rascals

One of the many fun things about watching old movies is spotting candy in them, especially Necco candy!

Usually candy spotting comes from keeping a close eye on the fleeting images of the backgrounds in scenes---shelves and window displays in drugstores, gift shops, and neighborhood candy shops. Sometimes I get lucky, and the candy plays a role in the story, and this time I hit the jackpot with Necco candy playing a pivotal role in the Our Gang / Little Rascals short, Sprucin’ Up!

​Released on June 1st, 1935, the story revolves around a love triangle. Spanky and Alfalfa are vying for the affections of Marianne Jones, their new neighbor. It isn’t just that Marianne is pretty; she’s the daughter of a truant officer. By getting in good with her, they reason, her father is bound to be more lenient if (and when) they get in any trouble. The entire gang has gathered in front of her house with flowers and candy, but Spanky shrewdly gets rid of them by creating a disturbance, offers Mr. Jones a cigar, then gets inside to woo Marianne with flowers and candy. Unfortunately, he finds his rival Alfalfa already in the drawing room with her.

​As the boys vie for her affections on the couch, Spanky offers her the candy he brought---a box of Necco Chocolate Peppermints! Alfalfa, pretending the offer was made to him, grabs it, then offers the candy to Marianne. They devour it with delight. Throughout the sequence, we get various views of the box and the candy. In the closeup when Alfalfa and Marianne are enjoying the mints, we see that “Necco” has been altered to read “Neccons” to avoid paying licensing fees. Aside from that one scene, the box is unaltered. So great to see both the box and the candy in this short!

Necco Sweets’ Chocolate Peppermints are not well known today, but back in the day they sold millions of them. In fact, they were so popular that other candy companies made copycat chocolate mints in boxes that looked like Necco’s iconic design to try to trick consumers into thinking they were buying the delicious Necco “choc pepps.”

Necco debuted the chocolate peppermints in 1916. In the 1920s they touted them as a tremendous value for a nickel, describing them as: “A pocket-pack of eight dainty, creamy mints--so alluring and tasty.”

In 1930 Necco made them “bigger and better” by increasing the size and weight of the cream centers, giving them a stronger mint flavor, and coating them more thickly with chocolate, all the while still selling them for a nickel. In 1931 Necco added a ninth mint to the box. These are the mints being gobbled down by Alfalfa and Marianne.
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In the end neither boy got the girl, but that’s okay---their sights are set on another one when the movie ends.

1927 Necco Peppermints advertisement. Illustration by Fontaine Fox.

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You can read more about Necco, The New England Confectionery Company and its family of brands in my book Necco–An Epic Candy Tale • BUY NOW

The companion book Necco–The Archive Collection: An Almost Lost history of the New England Confectionery Company is a museum quality catalog. • BUY NOW