Monster Candy – Classic Boxes From Brooklyn!

Monster candy boxes; they’ve been around for what seems like forever, and because of that they’ve become a sort of candy mystery-in-plain-sight.

Monster Candy were (are) produced by World Candies out of Brooklyn, New York.  World Candies are a novelty candy manufacturer and one of the few still operating out of the Brooklyn area.  Historically, Brooklyn was a hotbed of candy and gum manufacturing with Topps being there, Phoenix (Now & Later) and many more, over the decades. World Candies produces some of the few modern candy cigarettes (now called candy sticks) you can still buy and that’s just what you’d find inside of box of Monster candy – a few candy sticks.

In trying to track down the origins of these, I’ve become a bit befuddled, because as far as I can tell, these have been sold in the exact same boxes since at least as early as the 1970’s.  They might even still be sold by World Candies today – I’ve found online sellers who appear to have new stock of them.  Which is weird.  But such is the way with candy.

For now, I don’t have any more definitive answers, but I can at least share the set of boxes I have collected with you.  So let’s get to it:

World Candies – Monster Candy box – Frankenstein – 1970’s

World Candies – Monster Candy box – Dracula – 1970’s

World Candies – Monster Candy box – Creature – 1970’s

World Candies – Monster Candy box – Werewolf – 1970’s

World Candies – Monster Candy box – Phantom – 1970’s

Looking closer at the boxes now, I wonder if my examples aren’t from the 1970’s at all, but a bit later.  I dated them based on the other pieces I found them with, but that might not be accurate.  For now there is no way to be sure.

So that’s it, and everything I’ve got on World Candies Monster candy boxes.  See you next time!

———————————

Today’s post has been part of CollectingCandy.com’s Countdown to Halloween.  To check out other sites celebrating Halloween all month long, check out the official Halloween Countdown site.

About Jason Liebig

A New York City based writer, editor and sometimes actor. After spending much of the 1990′s in the comic book business helping tell the stories of Marvel Comics’ X-Men as series editor, he has since split his time between developing his own entertainment properties while still consulting and working on others. Having been described as “the Indiana Jones of lost and forgotten candy”, Jason is one of the country’s premier candy collectors and historians with his discoveries appearing in countless blogs, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. Always happy to share his knowledge and unique perspectives on this colorful part of our popular culture, Jason has consulted with New York’s Museum of Food and Drink and has also been a featured guest on Food Network’s Heavyweights, France’s M6 Capital, and New York’s TheActionRoom.com. My Google Profile+
This entry was posted in 1970's, CountdownToHalloween, Halloween, Holiday, Novelty and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

14 Responses to Monster Candy – Classic Boxes From Brooklyn!

  1. John Robinson says:

    The box says “Made in Slovenia”. If I’m correct, Slovenia became independent around 1991. That should help date this packaging.

  2. A fan says:

    Weren’t these candies originally flat and rectangle with colored monster faces on them?

    • Jason Liebig says:

      A Fan,

      I’m not entirely sure on that. But I can tell you that they were manufactured by World Candies of Brooklyn, and World Candies also produced Fruit Face candies, and Fruit Face were a flat rectangle pressed dextrose candy with colored fruit faces on them. Given that, it’s entirely possible that World utilized the same process for their monster candies, at least at some point.

      • A fan says:

        Wow– thanks, Jason. It’s amazing that there is not a single picture of a Fruit Face box online. My memory is of only seeing them in my Halloween bag, so I also seem to remember the same box as Monster candy. If they had the same style of box, perhaps that is why my mind is melding the 2 candies together. The mystery continues– thanks again!

        • shiv shanks says:

          I wound up here looking for the flat candies in the monster boxes with likenesses of the monsters on the candy. We used to get them in the 80s for Halloween here in Canada and they were never candy sticks.Im pretty sure they tasted great too or maybe i was young and just liked monsters.

          • A fan says:

            Awesome! This is sounding more and more like I didn’t imagine the whole thing! Thanks!

          • Jason Liebig says:

            Hey guys,

            I think you’ve probably figured out something here that, in my 2012 assumption, I got wrong. I think it is safe to say that these probably did have the Fruit Face style candies with designs on them. Based upon both of your input.

            My goal now is to track down some unopened boxes for investigation.

            But thank-you to both of you for pointing me in the right direction.

            Jason

  3. Justin Bailey says:

    I definitely remember getting the flat version of this for Halloween and they were orange flavored/colored too, until the last year I got them then they were white instead and had that classic candy cig flavor. Haven’t been able to find them since it’s been like 20 years I miss them like crazy.

  4. John says:

    I just bought 2 set of these boxes. I compared the ingredients list to yours for the 1 set that I can see in the only photo I have (I didn’t get them in the mail yet)
    http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GwUAAOSwB-1Yzz0q/s-l1600.jpg

    The set in that picture looks to be of an older font and has less writing. No E-Numbers printed even though they existed back in the 70s/80s. I couldn’t find out when they started requiring to have them on the label.

    Also, the ingredient of Tragacanth was replaced by (the cheaper) guar gum on yours. Again, for this I couldn’t track down any timeframe on the ingredient change.

    If I had to guess, that one set of boxes I just got are 70s/80s and possibly my 2nd set and yours is some 90s version. Wish I could find out for sure though. lol.

    • Jason Liebig says:

      Great research, John! Thanks for sharing the info and the pics. This is something I’d love to revisit and research again down the road. When I do, your information will be invaluable. Of course, by then you may have already unlocked any remaining secrets on these, and I’ll just report it. Either way, way to go!!

  5. A fan says:

    Holy cow! That’s awesome! Say– do they have candy in them? Do they have a smell? Minty or fruity? Great score!

  6. T smith says:

    The bag that I have has no date. It came with 100 boxes, not 80. The candy was an extruded plain, flat bar, that looked like extruded playdough, was hard as chalk and tasted like a combo of both. But the background color of the Wolfman box is a clue. It is not blue but a sienna brown. Dracula’s color is a more neutral purple so the inks that were used in the earlier issues were less saturated. And they were made in Yugoslavia. The bag is green, has orange lettering with only the Creature and a spider web decorating it.

  7. AngieD says:

    I have a 1970s-1980s candy collection. My Wolfman box is red, it does not have “printed in Slovenia”. There is the number 82 on the inside flap. It has a simple ingredient list including gum tragacarth which does appear to be replaced with guar gum. I am trying to figure out the age of mine.
    Also, when did World Candy stop using the word “cigarettes” . I am trying to date my Lucky Stripe” that still says “candy cigarettes”

  8. Jay says:

    If there’s still any interest in this topic, I have boxes for these from both the 70s/80s and more recent. The background colors are different and the box texture as well (older boxes are more mat / rough – newer boxes more shiny / slick. BUT… the most interesting difference is that there was an additional monster in the old versions… THE MUMMY. Not sure why he wouldn’t have been included in later versions, but he seems to be absent in later runs. His background color was green, which is now the background for The Creature. The Creature’s background color was a light blue in the earlier run.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *