The Tale of the Forgotten Cristy Bar!

CC_Cristy Bar Title Plate

One of my favorite things to write about and share here on CollectingCandy.com are the forgotten and lost stories of candy history that I’ve been lucky enough to uncover.  Today I’m going to share the tale of a bar that few, if any of my readers will remember.  It’s something I’d never even heard of until I stumbled upon it during unrelated research;  Concorde Confections’ Cristy Bar!

First announced to the candy trades in August of 1969, the initial advertisement featured a Christy bar spelled with an “h”.

Concorde Confections - Cristy Bar - Meet Christy - candy trade magazine ad - August 1969

Concorde Confections – Cristy Bar – Meet Christy – candy trade magazine ad – August 1969

I don’t know if that version of Christy bar ever made it to store shelves, but by April of the following year, Christy would become Cristy (without the “h”), and would be voted one of the two best new bars of 1969:

Concorde Confections - Cristy Bar - First Place - candy trade magazine ad - April 1970

Concorde Confections – Cristy Bar – First Place – candy trade magazine ad – April 1970

The design of the logo changed as well as the spelling, so I wonder if the bar seen in that early announcement was merely a prototype or mock-up?  Though perhaps there is a Christy-with-an-H bar wrapper out there somewhere, waiting to be found.  Here are the two versions brought together:

Cristy Bar comparison - prototype-test-first to production

Cristy Bar comparison – First ad version and known production bar

I first became interested in the Cristy bar due to the company that launched it, Concorde Confections.  You see, Concorde were best known to me as the company who ran the Wonka confectionery brand through most of the 1970’s, with their Oompas, Skrunch, and Wonka Bars to name a few.

The Cristy bar was touted as Concorde’s very first bar, so my initial thought was that it made it historically significant and connected to the Wonka confectionery legacy – if somewhat loosely.

Concorde Confections - Cristy Bar - I'm In Love - candy trade magazine ad - July 1970

Concorde Confections – Cristy Bar – I’m In Love – candy trade magazine ad – July 1970

[Editor’s note: Since the Cristy bar was Concorde’s first bar I’m prompted to speculate an alternative history:  Perhaps without their initial Cristy bar success, Concorde wouldn’t have survived and the Wonka candy history that we know would be dramatically different?]

Due to its current anonymity, at first I thought that the Cristy bar was only around for a year or two at most.   But I’ve found trade ads for the bar that were dated as late as 1972, leading me to realize it had a longer life:

Concorde Cristy Bar - 80-cent free goods offer - trade clipping - May 1972

Concorde Cristy Bar – 80-cent free goods offer – trade clipping – May 1972

Beyond that 1972 trade clipping, I’ve also managed to track down an even later Cristy bar display box.  This display box is an important piece for understanding Cristy’s lifespan as it features a redesigned logo.  This would lead me to deduce that Cristy lasted at least through 1973, possibly longer.

Concorde Confections - Cristy Bar display box top - new design - mid-1970's

Concorde Confections – Cristy Bar display box top – new design – mid-1970’s

So while the Cristy bar began as a brand that I didn’t recall personally and that no one I’d ever asked about could remember – I still developed a keen interest in it due to its place in candy history.

As my appreciation for the brand grew I wondered if a wrapper for one of these bars might still exist and if, as a collector, I’d ever come across one?

Earlier this year my question was answered and not only did a Cristy wrapper surface, but I was able to add it to my collection.  This next wrapper image, along with most everything else from today’s post, is a CollectingCandy.com exclusive – meaning you won’t find this anywhere else online.

And here it is:

Concorde Confections - Cristy - 10-cent candy bar wrapper - 1970

Concorde Confections – Cristy – 10-cent candy bar wrapper – 1970

Isn’t that a beauty?  I’ve often wondered if this bar was meant to appeal to women and girls, as I think most adolescent boys wouldn’t have wanted to pick up a bar with a girl’s name.  Yet the compelling visage of the pretty, smiling girl must have certainly grabbed boys’ attentions and imaginations.

And it does make me wonder if Cristy Bars were ever racked next to $100,000 bars, when their “kid mascot” wrappers were introduced?

Cristy and the $100,000 kid

Cristy and the $100,000 kid

I’m tempted to remark about a “candy wrapper romance”, but seeing the two together does make me wonder if the Cristy wrapper influenced the use of a personality photo on the later $100,000 wrapper design.

Perhaps the girl on the wrapper – Cristy herself – is out there somewhere, and if she or anyone she knows reads this, drop us a line – I’d love to hear the story of how she became the face of Concorde Confections’ very first bar.

And that everything I’ve got on the tale of the forgotten Cristy Bar.

See you next time!

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 1960's, 1970's, Wonka and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

17 Responses to The Tale of the Forgotten Cristy Bar!

  1. Broken Arrows says:

    Impressive research, especially all those images.

    There was a candy bar in the late 1970s called the 9:30 Bar. It had white chocolate and was round with a clear wrapped. I can’t find any info on this — I’d be interested to see if you’ve heard of it.

  2. veg-o-matic says:

    “Refreshing”? Really? I can’t imagine being refreshed by nougat, even if it is French.

    Sounds kind of like a Zero bar.

    • Janet Webb says:

      Yes, Cristy tasted similar to a Zero bar, but definitely not as delicious.
      I remember being stationed at Yorktown, Virginia and going to the local store to buy a Cristy for after supper. That was in the early to mid 70’s.
      When we moved from Virginia to Tennessee, I searched and could not find the Cristy candy any more. So I tried a Zero since the wrapper showed a similar looking candy bar.

  3. Todd Greenfield says:

    Christy bars were great, one of my faves. They were still being sold in Mid-Atlantic states as late as 1975(I grew up in Washington D.C. ). They were extremely sweet and really diffrent by virture of being one of the white chocolate bars sold in the regular candy section. The first time I remember seeing them was about 1973 on a family vaction in a little town called Thurmont MD. in a really old fashioned variety store complete with old glass front candy counters. I seem to remember a girl on the cover looking slightly diffrent, I remember the girl having her hair in pigtails and talking on a princess-type telephone(but hey I’m 50 and my memory palys tricks on me) I remember being so disapointed when they stop selling them. People in Houston dont seem to know anything about them and I was beginning to think that maybe they were unique to the east coast. I do think that the girly appereance may have led boys to pass on it(like putting Barbie or Hello Kitty on something today). Never did find another bar quite like it , My mom once bought home a giant bag of “10:30” bars thinking they looked similar(not even close and I was stucking with those in my lunch for months, still that was better than the time she stuck a Figureine(a horrid diet cookie bar/meal subsitute from the 70’s in my lunch in 7th grade and did not bother to remove the bright pink wrapper with the logo all over it. My nicname was Figurine for a looong time after that. Love your sight. Todd

    • Lisa says:

      I remember buying Cristy bars as a kid and I grew up in Washington State. I always wondered about the girl on the wrapper. I also remember Figurines! The commercial jingle went (to the tune of “Tangerine”): Figurines/Help keep you as you are/They’re the kind of lunch that you can crunch out loud/Figurines/(forgot this line)/With a calorie rate/138 a bar….. I got a good laugh out of your unfortunate Figurine incident, though, thanks for sharing!

    • Charles says:

      I also grew up in Washington DC, and I remember Christy bars! I thought Christy was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen; I always hoped to meet her someday! Perhaps she is still out there somewhere.

      In my opinion, the Zero bar comes closest to the original Christy bar. Like you, I always wondered why Concorde stopped making them. They were far superior to most other candy bars at that time.

  4. Pingback: 70s stories in the news: Star Wars, Willie Tyler & Lester, recent passings | Bionic Disco

  5. Pingback: Breaker Confections’ 5-Cent Window Boxes from 1963!! | CollectingCandy.com

  6. Lyle F. says:

    I had a paper route in 1969 , in Lakewood Washington. The Suburban Times . After collecting for the paper was through for the month, I would head for my 7-11 store and spend a dime on a Cristy bar, I liked them be cause they weren’t chocolate, They seemed to me to melt slower and last much longer than any other kind of candy, kind of like bit-o-honey.Even now it’s hard to find something mostly nougat. Somebody bring nougat back to the market place please!

  7. Space patroller says:

    I grew up in Tiverton RI and remember this candy fro the mid to late 1970’s, maybe 1977. It was something different

  8. Seth says:

    Finally confirmation! I loved Christy bars! I spent my allowance on them for two summers at The Island Spa on Monhegan Island, Maine. The ones I got were definitely called “Christy bars” with the H. They disappeared as fast as they appeared, but for those couple of years, they and Hollywood Milkshake Bars were IT for me!

  9. Christy says:

    My name is Christy. I was born in 1976 in TN. My mother always said she named me after a candy bar purchased in the hospital gift shop. Now I have found it!! 🙂

  10. Robin Gray says:

    I saw them for sale late in 1975 or early 1976, at three for a dollar, in a little corner store in Spokane Washington. I bought three of them – never saw them before or since.

  11. Lydia Jarred says:

    Cristy bar was my favorite candy bar of all. I loved them so much. I was just 11 years old when they stopped making them. I would love to see someone bring it back. I will always long for it. I haven’t found anyone that I have talked to that remembers the Cristy bar.

    • Oh yes Lydia, I remember it well!! I used to buy them, too. They were white and had a pic of a girl on the wrapper (Cristy, I presumed). Yummy! I looked it up, and it was made by a company called Concorde Confections. I wonder who owns the rights today?

Leave a Reply to Todd Greenfield Cancel reply

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