Blake Edwards

Terry’s Chocolate Orange

In 1923, Frank and Noel Terry joined the family business, Terry’s of York. They revamped the company, and after opening the Art Deco-style factory The Chocolate Works in 1926, began launching new products. The first was the Chocolate Apple (1926), then the Chocolate Orange (1931), and finally Terry’s All Gold (1936).

At the onset of World War II, confectionary production was immediately halted. The factory was taken over by F Hill’s and Son’s of Manchester as a shadow factory, to manufacture and repair aircraft propeller blades.

With the factory handed back to the company post-war, production was difficult due to continued rationing in the United Kingdom, and limited imports of raw cocoa. As a result, in 1954 production of the chocolate apple was phased out in favour of increased production of the chocolate orange.

In the North American market, where it has had a variety of importers over the years, it was briefly sold as a Tobler (maker of the Toblerone) product.

Since 2005, Chocolate Orange products have been manufactured near Jankowice, Poland.

The Nutty Squirrels

The Nutty Squirrels were a scat singing virtual band, formed in imitation of The Chipmunks, that had a Top 40 hit in late 1959 with the song “Uh-Oh”. The Squirrels actually preceded the Chipmunks on television in an animated cartoon, but with much less success.

Crusader Rabbit

Crusader Rabbit is the first animated series produced specifically for television. The concept was test marketed in 1948, while the initial episode – Crusader vs. the State of Texas – aired on KNBH (now KNBC) in Los Angeles, California on August 1, 1950.

Casper The Friendly Ghost

Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable. According to the 1995 feature film Casper, his family name is McFadden, making his “full” name Casper McFadden.