Oh Henry! and the Williamson Candy Co., est. 1917 - Made-in-Chicago Museum

OH HENRY SHARE OF THE DAY

Museum Artifact: Oh Henry! Candy Bar Box, c. 1950s

Made By: Williamson Candy Company, 4701 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL [Belmont Cragin]

Introduced by the Williamson Candy Co. in 1920, the Oh Henry! was the first of Chicago’s holy trinity of chocolate/peanut/caramel candy bars, pre-dating the Baby Ruth (Curtiss Candy Co.) by a year* and Snickers (Mars, Inc.) by a decade. For my money, it was also the best tasting of the three, but the American public didn’t seem to agree. Sales steadily dwindled over the past few decades, and after Nestle sold the brand to the Ferrero SpA candy conglomerate in 2018, the Oh Henry! was abruptly discontinued—without so much as a tweet or a press release—just months shy of its 100th anniversary. Today, only a Canadian version of the Oh Henry—with an altogether different recipe owned by Hershey—remains on the market.

The 24-count display box from our museum collection dates from around the early 1950s, when the Chicago-made Oh Henry! was still a mainstay of the candy aisle and the self-described “Public Energy Number One!” That slogan was likely inspired by the Williamson Candy Company’s sponsorship tie-in with the True Detective Mysteries radio drama, which aired every Sunday evening at the time. Loyal listeners became quite familiar with the commercial jingle that ran before each broadcast:

[Sound of a ringing phone]
MAN’S VOICE: Hello? Hello?
WOMAN’S VOICE: Oh Henry?
MAN: Hold the phone! Hold the phone! It’s time for Oh Henry, public energy number one!
RADIO ANNOUNCER: Yes, it’s time for Oh Henry, America’s famous candy bar, to present, transcribed, True Detective Mysteries!

Much like radio itself, the Oh Henry! was already losing a little of its novelty by the dawning of the TV era. Distribution was still good, but compared with the sensation it had caused in the 1920s, the little bar in the yellow wrapper was now merely one of many candy bars in the crowd. Even so, Oh Henry’s creator, George H. Williamson, never lost his luster among his confectionery peers.

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