![]() But he was really an inventor, of never-before imagined candies and confections and machines as well. Leo Hirschfeld is remembered as the man with the candy recipe. I dug a little deeper, and found more clues. ![]() The Brooklyn city directory lists Hirschfeld as a “confectioner” with a home address on Myrtle Avenue until 1890. I went looking for a record of Hirschfeld in Brooklyn. ![]() And what’s all this about “fought his way up” in the Stern & Saalberg company? That doesn’t sound exactly like a merger of equals. Notice the way Hirschfeld told the story to this reporter in 1913: first he went to work for Stern & Saalberg, then he invented the Tootsie Roll. Then he invented a certain children’s confection”…the Tootsie Roll. “ fought his way up until he became Superintendent of the Stern-Saalberg concern. And Hirschfeld’s story was all about the candy business. One was a movie mogul, another made a fortune in fancy goods. Each had a remarkable rags-to-riches story. All of them were by then extremely wealthy. In 1913, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Press sat down with Hirschfeld and three others who had shared his cabin on the Neckar in 1884. A year later, seeing their popularity, he “merged” with Stern & Saalberg.Ī nice story, right? But I uncovered evidence that blasts some serious holes in the official line on Tootsie Rolls. The common version of the story ( here or here) is that Hirschfeld came up with the candy that would become Tootsie Rolls in 1896, made and wrapped them by hand, and sold them in his Brooklyn shop. So far, so good.īut here’s where things get a little complicated. He set up shop in Brooklyn, sold some candy to the neighborhood kids. His father’s trade was candy, so that’s what he knew. When Leo got off the steamship Neckar in the New York Harbor in 1884, he had two things: big dreams, and empty pockets. Let’s follow Leo along as he leaves his native Austria and struggles to make it in America. ![]() So what was happening in that murky gap between 18? And what happened to Leo Hirschfeld? There doesn’t seem to be anybody named Stern or Saalberg in official Tootsie Roll history. The story of Tootsie Roll after 1917 is one of a big candy company getting bigger. The next thing you know, it’s 1917, Tootsie Rolls are a huge commercial hit, and the company changes its name to “The Sweets Company of America.” From that point out, the Tootsie empire grows in leaps and bounds. According to the Tootsie Roll Industries company history, Hirschfeld began selling the chewy candies in his little shop in New York City in 1896. And it all started with Leo, a poor Austrian immigrant with a dream and some family candy recipes. Today, Tootsie Roll is one of the top candy sellers in the U.S. But who is this “Stern & Saalberg” who is taking all the credit for Chocolate Tootsie Rolls? Where is Leo Hirschfeld?Īs candy nostalgists know, Leo Hirschfeld is the official hero of the Tootsie Roll saga. Americans just can’t get enough of their “Chocolate Tootsie Rolls.” Those Tootsie Rolls have gotten so popular that they have to take out ads in the trade papers cautioning their customers against accepting inferior imitation. It’s 1909, and The Stern & Saalberg Company has a candy hit. Tootsie Roll Tragedy: The Real Leo Hirschfeld Story ![]()
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