Candy Club Preview

Here are a few pieces from Candy Club, a work in progress about childhood and our favorite candies. The pen and ink drawing is Jujyfruit by Marian Schell. It accompanies the Don Skiles piece of the same name, a remembrance of candy and an afternoon at the local movie theater:

Jujyfruits. 5¢ in the tall blue vending machine that shook slightly and swayed when you pulled the handles, and the mirror that looked back at you. Wildroot Hair Tonic mirror. And the word— what did it mean? What language was that? DOTS, too boring; they all looked the same. No magic there.

Mr. Weisman’s Ritz Theatre. The best deal there. 12¢ in the hard seats, first twelve rows all kids, gaping up faces at that big, tall screen. In love with Deanna Durbin and aircraft carriers.

The soft seats cost a quarter. Double feature on Saturday afternoon. I believed in Mr. Weisman, he had some hand in making the movies I saw, digging in my box of Jujyfruits, turning it up and tapping or taking off the other end , to get the last one or two that always stuck to the dark inside of that bright yellow box. I believed the movies. It was church.

The taste of them is the movies, like the popcorn smell, the squeak of the slippery seats, the guy who always laughed at the wrong places.

Jujyfruits. 5¢ America.

This gouache by Claribel is of Necco Wafers in all their glory. It accompanies a poem by Raye Thomas:

Necco Wafers

I pass
Relic Lady
Popping Necco wafers
Chocolate sin lemon penance

Blue dress
I lust
Lime redemption for sale
Indelible pink forgiveness
Melt me