Bartlebee Brands Mixed Candies

An unopened bag of Bartlebee Brands “Drumling Medly” candies. The paper label on top is worn, and the clear bag contains a mixed variety of candies.

Three of the Drumling Medly candies taken from the bag. The top left is rectangular, and the wrapping resembled Strawbetty’s face and dress. The top rights wrapper is round and yellow with a honeycomb pattern. The bottom’s wrapped is transparent, showing a pink and blue taffy within.

A scanned close up of the Drumling Medly label. On it, Seamore and Strawbetty walk while holding hands. Strawbetty points at the three types of candies, Honey Drops, Strawberry Drops and saltwater taffy.

A scanned image of the strawberry and honey drop wrappers laid out flat.

A box of Bartlebee’s Garden Variety Meadow Mix candy. Inside the box are hard candy drops in various colors with their flavors listed on the side - Honey, Lavender, Butterfly Pea, Corn-flower and Rose.

A view of the top and side of the Garden Variety box.

The back of the Garden Variety box. The Bartlebee Brands logo and a cartoon Beetrice hover next to text informing the reader of Bartlebees new honey flavors made from exotic flowers.

A view of the bottom and side of the Garden variety box.

A scanned image of the Garden variety box laid flat.

A sealed bag of Bartlebee Brands “Royal Jelly” nougat and fruit jellies. The label is made of six hexagons arranged in a flower shape. the bag is transparent showing the candies within.

A Bartlebee poster promoting their partnership with another company. The poster contains Beetrice held in the hand of a blonde haired woman that looks at her with fondness in her eyes. The text reads “Bartlebee Brands is pleased to partner with Hecate Cigarettes to introduce: Beetrice’s Sparkling Candy Cigarettes”

Bartlebee Brands produced many different kinds of candy over the years, often to the point that their products blotted out competitors' creations on the shelves of candy stores across the US. Bartlebee Brands even had deals with several store chains in which said stores agreed to only carry Bartlebee Brand products in their candy aisle. The sheer magnitude of products and variations made by the company is a bit dizzying, and every month up until the companies closure some new product was being announced, the last of them being “Hippie Dippy,” a rather tasteless jab at drug use in hippie culture that thankfully has not been replicated by any candy company that followed. In the early years of the company there was a brief partnership that saw Bartlebee Brands working with H Cigarettes, although I am struggling to find further details on that. It is interesting just how much of everything the company was making though, from movies, to failed franchising programs, to animations, to pushing into other avenues of the food industry. I cannot help but feel that this constant attempt at venture capital is what ultimately spelled the company's demise, never truly satisfied with candy, always trying to find new avenues in which to insert themselves as a staple of American life.