Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 23:53:10 -0400

From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: Ice Cream Sandwich; Esquire



ICE CREAM SANDWICH



"Sadly, several defy historical sleuthing and seem to have just appeared

around the turn of the century. Such is the case with the ice cream

sandwich, the banana split, and the float--and for lack of data the songs of

their hero-inventors must go unsung."

--Paul Dickson, THE GREAT AMERICAN ICE CREAM BOOK (1972).



This is from the Long Branch (NJ) Record, 24 August 1900, pg. 4, col. 5:



ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

All Wall Street Buying Them Nowa-

days, to the Profit of the Inventor.

The latest thing that the purveyors to the gastronomic demands of the

office boys, messengers and clerks in the Wall street district are supplying

to their patrons is the ice cream sandwich. It made its first appearance

during the hot spell of last week. A young man showed up with a wagon and

began to descant on the value of his wares at the corner of Nassau and Wall

streets. He soon had a crowd around him, and the first man that tried an ice

cream sandwich bit into it gingerly. It was made of two graham wafers and a

slab of ice cream between. The wafers were fresh and crisp and sweet and the

ice cream was good. Then, too, it had the advantage of being cold in

addition to being palatable. The cost of the sandwich was one, two and three

cents, according to the thickness of the slab of ice cream.

This new edible made such a hit that its fame spread through the Wall

street district the first day and the young man who invented it did not have

enough of stock to satisfy the demand. The second day the brokers themselves

got to buying ice cream sandwiches and eating them in a democratic fashion

side by side on the sidewalk with the messengers and the office boys. All of

the other ice cream and lemonade vendors saw that they were outclassed and

immediately began to sell imitations. The young man held the bulk of the

trade, however, throughout the week.



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