Going to the movies with Mum was always a treat. And then there were the chocolates. Being an Adelaide girl, it was written in my stars to favour Fruchocs, but I was always a Fantales girl, myself.
The bite-sized bits of knowledge suited my slightly nerdy mind. Trivia was – and still is – my jam, and before they dimmed the lights in the grand old Regent Cinema, I would open as many as I could, until my jaw ached from the glue-like caramel, and pore over the facts and figures about movies and the people who made them.
By the age of 10, I could rattle off when All About Eve was made (1950), who directed it (Joseph L. Mankiewicz), and knew that it was nominated for 14 Oscars (but only won six). I knew who wrote the score for Gone with the Wind (Max Steiner) and that the one and only movie Charles Laughton directed was The Night of the Hunter.
But where has all this got me? Plenty of fillings in my teeth, for one thing. A life-long love of movies (and movie trivia) for another.
But now, it seems, Fantales will be no more. Replaced by even smaller nibble of online-published celebrity trivia that’s available without getting chocolate on your fingers.
And the explanation for Allens Sweets’ decision to cease production of the iconic lolly? People simply weren’t buying them.
I blame streaming services, personally, and because I wasn’t fast enough to dash to my local supermarket and stock up on some bags for my pantry, all that I’m left with is my dentist’s insistence that I floss each day, and my movie star memories.
