Monday, May 12, 2008

California Orange


The other night my friends, Wally and his lovely bride Pat, and I were reminiscing about a great Pop, or as some call it a Soda Pop, from the past.



Our conversation immediately turned to Nesbitt's Orange Soda. Ask 100 people that were around in those days as to which Orange Soda was the best, and I would venture to say 100 people will answer Nesbitt's.






The Nesbitt Fruit Products Company was founded in 1924 by Hugh S. Nesbitt. Nesbitt, born in Illinois in 1897, led a colorful, albeit short, life. He came to be known as a wealthy “sportsman” and “ladies’ man.”

He died Nov. 19, 1943, of a skull fracture about six hours after he was knocked down in a fight in the lobby of a St. Louis, Mo. hotel.

Nesbitt, who was 46, was in that city attending a convention of soft drink bottlers. The confrontation apparently began in the hotel night club after Nesbitt, who was intoxicated, picked up a drink from the table where one Bernard Oonk, a stranger to him, was sitting, apparently intending to gulp down the purloined highball. AP, UP, and INS carried differing accounts of the sequence of events that followed, but it is certain that Oonk, soon after in the lobby, delivered the fatal blow.


A quickly convened coroner’s jury ruled the homicide to have been justifiable.



In 1927 the company began producing Nesbitt's Orange for distribution to soda fountains where it was mixed with 5 parts water. When they started bottling it in 1938-39 it was distinguished by the fact that it was made from 10% California orange juice. The brand was franchised to independent bottling companies all over the United States and around the world. Besides Orange, other flavors bottled included: Creme Soda, Grape, Strawberry, Root Beer, and Lemon-Lime, to name a few.






How many of you recognize the lady in the ad who went on to be one of the most recognizable people and names in America?


If you guessed Marilyn Monroe you are correct.






In 1957, the "Nesbitt's Orange Special" dragster set a 1/4 mile speed record of 9.445 seconds (159.02 mph). It is believed that this was the first "commercially sponsored" dragster.








It is said that Elvis Presley loved Nesbitt's Orange. "He always had the weirdest eating habits I ever saw," a friend was quoted as saying at the time (1960's). "Burnt bacon, olives, vegetable soup and peanut-butter and banana sandwiches." He'd wash all this down with Pepsi or Nesbitt's Orange soda."


Nesbitt's Orange was the "Official Orange Drink" for Disneyland from the time it opened in 1955 into the 1960's. It was the only orange drink sold in the Park.














There you have a little trip down memory lane with one of the finest Orange Sodas to ever cross one's palate.

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