The
Oh Henry Bar is a straightforward, delicious candy bar with a somewhat complicated history. As opposed to Snickers that was named after Forrest Mars' beloved racehorse, no one is 100% certain where the name for Oh Henry came from.
Theories abound but one thing that almost everyone agrees upon is that this is a delicious candy bar and has been for close to 100 years. And no, this candy bar is not named after the baseball great Hank Aaron.
Spark your curiosity? Read on…
Lore has it that the name was derived from that of a randy young man who made frequents visits to the original manufacturers – the Williamson company – less for sugary sweets and more to flirt with the eye candy who worked on the assembly line. This leaves us to assume that the young man’s name was -- you guessed it -- Henry. But certain proof eludes us.
Perhaps a more credible theory is that the candy bar was named after the owner of the now defunct Peerless Candy company. The owner's name was Tom Henry and in a vainglorious move, created the Tom Henry Bar. It was a short-lived venture as he sold the rights to the candy bar in 1920 to the Williamson Candy who changed the name to Oh Henry.
Oh Henry was also one of the first examples of “guerilla marketing” as an employee of Williamson Candy Company was determined to make the Oh Henry Bar famous. Lacking the funds to launch a full frontal Madison Avenue advertising campaign, this wily salesman had bumper stickers printed with only two words – Oh Henry. Curiousity didn’t kill the cat and this candy bar quickly made a name for itself.
The candy bar is also sold in Canada but distributed by Hershey with the difference being a "chocolately" coating as opposed to milk chocolate.
Things remained much the same for close to 65 years until 1984, when
Nestle acquired the rights to distribute Oh Henry in the United States but, alas, not everything lasts forever.
In 2018, Nestle sold the rights to Ferrara Pan and the candy bar has curiously disappared from the shelves. As of October 2019, it has not been confirmed that these beloved candy icon has been discontinued. Stay tuned...
And here I thought my literary grandparents were absolutely correct about the derivation of the name. When the new company took over in 1920 they wanted to change the name from Tom Henry candy bar did something snappier and more marketable. The incredibly popular American fiction writer O. Henry had died just 10 years before. But he was still at the Pinnacle of his Fame, the bee’s knees of American fiction. So when the new company took over the Tom Henry bar became the “Oh Henry”. They got to share all the glory the original
O. Henry author, but were protected from copyright litigation by making the first word Oh instead of the initial O. And they even had plausible deniability for the Henry part, since it had already been named after Tom Henry to begin with. I still believe that’s the real story.
I vividly remember Paul Harvey telling this story on his radio show. “And now you know the rest of the story” It was a great story – I won’t try to tell – but it came from a young man who worked at the factory and was named Henry. He was a jack of all trades and anybody that wanted something done would say “Oh Henry” calling him over to do something.
What store in Henrico Virginia, csn I find O Henry candy bars
I thought the company was owned (at least in the 90’s) by Sue Ellen Mischke.
Leora Henry, If it is available online, please provide a link.