Hiya, friends.
I'm Joy Dolo, and I'm here to introduce you to a revolutionary new product.
It's light as a feather, puffy as a cloud and salty as your pet elephant when you forget his birthday.
I said I'm sorry, Hermie!
As I was saying.
Now, introducing Popcorn!
Hey, Joy.
Whoa, what is all this?
Hello, Rose!
And welcome to the show, Don't Be Intimidated by the Blinding Stage Lights and Live Studio Audience!
Um, Joy, those are flashlights taped to the ceiling, and that's an audience of stuffed animals.
Yeah, it's so good you're here because today, and today only, I'm introducing the world to a fantastic bombastic, enthusiastic new product called popcorn.
I'm pretty sure the world knows about popcorn already.
Right you are, Rose.
But does the world know all its other uses?
Simply crumble it up in your hands and it becomes a terrific face scrub.
Mmm, buttery soft, salty skin in seconds.
And if a little falls in your mouth while you're scrubbing, great!
Uh... Or drop a trail of kernels behind you as you're hiking in the forest.
You'll never get lost again.
Birds would definitely eat that popcorn trail.
Or use it to cushion your priceless knickknacks and shipping boxes.
Who needs bubble wrap when you've got crispy, crunchy popcorn?
I call it Crunchwrap.
No, Crunchwrap Supreme.
Okay, that name is definitely taken.
But that's actually a pretty good idea.
You bet it is.
And the best part?
Popcorn is 100% belly degradable.
You mean biodegradable?
Like it breaks down in nature?
Nope.
Belly degradable.
It breaks down in your belly.
Now that's a product that's good for the planet.
Joy, how long has this popcorn been in the shipping box?
At least six months, maybe 10.
Who's keeping track?
Get your popcorn today for the low price of $39.99.
Plus shipping and handling terms and conditions may apply.
Act now.
Operators are standing by.
Popcorn.
It can literally do anything.
Welcome to Forever Ago from APM Studios.
I'm Joy Dolo.
And I'm Rose.
And today we're talking about... Popcorn!
Where'd you get that air horn?
This?
It's my pop horn.
I use it for special popcorn-related announcements.
So how do you feel about popcorn, Rose?
I really like it.
It makes for a really good snack during lunch or after school.
You usually like to eat it after school?
Yeah.
Do you ever eat it other times, like at home?
Sometimes on the weekends.
My brother, he has sports a lot on the weekends, so I eat it while I'm at his games and stuff.
Oh, that's fun.
Do you have a favorite kind of flavor?
I really like kettle corn.
Oh, that's good.
How would you describe kettle corn for someone that's never had it before?
I would say it kind of has like a really faint caramelly taste.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I really like kettle corn too.
Do you ever get popcorn at the movies?
I love popcorn at the movies.
Like the butter popcorn.
Yeah.
Do you get the popcorn that they just add the butter or do you do extra, extra, extra butter?
I like to add the extra butter.
I do that too.
I think butter is like one of the main facets.
Like how do you have popcorn without butter, right?
I know.
Sometimes what I do, you know.
Speaking of kettle corn, I used to put like kettle corn popcorn and I'd mix it with regular butter popcorn and then you get kind of like a mix of like sweet and salty.
Yeah, what we used to get was like we would get like the tins and they would have half like cheddar cheese popcorn and half caramel popcorn and like a little bit of like kettle corn.
It was delicious.
Can I tell you, that's like a family memory.
Like my dad would come home with like a big, giant Christmas tin and have the little cardboard triangle thing in the middle.
And we used to take it out and shake it up.
Oh, my gosh.
Rose, we have so much in common.
I know.
Popcorn is such a salty, buttery, delicious treat.
In the U.S., we eat around 14 billion quarts of popcorn every year.
That's enough to fill 5,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
You can find it in lots of places, from fairs and circuses to sport games.
But one of our favorite places to eat popcorn?
The movies.
It's true.
Movie theaters and popcorn go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Yeah, they're so closely linked in our minds that it's kind of strange to walk into a movie theater and not smell buttery popcorn.
But why do we eat popcorn at the movies anyway?
Why not peanuts or pizza or potato chips?
I know all of you listening are curious about this, too.
My name is Theo, and my question is, when did popcorn become a movie food?
Rose, I'm sorry, but I just can't talk about popcorn without wanting popcorn.
And this studio is just so popcorn-less.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
To the movies!
Okay, is it just me, or is this movie theater line, like, really, really long?
I can't even see the front.
Oh, yikes, I forgot.
It's opening weekend for that new action movie, Snakes on a Train.
It's about these snakes that take control of a train and drive to the zoo and free all the other snakes there.
Aw, cute.
Snakes helping snakes.
Well, this will give us plenty of time to talk about popcorn.
To really understand why we eat this crunchy treat at the movies, we have to go back to popcorn's early days.
People have been eating popcorn for thousands of years.
We know this because archaeologists in New Mexico found ancient popcorn that's at least 5000 years old.
At first, people tried all different ways to pop it.
Sometimes they put corn kernels in jars of hot sand.
Or threw the kernels directly onto a fire's hot coals and then pulled the popcorn out with tongs.
But this early popcorn was sometimes burned or smoky tasting.
Then, in 1837, an inventor in New Hampshire dreamed up a solution.
He built a metal basket that you filled with corn kernels.
It had a long handle so you could hold it over the fire without burning yourself.
This device is called a popper for obvious reasons.
The first ones weren't perfect, but they led the way to newer and better poppers.
And it was just the spark needed to kick off America's love of popcorn.
Around the 1840s, most people lived on farms without running water or electricity.
Railroads were still being built in the US and Edgar Allan Poe had just published his famous poem The Raven.
And as new and improved poppers hit the market, popcorn fever took America by storm.
People came up with new recipes and started popcorn companies.
There was even popcorn poetry.
One writer described the popping kernels as the prettiest fairy dance in the world.
Another wrote about two sweethearts making popcorn together.
Hmm, let's see.
How about, At once, by the fireplace, happy love is born, and forgotten is the world outside, amid thoughts of popping corn.
Oh, that's good, that's good.
Plus, people hosted popcorn parties.
Kids would popcorn in the fireplace and play games, like popcorn-eating races.
Not long after, in 1885, something came along that would change the fate of popcorn forever.
Cheddar cheese-flavored powder?
Close, but no.
I meant the invention of the popcorn cart.
By the 1890s, new portable steam-powered poppers meant that sellers could pop on the go.
Suddenly, they could sell popcorn at fairs, parks, and stadiums.
Popcorn!
Popcorn over here!
Don't even bother seeing a ballgame without a battery-salty bag of popcorn!
Ah, I just cannot resist that mouth-watering aroma wafting on the breeze.
I'll take five bags.
No, make that ten.
On second thought, just pour it directly into my mouth.
But even though it was becoming more and more popular, there was still one place you wouldn't find popcorn.
The movies!
Gasp!
The horror!
But yeah, movie theater owners wanted nothing to do with popcorn.
You see, around this time, movie theaters were a brand new thing.
The first one opened in 1896 in New Orleans.
And as more movie theaters popped up, they started getting fancy.
They were called movie palaces and they had thick carpets, big heavy drapes and lots of carved wood.
These theaters were made to attract rich, high-paying customers.
And theater owners did not like the idea of people bringing popcorn into their new buildings.
Imagine it.
Popcorn inside our theaters.
They'll grind the kernels into the plush, beautiful carpet or drop them in the cracks of the seats.
A waking nightmare.
Don't even get me started on the noise.
Hundreds of mouths crunching at the same time.
How's anyone supposed to enjoy a film with all that racket?
Don't worry.
I'm sure this whole popcorn thing is just a fad.
Theater owners were determined to keep popcorn out.
But something was coming that would convince them to change their minds.
Ooh, love a cliffhanger.
Okay, I really thought we'd be eating popcorn by now.
I swear this movie line's getting longer.
I know.
Wow, that popcorn was definitely worth the wait.
Mmm, so hot and buttery.
Too bad I couldn't finish this king-size extra jumbo bucket during the movie.
Oh well, I guess I'll just toss it.
No!
What are you doing?
No, stop!
What?
Hurry up, people.
We need our popcorn.
I yearn for the kern.
Joy, I don't think your popcorn is helping.
You're right.
How about we distract ourselves with a game and play...
It's the game where we guess the order things came in history.
Today's items are three movie treats.
Slurpees, those frozen slushy drinks, Milk Duds, the chocolate-covered caramels and Sour Patch Kids.
All right Rose, which do you think came first, which came second and which came most recently in history?
I think that Milk Duds came first because they were, like, really original.
Yeah, they seem like they've been around forever.
Yeah.
And then I think maybe Slurpees.
They seem like kind of like ice cream.
They seem new, but like they might not be that very new.
Yeah, yeah.
And then I think Sour Patch Kids at last.
That just seems like it was made in a... Yeah.
Like in a factory with chemicals.
Do you like any of those kinds of treats?
I like Sour Patch Kids a lot, and I really like Slurpees.
Milk suds.
I'll eat them and they're good, but they wouldn't be my first choice for candy at the movies.
Yeah, I think Duds was right with the marketing, huh?
Yeah.
I have to say I really like Sour Patch Kids, too.
And I have to tell you this.
So what I do is I eat the Sour Patch Kids and then I don't chew it.
I just put it in my mouth and then I drink water and I take all the sour off and then I chew it like a gummy bear.
It's weird.
Yeah.
It's my weird thing.
You don't do that, do you?
No.
Okay, that's cool.
Whatever.
No, it's cool.
It's fine.
I don't do it either.
Joy, what's your favorite, like, slurpy combination?
Oh, that's such a good question.
You know, I really love a blue raspberry and I like the blue and red combo.
So it makes like a purple.
Yeah.
Have you ever done that before?
I have, but I really like like the Coke and the cherry.
Oh, yeah.
That's my favorite combo.
That sounds really good.
I feel like after this, we should go get some Slurpees.
We should.
Okay, we got a little Slurpee sidetracked, but your final order was Milk Duds first, Slurpee second and Sour Patch Kids last.
We'll hear the answers to first things first at the end of the show after the credits.
So stick around.
We've been talking all about one of our favorite snacks, popcorn.
But there are so many other great snacks out there.
Plus, some that haven't even been invented yet.
We asked you, our forever ago listeners, to send in ideas for what the snacks of the future will look like.
And you had some delicious responses.
My name is Shreep and my idea for the snack of the future would be a bag of nuggets with a microphone on it.
So when you spoke into the microphone, it would taste like the food you just spoke into the microphone.
So if I said BLT sandwich with extra cheese, that's what the nuggets would taste like.
Hi, I'm Eleanor, and I think the snack of the future is like popcorn that pops by itself.
And when you like just think of a flavor for it, it like becomes a flavor.
Like if you wanted like bubblegum flavored popcorn, it could like be bubblegum flavor.
Hi, my name is Anya and I think the snack of the future would be mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce flavored gummy bears, because gummy bears are very yummy and I like their texture, but I really also like mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce.
I'm Bear.
My snack of the future would be pretzels, but the salt changes color.
Thanks to Sri, Eleanor, Anya, and Vera for sending in those yummy ideas.
I think my snack of the future would be a giant cookie that you could wear.
So I have a thing with, like, sweets and wearing them because I have a major sweet tooth.
And I think like wearing like a cookie cape that you can just kind of take a bite out of like when you're out and about.
I think that'd be my...
My snack of the future.
That's a great idea.
Nobody take it.
Rose, what would your idea be?
I think mine would be like some kind of like floating snack, that like followed you around so you didn't have to like use your hands.
Oh, yeah.
Like the floating Cheetos.
So you don't have to get all the Cheeto dust or talkie dust all over your hands.
That is ingenious.
I'm going to vote for yours.
I'm going to take my cookie cake back.
Thank you.
That's such a great idea.
We'll be back in a bit with more on the delicious history of movie popcorn.
And keep listening.
Entering Brains on Universe.
Entering Brains on Universe.
So many podcasts.
Brains on.
Smash Boom Best.
Forever Ago.
Picking up signals.
Brains on.
Brains on.
A science podcast.
About a hundred bolts of lightning strike the Earth's surface every second.
But there are all different types of lightning.
You can have lightning bolts between clouds, from the ground up to a cloud, even lightning that looks like glowing balls.
Lightning bolts.
Zork, where did the signal go?
Must find brains on pod.
Search for Brains On wherever you listen to podcasts.
You're listening to Forever Ago.
I'm Joy.
And I'm Rose.
Today we're talking about why we eat popcorn at the movies.
While Joy and I are at the movies.
Well, in line at the movies.
Hey, looks like the line's finally starting to move.
We'll be there in no time.
Pfft.
We've taken one step forward in the past ten minutes.
Wait, are you, Joy Dolo, inventor of the Crunchwrap Supreme, the most revolutionary popcorn packing material on the market?
Oh my gosh, you saw my infomercial?
Saw it?
Your infomercial changed my life.
I decided to quit my measly job working as a highly paid corporate lawyer and become a pop star.
Whoa, an actual pop star?
What albums have you released?
No, no.
A pop star.
I'm an influencer who makes videos all day about popcorn and also happens to be a star.
Pop star.
Don't steal that.
It's trademarked.
Glad we ran into you because we're talking all about popcorn.
We just heard how new inventions made it much easier to make popcorn in the mid to late 1800s.
And people started selling it in lots of places.
Circuses, fairs, and even sports games.
But there was one place that you wouldn't find popcorn in the early 1900s.
The movies.
That's because movie theater owners thought it would be too messy and noisy.
They should have just watched my video, One Weird Hack to Keep Popcorn Off Your Theater Floors.
You just shove your entire face in the popcorn bucket and eat your way out.
Hands-free snacking and clean floors.
Ugh, what I wouldn't give to shove my face in a popcorn bucket right now.
Hang on, I think I have some leftover popcorn in my pocket.
Oh, never mind.
It's just a bunch of gold and diamonds and other useless junk.
So, theater owners said no way to popcorn at first.
But by the late 1920s, something happened that would make them change their minds.
The 1920s.
Women in the US had recently gotten the right to vote, and people were really into jazz music.
Movies were getting really popular, too.
By 1930, around 80 million tickets were being sold every week.
Which was pretty incredible, considering there were only about 123 million people living in the US back then.
It was like if you had 10 friends and seven of them were seeing a movie every week.
So things were great for theaters.
But then came the Great Depression.
I know all about that.
It happened to me last week when I realized my favorite brand of popcorn was being discontinued.
It was rough.
Well, actually, the Great Depression was a period in the 1930s when the U.S. economy crashed.
Businesses closed and lots of workers lost their jobs.
So people didn't have a lot of money.
But even though times were hard, people still needed entertainment.
So they went to the movies.
For about 25 cents a ticket, you could escape reality for a little while in the dark of the movie theater.
And people also wanted a cheap snack at the movies.
So some popcorn sellers decided to set up carts outside in front of the theaters.
They made hot popcorn right there on the sidewalk and sold it for five to ten cents a bag.
And they started making lots of money.
Theater owners were not happy.
Ugh!
Popcorn carts all over the sidewalk in front of my very fancy highbrow theater!
Ugh!
Selling that odious popcorn, making a boatload of money.
I should be making the money.
It's an outrage, a scandal.
And it's really, really annoying.
Hmm.
Eventually, some of these popcorn sellers started talking their way into the theaters, including a savvy businesswoman named Julia Braden.
Julia Braden?
She is a legend in the field of pop fluencing.
She was one of the first sellers to convince a theater to let her set up her popcorn stand inside the lobby.
I have her tattooed on my bicep here.
See?
See?
Wow, so detailed.
But yeah, you are right.
Julia was an incredible salesperson.
By 1931 Julia had popcorn stands at four different theaters and she was making more than 14000 a year.
That's the same as about $280,000 today.
Like I always tell my followers and my PopTube channel, popcorn can change lives.
Take it from me, an actual pop star.
Before popcorn, I had crippling insomnia that kept me awake all night, a serious case of constipation and no driver's license.
Wait, the popcorn fixed your constipation and insomnia and it taught you how to drive?
And now look at me sleeping and pooping right on schedule and cruising the streets in my 2002 Toyota Camry.
And it's all thanks to popcorn.
Wow, see, Rose?
Popcorn really can do anything.
Yeah, so anyway...
By the 1930s, theater owners started setting up their own popcorn stands inside the theaters.
It was like popping money.
They would spend 10 on a bag of unpopped kernels and make 10 times that selling freshly popped popcorn.
It was just what the movie business needed to do.
Remember, this was the middle of the Great Depression.
Owners were struggling to keep their businesses open.
Selling popcorn helped theaters make money during a really tough time.
So, even though movie theater owners really didn't want to let people eat popcorn inside, in the end popcorn kind of saved movie theaters.
Yeah.
Isn't it ironic?
Don't you think?
A little too ironic.
Yeah, I really do think.
Oh, Alanis Morissette.
A true great 90s pop star.
A pop star?
I don't think she produced popcorn-related content.
I would know.
Popcorn still makes a lot of money for movie theaters today.
In fact, snacks like popcorn, soda, and candy make up almost half of movie theater profits.
So if you love seeing movies at a theater, think popcorn.
I do.
Every morning during my three-hour gratitude yoga ceremony.
But here's the best part.
The movie industry has changed popcorn itself.
Wait, seriously?
Yep.
Before theaters started selling popcorn, most popcorn grown in the U.S. was the white variety.
But movie theater owners wanted yellow corn.
It got bigger when it popped up, so you got more volume for the same number of kernels.
Makes sense.
Bigger popcorn meant you could fill up more bags with less corn and make more money.
Plus, yellow corn has a yellowish color when it's popped, which makes it look like it has butter on it.
So today, about 90% of commercially grown popcorn is yellow because of the movies.
That's such a cool fact.
No wonder you're a popular popcorn influencer.
Well...
I didn't get as many as 12 subscribers, including my mom, for nothing.
So popcorn changed the movie-going experience, and the movies changed popcorn.
I love it.
Joy, Joy, we're almost at the front of the line.
Yes, popcorn time!
Oh boy, looks like she's live streaming.
Hi, friends.
It's your fave pop star.
Back with another installment of Pop Culture where we talk all things popcorn.
I'm here with my pals Joy and Rose, and we've been waiting in line at the movies forever.
But it's finally time.
Hi.
What can I get you?
Three king-sized jumbo buckets of popcorn with extra butter, a side of kettle corn and five of those sticky sweet popcorn balls you've got over there.
Aw, that's nice of you to treat us.
Yeah, thanks.
Wait, what?
Oh, right.
This was definitely not all just for me.
And three tickets to Snakes on a Train?
Oh, nah.
We're just here for the popcorn.
Cue the popcorn!
Aw, yeah!
Woo-hoo!
People have been eating popcorn for thousands of years, but new poppers in the mid-1800s helped kick off America's popcorn fever.
At first, movie theater owners didn't want popcorn inside.
But the Great Depression convinced them that popcorn could be a big moneymaker.
Popcorn helped keep movie theaters open during tough times.
And it still makes a lot of money for theaters, even today.
And that's it for today's episode of Forever Ago.
This episode was written by Shayla Farzan.
It was produced by Nico Gonzalez-Whistler and Ruby Guthrie and edited by Sandin Totten.
Fact-checking by Katie Ruther.
Engineering help from Michael Osborne and Alex Simpson with sound design by Rachel Brees.
Original theme music by Mark Sanchez.
We had additional production help from the rest of the Brains on Universe team.
Molly Bloom, Rosie DuPont, Anna Goldfield, Lauren Humpert, Joshua Ray, Mark Sanchez, Charlotte Traver, Anna Weigel and Harang Woldeselassie.
Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavadi and Joanne Griffith.
Special thanks to Jessica Buchanan and Deb Edital.
And if you want access to ad-free episodes and special bonus content, subscribe to our Smarty Pass.
Okay, Rose, are you ready to hear the answers for First Things First?
Absolutely.
Yes.
Okay, so as a reminder, we're putting these three movie snacks in order of when they were invented.
And you said, number one, Milk Duds, because it seemed like the original.
Number two, Slurpees.
And number three, Sour Patch Kids.
Are you ready?
Yes.
Is there a drum roll or a... Okay, so here we go.
And you are absolutely right, Rose.
Really?
Yeah, all three of them.
Right in a row.
Melted Slurpee Sour Patch Kids, you did it.
Yay!
Smarty, smarty.
Milk duds.
These chocolate-covered caramels were first invented in 1928.
They got their name because their inventor couldn't figure out how to shape the sticky caramel inside into perfect balls.
So he called them duds.
So it wasn't like I thought they weren't great.
Yeah.
Which is interesting.
This is right around the almost right before the Depression, too.
1928 started in the 30s.
And then next up we have Slurpees.
And the Slurpee was invented by accident in the late 1950s.
Really?
Yeah, yeah.
So an ice cream shop owner in Kansas City stashed some bottles of soda in his freezer after his soda fountain broke.
But he left them in a little too long.
And when he pulled them out, they were a little frozen and slushy.
And he realized he was onto something.
So he built a special machine using an old air conditioner from a car and created a new drink.
Oh, really?
Yeah, I know.
I feel like that's how a lot of cool things are done, like by accident, right?
It's like, whoops, I forgot this thing.
And now I have, you know, pants or whatever.
So last and certainly not least, because it's also my favorite, Sour Patch Kids.
They were created in the early 1970s.
So they were originally called Mars Men because they were designed to look like tiny aliens.
Oh.
Yeah.
But when Cabbage Patch Kids, the squishy-faced dolls, became a toy sensation in the 1980s, the candy was later renamed Sour Patch Kids.
Do you know what a Cabbage Patch Doll is?
I do.
I used to have one.
Did you really?
I did.
Aw.
And now they have the candies that's named after them, too.
That's pretty cool.
They were Mars Men, and then they became, like, Cabbage Patch Kids.
I was wondering why they were shaped that way.
Yeah.
Well now, next time I have them, before I throw them in my mouth, I might take a longer look at them and just study them a little more.
Let's see what they look like.
Was any of this history surprising to you?
I think the fact that Slurpees were created by accident, that was really surprising.
I feel like Slurpees would be like something you would be like, oh, I hate ice cream.
Let's make something else.
I want another cold ice treat.
Yeah.
Without all that dairy.
Yeah.
Totally.
Well, good job.
You did a great job.
Thank you.
We'll be back in two weeks with an episode about wheelchair basketball.
Thanks for listening.
