Since at least the 1870s, Chicago has been a hotbed of popcorn innovation for the whole country — and the Tribune was writing about it every step of the way.
John Spiropoulos doesn't let a coal strike bother his peanut and popcorn business as he uses gasoline for light and heat on Nov. 25, 1946, at North Avenue and Clark Street in Chicago.
He also wrote that after the sugar had been added, one place added a dye made of cochineal, a dried red insect, to give the popcorn a “carmine tint.” The reporter wondered if the dye was harmful. “No,” said the proprietor, “it is quite harmless; and then, you see, it gives the pop-corn a sort of Fourth-of-July look.”
Another innovation in the popcorn arts was also taking place during the end of the 19th century. On March 8, 1896, the Tribune reported that “Louis Rueckheim, a Chicago candy manufacturer, recently hit upon a very bright, new idea in confections.” But as the man ran out of the store, co-owner Claude Garrett gave chase, and “an unidentified sailor overtook the robber and grappled with him.” Though “the robber wriggled out of his coat and ducked into the subway at State and Monroe,” the money from the register was in the coat and was returned.
That writer was obviously in the minority, as popcorn and the movies continued their productive partnership. On Dec. 12, 1986, now-former Tribune dining critic Phil Vettel eloquently described why the two worked so well together: “ also may be the perfect movie food. It’s cheap, easy to share and simple to find in the dark.
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