During the 1800's, Western Union was the only transcontinental company. They were humongous. They were a MONOPOLY, with a capital "M." Just like most gigantic companies, they were slow to adapt to a changing world. They were offered the patent rights to the Bell telephone. One year after Alexander Graham Bell patented his invention, he offered the device to Western Union for $100,000.00. Western Union could have continued their massive growth into the 20th century, but they screwed up. The company declined the offer. BIG MISTAKE.

During the 1950's & 1960's Western Union was a big magazine advertiser. They used the magazine ads to try to reclaim lost business that the telephone took from them. They provided services that gave the consumer instant written communication. The customer might be a contractor that was trying to conduct a million dollar business transaction, and they needed an instant written confirmation of the deal. There was also a need for non business communication. For example: a New York City family member might have a last minute desire to wish their Florida Granny a Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Prior to email messages, a company that needed instant written confirmation of a business deal had to use Western Union. Even tho they were a monopoly, they could have been far bigger if they had only seen the importance of the Bell telephone. Another example of a slow-moving dinosaur company.

During the 1960's, the company was desperate to rebuild their slowly dying telegram business. They started offering Candygrams. A telegram messenger would hand deliver a telegram along with a box of candy. It was a cute idea, which still operates today, in the ownership of another company. I have posted a 1969 Candygram TV commercial, with Peter Lawford.



As the title of this blog posts asks:
Can you name two TV / movie pop culture references to a Candygram?

1) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SKIT - LAND SHARK   After the movie Jaws came out, a skit was written around a fictional Land Shark, on the TV show Saturday Night Live. The Land Shark knocked on the door of Laraine Newman, and tried to get into her apartment by claiming that it was delivering a CANDYGRAM. Laraine believed the carnivorous Land Shark was trying to deliver a CandyGram, and was tricked into opening the door. Two seconds later, the Land Shark devoured Laraine.

2)  MEL BROOKS MOVIE - BLAZING SADDLES  Mongo was the gigantic bad-guy henchman for the evil Hedley Lamarr. Mongo was captured by the the sheriff after the lawman disguised himself as a Western Union messenger. The Sheriff / messenger walked into the bar, where Mongo was terrorizing the patrons, and announced that he had a "CANDYGRAM for Mongo." The Candygram box had an explosive charge inside it, which temporarily knocked out Mongo, and allowed the sheriff to chain him up.

3) Even tho I said TV / movie references, there is also another pop culture reference. There is a band called "CANDYGRAM for Mongo." 

Posted below are two ads. One of the ads is for the Candygram, and the other Western Union advertisements  is aimed at business related issues.














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