About a fine baker, named Maurice Lenell.
“He came here from
Sweden, to bake and to sell,
The wonderful
cookies, of Maurice Lenell.
“One taste will
tell, that Maurice Lenell, cookies are just simply … good!”
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| Soon to be no more! |
Now,
it’s just an advertising jingle relegated to the junk yards of our minds that
are cluttered with all sorts of trivia collected through our lives. Maurice
Lenell cookies will soon be no more.
The
company that has been producing them in recent years has decided it’s no longer
financially worth their time or effort to do so.
THE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE reported Thursday that the current supply of Lenell-brand
cookies in places like The Cookie Store and More are it – there will be no
replenishment of supplies once they run out.
Although
it should be pointed out that the Lenell family that founded the company in the
1920s with a bakery that expanded greatly throughout the years sold their financial
interest back in 1985. The new owners closed the iconic company’s factory on
Harlem Avenue in suburban Norridge in 2007.
Which
for one summer back some three decades ago I actually lived near. It always
shocked me to learn the number of people who thought it cool to live near the
real-life Maurice Lenell factory. Yes, I am old enough to remember the smell of
the cookies baking when one passed through the neighborhood.
It
has been quite a while since Lenell cookies were something you could easily
find on your store shelves. They had become something that certain people would
scavenge stores for – just like Faygo root beer – to bring back some sort of
childhood memories.
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| How do people give directions now w/o the Lips? |
MY OWN MEMORY of the company go back to that advertising jingle that was
featured in television spots that aired on many programs that were geared
toward Chicago-area children.
Such
as Ray Rayner or Garfield Goose. Or as my brother, Chris, recalls, a sizable supply of
Lenell-brand cookies were among the prizes offered on Bozo’s Circus for those
individuals fortunate enough to get a chance to play the Grand Prize Game (I
went to grammar school with one such girl – she washed out on Bucket Number
Three).
Which
is why, as I write this, I can’t get that jingle out of my head. I may have to
torture myself with something by Culture Club or the 1910 Fruitgum Company to force
it out of there.
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| It has been awhile since we've seen Hauldren's real image on television |
Perhaps
it is just a desire to hang on to portions of the Chicago of my youth – some of
which probably make no sense to the younger generation. Just as how I always
expect to see that whitewashed brick colossus as I approach 35th
Street on the Dan Ryan Expressway – only to realize Comiskey Park was torn down
25 years ago.
THE
JINGLE WILL go along with another iconic image that used to exist on the Dan
Ryan – the Magikist carpet cleaning company that hasn’t been in business since
2001.
Remember
those giant red lips that lit up there, along with locations along the
Eisenhower and Edens expressways? How many people used to give directions to
their homes by telling people how far they lived from the lips?
Which
would make us think those people were imbibing a bit too much on the cooking
sherry, until we drove into their neighborhoods and suddenly saw those giant
lips hovering over us? Then, it made sense.
I’ll
have to confess to sensing a gaping hole, of sorts, at 85th Street
when I no longer see those lips looking down on me as I pass by on the Dan
Ryan.
JUST
AS IT also seems odd whenever we see the animated image of Lynn Hauldren in the
television commercials for Empire Today. The real-life Hauldren when he was
alive was the Empire Carpet Guy, whose company could easily be reached at
588-2300.
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| Bring back real Sanders image? |
In
fact, I suspect most of you had no clue who I was talking about until I gave
the company’s telephone number – which you’re probably now singing in your own
minds.
Yet
another iconic image from Chicago’s past that continues on.
Although
definitely not as lame (my brother insists “creepy” is the proper word) as
actor Darrell Hammond’s attempt bring life to Col. Sanders. That would be one
image we’d all be better off forgetting!
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