I looked up jelly beans on wikipedia.

I learned that "Jelly Bean" was a slang term in the 1910's and 1920's, meaning "a young man who dressed stylishly to attract women but had little else to recommend him." I might have to start using this term.

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote the popular novel The Great Gatsby and the short story The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button also wrote a short story in 1920 about this type of character called The Jelly-Bean. I had never even heard of it.

There's also a song called "Jelly Bean (He's a Curbstone Cutie)" which was written in 1920 by Jimmie Dupre, Sam Rosen, and Joe Verges. I love the artwork for the sheet music. The guy on the front cover really amuses me, and the splatter font that the title is written in is awesome.

A version of the song done by Phil Harris was popular in the 40's. I primarily know Harris as the voice of Baloo and Little John in the Disney animated movies The Jungle Book and Robin Hood.



Listen to the lyrics. "Won't drink that big old beer or wine, just eats his ice cream all the time." What's not to like about this young man? He dresses stylishly and eats ice cream all the time? I've gotta say, I kind of relate to this Jelly Bean character, being a stylish gentleman who doesn't drink but loves ice cream. If the ladies don't go for him, I think they probably just have bad taste.

Ode To Jelly Belly

A while back, my sister and her boyfriend gave me a Jelly Belly jar.

I love Jelly Belly, but only certain flavors. I refuse to get the 20 Flavors or 40 Flavors assortments, because they contain so many flavors that are unappealing, like buttered popcorn, coconut, and black licorice.

All three of those awful flavors are in that BeanBoozled assortment where all the jelly beans are put in pairs that appear the same, but one is supposed to be a "tasty" flavor and one is supposed to be a gross "weird and wild" flavor. It's some kind of demented party game. Somehow, all three of those awful flavors are considered "tasty" ones in the game, but in my opinion they don't seem much better than their "weird and wild" counterparts. Honestly, if it's between coconut and baby wipes, I am not sure which one I'd rather eat. It's a toss up.

The Jelly Belly assortment I love most is Soda Pop Shoppe. Every flavor is delicious, and each one is based on popular soda flavors. 7UP, A&W Cream Soda and Root Beer, Orange and Grape Crush, and Dr. Pepper. It's very rare that I see them in any stores though, so the Jelly Belly jar has been empty most of the time I've owned it.

Until recently when I found a Snapple assortment.



Curiously though, all of the flavors are based on Snapple fruit juice drinks. I do love some of the juices, such as Kiwi Strawberry, but I think iced tea flavors could be amazing. Imagine the Snapple raspberry iced tea in Jelly Belly form. Yum! Truly a missed opportunity, but I enjoy this Snapple assortment anyway.

All Hallows' Eve is over. So I built this LEGO vignette.

It was inspired by another vignette I saw recently created by a friend of a friend. It featured the two of them and another friend drinking tea in their living room.