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.