I used to love ice cream. I ate it all the time, in vast quantities. Mostly vanilla, but in my youth enjoyed mango, pineapple, strawberry and peach flavour as well. I loved ‘ice blocks’ as well (non-dairy frozen treats), especially the fruit ones.
No longer. I rarely eat any ice cream, and when I do regret it. Even ice blocks aren’t much to my taste. Unlike some people.
I was thinking about this recently. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I do eat, since the list seems to get shorter all the time. But compared to my youth, the absence of ice cream from my diet is notable.
That’s a Bubble O’Bill, an ice cream that was my favorite as a kid. It’s a ice cream cowboy with a chocolate back and bubblegum nose! He looks like this:
Appetizing isn’t it? I loved these guys; not only did you get a frosty snack but the bubblegum just seemed like extra bang for your $0.40. For a child, this deal was irresistible.
Bubble O’Bill was actually an American invention, released in 1985. It wasn’t too successful here though, but found its ideal market in always-sunny Australia. I remember when they were released; an immediate other option to the always-purchased Heart ice cream. The bubblegum nose meant they couldn’t be sold at school, but I’d buy them all the time at the corner shop.
The bubblegum nose was occasionally strange colours (a green nose?!) and I seem to recall there used to be quotes on the stick as well. The best was when he was a bit deformed, or his nose was on backwards. Such rare versions were prized, and consumed with a smile. It was the pinnacle of frozen novelties, and always money well spent!
Of course there were other ice creams I liked:
And Bubble O’Bill success led to similar treats:
That even continue today:
And in my teenage, sophisticated years I tended to prefer this guy:
But even up to me leaving Oz in ’93 used to still buy the occasional Bill.
In England we had some whipped ice cream at the ‘steam fair’ that reminded a lot of what I ate in my youth. I wondered why I don’t ever eat any during my annual trips. Next time, I think I’ll have to make it a point to get a Bubble O’Bill, even if just for old times sake.
And if – when – I do, you can look forward to a review write here on the blog 🙂
The Jedi jelly in those “R/O/T/J” ice blocks was out of this galaxy!
You could also have mentioned Sunnyboys, housed in their distinctive cardboard pyramids. Sadly, they were discontinued this past August. And I remember my younger sisters being fans of Funny Feet. I also loved Crazy Critters, which had a very different texture to the other ices on the market (lord knows what additives they contained). Flavours included Koalaberry and Tangaroo.
There was a definite hierarchy of ice-creams and popsicles in our youth, wasn’t there? If you were at the pool or beach, or just at home on a hot arvo, and someone did a run to the local shop, they’d return with Icy Poles for the little kids, Weis Bars/Monaco Bars/Hearts/Drumsticks/Dixie Cups for the adults, and gimmicky ice blocks for the older children. Maybe Spearmint Choc Wedges if they were lucky 🙂
Oh, and don’t forget Zooper Doopers and their smaller predecessors whose name escapes me. Many freezers contained these delicious goop-filled plastic tubes during our school days. The ultimate extravagance to eat a whole row without separating them, simply cutting across the tops of all the tubes.
Splits, Calippos, Paddle Pop Lick-A-Prize comps (my mate SB won an Intellivision)…too many memories!
Oh Choc Wedges! I remembered them but not the name. The spearmint ones were great, although I suspect I’d find them too sweet now. Many others you mentioned I’d forgotten about, like Sunny Boys which I adored.
Do you remember the monster themed ‘frozen lollies’ (not dairy based) from the very early 80s that had heat-activated monster pictures on the wrappers? We cut them out and collected them and kept them for many years. I wish I still had one.
As with many products the extraordinary variety of Australian ice cream is amazing considering the relatively small population. I’m going to pay special attention to this in January!
Don’t recall the monster pics, sorry. I do remember plastic sticks with bumps and holes that could be fitted together to build stuff in LEGO fashion. They may have come inside those three-flavour Rocket ices. Not sure.
There appear to be as many different ice blocks/creams on the market as there ever were. You’ll have fun in Jan. 🙂
A bit of googling couldn’t find the monster ice creams; maybe Bernard will remember. It did however remind me of Fat Frog! That was a shaped BoB-type ice-cream that was mostly (iirc) peppermint!
Do you recall the ice creams with bubblegum sticks? They were about the same shape as a straw and covered in blue or white plastic. Apparently such things still exit today (one German example is the ‘Bum Bum’ bar).
You’re dead right about the rockets. The sticks came in primary colours and we had a bunch.
Remember Paddle Pops ‘lick-a-prize’? That bloody promotion had me digging sticks out of garbages to double check ?
I remember Paddle Pop and Splice and the Rocket with the plastic construction sticks.
In later years I remember Heart, Drum Stick and Magnum, although they tended to be more expensive than the ones marketed to kids.
I remember the one that had the heat activated picture on the wrapper, but not its name.
Bubble gum cores – yes! The “sticks” were plastic cylinders with a perforated strip you removed to gain access to the gum. But were they their own brand of ice block/cream, or a sales-boosting edition of an existing popsicle? [Scratches head]
More… The Smurfee wasn’t the only double-sticker. There was a red and green one, too. I think the idea was that the halves could be shared. As if! Around Year 5 or 6, there was a popular ice called a Dracula, that was black outside and blood-red inside.
A google search claimed that Smurfs ice blocks (non dairy, unlike the image above) had bubble gum sticks. I reckon it was something else though.
Dracula sounds like one of the ones with the heat-sensitive labels. I think there was a mummy and werewolf one as well. Wish I could find images!