Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus.
Okay, we knew that. But did you know this?
There really is a Little Debbie.
Now, I should say this. When I was growing up, we were a Hostess family. We surely did not get a HoHo very often. Or a Twinkie. But when we did have those pre-packaged baked goods, they came from Hostess. Honeybuns. Zingers. Ding Dongs.
For whatever reason, we never had Little Debbie snack cakes. And, to this day, I still haven’t had one. I’m not sure if they are better or worse than Hostess snacks. But I will tell you this. Hostess didn’t have a person named Hostess working for them. But there really was a Little Debbie.
She is clearly pictured on the outside of their packages. Most of us recognize that image of that good girl, Little Debbie. There she is, smiling. A young girl in a checkered shirt and straw hat is on the corner of every box.
So yes, that Little Debbie isn’t just some cute drawing. She is, in fact, one Debbie McKee, the granddaughter of O.D. McKee, who founded the company back in the 1930s. He started the whole deal by selling snack cakes out of his car during the Depression.
In the 1960s, the company expanded in a big way and started selling its baked goods in quantity. That is when the company chose the 4-year-old granddaughter to be the face and name of the company.
Today, Debbie McKee-Fowler still works for the company as the Chairman of the Board.
Truthfully, I think Hostess is more interesting.
Their product names are better. I mean. C’mon. Twinkies? A “Twinkie” sounds like the fairy elf of all snack cakes.
But here is one thing Hostess has in its favor. They created an entire cast of characters.
Captain Cupcake.
King Ding Dong.
Fruit Pie the Magician.
Suzy Q.
And so many more.
I mean. What kid doesn’t love Captain Cupcake? Who, by the way, is good pals with Captain Crunch, Popeye, and Hagar the Horrible. They go to the Sailor Inn every Tuesday night for Happy Hour.
But, I suppose Little Debbie has their Little Debbie.
Which seems a little Oatmeal Creme Pie-ish to me.
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“The 12-step chocoholics program: Never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate!”
― Terry Moore
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“I’ve never met a problem a proper cupcake couldn’t fix.”
― Sarah Ockler, Bittersweet
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“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love chocolate, and communists.”
― Leslie Moak Murray
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There really is a Debbie, Captain.
