My Memory Lane

Candy Bar Memory Lane: Marathon Bar. Does anyone remember this candy bar? It was my favorite...?

Whatever happened to this great candybar? 10 points for anyone who remembers and describes it with nostalgia!

Public Comments

1. Miss: Marathon When I was a kid there was an amazing candy bar called the Marathon. It was made by Mars and came in a bright red wrapper and was almost ten inches long (the candy was only 8 inches). Inside was a braid of firm caramel covered in chocolate. The Marathon bar came along at a time when I would guess I was particularly impressionable and it was a marvelous time in candy. New candies were being introduced that seemed to speak directly to my soul. It was at this time that things like Reese’s Pieces, Sprees & Starbursts came out and Pringles (okay, not a candy, but I’d buy them at the Stop ‘n Go). And let’s not forget Pop Rocks. The Marathon bar was probably not marketed towards me. The commercial campaign I remember involved a square-jawed, white-toothed and practically perfect looking Patrick Wayne (son of John Wayne) who went by the name of Marathon John. This hero of little commerical stories did everything slow, like eating his Marathon bar. He had a nemesis in the commericals, a wirey fellow named Quick Carl. Quick Carl was careless and jumpy and was, of course, always foiled by Marathon John and his candy bar that you can’t eat quickly. (We didn’t have color TV back then, so the whole “red” thing was lost on me ... it’s not that I’m that old that I remember black & white TV, it’s just that we didn’t get one in my family until 1979). My guess is that this long candy bar that came with a measuring stick on the back was aimed at adolescent boys. You know how obsessed they are with measuring things. And how often do you find yourself at lunch or hanging out at the park with your little paper bag of sweets and wanna measure something with your buds? Anyway, the candy bar was introduced in 1973 by Mars and discontinued it in 1981. But of course once you discontinue a candy bar the fans come out of the woodwork. The bar has been gone for more than twenty years and still there are rabid admirers who insist that it be returned to the American Pantheon of candy bars. I suspect that one of the issues with it is its non-standard size. It just doesn’t fit on the shelves the same way and slotting is important for the big candy manufacturers. But Cadbury seems to be doing fine with the Curly Wurly ... but for all I know their biggest market may be the United States and these folks in their forties who insist that there is no other candy bar for them than an eight inch braid of caramel covered with chocolate. A few years ago Mars resurrected the name Marathon but this time gave it to an “energy bar” type candy. I’ve never tried it. Links: CS Monitor and the Snickers/Marathon bar, Linda Lee Dobbins muses on her favorite candies, including the Marathon bar and other contemporaneous memory lane items including the Marathon bar If you’re looking for a fix now that you’ve waxed as nostalgic as I have, pick up the Cadbury Curly Wurly bar. You can find them in the UK or Canada or perhaps in the States at a shop that carries UK imports and of course online. Old Time Candy has a nice page about Curly-Wurly and the Marathon Bar Here’s my review of the Curly Wurly (I gave it an 8 out of 10). The only question that remains (and perhaps you dear readers can help) is who came up with the bar first? Was it a Cadbury product that was licensed by Mars just as Hershey licensed KitKat from Rowntree (well, now Nestle)? Or did Mars come up with it and it was successful enough in the UK to continue? POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:56 pm Mars • Cadbury • Chocolate
2. It was in a red and white wrapper, I think and it was big!! it was a braid of chocolate and caramel.
3. Braided Carmel covered in chocolate and it seems like it must have been at least 12 inches long! (actually they were 8 inches) I loved them and have no idea whatever happened to them. but there are bars made just like them called the curly worley you can purchase them at this site I found. Thanks for the memory! but now im having craving!
4. Ah, I remember it well. I remember those inncoent strolls on a Sunday afternoon with my pet dog, Spot, holding hands with my girlfriend Emily and munching on a delicious Marathon Candy Bar. That chocolaty-caramely deliciousness would make me feel light in the feet and add a skip to my step. Spot would always jump up trying to sneak a taste. Oh, what a little devil he was! I buried him with a dozen Marathon Bars in his little casket. I will never forget him or my Marathon Candy Bars!
5. No, cause it went "belly up" cause you and your "size 0" peers didn't buy enough of 'em... That's my answer and I'm stickin' to it.. Brazilian chocolates are sooo much better!!!!!!