Jolt Country

Chances are you've never heard of David Klein. Back in the 1970s while working as a candy and nut distributor, Klein came up with the idea of specially flavored jelly beans. David Klein invented Jelly Belly jelly beans. "Candyman" is his story.

THE RESPONSE TO THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. THIS MOVIE IS AVAILABLE VIA NETFLIX STREAMING. IF YOU WISH, GO WATCH IT NOW AND THEN RETURN TO THIS THREAD.

David Klein once said his greatest dream was to own an ice cream truck and drive around town delivering ice cream to kids for free. In the film, Klein's son describes him as being addicted to bringing happiness to people. That's a great trait for a human being and a terrible one for anyone going into business for himself.

Throughout Candyman, time after time we see Klein being taken advantage of -- first by a partner, who illegally claims the Jelly Belly trademark and extorts Klein for $64k, then by another partner, to whom Klein trades 50% of the business in exchange for a building and a start up business. ("He literally traded the magic jelly beans for a cow," his son laments.) As the same of Jelly Belly jelly beans take off, Klein gets pushed into selling the business to a the candy company that manufactured them for him. Had he not sold, the company admits they would have stopped production, taken him to court, waited for Klein to go bankrupt, renamed the product, and begun selling them under a new name.

In the end, the man formerly known as "Mr. Jelly Belly" (he used to dress up in a costume and travel around to promote the candy) sold the company for $5 million, half of which went to the guy he traded 50% of the company to. Klein's name was promptly disassociated from the company. His name was removed from the "official history" of the candy. He's not mentioned in any of the company's promotional material. At one point he's sad to discover that he's not even mentioned in a book titled "the complete history of jelly belly".

In 2006, Jelly Belly sold $160 million dollars worth of jelly beans. David Klein, on the other other hand, has invented a bevy of candies you've never heard of, including some sort of gummy rat, something that comes in a urine specimin container, and "edible candy art sand". Klein's most recent product are his "Beyond Gournet Jelly Beans". From the press release:

With David’s Signature ‘Beyond Gourmet’ Jelly Beans™, consumers will be able to take a delicious sensory journey around the world, experiencing the world’s finest and most exotic spices, herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, and nuts specific to world cultures. David’s ‘Beyond Gourmet’ jelly beans will enable one to create haute cuisine and exotic dishes using the taste elements of each jelly bean. Imagine creating a Thai Lemongrass Curry or an Indian Mango Chutney dish by constructing complex dishes in your mouth, and giving it an explosion of taste that hits all your senses – you can do that with the jelly beans provided in the “Sweet, Salty, Savory and Hot” collection, and the recipes included.

The ‘Sweet, Salty, Savory and Hot” Collection, which is made of 100% natural jelly beans, will include the following 16 flavors: Bacon (Natural and kosher), Thai Chili, Habanero, Chipotle, Himalayan Sea Salt, Wasabi, Ginger, Mango, Pineapple, Guava, Coconut, Ruby Grapefruit, Banana, Pomegranate, Vanilla bean, and Black Cherry.

I have heard people say "nice guys finish last," but this film is a 100-minute-long reminder of it.

Good review, thanks. I was going to watch it, and then, upon further reading, decided against watching it, because...because. I can only hope he is one of those lucky individuals who carries so much happiness and amusement inside himself that these stupid, real-world money-grabbing ploys don't affect him for long.

I think he is, to an extent. I got the feeling what would make him happy is not the money, but the recognition. I think if Jelly Belly (the corporation) let David Klein give Willy Wonka-esque tours of the plant and give away handfuls of jelly beans to kids, he would be the happiest person on the planet.

Its interesting see that he is still developing candy ideas to this day, "Urine in a jar," "rotting rat" and the other misc. candies that one scoffs at in the back of a darkly shaded, barely ray traced, liquor store are all of Klein's creations.

The documentary itself focused on him only partly though, as the Jelly Belly was the main focus (Regan I believe, was an avid eater and they interviewed many other personalities). Shocking though, was how Klein was advertised as the "Jelly Belly Man" with the shirt, show appearances, and other such minutiae. Guess these samples, these snap shots, jarred me into remembering that this sort of advertising and association were common in the 70's and 80's.

I did not get the Weird Al cameo in the film at all. They never really established him as an expert or a fan of jelly beans. It was kind of like they were filming around L.A. and saw Weird Al out watering his lawn and talked him into being in the film.

Weird Al was an odd tangent, and his importance also underscored the lack of focus; was this film about Klein or Jelly Bellys? While both are obviously tied together, the fact they felt inclined to maintain focus on the candy and explain its importance, detracted from the personality behind it (who also happened to be the purported subject of the film).

Everyone that talked about the candy exclusively, felt completely out of place in the film. This was one of those things that should have been caught pre-shoot, when the were still deciding how to approach their subject (and what subjects to approach).