Gummy pink

Matthew Alice:

Why is bubble gum pink?

-- Bobby, Vista

Because the Fleer Co. employee who worked for 10 years-- day after day, gum batch after gum batch-- to develop a chaw that would hold a bubble only had pink dye left when he finally hit the jackpot. After a decade of cutting gum out of his hair, the clever chemist wasn't going to push his luck with the formula. Pink it was, pink it would remain. Double Bubble went on sale in 1928, was an instant and annoying hit. One of Grandma Alice's favorite rhymes: "The gum-chewing kid/ and the cud-chewing cow./ The difference, you ask?/ I'll tell you right now:/ The intelligent look on the face of the cow."