# Peanut brittle and other things that were only sold door-to-door **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554 "2013-08-18T13:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/21 "2013-08-23T12:45:14Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Internet Ham It won’t open for me. Dagnabbit! I want to see it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/22 "2013-08-23T12:47:09Z")
Yeah, I was one of the kids selling it. I’d load 20 or so cans of it into my red wagon and pull it around the neighborhood selling it door to door. I can’t remember if it was for Boy Scouts, more likely PeeWee baseball or football. The only other place that I can remember that sold it at the time was **Stuckeys** , a highway food store popular in the 60s and 70s but as far as I know gone the way of the dinosaur now. Stuckeys was known for their peanut brittle, it was wonderful and many people stopped in just to purchase that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/23 "2013-08-23T12:51:18Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > It won’t open for me. Dagnabbit! I want to see it. Sorry - I couldn’t check the link from work. Search Internet Ham on Youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/24 "2013-08-23T12:53:01Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Yeah, I was one of the kids selling it. I’d load 20 or so cans of it into my red wagon and pull it around the neighborhood selling it door to door. I can’t remember if it was for Boy Scouts, more likely PeeWee baseball or football. > > The only other place that I can remember that sold it at the time was **Stuckeys** , a highway food store popular in the 60s and 70s but as far as I know gone the way of the dinosaur now. Stuckeys was known for their peanut brittle, it was wonderful and many people stopped in just to purchase that. They are [still in business](http://www.stuckeys.com/search.php?state=OH), mostly has always been a southern state thing. They were actually mostly famous for their [pecan rolls](http://www.stuckeys.com/shop/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SOS&Category_Code=plr), but they had peanut brittle as well, just don’t see it online. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/25 "2013-08-24T13:31:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Sorry - I couldn’t check the link from work. Search Internet Ham on Youtube. [Fixed Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r3tx3IEsN4) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/26 "2013-08-24T14:22:46Z")
That’s how I thought it worked. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/27 "2013-08-24T17:27:40Z")
I remember in the 70’s people used to sell fish door to door and Natives used to come to your house selling clothes props. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/28 "2013-08-24T17:43:35Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > I remember in the 70’s people used to sell fish door to door and Natives used to come to your house selling clothes props. Huh. Where was that? And what are “clothes props”? Not snark, genuine curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/29 "2013-08-24T19:09:13Z")
That would be in Nova Scotia, they would come around in pickup trucks with fish, like cod and mackerel, in buckets on ice. The clothes props were made from hard wood, usually birch, the bark was removed with one end pointed and the other with a notch cut into it. The pointed end would stick in the ground and the notched end would hold your line up higher off the ground. Like these: [Shop by Category | eBay](http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/clothes-line-prop) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/30 "2013-08-24T19:49:54Z")
Interesting, I had never seen one before. Growing up in Texas, the clothes lines were usually very taught vinyl coated [wire strung between two metal cross beams](http://lifeontheclothesline.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/clothesline-1sm.jpg). The distances were often very short, so there wasn’t much sag. The other type looked like some [sort of TV antenna](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Clothes_line.JPG). ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/31 "2013-08-24T21:12:56Z")
It might have been a regional thing. I remember seeing Sophie Mae peanut brittle regularly in the drug store when I was a kid, dating back the the 60’s in North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/32 "2013-08-24T23:10:30Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > That would be in Nova Scotia, they would come around in pickup trucks with fish, like cod and mackerel, in buckets on ice. The clothes props were made from hard wood, usually birch, the bark was removed with one end pointed and the other with a notch cut into it. The pointed end would stick in the ground and the notched end would hold your line up higher off the ground. > > Like these: [Shop by Category | eBay](http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/clothes-line-prop) My dad made such in the 1950s for my moms lines. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/33 "2013-08-24T23:57:01Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Interesting, I had never seen one before. Growing up in Texas, the clothes lines were usually very taught vinyl coated [wire strung between two metal cross beams](http://lifeontheclothesline.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/clothesline-1sm.jpg). The distances were often very short, so there wasn’t much sag. But, even in your picture, the line is sagging so much in the middle that a clothes prop would help keep stuff off the ground. The problem is the clothesline can’t be strung too high or it’s too hard to reach. Too low, and things drag on the ground. A clothes prop allows you to adjust. I’ve had electric or gas clothes dryers for so long I forgot our family used to hang laundry outside. I haven’t seen that anywhere for decades. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/34 "2013-08-25T00:43:12Z")
I agree it could help, but I don’t think anyone around us cared enough to bother. I know my mother would hang the jeans and other heavy things near the ends and the middle had poopoo undies and socks and other small stuff. (Unlike that pic I took off google.) Worked out just fine. With the tree type (or whatever we want to call it), it is pretty much a moot point ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/35 "2013-08-25T00:47:29Z")
Also, that Google pic I posted had a line a lot longer than we or our neighbors had. With judicious clothes placing, sagging just wasn’t an issue people thought too much about. We had plenty of room to hang all our clothes, too, because we had six or so lines strung up between the bars. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/36 "2013-08-25T12:16:03Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Yeah, I was one of the kids selling it. I’d load 20 or so cans of it into my red wagon and pull it around the neighborhood selling it door to door. I can’t remember if it was for Boy Scouts, more likely PeeWee baseball or football. Wow, I’m pleased you could offer first-hand knowledge! Whereabouts were you located? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/37 "2013-08-25T13:41:47Z")
Central Texas then. It was a fund raiser for our organization with prizes you could order based on the number sold. The tins of PB were about the size of a 1 lb peanut can, had the pull tab vacuum seal and a plastic lid to reseal after opening. I think they were probably about $3.75 or so back in the early 70s. Sound about right? I can’t remember who the maker was but I always bought one myself because at 10 I was too young to drive to Stuckeys. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/38 "2013-08-25T13:56:53Z")
> [@YWalker](#): > > It might have been a regional thing. I remember seeing Sophie Mae peanut brittle regularly in the drug store when I was a kid, dating back the the 60’s in North Carolina. I saw it all over in the 60s too, but that was NJ, so “regional” doesn’t seem to be the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554/39 "2013-08-25T13:57:00Z")
Kirby Vaccuums > **[Kirby Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_Company)** > > .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}41°28′44″N 81°46′04″W / 41.4788673°N 81.7676539°W / 41.4788673; -81.7676539 > The Kirby Company (stylized as KIRBY) is a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and home cleaning accessories, located in Cleveland... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-brittle-and-other-things-that-were-only-sold-door-to-door/666554.md?page=1)