Vienna Fingers
Vienna Fingers is an American brand of cookie made by the Keebler Company, a division of Ferrero SpA. They consist of a sandwich of vanilla flavored outer crust filled with vanilla cream flavored filling. Akin to an Oreo, the surface is textured and embossed with the product name, but Vienna Fingers have a round-ended 'finger' shape. They come in a red and yellow accented rectangular package with the words "Vienna Fingers" in white lettering. Nabisco's Cameo is similar.
History
[edit]Vienna Fingers were one of the products originally sold by Sunshine Biscuits.[1] The cookies first were marketed by Sunshine Biscuits in 1915 and trademarked as "Vienna Fingers Sandwich" in November 1947.[2] The popularity of the Vienna Fingers cookies was memorialized by American playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon in his 1965 play The Odd Couple, which was adapted into a 1968 comedy film.[3] In the play, Oscar Madison attempts to distract a depressed Felix Ungar with snack food: "How about vanilla wafers? Or Vienna fingers? I got everything."[4]
In January 1985, the product was renamed "Vienna Fingers".[5] At the Food Marketing Institute's 1994 Supermarket convention, both low-fat Hydrox cookies and reduced-fat Vienna Fingers were introduced by Sunshine Biscuits.[6][7]
In late August 1994, Sunshine Biscuits donated over 21,000 Vienna Fingers and Hydrox cookies to a contingent of American troops from Fort Eustis Army Base.[8] The company's action was a follow-up to a similar Sunshine shipment sent to troops during the 1990–1991 Gulf War and a soldier's scrawled response note on an Oreo box, "Please deploy cookies." In the company's words, "the donation of these cookie favorites will give the troops a taste of home and make their time away from their families a little more pleasant."[8] The Vienna Fingers and Hydrox cookies were brought with the troops to the refugee-filled border area between Rwanda and Zaire.[8]
When Keebler purchased Sunshine Biscuits in 1996, it retained the product as part of its line.[9] At the time of Keebler's acquisition, Vienna Fingers brought in $50 million in sales annually.[10] Following the acquisition of the product line by Keebler, a lemon filling version of the cookie was introduced.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Della Femina Adds Sunshine". New York Times. July 29, 1982. p. D13. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
Sunshine is a subsidiary of American Brands Inc., and its best known munchies include Hydrox, Chip-A-Roos, Vienna Fingers, Cheez-It, Hi-Ho and Wheat Wafers.
- ^ See the U.S. Trademark for Vienna Fingers Sandwich
- ^ Simon, Neil (1966). The Odd Couple: A Comedy in Three Acts. Samuel French Inc. pp. 30. ISBN 0-573-61331-1. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
Vienna Fingers simon.
- ^ Simon, Neil (11 March 1966). The odd couple. Random House. Retrieved 11 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
Vienna fingers.
- ^ See the U.S. Trademark for Vienna Fingers.
- ^ Gubbins, Teresa (May 18, 1994). "Food and games at the supermarket show". The Dallas Morning News. p. 2F. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ "Cengage Learning". Cengage.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
- ^ a b c Piore, Adam (September 16, 1994). "Please Deploy Cookies - Sunshine Sends Them To Soldiers". The Record (Bergen County). p. D1. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ "Search The Kansas City Star Archive". Nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
- ^ a b "FindArticles.com - CBSi". Findarticles.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
External links
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