LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS -MARCH 2, 2014
Jell-O Museum Beats The Socks Of f The
Big City Museums
by Lynne Belluscio
We always enjoy hearing from
folks who have had a good time
here at the Jell-O Museum and
last week we received a great
letter from Australia:
5 February 2014
Dear Jell-O Museum,
While planning a trip to the
U.S. last year, I stumbled upon
a reference to your museum
on Wikipedia. I was thrilled
to find you were located in
LeRoy, because I was already
interested to visit Rochester and
Buffalo, so you were in route.
My wife and I met up with some
English friends in the US and
together we descended upon
your establishment wobbly with
anticipation. It was well worth
the stop! We were all fascinated
by your displays and when I told
the elderly lady guide that I was
from Australia, she asked me to
sing the Aeroplane Jelly song
and I did!
Now we’re back to Australia.
Your museum was one of the
highlights of an 8 week tour
coast to coast. I am telling all
my friends about you. I have
also written to the Aeroplane
Jelly Company here in Australia
and Gregg’s Jelly Company in
New Zealand and asked them
each to send you 1 box of each of
their flavors. I don’t know if they
will, but if you get any exotic
parcels, you now know why!
At the National Library
of Australia, they have the
Aeroplane Jelly song music
score and even produced a
postal cardof it so I amenclosing
here Xeroxes of two 1930s
editions of the sheet music and
a copy of the postcard. Thank
you again for a wonderful
museum a wonderful guide
and a wonderful wobbly day in
small town America. You guys
beat the socks off those big-city
museums any day of the week!
Brenden Whyte
And what a great surprise –
the next day we received 16
boxes of Gregg’s Jelly from
New Zealand. I Googled the
company and discovered that
the company is named for
William Gregg, who was born
in Ireland in 1836.
As a young man, he came
to Australia, and went into
business importing coffee and
spices. The company later
included starch, soda crystals,
and flavorings. His company
was also the first to manufacture
“wax vestas” (matches). It’s not
clear exactly when they began
to offer jelly powder.
The company reorganized
s ev e r a l t i me s a n d wa s
incorporated in 1897 (the same
year that Jell-O was introduced
in LeRoy). The company even
sold cigarettes. They offer
the usual jelly flavors – lime,
strawberry, raspberry, and
blueberry. But they also offer
lemonade and boysenberry.
I p l an t o t ake home t he
boysenberry to make tonight.
Gregg’s celebrated it’s 100th
Anniversary in 1961.
Aeroplane Jelly Powder from
Australia, was introduced by
Adolphus Appleroth in 1927.
He mixed up powdered gelatin
and sugar in his bathtub and sold
it door to door in Sydney.
In 1917 he and a partner
formed a company and
rented a factory for his
jelly powder.
The first factory was
in Paddinton, New South
Wales. At the time, flying
and the airplane were
all the rage, so they
branded it Aeroplane
Jelly. Appleroth used a
Tiger Moth plane to make
deliveries to rural areas
in 1934. About that time
the jingle was composed
b y A l b e r t Le n e r t z ,
Appleroth’s partner. As
with most things, the
authorship of the jingle
was contested, but today
it is still attributed to
Lenertz. The song was
sung on radio shows by
three-year-old Jennifer
Paykel.
At one time, in the
1940s, the jingle was
b r oadc a s t ove r 100
times a day. In 1966,
the jingle was recorded
in a variety of foreign
languages, as well as by
the Andrews Sisters and
Victor Borge. In 1988,
during the Australian
Bicentennial celebration,
Aeroplane Jelly was available
in some special Australian
flavors such as Lilly Pilly,
Quackandong, andMidjinberry.
Those flavors were discontinued
in 1992. Like Jell-O, Aeroplane
Jelly was acquired by another
company and today it is owned
by McCormick Foods.
