Tonight I watched the short documentary Candyman: The David Klein Story. It’s about the guy who invented Jelly Bellys. I came to it through a Talk thread on Serious Eats that got a bit contentious.
Like a lot of the people on that thread, I thought it was some kind of joke. We get a lot of numbskulls coming on SE Talk and hawking their wares. But then I Netflixed the movie, watched it, and was impressed by the tale. The story is at once joyful, melancholy, sad, infuriating, and hopeful. It starts a bit slow, but it pulls you in.
I truly think Mr. Klein is just sort of eccentric and found SE somehow and didn’t realize what he was doing was not standard practice on the site. But if you watch the movie, I think you’d come to like him and then realize how neat it is that you’ve got a pipeline connecting you to someone who invented one of the most iconic candies in the last 30 years. The INVENTOR OF JELLY BELLYS is pretty much doing an AMA in SE Talk. And that’s kinda neat when you think about it.
Eccentrics can feel a bit lonely at times. I have always admired people who can follow their dreams.
Thanks for the GREAT article…..I really appreciate it. For some reason I can no longer find my posting page on SE….I am very sad…..