soda jerk: moxie
A hardy survivor of the soft drink wars, Moxie was one of the earliest to be widely available, dating from 1884. Originally sold as "nerve food", this gentian-root based drink (whatever gentian root is) was popular in the early half of the 20th century, especially in the Northeast. One of the first soft drink to mass-merchandise itself, especially through postcards. Most of the websites out there concerning Moxie deal with these items and their collectors. Moxie's last great claim to fame was as a running joke in Mad Magazine in the late 50s-early 60s. In one of the magazine's rare attempts at soliciting advertising, publisher William Gaines reached an agreement to feature Moxie's logo in the background of articles, using it as one of the magazine's running-joke names, like "potrzebie", "veeblefetzer" and "cowznofski". Results couldn't have been too successful for either side, as the name (usually imposed on a blimp) soon dis...