PEZ candy dispensers have been around since 1927, first starting as a breath mint for smokers. When Austrian inventor Edward Haas brought the idea to America, he made a couple of key changes. In 1952 he made PEZ a candy to appeal to children, and it worked.

The PEZ dispensers were topped with cartoon characters, animals, circus figures and other kid favorites. The candy came in cherry, lemon, orange and strawberry. Over the years many fictional characters have been featured as a PEZ dispenser like Santa Claus, Batman, Spiderman, Peanuts and Darth Vader.

One interesting fact about PEZ dispensers is that in all the years they have been available, there have only been three real people as a PEZ dispenser. During the celebration of the United States’ bicentennial, PEZ released dispensers with heads of Betsy Ross, Daniel Boone and Paul Revere. They are the only three non-fictional characters to be a PEZ dispenser.

You may have seen an Elvis dispenser that appeared in the movies, but that was made strictly for the movie and not an official PEZ dispenser.

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