It was a pre-Haribo world, if anyone can imagine such a thing any more. Or at least it was in the U.K. (according to their website, the Haribo company name was registered in 1920, by Hans Riegel, in Bonn, Germany; if any Haribo product was available in the UK at that time, it was on an infinitesimally smaller scale than their world-conquering shelf presence of today).
It also pre-dated the multiplex cinema. Some of the city centre cinemas were being converted into 2- or 3-screen venues, and the process of revamping local picture houses into bingo halls, supermarkets and so on was very much under way. But there were still a few left, even if you often had to start travelling further after another one closed down.
Our family used to go to a picture house a couple of miles away. It was in a mainly residential street of tenement housing, maybe 20 yards off a relatively quiet main street (I think there was a Co-op nearby; the place which sold school ties and badges for school blazers, amongst other things). The whole area was demolished long ago.
Before going into the picture house we would visit one of the local shops, and all of us would get our own bag of midget gems: scooped out of a cardboard box, and served in a paper bag, which would gradually become translucent with gum grease. Ideally, the bag would last throughout the film, and you would still have some left the next day. We never bought sweets at the confectionery counter in the cinema, which seemed to sell exclusively the sort of sweets you couldn't get anywhere else, or at least different sizes of bags, only ever seen in cinemas. Paynes Poppets in larger boxes of mixed flavours seemed like something we could never aspire to.
In that single block there were 4 small local shops, all of which sold midget gems. One of the shop assistants once told us how many boxes they sold every week, which (I forget the number) seemed like a lot. They said that one resident of the street bought a bag every night. I don't recall them being available from any of the shops nearer to our house, so for years they were associated primarily with the cinema-going experience.
Years later I discovered that midget gems were manufactured by The Lion Confectionery Company. Gradually, ersatz MG's started to become available from other manufacturers, but they were never the same. Lion brand were glossy, harder, and had a hint of that pear drops/ nail polish remover odour. The black ones were licorice flavour, which, amidst the fruit flavours, seemed totally hard core, and enjoyed by genuine aficionados only. In comparison, copycat MG's were matt, softer, and mostly with a cheap, bland flavour. Genuine MG's still seemed to be available only in certain shops - maybe a certain cafe in a seaside resort, or newsagents in small towns which we would visit infrequently - so had the air of a rare treat which you had to seek out. Getting a bag without a cinema trip involved seemed like a victory to be savoured.
In the 21st century midget gems are much easier to find, though they still seem like a uniquely British thing. If they are sold in any other countries, it's no doubt primarily to British ex-pats. As far as I can tell, despite a seemingly infinite range, Haribo don't seem to make them at all.
Inevitably, The Lion Confectionery Company were taken over by a bigger company, and the original recipe is now sold under the Maynards Bassetts brand (they do Lion recipe Sports Mixture gums too). In 1995, when Lion originally merged with Maynards, the black midget gems were changed from licorice to blackcurrant flavour in the bagged version of the product (still too hard core for the mass market), with the intention that those sold loose, from boxes or jars, would remain licorice - presumably to cater to the connoisseur. Although the bagged variety is now universally available, I don't see any evidence that Maynards Bassetts still sell loose MGs, so presumably, as far as they are concerned, the licorice flavour is now defunct.
The Lion brand still exists separately, and is now owned by Tangerine Confectionery, who appear to be maintaining the traditional approach: MGs still available loose in boxes, with the black ones still licorice. They don't have anything like the market dominance of Maynards Bassetts, but you can buy a 2Kg box on line.
Following a spate of midget gem-related broken fillings, I went cold turkey on original Lion-style MGs years ago. (since I never adopted the one bag per day habit of the person who used to live near the cinema, after the bag had been opened for a few days the gums would become harder, thus increasing the stress on aged fillings)
Some kind of search therefore remains ongoing for the perfect, softer, alternative midget gems.
ALDI's Dominion brand seemed like the perfect solution for a while, but my perception is that they changed the recipe last year, and have now reverted to the bland, basic, widely-available version: vaguely fake-fruit flavour rubbery things. (Dominion wine gums are still good though.)
Drawn in by the description as 'Classic Favourites', ASDA MGs were tolerable for a while, but were merely adequate. The current top choice is Tesco; the ones in the pink bag, not the Everyday Value ones. About 3 times the price of the ALDI variety, but it's a relatively modest indulgence, especially when I'm eating, at most, a bag per week.
Suggestions for any other brand which is creating a successful midget gem experience are welcome.
As for the countless manufacturers of bland, insipid, midget gem copies: Try harder. Don't you realise there's an important British tradition to preserve here?
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