Dubble Bubble: the pink gum an accountant made by accident

In 1928, Walter Diemer was an accountant at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia. He was not a scientist or a chemist — he was a bookkeeper who liked to experiment with gum recipes in his spare time. The company president wanted to cut costs by making their own gum base, and Diemer, who had been tinkering with formulas, was working on a variation of an earlier failed bubble gum recipe called 'Blibber-Blubber' that Frank Fleer had tried in 1906 but abandoned because it was too sticky and broke apart.

Diemer's accidental breakthrough came when he stumbled upon a recipe that was less sticky than regular chewing gum and stretched more easily. The gum was a dingy grey colour, and the only food dye Diemer had on hand was red, which he diluted to pink. The pink colour was a complete accident — dictated solely by what was available in the factory — yet it became the defining colour of bubble gum for generations.

Diemer wrapped a hundred pieces of the new gum using a salt water taffy wrapping machine and took them to a local mom-and-pop candy store, pricing them at a penny each. The entire batch sold out in one day. Fleer's president named the gum 'Dubble Bubble.' Diemer personally taught salesmen how to blow bubbles as a demonstration, showing how Dubble Bubble differed from all other chewing gums on the market.

Sales surpassed $1.5 million in the first year. Diemer did not patent his invention, so competition quickly arose. The gum became a wildly popular treat during the Great Depression — an inexpensive luxury for a penny. Diemer never received royalties, but he stayed with Fleer for decades, becoming a senior vice president and board member. In retirement, he rode around his Pennsylvania retirement village on a tricycle distributing bubble gum to children.