Origin
Ruth Millard invented the idea for
Emerson Drug Company, manufacturer of
Bromo-Seltzer, by adding a fruit flavor that children liked.
Lem Billings, a close and long-time friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family, has also been given credit as inventor. "As Vice President at the Emerson Drug Company in Baltimore, he was responsible for inventing the 1950s fad drink Fizzies by adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste."
[1] Once perfected, Emerson named the creation Fizzies. The tablet was dropped into a glass of water, then fizzed and dissolved, creating a sweet, effervescent drink.
Fizzies were first introduced by Emerson on a regional basis in July 1957. In 1962, the Emerson Drug Company was acquired by
Warner–Lambert, which sold the product nationally that same year.
[2]
In the 1950s and 1960s Fizzies came in seven flavors: grape, orange, cherry, lemon-lime, strawberry,
root beer, and
cola.
Fizzies' sales grew both nationally and internationally until 1968, achieving more than double the sales volume of Kool-Aid.
[2][
full citation needed]
Fizzies was one of the sponsors for
The Shari Lewis Show on NBC-TV in the early 1960s and pitched by Lewis herself.
The successful beverage became a
cultural icon of its time. In the motion picture
National Lampoon's Animal House, set in 1962, Dean Wormer reads a list of pranks committed by members of the Delta House fraternity, which included dumping "a truckload of Fizzies" into a
swimming pool during a swim meet
