Broekel knows candy bars past and present: author's passion began during book research.

Author and historian Ray Broekel is a man who knows candy bars -- not candy, mind you, candy bars.

The publisher/editor of Candy Bar Gazebo has a collection of more than 30,000 candy bar wrappers and related memorabilia spanning the century since Milton Hershey produced the first American chocolate bars.

Although a fan of candy bars since childhood, Broekel's interest was heightened while researching the industry for a children's book. He was dismayed to discover that there was very little information available on the subject.

"I found out there wasn't much at all on the candy marketplace, so I began doing more research," Broekel says. "I talked to people, went to historical societies and old newspaper files, and I began collecting material."

What started out as a routine research project generated enough material for a book on the history of various candy companies and brands. "The Great American Candy Book," published in 1982, was followed by a second book, "The Chocolate Chronicles."

In 1985, Broekel began publishing Candy Bar Gazebo, a 24-page quarterly newsletter, to continue the work of the two books. "Candy Bar Gazebo is simply a continuation of new historical data that I've found concerning various candy bars and companies as well as an updating of the new products in the marketplace," he says.

Broekel says the history of the U.S. candy bar began in 1894 when Milton Hershey introduced the Hershey Almond Bar and the Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar. Hershey purchased machinery to make the bars from a German manufacturer after seeing it displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

"The plain chocolate bar was the first candy bar, then manufacturers began adding things like peanuts, marshmallows and caramel to the chocolate," Broekel says.

Standard Candy Co. of Nashville, TN, claims to be the first to manufacture a combination candy bar. The original Goo Coo Cluster bar, which dates back to 1912, contained caramel, marshmallow, roasted peanuts and milk chocolate.

The Baby Ruth bar, a combination of caramel, peanuts and chocolate, debuted in 1918 from Curtiss Candy Company, Chicago. By dropping Baby Ruth bars out of an airplane and using celebrities in his print ads, Otto Schnering, Curtiss' founder and president, was probably the first candy man to fully capitalize on the power of advertising, Broekel says.