Rest in PEZ

The other day I heard some sad news. Curtis Allina, inventor of the PEZ dispenser died at the age of 87 on December 15, 2009. PEZ has always been one of my favorite candies. It's not only a big part of American pop culture, but a part of pop culture the world over.

Here are some fun facts about PEZ.

1) People who enjoy collecting PEZ dispensers can attend an annual PEZ convention in Ohio, Missouri, California, Minnesota, Connecticut, South Carolina, Austria, Finland, and Sweden.

2) In 2006, a PEZ dispenser in the form of a clear 50's space gun sold for $11,000 on eBay.

3) PEZ candy comes in the following flavors: Apple, Cherry, Chocolate, Coffee, Cola, Grape, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Peppermint, Raspberry, Sour Watermelon, Sour Green Apple, Sour Blue Raspberry, Sour Pineapple, Strawberry, Sugarfree Orange, Sugarfree Lemon, Sugarfree Strawberry, and Yogurt.

4) There is a documentary called PEZheads: the movie. Here's the trailer:



5) A Tweety Bird PEZ made a special guest appearance on Seinfeld:




Here are a few pictures of some PEZ dispenser collections:











You can even put your own head on a PEZ dispenser:

(Click the pic to enlarge)

Since PEZ has become such a huge part of pop culture, I think a statue should be erected in memory of the man who invented the PEZ dispenser, Curtis Allina. So I took the liberty of making some concept art for a statue:

Rest in PEZ, Mr. Allina.