The Jewish history of Bazooka bubble gum

Chew on this: One of America's most iconic gum brands was originally a Jewish-owned tobacco business.

In 1891, Morris Chigorinsky emigrated from Russia to the United States, where in the early 1900s he assumed control of the American Leaf Tobacco Company. But by 1938 - by then Chigorinsky had changed his surname to Shorin - the business was flailing. His four sons decided to save the family from certain penury by starting a new penny candy business, Topps Chewing Gum Inc., with the name borrowed from an Chattanooga candy company they purchased.

Following the end of World War II, the Shorin bro...