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My Main Squeeze - How Orange Julius Conquered The Mall & Our Taste Buds · Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Alex, how's it going today?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Kelly, what's up, man?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I am just sitting here and thinking about our youth, the days that we would uh we would go get our pictures taken at Glamour Shop.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I never did that.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I wish I had.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I now one thing I did do um that I don't know if you ever did this, they had these little recording booths you could go into at the mall.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: You could sing a popular song and they I remember that at like Astro World and Six Flags.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: I don't remember it at the mall, but yeah, I remember you could you could I I'm I'm sure I have cassettes around here of me singing old timey rock and roll or uh or night ranger or something.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well good golly, Miss Molly.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: After you were done with your glamour shot and your uh rock session, you're probably pretty poached.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Porch.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Poached, porch.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what is what is the word I'm looking for?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Parched?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Parched.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're pretty parched.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I head over to the Orange Julius.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, you got it.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: That is exactly where you would go.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: You get yourself a soft pretzel, uh, maybe some popcorn, maybe uh a little orange Julius to wash it down.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, I'll tell you, I love me an Orange Julius, and uh I can make one at home.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: I I have the um right, I have the I've perfected that recipe.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's that's that is something that is rare because they were pretty secretive with the recipe, actually.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of people.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I've gotten pretty close.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, do you know um do you know when Orange Julia started?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they were around when I was little.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: So they must have they must have started in the 60s, I'm guessing.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Further back.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, really?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: 50s?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Same year that Andy Griffith was born.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, 1926.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: 1926.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um in Los Angeles, a guy named Julius Freed started Orange Juice.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: I thought his name was Julius.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and and the way the way it started was it was actually an orange juice stand in LA, and he found that fresh squeeze orange juice was a little strong or acidic for some of his customers.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they were like, Yeah, I like orange juice, but I don't want that.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh old old Julius Freed and a friend of his named Bill Bill Hamlin started experimenting with orange juice, sugar, milk, milk powder, vanilla, egg whites, and ice.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they would put into it.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to know what I put in mine?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, what do you got?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: I take orange juice and then vanilla um extract?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: No, vanilla um silk milk.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: For like coffee creamer.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's not coffee creamer, but it's just like vanilla flavored milk.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh okay.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: They make a co they make a silk makes a vanilla coffee creamer too.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is just the the milk.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: The milk.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and then a splash of um carbonated water.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Just a splash of it.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like Topo Chico or something like that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then um and that's it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: So no sugar, no egg whites.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because the sugar is in the milk, I think.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: And the orange juice.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: No egg.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it just kind of makes that milky orange juice.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: And the one I make is pretty similar to what I remember to be an orange julius.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I do think the ice, I do think you should try it with a little ice.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, I know, yeah, in ice, of course.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you put it in ice, okay, and then you blend it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: I can't remember.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't had one in a long time.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: I I I don't think I did just because I was trying to make it quick, but if I yeah, if I wanted to do it like a milkshake.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I did though.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was a little thinner than that.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think Orange Julius was very thick.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: The blender, the blender is what gives it that froth.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: It needs a little frofiness, I think.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Orange Julius is underrated as a as a beverage, though.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'll t I'll tell you what.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you what.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Next time we're together, I think we should we should try this.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: We should try this.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then we could make the Orange Julius cocktail as well.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: What what what do you put what do you put in there?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it'd be it'd be a screwdriver, right?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Basically.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you remember the first time we went to New Orleans together uh when we were at UT, well, as soon as we got across the Louisiana border, it was the only drink I knew.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'll have a screwdriver.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, right across the border in on I-10.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: You were legal.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, yep.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it's the only drink you froze when the guy said, We're gonna get you to drink and you said the screwdriver.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was also like nine in the morning or something, so that's sort of amazing.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, whatever.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: That was funny.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, so do you know how it got its name?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: The orange Julius, because of Julius Freed.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but his customers would say this is like orange juice, but it's like his customers would say, Give me an orange, Julius.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, okay, well.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's how it got it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um so they started serving.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So he just called it orange?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, um I think it was like yeah, maybe he did.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he did.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know, but they would say, Give me an orange, Julius.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: But you'd have to know his name to do that.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he was, I mean, this was a mom and pop.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: This was a small, small operation at the beginning.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe he called it Julius' orange drink.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe initially.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: But Orange Julius is where it landed.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, people would say, Get me an orange Julius.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Started selling thousands of drinks uh per day.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now they also, in addition to the um egg whites that you don't use, but they used, um, they had vanilla, kind of like your vanilla milk.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they did use some sugar, but they also had stabilizers.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And the stabilizers were something that kind of kept it to where it would last a little bit longer.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: I would imagine if you make this fresh, it's it's gonna be good for about an hour or two, and then and then it's gonna start to break down and come apart.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: So these stabilizers were some sort of chemical that would come in.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um they say they say that the stabilizers and the sugar actually made it less of a healthy drink than you might think it was.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't think it was, I never thought it was healthy.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of parents, part of the reason it was popular is a lot of parents, because it had orange juice in it, thought, oh, vitamin C, it's good for them.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: They can have it.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you remember where Orange Julius was popular?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was, of course, in shopping malls uh in the high school halls.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Be be drink Julius or be cast out, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they also had it at fairs, they would have it at amusement parks, and it was very visual.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: People would see this bright orange counter, they would hear the sound of the blender, and it was almost Pavlovian.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like as soon as you heard that sound and you saw that orange, you were like, ooh.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, actually, I am starting to kind of get a little bit of mouthwater here just thinking about it, because they are really, really good, right?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're really good, yeah.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you want to guess, uh, much like we guessed for glamour shots, the number of locations, there were more Orange Julius's than there were um uh glamour shots.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but not I'll I'll say it was less than a thousand.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: You want to guess how many?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, five, six hundred, eight hundred locations, and worldwide.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: They had some over in Europe.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um they they had expanded a little bit, but it was the kind of thing that um they had one drink that was their most popular, they also kind of branched out, and you could get a few variations on the orange.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let me guess.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: You get the pineapple Julius, yes, grapefruit Julius.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't see that one.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that doesn't that doesn't sound very good either.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: No, it doesn't.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm guessing it's has to still say be citrusy.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: So like maybe a peach Julius?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh no, strawberry.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh strawberry Julius, it was red.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think a peach Julius would be good though.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then this this harkens back to an episode that we did just a few weeks ago.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the banana Julius.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so most smoothies are made with bananas.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's funny you say the word smoothie because a lot of people credit Orange Julius as being one of the original smoothies, like the original precursor to smoothies.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now, today's smoothies are usually green and they taste like kale or you know, they aren't quite as sweet as I mean, they can be.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can certainly still get a strawberry banana, you know, sugared up smoothie, but smoothies are considered healthy, aren't they?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think it just depends, like you say.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think most people start that way.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: They go into a smoothie king and think they're gonna be healthy, and then they walk out with something that's 600 calories.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, so the strawberry, the banana, um, and also I'm I am curious.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't heard our episode about Big Mike bananas, go back and listen to that because it talks about the history of bananas and when there was a sudden change in the taste of bananas, like in the 1950s, right?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um But I wonder if because Orange Julius started in the twenties and they had banana Julius's, I wonder if their flavor changed.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: What what's the modern banana called?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: What's the modern banana?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: The the grow the grow um it was it was um Gro Gross Michelle was the old banana, but what's the new one called?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh we have to go back and look at that one.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you if you want to know more about the history of bananas and why they taste different today, then go back to the book.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can remember from episode to episode.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: I forget things too.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's uh it's in and out, right?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: You you remember you put it in your RAM and then um it was basically kind of a milkshake slash smoothie thing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now in 1987, Orange Julius was purchased by a bigger company.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know who that was?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Was it somebody I would know?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Household name.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Not Smoothie King.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Dairy Queen.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Dairy Queen purchased uh Orange Julius in 1987.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: You can actually still get an Orange Julius in some Dairy Queen locations.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, really?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: By the way, the uh the banana we eat now is called the Cavendish.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Cavendish, that's it.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's not as tasty.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you go into a Dairy Queen, um ask and see if they have the Orange Julius.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: For a while, Orange Julius was as a popular a brand as Dairy Queen, and so they actually would have combo stores.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was like Dairy Queen slash Orange Julius stores.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: But but eventually Orange or Dairy Queen did away with the Orange Julius brand as part of their store, but still offered uh Orange Julius's that you can get.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Did did Julius Freed become a wealthy man?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think selling to Dairy Queen was a good move for him.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's how he got wealthy.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I actually I don't know.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because that was 87 and he started in 26.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: He might not have even been alive.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: I actually don't know whatever happened to Julius Freed.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: I hope he got wealthy on that.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I do too.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes these people don't get wealthy, and somebody else, you know.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: We've had several episodes like that.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think he did get out of it before its decline, before AI took over and and uh you know Orange Julius was irrelevant.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um but there were some reasons besides AI.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Mall traffic, right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Malls the decline of malls did a lot of bad things to or actually was great for us with regard to dead ends, but not great for Orange Julius or Glamour Shots.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Also, the uh food court was less of a thing, like the mall food court.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: Although places like Chick-fil-A, who used to only be in food courts, yeah.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: I remember them in Sharptown Mall.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, no, there was no, it was very rare back in the 80s to see a standalone Chick-fil-A.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You remember that?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: My my my girlfriend in high school, do you remember Dominique?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Did you ever meet her?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: She went to um what was that Catholic school?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: St.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Agnes.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: She was in Canada.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, no, she went to St.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Agnes.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she she worked at Chick-fil-A, and that was the first time it I had ever heard of Chick-fil-A.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: But it was in a mall, right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sharpstown, yeah.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: They only used to be in malls.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, decline in the malls, but also change in consumer habits.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So all of a sudden, um, you know, things like smoothies are getting popular, but also coffee, right?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: The the Starbucks frappuccinos replace the Orange Julius for your sweet fix in something that is not really good for you, but has a lot of calories and costs a lot.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the other thing was back in the day in 1926, you want to guess how much an orange Julius cost?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the drink?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: One or give me a give me an orange, Julius.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: How many ounces was it?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Probably 12 back then.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Probably a 12 ounce, yeah, or maybe even 16.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I doubt in the 20s they were giving you 16 ounces of anything.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna say it cost a dime.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, 10 cents exactly.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And now when you go to a Starbucks, you can't get out of there for less than seven dollars for one drink.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, unless you order plain coffee, even that's expensive for plain coffee.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So Starbucks kind of took over as the place people would go for the drinks.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: You would hear the blenders, you know, and again, it was something that was a little bit Pavlovian for people, but it really kind of harkens back to that golden age of the American mall.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't listened to our episode about glamour shots, it's a nice compliment to this.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, that was our Mayberry, the mall.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was, it was.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, until until you started getting those ruffians that would run around.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like me running around with their with their film cameras or their their VHS camcorders and ha harassing people at the mall and drinking their orange Julius.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: But hey man, we looked good, right?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, speak for yourself.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: All right, that's Orange Julius, everybody.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you've ever had an Orange Julius, please drop us a line at not at dirtnapcity.com, and uh we'll look forward to seeing you next week.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Step right up to the all food court tile floor shine budget falling short.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Mama gala purms for the clip coop then they need and change for the painful combo.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sugar, sugar, sugar.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Clark in the paper hat tilt garden that blender like it's built on the little orange can with a label turn.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Whisper scoops of a secret churn.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm prime recipe with a wink and a line.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Out of mysteries blast, one push button and a stick of crash.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let me get some rollin' through.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Big wigs rollin' in with a corporate crew.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Mary Queen dealers in the comb shade crowns, but the whole stand lock the recipe down.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna hides and corners of a few small towns.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Next up, blizzards and plastic lines Limited legend on the plastic sign still taste like sad.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Stand in line for that line again! Hello on us draw it's curry on every draw! Sugar, Stugger, Stugger, I am but one cold stitch.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And who could reasonably?