Why Baby Ruth's Caddyshack Cameo Was So Controversial
Ah, "Caddyshack." A classic comedy about the lives of golf club-wielding caddies, country club snobs, gophers, and a valuable lesson about "being the ball." Viewed as a cult classic of sports movies, "Caddyshack's" cast of characters from the sarcastic Bill Murray to the loud-mouthed Rodney Dangerfield is only a small part of why ESPN called it "perhaps the funniest sports movie ever made." After all, who doesn't remember the classic ending of a gopher dancing to Kenny Loggins over the burnt remains of a golf course? How doesn't recall the scene where a fight breaks out over having to pay fifty cents for a Coke? Who can forget the side-splitting scene where everyone races out of the pool to avoid a "doodie" someone left in the water — followed by the "doodie" being eaten by groundskeeper Carl Spackler?
Of course, the "floater" in the pool was, in context, nothing more than a wayward Baby Ruth candy bar tossed into the pool. According to MTV, while many have tried to pull this chocolate prank before, the candy bar itself doesn't seem to be able to float on water. This implies that the movie used a fake Baby Ruth bar to make a fake doodie. But even if the candy was fake, perhaps presenting Baby Ruth bars as similar to human feces isn't the best away to make you crave nougat and peanuts.
The unfortunate stigma of the Baby Ruth bar
When the Baby Ruth was invented by Otto Young Schnering in 1920, per Candy Hall of Fame, no one would expect it would be associated with ... well, you know, several decades later. Indeed, the Baby Ruth bar — while no doubt having fans who love it and enjoy it as their favorite confection of choice — has garnered an unfortunate stigma since the release of "Caddyshack." While discussing the use of swimming pools in television and film, the Chicago Tribune fondly recalled the "pool scene" of "Caddyshack," especially the part where Murray's character eats the doo — er, Baby Ruth. Redstone Foods even admits that it's hard to think about the implications of the chocolate bar being used to simulate fecal matter in the film.
But was the infamous scene actually based on something real? Did someone in the past, circa 1980 B.C. (before "Caddyshack"), pull this prank on an unsuspecting group of swimmers? While it is true writers Brian Doyle-Murray and brother Ed based parts of the film on their own childhood jobs as caddies (according to The Cinemaholic), it's unclear whether or not the Baby Ruth incident was one of their experiences. Some sources claim the incident was based on a prank at the Murray brothers' high school, although this may have just been hearsay.
Whatever the case may be, Baby Ruth is still a staple of the candy bar world. So at least it has that going for it.