In 1912, in a copper kettle at the Standard Candy Company at Clark & First Avenue in Nashville, TN, the world’s first ever combination candy bar was invented. A round mound of caramel, marshmallow, fresh roasted peanuts and pure milk chocolate; it’s renegade circular shape was more difficult to wrap than the conventional rectangular or square shapes of the day. For a time it was impossible to ask for a Goo Goo by name since no one could decide what to call the delicious thick clusters of candy.
The story of how the candy came to be named comes in many versions. Two stand out over all the rest. Some people say that it was named Goo Goo because it’s the first thing a baby says. Howell Campbell, Jr., the man whose father invented the Goo Goo Cluster, says that his father used to ride the streetcar to work every day and he would talk the matter over with fellow passengers. He maintains that a lady schoolteacher suggested the name Goo Goo to Mr. Campbell one morning. The recipe was a joint undertaking by Mr. Campbell, Sr. and Mr. Porter Moore, the original plant supervisor back in 1912. Mr. Campbell is said to have blended chocolate the same way fine whiskey is blended. He acted as official taster and was very particular about the quality of all the ingredients. All of the ingredients that go into a Goo Goo Cluster are foods your taste buds remember. Luscious caramel, smooth creamy marshmallow and fresh roasted peanuts all covered with a thick coating of pure milk chocolate.
The Goo Goo Cluster recipe hasn’t changed over the years although the cooking method has. Goo Goos used to be hand dipped and sold without wrappers under glass at drug store candy counters. With the dawn of hand wrapping, ladies would swaddle the Goo Goo Clusters in tinfoil, a look nearly duplicated today by the shiny silver labels with Goo Goo Cluster in big red letters.
One of the most interesting facts about the Goo Goo Cluster is its association with Nashville. People visit Nashville, try a Goo Goo Cluster and upon returning home, compose a letter proclaiming the goodness of the candy and requesting mail order catalogs for direct shipment! The Goo Goo Cluster has a long association with the Grand Old Opry as one of its longest running sponsors. As they say there, “Generations of Southerners have grown up on them”. Southerners that have moved away still write to request Goo Goo Clusters! Many are repeat orders and many are from mothers who want to send their soldier sons and daughters a reminder of home.
Goo Goo Clusters are featured on the website www.googoo.com They are a feature story on the Food Network and will soon be showcased in their Unwrapped segment. Goo Goos are famous Hollywood movie stars as they have appeared in several movies; Robert Altman’s Nashville, The Nutty Professor and Charlie’s War. Goo Goo Cluster is the question to an answer in the TV show Jeopardy and the favorite candy of Earnest Borgnine, Dinah Shore, Artie Johnson and James Garner.

How Goo Goos Got Their Unusual Name
There are many variations as to how the uniquely round-shaped Goo Goo Cluster got its name, but the real story is said to go something like this:
Mr. Howard Campbell (the inventor) used to ride a streetcar to work. Soon after he developed his delicious new confection, word spread quickly about this uniquely round-shaped treat. People didn’t know how to ask for or what to call it. Mr. Campbell was extremely excited that his newest concoction was the talk of the town, but even he, himself was baffled as to what to call his latest creation. One day Mr. Campbell was announcing to fellow passengers on the streetcar his newborn son’s first words and a school teacher made the connection with the candy. She suggested Mr. Campbell name his treat Goo Goo! It is so good, people will ask for it from birth.