Popular cookie Oreo turns 100
(CBS News) It was headline news in the March 6 papers -- the battle for the GOP nomination.
On March 6, 1912, Teddy Roosevelt had just challenged William Howard Taft to face him in primaries in 48 states. Little notice on that same day was a new entry on the scene that would top the popularity polls. CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports on the Oreo at 100.
Oreo cookie turns 100 years old
Age has not withered the charm of this cookie. In fact, fans gathered in New York to commemorate the birthday, near the Nabisco factory where the first Oreo was baked a hundred years ago today.
And a piece of Oreo history is always on Bill Turnier's mind when he walks down the aisle. The cookies beckon and the memories flow.
"Sometimes I tear up when I get down there and I remember him. He was a great dad," Turnier said.
His father, William Turnier, was Nabisco's cookie designer in 1952, when he did the last of five designs since its birth -- so popular, it's the one we munch on to this day.
"Did you guys get free Oreos when you were a kid?" Petersen asked.
"No we didn't. But Dad used to be able to go in there in the old days and you could get a big bag for 25 cents of broken cookies of all different sorts and, wow, that was a treat for us," Bill replied.
Turnier used Nabisco's orb and double cross, a symbol dating back to medieval monks who copied manuscripts.
"They would put an orb at the bottom and then that double cross, which was a way of indicating they had done the best that they could. It was a sign of real quality," said Bill.
Much more is unknown like who dreamed up the Oreo or even what the name Oreo stand for? A receipt shows the first batch was sold to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey. Half a billion have been sold since then, making it the world's best-selling cookie.
William's Oreo design kind of defines the Turnier family. They even etched an Oreo on his tombstone.
"It's a good cookie, good design," said Bill. "It might have another 100 years in it.
Good for three generations like Turnier, his son and grandson Matthew, snacking on a 100-year-old American invention that can still make even grown-ups feel like kids.