The PayDay Question: Definitively Answered
Okay, guys, remember that EW article about Doctor Sleep from a few weeks ago? In that, Uncle Steve and the interviewer discussed the mistake from the original The Stand of having Harold Lauder's favorite candy bar be a PayDay, which of course is important because . The article says that chocolate PayDays weren't introduced till 2007. That didn't seem right, because I remember them in the 80s. But my memory is not evidence, and also, my memory sucks. So I decided to do some research, which involved purchasing all three relevant versions of the novel, getting the ebook version (because it's searchable), contacting a bunch of candy companies, and doing a lot of internet digging. I've seen this topic tackled before here, although darned if I can find those posts now, but I am building on those efforts.
The very, very detailed version--including candy manufacturer details, chapters where the references can be found in each version, and more--of what I found is in my blog post from today, http://cheekyginger.com/stephen-king...y-controversy/, but the very short version is this:
Version: The original hardbound edition
Pub year: 1978
Action year: 1980
Candy bar mentioned: PayDay
Mistake?: Yes; Chocolaty PayDays were not produced until 1983 (I was bummed about this; I wanted it to not be a mistake.)
Version: The original Signet paperback
Pub year: 1980
Action year: 1985
Candy bar mentioned: Milky Way
Mistake?: N/A
Version: The uncut hardbound edition
Pub year: 1990
Action year: 1990
Candy bar mentioned: Chocolate-covered PayDay
Mistake?: Nope. Per Hershey, Chocolaty PayDay candy bars were produced till 1990 (and then I discovered there were other versions after that).
This was weeks of research, guys. So if the question ever comes up, here's the answer.
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