Spa City transplant baked Girl Scouts' 1936 oatmeal cookies

Julie Baker of Hot Springs always has some frosting for her Girl Scout Cookies.

Her father's family bakery made some of the first commercially produced cookies for the organization.

That happened in 1936, in Savannah, Ga., the homeplace of the Girl Scouts. Newspaper clippings from the Savannah Evening Press tell the story.

A photo shows the cookie committee -- 10 stalwart residents of Savannah joined by two Girl Scouts. The caption proclaims:

"Scene as the official tasting committee chose the oatmeal cookie submitted by Gottlieb's Bakery as the best entered in the competition for the selection of the cookies to be sold May 2 for the benefit of the Girl Scouts."

The 12 are stiffly posed and formally dressed.

A spokesman for the national office of the Girl Scouts in New York City said a cookie box from another baker from that era predates Gottlieb's, but that Gottlieb's was one of the first.

Gottlieb's Bakery operated in Savannah for more than 100 years, from 1884 to 1994.

"They specialized in bread," Baker said in a telephone interview. "They made it all night. Cookies, cakes, fantastic wedding cakes. There was a window in front where you could watch the baker make the wedding cakes."

Harold Gottlieb, Julie Baker's father, was one of six sons of founders Isadore and Jennie Gottlieb, Russian immigrants who met and married in Savannah.

Harold left Savannah in 1946 for Hot Springs, where Baker, "67 years young," has lived her whole life.

Harold's initials are on the Girl Scouts receipt, dated May 8, 1936. The 7,697 dozen cookies were priced at 7.5 cents a dozen, or $577.77 total.

Several bakeries submitted cookies, the Evening Press reported. The members of the committee were blindfolded, Baker said, and chose Gottlieb's oatmeal cookie.

A news story in advance of the competition reported, in the florid prose of the day:

"The cookie which is most pleasing to the palates of the majority of the committee members will be the one which will be selected for the sale and its baker will have the honor of supplying the thousands of dozens of cookies which will be delivered to homes all over the city May 2 as the result of the sale to be conducted that day with the aid of a pre-sale canvas for orders."

The Girl Scouts date the first known cookie sale to 1917. In 1936, according to a brief history of the cookies on its website, "Commercial bakers help meet growing demand."

A Girl Scouts history of cookies says: "In the late 1930s, as Girl Scout Cookie sales gained in popularity, girls and their families could no longer bake enough cookies for everyone. So commercial bakers were called in to help make the popular confections."

Two commercial bakers -- ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers -- are currently licensed to produce Girl Scout Cookies. The top sellers are Thin Mints, Caramel deLites/Samoas, Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs, Do-Si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich and Shortbread/Trefoils.

The cookie names differ with the bakers, Taylor Fisher said. She speaks for the Girl Scouts-Diamonds Corporate office in Little Rock. The top seller in these parts, she said, is the Samoa, baked by Little Brownie Bakers of Louisville, Ky.

Local sales this year began Jan. 21, Fisher said.

Cookies can be ordered in three ways. First, directly from a Girl Scout. Second, via a Girl Scout's digital cookie link. Third, for those who need some help, an email may be sent to [email protected]. A cookie professional will connect the cookie lover with a Girl Scout.

In a sign of the times, the gluten-free Toffee-tastic cookie is available. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of cookie sales, the Girl Scout S'Mores cookie is available.

Another cookie, Savannah Smiles, makes reference to the hometown of the Girl Scouts, founded in that city in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low.

Julie Baker was in Savannah in 2012 and visited the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, located in the city's National Historic Landmark District.

"They provided us with this information," she said about Gottlieb's Bakery, "printed it all off and gave it to me."

It was a surprise.

"I was absolutely fascinated by what they had. Absolutely fascinated."

Baker's parents -- Harold and Marion -- went to Hot Springs for his health.

"My dad had health problems, circulatory problems in his legs. They wanted to amputate his legs. He heard about Hot Springs and the healing waters."

Those healing waters did the job, Baker said.

"Omigosh, yes. He lived to 86. He always took the baths downtown. And he drank nothing but Hot Springs water from the fountains downtown."

Baker buys Girl Scout Cookies every year. Her favorites are the shortbread and mint. She is wise about their consumption.

"I limit myself to two at a time," she said. "That way they last longer."

Metro on 02/19/2017

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