ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997            TAG: 9702130027
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

CANDYMAKER SWEETENS SAYINGS FOR '90S, BUT IT'S ALL IN GOOD TASTE

Roses are red. Violets are blue. The hearts taste the same. Just the sayings are new.

Change is in the sugar-dusted air where little candy hearts have rolled off the same machines every Valentine's Day for generations.

This year, messages such as ``E-Mail Me'' and ``Page Me'' have joined sweet standbys such as ``Be Mine'' on the pastel-colored hearts, while ``Hot Stuff'' has gone the way of ``Groovy'' and other outdated catch phrases.

Adding new sayings and dropping old ones is a haphazard practice at the New England Confectionery Co., where century-old machines stamp out Sweethearts Conversation Hearts and Necco Wafers.

``There's nothing formal. This is not rocket science here. It's fun,'' said Walter Marshall, a vice president of the company.

There are only a few rules, Marshall said. The mottoes have to be G-rated, and they must be short enough to fit on the coin-sized hearts.

Conversation hearts were developed by Necco in 1902. Some 10 billion will make their way into people's hands by Valentine's Day.

-Associated Press

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