Mister Softee, Inc., was founded in 1956 in Philadelphia by two Philadelphia-born brothers, William Conway and James Conway . Another brother, Joseph Patrick Conway, joined the firm and in 1961 moved to Illinois to serve as President of Mister Softee of Illinois, Inc., but died a month later in an auto accident in Chicago at age. A fourth brother, the oldest, Monsignor Walter Joseph Conway, was a clergyman with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Their only other sibling, John Conway, died at age. In 1970, there was a stage powered by Mister Softee trucks at the Powder Ridge Rock Festival, leading to the cancellation of the event via court injunction. Country music artist Melanie Safka was the only performer to ignore this. Mister Softee became one of the largest franchisors of soft ice cream in the United States, with about 350 franchisees operating 600 trucks in 15 states. Since 1959, and as of 2016, Mister Softee, Inc., has been headquartered in Runnemede, New Jersey, and is still owned and operated by members of the Conway family. Around 1999, William and James' sons, John P. Conway and Jim Conway, Jr., took over the business.
China
English-teacher-turned-entrepreneur-now-stand-up-comedian Turner Sparks , was, while attending the University of Miami, roommates with Alex Conway – Jim Conway, Jr's., son. Sparks spoke fluent Mandarin and had been teaching English in Suzhou. In 2007, with Alex's help, Sparks launched a Mister Softee China franchise in Suzhou with just one truck. Five years later, Sparks had ten trucks and 25 employees, with plans to expand throughout China's eastern region. Mister Softee China had created a menu that combined classic American ice cream products of shakes, floats, and sundaes with new Chinese products such as green tea ice cream, red bean ice cream, kiwi sundaes, and milk tea floats. While its American counterpart operated almost exclusively with trucks, Mister Softee China had kiosks in downtown shopping areas and trucks throughout China's suburban neighborhoods and business districts. Mister Softee suspended its China operations in 2016.
Jingle
The melody broadcast from Mister Softee trucks – bearing the likeness of a music-box – is a contrafactum of Arthur Pryor's 1905 composition, "The Whistler and His Dog." Philadelphia, Les Waas '' scored it with new words for Mister Softee, and titled it, "Jingle and Chimes." Waas created close to 1,000 jingles. "Jingle and Chimes" – E-flat major|, "" Duple and quadruple metre| time
Intro 1st verse 2nd verse 3rd verse Coda Michael Bloomberg, while Mayor of New York, launched an ambitious initiative in 2002 to crack-down on city noise, which included jingles broadcast from ice cream trucks – and in particular, the jingle from Mister Softee trucks. In 2005, in the face of opposition from citizens and members of the City Council, he compromised. Rather than banning mobile jingles, he permitted the trucks to air them while in transit, but only while in transit.
Mister Softee has defended its trademarks, notably in the following two cases:
Dimitrios Tsirkos, who until 2014 had for decades been a Mister Softee franchisee in New York, launched a competing ice cream vending company, which was incorporated January 24, 2014, in New York under the name Master Softee Inc., and, among other things, used Mister Softee's jingle. Mister Softee, in 2014, sued Tsirkos in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and prevailed on three allegations: breach of franchise agreements, trademark infringement, and other unfair business practices. In 2016, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain held Tsirkos in contempt for failing to begin payments on a $97,000 judgment handed down in the 2014 case.
The next year, Mister Softee won, by default, a Federal lawsuit against Dimitrios Konstantakakos and 3 DDD Ice Inc. – owner of New York Ice Cream Truck Inc. of Long Island City – preventing him from using Mister Softee's jingle.
With respect to defending the trademarks, Mister Softee vice president Jim Conway has stated, "For 58 years we've spent our time, energy, and money developing brands. We're one of the most recognized brands. The people who are infringing on our trademark are not only hurting Mr. Softee, but also hurting our mom and pop franchisees. We take these actions to protect them as much to protect our own brand."
In June 1961, Doug Quattlebaum, an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, was 're-discovered' playing popular and blues songs through the public address system of his Mister Softee ice cream van. The blues historian, Pete Welding, who became known for discovering talent in unusual places, heard his performances and arranged for him to record an album. Released by Bluesville Records, Softee Man Blues had a photograph of Quattlebaum in his ice cream uniform on its front cover.
