Oh, I remember them, Lars, and I can't imagine how I ever ate a whole one, but I did. They were the ultimate ice cream sundaes. Most soda fountains had them on the menu. I've been trying to remember if there was an order to the three balls of ice cream nestled in the split banana. I think chocolate was usually in the middle; it was the star. As in your link's photo, there was chocolate syrup but not too much. I think it was mostly, or only on the vanilla, with maybe just a drizzle on the whole thing. Like you, I found the strawberry ice cream the least interesting. The chocolate ice cream went so well with the pineapple topping. I guess that must be where I got my idea for pineapple sundaes made with chocolate ice cream.( I used to order that and bewilder waitresses. I still like it.) The banana split had some chopped nuts but I think not peanuts, because I hate peanuts and would remember that; probably walnuts. On top of everything there was a lot of whipped cream, and the decorative cherry.
All of this cost maybe a dollar, or a dollar and a quarter. It was by far the most expensive sundae.

Lars, I don't care for fruit flavoured ice cream, so for me a banana split is made with chocolate and/or vanilla ice cream. I made one for Moe the other day to use up the leftover sauces. He had one scoop of chocolate and one scoop of vanilla. The vanilla was topped with the chocolate sauce and the chocolate with the caramel sauce. Finished with whipped cream and topped with a cherry. I also like a sprinkling of toasted walnuts or pecans on top.

Here's my banana split memory, with the hope that it will trigger banana split memories of the same event:

How could a kid be as lucky as me? My grade school best friendâÂÂs mother Mary was the manager of the F.W. WoolworthâÂÂs lunch counter, which was the closest thing our small town had to department store dining.

A few times a year was the event I waited for -- Banana Split Bonanza!!! -- a chance to get a banana split for any price ranging from one cent to the regular 39 cents. That was when my mother would take me downtown and we'd order one to share. When it arrived, I'd get a chance to select one of the balloons that covered the wall behind the counter. Pop! Out fell a slip of paper with the amount to be added on our check. It was normally about 35 cents.

But one year, after a few too many sloe gin fizzes at my parentsâ annual Christmas Eve open house, Mary confessed all to my mom. Seems that WoolworthâÂÂs had done a study and determined the frequency of balloon color selection and the lunch counter staff had explicit instructions on which price slips were to be placed in the various color balloons.

At the next B.S. Bonanza, I was shocked when my mother told me as we were entering the store that I was going to pick a white balloon. I whined that I wanted a red one. But my mom gave me âÂÂthat lookâ and we ended up with a white balloon and a three cent banana split. After that, I always picked what I thought were âÂÂluckyâ white balloons and always got a price less than 10 cents.

My mom never told me why until after both WoolworthâÂÂs and Mary were dead and gone from our town.

What fun memories, Lars! The only time I've eaten banana splits was when we lived in Ely, Nevada. Every day on the way to school, I would sneak into the Bank Club Casino and play the slots in the back by the side emergency exit door. If I hit it big, then I'd stop by the drug store on my way home for a banana split! If I lost all my money - no lunch or ice cream until the next Monday when Mom gave me another week's lunch money. lol Sometimes, the pit boss would catch me and yell, "Patty, you get on to school before I catch up with your Dad!" Other times I'd get caught by one of the "ladies of the evening" and they would take my hand and walk me right out the same door I'd entered. :)

The drug store's soda fountain banana splits were just as your recipe with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry topped with the sauces, walnuts, whipped cream and a cherry. I've never liked whipped cream (and still do not) so I would push that aside and leave it in the bottom of the dish. I don't eat ice cream anymore and haven't since we moved to SoCA when I was twelve.

/tricia

Ann, when I think about it, I really don't like most fruit flavored ice creams either, but I make strawberry ice cream when I have strawberries and give most of it away. I've decided that I like pineapple more as a topping than as an ice cream flavor.

When I buy ice cream, I tend to buy vanilla bean, hazelnut (i.e. Frangelico flavored), Amaretto, chocolate, mocha, or coconut. I do like fruit sorbets, however, especially mango and canteloup. I do not like banana ice cream at all, and the worse flavor for me is butter pecan - butter should not be an ice cream flavor. The last ice cream I bought was English Toffee flavor, but it mainly tasted like caramel, and so I added chocolate sauce to it. Trader Joe's has some coffee ice cream that is to die for - I think it is called "coffee bean blast". I've been adding Godiva chocolate liqueur to it.

I don't think I had peanuts on my banana splits in the past, or I would have scraped them off, and yet I used to eat drumsticks that were waffle cones with vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and peanut sprinkles. I remember sort of liking the peanuts in that, but today I would replace them with almonds or hazelnuts.

I used to make parfaits in the 1960s, but mostly because I liked the way they looked in the glass.

Lars

They don't have banana splits anymore?

When my son was little, I took him out for a banana split on the eve of his tonsillectomy surgery. I thought that would be the supreme ice cream treat. And it was just as pictured in the ad you featured.

One restaurant I worked at a few years ago had banana splits on the menu for dessert, mainly aimed at the younger diners. Or they did until a huge cyclone wiped out most of the banana plantations in Queensland and the price of bananas from the West Australian plantations shot up to an average of $3-$4 _per banana_. (It's back to normal now.)
Soon after we went to Asia for a holiday and enjoyed cheap bananas (the bananas are always better in Asia anyway). Shopkeepers said, "You must be from Australia, all the Aussies are going nuts about bananas. Why is that?"

My memories of childhood banana splits involve my best friend, her brother's mini car, and no banana splits for me! Some days after school, my friend and I would hop in her brother's mini car powered by a lawn mower machine and drive a quarter mile or so to the our neighborhood pharmacy that also had a small lunch counter in the back.

Before we left on this little jaunt, she would check out the purses of her three older sisters for spare change and usually come up with enough to buy a banana split. Being the oldest child in my family, I did not have this way of finding extra money.

So we would hop in this little mini model-T and driving on the side of the road, make our way to the drug store. We were never caught by passing police cars, but I'm sure they must have laws against such vehicles today. We'd bump along, twisting, turning, laughing our heads off and once she actually did pee her pants. (Told her brother it was me, but "nuh-uh")

When we reached the drug store we'd head straight to the back, sit at the counter and place our orders: a banana split for her and a single scoop in a cone for me. Life can be so unfair when you are twelve!

This childhood memory courtesy of my friend, Melinda - love you girl!

Teresa

Oh my gosh, banana splits bring back so many memories. When I was a kid (does every banana split story begin that way?), my family went to Ocean City NJ for a month each summer. My two friends and I would go to a little restaurant that served Banana Splits and order one to share. We sat in a booth and got into total giggling fits. We smeared ice cream everywhere. Then we got up from the table and walked out, leaving the mess for the waitress to clean. I'm sure it never occurred to us to leave a tip.

One day we arrived for our banana split and giggling session and we were told we were no longer welcome there!! We were so embarrassed. We deserved to be banned, too!

Later when my own family would head to Ocean City each summer, I always marked the last night of vacation and the end of summer with a banana split. I think that one came from Dairy Queen (why did I not get real ice cream??) It became a family tradition -- "Mom's banana split". I think I also had my annual cheesesteak during that vacation, too.

Theresa, I was just reminiscing with someone about eating at the counter at Woolworth's and popping the balloons. I'm sure I never picked a white one. Are there any places left that have counter service? I guess there are diners, but no drugstores or "department" stores like Woolworth's. I loved going in there. I think the pet department was right next to the counter. Today the Board of Health would put an end to that, but I liked having lunch next to the parakeets and hamsters.

I have to have one more full-on banana split before I die. For me it would be all vanilla ice cream (three scoops, no chocolate - I don't like it), chopped salty peanuts, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, a cherry and of course, a banana.

Lars, I love this thread.

A banana split (or hot fudge sundae) was my childhood treat after a dental visit. (Yeah, I know that's messed up, but I never complained!) My little town had a Kresge's, W.T. Grant and Woolworth's (Neisner's, too, but I don't think they had a soda fountain.) I think we usually went to Kresge's. What we had looked exactly like that Taste of Home picture and tasted divine.

My mom went a step further by making Sunday nights "sundae night". I grew up on a dairy farm and we always had our big meal at noon, so the evening meal was a light supper (more like lunch). Sunday nights, my mom would make what she called "dope" - that would be homemade chocolate peanut butter sauce. Sadly, we begged her to buy Hershey's syrup instead of making her own "dope" and sometimes, she would, but more often than not, it was homemade. Today, my daughter calls it "Grandma's Secret Sauce" and my sister makes it better than I do, but I still persevere. (Those homemade chocolate and caramel sauces that Ann posted have been calling my name ever since!)

Thanks for the memories!

The Gifford's ice cream shops in the Washington DC area made fabulous banana splits. If I recall they had a banana, three scoops--chocolate, vanilla and strawberry--with three sauces. Pineapple sauce on the chocolate, chocolate on vanilla and strawberry--loose preserves--on the strawberry. Then nuts, whipped cream and a cherry.

I've been making a desperation banana split lately with a banana, chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, chopped roasted almonds and a splash of half and half. It's pretty good.

Giffords's - Pistachio Ice Cream with Swiss Sauce.... To die for... Best chocolate sauce ever... I don't like banana splits but love ice cream sundaes with different ice cream/topping combinations... Just not real big on bananas or fruit ice creams.