<P> Compared to standard chewing gum, the gum was less sticky, would not stick to the face, and yet stretched more easily . Diemer saw the possibilities, and using a salt water taffy wrapping machine, wrapped one hundred pieces of his creation to test market in a local mom - and - pop candy store . Priced at one penny a piece, the gum sold out in one day . </P> <P> Fleer began marketing the new gum as "Dubble Bubble" and Diemer himself taught salesmen how to blow bubbles as a selling point for the gum, helping them to demonstrate how Dubble Bubble differed from all other chewing gums . Sold at the price a penny a piece, sales of Dubble Bubble surpassed US $1.5 million in the first year . However, Diemer did not patent his invention and competition soon arose as bubble gum became a popular and inexpensive treat during the Great Depression . </P> <P> According to his second wife, Florence, Walter Diemer never received royalties for his invention but he did not mind . She also said he oversaw construction of bubble gum plants in Philadelphia and Barcelona, Spain, and traveled around the world marketing the gum . He stayed with Fleer for decades, eventually reaching the position of senior vice president as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Fleer Corporation . He retired in 1970, and remained on the board for 15 more years thereafter . Following the death of his first wife, Adelaide, in 1990, Diemer rode around his Pennsylvania retirement village in a big tricycle, distributing bubble gum to children . </P> <P> Diemer died of congestive heart failure in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on his 94th birthday . Saturday Night Live joked that his body was found stuck under a movie theatre seat . </P>

Who invented bubble gum and in what year