More Power to the Candle

The powers of candlelight have long been part of Everywoman's arsenal. Beauty or not, she always looks loveliest in the warm glow thrown off by wax tapers gleaming over a banquet table or on a banquette in a quiet bistro. Largely because of this candelabracadabra, candles continued to sell at a respectable pace long after the rural-electrification program brought light bulbs into the most remote corners of the U.S. In recent months, however, Americans have gone on a candle-buying spree, spurred on by necessity, a changing national mood and by new candle shops stocked with imaginatively shaped and scented products.

Many residents of large cities afflicted by increasingly frequent blackouts are busily stocking candles in anticipation of summer power failures. But there are less practical reasons for the candle resurgence. "It's the Love Story factor," says Bob Scaringi, owner of Manhattan's newly opened Bailiwick candle shop. "You know, the return to romance and sensitivity, a return to basic sanity." Bailiwick's bewildering variety of candles also helps bring in customers. In addition to the plain-Jane 25-c- blackout specials, the store sells candles shaped like dodo birds, penguins, onions, eggs, baskets of blueberries, footballs and, at $40, the leaning tower of Pisa.

Chocolate Kisses. Not to be outdone by the East Coast, Californians are turning to even farther-out candles. In Los Angeles, a firm called Control Tower offers candles in the form of slabs of Swiss cheese, bricks of marijuana, candied apples, chocolate kisses labelled "Kiss, Kiss," Popsicles (in the familiar wrapper) and giant crayons. The Candlestick in San Francisco sells elaborate, waxy and scented constructions. In fact, smell is big all over. Chicago's Cooper, Inc., offers chocolate, vanilla, and other food odors, and reports that Gold Coast matrons happily pay $25 for a French-made candle that gives off a scent of cypress.

Cooper also handles another popular item, the refillable candle. One fast seller is an $18 sculptured bird standing on wrought-iron feet. Everything burns but the feet. San Francisco's Candles to Burn features sand-cast candles in the form of owls and mushrooms that can be refilled when the candle inside has burned itself out.

In fact, interest in candles seems to run highest among the hippier young, imbued as they are with the back-to-nature ethic. A favorite at Reflections, located in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, is a nine-inch replica of President Nixon billed as: "The Melting of the President," or "Now You Can Own the Most-Talked-About Bust in Years: Drippy Dick." For those with positive sentiments about peace, Chicago's Jack B Nimble sells candle peace symbols at $2.50 and the word peace in candle block letters for $6. Even more pacifist is a Venus de Milo candle for $3.95 --it's guaranteed to be 'armless.

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