Abbott did it for Costello. Sonny did it for Cher. Behind every

star is the straight man, humbly standing in the shadow of his

glitzier partner. A lot of foods play this role too - pie

crust, hot dog buns and dry vermouth spring to mind. But our

vote for Best Supporting Actor in a Classic Food Combination

would have to be the cone.

Granted, it's no mystery why the ice cream gets top billing.

Even the cheapest vanilla doesn't need a cone to dazzle

its fans. But the cone most definitely depends on ice cream to

get any attention at all.

"When people ask me what I do, I say we make ice cream

cones," said Joe George, president of Joy Cone Co. in Hermitage,

Pa., one of the country's oldest cone manufacturers, dating

to 1918.

"They say, 'Oh.' And I know what's going

on in their minds: People are very surprised to learn that there

is a factory devoted solely to making ice cream cones."

But the past few years, things have started to look up for this

silent - albeit crunchy - sidekick that celebrates

a centennial this year: 100 years ago it teamed with vanilla

ice cream at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. So let's

give it a hand (literally).

Before the cone became a sensation on the Pike (a.k.a. the Fair

boardwalk), explained Suzanne Corbett, culinary historian with

the National Park Service in St. Louis, "it was not considered

polite to be walking around eating in public." Then came

the fair with its many handheld foods, including the ice cream

cone. "It changed the way everybody thought," she said.

The cone may have helped change perceptions, but for many years

nothing much changed about the cone. Unlike ice cream, with its

gazillion flavors, varying percentages of butterfat and myriad

add-ins (from pecans to gummy worms), cones have spent much of

the last century playing the same old tune: Will you have a sugar

or a cake cone with that scoop of double-espresso-chocolate-walnut?

"It's been looked at as a peripheral item," said

Sam Weiner, president of EdgeCraft, which makes waffle-cone makers

for home kitchens. "The cone is sort of a holder; that's

why it was invented. But as with many things, as people have

become more enthusiastic about a food, they become enthusiastic

about every aspect of the food."

These days, whether you're at ice cream parlors or grocery

stores, "cone-sumers" are getting more choices: Commercially

made waffle cones have paved the way for waffle bowls - Joy

Cone started selling these in supermarkets two years ago - as

well as cones dipped in chocolate and sprinkles; this is true

in ice cream parlors as well as the supermarket.

Handcrafted at home

Now handmade cones are an option for home cooks. Three years

ago Chef'sChoice introduced the WaffleCone Express. Its

success inspired the PetiteCone Express, which makes smaller

cones geared to savory fillings. Both electric appliances are

variations of waffle irons and pizzelle irons, which produce

the wafer-thin Italian cookie.

"Initially, like any new product, it takes a little bit

of time to get it integrated into the mainstream," Weiner

said. "After about a year or so, (the WaffleCone Express)

started blossoming." He would not give specific sales data,

but said that the appliances are selling in the "tens of

thousands" in the U.S.

Clearly, the cone's time has come. And not just because

of its 100-year history as backup to ice cream.

Think of the cone, said Joy Cone's George, as an environmental

steward: "We're the ideal food container. When you

eat the cone, you eat the package. It's ecologically a very

sound container. The ice cream cone is a very convenient treat."

And for that, all credit goes to the cone.

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