any color you want, as long as it's black

 

We recently replaced the sheets on the bed in the front room because the old set was thoroughly worn out. Technically, the color of the new sheets is “blue”, but they reminded me of the turquoise color that was popular on the cars of the 1950’s.

One thing that I remember about the cars of the 1950’s is that they had an enormous number of options and colors to choose from, which made it difficult to decide what you wanted your car to be. On top of that, prior to the introduction of the Monroney sticker in 1958, you really had no idea what the cost of the vehicle actually was, which made car buying a lot like betting on the horses. Since their introduction in 1958, the information on the stickers has been expanded to include other items, such as fuel economy ratings, standard and optional equipment, and country of origin. Although few people actually pay MSRP for their vehicles, at least having that information in plain sight makes negotiating a price a little easier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroney_sticker

When you buy a car today, your color choices are limited. Typically, you’ll have a choice of white, silver, gray, red or blue, and the exact shades usually vary by the year of manufacture.

 If you bought a 1955-1957 Chevrolet, you had a choice of 15 solid colors. In addition, you also had a choice of 24 two-tone combinations. Since option packages did not exist yet, you had to order your options individually, and sometimes the option(s) you wanted were simply not available.

https://news.classicindustries.com/1955-1956-1957-chevy-colors-paint-codes

https://www.urechem-paints.com/1956-chevrolet-bel-air-car-paint-colors/

If you bought a more expensive vehicle, you had even more color options.

In 1958, Cadillac offered LOTS of options.

 

https://eldorado-seville.com/my58eldo/1958colors/

 

In 1958 buyers had the choice of 19 exterior colors which could be applied in different tones for the lower or single part of the car and a different color for the upper part. There were 5 special colors reserved to the Eldorados. 5 different top colors for the Vicodec roof were available and a choice of 8 interiors in cloth or leather for the Seville.

One odd feature of the 1958 Cadillac was that it came standard with FOUR cigarette lighters – but air conditioning was an extra cost option.

Today, manufactures still offer option packages, but sometimes the trim level (such as LE or SV) included options as part of the trim level.

If you were of car buying age in the early part of the 20^th century, there were numerous car manufacturers in this county, but most of them did not exist for very long.

The most popular car, of course, was the Ford Model T, which was available from 1908 through 1927. During the early years of production, the car was available in a variety of colors – but black was not one of them. From 1915 through 1925, however, the ONLY color choice was black. There are many theories to why Henry Ford chose only black back then. Ford Model T models were painted using a technique called japanning (known today as baked enamel). The coating was used for decorative items in the 1800s. Japanning gave a piano black finish and was also proved to be durable and hard. Black was the only pigment it worked in. Another theory is that black color dried faster than any color. This helped a lot in boosting production. Also, in 1914, Henry Ford introduced assembly line car manufacturing; something almost every manufacturer follows today. Assembly line production was really efficient for Ford. Using only one color (black) increased the efficiency even more.

Most of the buyers weren't complaining either. The reason for that was, the Ford Model T looked really good in black. Black paint was and still is, cheaper. Black could also be easily applied by almost anyone as it doesn't require much detailing and precision like other paints.

The link below provides some additional information about the Model T, which may be of interest to you.

Read more at: https://www.drivespark.com/four-wheelers/2018/why-ford-model-t-came-in-black-colour-only/articlecontent-pf84043-025093.html

There are people living today who yearn for “the good old days”, but the truth is that life is actually much better today. In 1925, you could buy a brand-new Ford for $300, but four years later, the Great Depression started, and life got to be a lot harder.

Since today is Thanksgiving day, you may reflect on the fact that today, in spite of what you head on TV, life is actually pretty good. If you know where to look, you can still buy a model T today,  but it’s going to cost you a lot of money. The cheapest one on the link below is $14,000 – and it’s not black.

https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars-for-sale/ford-model_t-for-sale

 

 

 

 

memories of the East Side

 

I grew up on the East Side of St. Paul, and I still have some fond memories of the years I spent there as a kid.

I still get mail from St Pascal’s school, which I graduated from in 1961. Today, it’s known as St. Pascal’s Regional Catholic School, and it boasts some impressive educational achievements, but it’s considerably more expensive to attend than when it first opened in 1948. $10,000 a year for elementary school is a lot of money, which is why financial aid is utilized by most of today’s parents.

https://stpascalschool.org/

 Roughly 1/2 mile east of St. Pascal’s is the house on Third Street, where I lived until I got married in 1972.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2059-3rd-St-E-Saint-Paul-MN-55119/2156293_zpid/

About a mile to the east of the Third Street house is the location where the Minnehaha drive-in theatre showed movies. It opened in 1950 and closed in 1979, to become a flea market. It was demolished in 1986 to make way for another 3M office building.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/46025

 

Just down the road from the drive-in movie theatre was ANOTHER drive-in business, but it featured a much different type of entertainment. It was called A&W. Although if offered a variety of basic food items, the best part of your stop there was the genuine A&W root beer, which was always served in a chilled mug.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&W_Restaurants

 

The brand has been around longer than you might suspect, since the first A&W opened in California in 1919, when it started as a roadside root beer stand.

After WWII, the rapid increase in the number of automobiles in this country led to A&W drive-ins. By 1950, there were 450 drive-in restaurants in the country, and by the 1960’s, the number had swelled to more than 2000.

Since 1963, the company has gone through a series of owners, and is currently owned by Keuring Dr. Pepper. Although you can still find A&W locations (including one in Tucson) they are no longer drive-in locations. Fortunately, you can still by A&W root beer in most grocery stores.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&W_Root_Beer

For those who want to re-create those drive-in memories, they can now be found at Sonic, which first opened in 1953. Inspire Brands, the owner of Sonic, also owns Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. Each year, the company holds a competition to find the best skating car hop in its system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Drive-In

Sonic, though, did not invent the “car hop”. That is an innovation by an even older chain called the Pig Stand.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/last-day-for-texas-celebrated-drive-in-pig-stands 

 

The first one opened in Texas in October 1921.

It was a roadside barbecue restaurant unlike any other: Its patrons could drive up, eat and leave, all without budging from their automobiles. (“People with cars are so lazy,” It’s founder, Jessie Kirby, Kirby explained, “they don’t want to get out of them.”) Kirby lured these car-attached customers with great fanfare and spectacle. When a customer pulled into the Pig Stand parking lot, teenaged boys in white shirts and black bow ties jogged over to his car, hopped up onto the running board—sometimes before the driver had even pulled into a parking space—and took his order. (This daredevilry won the servers a nickname: carhops.) Soon, the Pig Stand drive-ins replaced the carhops with attractive young girls on roller skates, but the basic formula was the same: good-looking young people, tasty food, speedy service and auto-based convenience. In addition to car hops, the chain also is the origin of deep-fried onion rings, chicken fried steak, and Texas Toast.

Like A&W, the chain no longer has any drive-in restaurants, but the chain still has ONE location left (in San Antonio) but it is now a “walks in” location.

Like most baby boomers, I remember some of my favorite things from the past, but they aren’t the same anymore, which just proves the old adage.

Nostalgia just isn’t what it used to be.

 

Pig stands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat

 

Arlo Guthrie recorded his most famous song, “Alice’s Restaurant” in October of 1967. In the song, he talked about Alice and Ray and Fasha the dog, as well as Officer Opie, and the twenty-seven 8 by 10 color pictures, with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.

If you want to take another trip down memory lane, here is the song in its entirety:

Alice's Restaurant - Original 1967 Recording - YouTube

The song, though, really was not about Alice or the Thanksgiving dinner that could not be beat.

It was about the draft.

On my way back home after basic training, we stopped in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I saw the location where the restaurant used to be, where the police station is, and where the church building stands.

Originally built as the St. James Chapel in 1829, the structure was enlarged in 1866 and renamed Trinity Church. Ray and Alice Brock purchased the property in 1964 and made it their home. The building has had several owners since the early 1970s.

After four years of high school in Stockbridge, Arlo graduated in the spring of 1965 entering Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana the following fall. His college career was short lived, however, and he returned to the Berkshires in November of 1965. He stayed with his friends, Ray and Alice, at the church during the Thanksgiving holidays. The rest, as they say, is history.

Over time, Arlo bought the old Trinity Church featured in the song, and converted it to an interfaith church in 1991. The structure was renamed the Guthrie Center.

If you would like a blast of nostalgia, there is also an Alice’s restaurant in Tucson.

https://alicesrestauranttucson.business.site/

Stockbridge is on the farthest west side of Massachusetts, roughly 160 miles from Plymouth, where another Thanksgiving dinner took place in 1621.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/04/thanksgiving-anniversary-wampanoag-indians-pilgrims/

The actual history of what happened in 1621 bears little resemblance to what most Americans are taught in grade school, historians say. There was likely no turkey served. There were no feathered headdresses worn. And, initially, there was no effort by the Pilgrims to invite the Wampanoags to the feast they’d made possible.

The Wampanoags, whose name means “People of the First Light” in their native language, trace their ancestors back at least 10,000 years to southeastern Massachusetts, a land they called Patuxet.

 In the 1600s, they lived in 69 villages, each with a chief, or sachem, and a medicine man. They had “messenger runners,” members of the tribe with good memories and the endurance to run to neighboring villages to deliver messages.

They occupied a land of plenty, hunting deer, elk and bear in the forests, fishing for herring and trout, and harvesting quahogs in the rivers and bays. They planted corn and used fish remains as fertilizer. In the winter, they moved inland from the harsh weather, and in the spring, they moved to the coastlines.

 They had traded — and fought — with European explorers since 1524.

 By the fall, the Pilgrims — thanks in large part to the Wampanoags teaching them how to plant beans and squash in a mound with maize around it and use fish remains as fertilizer — had their first harvest of crops. To celebrate its first success as a colony, the Pilgrims had a “harvest feast” that became the basis for what’s now called Thanksgiving.

 

The Wampanoags weren’t invited.

 

Ousamequin and his men showed up only after the English in their revelry shot off some of their muskets. At the sound of gunfire, the Wampanoags came running, fearing they were headed to war.

 

“One hundred warriors show up armed to the teeth after they heard muskets fired,” said Paula Peters.

 

Told it was a harvest celebration, the Wampanoags joined, bringing five deer to share, she said. There was fowl, fish, eel, shellfish and possibly cranberries from the area’s natural bogs.

 The story about Thanksgiving has particular significance for a number of reasons:

1)    November has been designated as Native American Indian Heritage Month since 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed a bill honoring America’s tribal people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Indian_Heritage_Month

2)   It’s the time of the year known as Indian summer. According to The Farmer’s Almanac, there are several reasons why it is called Indian Summer. Since none of the explanations are verified, you can pick the one you like.

https://www.almanac.com/content/indian-summer-what-why-and-when?fbclid=IwAR1wNPnIQHu-3Mn4oI3KGyF1gUO5Lz8JRrEUNthf6MAtk6DDne-Hc5i4-1Q

3)   Even though Native Americans have lived in what is now the United States, our knowledge of their past is surprisingly limited. Sure, we’re all familiar with Custer’s Last Stand and Wounded Knee, but how many of us know that the mountain that is now Mount Rushmore was once known as the Six Grandfathers? How many people have even heard of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which led to the “Trail of Tears”? Did you know that between 1777 and 1868, the United State government signed 368 treaties with the native Americans?  Although a number of those treaties were broken, Native people never gave up on their treaties or the tribal sovereignty that treaties recognized. Beginning in the 1960s, Native activists invoked America’s growing commitment to social justice to restore broken treaties, to demand congressional legislation – or modern treaty amendments – that repaired the damages that had been inflicted on tribal communities by U.S. Indian policies, and to rejuvenate tribal governments long subjugated by heavy-handed federal agents. Today, the reassertion of treaty rights and tribal self-determination is evident in renewed tribal political, economic and cultural strength, as well as in reinvigorated nation-to-nation relations with the United States.

 

https://blog.nativehope.org/six-grandfathers-before-it-was-known-as-mount-rushmore

 

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Causes-Of-The-Indian-Removal-Act-PCQHUTYPWR#:~:text=1803%20Words8%20Pages%20The%20Indian%20Removal%20Act%20of,%E2%80%9CTrail%20of%20Tears%E2%80%9D%20where%20many%20of%20them%20died.

https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/nation-nation-treaties-between-united-states-and-american-indian-nations

 

4)   Native Americans were not recognized as citizens until 1924, when the Indian Citizenship Act was signed. In some states, they were not allowed to vote until much later. When native American Ira Hayes (a native of Arizona) climbed to the top of Mount Suribachi in February of 1945, he still was not allowed to vote in Arizona.

 

https://law.asu.edu/indian-legal-program/nativevotearizona

At a time when it is more important than even to learn our country’s history, followers of the FOX network are told to “whitewash” the past, which they call “critical race theory”, and that is very dangerous, since focusing on that issue alone just enabled Glenn Youngkin to get elected as the next Governor of Virginia.

 For now, though, let’s set politics aside. If you’ve got the time, listed to Arlo’s old tune again, and plan to enjoy another “Thanksgiving dinner that can’t be beat with your family and friends.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're fired !

 

At some point in our lives, we have all faced a job loss. It may be due to corporate downsizing, mergers, getting a new boss who doesn’t like you, and (on occasion) due to the fact that you screwed up.

 

Although the job loss can be unsettling at the time, it often leads to a new job that is more rewarding. A prime example of that is Handy Dan Home Improvement stores.

Handy Dan Home Improvement was one of the first home improvement retailer chains. It went out of business in May, 1989.

 Bernard Marcus was CEO of Handy Dan in 1978 when he was fired along with company vice president Arthur Blank amid a corporate power struggle with Sanford C. Sigoloff, who led Handy Dan's owner at the time, Daylin Inc. Marcus and Blank went on to found Home Depot.

Daylin was purchased by W. R. Grace and Company in 1979. In 1986, Grace's retail home improvement division, which included Handy Dan and Channel Home Centers, was sold to the division's executives through a leveraged buyout.

Handy Dan played a major role in getting Texas's religion-based blue laws repealed in 1984 by opening on Sunday and using white price stickers for goods that could be sold seven days a week, and blue price stickers for items that could not be sold on Sunday.

After they were fired, Marcus and Blank decided to form their own company.

With the help of merchandising expert Pa Farrah and investment banker Ken Langone, they formed the Home Depot corporation.

The store revolutionized the home improvement business with its warehouse concept. Blank, Marcus, and Langone became billionaires. Marcus served as the company's first CEO for 19 years and also served as chairman of the board until his retirement in 2002. Marcus was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2006.

Marus is the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, and Arthur Blank was also born into a Jewish family. Both he and Bernard Marcus have set up charitable foundations, but lank has also acquired some sports teams.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Marcus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Blank

 

Although Both Marcus and Blank have demonstrated how to build a successful company, Barnard Marcus is also a poster child for what NOT to do.

Home Depot is  under fire again with social media users calling for a boycott of the home improvement retailer after its co-founder said he was going to support President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The backlash came after an opinion article appeared on Fox News from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus explaining why he was supporting President Trump for a second term.

In the article, Marcus said, “President Trump has stared down COVID-19, the biggest threat this country has faced in at least a generation. If re-elected, he will quickly end this COVID nightmare and restart the American dream. Just look at Thursday's record 33.1 percent GDP growth for the latest proof.

“Trump deserves a second term not despite his COVID-19 response, but because of it. While Democrats try to blame Trump for the roughly 220,000 disease victims, far more would have perished if Joe Biden were in office.”

Marcus went on to explain why other Americans should also vote for Trump, concluding the article by saying, “That Trump has held his Republican caucus and base, despite this unprecedented climate, is a testament to his leadership, charisma, and policy agenda. He is truly Ronald Reagan’s heir. He deserves four more years.”

Following the article, calls for a boycott of Home Depot began circulating on Twitter, with users telling Americans to instead shop at Lowe’s. The hashtag #boycotthomedepot began making its way around the social media site as users criticized Marcus for his Trump support. In 2016, he was one of Trump’s largest donors, giving $7 million to his campaign.

 

https://www.ibtimes.com/heres-why-more-people-are-boycotting-home-depot-3075048

$7 million is a lot of money, but it pales in comparison to what the late Sheldon Adelson and his wife have contributed to the Republican Party. Since 2016, the total is $424 million, but his net worth is still $35 billion.

https://www.newsweek.com/sheldon-adelson-donald-trump-republicans-donations-1560883

I’m not a big believer in boycotts, even though we DID boycott Papa John’s for a few years due to founder John Schnatter’s political positions.

In 2012, Papa John's and Schnatter received media attention after he made critical comments about the Affordable Care Act to a class on entrepreneurship. In a shareholder conference call, Schnatter said that he opposed the ACA because "our best estimate is that the Obamacare will cost 11 to 14 cents per pizza".

Schnatter hosted a fundraiser at his home for Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney in May 2012.

Schnatter contributed to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and made supportive comments about his administration in January 2017.

Schnatter stepped down as CEO on January 1, 2018, after controversy around his comments that the National Football League (NFL), who had a business affiliation with Papa John's, had not done enough to stop national anthem protests by NFL players, and that the protests had hurt his business. Before he stepped down, his comments had resulted in the NFL cancelling its association with Papa John's.

After stepping down as CEO, Schnatter remained chairman of the board of directors until July 2018, when it was revealed that, during an internal sensitivity-training May 2018 conference call, he pointed out that Colonel Sanders had used the word "nigger" without backlash. Schnatter resigned when the comment became public, but has since maintained that the board conspired against him and unfairly forced him out of his position.

Now that Schnatter is no longer running the company, Papa John’s is the ONLY pizza that Sharon eats on a regular basis.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Schnatter

In a lot of ways, this story provides proof that the hurdles we all face in life are not the end of the world, since they can be overcome. However, this story is also a reminder that you have to be VERY careful about who you share your political views with. (As of February 11 of this year, 18 retailers have stopped selling My Pillow products).

 

 

 

 

wake up and smell the coffee

 

If you’ve been a regular reader, you may remember that people have been drinking coffee for roughly 1000 years, and it was originally discovered by Muslim goatherds in Ethiopia in the 9^th century. Because it was considered a “Muslim drink”, it did not appear in Europe until around 1600.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2009/03/muslims-and-dancing-goats.html

 

Although it has generally been considered an ordinary beverage, variations of the stuff can be very expensive. The most expensive variation is something called Kopi Luwak, which can cost as much as $600 a pound.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2012/07/this-coffee-tastes-like.html

 

The most expensive coffee that I have ever tasted personally is Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which costs about $40 a pound. Mine was a gift from an insurance friend, who was born in Jamaica.

https://www.jamaicancoffee.com/collections/blue-mountain?msclkid=b79eee86812c12b81cc18ff2adb87df6&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Jamaican%20Coffee%20Campaign&utm_term=jamaican%20blue%20mountain%20coffee&utm_content=Jamaican%20Coffee

 

I don’t remember if it was much better than what I usually drank, but it was MUCH better than the Army coffee I drank in the National Guard, and also better than the store brands (Folger’s and Maxwell House) that my parents bought.

Like many beverages that we consume, there are a variety of opinions about whether coffee is safe to drink, or even good for you. Given that there can be as many as 1000 carcinogens in a cup of coffee, those are valid questions.

However, according to the Journal of American Medicine, coffee in moderate quantities can actually be good for you.

In addition to creating a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, it also can provide protection against Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and a variety of liver conditions, and it can also lower cholesterol.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/self-care/coffee-benefits.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

How the coffee is prepared, though, can result in different results. Experts warn that boiled coffee is not as healthy. Examples of this include the plunge-happy French press, Scandinavian coffee, or Greek and Turkish coffee — the kind commonly consumed in the Middle East. (When poured, the unfiltered grounds settle on the tiny cup’s bottom like sludge. To peek into the future, elders in the region have a tradition of reading the sediment of an overturned cup, like a crystal ball.)

However, the oil in boiled coffee has cafestol and kahweol, compounds called diterpenes. They are shown to raise LDL, the bad cholesterol, and slightly lower HDL, what’s known as the good kind.

To the list presented by the experts, I would also add the percolated coffee that we all drank in the 1970’s. It definitely was not good stuff.

When I was a kid, my grandparents on the farm in Hastings, Minnesota used to boil a pot of water on their wood burning stove, and toss in an egg and a cup of coffee. The idea was that egg would absorb the coffee grounds, but allow the flavor of the coffee itself to come through. That was before I drank coffee, but I remember that, at the very least, it smelled good.

The Vietnamese have created their own variation of egg coffee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_coffee

 

An egg coffee (Vietnamese: Cà phê trứng)^[is a Vietnamese drink traditionally prepared with egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and robusta coffee. The drink is made by beating egg yolks with sugar and coffee, then extracting the coffee into the half of the cup, followed by a similar amount of "egg cream"⁠ ⁠— egg yolks which are heated and beaten, or whisked.

The legend goes that fresh milk was in short supply during the war so whisked egg yolk was used as a replacement.

The drink is served in cafes throughout Vietnam, though it originates in Hanoi. The Giang Café (Vietnamese: Cà Phê Giảng) in Hanoi is known for serving the drink, which it makes with chicken egg yolk, coffee powder, condensed milk, and, optionally, cheese. The cup is sometimes served inside a bowl of hot water or set upon a small candle to retain its temperature. The son of the café's founder Nguyen Giang claims that his father developed the recipe for the drink when milk was scarce in Vietnam in the late 1940s, replacing the dairy product with egg yolk.

Although this type of coffee does not sound that appealing to me, “The Voice of Vietnam” proclaimed that it made the list of the top 10 drink list in 014.

 

Before I turn in for the night, I always load up the coffee pot in the kitchen, and set it to start brewing about 4:15. Not only does it serve as my alarm clock, the smell of freshly brewed coffee is a wonderful way to start the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father knows best

 

Father Knows Best is an American sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which first began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons with a total of 203 episodes. Created by Ed James, Father Knows Best follows the lives of the Andersons, a middle-class family living in the Midwestern town of Springfield. The state in which Springfield is located is never specified, but it is generally accepted to be located in the Midwestern United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Knows_Best

 

The television series debuted on CBS in October 1954. It ran for one season and was canceled the following year. The series was picked up by NBC, where it remained for three seasons. After a second cancellation in 1958, the series was picked up yet again, by CBS, where it aired until May 1960.

When the show transitioned from radio to television, the character of Jim Anderson, the insurance agent, became less sarcastic and more understanding. In both the radio and television series, hie wife Margaret is portrayed as “the voice of reason”. On television, she was often seen wearing heels, a dress, and a string of pearls, even though few housewives at the time dressed like that on a regular basis.

In a way, “Father Knows Best” was similar to other shows at the time. Among them were the Ozzie and Harriet Show, My Three Sons, the Ed Sullivan Show, and the Lawrence Welk Show. All of them avoided conflict as much as possible, since they tried to be family-friendly shows. 

In January of 1968, “Laugh In” premiered, followed three years later by “All in the Family”. Although “wholesome” entertainment can still be found today, there are lot more shows today that are more open to controversy, and the Jerry Springer Show, which premiered in September of 1991, was the polar opposite of the shows of the 1950’s.

 

Those of us who are dads try to do the best for our kids, and usually we are smart enough not to be too controlling. Then again. James Parnell Spears is not like most dads. His temper, as well as his alcoholism, eventually led to two divorces.

His daughter Britney signed with Jive Records in 1997 at the age of 15. Two years later, her first two studio albums certified diamond, and she became an overnight success. Today, she is worth nearly $60 million.

Since having too much money at too young an age has not been a good thing for too many young performers, Mr. Spears got himself appointed as his daughter’s conservator in 2008, when she was 26 years old. Mr. Spears sought control over his pop-star daughter’s life and business, citing her mental health struggles and substance abuse. By 2008, she had been married and divorced twice.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney_Spears

For more than a decade, Britney Spears bristled behind closed doors at the court-approved control her father, James P. Spears, held over her life and fortune.

Now, for the first time since 2008, Ms. Spears, 39, will be without her father’s oversight, a Los Angeles judge has ruled, as the singer moves toward terminating her conservatorship altogether.

At a hearing on Wednesday, Judge Brenda Penny granted a petition by Ms. Spears’s lawyer, suspending Mr. Spears, 69, from his position as overseer of his daughter’s $60 million estate — a move Ms. Spears was pleading for, her lawyer said.

Although Mr. Spears had long maintained that the arrangement was voluntary and necessary to protect his daughter’s well-being — crediting the conservatorship with saving her life and revitalizing her career — he filed earlier this month to end it entirely, citing Ms. Spears’s wishes and recent shows of independence. (Ms. Spears said in June that she had not known she could move to end it.)

“This man does not belong in her life, your honor, for another day,” Mathew S. Rosengart, who took over as the singer’s lawyer in July, argued in court. “Please hear the plea of my client.” He said that it would be a “disaster” for Mr. Spears to remain in her life.

 

 

If you are the parent of a child with substance abuse issues, it can be difficult to know what to do.

I just finished reading Hunter Biden’s book, “Beautiful Things”, which details his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Although his dad tired to help, what finally got him back on the wagon was a chance meeting in California with a woman who would subsequently become his second wife.

Joe Biden did the best he could – and so did James Parnell Spears.

Although her fans are delighted by her new found freedom, the truth is that her dad did the right thing in 2008, proving (once again) that father knows best.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/arts/music/britney-spears-court-decision-conservatorship.html