DUNCAN HINES

DUNCAN HINES

May 5, 2019

In a Facebook photo post of Donna Emmert in her mermaid suit along side of what appears to be the Rehoboth Christian Street 'Dinner Bell Inn', hangs a sign “ Recommended By Duncan Hines” .

Here are a few things I found out about Duncan Hines, if you please.

The www internet page of Wikipedia state Duncan Hines was a traveling salesman for

a Chicago printer and had his many meals “on the road” and became an American

pioneer of a listing of restaurant ratings.

Duncan Hines was born March 26, 1880, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, would be 139 years old had he not died on March 15, 1959 at age 78 at Bowling Green, Kentucky.

His mother died when he was three years old and raised by a grandmother. His father was

a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. “Duncan Hines was a real guy, a sort of a 'jerk' “ said Louis Hatchett who wrote a biography of Duncan Hines. I am unable to come up with the grandmothers name. He attended Bowling Green Business University and had worked for Wells Fargo in the American west prior to settling in Chicago where he met and

married his first wife Florence Chaffin, born 1905, died 1938, was 25 years his junior.

In 1935 when he was 55, as a traveling salesman, he had eaten many meals “on the road'.

At that time there were no 'Interstate Highways' and few 'chain' restaurants except in

major cities. Travelers depended on a good meal at a local mom & pop eatery.

It was then, he and his wife, Florence, assembled a list for their friends of several hundred

restaurant's serving good food and having great service which they found “on the road”.

This list was made printed in book form and was a selling success. Late he published a book

to cover recommended lodging. Also in the 1940's and 1950's he had a newspaper column

which carried recipes he collected. In 1952 he introduced food items, bread, cake mix and

such which later became a product of Conagra of Nebraska. Which sold the brand name to

Proctor & Gamble.

Duncan Hines was a regular on TV's “Tell the Truth” in 1957.

Duncan Hines died of lung cancer, 11 days shy of his 79^th birthday and was buried in the

Fairview Cemetery of Bowling Green . Kentucky which city has a highway named for him. He married twice after his first wife Florence died, Emelie Tolmen, and divorced,

then to Clara Wright Nahm who was his widow.

End WIKIPEDIA.

In the biography of Duncan Hines Reviewed by Louis Hatchett , titled “Wonderfully

Unbalanced” by L.V. Anderson, May 9, 2014, comes the 'rest of the story'.

Duncan Hines, ”Was a Real Guy and the cake mix magnate was sore of a jerk” said Louis

Hatchett who also wrote “ Duncan Hines, How a Traveling Salesman Became a Trusted

Name in Food”.

Duncan Hines was a man who recommended the best places for American s to eat and sleep along the early highways which made him famous by his 'chatty' , self important

and market friendly writings.

Born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, son of a Civil War Confederate soldier, who was shipped off at age 4 to live with a grandmother after his mother died, who fed him apple pie, pecan pie, country ham, candied yams, turnip greens with fat back, beaten biscuits and cornbread.

As a young man he traveled the American west with Wells Fargo and Green Copper company,

then settled in Chicago with first wife Florence. As a hobby he collected and recorded

decent places to eat, sleep, drink and be merry that soon became a best selling book which

made his so famous food merchants clamored to get the Hines name on their product.

In short, Duncan Hines was a “big deal” , a food celebrity loved by millions wh took his

word with high esteem which was a bit weird, because Duncan Hines was a domineering

narcissistic 'jerk'.

As a kid he and pals built a snowman on a railroad which caused a train wreck, he even put

grease on the tracks once and prevented the train to fail reaching the hill top that Hines called

mischief and merrymaking.

To make matters worse he hired female secretaries because he liked their looks, (what else is

new) . He had a violent temper which cause his second wife, Emelie, to divorce him. Other

employees were subject to his 'blowing up' over usually inconsequential matters. Worse to

mine, Hines was a total snob, had no patience with with people who failed in life, and surrounded himself with the most successful people he felt could be trusted and able to

manage their careers and become honorable members of society. Hines considered

himself to be an average man who came to America' s attention.

Duncan Hines did not accept remuneration for endorsements, wanting to keep his books

uninfluenced by commercial considerations. His “Duncan Hines Seal of Approval” sign for

public display did cost the restaurant.

End “Duncan Hines Was a Real Guy", L.V. Anderson,    review by Louis Hatchett. 2014

                           “Wonderfully Unbalanced”