Wild West Show Closing Down....

Wells Fargo Agent

  

This blog post is not about books; it's not about publishing or editing or any such related topic. So I'll understand if you click on the Back button, or some other fave link, and go elsewhere at this time. This blog post is about my father... Well, not exactly about my father, but rather about the product of one of his creative endeavors.

I spent two of the past four weeks in February staying at my parents' house in Southern California, cleaning the place up so that the house can be sold, while trying to come to terms with the detritus of the nearly 50 years that my parents -- together, and then my mother alone -- lived in that house.

I filled two 80-cubic-feet (each) dumpsters; I made three trips (carloads) to Goodwill, with a fourth trip already set aside which the realtors have promised me they will take care of, because a pickup truck is required; I made two trips to the hazardous waste disposal center; I filled two city-provided recycle bins and one trash bin four times each (with special thanks to the neighbor across the street who graciously hauls the bins to the street for me, and then returns them to the backyard after they are emptied the following day). And yet still there is more to do....

This also explains why there have been few blog posts this month; I wish that my time in SoCal was all that was required of me, but even when I'm home there are phone calls to be made, forms to complete, and, alas, bills to be paid.

My father, Al Halpern, had many hobbies; one might say "passions" rather than hobbies because he often went over the top in his pursuit of these hobbies -- even, occasionally, to the point of what I would call craziness. If you had seen the house right after he passed away -- and the backyard shed that I just emptied a week ago -- you would have understood.

Pictured at the top of this blog post is an example of the fruits of one of his passions. This is a full-size whiskey bottle -- or, to be fancy, decanter -- which depicts in authentic detail a Wells Fargo agent from ye olde Wild West. Note the liquor tax stamp on the back: the agent's head is actually the top of the cork. My father designed these bottles in the '70s for Lionstone Distilleries in Kentucky. The "Wells Fargo Agent" bottle is just one of about thirty or so bottles that I need to find a home for now that their home for the past forty years will soon be sold.

My father was a resident of Anaheim at the time, and the Orange County Register ran a full-page article on his work in Section B (the "Local" news section) in the November 21, 1972, issue. I've scanned the article as best I could and will include it here with your indulgence; since it's a full-page spread, it took four scans to capture all the photos and text. If you click on each section, that section will appear in a larger form in a separate window, and thus should be easier to read. The Register will do a more succinct job explaining my father's hobby than I ever could.

The triptych of bottles pictured at the beginning of the article -- and showcased at the end of the article in my father's hand design -- is the "Shootout at the OK Corral." When I lived at home, I was totally taken with this set: the detail was mind-boggling, particularly the horses on the middle bottle. But I haven't seen these in years and years, decades actually; they weren't stored anywhere at the house, so I assume at some point my father (or possibly my mother, after his passing) sold them.
What I did find in the storage shed was the following set of four bottles, known as the "Bar Scene." This set is a keeper; my family and I have decided that this set stays in the family.

Bar Scene¹

So, as I said, there are about thirty of the individual, full-size bottles, and I need to find a home for them. If I can find the right home, I would be more than happy to "donate" the entire set. I have already contacted Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, but their representative informed me that they already have so many items in storage that they are being forced to dispose of them. I have also contacted the Anaheim Historical Society and the Orange County Archives -- all to no avail. I am hoping to find a home for these in Southern California to avoid packing and shipping them outside the area, which would be very expensive (a minimum of eleven boxes at least), with no guarantee that every bottle would survive the journey.

If you can think of a resource, an organization, an individual, etc. in the Southern Cal area who might be interested, please do have them contact me, and/or post a comment below. There are already offers on my parents' house so I may only have a few weeks at most to relocate these decanters. They are all up for adoption, but I'd like to keep all the children together (at least those that are still left²) if at all possible.

Here's the "Annie Oakley" bottle:



Annie Oakley


And here's a group shot:

I'll close with just one more graphic. If you are a fan of the Gunsmoke TV series, you may appreciate these two photos of the show's cast:

Pictured in both photos are Al Halpern and Miss Lionstone (I believe her name is Regina Shermer). In the photo on the left they are posing with "Doc" Adams, played by Milburn Stone, who is holding the Lionstone western doctor bottle; you'll note that Stone has autographed the photo to my father. The photo on the right features Miss Kitty, played by Amanda Blake, and the bartender, played by Fred McDougall; each is holding their respective Lionstone western bottles. (The photos are actually quite fine; the distortion is due to the glare from the glass caused by the camera flash.)

Again, any and all thoughts and suggestions on finding a new home for these decanters would be most appreciated.

[Update: April 29, 2012: Wild West Show Rides Again....]

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Footnote:

1. If you've managed to stay with me this long, I figured I would share an anecdote about the "Bar Scene." The last bottle on the right has a painting on the wall, which the "gentleman" on the right is studying. Due to the angle of the photograph, the painting isn't discernible -- it is the painting of Goya's Nude Maja. There's an interesting story here: some states (at least at the time this decanter was manufactured) have laws that prevent nudity to be shown/advertised with liquor. So two versions of this bottle were manufactured: the Nude Maja, and a version in which the Maja was scantily clothed. This allowed Lionstone to market the series in all 50 states, the version of this bottle sold dependent on each state's laws.

2. There are four bottles missing: The Doctor, the Gold Panner, the Young Girl at the Bar, and the Town Drunk. They "disappeared" from the house between September 2 and October 15, when my mother was in her final weeks of care and I was absent from the house. I believe I know who took them because only a handful of people had access to the house during that time, but there is little I can do. Maybe if they read this, they will consider returning them. The Doctor and Town Drunk were always two of my favorites. Now, I have the autographed photo of Milburn Stone holding the Doctor bottle, but no bottle to go along with the photo.