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| 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.
