“”Wasn’t it built by Marjorie Post to be a southern residence for the President — a southern “White House”? Seems that I recall that.””
I believe so - I have on order a used book - “America’s Empress” about her. She grabbed my interest when I saw “Food That Built America” a few weeks ago. Amazing show.
How she snapped up food companies all over the country. She appeared on the floor of a Birdseye plant one day and asked to see Mr. Birdseye. The gentleman she was talking to was Birdseye. She asked him how much he’d take for his company and he said $10 million for 75% of it and she said, “I’ve never bought 75% of anything in my life.” She asked him what he would take for the rest of it and he paused and said, “$12 million. She said, “$22 million - done.
Papers will be on your desk in the morning. You will stay on to manage with a paycheck and benefits.”
Birdseye couldn’t even sell their product as no one had refrigeration for frozen foods - it was purchased locally to be used for meals the day it was purchased. They couldn’t ship it without refrigeration. He had something like 17 patents - forget the actual number so she really bought the patents. They didn’t have any sales to speak of.
Don’t miss the show if it comes back - History Channel. A large segment of it was on Hershey Chocolate and the maker of M&M’s - Mars who worked for Hershey at one time.
https://www.history.com/shows/the-food-that-built-america
I also saw the program. It was very interesting and I recommend it to everyone.