Dark History - 50: Gossip, Glitter & Whimsical Disgrace - WTF is up with Lisa Frank?

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

Welcome to the Dark History podcast.  I’ve mentioned her many times before. I’ve tempted you over and over with her juicy story. I promised to you again and again that we’d get into the shady backstory. And the time has finally come. It’s time for us to talk about Miss Lisa Frank. Oh yeah. On today’s episode we get into the story about what was happening behind the glitter and rainbows at Lisa Frank Inc. We’re talking phone bugging, drugs, fraud, verbal abuse, chaining employees inside the building?!?!?! Yeah, this story is not at all what you expect. So hold onto that rainbow tiger trapper keeper tight, babe, this is gonna be a wild ride. Episode Advertisers Include: Ship Station, Ouai Haircare and Apostrophe. Learn more during the podcast about special offers!

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study. Is it cute? I know. And you're also here probably for my podcast, which is Dark History. This is a chance to tell the story like it is and share the history of stuff we would never even think about. So all I want you to do is sit back relax and just let's talk about that hot juicy history goss. Okay, look, listen, listen, Linda, listen. If you know anything about me,

you know I brought up Lisa Frank a handful of times and I've said like I need to do a story on her so I had to do it. I had to. Okay. So that's why I'm doing a story. Great. I've always been super fascinated with the Lisa Frank brand because it was something I honestly couldn't have as a kid. We just couldn't afford it. You know it was kind of it was really expensive actually. So when I younger, we would go to Yarget, you know, rhymes with Yarget, and we would go down the school supply aisle, and I would just kind of like stare at the Lisa Frank stuff

and just obsess over it. I wanted it so bad. Everything was so cute. And then as I got older, I just got more curious, like who the hell is Lisa Frank, you know? So I did some research, and she's a very, very private person. I could only find like two pictures of her on the internet. I think there's only two pictures of her available, which is fine.

Good for her, she's very private. So I was intrigued, and the more I looked into the brand's story, the more I was like, just sucked in drama. It's not the stuff you'd expect from a company famous for their happy rainbow animal vibe. I'm talking cocaine, alleged affairs, never ending lawsuits, a private jet, and the cherry on top, a dancing ballerina bunny. Which like not what you would expect, right? Is it history you ask? Yeah, hello, this is American history right here. The Lisa Frank company and icon in the 90s. That's history? Come on, hey Paul, did you ever have any of Lisa Frank school supplies? He said no. Okay, so I opened up my dark history book

to the Lisa Frank chapter, because there's definitely one in it, of course. And let's get into today's story. So according to an article in Jezebel, Lisa grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, which ranks as one of the top five wealthiest cities in the United States. You wanna go to this neighborhood on Halloween, you know,

because they're the ones handing out the full size candy bars. Like, let's be, yeah, you know. You know that neighborhood, she's there. Lisa's father ran a company called Detroit Illuminum and Brass. Now, this was a family company that made car parts, but also a little fun fact. They made parts for tanks during World War II.

The business was super successful to say the least and the family was like very well off. Daddy's got that warm money, honey. We don't know too much about Lisa's mother, but what we do know is that she was very crafty, artsy, she seemed like a very creative woman. She made pottery and along with Lisa's father, she encouraged her daughter

to get into the arts. Like, she would put in art classes, provide her with coloring books and crayons and just have fun. She and Lisa's dad gave Lisa a loom for her 12th birthday. And if you're like me, you're like, what the hell is a loom? Because I didn't know what a loom is. It's a large device used to weave cloth and tapestry to make blankets and et cetera, which who the hell gets a full-size loom as a child, rich people stuff, you know. Growing up, Lisa said that she was a total girly girl.

She read, she did artwork, anything girly, whatever, whatever that means. And over the years she got pretty darn good at painting in high school which side note she attended this really fancy school in Michigan called a crann brook school of the arts and it looks exactly not even kidding like Hogwarts it looks insane I'm like this is a school my school had like trailers and so, you know, what the hell? Anyways, her classmates also pretty much they all came from very wealthy families and she was rubbing shoulders with the sons and daughters of

multi-millionaires, CEOs. I mean, you get it. Lisa, based off observation, was surrounded by money and privilege. It seemed like. During her senior year of high school, she participated in an art show with her fellow classmates. So, you know, an art show where students show off a few of their pieces and it's cute and you're like, oh my god, that's such a cute little flower like you did such a good job. But I guess Lisa's art was a major hit because that night she ended up making $3,000 selling her paintings in high school, which by today's standards is almost $20,000. Can you imagine making that kind of money at 17? Good for her. Good for you. This art show success was a sign of a bright future for Miss Lisa. She found her passion in life. Art, she was ready to go after it.

Lisa flies across the country to start college at the University of Arizona, and this is where things get a little, you know, an all little sketch. So she's attending college. Great. And while there, some say this is when she started buying and reselling jewelry made within the local like Native American communities. Others say she was making the jewelry with them. We don't really know a ton about this period of her life, so who's to say what really happened.

But what we know for sure is that she hones her business instincts at the University of Arizona. She's like reselling and making money. So Lisa's doing that and I know what you're thinking because I was thinking it too, like Lisa, babe, you can't borrow someone else's art and sell it as your own honey. But that's what she was doing. Lisa claimed that she worked with the artist and you know, they should be happy because she's giving them exposure.

Quote, quote, quote. Which for those of us who are freelance artists or maybe you've been freelance, you sure as hell know, exposure does not pay the freaking bills. I hated that. I don't want fucking exposure. I want my lights to stay on. You know? Anyways, Lisa thought she was helping the artist. Sure. Sure babe. So by the time Lisa's 20,

she starts her first brand. And it's called Sticky Fingers, which is kind of hilarious on its own. Sticky Fingers? Because she... Come on. She's technically like taking stuff and reselling, so that is kind of sticky thing. You get it. So what was sticky fingers? Well, Lisa, she was dabbling in her own jewelry line. She was selling plastic charm bracelets with little animal charms and cute little fruit charms

and whatnot. They looked kind of cheap, but you know, this turned out to be a really big hit for Lisa because not long after sticky fingers was being sold at Neiman Marcus in Bloomingdale's like She have good luck or what or good connects Either way the plastic bracelets were a hit so much so that this led to partnerships between sticky fingers and

Felix the cat. Betty Boop. Mickey Mouse. I mean the list goes on and this is just an observation of my own really. But she must have been doing well to get those kinds of partnerships, right? Mickey Mouse? Come on. I don't know what she's doing but she's good at it. So the bracelets are selling like crazy. Lisa can't really keep up with all the orders. Plus, she's kind of feeling inspired to start another project. She really wants to make stickers. I know. It's totally random, but this is the 80s.

And allegedly, I heard a rumor that in the 80s, stickers were like all the rage. You let me know. I was born in, no, not now, my. So stickers are all the rage. And Lisa, she wanted in on the sticker industry. She's like, that is money there. I like art.

I can make stickers, you know. She had her eye on the damn prize. So Lisa decides to pivot and rebrand. Bibba! The company sticky fingers gets a new name. Lisa Frank Incorporated Which is kind of a weird choice for someone who wants to be or is Extremely private, but then again, maybe she didn't expect for her brand to take off the way it did

Anyway, she's 25 at this time. She's kicking ass and she's now making stickers. What a dream. Honestly making stickers. Fuck yeah I want to make some stickers. So within the first year of her new business, Lisa Frank gets a large order from Spencer's Gifts. Oh yeah, remember Spencer's? They had the lava lamps, the neon dildos. It was a real hoot. They're still around. Why does Spencer always have that funky smell? Does anyone else notice that? Like that smell? I don't know what it is, but it's Spencer's.

Let me know. Thanks. Anyways, this order from Spencer's gifts, it wasn't just any order. It was a million dollar order. Oh yeah, within her first year. A million dollars at 25 in the 80s, girl, just retire now. Get that boat, travel the world, live laugh love.

Come on, in the late 80s, the brand expanded and started selling school supplies. She noticed in a sea of beige, no pads and black composition books, there was an opportunity. I mean, you guys remember, school supplies were very basic, very basic, very basic. And nobody was making cute shit at this time. Lisa came in and started making colorful, airbrushed, imaginative designs.

It was so different. And it looked like she was on acid when she made it, honestly. It was cool. Lisa knew her audience, okay? She knew what these kids wanted. Her loud, in-your-faced products were a huge hit. And she was just raking in that dull. As a business woman in the 80s, I imagine a lot of people probably doubted her. I mean, first of all, she's a woman, okay? And women couldn't even get their own credit cards until just a few years before this.

Yeah, women couldn't open their own credit cards until 1974. So, yeah, I imagine it was a little rocky for Lisa. I'm sure people doubted her, you know? But she pulled it off. I mean, she really saw a market where people hadn't seen one before. And it was such a smart business decision.

Snap to you, Lisa. At this time, a normal pencil would cost like 50 cents, but Lisa found a way to sell the same item, but with her cute designs on the pencil, for triple the price. So this was the beginning of the Lisa Frank Empire that I'm sure many of you remember today. Man, you bitches with your rainbow panda tropper keepers. I was so jealous. I couldn't get anything Lisa Frank because it was too expensive. I instead got one of those like Walmart five star

zipper binders. How does a zipper sound? Do you know what I'm saying? It was really embarrassing. I was likerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Paul, I should do that. Okay, anyways, back to Lisa. So Lisa once again had a booming business on her hands and the company was expanding so fast that they had a hard time finding a location for their headquarters. I guess they moved a bunch of times before finally landing on a final workspace in Tucson, Arizona, which was like not your normal little office space, what like in my mind, I'm not little, but like you know.

This shit was huge. It was 320,000 square feet of office. Do you know how big that is? Picture five football fields. That's how big it was. That's big. And the least of Frank headquarters was everything the kid and you wanted it to be.

The outside of the building had rainbows and music notes painted on the walls. Looks so cute. The inside was filled with these huge statues of the iconic Lisa Frank characters, like the painting panda bear or the ballerina bunny. There was colorful furniture, there was murals, and Lisa Frank fan letters decorated the walls. It just looked like it was designed by kids, for kids. Like some kind of really wonka acid trip. It's just cool, like goals.

So from the outside looking in, it seems like such a happy, fun, safe place to work, right? I mean, who wouldn't wanna work there? I would wanna work there. It looked like a dream. Surrounded by cute characters, glittery unicorns. Hello, hi. I mean, it all seemed so magical. Like, nothing bad could ever happen there. But if that was the case, we wouldn't be talking about it. Now, what would we? But first, let's pause. Amazing. But I'm sure you can understand when I say it's

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Well, not baby, just type in dark history. Shipstation, make ship happen. By the mid-90s, Lisa was killing it. She's a household name. Business is booming, bringing in around $60 million annually. And she had hundreds of employees working for the company. They were just cranking out more and more products, drawing cute characters and rainbow and glitter.

It just looked so fun. Lisa Frank, the brand was at an all time high and kids were just losing their shit trying to get their hands on some of those school supplies. To some kids caring around those little notebooks was like a status symbol at their school. Now back at the headquarters by 1992, there's a new CEO in charge,

a man by the name of James Green. I know, you're probably thinking like I was thinking like James Green guy, he's probably an Ivy League businessman that knows how to be a CEO, right? Oh, Nene, he was hired back in 1982 as an artist at the Lisa Frank company. And I guess a little hanky-panky was going on between Miss Frank and Mr. Green.

And it must have paid off because before you know it, he's running the company. He had her dick my ties, okay? And yeah, you could say James slept his way to the top baby. Men can ho it out too. Come on. James and Lisa would end up dating for over 10 years and then they got married in 1994. It sounds like a cute little fairy tale,

a couple of artists and love running a multi-million dollar company and wanting to start a family together, like the American dream, whatever that is. Not long after their marriage, they had two children together. So with Lisa's hands full, she wanted to have a more relaxed role in her company. We don't know exactly why, but many believe it was so Lisa could be a stay-at-home mom, which makes sense, right? And her husband can run the company. It all happened like within the same time frame, so just an observation, not a fact, but I think that's safe to say. So at Lisa working from home, James, the husband guy,

he was completely in charge of Lisa Frank Inc. And why not? He's been with the company from the jump and Lisa must have trusted him more than anyone to steer the ship. So with James in charge, the day-to-day operations didn't have to be be run by Lisa anymore. I guess she would come by, she would pop in every once in a while, check in,

see how everything's going, hey, everything good, nothing's on fire, great, and then she'd leave. For the most part, it was pretty much all James all the time. He was left in charge of the hiring and firing, approving art, maintaining important business relationships with like their biggest retailers. And remember, Lisa Frank Inc. at this time was at the top of their game. People are freaking loving their products. I mean, everybody wants to work with them. They're in every store, making millions a year. You could not fuck this up, baby. You're at the top. But... because there's always a year. You could not fuck this up, baby. You're at the top, but,

cause there's always a butt. Over time, employees started to notice a shift within the company culture. Hmm. I mean, what happens when power and control gets to someone's head? I mean, the only person I can think of is Andrew Jackson. He just has really ruined my brain.

I think, let me not go on that tangent. So control and power getting to someone's head. You think that's gonna go smooth? Of course not. James, we're looking at you, buddy. Shit starts to go side ways when Lisa's away. James does play. You know, I'm saying. I see O of the company, James would spend money where he pleased and he was spending. The cars, flashy, the house, huge, the jet. Oh yeah, girl, he bought a jet. Nobody asked him to buy a jet. I guess also their mansion was like neon colored in the neighbors, not big fans.

So pissing off people right off the bat. And Tucson isn't a big city, and the Frank Green family seem to stick out like a sore thumb because they were just very flamboyant in your face. And while he was spending their money, the company was taking a huge hit. And this is where James starts to show his true colors. So let me tell you, Paul, you listening listening? Okay great. So rumor has it. James seem to have

a little anger problem. Like if you pissed him off, you better watch out. A chair might be coming at your head. I'm not kidding. I guess he was throwing chairs when he got angry at people. Like he was in WWE. If he didn't like you, you would know. Because he would give you a nasty little nickname. He wasn't even polite enough to say it behind your back. He would just straight up say that shit to your face like, hey ugly, pass me those unicorn stickers. And he'd be like, all right, is that my new name?

Ugly, he was just a dick, is what I'm saying. Maybe at your workplace, your boss starts the day with like a little company pep talk. When I worked for the company, Shmeshmy, it rhymes with Shmeshmy. We would have a little team like meeting every morning and they'd be like, all right, we need to sell this much and numbers, baby.

How are we gonna do that today? And I'm like, I don't know, I make minimum wage. Why don't you pay me more? And then maybe I could make you more. Because, you know, anyways, but that's not the point because James, he also loved a company pep talk, but he ran his little different. He liked to start the day at the top of the big staring case in the entry way and just yell stuff at the staff below. He's like spewing all kinds of nastiness for no damn reason. I mean it was said that James loved towering over

people so much so that he told his female employees they couldn't wear heels to work. He didn't like people to be taller than him. His official reason for like not allowing heels was that it slowed down the workers. And the woman couldn't keep up with him, but hmm. Just seemed like he didn't like anyone to be taller than him. Interesting. To be fair, there are a few accounts from previous employees of Miss Lisa Frank herself participating in her own verbal abuse.

There was even a lawsuit brought against her for wrongful termination. Basically, whatever Lisa allegedly did was bad. I'm not trying to downplay it. And James, he was just Lisa to the 10th degree, as we'll see later. And the company was paying the price under James control. You're probably wondering, well, how was James able to get away with all of this? Well, it seems like every villain has a good sidekick, and boy did James find his sidekick. .com, code, dark, history. So we've got Lisa Frank incorporated,

home of the unicorns and sparkly dolphins. Lisa herself has stepped away to be with her kids, leaving her husband James in charge of the unicorns and sparkly dolphins, Lisa herself has stepped away to be with her kids, leaving her husband James in charge of the company. James is, I think it's safe to say, struggling? Yeah. His bad behavior is starting to have a huge effect on the company, but he's not alone. He's got himself a partner in crime, helping him do all the dirty work. This is where we welcome to the stage Ronda rolet. I looked her up on Facebook She looks like a ronda. Hey girl now ronda

She started at the company way back in 1984 as Lisa's assistant She was there for quite some time to say the least. And shortly after James took over a CEO and interesting promotion happens, Miss Ronda is bumped up to Vice President at Lisa Frank Incorporated. Ronda must have had a very impressive resume because she also oversees HR, legal, and licensing. Oh yeah, she was in charge of a lot of big shit

that maybe she shouldn't be in charge of. She must have been an incredible worker. Just a little observation, but if your company is killing it, has hundreds of employees, why would any business hire one person to handle three different departments? I roll, make it make sense. It doesn't, but okay. I roll, make it make sense. It doesn't, but okay. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Anyway, pretty soon co-workers are starting to notice that Rhonda and James,

they seem very close. And an employee even saw them at the mall together on a holiday weekend, you know. Hangin' out, spending the holiday weekend at the mall with your boss. Which doesn't sound that bad. But they're both married. And then rumors just start flying around the office at Ronda and James. They're slapping meats. Ronda was the one who had James' back in the office.

She was there at every turn. Very loyal to this man. She interrogated people on his behalf. And when James didn't want to confront someone, he'd send Rhonda. She did, again, lots of his dirty work, just firing people, intimidation, you name it, Rhonda was on it.

When employees would come to Rhonda for help, or questions, or maybe to report something to HR, because you know, they're being mistreated, Rhonda would simply tell them to just get over it. Rhonda, she was really good at keeping the employees in check. I guess everyone was like really afraid of her. Just get over it. Oh, that's all I have to do.

Just get over it. Oh shit. I'm cured. Thanks, Ronda. The worst part of all was that she was head of HR. And if you had a problem, at least a Franken-corporated, sorry, that was on you. The company even put out an employee newsletter

a couple times a year with words of motivation and encouragement for their employees. There was like one month, I saw this picture online. In the newsletter, there was this cute little column full of instructions on how to be a good employee. It basically said like, employees need to always be thinking about how to please their boss. Your boss can make or break your career.

And if you have a bad relationship with your boss, well, that's your fault. You're not being loyal enough, sweetie. Just try harder. That's what it said in this pamphlet. Like, again, oh, that's it, okay, great. Oh, and then we haven't even gotten to the cocaine. I mean, we weren't there,

so we don't really know for sure. But previous employees would later say that Ronda and James were, quote, pretty big into Coke, then, quote, which may explain the paranoia, chair throwing, the tantrums, can you imagine? Remember, this is all happening in this really cute office with like rainbows and like glitter everywhere? And he's over here, James.

He's trying to act like Scarface, but in Candyland. Rhonda and James were pulling shit like withholding paychecks, cutting commission rates, messing up people's 401k, rude, and even told an employee they couldn't take work off to go to a family funeral. Now if you thought that was bad, get this. One day an employee left the office 10 minutes early and when James found out this happened, oh bitch, he was livid, he was raging. There were even rumors that he instructed his managers to chain the doors shut so people could not leave. Could you imagine if you're a job did that?

It kinda reminded me of the triangle shirt waist factory fire. Do you remember we didn't episode on that? They like chain the doors to kept the employees in because they didn't want them stealing. Yeah, he's lucky it didn't end the same way. And that was actually an awful story, but moving on. So all this is happening in the company's reputation, which is in the toilet. Nobody had anything good to say about the Lisa Frank company, at least working for it.

So of course, James wouldn't take any responsibility for the decline of happiness within the workplace and said he just avoided blaming himself at all costs. He was notorious for pushing meetings with the art department and then blaming them when artwork didn't arrive on time. Oh yeah, he would delay approving products and then make excuses to the buyers. And it turns out that James wasn't just bad to work for. He was just toxic to work with. I mean, I guess he's consistent.

I'm always trying to find a bright side to things, you know? he was just toxic to work with. I mean, I guess he's consistent. I'm always trying to find a bright side to things, you know? I also don't think the cocaine, alleged cocaine, helped him at all, but I'm sure he was having a fun time. So the company internally was suffering from all the chaos. The turnover rate was crazy high. The entire staff basically quit and had to be replaced once a year. People were dropping like flies and folks were talking. Anywhere you went to, son, word on the street

was like, girl, you do not want to work at least a fring. They chain the doors and throw chairs at you, you know? So nobody wants to work there. Must be like desperate. Despite James' best efforts to just destroy everything, people are still buying the products. I mean, sales are still very strong. And in fact, the company is approached to make a Lisa Frank television show, which makes sense, because they're on top of the world,

and each of those colorful animal characters were gonna have their own names and backstories. It could have been the next care bears. It could have been great. So what happened? James happened. Of course, you know this. For some reason, James and Ron did fire the entertainment lawyer that Lisa brought on to help negotiate a potentially huge Hollywood movie and TV deal because they were like, well, we don't need help. We could just do it ourselves. Spoiler alert. They couldn't. The whole thing fell through and the project ended up dying.

RIP. By 2004, important buyers like YARGET are starting to refuse to do business with the company because James is difficult to work with. You know, he got that title, difficult to work with. You know, he got that title, difficult to work with, which you don't want that, because then nobody works with you. So at this point, the company has low morale,

high turnover rates, and is losing out on what seems like no brain or business deals. It's unfortunate that we ended up with so many troll movies, but like No Lisa Frank show, we were robbed. Now rumors that the CEO was sleeping with the VP and doing blow in the office, were circling, rounding, rounding.

Honestly, sounds like a party, but it gets back to Lisa. She gets wind of it, and maybe starts to catch on to the whole Ronda and James situation. If there is one, allegedly. We don't really know for sure, but at the very least, she starts to realize it's time to take back her company and clean up the freaking mess that James made. Lisa decides to return full time with the goal of bringing the company back to its glory days,

but when she comes back, it was a very different place than when she left it. One employee said that the original work environment at Lisa Frank used to be vibrant and full of energy, but now it had turned into a place of, quote, intimidation and insecurity. And, well, when Lisa returned, James and Rhonda made it clear to the employees, you're either team, James or team Lisa.

Pick a side bitches. Yeah, and this was serious, okay? They being James and Rhonda, they were going as far as bugging phones and reading employee emails to find out which team these employees were on. And if they found out you were on team Lisa, chairs coming at your head, you better watch out, you better duck, you know what I'm saying? For example, I guess the sales department was labeled Team Lisa

and communication from James and Ronda basically stopped. And the sales team, they were suddenly only allowed in certain parts of the building. Jeez. Anytime someone from sales needed something for their job from Team James, they would be shut down and told, oh, why don't you go ask Lisa? It's just so childish, awful. And a ton of the sales team, of course, they're going to quit because they felt like they can't

even do their jobs. What was the point? Plus, everyone's being mean to them. Like, what is this? It just seems weird that James would sabotage the sales department, aka the department that's making the company money. Because, you know, like, it seems like he likes money. So I don't know why he would do that. But okay. So when Lisa came back to the office,

she wasn't just trying to bring her company back. She was trying to take her life back. In 2005, Lisa filed for divorce from James, telling her close friends that she could no longer put up with his emotional abuse. I mean, obviously none of us know what happens behind closed doors, but if James treated the employees, like shit, I can't imagine what he said to his own family

when she's divorcing him, so I'd be a kind of guess. Win Lisa presents a divorce. Obviously, James pissed. And it wasn't because he was about to lose his wife and family. No, no, he was panicking because he was about to lose the thing that he seemed to love the most. Cocaine, no, I'm just kidding.

Money, James, he was not gonna go down without a damn fight. Cocaine. No, I'm just kidding. Money. James, he was not going to go down without a damn fight. You bitches. And he's rastrophe for sponsoring this episode. Lisa is back in charge of her company, but James is still working there as well. Honestly, it must have been awkward. He wouldn't leave. He wanted to keep his position. And he was being petty, just staying there at the office. Lisa, she had the upper hand though. You see, back when their kids were born,

Lisa made a very strategic choice to gift James 49% of the company's stock, which is great for him because of the company's doing well, then the money keeps rolling in, right? So 49% it may seem like a random number, but it was actually very intentional and a smart business move on Lisa's part.

She's a boss bitch thinking ahead. She's got a plan. Lisa kept 51% of the company stock for herself, which makes sense because it's her company, and it would make sure that she always had the upper hand within her business. We don't know if this was like in their prenup or whatnot, but if slash win, they got divorced. James had to hand that 49% right back to Lisa.

So this is why James is like really holding out because he's losing his, the 49% bleep, blop, blop, blop. That sucks. This is a side note because I didn't really know where to put it in the story. But in an interview many moons ago, James said, you can like see it on YouTube. James said that he was the creator of Lisa Frank.

Oh, he was like taking credit for it. Very strange. It's just bizarre this man. So I'm sure maybe you can imagine that he wasn't so happy, you know? He was going to lose everything. His family, the cars, the jet, the home, his golf toys, again, the cocaine, the power.

And of course the money. No, you know, he's like no Lisa. No, he wasn't handling it well at all. I mean, what else does he do? He does nothing else to do. So James goes into like full of low-empanic mode. He's like, Mayday, Mayday, okay? It was not easy getting James to step down as CEO. In order to officially fire him, Lisa has to hold a formal board meeting because he does own almost half the company. But this dude, he dodges the meetings for over a whole year. I mean, how the hell do you do that? You work in the same building. He's all like avoiding her. There she is. Hard. I just like pictured James answering his phone. Like he's not here right now. Maybe he's like wearing a wig hiding behind one of those rainbow pandas statues. How do you avoid

someone for a year? By this point the man is basically a squatter. He was posting up in the men's bathroom, taking the good stall, Lisa, sick of playing wears Walto. Now has to go to the courts and get them involved in hopes to fire James. It was just this whole ordeal stressful time for sure. She wanted him gone. So she sued him and then the judge ruled in her favor. Yay! So James was finally forced to show up for this two-person board meeting. So Lisa could look him in the eye and say, you're fine. Get the hell out of here and take your girlfriend with you.

But leave the code. She wanted to make a statement. James Rhonda. And I guess Rhonda had a secretary. I just didn't want to like throw another name at you and confuse you. But Rhonda had a secretary. And I guess she was like involved in some shady stuff too. So all three of them, they get escorted out of the,

the building by police. Lisa did this on purpose. This was a performance, okay? They were gonna strut down every aisle so you all see what's happening around here. I love the theater, so I would enjoy that. Anyway, so they're all escorted out. And following that Lisa, make sure that James never returns

and she makes sure to also get a restraining order against his ass and hell yeah, it's finally over, you know? But it's too early to celebrate because James was hiding in the bushes, plotting his next move. You get a lawsuit, you get a lawsuit, you get a lawsuit, everybody gets a lawsuit. Oh, guys, there was a hilarious amount of lawsuits.

Now, I'm not going to make you go through them. No, I will not do that to you. It's a lot, okay, but I got you because we went through them. Let me just summarize like all the juicy parts for you really quick. So over the next few years, and yes, this went on for years. In addition to the nasty divorce, James Sudalisa claiming he created all the company's content and characters. So if he leaves, the company should shut down completely because all of that belongs to him. Oh, and remember that jet I mentioned earlier? Yeah, he was upset about

losing the jet. He wanted to keep it. So James sued the company for millions of dollars, so he could repay the loan he used to buy the jet. Like, what are you going to do with the jet? You don't even have a job. And the lowest of low, he even roped in his kids who were 13 and 9 at the time to give him written permission to take their mom to court. Like, it's okay if you sue mommy, we're totally cool with it. You don't do that. Luckily, for Lisa, the kids didn't end up doing it, but I mean, James really tried. Dragging his kids into it, yes.

He did. Sloppy ass. You sloppy ass. Now let's not forget about our girl, Rhonda. So she ends up suing the company and it was messy. Rhonda said she was promised $2 million in severance by Lisa herself. Now, in addition to forging company checks for her own gain, it came to light that Ronda was lollygagging on the job.

She literally filed none of the paperwork required for her employees to have health care or, therefore, one K benefits, which just like lead like led obviously a lot of employees very upset. One of the reasons you get this job is because of the health care. Come on, like, and you're not going to give it to me. No. And you're locking me in the building. No, no, this is too much. So I guess before they were fired, Rhonda, her hubby, and James filled up five truckloads with Lisa Frank property that they stole and drove off with. Yeah, why? What are you gonna do with that?

Well, sell it, of course. I mean, they got that good shit, like those polar bear pencils, they're out on the black market. That's where I get mine. And then get this, the money that they made off the stolen items they sold when straight into their pockets. Backstabbing little gross snakes. Ew. That sucks. You like make this big name for yourself. You sell really cute shit. And then you get

taken advantage of by this man and his misch, hmm, nasty. I kind of get it in like just to keep it a hundred though. When I worked at a large electronic company that starts with a B and ends with a Y and rhymes with Smash My, on my last day, I stole a bag of potato chips on my way out. It was my last day, okay? So I was like, you know what, fuck this. But what I'm totally getting at is that kind of like this trio,

they stole stuff because they were angry. I stole about a potato chips. So I kind of get it. I still feel guilty about it. I do ask for forgiveness all the time, but I don't know, it keeps me up at night. Okay, so I understand what they're doing. They're stealing to be like,

it's book you, you know, and like, because I did that to the potato chips, but they stole like a bajillion potato chips. Way worse. I don't know why I'm trying to relate to the bad guys. I don't steal, thank you. Anyways, so these lawsuits, they end up going on for like 10 years.

It seemed like James didn't really care too much about winning at all. He and Rhonda just wanted to believe this company dry, take all their money with all the lawsuits. It's kind of like an abusive partner, you know, when they're like, if I can't have you, nobody can. That's what they were doing. Finally, in 2007, the divorce between Lisa Frank and James Green was officially finalized.

She had complete control of her company, and she was ready to make a comeback. It wasn't gonna be easy though. James had damaged the company's reputation very badly and he tarnished many of their business relationships. The company was in like a deep hole and Lisa had a lot of work ahead of her. And honestly at this point she really could have just like And honestly, at this point, she really could have just like given up on the company and walked away, but she didn't. But guess what? Lisa Frank persevered. She's a bad bitch.

She didn't want to give up for some strange reason. I mean, she could have, you know, so it's just like girl, just take a nap. In 2010, Lisa ends up taking a very big risk. She reduces her stuff significantly, and she agrees to do something that she swore she would never do with her brand. Lisa enters into a licensing agreement

with a manufacturing company so that they can make and sell her products. This might not like sound major to you and I, but it was said that Lisa was like overprotective of her brand, a bit of a control freak, and that she never let other people make her products. She just wanted to control. She wanted to know everything that was going on and have control of it all.

But she wanted the company just to be back on top, and they promised, this manufacturing company, promised to help her achieve the goal. And in 2012, Lisa Frank does a collab with Urban Outfitters, which is a trendy lifestyle retailer. And that was a huge hit. People were really excited to see Lisa Frank back out in the wild. Everybody was like hungry for the 90s nostalgia. It was just perfect timing. But the manufacturing company that Lisa's working for

doesn't make good on their promise to put Lisa Frank back on top, and Lisa Frank sort of goes away for a while again, because it's just not doing well. Oh my god, John has a cute little thank you. Ah, is that a drop of keeper, John? You would, you little rich bitch. Okay, so where are they now? a little rich bitch. Okay, so where are they now? These days, it's not clear how much of the company James still may or may not own, but what is clear is that he is not involved in the day-to-day operations anymore.

Throughout the years, James has moved on from the Lisa Frank brand and Lisa Frank, the person too. And he found Jesus. Great, Jesus, he found him. And he started his own passion project, selling artwork for Jesus, which honestly, it looks heavily inspired by the Lisa Frank art, but it's for Jesus.

It's like move on, dude. Just move on, let it go. Try something new. On the brand end of things, one of Lisa's sons is involved in like the new era of Lisa Frank. And you think Lisa would maybe have learned her lesson about mixing like business with personal life, but I don't know. Old habits die hard. She ends up bringing her teenage son to like board meetings with her. She puts them in charge of the company Instagram. I think things are actually going kind of well So he must be doing well fingers crossed that the family business relationship works out better than last one We wish you luck in 2020 something happened. I don't know the pandemic or something

But the Lisa Frank Instagram page was popping off in the end, I mean, thanks to her son, who really modernized the brand's image, right? To date, Lisa Frank has continued to have successful collabs with popular brands like Crocs, which I didn't know I missed that one. Morphe cosmetics. She did a collab with some nail polishes. Also, the school supplies are making their way back onto the shelves, like the 90s are polishes. Also, the school supplies are making

their way back onto the shelves, like the 90s are really back, you know? I kind of love it because now's my chance. Now's my chance to get a Lisa Frank thing. If you think about it, Lisa Frank has kind of inspired that 90s aesthetic that we still see in trends and makeup trends, all that millennial neon shit we like to buy. It seems like a really perfect time for Lisa Frank to make her come back because we're all craving that 90s nostalgia, like I said, yeah. But, with the help of her son,

it seems like she's got her finger on the pulse of what people want again. I think this whole story can be perfectly summed up through my my experience of purchasing the Lisa Frank Morphe palette. When was this like a year or something to go? I was so excited to get it. I was like, oh my god, Lisa Frank. Oh, the younger Bailey in me was living. Okay, living. The palette itself looks like a trapper keeper and I should have brought it. I don't know why I did it got it boom it arrived I opened up the package

Took out the palette bam I got hit with the whiff of that chemical cheese smell. Do you know what I'm talking about? It smelled awful. It smelled like cheap makeup. It smells like chemicals. Just straight up chemicals I was like oh shit. I decided not to use it on my eyes, but I keep it on my desk just to look at it, because it's cute, but that shit stinks. I just feel like that explains the company in a nutshell. From the outside, bright, cute, colorful, happy.

Oh my god, love it. Mm-mm. Inside, dark, corrupt, and just plain stinky. Look, Lisa Frank is back today. We don't know what's going on behind closed doors now, but we're glasses here, hi. But there's one thing we know for certain, what was happening in the 90s,

what was going on behind the rainbow colored doors was wild. A former employee put it best saying, quote, I always found it ironic that Lisa Frank brought so much joy to girls, but was such a miserable place to work. It wasn't rainbows and unicorns behind the scenes." End quote.

It's like rain. No, no, no, no. Three, right. When you were really hurt. What got me really curious about the story is the facade, like what that employee said on the outside.? Cute adorable love it. I want to work there. Put it in me everything and then you like go further and you're like holy shit. You guys are all fucked up in here. I just found that very interesting and obviously there's like no

clear cut good or bad guy here. I think they were all kind of stinky. James and Ronda were the absolute worst, but Lisa, she also had her moments too. And also, for as much as Lisa claims to want to be private, just in the background going unnoticed, she sure does love to be on top. So I don't know, next time you're looking at your rainbow tiger trapper keeper, remember, cocaine is a hell of a drug. Well everyone, a big thank you for learning with me. Remember, don't be afraid to be curious, ask questions because you deserve that.

I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag darkhistoryoveronsocialmedia so I can follow along and see what kind of shit you're talking. I'm gonna find you and be like, yeah bitch, she crazy, I'll write you back. Oh, also, join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday

after the podcast, Ares, come check out my background, it's cute. And while you're there, you can also catch murder, mystery, and makeup, which is on Mondays. I hope you have a great day today. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye. Dark History is an audio boom original.

This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Kim Jacobs, Dunya McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner, writers, Katie Burris, Joey Skavuzzo, Amy Height, Alison Falobos, and me, Bailey Sarian, shot and edited by Tafadzwa Nama Roondway, and Lily Young, research provided by Regina Dolezza, and a big special thank you to our expert, Ariel Dolanjur, freelance journalists for the outlets including The New York Times, and producer for Cheddar News. I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. Love you. Goodbye.

Why are you still here? Leave. What are you still doing here? Oh my god, you're like obsessed with me. Oh my, are you still here? No. No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. I'm so sorry.