Dark History - 63: You've been Catfished. Who the hell is Betty Crocker?

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

Welcome to the Dark History podcast. I love a good cake. And with cake mixes right from the store, you don’t need a baking degree or whatever. Now if only I could actually get the cake in the oven before eating all that damn good cake batter. Maybe one day. But while you lick your spoon, let me tell you about America’s homemaker, Mrs. Betty Crocker. In today’s episode, we’ll learn all about her life and what influenced her to become a baker. You might want to set your timer, because the amount of FRAUD in this episode will overbake anyone’s cake! I don’t know, I tried. Just watch. Episode Advertisers include: SkyLight Frame, Apostrophe, Squarespace, Stitch Fix US.

Hi, hi, 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, where me and my friends hang out and I do all of your talking. My podcast is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about or just like maybe never learn about I'm just a very curious person and I wanted to just deep-dive in a bunch of random shit. You know what I'm saying? So sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot juicy history, goss. Shall we? Listen, I'm gonna say it, school does not prepare us for real life, point blank period. Thank you for coming to this episode. I mean, we spend so much time learning math that you never use. Like, why did I have to memorize the first 10 digits of pi

when I'm baking a pi, I'm not using those numbers, okay? And like, where was the class or where was like the I don't know the semester in the class where like I learned how to fill out a W2? Do you know? Now I'm not saying math is useless but let's be real. Most of us maybe need a little help with some life skills. Okay the basic ones I'm talking about right? I know I do. Like cooking my god would happen to those home-et classes they had back in the day. I'm talking about, right? I know I do. Like, cooking? My god. What happened to those home-et classes they had back in the day? I know there are like some schools out there

who still have home-et classes, and you guys are so lucky, because I would have loved to learn some like, basic life-cooking slash baking skills. Because most of the time, when I go into the kitchen, I start a kitchen fire. I've mentioned this numerous times on my channel. Hi, if you haven't heard it,

I've started quite a few kitchen fires. Okay, look, but then I was introduced to the Betty Crocker, like cake mixes and whatnot. Not recently, you know, back in the day. And I was like, my God, where has this been all my life? All that you have to do is mix in one egg and like some water and like maybe it's oil. Sometimes I'm not sure.

You mix that shit up and bitch, you got a freaking cake. You feel like you are just miss Susie Baker. Am I right? You feel incredible. It's really a confidence booster I would say. But what I'm getting at is Betty Crocker has been around for f**k it ever, right? And she's saving the day since, I don't even know how long, but she's been saving the day. And that got me wondering, like, who the hell is Betty Crocker? I wanna thank her, I wanna shake her hands, say,

thank you, Betty. You sure did save Thanksgiving that one year when I started the fire. And we all just wanted a little cake to celebrate the fire. That led me into today's episode. I just want to know everything about this American icon, right? So naturally, what do I do? I got to googling, of course, and I got to tell you.

I found out some wild things about who I thought the lady was. Yeah. Yeah. Are we surprised? Well, grab that tub of frosting. You've been saving for an emergency because with Betty by your side, you've got it made. This is a story about Miss Betty Crocker, the American icon. The year is 1921. The first World War had just ended and still fresh-shown people's minds. I mean, that shit was crazy. Everyone was like, did you see that shit?

Oh, the wild. You think that humanity wouldn't want to do that again, but America loves a sequel, right? Well, during this time, America was going through an interesting transition. She was growing. It was going from the Guilda Dayage into the roaring 20s. But there's one part of American life

that people have always looked to for stability. And that is the home. Am I right? The home? The dinner table? Ugh. During this time, there was a very popular magazine called the Saturday Evening Post. And I believe Norman Rockwell, the artist, he would like make the cover.

I have a bunch of them. Because my grandma used to collect them. Yeah, they're actually really incredible. Anyways, that's not the point. The point is, the Saturday evening post from what I believe was read by like everybody. Everybody read this magazine. So if there was an ad in there,

or they were selling something, you know, everyone trusted it, right? One day like an ad appears in the magazine, Saturday evening post. And this ad was run by a flower company called Washburn Crosby Company, which was like based somewhere and they would sometimes have recipe cards in their bags of Flower. So it would be like a box of cracker jacks, but the prize inside was a recipe card for like corn muffins. Back then, no internet, right? No food network.

So these little freebie recipe cards were very valuable to people. I mean, especially housewives who are at home, they're cooking, they're baking. And they were called home makers, you know, because they're making the house a home. So Washburn Crosby, that big flour company, they thought it would be fun to put a little jigsaw puzzle

in the Saturday evening post in that magazine. So they're like, if you cut out the puzzle and you put together and you mail it back to us, you will get a price. So people are like, oh, fuck yeah, we love a price. You know, there's nothing else to do. Hell yeah. So naturally, I wanted to know like, what is the price that you would win? And it was a little pincushion shaped like a little flower sack, which sounds really cute. Pincushion for all the pin that you use for sewing. I'm sure someone out there is like, what's that?

Because I was just like, what's a pincushion? Anyways, people must have loved pincushions because 30,000 people ended up writing in. But guess what? They weren't just mailing in those jigsaw puzzles. The Washburn Crosby Company also received thousands of letters asking for advice. The public figured that this was the company

making those recipe cards. I mean, of course, they figured that because it's in their flower. So they must have some idea of how to mix their casserole or like, you know, my husband won't eat the jello salad. What should I do? They're writing and asking. Now, all the questions were different,

but they all had one thing in common. These people that were writing in, they were desperate for help in the kitchen. They needed help with like cooking and stuff. They needed advice. This is like the 20s, okay? So back then everything was frowned upon, all right? So if you were a housewife and you went to your neighbor and was like, hey, I don't know how to make a casserole. That bitch next door would be like, you don't know how to make a casserole. That's so unfortunate. You know, so it was like kind of look down upon if you asked anybody for help.

So when people were writing into this flower company, they were writing anonymous letters. So they were just hoping they'd get a response and then not also be outed for not knowing how to make a casserole. You know, like it was like this perfect combination going on. So during this time, you know, women were kind of groomed for the role of homemaker. You know, like I mentioned earlier, that class home-ek.

It stands for home economics. It's a class you can take in school where you can learn how to make a pie. So, so a button I don't know because I never took it, but I wish I did. Well back then it was essentially required if you wanted to get your lady card And it wasn't just cooking and cleaning. Homeic also included stuff like learning how to how to build a budget child development home design health and hygiene Which honestly that should be mandatory for all of us, right? Like, this actually sounds like a great idea.

Well, for women at this time, high school was usually the end of their education. I mean, only about 7% of women in America went to college, and most of them just got married right after graduation, and just banging out those babies, you know? So, a woman not knowing her basic homex skills was a big source of shame. Like, that's the one thing you're supposed to be good at,

quotes like allegedly, you know what I'm not saying now, that's what they were believing. So they were always looking for tips wherever they could get them without having to feel bad or embarrassed about it. What a wild time, huh? Now you could go up to anyone and be like, hey, how do you make that pie? You wanna think twice about it? Wild time, huh? Now you could go up to anyone and be like, hey, how do you make that pie?

You wanna think twice about it. Wild times, huh? Well, that a flower company, Washburn Crosby, they were swamped with letters. And they were like, what the hell are we supposed to do with all these letters? They're acting like we're Santa or something. The men in charge didn't feel comfortable

answering any of the letters. They were like, this is a job for a woman. Not me, I work on cars and stuff. But there was this one manager in the advertising department. His name was Samuel Gale. Well, he decides, hmm, there might be an opportunity here. And maybe he should step in. But the one thing Samuel realized was that getting responses from a big, large company

doesn't really feel personal, especially for these letter writers who are feeling very vulnerable. So, he decides that there needs to be some sort of mascot that these women could relate to, right? They don't want to hear from a man they want to hear from a real woman at home, a homemaker, just like them. Samuel first decided this mascot needed to be an everyday woman who had all the answers, right?

Someone confident, realistic, but essentially magical, who had the time to respond to every single one of these letters and weigh in on their problems. Someone to make the writers feel heard. Samuel thought if they could solve all the problems in these letters, the company would get in good with all the homemakers. Now this would be a great opportunity because these women are the ones who are running the household, and what are they doing? Spending money to run the household and take care of their family, right? What does this mean for a company? Profit. You know, they're seeing dollar signs. So Washburn Crosby does something a little sneaky, a little suspicious, but also honestly

very brilliant. They invent an everyday magical, all-knowing homemaker to lovingly answer all these letters. It's a homemaker's Santa Claus. She would give some pre-solid advice, but she'd also win over the hearts of these women. She would even hand-write and sign all of these letters with an authentic signature. So who was this god send of a woman? Well guess what bitches? As you probably guessed by the title of this freaking video, it's Betty Crocker that they

invented. Yeah, that's right. Betty Crocker is not a real person. I know, quit, leave, everyone. Bye. World's over. Betty Crocker's a fraud. She's not a real person. I know, quit, leave, everyone. Bye. World's over. Betty Crocker is a fraud. She's not even real.

She's not even a real person. This whole time, I was like, oh my god, I love her, an icon of legend. Wow, she's like amazing. She saved us in so many different situations. She's not real. She's made up. Yeah.

How do you feel about that? Everything you know is a lie, Barbara. She's a figment of corporate America's imagination. But here's made up. Yeah. How do you feel about that? Everything you know is a lie, Barbara. She's a figment of corporate America's imagination. But here's the thing. America had no idea. And the creators of Betty Crocker wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Oh my god, yeah.

I know I keep making references to Santa Claus, but this was like my Santa Claus moment when I learned that she was fake and I was like kind of devastated. Like, when we were doing the story, I was like, oh, can't wait to learn about Bay Crocker. And then it was like, she's not real. So everyone's just been lying. It's just this episode. So you're probably wondering, well, how did they come up with the name, Betty Crocker?

You know, that's step one. Okay, so the company gets together and they're brainstorming, right? We need some names, you guys. You got some names, Mary? No. Okay, Gertrude. No. Linda? No? Okay. Well, in 1921, another very popular name. Betty? Not too young. Not too old. Betty. Sweet sounding. You can trust the Betty. Do you know a Betty who's a bitch? No, I don't know a Betty who's a bitch. They come up with the name Betty Crocker. I don't know how they got there besides Betty being like a really popular name, great. So then they know that they need a signature.

Now back then, remember like before computers and all that, everyone hand wrote everything, like handwriting is an art, and it's, we're kind of losing it more and more every day, not besides the point. But they knew that they needed to have like a true feminine looking Betty Crocker signature. So remember the guy who kind of came up with this whole thing, Samuel Gale, will he decide to hold a competition amongst the woman in the office place, okay? Whoever comes up with the best signature for Miss Betty Crocker

wins this competition. What do they win? I don't know. But a secretary named Florence steps up and knocks it out of the park, bitch. Oh, she creates a beautiful signature. It's not too snooty. You know, it's not sloppy. You can read it. It's just, it's perfect. It's not too snooty. You know, it's not sloppy. You can read it. It's just, it's perfect. It's exactly how a housewife would sign something. This employee did amazing. They're like, we're using your signature congratulations.

I don't know what she went. I don't think she wanted anything good. She should have, but she didn't have the employee. Anyways, from there on out, every single letter was signed cordially yours, butty crocker, but it was in Florence's handwriting. Now, I don't know if they used a stamp, was Florence actually signing every single letter?

I don't know, but if she was, she probably got Carpool Tunnel that poor woman. I hope she's okay, bless her soul. But this signature is actually still used on their packaging to this very day. Shout out to you Florence. So they have the name, they But this signature is actually still used on their packaging to this very day. Shout out to you, Florence. So they have the name, they have this signature. And in order to really build the stronger identity, you know, people could actually relate to this person, she needed to feel like a real woman, right? Someone who had already mastered everything a housewife might need

to do in the kitchen. But Samuel and the team of men in the flower advertising department, they didn't know anything about home economics. So they're like, you know what, we need a higher team that could specialize in this and figure it out for us. So they came up with this idea of hiring about 25 women. And these women were going to be like their experts and they were going to start riding back to all the letters that were coming in. Not only could they get back to more people,

more letters, but also these women knew everything there was to know about mixing, baking, broiling, basting, anything that had to do with baking, cooking, whatever, you name it. This team, this department, they could do it. And they could also guide other women on how to do it at home. You know, like they're just like the people

you wanna ask and hear from. Things are their hard work, the letters were answered. Almost overnight, Betty become like a trusted source of information for women all over America. I mean, it was a judgment-free zone and they were making women happy. Learn how to cook and stuff. It was great.

So naturally, women were like, I wrote to Betty Crocker and she wrote me back. Did you know that? Word of mouth amongst all the friends, you know, spreading around. And people are like, do you have a question? If you have a question, you should write a betty. She writes back.

Now people are writing in, right? If you had questions about Fondue, you know, Betty, she's got an answer for you. Your kids, they're dying for a snack. You don't know what to do. Well, Betty's got your back. Betty slowly started to build a die hard base of loyal, technically customers, but they felt like friends and stuff

because Betty seemed like she cared. Oh, it's all a lie. The perfect example of this could be seen in a letter I found from way back in the day, to his mother, who wants to send her son some treats while he's serving in the US military, and while he's away at war. Instead of responding with like,

send cookies, Martha, or maybe just like sending a recipe card and moving on to the next letter. Betty took the time to send this mother a couple of ideas, and some words of wisdom about other people she had helped in similar situations. The response is like an entire page long. Again, personally signed at the bottom. I mean, can you think of the last time you reached out to a company and they were this nice to you? I can't. Yeah, I can. Look, listen, side note,

because this wasn't a company to people. This was Betty Crocker, a person. And that's why it worked. It wasn't a company. So it all makes sense, right? Because yeah, if you try to write like a flower company, we're like, we're like, we're like a sayback. You were writing a woman, Betty.

People love this bitch. This was all working out for that flower company, Washburn Crosby, because when you know it, all of Betty's recipes and tips used their products. Most importantly, their flower. Hello, think of it like this. Betty is the influencer, and the flower is like her main sponsor. Betty Crocker is Jacqueline Hill and the flower company is more V. Yeah, that's what this is. Okay, so to the public, it seemed like

Betty was up day and night responding to everyone's letters. It's like, when is this woman sleep? She is so hardworking. Because the team who was pretending to be Betty Crocker was actually doing just that at its busiest the department was dealing with 4,000 letters a day. Yeah, once it got to this part, you know, things started to get a little crazy and they're realizing that They're gonna start losing like valuable loyal customers if we don't keep up with this, right? The demand is high. And Betty Crocker is only one woman or at least a team of 25. Samuel Gale, remember that guy?

He was really nervous that his whole department was just gonna fall apart. So he needed someone to lead the department and take it to the next level. He no longer could do it. It was just, it grew so insane. So he finds this woman who's working at the flower company. I think she might be part of the one of the 25 women unclear,

but this woman, her name's Marjorie Child Husted, Houston. Something like that. Samuel Gill saw something in her. Hmm. And he had his eyes on her. So Marjorie, she was born April 2nd, 1892 in Minnesota. And she was always like super interested in the art of home making. So she went to the University of Minnesota where she graduated in 1913 with a degree in home economics and education. Yeah,

she's first of all, she's a woman with two college degrees. And like, women couldn't even, they didn't have the right to vote yet. Go off, Marjorie. Go off. She's killing the game. So Marjorie, she spent time working at the Red Cross during the war, and then she also got a job working at the dairy company in marketing before she was scooped up by Washburn Crosby. She had experience and a fantastic reputation, especially when it came to home economics.

I mean, she started out at the company as a traveling chef. Oh yeah, she was like teaching cooking classes to home makers and Kansas. Washburn Crosby promotes Marjorie and puts her in charge of the home services department. That group of professionals, Gail, Samuel Gail, puts together. Her mission was to make the voice of Betty Crocker feel like a real person. She pulled her knowledge from those cooking classes, but she wasn't satisfied.

There was still something missing. So Marjorie does what she does best, packs her bags, and hits the road again, right? To do some research on what women really want or what they really wanted to know from Betty Crocker. Like, for me, I'd be like, Miss Betty, I want to shove a whole block of cheese up my pase. How do I achieve this? There's all kinds of letters.

No judgment. We don't judge here. I hope they're okay. Marjorie was like, you know what? If I'm going to be in this industry, I need to know the everyday woman and the everyday families. So she drove around Minnesota

doing her own little case study, I guess. I don't know, survey. Would that be the word? I think so. Just going around the Midwest, going knocking on doors, you know, seeing what's up with the everyday American family. She was taking notes on how they were actually cooking at home, how they were actually running their households, and really trying to understand what the everyday American family or homemaker wanted to know or needed help with. She was learning about the customer. I think she really elevated the Betty Crocker brand to the next level. Like, yeah, they were doing some cute shit, writing letters back and signing it.

But now they were actually trying to fully understand their audience, their customer, and really take this to something much bigger. You know, Betty Crocker, the brand had a loyal fan base and the company knew it, so it was time to really take it to the next level and make her celebrity, get her in front of more Americans. What do we really want? Money, so let's be real that they're just like, how can we make more money with this? And the best way to do this, like to become a celebrity in the 1920s,

it's the radio baby. They know they gotta get on that radio. So back then, Americans were listening to the radio a lot. Okay, think of it like today, we're on our phones all the time. Back then, they had radio. So they're listening to like five hours per day. So if you want to like market towards the everyday American,

but get on the radio, TV's not a thing yet, okay? Radio is where you went for everything. Home sick from school, you turn on the radio. You're interested in some like hot cowboy drama, where you're gonna find that on the radio. Sports radio. So this is when the Washburn Crosby Company has a light bulb moment.

They found out that there was like a nearby radio station that had a recently shut down. So Washburn is like, hey, not only can we own our own station, but we can give Miss Betty Crocker her own radio show. Oh shit. And guess what? They had the money, They had the funding. That's exactly what they did. They named it the Betty Crocker cooking school of the air.

That's too much of a name, but okay you guys. And the whole concept was inspired by Marjorie's time on the road. Marjorie is in charge of the scripts and the stories. And not only that, she actually became the first voice of Betty Crocker, and people's minds were blown. When they turned on that radio, and they heard Betty Crocker for the first time, oh shit, you know, like she's real, wow! Oh, it was cool.

They could put a voice to the woman who was writing these letters, right? It was just like, oh, incredible. It was so successful that the show almost immediately was picked up by 13 other stations around the country and even NBC. G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G- You read the letters on air. I'm just kidding, but you gotta make it personal, you know? So I guess Miss Marjorie, each night before the show, she would take home a suitcase full of letters that were sent to the company. And she would open up those letters

and she would read every single one, that's what she said, we weren't there, so we don't know. The only reason I'm like being sassy about that is because they're trying to make her look an angel, but it was all a lie. You can't take it back. So she's reading all the letters. She's trying to make her look an angel, but it was all a lie. You can't take it back. So she's reading all the letters.

She's trying to get an understanding of what people want answers to. You know, and with all this info in hand, she would write the radio show scripts and address actual things that the American housewives were asking. I don't know, but the Betty Crocker on the radio was like really motivational and really nice.

Now Betty Crocker was a national superstar. Her radio show was taken off. She was not only helping with people make their food and whatnot at a home chef, you know? She was also a therapist, a best friend, confidant. Someone to look up to a mentor. Betty Cracker was this real amazing woman and you couldn't tell them otherwise.

Especially after Marjorie put together an interactive program to get listeners even more involved. People who were listening were told to take the recipes featured on the show, cook them up, and then write to the radio station with a little review of the recipe. Oh, I love that. So just like people would do reviews, the old school way. On top of that, it was free. So a lot more people could actually get involved. If the listeners did every recipe in the program, they would be invited to the radio station

for a graduation ceremony. Like it was a real like, Betty Crocker cooking school, you know? And while this radio show was on the air, they were over one million people who completed Betty's cooking school. So in 1928, seeing all the Betty Crocker success, the Washburn Cross-P company, the Flower Company,

you know, who technically owned the whole Betty Crocker situation. They knew it was time for like the next step and their business, their company, right? So they end up merging with a couple of other businesses and they end up rebranding as general mills. Yeah, general mills, maybe you've heard of them, Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Pillsbury, Fiber One,

which does not make you go to the bathroom, and it tons more. So yeah, things are going great for the Betty Crocker brand. It's an every American home. People are listening in on the radio show. They're getting involved. They're having fun. They're baking.

They're taking care of their homes. I mean, they're loving. But, buddy has to say. But then, of a website or domain, the entire country grinds to a halt with a great depression. During this time, people lost their jobs, their money, and they just didn't have a way to even feed their families. It was said that people were fighting for scraps of food in the garbage, lines were hours long at soup kitchens.

Everywhere in the country, food was scarce, groceries were expensive, and everyone was looking for ways to save where they could. So during this time, it wasn't so much about being the perfect housewife, it was about for conserviving, right? And just keeping your family alive, it was tough times. So what does this mean for the Betty Crocker brand? What's the point of a baking show when no one can even afford food? Well, they've got a brainstorm a bit over there, right? Marjorie and her whole team of Betty's were on it.

So the Betty Crocker radio show starts giving tips on how to save money and also still make good food. If you don't have a lot of money or a big budget to spend on your cooking, right? Now this was groundbreaking because nobody was doing this at the time. And one of the ideas with the Betty Crocker brand was like something called the Depression Cake, which sounds like something I make on Tuesdays, you know? Depression cakes were lural chocolate cakes people

couldn't make without milk, butter, or eggs. Wait, how? Well, Betty taught people how they could substitute those things with vinegar and water. Oh, shit, really? Wow. With all of our episodes here at Dark History, we run it through experts, people who just know their shit.

Okay, look, experts. And for this episode, we had an expert named Krista, and she swears by this recipe, the vinegar and water situation. Have you guys made a cake this way? I feel like it would stink, no? Anyway, it says I'm just curious. But anyway, yeah, so this cake was a really big hit, okay?

And it was there for the people when they really needed something sweet during a dark time. But his voice on the radio was reassuring to people that everything was gonna be okay. And because of this, she was just loved, loved by everyone. So in the 1930s, Betty Crocker heads to Hollywood where she, Marjorie, Marjorie is Betty Crocker, okay?

So, Marjorie heads to Hollywood to act like Betty Crocker and gives an interview to some like A-listers, Hollywood stars, like Carrie Grant, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, I know, I know, you're Crawford, but it's like, it's kind of the same, you know? You guys are twins. I didn't know you knew, you knew Betty like that.

So I guess the whole goal of this trip was like to make people think that celebrities are just like us that they love making Betty Crocker banana muffins and cookies that they, to our familiar with the Betty Crocker brand, that they like peasant shit like us, you know? And so it was like some PR thing, I think. I'm not even sure, but they did that.

Now because Betty Crocker was rubbing elbows with like some woo Hollywood elites, she enters a new level of status. And the company decides like, we need a face to go with a name. Something we can put on our products, our magazines, our posters, something our customers can spot from a mile away. At this time, like, no one had actually seen Marjorie or Betty Crocker, like, because it was always through the radio. And even wishing it interviewed all the Hollywood stars, it was through the radio. So the company was like, we need to create a woman,

like a painting or a drawing of what Betty Crocker looks like. So what do they do? They hire an artist and they instruct this artist to go look at all the women in our factory, look at them. And then if you can kind of draw a portrait of what Betty Crocker is gonna look like, like maybe a mashup of all her faces. They wanted the company, they wanted Betty

to look like everyone and like no one at the same time. So they would take like a little bit of that girl's butt chin, right, or like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I brow just mixing everything up. And eventually they create the Betty Crocker version of the Mona Lisa. It's an iconic image. People will remember forever.

She had a classic conservative, oh, I'm sorry, Joan. I know I keep blocking you. Joan's been getting jealous because I keep blocking her and she's got to have her light, you know? She's such a diva. Anyways, so they create this image, right? Probably wondering what she looks like. Well, she's such a diva. Anyways, so they create this image, right? Probably wondering what she looks like.

Well, she's got that conservative housewife haircut. It's like a brinette bob situation. Her skin is as white as the company's flower. And she's not old, but she's definitely not young. She looks confident. She looks approachable. She's kind of smiling, but not too much. She's not that happy, but she's happy.

She kind of reminds me of a kindergarten teacher just really sweet and innocent. And you just want to give her a hug. Oh, and Betty's outfit, also iconic. It was a red blazer with a prominent white collar. Sometimes that collar was ruffled. And other times, it was a little plunging, a bit risque, but also tasteful at the same time.

Over time, Betty needed a makeover, so there have been eight different portraits of Betty over the years, all white, all brunette, and all with a red blazer, so they've kept that consistent at least. The 1965 Betty Crocker has big Jackie O'Vibes complete with a pearl necklace. I really like the Betty Crocker portrait from 1986 because the outfit features a pussy bow. And any chance I could say pussy bow, I'm going to take that opportunity.

Pussy bow. The red laser look has actually stuck around to this very day and shows no signs of going anywhere. But one really interesting note, not one portrait shows Betty wearing an apron, not one. interesting note. Not one portrait shows Betty wearing an apron, not one. I'm not judging. The staff at General Mills received hundreds of marriage proposals to Betty, but soon people's attention would be consumed by something way bigger than Betty's portraits.

StitchFix.com slash dark history. So during World War II, a lot of people were tuning in than Betty's porch. StitchFix.com slash dark history. So during World War II, a lot of people were tuning in to Betty's radio show. And like they really, this was like a breath, a fresh air, some positivity during this like really dark time. The Betty Crocker brand, they created episodes based on real fan letters about people struggling with getting engaged to someone who's been shipped off to war

or letters with wives on military bases or letters about how to hold down a family on their own. It once again made people, especially women, feel very heard by Betty. And while all that World War II stuff was going down, Marjorie created a badass organization called the Betty Crocker's Home Legion, which was all about being a homemaker during wartime and how they could contribute to the war effort. Betty gave them a purpose and gave them a sense of community. It was like a very exclusive club though. Women had to apply to be part of the Legion.

And if your application was accepted, cool, you're in. If not, sorry loser. And this wasn't some like kitschy little support group in the basement of a church. By 1944, this was a nationwide organization with tens of thousands of members. Each one of them got a little pin. And received a copy of something called the Homemaker's Creed.

Creed is my favorite character on the office. It was sort of like this oath that every woman in the Legion swore to and probably hung up in their kitchens. It said something like, I believe, homemaking is a noble and challenging career. Which yes, very true. But it also asked members to believe that a homemaker must be true to the highest ideals of love, loyalty, service, and religion. Kinda sounds culty.

But okay. And around the end of the war, Fortune magazine named Betty Crocker, the second most popular woman in America. Oh yeah, oh, she was right behind the first lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt. Killing a Betty, too bad you're not real. You know, like that part sucks. I think we should give Margaret to Marjorie though, yeah. Because like Marjorie really is the one

who took this to the next level. So Marjorie technically is Yeah, because like Marjorie really is the one who like took this to the next level So Marjorie technically is Betty. I'll let that slide Because it's always up to me if you didn't notice okay, but get in the get drama Drama okay, listen this list seemed to piss piss somebody off because later that same year in the magazine The one that you know Betty was number two. Somebody outed Betty as a fake. Oh shit. Yeah.

Yeah. In 1945, Fortune Magazine publishes an article that calls out Betty Crocker as a quote, fraud, a fictitious creation. Now this was a scandal. People, just like me, when I first found out, people were very upset. the ticious creation. Now this was a scandal. People, just like me, when I first found out, people were very upset.

Everything was lie. I mean, how was I writing to? I told them about the butter at my vagina. Like, oh God, who got that letter? It melted. It's fine. So yeah, people's worlds were rocked. I mean, imagine, you're one of those,

those homemakers, right, into Betty. Maybe you wrote for years, and you start to see her as your friend. She's like your mentor, your penpal. And then one day, just all of a sudden, you hear that it was just a PR stunt. That some flower company came up with. That's truly, truly unfortunate.

Before this, people had no reason to distrust big companies like General Mills. They saw a woman on a cake box named Betty Crocker, and they heard her voice on the radio. So, while they think Betty Crocker is fake, I see her, I hear her. I don't feel her, but like, you know, she's the real person. So, as you can imagine, this was very upsetting to some people. But you know what they say? There's not such thing as bad press.

That's what they say, but I don't think that's true. But okay. So it must have not had a negative effect because not long after the war, Betty Crocker, the brand gets now its own products and grocery stores all across America. And I know what you're thinking because we see it today. We got the cake mix, the frosting, the uh, the other stuff.

But actually her first product in 1941, it was pea soup. Yeah, she was peeing in cans and selling it. Fucking wild. The minute this thing hit shelves, it was gone. Everyone wanted Betty Crocker's pea soup. I mean, it was such a hit that a few years later in 1947, they rolled out their first cake mix. How did she go from pea to cake?

I guess this cake mix was like a ginger cake, and it was essentially a gingerbread cake. Now all you had to do at home was add water, stir, and bake. Oh, it was so easy, literally anyone could do it. They even had this great slogan, a perfect cake every time you bake. Cake after cake after cake. Bitch, who came up with that? Because that's good. That's a good one. They honestly should have just ended it at a perfect cake every time you bake, period. That should just be it, like that's beautiful.

Cause it's true, I mean, you can't fuck that up to most. I guess this cake was a hit. I mean, people thought it was actually quite delicious. So back then, remember, like I know all of us kind of are familiar with the cake mixes, right? Because we all grew up with it for the most part. But back then, like making a cake and everything took so much time and then on top of that,

you'd take care of the kids, you had to clean the house, you had to look good for your freaking husband, right? So it's like when Betty Crocker's cake mix is showed up, okay, this was like when America went from covered wagons to cars, like incredible, right? Time was saved. People are losing their shit. I can make

a cake really easy, oh man. And homemakers everywhere have one less thing to deal with in the kitchen. If the Betty Crocker brand had stopped at this point, they would still be an icon, right? But they want more. They want to take Betty Crocker until this legend status. And how are you gonna do that? A cookbook. Okay, so in order to get Betty's recipes, you had to be listening into the Betty Crocker radio show where she would verbally give out recipes.

You'd have to be listening and write them down. And if you missed it, you should not look, right? Or another way to get recipes was by getting the local newspaper. Now they would list a couple of recipes in there and you tear them out and just hope that known through a way, your little tearouts, right? Like there just wasn't an easy way to get a recipe.

He was just this whole ordeal. And General Mills, they knew this. They were like, we're seeing people do this, okay? So in 1950, they created the Betty Crocker picture, cookbook. Oh, we love a picture. I love a picture. Give me a picture.

Okay, helps me see. What am I making? So people are losing their shit. Everyone, these cookbooks hit the shelves. Oh, and people are loving it. Because for the first time, there's this book. It's not just a fat book. She's a thick one, okay? We could open it up and just have so many different recipes. I'm talking different dinners. We've got baking stuff pies, cakes, sweet bloop,

bloop dinners, lunches, snacks. I don't... people are excited. Right away this book starts being called the kitchen Bible. Like it was a staple in a lot of people's houses. And the first two years that this book was released, it sold two million copies. And it showed up on the best sellers list right next to the actual Bible. the actual Bible. To date, it has sold over 75 million copies around the world. So after this cookbook is released, Betty Crocker, I would say is solidified as part of American culture. I mean, she steered the country through both the Great Depression, World War II, you know, she empowered millions of American women by helping them feel seen and heard and valued,

and not to mention make their lives a little easier by giving them recipes and reassurance that it's okay. If you mess up, it's okay, you know? It's okay. In 1948, President Harry Truman gave Marjorie Houston the woman of the year award for her work as Betty Crocker. She deserves that shit. She killed, you killed it Marjorie! So Marjorie wins this award, okay? Naturally, you know, you're thinking like, how come they don't name it after Marjorie?

Like how come not more of us know about Marjorie's name? And of course, this is corporate America where women really aren't treated the best. And despite all of her amazing work, Marjorie allegedly has never been paid properly. The salesman of the company, she helped create, made four times as much as her. Marjorie then retired from General Mills in 1950 and went on to create her own successful company. Good move too, because surprisingly, the Betty Crocker brought promo code history. Now, let's get back to the story.

We're going into the 1950s and TV is a new radio. Okay, look, Betty Crocker smash hit radio show. So of course, it would be a TV hit. The only minor detail who would play her. Betty Crocker, aka Marjorie, didn't work for General Mills anymore. She was like, bye bitches. I want to go make some real money. And plus on top of that, she was doing most of the leg work, you know, and people thought

they would be just fine without her and she showed them. Mm-hmm. They need Betty to be on TV. They're going to keep this going and they know they have to get ahead of it. So what do they do? They find an actress that looks like the portrait of their Betty Crocker. Boom, the Betty Crocker show was born.

Not only did Betty have her own cooking show, but she also appeared on live commercials and guest starred on other popular programs at the time. The cooking show was mostly shot at the general mills like they had a test kitchen, and it was modeled after like the real life cooking classes that Marjorie had taught. Betty would like sit at a desk and give instructions to a woman named Ruth and the audience watching at home could identify with Ruth and like learn a recipe all from the

comfort of their living room. The woman hired to play Betty was an actress named Adelaide coming, who, fun fact, had zero cooking experience. That's a shame. There was one big difference with the show, though. While Marjorie was in charge of Betty, the Betty Crocker Division, she had made supporting women a huge priority because like, it was a pivotal moment in American history, and not only weren't women in America expected to be housewives, but for the first time, they're flooding into the workforce, pursuing careers, even voting. That's a lot of pressure. You gotta do it all now. And Marjorie, she wanted to acknowledge that.

She was all about encouraging the modern woman to budget her time wisely, make time for themselves, and demand respect. But the new TV show had a bit of a different vibe. It opened with a man saying, quote, home making, a woman's most rewarding way of life." So yeah, people didn't really receive that the same, you know? They're like, this kind of sucks. And the Betty stands must have caught on because the show was a total flop. It ran for only two years and it ended in 1952 and they tried another version of a Betty Crocker TV show where they interviewed celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, but that also

flopped. And this was back when there was like five things on TV. So in order to flop, people must have had to really hate it. It was clear that people love to read Betty Crocker and hear Betty Crocker on the radio but seeing her, I don't know I don't know, it wasn't the same. Anyways, General Mills decides like, you know what, we have to let it go, stop trying to make Betty a TV star, it's not gonna happen. Then the radio show came to an end

after 26 years in 1953. And Betty Crocker just kind of disappears from the spotlight by the 1960s. Even though she wasn't on air, she was in all the grocery stores, like literally all of them, she was still a staple in American kitchens. The company even put a red spoon on all of their products

that were Betty Crocker approved. And guess what? That's the same red spoon you see on their products today. Betty Crocker had created such a strong following that for years and years. Women that toured the Betty Crocker test kitchen in in Minnesota expected to find the icon herself. I guess she's hanging out there and then when they found out that Betty Crocker wasn't real they would start crying. That's how important Betty was to people because

Marjorie was that good at her job and so were the other women who contributed to the Betty Crocker story. Not just the persona but every product and cookbook that came after. Of course Betty Crocker wasn't not just the persona, but every product and cookbook that came after. Of course, Betty Crocker wasn't the only fake spokeswoman created by a big brand to sell things. Victoria, a Victoria secret. She's not real. Her tits are fake. Just kidding. Well, she's not real, so yeah. Angela Milo was real. Problematic for so many reasons. What's interesting is that when the spokesperson was a guy, he was usually real. Like Duncan Hines, the frosting. Real dude. Orville, Reddenbatbocker, the popcorn

guy. Real. Oscar Meyer, the weiner. 100% real. Chef Boyard, you real! Seems to be like society trusted men to be founders and CEOs, but women had to be make believe girl bosses. What's that about? You know, like, yes, I do feel like Marjorie, she carried the Betty Crocker brand and like did big things with it, right? But we don't really know her name.

But at the same time, we know Betty Crocker, so we kinda know her. I don't know. At the end of the day, Betty actually did have a pretty positive impact on the world. She was really there for people. And that's huge, whether it was Betty or Marjorie. Honestly, it was really incredible.

While Marjorie was in charge, she encouraged women to challenge the status quo and the double standards of the day. She even created something called a bias quiz that was designed for men to recognize their internal biases against women. Marjorie wrote this, but the Betty Crocker brand like published this. They also did another article titled, Would You Let More Recognition in a popular magazine? So I mean, yeah, like what I'm getting at is like fake name,

but a pretty good agenda, trying to really help people. And guess what? As of October 21st of this year, 2022, Betty Crocker turned 101 years old, whoever this invisible woman is. You know, and even now, to this day, she's one of America's most trusted food brands. The girl is still a household name. Her products recipes are everywhere. And guess what? You can still send her a note. I'm not lying. You can write her a letter. Betty Crocker, I general mills ink, PL box, 9452, miniapolis, Minnesota, 55440.

I'm gonna send her a dick pick. I'm just kidding. You're kidding? I'm not going down. That'd be rude. I thought about it. So don't feel guilty about buying that tub of frosting and eating it in one day.

Oh my God, can I tell you something I did not wanna go. Look, when I get really stressed, I binge on really sugary, sweet food. So I was, look, I'm ashamed, but Betty Crocker's evolved because I got the Betty Crocker birthday cake mix. I made a cake full intentions to make a chocolate cake, but instead,

I ate the cake mix, all of it, followed by I ate half of the tub of frosting. So, shit happens. You know what I'm saying? Don't feel guilty. Thanks Betty, you got me through that cry fest. Well everyone, thank you so much for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because it's okay to be curious.

Come on, I love to hear your guys' reaction to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so it can fall long. See what you're saying? Stock you? Or maybe even join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, don't forget to check out my murder mystery makeup.

I hope you have a wonderful day today. You make your choices, make yourself a cake, you deserve it. That's the fun part about being adult you guys. You can just make a cake to make a cake. Like you don't even need an excuse. Like that's pretty cool. So I suggest you do so, but other than that, I'll be talking to you next week. I hope you don't even need an excuse. Like, that's pretty cool. So I suggest you do so.

But other than that, I'll be talking to you next week. I hope you have a good rest of your day. And goodbye. Dark History is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Kimberly Jacobs, Junior McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Made in Network. Writers, Katy Burris, Alison Filoboz, Joey Skaluso, and me, Melee Sarian.

Shot and edited by Tafad Swah, Nema Roondway, and Hannah Bacher. Research provided by Regina Dolezza, and the Dark History Research team. Special thank you to our expert, Krista Koreo. Hey girl, love ya! And I'm your host, Bailey Serian. Now why are you still here? What did I tell you? Go make a goddamn cake, will ya? Bye! Thank you.