Duncan Hines (25 page)

With the surrender of the Japanese in late summer 1945, many soldiers dreamed of returning to the United States, sitting down in
a nice restaurant, and eating a big, juicy steak. However, they did not want just any steak; they wanted the best money could buy. The result of this desire soon manifested itself in bookstores throughout the country. Soon after V-J Day, reported
Publishers' Weekly
, booksellers across the country were deluged with requests for
Adventures in Good Eating;
over 500,000 copies were sold within a few weeks of the war's conclusion. Another indication that the war had ended were the numerous tourists who began crisscrossing the countryside, many of whom found time to visit Bowling Green. Marion Edwards was amazed to find the number of tourists who came by just to see Duncan Hines. “Visitors come in droves in normal times. On a good day,” as many as twenty-five cars were “parked around his gravel drive at one time.” Sometimes, they mistook his unusual-looking Colonial-styled home for a restaurant. While Hines was resting in his living room chair early one morning, he was surprised to hear the footsteps of a large family walk into his office; they barged through the front door as if it were a public facility. They had, in fact, thought it was. They had seen the huge Duncan Hines sign in front and assumed it was a restaurant approved by him. When Hines came into the office to see who had walked in, a young woman, not knowing to whom she was speaking, thrust a baby bottle into his hands and said, “Here warm this. Then we'd like breakfast for five right away.”
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The most significant recent change in his life was that Emelie was no longer there. There were several reasons why she left him sometime in 1943. Life was not as glamorous as she had hoped. When they were not traveling, “their social life was restricted almost entirely to playing cards, rummy, or something with Clara and Clarence Nahm. They were a foursome.”
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It has been plausibly conjectured that, over the years, Emelie grew to detest living in the country, 2 miles from town. She also eventually grew weary of Bowling Green. Although Hines had built for them a Colonial cottage, and although they traveled a great deal and shared an interesting life that was the envy of many, she was dissatisfied. Traveling around the country with her husband was a lot of fun, but she was always a little dismayed when they returned
home. It is likely that she longed to return to Chicago to get away from the small Kentucky town. In her eyes, Bowling Green simply could not compare with the cosmopolitan excitement that Chicago offered. She grew bored with Bowling Green and the people in it. She was homesick for her native city. Besides, she had family and friends there, and although she and her husband visited them often, she missed them as soon as she left. No sooner had the two returned to Bowling Green than she was pining for a return trip. No doubt this agitated Hines and led to some domestic friction, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was now known across America as a resident of Bowling Green, Kentucky. And he made it clear that he was not going to forsake his home for the Windy City. Besides, he had grown accustomed to living in the country. His family lived nearby; he enjoyed their company; he liked things as they were. They were not going to move to Chicago.

Another source of conflict between the two, one that steadily grew worse, was that instead of going out on the town when the sun set, as perhaps she had done in Chicago, Hines was an early riser who was ready to go to bed by nine that evening. Also, when he ate his meals at home, she discovered he did not want to ingest sizable portions of complex, sophisticated food; instead he wanted to eat something simple, like ham and eggs. A final contributing factor was that they had few friends in Bowling Green. Those they dined with and visited from time to time, she eventually grew tired of. Besides, playing cards with another couple until bedtime was not the sort of life she had imagined—or wanted—when she married him.
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It is within this context that Emelie left him and moved back to Chicago. More than two years later, on Wednesday, 5 December 1945, the Warren County, Kentucky circuit court granted her a divorce on the grounds of “cruelty.” So bitter was she at the time that she threatened to restore her name to Tolman.
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While the divorce was by several accounts, an “unpleasant” affair, after her unhappiness subsided, Emelie often spoke favorably of her former husband and their years together. While cultural differences were probably the main ingredient at work in their separation, over the
years she repeatedly cited Hines's family for the breakup, rather than him. After her return to Chicago, she spent the rest of her working years as a secretary. In 1964, at age 68, she retired, and moved into a condominium she owned in Palm Beach County, Florida, where she lived for the next twenty-two years. She never married again.
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When she died on 9 November 1986, her death certificate listed her as the widow of Duncan Hines.
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When Emelie left Hines, she let him fend for himself. As had been the case after Florence's death, without a woman about the house he was rendered somewhat helpless, and his family knew it. To compensate for his loss, someone from his family—Porter or his children—went to his house almost every evening he was in town to cook supper for him. He did not like to drive after dark, so it was more convenient for him to stay home and have his family keep him company than to drive into town toward dusk and risk a traffic accident. When someone came to look after him, they usually played checkers or Utica or whisk—a short form of bridge—or rummy. If someone mentioned an old forgotten card game, they spent the rest of the evening trying to remember the rules as they played a round. Playing cards came naturally to him. When he couldn't sleep, he usually idled the night away playing solitaire.
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When Hines became bored with this form of relaxation, he listened to the radio. One of his favorite programs was “Amos and Andy.” He would not, however, listen for more than an hour; remaining immobile for long periods made Hines restless. He needed something to occupy his hands and his mind. Quite often he simultaneously played solitaire while listening to the radio.
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It was believed he needed a female companion and early in 1946 his family suggested that Hines date his recently-widowed friend, Clara Nahm. During the years that he and Emelie were married, they frequently dined with Clarence and Clara Nahm; afterward the foursome usually retired to a long evening of card games. The two couples were probably attracted to one another because they were both nearly the same age and had similar interests. Another factor cementing their friendship was that neither were burdened with children to raise.
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The Nahms lived just two doors away from Annie's residence at 615 East Main Street, so it was relatively easy for the two couples to be introduced. Clarence Nahm and Hines became such good friends that Nahm even let him store country hams in his garage.
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Mose and Adelia Rosenthal Nahm came to Bowling Green from Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1863 during the Civil War. Along with John W. Jackson, he began operating a dry goods store in 1871. In 1873 his brother, Ben Nahm, bought Jackson's interest and renamed the firm Nahm Brothers. Clarence Nahm was born on 21 March 1874. Nahm Brothers was a great success, and it afforded the couple to make ample financial provisions for their son's education. After graduating from Vanderbilt University Dental School in the mid-1890s, Clarence established a practice in Bowling Green. Soon afterward, however, he and his brother, Floyd, entered their father's business. From then until 1932, when the Depression brought about the firm's end, Nahm Brothers remained Bowling Green's most popular dry goods and ready-to-wear store. Clarence and Floyd Nahm then established Nahm Brothers Insurance Agency, which operated successfully until Floyd's death on 11 May 1939, after which Clarence went into semi-retirement.
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Clara Wright was born on 26 July 1904 in Port Royal, Virginia. Her father, Arkley Wright, was a teacher in the northeastern Kentucky town of Carrollton. She was the only girl. Her mother, Anna (nee Mattick) died in 1905,
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and her father soon remarried, and in time Clara had five step-brothers. At some point Clara was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in Prestonville, Kentucky, a
town across the river from Carrollton. Her relatives raised her along with their own child who was close to Clara's age.
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Upon graduation from high school in about 1919, Clara went to Cumberland College, a small, four-year college in Williamsburg, Kentucky, in the southeastern part of the state.
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Following graduation in 1923,
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she became a teacher in the Carroll and Harlan County school systems.
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In 1929 she moved to Bowling Green and found steady employment as a recorder in the admissions office of Western Kentucky State Teachers College. She remained a member of the administration until 1932,
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when she left the college to become a secretary for Clarence Nahm. One year later, on 27 December 1933, they were married.
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A few days before his death, Clarence Nahm suffered a heart attack at his downtown office. He was moved to his home and shortly thereafter suffered a second attack which took his life. On 4 October 1944, Clarence Nahm died at age 70, leaving a 40-year-old widow.
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It was not too long afterward that Hines came around offering her first friendship and then a marriage proposal. Clara was lonely and no doubt wanted another husband to keep her company. Hines was lonely and desperately needed someone to run his household. Since both offered the other qualities their lives were lacking, Clara accepted his proposal. On 22 March 1946,
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on a very warm day for that time of year,
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Duncan Hines married Clara Wright Nahm at a private wedding ceremony in Annie's home.
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For the next thirteen years Clara remained his constant companion and best friend as they traveled throughout the country, sampling the best in food and life.
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Theirs was a mature love. They were dependent and respectful of one another. Clara loved to travel as much as he did; she also enjoyed returning to Bowling Green after a long trip—an attitude which pleased Hines immensely after his experience with Emelie. Hines loved to kid Clara, and she loved to be kidded. Clara also loved to buy beautiful clothes, and she returned from their trips with one hat box after another. One day in the mid-1950s, Clara came home with a hat which looked as if it had sprouted little ears of corn from its
corners. It amused Hines. Remembering a character he had seen on the “Captain Kangaroo” television program, he told everyone that she had purchased “Mr. Green Jeans hat.” He kidded her, saying, “Clara, here's a dime. Now get your Captain Kangaroo hat and let's go to town.” Upon which, she smiled, quickly retrieved it, and within moments was scampering toward the car. She never minded his kidding, and she did not try to kid him back. She let him be the show because he
was
the show. Always the entertainer, he liked being the center of attention, performing for everyone around him.
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When they were home, Clara usually cooked their meals, but she delegated the two duties he was most capable of: making coffee and the salad. While in Bowling Green, they used “their three-month rest period to take off the pounds they [had added while] on the road.” During their months at home, “instead of eating a lot,” they just talked about it.
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One caloric indulgence Hines allowed himself during these rest periods, however, was a cocktail Clara dreamed up. This unorthodox concoction contained “the juice of watermelon pickle, a whole egg, cream, gin, grenadine, orange-blossom honey and lime juice.” Hines stated with gusto that he could “drink a dozen of them” without any ill effects.
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His love and appreciation for Clara increased as each year passed. So thankful was he for filling the void in his life that he began working her into his business. Almost immediately, he made her the chairman of the Duncan Hines Foundation;
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he later made her the
de facto
editor of
Adventures in Good Cooking.
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By January 1946 America's restaurant industry was booming and so was Hines's bustling little business. Bookstores across the country were deluged with requests for the latest edition of
Adventures in Good Eating
, which now listed over 5,000 places in which discriminating motorists could dine and sleep.
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There was one significant change in his life. He was so busy that he no longer had time to pursue his hobbies. Due to restrictions imposed on his country ham business during the war, he was forced to terminate it; when the war ended, he had no interest in reviving it. A few years earlier it had been possible for him to cure and sell hams on
the side for amusement, but this was no longer the case. When thousands wanted a Duncan Hines country ham, the fun of providing them vanished. Continuing his hobby would have only complicated his life. Besides, after the war the last thing he needed was a hobby.
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By 1945
Adventures in Good Eating
had metamorphosed into an icon symbolizing the best in life's culinary pleasures. Hines was gratified so many people were relying on it, but he was also highly amused by the increased interest in his person and how much people trusted him. He said in a speech he gave in March 1946:

it seems ridiculous, but it is true, that I receive a number of letters which do not pertain to my books. For instance, I received a [signed] blank check from a New Zealander asking me to buy him a forty-acre farm in Kentucky. And I have received many letters requesting me to purchase other things; or asking me just where they should settle down when they retire from business or asking me to send them a chef or a hostess. It may sound even more ridiculous, but they even ask me what to name their babies. I receive a number of letters from ex-servicemen and also from the Small Business Bureau in Washington, asking me to advise them in what locality this or that person should locate in order to open up a restaurant, what he should serve and what he should charge.