When you walked into the cookie store, the door to the kitchen had a star on it, because that was the dressing room for 'The Cookie.' Anyone can read what you share. Costa Mesa, California 92627 and Formosa Ave., in front of a Brazilian restaurant, you might notice a square metal sign. ''I was in Salt Lake City doing some promotion and I discovered that day that my house had been auctioned off,'' he recalled. Amos is a literacy advocate despite his limited schooling. "He would bring them with him to pitch meetings, the recording studio, to the soundstages, to executives' offices," his son Shawn explains. He's the agent that has cookies on him. Amos, Wally and Camilla Denton. Leading American Businesses. He eventually returned to Famous Amos as a "director of cookie fun," and travels the country lecturing on how to overcome misfortune and concentrate on the positive aspects of life. Money was so scarce for him and his family that he often had to walk four miles to and from school to save the bus fare. I think that's what he probably ended up discovering about himself.". "Whenever I see him, I've got a bag waiting for me.". Within months, Amos had opened two more West Coast franchises, and the New York-based Bloomingdale's department store had begun selling the gourmet cookies. Despite the company's poor financial history, and the fact that Uncle Wally's muffins have not become the huge hit with consumers that Famous Amos cookies once were, the business had modest revenues of about $3 million last year and the product is winning fans, Mr. Avignone said. ''An entrepreneur has an enormously high energy level and has a very low attention span typically,'' said Paul Karofsky, executive director of the Center for Family Business at Northeastern University. He then started another job, in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency, a leading theatrical booking and hiring agency. Mr. Amos became a paid spokesman but left in frustration the next year. With hard work and easy charisma, Amos worked his way into a role as a talent scout with William Morris Agency. I think its more than a fetish. "In Motown's heyday, they had something called the Motortown Revue, so he booked all that. Amos tries to coax the pillow away from him. I'm especially glad that Famous Amos Cookies are now in the hands of people who love, live, and breathe great-tasting cookies." "It's not the same formula. . He was the first black talent scout in America. He would throw his efforts into the cookies that had come to occupy so much of his time. I don't live my life for other people. Amos even appeared in Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1977 to 1981. He brought them to meetings and gatherings, always getting enthusiastic praise. Former politics editor at the Cambodia Daily. The man who created the Famous Amos cookie empire three decades ago and eventually lost ownership of the company as well as the rights to use the catchy name is now running a modest cookie shop in Hawaii. Amos, Wally and Camilla Denton. That year, Wally Amos launched Wally Amos Presents hazelnut cookies. Bush. As quoted in a Black Enterprise profile from November 1992, Amos said, "I knew I had the best product; all I needed to do was to convince the public of something I already knew.". Debt mounted to $1.3 million and Uncle Noname filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1997, emerging just two months ago. Amos was born to Wallace & Ruby Amos. Reality was starting to catch up, wrote Michael Ryan in Parade. He was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, until he was 12 years old. He has written 10 books,[6] many of which have a self-help theme, including The Cookie Never Crumbles[7] and The Power in You. Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with chocolate cookies and kaleidoscope skies. African American entrepreneur Wally Amos founded the Famous Amos cookie brand. In the back of his mind, however, he considered the idea of selling his cookies. degree. He was promptly sued for trademark infringement and forbidden from using his own name and likeness. A local history about the extraordinary lives of a generation of female daredevils. Born July 1, 1937, in Tallahassee, FL; married, wifes name Christine; four children. Read more about Wally Amos story inside. Mount Prospect, Illinois 60056 Others were too big. [18], Amos had lived in Hawaii from 1977 until 2018. Article Title: Wally Amos Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/wally-amos, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 24, 2021, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014. We made the move to the West Coast, and I fell in love with L.A. the epicenter of the entertainment world. But Wally Amos isn't one to fret over the loss of his name or his company. But. Amos headed the rock 'n' roll department, where he signed Simon and Garfunkel and worked with Motown megastars The Supremes, Diana Ross, Sam Cooke and Dionne Warwick. Amos never forgot those cookies. ''It was just an uphill battle, looking to establish a new cookie company without having the resources and still in the minds of everybody being Famous Amos,'' he said. Aunt Della loved to cook Amos later recalled that the person of greatest influence in his childhood was his father's mother. Being famous is highly overrated anyway, Wally Amos, author of ten books, friend of Simon & Garfunkel, and inventor of the Famous Amos cookie, told an AP reporter in 2007. That's not a bad pitch.''. He created a massive global brandFamous Amos Cookiesand then lost it all.vMost cookie lovers don't know he hasn't been part of that company for almost 30 years.It was a devastating loss, but one he takes full responsibility for. Mr. Amos was hardly in a position to play the tough negotiator. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/amos-wally-1937. Hard as it is to imagine in the '90s, there was a time in America when there was no shop devoted solely to chocolate chip cookies. 1986: Won President's Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. He also worked as a talent agent and discovered Simon & Garfunkel. U.S.A. Recalling the episode in the Providence Business News in 1995, Amos said, "I was irresponsible. "He likes to make them and eat them," Shawn Amos laughs. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. "Amos, Wally Although he was hired to work in the mail room and to do some janitorial work, Amos got noticed by the upper management because he was willing to do things that were not part of his job description. Despite robust sales, by 1985, the business was losing money, so Amos brought in outside investors. "In the end he was a natural entertainer himself. Amos hit a plateau working for the William Morris Agency and decided to strike out on his own. Famous Amos became a fixture in Hollywood, its proprietor staging celebrations much like the music revues he had helped organize in the 1960s. He quit after two years, however, and joined the U.S. Air Force in 1953 where he earned his high school diploma equivalent. This is where he introduced Los Angeles and the rest of the world to his sweetest star, "The Cookie." And though few people knew it, Mr. Amos's personal affairs were in such disarray that during the worst of it, he was 15 months behind on the mortgage for his house in Hawaii. Yet, after sampling the cookies that Keebler was selling, he couldn't help himself. He described his Aunt Della as "happy all the time," and as a woman who loved to cook and bake, especially chocolate-chip cookies. Current Biography Yearbook. Cookies were a hobby to relieve stress, says his son Shawn Amos, musician, and author of Cookies & Milk. Keebler Company. When his mother and grandmother came to New York, Amos moved in with them in 1951. The Uncle Nonam (pronounced No-NAHH-may) Cookie Company specializes in five varieties of gourmet cookies. His son Shawn called him a bearded, amped-up Willy Wonka whose mother used to beat him with an electrical cord, angry at Wallys fathers infidelities, their poverty, and at the structural strains of the Jim Crow South. He'd come to the store all the time and my dad would give him free cookies. Carlsen, Clifford. Wally Amos became the first Black talent agent in the history of the William Morris Agency in 1962. Why did Wally Amos lose his company? Hollywood tastemakers began to take notice: Id go to meetings with record company or movie people and bring along some cookies, and pretty soon everybody was asking for them, Amos told The New York Times in 1975. Serious people start wars, man. The Man With No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade. That same year, his fascination with cooking led him to enroll in the Food Trades Vocational High School. "I was confident Masekela's career would bankroll our dream. Within two years, his business operation evolved into a corporation which sold cookies nationwide in a variety of upscale stores. Kun kytt sivustojamme ja sovelluksiamme, kytmme, tarjotaksemme sivustomme ja sovelluksemme sinulle, todentaaksemme kyttjt, estksemme roskapostia ja vrinkytksi sek toteuttaaksemme tietoturvatoimia. "On the front cover there was a picture of The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie," he writes in The Cookie Never Crumbles. He signed Simon & Garfunkel and headed the agency's rock 'n' roll department. Today, Famous Amos is an international brand you can find in most grocery stores. The store opened on March 9, 1975, on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Formosa Avenue in Los Angeles. That became his shtick. New York: D. I. He was the only child of the marriage of Wallace and Ruby Amos. Famous Amos was selling $5 million worth of cookies by 1980, and just two years later sales had rocketed to $12 million. At school, he claimed that he had developed an intense desire to become successful and to make money. When he decided to go into the cookie business, Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy were among his backers. America sure must be one remarkable place if someone can be a wild success, a celebrity, from nothing but chocolate chip cookies. Wally Amos was born on July 1, 1936, in Tallahassee, Florida. Then he landed a job in the mailroom at the New York offices of talent agency William Morris. I want to tell people that if life hands them a lemon, they can turn it into lemonade. He added: Theres a lot of wisdom and spirituality in these cookies., For his part, Amos has become wiser and more spiritual himself. I thought, if you could just get Saddam Hussein and George Bush together over a bowl of cookies and milk, they'd solve this thing. ." He retained a position on the board of directors but was relieved of day-to-day responsibilities in the company. And it was filled with the aroma of her delicious chocolate chip cookies." For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. I deal in love." But he has been chastened by failure, acknowledging that in some respects he walked into a trap awaiting many entrepreneurs. Within two years the company was producing six tons of cookies each week, and Amoss little venture had become a business generating in excess of $4 million in sales per year. [On-line] http://www.famous-amos.com (accessed on August 15, 2002). Franchises followed. The later book dealt with Amos's legal battles with Famous Amos, which resulted in Amos being unable to use his name or face to sell any baked products. The Famous Amos Cookie Company was born. Upon discharge from the service, Amos attended secretarial school, learning shorthand, typing, and accounting skills. Wally Amos has an estimated net worth of $20 thousand as of 2023. Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. His parents divorced when he was twelve, and Amos was sent to live with his Aunt Della in Harlem, New York. "Workshop to Feature Famous Amos Founder." Business Leader Profiles for Students. . Amos has earned numerous honors for his volunteerism, including the Literacy Award presented by President George H.W. His responsibilities were diminished to the point that he became no more than a spokesperson for the brand name. In addition to being proprietor of Chip & Cookie in Kailua, the former cookie king is now a muffin mogul. 1900-1996. However, he ran low on funds and returned to his entertainment industry Rolodex in search of backer. Wallace Amos Jr. was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1936, the only child of Wallace and Ruby Amos. Mr. Amos is happy to do his part. [4] He started the business with the help of a $25,000 loan from Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy. He quit high school, joined the Air Force, got his GED, and landed a clerical job in New York. In the aftermath of the court cases, Amos abandoned all hopes of baking and selling cookies and sold muffins and cakes under the Uncle Noname label (originally formed in 1992). At the time, Mr. Amos challenged the barriers of entertainment as a Black man and went on to create a flourishing cookie empire. Soon he had $25,000 in financial backing. Profits increased. The legal order came from the owners of the Famous Amos Cookie Company. Education: Earned high school equivalency. Amos put together a packet for potential investors touting his product as though it was a Hollywood starlet. Of his experience living with his Aunt Della, Amos noted "for me, chocolate-chip cookies have always been an expression of love.". He began baking cookies using his Aunt Dellas recipe. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"DAWbIiPtfTtFzY4CfwZ6UTAwi.hV.E5y1C9rowz8sW8-86400-0"}; In Current Biography Yearbook, Amos reported that his grandmother treated him "with a very tender and understanding kind of love." [13], In 2019, Amos was called "the King of cookies" by NBC affiliate KSNV-TV in Las Vegas.