Milo's
in lo ve
but...
General Mills upset by Betty’s
affair with Amin in comic strip
By CAROLINE PETRICH
OftoEmnid
Betty Crocker is not just a pretty
face on a cardboard cake box She
really does exist — sort of
Mercedes Bates vice president of
General Mills Co and director of the
Betty Crocker Kitchens, represents
Betty Crocker s image She graduated
from Oregon State University with a
home economics degree in 1936
The alumni office at OSU refers to
Bates as Betty Crocker but Bates
explains that Betty Crocker was born
in 1921 because of an advertising
ploy As part of that advertising cam
paign General Mills, headquartered
in Minneapolis Minn sponsored a
contest asking housewives to piece
together a jigsaw puzzle and submit it
to the company
The prize for the feat was a pincu
shion shaped like a flour sack
Not only did the puzzles come back
but culinary questions like Why
won't my bread rise7' also were sent
in General Mills hired technicians to
write reponses — but who would sign
the responses7
The guru of cooking should be a
woman the company decided Now
all it needed was a name "Crocker'
was chosen to honor Minneapolis
first flour mill, and Betty was a
popular name of that era Voila'
Sixty years later, the mythical
homemaker is the apple pie of Milo
Bloom s eye in the syndicated strip
Bloom County," which the Emerald
began printing this fall Milo an out
spoken schoolchild calls the search
for his love A Quest for Lost
America
"I look for a way of life I look for
tradition motherhood fami
ly single career marriages' ex
pounds Miio "I look for simpler days
of an America that was'
Bates returns Milo s affection,
calling his quest very funny and
cute."
"I love the one about Nancy
Reagan,' Bates says with a laugh
She refers to an episode where Milo
discusses the purpose of his quest
with a hobo The hobo suggests
Nancy Reagan as a possible sweetie
instead
"I want apple pie and you give me
twmkies with hollandaise sauce Milo
screams
But Bates disapproves of cartoonist
Berke Breathed s linking Betty
Crocker and former Ugandan dictator
Idi Amin Milo originally discovers the
culinary cutie is an actual person in
a National Enquirer story Fabled
homemaker discovered in secret love
nest with Idi Amin "
"I thought that was a little nasty
Bates says “We treat Betty with great
respect and tenderness "
Bates did not begin her food career
as Betty Crocker After graduating
from OSU, she went on to become
food editor of McCall's magazine
In 1964 Bates was named company
vice president by General Mills the
first woman executive in the com
pany s history She also oversees the
Betty Crocker Food and Nutrition
Center that incorporates the kitchen
nutrition center and publication
department, handles consumer quer
ies and writes the Betty Crocker
cookbooks
The Portland native has received
many honors throughout her career
including National Delta Zeta Woman
of the Year in 1970, president of the
American Home Economics Associa
tion in 1970-71 and an honorary cita
tion from OSU in 1973
She certainly is representative of
what a woman can be ' says Billy
Webb, assistant to the dean of the
School of Home Economics at OSU
As for cooking Milo s queen of
fricasee chicken has no favorite
recipe The single Bates has one
culinary rule in her kitchen keep
things simple
MILO... SHE'S NO GOOD
FOR YA, KIP. 5HE HOPS.
Only exists on he says
mewses of he's only
PRfcfP POTATOES. GOT TASTE
THERERE OTHERS.... PUPS FOR
/ HER.
HOW
ABOUT
NANCY
REAGAN?
METWINKJES
WfTH H0CXANDAI66
SAUCE/
1 WANT
APPLE PE
mwm
i bip you adieu,
FOLKS- m OFF TO
FIND THE OBJECT
Of MY HEART'S
HUNGERING...
BETTY CROCKER.
UM...
MS. CROCKER,
1 PRESUME 7
YEP BUT KEEP
FT UNDER YOUR
W16, Ml LIYA 7
BAD FOR SALES
CHINA BLUE RESTAURANT
BRAISED BEAN CURD
Tender Shredded Pork with bambocj Shoots, Black Mushrooms
and Pea Pods tn a rich Special Sauce
S5.75
China Blue
879 E. 13th Ave
343-2832
Hours
Mon thru hri
11 <nn U) pm
S.il 5 11 pm
Sun 5 10 pm
m
INTERFAITH LECTURES
Last Lecture Series
DOMINIC LaRUSSO
Professor of Speech
University of Oregon
“Education: Models,
Muddles, and Myths”
The first of a series of lectures sponsored by Campus
Interfarth Ministry, called "last lectures " The speaker will
share basic thoughts and feelings as though this were
the speaker s last opportunity to do so publicly
Monday October 12. 7:30 p.m EMU Forum
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
kinko's
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