ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Ben Beagle
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE
My encyclopedia says that Father's Day was invented by a nice lady in Spokane, Wash., but I think there's more to it than that.
For one thing, nice ladies from Spokane don't own tie factories as a general rule, and the tie industry has depended on Father's Day for years.
No. I'm convinced this day was invented by an enterprising capitalist who did own a tie factory and had read all of Horatio Alger's books several times. His favorites were "Sink or Swim" and "Tattered Tom."
He was known in the industry for "running a tight ship," especially in the area of payroll expenses.
In this exclusive story on the origin of Father's Day, we'll call our man Theodore Gustavus Buckmaster - who believed that as the Buckmaster Tie Company, Inc., went so went the nation.
T.G. was having an early 20th century version of a power meeting one day and he was roughing up his staff pretty good about the company's poor showing over the past few years.
"We've got to turn this thing around or we'll all be going over the hill to poorhouse or jumping out a seventh-floor window," Buckmaster told the troops.
"I know what's wrong, chief," said the bright young man who was in charge of the western division. "Ties aren't very sentimental and these are sentimental times. What's a tie right now? Just something to spill your soup on. We need to align the common tie with some heart-wrenching family theme - like dear old father who has sacrificed so much for us."
"That's it," Buckmaster said. "We'll invent Father's Day and get our ad men to promote the idea that your dad deserves a tie, bless his now-failing heart."
Thousands of blubbering fathers got ties. T.G. enlarged his plant. He gave his employees a 25 percent discount on Father's Day ties.
Within two years, Buckmaster had retooled to produce shirts, pajamas, quality socks and fishing reels. The guy who gave him the Father's Day idea got a 2.5 percent raise.
Buckmaster's grandson has enlarged the Father's Day line to include T-shirts with sentimental sayings on them.
Buckmaster Greeting Cards, Inc., a subsidiary founded by T.G.'s wife shortly after pajamas were added to the line, is flourishing.
All of this suggests to me that Father's Day has become a kind of monster that has outgrown its own traditions.
Don't settle for a tie this year, boys. Hold out for a riding mower.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB