In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod and New England Podcast

Episode 77: The Unsolved Murder of Clarence Parker, The End of 'Sugar' Cereals, Funniest Stand-Up Comedians, Montpelier VT(7-14-2022)

July 14, 2022 Christopher Setterlund Season 1 Episode 77
In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod and New England Podcast
Episode 77: The Unsolved Murder of Clarence Parker, The End of 'Sugar' Cereals, Funniest Stand-Up Comedians, Montpelier VT(7-14-2022)
In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod & New England Podcast
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Show Notes Transcript

Episode 77 kicks off with some true crime. Clarence Parker was a loving husband, doting father, and respected member of the Falmouth, Massachusetts community. So why was he killed in cold-blood on his front lawn, and why has the case never been solved?
It is the smallest state capital in America, population-wise.  However Montpelier, Vermont is also one of the most beautiful and unique. Located near the Canadian border, among the Green Mountains, this little capital city has so much to offer all year-round.  Learn more about it in this week's Road Trip.
Few things bring back pleasant childhood memories than a big bowl of heavily sweetened breakfast cereal.  Combine that with some classic Saturday Morning Cartoons and most children of the 70's and 80's are in heaven.  Do you remember the time when sugar was removed from many cereals?  No, not the sugar itself, but the word 'sugar.'  We go way Back In the Day to look at the time in the early 1980's when sugar was a dirty word and was removed from many popular breakfast cereals' names.
Laughter is the best medicine.  This week's Top 5 is going to give a heaping helping of it.  We look at some of the funniest current stand-up comedians and I give some examples of their bits you should check out if you've never heard of them.
There will be a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule which revolves around the very first show performed by the Rolling Stones.

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Listen to Episode 76 here.

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Intro

Hello World, and welcome to the in my footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. Coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 77. This week's show kicks off with a nearly century-old unsolved Cape Cod murder. We're going to look at the unsolved murder of Clarence Parker from Falmouth, Massachusetts, we're going to take a road trip up north to the smallest capital city in America, that being Montpelier, Vermont, we're gonna go way way back in the day as I look at memories of when sugary cereals went extinct, and I mean sugar, just sugar in its name is going to be a brand new top five as I looked at my picks for the top five funniest current stand up comedians. And of course, there's going to be a brand new this week in history and Time Capsule all coming up right now on episode 77 of the in my footsteps podcast. It's that time of year now is we're in the full grips of summer, Cape Cod, like I said, it's a vacation destination and we get packed with people. So basically, when the fall foliage returns to the area that will be when you'll be able to make a left turn on route 28. Those that have been to the Cape will get that reference. If not, it's just a metaphor for the traffic that we've got here for the next six weeks, eight weeks. I hope everyone's gotten a chance to go out and enjoy the weather. It's been a way better summer weather wise than I expected. And the reason I know this is because we're now in mid-July and I still haven't had to put my AC unit in. Granted, we've had a couple of days where it's been up in the 80s but it's been perfect weather. I mean, I've really been enjoying it. So I hope you've been outside. Before we get started with the show I wanted to send a special thank you to my cousin Eddie for donating some coffees. He bought me some coffees on buy me a coffee.com if you want to go there to buy me a coffee and find the in my footsteps podcast, any donations go to advertising the podcast and I'll shout you out like I just did to my cousin Eddie. So thank you so much. But like I always say you don't have to donate you can always share the podcast word of mouth is every bit as important as donating for advertising. Coming up July 26. at the water's edge cinema in Provincetown is the final screening of the lady of the dunes documentary. I've had several segments about this documentary in the book that I'm writing in the archives of the podcast, becoming of this as the final screening before it goes to distribution. Producer Frank Durant and I along with Stephen the medium, Susan the happy Cape Cod medium, and others that are involved in the project are going to be at the showing and trying to do some media and such. But I'll share the ticket-buying link in the description of the podcast, I don't know how long the tickets are going to be available for they could very well be sold out by the time you hear this. But it's going to be a fun night, the vinyl screening it's on the anniversary, the date that the body was found in the dunes of Provincetown. So it's very symbolic. If you can get there, if not wait for the distribution of the documentary. And if you can't see that, wait a little longer for my book to come out about it. But we go from one unsolved murder to another to start off episode 77 of the podcast. This one is baffling to me. I did a little research on this person this case. And it is amazing that in nearly a century there has been nothing in terms of a solution to it. So let's jump right into the nearly century-old unsolved murder mystery of Falmouth, Massachusetts Clarence Parker here on episode 77 of the in my footsteps podcast.

The Unsolved Murder of Clarence Parker

He was a lifelong Cape Codder. He was a war hero. He was a hard working and well respected member of the community. So why was he brutally gunned down on his front lawn? More importantly, why has this case remained unsolved for nearly a century? This is the story as it is known of the unsolved murder of Falmouth Clarence Parker. Clarence a Parker was born in Falmouth on January 15 1893, to Willoughby and Lillian Parker. He was educated through the Falmouth school district before taking up work at HV Lawrence's greenhouses in town. From a young age, Parker was a handsome, jovial and popular man, the type of person that the community was proud to call one of their own. When World War One broke out, Parker was drafted into the army. He was assigned to Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. Before leaving to go to war, Parker married Janet Howitt. Their ceremony was pushed up to September 19 1917. The couple will go on to have a daughter named Alis and a son named Gordon while living at 62. Walker street close to Clarence his parents. Parker returned to Cape Cod in July 1919, after serving as private at Camp Baronquine in France. He spent much of the 1920s building on his positive reputation holding town offices such as deputy clerk. The biggest break for Parker came in March 1927 When the Atlantic and Pacific tea company better known as A&P, opened its second Cape Cod store. The first A&P had opened in Hyannis, but the second was on Main Street in Falmouth and the grocery store chain wanted Parker as their manager, a loving husband and father, a main member of the American Legion Auxiliary, and a popular respected manager of the local A&P Clarence Parker didn't have any shortage of friends. That's why what happened in the early morning hours of September 7 1930 is so shocking. Shortly after midnight on Sunday morning, September 7 1930, Parker closed up the A&P he had brought a leg of lamb wrapped in brown paper home with him. After pulling his car into the garage, Parker walked across his lawn. It was at about 12:20am that a single shot rang out. Clarence his wife, Janet heard the shot from inside and open the front door to find Clarence face down only a few feet from the door, he was dead. The unknown assailant took the leg of lamb and ran off through the backyard leaving their revolver behind to theory was that it was robbery. The assailant thought that Parker had brought the stores money home to be deposited, when in fact he had done that the day before. This was cemented when the leg of lamb was found in a nearby field opened, likely dumped when it was proven to not be money. Ann Richardson, the owner of the nearby elm arch in could only describe a hapless man running across her property after the shooting. The assailant was believed to have escaped in a car parked on shore street. A beloved member of the Falmouth community had been coldly killed steps from his front door, the rage from the townspeople was palpable in total $4,000 or just under $66,000, when adjusted for inflation to 2022 worth of rewards were offered including $2,500 from A&P. This was seen as an example of how highly regarded Parker was. Another example was the overflowing services at Parker's funeral. It was hoped and expected that the Falmouth police would solve the heinous crime quickly. What came was a series of leads that would quickly be debunked. The first was only a few weeks later an abandoned Chrysler car was found near Silver Lake in Kingston. It had suspicious markings on a story about the murder from the New Bedford standard times. However, it was confirmed by state police that the car had been stolen from Stedman Buttrick of Concord, Massachusetts, well after the murder would have taken place. In addition, the car was out of gas and the battery was dead when found. Next came a salacious editorial piece from the Brockton enterprise. It said that Parker's murder was connected to illegal run running, going further by surmising that Parker had knowledge of rum gangs activities, but after refusing to join them was murdered to keep him quiet. Falmouth police chief Herbert Lawrence dismissed the rumors. By the end of 1930, there had been no arrests. The reorganization and enlargement of the Falmouth police department was demanded and expected due to the perceived failure. Chief Lawrence resigned at the end of 1930, citing poor health. The investigation remained ongoing throughout 1931. Lieutenant Joseph Ferrari of the homicide bureau of the state police said that they were still investigating, but it was baffling the lack of clues as to the killer's identity. In August 1932, convicted Mashpee murderer Sylvester Fernandez before his death and the electric chair purportedly gave the name of Parker's killer to district attorney William crossly. He then tried to substantiate it but it was fruitless. For two years there had been little in the way of progress or even clues in the murder of Clarence Parker. The closest lead and likely a scenario came to light in November 1932. Boston district attorney William Foley got a new lead from arrested Boston gangster Morris Cohen of Dorchester. Cohen said that a young man named Murton Millen was running with a well-known liquor racketeer. It was while they were attending a liquor meeting in Falmouth that Millen purportedly went to Rob Parker. He lurked in the shrubs of Parker's home on Walker Street and waited. Cohen said that melon then shot him a few feet from his door with cold blooded precision. Parker died almost instantly. However, the robbery was a failure due to it being a leg of lamb and not money in the brown paper bag. This seemed to tie in with previous theories of a failed robbery and an out of town killer made sense as Parker was exceedingly popular. This theory had doubt cast on it by Lieutenant Joseph Ferrari, as he saw Millen as too young to run with liquor gain. with cold water thrown on the latest lead, the case went cold for several years. New leads came to light in September 1936, almost 400 miles north in Montreal, Canada, several members of local law enforcement went north to interrogate someone who was in Falmouth at the time of the murder. This led to seven more people being interviewed in Hyannis as a part of these new developments. But sadly, despite all of the bluster, nothing came from the investigations. The case went cold and Clarence Parker became just a name on a headstone in Oak Grove cemetery. It's been 92 years since Clarence Parker was coldly gunned down on his own front lawn. It has also been 86 years since any meaningful leads were investigated. The case has gone cold and will likely remain unsolved. Whether it was a young Rum Runner, and a botched robbery or something not yet explored. The bottom line is that a young husband and father and a popular member of the community was killed, and the murder has never been identified.

Road Trip: Montpelier, VT

In the United States, it's commonplace for the state capitals to be smaller than the largest cities in the state. Albany, New York is much smaller than New York City, Sacramento, California is much smaller than Los Angeles, and so on. It is rare, though, for a state capitol to be so small population wise, as the one we're going to talk about in this week's road trip, Montpelier, Vermont. Now don't get me wrong, Montpelier and northern Vermont in northern New England, it's just beautiful up there wide open spaces, green mountains. But there's no getting around the fact that the city quote unquote, of Montpelier, the state capitol is the smallest state capitol in the United States. As of 2020, the population was 7434. For comparison, down on Cape Cod, the town of Mashpee, has a population of just around 14,000. So it's basically double the size of Montpelier. And anyone who's from Massachusetts or Cape Cod, could you imagine Mashpee being the capital of the state. It's just a weird concept. For comparison, the second smallest state capitol in the country population wise is Pierre, South Dakota, which has a population roughly around 14,000, just like Mashpee. Montpelier is way up north in Vermont. It's just over 50 miles away from the Canadian border. So that'll give you kind of an idea how far it is to get there. It's also 120 miles northwest of Concord, New Hampshire. So it's not centrally located. But it is a place that you should visit. It's worth going up there. I'm naturally I'm a big fan of architecture in the state capitol buildings and the domes, the golden domes, and those are all very similar in all the states. So that's one where you go to Montpelier and it's very small, and you've got the Winooski river that passes through that gives a lot of opportunities to take those beautiful Riverside photos. It's great when you go up there for fall foliage that'll make it all make sense as to why you should go up there. Because obviously summers are shorter the further north you go so the prime time to go to Montpelier for summer weather is July and August. You can take a drive along Route to State Route to that goes all through Vermont in general but through Montpelier as well. beautiful scenic drives are such a huge part of any road trip. So driving route to to get to Montpelier is just incredible. The first place I would recommend checking out when going to Montpelier is the Bragg farm Sugar House and gift shop at 1005 Vermont Route 14 North or bragg farm.com. The Bragg family has been running this and making their own maple syrup for eight generations. So you know, they know what they're doing. They've got cookies and candies and straight up just maple syrup and jugs, which let's be honest, real maple syrup from northern Vermont. In mean that's going to top anything you could get in a typical supermarket. You can get guided tours around the sugar house and they have tasting so you can sample everything. You can order gift baskets to send people the brag farm, this is not something you would expect to find in a typical state capitol. So that's what makes Montpelier so special. It's the combination of city slash rural, I guess you could say, go to Vermont vacation.com, to get a better idea of things to do and see in Montpelier. Because I can give you a taste of it and give you ideas that I might enjoy. But everyone's interests are different. You're up there, you're up in the Green Mountains. So if you're up there looking to hike or in the wintertime ski, you're not far from any of these places. You're less than an hour from Camel's Hump, the third highest mountain in Vermont, West in the town of Huntington. You're also less than an hour from the sugar bush resort Southwest in the town of Warren. But this is about Montpelier and hanging out there and visiting there. And so you're going to work up an appetite walking around the beautiful downtown, check out Sarduccis Italian restaurant located at three main street inside the Montpelier railroad station. They're also at Sarduccis.com, where you can get a better picture of what they serve there. They've got some great menu photos. But it's classic Italian fare. If you like Italian food, you're going to find something you love at Sarduccis. And that's coupled with the beautiful views of the Winooski River, and just the whole atmosphere of Montpelier in and of itself. If Italian cuisine is not your thing, you can also go check out the three Penny taproom located at 108 Main Street, and three Penny tap room.com. This is more casual dining with craft beer from a lot of the small craft beer breweries in the state. I'm definitely no craft brew expert. So I could give you names of the breweries that are listed there and have no idea who they are. But it comes highly recommended. It's one of the top craft brewery restaurant destinations in the state of Vermont. So that right there is saying something like I always say with these road trips, you should go and just find your own way and find your own unique views and vistas around Montpelier. I'm just fascinated with it being the state capitol but being located up in the mountains. I mean, you look at pictures of the state capitol building and there's all these trees and green behind them and it doesn't look like what you expect the state capitol to be. It's got a thriving theater and arts district and is also in addition to being the state capitol is considered to be one of the top small arts towns in America. So you can enjoy the theater and the arts and being in a state capitol and then go somewhere like Hubbard Park which is 200 acres of trails, picnic areas, they even have sledding trails, there's a 54 foot observation tower which the views there just imagine when it comes down to Montpelier though, just go and stay make a few days out of it. You can spend the nights at the high hill in at 265 Green Road is a beautiful old Victorian Bed and Breakfast on 47 acres of land with the beautiful views around it. Check out high hill.com to get better acquainted with it. You can also visit vt chamber.com. To get better acquainted with Montpelier things to do things to see where to eat. I mean, I gave you places that I looked into that I would enjoy and shared them with you but what you're into will definitely differ from mine. Montpelier is 180 miles from Boston so a day trip. You can do it but it's going to be rushing it. I highly recommend taking a few days. Enjoy it. Take your time. Visit every little nook and cranny that you can walk along the Winooski river visit Bragg farm. It's a rare mix of small mountain town and State Capitol. That's what makes Montpelier special thriving arts and theater district delicious restaurant water views. And you can go anytime of the year fall foliage skiing, enjoying the warm summer weather in the green. Just point your car and go and you won't be disappointed. And I'll be back with the next road trip to give you ideas of beautiful places to visit in New England and beyond.

This Week In History

This week in history we're going back 60 years ago this week, July 12 1962. And the iconic legendary rock band The Rolling Stones played their very first show ever. Even if you're not a fan of classic rock, you know who the Rolling Stones are. You know who Mick Jagger is you know who Keith Richards is. They were a part of that original British Invasion of the early to mid 1960s along with the Beatles and The Who in total have sold well over 240 million albums in the six decades since they got started. their very first concert they ever performed was at London's marquee club on Oxford Street. The original lineup included Mick Jagger on vocals, Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitars. Ian Stewart on piano, Dick Taylor on bass and Tony Chapman on drums. According to concert archives.org Since that first show, The Rolling Stones have played 1380 concerts. It says it's updated as of 2022. I don't know how accurate it is, but that's a lot of shows. Interestingly, the press ahead of that very first concert 60 years ago this week, had the Rolling Stones seen as more of an r&b type act rather than straight rock and roll. According to accounts from that show some of the songs they performed by their heroes like Jimmy Reed, Elmore, James, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. And has given the world some of the most iconic songs ever written. I can't get no satisfaction. Give me shelter brown sugar, Ruby Tuesday, Miss you Sympathy for the Devil. Jumping Jack Flash painted black. I could just go on for the next 15 minutes naming famous Rolling Stone songs. I think most of you out there at least know one of those that I just said. But it's amazing that they are still touring in 2022 when their very first concert they ever performed as the Rolling Stones took place 60 years ago in London this week in history. And now it's time for another brand new time capsule. We are going to stick to the same day, July 12 1962 While the Rolling Stones were making their debut in Music in London. What was going on in pop culture in America? Well, let's find out. The number one song was roses are read by Bobby Vinton. This was off of his album roses are red and other songs for the young and sentimental. This was Vinton his first big hit it stayed at number one for four weeks. Vinton was a teen idol, and he became known as the Polish Prince. In 1963. He would have his next number one single which was a cover of Tony Bennett's song Blue Velvet. The number one movie was that touch of mink. It starred Cary Grant, Doris Day, John Astin, Audrey meadows and others. The movies of romantic comedy where a rich businessman and a young woman are both attracted to each other. But the businessman only wants an affair and the woman wants to save herself for marriage. The movie made just under $18 million at the box office, and a fun stat was it became the fastest movie to gross $1 million at a single theater when it did so in five weeks at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The number one TV show was Ben Casey. This show was a medical drama starring Vince Edwards as Ben Casey, who is a young neurosurgeon at County General Hospital. It's known mostly for its unique opening titles with these hand drawn symbols on a chalkboard. While cast member Sam Jaffe said the words man, woman birth death infinity, the show was on the air for five seasons from 1961 to 1966, and a total of 153 episodes. And if you were around back then 60 years ago, this week in history, and it was a rainy, terrible summer day, and you didn't want to go outside and get soaked. But you still wanted to have some fun indoors. Well, there was a great toy for you. In the Sears catalog for the spring and summer, you could find the Lionel Porter chemistry set, you could get different sizes, which would allow you have different number of experiments, the 350 experiment set was 495. But if you wanted to go all out and get the 1000 experiment set, it would cost you $29.88, or about $289 when adjusted for inflation. This included a centrifuge that could separate liquids and solids and seconds, a powerful agitator for the test tubes, you could make inks, soaps, dyes, even rocket fuel for the rocket that came with it. It was a far different time back then when you could get chemistry sets with real chemicals in them. But that'll wrap up another this week in history, another time capsule. And if you think it's funny that there used to be real chemistry sets that you could buy for kids. Well, we got some more laughs as we jump into a brand new top five, these are going to be my picks for the top five, funniest current stand up comedians, so let's get laughing right now.

Top 5: Funniest Current Stand-up Comedians

This top five is sure to give people debate, but also give you a lot of laughs because we're going to look at the top five funniest current stand-up comedians. Naturally, this is my opinion. And the other caveat is, these have to be comedians that are either on tour or have recently been on tour or are actively touring. Because I'm going to at some point, do my favorite all time stand up comedians and the best from each decade etc. These names will give you some to go see if they come touring to your area. And who knows maybe some of these names will be brand new to you and you will discover something amazing. That's kind of how I found a lot of these was through my Pandora station. That's just comedy icons. Naturally these top five lists always have a few honorable mentions. So the honorable mentions for funniest current stand-up comedians are Bill Burr, Kyle Kinane, and Mike Birbiglia. You can't go wrong checking out some of the clips of some of these guys on YouTube. So go and check them out. Even if you know them. You can't go wrong and have some laughs. So the actual top five starts right now with number one, Tom segura. He's 43 years old. He was born in Cincinnati, and started doing stand up in the early 2000s. He and his wife also hosts a podcast called your mom's house. If you're totally unfamiliar with his work, he's got several Netflix specials. But one of his best known bits is the story of him meeting Mike Tyson on a plane and then Tyson going to one of his comedy shows. So if you don't know Tom Segura, start with that one and you'll fall down the rabbit hole. Number two is Jim Jefferies. He's 45 and he's from Sydney, Australia. So he's got the accent. He's had two different TV shows. One was called legit. And the other one was the Jim Jefferies show. He's most well known for his gun control bit, which is really great, but the humor can be divisive, just like the issue of gun control is a lot of his other material is pretty dirty and it's funny as hell. I would say if you're looking for somewhere to start with Jim Jefferies try to find a segment called I swear to God, just look up Jim Jefferies vibrating egg. It's such a dirty story, but it's so funny and that's the first thing I thought of with him. So just look that up on YouTube and listen and laugh. Because I promise you'll again, you'll go down the rabbit hole with him. Number three is Chris Rock. He's probably my favorite stand-up comedian of all time. I never saw it in him when he was on Saturday Night Live because he was more of a bit player. His first stand up special bring the pain was what really brought him to my attention. That was in 1996. He's one where you probably know some of his work. Just go on YouTube and click Chris Rock stand up and just you won't be disappointed. He also had his own TV show in the 2000s. Everybody Hates Chris. And he also had the Chris Rock show on HBO in the late 90s into the early 2000s. Number four is Nate bargatze. He's 43. He's from Nashville, Tennessee. He's actually touring this summer. He's coming to the Cape Cod melody tent and I'm tempted to go see him because he just cracks me up. He's got this unique voice unique accent from being from Tennessee. So it's makes some of the lines funnier that he says his career started in the early 2000s. A lot of his jokes centered around him growing up with his father being a clown slash magician. And if I was looking for one thing to get you to go and check out on YouTube, maybe check out the one about baseball about him playing baseball as a kid. Because with these ones I'm trying to get you to go and listen to or watch I don't want to give away with the humor is of it. I want you to go and hear it for yourself. So the baseball ones really funny. And finally, number five on my top five list of the funniest current stand up comedians is Jerry Seinfeld. This guy literally needs no introduction and he's still on the road. He was recently doing a tour. All you need to do is click on any of the Seinfeld episodes and watch to get a grasp on his humor, mundane and observational, but in the funniest way possible. He's also recently done the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee show where he reminisces and interviews other famous comedians. My favorite of those was when he interviewed Eddie Murphy, which was great. But Jerry Seinfeld, he's one of the all time legends and it's not hard to see why and it's not hard to find some of his great material. So there you go. There you have it, my top five funniest current comedians, Tom Segura, Jim Jefferies, Chris Rock, Nate bargatze and Jerry Seinfeld. Do yourself a favor and go listen to a lot of their stuff. The Honorable Mention stuff too, and just laugh. And at some point, I'll do one with retired comedians or older comedians. But any of these I just mentioned, you have a chance to go and see them to go do it.

Back In the Day: The End of ‘Sugar’ Cereals

For me, growing up as a child of the 1980s there were very few things better than waking up on a Saturday morning, knowing you didn't have school, getting to go out in the living room. Turn on some Saturday morning cartoons. And grab a big bowl, grab the milk and grab the best sugary cereals possible and have just an amazing morning and like today, sure. Back then there were healthy cereals, total cornflakes. Stuffed with Bran, Bran Flakes. But none of those beat the high sugar content cereals. But an interesting sort of sleight of hand trick that came along with cereals in the 1980s Was this period of time in the mid 1980s, where the cereals went from having sugar directly in the name to then changing those names. But it didn't change the sugar content, which was the funniest part. And that's what we're looking at now as we go way way back in the day is the death of sugar cereals, but sugar just in the name only. It's interesting because kids that grew up even kids that grew up in the 90s to now you look at cereals like Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes, and honey smacks you all grew up with those they cereals are basically exactly the same as they were when I was a kid except for one big difference and that's the name. Corn Pops were sugar pops frosted flakes were sugar Frosted Flakes, honey smacks was sugar smacks. It became a marketing thing where sugar became a bad word, which I mean it is if you have tons of sugar. It's extremely unhealthy and very addictive. Believe me, I know especially during COVID When comfort food was what you needed to kind of get by. I became a big fan again of all the sugary cereals and sugary desserts that I used to like as a kid. But back when I was 7, 8, and 9 years old, eating the cereals, I had no worries about that a kid's metabolism is so much better than an adult's. That's another thing I've learned. So it was something I didn't notice when I was a kid that my sugar pops were now Corn Pops or Frosted Flakes used to be sugar Frosted Flakes, I didn't notice that. So it was in the mid 80s 1984ish, where the marketing changed and cereals with the sugar in the name were dropped. But like I said, all they did was change the name and take sugar out they didn't actually make them healthier. Sugar smacks becoming honey smacks did not make it healthier. I was doing research and I looked up I found an article from 2011 on the cereals, the 10 with the highest sugar content, and this is in 2011. So we're talking more than 25 years after they took sugar out of the names of some of these cereals. And some of the ones that made the top 10 are what you'd expect. They were probably your favorites. They were my favorites. Some of them are still my favorites. Froot Loops, they said is 41% sugar. Apple Jacks is almost 43% Captain Crunch is over 44% sugar. golden crisp is just under 52%. And the king of sugary cereals at least back then was honey smacks, which was over 55% sugar. And those were ones that I still love. I love Apple Jacks. I don't know if any of you out there. Remember this in the 80s. And it might still be the same now but you get to the bottom of the box of cereal. And there would just be this residue, almost like it was a spoonful of sugar in there or several spoonfuls. I noticed that a lot in sugar smacks or Froot Loops or really Cinnamon Toast Crunch when you get to the bottom and it's just cinnamon and sugar that you could just dump on your cereal. The idea of the United States having super high sugar cereals like Lucky Charms and fruity pebbles. It's not just an American thing. It seems to be English-speaking countries. So the United Kingdom Australia, they along with the United States, it seems like we three countries are the ones that love our sugary cereals the most. But let's be honest, like I said at the beginning of this they took the words sugar out of the cereal so it wasn't prominent on the front of the box. But all it was was lip service. I named you the highest sugar content cereals just from 2011. Those all are the same as they were in the 80s. And even back then I'm sure children of the 80s remember cereals like oh Jays or ice cream cones or nerds, where it was cereals that were obviously high in sugar. They just didn't say it. Seriously though, as a kid though, would you rather have ice cream cone cereal or Wheaties even though Wheaties would have Michael Jordan on it, I'd rather have sugar cereal. It was in the late 1970s where the Federal Trade Commission began looking at cereals and cereal companies because they're mostly marketed towards kids. And you know this, if you grew up in the 80s 90s or you're a parent now, it's not quite as prevalent now but especially the 80s with the mascots that were with the cereals, toucan Sam or Sonny the cuckoo bird from Cocoa Puffs. The three Baker's with cinnamon toast crunch, dig ‘em the frog, or that Sugar Bear from sugar smacks. It's all geared toward kids. It's a similar thing with fast food restaurants back in the day, especially when they had the kids meals and Ronald McDonald. So that's kind of where the hammer began to fall on the cereal companies where they at least made them take sugar out of the name. And then there became the movement towards healthier cereals made with whole grain quote unquote that was front and center it still is because they were always healthier cereals. Special K like I said Total, Wheaties. But then you started getting ones like Kashi that I guess were marketed more towards the adults that were now looking to get healthier. Because God knows as a kid, if you want cereal, you want the sugar just like if you're gonna go to a fast food restaurant, you're not going to get a salad you're there for a certain reason. But you who grew up in the 80s or 70s Do you remember the sugary cereals and what were your favorites? And are they still the same now? And another thing is, if you grew up then when you had kids if you had kids, did you buy them the same sugary cereals that you got or did you start to lean in more towards the healthier ones? Don't make the same mistakes. I did something like that. I do remember those 1980s cereals, the mascots the sugar, they would get the toys inside or you could cut off the box tops and send it away for better toys. They obviously continued gearing the cereals towards kids because I remember the classic 1980s and 90s Cereal commercials. I did always find it funny that they said cereals were part of a complete breakfast. Like when I had cereal in the 80s I would have three bowls of it. I didn't have room for toast and juice and whatever the hell else they said was a complete breakfast. No, my cereal was the complete breakfast. Portion control was not on my radar as a child, so I'd have almost a full box of cereal sometimes. Almost a full bag of Doritos sometimes. God bless my mother and stepfather for putting up with me as a growing child. Although I guess cereal and Doritos is a lot cheaper than if I had a hankering for lobster. But an interesting thing happened when it all became cyclical. Now think about this, that sugar was the word that Oh God, we can't have that front and center with our advertising for our cereals. Do you remember in more recent times high fructose corn syrup became that same thing? Oh, no, we can't have that in our products. Have you noticed that some sodas out there now say they're made with real sugar like that something great? It's incredible how that happens. That sugar was the bad word. And then high fructose corn syrup was worse. So it's like well, no, we use real sugar. It's like wait, I thought sugar was bad. 40 years ago, what made it different now? Honestly, it's all advertising and marketing tricks new and improved, new look same great taste. But the cereal thing was interesting. For me. It was something I wanted to talk about on the podcast. I haven't gone into detail as far as favorite cereals. Because I've done those are top five lists that I want to do. Favorite cereals when I grew up or weirdest cereals or the quickest discontinued all that stuff. But do you remember when cereals had sugar in the name? Because I clearly remember sugar pops and sugar smacks and sugar crisp? Drop me a message Christopher setterlund@gmail.com. Let me know about your favorite cereals growing up. And I'm sure that there'll be an upcoming top five or another back in the day where we dive deeper into the great old days of 80s sugary cereals and Saturday morning cartoons and all that good stuff.

Closing

That's going to do it that's going to wrap up episode 77 of the in my footsteps podcast. Thank you to everyone who has been tuning in the last couple of months june, july have been the best for the podcast. I'm so thrilled. I'm thrilled to have the listeners that have had from the beginning. I'm thrilled to have new people coming aboard finding this through searches or word of mouth or maybe advertising. I've got so much content coming up I have so many great topics to talk about. So 77 episodes is nothing we've still got a long way to go. And if you're not sick of me sick of my content go find me all over social media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook fan page, YouTube, the in my footsteps podcast blog, my homepage Christopher setterlund.com. Find me and my day job as a personal trainer and corrective exercise specialist at Mind Body spine chiropractic. We are almost ready to announce the opening of Cape kettlebell our sister Jim so there'll be more of that coming up. It's just all been in flux. So all I can do is drop these little hints and teasers. Like I said at the top go to Water's Edge cinema Provincetown look it up and find when the tickets go on sale for the final screening of the lady of the dunes documentary. I will post it on my social media but just keep looking because it's a smaller intimate theater so these tickets are gonna go fast. If you're looking for beautiful handcrafted handmade apparel for yourself for your pet, go to Kiwis Kustoms both spelled with K’s at etsy.com There's a link in the description of the podcast. beautifully made pet sweaters handcrafted. This is not something mass produced in some giant factory and then sent out to every store this is one on one if you get these from Kaleigh marks, they're handmade you can't go wrong with that. Beautifully done. She's doing handcrafted stuffies stuffed animals, fairy hats, bonnets, and necklaces, and she takes requests. That's the thing is if you go to her shop and see something that is sort of what you might want, you can always ask, but Kaleigh is building her brand and growing her talent and expanding her business. So go to Kiwis Kustoms etsy.com, click the link in the description, you will not be disappointed. Coming up next week is going to be episode 78 of the podcast. This is going to be the monthly bonus episode. So it's a little bit shorter. It's a deep dive into one topic. This is going to be a fun one, it's going to be all about the beginnings of my life as a working man. some specifics about jobs, I had my very first ones, but also about how to adapt to becoming an employee working for someone else and that whole lifestyle, it will surely give you flashbacks good and bad of when you became a worker for the first time. And then the week after there will not be a podcast episode I'm going to take the week off because that's the week of the lady of the dunes documentary final screening. So I've kind of got a lot going on. But the week after when episode 79 drops, I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about the final screening and what went into it. And any fun things that might happen during the screening. Like I always say at the end of these podcasts, take care of your mental health. I always mentioned summer, this time of year, the beautiful weather I try to mention the weather at all times a year, because you can never go wrong being outside unless it's in the middle of a hurricane or blizzard. But lean into the things that make you happy. Go easy on yourself. Don't ever compare yourself, your life, what you're doing where you're going with anyone else. Everyone is unique and everyone's journey takes a different path. God knows I'm familiar with that. My path has not been a straight line. It's been curves. It's been detours, it's been intersections, but take time to focus on what makes you happy, family and friends that give you the good vibes. Whether it's Guilty Pleasures on YouTube, having a glass of red wine, popping an edible, or just sitting at the beach and watching the waves roll in and just meditating. Whatever it is that makes you happy. That's what's most important, especially if it's not hurting anyone else. Don't worry about what others think. And if that resonates with you right now, that's great. Maybe someday it will maybe you don't need it. I envy those rare few that get through this life unscathed. But the main thing is, like Jim Morrison said, No one here gets out alive. So enjoy it while you can. So that's going to wrap up episode 77. I'm going to get ready to go out in the weather, which I believe is about 77 degrees. So remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps, create your own path and enjoy every moment you can and leave the biggest footprint you can because the journey end someday but it's not over until it's over. So whatever you do have a wonderful day, a wonderful week, a wonderful weekend. This has been the in my footsteps podcast. I have been Christopher Setterlund I will talk to you all again soon.