Keeping the “famous” in “Famous Amos,” the entrepreneur made guest appearances on hit TV shows like “The Jeffersons” and “Taxi.” Amos held a holiday block party where celebrity guests included Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali. “Amos elevated a product that was seen as an everyday item into a gourmet experience, says Szewczyk. Amos even appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1977 to 1981. In an age of mass production, Amos set his sights on something more upscale than the local supermarket, distributing his cookies in Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. “The concept of a zero-preservative, craft-made cookie was uncommon,” says Jesse Szewczyk, author of Cookies: The New Classics. In Wally’s own words, his was “the face that launched a thousand chips.”ĭid you know? Famous Amos’s shirt and hat are on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Success came swiftly: The Famous Amos Cookie Company sold $300,000 worth of cookies its first year and was making $12 million in revenue by 1982. The grand opening was a star-studded gala attended by 1,500 people, though “Famous Amos” was the real star of the brand, appearing on packaging and merchandise in his signature straw hat and embroidered cotton shirt. The Famous Amos brand got backing from celebrity investors like Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, who gave Amos $25,000 toward his new business. “I worked the front Dad worked the back.” They sold three kinds of cookies by the pound: chocolate chip peanut butter, chocolate chip with pecan and a butterscotch chip with pecan. “I stood on milk crates to ring up customers,” Shawn says. He felt that what he was doing would transcend the neighborhood.”Īmos was newly divorced, so his time at the shop was his time with his son. But a few blocks down was the A&M Records loft, where Dad had offices next to Quincy Jones. We were across the street from a strip joint. It was an unlikely place to sell cookies: “The East side of Sunset was seedy,” Shawn says. That year, Amos launched the first Famous Amos store on Los Angeles’s Sunset Boulevard.
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Hollywood tastemakers began to take notice: “I'd 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. “Cookies were a hobby to relieve stress,” says his son Shawn Amos, musician and author of Cookies & Milk. He began baking cookies using his Aunt Della’s recipe. When a new job opportunity in Los Angeles backfired, Amos grew disillusioned with show business. 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. In 1957, he returned to New York and joined the William Morris Agency, where he worked his way up from the mailroom to become the first black talent agent in the industry. Amos dropped out of high school but earned his G.E.D. He moved to New York City’s Harlem at age 12 to live with his Aunt Della. Here’s how a man who broke the color barrier in the talent industry and launched a cookie empire helped change American tastes. And the rise and fall of Wally Amos became one of its most infamous cautionary tales. Amos has three sons from his first two marriages, Shawn, Michael and Gregory.When Wally Amos founded Famous Amos cookies in 1975, the brand became one of the most unlikely success stories in food history. Wally Amos is currently resides in Hawaii with his third wife, Christine Harris. RELATED: These 10 Whopping Homes & Cars Of Celebrities Look Amazing! Wally Amos:, Dating, Family & Friends N/A These Are The 10 Best-Paid Television Stars In The Worldĭiana Ross & the Supremes, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye
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He has appeared in an episode of the TV series Taxi and written nine books.ĭollar Celebrity Net Worth Revealed: The 55 Richest Actors Alive in 2023 He is the founder of the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie brand. Wally Amos is an American television personality, entrepreneur, and author who has a net worth of $20 thousand. Wally Amos Net Worth, Salary, Cars & Houses Where does Wally Amos live? And how much money does Wally Amos earn?
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