Hats by Katie's most famous hat is the Mini-Topper (tm). This style has been worn by Lisa Singer, Suzy Stafford, Sharon Chesson and Lana Wright in all the many combined driving World Championships they competed in, both here and overseas.

Twenty years ago, having a difficult time finding hats that were attractive and that fit well, Katie Whelan started making hats as a sideline. As her carriage driving career developed, so did the variety of hats she made for family and friends. Eventually the Long Island native, who grew up in Sugarloaf, New York, evolved the interest into a full-time occupation. Hats by Katie launched in 1990 with Whelan utilizing her arts minor from Boston’s Regis College as the basis for beginning a millinery business that is now world-renowned. That success has evolved, most recently, into an appointment-only shop in nearby Paris, Kentucky. “The main reason I started making the hats is because I have a big head and a lot of hair. I could not find any hats that fit me or that I particularly liked,” explained Whelan. A recent highlight of her career was winning the “Best Booth” award at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, Windsor, England.

Katie has been driving for 30 years. She has been pinned Grand Champion at Devon and at Walnut Hill, she represented the US at the 2003 and 2005 Pony World Championships, and she has been both national four-in-hand champion and national single horse champion-so she is well aware of what hats work for the driving community, for both pleasure drivers and combined drivers. As for Devon, Whelan has been a beloved boutique and popular shopping destination for Main Line ladies for over a decade. Her works of art have been worn at the world’s most prestigious equestrian events including the Horse Show, Kentucky Derby, Royal Ascot (one of the world’s most famous race meetings dating back to 1711 and attended by the Queen of England), the Walnut Hill Farm driving show in Pittsford, New York-among others. Hats by Katie has been featured in Southern Living Magazine and O Magazine—in which, in 2006, she outfiitted Oprah and a group of Winfrey’s dearest girlfriends with hats for a garden party shoot, including Oprah’s lifelong friend Maria Shriver.

Hats by Katie’s Katie Whelan at her Devon Horse Show booth beautifully modeling a one-of-a-kind creation.

AroundMainLine.com: How do you make your hats?

Katie Whelan: A hat starts very much like a dress pattern.
We have ‘blocks’ as they are called and there is a special block for the brim, a special block for the crown. And, then you sew them together. A well made hat, if you turn it upside down and look underneath the sweatband, will be sewn in two pieces. A cheaper hat is sewn in one piece.

There is a whole process to it. You take the straw or the felt or Sinamay and start working with the design. (Sinamay is a very popular material in hat making and is a natural fiber produced from the banana plant.) Sinamay comes in bolts, very much like fabric, and you mold it over the block, you pin it down, and you place it in an oven with sizing on it so it molds itself around the form.

AML: Like an actual oven?

KW: Yep, an ‘oven’ oven. You repeat the process with the brim, you sew them together and then you start doing your trim work.

AML: Ok, interesting. How long does it take to create one of our gorgeous hats?

KW: One of my dressier ones can take six hours to a couple of days—it’s really an assembly line process.

AML: Each of your designs is so unique. Where does your inspiration come from?

KW: Usually Europeans are a bit ahead of us as far as colors and trends, especially England. So, I will get the color patterns from England. A lot of time I will take a blank hat and decide what I want to do with it—I’ll see a flower in my trim bin or a grouping of feathers. Other times I have an idea in my head where I am headed and begin the creative process from there.

AML: Are there trends in hat as there are trends in fashion?

KW: Sure! And, depending on what event I am designing for designates the style too. (Kentucky) Derby ladies are always big hats, no matter what is in style. If its carriage driving, a medium brim is appropriate. The coaching people like the big brims. Steeplechase people like feathers, felt and more fall-inspired hats. It’s very much a time and place kind of thing.

“The whole trick of the hat is that the hat does not wear you, you wear the hat. If you live by that phrase, you will be fine,” explained Whelan.

AML: Your hats are worn around the world at all the major equestrian events. That is amazing!

KW: I do a lot to Ascot. Now that I have started showing in Europe with my ponies, I sold one of my feather hats right off my head. When I traveled back and forth recently to Europe, I delivered two more.

AML: So, how does it work with an event such as Ascot? Or, for that matter a customer who wants a hat designed by you but is on the other side of the country or world? Since, obviously, everyone cannot meet with you one-on-one for a fitting.

KW: The Americans will come to me with an outfit and they will just take the hat over. Or some of the English people will email me, because I used to do the Royal Windsor show with my hats, and they let me know what they are thinking. They email me a picture of their outfit, head size and what they look like is important. If a customer is petite, I don’t want to do a hat so enormous in proportion to their body, it does not look right.

AML: Can any woman wear a hat?

KW: Yes, you just have to find the right one. That’s kind of a misnomer-they come in here during the Horse Show and say ‘Oh, I look terrible in hats.’ Well, first of all they are not wearing them correctly. The brim should be parallel to the ground. And the hat should be in proportion to your body. The whole trick of the hat is that the hat does not wear you, you wear the hat. If you live by that phrase, you will be fine.

Hats by Katie will be at the Horse Show through Sunday June 6th. Ms. Whelan has an appointment only shop in Paris, Kentucky. Kindly visit her website hatsbykatie.com, call 859-707-0818 or email: hatsbykatie@pinehurst.net

The Devon Horse Show and Country Fair is one of the largest and most prestigious outdoor equestrian events in the country. The Country Fair offers boutique shopping, great food and fun for the whole family. Proceeds of the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair benefit Bryn Mawr Hospital. For information please call 610-688-2554 or visit www.devonhorseshow.org. Join the Devon Horse Show Facebook page for daily updates.

Haverford School Alum and Main Line native Steve Sabol “What I got at the Haverford School was a sense of competition and accomplishment. Many people are creative but they lack the skill to harness those ideas effectively. And, that’s what I learned from my education at The Haverford School.”

You would be hard pressed to find a Main Liner, even a Philadelphia sports fan, who does not recognize the name Steve Sabol. Sabol is the renowned alum of The Haverford School and, most notably, founder of NFL Films along with his father Ed. From second grade to his senior year in high school, Sabol roamed the halls of The Haverford School and hit the field every fall as part of the football team. The 1960 graduate, is, of course now the head of NFL Films, headquartered in Voorhees, New Jersey. Sabol Field was christened at The Haverford School this past September and, is, in essence where NFL Films was born.

Ed Sabol, a spry 93, according to his son, and retired in Arizona, began filming Steve playing football at his son’s prep school. He enjoyed it so much he parlayed the hobby into shooting pro football. As the well-known story goes, Ed Sabol paid then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle $4,000 for the rights to shoot the 1962 NFL Championship game. Sabol’s film, with its dramatic close-ups and stirring music, impressed Rozelle. Ed convinced the owners to kick in $20,000 apiece to create the company now known as NFL Films.

AroundMainLine.com: I know you love the Main Line and growing up there, the experience of Haverford. When I met you Mr. Sabol years back during my previous sports television career, I succinctly remember you telling me how much you wish you could live on the Main Line. But, you had to live in Jersey and be near your office. And, you seemed to bemoan the fact.

Sabol, who is on the board of The Bryn Mawr Film Institute, has won 30 Emmys. NFL Films boasts over 90.

Steve Sabol: That is because New Jersey has no class.

AML: I guess I’ll handle the hate mail on that comment! In all seriousness, what is it that you so cherish about the Main Line and your days at The Haverford School.

SS: The teachers forced me to look at things differently. My homeroom teacher at Haverford had just as much influence on me, at the time, as my mother and father. He made learning fun. In the fourth grade, instead of just having a normal spelling bee for the class he had a huge treasure map with real Spanish coins as prizes. His energy and understanding of what we were going through as young boys was what I remember.

Back then at Haverford, it was a bit of a different time too. Everyone had three names, came from very wealthy families and it was so competitive. High school was my life and there was a lot of pressure to thrive and be at the top of the class. I think the description under my picture for my senior year in high school of my activities was two pages long-Spanish club, editor of the yearbook, football, speaking contest winner. And the feeling was, since I was third in my class that I would go to any college in the country. Neither of my parents were college graduates and I was encouraged to apply to Harvard. I did not get into Harvard and it was a huge mystery and a tremendous embarrassment to the school. Here I was magna cum laude, all Inter-Ac, part of every school activity, great athlete and nothing. All my classmates were receiving acceptance letters from Yale, Stanford, Penn. And for the first time, I was not successful. Steve Sabol-‘zero’.

AML: That’s interesting, you think the expectations are so strong on kids these days but that is quite a pressure cooker. How did Colorado College come about then—not exactly the same league as Harvard?

Ed Sabol, a Philadelphia clothing salesman by trade, with his young son. Ed used a 1940’s Bell and Howell movie camera to film Steve's football games at Haverford School starting in 1951. Photo published with the consent of Steve Sabol/NFL Films

SS: My mother put me into a college admission center in the Northwest and we received a letter from Colorado College and there were the Rocky Mountains in the background. And, since I was a huge football fan, I knew that’s where Dutch Clark went, the Hall of Famer. As a kid, football was my life—which is really the other part of my story. I was totally immersed in this sport—I looked at football not only as competition but I looked at the game in dramaturgical terms. The uniform, the physical struggle, the sounds your cleats made on the concrete when you were walking to the field, the smell of the leather pads-all of that combined with the romantic appeal of Colorado College I told my mother to sign me up. And, of course, thanks to The Haverford School, when I got there I was so way ahead of everyone else scholastically. I walked onto the football team, spent six years at Colorado College, and came out of college with a major in art. I wanted to be an artist.

Sabol’s original artwork has been shown in New York and on the Main Line in Philadelphia, and has been nominated to be shown at the Smithsonian Museum of American Design in Washington DC.

AML: Before we talk about how you have come full circle now with that passion for art, I want to talk about you and your dad and those early days. One thing I love about this conversation, the evolution of NFL Films and this journey of yours with your dad from your days at The Haverford School to now is, in its simplest terms, this is a story about the love between a father and a son.

SS: My dad theory’s in life has always been if you want something, you double it. If you buy a sport jacket, buy two. If a doctor tells you to take two, take four. Everything is doubled.

AML: Is that a good or bad philosophy?

SS: It’s a great way to look at life; it also applies to purchasing Mercedes and other things. And, he used that approach when he formed NFL Films and approached Pete Rozelle. He doubled the money on the table. My father also embraced the idea that every business plan is improved by two martinis.

AML: I like that. You are one of America’s most successful run family businesses in essence.

SS: I have a theory on that. The third generation ‘kills it’. The third generation is removed from the passion, vision and initial energy that made the business successful. My father was a business man and a visionary and he had a great ability to look at the bad ideas and weed them out. When we started NFL Films, my dad was there to champion my concepts-the good ones-and put them into place. My father was my role model, my boss, the funniest person I have ever met, and an incredible salesman. He was the kind of person who walked into a room and everyone liked him.

AML: How could you summarize what this business of filming football is all about?

Sabol’s “Art of Football” Exhibition is on display for Super Bowl week in Miami, through January 9th, at the Avant Gallery. To see more of his art, visit his website at stevesabolart.com.

SS: To me this is a love affair of the game of football, this is not about marketing. And, it was a love affair expressed as love often is—through art. And, that’s the art of film. I think of NFL Films as a style of movie making—just as you can watch two people in a movie falling in love and sitting across from each other in a coffee shop, with no script and just music playing. We are able to create the same effect with the way we approach the game of football.

If you think of what we do (here at NFL Films), there is a very definite process creatively. If you are a writer or a photographer, artistic ideas hit you like a bolt of lightning. It begins with a passion to create, to do something. Then, it’s what I call ‘research’, researching everything you are about to do. Then after that its organization-organizing thoughts on your film, on your work.And, after that, the most important part is concentration. Many people are creative but they lack the skill to harness those ideas effectively. And, that’s what I learned from my education at The Haverford School.

AML: One of the goals I had when I started my publishing company Mr. Sabol—on my wish list of people I wanted to sit down and interview—was a chance to speak with you. So, I am soaking in every part of this chat and am really learning so much about your creative process. You paint a picture with everything you say, I could sit here all day!

I wanted to ask you about the late, great Harry Kalas.

SS: I was very privileged to work with two of the greatest voice over talents in the history of sports television—Jon Facenda and Harry Kalas. If there was a speaker at the Last Supper, after dinner was over, it would be Jon Facenda. He was the voice of God whereas Harry Kalas was the voice of the people. With Harry, the warmth and friendliness of his voice was really a mirror of his personality. Harry had a sportscaster’s voice with an actor’s delivery—he just knew how to read a script really well. Harry touched all the bases.

AML: I am curious…are you on Facebook or Twitter?

SS: I don’t own a cell phone and I don’t have a Facebook or Twitter or what is the other thing called? My Space? I don’t mean to sound like an old fart. It just goes back to what I was saying before about concentration and maintaining your focus in business and those things are just distractions to me. All this technology has not changed the way NFL Films does business and our process. Yes, with one touch of a button now you reach millions of people but it is still the same approach that my father and I started out with. It is still a group of young people who love to make movies, love pro football and want to share it with our audience. NFL Films has had one continuous, creative vision for 47 years. These are timeless things; timeless stories that we capture just like people go back and read Greek mythology.

The ‘King of Football Movies’ reflects in his office.

AML: Let’s talk about your second act here, your art work.

SS: It is funny because it is really my first act; my degree in art was my first love. So, I have these collages and they represent Americana. We have had shows here in New Jersey and the Main Line and interest from the Smithsonian. I’ll be exhibiting in Miami at The Super Bowl. It’s an exciting time for me.

AML: You are so inspiring; your life is an incredible story in itself. My final question here-for the young men who are at The Haverford School now and read this interview—what is your message to them? I know we have only scratched the surface to the full story of Ed and Steve Sabol and NFL Films. But in 20 seconds or less, can you give me one last gem to pass on.

SS: I hope they realize that this is really not about being good on the football field. Life is about having a dream and believing in that dream and following through with that dream. And, this is about a father and a son and the value of that relationship. That relationship can build and become a whole life’s work. That’s NFL Films.

Steve Sabol’s “The Art of Football” exhibition is on display at the Avant Gallery in Miami through February 9th. “The Art of Football,” an exhibition of Steve Sabol’s thought-provoking, very colorful football-themed art on display from January 19 to February 9. Steve has shown in New York and on the Main Line in Philadelphia, and has been nominated to be shown at the Smithsonian Museum of American Design in Washington DC. Steve will be making appearances during the week leading up to Super Bowl. For more information, call Vanessa Almerico/Avant Gallery at 305-573-8873 or email valmerico@avantgallery.com. The gallery is located at 3850 North Miami Avenue in the historic Miami Design District. To see more of Steve’s art go to his website at www.stevesabolart.com.

Main Line Mom, Minority Business Entrepreneur and QVC Model Monica Walker Miraglilo Talks Business, Babies and Beyond.

Fill-a-Pillow CEO Monica Walker Miraglilo

I am flying down Route 30 in Bryn Mawr at 6pm on a Friday evening in mid-September, hastily buckling my seatbelt in the passenger seat of Monica Miraglilo’s sleek SUV. It’s a great night, about 70 degrees, sunny with the perfect hint of fall in the air and every Mercedes, Lexus and BMW on Lancaster Avenue has somewhere fabulous to be. So we are weaving and moving and Monica is being Monica as I will soon learn: the multitasking machine is shifting into high gear as Miraglilo answers text messages and makes phone calls simultaneously. I’m trying to figure out when exactly in my sudden adventure we will find a good time to talk.

Monica and I have been scheduling and rescheduling our thirty-minute interview for weeks—I’ve been swamped with writing assignments and work, Monica has been juggling her two full time jobs, two young children and a steady social life with husband Michael, an insurance executive. But, now here we are, and before I know it, we are back on Route 30 headed east at fifty percent of the previous speed and I’m no longer looking in the rear view waiting for ‘those guys’ with their red flashing lights. Phew! Did I mention this is an interview not a roller coaster ride?!

Monica Walker Miraglilo has been a QVC model for sixteen years, on a shopping channel that boasts 7 billion in net sales in 2007. When Miraglilo is strategically poised on the home shopping channel’s set, her stunning looks are broadcast to more than 166 million cable and satellite homes worldwide. It seems like such a glamorous life—wearing designer duds from the likes of Bradley Bayou and Chloe Dao, modeling eighteen karat Italian gold and Kenneth Jay Lane pearls, hob-knobbing with the slew of celebrities that walk through the doors of the West Chester headquarters. But while millions know her as one of the longest on-air names and faces on set, most don’t know anything about her.

Beautiful and bright, and mom to a two-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, Miraglilo is hardly basking in her local celebrity status or resting on her success with QVC. Instead, since 2005, ‘Monica,’ as millions of viewers know her, has been steadily building a unique brand of her own with a successful company, Fill-a-Pillow (www.fillapillow.com). The Haverford store is full of fabulous fabrics and trims that allow Main Liners to build and design customized pillows and linens or young girls to host their own Fill-a-Pillow parties. In less than three years, the 40-year-old’s entrepreneurial spirit, undisputed work ethic and dynamic personality have made a success of the startup business. After a series of short errands that evening in September, I was able to sit down with Monica in her cozy boutique, located a stone’s throw away from Haverford Station. I was curious to find out from a woman who seemed to have it all what inspired her to take on the task of becoming a successful entrepreneur.

AroundMainLine: Ok, let’s start from the beginning in the fall of 2005. Where did you get this idea to start a company based on customizing and building pillows?

Monica Walker Miraglilo: Well, I was working on trying to open up a business with my husband and we were considering opening a Build-a-Bear on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. And, we went there one evening and we found out there was already one there and we were kinda bummed out. But, my husband said we would think of something else. At that time, I had started doing some home decorating and interior design consulting on the side. And then I started to give my clients a thank you pillow when the job was completed. It was very creative—I made them out of vintage scarves that complimented their décor.

So, when we brainstormed further my husband said, ‘Why don’t we take that Build-A-Bear concept one step further and make it into a custom pillow company?’ And I said, ‘Yep, that’s it that is genius!’ So, I slept on it, dreamed about it, researched it to see if anyone else was doing it and nobody was. I didn’t tell my husband I was running with this. I thought about it further, and thought–with the way Americans are into instant gratification, it would be a big hit to be able to give someone a custom pillow in one day.

So, six months later I came to my husband and said ‘Guess what honey, I found a location, got incorporated, have my logo and design, did all the paperwork…I did it!’ And he said, ‘I was kidding about the pillow thing!’ At that point, it was too late to look back because I was serious about doing this and moving forward. So, I did.

Fill-a-Pillow’s Creative Interiors,
Haverford Station, PA

AML: That’s true focus and purpose. So, since the store has taken off, what other areas are you branching out with in the same idea/concept?

MWM: Our motto is ‘If we can fill it, we can do it.’ That has created some exciting new areas for Fill-a-Pillow and what we can do. Now we do bedding, we do window treatments, outdoor cushions, linens, pet cushions and pillows, wine bags, holiday stockings, you name it. One of our most successful pillows is a secret pillow–some gentlemen have bought them as a way to hide the ring and propose to their fiancé. We are starting to do home parties, where we come to your home and do a vintage pillow party with girlfriends. Those have been a huge hit because it is something different and fun and engages everyone to interact and be creative themselves. I think it brings out people’s own taste and talent and that’s something anyone of any age can enjoy.

AML: What it’s like to work as a QVC Model?

MWM: It’s great, I love it—it’s a fantastic company of course. But, people probably don’t realize how many hours we (QVC models) work. A lot of times I work overnight shifts and then come into the store straight from QVC and have not had any sleep and I have a full day of work ahead of me. The customers don’t know I’ve been up all night at the studio and they expect bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and an owner who is on point. Meanwhile, I’m so exhausted because I have a full work day ahead of me and a family to go home to be a good mom and wife for. But, my family is my support system and they make it all worth it. Without my husband and children, I would not get through the day.

AML: Honestly, if I turn on QVC and see you on air it seems like you are just hanging out modeling the jewelry, hair and makeup professionally done to the tee, smiling without a care in the world—piece of cake, no?

MWM: Not exactly! I can’t tell you how many times my mind is racing. I might be sitting there doing a jewelry show smiling and modeling but I am thinking about when or how my kids are going to get picked up from school, who needs what fabric at the store, what accounting works needs to be completed for Fill-a-Pillow, where my husband and I are going that weekend, what I need to make for dinner tonight. It is a hundred and one things all at once. I don’t have time to relax and kick back because as soon as I am out the door from QVC…it’s on.

AML: What advice can you give other female entrepreneurs–women who have an idea and are thinking about starting their own business?

MWM: You can’t be everything in this business. You have to designate jobs to other people in order to succeed. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned now, two and a half years down the line. If you don’t do that, you can wear yourself out and lose your enthusiasm because you are taking on too much. But, my big advice is, if you have an idea and you believe in it, GO FOR IT! Do not wait for someone else to do it, just do it.

And if you try it and it doesn’t go as planned, oh well, no one is going to look down on you because you had the guts to try something different and you took a chance. I took a chance and look what it is now. I took a risk. My husband kept telling me that he was joking about the whole idea. And, granted, my business from the start was based on a unique idea and a dream, something I envisioned for myself. The very first day I opened up my store, I took a deep breath and propped open the front door and hoped someone would walk through. I was persistent and consistent from the start and never looked back. This business is an extension of me.

AML: That’s great advice, well stated. One thing I wanted to touch on that I know we chatted about before this interview is the fact that you are one of only a few minority entrepreneurs on the Main Line. Why do you think that is, where are all the minority business owners in the western suburbs of Philadelphia?

MWM: What you are saying is so true, I’m really not sure why there are not more minority business owners on the Main Line. But, I never really think about it from my own personal perspective. But, if we are going to be totally honest here–sometimes it is brought to my attention (in a nice way) by my customers who will say, ‘So you own this business, a beautiful black girl like yourself?’ And I know they mean well and they are just curious and also trying to be politically correct in some fashion. So, I just smile and tell them yes, I am the owner and creator of Fill-a-Pillow and yes this is my store. I just want to make an impression as a successful businessperson as me, Monica, myself—instead of ‘Monica, the African-American business owner.’ I want to be the successful entrepreneur and want everyone to view my business that way. At the same time, I do embrace the opportunity to inspire other young women of all backgrounds to open up their own business and be an opportunist and that’s what I want to focus on.

AML: Honestly Monica, I think you are inspiring and enlightening to many people and you do not even know it. The way you carry yourself, your enthusiasm for what you are doing and you are so genuine and nice. I bet you’re making a difference and breaking down social barriers–big and small–every day and not even knowing it. In fact, I’d bet on it.

MWM: That is very nice of you to say! This is a good question, a good topic and I am very glad you brought it up. Many people would not want to ask me about being a minority business owner on the Main Line because, well, they just wouldn’t want to ask that question and talk about ‘it.’ I don’t know if I even know how to answer it the best way I should but it is hanging out there as an important topic and I’m glad we discussed it. Thank you.

AML: Me too Monica, I was personally curious and wanted to know. Thank you as well. Changing focus, do people ever say to you, ‘Come on, this is a pillow company, what is the big deal?’ Because they don’t see a great business model, they can’t appreciate the creativity and guts involved in a venture such as Fill-a-Pillow. You know, I just love Donny Deutsch on CNBC, I’m a huge fan of his show “The Big Idea” and something he says on his website is ‘Creativity is the greatest form of commerce.’ I just love that.

MWM: I actually tried to contact Donny Deutsch not that long ago and he didn’t return my email. I’m sure he gets thousands if not tens of thousands of requests, though…maybe I should send him a picture pillow of himself and he would respond?

I did that for Paula Abdul and she called me to thank me and then she ordered a dozen customized pillows for her friends! She was so nice, I was impressed she personally called me to talk — it was very nice of her and she was very encouraging of my business.

AML: That’s cool that Paula reached out. As far as Donny…well, hello–did you send him a picture of yourself Monica? Because you know if you watch the show as much as I do, he loves beautiful, successful women. Maybe you should try again! Anyway, the pillow thing…is not just about choosing a pretty fabric and putting a pillow on your couch, right?

Stocking Stuffers
Fill-a-Pillow, Haverford Station, PA

MWM: It’s not. This is not the store you walk into and order ten pillows for your daybed and we hand them to you and you leave. You have to do the work when you come here, we have the fabrics and custom pillow capabilities and certainly we can help you out, that is what we do! But Fill-a-Pillow is for you to become the creator and the designer of what you want. That can mean a five year-old little girl makes a pillow for her grandmom for her birthday or a woman can come in here (with her own interior designer on hand) and we can help advise them on the best fabrics and pillows and everything in between. We make it for you, yes, usually that exact same day. We can help you but you have to create and design your own. It’s all here for you to choose from. That’s the best part of Fill-a-Pillow and that is why I love my store and my customers.

AML: So, wait, I so get this now, its all coming together for me! You created a company out of your own gifts and creative spirit and that store in itself is inspiring people, especially women, to empower themselves—make their own pillows, use their minds and embrace their talents. It’s not about making a pillow; it’s about knowing or figuring out what you want and putting it together on your own. It’s just like you have done with your store and business model. That’s pretty awesome!

MWM: (Clapping and laughing with me) I never thought of it like that, wow. This is really such a neat moment that you put that together, I have chills! You are so right. My business and my vision for what I am creating and now doing have come full circle. I so get it now too. This is incredible, I love it!

Fill-a-Pillow is located at 403 Berkley Road in Haverford Station, PA and is open Monday through Friday 10am to 5pm. Saturdays the store is open by appointment and Sundays are reserved for private parties. For more information about parties, showers and the store hours call 610-649-5040. Email: info@fillapillow.com.

The acclaimed author speaks how his love of his childhood has brought him to the heart of the Main Line.

Jerry Spinelli at home, Wayne, PA

Last Halloween I was proudly handing out large Hershey chocolate bars to the sea of trick-or-treaters at my parents’ house, a strategically positioned Main Line Tudor that, without fail, draws a flood every October 31st – pirates, magicians, Hannah Montanas, Cinderellas and an occasional tin man. In the midst of what seemed like a successful night of content candy grabbers, a group of boisterous middle school boys clamored up the steps dragging their stuffed pillow cases. Wondering what kind of candy they could have collected in such a short amount of time, I had to ask. “What do you guys have in there? It’s only 7:30!” “Books, we have books!” the kid with the Brian Dawkins jersey cheered. “Yeah, the guy across the street is awesome, he set up his living room and is handing out tons of free books to everyone, isn’t that cool?”

Cool? Sure, books are great. But, who hands out books on Halloween? And, most importantly, who was stealing my thunder with a virtual children’s bookstore in lieu of candy? A few minutes later after the boys were long gone and a half dozen other trick-or-treaters had come running in smiling cheek to cheek with their new bags of treats–fresh shiny literature–it all came together. I had heard some buzz recently of a children’s author moving into the Main Line and…now this made sense. I quickly put down the bowl of bars, threw on a sweatshirt and started walking out the door. Someone was handing out books for Halloween, just about as scandalous as you can get on the Main Line, and I was going to see for myself what this brew ha-ha was all about.

I shamelessly walked a few blocks, knocked on famed children’s author Jerry Spinelli’s door, and asked him if I could have a book for Halloween too. Because every other kid had one and I thought it was pretty cool (plus I had a 5 year-old niece who always loves a new book). But I really went over selfishly, to see what it was like in this rumored “living room bookstore” where you didn’t have to pay and the books were your prize for dressing up like an M&M. Luckily, my ‘costume’ of faded jeans and a worn Villanova basketball sweatshirt sufficed.

Jerry Spinelli - Stargirl book cover

It wasn’t the generosity of Jerry Spinelli that wowed me that night (Spinelli does not hand out his own work–the books were supplied by his publishing house and were written by other children’s authors), it was the kind and sincere person I met at the front door who I could see was quietly chuckling at my Halloween adventure. Ever since then, I have been intrigued by Spinelli’s move into the neighborhood, his cult following not only among children but their parents too, and the raw talent behind an author that has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the world.

Jerry Spinelli grew up in Norristown in the ’50s when the King of Prussia Mall was a cow pasture and downtown Norristown boasted 4 movie theaters. And that is exactly why a half-century later, Spinelli and his wife Eileen, also a children’s book author, find themselves in the heart of the Main Line for their golden years. “We love this area. When we looked around we wanted to be able to walk into a downtown area and the best town that offered that was Wayne,” he explains. “We see it as we bought a town, not a house. There’s a lot of freedom with a town like Wayne—you can walk to the grocery store, find a mocha at every corner or go to the movie theater and it only is a few minutes from your front door.” So Spinelli finds himself comfortably settled into his perfect home, perfect town–celebrating one of his most recent books “Eggs” and a pending playwright’s interpretation at People’s Light and Theatre this spring 2009. But before Spinelli and I can talk more about his love of writing, his six children and 16 grandchildren, and his successful career, I ask him to take me back to the beginning.

Rewind to the fall of ’57, when Spinelli was a junior at Norristown High. A show by the name of American Bandstand, with host Dick Clark, had just debuted on ABC that August, a gallon of gas cost $.24, Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, and the Yankees and the Milwaukee Braves were in an epic battle for a World Series title. 16-year old Spinelli was strolling the hallways of Norristown High and playing catch with his pals every day—too busy to even think about writing. “I enjoyed what little reading I did, but that wasn’t anything deep. An occasional book here or there, but I was determined to be a professional baseball player,” Spinelli explains as we chat in his fresh, bright sitting room—the former Halloween bookstore. “In sixth grade I was a big fan of Bug’s Bunny comics, it was the thing to read.” And so Jerry Spinelli was just minding his own business, growing up like every other kid in the Philadelphia suburbs so innocently did in those days until one fateful night. It was the crisp autumn evening of October 11, 1957 and Norristown was abuzz. That night the whole community would pack the stands to watch a highly anticipated high school football showdown between national powerhouse Lower Merion and Norristown—an event that would define Spinelli’s life path. For his readers and fans, let’s just say it was a good thing that Jerry Spinelli was in the stands.

“I was sitting with all my pals about halfway through what was, so far, a pretty boring football game at Roosevelt Field. Lower Merion was our big rival. And, the game came down to a goal line stand. We were up 7-6, Lower Merion had a first and goal. And our defense just held on, four downs and…nothing. And then time ran out. It was a classic, the town went crazy,” Spinelli reminisces. And, coming from a talented author, the way he describes that night over 50 years ago I almost feel like I can picture it exactly…envisioning the people in the stands, what the boys uniforms looked like, even what kind of cars were piled in the parking lot. A quick google search and I find the exact article by then Times-Herald sports editor Red McCarthy (whose column Spinelli read religiously) capturing the night with the headline “LM Gets Four Tries From 1 ½ Yards Out And Fails” and whose first line reads: “Move over Milwaukee! There’s more dancing to be done in the streets! Out of the way Sputnick! They’ll be shootin’ the moon around here, too!”

While the community of Norristown partied into the wee hours of the night soaking in the thrilling victory, Jerry Spinelli headed home to write. “I was so moved by that game, it was very dramatic and spectacular I went straight home—while the rest of the town celebrated—and wrote a poem about that play. I handed it to my Dad to get his opinion, went to bed and didn’t think about it much after that.” Spinelli called his poem about the goal-line stand “Goal to Go” and by the next day had forgotten about the piece of paper where he had collected his thoughts. But, a few days later, he opened the Norristown Times-Herald and there was his poem in full view for everyone to read…secretly handed off to the Herald by his father Louis (who thought his son might be on to something). “I went to school that morning, and now I was famous…as you can imagine, suddenly famous.”

Spinelli’s father’s covert plan to have his son’s poem published was the beginning of a very successful career—but one that took a great deal of persistence. After graduating from Gettysburg College in 1963 with an English major (there was no such thing as a creative writing degree in ‘those days’ he explains), Spinelli went on to study creative writing at Johns Hopkins University and serve a stint in the Naval Air Reserves. Spinelli assumed once out of school he would become a college professor and write his books over the long summer breaks. But, teaching didn’t suite him and so he got a job with the Chilton Company in St. Davids and worked in trade publishing by day, writing books at night. In the interim, the author and his wife, Eileen, raised their 6 children. “Yep, there were times I was writing that I would literally have to put cotton in my ears. Those years were hectic but you did what you had to do, raising a family, working and writing.”

The Spinelli family’s time in Havertown and Phoenixville was also the time that Jerry faced his first rounds of rejections, writing 4 books for adults in 12 years that “nobody would read, nobody wanted.” The 5th time was the charm. In 1982, “Space Station Seventh Grade” was complete, a story about a 13-year old kid based on a humorous incident in the Spinelli household over some leftover fried chicken. Spinelli originally intended Space Station Seventh Grade to be an adult novel, but since the protagonist is 13 years old, adult publishers rejected it and it became a children’s book.

1991 Newbery Medalist

Jerry Spinelli, Maniac Magee

From there the Newbery Medalist (Maniac Magee 1991) was off and running, backed by behemoth publishing houses Random House and Little, Brown. He indulges me with a story of how his books, millions sold in 35 languages across the globe, have connected and empowered children—especially young girls. He recently heard from an Italian publisher off the coast of Italy, where 60 young girls got together at 4:30am to watch the sunrise by the sea as part of a Stargirl Society group–inspired by Spinelli’s 2000 Knopf novel, Stargirl. The fact that this sweet man with a sparkle in his eye is reaching young readers across the world is exactly what makes Jerry Spinelli a splendid subject in and of himself. “I think of myself as a writer, not a children’s writer. I write about kids, but not solely for kids. From the feedback I get, quite a few grownups write to me who enjoy my books,” he adds.

Ironically, as I am putting the final touches on my ode to Spinelli, a package arrives at my parents’ house mistakenly dropped off by the postman. It’s clear it’s from one of his fans—the handwriting seems young, the address reads some small town in Ohio. So, it must be a sign to me—a clear sign of the inspiration this author is providing to children around the Main Line, around America and beyond. I’m tempted to walk the fan mail over myself, actually curious what’s inside the manila envelope. Maybe this time I would be wiser to sport a UConn basketball sweatshirt since Huskies head women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is also a Norristown native—something Spinelli had proudly pointed out in a previous email exchange. And, as a UConn alum, I know the Norristown pride runs strong with those who grew up there. But before I can jump at another excuse to go knock on the Spinellis’ front door, the envelope has already been returned to the appropriate destination by another family member. That’s ok, October 31st is just around the corner—and this time I’ll be expecting the posse of trick-or-treaters with their stuffed pillow cases of candy bars and books. And I have a feeling this Halloween Jerry Spinelli will also be expecting me.

Below is Jerry Spinelli’s poem as published by the Norristown Times-Herald October 1957

Student Waxes Poetic:

Tribute to NHS Goal Line-Stand Chronicled by Jerry Spinelli

Sixteen year-old Jerry Spinelli, a junior student at Norristown High School, took pen in hand after last Friday night’s 7-6 win over Lower Merion and paid tribute to the great NHS goal-line stand. Spinelli, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis A Spinelli, 1810 Locust St., titled his clever contribution, ‘Goal to Go.’

Here it is:

GOAL TO GO
The score stood seven-six.
With but five minutes to go
The Ace attack employed all tricks
To settle down its stubborn foe.

It looked as though the game was done
When an Ace stepped wide ’round right
An Eagle stopped him on the one
And tumult filled the night

Thirty-two had come their way
And thirty-two had died
Should number thirty-three, this day
For one yard, be denied?

Roy Kent, the Eagle mentor, said,
“I’ve waited for this game,
And now, defense, go, stop ’em dead
And crash the Hall of Fame.”

The first Ace bolted for the goal
And nothing did he see
But Branca, swearing on his soul.
“You shall not pass by me.”

The next two plays convinced all
The ref would make the touchdown sign
But when the light shone on the ball
It still lay inches from the line.

Said Captain Eastwood to his gents,
“It’s up to us to stop this drive.”
Said Duckworth, Avery, Knerr and Spence,
“Will do, as long as we’re alive.”

The halfback drove with all his might
His legs were jet-propelled
But when the dust had cleared the fight
The Eagle line had held.

—Jerry Spinelli