Full transcript
0:00[Music]
0:28for
0:31[Music]
0:58oh
1:11so can you tell us about how you got
1:12started with contesting yes uhuh uh
1:16Norman Vincent Peele had the book called
1:19The Power of Positive Thinking and I had
1:23picked it up read it and there were two
1:26things that really ENT enticed me to
1:30research further and that was when he
1:32said you can have anything you want
1:35provided you I know what it is see
1:38yourself as already having it and those
1:41were three things that intrigued me and
1:45uh I was you know just a little happy
1:47Homemaker no education high school
1:50education period and the mother of three
1:53and sitting home and needing a lot of
1:55little creature Comfort things you know
1:58and so I thought well oh that sounds
2:01exciting so that night uh my husband got
2:04in and I said I read this book and I
2:06said what would you like and he was
2:09reading the Dallas Morning News and uh
2:12he said well look here Coca-Cola has a
2:15contest and uh you can win an outboard
2:18motor all you have to do is write 25
2:22words while you take Coca-Cola on
2:25outings and I said and I then outboard
2:28motor and then he went on and finished
2:30reading his paper well I went into the
2:34bedroom and he's one in an outboard
2:36motor so I sit there and I thought
2:40cocacola on
2:42AED and I thought I don't we don't even
2:45drink Cokes that's going to be a tough
2:48one but I saw him sitting in a boat with
2:53his motor enjoying himself and so I
2:58wrote uh oh he liked to go fishing by
3:01himself on weekends cuz he had a very
3:04serious job and he was always stretched
3:07out and the kids were too young to take
3:10him fishing at that point and so he'd go
3:13out for the
3:14afternoon okay so now I'm sitting there
3:17and I see him in this boat and I write
3:20I'm a lone wolf fisherman CS are my
3:25silent Partners they contribute no Yaky
3:30y only enjoyment when calling on 25
3:35words put it in an envelope mailed it
3:38off and actually said to him I wonder
3:42how long it's going to take him to let
3:44us know we want now that's positive
3:48thinking I didn't know any better I just
3:51knew uh he's got I wrote that right that
3:55incident he's got to win it two weeks
3:59later the
4:00representative from Coca-Cola called and
4:03said uh Mr hadel you won your outboard
4:06motor I thought oh that's nice now what
4:10would we like to win see now what would
4:13we like to win and my daughter said well
4:17I'd like a swim
4:18bicycle and I said and you want what
4:21color you know I thought well everybody
4:23should do this because uh selected you
4:27know uh here it is see yourself as
4:29having it so we had her sitting on a
4:32bicycle and it was uh now at that point
4:36in time there were many many
4:38opportunities for contests and most of
4:41them see a contest is when you have to
4:44complete something in 25 words or less
4:47name something write an essay a sweep
4:51stake is when they just put your name in
4:54the pot and they draw from one million
4:57entries they draw your name
5:00uh I didn't think of that as
5:03competition I always thought the only
5:06competition you ever had is with
5:08yourself and that's when you doubt
5:11yourself so now my daughter uh we had to
5:15name a pony and it got to be now this
5:18was a fun
5:20thing and my son I mean we didn't look
5:23for big things roller skates you know uh
5:27bicycles and uh things that were that
5:30children
5:32wanted um boom boxes you know for music
5:36and stuff and so we started uh he we s
5:40would sit at night and I says oh we're
5:43going to get Pamela her B her bicycle
5:46and we have to name a pony how we going
5:49to name a pony and uh I show him a
5:52picture of a pony and uh they said well
5:54he's brown and I said yeah he's brown
5:57and what else and uh what else does he
6:01do well I said does he prance well then
6:05we call him prance
6:07Charming prance charming and you get on
6:10a pony what else he bucks he Buck too
6:14prance charming and these were what we
6:17call coined
6:19words and that's what we send in I don't
6:23know which entry won but she had her
6:26swim
6:27bicycle okay so we then we got all the
6:30little stuff now I want lenium for the
6:33floor and I get lenium then I want
6:36something else and I get it now I'm
6:39thinking
6:40bigger now I want to win trips and my
6:44son my younger son said oh let's go to a
6:47dude
6:48ranch do you know we won this trip to a
6:51dude ranch and stupid me uh this was in
6:55Arizona and that's when I was afraid of
6:58flying and uh they I won the prize
7:02they're going to fly and I said I don't
7:04fly can you drive down and then I was I
7:08was I didn't get the prize because you
7:11had to follow their
7:13rules and so that he was very very
7:17ticked about that you have to learn to
7:20fly you have to learn well now the next
7:23thing I wanted the children wanted to go
7:25to Disneyland and that meant flying too
7:28and I thought well I'll just Brave it
7:30out really and truly I was stupid on
7:33that area but at that time I didn't know
7:36better and so we get to U won this trip
7:40to Disneyland we all get
7:42there and it was a fabulous fabulous
7:47trip and later on uh we did win a trip
7:51to dud Ranch and I did go to we did go
7:55to the dud Ranch and then we went a trip
7:58to the World's Fair did go to the
8:00World's Fair and one thing that was real
8:03funny I was going to be 40 years
8:06old and I had read that Paris is a city
8:11of light love and
8:13excitement and I wanted to be on the 1
8:18of January I said what are we going to
8:20do this year and Pat I said I said I
8:24want to be in Paris France sitting at a
8:28sidewalk Cafe drinking wine on my 40th
8:33birthday and I started to enter contests
8:38only contests that were offering trips
8:42and there were many of them there was a
8:44lot of trips always in contested always
8:4725 words or less and I always used the
8:51same 25
8:55words I said I'm a pooped couple with
8:59three kiddos and I'd like to go to Paris
9:02friends to recapture the Rapture of
9:06Springtime ecstasy in my f 40 frustrated
9:11years that's the only thing I wrote well
9:14the first time uh one company uh
9:19investigates before you win a big prize
9:21you're investigated they call you or
9:23they come out interview you and they do
9:26that to find out if you are anywhere way
9:29related to the sponsors anyway related
9:33because contesting are really on the up
9:36and up and if they wouldn't be I mean it
9:40wouldn't serve any purpose
9:43so I had the
9:45interview and uh everything went fine
9:49but I only won third prize which a
9:51Hammond electric organ and it didn't win
9:55that prize and I said well why did they
9:58give give me an electric organ and you
10:01know somebody said to cultivate
10:05patience I have this big electric ham
10:08organ and here it is now my birthday's
10:11the 1st of June and here it is April
10:14already and I still haven't had this
10:17trip now we're going to have to plan
10:19this trip we're going to be there uh
10:21drinking wine and my husband even said
10:24well we have enough money we'll I said
10:26no I want to win this with a trip well
10:29it seemed like the last minute I send
10:32that entry off and lo and behold I got a
10:35phone call and said Mr hadsel I used his
10:40name and when I uh in my name uh you won
10:44a trip to uh Venice Italy and I thought
10:48well I don't want to I've been to Venice
10:50I want to go to
10:52Paris and the man said well you can
10:54change there first class and you can
10:56change uh whatever you want to do
10:59and I he said when would you like the
11:01tickets I said like right now and he had
11:04a messenger come and bring these tickets
11:08and we got on the plane and to make a
11:11long story short on my 40th birthday I
11:15was at that sidewalk with my husband
11:18drinking
11:20water so we did this this is something
11:23else I need to bring up cuz I thought
11:25this was well it it was nice
11:30my husband and I are sitting here one
11:33afternoon and uh I just got back from a
11:36trip a long trip and uh sometime he went
11:39with me and sometime he didn't and he'd
11:42go with me first time and then second
11:44time he got bored because I was always
11:47counseling people and then at night I
11:50was in my and he knew everything so but
11:53anyway we're sitting here he said let's
11:55do something off the let's do something
11:58exciting what are you going do I said
12:00you know I love love New
12:04York I said and I noticed in the paper
12:08that they're having this um uh the best
12:11little h house in Texas and I said I
12:14would love to go and see that off
12:17Broadway show and he said well I'll tell
12:21you what let's uh I'll let's have lunch
12:25and I'll start calling uh the the
12:28airlines and we'll see what we can do he
12:30says sounds like fun doesn't it we're
12:33eating lunch and we come back here for
12:35coffee and the phone rings uh Mrs hadel
12:40I said yes he said I'm rich little you
12:43don't know him but he was producing a
12:46show to tell the truth in New York and
12:50he said your name came up as a very very
12:53good contestant how would you like to
12:57come to New York and be on my show I
13:03said I looked at Pat and I thought God
13:05is this for real and I said what is it
13:08Tom he said well it's to tell the truth
13:11and the show had just started and uh he
13:14said um we'll pay all your expenses
13:16first class and what else do you want
13:20and I said could I have tickets to this
13:22all Broadway show will Success Ball Rock
13:25hunt and he said and what else and I
13:28said well my husband uh wanted to come
13:30well okay we'll do it to we'll give your
13:33husband a ticket also and what else I
13:35mean you know when they want you they
13:38want you and he said everything that we
13:42advertise you will also
13:44get electric blankets mix whatever they
13:48were
13:49advertising I said when do you want me
13:51uh when do you want he said where you
13:53come this week or next week and I said
13:55well let's see and my husband says this
13:58week this week
13:59so I said how about this week well we'll
14:01have your tickets for you by career uh
14:05tomorrow
14:06morning so we went to to to nework had
14:11this hotel saw this Broadway play was
14:15there three days all they usually pay
14:18all expenses and they give you a voucher
14:21if you want to cab to go wherever you
14:24want to eat wherever you want to and
14:26Entertain You really it's nice to on
14:29these talk shows well that's we had our
14:32little our little thing
14:35again so what is it I mean you know
14:38there were many many instances where I
14:41would not hear of
14:43something uh the thing I'm digressing
14:46I'm sorry because you're interested in
14:48being a winner and all of you out there
14:51are winners you know that and you can
14:54have anything you want provided you know
14:57what it is see yourself as having it and
15:01if there's a delay in results uh don't
15:04be disappointed maybe you need to
15:06cultivate a little more patience that's
15:09all it is and it's yours and you say but
15:13the competition is so Fierce so Fierce
15:17and I says everything is
15:19competition how long I mean eventually
15:24if you stay with something long enough
15:27and strong enough it's energy
15:29and it's got to come to you that's the
15:31Law of
15:32Attraction it's out there for anybody I
15:35never looked at it is
15:37competition I remember uh when after I
15:41had the publicity and had won that house
15:44in Lost cenus and had won all the cars
15:47and whatever I needed or wanted uh this
15:50was very interesting because that night
15:52we went to
15:54dance and we're dancing and uh right at
15:58the as you came in you signed in and
16:00they had this fish bowl put your name in
16:02at the end of the night they had fruit
16:05cakes because it was Christmas time and
16:08uh they had this big boom box and my
16:11daughter had been wanting this huge boom
16:13box that had all these Acoustics and
16:17things out and I looked at it and I said
16:20oh there's Pamela's Christmas present
16:23well the woman that was um uh taking the
16:26tickets her overheard me and uh she
16:29laughed and she said well Mrs had sel's
16:32here so really and truly it's stupid to
16:36put your name in the hatel one the boom
16:38box already all right what did I do they
16:41were giving me their
16:43energy everybody in that room gave me
16:46energy cuz they knew now we'd won this
16:49house and we're dancing and this man
16:52said I guess she's got Pat said she's
16:54got the boom box and we're they're
16:57making a joke of it a joke and they
17:00don't know that I didn't take their
17:03energy they gave it to me and that night
17:06when his boss now it's time to take to
17:10have the drawing and here's that
17:11Fishbowl full of of names and that the
17:16boss said I'm not going to have anything
17:19to do with this somebody come up and
17:21draw a name and a woman came up and she
17:25said I'll get a different name and she
17:28whisked around and whisked around and
17:30pulled a name and it was my
17:33name okay this is energy this is energy
17:38this is what they do and yes you can get
17:41energy from someone else if they're
17:44negative I mean why not you mentioned
17:47the house can you tell us more about how
17:49you won the house yes yes yes I came
17:52back after my trip and in Dallas we have
17:56a group of women that get together and
17:59we called them the contest we called
18:01them the range
18:03writers and uh when we got there uh we
18:06would swap entry blanks we would stand
18:09up and say what we won this month we won
18:12this and this and this and this one
18:14month I won a prize every day 30 prizes
18:18one prize every day some of them would
18:21win four or five of them and we had a
18:23lot of fun and they were very supportive
18:26so the night I got there uh the woman
18:29one of the women said oh you want the
18:31world's uh you went to uh New York on
18:34your way to Paris did you stop at the
18:36World's Fair and I said yeah my son went
18:39a trip to the World's Fair so he was
18:42with us and then after the trip we were
18:45at the World's Fair he went back home on
18:47a plane and um someone met him and so
18:50forth and we went on to Paris and she
18:53said while you were there did you see
18:55that from Micah house she said that's a
18:59uh that's an entire United States
19:02contest and forah is having a new
19:05product that they're sponsoring and
19:07they're going to build a house someplace
19:10in the United States and all you have to
19:13do throughout the United States the
19:16builders were you building their houses
19:19but they were using this molding that
19:22for Micah was very very proud of using
19:26so anybody throughout the United States
19:29you had to visit one of the homes that
19:33had these entry blanks that were using
19:36for Mica well in my area it was Garland
19:40the only place that was had this thing
19:44and she said well you can I said no I
19:46didn't know about it I didn't know about
19:48it well it's in Garland and it's closing
19:51next
19:52week and so on the way home uh driving
19:56home because Dallas is a 27 miles from
19:59Irving rather all I could think about
20:02was God I'd like to win a new house
20:06that's perfect yeah I think I'll win
20:08that house so the next day it's
20:12drizzling and one of two of my friends
20:15that that were in this contest club with
20:18me live in Irving so I called one of
20:20them and I said let's go over and see
20:23that for my house and enter And she said
20:27Oh She said
20:28you know they've already picked the
20:30entries it's in New York and they've
20:32already picked the entries and she said
20:35no and the other one was having her rug
20:37shampoo she couldn't go and I tried I
20:41said I'll even buy you pizza on the way
20:44let's go and nobody would go with me
20:47starting to drizzle rain and I something
20:51I swear something pulled actually pulled
20:54me out the next thing I knew I'm in the
20:56car driving
20:5853
21:00miles to go to that verah house and when
21:05I got there I sat in one of the chairs
21:08and I looked at everything around there
21:12and I'm already deciding that I want
21:15Spanish
21:17Furniture I'm already building the
21:19inside of the house and there wasn't
21:22anybody there except the woman that sat
21:24you know at the open house I registered
21:27my my name and I registered Pat's name
21:32and I took an entry blank home and that
21:36night I'm reading the entry blank and it
21:38said you must have visited the home and
21:43I said oh my God I said I put in Pat's
21:47name and Pat right this do you know that
21:53Saturday morning Pat got up and I said
21:57we're getting in the car car you're
21:59driving to Garland and you're going to
22:03look at that house so when they call you
22:06you can say you visited that he did he
22:10did he got to work he believed what I
22:14said we drove all that way so he could
22:18look at that
22:19house and that was it it was a done deal
22:22now we come home and he draws the plans
22:25for the
22:26house and he said tells the kids uh
22:30mama's going to win us this big
22:32house where do we want it we're out
22:35looking for Lots we've got the plan here
22:39so when they come we can be ready and
22:43then uh that it was a month now the
22:46contest closed that
22:47weekend it was a month later when uh
22:52somebody on the phone called uh Pat and
22:56I'm in Dallas and they call Pat and they
23:00asked Pat is Mrs hadel there no she's at
23:03a meeting uh your husband he said yes he
23:06said did she enter that I mean did she
23:09go to that foric home and Pat said oh we
23:13were both there I am so
23:17impressed with that laminated from Mica
23:22we were so impressed and he said the
23:25right thing and that was it and he said
23:28uh well he said we're just checking uh
23:30everybody to see if they actually did go
23:33and there's nothing here thank you Mr
23:35Hasam for your time that was all he said
23:38all he oh he asked them are you related
23:42uh to anybody at the house number one
23:45number two any relations that work for
23:48for Mike those were questions so they
23:51had he was on the pH 5 minutes answering
23:53all this and he was he knew that because
23:56we knew when we got a big prize we'd
23:58have to have an investigation called and
24:02so um I came home that night and he was
24:05exatic well we went our house and all we
24:09did was I wonder how long it's going to
24:12take them to let us know we one and
24:16that's all I told the kids and so it was
24:20about another month
24:21later morning I woke up and I said uh
24:25the kids were at breakfast the two boys
24:28were still there and my daughter was in
24:30college and I said uh well listen
24:33they're going to let us know we won this
24:35house for God's sake act
24:39surprised and they went off to
24:41school and my husband said are you sure
24:44they're coming I said yeah and he was I
24:47said just stay in bed and I says pretend
24:50just uh we we're just going to wait
24:53for well at 2:00 and now it's 1:00 and
24:57they're and and I went to the bakery to
24:59get some Bakery and I'm getting ready to
25:02put the coffee pot on when they come and
25:04nothing happens and about 2:30 I get
25:08this phone call and they say um uh M Mrs
25:13hadel uh when does your husband get off
25:15work and I said well he's here now uh oh
25:20he they were waiting for him to get off
25:22work so they could tell us together I
25:24said well he's here on what is and I
25:26said he just took the day off well then
25:29we're coming right out we're
25:31Representatives vice president of
25:34formica and our um PR man uh we want to
25:40come out and tell you something very
25:42very interesting for you and I said yeah
25:47yeah and then I of course reminded Pat
25:50to act surprised you know they came in
25:53the
25:55door I did I acted oh oh my god oh no
25:58not me oh no no and I see I told Pat
26:01don't show them the plans so we're
26:05talking and he said well where do you
26:07want it and I said well there's a new
26:10area you know just and I said and we
26:14have the plans and uh the guy looked at
26:17me and I said well we were planning we
26:21were planning on building a house but we
26:24didn't tell them that they were going to
26:26pay for it you know and so uh we had all
26:29the plans there and he couldn't believe
26:32it you know and I said yeah we we we had
26:35plans of enlarging this place and that's
26:38how it came
26:40about and from that period on they hired
26:43an interior decorator uh they hired so
26:48many people because it was publicity for
26:52their
26:53for uh they would call me they send me
26:57fly hours uh one weekend he'd always
27:00call and say are you happy are you happy
27:04uh because at that time the national
27:07inquire which is at rag magazine called
27:10and said if there's any negative things
27:14CU this is the first time a house had
27:16ever been given if there's any negative
27:19things tell us and we'll pay you for the
27:22negative and I says get a real and H up
27:26and I had that had offer two three times
27:29and they were aware that they were
27:31looking for negative things and I I
27:35there weren't any NE but he'd call up
27:36and say are you happy is there anything
27:39we can do and every time they came they
27:41wind us and dined us at the best best
27:44hotels and so one day he called and he
27:47said what's your favorite place and they
27:49were building and he kept coming and
27:51visiting bringing me candy flowers and
27:54so forth and I said God would I like to
27:57go to New York okay we'll put we'll send
28:00you to New York and they brought us
28:03first class tickets my husband I went to
28:06New York and we had there were at that
28:09time the play was on
28:11Broadway will'll success spoil Rock
28:15Hunter that was the play I wanted to see
28:19and they sent me to New York and while I
28:21was in New York I did a lot of publicity
28:24with uh one of the magazines of the good
28:27housekeeping magazine and they
28:29interviewed me and so forth and then
28:32they had the house open for a month
28:35where they could uh people came in and
28:38um I was just the hostess and they had
28:41people there that took care clean the
28:43house and so forth and then it was
28:45turned over to us officially gold keys
28:48we had a gold key my husband and I were
28:51given a gold key and uh then he asked
28:57listen that's a big at that time that
29:00period in the four 50s 60s rather uh
29:04income tax was a big challenge if you
29:06want to lump some and you had to pay it
29:09right away and he said if income tax is
29:12a problem we'll take care of you know I
29:17mean they couldn't do enough they
29:19couldn't do enough that was a
29:22ful