50: Gossip, Glitter & Whimsical Disgrace - WTF is up with Lisa Frank?
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study.

Isn't it cute? I know. And you're also here probably for my podcast, which is Dark History. This is a chance to tell the story like it is and share the history of stuff we would never even think about. So all I want you to do is sit back, relax, and just let's talk about that hot, juicy history goss. Okay, look, listen, listen. Linda, listen. If you know anything about me, you know I've brought up Lisa Frank a handful of times.

and I've said like, I need to do a story on her. So I had to do it. I had to, okay? So that's why I'm doing this story. Great. I've always been super fascinated with the Lisa Frank brand because it was something I honestly couldn't have as a kid. We just couldn't afford it. You know, it was kind of expensive. It was really expensive actually. So when I was younger, we would go to Yargit

you know, rhymes with Yargut. And we would go down the school supply aisle and I would just kind of like stare at the Lisa Frank stuff and just obsess over it. I wanted it so bad. Everything was so cute. And then as I got older, I just got more curious, like who the hell is Lisa Frank? You know? So I did some research and she's a very, very private person. I could only find like two pictures of her on the internet. I think there's only two pictures of her available, which is fine. Good for her. She's very private.

So I was intrigued and the more I looked into the brand's story, the more I was like just sucked in. Drama. It's not the stuff you'd expect from a company famous for their happy rainbow animal vibe. I'm talking cocaine, alleged affairs, never-ending lawsuits, a private jet, and the cherry on top, a dancing ballerina bunny. Which like not what you would expect, right? Is it history you ask?

Yeah, hello, this is American history right here. The Lisa Frank Company, an icon in the 90s. That's history? Come on. Hey Paul, did you ever have any Lisa Frank school supplies?

He said no. Okay, so I opened up my dark history book to the Lisa Frank chapter, 'cause there's definitely one in it, of course. And let's get into today's story. So according to an article in Jezebel, Lisa grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, which ranks as one of the top five wealthiest cities in the United States. You'd wanna go to this neighborhood on Halloween, you know, because they're the ones handing out the full-size candy bars.

Like let's be, yeah, you know. You know that neighborhood, she's there. Lisa's father ran a company called Detroit Aluminum and Brass. Now this was a family company that made car parts, but also a little fun fact, they made parts for tanks during World War II. The business was super successful to say the least, and the family was like very well off.

Daddy's got that warm money, honey. We don't know too much about Lisa's mother, but what we do know is that she was very crafty, artsy. She seemed like a very creative woman. She made pottery and along with Lisa's father, she encouraged her daughter to get into the arts. Like she would put her in art classes, provide her with coloring books and crayons and just have fun. She and Lisa's dad gave Lisa a loom for her 12th birthday.

And if you're like me, you're like, what the hell is a loom? 'Cause I didn't know what a loom was. It's a large device used to weave cloth and tapestry to make blankets and et cetera, which who the hell gets a full-size loom as a child? Rich people stuff, you know? Growing up, Lisa said that she was a total girly girl. She read, she did artwork, anything girly, whatever that means. And over the years, she got pretty darn good at painting.

in high school, which side note, she attended this really fancy school in Michigan called Cranbrook School of the Arts. And it looks exactly, not even kidding, like Hogwarts. It looks insane. I'm like, this is a school? My school had like trailers and so, you know? What the hell?

Her classmates also, pretty much they all came from very wealthy families and she was rubbing shoulders with the sons and daughters of multimillionaires, CEOs. I mean, you get it. Lisa, based off observation, was surrounded by money and privilege, it seemed like.

During her senior year of high school, she participated in an art show with her fellow classmates. So, you know, an art show where students show off a few of their pieces and it's cute and you're like, oh my God, that's such a cute little flower. Like you did such a good job. But I guess Lisa's art was a major hit because that night she ended up making $3,000 selling her paintings.

in high school, which by today's standards is almost $20,000. Can you imagine making that kind of money at 17? Good for her.

Good for you. This art show success was a sign of a bright future for Miss Lisa. She found her passion in life, art, and she was ready to go after it. Lisa flies across the country to start college at the University of Arizona, and this is where things get a little sketch. So she's attending college. Great.

And while there, some say this is when she started buying and reselling jewelry made within the local like Native American communities. Others say she was making the jewelry with them

We don't really know a ton about this period of her life. So who's to say what really happened? But what we know for sure is that she hones her business instincts at the University of Arizona. She's like reselling and making money. So Lisa's doing that. And I know what you're thinking, 'cause I was thinking it too, like Lisa, babe, you can't borrow someone else's art and sell it as your own, honey.

but that's what she was doing. Lisa claimed that she worked with the artist and you know, they should be happy because she's giving them exposure, quote, quote, quote. Which for those of us who are freelance artists or maybe you've been freelance, you sure as hell know exposure does not pay the fricking bills. I hated that. I don't want fucking exposure. I want my lights to stay on.

Anyways, Lisa thought she was helping the artist. Sure. Sure, babe. So by the time Lisa's 20, she starts her first brand and it's called Sticky Fingers, which is kind of hilarious on its own. Sticky Fingers? Come on.

She's technically like taking stuff and reselling. So that is kind of sticky. You get it. So what was Sticky Fingers? Well, Lisa, she was dabbling in her own jewelry line. She was selling plastic charm bracelets with little animal charms and cute little fruit charms and whatnot. They looked kind of cheap, but you know, this turned out to be a really big hit for Lisa because not long after Sticky Fingers was being sold at Neiman Marcus in Bloomingdale's.

Like, does she have good luck or what? Or good connects? Either way, the plastic bracelets were a hit. So much so that this led to partnerships between Sticky Fingers and Felix the Cat,

Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse. I mean, the list goes on. And this is just an observation of my own really, but she must have been doing well to get those kinds of partnerships, right? Mickey Mouse, come on. I don't know what she's doing, but she's good at it. So the bracelets are selling like crazy. Lisa can't really keep up with all the orders. Plus she's kind of feeling inspired to start another project. She really wants to make stickers.

I know, it's totally random, but this is the 80s and allegedly I heard a rumor that in the 80s, stickers were like all the rage. You let me know. I was born in, no, nevermind. So stickers are all the rage and Lisa, she wanted in on the sticker industry. She's like, "There's money there. I like art. I can make stickers." You know? And she had her eye on the damn prize. So Lisa decides to pivot and rebrand.

The company Sticky Fingers gets a new name, Lisa Frank Incorporated, which is kind of a weird choice for someone who wants to be or is extremely private. But then again, maybe she didn't expect for her brand to take off the way it did. Anyway, she's 25 at this time. She's kicking ass and she's now making stickers. What a dream, honestly, making stickers? Fuck yeah.

I want to make some stickers. So within the first year of her new business, Lisa Frank gets a large order from Spencer's Gifts. Oh yeah, remember Spencer's? They had the lava lamps, the neon dildos. It was a real hoot. They're still around. Why does Spencer's always have that funky smell? Does anyone else...

Notice that? Like that smell. I don't know what it is, but it's Spencer's. Let me know. Thanks. Anyways, this order from Spencer's Gifts, it wasn't just any order. It was a million dollar order. Oh yeah. Within her first year. A million dollars at 25 in the 80s? Girl, just retire now. Get that boat. Travel the world. Live, laugh, love. Come on.

Come on. In the late 80s, the brand expanded and started selling school supplies. She noticed in a sea of beige notepads and black composition books, there was an opportunity. I mean, you guys remember school supplies were very basic,

Very basic. And nobody was making cute shit at this time. Lisa came in and started making colorful, airbrushed, imaginative designs. It was so different. And it looked like she was on acid when she made it, honestly. It was cool.

Lisa knew her audience, okay? She knew what these kids wanted. Her loud, in-your-face products were a huge hit. And she was just raking in that dough. As a businesswoman in the 80s, I imagine a lot of people probably doubted her. I mean, first of all, she's a woman, okay?

And women couldn't even get their own credit cards until just a few years before this. Yeah, women couldn't open their own credit cards until 1974. So yeah, I imagine it was a little rocky for Lisa. I'm sure people doubted her, you know? But she pulled it off. I mean, she really saw a market where people hadn't seen one before. And it was such a smart business decision.

Snaps to you, Lisa. At this time, a normal pencil would cost like 50 cents, but Lisa found a way to sell the same item, but with her cute designs on the pencil for triple the price. So this was the beginning of the Lisa Frank empire that I'm sure many of you remember today. Man, you bitches with your rainbow panda trapper keepers.

I was so jealous. I couldn't get anything Lisa Frank because it was too expensive. I instead got one of those like Walmart five-star zipper binders. How does a zipper sound?

Do you know what I'm saying? It was really embarrassing. I was like, "Mom, it's not the same. I want the Lisa Frank one." - But what about the five star? It's so much cheaper. - I want the fucking Lisa Frank one. You know, that was me. I never got the Lisa Frank one actually. I should probably live my childhood and go out and buy one. Duh, Paul, I should do that. Okay, anyways, back to Lisa.

So Lisa once again had a booming business on her hands and the company was expanding so fast that they had a hard time finding a location for their headquarters. I guess they moved a bunch of times before finally landing on a final workspace in Tucson, Arizona, which was like not your normal little office space. Well, like in my mind, not little, but like, you know. This shit was huge. It was 320,000 square feet of office.

Do you know how big that is? Picture five football fields. That's how big it was. That's big. And the Lisa Frank headquarters was everything the kid in you wanted it to be. The outside of the building had rainbows and music notes painted on the walls. Look so cute. The inside was filled with these huge,

statues of the iconic Lisa Frank characters, like the painting panda bear or the ballerina bunny. There was colorful furniture, there was murals, and Lisa Frank fan letters decorated the walls. It just looked like it was designed by kids for kids, like some kind of Willy Wonka acid trip. It's just cool, like goals. So from the outside looking in, it seems like such a happy, fun,

Safe place to work, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to work there? I would want to work there. It looked like a dream. Surrounded by cute characters, glittery unicorns. Hello, hi. I mean, it all seemed so magical, like nothing bad could ever happen there. But if that was the case, we wouldn't be talking about it, now would we? But first, let's pause. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. Amazing, but I'm sure you can understand when I say it's

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By the mid-90s, Lisa was killing it. She's a household name. Business is booming, bringing in around $60 million annually. And she had hundreds of employees working for the company. They were just cranking out more and more product.

drawing cute characters and rainbow and glitter. It just looks so fun. Lisa Frank, the brand, was at an all-time high and kids were just losing their shit trying to get their hands on some of those school supplies. To some kids, carrying around those little notebooks was like a status symbol at their school. Now back at the headquarters, by 1992, there's a new CEO in charge.

A man by the name of James Green. I know, you're probably thinking like I was thinking, like James Green guy, he's probably an Ivy League businessman that knows how to be a CEO, right? Oh, nay, nay. He was hired back in 1982 as an artist at the Lisa Frank Company. And I guess a little hanky-panky was going on between Miss Frank and Mr. Green.

and it must've paid off because before you know it, he's running the company. He had her dickmatized, okay? And yeah, you could say James slept his way to the top, baby. Men can hoe it out too. Come on. James and Lisa would end up dating for over 10 years, and then they got married in 1994. It sounds like a cute little fairy tale, a couple of artists in love running a multimillion dollar company and wanting to start a family together.

like the American dream, whatever that is. Not long after their marriage, they had two children together. So with Lisa's hands full, she wanted to have a more relaxed role in her company. We don't know exactly why, but many believe it was so Lisa could be a stay-at-home mom, which makes sense, right? And her husband can run the company. It all happened like within the same timeframe. So just an observation, not a fact, but I think that's safe to say.

So with Lisa working from home, James, the husband guy, he was completely in charge of Lisa Frank Inc. And why not? He's been with the company from the jump and Lisa must have trusted him more than anyone to steer the ship. So with James in charge, the day-to-day operations didn't have to be run by Lisa anymore. I guess she would come by, she would pop in every once in a while, check in, see how everything's going.

"Hey, everything good? Nothing's on fire? Great." And then she'd like leave. For the most part, it was pretty much all James.

all the time. He was left in charge of the hiring and firing, approving art, maintaining important business relationships with like their biggest retailers. And remember, Lisa Frank Inc at this time was at the top of their game. People are freaking loving their products. I mean, everybody wants to work with them. They're in every store making millions a year. You could not fuck this up, baby. You're at the top. But...

Because there's always a but. Over time, employees started to notice a shift within the company culture. I mean, what happens when power and control gets to someone's head? I mean, the only person I can think of is Andrew Jackson. He just has really ruined my brain. I think, let me not go on that tangent. So, control and power getting to someone's head? You think that's going to go smooth? Of course not.

James, we're looking at you, buddy. Shit starts to go sideways. When Lisa's away, James does play. You know what I'm saying? As CEO of the company, James would spend money where he pleased and he was spending. The cars, flashy. The house, huge.

The jet. Oh yeah, girl, he bought a jet. Nobody asked him to buy a jet. I guess also their mansion was like neon colored and the neighbors, not big fans. So pissing off people right off the bat. And Tucson isn't a big city and the Frank Green family seemed to stick out like a sore thumb because they were just very flamboyant and in your face. And while he was spending their money, the company was taking a huge hit. And this is where James starts to show his true colors. So...

Let me tell you Paul, you listening? Okay, great. So rumor has it, James seemed to have a little anger problem. Like if you pissed him off, you better watch out. A chair might be coming at your head. I'm not kidding. I guess he was throwing chairs when he got angry at people. Like he was in WWE. If he didn't like you,

you would know because he would give you a nasty little nickname. He wasn't even polite enough to say it behind your back. He would just straight up say that shit to your face like, "Hey ugly, pass me those unicorn stickers." And you'd be like, "All right, is that my new name, Ugly?" He was just a dick is what I'm saying. Maybe at your workplace, your boss starts the day with like a little company pep talk. When I worked for the company Shmeshmy,

It rhymes with shmesh shmai. We would have a little team like meeting every morning and they'd be like, all right, we need to sell this much in numbers, baby. How are we going to do that today? And I'm like, I don't know. I make minimum wage. Why don't you pay me more? And then maybe I could make you more because, you know. Anyways, but that's not the point because...

James, he also loved a company pep talk, but he ran his a little different. He liked to start the day at the top of the big staircase in the entryway and just yell stuff

um at the staff below. He's like spewing all kinds of nastiness for no damn reason. I mean it was said that James loved towering over people so much so that he told his female employees they couldn't wear heels to work. He didn't like people to be taller than him. His official reason for like not allowing heels was that it slowed down the workers and like the women couldn't keep up with him but

Just seemed like he didn't like anyone to be taller than him. Interesting. To be fair, there are a few accounts from previous employees of Miss Lisa Frank herself participating in her own verbal abuse. There was even a lawsuit brought against her for wrongful termination. Basically, whatever Lisa allegedly did was bad. I'm not trying to downplay it.

And James, he was just Lisa to the 10th degree, as we'll see later. And the company was paying the price under James' control. You're probably wondering, well, how was James able to get away with all of this? Well, it seems like every villain has a good sidekick. And boy, did James find his sidekick.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year. So you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Dot com, code Dark History.

So we've got Lisa Frank Incorporated, home of the unicorns and sparkly dolphins. Lisa herself has stepped away to be with her kids, leaving her husband James in charge of the company. James is, I think it's safe to say, struggling? Yeah. His bad behavior is starting to have a huge effect on the company, but he's not alone.

he's got himself a partner in crime, helping him do all the dirty work. This is where we welcome to the stage Rhonda Rowlett. I looked her up on Facebook. She looks like a Rhonda. Hey girl. Now Rhonda, she started at the company way back in 1984 as Lisa's assistant.

She was there for quite some time to say the least. And shortly after James took over as CEO, an interesting promotion happens. Miss Rhonda is bumped up to vice president at Lisa Frank Incorporated. Rhonda must have had a very impressive resume because she also oversees HR, legal, and licensing. Oh yeah, she was in charge of a lot of big shit that maybe she shouldn't be in charge of.

She must have been an incredible worker. Just a little observation, but if your company is killing it, has hundreds of employees, why would any business hire one person to handle three different departments? Eye roll. Make it make sense. It doesn't, but okay. Anyway, pretty soon coworkers are starting to notice that Rhonda and James...

They seem very close. And an employee even saw them at the mall together on a holiday weekend. You know, hanging out. Spending the holiday weekend at the mall with your boss. Which doesn't sound that bad. But they're both married. And then rumors just start flying around the office that Rhonda and James, they're slapping meats. Rhonda was the one who had James' back in the office. She was there at every turn. Very loyal to this man.

She interrogated people on his behalf. And when James didn't want to confront someone, he'd send Rhonda. She did, again, lots of his dirty work, just firing people, intimidation, you name it, Rhonda was on it. When employees would come to Rhonda for help or questions, or maybe to report something to HR, 'cause you know, they're being mistreated, Rhonda would simply tell them to just get over it. Rhonda, she was really good at keeping the employees in check.

I guess everyone was like really afraid of her. Just get over it. Oh, that's all I have to do? Just get over it? Oh shit. I'm cured.

Thanks, Rhonda. The worst part of all was that she was head of HR. And if you had a problem at Lisa Frank Incorporated, sorry, that was on you. The company even put out an employee newsletter a couple times a year with words of motivation and encouragement for their employees. There was like one month, I saw this picture online. In the newsletter, there was this cute little column full of instructions on how to be a good employee. It basically said like,

Employees need to always be thinking about how to please their boss. Your boss can make or break your career. And if you have a bad relationship with your boss, well, that's your fault. You're not being loyal enough, sweetie. Just try harder. That's what it said in this pamphlet.

Again, oh, that's it? Okay, great. Oh, and then we haven't even gotten to the cocaine. I mean, we weren't there, so we don't really know for sure. But previous employees would later say that Rhonda and James were, quote, pretty big into coke, end quote. Which may explain the paranoia, chair throwing, the tantrums.

Can you imagine? Remember this is all happening in this really cute office with like rainbows and like glitter everywhere. And he's over here, James, he's trying to act like Scarface, but in Candyland. Rhonda and James were pulling shit like withholding paychecks, cutting commission rates, messing up people's 401k.

Rude. And even told an employee they couldn't take work off to go to a family funeral. Now, if you thought that was bad, get this. One day an employee left the office 10 minutes early and when James found out this happened, oh bitch, he was livid.

He was raging. There were even rumors that he instructed his managers to chain the doors shut so people could not leave. Could you imagine if your job did that? It kind of reminded me of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. Do you remember we did an episode on that? They like chained the doors, they kept the employees in because they didn't want them stealing. Yeah, he's lucky it didn't end the same way. That was actually an awful story, but moving on. So all of this is happening and the company's reputation was just gone.

in the toilet. Nobody had anything good to say about the Lisa Frank company, at least working for it. So of course, James wouldn't take any responsibility for the decline of happiness within the workplace.

Instead he just avoided blaming himself at all costs. He was notorious for pushing meetings with the art department and then blaming them when artwork didn't arrive on time. Oh yeah, he would delay approving products and then make excuses to the buyers. And it turns out that James wasn't just bad to work for, he was just toxic to work with. I mean, I guess he's consistent.

I'm always trying to find a bright side to things, you know? I also don't think the cocaine, alleged cocaine, helped him at all. But I'm sure he was having a fun time. So the company internally was suffering from all the chaos. The turnover rate was crazy high. The entire staff basically quit and had to be replaced once a year. People were dropping like flies and folks were talking. Anywhere you went in Tucson, word on the street was like, "Girl,

You do not want to work at Lisa Frank. They chain the doors and throw chairs at you.

So nobody wants to work there unless you're like desperate. Despite James's best efforts to just destroy everything, people are still buying the products. I mean, sales are still very strong. And in fact, the company is approached to make a Lisa Frank television show, which makes sense because they're on top of the world. And each of those colorful animal characters were gonna have their own names and backstories. It could have been the next Care Bears. It could have been great.

So what happened? James happened. Of course, you know this. For some reason, James and Rhonda fired the entertainment lawyer that Lisa brought on to help negotiate a potentially huge Hollywood movie and TV deal because they were like, "Well, we don't need help. We could just do it ourselves." Spoiler alert, they couldn't. The whole thing fell through and the project ended up dying.

RIP. By 2004, important buyers like Yargit are starting to refuse to do business with the company because James is difficult to work with. You know, he got that title. Difficult to work with.

which you don't want that because then nobody works with you. So at this point, the company has low morale, high turnover rates, and is losing out on what seems like no brainer business deals. It's unfortunate that we ended up with so many troll movies, but like no Lisa Frank show, we were robbed. Now rumors that the CEO was sleeping with the VP and doing blow in the office were circling round and round. Honestly, it sounds like a party.

but it gets back to Lisa. She gets wind of it and maybe starts to catch on to the whole Rhonda and James situation.

if there is one, allegedly. We don't really know for sure, but at the very least, she starts to realize it's time to take back her company and clean up the freaking mess that James made. Lisa decides to return full-time with the goal of bringing the company back to its glory days. But when she comes back, it was a very different place than when she left it. One employee said that the original work environment at Lisa Frank used to be vibrant and full of energy.

But now it had turned into a place of quote, intimidation and insecurity. End quote. When Lisa returned, James and Rhonda made it clear to the employees, you're either team James or team Lisa. Pick a side bitches. Yeah, and this was serious, okay? They being James and Rhonda, they were going as far as bugging phones and reading employee emails to find out which team these employees were on.

And if they found out you were on team Lisa, chairs coming at your head. You better watch out. You better duck. You know what I'm saying? For example, I guess the sales department was labeled team Lisa and communication from James and Rhonda basically stopped. And the sales team, they were suddenly only allowed in certain parts of the building.

Jeez. Anytime someone from sales needed something for their job from team James, they would be shut down and told, "Oh, why don't you go ask Lisa?" It's just so childish. Awful. And a ton of the sales team, of course, they're gonna quit because they felt like they can't even do their jobs. What was the point? Plus everyone's being mean to them. Like, what is this?

It just seems weird that James would sabotage the sales department, aka the department that's making the company money. Because, you know, like it seems like he likes money. So I don't know why he would do that.

But okay. So when Lisa came back to the office, she wasn't just trying to bring her company back. She was trying to take her life back. In 2005, Lisa filed for divorce from James, telling her close friends that she could no longer put up with his emotional abuse. I mean, obviously none of us know what happens behind closed doors, but if James treated the employees

Like shit, I can't imagine what he said to his own family. I mean, she's divorcing him, so maybe I can kind of guess. When Lisa presents a divorce, obviously James pissed. And it wasn't because he was about to lose his wife and family, nay nay. He was panicking because he was about to lose the thing that he seemed to love the most, cocaine. No, I'm just kidding, money. James, he was not gonna go down without a damn fight, you bitches.

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Lisa is back in charge of her company, but James is still working there as well. Honestly, it must have been awkward. He wouldn't leave. He wanted to keep his position and he was being petty just staying there at the office. Lisa, she had the upper hand though. You see, back when their kids were born, Lisa made a very strategic choice to gift James 49% of the company's stock.

which is great for him because if the company's doing well, then the money keeps rolling in, right? So 49%, it may seem like a random number, but it was actually very intentional and a smart business move on Lisa's part. She's a boss bitch thinking ahead. She's got a plan. Lisa kept 51% of the company stock for herself.

which makes sense because it's her company and it would make sure that she always had the upper hand within her business. We don't know if this was like in their prenup or whatnot, but if slash when they got divorced, James had to hand that 49% right back to Lisa. So this is why James is like really holding out because he's losing his...

the 49% bleep-blop-bloop. That sucks. This is a side note, 'cause I didn't really know where to put it in the story, but in an interview many moons ago, James said, you can see it on YouTube, James said that he was the creator of Lisa Frank. Oh, he was taking credit for it.

Very strange. It's just bizarre, this man. So I'm sure maybe you can imagine that he wasn't so happy, you know? He was going to lose everything. His family, the cars, the jet, the home, his golf toys. Again, the cocaine, the power, and of course the money.

"No." You know, he's like, "No, Lisa, no." He wasn't handling it well at all. I mean, what else does he do? He has nothing else to do. So James goes into like full blown panic mode. He's like, "Mayday, mayday, okay?

It was not easy getting James to step down as CEO. In order to officially fire him, Lisa has to hold a formal board meeting because he does own almost half the company. But this dude, he dodges the meetings for over a whole year. I mean, how the hell do you do that? You work in the same building. He's all like avoiding her, like, "There she is, hide." I just like picture James answering his phone. Like he's not here right now.

Maybe he's like wearing a wig, hiding behind one of those rainbow panda statues. How do you avoid someone for a year?

And by this point, the man is basically a squatter. He was posting up in the men's bathroom, taking the good stall. Lisa, sick of playing where's Waldo, now has to go to the courts and get them involved in hopes to fire James. It was just this whole ordeal, stressful, I'm sure. She wanted him gone. So she sued him and then the judge ruled in her favor. Yay. So James was finally forced to show up for this two-person board meeting so Lisa could look him in the eye and say,

You're fired. Get the hell out of here and take your girlfriend with you, but leave the coke. She wanted to make a statement. James, Rhonda, and I guess Rhonda had a secretary. I just didn't want to like throw another name at you and confuse you, but Rhonda had a secretary and I guess she was like involved in some shady stuff too. So all three of them, they get escorted out of the building by police. Lisa did this on purpose. This was a performance.

Okay, they were gonna strut down every aisle so you all see what's happening around here. I love the theater, so I would enjoy that. Anyway, so they're all escorted out and following that Lisa makes sure that James never returns and she makes sure to also get a restraining order against his ass and

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Because James was hiding in the bushes, plotting his next move. You get a lawsuit. You get a lawsuit. You get a lawsuit. Everybody gets a lawsuit.

Guys, there was a hilarious amount of lawsuits. Now I'm not gonna make you go through them. No, I will not do that to you. It's a lot, okay? But I got you 'cause we went through them. Let me just summarize like all the juicy parts for you really quick. So over the next few years, and yes, this went on for years,

In addition to the nasty divorce, James sued Lisa claiming he created all the company's content and characters. So if he leaves, the company should shut down completely because all of that belongs to him. Oh, and remember that jet I mentioned earlier? Yeah, he was upset about losing the jet. He wanted to keep it.

So James sued the company for millions of dollars so he could repay the loan he used to buy the jet. Like, what are you gonna do with a jet? You don't even have a job. And the lowest of low, he even roped in his kids who were 13 and nine at the time to give him written permission to take their mom to court. Like, it's okay if you sue mommy, we're totally cool with it. You don't do that. Luckily for Lisa, the kids didn't end up doing it, but I mean, James really tried. Dragging his kids into it, yes.

He did. Sloppy ass. You sloppy ass. Now let's not forget about our girl Rhonda. So she ends up suing the company and it was messy. Rhonda said she was promised $2 million in severance by Lisa herself. Now, in addition to forging company checks for her own gain, it came to light that Rhonda was lollygagging on the job.

She literally filed none of the paperwork required for her employees to have healthcare or their 401k benefits, which just like led obviously a lot of employees very upset. One of the reasons you get this job is because of the health, the healthcare, come on, like, and you're not going to give it to me? No. And you're locking me in the building? No, no, this is too much. So I guess before they were fired, Rhonda, her hubby and James filled up $5,000

truckloads with Lisa Frank property that they stole and drove off with. Yeah, why? What are you gonna do with that? Well, sell it of course. I mean they got that good shit like those polar bear pencils. They're out in like on the black market. That's where I get mine. And then get this, the money that they made off the stolen items they sold went straight into their pockets. Backstabbing little gross snakes.

Ew. That sucks. You like make this big name for yourself. You sell really cute shit. And then you get taken advantage of by this man and his mistress.

I kind of get it. And like, just to keep it a hundred though, when I worked at a large electronic company that starts with a B and ends with a Y and rhymes with shmeshmy, on my last day, I stole a bag of potato chips on my way out. It was my last day. Okay. So I was like, you know what? Fuck this. But what I'm totally getting at is that kind of like this trio, they stole stuff because they were angry. I stole a bag of potato chips. So I kind of get it.

I still feel guilty about it. I do ask for forgiveness all the time, but I don't know, it keeps me up at night. Okay, so I understand what they're doing. They're stealing to be like, "Eh, fuck you." You know? And like, 'cause I did that too with the potato chips, but they stole like a bajillion potato chips. Way worse. I don't know why I'm trying to relate to the bad guys.

I don't steal, thank you. Anyway, so these lawsuits, they end up going on for like 10 years. It seemed like James didn't really care too much about winning at all. He and Rhonda just want to bleed this company dry, take all their money with all the lawsuits. It's kind of like an abusive partner, you know, when they're like, "If I can't have you, nobody can."

And that's what they were doing. Finally, in 2007, the divorce between Lisa Frank and James Green was officially finalized. She had complete control of her company and she was ready to make a comeback. It wasn't gonna be easy though. James had damaged the company's reputation very badly and he tarnished many of their business relationships.

The company was in like a deep hole and Lisa had a lot of work ahead of her. And honestly, at this point, she really could have just like given up on the company and walked away, but she didn't. But guess what? Lisa Frank persevered.

She's a bad bitch. She didn't wanna give up for some strange reason. I mean, she could have, you know? So it's just like, girl, just take a nap. In 2010, Lisa ends up taking a very big risk. She reduces her staff significantly and she agrees to do something that she swore she would never do with her brand. Lisa enters into a licensing agreement with a manufacturing company so that they can make and sell her products. This might not like sound major to you and I,

But it was said that Lisa was like overprotective of her brand, a bit of a control freak.

and that she never let other people make her products. She just wanted control. She wanted to know everything that was going on and have control of it all. But she wanted the company to be back on top, and they promised, this manufacturing company, promised to help her achieve this goal. And in 2012, Lisa Frank does a collab with Urban Outfitters, which is a trendy lifestyle retailer.

And that was a huge hit. People were really excited to see Lisa Frank back out in the wild. Everybody was like hungry for the 90s nostalgia. It was just perfect timing. But the manufacturing company that Lisa's working for doesn't make good on their promise to put Lisa Frank back on top. And Lisa Frank sort of goes away for a while again because it's just not doing well. Oh my God, Joan has a cute little thing, cute.

Ah, is that a chopper keeper, Joan? You would, you little rich bitch. Okay, so where are they now? These days, it's not clear how much of the company James still may or may not own, but what is clear is that he is not involved in the day-to-day operations anymore. Throughout the years, James has moved on from the Lisa Frank brand and Lisa Frank the person too, and he found Jesus, great.

Jesus. He found him. And he started his own passion project selling artwork for Jesus. Which, honestly, it looks heavily inspired by the Lisa Frank art, but it's for Jesus. It's like, move on, dude. Just move on. Let it go. Try something new. On the brand end of things, one of Lisa's sons is involved in like the new era of Lisa Frank. And you think Lisa would maybe have learned her lesson about mixing like business with personal life, but

I don't know, old habits die hard. She ends up bringing her teenage son to like board meetings with her. She puts him in charge of the company Instagram. I think things are actually going kind of well, so he must be doing well. Fingers crossed that the family business relationship works out better than the last one. We wish you luck. In 2020, something happened. I don't know, a pandemic or something. But the Lisa Frank Instagram page was popping off.

I mean, thanks to her son who really modernized the brand's image, right? To date, Lisa Frank has continued to have successful collabs with popular brands like Crocs, which I didn't know, I missed that one. Morphe Cosmetics. She did a collab with some nail polishes. Also the school supplies are making their way back onto the shelves. Like the 90s are really back, you know? I kind of love it 'cause now's my chance.

Now's my chance to get a Lisa Frank thing. If you think about it, Lisa Frank has kind of inspired that 90s aesthetic that we still see in trends and makeup trends, all that millennial neon shit we like to buy. It seems like a really perfect time for Lisa Frank to make her comeback because we're all craving that 90s

nostalgia like I said yeah but with the help of her son it seems like she's got her finger on the pulse of what people want again. I think this whole story can be perfectly summed up through my my experience of purchasing the Lisa Frank Morphe palette. When was this like a year or something ago? I was so excited to get it. I was like oh my god Lisa Frank oh the younger Bailey in me was

Living, okay, living. The palette itself looks like a trapper keeper and I should have brought it. I don't know why I didn't. Got it, boom, it arrived. I opened up the package, took out the palette, bam. I got hit with the whiff of that chemical cheese smell. Do you know what I'm talking about? It smelled awful. It smelled like cheap makeup. It smelled like chemicals, just straight up chemicals. I was like, oh shit. I decided not to use it on my eyes, but I keep it on my desk just to look at it.

'cause it's cute, but that shit stinks. I just feel like that explains the company in a nutshell. From the outside, bright, cute, colorful, happy, oh my God, love it. Inside, dark, corrupt, and just plain stinky. Look, Lisa Frank is back today. We don't know what's going on behind closed doors now, but we're glad she's here, hi. But there's one thing we know for certain,

What was happening in the 90s, what was going on behind the rainbow-colored doors was wild. A former employee put it best, saying, quote, I always found it ironic that Lisa Frank brought so much joy to girls, but was such a miserable place to work. It wasn't rainbows and unicorns behind the scenes, end quote. It's like rain on your wedding night.

♪ When you already paid ♪ What got me really curious about the story is the facade, like what that employee said on the outside. Cute, adorable, love it, I wanna work there. Put it in me, everything. And then you like go further and you're like, holy shit, you guys are all fucked up in here. I just found that very interesting. And obviously there's like no clear cut good or bad guy here.

I think they were all kind of stinky. James and Rhonda were the absolute worst, but Lisa, she also had her moments too. And also, for as much as Lisa claims to want to be private, just in the background going unnoticed, she sure does love to be on top. So I don't know, next time you're looking at your rainbow tiger trapper keeper, remember,

Cocaine is a hell of a drug. Well everyone, a big thank you for learning with me. Remember, don't be afraid to be curious, ask questions, because you deserve that.

I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along and see what kind of shit you're talking. I'm gonna find you and be like, yeah, bitch, she crazy. I'll write you back. Oh, also join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. Come check out my background. It's cute. And while you're there, you can also catch Murder, Mystery, and Makeup, which is on Mondays.

I hope you have a great day today. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye. Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Kim Jacobs, Dunja McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner. Writers, Katie Burris, Joey Scavuzzo,

Amy Height, Alison Philobos, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Namarundwe and Lily Young. Research provided by Regina Dolza. And a big special thank you to our expert, Ariel Dollinger, freelance journalist for the outlets including the New York Times and producer for Cheddar News. I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. Love you. Goodbye. Why are you still here?

What are you still doing here? Oh my God, you're like obsessed with me. Oh my, are you still here? I'm sending my Aunt Tina money directly to her bank account in the Philippines with Western Union. She's the self-proclaimed bingo queen of Manila. And I know better to interrupt her on bingo night, even to pick up cash. Hey.

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