looking blanket, but it was in perfect condition. I just thought it was elegant in its simplicity,” he says. “I didn’t instruct [the costume designers] that this should be the blanket she wears — they sort of picked it and they picked exactly the one I would have picked, so I love that.” Friedman says interest in his blanket collection — which he began in 1969 and which he says kept him sane during decades working as a comedy writer for the likes of Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Lewis and Johnny Carson — had already picked up in advance of the movie’s release, and he expects that Pendleton’s sales will as well. Even without attention from Hollywood, Pendleton is planning for the future. While Bishop is mum on the company’s succession plan — “I’d like to say it was a closely guarded secret, but I don’t exactly know” — he notes that several other family members work for the company, including his son and his first cousin’s daughter. The company has every intention of continuing to manufacture in the United States, and when OB visited the Washougal plant in September, it had just installed new yarn-making equipment imported from Italy expected to improve the energy efficiency of the mill, and that should last at least 20 to 25 more years, Bishop says. “The future is going to be a continuation of the past,” he says. “I’ve always been proud of the fact that Pendleton is an Oregon company, and it has stayed in Oregon,” Conner says. “Come to any gathering on the Umatilla reservation — or any others — and you will see plenty of Pendleton products on display on the backs of our people or in the regalia of our people.” 31
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